THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30
DRAG THE RIVER w/ TWO COW GARAGE/NESSIE/BRAHM BONES Tear-in-your-beer alt-country outfit Drag the River hails from the hardcore drinking town of Fort Collins, Colo. So when the band sings a steel-guitar-kissed weeper about "Booze and Pills," chances are, they're drawing from first-hand experiences. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
HOW DARE YOU CD RELEASE PARTY w/XOXO/SAINT SWEETHEARTS/FOR ALL THE UNHEARD/THE COPYRIGHTS Orlando's How Dare You is an indie rock band with a punk heart. The outfit's Ybor City gig coincides with the release of its new full-length, Comfort Road, out on Gainesville imprint Fail-safe Records. FYI: There will be a Halloween party complete with costume prizes, drink specials, etc. prior to the concert out back in the Crow's Nest. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31
RED ELVISES w/THE VODKANAUTS The fittingly named Red Elvises are serial Skipperdome shakers who blend Russian ethnic music (yes, the band members are originally from Soviet states), surf and rockabilly. Much-loved Tampa Bay party music purveyors The Vodkanauts return from a much-too-long self-imposed exile to support their comrades. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
FAMILY FORCE 5 w/PLAY RADIO PLAY/DANGER RADIO/ULTRA VIOLET SOUND Atlanta's Family Force 5 is a sibling act that Christian rocks the Hot Topic set with a whack mix of punk, emo, nu-metal, crunk and whatever else has been popular in the 2000s. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
HALLO-FREAKIN'-WEEN FEAT. VAN HORGAN w/MOUSE FIRE Totally over-the-top local Van Halen trib band Van Horgan has a singer who struggles to sing on key but unleashes a banshee "whoooooooaaaaaa!" that should sound splendid after that 13th Jäger bomb. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1
YOU TURN ME ON I'M A RADIO: THE JONI MITCHELL TRIBUTE Tampa Bay's awesomely stuck-in-the-1960s community radio station WMNF has been honoring flower power titans like The Beatles, Dylan and The Doors for years by having local bands cover their songs at Skipper's. The next artist to get the interpretation treatment is superior singer/songwriter, folk and jazz lover Joni Mitchell. The wonderfully estrogen-intensive lineup features Lorna Bracewell, Rebekah Pulley and Reluctant Prophets, Some Dancing Skeleton and many more. For a complete schedule, see the Oct. 17 posting at TampaCalling.com. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
SARASOTA BLUES FESTIVAL FEAT. BOBBY RUSH/JJ GREY & MOFRO/STEADY ROLLIN' BOB MARGOLIN & DIUNNA GREENLEAF/JASON RICCI AND NEW BLOOD/THE ALL-STARS/WYATT GAREY BAND One of the many great black blues musicians who migrated from Louisiana to Chicago during the 1950s (and before), singer/multi-instrumentalist Bobby Rush brought with him a sonorous voice and style of music he dubbed "folk funk." He'll headline this week's 18th Annual Sarasota Blues Festival. (By the way, Rush eventually moved back south and now bases out of Jackson, Miss.) Also on the multi-act lineup is Jacksonville's JJ Grey & Mofro, which have proven capable of grooving both blues and jam-band enthusiasts with soulful, free flowing roots rock. For complete coverage of the event, see p. XX. (Ed Smith Stadium Complex, Sarasota)
ZAPPAWEEN 13 w/BOGUS POMP/THE LEGENDARY IKE WILLIS & DAN CAMPBELL/PLUS SPECIAL GUESTS Frank Zappa's legacy looms extra large across Tampa Bay thanks to Bogus Pomp, one of the most respected Zappa tribute bands on the planet. Guitarist, singer and Frankophile Jerry Outlaw has led his gang of first-class Zappa disciples since 1994. Zappaween is the band's signature annual event. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
BANG CAMARO w/LESLIE Boston's Bang Camaro shamelessly cock rocks '80s pop-metal riffs and shout-along choruses, which seems silly, yeah, but they actually do it better than many of the bands that scored hits during the hair decade. Rock that shit, dude! (Orpheum, Ybor City)
CHIODOS w/SILVERSTEIN/ALESANA/A SKYLIT DRIVE Davison, Mich., six-piece Chiodos are a post-hardcore band with the pop sensibility to delight the vast tween sector of the Warped Tour audience. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
