Blurbex

1. Beach Theatre hosts a 1970’s weekend, with a reduced admission price of $2 to screenings of Blazing Saddles, Rocky, Dirty Harry, Jaws, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

2. It’s St. Pete Pride weekend! Share some laughs with ANT, walk in the promenade and shop at the festival, return to Babylon, and rock loud and proud with Betty.

3. Enjoy free food and drink samples, and peruse the offerings of an array of local independent businesses all in one place at the third annual TIBA Expo at Nature’s Harvest Market.

4. Blac Soap plays Club 360 in Ybor City.

5. ARTpool stages a one-night film fest featuring short films, an “installation spectacle,” music videos, and plenty else by various local artists, among them, David Meeks, Alex De Campi, Charlotte Stirk, Greg Brewer, Diana Lucas Leavengood, and Marina Williams.

1. Maserati (pictured) hails from Athens, Ga., and produces a hard post rockin’ sort of progressive psychedelia. It’s pretty hot shit. They play Crowbar tonight; Summerbirds in the Cellar, Red Room Cinema, and Clock Hands Strangle provide support.

2. Sip samples of select Barefoot Wines, nibble on eats by Café Alma, and kick off St. Pete Pride at tonight’s A Taste of Pride fundraiser at Nova 535 Art Lounge.

3. The Steve Carell-ified Get Smart continues its run at local theaters.

4. Tampa’s own  jazz saxophonist Eric Darius celebrates the release of his new CD with a release party and live broadcast hosted by Smooth Jazz WSJT-94.1 at The Venue in Clearwater. The festivities kick off at 4 p.m., with the free concert by Darius and his band to begin at 7:30 p.m.

5. University of Tampa welcomes two-time Oscar winning director John Hughes for a workshop at Reeves Theater today from 2 to 3:30 p.m. Hughes shows the animation and special effects that won him Visual Effects awards for The Golden Compass and Babe, and offers info about the secrets behind the animation process.

1. St. Pete for Peace continues its free screening series with Cocalero, an award-winning documentary that focuses on Bolivian farmers, the union they formed in response to their government’s U.S.-prompted efforts to get rid of coca crops, and Evo Morales (pictured), the native Aymara Indian man who comes to represent them and eventually become the country’s first indigenous president. The film begins at 8:30 p.m. and is presented in the outdoor courtyard at Café Bohemia.

2. Convergence 2008 – the bienniel fiber arts conference of the Handweaver’s Guild of America – opens to the public today. Locals are invited to the Tampa Convention Center to come check out exhibits and demos, and shop for a variety of fiber merchandise.

3. LA’s Rooney produces music that’s been likened to a marriage of British Invasion rock and 1980’s pop. The band plays State Theatre with support provided by Locksley, a Brooklyn garage-rock ensemble.

4. Tampa Independent Business Alliance launches a local celebration of Independents Week, a nationwide observance – which officially occurs July 1-7 – that encourages communities to make an effort to shop at locally-owned independent businesses.

5.  Another screening event, this one at Muvico Baywalk and to benefit St. Pete Pride. The “Pride and a Movie” selection is the detective drama, On the Other Hand, Death.

Wipeout on ABC.

1. If it’s as good as its Japanese counterpart, Ninja Warrior/Sasuke, ABC’s Wipeout could turn out to be an outrageously hilarious reality competition show. See the first group of contestants bumble through the extreme obstacle course when Wipeout premieres tonight.

2. Anti-aging and aesthetic institute a3 hosts “Party Like a Rock Star,” a fundraising event featuring a private concert by California’s MIGGS, celeb guests and plenty else, with proceeds to benefit the DeBartolo Family Foundation.

3. In celebration of the upcoming Independence Day holiday, the City of Dunedin Concert Band puts on a concert of patriotic music.

4. Salvador Dali Museum stages the next installment of its Spanish appreciation series. Wine & Song XI spotlights the wines of Spain’s pioneer established-by-a-woman winemaker, Telmo Rodriquez.

5. The Burnin’ Smyrnans – a fun reggaefied jam rock band from New Smyrna Beach – plays Skipper’s Smokehouse.

 
Courtesy of Matt & Kim.

1. The Fuck Yeah Fest Tour brings its experimental electro rock and dance fun sounds to Transitions Gallery at Skatepark of Tampa, with sets of music by Matt & Kim (pictured), The Death Set, Monotonix and Team Robespierre, and comedy by Josh Fadem and Reggie Watts.

2. CBS affiliate Tampa Bay’s 10 hosts Survivor 18 auditions today from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. at The Venue in St. Petersburg. All contestant hopefuls must complete an online application at TampaBays10.com and bring the completed form to the audition.

