253 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg, 727-822-3590, mypalladium.org
Built in 1925 as the First Church of Christ, Scientist, and transformed into a theater in 1998 by a group of civic leaders, the Palladium finds its third act as part of St. Petersburg College. SPC vowed to expand programming at the facility, and its use of a ground floor room as the Side Door Café for jazz and chamber concerts makes it one of the most versatile small venues in the Bay area. The audience skews older, the shows more dignified, running from jazz to opera to gospel. Sightlines are good, but sound is even better.
Memories Jazz legend and Tampa Bay resident Chick Corea was given a career retrospective of sorts when he was featured in USF's Distinguished Master Artists Series in 2006, playing new and old music with the 17-piece Jazz Surge progressive big band • St. Petersburg Opera Company's Don Giovanni set in 2008's election year, with the lothario Don Juan as a U.S. senator • Last year, Miami renaissance man Alfredo Triff played his brooding brand of Latin and jazz.
Capacity: 849 in Hough Hall; 150 in the downstairs Side Door Café.
Grub: Snacks
Booze: Beer and wine
Next big show: Palladium Pipes Series: Silent Movie w/Rosa Rio on the Skinner Pipe Organ, Nov. 15.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2008.