Hey, everybody! Yo Gabba Gabba! invades Ruth Eckerd Hall tonight! The Emmy-winning kids (and parent-loved) show features Anime/LSD-laced psychedelia and cute alien-like critters led by orange-jumpsuit-wearing DJ Lance.
Our favorite off-the-beaten-path, mixed-use space, the Venture Compound, celebrates a Three-Year-Ventureversary today through Monday with a stellar slate of aural and visual wonders. Read here for more details.
Tampa Am 2014 is here. The four-day "Super Bowl of amateur skateboarding" is presented in tandem with an art show at the Skatepark of Tampa and concert in Ybor Saturday night. The event is a great time for fans of skateboarding, art and music, and Ybor's biggest sausage party of the year for single ladies. Read more about it here.
Saturday is the day for big holiday festivals. Tampa, St. Pete and just about every town in Tampa Bay is hosting their big family celebration and/or tree lighting. One of the biggest is Winter's Miracle on Cleveland Street, which features a snow slide, train rides, inflatable attractions, an outdoor skating rink and free holiday Winter the dolphin toys for the first 300 kids at the gate. Read about more events in our holiday events guide.
Head to Sarasota for the Atomic Holiday Bazaar. The annual expo is a dream for indie-hipster shoppers with beaucoup vendors hawking nifty, unique, vintage and handmade items. It’s the creative commerce event of the season! facebook.com/AtomicHolidayBazaar.
Support local filmmakers at the Underground Film Fest – at Seminole Mall, of all places. Films will be shown Fri., Dec. 5, 3-11:45 p.m., Sat., Dec. 6, noon-11:45 p.m. Click here for more info or to buy tickets.
Book lovers, writers — Keep St. Pete Lit presents its Literary Hike at Boyd Hill tonight. Read about it and other local wordy whirls in Tiffany Razzano's Page Turners.
Head to local theaters for comedic alternatives to your standard holiday show. The dark and gritty, Guy Ritchie-esque Bones opens at Silver Meteor Gallery. The offbeat Jewish rom-com Handle With Care opens at Stageworks, and Laughter on the 23rd Floor brings back the wit of Neil Simon/Mel Brooks/Carl Reiner-era golden years of television.
Bicycle enthusiasts, especially those among us who've had a bike stolen, can look forward to a new era in two-wheel riding when Coast Bike Share launches with an afternoon fest, Coast.Park.Play, at Water Works Park in Tampa Sunday.
Happy Repeal Day! If you didn't learn in history class about Prohibition, the era when society lived sober (or, more to the point, drank illegally in underground bars) under the constraints of the 21st Constitutional amendment, which was repealed on Dec. 5, 1933. Celebrate your legal right to get drunk at Southern Brewing and Winemaking's Prohibition Party Friday night and the Tampa Bay Bartender's Guild big gala at the Cuban Club Saturday night.
This article appears in Dec 4-10, 2014.