STEVE KIMOCK BAND Steve Kimock is the great stone-faced jammer, a musician with incredible skills on guitar who remains virtually expressionless while exploring the edges of the world with new agey, feet-movin' grooves. Kimock is self-taught, and has dedicated much of his 25-year career to the mastery of his instruments, which include vintage lap steels and arch tops, Hawaiian guitars and even an octave mandolin, all adding unique layers and textures to his liquid, improvisational style. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg) -LEILANI POLK
TRAVIS TRITT The Florida State Fair's slate of headliners kicks off here, with veteran country hitmaker Tritt. His style is steeped in Southern rock, roadhouse boogie and bluegrass, and an overtly political duet with John Mellencamp, "What Say You," is helping his ninth album, Honky Tonk History, to chart nicely. (Ford Amphitheatre, Tampa)
DISAPPEAR FEAR Billed as "America's first all-girl hippie jam band," Disappear Fear has been blending folk, rock, reggae and groove to create a positive, empowering and socially conscious whole since the early '90s. (Viva La Frida Café y Galeria, Tampa)
FRIDAY, FEB. 11
JIMMY THACKERY & THE DRIVERS w/ROGER "HURRICANE" WILSON Here's an enticing double bill of roadhouse R&B, courtesy of two singer/Strat-slingers. Thackery continues in the houserockin' tradition of his long-ago band The Nighthawks. Atlanta-based Wilson spent a number of years in broadcasting but has made music his primary vocation over the last several years. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa) -ERIC SNIDER
THE GO-GOS Nothing inspires a reunion between estranged '80s-band members with stalled careers like a sudden jump in one of the members' pop-culture visibility. In this case, it's guitarist/possible actual pixie Jane Weidlin's appearance on the current season of VH-1 reality travesty The Surreal Life. We'll forgive them their cash-grab in this case, however, because The Go-Gos fucking rule; anybody who says they don't sing along to "We Got The Beat" and "Our Lips Are Sealed" in the car is a liar. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
THE ANTI-ORDER TOUR An alternative to the flashy, redundant bullshit on which so much mainstream hip-hop is based, The Anti-Order Tour is all about originality, eclecticism and reality. Headliners include funky-ass Detroit collective Enemy Squad (rumored to include some people who've hit the stage with P-Funk All Stars in the past) and grungy Tampa rapper EyeznPowa, but expect plenty of other DJs, MCs and bands of various stylistic stripes. (Uptown Café & Bar, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, FEB. 12
DURAN DURAN The band whose mid-'80s hoopla was hyperbolically reported to rival that of the Beatles is back in all-original-member form. I hated them in their heyday, but I've gotta admit that later hits "Come Undone" and "Ordinary World" are melancholy pop masterstrokes. Quick story: My family was in New York when Duran offshoot Arcadia was recording its album So Red The Rose, and we just happened to be strolling by the recording studio when Simon LeBon, Nick Rhodes and whichever Taylor it was arrived. We got autographs and photos, and my sister cried. She cried. (St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa)
CASH FOR CASH II It's that time of year – the South by Southwest Music Lovers' Group needs to raise some dough to take a handful of Bay area bands out to the famed Austin music festival. The Johnny Cash tribute worked well last time so, well, there you go. Fourteen bands channel, change and butcher The Man in Black. The lineup: Freight Train Annie; Parson Brown; Suzy Martian; Happy & Patti (of The Crabgrass Cowboys); Irritable Tribe of Poets; Squirrels Gone Wild; Sparky's Nightmare; Say It Again Lucas; Doc Lovett & The Blues Punks; Ronny Elliott & The Nationals; Can't Do It; Cold Joon; Auditorium; and SoundChemist. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
REALFEST This Christian music festival features contemporary tunes ranging from easygoing pop to the harder posthardcore stuff that's so popular with kids both spiritual and secular these days. The big attraction is ostensibly rising pop duo Frank Carter and Shari Farmer, but methinks some of the more punk-inclined acts will end up being the main draws. The lineup includes This Day On, Inkblot, Ezekiel's Eye, Fireflight, Providence, 39 Stripes, and the newly, coolly renamed My Rocket Heart (a vast improvement over the former moniker, Joash). Doors open at 10:30 a.m.; Real Life Church is located at 6821 W. Waters Ave. (Real Life Church, Tampa)
PETER YARROW As a member of Peter, Paul and Mary, Yarrow helped bring folk music to an audience beyond the coffeehouses and New York clubs the trio was used to playing. Although "Puff the Magic Dragon" is the five-time Grammy Award-winning trio's trademark song, Yarrow has gained his own reputation as an outspoken advocate for human rights. (Temple Beth Sholom, Sarasota) -MARK SANDERS
SUNDAY, FEB. 13
