THURSDAY, MAY 04
KITTIE/THE AGONY SCENE/ON BROKEN WINGS Young Canadian all-girl act Kittie was a novelty nu-metal hit around the turn of the millennium, but lineup changes, label woes and the fact that the band wasn't very good saw it slip out of the limelight shortly thereafter. Word has it a revamped version of the group, still helmed by Lander sisters Mercedes and Morgan, will be self-releasing a new album any day now. Rising death-metal-influenced groovecore unit The Agony Scene and Boston metalcore-meets-grindcore outfit On Broken Wings provide support. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
JARED MICHAEL HOBGOOD Straight from Key West, Hobgood is one of those guys who's part-folk singer and part-insult comic. The two personas do cross paths, particularly on the guy's pornographic tribute to Britney Spears. Feel like being ripped on? Hobgood's your man. (Speakeasy, Sarasota) Cooper Lane Baker
FRIDAY, MAY 05
TAMPA BAY BLUES FESTIVAL This year's edition, the 12th, is the most eclectic ever. Get the whole skinny in the cover story. Continues May 6 and 7. (Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg) Eric Snider
ROD MACDONALD Singer-songwriter, folk legend and key figure in the second flowering of the Greenwich Village acoustic scene, Rod MacDonald makes a second stop in the Bay area in just a few short months. This time, it's amid the intimate environs of St. Pete's Craftsman House, located at 2955 Central Ave., just west of downtown in the Grand Central district. (Craftsman House Gallery, Café & Studios, St. Petersburg)
CARRIE HAMBY & SINGING BISCUIT/RADIO-FREE CARMELA Rather than the usual dour folk strumming, Hamby and her band flesh out their folk-rock with percussive pings on the piano and some mossy bass. Hamby's voice echoes Laura Cantrell's, which is a hell of a compliment in my book. This is Floridian folk with real style and soul. Same goes for Radio-Free Carmela, one of Sarasota's best folk talents. (Fogartyville Café, Bradenton) CLB
PROTECT. PREVENT. CHANGE: A CONCERT FOR THE SPRING Tampa singer-songwriter Ken Spivey and some friends have banded together — horrible pun definitely intended — to raise a little scratch for The Spring, an organization dedicated to protecting the victims of domestic violence. In addition to Spivey and his folk-poppy full band, you'll get sets from Lorna Bracewell, Christie Lenee, Michele Agius, Terry Lynn, Lexi, and Tina Collins. (Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse, Tampa)
SATURDAY, MAY 06
DUNCAN SHEIK The mainstream audience at large may not have been reminded of Sheik's existence since he had a hit single (and won a Grammy) with "Barely Breathing" in '96, but he's continued to make lush, carefully constructed adult pop with orchestrated sheen which often overshadows its philosophical subject matter. His sixth album, White Limousine, was released in January, and its title track immediately went into heavy Adult Alternative rotation. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
BENISE Roni Benise is exactly the kind of walking world-music-lite enterprise that affluent Americans with no real exposure to other cultures go batshit over. He's a good-looking, longhaired flamenco guitarist who takes the blandest and most immediately familiar sonic signatures of the Spanish style, and dresses them up with a Latin-rhythm-heavy full band and an overblown stage show that probably includes half-naked women gyrating and blowing fire at one another while other half-naked women alternately dance toward and run away from half-naked men dressed as animals. I'm not saying Benise isn't a gifted guitarist; I'm just saying that if you style yourself after Zamfir, Master of the Pan Flute and front a show that makes Siegfried and Roy look like a couple of gypsies running a three-card monte table outside a subway entrance, it's possible you've lost touch with the artistic traditions of your homeland. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
THIS SHOW BLOWS! While the Cuban Sandwich Crisis members responsible for this trumpet-, trombone- and sax-heavy local bill did wedge a fart joke into the press release, they shied away from any references to being horny, and out of respect for the music I shall do the same. CSC, Weaksauce, Instant Buddha, Can't Do It and Skantly Prepared shake the Skipperdome with brass-assisted styles that run from jammy pop to crazy groove-punk to ska. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
3RD DEGREE MONOTONY/THE IN-CROWD/ANOTHER HERO This show's headliners have a blistering pop-punk sound that just might be too fast to even pogo along with. I'd be shocked if a single tune runs longer than two minutes. Not that you'll mind: The rubber on the bottom of your Chucks will probably be smoking before the first song is over. (The Tavern on Main, Sarasota) CLB
SUNDAY, MAY 07
PLUMB OK, I'm not making this up: The first line of the press release for this female alt-rock artist really says, "Listen … it's Plumb season." Plumb season! Get it? Anyway, Plumb (and, ostensibly, her handlers, which include producer/songwriting partner Matt Bronleewe) cherry-picks the most contemporary and accessible aspects of fabricated pop bullseyes like Avril Lavigne and Evanescence to create a processed, anonymous between-pop-and-rock sound aimed squarely at making her this year's Paula Cole. And it looks like it's working; her current release, Chaotic Reserve, made the Top 10 on Billboard's Heatseeker chart. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
