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✔️ Ella Jet & Future Soul w/Ari Chi “Are you dead, are you dead, or are you just sleeping? Are you dead, are you dead? Did you drink too much this evening?” Ella Jet’s song — “Dreamer” — has grown more eerie over the years, and its macabre lyrics are more dressed up than they’ve ever been on a new EP, Black Wave Diary, which the 21-year-old songwriter released earlier this year. Buoyed by Jet’s band Future Soul — which features the extremely talented Levi Foe on bass to help create a sound that teeters towards neo-soul — the five-track set is groove-centric and ready to candidly deal with teenage pain, addiction, abandonment and family dysfunction. As raw, personal, fragile and intense as Jet has ever been, Black Wave Diary is probably one of the best Bay area releases of 2018, and this chance to see the band along with opener Ari Chi (whose Color Fool was one of last year’s best) makes this show a no-brainer. (Hideaway Cafe, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ Leigh Bingham Nash w/Deb Ruby There’s a really good chance that someone reading this lost their virginity while Leigh Nash was on the radio. As singer for Sixpence None The Richer, the 42-year-old Texan provided the wispy, saccharine melody on 1997 megahit “Kiss Me,” but the songwriter is so much more than that. Nash — touring behind a new cover of the Pretenders’ “Don’t Get Me Wrong,” — has released three solo LPs since her Sixpence days, including a gorgeous 2015 release, The State I’m In, which includes horn-driven slow-dancer “Somebody’s Yesterday.” Don’t be surprised to hear that, seasonal tunes like 2017 single “Christmas On the Phone” or anything from a 2015 Christmas LP, Wishing For This, at this show happening at the very intimate listening room above Rock Brothers. (The Attic at Rock Brothers Brewing, Ybor City) INFO
ER B & Bee w/Megan Oh Local hip-hop comes to a just-out-of-Ybor City club where Tampa emcee Megan Oh joines Erin Boone-Gintoli and Brittany Baldwin Brown, who’ll perform solo sets before combining forces to become Er B & Bee. Get a taste of Oh’s super soulful brand of hip-pop by looking for “Four AM” or “Nothin’ To It” on Spotify or whereever you stream music. (The Blue Note, Tampa) INFO
✔️ Gilt w/Hexproof/So Sad/Post-Breakup Haircut If you could skateboard and cry at the same time, then you’d probably do it while listening to Gilt. The St. Augustine emo band just released a split EP with Tampa Bay’s own Shurwood, and “Bite Your Tongue, Hard” (a highlight from the B-side) sounds a lot like Brand New without the predatory undertones. Clearwater quartet Hexproof opens this house show along with Tampa skramgaze trio So Sad and Post-Breakup Haircuts, which describes itself as having a sound that recalls a “sadboi with a guitar.” Park in the yard if you can find the place, and don’t forget to bring money for band donations or merch. (In-Between House, Tampa) INFO
Jeff Carey w/Tom Borax/Sloth/Vasectomy Tour/Human Fluid Rot/Whitey Alabastard/Novasak The noise and experimental scene is alive and well in St. Petersburg, and this bill anchored by two Maryland artists — Jeff Carey and High Zero Festival founder Tom Borax — is proof. Bring earplugs and get ready to have your eyes fucked, too, when Carey — touring in support of a blunt and brutally disjointed 2017 release, single units — uses an instrument linked to strobes as part of a headlining set that follows performances by Borax and a handful of Bay area tinkerers and composers. (Paper Crane, St Petersburg) INFO
D.R.I w/Deathwish Just two of D.R.I.’s original members (singer Kurt Brecht and guitarist Spike Cassidy) are left, but that doesn’t mean that the band of Houston crossover pioneers is over. In fact, it’s kind of nice to know that Dirty Rotten Imbeciles is still out there playing its Reagan-era, angry and suburban-born brand of kerrang-and-bang thrash for a new legion of pissed-off kiddos. English thrash outfit Deathwish opens the show. (Brass Mug, Tampa) INFO
Last First Friday Ever w/Trippy Squad It’s sadly that time when every recurring event at Fubar affixes “last ever” to its title. The nine-year-old haven of local music is shutting down after New Year’s Eve, and this final First Friday throwdown is being handled by Bay area production and party collective Trippy Squad. Fubar was one of the first (if not the first) 600 Block venues to wholly devote a night to new strains of EDM (hello, Turbo Tuesday) and it’s just plain disappointing to watch a cornerstone of the local scene approach the end of its time in a neighborhood that it helped define. (Fubar, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ Group Polaroid Photo Show w/Alexander & The Grapes/FayRoy/Jaialai Five photographers — Emelle Lee, Sara Burnettt, The Captain, Caroline Elise and