Tampa Calling

Ed Lowery and friends (which includes the Tampa Two Stroke Scooter Club) threw a benefit concert in support of Mike Formato, a friend injured in a serious scooter accident, at New World Brewery this past Saturday May 30. It was a eclectic evening of music featuring sets by Magadog, Light Yourself on Fire and The Boozers.

Magadog

Magadog is the band that introduced me to ska at the tender age of 16, opening up a parallel universe to the SXE/hardcore scene. When I moved to DC for college, I was surprised to find that the hardcore and ska scenes didn’t interact in any purposeful way like they do here in Tampa. When Magadog broke up, it was very sad … my friends and I had so much fun through the years with them at shows with Checkered Cabs, Skavoovie and The Epitones, The Toasters, The Pietasters and many others. When Magadog reformed in 2007, we were psyched to have them back and so far, we haven’t been disappointed! With one new record out, Sunrise…, and another on the way, Ybor City, Magadog is firmly back in the skank of things. Saturday evening’s performance had the crowd skanking the night away… who doesn’t love a little skaerobics? Read the rest of this entry »

WMNF’s 2009 Tropical Heatwave managed to be a scorcher in spite of torrential downpours. The best thing about Heatwave is the ability to see a wide variety of genres in one evening in close proximity. I managed to catch 10 bands this year on 5 stages: The Beauvilles, David Dondero, James Intveld, Johnny Cakes & The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypso, Kinobe & Soul Beat Africa, Magadog, Modern Skirts, Will Quinlan & The Diviners, Roppongi’s Ace and Thomas Wynn & The Believers.

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Here are the pick of the litter from our Upcoming Concerts pace. To see the complete list, click here.

Friday, April 03
The Zou w/Bang Bang Boom/The Pauses. The Youngstown, Ohio-brewed Zou (pictured) makes progressive alt-meets-art rock with a bluesy grittiness and dark lyrical stylings like “I will feel the same until they lower my pine box.” Fat n’ fuzzy basslines, two guitars alternating between heavy distorted riffs and thin, jagged ribbons of siren-piercing licks, a trill of keys or blast of synths, and a vocalist who alternately sings, rap-chants, and hits powerful, affected high notes ala Serj Tankian of System of a Down. Pretty great stuff. Fri., April 3, 8 p.m., New World Brewery, Ybor City, $7. —LP

Bay Area Beat Maiden Showcase feat. Ronny Elliot/Rebekah Pulley/Blind Buddy Moody. A local showcase presented in celebration of the release of a new local-centric music rag, Bay Area Beat. Fri., April 3, 8 p.m., Pro Star Soundstage, St. Petersburg, $6. —LP

Ben Folds W/Jukebox the Ghost Ben Folds has a knack for producing some of the most catchy-without-being-saccharine, dry-humored piano-driven pop ballads out there, though he has his share of maudlin and melancholy moments. He’s released three full-length solo albums since his amicable break from Ben Folds Five in 2000, including last year’s Way to Normal. Funny story about that album – it was leaked a few months before the actual release date on a fan site. All those who heard it thought it to be a legitimate copy, but the joke was on them; Folds revealed in a radio interview a few weeks later that he and the band had recorded fake versions of all the songs from Way to Normal in a single overnight session in Dublin and then “leaked” the fake to the public. (I’ve actually heard debates about whether the fake is better than the real.) Folds is one hell of a dynamic showman – I saw him hold a crowd of 10,000 in thrall at Langerado last year – and he hasn’t stopped in town solo for quite some time, so this is a performance you don’t want to miss. Folds-influenced upbeat indie pop rock trio Jukebox the Ghost opens. Fri., April 3, 8 p.m., The Ritz Ybor, Ybor City, $31.50. —LP Read the rest of this entry »