THURSDAY, oct. 19
THE STRING CHEESE INCIDENT Our intrepid Events Editor Leilani Polk profiled this eclectic Colorado jam-grass fave in last week's issue, just so you wouldn't pick up this issue Thursday night and go, "Oh, shit, I forgot about the Incident," like you're doing right now. Want the fully skinny? Hit up our website, Smokey. (Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa)
JENNY LEWIS w/ THE WATSON TWINS Evocative indie/alt-country singer-songwriter Lewis took some time off from fronting her beloved band Rilo Kiley last year to cut the rootsier and more soulful solo album Rabbit Fur Coat with some friends. The resulting disc is wonderful — a departure, but one that's not so distant from the stuff that made her famous as to put off any open-minded Kiley diehards. It's good stuff, and this comparatively intimate Tampa Theatre show has all the makings of a night to remember. For more on Lewis, check out this week's music feature. (Tampa Theatre, Tampa)
CLEARWATER JAZZ HOLIDAY The dichotomy that the Clearwater Jazz Holiday has become is summed up in the two Kennys that perform on the four-day event's opening night. Top-shelf post-bop pianist Kenny Drew Jr. kicks things off in hard-swinging fashion, followed by … Kenny G. It's not just that Kenny G is a lowest-common-denominator pop instrumentalist — it's what he represents in the context of CJH: the final capitulation to the forces of crossover. It doesn't end there: Mindi Abair, Richard Elliot and others walk the smooth side of the street, while Buckwheat Zydeco and Cherry Poppin' Daddies can hardly stake a claim to jazz at all. Don't get me wrong: I'm generally in favor of the festival's branching out. Hour after hour of straight-ahead acoustic jazz can get pretty dull. Way back when, I harangued the organizers to book the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and the New Orleans outfit turned Coachman Park into a Saturday night dance party. But things have gone too far. Besides Drew and Chuck Owen's Jazz Surge big band, the forward-thinking clarinetist Don Byron is the only act on the bill that could legitimately generate enthusiasm in a committed jazzbo. CJH, which is free, continues through Sun., Oct. 22. For complete details, go to www.clearwaterjazz.com. (Coachman Park, Clearwater) —Eric Snider
SAINT TONE CD RELEASE PARTY While waiting to find out whether or not he's made the cut for the next round of judging for the reality series Nashville Star, local country-rock singer-songwriter Tony St. Tone found a little time to record his second CD, an eponymous collection of stubbly, strummy tunes to be distributed by local label SK2 Records. (Note to SK2: Hire a qualified Web designer. Stat.) He and his band celebrate tonight at Channelside with a show and some giveaways, including an autographed guitar. (Margarita Mama's, Tampa)
MASTERS OF MIX Yes, I still think corporate-sponsored battles of the bands suck. But this one's at least a little different: Nine local bands are asked to play styles other than the ones they usually do. Can Hangtown do ska? Can Knowing Stu hang with the country? Can Diamond Gray whip up some hip-hop? Nine Bay area groups give it shot at three different Ybor City clubs — three bands each at Green Iguana, Amphitheatre and Doppel Decker — in a quest to win five grand in recording time at Morrisound Studios. Admission is free at each club (shows all kick of at 9 p.m.) as long as you're 21. (Green Iguana, Amphitheatre, Doppel Decker, Ybor City)
FRIDAY, oct. 20
SCARECROW JAM Sure, Halloween is fun in and of itself. But wouldn't it be better if there were some sort of "cool" Halloween-themed county fair that ran up to it, complete with rides, multiple haunted houses, motocross exhibitions, dubious celebrities (MTV personalities? Wee Man from Jackass?) and musical performers of wildly varying quality? Hell yeah, it would! Well, Scarecrow Jam makes it so — through Sunday this week and again from next Thursday through Oct. 31, you can do it all in some big field just off I-4 in Seffner. The fun started yesterday, but the slate of free-with-paid-admission concerts begins tonight with American Idol refugee/ringer Mario Vazquez, teen urban/Latin/pop singer Jeannie Ortega and O-Town alum Ashley Parker Angel. Other appearances scheduled for the rest of Scarecrow Jam's run include Jacks Mannequin (Oct. 26) and hip-hoppers Chingy and Chamillionaire (Oct. 27). Check out scarecrowjam.com for more details and directions to the big field. (A Big Field, Seffner)
