\\
✔️=Critic's Pick
✔️ Scorpions w/Queensryche Yes, it’s happening. After having to cancel last year’s show, Scorpions, one of the most iconic and influential hard rock bands of all time, is returning to America with west coast five-piece Queensrÿche which will unfortunately be without longtime guitarist Parker Lundgren, who is sitting out the Scorpions dates because he “has some personal things to take care of.” No worries, however, as Mike Stone (who played on the band’s 2003 album, Tribe) will fill in. Plus, Scorpions’ Klaus Meine and Matthias Jabs are more than excited about making up for lost time. Read highlights from our interviews with them here. (Amalie Arena, Tampa) INFO
PHOTOS
Yardij, Lassyu and Katie Callihan stage mellow St. Petersburg evening at Green Bench
Pablo Cruise w/Greg Billings/Geoff Abraham Duo Somehow, this is Pablo Cruise’s Capitol Theatre debut. The easygoing pop band has been around since the 1970s, and arrives in Clearwater to share its penchant for melody as well as its members’ prowess on their instruments (spoiler, just like in Jethro Tull, there is no one named “Pablo Cruise” in Pablo Cruise). Head to cltampa.com/music where we’ll drop a link to our “Ultimate Rum Songs” playlist inside of a post about Pablo Cruise. (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater) INFO
✔️ Armageddon Man w/Chris Barrows Band/Dead Cat Lounge Tuff Gnarl says that South Florida punk band Armageddon Man is the “Turbonegro/GG Allin love child you never knew existed, minus all the feces.” We’re pretty sure Emerald Bar will hold up OK as the band bangs around in support of its 2018 release, the Latter Days EP. Chris Barrows Band tops a support bill of tried-and-true Bay area punk vets. (Emerald Bar, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ La Lucha Album Release St. Petersburg jazz trio La Lucha bought some new equipment (read: Moog Sub Phatty synth, Novation Bass Station III) and came out with an album that’s funkier than anything the band has released before. Read more in an interview with the band here. (Side Door Cabaret at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
PHAT BOYS
Tampa Bay jazz trio La Lucha shares funky new album Pa'Lante a week before release
Cliff Eberhardt w/Louise Mosrie Nashville songwriter Louise Mosrie joins a founding member of New York City’s Fast Folk Music Cooperative (try and find some old pages of the Fast Folk Musical Magazine) for this Friday night showcase that’s kinda-sorta like a try-it-before-you-buy-it for Saturday night’s songwriting workshop with Eberhardt, who was a driving force in the Greenwich Village new folk movement of the late '80s and early '90s. It’s $25 for the show, $40 for the clinic, and interested parties are asked to call 727-323-2787 in advance. (Craftsman House, St. Petersburg) INFO
George Pennington You know how your uncle hates bands that don’t play “real” instruments? Don’t tell him about George Pennington. The singer-songwriter is a member of Touch, an iPad band at the University of South Florida, but he does know how to play the guitar, so expect him to show off all sides of his artistry at this one. (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
A ROAD HOME
Pleasures' Katherine Kelly Larson on the way out and the way back
✔️ Pleasures w/Glass Body/Garden Club This bill is all kinds of interesting. Truly trippy psych-rock band Pleasures (prepping for a tour built around 3D video) and post-jazz unit Garden Club are two Bay area bands that’ve been on the pages of our newspaper lately, and Glass Body — a Miami band whose sound can turn from chill to, well, manic on a dime — is in the infancy of a tour in support of a new EP. Free to attend, which leaves you with more money for libations. (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
CL MUSIC ISSUE 2018
You’ll dig the work of St. Petersburg drummer Natalie Depergola
Alex Nicosia w/Whyrlynn/Bushi/Pourtaghi Pourtaghi’s latest, Gweetar, is a 16-track collection of modulated sound delivered at a snail-paced tempo. The effort — much like the Tampa artist’s 2017 album, A R R A K I S — is meditative, and it’ll be a nice way to ease into a bill that features Kersey Williams’ Bushi Project and St. Petersburg’s Alex Nicosia, who released a seven-song collection of dark, electronic sounds (Curators Of Misanthropy) two weeks ago. (Fubar, St. Petersburg) INFO