Dustin Wheeler — show off Polaroid pictures at this art opening and concert that features the live return of Alexander & the Grapes. The much-beloved St. Petersburg rock band has re-assembled its original lineup (Alexander and Philip Charos, Dr. Charles Swan, Tom Dicks and Jeremy Mendicino) and says that its new album is about 75 percent recorded. Some of the roles in the band have changed (original drummer Philip is on keys, and Mendicino has taken over for him on the drum kit), but the still-untitled album is set for release in early 2019, according to frontman Alexander Charos. It will be the follow-up to the band’s 2016 sophomore full-length, HYPER SELF, and we can’t wait to potentially hear some of it at this free show alongside Indian Rocks Beach’s FayRoy and Jaialai from Miami. (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
✔️ Late Start Brewing Block Party w/Mike Mass/Vern Senior/Patrick Hughes/Kat the Dutchess/Perception The Channel District gets a deep dose of Tampa hip-hop when Late Start Brewing (makers of perennially delicious, underrated beer) teams up with long-running Bay area emcee Mike Mass, who’s tapped some of his most talented friends to play a free concert that doubles as the bottle release for Late Start’s pecan, vanilla and cinnamon Nonsense Imperial Stout. The bombers go at 5 p.m., and a DJ will kick things off at 6 p.m. before the performances get started at 7 p.m. (Pour House, Tampa) INFO
✔️ Jason Marsalis and the 21st Century Trad Band Life is interesting when you’re the son of Ellis Marsalis and the youngest sibling of Wynton, Branford and Delfeayo (all jazz icons). Jason’s predicament is probably why he moved towards mallets. Like Sidney Bechet, Bud Powell and Johnny Griffin before him, Jason (a drummer and vibraphonist on paper) recently left his hometown of New Orleans and relocated to France, but this tour finds him touching down stateside alongside his 21st Century Trad Band, which will help play selections from a forthcoming album, Melody Reimagined. Expect melody, harmony and tempo to all get turned on their heads at this one. (Side Door Cabaret at Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg) INFO
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ALSO PLAYING
EDM
Foundation V.7 w/Sambo/Kiko/Curtis James/JB Nictotera (SubCentral at Iberian Rooster, St. Petersburg) INFO
Riot 10 w/Krimer (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
Pop
Barry Manilow (Amalie Arena, Tampa) INFO
Rock
The Nervous Girls w/Victor Alvarez/Instanter (Cage Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
3 Daughters 5-year anniversary w/TL/more (3 Daughters Brewing, St. Petersburg) INFO
Ballyhoo! w/Propaganjah (Jannus Live, St. Petersburg) INFO
Green Grass & Yuletide Jam w/Outlaws (Capitol Theatre, Clearwater) SOLD OUT
Cruel Curses w/Coming Home The Band/Murder the Crow/TBA (Pegasus Night Club, Tampa) INFO
Bowzer’s Holiday Party w/Herman’s Hermits (Peter Noone)/Freddie “Boom Boom” Cannon/The Coaster/Sha Na Na Reunion feat. Johnny Contardo, Henry Gross, Joey Dee/Bowzer and the Stingrays/Rocker & the Rollers (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater) INFO
Jazz
Gloria West & The Gents Feat. Anthony Castellano, James Suggs, & Paul Gavin live at Zydeco Brew Werks, Ybor! (Zydeco Brew Werks, Ybor City) INFO
Lounge Cat (Independent Bar, St. Petersburg) INFO
Misc.
Festival of Lights (Water Works Park, Tampa) INFO
DJ
Sami Sirius (Tampa Armature Works, Tampa) INFO
Classical/Chorale
The Florida Orchestra: Mozart & Sibelius (Ferguson Hall at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO
The Suncoast Symphony Orchestra Christmas Concert (North Bay Community Church, Clearwater) INFO
Noon Recital Series (Sykes Chapel at University of Tampa, Tampa) INFO
Holiday Show (Friday Morning Musicale & Federated Clubs, Tampa) INFO
Tribute/cover
Kyle & Greg (Hula Bay, Tampa) INFO
Tommy Roxx (Mugs n Jugs, Oldsmar) INFO
Radio Crime (Buckets Tavern & Tap, Tampa) INFO
The Travelers (Smokin’ 19, St. Petersburg) INFO
No Filter (Ringside Café, St. Petersburg) INFO
Bad Boy Elroy (Two Buks, Clearwater) INFO
Singer-songwriter
Live & Local w/Taylor Reed (Jaeb Courtyard at David A. Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa) INFO
Tony Farris (Black Crow Coffee Co., St. Petersburg) INFO
Blues
Chris Walker Duo (The Landing at Jannus, St. Petersburg) INFO
Betty Fox Band (Safety Harbor Art and Music Center, Safety Harbor) INFO
No Money Down w/Southern Train (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Nick Schnebelen Band (The Ale & the Witch, St. Petersburg) INFO
Biscuit Miller & the Mix (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Branson Welsh Group w/Katie Talbert & Oscar (Ruby’s Elixir, St. Petersburg) INFO
World
Serenading the Moon (ex Gypsy Wind) (Colorama Music Club, St. Petersburg) INFO
