Beyond Chaotic performed at the Shops at Wiregrass mall in December of 2015.
Looking for something to do tonight? The kid rock band “Beyond Chaotic” will headline a show tonight in Ybor City.
The doors open at 6 p.m. and Beyond Chaotic is expected to go on at 8 or 9 p.m.
The event is called “Rock The Night Tampa” at The Orpheum, located at 1915 E. 7th Ave. in Ybor City.
Beyond Chaotic is made up of five pre-teens who met at a rock band camp at Bigel Music, located on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. across from Wharton High (in front of Live Oak Preserve), in the plaza next to the MidFlorida Credit Union. The kids have continued to play together and have performed a number of gigs, including last year’s holiday festivities at the Shops at Wiregrass mall.
The kids are Alex, who plays violin and keys; Cade is on drums; Dominic plays lead guitar; Devon plays bass guitar and Max is on vocals.
Opening bands for the evening event include Tears of a Tyrant, The Surfin’ Dead, Seek Well, Chris and Rob, and The Frenzied Passions.
Tickets at the door cost $15. Or, get them in advance for $10 by calling Cindy at 210-6685 or sending a message online via Facebook.com/BeyondChaotic.
Freedom senior Taylor Blair (second from the left, front row) went with 12 students and eight adults to Flint & Detroit, MI, with the Ryan Nece Foundation this summer to lend a hand.
Taylor Blair, a senior at Freedom High in Tampa Palms, recently traveled to Flint, MI, to work with local organizations trying to mitigate the city’s ongoing water crisis and help residents of the area.
Blair was part of a group of 12 students and eight adults from the Ryan Nece Foundation, including founder Ryan Nece and CEO Shelley Sharp, and several board members. Nece, who played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beginning in 2002 and was part of team that won Super Bowl XXVII, started the foundation in 2006. Nece was released by the Bucs before the 2008 season, then played for the Detroit Lions for one season. The group from his foundation traveled to Michigan June 12-16 and, in addition to their projects in Flint, the students also volunteered in Detroit, about an hour away.
Blair says the first day in Flint, the group assembled rain barrels that collect and filter rainwater to make it useable for watering gardens. The next day, they delivered the barrels to residents affected by the water crisis and helped in community gardens by weeding and planting.
“It was eye-opening,” Blair says. “It was hard to believe, with all the luxuries that we have in our day-to-day lives, that in other parts of the same country, there are these types of communities where (so many) people are in need.”
Sharp says the students helped citizens and worked on sustainability projects, such as urban gardening. “We worked with a wonderful organization called Edible Flint that encourages gardening,” Sharp explains, including fundraising before the trip to buy all of the materials and supplies for the rain barrels.
Blair says that after two days in Flint, the group spent the next day in Detroit, and she and her fellow students were shocked at the conditions they experienced. “To an extent, some of the conditions were as bad as a third world country,” she explains. “For example, we were in a neighborhood where there weren’t very many grocery stores, because the people are so poor they can’t buy enough food (to support the store). So, we worked with a program called Greening of Detroit that’s helping people to start gardens to grow healthy food.”
Blair was touched by the examples of generosity they saw, such as the woman who appeared to be in need herself, however, “She said that if anyone is hungry, they can come and take something from her garden.”
The trip was the final event in a year of learning and service that Blair and the other students had just completed as part of the Ryan Nece Foundation’s flagship program, called the Student Service Program. “It’s a two-year program for high school juniors and seniors,” explains Sharp, who says students apply at the end of their sophomore year and are chosen based on their leadership skills and commitment to service.
“At the end of their first year, the program culminates with a service learning trip outside of our area,” Sharp adds. “It’s a real eye opener to the needs of the community.”
Blair says she heard about the program through the college and career counselor at her school. “It sounded like it was very similar to my personal interests,” she says. “So, I applied and, fortunately, I got in.”
Blair spent the last year learning about servant leadership and practicing skills she was taught through the Student Service Program at local service projects.
“We focus on leadership and service,” Blair explains. “Every month we have a class where we learn about one of the principals from the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens (by Sean Covey, 1998). Business leaders from the community come in and teach us skills, and then we do community service projects.”
As a group, Blair says, “We look for opportunities to give back to the community and help people in need, and we talk about the power of giving.”
She says her favorite local project was when the group worked with The Spring of Tampa Bay, a residential facility for victims of domestic violence. “First, we learned about domestic violence with both adults and teens, and how to identify when it’s happening,” Blair says, explaining they were taught how to identify “little red flags” that indicate someone might be a victim of domestic violence. She says the group then worked in The Spring’s thrift shop to provide support to that organization, and filmed a public service announcement about teen dating violence.
