Cuban Club Ballroom6:40 p.m., Jennifer and The Venturas This eclectic Sarasota outfit was voted Best Original Band and Best Jazz Band in last year's Best of the Suncoast issue. They ply a high-energy smelting of jazz, jump blues, surf and spicy R&B.
8:00 p.m., Inner Visions For 17 years, Inner Visions have infused their native Virgin Islands' calypso/soca scene with a spiritual mix of raw roots-reggae and its funkier dancehall offshoot.
9:35 p.m., Red Stick Ramblers Hailing from Southern Louisiana, the Red Stick Ramblers effortlessly smash together string-band styles, from Cajun to cowboy swing, Celtic to Appalachian.
11:10 p.m., Gumbi Ortiz & The Latino Projekt The venerated percussionist, who has toured with guitar titan Al DiMeola since the '80s, leads a taut band through amped-up Latin grooves and Afro-Cuban chants. Heavily dance-inducing. —Eric Snider
12:30 a.m., Harvey Sid Fisher An enigmatic cultish figure who gained infamy with the late '80s release of his Astrology Songs public access video, Harvey Sid Fisher was once described by the New York Times as a thrift store version of Tony Bennett.
Cuban Club
Cantina
6:15 p.m., Misfortune 500 Purveyors of surely the best fun, lovelorn crunch-pop the Tampa Bay has to offer, Misfortune 500 boasts current/former members of such noted local outfits as Spiller, Sparky's Nightmare, Goddess Mooncar and Brainiac's Daughter. Seriously, they rule.
7:20 p.m., The Dempseys An inflammable roots-rock outfit that's enjoyed a four-year house-band residency at Memphis nightspot Elvis Presley Memphis, The Dempseys are whispered about as this year's don't-miss live spectacle.
8:50 p.m., Kinky Hipsters and indiephiles take note: Mexican electro-pop phenomenon Kinky is here to offer you that coveted I saw 'em back before they were even in Magnet status you covet so longingly.
10:20 p.m., Tony Vacca & Gohk-Bi System They're a seven-year-old cross-cultural musical experiment involving Senegalese and American musicians, students and teachers.
11:50 p.m., Tarbox Ramblers Pre-World War II blues, hillbilly stomp and a fiery juke-joint attitude inform this lauded Boston band's combination of the dated and the explosive.
11:25 a.m., Cocktail Honeys My esteemed colleague Scott Harrell fronts this trio, which he willingly, if a bit grudgingly, calls an emo band. Punchy melodies, punkish attitude, passionate vocals. Sounds like rock to me. —Eric Snider
Cuban Club
Second Floor Landing
7-9 p.m., Urbane Cowboys Tampa's own buzzy, y'allternative combo provides an extended set of dynamic and extremely well-written alt- country tuneage. Afterward, DJ Airees spins the familiar and the exotic until everyone stumbles the hell out.
Cuban Club Courtyard
6:00 p.m., The Hackensaw Boys An independent newgrass outfit from the foot of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, The Hackensaws have made a name for themselves by welding old-time inspiration and savvy songwriting to an engaging hick-family hoedown vibe.
7:35 p.m., Sonny Landreth Unbelievable poly-melodic slide guitarist Sonny Landreth will, repeat, will make all the six-stringers in the house want to go home and pawn their stuff.
9:25 p.m., Michelle Shocked The wildly eclectic underground electro-folk heroine originally broke through in England's late '80s folk scene, before '88's Short Sharp Shocked brought her to America's consciousness.
11:30 p.m., NRBQ The foursome, which formed in the early '70s, puts together a no-rules blend of rock, blues, country, sunny pop, jazz, roots and more into a style they call omnipop. —Eric Snider
1:10 a.m., Buffalo Strange The earthy jam-circuit veterans mix reggae, world-beat, jazz, rock and folk with a communal vibe and visually intriguing presence.
The Cherokee Club
6:30 p.m., Ethan Daniel Davidson Satirical sign-o'-the-times crier Ethan Daniel Davidson is a social songwriter in the grand tradition of Guthrie and Dylan — his latest album's called This Machine Kills Fascists, just in case you missed the connection.
7:55 p.m., Ghetto Love Sugar Tampa's own groove scientists avail themselves of elements of jazz, funk, world-beat and psychedelia in order to reinvent classic fodder and concoct organic new jams — right before your very eyes.
9:05 p.m., Twang Bang For guitar-and-percussion duo Twang Bang, everything from Old Wave and rockabilly to punk and R&B is fair game — it all goes into their eccentric pop-blender.
10:30 p.m., Midnight Bowling League The Heatwave Web site has this to say about Skipper's regulars MBL: Three words: high, energy, rockabilly. There you go.
11:40 p.m., Beth Hirsch The jazzy folkstress' recent live solo sets have taken the layered, electronica-tinged groove of her European CD releases and distilled it down to its essence. She spins soulful, Joni Mitchell-esque yarns with a smooth voice and yearning vibe.
1:00 a.m., Jibreel's Soul Fusion Spoken word artist/soul lyricist/edu-tainment revolutionary Jibreel performs with his band, Soul Fusion. Since his recent arrival in Central Florida, Jibreel has re-invigorated the area's nu-soul poetry scene.
El Pasaje Courtyard
6:20 p.m., Rico Bell & The Snakehandlers As a member of British uber-cult-faves Mekons, Rico Bell followed an arc from art-punk noise to iconoclastic roots-infused singer-songwriter fare. His solo work draws from country, R&B, rock and even Cajun influences, and fairly oozes with a dark-hearted, cabaret-of-the-damned vibe – think of a whiskey-sodden Nick Cave wearing cowboy boots.
7:55 p.m., Tim O'Brien Band A chart-topping, prize-winning, Grammy-nominated American roots-music songwriter and performer.
9:40 p.m., Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise Blind, fiftysomething vocalist Robert Bradley delivers some of the most real and resonant down 'n' dirty soul-rock this side of the Carter administration.
11:15 p.m., James Mathus and His Knockdown Society Squirrel Nut Zippers main man James Mathus occasionally takes time away from the massively successful SNZ for little side jaunts, like sessioning with The North Mississippi All Stars and cranking out electrifying, high-volume southern blues 'n' boogie with His Knockdown Society. Cross Southern Culture on the Skids with Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and turn up the fuzz.
12:55 a.m., Damon Fowler Group The local electric-blues phenom finishes off the Pasaje lineup with some tight, grooving Texas Flood-style shuffle and rock.
New World Brewery
7:15 p.m., River Cove Ramblers Former Pagan Saint Jim Page gets his folk/country/bluegrass reverence on, with a little help from his friends.
8:15 p.m., Handshake Squad Iconoclastic
musical geniuses run amok with instruments, toys and instrumental toys to rewrite the pop rulebook and drop your jaw.
9:30 p.m., Unrequited Loves What R.E.M. might sound like had they fought respectable maturity a little harder and love for alcohol a little less.
10:45 p.m., Dumbwaiters Tampa indie-scene stalwarts who take a long, interesting way from Point A (unusual ideas, an inimitable dynamic) to Point B (really good songs). It's well worth the trip.
12:00 a.m., Pagan Saints Infectious, countrified songs from the bottom of a whiskey bottle. Will Quinlan sings about falling down; Paul, Mark and Jimmy ably prop him up.
All entries by Scott Harrell unless otherwise indicated.
For more info, call 813-238-8001 or go to www.tropicalheatwave.org
This article appears in May 15-21, 2002.
