Tampa songwriter and poet Dennis Amadeus of Wolfgang Amadeus screaming into a microphone during a live performance at Tampa Sessions, wearing a black "Support Local Art" T-shirt with a full band on a green turf stage.
Wolfgang Amadeus on Tampa Sessions Credit: wolfgangamadeusmusic / Facebook

Gasparilla Festival of the Arts is centered around work folks can see, but there’s always been a musical element, too.

Tampa Bay’s favorite weatherman, Denis Phillips, is the emcee for a two-day mini music festival that is built this year around local staples of the Americana and rock scene (Have Gun Will Travel, Ashley Smith & the Random Occurrence) along with a homecoming set by cosmic-folkie Mark Etherington (aka Mountain Holler), rock (Wulfgang Amadeus, Discord Theory), and more.

There’s no cover for Gasparilla Festival of the Arts at Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park in Tampa from Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 28-March 1.

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This article appears in Feb. 26 – Mar. 04, 2026.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...