Total Chaos/Nothing Promise/The Amputees An evening of thrashy-ass punk. This bill careens from sloppy grind through heavy crossover to, well, total chaos. Regular Total Chaos supporters Complete Havoc, Thorough Mayhem and Comprehensive Anarchy won't be seen tonight; gutter punks being dropped off in BMWs, however, will. (Sept. 27, State Theatre)
911 Benefit feat. Harry Dash/Mr Bella/Cocktail Honeys/Project 13/Woven The first of a slew of benefits to take place over the weekend. Proceeds from several (including this one) will go to the families of those police officers and firemen who lost their lives in the effort to rescue victims of our recent national tragedy. Most are being quickly thrown together, so details are still a bit sketchy at press time; please bear with us, but realize that all will be worthy of your time and a little cover charge. For tonight, expect catchy guitar stuff running the gamut from poppy to pummeling. (Sept. 28, State Theatre)
A Tribute to the Music of Frank Sinatra The Florida Orchestra kicks off its 2001-02 Raymond James Super Pops Season with an homage to Ol' Blue Eyes. Guest conductor Matt Catingub will lead, with legendary Hawaiian jazz singer Jimmy Borges providing swoon-inducing vocals. The rumor that various Bay area exotic dancers have been paid to scream and faint in the aisles is completely unfounded. (Sept. 28, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center; Sept. 29, Mahaffey Theater; Sept. 30, Ruth Eckerd Hall)
Rakesh Chaurasia/Rahul Sharma/Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan USF's Indian Classical Music Society presents its second concert of the year. Chaurasia is a popular flautist and nephew of legendary maestro Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia. Child-prodigy santoor (a type of hammered dulcimer) player Rahul Sharma is the son of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, widely known as the Hendrix of the santoor. No, not really. Shafaat has become one of India's most well-known young tabla players. Please, if you're going into the pit, look after your fellow moshers, OK? (Sept. 28, USF's ULH Hall)
Sir Mix-a-Lot w/Penthouse Pets/DJ Corey/Eyeball I like big butts and I cannot lie. The illest MC in the whole Pacific Northwest is coming to town and bringing paid-appearance ho's with him. Ironically enough, most Penthouse Pets do not have big butts, but who's complaining? A sex object is a sex object is a sex object, my daddy used to say, before my mom smacked him with the rolling pin one time too many. Local spinners Corey and Eyeball provide pre-Put 'Em on the Glass grooves. (Sept. 28, Empire)
Suspended/Dukes of Hillsborough/Terrornova Revival Suspended throws everything from noodly indie flourishes to full-on cacophonous blasts into their angular-yet-listenable post-rock. Dukes of Hillsborough dish out fast, loud fun in big spasms. Jacksonville’s Terrornova Revival, described by members of Suspended as "impossible to describe," will likely get the At The Drive-In comparisons currently being tossed at everybody who’s a little too edgy and adventurous for the "emo" tag. A great showcase for a couple of relatively new and cutting-edge locals, along with an intriguing out-of-towner to boot. (Sept. 28, Orpheum)
Barely Pink/Bite Size/Rob Vessenmeyer I’ve said enough about Barely Pink recently. If you like the power-pop, they are your band, and they’re still blazing with the kind of vigor usually associated with a rookie outfit’s first eight months. Scene vets Bite Size ply an eclectic, garage-pop aesthetic that sends touches of everything from Twin-Tone Minneapolis to Guided By Voices blaring through the fuzz. Ex-Men From Earth and current Experimental Pilot principal Rob Vessenmeyer returns to performance with a solo acoustic set; expect country-tinged hooks with a bit of Jay Farrar’s redneck soul. (Sept. 29, Neptune Lounge)
Tom Tom Club/Soulsystem Tom Tom Club, perhaps still better known as half of the Talking Heads, are touring in support of The Good, The Bad, and The Funky, their first album in eight years and one that's being hailed by every critic who still cares about 'em. Local pop-funk outfit Soulsystem, who bizarrely ended up as our readers' second choice for the Bay's best metal band, provides support. Their latest, self-titled disc owes a bit more to college grooves than dance-floor bass, but is nonetheless an accomplished effort. (Sept. 29, State Theatre)
