Vinoy Business Alliance 2020 Kickoff Reception
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About this Event
Local history through a different lens:
The entire compelling, tragic story of the 1980 Sunshine Skyway Bridge disaster, including the life and death of scapegoat ship pilot John Lerro;
How one local man gave the world "Abraham, Martin and John," "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron" and a dozen more timeless hit records;
Intimate, up-close and previously unpublished interviews with Florida's Tom Petty and other music icons.
Bill DeYoung, a St. Petersburg native, is the author of two books on local history. Skyway: The True Story of Tampa Bay’s Signature Bridge and the Man Who Brought it Down chronicles the events that led up to, and followed, the 1980 collapse of the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Phil Gernhard Record Man is a biography of the St. Pete record producer who gave the world “Stay (Just a Little Bit Longer),” “Snoopy vs. the Red Baron,” “Abraham, Martin and John” and other classic songs. In 2019, St. Petersburg Press published I Need to Know: The Lost Music Interviews, an anthology of many of DeYoung’s long-form conversations with icons of popular music, including four previously-unpublished conversations with Florida’s Tom Petty. A longtime arts journalist, Bill’s essays have appeared in more than 100 albums, in a variety of musical genres. He currently writes and edits the arts section of the St. Pete Catalyst