THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6
LUDO w/EDISON GLASS/TREATY OF PARIS/DES VAIL St. Louis power-pop quintet Ludo offers huge hooks, tight harmonies and refreshingly snarky lyrics aimed squarely at adults (although I'm sure the kids dig it, too). The band also throws in savage guitar solos and the occasional Moog foray for added fun. Veterans of South By Southwest and Warped Tour, the group has been around for four years, gigging incessantly and building a nationwide following of "Ludo Ninjas." The band's major label debut, You're Awful, I Love You, is scheduled for release on Island in February. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
BLIND MELON w/AUDITORIUM Blind Melon re-formed last year, and the new-Blind Melon-sounding (as in a spunkier Grateful Dead-sounding) tune "Sometimes" is posted on the band's MySpace page. It's pleasurable enough, but I'm of the old-school mindset that when a band's leader/frontman dies, so should the band name. A decade after the death of singer/lyricist Shannon Hoon and the band's subsequent demise, "Blind Melon" just seems hinky. Replacement vocalist Travis Warren reportedly hits all the right notes, but who wants to get on stage and ape a dead dude? Moreover, who wants to watch this charade? On the other hand, in this splintered, gasping rock era, perhaps Blind Melon 2.0 isn't such a travesty after all. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
AARON NEVILLE You take a look at this big, burly dude with tree-trunk arms jutting and a sword tattooed on his cheek, and you think, "Don't mess with this cat; he might rip my head off." And then he opens his mouth to sing and out comes one of the sweetest tenors in all of pop history. Neville's dual career has found him sharing vocals with the sibling group The Neville Brothers, as well as enjoying crossover success as a pop crooner. (Hard Rock Live, Orlando) —Eric Snider
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7
RICK SPRINGFIELD Rick Springfield hasn't had a hit in ages, but the singer-turned-soap-star-turned-singer's legend lives on, thanks mostly to the inclusion of his signature song, "Jessie's Girl," in damn near every VH1 countdown ever. The guy has tried to escape the long one-hit-wonder-of-the-'80s shadow, though, releasing five discs since 1999, the latest a Christmas album (ugh). Methinks the crowd will probably go more nuts for "Jessie's Girl" than for "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Just a hunch. (Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota) —Cooper Levey-Baker
MARCIA BALL This blues/boogie pianist from East Texas has built herself a devoted Bay area following thanks to one energetic performance after another at the Skipperdome and in front of thousands at local blues festivals. While 1989's Gatorhythms remains her classic, 2005's Live! Down the Road does a superb job of capturing the essence of her bayou-party live shows and includes an impassioned, month-after-Katrina reading of Randy Newman's heartbreaking ballad "Louisiana 1927." (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
CHRISTINE KANE w/GEORGE FULLER III WMNF brings back station fave Kane, a Boston College/coffeehouse grad with a gift for literary story songs underscored by her dramatic vocal style. (Friday Morning Musicale, Tampa)
MOBIUS BAND w/THE EPOCHS/MIDDLE DISTANCE RUNNER/KUSH WONDER Brooklyn electro-rock trio Mobius Band offers earnest, Thom Yorke-indebted vocals over ambient guitar washes, staccato computer blips and propulsive bass lines. Fellow Brooklynites The Epochs skew more pop, with songs like "Tug of War" having an oddly pleasing Jack-Johnson-covered-by-Kraftwerk feel. Washington, D.C., quintet Middle Distance Runner's labyrinthine indie-pop speaks to heartbreak and a serious love of gadgetry. "To be honest … I think it gets better and better as we get more equipment," said frontman Stephen Kilroy in a recent issue of CL's Washington City Paper. "It used to be kind of sonically spare, but now we've got all these oohs and ahhs and organs and acoustic guitars on [the song 'With Swords'], and it's a lot more complex and fun to listen to." (Crowbar, Ybor City)
NEKROMANTIX/THE CHOP TOPS/KOFFIN KATS Positioned at the forefront of that weird marriage of rockabilly and horror movies, psychobilly standouts the Nekromantix return to the Bay for another round of doghouse bass, sped-up James Burton licks and silly lines about rotting in hell. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
THE RANCID POLECATS/CAR BOMB DRIVER A punk-informed bar band with a sense of humor, Tampa's Rancid Polecats shine on titles like "Piece of Shit," an ode to that beater car the ladies refuse to love. This Night of Infamy also features Tampa Bay punk faves Car Bomb Driver, the Dave Reeder-led quintet responsible for the album Evacuation, one of the year's best local releases. The Rancid Polecats perform again Saturday at Yeoman's Road Pub. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
