Time changes for Kanye West concert

Two important time changes were announced Friday for the Kanye West-Rihanna-N.E.R.D.-Lupe Fiasco lineup Monday at the Ford Ampitheatre in Tampa.

The doors will now open at 5 p.m., and Lupe Fiasco will go on at 6. The first act was previously scheduled to go on at 7.

Tickets, $30-$125, are still available at the Ford Amp box office and through Ticketmaster at outlets; www.ticketmaster.com; and (813) 287-8844 and (727) 898-2100.

"Everybody Calls Me Big Man"

This interview with Clarence Clemons was conducted before the death of E Street Band member Danny Federici, whose passing Thursday caused the postponement of three Florida shows. The Tampa date is Tuesday -- the band's first since losing Federici.

Long before the sax, the solos, the Boss, Clarence Clemons simply wanted to smash mouths. He was a tough kid from Norfolk, Va., the son of a Baptist preacher. And as a college football star in Maryland, he dreamed of going pro. "That was gonna be my career," he says.

Back in the '60s, "we had to play both ways on the field, so I was offensive center and defensive end." The scholarship standout would protect his quarterback, then he'd turn to the visitors and "go beat 'em up." His signature move? "The forearm shiver."

"I'd stop 'em in their tracks," he says with a hepcat heh-heh-heh.

Clemons, who speaks in low, rapid-fire sentences, sums up his injury-riddled gridiron glory by saying, "God had other things for me to do." But in a way, God stayed with the plan just fine. After all, the 6-foot-4 Clarence is still protecting his quarterback, who just happens to be Bruce Springsteen. And he's still slaying the visitors, who just happen to be us.

22 years later, imperfect is perfect

They said it couldn't happen, shouldn't happen. Diamond Dave had become a half-carat has-been. Fast Eddie had bottomed out from hard living. But more than that, these iconic head cases despised each other, a scrum of pride that turned rock's most ephemerally ferocious band into a cautionary tale (at best), a punch line (that's more like it).

But if air-guitaring is believing, Van Halen's reunion show at the St. Pete Times Forum Monday not only happened - it happened with life-affirming vigor. If it wasn't VH's original 1978 lineup, it was close enough to successfully tap into our adolescent aggression and Friday-night fantasies.

In other words, this show didn't have to be perfect for the 16,853 fans to adore every moment. After 22 years, people couldn't wait to feel that Van Halen love again.

Older, wiser, but still just as rambunctious, there they were: frontman David Lee Roth, 52; guitarist Eddie Van Halen, 53; drummer Alex Van Halen, 54; and bassist Wolfgang "Wolfie" Van Halen, Eddie's 16-year-old son, replacing original member Michael Anthony, who remains aligned with Sammy Hagar, the man who joined the broken band after Roth went solo in the mid '80s.

But bygones were bygones - or at least it looked that way. "I heard you missed us! We're baaaaack!" hollered Roth, dressed as a randy circus ringmaster, waving a giant red flag and still infused with more ham than a pork farm. When Dave and Eddie shared a no-hard-feelings hug, the ensuing roar was deafening, and it hurt so good.

[AP file photo]

"Mr. Daly Be Tripping!"

Just received this rather brilliant letter from a seventh-grade class at John Hopkins Middle School in St. Petersburg. The students had a few pointed things to say about my Soulja Boy review (which you can read here). Point taken, gang. Point taken.

Dear Mr. Daly,

We were very interested to read your concert review of Chris Brown, Soulja Boy and Bow Wow.

Our Journalism teacher Mr. Mabe had us read it to see what a professional concert review is like. Plus he knew those performers are all very popular with our age group.

But we soon ran into a problem. We could not understand what you were talking about. As one student noted, when it comes to vocabulary, "Mr. Daly be tripping."

Still, Mr. Mabe was able to use it as a lesson for us. We went through the story and found the dictionary definition of all the words we didn't know and then Mr. Mabe would give us an example of how it is used. And it only took us two 80-minute classes to look them all up!!

Here are the words we had trouble with, along with their definition:

fodder = raw material
fanatics = fans
sate= satisfy
jones = addiction
snippets = small parts
cohesion = sticking together
currency = money
bevy = collection
critiquing = analyzing or criticizing
rickety = unstable
grit = crunchy bits
mudslide = landslide of mud
swagger = jaunty walk or strut (Mr. Mabe said some guy named Mick Jagger invented that one.
emblematic = representing
bust = failure
lanky = skinny or raw-boned
tutorial = something that teaches you how to do something
raunchy = dirty or nasty
throngs = a large number of people (some kids giggled when Mr. Mabe said it because they thought he said "thongs.")
ubiquitous = everywhere
strains = part of music (but we only figured that out after looking at 33 other possible definitions.)
venue = a place
unison = all together, as one
foster = promote
conjured = bring or summon
engaging = interacting
banter = talking, chit-chat
dubbed = named or called
loose-limbed = flexible

We also never heard of Fred Astaire or Gene Kelly. Some of the kids sort of knew the names but we had no idea why. So Mr. Mabe put on a preview of the movie "Singing in the Rain," and we all sang along.

So anyway, what's with all the big words, dude?

7th Grade Research Class
John Hopkins Middle School

Hannah's coming back

Look out parents, your daughter may be adding a new item to the top of her Christmas wish list: Hannah Montana is returning to Florida. She won't be in Tampa, but a road trip isn't too much to ask for when it comes to Miley Cyrus, right?

She's added 14 dates to her Best of Both Worlds tour, three of them Florida venues.  She'll perform in Orlando Jan. 28 and 29, in Jacksonville on Jan. 30 and in Miami on Jan. 31.

Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday.

Get your credit cards ready.