FRIDAY, JAN. 7
THE TEN O'CLOCK BAND Now that they're no longer doing events at Ybor City's Centro Asturiano, the crazy, stylish pundits of Swing Time had to come up with something new. It's called Big Band Blast 2005, and this here's the kick-off party. Bay area favorite The Ten O'Clock Band, a brassy, old-school, 18-member ensemble known for faithfully and energetically recreating the Big Band era, gets the series started in style. More information, along with advance tickets to the whole Big Band Blast run, is available at www.swingtime.info. (Gulfport Casino, Gulfport)
MARCIA BALL w/BRUCE KATZ Two leading boogie/blues/soulful R&B keyboardists team up for a highly recommended Skipper's bill. Vocalist and pianist Marcia Ball came up in Louisiana and Texas, soaking up both the Crescent City's ageless, rhythmic soul and the Lone Star State's extroverted bluesy swagger; she's been a favorite with roots aficionados in general, and the Skipperdome crowd specifically, forever. Boston's Bruce Katz is a talented bandleader and Hammond B-3 organ maestro who's moonlighted with too many jazzy-soul greats to name. His latest Bruce Katz Band album is A Deeper Blue. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
SATURDAY, JAN. 8
VNV NATION w/CODE R23 Though most often associated with the more ambient end of the industrial/Goth spectrum, London-born electronic-music duo VNV Nation (it stands for "victory not vengeance") draws from a large palette; classically inclined arrangements and throbbing, clubby rhythms combine to set its mesmerizing orchestrations apart. Code R23 is an offshoot of long-running Belgian industrial act (and one-time Lollapalooza feature) Front 242; call us crazy, but we're guessing former F242 percussionist Richard 23 is at the helm. (Masquerade, Ybor City)
KENNY DREW, JR. Snider really should be fielding this one, but the guy's off on vacation somewhere. Anyway, immensely gifted pianist Kenny Drew, Jr. — yes, he's the son of immensely gifted pianist Kenny Drew — cut his teeth learning classical before moving into jazz; since then, he's become a world-class talent, festival circuit favorite (particularly in Europe) and session veteran, recording with the likes of Charnett Moffet, Eddie Gomez and the Mingus Big Band. He's also a Sarasota-area resident, but don't get all stalk-y on the guy. Tonight, Drew the Younger is joined by drummer Tom Carabasi and bassist/arranger Richard Drexler. Highly recommended. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
MICHAEL BURKS Bluesman Burks is another player for whom it's in the blood; his father backed harmonica player Sonny Williamson II on bass, and, legend has it, motivated his son to practice by offering him a dollar for every tune he learned. In his early years, Burks was the leader of the house band at his pop's Arkansas juke joint. He sat in with some of the biggest names in the genre, but it wasn't until more than a decade after the joint closed that the guitarist returned to music, crafting a self-produced debut album in '97 that led to a deal with Alligator Records. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
BENEFIT FOR NATHAN'S GRILL Nope, Nathan's Grill isn't a place. Well, actually it is — it's the place on Nathan Etana's face where his teeth are. Etana is the soundman for the Pegasus Lounge and bassist for local heavy-rock outfit Area 51, and apparently, his mug needs some serious overhaulage. A host of punk, metal and punk-metal acts, most of which are intimately familiar with the Pegasus stage, rock for dentition: River Chicken, Stranded, Elysium, Fist Monkey, Bound, Area 51, Malaki, Chiroptera, Slave 2 None, Officer Scott Anger, and The Tim Version are billed. (Pegasus Lounge, Tampa)
ROGER CHASE & MICHIKO OTAKI He plays viola, studied at England's Royal College of Music, and has appeared in countless ensembles over the last 20 years. She's a lauded Japanese pianist who's spent more time studying her craft than most neurosurgeons, toured with various symphonies and chamber groups, and won several awards for her recordings. The two of them live in a house directly under Newark Airport's landing route with a talking ferret and their adoptive father, an aging heavy metal guitarist still trying to pick up young groupies and land a record deal. OK, so that last part's really from a sitcom idea I had once. Anyway, it's chamber music. (Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center, Tarpon Springs)
