Fringe Florida: Travels Among Mud Boggers, Furries, Ufologists, Nudists, and Other Lovers of Unconventional Lifestyles by Lynn Waddell Page A
Authors: Lynn Waddell
Tags: United States, Social Science, History, State & Local, Anthropology, Cultural, South (AL; AR; FL; GA; KY; LA; MS; NC; SC; TN; VA; WV)
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a little mis-
leading. Joe would give you his last fruit smoothie. But if you took it
proof
from him, he’d step on your broken toe and broadcast to the world that
you’re a bastard thief and your breath stinks. Then he’d likely take you
to court and win your last dime. In the face of adversity, his scrappiness
and chutzpah cannot be exaggerated.
When Bob Buckhorn, then–city councilman and latest Tampa
mayor, led a charge to outlaw lap dancing, Joe replied on a portable
sign in front of the Mons: “Bob Buckhorn is an asshole.” After some-
one complained about the profanity of the word “asshole,” he changed
it to “dildo.” During one of his many battles with his nemesis Ronda
Storms, a local politician and fundamentalist Christian, he posted:
ap
“Ronda Storms, Censor This You Retarded Fat Fascist Pig.” A recitation
Mar
of Joe’s hostile signs could fill pages.
t
His nasty verbal comebacks could fill a book. The chair-tossing in-
Fo
cident on a local public-access show made national news and went vi-
gni
ral on YouTube. The confrontation started when a Republican Internet
K e
talk-show host called Joe a liar. Joe called him fat. The political pundit
ht
got hot. Joe said, matter-of-factly: “You called me a liar. I’m not a liar.
73
The Mon Venus mar-
quee is a beacon for
many Tampa Bay visi-
tors. Photo by author.
proof
I called you fat. You are fat.” The pudgy pundit stomped off the set curs-
ing. Joe couldn’t resist calling him “fat boy” one more time. The pundit
threw a chair at Joe and hit him in the head. Joe just laughed. After all,
he’s faced much worse.
Joe got death threats, he says, when mobsters tried to muscle their
way into his earlier strip club. He says he told them he would die before
letting them control him. The threats stopped.
ad
No one is too sacred for Joe’s barbs. Once after a church group carry-
ir
ing wooden crosses protested outside the Mons, Joe showed up outside
olF
their chapel the next Sunday with about forty of his friends, dancers,
eg
and their children. The angry strip-club band waved signs and shouted
nir
that parishioners were anti-Christ. The church group hasn’t been back
F
to the Mons.
83
Over the years Joe has increasingly taken on other causes, using his
mouth and his wallet to fight what he thinks is unjust. He counterpro-
tested the members of Westboro Baptist Church—a congregation no-
torious for picketing soldiers’ funerals due to the military’s tolerance of
homosexuality—when they demonstrated outside a Tampa rock con-
cert. Joe called them hypocrites and shouted through his bullhorn that
their minister was gay.
When the Hillsborough County Commission passed an ordinance
against any acknowledgment of Gay Pride Week, Joe declared himself
gay and sued on grounds that it violated his First Amendment rights.
WFTS Tampa ABC Action News anchor Brendan McLaughlin later
asked Joe if he truly was gay, and Joe responded: “I’m gay, I’m black,
I’m an Indian, a Jew. I’m everyone and anyone who has ever been op-
pressed for anything other than their bad character.”
By the time Joe donated use of his city park to Occupy Tampa pro-
testers in 2011, he was solidly one of the area’s fiercest social activists.
Admirers clamored to his Facebook page to post tributes. “The estab-
lishment sees Joe Redner as a nuisance,” wrote Cary Strukel. “I see Joe
Redner as a self-made man who is willing to stand up for the rights of
those who are not even willing to stand up for their own rights!”
Joe isn’t at Mons tonight, but has given me full access to the club
proof
and dancers with the exception of their dressing room—which is fine
by me since it’s on a live pay-per-view website. I have no desire to be an
extra in the fantasy of some man sitting at his computer in Topeka.
