THURSDAY, MARCH 7
Leaders of the Next School: Vinny Virgo/Road To The Riches/Rahim Samad A special showcase featuring on-the-rise indie hip-hop talent from the Tampa Bay area. Vinny Virgo (formerly of The White Kids) has a clever sense of humor and songs reflecting on topics ranging from being weird to getting high and elevating his consciousness. Recent single “New World Order” samples vocals and clap-tracks off Tokyo Police Club’s “Citizens of Tomorrow,” with Vinny delivering lines like “Chemtrails ‘bout to kill a nigga’s stem cells/but when it’s all said and done, I hope it ends well” over a chopped, twisted, warped and skewed sonic stew. Road to the Riches (R.T.T.R.) is a hip-hop trio made up of well-balanced strong-flowing emcees Mike Mass, Miss Bronx, and Atwaters. The past few years has found each working the solo angle, but they’ve recently re-convened in their R.T.T.R. lineup and even cut a bumpin’ comeback track, “The Anthem.” Finally, Tampa-by-way-of-NYC rapper Rahim Samad lays down his lower-toned rhythmic verses over old school production. (Martini Republic, Tampa)
Fred Hersch Trio For its latest intimate Side Door concert, Palladium presents Grammy-nominated jazz pianist Fred Hersch, who’s been leading his well-regarded trio with bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson since 2010. Their latest release is a 2-CD set, Alive at the Vanguard, which won the 2012 Grand Prix du Disque (France’s premier award for musical recordings), and earned a spot on year-end Best of Jazz lists by Slate and Downbeat magazines. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
Hard Rock Rising This global Battle of the Bands competition is held at 95 Hard Rocks around the world. Locally, this is the last of three Thursday night qualifying rounds. Alma Vertical, Hope Darling and The Best Day Ever perform, with the winner moving on to the March 14 finale to play against the other two qualifying round winners, Malaya and Scilter. The ultimate victor advances to rep our city in the regional battle. (Hard Rock Café, Tampa)
Rock the Park w/Cope/The Rukus/Touch the Sky The March edition of Rock the Park features a wide-ranging bill of sounds: the melody-rich, roots-and-groove soaked rock ’n’ roll of Cope, which performs their last show with long-time drummer Dave Gerulat; the rhyme-slinging hip-hop jams of The Rukus, featuring Gwan Massive Collective members KeithElite, Rude and DJ Blenda; and funk-hop rockers/vintage R&B revivalists Touch the Sky, another Gwan-associated band, this one fronted by velvety-voiced howler and keys mistress, Monica Delgado. (Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Tampa)
Trapt w/Sugar Phix/Kheiron A heavy grinding alt-metal/post-grungy foursome that hit the charts in 2002 with platinum-selling single “Headstrong” and earned a couple of Billboard Music Awards for it, too. This tour finds Trapt backing 2013 fifth LP, Reborn. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
FRIDAY, MARCH 8
Swamp Sista LaLa w/Beth McKee Band/Betty Fox/Audrey Auld/Passerine/Sara Rose Band A celebration of Southern women and culture appropriately held on International Women’s Day. Swamp Sista LaLa is headed up by Beth McKee, a keys-and-accordion-playing artist with velvety strong vocals who has laid down roots in several Southern locales — most recently Florida — and reveals these varied influences in her easy-riding blend of blues, Cajun pop, NOLA-soaked R&B, and rock ’n’ roll. Tampa native Betty Fox howls soulfully or croons seductively over spirited or slinky funk-blues instrumentals, while Tasmanian native artist Audrey Auld reps Australia’s Deep South with her country-folk repertoire, though she officially re-located to the States in the ’00s and currently calls Nashville home. Sarasota Americana quintet Passerine sets feminine multi-voice harmonies over textured instrumentals built on acoustic guitars, dobro, upright bass and violin. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
André Rieu Internationally renowned maestro and Stradivarius-wielding violin superstar André Rieu brings his 60-piece Johann Strauss Orchestra to town as part of his exhaustive tour behind 2011’s And The Waltz Goes On. In addition to his trademark waltzes, Rieu’s concert programs include spirituals (“Amazing Grace”), musicals (“Send In The Clowns”), pop and folk songs (“What A Wonderful World”), and marches. (Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa)
