Photo by Luke Beck

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Tommy hasn’t lived the life of an urbanite. He admits to a typical childhood growing up in the Tampa suburbs and raises his own family now in the Brandon community where he and his wife reside. But he’s always had a soft spot for the city and took that passion to the Web in 2004 launching the Tampa web site Sticks of Fire (sticksoffire.com). Five years later, his love for the Bay area like the Web site has only grown. “I love it here in Tampa. You can’t live anywhere else that’s as beautiful as this, and each distinct area has its own unique vibe,” he says.

Previous work in a media environment showed Tommy not only the collaboration and sheer effort that goes into putting out a daily newspaper but also opened his eyes to questions not being asked. “I had heard about blogs in the late ‘90s and knew they could be a great tool to communicate with the world. I was looking around for someone out there writing about Tampa and I kept looking for it, not so much to replace the newspaper’s role for me but just to get another viewpoint. What I found were sites that were either all political or about someone’s cats,” he says with a slight laugh. “Then I found one in St. Louis, doing exactly the kind of thing I was looking for, and these were just knuckleheads like me with a computer. So I launched my own site.”

Tommy describes Sticks of Fire as a site about Tampa from a Tampa Bay point view for Tampa Bay people to read and interact with each other. But he admits he hasn’t always been able to predict just what direction the site will go next. “What I write about depends on my mood. If a ridiculous commission regulation catches my eye and the local papers don’t ask a question I want to know, I bring it up. My goal is not to rip the current commission. I just want them to do a better job,” he says. Whatever the topic, Tommy says he’ll continue working toward growing the site because it creates a dialogue most of us simply aren’t creating on our own. “The site’s helpful for building a community of like-minded people and getting people to connect. Going to town hall meetings, even living right next door to each other – we can’t always be there on Tuesday night at 7pm. Here, we can voice our opinions online wherever and whenever it’s convenient for us and still be heard.”

When he’s not blogging about local politics, media or events, Tommy can be found onstage as lead singer of the Johnny G. Lyons Band (jglb.net) which he’s fronted for nearly 10 years.  The band frequently appears at such Bay area hot spots as Whiskey Joe’s and the Blue Shark in Ybor City and often takes part in charity events to support local Krewes’ fundraising efforts.

What does Tommy like most about skirt!?

And wearing a skirt?