FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14
DAMON FOWLER GROUP w/SOUL 2 EARTH Easily among Tampa Bay's top guitarists, Damon Fowler began his career more than a decade ago as a Strat-wielding teen, wowing audiences with string-bending, mind-blowing blues-rock freakouts. In recent years, he has matured as a singer, songwriter and musician, expanding his stylistic palette to include the country sounds of the past, which he gloriously recreates on his 50-year-old Gibson lap steel guitar. But don't fret: The ferocious six-strong heroics that made him a local star before he could vote will definitely be on display for this Skipperdome gig. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
ANITA BAKER Hallelujah, this isn't a holiday concert. I had feared that, but Ruth Eckerd's website makes no mention of Baker singing "Silent Night" et al. Baker was a major star in the mid to late '80s, with such smooth and beguiling hits as "Sweet Love," "Caught Up in the Rapture" and "Giving You the Best That I Got." Her rich, syrupy contralto was a marvel, a welcome, jazzy tonic to Whitney Houston and that ilk. After 1994's Rhythm of Love, Baker receded from public view, concentrating on her young family, as well as enduring the loss of her parents and record label struggles. She returned in '04 with My Everything on Blue Note, a solid work (but far from a triumphant return) that showed her voice had not diminished in the least. It's a good thing to have Anita Baker back on a Tampa Bay stage. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) —Eric Snider
PACKWAY HANDLE BAND w/BARON VON BEAR/WILL QUINLAN/PICKFORD SUNDRIES Gotta love that scene they got going on up there in Athens, Ga. Packway Handle Band is a prime example of the college town's wildly talented and eclectic crop of musicians. PHB plays a spunky brand of bluegrass informed by everything from the Louvin Brothers to Talking Heads. Twangy enough to please traditionalists but with a backwoods funkiness that's sure to delight non-country-loving concertgoers, the Athens quintet should make for a nice fit inside the cozy confines of everyone's favorite beer garden/music venue. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
SISTER HAZEL CHRISTMAS SHOW I was a student living in Gator Country in '97, the year this Gainesville bar band became a national sensation. They played a huge homecoming event at Florida Field and enjoyed the adulation of about 80,000 screaming coeds and frat boys. A decade later, Sister Hazel plays Tampa Theatre, which is impressive considering the band's one-hit-wonder status — but a Christmas show in support of an album titled Santa's Playlist? Come on, guys, do you really want to get on stage and attempt "Little Drummer Boy" and "Oh Holy Night"? (Tampa Theatre, Tampa)
REBEKAH PULLEY & THE RELUCTANT PROPHETS One of Tampa Bay's most accomplished singer/songwriters brings her folk-pop stylings to the home of such fine brews as Pipers Pale Ale and Razzbeery Wheat. (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15
HISTORY w/AUTO!AUTOMATIC!!/RED ROOM CINEMA /KINGSBURY/DJ DROP THE NEEDLE Central Florida mixed-gender quintet History has all the markings of an indie buzz band: badass drummer navigating the group through tricky time signatures; two keyboardists dosing the songs with myriad effects; an abundance of energy resulting in A.D.D.-friendly arrangements/performances and a maybe (or maybe not) ironic citing of Journey as an influence on their MySpace page. This gig is History's CD release party for Ghosts in the City. The album features the track "Blue Khaki Dance Party" a synth-driven spaz-out wherein the lead singer — whose natural voice recalls the dude from Staind — croons through a vocoder, making him a near ringer for Cher on that awful hit "Believe." Not sure if that's what the History guy aimed for — maybe he's just being ironic. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
WEAPONS OF ASS DESTRUCTION Tampa Bay's LOUDEST rock band will attempt to blow the windows out at this little room next to the State Theatre. (Star Booty, St. Petersburg)
MAGADOG w/AMANDLA TUNESMITH Tampa's Magadog, a major player in the third-wave ska movement of the early 1990s, is back in support of its excellent new CD, Sunrise. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
SLIDER w/DREW ST. MARY/ZANESVILLE Tampa Bay six-piece Slider offers a rowdy blend of grunge, glam and Southern rock marked by a vicious twin-guitar attack, tasteful keys and the throaty vocals of charismatic frontman Lanslide. (The Garage, St. Petersburg)
MUSIC OF LED ZEPPELIN No word as of press time if the Led Zeppelin one-off in London Monday will result in a full-scale world tour. For the time being, I guess conductor/arranger Brent Havens' full-orchestra treatment is gonna have to do. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16
RICK ROSS w/DJ KHALED/FLO-RIDA/GARY ADAMS/PLIES/BRISCO/PLEASURE/DJ CHRISTION Rotund Miami rapper Rick Ross had a huge hit last year with his brain-dead how-to-be-a-coke-dealer instructional "Hustlin'," which repeats "Everyday I'm hustlin'" for pretty much the duration of the song. (Club Skye, Ybor City)
JOHNNY WINTER w/SETH WALKER OK, so Johnny Winter is no longer the wild-man rock star of the late '60s/early '70s, the wunderkind who held his own on stage with Duane Allman and in the Record Plant studio with Jimi Hendrix (yeah, I've heard the bootleg and confirmed it was Winter in an interview a couple years back). Time and hard living — namely heroin — have taken their toll, but the reed-thin, albino Texan still ranks as a guitar god, a bottleneck master who can play the blues twice as well as most dudes half his age and younger. Opening the show is Austin-based up and comer Seth Walker, an ace blues ax man with the heart of a singer/songwriter. Walker headlines with his band Dec. 21 at New World Brewery. For my profile of him, go to p. 45. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
MONDAY, DECEMBER 17
HOLIDAY OF SONG w/ISHMAEL KATZ/SOMETHING SPECIAL/MINDY SIMMONS/ELAINE SILVER/BILL SCHUSTIK/THE JEWISH CHORALE/JOM GROMKO/BRIAN BROWN The Sarasota Folk Club celebrates the season with a heavy-hitting lineup of some of the best acoustic talent in Sarasota and Manatee. Mindy Simmons, in particular, is a name to remember — her folk stylings have earned her mad respect on the local scene. (Sarasota Sailing Squadron, Sarasota) —Cooper Levey-Baker
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18
CRASH MITCHELL QUARTET The local scene's most severe cow punk, Crash Mitchell leads his mischievous four-piece through a 10th annual Not a Christmas Show. Basically, this gig is the perfect antidote for those of us already sick of all this holiday cheer bullshit. "Bah, Humbug!" Ebenezers unite! And pass the Jack Daniels. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
This article appears in Dec 12-18, 2007.