JIM "KIMO" WEST Perhaps best known as Weird Al Yankovic's longtime guitarist, Jim West is an old-school former Tampa guy who went to King High School and whose '70s-era act Mythril was among the Bay area's earliest prog-rock outfits. West has garnered much praise for his abilities in the Hawaiian "slack-key" guitar style, which he'll highlight tonight with help from hula dance troupe Kalina and Company. Kapok Special Events Pavilion is located at 923 N. McMullen-Booth Road in Clearwater. (Kapok Special Events Pavilion, Clearwater)
ELLERY Tasha and Justin Golden are the husband-and-wife duo who make up the Cincinnati-based Ellery. Unlike most bands invited onstage at Fogartyville Café, this one trades in pure pop. On the team's most recent album, this year's Lying Awake, the dominant instruments are hushed acoustic guitars and gentle plucks on the piano, with more Norah Jones in the mix than the rustic backwoods tradition normally so well-represented at Fogartyville. This isn't a complaint, mind you. (Fogartyville Café, Bradenton) —Cooper Levey-Baker
JUSTIN BECKLER CD RELEASE PARTY I honestly can't keep track of whether singer-songwriter Justin Beckler's living in Tampa or Orlando these days — the guy's on the road working it all the time. But he's still got big love for the Bay area, as evinced by this welcome for his new full-length, Oh! My Troubled Mind. It's a great disc, full of infectious, stomping, somehow spiritual Americana that leaves previous comparisons to the likes of Dave Matthews or Rob Thomas in the dust. Beckler has matured beyond the narrow strum-pop genre to emerge with his own unique American singer-songwriter vision. Yeah, the new album's that good. (Pro Star Recording Studio, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, oct. 21
SARASOTA FOLK MUSIC FESTIVAL Last year's hoedown out at Crowley Museum & Nature Center was one of the highlights of the music season, benefiting from perfect weather and, oh yeah, good music. If you've been to any shows out at the Old Packinghouse Café or at the Sarasota Folk Club's monthly outdoor concerts, you've definitely gotten a glimpse of what you'll find at this festival. The pastoral concert consistently features the best of the Suncoast folkies and a handful of quality outsiders. (Crowley Museum & Nature Center, Sarasota) —CLB
LYNNE ARRIALE TRIO Pianist Arriale favors a standard trio format but stretches the conventional repertoire to include covers of pop and folk tunes like The Beatles' "Come Together" and the New Orleans standard "Iko Iko." Using a lyrical, full-fisted style, she also performs Monk, Miles, etc., as well as her own material. (Jazz Club of Sarasota, Sarasota) —ES
CLAMOR FEST Clamor is a great magazine and Web community — check it out at clamormagazine.org — full of progressive ideas and individual voices. Even down here in America's wang, it seems, as our own soon-to-be-shuttered-and-lamented Bombshell Gallery has teamed with the mag to celebrate independent media and unique expression in general. And boy, isn't the musical accompaniment weird: Gainesville electro-experimentalists Hal McGee and Ironing, Plant City's awesomely moody Space Program and more. (Bombshell Gallery, St. Petersburg)
SUNDAY, oct. 22
RADIO REBELLION TOUR The following screamo bands refuse to get less metallicious and spastic in the name of trendy FM airplay and want you to know they're doing it in the name of, well, something more noble than simply making less money: Norma Jean; Between the Buried and Me; Fear Before the March of Flames; and Misery Signals. Yes, kids, you've seen them all a thousand times at The State and already know they'll never, ever get on modern-rock radio. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
HANK III/ASSJACK The grandson of perhaps the greatest country singer-songwriter in history makes his 4,573rd State Theatre appearance. Hank III is a compelling performerwith a great country voice and a killer band. On the other hand, those of us who've seen him several times over the years know his punk-metal alter-ego, AssJack, was an entertaining novelty at first but has since grown tiresome. Note to folks who've heard that former G.G. Allin backing band/skinhead magnet Murder Junkies will be playing tonight — they won't. They're in Europe. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
