The Tampa Tribune from Tampa, Florida • 73

5 A i A w) 1 BAY JjgQff vv ill v. in ft-' I r-f BY THE fiuscri Gardens' is upping the shriek factor on its SheiKra roller coaster by making it floorless. The ride shut down Tuesday and is scheduled to reopen June 16. Wheeeeeeeeeeee! 1884 1 WW WP iWHiiL WIWii, i liW'llifflTnll ipr i' iTU'i 'g The year the first roller coaster debuted in Coney Island, N.Y. 2,047 Tribune photo by JAY NOLAN Number of working roller coasters worldwide to date.

There are 639 roller coasters in the United States, 36 in Florida and 12 in the Tampa Bay area. QYour bungalow is like a museum of decor. I've never seen so many tiki heads. 128 Miles per hour of the fastest coaster, Kingda Ka, at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson, NJ. A Drew Farmer, 43, her husband and also a musician and I like the same things: '50s and '60s decor, a lot of Polynesian and Afro-Cuban things.

What about the chair? 70 A Flee WMNF disc jockey suggested the idea for a local all-girl tribute band like ACDSHE or the Ramonas. My first impulse was the Velvet Underground. I didn't think about Velvet Underground's Moe Tucker and Nico being female. Rebekah Pulley and Karen Collins are also in the band, and they are so talented. I'm doing the parts of both Lou Reed and Nico.

So it should be interesting. QHow many colors has your hair been? A Laughs It's naturally a kind of dirty, dishwater blond or it was, who knows what it is now. I've had it a platinum-blond white kind of Andy Warhol color. It's been blond, red, and it's had various stripes and streaks. What's the first record you ever bought? Miles per hour of the fastest coaster in Florida, SheiKra.

Diane Grey Sources: Roller Coaster Database (www.redb. com); Famous First Facts, (iuinness World Records A That's a Wassily chair replica designed by Marcel Breuer. It's a replica, of course. TAMPA Laura Taylor is a commanding presence onstage. She's 5-foot-ll, with no qualms about upping that a bit.

"Oh, I wear heels," she says, "when the outfit calls for it." And the outfits are wild. For many years, Taylor, 40, has been one of the most fashion-sawy singers in the Bay area music scene, inspired by the styles of the 1950s, '60s, and 70s, which she blends to create a hip look, uniquely her own. Taylor's statuesque frame adds to her offbeat glamour. "When I was young, a lot of people told me I should model, but I thought that was a vacuous profession. Now, of course, I wish I had done that because I'd be retired," she says, laughing.

Taylor's newest projects are the band Venus in Furs and die radio program "Surface Noise With Lounge Laura Taylor" on WMNF, 88.5 FM. She is also the station's development director. Why sing in a band? A Ever since I was young, I've been very much a showoff and performer. Radio Is also a stage, though it's somewhat more anonymous. QHow long have you two been collecting? A As long as we've been together: years, married for seven.

QWhat local bands have you been in? A I was the singer for the Baskervils, Thee Cryptkicker Five and Astroslut, a band.Drew, Sean Connelly and I were in while we lived in Boston. "The Osmonds Gina Vivinelto "Surface Noise With Lounge Laura Taylor" airs from 11p.m. to 1 a.m. Wednesdays on WMNF, Bfl.5 FM. The band Venus in Furs makes its debut June 8 at the Pride Passion Rail at the Tamna Museum of Art.

TV's Summer Love: Older Women COMING SUNDAY IN BAYLIfE Tell me how Venus in Furs evolved?.