SUNDAY, JAN. 9
JIMMY EAT WORLD w/REUBEN'S ACCOMPLICE/ ELEFANT Arizonan foursome Jimmy Eat World used its years on an apathetic major label to morph from an embryonic emo outfit to a purveyor of alternately lushly orchestrated and sinewy pop-rock. You probably know them as the guys who scored with "The Middle" from '01's self-titled full-length. But you should know them as the guys who made Clarity, an ambitious, compelling and nicely idiosyncratic collection of songs that was easily one of the best records to come out in the late '90s. (For more on Jimmy Eat World, check out this week's Music column.) One of the perks of a mainstream breakthrough is the opportunity to pick tourmates who deserve a breakthrough of their own, and J.E.W. is all about that shit. This time around, it's the anthemic power-pop of Reuben's Accomplice (their record, The Bull, The Balloon, and The Family, is out on Jimmy Eat World singer Jim Adkins' Western Tread label), and the dreamy but muscular pop sounds of Elefant. (Masquerade, Ybor City)
ANN RABSON w/LIZ PENNOCK & DR. BLUES Last year, singer and multi-instrumentalist Rabson was inducted into Cincinnati's Boogie Woogie Hall of Fame; she was also nominated, for the seventh time, for a W.C. Handy Award. She's a founding member of Saffire — The Uppity Blues Women, but solo performances like tonight's are far from uncommon. Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues is a long-running local husband-and-wife duo. When not on tour or being invited back to the Florida Folk Festival for the umpteenth time, they're playing a Bay area venue near you. (Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa, Tampa)
BOBBY VINTON Before the frighteningly primal sounds of nascent rock 'n' roll really dug in, balladeer Bobby Vinton gave hope to early-'60s reactionary parents (and the occasional obedient kid) that it was all just a fad, that the soothing, sentimental sounds of the '50s were still here to stay. They weren't, but — amazingly enough — the man whose hits include "Roses are Red (My Love)" apparently was. Vinton remained relevant until '72, made a comeback in '74 with the partly Polish "Melody of Love," and is still a big cabaret draw. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
MONDAY, JAN. 10
GENGHIS TRON w/BYAM KLAVOR/ASTHMA ATTAQ/ THIS WILL BE REMEMBERED/ADEN It's like a word-association game, really. You think Genghis, you think brutal, psychotic. You think Tron, you think electronic, videogame-esque. If this were a country band, it would be in trouble, but coincidentally enough, it's a brutal, psychotic, electronic, videogame-esque one. And also a bit poppy, apparently. A favorite local live act, Sarasota's Byam Klavor look and sound like what would happen if the Renaissance Fair were demolished by a Viking riding a dragon. No, seriously. Fellow Brandensotans Asthma Attaq brandish a sound that's beautifully destructive, Hudson's This Will Be Remembered have song parts that sound more like actual sound parts, and Aden, from Lakeland, scream and groove. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
WEDNESDAY, JAN. 12
STRUNG OUT w/EVERGREEN TERRACE/THE EXPLOSION For years, SoCal act Strung Out has fooled around with different elements of West Coast punk, adding a little metallic-hardcore edge here, subtracting a jokey NOFX element there. The band is at its best, however, when it's blazing, a little bit technical, and somehow extremely modern-sounding. Evergreen Terrace are from Jacksonville, and while they haven't yet benefited greatly from the screamo explosion, they're one of those long-running, hard-touring acts that's partly to blame for it in the first place. The Explosion does a cool thing that's probably closer to what the word "punk" conjures in the mind of anyone over, say, 27. All in all, it's a diverse bill of visceral punk-scene sounds. (State Theatre, St. Pete)
scott.harrell@weeklyplanet.com
This article appears in Jan 5-11, 2005.