✔️=Critic's Pick

✔️Dan Yang A guzheng is a Chinese instrument with a history that is more than two centuries old. The combinations of sounds that can come out of its up to 21 strings are even more complex, and Dan Yang — an associate professor and deputy dean at the School of Music and Dance at Hunan First Normal University in China — will do his best to explore them at this recital featuring traditional and contemporary Chinese solo pieces. (Barness Recital Hall at University of South Florida, Tampa) INFO

Soul on Franklin w/DJ Blenda Michael Mendolusky is one of the hardest-working DJs in the Bay area, so it makes sense that he’d be spinning on his own birthday. There’s a bar at Tampa Heights’ second-newest food hall, so go ahead and pop in to buy the guy a drink. (The Hall on Franklin, Tampa) INFO

BACKGROUND CHECK
Career's Ryan Fouche breaks down his influences, love/hate with Kerouac and more before Ybor City release show

✔️ Career Vinyl Release w/Permanent Makeup/Sean Hamilton “Structures” has been around for the better part of two years now, but Tampa post-rock Career is finally getting around to putting the sprawling composition to vinyl. On Friday it taps two forward-thinking Bay area acts — punk group Permanent Makeup and percussionist Sean Hamilton — to open this release show where photographer Adam Roberts will be showing work as well. Read our profile on Career on p. 47. (CL Space, Ybor City) INFO

FINDING FORM
Career gets "Structures" to tape, and finally turns in its gripping debut full-length

✔️ Glove w/MTVH1N1/Reality Asylum A hometown show with Glove isn’t an everyday occurance, so getting to see the band in this downtown dive should be especially nice since the group has just come off of a quick run through Philly, Brooklyn, Charlotte and Atlanta in support of a new single, “Pleasure Intellect,” which tastemaking website Tiny Mix Tapes described as being awash in “a haze of jangly guitar,” with “a synth melody [that] connects the towers of rock and pop in a pure punk slice of bloody baked goods.” (The Hub Bar, Tampa) INFO

&lt;a href="http://glove.bandcamp.com/track/pleasure-intellect"&gt;Pleasure Intellect by Glove&lt;/a&gt;

Free Live Album Production At the end of 2017, CL told you about a new, just-out-of-Ybor songwriter’s haven that was doing some high-quality audio and video recording during live shows. Well now the joint is letting you take something of a free test drive by offering live album production at no cost. Spots will probably be booked up by the time you read this in print, but it wouldn’t hurt to call owner Steve Prevatt (813-695-8977) to check in and find out how you can still show up and support other songwriters before you ask about trying to get your hands on all the free service he’s handing out. It’s a music scene, not “Supermarket Sweep,” you know. (The Blue Note, Tampa) INFO

SOMETHING BLUE
Tampa's Blue Note Bar is a new haven for songwriters

David Kibby Art Opening w/DJ Scott Imrich For a long time, you could only find David Kibby peddling tunes as part of bands like Brahm Bones. Well on Friday the longtime Tampanian is pushing the proverbial paintbrush and showing off visual art while another 813-lifer, WMNF 88.5 FM radio personality Scott Imrich, spins the tunes. (Cigar City Cider & Mead, Ybor City) INFO

✔️ The Florida Orchestra Presents The Music of Star Trek & Star Wars For three nights (and four performances) only, nerds won’t have to choose between Star Wars and Star Trek. It’s all thanks to the Florida Orchestra, which is kicking off its three-city run in Tampa on Friday night. Cosplay is welcome, and while there won’t be video like there was at the TFO’s Harry Potter concerts, members of the 501st Legion (a Star Wars cosplay collective) will be in the lobby to help you get in the spirit. Don’t be surprised if TFO musical director Michael Francis looks extra pumped while conducting too, since he did perform under the baton of John Williams during Abbey Road Studios recordings for Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. Visit floridaorchestra.org to see a complete list of shows. (Morsani Hall at David A. Straz Center For Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO

✔️ G. Love & Special Sauce w/Ries Bros. St. Pete reggae-rock and blues duo The Ries Brothers have been on a long tour opening for G. Love & Special Sauce, and on Friday the jaunt comes home to Jannus Live before packing back up and heading for Texas, all in support of the Ries’ first-ever full-length album — The View From Outside — which was produced by Passafire’s Ted Bowne and released in November. Special Sauce, for its part, is on the road to commemorate 25 years of bandom, so expect nothing but celebratory vibes at this one. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO

L.A. Guns Reunion Tour Tracii Guns says it took 30 years for him to get this lineup of hair-metal hitmakers L.A. Guns right, and according to lagunsmusic.com (not laguns.net) this one coming to Tampa features Tracii and original singer Phil Lewis, plus Shane Fitzgibbon on drums, guitarist Michael Grant and bassist Johnny Martin. (Brass Mug, Tampa) INFO

Chase Rice Country music at The Ritz? Yup, but 32-year-old Ormond Beach hunk Chase Rice (you might know him when he finished second on CBS’s Survivor: Nicaragua) has promised to be done playing songs from his 2017 release, Lambs & Lions, early so that the kandy kids can file into the venue for its Friday-night EDM party (this week headlined by Sideshow Bob-lookin’ Dallas producer Joey Verrando, aka He$h). (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO

Little River Band w/Pablo Cruise Luminescent harmonies and a golden, super-smooth country-pop aesthetic made Little River Band a yacht-rocker favorite, and this show sees the Aussies being joined by another easygoing late-70s band, California pop outfit Pablo Cruise, for what should be a mega-mellow, synthy soiree. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) INFO

✔️ Billy Joel Billy Joel regularly sells out New York City’s Madison Square Garden where he plays one show per month, so don’t be surprised if the 68-year-old piano man moves every ticket available for this Friday-night show in downtown Tampa (Joel has sold out the same room seven times in his career). (Amalie Arena, Tampa) INFO

✔️ John McCutcheon It’s been almost a year since John McCutcheon’s last Bay area show (a February 27, 2017 show at the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theater), but this one is in even closer quarters and comes on the same day that the 65-year-old, hard-touring folkie releases his 39th studio album, Ghost Light. It’s going to be pretty special to watch this living legend plunk away at the dulcimer, guitar and banjo at this sure-to-sell-out intimate ‘Burg show. (Craftsman House Gallery, St. Petersburg) INFO

Backtrack Blues Band CD Release Party It’s been a year since it was recorded on the very same site, so it makes sense that the homegrown Backtrack Blues Band would release its new album (Make My Home in Florida) at the Palladium Theater. The record is a mix of originals and classics from T-Bone Walker, B.B. King, Little Walter and more, and we’re wondering what the Chicago and Texas blues-loving crew will play this time around. “We knew that the show was being filmed and recorded, but the band never discussed it much,” founder Sonny Charles said in a release. “Our goal was to relax and have fun playing to a sold-out room. We are all such good friends, and we genuinely appreciate what each guy brings to our sound, so it was actually easy for us to just go out there and let it roll.” (Side Door Cabaret at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO

ALSO PLAYING

Hip-hop

The Essence w/Marcel P. Black/Victoria Diaonne/Mowglii/Johnny Vegaz/Jay Lamar/DJ Tah Chi/Travis Lavoe (The Attic Café, Tampa) INFO

Rock

Sirsy (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO

Vintage Youth w/VJ Jason Barco (Orbit 19 Lounge, Holiday) INFO

Mixed Signal (Ka’Tiki, Treasure Island) INFO

Tribute/Cover

Grateful Dead Night w/Uncle John's Band (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO

Pop

Tony Bennett (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO

Reggae