We're smack dab in the middle between the year's two biggest celebrations, so here's an event that packs the two-one punch your body needs: the SOUL! Xmas/NYE Party .
For the past four years, DJs Funk Jesus and Gregg Schmidt have hosted the every-last-Monday-of-the-month SOUL! dance party a night of getting down to old-school funk, deep soul, Philly soul, R&B, Motown and more. The monthly event features 2-for-1 drink specials and is frequented by college-age hipsters, mature lovers of vintage R&B and random folks who just like to get down.
Tonight, you can expect to hear the “hip-soulful” holiday music of James Brown, Booker T, Jimmy Smith, Otis Redding, The Staple Singers and plenty of others.
Doors open around 10 p.m. but things usually get cranking around 11 p.m. to midnight. The Orpheum is at 1902 Republica de Cuba Ave., Ybor City. $3. 813-248-9500.
It’s not Rockefeller Plaza, but Tampa Bay citizens can experience a winter tradition usually reserved for folks up north.
Ice skate in a man-made rink in the park by the Hillsborough River this holiday at Tampa’s Downtown on Ice, an outdoor ice skating arena set up at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park. It costs $10 per person for a 90-minute session, skates included. Lunchtime skate is 11 a.m.-1 p.m. and costs only $7 for 30 minutes. Hours are 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Mon.-Thu., 10 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat. and 8 p.m. Sun. Dec. 3-Jan. 2. Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, 600 N. Ashley Drive, Tampa. Contact JR Malone aticerinkeventstampa@yahoo.com for more information.
This article appears in Dec 23-29, 2010.