Tampa Calling

It’s free. It’s for & about musicians and the business of making of music. It’s all happening next weekend. Here’s the full schedule for Homemade Music Symposium.

This second annual FREE symposium for Tampa Bay musicians & the music-loving general public offers seminars and workshops on the business of music-making to explore how to nurture and develop careers in the modern commercial environment. Wade through to see what floats your boat. And please, come check it out. Event info @ www.artistsandwritersgroup.com

Homemade Music Symposium: Preview Event June 10 FREE (details below)

Homemade Music Symposium Weekend: June 13 & 14 FREE starting at noon until 7pm (details below)

Mohawk Bomb Showcase @ Crowbar starting at 8pm, $5 or Included with VIP Wristband featuring Mohawk Bomb Recording Artists Rise of Saturn and Ascending to Avalon

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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 »

Wednesday, March 18: I arrived to Austin by 9:30am, exhausted from the previous night’s St. Patty’s Day festivities. On the plane Flee and Jo Ellen (from WMNF and The Globe respectively) had the privilege to watch me zonk out with mouth agape for most of the 2 hour flight.

Excitement was high as soon as I deplaned. Dozens of people carrying guitar cases were scurrying about the terminal as if late for a very important meeting. I took a shuttle to the “Little” Ramada on the far ass north of town, where I would be staying during my visit. The driver ran me down the key places to visit in Austin (Bat Country, The Capitol), the great restaurants to visit (Guero’s) and that I shouldn’t walk the streets around my hotel alone at night. At first impression Austin seemed tired and run down, with haggard bums adorning every street corner.

Upon arriving to the hotel, I met two bands off the bat: Colombia’s Raton Perez and London’s Little Thief. I took advantage of my “journalist status” and did a quick interview with each:

Raton Perez (Screamo Heavy Metal)

Little Thief (Pop Punk ala Arctic Monkeys)

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“What a diff’rence a day makes” – María Méndez Grever

The music portion of SXSW has begun and Austin is infested with indie rockers, scenesters, hipsters and musicians from all over the world. The snarky t-shirts and iPhones of the interactive and film portion have been replaced with leather, tight pants and guitar cases. And they’re everywhere.

Try to imagine if every bar, club and art gallery in Tampa and St. Pete tented their parking lots and had full concert lineups on indoor and outdoor stages for 6 straight days. It’s a lot to take in. Not to mention, the stimulation of the local economy here – from stage and equipment rental to groceries and clothing – is staggering.

These Arms Are Snakes at Red Eye Fly. More photos after the jump.

There are many methods of navigating the music portion of “South by.” You can meticulously plot your path, you can wander from bar to bar (if you have a wristband or a badge) or you can do a combination of both. Modes of transport can include car (shout out to Monica Armendazzle), cab, bus, shuttle, bike (they ought to rent these), rickshaw, horse-and-buggy, and finally your own two feet. 

Ivan is in town now, as well as some folks from Creative Loafing Atlanta, so we’ve been coordinating via text. This has worked to avoid overlap and to catch wind of “secret” parties such as last night’s Playboy Party held in a warehouse on E. 12th in which Jane’s Addiction played a surprise hour-long set. Word on the street is that Metallica will be doing a similar stunt tonight to promote their new Guitar Hero game. We’ll see.

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With temperatures in the 30’s, a steady stream filed into Ybor’s New World Brewery for the release of Tampa-based alternative-country band Roppongis Ace’s first CD, Into the Night.

The album was recorded this December at Steve Connonely’s Zen studios while Drummer Max Norton and Singer/Guitarist Alex Spoto were on break from college. Spoto says the title simply stemmed from what their recording experience included. “Not much sleep and we went into the night,” he said.

And last night’s performance had the crowd there into the night as well. Many of them have watched the band grow since they were in high school, playing small shows around town.

They were joined by Max’s older brother Jessie on bass and harmonica.

It would seem a salty blues man in his sixties has crawled into Spoto’s vocal chords and made a happy home there. Spoto wrote all the songs on the album, but noted how vital collaboration from the Norton Bros. was to making the sound a complete package.

A new addition to the band was Rebekah Pulley’s bassist, Rob Pastore holding down the steel pedal.

Right off the bat, Roppongi’s Ace had the crowd pumped, but when the speakers filled with a ‘thickfreakness‘ dense version of  ”So it goes”, it seemed that even the most modest of attendees took to stompin‘ without a moments thought. That included Norton and Spoto’s family, who can only beam with pride at the turnout and support for the young band’s talent. More below the jump: Read the rest of this entry »