Sharp says the highlight of each year is the annual trip outside of the Tampa Bay area. For the past couple of years, the foundation’s trip has been to the Dominican Republic. However, she explains that this year, concerns about the Zika virus prompted the group to plan a trip inside the U.S. instead.
“It was a surprise to learn that we were going to Flint instead of the Dominican Republic, and saddening because we had heard so much about that trip from the students who’ve gone in the past,” says Blair, “but then, we were excited because we would get to help people in a poorer community here in the U.S.”
When asked if the time she spent learning leadership skills and working on service projects was overwhelming for a busy high school student, Blair says, “It wasn’t too time consuming because it was so much fun and so interesting.” She adds that she’ll spend the next year serving as a mentor to the new students who were recently chosen for the program and will continue to participate in the foundation’s service projects.
Robert Hutton and Barbra Spesak are the first two through the doors at the newest Chick-fil-A on S.R. 56.
If you are having trouble wrapping your head around why anyone would camp out in a parking lot on back-to-back nights for a free chicken sandwich, order of waffle fries and a medium drink weekly, Robert Hutto understands.
If you think it’s all about the chicken (although he says it’s really not), Hutto gets it.
And if you think Hutto is a little crazy for sleeping in an asphalt parking space off S.R. 56 and then hanging out there all day in 93-degree heat — for a few sandwiches — he doesn’t blame you.
Crazy?
“They are not too far from the truth,’’ Hutto says.
Hutto and Barbra Spesak, Brandon residents, were the first two people in line at the Grand Opening of the newest Chick-fil-A in our area, this one in front of the Tampa Premium Outlets off S.R. 56. Hutto arrived June 28 at 8 p.m.; he saved a spot under his 10’x10’ tent for Spesak, who arrived after work at 11:30 p.m.
Decked out in complimentary red and white Chick-fil-A t-shirts and paper hats, they were the first two in line and the first two through the door on Thursday morning, June 30. As cameras from two local television stations rolled — as well as our own WCNT-tv cameras recording footage for our second episode (see pages 44-45 and 51), Hutto and Spesak met the local Chick-fil-A franchise owner Britt Young, shook his hand and received their chicken “debit” card — stocked with 52 No. 1 combos — before being ushered out another door and back into the parking lot.
For those doing the math at home, it was 34 hours of waiting for about 30 seconds of picking up the reward.
“But, it’s about the experience,’’ Hutto said.
The experience is called the First 100, a Chick-fil-A tradition started 12 years ago to celebrate the grand openings of their wildly popular fast food chicken restaurants. Chick-fil-A has given away more than $27-million in free food since beginning the First 100.
For Hutto, it was the third time he had been one of the first 100. He also waited overnight at the Chick-fil-A openings on Waters Ave. in Citrus Park, as well as for the Bruce B. Downs Blvd. location in New Tampa.
“I’ve made some friends at these things,’’ Hutto said. “They have a live deejay playing music. They feed you breakfast, lunch and dinner, so that’s not bad. It’s a good time.”
Both Hutto and Spesak admit that they probably won’t eat every No. 1 meal on their cards themselves.
“It really isn’t about the sandwich,’’ Hutto said. “When we are out and we see someone who needs a sandwich, like a homeless person or something like that, we’ll go hit the drive-thru and use the card for them. We’ll also use it for friends and family.”
Hutto, who transports RVs all over the country for a living, says he also sometimes uses his free meals as a pit stop when he’s on the road.
He said of all the First 100 events he has attended, this one might have been the toughest. It was blistering hot, the heat made even worse by his setup on black asphalt, and it rained three times. During one heavy downpour the last day, more than a dozen revelers seeking free chicken abandoned their posts, and the first 12 alternates were selected.
Nothing, however, was deterring Spesak, a certified nursing assistant. It was her first overnighter at Chick-fil-A.
“It was fun,’’ she said. “Everybody thought I was crazy, the people at work thought I was crazy, for taking days off to go camp out at a Chick-fil-A.”
And, she may have caught the fever. Asked if they had plans to do this again, Spesak said she is already scouting out the next opening.
“I hear they might be opening one soon on Dale Mabry,’’ she said, smiling.
“I’ve made some friends at these things,’’ Hutto said. “They have a live deejay playing music. They feed you breakfast, lunch and dinner, so that’s not bad. It’s a good time.”