THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 7
Rock the Park w/DieAlps!/Synergy In A Cup/Connor Zwetsch Pristine weather conditions shouldn’t be the only reason you hit this month’s edition of Rock the Park, which offers a little something for everyone. DieAlps! delivers on melodic waltzing indie rock, seven-piece outfit Synergy in a Cup throws down a percussive-infused mix of hip-hop, soul, funk and PBR&B, and pop-rock songstress Connor Zwetsch serenades with throaty rich intones and a pretty pop rock aesthetic. (Curtis Hixon Park, Tampa)
War Master w/Sacridose/Infernal Onslaught/Primate Research/Necrid Nothing announces the type of music you play better than the typeface you choose to use. War Master employs a jagged, serif-spiky typeface that screams death metal, as does the staked skeletons and hellish panoramas on their album covers. Their sound pits gut-deep grunts and monstrous bellows over the usual heavy crushing technicality. (Epic Problem, Tampa)
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 8
EMIT: Eugene Chadbourne & Tatsuya Nakatani & SHIM Enjoy an evening of musical boundary-pushing during this latest EMIT Series presentation, appropriately held at the Dali Museum. “Freebop” ensemble and original EMIT spokes-band SHIM reunites to kick off the concert with their experimental-improv jazz machinations and brass (trumpet, trombone, clarinet, saxophone) infusions. Avant/free jazz and folk-roots music experimenter Eugene Chadbourne draws from an eclectic instrumental arsenal that reflects his none-too-serious mindset — a square hollow-body six-string that looks like a fancy cigar box guitar, and electric rake, essentially a lawn rake boosted with an electric guitar pickup. These are in addition to resonator, regular electric axe and banjo. New-England-by-way-of-Japan percussionist Tatsuya Nakatani builds textural and sometimes primal reverberations that call on elements of free jazz, rock, and experimental music; he uses sticks, utensils and homemade bows to hammer, thrum, swipe and tap his collection of bowed gongs, Tibetan singing bowls, cymbals, toms, snares, bells and various found metal objects. (Salvador Dali Museum, St. Petersburg)
Josh Groban w/Judith Hill With five AC chart-toppers (including the holiday-themed Polar Express-spawned “Believe”), five platinum-selling albums and a sixth that debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, singer-songwriter Josh Groban doesn’t seem to have any problems moving units in a market of flagging CD sales. Latest album All That Echoes is his typical lush and easy listening with symphonic arrangements coated in a Burt Bacharach glaze and interspersed with an abundance of pretty contemplative moments and schmaltziness (“I Believe When I Fall in Love (It Will Be Forever)”), a touch of Latin class and brass (“Un Alma Mas”) and high-soaring balladry (“Falling Slowly”). He can also fill seats, and his latest “In the Round Tour” gives his fans a more intimate concert experience via a 360-degree stage placed in the center of the arena floor. Groban is backed by a seven-piece that includes a percussionist, violin player and trumpeter, and a local orchestra and choir that’s currently TBA is also scheduled to join him on stage. Also performing on this night is powerhouse neo-soulful songstress Judith Hill, who caught eyes and ears on The Voice earlier this year and inked a deal with Sony last month. (Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa)
Lauren Mitchell Band Fresh off winning the Suncoast Blues Society Challenge to rep SBS at the International Blues Challenge in Memphis this upcoming January, soulful blues songstress Lauren Mitchell and her band — B3 professor Mike Hensley and howling guitarist Bob Fieberts — hit the Side Door stage for a night of sultry sizzle and burn. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
Ribfest 2013: REO Speewagon (Friday); Gin Blossoms, Sister Hazel, Edgar Winter Band, John Kay & Steppenwolf (Saturday); Josh Thompson, Randy Houser, Justin Moore (Sunday) Hopefully you like eating ribs and helping kids because if you go to Ribfest for the music, you might find this year’s bill a bit lacking. You’ve got classic soft rock (REO Speedwagon), classic hard rock (Edgar Winter Band, John Kay & Steppenwolf), AC pop rock (Gin Blossoms and Sister Hazel, the latter with a little more twang than usual), or bonafide country music (Josh Thompson, Randy Houser, Justin Moore). Just remember that the event benefits youth-oriented charities — so it’s really not about the music at all, now is it? (Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg)
Attila w/Upon A Burning Body/Iwrestledabearonce/The Plot In You/Fit For A King Critics can’t seem to get enough of blasting the new Attila album, About That Life, a fifth full-length that finds the seething and pummeling Atlanta quintet taking their death-and-rapcore antics to new degrees of banality. Expect lyrics about breaking shit, being a thug and various other trivialities alternately vomited, barked, croaked or rapped in snotty sing-sing style by frontman Chris Fronzak. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Method Man & Redman The dynamic rap-spitting duo (the former a Wu Tang alum, the latter his longtime collaborator) set the internet abuzz after smoking a blunt wrapped in 24 carat gold and posting pics of the fatty on Instagram. Wish I had that kind of bread to burn. If you do, might I suggest a trip to Calgary? (Cuban Club, Ybor City)
