✔️= Critic's Pick
✔️Johanna Warren She’s been described as a psychic medium moonlighting as a songwriter by tastemaking music portal Pitchfork, which says the Portland native “makes dreamy folk music that sparkles and sprawls with new age flourishes and crystal shop percussion, inspired by tarot cards, metaphysics, and the monastic teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh.” A spin with Johanna Warren’s February 2018 LP, Gemini II, confirms the assessment, and it’s pretty cool of St. Petersburg’s Craftsman House to nab this show from a songwriter who has lent her talent to the work of folk luminaries like Julie Byrne and Iron & Wine. (Craftsman House Gallery, St. Petersburg) INFO
Trans-Siberian Orchestra In its first Bay area arena appearance since the death of founder Paul O’Neill, Trans-Siberian Orchestra will perform beloved, 20-year-old TSO classic “The Ghosts of Christmas Eve,” which O’Neill wrote as a way to tell the story of a runaway who finds her way into an abandoned theatre. Amalie, naturally, will not be deserted for either of the two shows, which sell out pretty much every year. (Amalie Arena, Tampa) INFO
Flatland Harmony Experiment Bluegrass purists need not try to stay calm when Scott Nelson, Kris Potts and Johnny Plott circle around a single large diaphragm condenser mic with mando, banjo and upright bass in hand. The Indianapolis trio aims to break the mold, playing everything from the roots of bluegrass to progressive-gypsy tunes and everything in between. This is a free Sunday show worth camping out at. (Independent Bar and Café, Tampa) INFO
✔️The Venus w/Hartle Road/Naan Violence Not sure if this is the first transcendental sitar set at downtown Tampa dive The Hub, but it’ll be interesting to see the looks on the faces of regulars who file in on Sunday night when Naan Violence brings the instrument to the floor. Party-ready, lo-fi rock-and-roll quartet Hartle Road rounds things out, and St. Petersburg space-rock outfit The Venus provides the local draw. This show is free to attend, but 21 & up. (The Hub, Tampa) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
DJ
Ol' Dirty Sundays w/DJ Crazy Bazarro (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
Hiding The Bones w/Pete Bones (Mandarin Hide, St. Petersburg) INFO
Rock/Blues/Pop
98 Rock’s “Not So Silent Night” w/Halestorm/In This Moment (Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
Shoeless Soul (3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
Bushi w/Tony Dope/Kyle Duey (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
Joe Marcinek Band w/Borahm Lee/Nate Edgar/Michelangelo Carubba (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Woody & the Wood Tones (Ella’s Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa) INFO
Betty Fox Band (The Ale & the Witch St. Petersburg) INFO
Bryan Lee Braille Blues Daddy CD Release w/Kat Crosby Band (Skipper's Smokehouse Tampa) INFO
Classical/Chorale
December 16, The Florida Orchestra: Holiday Pops w/Michael Lynche (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) INFO
Many Moods of Christmas: A Holiday concert benefiting the St. Petersburg Free Clinic (First Presbyterian Church St. Petersburg) INFO
The Florida Wind Band Presents: An International Celebration (School of Music Concert Hall at University of South Florida, Tampa) INFO
A Renaissance Christmas (Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCA), St. Petersburg) INFO
Singer-songwriter
Nat Lee (Red Star Rock Bar, Tampa) INFO
Taylor Raynor (Mermaid Tavern, Tampa) INFO
Corrine Oliviia (Hard Rock Café at Seminole Hard Rock Casino, Tampa) INFO
Len and Ellis (The Horse and Jockey, South Pasadena) INFO
Americana
Fil Pate Trio (Tampa Armature Works, Tampa) INFO
Tribute
An Elvis Christmas Special (Central Park Performing Arts Center, Largo) INFO
Misc.
Ddrum Drum Clinic w/Kent Dimmel of In This Moment (Paragon Music, Tampa) INFO
