Sunshine Festival returns to St. Petersburg

  The Tedeschi Trucks Band, Leon Russell, Stanley Clarke and Hot Tuna are among the big-name acts scheduled for the second annual Sunshine Blues & Music Festival. 
  The festival comes to St. Petersburg's Vinoy Park at noon Jan. 19. It's in Boca Raton the day before.

Tedeschi Trucks Band

   Among the other acts on the lineup are Galactic, the Ringers featuring Jimmy Herring, Wayne Krantz, Michael Landau, Keith Carlock and Etienne Mbappe, Tab Benoit, Bobby Lee Rogers and Oli Brown. Organizers say more will be announced later.
   Tickets officially go on sale at 10 a.m. Oct. 7, but there's an "early bird" deal with special prices from 10 a.m. Oct. 2 until 10 p.m. Oct. 4. The regular tickets are $49.50; early bird prices are $39.50. Reserved tickets are available for $99.50.
   You can order by calling 1-800-745-3000 or by visiting www.livenation.com.

Ann Morrison performs at St. Petersburg's freeFall

    Ann Morrison has been a constant presence on and off-Broadway since 1981, when Harold Prince and Stephen Sondheim chose her to originate the role of Mary in "Merrily We Roll Along." She'll be at freeFall Theatre in St. Petersburg with her solo show, "Now You Know: An Evening of Steve, Lenny and Annie" at 7 p.m.  Sunday. Sept. 29.
   She's coming straight from selling out the Broadway nightclub 54 Below. Morrison weaves backstage stories from more than 30 years on Broadway around songs from two of her musical mentors, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim. 
   Besides "Merrily," Morrison's best-known shows include "Lovemusik" and "Goblin Market."
    freeFall is at 6099 Central Ave. in St. Petersburg, Tickets are $16. call 498-5205 or go to www.freefalltheatre.com.

Tickets for Sarasota's Asolo Rep available Sunday

   Tickets for the upcoming Asolo Repertory Theatre season  go on sale online at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 29 and at Asolo Rep’s box office at 10 a.m. Monday.
   The season starts Nov. 15 with "Show Boat," by Hammerstein and Kern. Other shows include "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" by Brian Friel (Jan. 10-April 12); "Other Desert Cities" by Jon Robin Baitz (Jan. 17-Feb. 27); "Vanya and

Sonia and Masha and Spike" by Christopher Durang (Jan. 24-April 13); "The Grapes of Wrath" by Frank Galati, based on the Steinbeck novel (March 14-April 19); "4,000 Miles" by Amy Herzog (April 4-27); "Hero: The Musical" by Aaron Thielen and Michael Mahler (May 2-31); and a summer production to be announced.
   Visit www.asolorep.org, or call  941-351-8000.

Have Gun, Will Travel plans four shows near Bradenton

   Bradenton's biggest and best roots-rock band, Have Gun, Will Travel, has four dates planned in the area over the next few weeks, including a free show right here in town on the Riverwalk.

Have Gun, Will Travel

   Have Gun has just released its fourth studio album, "Fiction, Fact or Folktale?" on This Is American Music.
   Here's the show schedule:
   -- 10 p.m. Oct. 18: New World Brewery, 1313 E. Eighth 8th Ave., Tampa (Ybor City). 10 p.m. Call 813-248-4969. $10 advance, $13 day of show.
   -- 9 p.m. Oct. 19: Pickin’ Picnic at Bradenton Riverwalk. 9 p.m. Free.
   -- 3:30 p.m. Oct. 20: Clearwater Jazz Holiday, Coachman Park, Clearwater. $10/$35 in advance, $20/$40 day of show.   -- 8 p.m. Nov. 1: MacDinton's at Jannus Live, 16 Second St. N., St. Petersburg. 8 p.m. Free. Call 727- 565-0550.

