THURSDAY, AUGUST 23
Fang Island w/Adebisi Shank Opening with a neoclassical piano fugue and paralleling pedal-warped Brian Eno-esque guitar harmonies, "Kindergarten" kicks off Fang Island's 2012 sophomore effort (Major) and first on indie label Sargent House with the mantra, "All I know / I learned in / kindergarten." The trio makes plenty of whimsical statements and delivers an eclectic album imbued with glowing cheer and effervescent spirit, from the summery emo-pop of hooky guitar riffing "Sisterly," to the rollicking and rolling hoedown-meets-prog metal instrumentals of "Dooney Rock." Another three-piece, Irish experimental rockers Adebisi Shank, warms up the show. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)

Madison Turner w/Waxed Curbs/ The Long Johns/ Ink and Sweat/The Mud Flappers Musician Maddie Turner — of now-defunct local band Paranoia Dance Party! — stages her first live show as a solo artist. She'll be slinging guitar and singing as backed by a full band. "We're playing my old solo stuff (folky, punky, ska) and a few covers," Turner wrote in a recent email. Gainesville's Waxed Curbs bring surfing ska to the bill, The Long Johns deliver a more clear-cut ska sound, Ink and Sweat offer up punchy punk pop, and The Mud Flappers sprinkle in some gypsy folk flavor. (Transitions Art Gallery @ Skatepark of Tampa)

The Pass w/Spies on Bikes/Personal Boy The Pass hails from Louisville, Ky., and builds 1980s-imbued beat-pumping dance pop with retro keyboard sonics, zippy fizzing basslines and the emotive vocal stylings of guitarist Kyle Peters. The band adds saturated lights and fog machine haze to their live performances. Also on the bill: Spies on Bikes, the sample and found sound-strewn electro-experimental music project of Nathan Cochran; and Jacksonville's computer-blippin' pop outfit Personal Boy, formed earlier this year by musicians Drew Bond and Tom Essex, with Lindsey Tuller lending her vocals to their mixes. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)

KRAKENFEST 12 w/King Conquer/Bermuda/Adaliah/The Last Ten Seconds of Life/In Dying Arms/Dark Sermon/many more The "Devastation on the Nation Tour" crashes disharmoniously into town for the 12th annual edition of Krakenfest, with Naples hardcore death metal fivesome King Conquer heading up the crushing festivities as warmed up by a huge lineup of acts ranging the heavy music spectrum. (Orpheum, Ybor City)

Hopsin w/Dizzy Wright/SwizZz/Jarren Benton/DJ Hoppa Known for sporting white contacts ("my white eyes are for making people look stupid when they judge my book by its cover" he once Tweeted), YouTube rap sensation Hopsin kicked off his viral career with 2010 video "Sag My Pants" (currently at 15.2 million views). The song is an introduction of sorts in which Hopsin reveals both his clever intellect ("I'm just an idiotic, ironic, explainsymbolic, Illuminati product / That's gonna be killed if I talk about it [shhh]") and his dark style of bravado; he disses hip hop artists Drake and Lil Wayne for not being hard enough, Soulja Boy for just plain sucking ("Soulja Boy you got a corny flow / So you can suck my fucking dick through a glory hole"), and calls out Eazy-E's wife Tomica Wright for signing him to the late rapper's Ruthless label, then setting him aside. Hopsin is on tour hyping his "game changer" third album, Knock Madness, due out this September. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)

FRIDAY, AUGUST 24
Escape Tonight CD Release Party w/Lions After Dark/Yesterday's Tragedy/Lights Out Lemmings/Civil Action/C.R.O.W. On their debut full-length, Far From Home (Super Sidekick Records), Escape Tonight thrusts and grinds through 10 punk-fused alt rock tracks marked by thick riffing power chords and the brawny howls of frontman/guitarist Russell Fama. The band has experienced some personnel changes since laying down tape with producer Joe Quinde (behind Jay Z's platinum-selling Grammy-winning third LP, Hard Knock Life – Volume 2) at Old Town Recording Studios in North Carolina. Original member "Voodoo" Rick Herbert is still pounding bass, but drumming duties are currently filled by Chris Denny and lead guitarist Pete Tremblay was brought into the fold to add supplemental harmonies and layers to the mix. Escape Tonight is joined by a handful of other like acts at this Friday's CD release party. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)

