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✔️=Critic's Pick
✔️ Tropical Depression w/Jason/Bacon Grease/Lush Agave/Mother Juno/Apocalypse Siren/Donzii The first night of Tropical Depression — this inaugural, two-show darkwave festival presented by Jacksonville-based Popnihil records — happens in Tampa at the American Legion in Seminole Heights. The party seeks to highlight the South’s premier goth and synthwave acts by inviting them to devastate central Florida with lamp-lit emotion and chilling dance terror. A highlight of the Tampa bill is Alisha Erao (formerly part of Alligator Indian). Now performing as Lush Agave, the new endeavour finds Erao going solo and merging her passion for classical voice with electronic and pop music. The project attempts to bring the beauty and intensity of the operatic tradition into the modern day by wrangling up melodies, lyrics and overall sentiments from Erao’s favorite arias and art songs before it turns them into a performance that evokes an aura of tragedy, mysticism, and passion. It’s $7 to get into the Friday night show and $10 if you want to commit to attending the November 17 showcase in Orlando, too. (American Legion Seminole Post 111, Tampa) INFO
✔️ Mountain Holler w/Geri X/J.T. Brown/Kerry Courtney If you’re a visitor to the Bay area who loves singer-songwriter fare, then you might want to make time for live music on Friday when four of Tampa Bay’s best take to the stage at one of the community’s longest-running listening rooms. Mark Etherington’s Mountain Holler project sends ethereal folk into the air, Kerry Courtney adds intricate guitar work and J.T. Brown brings a sturdy brand of smoky Americana to the mix. Sure to steal the show, however, is Geri X, whose unique voice and inimitable gift for melancholy melody anchor the bill. (Hideaway Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Florida Orchestra: Vaughan Williams’ A London Symphony w/Esther Yoo American-Korean violinist Esther Yoo — who is the first-ever artist-in-residence with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London — joins director Michael Francis for a show that the Florida Orchestra is billing as a “mini British Festival” that will tap Sir Edward William Elgar, Felix Mendelssohn and Vaughan Williams in celebrating the sounds of London town (Mendelssohn was German, but he was always welcome in England). What’s cool about this trio of shows (the run kicks off in Tampa on Friday and then closes with two concerts in St. Petersburg) is that kids and teens can score free tickets if they inquire in advance. More information is available at floridaorchestra.org. (David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts) INFO
✔️ Bit Brigade: The Legend Of Zelda w/Aerwave/Wally Clark/Ninja Super Hero In 2016, Athens video game rock band Bit Brigade played songs from its Mega Man tribute live and in-person during a Tampa concert. A different cartridge gets dusted off on Friday when the group plays The Legend of Zelda for a room that’ll already be warmed up after Tampa-based quintet Aerwave, Naruto-loving producer Wally Clark and Clearwater remixer Ben Acosta (aka Ninja Super Hero) open the show. (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
✔️ Suncoast Jazz Festival Suncoast Jazz Classic, Inc. is a nonprofit wholly dedicated to preserving jazz through this annual festival that kicks off on Friday. More than two dozen artists — including Dave Bennett, Cornet Chop Suey, Rossano Sportiello, Chuck Redd, Nate Najar, La Lucha, Theresa Scavarda and more — will be at the Sheraton and Marriott in Clearwater for the three-day party that includes jam sessions and youth workshops in addition to a full slate of concerts that’ll touch all styles including traditional jazz, big band, swing and zydeco. (Sheraton Sand Key Resort, Clearwater Beach) INFO
Short On Ideas: The Junior Recital of Elwood Bond Pianist Jeremy Douglass, guitarist Justin Medlen and bass player Nic Giordano will join one of CL’s best 30 under 30 artists (Woody Bond) for his junior recital at the University of Tampa. The program will cover Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter and more, but it is more or less a chance for deep lovers of the local scene to check out something different while sitting on one of the city’s most beautiful campuses, too. (Plant Hall Music Room at University of Tampa) INFO
