TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Liner NOTES

ADVERTISEMENT

By CURTIS ROSS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 5, 2008

Mark Warren has some big fins to fill.

Vince McGilvra, co-founder and "Head Mullet" of north Tampa eatery/music venue Skipper's Smokehouse, is retiring at the end of the month. Warren, familiar to Tampa area music fans from his work with a number of bands (Leonard Croon, Barely Pink, The Vodkanauts and, lately, Sarge & the Aeroman), will be taking over McGilvra's duties.

It's not a job he expected to be offered.

"I was stunned, amazed, flattered, flabbergasted, expirated," says Warren, who is never at a loss for words and, in fact, often operates with a surplus.

"I did swoon, I'll be honest," he confesses. "Fortunately, I had smelling salts."

Perhaps fainting couches will be the first change under the new regime.

He's already designing his own Skipper's uniform, with a hot-rod and rockabilly look, a marked contrast to McGilvra's Hawaiian shirt and shorts.

Beyond that, Warren says, his goals are less about changing Skipper's than getting the word out to more and more people.

Hard to believe for the Skipper's faithful, but some in our fair community have never experienced this one-of-a-kind, only-in-Florida institution.

My first Skipper's show was on an unusually cold February night in 1988. Fans huddled around oil drum fires in the outdoor concert space as Koko Taylor generated plenty of heat of her own on stage.

I was hooked.

Over the years I've seen fantastic performances there by the North Mississippi All-Stars, The Blind Boys of Alabama, Southern Culture on the Skids, Loudon Wainwright III, The Flatlanders and more, including an 11-year-old slide guitar prodigy named Derek Trucks.

Heck, I've even played a few benefit shows at Skipper's with my band, The Peabodies. Benefit shows take who they can get.

If you've never been to Skipper's, drop in and tell Mark hello. Who knows? You might even see Vince there, telling Mark what he's doing wrong.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT