TAMPA, Fla. — Welcome to 9 Questions with…, a new regular feature in which we’ll get to know some of the Bay area’s movers and shakers a little better. It could be a politician, an artist, a first responder, a bartender—just about anyone, really. This week’s subject is veteran Tampa musician and booker for live entertainment at New World Brewery, Mark Warren. Is there someone you’d like to answer 9 Questions? Let us know!

Are you a Tampa Bay native? If not, where are you from?

Born and raised in Clearwater.

How would you describe your job or claim to fame?

My jobs at present include booking at the New World and guitarist/etc. with Jobsite Theater at the Straz. As for fame claims, I’ve played in bands with some name recognition value over the last 30-ish years including Vodkanauts, Barely Pink, Sara Rose Band, and Sarge and the Aeromen. Since 2014, I’ve done a number of shows with Jobsite (The Threepenny Opera, LIZZIE, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) that have been both musically challenging and creatively fulfilling – plus, theater folk are a great hang.

What’s your favorite Tampa Bay restaurant?

This past year, dining has been strictly takeout from places close to home. But in The Before Times, the wife and I very much enjoyed a blackened prime rib dinner at Iavarone's in Tampa and the Mixed Grill Platter at Petra’s on Busch for a late, languid lunch on a Sunday afternoon.

Do you have a personal Tampa Bay “secret spot” and/or “hidden treasure”?

My backyard. We have large empty lots on two sides so it kinda-sorta looks like we live out in the country, plus my little vegetable/herb garden is doing great this year (thanks, global warming!). So, I pretend I’m a gentleman farmer – or post-apocalyptic survivor.

What is your favorite Tampa Bay tradition?

WMNF's [annual concert] Tropical Heatwave will always hold a special place in my heart; I’m fortunate to have performed a number of times over the years. Having that much energy gathered in one location (OK, several locations in close proximity) is a magical thing.

What’s one thing many people don’t know about you that you’re willing to share with us?

I tend to overshare so anybody who knows me likely already knows most everything about me. For the uninitiated, my Austrian-born mother raised me as an artsy, theater-loving, piano-playing sci-fi nerd; the abject guitar geekery came later.

If you could change one thing about the Tampa Bay area or your community specifically, what would it be?

It’d be great to have an east-west expressway, like the Crosstown [Selmon Expressway], but in the north part of Tampa/Hillsborough.

Do you think the COVID-19 pandemic has permanently changed any aspects of live local music moving forward?

I don't think we'll really know the full damage for some time, but I imagine there are bands that went dormant that'll never get back up and running, just like some venues weren't able to survive being shuttered. I’m trying to remain hopeful that absence has indeed made the heart grow fonder and once the coast is truly clear, we’ll see shows packed out even more than they were before. That said, I would like to figure out a way to make streaming coexist alongside attending a show in-person. The old thinking was that the former would undercut the latter, but I feel that’s no longer the case. At the New World, we have the infrastructure in place to stream shows in a multi-camera format so we’ll be testing those waters.

What one thing would you tell a new original artist trying to get booked at New World or in general?

If you haven't spent the last year of non-gigging at least getting your EPK/website/social media in order, it'll be tough for a talent buyer to take you seriously as a potential booking. The days of a musician focusing only on music to the exclusion of all the many other things involved in building an audience were long gone even pre-COVID. That said, we can’t realistically expect a baby band to sell out the big room their first time at bat so we absolutely do book nascent acts on our smaller outdoor stage in the hopes that we and they can grow their audience over time. These things take time and effort and patience. I know because I’ve been there, done that and since taking on this booking job my dictum has been “gig unto others as you would have gigged unto you.”