We’re scheduled to meet next week at Joe’s nearby office. I’ve inter-
viewed him on the
leading. Joe would give you his last fruit smoothie. But if you took it
proof
from him, he’d step on your broken toe and broadcast to the world that
you’re a bastard thief and your breath stinks. Then he’d likely take you
to court and win your last dime. In the face of adversity, his scrappiness
and chutzpah cannot be exaggerated.
When Bob Buckhorn, then–city councilman and latest Tampa
mayor, led a charge to outlaw lap dancing, Joe replied on a portable
sign in front of the Mons: “Bob Buckhorn is an asshole.” After some-
one complained about the profanity of the word “asshole,” he changed
it to “dildo.” During one of his many battles with his nemesis Ronda
Storms, a local politician and fundamentalist Christian, he posted:
ap
“Ronda Storms, Censor This You Retarded Fat Fascist Pig.” A recitation
Mar
of Joe’s hostile signs could fill pages.
t
His nasty verbal comebacks could fill a book. The chair-tossing in-
Fo
cident on a local public-access show made national news and went vi-
gni
ral on YouTube. The confrontation started when a Republican Internet
K e
talk-show host called Joe a liar. Joe called him fat. The political pundit
ht
got hot. Joe said, matter-of-factly: “You called me a liar. I’m not a liar.
73
The Mon Venus mar-
quee is a beacon for
many Tampa Bay visi-
tors. Photo by author.
proof
I called you fat. You are fat.” The pudgy pundit stomped off the set curs-
ing. Joe couldn’t resist calling him “fat boy” one more time. The pundit
threw a chair at Joe and hit him in the head. Joe just laughed. After all,
he’s faced much worse.
Joe got death threats, he says, when mobsters tried to muscle their
way into his earlier strip club. He says he told them he would die before
letting them control him. The threats stopped.
ad
No one is too sacred for Joe’s barbs. Once after a church group carry-
ir
ing wooden crosses protested outside the Mons, Joe showed up outside
olF
their chapel the next Sunday with about forty of his friends, dancers,
eg
and their children. The angry strip-club band waved signs and shouted
nir
that parishioners were anti-Christ. The church group hasn’t been back
F
to the Mons.
83
Over the years Joe has increasingly taken on other causes, using his
mouth and his wallet to fight what he thinks is unjust. He counterpro-
tested the members of Westboro Baptist Church—a congregation no-
torious for picketing soldiers’ funerals due to the military’s tolerance of
homosexuality—when they demonstrated outside a Tampa rock con-
cert. Joe called them hypocrites and shouted through his bullhorn that
their minister was gay.
When the Hillsborough County Commission passed an ordinance
against any acknowledgment of Gay Pride Week, Joe declared himself
gay and sued on grounds that it violated his First Amendment rights.
WFTS Tampa ABC Action News anchor Brendan McLaughlin later
asked Joe if he truly was gay, and Joe responded: “I’m gay, I’m black,
I’m an Indian, a Jew. I’m everyone and anyone who has ever been op-
pressed for anything other than their bad character.”
By the time Joe donated use of his city park to Occupy Tampa pro-
testers in 2011, he was solidly one of the area’s fiercest social activists.
Admirers clamored to his Facebook page to post tributes. “The estab-
lishment sees Joe Redner as a nuisance,” wrote Cary Strukel. “I see Joe
Redner as a self-made man who is willing to stand up for the rights of
those who are not even willing to stand up for their own rights!”
Joe isn’t at Mons tonight, but has given me full access to the club
proof
and dancers with the exception of their dressing room—which is fine
by me since it’s on a live pay-per-view website. I have no desire to be an
extra in the fantasy of some man sitting at his computer in Topeka.
We’re scheduled to meet next week at Joe’s nearby office. I’ve inter-
viewed him on the
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