3. The Studio@620 opens Alterations: An Exhibition of Art Cloth by the Members of the Art Cloth Network with an opening reception tonight from 6 to 9 p.m.

4. Before the Rains – which is presented tonight through Thursday at Tampa Theatre – is a 1930’s period piece by Indian director Santosh Sivan about a tea plantation owner who has an affair with a young servant, with tragic consequences.

5. PBS premieres Emile Norman: By His Own Design, a program about the self-taught California artist.

1. Toubab Krewe (pictured) bring their West African rhythms to State Theatre.

2. Beach Theatre screens the latest batch of alternative animations from Spike and Mike’s Twisted Animation Festival.

3. African Students’ Association of USF-Tampa presents a “World Refugee Day” celebration at USF-Tampa.

4. New World Brewery and Crowbar co-host Summer Jam 4, a summertime music fest featuring primarily regional acts.

5. Check out a display of original “Speed Racers” – classic American hot rods – at MOSI from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. this Saturday. Then, enjoy a screening of the new Speed Racer film on the colossal IMAX Dome Theatre screen.

“High Country Champion,” a new giclee by John Seerey-Lester featured at Plainsmen Gallery.

1. Plainsmen Gallery’s Summer Renewal exhibit of western, wildlife and Florida-inspired art draws to a close.

2. Missouri’s Jah Roots headline a reggae show at Push Ultra Lounge; Tribal Style, Badda Skat & Ras Kana, and Blackstone Sound System provide support.

3. New York Times best-selling author/Florida resident Lisa Unger appears for a launch party at Inkwood Books in celebration of her latest psychological thriller, Black Out.

4. The Salvador Dalí Museum presents a screening of 2002’s French murder-mystery musical, 8 Femmes, as part of its Dalí & Beyond Film Series.

5. A variety of guest musicians join the FloriMezzo Orchestra for its FloriMezzo Music Festival finale chamber concert.

“Painted Dancers,” by photographer Bill Williams, on display at HCC-Dale Mabry Art Gallery.

1. A new photography exhibit, Chihuahua: The Land of Ancient Wonders, opens today at HCC-Dale Mabry Art Gallery.

2. Night II: Tampa Bay Rays versus Chicago Cubs at the Trop.

3. DINOSAURS! The Exhibition  transforms a 5,000-square-foot space at Museum of Science and Industry into Mesozoic-era digs for 10 giant animatronic dinosaurs. See the robotic reptilian beasts, then watch an accompanying IMAX film, Dinosaurs Alive!.

4. The Tampa Downtown Partnership presents its 22nd Annual Meeting & Luncheon; the topic of discussion – “What makes cities succeed?”

5. Last day to reap the benefits of Restaurant Week. Today’s featured establishment: Mise en Place.

Gogol Bordello at State Theatre; photo by Philip Bardi.

The floor was overcrowded with a seething mass of bodies, arms alternately waving and pumping to the vigorous musical spectacle that shook the State Theatre stage last night. The band, NYC’s Gogol Bordello, played the sweaty sold-out show with such amped-up enthusiasm that the audience responded in kind, pushing and moshing and crowd surfing like it was the end of the gypsy punk world. 

With his thick but charming Ukrainian accent, clad in tight and garishly colored trousers, shirtless and with sweat pouring down his pale chest and dripping from his thick handlebar mustache, frontman/Gogol visionary Eugene Hütz encouraged the unruliness, flirting and dancing with the young ladies who surfed onto the stage, good-naturedly tolerating the young men who inevitably followed, and leading everyone through boisterous sing-alongs that lasted throughout the night.  

The multi-ethnic ensemble played a supercharged 80-minute set and 35-minute encore of lively numbers that set ska, punk-metal, rap and even some funkified grooves against brisk gyspy two-step rhythms marked by lively accordion and some of the most fast and furious fiddle-playing I’ve ever seen by a man who was old enough to be the grandfather of most of the people in the room. The spectacle was topped off by the energetic performances of Gogol’s pair of attractive lady entertainers, who alternately sang, danced, and played marching band-style percussion throughout the show. 

Overall, a dynamic, highly enjoyable concert with a surprisingly large turnout for a Monday night, seeming proof that an interesting and multi-layered genre of music is successfully making its way to mainstream (read: young) audiences. 

–Cross-posted from TampaCalling.com.

1. UK cross-dressing comedian Eddie Izzard (pictured) brings his “Stripped American Tour 2008” to Tampa Theatre and kicks off a two-date run of comedy tonight.

2. Last chance to see St. Petersburg Opera Company perform a political adaptation of Mozart’s Don Giovanni.

3. Restaurant Week is almost over – make sure to dine at one of the 21 participating restaurants and try items from special menus set up in honor of our celebration of the local culinary scene. Today’s featured establishment: Cheap.

