Tampa Calling

Much randomness has arrived in my inbox, made headlines, been ranted about, premiered, revealed … you get the idea. Here’s a breakdown of news stuff that caught my eye over the past seven days.

Tonight, the Decemberists (pictured) make their first appearance on The Colbert Report since the 2006 ShredDown between Funk and Colbert fill-in, Peter Frampton. Portland’s indie chamber rock ensemble is set to perform “The Wanting Comes In Waves / Repaid.”

State Media just made a few interesting concert announcements: People in Planes (May 6 at State Theatre, a last minute radio-sponsored show for a measly $5), El Ten Eleven (May 8 at Orpheum), Young Love with Paper Route (May 23 at Orpheum, Ybor City), Mishka (June 11 at Orpheum), VNV Nation with War Tapes and SAM (July 24 at The Ritz Ybor), and Gogol Bordello (July 27 at Jannus Landing, St. Petersburg).

Newcomer pop-soul singer/songwriter Priscilla Renea is the latest webcam-owning self-promoting musician who’s used YouTube to get noticed. She’s got a real nice voice, young and velvety sweet, so teen-attractive that she was scooped up by Power/Capitol without delay and released her debut EP, Hello My Apple, March 31. Here’s the adorable vid she put out in honor of her release. Whaddya think?

The single performance given by Van Morrison for Astral Weeks: Live at the Hollywood Bowl just wasn’t enough. So, by popular demand, Van the Man returns to Cali for another performance of “Astral Weeks Live” at the Berkeley’s University of California, Greek Theatre May 2-3, and at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles May 7-9. Wish I had the time and money to jet out to see one of these…

Some pretty interesting music DVDs have come out, or are due out, this year, including No One Said It Would Be Easy , a doc out now about Minnesota’s wonderful orchestral electro-pop collective, Cloud Cult, which is currently touring in support. No stops here as yet (they were supposed to play Langerado, until the fest was canceled), but I’m still holding out hope. Also announced recently: a new Depeche Mode documentary tracking the career of the band, The Dark Progression Unauthorized (due out June 16); a non-Weezer live Rivers Cuomo DVD, Not Alone: Rivers Cuomo and Friends; Wilco’s Ashes of American Flags, which was previewed on Record Store Day and actually comes out tomorrow, April 28; British Sea Power’s soundtrack for Man of Aran, which includes the CD and a DVD of the film (May 5); and Barbara Streisand: The Concerts , a three-disc DVD set (April 28).

For its 12th Anniversary Party and Concert, the Suncoast Blues Society welcomes legendary blues guitarist Hubert Sumlin with special guest Buddy Flett on Saturday, June 6, at Skipper’s Smokehouse. I got to see Sumlin play a few years ago with Col. Bruce Hampton, The Codetalkers and guest Bo Diddly Jr. That was in ‘05, and even then, at 74, the man threw down the licks like he was still playing with Howlin’ Wolf. I betcha now, at 77, the dude is still a powerhouse. This is a show you def don’t want to miss.

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