Andy Frasco & the U.N. A rising talent from LA, Frasco has a lightly sanded and soulful quality to his howling vocals, and a strong upbeat kick to his boogie-blasted, party-time funky and jazzy NOLA-vibing blues rock, his key-banging augmented by sexy sax and a strong rhythm section. (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)
The Appleseed Collective w/Damion Suomi/6 Volt Rodeo Culling the sprightly bright sounds of vintage Americana, folk and country swing and throwing in a healthy dash of boppin’ ragtime, hot Dixeland and gypsy jazz is The Appleseed Collective, a quintet from Ann Arbour, Mich., that lays down tuneful multi-part boy-girl harmonies against arrangements built with acoustic instrumentation (guitar, upright bass, mandolin, fiddle, washboard and banjo). (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Cyndi Lauper Of all the pop stars to come cartwheeling out of the 1980s, Cyndi Lauper stands among those who maintained dignity and artistic integrity, even if her sonic evolution and choice of subject matter never earned quite the scratch of her She’s So Unusual and True Colors era. She tackled then-taboo subjects (homophobia, racism, domestic violence, incest, abortion) in her more serious-toned, genre-jumping, critically lauded but chart-flopping Hat Full of Stars in 1993, tried on some holiday tunes with 1998’s Merry Christmas … Have a Nice Life, slipped into some classy jazz standards and inched her way up to the No. 14 spot on the Billboard 200 with 2003’s At Last, re-imagined select tunes from her repertoire in 2005’s The Body Acoustic, and topped the Blues charts and earned a Grammy nom with her soulful bluesy 10th studio LP, Memphis Blues. Lauper hits Clearwater on her current “She’s So Unusual Tour” marking the 30th anniversary of her debut LP, with the obligatory front-to-back presentation of the album followed by a handful of other cuts from her long and varied career. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9
Coastline Festival w/Passion Pit/Two Door Cinema Club/Zulu Wave/Many more Billed as a “Musiculinary Experience,” the inaugural Coastline Fest features 10 buzzing national acts joined by a few relevant locals, food trucks, craft beer, and original art. Details forthcoming in this week's story. (MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre, Tampa)
Scorpio Vintage Rides and Art Show 3 A daytime party taking place on the 500 block of Central Avenue in downtown St. Pete, with a lineup of high-class local rock bands playing on the street between 2 and 6:30 p.m. (No Loves, SuperCruiser and Fowler’s Bluff, in that order), parking on the block reserved for custom bike and hot-rods along with a display of vintage motorcycles, cars, scooters and bicycles (and a contest with trophies by the indomitable Frank Strunk III), related vendors, an art show, a pin-up girl pageant and an after-hours party at Sake Bomb. (Central Avenue, St. Petersburg)
The Dig w/Article 47/Yogurt Smoothness/Macrame Owls “Cold Afternoon” slides through pulsing bass grooves, glistening waves of summery synth haze and fragile-pretty guitar melodies, as gentle breathy falsetto intones drift over top. The first single off The Dig’s new You & I EP (the follow-up to June’s Tired Hearts EP) is blissful psych pop with shadowy shoegaze/post-punk undertones; the New York four-piece features a pair of higher-toned co-frontmen (bassist Emile Mosseri and guitar player David Baldwin) along with keyboardist/guitarist Erick Eiser and drummer Mark. (Fubar, St. Petersburg)
Dunedin Wines the Blues w/Victor Wainwright & Wild Roots/Joey Gilmore/Biscuit Miller & the Mix The 22nd annual blues festival serves wines from around the world (German Riesling, Italian Pinot Grigio, Chilean Pinot Noir, etc.) along with beer and spirits, and stages a showcase of blues-slinging talents from around the state — soulfully howling, keys-banging powerhouse Victor Wainwright and his tight-playing band, South Florida R&B-infused blues maker Joey Gilmore, and funky jiving, bass-thumping Biscuit Miller & The Mix, which won a Blues Music Award last year. (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)
Juicy J In a rap industry overloaded with hot young up-and-comers racing toward their chance at super stardom, Juicy J has managed to remain relevant and juggle esteemed roles in both a group setting via Southern hip-hop group Three 6 Mafia, and as a solo artist with three albums worth of material to his credit. The latest to feature his deliberate flowing rhymes is Stay Trippy, which dropped in August and is amped up with a cavalcade of high profile guests — Wiz Khalifa, Justin Timberlake, Lil Wayne, 2 Chainz and A$AP Rocky included. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg)
Rootstock w/Tribal Style/Poetry n’ Lotion/Ryan Breakdown McGown/NoNeed/Don Vagabond/The Rukus/Jinx/Badda Skat/GWAN HI-FI (DJs Blenda & Shafiq) A big grouping of local favorites spanning reggae, hip-hop, funk, and metal/jazz rock fusion aesthetics gather for what I imagine will be a highly energetic and fun-filled Saturday night performance, with plenty of room for improv, sit-ins and general sonic cavorting. (New World Brewrey, Ybor City)
