St. Pete Artist Trying to Reopen Haslam’s Is Throwing a Concert in Its Parking Lot
The Aug. 29 event is the latest Hail Mary in Filipe Bergson’s increasingly unusual campaign to revive the beloved bookstore.
Four months and more than a thousand T-shirts into his unlikely campaign to reopen Haslam’s Book Store, St. Petersburg artist Filipe Bergson still hasn’t heard from the family that owns it.
So naturally, he’s throwing a concert in their parking lot.
On Saturday, Aug. 29, Bergson will bring local musicians, costumes, and what he’s calling the “Library Olympics” to the long-shuttered bookstore on Central Avenue. The event is the latest escalation in a campaign that began with the admittedly absurd goal of selling 500,000 bootleg Haslam’s shirts, buying the property, and reopening the St. Pete institution.
This time, however, the Haslam’s hopeful is less interested in raising money than getting an answer.
“This is more of just like another PR stunt to see if we can get the attention of the family and get them to talk to us,” Bergson told Cigar City Sounds.
The show itself will be appropriately makeshift. There won’t be a traditional stage, but the artists and filmmakers involved plan to bring a bare-bones PA system, props, and projectors to transform the parking lot.
Local singer-songwriter Delaney Staack opens, followed by St. Pete indie-folk band Little Giver and the newly assembled Haslam’s Family Band, a group of Bergson’s musician friends formed specifically for the event.
Between performances, the man behind the shirts will host games and competitions, including a costume contest and book-sorting challenge. Contestants in the latter won’t receive instructions on how to organize their pile.
“I’m just gonna be like, start sorting the books,” Bergson said. “And then I’m gonna ask them how they sorted them and why. And that’s gonna decide the winner.”
There is, of course, one minor complication: Bergson doesn’t have permission to use the property.
When asked if he’d looked into the legality of holding the event there, his answer was simple.
“Uh, in the sense that it is illegal,” he said.
Bergson added that they will leave if asked and relocate the show to a legitimate venue at a later date. But the possibility of getting kicked out almost seems baked into the point. He describes the event as another “Hail Mary” to draw the Haslam family into a conversation about the future of the bookstore.
Despite the tongue-in-cheek approach, the organizer says there is legitimate interest behind the effort. He has resisted crowdfunding because the building isn’t currently for sale and he doesn’t feel comfortable taking donations without a clear path forward. Meanwhile, he says potential investors have approached him with interest in helping finance the project if he can establish communication with the family and get an asking price.
Reopening Haslam’s remains the dream, but at this point, he says simply hearing from the family and understanding their perspective would provide an answer to a question St. Pete has been asking for years.
“Even if we don’t get to do anything with Haslam’s, we’d have a clear-cut story behind why they don’t want to open up their business,” Bergson said. “Or whatever their plan is. I don’t have to run this shit. Like, they can reopen it.”
For now, the bookstore remains closed, the family remains quiet, and Bergson has a band rehearsing for a show in a parking lot he fully acknowledges he isn’t supposed to use.
At the very least, it should be an interesting Saturday.
The Haslam’s parking lot show is scheduled for Saturday, Aug. 29 from 8–10 p.m. at Haslam’s Book Store in St. Petersburg. The event is free, as long as it lasts.
Written by J.C. Roddy