VIA SATELLITE w/THE HUMAN ECHO/EUMENIDES/JOEY DAVIS Heavily hyped Album Leaf offshoot Via Satellite gives up moody, dynamic, ambient post-rock; they sound a bit like a less austere Radiohead, and have also reminded various critics of Jeff Buckley and Cocteau Twins. Three very capable Bay area acts provide varied indie-rock support; the standout being Eumenides' underexposed poetic, slightly shitkicking vibe. (New World Brewery, Tampa)
HIP HOP 411 PRESENTS OFF THE BENCH Local success story Rated R (he hit with the mushmouthed "In Here Ta Night") hosts this pretty much unprecedented gathering of a dozen up-and-coming local rap acts. Wonder what's going on out there in the Bay area club-hop underground? Find out here. The slate: OHB; Evenin Ryderz; LK; DDS; Fade Crusade; Luciano; Dark Heartz; Ace Boom Koon; Kreme; Infrarel; and Black Jack Boyz. (Club XS, Tampa)
BILLY JOE SHAVER In 1973, Waylon Jennings released Honky Tonk Heroes, largely considered the first album in country's "outlaw" movement. Billy Joe Shaver wrote nearly all the tunes. Through the years, Shaver's rough-hewn songs have found homes with Elvis Presley, Bobby Bare, Kris Kristofferson, The Allman Brothers and Johnny Cash. He's also been a solo act all along, with a craggy voice and plenty of attitude. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa) -ES
MICHAEL ROYAL TRIO I stopped in to check out horn man Ira Sullivan on a Sunday afternoon at the Gorilla not long ago, and something about the intimate venue brings out the best in jazz musicians. It seats about 50, and has immaculate acoustics. Elegant pianist Michael Royal, his drummer and bassist in tow, will hold court at this Tampa Jazz Club show. 3 p.m. (Gorilla Theatre, Tampa) -ES
RONNY ELLIOTT CD RELEASE PARTY Our favorite, alternately earnest and sardonic insurgent-country bard has a new album, Valentine Roadkill, coming out on Blue Heart Records. BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE: This show with his full band The Nationals will be recorded for release as a live DVD, so expect plenty of guests to jump up on the stage and join 'em. The Springs Theatre is located at 8029 N. Nebraska Ave., across the street from that building that used to be a vacation resort and about a million punk clubs. (Springs Theatre, Sulfur Springs)
MONDAY, FEB. 14
VERLON THOMPSON w/BRENNEN LEIGH Nashville-based songwriter (and cohort of one Guy Clark) Thompson is a regular presence at roots and folk festivals nationwide, but Florida is reportedly where the guy gets the big love. He's got a great voice, and an accomplished guitar-pickin' style to boot. Brennen Leigh isn't from Austin (who is, these days?), but that's where she calls home; she's making her second Tampa appearance in a couple of months, backed by her brother Seth. (Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa, Tampa)
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 16
PEPPER w/AUTHORITY ZERO/THE BEAUTIFUL A brief interview with Pepper drummer Yesod Williams about a month ago led to a lengthy discussion about dope smoking: bowl versus bong, and the quality of bud from Pepper's home state of Hawaii versus stateside weed. The band, which has toured with other herb-friendly artists Snoop Dogg, Kottonmouth Kings and 311, plays the kind of SoCal dub-rock that you'd expect from three laid-back Hawaiian boys. Authority Zero does pretty much the same thing – lots of dope and wanky guitars – but they're more ghetto. Consider it the soundtrack to stereotypical jackasses who don't know how to handle their liquor. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg) -MS
THE BOSTON POPS: "ALL THAT JAZZ" This program finds the gargantuan Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra, under the direction of Keith Lockhart, performing a program of jazz ranging from Ellington to Goodman to Latin. The New York Voices harmony quartet will join the ensemble. For an interview with Lockhart, go to page 64. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) -ES
WILCO I haven't tried it yet, but if you Google the cliché "from the ashes of Uncle Tupelo," you might very well find a few sites referring to Wilco. The band, which formed after the demise of that iconic alt-country group, has had a streak of critically successful discs in their decade-plus together. They're a little bit country, a little bit rock 'n' roll. Their most recent effort, A Ghost is Born, ended up on many year-end Top 10 lists last year, and further illustrated the connections between Neil Young, Sonic Youth and just about every other good rock group from 1968 on. (Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa) -MS
MALI TO MEMPHIS: HABIB KOITE & GUY DAVIS African musician Habib Koite mixes the musical traditions of his native Mali with an outsider's take on American music; the result is a wholly original and critically acclaimed mélange. Guy Davis is a new-school roots/country/blues guy, framing those seminal styles in a contemporary perspective. (Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa)
This article appears in Feb 9-15, 2005.