Black Uhuru feat. Duckie Simpson, Andrew Bees, Queen Kay w/UNRB/Trenchfoot Shindig The battle-scarred roots reggae outfit from Jamaica spawned several of the genre’s most well-regarded singers before they went solo (Don Carlos, Junior Reid, Michael Rose, Puma Jones) or moved on to become more successful in other endeavors (Sly & Robbie). Black Uhuru (which literally translates to “Black Freedom”) has released 14 studio LPs and holds the distinction of winning the very first reggae music Grammy award in 1984 (for Anthem), though if you’re familiar with their music at all, it’s likely by way of a brief soundbite that appeared in an episode of The Cosby Show, which featured Denise and her boyfriend head-bobbing and calling along to “Spongi Reggae” while Cliff looked on dubiously in the background) Today, Derrick “Duckie” Simpson is the sole remaining original member from the 1972 lineup, and he’s seen members come, go and sometimes return, as is the case with current vocalist Andrew “Bee’s” Beckford. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Samurai Shotgun w/Malibu/Goldlynx Samurai Shotgun is one of the area’s sickest alt hip-hop outfits, churning out instrumentally driven songs with a firm rock and funk-grinding thrust. Best of the Bay winning artist Young Golden (real name Matt Henley) leads Samurai Shotgun, rapping, rhyming and vocalizing to the ministrations of keys and turntable man Marquis Blocker (aka DJ Keys), guitarist Tyler Mulder, drummer Jovan Lecaro and bassist Bryant Harp. The quintet is getting ready to drop a new full-length album, Force of the Shotgun, and this show on their home turf launches a nine-date Florida tour to hype it up. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 10
Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band feat. Yungchen Rowan grew up in the Boston suburbs but you’d think he was spawned from the high forests of the Appalachia if you judged him purely on the sound of his bluegrass music, driven by his acoustic guitar and mandolin melodies. He collaborated with David Grisman early in his career, as Earth Opera, and also wrote the New Riders of the Purple Sage’s best-known track, “Panama Red.” His bluegrass band includes dobro player Michael Witcher, upright bassist Paul Knight, and banjo player Keith Little. Adding a surprising note of world folk flavor to the bill is Tibetan traditional songstress Yungchen Lhamo. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
Music Masala: East Meets West World Fusion Concert A spirited collusion of world sonic cultures, with more than 30 musicians performing in changing ensembles that include a 20-person vocal choir and a group of tabla players, as directed by Shankh Lahiri. Among the featured guests are Indian classical sitar artist Abhik Mukherjee and New York/Mumbai bansuri flute player Jay Gandhi.Among the featured performers are Indian classical sitar artist Abhik Mukherjee, New York/Mumbai bansuri flute player Jay Gandhi, guitarist Peter Mongaya, bassist Ray Villadonga and drummer/percussionist Michael Washington. (India Cultural Center, Tampa)
Laura Shepherd The Bay area songstress returns to the Studio for another performance of her earthy world-flecked folk-Americana tunes, her vocals evocative of “Brand New Key” folkie Melanie and set against mandolin plucks and strums. (the Studio@620, St. Petersburg)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11
Caravan of Thieves Fuzz and Carrie Sangiovanni are the hubbie and wifey who front Caravan of Thieves and write vivacious, old-timey gypsy-vaudevillian jazz tunes and folk-pop serenades about topics ranging from monsters to funhouses to quirky, shady and sometimes downright creepy characters, all delivered in a collision of guitars, violin, double bass and light percussion. (The Hideaway Café & Recording Studio, St. Petersburg)
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 12
Paint Fumes w/Kid Aids Preceding the regularly scheduled All Good Tuesday jams is a free show headed up by Charlotte, N.C.’s raw, trashy, unhinged garage-punk trio Paint Fumes, which explodes through fast-shuffling odes dosed in psych, surf and power pop hues. This date backs 2013 debut full-length, Uck Life. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 13
John Vanderslice w/Alexander & the Grapes A native to Florida with roots in Gainesville, San Francisco-based singer, songwriter and studio guru John Vanderslice is one of those musicians’ musicians; beloved by peers, critics, and musicphiles, and known for his work behind the scenes on the albums of artists like Spoon and The Mountain Goats, but hasn’t gotten too much attention for his solo material. It’s not for any lack of talent, since the man has plenty, and he crafts some truly lovely sounds, as his Kickstarter-funded Dagger Beach proves. His 2013 ninth album (self-released under his own Tiny Telephone Records) is a marriage of understated yet potent alt rock and breezy ambling electro-folk music, his tender sweet intones murmuring or soaring earnestly over tasteful arrangements marked by subtle symphonic and synthesized embellishments, and captured in his preferred all-analog, direct-to-two-inch-tape style for an added coating of golden sonic warmth. On an exciting local note, our very indie rock risers Alexander & the Grapes join Vanderlice for some dates beyond this Tampa Bay stop. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.
This article appears in Nov 7-13, 2013.