Jazz with Jim feat. Tom Ziegelhofer Tom Ziegelhofer mentored a lot of kids during his 20-year tenure as a music educator in the Hillsborough County school system. The 69-year-old trumpeter — who has played with Tony Bennett and Bob Hope in addition to opening for Miami Sound Machine — retired as Blake High School’s assistant principal 10 years ago, but he’s out and about again for this gig alongside Jim Burge, who was part of Ybor’s lost Jazz Cellar culture so many years ago. (Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa) INFO
HOP TO IT
Tampa indie-rock band Pohgoh readies release of first album in two decades
✔️ Pohgoh Album Release w/DieAlps!/Blacksmith/Emo Night Tampa DJs Here’s a show that’s been 21 years in the making. Tampa indie-rock band Pohgoh releases its sophomore album (Secret Club, released last Friday and 21 years after the band’s 1999 post-breakup debut) and taps another local emo favorite (Blacksmith) to open alongside DieAlps! The Emo Night Tampa DJs will play all your favorite sad hits in between sets. (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
Michael Rosa After first touching electronic music during his youth in the Orlando and Miami scenes, Michael Rosa headed to Full Sail, earned a degree and then released his first record on Illegal Alien before following it up with a pair of releases on Deep Tech Records. Now on Desert Hearts records, the tech house DJ comes to The Castle for this Friday-night show. (The Dungeon at The Castle, Ybor City) INFO
Southview LP Release Show w/ Bay Street/For The Best Another one of this weekend’s many LP release shows (hi Pohgoh, La Lucha, Community Couch, Eric Lindell and Wirethrone), this one finds pop-punk band Southview hitting Tarpon Springs to kick off a tour supporting its debut LP, Make or Break. The boys — frontman Cody Travis, guitarist Alex Crook, bassist Jackson Vieira and Taylor Dalton on drums — haven’t broken themselves on any of their previous tours, so we have no reason to believe that they won’t do well on this 12-date run up and down the east coast. (Neptune Lounge, Tarpon Springs) INFO
A PLACE OF THEIR OWN
Community Couch, a uke-driven St. Petersburg punk band, finds freedom in expression
✔️ Community Couch Album Release w/Piss Ghost/Snacking/So Sad In June, CL visited uke-driven St. Petersburg punk band Community Couch — which is fronted by perpetually smiling, bushy-bearded songwriter Stove Johnson and owes its songwriting style to Randy Travis, Tim McGraw and The Wonder Years’ Dan “Soupy” Campbell. On Friday, the Couch crew — Johnson plus Glen Martinetto, drummer Eli Lopez and occasional singer/kazoo player Rowan Russell — finally gives its grab bag of demos a proper release before heading out on a seven-date swing through the Southeast that may find the band (which has not canceled any dates as of yet) dodging the effects of the hurricane(s) out in the Atlantic as of press time. (Lucky You Tattoo, St. Petersburg) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
Rock
Honey What (Red Star Rock Bar, Tampa)INFO
Up From Here w/Raising Cadence/Neverless/TBA (Brass Mug, Tampa)INFO
Youth Antics w/The Forum/Aster & Ivy/Grand Lotus (The Blue Note, Tampa)INFO
Doo Dah Beasties w/Ashley Smith & The Random Occurrence/TBA (Green Bench Brewing, St. Petersburg)INFO
Row Jomah w/Grape Soda/Shema Shine and the Shakers (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)INFO
A Timed Frame w/Drop D/Black Clash/Vladmir/more (Pegasus Lounge, Tampa)INFO
Taller Trees (Ruby’s Elixir, St. Petersburg)INFO
WildRoot w/Ella Jet & Future Soul (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin)INFO
Singer-songwriter
Chris Harman (c. 1949 Florida Beer Garden, Tampa)INFO
Geri X (DUO) (Independent Bar, St. Petersburg)INFO
The Holy Terror w/Mountain Holler (Ella's Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa)INFO
Jazz
Gloria West & The Gents Feat. Anthony Castellano, James Suggs, & Paul Gavin (Zydeco Brew Werks, Ybor, City)INFO
EDM
#Pound Fridays w/Lizzy Janes (The Ritz, Ybor City)INFO
Misc.
September 14, WMNF 39th Birthday Open HouseINFO
Tribute/Cover
Greg Billings Band (Buckets Grill & Tap, Tampa)INFO
Beachwolf (Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg)INFO
Dead Set Florida (Ka’Tiki, Treasure Island)INFO
Afton Showcase (Orpehum, Ybor City) INFO
Music in the Park w/Tailspin (Seminole City Park, Seminole)INFO
Starlight Concerts (Highlander Park, Dunedin)INFO
Torpedoes (Caddy’s On the Beach, Sunset Beach)INFO
Restless Soul (Two Buks, Clearwater)INFO
Tommy Roxx (Smokin’ 19, St. Petersburg)INFO
This article appears in Sep 13-20, 2018.