Beach Day/Jensen Serf Company/Archaic Interest A triple serving of Florida-bred surf-garage sounds as headed up by Beach Day, a ’60s girl group-inspired salt-and-sand-stained pop trio led by the sugar-coated coos of frontwoman Kimmy Drake (a dead-ringer for New Girl’s Hannah Simone) and backing harmonies of bassist Natalie Smallish, with beat-keeping duty by sole male member, Skylar Black. Beach Day has issued a few 7” albums since signing to reputable indie label Kanine Records last year. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
Evergreen Terrace w/Decisions/Hoist The Colours/Stealing Spines/Hollow Fox/City Of Seba/He, the Creator Jacksonville-bred Evergreen Terrance headlines this special multi-act hardcore bill presented by Introduce Yourself Zine and Tampa Bay Hard Core (T.B.H.C.). The propulsive, breakdown raging metalcore/melodic hardcore quintet has promised to perform 2007 breakthrough album Wolfbiker (featuring “Chaney Can’t Quite Riff Like Helmet’s Page Hamilton”) in its entirety, along with other select tunes from the ET catalog. (Brass Mug, Tampa)
Kopecky Family Band/LEAGUES The tenderly winding boy-girl harmonies of Kopecky Family Band’s founding members, Kelsey Kopecky and Gabriel Simon, are set against driving indie rock arrangements, sometimes floating on Afro pop buoyant melodies, or carried on chamber rocking strains of cello, or driving forward with electro-alternative power. Last month, ATO — home to My Morning Jacket and Trey Anastasio, among others — welcomed Kopecky Family Band into its fold and is re-releasing the sextet’s Kids Raising Kids LP on April 2. Also performing on this night: LEAGUES, the bright, big-beat infectious folk-pop project of singer Thad Cockrell, steel guitarist/keys player Tyler Burkum, and drummer Jeremy Lutito. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Sunbears! w/Alexander & the Grapes/The Passenger The return of Sunbears! is most welcome, indeed, as we haven’t seen the Jacksonville duo’s keys-and-lights-show-spectacular nor enjoyed their sunny uplifting psych pop melodies for far, far too long. On this Friday night stop on their way to SXSW, Sunbears! is joined by indie folk-rock quartet Alexander & the Grapes and The Passenger, a ’90s alt-rock grungy fivesome from Winter Park. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
SATURDAY, MARCH 9
Gasparilla Music Fest w/Best Coast/The Meter Men feat. Page McConnell/Dr. Dog/many more The second annual GMF has grown from three to four stages, and features even bigger and better musical offerings, from much buzzed-about indie rock to hip-hop Latino fusion to New Orleans-soaked funk and more. Add to that food by 16 local eateries (The Refinery and Ella’s included), a children’s activity area and programming, and beer vending by Cigar City Brewing, Yuengling, St. Somewhere Brewing and Sierra Nevada, and you have yourself a party. More info about it here. (Kiley Gardens and Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park, Tampa)
Doo Wop Reunion XIII w/Gene Chandler/Kenny Vance and The Planotones/Tommy Mara and The Crests/Jimmy Gallagher and The Passions/Cleveland Still and The Dubs/The Chiffons/The Duprees The eighth annual vintage doo wop showcase ranges from the vocal pop of Kenny Vance and the Planotones (“Looking for an Echo”) as led by the still-strong falsetto-reaching vocals of Vance (formerly of Jay and the Americans), to the R&B-soul leanings of Gene Chandler, nicknamed the “Duke of Earl” for his highest-selling hit of the same name. (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
Wild Splash w/Meek Mill/Juicy J/Juvenile/Jonn Hart/Mr. Vegas/RaVaughn/others Wild 94.1 brings some hot poppin’ names in hip-hop to town for its Spring Break party. The 2013 edition of Wild Splash features Billboard-charting talent like Rick Ross-repped rapper-songwriter Meek Mill, who put out nearly a dozen mixtapes before actually issuing his full-length debut last year and hitting the charts with his single “Amen” (featuring Drake); vet rhyme-slinger Juvenile, who just issued his 10th studio LP, Rejuvenation, last year; and rapper/producer Juicy J, of Three 6 Mafia. (Coachman Park, Clearwater)
