The Circus of Experimental Music Recycled and handmade instruments, loop pedals, delay effects and “extended techniques” like playing cymbals with a violin bow and dipping gongs in water to bend the pitch will be utilized at this performance/workshop/listening session that aims to explore unconventional sound inside the unconventional confines of this Safety Harbor community center at least three times a month. (Safety Harbor Art and Music Center, Safety Harbor) INFO
✔️ Paula Cole She got a lot of shit for taking home the Best New Artist Grammy award in 1998 (Erykah Badu and Fiona Apple were among the nominees that year), but Paula Cole never let any of the naysayers really get to her. Now, more than 20 years after “Where Have All The Cowboys Gone” catapulted her to stardom, the 49-year-old songwriter has reemerged as a smart, funny, seasoned performer and a mother who took time off to be with family, teach others as a professor at Berklee and run her own label. This show inside of the hyper-intimate, pristine-sounding walls of The Attic above Rock Brothers Brewing is in support of a 2017 album, Ballads, where Cole presents a 20-song collection featuring American jazz and folk classics from the 1930s-1960s. (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) INFO
✔️ Big Shoals w/Burke Bros. Yes ma’am. Big Shoals is a no-frills Americana band from south of The South (aka Gainesville), and this downtown Tampa dive is the perfect place to pay nary a cover to catch the trio work through dusty tunes like “Still Go On,” “12 Step” and “Devil O’Devil” while sipping on cheap whiskey and even cheaper beer. (The Hub Bar, Tampa) INFO
Roots Seed and Plant Share w/Mountain Holler/Lobo Marino/Jun/Mouth Council Mark Etherington — who performs solo as Mountain Holler — returns from a West Coast trip to join another one of the Bay area’s best songwriter, June Bustamante, at this plant share show alongside Billy Mays III, who’ll bring his ambient, collaborative audio-looping project Mouth Council to Ale & the Witch. (The Ale & the Witch, St. Petersburg) INFO
BEST OF THE BAY 2017
Best Drummer Who Absolutely Loves His Job — Phil Stanwick, Old Vices
✔️ The Tim Version w/Low Season/Old Vices You don’t get to see Tampa punk scene vets The Tim Version out much anymore, and it’s even more rare to see the group on the 727 side of Tampa Bay. That — plus the fact that this show doesn’t have a cover — is enough to reason to catch the boys alongside Sunshine City pop-punk quartet Low Season and Jeff Brawer-fronted folk-punk band Old Vices at The Bends. (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
Deep Cuts w/DJ Cub/Seeber Andrew Seeber is the kind of Bay area music nerd whose impeccable taste largely goes unnoticed unless you’re in a car with him on the way to pounding knishes at a Jewish deli. Thankfully the Tampa scene-supporter is sharing some of what he likes at this laidback DJ set alongside another one of this community’s most active DJs, Chris Preston. CL readers who recognize Gabe Echazabal’s name from his daily rock history posts for cltampa.com/music should be on the lookout for our senior correspondent, who’ll surely show his face — and share his knowledge with you — at this gig. (Independent Bar, St. Petersburg) INFO
STILL UNDEAD
Tampa’s Obituary continue to be death metal standard-bearers
✔️ Obituary w/Koroidia/Tickle/Archangel If you’re gonna catch a set from a pioneering Tampa metal group, then you might as well see them at a venue that’s been an incubator for Bay area bands for a long time now. Hialeah, Florida death metal trio Koroidia will join Obituary at this show which is all-ages — meaning, yes, bring your kid sibling to indoctrinate him or her into the area’s long, rich history of metal. (Brass Mug, Tampa) INFO
Lobo Marino Ever been to a concert where toes literally tapped the venue floors? You will at Body Electric's Sky Room when Lobo Marino brings a rich sound to the yoga studio for an evening of bare-footed, droning folk music that mixes chanting plus think layers of vocals, harmonium, bass drum and banjo to create an ethereal concert experience. (The Body Electric Yoga Company, St. Petersburg) INFO
Cruisin’ at the Capitol Weekend w/Kansas’ Robby Steinhardt/Stormbringer/Reverend Barry and the Funk It’s Cruisin’ weekend in downtown Clearwater, and that means the Capitol Theatre is tapping former Kansas frontman and fiddler Steve Walsh to headline a two-day party that kicks off with Saturday’s motorcycle show, followed by a classic car show on Sunday (plus Reverend Barry and the Funk) on the 300 and 400 blocks of the Cleveland Street district. No cover and family-friendly, too. (Downtown Clearwater) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
Tribute/Cover
An Evening w/ Runaway Gin – A Tribute to Phish (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
Uncle John’s Band (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Groove 41 (3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
A Road To Hope Benefit Concert w/Soul Circus Cowboys (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO
No Filter w/Charlie Hotel (Ferg’s Live, Tampa) INFO
Chris MacDonald’s Memories of Elvis (Hough Hall at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Red Sunday (3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
Rock
Gino & the Goons w/Kevin K/Broken Things (Planet Retro Records, St. Petersburg) INFO
Fear the Spider w/Jack Jagger/Shane Secor (Fubar, St. Petersburg) INFO
Escaping Pavement (The Wild Rover Brewery, Tampa) INFO
The Cowboy Mafia w/Sonic Aftermath/Quasi Mojo (Red Star Rock Bar, Tampa) INFO
EDM
Lane 8 (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
Classical/Chorale
Florida Orchestra Presents Romeo and Juliet & West Side Story w/Håkan Hardenberger (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
Country
Confederate Railroad (The Stockyard, Holiday) INFO
Americana
The Only Daddys (Crooked Thumb Brewery, Safety Harbor) INFO
Moors & McCumber w/Deserie & Jim (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Hip-hop/DJ/Producer
Elemental Warfare Beat Battle (Pegasus Nite Club, Tampa) INFO
Roots/Blues
Packrat’s Smokehouse (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Damon Fowler Group w/Melody Trucks Band (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Liz Pennock & Dr. Blues (Pesky Pelican, St. Petersburg) INFO
Singer-songwriter
Stephen Pigman (Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
Live & Local w/Nalani and Josh (Jaeb Courtyard at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO
Greg Milo w/Jonny Morgan/The Reverend Travis Weeks (The Blue Note, Tampa) INFO
This article appears in Feb 15-22, 2018.