THE ANNIE MOSES BAND Juilliard-trained violinist and vocalist Annie Wolaver fronts The Annie Moses Band, a Contemporary Christian outfit that mixes traditional classical/string-band elements with a modern pop-songwriting perspective. The group's most recent CD, Eden, has been roundly acclaimed by Christian publications and secular critics alike. First Baptist Church is located at 503 N. Palmer Street in Plant City, and the show starts at 6:30 p.m.; the band will also be performing at this morning's 10:30 a.m. worship service. (First Baptist Church, Plant City)
MONDAY, MAY 08
LYNYRD SKYNYRD There's really nothing to be said about this enduring Southern Rock archetype that hasn't been said a thousand times. Nobody doesn't dig at least one of Skynyrd's seemingly countless familiar tunes. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
FEABLE WEINER/CRUISERWEIGHT/THE SAME/SELECT START This is a comparatively pop-punk-grounded show for Aestheticized Presents and the Skatepark of Tampa's Transitions Art Gallery. Tennessee's Feable Weiner work an upbeat, humor-heavy style that's a kindred spirit of Nerf Herder's, while Austin's female-fronted Cruiserweight boast a more compelling and sophisticated sound that's inspired comparisons to The Get Up Kids and Letters To Cleo. Tampa Bay's own The Same is the weirdest thing on the bill — and isn't even really all that weird — and fellow hometowners Select Start up the power-pop ante. (Skatepark of Tampa, Tampa)
TUESDAY, MAY 09
TRAIN w/NEEDTOBREATHE Frisco's Train made their bones in the territory where jam-pop bleeds into Americana-pop, touring with the likes of Counting Crows and Barenaked Ladies before scoring a major hit in '01 with "Drops of Jupiter," from the platinum album of the same name. The band has yet to repeat that success, but "Cab," from January's For Me It's You, is enjoying some airplay. Rising major-label rookie act Needtobreathe, which works a similar mature pop-rock/singer-songwriter sound, provides tour support. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
JAMIE CULLUM w/RAUL MIDÓN He's the latest iteration of Sinatra, a smooth, dapper 26-year-old with a sultry baritone and solid piano chops. It seems the world can't do without at least one young crooner on the scene. On his last album, Cullum wrote most of the material and added some contemporary flourishes. Opening is Raul Midón, a singer-songwriter and acoustic guitarist with a decided adult contemporary flair. (Tampa Theatre, Tampa) ES
BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE/INKED IN BLOOD/SOCIETY'S FINEST/ALETHIEAN The Refuge does it for the kids, again. Becoming The Archetype hails from Georgia, and is a freakin' scary amalgam of death metal and blitzkrieg noisecore. Oregon-based Christian hardcore favorite Inked in Blood makes an extremely visceral, committed metalcore noise, as does Dallas' increasingly popular Society's Finest, while Aletheian, from Pennsylvania, purvey a sound more directly indebted to death metal. (688 Skatepark, Clearwater)
NEW MEXICAN DISASTER SQUAD/LORDS Orlando's New Mexican Disaster Squad is one of the more distinctive acts in Florida-style punk 'n' roll; the group's lyrical approach is original, thoughtful and engaging, while its music owes as much to old-school hardcore as it does gritty singalong Gainesville rock. The band has a new album out on universally respected indie label Jade Tree — it's called Don't Believe, and it gets better with every listen. (Skatepark of Tampa, Tampa)
WEDNESDAY, MAY 10
BOB DYLAN w/MERLE HAGGARD Over the years, Dylan has been a notoriously erratic performer, but lately the word is that his enthusiasm and commitment are at a high ebb. Haggard, the craggy country icon, is in the midst of a career renaissance. See him at least once. This is the second tour that this pair of legends has embarked upon. (USF Sun Dome, Tampa) ES
BLUES TRAVELER Listen, I'm not going to make a joke about the formerly chart-topping Blues Traveler playing smaller venues because frontman John Popper can fit into them now. But you can if you want. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
SWEET ADELINES For more than 57 years, the Gulf to Bay Chorus has performed in the St. Pete area and beyond as the region's charter member of worldwide vocal-music brotherhood Sweet Adelines International. Also on tonight's program are the Windsong Quartet and Dixie Hollins High School's Dixie Dazzlerz. (Largo Cultural Center, Largo)
YEAR FUTURE w/UH-OH SPADES Ah, now this is more like it. After the comparatively catchy foray into poppier sounds earlier this week, Aestheticized Presents gets back to the more experimental with Gold Standard Laboratories act Year Future. The group has one foot in the envelope-pushing hardcore of early bands like Black Flag, and another in the confrontational, button-pushing innovations of PiL. Also here to fuck with your perceptions of what defines music is Uh-Oh Spades, a young, crazy Tampa noisemaker whose bizarre sound collages actually sometimes have a beat, so sometimes you can dance to them. (Skatepark of Tampa, Tampa)
This article appears in May 3-9, 2006.