Rays Summer Concert Series: O.A.R. With the RNC beginning on Monday, this weekend's baseball fans will likely be joined by protesters, delegates, and various other out-of-towners, a far cry from the college-age crowd O.A.R. (Of A Revolution) is used to entertaining. But the 16-year-old Maryland alt rock band with ska and pop tendencies is definitely an appropriate act to follow a Rays-Athletics game that finds both teams vying for the wild card spot in the playoffs, delivering uplifting vibes if the Rays lose and providing a suitably festive atmosphere if they win. (Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg) —Miles Parks

St. Pete Beat Surf, Sun and Sake Party w/Girls on the Beach/Archaic Interest/Jensen Serf Co. For this Sake Bomb shindig, three sunshiney surf bands and St. Pete Beat faves take the standing room stage: Orlando’s all-male Girls on the Beach have a coarse garage feel; Archaic Interest offers up a loose and rambling watery-warped pop appeal; and Jensen Serf Co.'s skuzzy lo-fi vintage rock sounds twice as old as the fresh young upstarts who play it. (Sake Bomb, St. Petersburg)

Zulu Wave CD Release Show w/Sons Of Hippies/DieAlps!/Macrame Owls Another Bay area band amid a handful throwing album release parties this weekend is Zulu Wave. The hard-buzzing indie rock four-piece has the recent distinction of playing a free show in Times Square at New York's CBGB Festival, and sharing a bill with the likes of The Hold Steady and Superchunk. Several other high-quality Bay area experimental rock acts open for Zulu Wave when they unveil a five-song EP, Nyami Nyami, recorded in July at Rock Garden Recordings with Dan Byers (bassist of Wolf-Face) and likely showcasing the band’s propulsive interplay of subtle guitar textures and ripping solos, throbbing lowend buzz, roiling rhythms, and layered keyboard melodies that bring a spark of bright to the overall dark vibe. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)

Conrad Oberg Oberg is a musician who's been legally blind since his premature birth in 1994, but has managed to accumulate an adult's worth of musical experience in his 18 years. He started playing piano before age three, picked up guitar at 10 after recording his first album (yes, you that read right), opened the 40th Anniversary celebration of Woodstock at the original fest site with a Jimi Hendrix-styled performance of the National Anthem at 15, and on this date, plays in support of his latest LP, Old School, which features blues and rock classics he recorded in single (overdubbing-free) takes to best capture his fiery live sound. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)

Room Full of Strangers w/Alias Punch/The Mother Machine A three-course bill of appealingly eccentric rock n' roll, with the beefy main course served by Orlando quintet Room Full of Strangers. Their sound mixes garage rock and proto-punk with a wobbly David Byrne pop sense, the cheeky lackadaisical tunes (like "Let’s Build an Idol" and "Fuck The Love Out") marked by vintage organ notes and the nasally drawling howl of lead singer Mick McIuan. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)

El-P w/Killer Mike In May, alt hip hop artist El-P dropped his fourth studio album, Cancer 4 Cure, and a few weeks later, released one of the most twisted videos I've seen for the track "The Full Retard," which has El-P and his lively eye patch-wearing homie (a stuffed squirrel) doing drugs, hitting clubs, beating down hoes, getting blown, and generally acting like a menace to society. This is one of El-P's three live dates in Florida and the closest he comes to Tampa. (Beacham Theatre, Orlando)

Casey James Another American Idol alumni to play the Dallas Bull stage, Casey James is a flaxen-haired country pop crooner who was the third place finalist in AI's ninth season and is currently backing his eponymous debut studio LP, which peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Country Albums charts. (Dallas Bull, Tampa)

Damon Fowler Group A two-night Friday-Saturday stand at the Palladium with Brandenton blues rock phenom and sizzling master axeman, Damon Fowler. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)

Moxy Concert – Believe In Miracles w/Jayne Kelli/Rebecca Zapen/Vanessa Quillao/Becca McCoy/A.J. Swearingen/more Some fine Bay area artists — dancers, musicians and entertainers — gather to perform at this concert and variety show held after the Moxy Miracle Healthy Living Expo. Among the musical highlights are dulcet-toned acoustic guitar-strumming roots-pop songstress Jayne Kelli, and sweetly crooning violin playing singer-songwriter of lush jazz-fused folk pop, Rebecca Zapen. (Largo Cultural Center, Largo)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 25
Hippiefest w/Johnny Winter Band/Edgar Winter Group/Rick Derringer/Mountain’s Leslie West/Savoy Brown's Kim Simmonds Hippiefest 2012 pays its due to blues rock with five esteemed musicians of the genre. The highlight, by far, is brothers Johnny and Edgar Winter. The former older sibling is known for his guitar prowess and work with legendary bluesman Muddy Waters, the latter younger sibling for his turn on keys, sax and percussion, and hits like "Frankenstein" and "Free Ride." Each is backed by his respective band and join a lineup of other blues axemen, like Rick Derrenger, ("Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo") and Leslie West, founding member of Mountain ("Mississippi Queen"). Expect plenty of sit-ins and covers of 1960s and '70s-era rock hits. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)