God Module w/Ludovico Technique/Mordacious/Frontal Boundary/DJ Maus/DJ Bryant Griffin Seattle-by-way-of-Orlando aggrotech outfit God Module returns to their home state promoting a 2013 sophomore album, Empath 2.0, full of pounding beats, violent synth movements and freaky pitch-modulated vocals. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Florida Strawberry Festival Concert Series: Gaither Vocal Band/Bret Michaels The Strawberry Fest opens its Saturday musical festivities with a 3:30 p.m. set featuring the five-part Southern gospel harmonies of Gaither Vocal Band. Poison’s bandana-tied frontman Bret Michaels delivers the evening goods with a solo 7:30 p.m. concert of his trademark hair metal rocking and power ballad rolling. (Florida Strawberry Festival Grounds, Plant City)
Judy Collins The blue-eyed contralto made a name for herself as a folk artist in the early 1960s playing NYC’s Greenwich Village, and released her first album, A Maid of Constant Sorrow, at 22. She started a trend of mixing original material with the songs of artists like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell in 1967 album Wildflowers, and landed her first commercial hit by way of the Mitchell-penned “Both Sides Now.” She has a more orchestrated, pop-savvy sound several decades later, though she still mixes originals and covers in her recordings, as with 2011’s Bohemian. (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater)
Mercies/Geri X/The Other Ryan Willis/Sonic Graffiti Haunting-lovely vocals raised in Beach Boys-pitched harmonies sail serenely over melody-rich, lusciously textured folk pop that swings between a lethargic sunny mellowness and high sense of ethereal drama. Mercies has released two albums, 2011 debut full-length Three Thousand Days, and 2012 Ballet EP, recorded in an oversized restored shed nicknamed “The Barn” by collaborators Josh Rheault and Sammy Dent, now also joined by bassist/vocalist Jordan Flower. Also on this Saturday night bill: St. Pete soul-bearing alt-roots songstress Geri X, fresh off a recent signing to Cleopatra Records and in the midst of finishing another brand new record and follow-up to last year’s Work is the Wolf. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
SUNDAY, MARCH 10
Florida Strawberry Festival Concert Series: Hunter Hayes/Blake Shelton Fast rising young country talent Hunter Hayes stages an afternoon performance while country music superstar Blake Shelton closes the Strawberry Festival Concert Series with a big twangy bang, bringing along his favorite contestant from the last season of The Voice, the faux-hawk sporting songbird Michaela Paige. (Florida Strawberry Festival Grounds, Plant City)
Orgy w/Vampires Everywhere!/Davey Suicide Plying a mix of seething industrial dance music and dark-moody alt-metal is Orgy, which debuted in the late 1990s and made mainstream radio airwaves with a cover of New Order’s “Blue Monday.” Vocalist Jay Gordon revived Orgy in 2011 after an extended hiatus, soldiering on with old Orgy material and a new single, “Grime of the Century,” but without any of his original bandmates. The current Orgy lineup includes Deadsy members Carlton Bost and Ashburn Miller. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
MONDAY, MARCH 11
Richard Shindell An expatriate singer-songwriter who resides in Argentina and offers up folk narratives from a variety of perspectives — from “The Courier” delivering his messages over a war-torn countryside, to a heart-sore mistress in “The Ballad of Mary Magdalen” (“Jesus loved me, this I know / But why on earth did I ever let him go?”), to the New York City cab driver in “Last Fare of the Day.” (Jaeb Theater at Straz Center for Performing Arts, Tampa)
TUESDAY, MARCH 12
Enter Shikari w/Architects/Heartist/Crossfaith Last year, Enter Shikari landed on several Best of 2012 lists with third full-length, A Flash Flood of Colour, the UK quartet’s post-hardcore seethe and churn given electro-magnetic treatment most evident in songs like drum ’n’ bass-fueled “Sssnakepit” and the zippy driving, synth-womped “Arguing With Thermometers.” (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
Mike Zito and the Wheel Strat-slinging smoky-drawling bluesman Mike Zito explores his honky tonk tendencies with new group, The Wheel, which encompasses drummer Rob Lee, bassist Scot Sutherland and sax player Jimmy Carpenter. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.
This article appears in Mar 7-13, 2013.