THURSDAY, DECEMBER 13
One Single Wish: A Benefit Concert for Crohn’s Disease w/Christopher Costabile & Friends Clearwater native artist and musician Christopher Costabile (The Human Echo, River Guard) has been fighting the effects of Crohn’s Disease since he was diagnosed with the incurable auto-immune disorder at 18, and has endured three surgeries and a near-death intestine rupture because of it. His experiences prompted a commitment to helping other Crohn’s sufferers, so he gathered some of his Tampa Bay area music-making friends — Beardsley’s Brian Berry, Andrew Craven and Jason Kushner, Jaclyn Hicks (Ironwood), Mark Harman, Alissa Martinez, and Justin Vilardi (Paint the Town Red) — to write, record, and produce One Single Wish. The Christmas album features 12 new, original, bell-ringing and choral-singing holiday-themed tracks, with all proceeds from album sales and admission to this benefit concert donated to the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA). The $10 cover gets you a free download of the album … but if perchance you can’t make it, download and donate at onesinglewish.com. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Torche w/Set And Setting/Tides Of Man Harmonicraft is the third full-length from Miami stoner metal foursome Torche, its relentless riffage, massive howling choruses and melodic turns at heavy earning mixed reviews; it made Stereogum’s Top 50 Albums of 2012 list but only earned a tepid 6.5 rating from Pitchfork, which found Harmonicraft too formulaic and not enough of a progression from 2008’s Meanderthal. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 14
Lauris Vidal w/Big Blu House/Acho Brother A three-way bill of Florida-grown talent as headed up by infectiously poetic alt folk troubadour Lauris Vidal, his most recent recording “Prisoneer” a stripped-down blues-psych tune musing on people who become prisoners to wanderlust (“The battered hearts of men like us / Shake like leaves for the never-ending road”). (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
Roy Schneider CD Release Show Multi-talented Ft. Myers singer-songwriter Roy Schneider (guitar, harmonica, mandolin, stomp box) hits town behind a new studio album of Americana, Walls That Talk, with covers by heroes David Crosby and Guy Clark scattered amid the album’s 11 tracks. (Hideaway Café & Recording Studio, St. Petersburg)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15
Dan Deacon w/Grand Buffet/Michael Parallax When I interviewed Dan Deacon more than five years ago, the DIY electro artist was rising from the Baltimore experimental music scene and working at carving a niche out for himself on a national level with his schizzed out-glittery sonic experiments and digi-warped psych explosions that, while cheeky and outrageous, came from a completely authentic place. “I just hope that people take it as sincere and not a joke,” he said. “Sincerity is an insanely important aspect to what I do.” Since then, he delved into classical music, and among other projects, he scored a film for Francis Ford Coppola, Twixt, and collaborated on a piece with So Percussion Quartet, Ghostbuster Cook: Origin of the Riddler, that was rated among the top 10 classical music performances of 2011 by New York Magazine. He also recorded a few well-regarded (Pitchfork.com-approved) studio albums. America, his 2012 debut on Domino Records, pays homage to his native country, its ecstatic, celebratory sounds integrating acoustic textures into the pop-tronics like concert percussion, winds, brass, and strings, and contrasting with the album’s darker lyrical undercurrents. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
The Wholetones Naples foursome The Wholetones hit town every six weeks or so, their tight musicality on full display in vibrant aggro roots music they’ve dubbed ‘folkcore,’ which touches on jazz, bluegrass, indie rock, reggae and metal influences in an original repertoire filled-out by oddly distinctive covers of songs by Modest Mouse and Johnny Cash, among others. Live, these guys do not disappoint. Ostensible frontman Taylor Freydberg plays a serious acoustic guitar and sings in a deeper-register hum with higher-toned vocal harmonies delivered by Alex Dorris, who jumps between nimble-fingered banjo shredding and drawing out wailing notes or fast-slashing spiccato on cello. Russ Depa plucks and thumps his upright bass with laid-back prowess and drummer Mayo Coates brings it home with lightly driving or heavy-charging rhythmic thrust. This free show starts at 7 p.m. (The Bungalow, Tampa)