The Supervillains w/Kash’d Out It may not be First Friday, but there’s a free ska and reggae-rock show going down in the Jannus Live courtyard. This one features St. Cloud quintet The Supervillains in action alongside Orlando-based outfit Kash’d Out. Gates are at 8 p.m. for the all-ages show. (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ The Underhill Family Orchestra Here’s one of those shows that makes you wonder how the relatively small stage at Ella’s is going to be able to contain all the music that’s scheduled to be played on it. Built around Joelle Rosen and Steven Laney, Underhill Family Orchestra is an undersung Americana tour de force supporting Tell Me That You Love Me, a new release that seeks to re-introduce the band to a fresh group of fans that probably never picked up UFO’s two other albums — 2011’s This Is… and Stories of Appalachia Proper from 2014 — which were both wiped off the internet after the band signed to its current label, Skate Mountain. Free and kicking off at 10 p.m., this show will send you home with a smile on your face. (Ella’s Americana Folk Café, Tampa) INFO
✔️ The Main Squeeze w/Kaleigh Baker Oh man, can the State Theatre just reopen already? The beloved St. Petersburg venue is in the midst of a big remodel, so this one featuring Windy City funk favorite The Main Squeeze got moved to The Ritz in Ybor City and then Orpheum just a few blocks away. The venue changes won’t stop frontman Corey Frye from orchestrating the feel-good getdown, and Bay area favorite Kaleigh Baker will be there to get things started off right. (Orpheum, Ybor City) INFO
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ALSO PLAYING
Blues/Funk
Selwyn Birchwood w/George Pennington III (The Ale & the Witch, St. Petersburg) INFO
Reverend Barry & the Funk (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Roosevelt Collier w/Holey Miss Moley (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Tribute/Cover
Swipe Right (Buckets Grill & Tap, Tampa) INFO
The Killer Dueling Pianos (3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
Erica DeCeglie (Zydeco Brew Werks, Ybor City) INFO
Devious 4 (Two Buks, Clearwater) INFO
Tusk (Fleetwood Mac Tribute) (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater) INFO
Disasterpiece (Smokin’ 19, St. Petersburg) INFO
Acoustic Grateful Dead w/Whiteley/Walker (Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
Singer-songwriter
Joshua Reilly w/Mwiza Simfukwe (Independent Bar, St. Petersburg) INFO
Raw Tunage w/Dave Decker/Brendon Hock/Bob Anthony (Green Light Bar, St. Petersburg) INFO
Gabe Dixon w/Eden Shireen (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) INFO
Live & Local w/Connor Zwetsch (Jaeb Courtyard at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts) INFO
Rock
Musicians With Experience (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Pre-Anniversary Black Light Night Market and Live Music (Safety Harbor Arts and Music Center, Safety Harbor) INFO
Stellar Circuits (The Verona, New Port Richey) INFO
The Boats w/Jordan Esker/Navin Ave (Hooch and Hive, Tampa) INFO
Twin Strike w/Let It Rot/Alex Nicosia (The Bricks, Ybor City) INFO
Whale Feral w/Foxy Windham (The Blue Note, Tampa) INFO
Must Not Kill w/The Dood (Brass Mug, Tampa) INFO
Classical/Chorale
USF Honors College Philharmonic (School of Music Concert Hall at University of South Florida, Tampa) INFO
Rebecca Penneys Piano Concerts Series w/Alan and Alvin Chow Song and Dance Duo Recital (St. Petersburg College Music Center, St. Petersburg) INFO
Jazz
Jazz With Jim: “The Music of Duke Ellington” (Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa) INFO
Americana
Have Gun Will Travel (Ka’Tiki, Sunset Beach) INFO
EDM
#Pound Fridays (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
Hip-hop
Afroman (Wild Greg’s Saloon, Lakeland) INFO
World
El Varón De La Bachata (Whiskey North, Tampa) INFO
This article appears in Nov 15-22, 2018.