ELEVATED w/EMILY CRASH/WINA & INYA St. Pete rock/ska/reggae/rap purveyors Elevated headline this freebie that coincides with downtown St. Pete's First Friday block party. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 8
COL. BRUCE HAMPTON & THE QUARK ALLIANCE w/COPE Hailed by many as godfather of the contemporary jam-band scene, Bay area regular Col. Bruce Hampton returns with more of his bluesy bark, acid-soaked guitar solos and wonderfully absurd showmanship. (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)
THE AVETT BROTHERS w/LOST BAYOU RAMBLERS Call 'em "alt-bluegrass," "indie folk" or just plain "country" — main Avett brother Scott doesn't care, just as long as people tune in. And many have to the band's breakthrough album Emotionalism, which has enjoyed heavy airplay this year on WMNF, the station responsible for bringing the North Carolina trio to town. For more on the Avett Brothers, see the music feature. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
A REASON TO ROCK w/CHRIS McCARTY BAND/ELEVATED AND OTHERS This charity show to benefit the fight against Parkinson's Disease features Gainesville's Chris McCarty, an African-American artist whose agreeable brand of acoustic rock brings the hooks and harmonies. (Jannus Landing, St. Pete) —ES
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 9
KEITH URBAN w/GARY ALLAN The country crooner from Down Under has become that rare Nashville star capable of doing arena tours, thanks to slick, saccharine and sentimental crossover hits such as "For the Grace of God," "Somebody Like You" and "Once in a Lifetime." (St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa)
DAVID WILCOX A folkie styled after 1970s stars like Jackson Browne, singer/songwriter David Wilcox comes to town from the western North Carolina music hotbed of Asheville. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
RORY BLOCK If Robert Johnson could've looked into the future and seen Rory Block, he probably would've gone back to the crossroads and reversed his deal with the devil. A chick playing acoustic slide guitar and singing Delta blues tunes, both Johnson's and others? This is not to criticize Block's expert playing and serviceable vocals; it's just that women have generally found tough sledding if they focus on this kind of music. She succeeds better than most. (Craftsman House, 2955 Central Ave., St. Pete) —ES
MONDAY, DECEMBER 10
STALLING DAWN w/JUNIOR REVOLUTION/ADMIRALS OF THE NARROW SEA/SAVE THE MESSENGER Tampa sceamo quintet Stalling Dawn plays this hometown gig before launching what looks to be a full-scale national tour in '08. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
JOSÉ FELICIANO José Feliciano — blind from birth — first earned notice as part of the early-'60s Greenwich Village folk revival scene but didn't really make his mark until he crossed over with a flamenco- and Latin-jazz-inspired sound. His biggest hit was a 1968 cover of The Doors' "Light My Fire," but the dude has proven durable. (Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota) —CLB
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11
CHIMAIRA w/KATAKLYSM/TERROR/THE END Night of metal featuring Cleveland's Chimaira, a hardcore sextet whose latest album, Resurrection, just missed cracking the Top 40 on Billboard's album chart. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
SHA NA NA So you're hanging around Columbia University in 1968 and you come up with this terrific idea: Let's start a group that does '50s pop and doo-wop; we'll grease back our hair and do the whole shtick. And then someone tries to have you committed. But you have the last laugh, because the next year you play Woodstock. And then you have four decades of last laughs, because Sha Na Na, a novelty act made up of pretty good singers, has endured. This matinee show, which will feature the band doing oldies rock and Christmas carols, starts at 1 p.m. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) —ES
PETER WHITE w/RICK BRAUN/MINDI ABAIR It's a smooth-jazz Christmas with guitarist White, trumpeter Braun and saxophonist Abair. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 12
JETHRO TULL Back in the early '70s, Jethro Tull provided a sort of litmus test for rock knowledge. If you thought frontman Ian Anderson was named "Jethro Tull," you were subject to severe ridicule. Referring to Jethro Tull as "he" could do irreparable harm. The band was pretty innovative for its time, mixing hard rock, blues, prog, quasi-classical, old-English folk and high-falutin' lyrics for a pretty engaging sound. (I haven't listened to Aqualung in a long time, but I wouldn't run if someone plugged it into the CD player.) Tull's theatrical shows — the lithe Anderson often played flute for long periods while standing on one leg — became legend. The band's stardom dried up in the mid-'70s, but like so many acts of the period, they've persisted and found a niche playing upscale halls for baby boomers. Wonder how long Anderson can do the one-leg act now? (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) —ES
This article appears in Dec 5-11, 2007.