Holiday Rock & Roll Spectacular w/Car Bomb Driver/Pretty Voices/Dank A loud, shit-kicking punk-sneering holiday rock show featuring the brash sounds of Car Bomb Driver, the garage-reverb jangle of Pretty Voices, and the once-a-year appearance of local punk vet supergroup Dank, made up of bassist Martin Rice (The Weapons of Ass Destruction), drummer Hugh T. Williams (TWOAD, Sparky’s Nightmare), singer/guitarist Travis Parker (TWOAD, Grassy Knoll Gunmen), and guitarist John McNicholas (Spiller). (Octave, St. Petersburg)
Hallucination Before Christmas 2012 Few holiday parties encourage freaky costumed debauchery with quite so much gusto as Hallucination Before Christmas, the annual Hallucination Recordings dance music-meets-Nightmare Before Christmas party and canned food drive for Feeding America Tampa Bay. More than 20 DJs are spread out over Czar’s four rooms for the 2012 edition, and each room gets its own theme with custom built props, eye-popping visuals, and distinct sonic atmospheres. Halloween Town (“Jack’s Christmas Graveyard and Pumpkin Patch”) delivers electro, nu disco, bass breaks and freak beats from featured misfits Tommie Sunshine, David Christophere and MONK (the latter two co-founders of Rabbit In The Moon); Oogie Boogies Lair (dubstep, trap, moombahton, drum n’ bass, drumstep) stars Miami’s Craze; Christmas Town (deep, minimal, tech and acid house) is headed up by Oonaslim; and Sally’s Sanctuary (chillwave, ambient grooves, funk, trip hop, acid jazz, downtempo) closes the night with DayDREAMn. Hallucination collected more than 1,700 pounds of food last year, and hopes to surpass that number in 2012. Bring three canned food donations or risk paying a higher ($20) cover. (Czar, Ybor City)
Suncoast Blues Society Holiday Party w/Popa Chubby/Selwyn Birchwood SBS welcomes NYC’s Popa Chubby to rage the Skipperdome stage for its annual holiday party. Chubby (born Ted Horowitz) is a smoky-voiced axeman with an electric blues influenced finger-licking style and songs packed with searing solos like recent fast-shuffling single “She Loves Everybody But Me” off 2011 album, Back to New York City. Sarasota bluesman Selwyn Birchwood kicks off the evening’s festivities. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
Nate Najar’s Holiday Jazz Show The festive programming at Palladium continues as St. Pete’s own Charlie Byrd-influenced finger-style nylon-stringed acoustic jazz guitarist, Nate Najar, leads an ensemble that includes guest Ohio brassman Ken Peplowski (clarinet, saxophone), vibes player Chuck Redd, bassist John Lamb, drummer Stephen Bucholtz and a special TBA vocalist through select holiday favorites and portions of Duke Ellington’s jazzed up Nutcracker Suite. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
Trans-Siberian Orchestra You’ll likely never experience a more bombastic holiday spectacle than that offered up by Trans-Siberian Orchestra, best known for re-arranging holiday music into symphonic metal and prog-shredded rock operas telling fresh seasonal tales of loss and redemption. The huge ensemble performs with enough vocalists to make a full choir and synched to blasts of lights, lasers, pyrotechnics, video and various other visual effects. This tour, TSO hits town with two full-length presentations (at 3 and 8 p.m.) of The Lost Christmas Eve (the final LP in their Christmas-themed trilogy). They’ll also perform select cuts from 1996 debut Christmas Eve & Other Stories and 2012 EP, Dreams of Fireflies (On a Christmas Night). (Tampa Bay Times Forum, Tampa)
The Last Saturday Ever Party A new mixed-used indoor-outdoor space hosting live music in the Southside’s arts warehouse district, Inside the Gates, stages this festive occasion marking the last Saturday on the Mayan calendar. From 4 to 8 p.m., Trigger City Trio, Glory Road and Seratonic vie for a spot in the regular rotation at Ale and the Witch and a headlining slot at Inside the Gates during a friendly battle of the bands throwdown. Dunedin-based reggae and jazz-tinged rock three-piece Shoeless Soul kicks off the night’s revelry, followed by waka-waka funk-jam quartet The Funky Nuggets, from Boynton Beach, and another South Florida outfit, the femme-led psych and hard rock trio Honey Henny Lime. Groove fusing jam rock outfit Juanjamon Band, led by keys and sax player Juan Montero, closes the party. (Inside the Gates, St. Petersburg)
The End is Nigh w/Sheep/Zulu Wave/Alias Punch/Halibut/The Tell Sign Another end-of-the-world themed concert event, this one featuring a fine quality bill of area indie bands, among them, St. Pete roots-flecked rock purveyors Sheep (formerly known as Calla Terrace), Tampa’s propulsive prog-post rockers Zulu Wave, and loose rolling psych, surf and art punk trio Alias Punch. A portion of the $10 door proceeds go to the family of late artist Bill “Woo” Correira. (Local 662, St. Petersburg)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 16
Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks Holidaze Show w/Passerine A class all unto his own, Dan Hicks is a well-heeled singer-songwriter with an appealingly skewed sense of humor who pits his low and velvety vocals and the odd scats against a vibrant blend of jazz, folk, swing, bluegrass, pop and gypsy music. He’s been active since the mid-1960s and has a vast repertoire, but this WMNF-backed concert with his Hot Licks is sure to draw heavily from his 2010 holiday LP, Crazy for Christmas. Hicks also plays two shows at Craftsmen House in St. Pete on Thurs., Dec. 13. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
Asking Alexandria w/As I Lay Dying/Suicide Silence/Memphis May Fire/Attila As a companion to 2011 sophomore full-length Reckless & Relentless, Asking Alexandria shot and released Through Sin and Self Destruction in May. The 15-minute short film is really just a glorified music video trilogy (“Reckless and Relentless,” “To the Stage” and “Dear Insanity”) chronicling the British metalcore outfit’s misadventures in sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll. You can see the entire thing exclusively at iTunes for $2.99 — or you can watch the middle episode/video, “To the Stage,” for free on their site. The propulsive tempo-changing arrangements, dramatic shattering breakdowns and vocals jumping between sub-deep guttural roars, jagged screams and cleaner-toned wails sync with a storyline that finds the band members raging at a seedy bar 30 minutes before stage time when a hungry-eyed seductress slips lead singer Danny Worsnop a mickey and takes him upstairs for some good old fashioned crosseyed action — until he overdoses on her cocktail and starts foaming at the mouth. Not sexy. Wonder how it begins? Wonder how it ends? I don’t, but I do admire the GNR-inspired moxy. Asking Alexandria brings several other crushing acts on their current “Monster Energy Outbreak Tour,” most notably, San Diego metalcore makers As I Lay Dying, on the heels of the release of sixth studio album Awakened. (The Cuban Club, St. Petersburg)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18
Ring-A-Ding-Ding Santa Baby: Helios Jazz Orchestra with Bryan Hughes Get your holiday swing on with the 18-piece David Manson-directed Helios Jazz Orchestra, which stages a Frank Sinatra and seasonal music program featuring guest vocals by St. Pete crooner Bryan Hughes. (Nova 535 Event Space, St. Petersburg)
Bluegrass Special: Toy Drive for Children’s Home Society of Florida w/The Dreadful Snakes/Makin’ Time The Children’s Home Society of Florida — a 100-year-old child advocacy organization — serves Christmas cheer and gifts to children stuck in foster during the holiday season. The society’s Christmas list has 226 children in need for 2012 and this toy collection drive is held to help them out. Bluegrass five-piece The Dreadful Snakes heads up the entertainment with bouncing string music and a repertoire of standards and modern material (including a Decemberists tune). Admission is $5 for attendees who bring a new unwrapped toy, book or article of children’s clothing to donate; $10 all others. (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa)
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 19
BBQ Wednesday Acoustic Series w/Sweet Wednesday Dave Falk and Lisa Housman are Sweet Wednesday, a Boston-based husband-and-wife duo with an aesthetic drawing on alt country, folk rock and whisky swaying roots aesthetics. Houseman’s poetic yet straightforward lyrics touch on the comedy and tragedy of life, from the story of squandered love in “Curious Eyes,” to the unfortunate showman of “Jimmy the Spoon’s Grand Finale” whose last grand gesture is passing out drunk in some dark alley — “But he didn’t mind until he couldn’t wake up / To make it for his next show.” Houseman has robust and pretty drawling vocals that touch higher notes in a more delicate vibrato, while Falk’s is a warbling twang, the two intertwining in pleasant harmony or trading off on lead duty. Over the past 11 years, Houseman and Falk — a multi-instrumentalist with skills on guitar, harmonica, mandolin, banjo, fiddle, and ukulele — have released three albums as Sweet Wednesday, the latest 2011’s Escaping from the Pale Moonlight. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
CLICK HERE to see a complete rundown of shows taking place this week and in the coming weeks.
This article appears in Dec 13-19, 2012.