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New sign sends a wave of dreadBy SHEILA MULLANE ESTRADA
© St. Petersburg Times,
A new sign on a vacant Gulf Boulevard restaurant featured three young women and a single word -- "Mpress" -- clear indication to some residents that the city was about to get a nude dance club. The angry calls poured in Sunday and Monday to City Manager Chuck Coward. "It could be for anything -- a dress shop, a hair dresser," he said. "But people thought it meant adult entertainment." Wrong. Mpress is not the name of a topless bar. It is a local pop R&B group slated to film its first music video today -- a video to be shown on the MTV cable channel to publicize a new single, "Maybe." Coward said most residents were relieved to learn the truth, but not all were satisfied. "One lady said she did not think she should be subjected to that kind of sign," he said. The sign is at the former Margo's Restaurant and Bar at 116th Avenue and Gulf Boulevard, a building purchased last year by Bill Edwards, owner of nearby Cadillac Jack's Restaurant. Edwards also owns a recording company, Big 3 Records, which is about to release Mpress' first recording and video. The three singers are Laura Hart, 17, a Seminole High School graduate, and Marissa Clark, 20, and Zoraida Rosario, 21, both of St. Petersburg. They have performed in Las Vegas and several other settings. Today, Mpress will perform before a film crew of nearly 100. The result can be seen on MTV within the next three months, Edwards said. The actual recording will be released within the month.
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