THURSDAY, OCT. 26
BRAND NEW HEAVIES English acid-jazz pioneers Brand New Heavies helped contemporize classic funk and soul sounds for a new generation of urban-music fans in the early '90s. The group also influenced the organic, soul-jazzy sonic beds of hip-hop artists like Guru and A Tribe Called Quest to no small degree. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
A STATIC LULLABY/THE CLASSIC CRIME/I AM GHOST/SO THEY SAY The good news: California screamo fave A Static Lullaby's eponymous new album is a vast improvement over the group's two previous efforts. The bad news: Now the group sounds just like the thousand or so generic screamo bands that were already better than A Static Lullaby. Seattle's The Classic Crime is a little more melodramatic (and a lot less screamy); new Epitaph Records outfit I Am Ghost is more Goth/Joy Division; and St. Louis combo So They Say's chunky emo sound harks back to the genre's pre-breakout era. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
ADD RECORDS FEST 5 WARM-UP Twelve of the bands that will be up in Gainesville for this weekend's three-day punk fest put in an early-bird appearance, thanks to Tampa label ADD Records: Toys That Kill; The Fleshies; Tiltwheel; Modern Machines; Ghost Mice; Off with Their Heads; The Tim Version; Dan Padilla; Vena Cava; The Dukes of Hillsborough; Down in the Dumps; Matty Pop Chart. (Transitions Art Gallery @ Skatepark of Tampa, Tampa)
FRIDAY, OCT. 27
TEDDY GEIGER He's young, he's cute, he writes, sings and plays his own songs, he has a sultry sigh in his voice — hey, he's John Mayer as a teenager. At 17, Geiger delivers pleasant, earnest, derivative pop-rock that's targeted at the teenage-girl set. (The Garage, St. Petersburg) —Eric Snider
THE HANKS/MILLION BILLION/ANIMALS DRESSED AS HUMANS Hollywood, California's Hanks ply a rock-infused version of pop-punk that's more interesting than most — the band's sound is taut and compelling, but rarely tips over into emo cliché. Fellow L.A.-area combo Million Billion plays a smart, highly stylized sort of singer-songwriter indie-pop. Good stuff. Clearwater's reverse-plushie-fetish indie-rock unit Animals Dressed As Humans kicks things off. (The Junction, Clearwater)
LIPSTICK WMNF DJ and resident electro/glam/synth-punk junkie Mike Bagley throws another of his occasional, futuro-gutter-fabulous shindigs. You don't have to rock your Dale Bozzio/Blade Runner makeup, but you should. Providing tunes are fuzz-toned Pinellas girl-garage act Doll Parts, favored St. Pete one-man synth/noise/weird-dance project Holiday and theatrical Dade County electro-punk ensemble Kill Miss Pretty. The burlesque dance troupe Thee Vaudevillians serve up additional spectacle. (The Garage, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, OCT. 28
GUAVAWEEN You know the deal — there's a hard-rocking stage, a classic-rocking stage and an urban stage. Let's just run it down. 98ROCK stage: Seether; Scratch & Sniff; Evans Blue; Flyleaf; Burn Season; Clenchfist. 95.7 The Beat stage: Doug E. Fresh (hell yeah!); Slick Rick (double hell yeah!); Whodini (hell hell hell yeah!); LeToya (um … who?). WDAE The Sports Animal stage: Edgar Winter; Quiet Riot; Julliett; Gravy. There's also an outdoor local-band stage this year: Basic Rock Outfit; Klik; Mike MacArthur; Caribe Orchestra. BONUS: If you really want to see some good, original music at Guavaween, duck into Orpheum and check out the free show by awesome Colorado alt-country act Drag The River, which features guys from celebrated punk bands like All, The Nobodys and Hot Rod Circuit. (Ybor City)
PAT TRAVERS w/DAMON FOWLER GROUP/JAMIE EUBANKS The Tampa Bay area has long had a fond affinity for journeyman guitarist Travers, who plays a hardscrabble brand of blues- and classic-rock. He had a brush with mainstream success in the late '70s/early '80s with "Boom Boom (Out Go the Lights)" and "Snortin' Whiskey." Fowler is one of the top blues-rock artists in the Bay area. (Bourbon Street, New Port Richey) —ES
