Welcome to perhaps the most eclectic installment of Tonight In Live Music this quarter. Yes, there's a storm a brewin' — there's one on the horizon for music lovers, too.
Japanese comic book punk rock heroes Peelander-Z are certainly not strangers to the area, but they're back, and we're all going to be better for it. A salsa & bachata festival kicks off today, and while the live music won't kick in until tomorrow, we have a preview below. All that along with the majesty of Ms. Jill Scott and a recital featuring one of China's most ancient stringed instruments are all on the docket.
Grab a jacket because we're going out tonight.
Peelander-Z w/Nerds Raging/Drug You’ll never hear a complaint about the frequency with which these Japanese punks keep visiting our neck of the woods. Peelander-Z are no strangers to Ybor, but if you’re uninitiated, then think about what might happen if you ate a few mushrooms and started looking at illustrations by Japanese artist Gojin Ishihara while listening to old, good-times punk like Operation Ivy or The Phenomenauts. Joining the party are a pair of Bay area bands including Drug, who are now on the second pressing of their Infinite Stimulant cassette where they weave new wave vibes into angry, jangly rock on songs like “No Oddyssey.” (Orpheum, Ybor City – INFO)
Tampa Bay Salsa & Bachata Festival w/Hector Acosta “El Torito”/El Gran Combo Put the tortilla chips down and immerse yourself in salsa (and bachata) because, starting Thursday, a three-day celebration of latin dance is taking over the Grand Hyatt on the Courtney Campbell. There will be a bevy of workshops from some of the industry’s best teachers, but the musical highlights are a pair of concerts happening on the second and third nights of Tampa Bay Salsa & Bachata Festival. Bachata and merengue specialist Hector Acosta will headline Friday and is affectionately called “El Torito” (“little bull”). The nickname likely has less to do with his moves and more to do with the fact that he used to front Dominican tropical orchestra Los Toros Band, who burned things up in the late 1990’s. He’ll pave the way for El Gran Combo, one of Puerto Rico greatest exports (sorry mofongo) who play on Saturday night. The ensemble have been around in various incarnations for over half a decade now and are veritable salsa royalty who’ve been referred to as La Universidad de la Salsa (you don’t need a translation for that). In a Bay area music calendar that is full of great concerts & shows, this waterside soiree of a weekend is a great opportunity for fans to try something completely different, and since organizers have really embraced an attitude that welcomes dancers of all talents (even no-talents), there are’t very many reasons to not come experience the thrill of the dancefloor. Watch an orientation video below. (Grand Hyatt, Tampa – INFO)
Jill Scott w/Georgia Me There’s a lot to celebrate these days if you’re Jill Scott. The 44-year-old just married longtime love Mike Dobson and will bring a newlywed’s outlook on life to St. Petersburg for an evening that is set to tap into her 2015 LP, Woman, where she acknowledges her neo-soul roots while also respectfully evolving them into the multi-disciplinary approach she currently brings to the stage these days. Scott is as great at delivering powerful messages (“Hate On Me,” “Family Reunion”) as she is throwing down powerful love songs (“My Love,” “He Loves Me”). Look for her to dip into her influences of opera and jazz at this one, and don’t be surprised if she also fires off a little spoken word as a nod to her earliest days writing and performing poetry. Georgia Me — who exuberantly lifts up black men on her spoken word anthem “NIGGODS” and celebrates/examines the full-figured woman on “A Fat Girl’s Blues” — opens the show. (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg – INFO)
USF Faculty & Friends w/Zhan Jing Yi The continental recital debut for Zhan Jing Yi brings the sounds of one of the most ancient stringed musical instruments to that big ol’ school on Fowler Avenue. Jing Yi normally teaches classes about pipa at China’s Shaanxi Normal University and is a USF visiting scholar. She’ll work through the “Disarmouring” part of a well known pipa composition about the Battle of Gaixia and will be joined by Ying Long for a concerto by composer/film score extraordinaire Zhao Jiping. Watch a live stream here if you're getting to this post late. (Barness Recital Hall at University of South Florida, Tampa – INFO)
This article appears in Sep 1-8, 2016.