RADIO GOLGOTHA ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY BASH PRESENTS: LUDOVICO TECHNIQUE Locally based online Goth rock station RadioGolgatha.com, which offers "music for the suffering," celebrates (is that word even allowed in the Goth world?) its one-year birthday with a bash featuring Florida industrial act Ludovico Technique, which takes its name from the eye-lids-propped-open aversion therapy used in the novel and movie A Clockwork Orange. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 2
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK w/NATASHA BEDINGFIELD/LADY GAGA I'm 30 years old. Y'know what that means? There are a shitload of girls I've known since sixth grade who are going to this show no matter what I write to dissuade them. Nostalgia and stupid pop; they're as reliable as death and taxes. On second thought, my female neighbor just informed this gig will be a MILF minefield. Hmmm. Maybe I should cover this one. (St. Pete Times Forum, Tampa)
DEERHOOF w/EXPERIMENTAL DENTAL SCHOOL/FLYING Indie spazz-rockers Deerhoof cram mad sounds and time signatures and other assorted bizarreness into their music while still making stuff that's fun and largely accessible. Not sure how that works, but it does — for them, at least. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
YNGWIE MALMSTEEN He's a classical-music-obsessed metal guitarist who mastered the art of shredding but never learned to bend them guitar strings to convey anything that approached feeling. (Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg)
JEFFREE STAR w/BROKENCYDE/RED CAR WIRE/KILL PARADISE MySpace gender bender electro-pop pseudo-star Jeffree does the look-at-me-I'm-the-"Queen of the Internet" thing better than most. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
RICHARD GILEWITZ CD RELEASE CONCERT The Citrus County finger-style guitar hero returns to the Skipperdome to display his chops and peddle Strings for a Season, Gilewitz's freshly minted holiday album. Yeah, we also think it might be a little too early for busting out "Deck the Halls," "The First Noel" and, God help us, "Jingle Bells" — no matter how inventively they are rearranged. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 3
BAYSIDE w/THE MATCHES, THE STATUS AND VALENCIA New York's Bayside brings the umpteenth iteration of emo. Not that I'm getting tired of writing about it. Oh, no, not me. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
THE LEGENDARY PINK DOTS English experimental punks meld melodic pop with psychedelia, off-the-wall samples and aggressively delivered lyrics about such chipper subject matter as Armageddon. The band formed in London in 1980, which means they are almost as renowned as their name implies. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4
MC CHRIS w/WHOLE WHEAT BREAD/TOTALLY MICHAEL Brooklyn comedian/voice actor/goofball rapper Chris Ward, aka MC Chris had a MySpace smash (over 600,000 plays) by spitting comparatively understandable, humorous, rhymes over the backing track to M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." Best line? "I love all the ladies, as long as they're 18." (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5
SBACH w/HAPPY VALLEY/THE TAPE DELAY Nevada City, Calif.'s sBach makes music that purposely sounds like the soundtrack to an '80s video games, except in the case of this band, it's far more lumbering than any NES score I recall. Listening to these clowns is like playing Mario Bros. but without Mario and Luigi — or having any kind of fun. (New World Brewery, Ybor City)
A CURSIVE MEMORY w/SCHOOL BOY HUMOR/GO CRASH AUDIO SoCal pop punks A Cursive Memory spice their power chords with saccharine keyboard runs. The result is predictable, catchy, disposable goo that the kids will love. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
THE FACELESS w/ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, DECREPIT BIRTH, VEIL OF MAYA, NEURAXIS Tampa might not produce killer death metal bands like we did back in the satanic '80s, but we still seem to host every Cookie-Monster-sounding band that comes through town, with L.A.'s The Faceless being this week's top pick for anyone looking for some death metal with prog touches. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