Manchester Orchestra w/River City Extension The latest Manchester Orchestra album, 2011's Simple Math, finds frontman Andy Hull unburdening himself against a backdrop that feels overly grandiose, with sweeping strings added to just about every down-tempo number and Hull's vocals often annoyingly layered. "April Fool" provides some crunch without the bloated soundscape while "Virgin" starts promising until the adolescent crowd chorus kills the song for me … but that same approach sounds amazing live, if their performance on Letterman last year was any indication. I'm still waiting for an album that showcases Manchester Orchestra’s dynamic and powerful live presence; in the meantime, I'll settle for just catching them live. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg) —Joel Weiss

Wet Nurse w/Jensen Serf Co./Hot Hands "We've got some apology songs, some goodbye songs, some party anthems…" Wet Nurse bassist Susana Chaplin told CL Writer Shae Krispinsky regarding their 2012 debut full-length, Daily Whatever in a recent Q&A with the Orlando all-femme trio. Krispinsky called their '60s girl group vocal harmonies and blend of beach party surf rock, punk and garage pop "both familiar and novel" in her 3.5-star review, which you can read along with the Q&A right here. This is Wet Nurse's last show in town before hitting the road on a 26-date national tour. (The Hub, Tampa)

Bohemian Bash w/Big Blu House/Primavista/Rockstarr Bentley/Villanova Junction/Crown/Summersill A free showcase featuring seven fine Florida bands repping the blues, hip hop, alt and psych rock, funk, and newgrass genres. (Cafe Bohemia, St. Petersburg)

Big Time Rush w/Cody Simpson LA boy band Big Time Rush has been making tweens swoon and scream since 2009, when they simultaneously became music and TV stars after signing a deal with Nickelodeon. The station debuted their series, Big Time Rush, that year and issued the foursome's self-titled first album of bubblegum pop in 2010. (1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre, Tampa)

King of Spain Album Release Show w/Sleepy Vikings/Beach Day In mid-July, we mistakenly noted that King of Spain was playing a CD release show in a calendar preview much like this one when in fact, it was just a normal old everyday performance. Last week's issue found us making up for our faux pas by running the correct date along with a review of the duo's new full-length, All I Did Was Tell Them the Truth and They Thought It Was Hell. (Julie G. gave it 4 stars; click here to read the full review.) This is a gentle reminder to turn up and enjoy the electro-pop experimentations by musicians Matt Slate and Daniel Wainright … and this time, you really can get a copy of the album. High-quality acts support. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)

Greg Barris' Heart of Darkness / New Beard w/Corrupt Autopilot/The Wigmaker's Son Two intriguing avant rock acts breeze into Crowbar as part of the "Summertime Forgiveness Tour." Brooklyn's New Beard conjures up a truly eccentric amalgam of sounds, sinuously jumping from straightforward indie rock to searing prog metal to tinkling chamber pop to luscious Japanese folk music. A tuba provides the lowend frequencies as wielded by TubaJoe Exley, lefty blues guitar shredder Yazan lays down searing riffs and solos to the beats of "prog-master" drummer Tony Waldman, newest addition Maria Christina Eisen adds sax-blasting brass, and the honeyed tenor of frontman/composer Ben Wigler drifts, glides or soars over it all. Just-released first album New Beard City was crafted with help from a 10-piece orchestra featuring diverse instrumentalists from the Brooklyn scene. Greg Barris is a NYC comic and the creator of Heart of Darkness, described as "a psychedelic showcase of comedy, live music and fringe scientists" much lauded by rags like BrooklynVegan and The New Yorker. Barris is a Florida native, staple of NYC's stand-up scene and frontman of his show's signature psych-rock band, The Forgiveness. Not sure what you can expect, but I'm sure it will be highly entertaining. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

Ronny Elliott CD Release Party I buy into Ronny Elliott. There's a certain quality to his half-talked, half-sung style of delivery, like his words are so heavy they’re begging for weight. Normally, I'd call bullshit but I feel like he's for real. His ninth studio effort, I've Been Meaning to Write, seems to channel equal parts Billy Bragg and Woody Guthrie, his songwriting gently pulling your heart strings rather than shocking you into epiphany and plied with a heavy dose of truly pleasant feminine backing vocals by Rebekah Pulley. He gives a lesson in music history on "Handsome Harry the Hipster," about an old jazz pianist, but the album highlight is a tune penned by Pulley that manages to be oh-so Elliott, "Nobody's Cool Anymore," a simple ode to times long gone crooned over sliding guitar and sax. (Hideaway Café & Recording Studio, St. Petersburg) —Miles Parks