4. Gainesville’s third-wave ska favorites Less Than Jake play a show at Jannus Landing.

5. The several-week run of The Lion King at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center sees its end this week.

In honor of Gogol Bordello’s show at State Theatre tonight, I decided to pay tribute to lead singer Eugene Hütz’s luxurious handlebar mustache. But my ruminations got me thinking about other great mustaches in music, and then it got me thinking about how a mustache can truly define a man (and in many instances, his music), and then it got me to wondering if everyone else pays as much attention to mustaches as me. So, for those who share my mustache musings, I have created this fun matching game, where you match the mustache to its musician and waste away a few monotonous Monday minutes. Enjoy!

Django Reinhardt

Frank Zappa

John Oates (of Hall & Oates)

Freddie Mercury

David Crosby

Stevie Wonder

Duane Allman

Serj Tankian (of System of a Down)

GG Allin

Franz Nicolay (of The Hold Steady)

Little Richard

Jim Croce

Alan Jackson

Sgt. Floyd Pepper (of The Muppet Show Band)

[Answers after the jump]

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1. Mike Myers sits down with James Lipton at 8 p.m. tonight on Inside the Actors Studio (photo by Caroline Bonarde Ucci, from Wikipedia.com).

2. NYC gypsy punk purveyors Gogol Bordello plays State Theatre.

3. Support a local charity and enjoy a Night of Alternative Theatre, Prelude to Pride at American Stage.

4. More from Restaurant Week! Eat an affordable three-course or more meal at a Bay area restaurant! Today’s featured establishment: Café Alma.

5. Tampa Tribune outdoors correspondent Mike Dewitt talks about the 1,078 miles he’s travelled on the Florida Trail, and presents images from his photo journal at the Seffner-Mango Branch Library tonight.

You probably know comedian Doug Benson as a Last Comic Standing 5 finalist, where he was among the show’s top six performers. Or maybe you’ve seen him on VH1’s Best Week Ever, where he provides amusing commentary on the week’s pop culture news and events.

But there’s more to Benson than his TV appearances. In collaboration with comics Arj Barker and Tony Camin, he wrote, produced, and starred in a successful off-Broadway comedy show in NYC, The Marijuana-Logues, and enjoyed a year run of shows as well as several national tours, an original live cast recording and even a supplementary book, The Marijuana-logues: Everything About Pot That We Could Remember.

Most recently, he co-produced and starred in Super High Me (due out on DVD June 17).

The idea was originally spawned from a joke in Benson’s stand-up routine, where he mused on Morgan Spurlock’s documentary, Super Size Me, and wondered what would happen if he applied the same 30-day health regimen to marijuana. Filmmaker/comic Michael Blieden seemed to think it was a viable idea and the resulting documentary opened in more than 850 cities nationwide on April 20.

In the film, Benson stops smoking pot for 30 days to clean out his system, then indulges near-constantly for the following 30 days to test the effects on his mind and body. The film follows his “journey” but it’s more than just a silly tale of a comedian’s quest to get super high. The film also offers an earnest examination of California’s current medical marijuana law and the Federal government’s ongoing efforts to challenge the state’s law via the seemingly arbitrary busts of medical marijuana dispensaries. I sat down and had lunch with Doug on Thursday — he plays Tampa Improv through Sunday — and what follows are portions of our long and rambling conversation.

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“Plate 49 (Pygmalion),” by Len Prince, from his Jessie Mann Self Possessed Series.

1. Masks & Identity: Len Prince in the Collection of William K. Zewadski is the latest exhibit of fine art images at Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. At 10 a.m. Saturday, Prince leads a gallery tour of his photos and offers an insiders perspective. 

2. Restaurant Week continues! Dine at any of the 21 participating restaurants and enjoy a special “Prix fixe” menu of three or more courses for $25 per person. This weekend’s featured establishments are: Fly Bar and Restaurant, La Fogota Churrascaria and Savannah’s.

3. Tampa alt-country  faves Will Quinlan & The Diviners play a CD release party at New World Brewery in support of their new album, Navasota. Have Gun, Will Travel and Matt Butcher also perform.

4. Attention all beer lovers: Creative Loafing continues its Beer Club regional tasting series tonight at The Retreat. The brews in the spotlight are Shocktop Belgian White, Landshark Lager, Widmer Brothers Hefeweizen and Michelob Porter.

5. The Salvador Dalí Museum opens Women: Dalí’s View, a new exhibit that explores Dalí’s creative fascination with the female form via more than 70 works. The reception takes place tonight from 7 to 9 p.m. and features fashions by House of Ska, live music, complimentary cava and Spanish-style hors d’oeuvres.

Pearl Jam; courtesy PearlJam.com.