Tori Amos/Rufus Wainwright The Eels' track Beautiful Freak had to have been written about Tori Amos. The quirky, incredibly talented songstress has just released Strange Little Girls, a reactionary collection of covers revamping some of music's most masculine missives, complete with a distinct female personality (and photo, naturally) for each. While not exactly on a par with Amos' first three releases, both her talent and singular perspective continue to shine. Flamboyant, wise-mouthed (and openly gay) singer/songwriter Rufus Wainwright, whose music is almost as good as he thinks it is, comes along for the ride. (Sept. 29, Ruth Eckerd Hall)
Church of the Subgenius Devival featuring The Jackie Papers/Saint'N/Orange Stoole Chariot Creative cynicism. Orchestrated weirdness. An extremely distinctive take on the certainty that the world is going to hell. Oh, and punk rock. (Sept. 29, Orpheum)
United Way Charity Jam Former Savatage member and eternal drum god Steve Doctor Killdrums Waccholz hosts this shindig, in order to raise a little scratch for the United Way. The jam, kicking off at 3 p.m. at MARS Music's Hillsborough Avenue location, promises to bring together an assembly of the scene's brightest stars, or at least a bunch of the guys you drink beer with while talking shit about newer bands. For more information, call 813-354-1103. (Sept. 30, MARS Music Superstore)
Red White & Blues Benefit feat. Quivering Rhythm Hounds/Code Blues/Straight Up/Blues Pig Another bluesy charity show, this one with a twist — three of the bands are made up of cops, and Scott Peterson, who plays drums for the Quivering Rhythm Hounds, is the local rep for the Firefighters' Union. Code Blues, Straight Up, and this week's winner for Best Band Name, Blues Pig, are all made up of police officers from Tampa, Clearwater, and Bradenton, respectively. Do not, repeat, DO NOT attempt to burn one with the musicians as a token of your respect. Naturally, funds from the show will benefit the families of fallen NYPD and FDNY heroes. (Sept. 30, Skipper's Smokehouse)
Nothing Promise/Sleeping by the Riverside/TBA The criminally underrated Nothing Promise asks the eternal question: Did I get my hardcore in your metal, or did you get your metal in my hardcore? It's a moot point; they're two angry tastes that taste angry together. Melodic hardcore stalwarts Sleeping by the Riverside and an unnamed dark-horse third party also bring the aggro. (Sept. 30, New World Brewery)
Rainer Maria/Tomorrow/Thinking Day Rally Cred-heavy New York art-rock trio Rainer Maria mix poetry, melody and dissonance to create something that's either awe-inspiring or just a bit overrated, depending on your threshold for pretense. Tomorrow and Thinking Day Rally are, of course, two of the best our fringe scene has to offer; Tomorrow uses dynamic catharsis to compelling effect, while TDR takes a quieter, more introspective, but no less moving vector. (Sept. 30, Orpheum)
Snoop Dogg featuring DJ Jam /Kurupt / DAZ/Doggy's Angels/Tha Liks / Soopafly / Butch Cassidy Awwww, yeah, boyeeeee. Snoop returns with lazy, stoned-ass swaggering bravado intact. He's brought some friends with him, most of whom (notably Doggy's Angels — what the hell were you thinking, my man?), unfortunately, purvey the sort of instantly forgettable urban cliches currently smothering radio and commercial hip-hop. One wonderfully glaring exception comes in the form of Tha Liks, formerly The Alkaholiks, who spew shit that will immediately cause your parents/teachers/elected officials to hate them. (Sept. 30, Sun Dome)
Emit presents Eugene Chadbourne/Han Bennick Chadbourne's the guy that everybody, from Emit regulars to punks to the chemically impaired, loved last time he came — you know, the guy who builds his own weird instruments, and uses them to screw music up real good. He's quite possibly the world's best electric rake player. Rhythmic eccentric Han Bennick takes a similarly creative approach to pounding sounds, using anything that happens to be lying around in the name of getting a beat going. Highly recommended. (Oct. 1, The Lobby, St. Petersburg)
—All entries by Scott Harrell
This article appears in Sep 27 – Oct 3, 2001.