AN EVENING WITH BELINDA WOMACK The longtime Bay area singing stalwart showcases her sultry blend of jazz, blues, pop and gospel at a dinner performance. Hospice of the Florida Suncoast is at 3050 First Ave. S., St. Petersburg. The show is presented by McCabe United Methodist Church; for info, call 727-867-5287. (Hospice of the Florida Suncoast, St. Petersburg) —ES
SOILWORK/DARKEST HOUR/MNEMIC/THREAT SIGNAL For 10 years, Swedish sextet Soilwork has blended elements of Scandinavian black/death metal with more melodic, hard-rocking New Wave of British Heavy Metal influences. The group is fairly iconic overseas but remains an underground phenomenon in the States. Darkest Hour, on the other hand, is huge with American all-ages metalcore audiences for its retro-reverent thrash. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
SEALS & SEALS Jimmy Seals, of Seals & Crofts fame, rejoins forces with his brother Dan, who also found soft-rock-duo success as half of England Dan & John Ford Coley ("I'd Really Love to See You Tonight"). The press release is touting the performance of new material slated for upcoming release, but expect tonight's show to be heavy on the brothers' respective back catalogs. (Pasco-Hernando Community College Performing Arts Center, New Port Richey)
ZAPPAWEEN 11 w/BOGUS POMP Guitarist Jerry Outlaw and his band of dedicated Zappa-philes have been honoring the late composer for more than a decade by lovingly recreating his labyrinthine pieces, executing them with absolute aplomb and having plenty of fun in the bargain. Halloween shows were Zappa's favorite, and Bogus Pomp continues the tradition. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg) —ES
RED ELVISES The zany Russian surf/rockabilly/roots-rock combo makes its umpteenth Skipperdome appearance. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
SUNDAY, OCT. 29
STORY OF THE YEAR/ANBERLIN/GREELEY ESTATES/MONTY ARE I It's a full bill of pop-grounded emo. Most kid-scene aficionados are familiar with the harder-edged Story of the Year and hooky, long-running Orlando Christian punk act Anberlin; Phoenix's taut Greeley Estates and Rhode Island's turgid Monty Are I are comparatively new Warped Tour community names. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
ROD MACDONALD Folk icon MacDonald makes one of his fairly frequent Bay area appearances. While somewhat unknown outside hardcore folkie circles, among his people MacDonald is a legend, one of the singer-songwriters who oversaw the Greenwich Village scene's second golden age in the '80s. (Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa, Tampa)
MONDAY, OCT. 30
DEVIL'S NIGHT BASH Combine one part Detroit tradition with two parts Hell and an awful lot of creepy industrial, punk and metal, and you've got yourself a Devil's Night Bash. NYC's Hanzel und Gretyl, Virginia's Bella Morte and Miami's Wykked Wytch provide the scary tunes, along with spinnage by guest DJ Mythadrall and a host of locals. Costume contest? Dancing? Myriad giveaways? You know it, Lucifer. (Club Empire, Ybor City)
TWO COW GARAGE/GLOSSARY/THE HUMAN CONDITION Columbus, Ohio's Two Cow Garage stumbles along the rougher, sloppier, punkier edge of alt-country turf — the group obviously learned a lot from the late, great Slobberbone, whose frontman Brent Best produced the '04 release The Wall Against Our Back. Glossary hails from Tennessee and gives up a slightly less gritty, more mature take on Americana, while hometown opener The Human Condition leans more toward singer-songwriter strum-pop. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
PHIL DeGREG USF brings in another relatively obscure but eminently worthy jazz musician to perform with its jazz faculty players. DeGreg resides, plays and teaches in Cincinnati and cites as early influences Bill Evans and Bud Powell. (FAH 110, University of South Florida, Tampa) —ES
DAVID LAMOTTE This month's guest at the Sarasota Folk Club's outdoor concert series, LaMotte brings a heartland rock vibe down from North Carolina. This is not the guy's first visit to Sarasota. Dude lived here from age 1 to 15. (Sarasota Sailing Squadron, Sarasota) —Cooper Levey-Baker
TUESDAY, OCT. 31
