Downtown's Lights on Tampa continues this evening, the last night of its two-night run. This year's event has
some of the most fun and dazzling interactive installations — and performances. Read here for more.
Commute for great art Saturday night. First up, we have good news for BlueLucy fans: Chad Mize and Phillip Clark, the pop cultur
e geniuses who used to hold court on the 600 Block, will be back with Shifty Tricks, a traveling skateboard deck exhibit opening with a reception on Saturday evening at the Amsterdam. The closing party will be at Local Longboard Company on Sat., March 14 (same night as St. Pete’s downtown art walk). Art will remain on display until Sat., March 21. Artists include Derek Donnelly, Stephen Palladino, Coralette Damme, J&S Signs, Chad Mize, Phillip Clark (“You’re Welcome”; pictured alongside text) Betsy Alvarez and several others. In Tampa, two longtime collaborators will be featured in Bewareness: recent collaborations from William Downs and George Long (pictured above) The Tempus Projects show revisits their time together at the Atlanta College of Art in the early ’90s. Downs majored in printmaking and painting while Long majored in sculpture. Both artists were active members of an Atlanta artists collective, Baker’s Dozen, and their work will be installed in the gallery as a cloud of scattered drawings mounted on small panels. The opening reception is on Saturday at 7 p.m. with an after party at 10 at the nearby Mermaid Tavern. Tempus is also featuring this exhibition for Seminole Heights First Friday on March 6 at 7 p.m. Exhibition will be up through March 20. tempus-projects.com, bluelucy.net.
Among the ‘80s and ‘90s stand-up comics who blossomed into TV stars, Paul Reiser made waves as an actor in Diner and Aliens, and most recently appeared in the Oscar-nominated Whiplash. But all that success kept him away from stand-up, his first love, for nearly 20 years. He got back behind the mic three years ago, and now his national comeback tour is bringing him to the Palladium in St. Pete. From Mad About You to bestselling books like Couplehood, Reiser’s career has been an extended exploration of relationships, and he’s returning to the theme with this tour. “When you strip everything else in the world down to its bare essence, you ultimately get two people and what goes on between them,” he said during an interview with CL. Feb. 21, 8 p.m., Palladium Theater, 253 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg. $29-$49. themahaffey.com. (Text by David Morris).
The actors and stagehands at Jobsite Theater are excited — and understandably so — to be working with filmmaker, playwright and poet Israel Horovitz, who is in residence with the theater, culminating in a staged reading (with blocking, i.e, moving about the stage) of his play Sins of the Mother. “My knowledge of his work goes all the way back to high school, when I freaked out when I learned his son Adam was a member of the Beastie Boys,” director David Jenkins said. Much more than just Ad-Rock’s dad, Horovitz has written more than 70 produced plays. He is the most performed American playwright in France, where he makes his second home). A recent film adaptation of his play My Old Lady (produced by his daughter Rachel, who was also behind Moneyball), stars Maggie Smith and Kevin Kline. $25; $12.50 for students; free for Jobsite Rock Stars. Feb. 21, 8 p.m., TECO Theatre, Straz Center, Tampa. jobsitetheater.org/sins-of-the-mother.
Butcher Holler Here We Come — NYC’s Aztec Economy stages the Tampa premiere of a play about a 1973 cave collapse in West Virginia. The story follows five trapped coal miners. Shows Saturday and Sunday at Silver Meteor Gallery, Ybor City. aztececonomy.com.
Eckerd College Environmental Film Festival See documentaries, animated, experimental and feature films followed by talks from international scholars and filmmakers. Free. Through Feb. 28. eckerd.edu/eff/#films.
Zootastic Family Fest Pet furry friends and learn about them at Sunken Gardens and Great Explorations 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday. Presented in partnership with Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo, the event promises critter-tastic fun all day long. $10. ZootasticFamilyFest.org.
The Suncoast Association of Chinese Americans host its Chinese New Year Festival in Largo Cultural Park on Saturday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The fest features an outdoor market, performances, food and an outdoor children culture area. Admission is free.
You're with it, educated. Isn't about time you attend a modern dance show? Take your pick of dance events this weekend. There's a virtual stampede on local stages Saturday and Sunday. Moving Current, Shoes at the Door and the University of Tampa Spring Dance Concert are all merging storytelling and movement in new, inspiring ways. Read here for details.
