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✔️ = Critic's Pick
✔️ Robb Bank$ It’s been five years since Richard O’Neil Burrell arrived on the rap scene at age 17. He played Orpheum in early 2016, and now he’s playing Transitions, a downsize in venue that may suggest that young fans are already growing weary of the 23-year-old’s brand of frenetic Soundcloud rap. But an EP dropped late last year (2: Pillz) could indicate a return to the glory days when his 2015 debut Year Of The Savage lived in the earbuds of so many angsty millennials looking for another hip-hop hero. Bank$’s onstage charisma is no secret (and should be no surprise since his dad is dancehall/pop reggae superstar Shaggy), so don’t be surprised if this show is pretty close to sold out by the time doors open at the Skatepark of Tampa’s live music venue. (Transitions Art Gallery at Skatepark of Tampa, Tampa) CANCELLED
Forthteller Tour Kick-Off Show w/NOMVDIC/Fiends/DYNE SIDE/For The Best Tech-metal sextet Forthteller kicks off its 2018 by making good on a resolution to go on tour in support of a 2016 EP, Madman. Pay the cover at this ‘burbia DIY spot and help the band buy enough gas to complete the 11-date, two-week tour which takes Forthteller all the way to Pennsylvania, through Maryland, West Virginia, Mississippi and Georgia before a homecoming show in Hudson on January 20. (The Noise Box, Brandon) INFO
LITTLE (MORE) PIANO
The inaugural Florida International Toy Piano Festival blurs the line between work and whimsy
✔️ Toy Pianos in the Wild w/Melissa Grey & David Morneau/Cindy Giron/Daniel Fawcett & Li Tao/Jonathan Hannau & Kelley Sheehan As part of the Florida International Toy Piano Festival, works by visiting Artists-In-Residence from Holland, New York City and Chicago will be performed out in nature at Boyd Hill Nature Preserve. The State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs made it possible to have no cover at this event (thanks Rick Scott?), but it’s bring your own blankets and bug spray. (Pinellas Pioneer Settlement, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ Rock the Park w/Poetry ‘n Lotion/Small Reactions/Cormac Kavanagh Yes, it’s cool to see Georgia’s Small Reactions get a Hurricane Irma make up show in (see more here), but watching Poetry ‘n’ Lotion settle into a new lineup and former DieAlps! Keyboard player evolve as a solo artist has been pretty great, too. This show is free, kid- and pet-friendly and unofficially BYOB (aka don’t be a jerk about having adult bevys in public). (Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Tampa) INFO
✔️ Ryan Montbleau “My partner was gone, my band of 10 years was gone, my friends were all far away. The one thing I had was a career, because it turns out that was all I had worked on. When the dust settled, I realized I didn’t really have much of a home life,” Ryan Montbleau said of his introspective 2016. The 40-year-old songwriter bottled the trouble up a year ago and came out with I Was Just Leaving, a 12-track, emotionally raw and confessional record which he’ll share at the very intimate Craftsman House Gallery space. (Craftsman House Gallery, St. Petersburg) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
DTSP DYAO Thursday w/More Is More (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Savi Fernandez Band (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Bring Your Own Song (InVision Creative Cafe, St. Petersburg) INFO
First In Battle w/Mahray/Haden Jex (SubCentral at The Iberian Rooster, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Howlin’ Brothers (The Ale & the Witch, St. Petersburg) INFO
Long Table Lunch with Florida International Toy Piano Festival Resident Artists (Friends of the St. Petersburg Main Library, St. Petersburg) INFO
January 4-7, School of Rock (Morsani Hall at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO
This article appears in Jan 4-11, 2018.