Don’t Stop St. Petersburg: A stage-by-stage guide to the third annual music fest

More than 40 local and Florida regional acts are represented at the third annual edition of Don’t Stop St. Petersburg, its date shifted from mid-October to the last weekend in November and site repositioned further up Central Avenue, from the hustle and bustle of the 600 Block to the vibrant eclectic Grand Central District, both steps taken so the day-long fest coincides with Small Business Saturday. ‘Course, it’s also a holiday weekend, when lots of youthful area folks are home for the holidays, and the cooler conditions likely don’t hurt either, especially with the focus on public spaces via the four indoor and outdoor stages located on and around the 21st Street North block that will be closed down for the occasion and lined with local vendors hawking wares.

There’s no lack of great music to check out, with genres touching on psych, garage, hip hop, punk, folk rock and piano pop among others, and no fewer than 10 Best of the Bay winners are featured in the lineup. Some are givens; Luxury Mane, Samurai Shotgun, RedFeather, Sonic Graffiti. Others you might need reminding about or help navigating to, and what about the few newbs in here, too? Here’s our stage-by-stage highlights paired with the complete schedule for each stage for your planning convenience.

ICLINIC STAGE
Sure, you dig Sonic Graffiti balls-out funky voodoo blues-garage explosions, but have you experienced the sinister churn and brawny pounding grooves of the power trio that is Selectric? (They self-styled it “cosmic dark sludge boogie” in a recent Facebook post.) Sonic Graffiti’s Drew Anthony also plays in this band, primarily on bass, as Jasmine Deja trades off drums and guitar with bandmate Rod Woolfe and groans or howls low-toned vocals amid it all. More about her other two projects (both performing at Don’t Stop on another stage) in the coming ‘graphs (3:30-4 p.m.) Another iClinic must-see, Ben Katzman’s DeGreaser, has a South Florida native namesake who leads his band’s charge of fuzzy, axe-shredded garage and KISS-stained glam amid running indie label BUFU Records (10:20-11 p.m.). Also performing: Johnny Mile & the Kilometers, 4:20-4:50 p.m.; Ask for Tigerr, 5:10-5:40 p.m.; Luxury Mane, 6-6:30 p.m.; Denim Blue Music, 6:50-7:20 p.m.; Airsickness, 7:40 – 8:10 p.m.; Sonic Graffiti, 8:30-9 p.m.; Plastic Pinks, 9:20-10 p.m. 2061 Central Ave. Alley (Outdoors).

TROPICCOOL BUS STAGE
Jason Trunzo-led quartet Black Coast Royals arrive at Don’t Stop on the brink of releasing a debut full-length, recorded at Red Room and due out in January. The big, rabble-rousing vintage-scuffed rock n’ roll of first single “Patron Saint” is a good precursor with its crunchy guitar riffs, springy battering beats, meaty soaring organ and robust vocals wheeling over the tightly-wrought mix. (7-7:30 p.m.) The Tropiccool Bus stage has a few hip hop note-worthies but young upstart Matt Chibbs deserves at least a moment of your time. His sanguine attitude is reflected in breezy, sing-song rhyme flows and faster-placed spits that slide and twist against strong production qualities ranging from the upbeat horn-blown bounce of “Put ‘em Up” to the intriguing warped-groove and lounge intoxicated “Simple High” ad Latin soul-tinged “Road to Glory” (8:50-9 p.m.). Also performing: Kristopher James, 3:15-3:45 p.m.; Josh Mclin, 4-4:30 p.m.; Tommy Simms, 4:45-5:15 p.m.; Chant the Trees, 5:30-6 p.m.; Orion Band, 6:15-6:45 p.m.; Homemade Broadcast Radio Comedy, 7:45-8:20 p.m.; Newbreed, 8:30-8:45 p.m.; Justin Lundy, 9:20 – 9:45 p.m.; Mickey Spixx, 9:50-10:15 p.m.; DEA + Saint, 10:20-10:50 p.m. 2061 Central Ave. (Outdoors).

SLY BAR STAGE

Lots of high quality, heavy-leaning talent to be found in the Sly Bar confines with one exception in Goodnight Neverland, their alt rock taking on a delicate ambient quality in the exquisite melodies of interwoven guitar, piano and clear, pitch-perfect vocal harmonies. (7:30-8 p.m.). Permanent Makeup delivers one of the bar’s don’t-miss-this-sets, their dissonant agitated No Wave and punch-gut volatile avant punk showcased spectacularly in a sophomore LP, Taker, that dropped in August and drummed up some mild internet buzz for the three-piece (9:10-9:40 p.m.). Also performing: Samurai Shotgun, 4:10-4:40 p.m.; Broom Closet, 5-5:30 p.m.; UV-TV, 5:50-6:20 p.m.; WD HAN, 6:40-7:10 p.m.; Terminus Cursus, 8:20-8:50 p.m.; Tight Genes, 10-10:35p.m.; Mushmind, 10:55-11:25 p.m.; Meatwound, 11:45 p.m.-12:20 a.m.; The Golden Pelicans, 12:40-1:20 a.m. 2061 Central Ave. (Indoors).

WOVE @ THE LOFT STAGE
Rogerthomas is a single-man army of music, his gauzy vocals pitted against guitar and synth mixes that are glitchy, trip-hop-hued and R&B-flecked experiments in future-folk, and are surprisingly fun to see come together in a live setting (5:40-6:10 p.m.). We gave a shout-out to Jasmine Deja earlier, but all three projects that the BOTB-winning multi-instrumentalist juggles are worthy of some shine. Veiny Hands, another trio, has loose and grimy vintage psych rock appeal with few-part harmonies (7:20-7:50 p.m.) while Soapbox Soliloquy is her own one-woman show of trippy, dreamy retro-warped pop and drone (11:30-midnight). Also performing: Hussar, 4-4:30 p.m.; Poster, 4:50-5:20 p.m.; Fictional Friends, 6:30-7 p.m.; Jackson Davis & the Jackettes, 8:10-8:40 p.m.; Archaic Interest, 9-9:30 p.m.; FayRoy, 9:50-10:20 p.m.; Snacking, 10:40 – 11:10 p.m.; RedFeather, 12:20-1 a.m. 2036 Central Ave., Studio A (Indoors).

Don’t Stop St. Petersburg takes place Sat., Nov. 28, from 3 p.m. to 3 a.m., at four stages located around 21st Street N. between Central Avenue and First Avenue N., Grand Central District, St. Petersburg. Tickets are $10 in advance, $12 day of show (all ages welcome), and can be purchased here. For more info on Don't Stop St. Pete, visit the website or Facebook page.

This article appears in Nov 26 – Dec 2, 2015.