Tom DeGeorge (L) and Tyler Riggs inside the Dave Decker Photography Studio in Ybor City, Florida on March 25, 2026. Credit: Dave Decker / Creative Loafing Tampa Bay
There aren’t a lot of people who don’t know that Ybor City’s beloved music venue, Crowbar, is closing its doors this weekend.
The writing has more-or-less been on the wall since the now 20-year-old venue signed a lease extension in 2021, but Tampa filmmakers Tyler Riggs and Aaron Hurley wanted to look beyond the final concert happening this weekend.
“It’s one thing to see a place closing down and just swipe past that,” Riggs, 40, who directed “Gods Waiting Room,” told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay. “But then it’s another thing to see the fallout of a small business closing and how that can affect a person’s life.”
Riggs and Hurley’s Lofty Powers production company, together with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay photographer Dave Decker, examine that in a new vertical documentary, “Sacred Space: A Farewell to Crowbar,” rolling out in three parts before the venue’s final concert on Friday, July 31.
Hurley, 42, used to drive Riggs and other friends in an old Cadillac Coupe de Ville with a red leather interior, oftentimes to see shows by bands who cut their teeth in places like Crowbar. Their experiences around live music shaped their lives.
“This project was just something that felt like a perfect thing for us to go out and put our hearts into and see what happens,” Riggs said.
The film, which covers roughly 10 minutes total, is a moving portrait of DeGeorge, who co-founded Crowbar in 2006. The opening came in the wake of a tragic accident at Ybor City’s Masquerade, where DeGeorge was general manager. It captures the 52-year-old candidly reflecting on the many parts of his journeys in Ybor City, and his thoughts on the end of a 20-year run in the district.
Interwoven throughout the documentary is footage from Crowbar shows by the likes of Nick Shoulders and Poison The Well, plus wild underplays from local acts gone global Doechii and Underoath.
Riggs said he hoped the images would capture the energy of not just Crowbar but the venues and community spaces like it across the world. “I always just try to dig into people’s character, and the humanity of things,” he added.
B-roll and years of concert photography from Decker colors the rest of the film, and it was Decker’s studio that housed the interview with DeGeorge.
“He’s the grout in the joints,” Riggs said of the tireless photojournalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and more.
Choosing to go with the vertical format gave Lofty Powers a chance to think differently, Hurley said, but the format choice came second to the heart the filmmakers hoped to capture in the project.
“If something goes out that’s a creative piece we’re behind, I want to feel good about it when it goes out. So to me it didn’t matter whether it was horizontal or vertical,” Riggs said, while admitting that the debate between formats intrigues him. “I don’t necessarily judge people for how they intake media. That’s more the storyteller in me—a story’s a story.”
Watch the film by following @cltampabay, @loftypowers, and Dave Decker on Instagram. See a teaser below.
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This article appears in July 23 – 29, 2026.
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