Sarasota's Florida Studio Theatre announces 2013-14 seasons

   Florida Studio Theatre had already announced that it would kick of its mainstage season with "Monty Python's Spamalot." Now FST has unveiled the rest of the show in it its 2013-14 mainstage and cabaret seasons. After Mainstage Season "Spamalot," Nov. 13-Jan. 4, the mainstage season continues in the Keating Theatre with "Thurgood," George

Stevens Jr.'s play based on the life of Justice Thurgood Marshall, Dec. 11-Feb. 15. Following in the Gompertz Theatre is "Daddy Long Legs," Feb. 5-April 5, an adaptation of the novel by Jean Webster. The season ends with "Two Point Oh" by Jeffrey Jackson, a multimedia play about the effects of technology. That will run April 9-June 1.
   The Cabaret Season starts in the John C. Court Cabaret with "The Prima Donettes," Oct. 23-Feb. 1, about female singing groups of the '50s and '60s, developed by Richard Hopkins and Jim Prosser. Opening next in the Goldstein Cabaret is "Poems, Prayers and Promises," celebrating the American music and storytelling developed by Hopkins and his wife Rebecca, set for Jan. 1-April 12. Closing out the season Feb. 19-June 7 in the John C. Court Cabaret is "Too Darn Hot," also developed by Prosser and Richard Hopkins and featuring music by Cole Porter.
   Subscriptions for all four mainstage shows are available for $45 and up' for the cabaret shows, subscriptions start at $35. You can stop be the box office at 1241 N. Palm Ave. in Sarasota, call 941-366-9000 or go to www.FloridaStudioTheatre.org.

Bradenton's Wallenda wins award at Sunday's Emmys

   Apparently, Manatee County residents weren't the only ones who thought Nik Wallenda's walk across the Grand Canyon was the coolest thing on TV in the past year.
   The CBS Emmy Awards website invited the public to vote for the "Top TV Moment of the Year." During Sunday's Emmy broadcast, Wallenda's walk was announced as the winner.
   "He doesn't get an Emmy, but he does get the honor of winning this vote," said Wallenda's manger, Winston Simone. "And it's quite an honor, because he won over some really significant television moments, such as the last episode of 'The Office.' "
   The site gave the public 10 choices for best moment. Besides Wallenda's walk and "The Office," they were the Bob Marley Tribute at the Grammy Awards, the Boston Marathon bombing, the Superbowl blackout, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosting the Golden Globe Awards show, the "Mother" episode of "How I Met Your Mother," the "Red Wedding" episode of "Game of Thrones," Hurricane Sandy coverage and a Kristen Wiig's farewell on "Saturday Night Live."
   A comment about the poll  appeared on Wallenda's Facebook page Friday afternoon: "We did it! 'Skywire Live with Nik Wallenda' won Emmy's top TV moment of the year! Thank you friends, family, and fans for all of your support! I couldn't have done it without you guys! Never give up!"
   "Skywire Live" was the title of the Discovery Channel's live coverage of Wallenda's 22-minute high-wire walk some 1,500 feet above the bottom of the Grand Canyon on a high wire on June 24. He was the first person to attempt that crossing and about 21-million people watched and listened as he completed the walk.
   Wallenda's next scheduled walk will be with his sister, Lijana Wallenda Hernandez. They will perform a dual walk 140 feet off the ground prior to the start of the Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Oct. 12.
   They'll begin from opposite ends of a 500-foot cable, crossing paths along the way.

   The speedway walk will be about one-third the length and one-seventh the height of the Grand Canyon crossing. But Wallenda, who lives in Bradenton, said crossing speedway carries its own challenges.

“We take every walk seriously, whether it's 20 feet off the ground or 200 feet," he said. "You can't let up for a second.”

    
  

Masters of the Fiddle cancel Sarasota show

  If you were planning on seeing Masters of the Fiddle with Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy  at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, well, you're going to have to make other plans for the evening of April 14. The show has

Leahy and MacMaster

been canceled, for a pretty great reason: MacMaster and Leahy, who are wife and husband, have just learned they're expecting a baby. That obviously makes a concert six months from now difficult.
   The people at Van Wezel say they hope to reschedule the show for the 2014-15 season.
   For information, call 941-953-3368 or go to www.vanwezel.org.