Tea Cup has bartended at many places across Tampa Bay. The most strange and unbelievable place was at “The Vault” on Central Ave in St. Pete. I will never forget the first night there. I asked the owner where the ice machine was and he looked at me very surprised and actually said “WHAT!!! you didn’t stop on the way in and buy some?!?!?” I laughed and said your joking! He wasn’t!!! The promoter pulled some cash from his pocket and sent guys to buy some ice. That wasn’t the strangest part. I was set up in the small back room bar. There was one red strand of Christmas lights over the bar. I complained that we couldn’t see the keys on the cash register. He said it doesn’t matter. Just put the money in the drawer. I then asked what do we charge for drinks. He said, “What ever you think you can get from them?” LOL LOL LOL

    The next week started the Judy B. Goode Show with Paul Thomas. For some crazy reason the owner liked Tea Cup and they got along fine. Over the next 9 months he did crazy strange things. One night at 2AM he said nobody leaves until he does inventory to see how much liquor was used. OK Tea Cup asked “What is the starting inventory?” He said ‘it was in his head”??? LOL LOL

    The night before St. Pete Gay Pride in 2003 or 2004 the owner fired all the bartenders except Tea Cup. He said that all the other bartenders were stealing from him. Tea Cup said he quit too. The owner told Tea Cup that he would not pay Judy B. Goode if Tea Cup didn’t bartend the next day. The next day Tea Cup bartended and Judy was paid.

     The day after that the Vault closed.