DOOBIE BROTHERS These are the pre-Michael McDonald/"What a Fool Believes" Doobies; these are the "China Grove"/"Black Water" Doobies, with original singer/guitarists Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons in the lineup, the guys that started out as a northern California biker band. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) —ES
KAYO DOT/DEAD HORSE DETECTIVE AGENCY/HISTORY/SPACE MANATEE Do you like Isis but feel as if that band's just not classically astute and frightening enough for you? Here, have some Kayo Dot. From Boston, the group seamlessly blends big, ambitious, string-reminiscent arrangements with a skronk-jazz attitude and visceral dynamics. Mmmm, arty. Tampa's own Dead Horse Detective Agency, of course, rules and still fits a lot of engaging songcraft into its experiments. The mathematical, melodic indie-metal of Winter Park's History and the freaky noise-thrash of Sarasota's Space Manatee round out the bill. (Transitions Art Gallery @ Skatepark of Tampa, Tampa)
SATSUKOS FAREWELL PARTY Shame on you. You didn't appreciate what you had in Satsukos, and now Satsukos is taking its toys and going home. By "toys," I mean "energetic, noodly garage-rock," and by "going home," I mean "breaking up because two members are moving to California." Come send the group off in style. Worldwide Zoo, Incredible Crisis and Jukebox Graduate also play. (Bombshell Gallery, St. Petersburg)
Monday, oct. 23
CELTIC FROST In the world of extreme metal, Tom G. Warrior and Celtic Frost are fucking legendary — they're the godfathers of European thrash and doom metal, Switzerland's version of Metallica for the Euro pummel scene. Like Metallica, the group eventually abandoned the technical sound of its early albums for a more "accessible" (read: atrocious) style at the end of the '80s; unlike Metallica, Celtic Frost was noble enough to eventually die of embarrassment over it. Rumors of a reunion surfaced in the early '00s and were eventually borne out by the appearance of the generally well-reviewed return-to-form Monotheist this year. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Tuesday, Oct. 24
PETER FRAMPTON w/LITTLE RIVER BAND Veteran pop-rock singer/guitarist Frampton once boasted the biggest-selling album in history with 1976's Frampton Comes Alive! His stardom waned long ago, but he seems to have retained some measure of good will among baby boomers — me not being among them. As far as the Little River Band, let me put it like this: If anyone in the Loaf editorial pods wants to make me shudder, they threaten to play "Reminiscing." God help them if they actually do. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) —ES
MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP Enduring German guitar hero Schenker initially rose to prominence in his brother Rudolf's band, a little combo called The Scorpions. He bailed on the Scorps to spend the '70s with UFO, then returned for one more album — '79's Lovedrive — before leaving yet again. Since then, Schenker's played in the poorly initialed on-again/off-again (and apparently on-again) Michael Schenker Group, the one-off glam-metal supergroup Contraband and in a brief reunion with UFO. But he's survived mainly on his reputation among guitar geeks as a Teutonic six-string god. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
SNOWDEN w/GUEST DJs LE CASTLE VANIA DISCO/PRESTON CRAIG Direct from Atlanta, Snowden recently released its Jade Tree debut, Anti-Anti, a superfly collection of yelping indie-rock tunes. The band's got an odd mix of distance and passion — distance in the cool, detached vocals; passion in the propulsive thump of the rhythm — reminiscent of '80s Brit bands like The Smiths, with a guitar attack crunched up for the '00s. Some DJ friends are in town to spin as well. (Pastimes Pub, Sarasota) —CLB
SCOUT'S HONOR/THE LOOK AWAY/NEW BRUISES Illinois act Scout's Honor fuses post-punk's experimental bravado with the original item's visceral delivery and reticence toward overdoing song arrangements; a heavier, more rough-edged and straightforward Jawbox comes to mind. The group's in Florida for next weekend's Fest in Gainesville — come out to Transitions and help keep gas in the van. Tampa's melodic, bouncy The Look Away and sublimely liquored-up New Bruises provide support. (Transitions Art Gallery @ Skatepark of Tampa, Tampa)
This article appears in Oct 18-24, 2006.