THE SLACKERS They've been called "America's greatest ska band." They've been around for 16 years and have released something like 10 albums. They've even had the chutzpah to apply their inimitable, energetic style to Bon Jovi's "Wanted Dead or Alive." Ladies and gentlemen … The Slackers. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
THE DEMPSEYS This Memphis trio may be young, but they sure know their rockabilly roots. The Dempseys have held residencies in famous rooms all over their famously musical hometown and are notorious for invigorating their live shows with tons of sweat and showmanship without ever forgetting to pay homage to the traditions of their chosen style. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
SMILE EMPTY SOUL/32 LEAVES/GOSLING Remember the early '00s, when everyone in the world was sick to death of the whole heavy/heavily-depressed post-grunge sound, but dozens of bands continued to milk it, each scoring one or two overplayed semi-hits before fading back into obscurity? Yeah, Smile Empty Soul was one of those bands ("Bottom of a Bottle"). 32 Leaves released an album of anonymous, Tool-indebted hard rock called Welcome to the Fall last year, while Gosling is an eclectic, ambitious alt-pop entity that used to be a vastly underrated combo called Loudermilk. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
WEDNESDAY, NOV. 1
SKID ROW/KING'S X/NASHVILLE PUSSY If you can think of a weirder bill of three rock bands that almost go together while simultaneously not going together at all, let me know. Sebastian Bach-less late-'80s hair-rock heavy Skid Row; sort-of-Christian harmony-happy power trio King's X and the Motörhead acolytes in post-cock-rock bikers-with-breasts spectacle Nashville Pussy. Let me know if you see a camera crew in the crowd — this smells like a reality show being made on the sly. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
NOVEMBER
2 Broken Social Scene w/Do Make Say Think Jannus Landing
2 Melvins/Big Business State Theatre
3 Kansas State Theatre
3 Jucifer Transitions Art Gallery @ Skatepark of Tampa
3 The Cult Jannus Landing
3 Trans-Siberian Orchestra Lakeland Civic Center
3 & 4 Steelheart Bourbon Street
4 Badfish Jannus Landing
4 Del McCoury State Theatre
5 Sonny Landreth Skipper's Smokehouse
5 Pete Yorn Jannus Landing
5 Gov't Mule w/Donovan Frankenreiter Tampa Theatre
6 The Detroit Cobras/King Khan & BBQ Show/Taylor Hollingsworth & The Spidereaters Orpheum
6 Awesome Color/Kelp/Darlings/Hey There, Battleship/Rippongi's Ace New World Brewery
6 Chad & Jeremy Largo Cultural Center
7 Twilight Singers/Stars of Track and Field/Jeff Klein State Theatre
7 30 Seconds to Mars/Head Automatica/Rock Kills Kid Jannus Landing
8 The Plus-44 Jannus Landing
8 Deadboy & The Elephantmen State Theatre
8 The Esoteric/Haswell Transitions Art Gallery @ Skatepark of Tampa
9 MC Chris State Theatre
9 Dashboard Confessional w/Brand New St. Pete Times Forum
9-12 Riverhawk Music Festival Sertoma Youth Ranch (Brooksville)
10 Avett Brothers/Fruit/Shannon Curfman Skipper's Smokehouse
10 Mushroomhead w/Soil/The Autumn Offering/Gizmachi State Theatre
10 Stephen Pearcy w/Julliett/Dirty Black Halo Bourbon Street
10-12 RibFest 2006 Feat. Cheap Trick/The Guess Who/Toto/Marshall Tucker Band/The Family Stone Experience Vinoy Park
11 The Weary Boys New World Brewery
11 Whitey Orpheum
11 Brooks & Dunn Ford Amphitheatre
12 Dirty Dozen Brass Band/Karl Denson's Jazz Trio State Theatre
12 Margot & The Nuclear So And Sos w/Pemberly/Giddy-Up, Helicopter!/John McNicholas New World Brewery
12 Hellogoodbye/Reggie & The Full Effect/David Melillo Jannus Landing
13 The Limeliters Largo Cultural Center
13 Carrie Newcomer Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center
14 All American Rejects USF Sun Dome
14 Umbrellas Tuesday Music Club (Lakeland)
15 Moonspell/Catatonia/Daylight Dies State Theatre
15 Keller Williams Tampa Theatre
16 Kasabian/Men, Women & Children State Theatre
16 Jimmy Buffett Ford Amphitheatre
17 Tinsley Ellis w/Hamilton Loomis Skipper's Smokehouse
17 The Live Love Tour Feat. Superchick/Sanctus Real/John Reuben/Last Tuesday Countryside Christian Center
This article appears in Oct 25-31, 2006.