✔️ Off With Their Heads w/Stacey Dee/Seth Anderson/Shae Krispinsky Things always get very rowdy when Minnesota’s Off With Their Heads gets booked to play October punk rock party Pre-Fest, but the boys are turning the electricity off for a pair of Bay area acoustic shows happening in some very interesting, intimate locations. This Friday gig in Tampa goes down at downtown Tampa soccer pub Pokey’s before OWTH heads to Vero Beach (Jan. 20), Orlando (Jan. 21) and then St. Petersburg (Jan. 22 at Lucky You Tattoo). Bad Cop Bad Cop’s Stacey Dee opens the show, and it’s a $10 cover, so take note, everyone who’s used to getting into Pokey’s shows for the price of a donation. (Pokey’s Pub, Tampa) INFO
✔️ Steve Martin & Martin Short w/The Steep Canyon Rangers/Jeff Babko Music is being provided by Grammy-winning bluegrass boys The Steep Canyon Rangers and jazz pianist and longtime Martin Short musical director Jeff Babko, but Short and Steve Martin will provide the laughs at this variety show being billed as as “an evening you’ll forget for the rest of your lives.” Read CL’s silly, rapid-fire Q&A with Martin and Short at cltampa.com/music. (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
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✔️ Jesse Terry w/Ed Woltil & the Loaded Question The Ditchflowers’ Ed Woltil first met Jesse Terry about half a decade ago when Hideaway Café owner John Kelly asked Woltil to open for the New England songwriter. The gig turned into a songwriter relationship that gave birth to a couple of tracks on Terry’s latest album, Stargazer, which outs Terry as a closet ELO and Beatles fan. The songwriters will rekindle the magic onstage at the very same place they met and then reconvene for a little more co-writing after this one. (Hideaway Cafe, St. Petersburg) INFO
WMNF presents “Songs from The Attic” w/Matt Burke/Rebekah Pulley/Kristopher James/Shevonne Philidor Bay area community radio station WMNF 88.5 FM brings its tribe to this Ybor City listening room in celebration of a songwriters’ bill that includes some tried and true ‘MNF faves (Matt Burke of Have Gun Will Travel, Rebekah Pulley) and a pair of relative newcomers. (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) INFO
CL PREMIERE
Empire Cinema ponders forever on "Sink Or Swim" — listen
✔️ Empire Cinema w/Dead Neighbors/Hello Joyce Believe it or not, Dead Neighbors isn’t the coolest band name coming through Seminole Heights record shop Microgroove this weekend (shoutout to Butthole, playing on Jan. 20). That’s not to take away from the Neighbors’ Pity Party single, however, since it does find frontman Sebastian Marquez leading the band through a pair of frenetic, fantastic power-pop tunes while his bandmates, bassist Owen and drummer Howard Stewart, keep time like champions. Empire Cinema, a Tampa indie-rock outfit on the verge of releasing a new album, opens the show along with Hello Joyce, which put out one of CL’s favorite local releases of 2017. Don’t park in the Cappy’s Pizza parking lot, ya jerks. (Microgroove, Tampa) INFO
Alex Wald and the I Heart Cats Band This Bay area band’s 2017 release has nine tracks (not nine lives) which bounce around different styles of rock including easygoing beach tunes (“Free”), reggae-tinged tracks (“On The Ground”) and even jazz-inflected numbers like “Pouring Rain.” For some odd reason, none of the cuts actually have anything to do with actual cats. It’s a free show in a quirky little venue, so stop by if you’re in the area. (Safety Harbor Art & Music Center, Safety Harbor) INFO
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ALSO PLAYING
Rock/Pop
Jordan Esker & the Hundred Percent w/The Tattered Saints/Joshua Reilly (Green Bench Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
Zigtebra (Ella's Americana Folk Art Cafe, Tampa) INFO
Black Tent Revival w/Down From Trees/Comin' Home (Brass Mug, Tampa) INFO
In This Moment w/P.O.D/New Years Day/Ded (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO
Brewhouse Session No. 5 w/Radarmen/The Path of Increased Indifference/Copper Bones/Old Vices (Hidden Springs Ale Works, Tampa) INFO
The Nervous Girls (Lowry Parcade, Tampa) INFO
Big Something (State Theatre, St. Petersburg) INFO
Unchecked Aggression (Beer & Brownies, Tampa) INFO
Babyblue w/Jack Black Ally Cat/Fazewave/The Young Something (The Blue Note, Tampa) INFO
World
Massenkoff Russian Folk Festival (Central Park Performing Arts Center, Largo) INFO
DJ/EDM
Datsik w/Space Jesus/Riot Ten/Wooli (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
Trippy Squad Takeover 2-Year Anniversary (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
A Night of DRUM and BASS (2 Year Anniversary Party) (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
Soul
Shirley Alston Reeves w/the Chiffons/Chris Montez/Brian Hyland/Merrilee Rush (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
Country
Miranda Lambert (Amway Center, Orlando) INFO
Chris Lane (Dallas Bull, Tampa) INFO
Jazz
Jazz With Jim Burge and the Jazz Directions (Carrollwood Cultural Center, Tampa) INFO
James Suggs Quartet plays Lee Morgan (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
Folk/Americana
Shoeless Soul (Crooked Thumb Brewery, Safety Harbor) INFO
January 19-21, American Songbook Series: I Get a Kick w/Paul Wilborn and the Blue Roses (American Stage Theatre Company at Raymond James Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
Tribute/Cover
Grateful Dead Night w/The Dead Set (Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Black Honkeys (Buckets Grill & Tap, Tampa) INFO
Deadphish Orchestra (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Peace of Woodstock (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Singer-Songwriter
Thirsty Third Fridays w/Este Loves (Central Park Performing Arts Center, Largo) INFO
Classical/Chorale
Composition in Asia Symposium: Recital II (Barness Recital Hall at University of South Florida, Tampa) INFO
The Florida Orchestra presents Dvorak's Cello Concerto (Ferguson Hall at David A. Straz Center for Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO
This article appears in Jan 18-25, 2018.