A year after launching, Small Talks Mag is releasing its second issue tomorrow, a 70-page tribute to Crowbar, the Ybor City venue that closed its doors for good in July after two decades hosting Tampa Bay's independent music scene. The release party lands at La Sétima Club on Nebraska Avenue with no cover charge, mixing a discussion with Crowbar co-owner Tom DeGeorge, live sets, and a lineup of local creatives who contributed to the issue.
The second issue includes mixtapes, essays, reviews, photos, and collage, according to Creative Loafing Tampa. Small Talks Mag editor-in-chief Emma Hintz called Crowbar's closing heartbreaking, per the same report. Hintz founded the publication as an online zine before it expanded into physical media, releasing its first print edition dedicated to the St. Petersburg music scene in late 2025, according to Paradise News Magazine.
What's Happening at the Release Party
Delaney Staack will both perform and serve as selector at the event, while Treis Alexander is also slated to perform, per Creative Loafing Tampa's rundown of the evening. Illustrator Vic from Baby Tats, who works with Sapphic Sun, a Tampa Bay journalism project partner, will be on hand, and Bite of Florida will also be present. The gathering unfolds at La Sétima Club, located at 1724 N. Nebraska Ave. in Tampa, a natural wine bar with a plant-based food menu that opened in late 2022 from the owners of Jug & Bottle Dept., according to Tampa Magazine.
Crowbar's Twenty-Year Run and Its Final Night
Crowbar operated as one of Ybor City's primary independent music venues, with a roughly 300-person capacity, for two decades before its lease expired and it permanently closed on July 31, as Hoodline previously reported. Tom DeGeorge co-founded the venue at 1812 N. 17th Street in 2006, after moving to Tampa in 2001 to manage the historic Masquerade venue in Ybor City, according to Tampa Bay Music News. The concrete building became known for its indoor stage and outdoor patio beer garden, the outlet notes.
The venue's final week of shows closed out on July 31 with a headline set from Brooklyn rapper Talib Kweli, a nod to Crowbar's history of hosting hip-hop legends and signature weekly events like Ol' Dirty Sundays, according to WUSF's coverage in the Tampa Bay Times. Kweli and Mos Def had both performed in Crowbar's beer garden during the venue's early years, per that report. The send-off followed a string of farewell shows earlier in the year, including a sold-out Tampa Indie Night run and a Dyke Night blowout, both previously covered by Hoodline.
A Fight Against Corporate Consolidation
DeGeorge's advocacy has stretched well beyond Ybor City. He testified on Capitol Hill in May before a congressional spotlight forum addressing the impact of corporate ticket and venue consolidation on independent music spaces, representing the National Independent Venue Association's concerns about how Live Nation-Ticketmaster's market control affects small operators nationwide, according to the association's statement. That testimony came as Live Nation announced plans in April for a new 4,300-capacity venue in Ybor City's Gasworx district, a development that sparked local debate over competitive pressure on independent rooms, per WUSF.
The financial squeeze isn't unique to Tampa. An economic impact study cited by the Tampa Bay Times found that roughly 65% of independent music venues nationwide face long-term financial unsustainability amid climbing operating costs and corporate consolidation. Following Crowbar's final night, DeGeorge launched a campaign to raise funds and find a new venue location in Tampa, signaling that the closure of the physical space may not mark the end of his support for independent artists, according to Axios.
In the weeks since Crowbar went dark, the Tampa Bay music community has looked for ways to fill the gap. Hoodline previously reported on a new St. Pete grassroots series called Grit & Rumble, organized with FMAM Events to help absorb the loss of venue space for local alternative, femme, queer, and BIPOC performers. Friday's release party at La Sétima Club adds another chapter to that ongoing effort to keep Crowbar's legacy visible even as the building itself sits empty.