1. Pearl Jam plays the St. Pete Times Forum.

2. Creative Loafing launches Restaurant Week, a celebration of the Bay area culinary scene with special “Prix fixe” menus put together for the occasion. Today’s featured restaurant is: Pacific Wave.

3. Comedian Doug Benson (Last Comic Standing 5, The Marijuana-logues, Best Week Ever) kicks off a four-night (seven-show) run of stand-up at the Tampa Improv in support of his new DVD, Super High Me.

4. Tampa Bay Area Regional Transportation Authority hosts a live web conference at 1 p.m. The public is invited to join the conference and see TBARTA board members figure out where new road and transit corridors may go in Tampa Bay, a possibly controversial process given how some activists believe that it will lead to new roads in rural areas and further sprawl.

 5. USF presents its second annual International Jazz Composer’s Symposium, three-days worth of workshops, panel discussions and evening performances.

Android 207, an animated short by Paul Whittington.

1. The Studio at 620 continues its Indy Film Café screening series of socially-conscious documentary films with The Future We Will Create: Inside the world of TED, and the short, Android 207.

2. Duncan Straus welcomes Moby to his NPR show, Talking Animals, which is broadcast today on WMNF at 11:30 a.m.

3. Jobsite Theater presents a $10 preview of its new production, A Dream Play.

4. The Pinellas Tourist Development Council votes on the Rays waterfront ballpark plans as the team asks tourism officials to extend part of their hotel taxes to cover the costs; starting at 9 a.m. at the Pinellas County Commission Chambers, 315 Court Street, Clearwater, fifth floor assembly room.

5. Stop by Café Bohemia and enjoy a free screening of James Longley’s feature documentary, Gaza Strip.

World renowned Broadway soprano Sarah Brightman has announced a many-date solo world tour in support of her first studio album in five years, Symphony, released this past January on Manhattan Records.

The Symphony Tour stops at the St. Pete Times Forum on Sunday, November 16.

From the release:

“…Brightman is a pioneer in transcending and melding mainstream musical genres, from pop and Broadway showstoppers to operatic and classical arias. Her unique crossover style has helped pave the way for superstar singers, such as Andrea Bocelli, Il Divo and Josh Groban. Symphony features all new songs and is created with Sarah’s long-time producer Frank Peterson. On this album, she reunites with Andrea Bocelli on the sweeping, romantic “Canto Della Terra,” as well as singing duets with Spanish sensation Fernando Lima on “Pasión” and rock superstar Paul Stanley (Kiss), on “I Will Be With You (Where The Lost Ones Go).” Sarah will be performing songs from Symphony, as well as many of her classic hits on this tour.”

This could be growing in your back yard. Mmmmm…

1. Worried about all those potentially salmonella-infected tomatoes? Learn how to grow your own.

2. Dance to the New Wave industrial electro rock of UK’s Ladytron tonight at Czar, where they play with Norwegian labelmates Datarock.

3. Take a walk through Boca Ciega Millennium Park in Seminole and marvel at Leslie Fry’s sculptural installations, which are scattered along the park’s trails and boardwalk.

4. Dine on Eastern European fare and enjoy an “Arabian Nights Belly Dance Show” by Hip Expressions in St. Pete Beach.

5. Read “Garfield Minus Garfield,” a funny and intriguing new take on an old classic.

Steely Dan; photo credit Danny Clinch

1. Steely Dan returns to Ruth Eckerd Hall.

2. Michael Winslow brings his sound effects comedy to Floyd’s at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.

3. Former Citrus County truck driver Charles Spaide is riding his electric bicycle all the way to California to protest the high cost of fuel – which put him out of work – and to prove there are ways around it. Give him a call of encouragement at 727-247-7067.

4. Take an evening walking tour of the haunted spots in John’s Pass Village with a pirate from Tampa Bay Ghost Tours.

5. Listen to the Stick Martin Show’s new album, Thrilla, which is streaming live on MySpace throughout the day and is due out on Crafty Records June 28.

“In Threes,” an original work by Noah Deledda on display at his Ybor City studio.

1. Pick up a map of Ybor City’s creative district from Brad Cooper Gallery and take a self-guided tour of art galleries, artists’ studios, museums and more during the First Saturday Art Walk.

2. Shake what your mama gave ya to Little Brother’s alterna hip-hop at Crowbar.

3. Attend free presentations and performances that are held throughout the day at HCC-Ybor, and into the evening at New World Brewery as part of “Homemade: A Symposium on the Art, Business and Culture of Making Music.”

4. Throw back a few brewskies and watch Kung Fu Panda at Centro Ybor 20.

5. See Bogus Pomp break in the stage, Zappa-style, at The Ritz (formerly the Masquerade).