SUNDAY, AUGUST 26
Hooked On Hope Fundraiser w/Damon Fowler/Betty Fox/Luna Blue This blues-drenched charity concert supports Hooked On Hope, a nonprofit organization that works to raise awareness and funds for breast cancer research and specifically for the USF Breast Health Center in Tampa. (Skippers Smokehouse, Tampa)

Ol' Dirty Sundays Resident vibe-building DJs Casper and LeSage bring a special guest all the way all the way from Vancouver, BC for the pre-RNC edition of their weekly hip hop dance party: spin and scratch happy turntable sensation DJ Marvel, also a member of DJ collective The Freshest. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

Santana This concert has been POSTPONED until further notice due to illness. A new date will be announced shortly; tickets purchased for this date will be accepted for the re-scheduled date, or refunds issued upon request. (1-800-Ask-Gary Amphitheatre, Tampa)

MONDAY, AUGUST 27
Lee Greenwood What better way to launch a week of conservative rallying and patriotism than with the Nashville country singer whose ode to America, "God Bless the USA," has become a patriotic music staple, not to mention a bonafide redneck anthem? (Hard Rock Café at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Tampa)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 28
Dead Prez w/Rebel Diaz/Shamako/Sekijipo Obviously, the dramatic irony of a hip hop duo called 'Dead Prez' playing during the RNC is not lost on me nor the NYC emcees who penned-in the date on their agenda. Stic.man and M-1 counteract the conservative activity taking place only a few miles away from Ybor with a set of their aggressive, politically-charged and socially conscious music; like-minded acts support. (Crowbar, Ybor City)

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 29
Junkyard Empire w/Evan Greer/Dave Sheperd/Fall On Purpose A musical ensemble with a social conscience, Junkyard Empire hails from Saint Paul, Minn., brews up a seething breathing mix of jazz, hip-hop, rock, reggae and electronics over which revolutionary rapper Brihanu spits and flows rhymes, and their general aim is "a collective rebellion against the tyranny of oligopolistic corporate capitalism, of which America is the world's hegemonic purveyor." (Crowbar, Ybor)

Got Your 6 Fundraising Concert w/Wyclef Jean After Willie Nelson had to bow out and replacement Randy Travis got busted for an alleged DUI, Haitian hip hop singer, songwriter and rapper Wyclef Jean stepped up to perform at this concert sponsored by Got Your 6, a new nonpartisan organization dedicated to helping military vets and their families. “This election cycle is extremely important for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, making it especially important for Got Your 6 to bring increased awareness of veteran issues to both parties at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions,” said Chris Marvin, the organization’s executive director. “With the support of this amazing line-up of artists, our two concert events this fall [the other featuring Flo Rida at the DNC in Charlotte] will bring a national spotlight to the urgent need for programs that bridge the gap between military service and civilian life.” Got Your 6 spokesman Greg Propper says these aren’t political concerts. “They are awareness events that celebrate this generation of veterans, while making people realize the talents and skills they bring to the table. We’re happy to be hosting these at both conventions, because we believe this is one issue where both sides can agree.” (Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa) —Mitch Perry

Kenny Wayne Shepherd A high-octane blues rock show by Louisiana guitar phenom Kenny Wayne Shepherd at an intimate St. Pete venue. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg) —Miles Parks

ALSO OF NOTE THIS WEEK
The First Amendment Show w/Crash Mitchell/Russ Van Cleave/Poetry n' Lotion Thurs., Aug. 23, The Corner Club, Tampa

Songwriters in the Round: Jun Bustamante, Troy Youngblood and Dean Johanesen Fri., Aug. 24, Barley Mow Brewing Co., Largo

Betty Fox & the Dirty Bastards Fri., Aug. 24, Ruby’s Elixir, St. Petersburg

Rumble at the Ringside: Midnight Bowlers League/Sara Rose Band/Six Volt Rodeo Fri., Aug. 24, Ringside Café, St. Petersburg

The Send Offs / Y Los Dos Pistoles / Jeff Brawer Sat., Aug. 25, The Bricks Ybor, Ybor City

Burning Tree w/Kayavibe/Khora/BlessEd and the Divine Derelicts Sat., Aug. 25, Local 662, St. Petersburg

The Hummingbirds Sun., Aug. 26, Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa

CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.

This article appears in Aug 23-29, 2012.