Friday Forecast: Grace! Gasp! Mice!

[Charles] Friday Forecast is my little blog series about happenings in Tampa Bay for the art, music, and get out and do something crowd. I pick three things that will make your life better - I promise!

Friday night you could have your face rocked off by Grace Potter and the Nocturnals at the State Theatre. Grace Potter actually showed up on my 2010 Summer Mix with her rockin anthem "Paris". I admit the song got a little tired after hearing it on lots of tv themes and getting overexposed but it's still pretty bada$$ if I do say so myself. Opening is Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights who I missed at last years Heatwave where they got plenty of rave reviews.

Saturday will bring the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts into downtown's Curtis Hixon Park. It is a little more family and Florida friendly than most of the fringe arts fests I prefer but it also has some really amazing stuff tucked in with the oversized flowers and manatees. Last year I saw some fantastic photography and sculpture that was worth the trouble of paying to park downtown and huffing it over to the then newly minted park. Also, the playground down there is pretty awesome and the weather should be great tomorrow. Check it out and represent Tampa!

Saturday night you can head down to Ybor and split your time between a couple of shows. Of course I'll recommend my local faves The Sun Society who are playing at Crowbar with Creepers, Young Egypt, and Seri Fana. If you're down there and one of those isn't doing it for you then just head on over to check out Country Mice at New World Brewery with Davy and the Gods and recently swapped in Aloha Model ( a solo project from Auto?Automatic??). I have it on good authority that this should be a pretty awesome show.

Have fun out there!

Friday Forecast: Sleepy Sun Fever

Photo of Sleepy Vikings from Elawgrrl
[Charles] This weekend in Tampa is the big Gasparilla day parade so that is definitely an option if you are in for drinking and partying downtown with thousands of people. If you're probably not gonna avoid that this weekend like me, then here's some other options.

First up, tonight at Ella's Folk Art Cafe, Sleepy Vikings are apparently playing an acoustic show. Regular readers know how much we love Ella's, but this makes tonight a definite do not miss. I think that Sleepy Vikings are really really fantastic and unlike the same old stuff that you can hear every night on American "Idle" these folks have a unique sound all their own. If you are anywhere within the hood tonight then definitely make it a point to catch this band and support them at Ella's.

Forecast: 65% chance of more Vikings than pirates at Ella's tonight.

Saturday might be the day for pirates, but as far as I'm concerned, the one send off I'd like to catch is the Vinyl Fever Sendoff. Vinyl Fever is shutting its doors after something like 30 years in Tampa and I haven't been able to get myself over and face it to even say bye. I love that place and I've spent hours just flipping through the cd's and vinyl before dropping stacks of new bands on the counter to take home. They are the place I could always count on for their solid local band section when I wanted to pick up bands I'd heard of. I took my daughter there for Record Store Day and still can't imagine next year's event coming round without the Feve. I know that they've struggled for years and Tampa's ridiculous real estate prices finally destroyed their chances of continuing. By the way, FU Florida real estate industry! You have no stake in your tenants and are happy to just let great businesses go out so you can continue to raise your rates. Congratulations. Anyway, the sendoff is going to have local bands like Will Quinlan, Matt Hires, and Guiltmaker as well as dj's from the shop spinning what else? vinyl of course. Head over any time on Saturday afternoon - bands start at 3:30.

Forecast: 95% chance of PBR consumed and poured out on the premises.

After that on Saturday, you might feel like continuing the music party and heading over to Transitions Art Gallery to check out what the next generation is up to. I'll keep harping over The Sun Society until you go see them so really quit screwing around and head over there. They are excellent. They take the best parts of say, Regina Spektor without being too heady and Cat Power without being too whiny. Oh yeah and they know how to Rock! with a capital R folks. This is another group I expect big things from so seriously, give them a chance. How many times can you watch that boat come in while your neighbor pukes next to you behind a lawn chair?

Forecast: 80% chance of snagging a new EP from The Sun Society at the show! If you can make it through the crowd...

Holy cow! I just found their EP on Bandcamp so check it out and download it right now!

That's the link to download their EP on bandcamp up there but if you missed it - here!