WMNF stages Springsteen tribute show in Tampa

   Community radio station WMNF occasionally puts on these really cool tribute shows with a bunch of area bands all playing songs by some major artist. They've done Led Zeppelin, the Who, the Beatles, Stevie Wonder, David Bowie and a lot of others.
   This weekend, at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa, WMNF will present a show they're calling "Bruuuuce!," in honor of Bruce Springsteen's 65th birthday earlier this week (Sept. 23, to be exact).

Bruce Sorungsteen

  Over the course of eight hours, more than 20 bands and solo acts will performed more than 50 Sprinsgteen songs, including the "Born to Run" album performed start-to-finish, and 10 singer-songrwriters performing one song each from "Nebraska."
   Bands include  Al Torchia & The Tattered Saints, Blue Dice, Glad All Over, Parson Brown, Talk to Mark, Ted Lukas & The Misled, The Hack Pack, The Irish Buskers, Troy Youngblood and The SoulFish, The Hummingbirds, Sunset Bridge Band, J.A.D.E., Wizards and Koko Ray & The Keepers.
   It runs from 4 p.m. until midnight Saturday, Sept. 27. Skippers -- which is a cool mostly-outdoor venue with a rustic Florida feel -- is at 910 Skipper Road in north Tampa. Tickets are $13 in advance and $16 at the door. Call 813-238-6001 or go to wmnf.org for tickets, or call 813-971-0666 for venue information.

Radio theater returns to Bradenton airwaves

   Radio theater is largely a relic of decades past, but it has seen a tiny bit of a resurgence in recent years.
   Some intriguing plays are coming to local airwaves in the coming days. It's an interesting (and free) way to experience theater and it's worth a listen.
  At 8 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 17, WUSF (89.7 FM) is airing "Holy Matter," a new one-hour play by Tampa playwright Denis Calandra. It's a mystery based around John F. Kennedy's visit to Tampa 50 years ago, days before his death, and a fictional Tampa mob family.

Calandra

   Calandra is the authorized translator of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's plays. He wrote the acclaimed play "Cuban Bread" about Tampa's cigar workers and co-wrote an adaptation of Carl Hiassen's "Lucky You" that got great reviews in London and Edinburgh.
   At 7 p.m. Monday, Nov, 18, WMNF (88.5 FM) and St. Petersburg's Studio@620 kick off the fifth season of their "Radio Theatre Project" with an installment of “The Continuing Adventures of Noel Berlin, Cabaret Detective” by Paul Wilborn and Matt Cowley and “The Last Radio Drama” by Ludy Marvin Wilkie, directed by area theater stalwart Jim Wicker.
   "The Last Radio Drama" is about actors in a 1950s radio soap opera who face the cancellation of their show as radio loses audience to television.
   "Noel Berlin" is in its second season and features old-fashioned cliff-hanger episodes set in St Petersburg with cabaret music and stunning sound effects. 
   You can see the WMNF plays as they're performed by going to the Studio@620, at 620 First Ave. S. in St. Petersburg. It's a pay-what-you-can arrangement.
   Go to www.radtiotheatreproject.org for more information about the WMNF series.

Sarah Borges among highlights of WMNF's Tropical Heatwave

  It’s still two months away, but if you’re a fan of WMNF's Tropical Heatwave you’re already planning on going. Here’s the latest, still-incomplete info on the music lineup. Among the acts worth getting excited about are Sarah Borges, the Heligoats and Rebekah Pulley and the Reluctant Prophets.

   It’s happening May 10-11 in venues around Ybor City in Tampa. The center of the action is the Cuban Club at 2010 Avenida Republica de Cuba, but if you wander around to other venues you’ll discover some great bands you might never have heard otherwise.

Friday, May 10:

Sarah Borges appears May 11.

Paul Thorn (folk-soul)
Selwyn Birchwood (blues)
Mercy Brothers (rocking country gospel)
American Aquarium (rocking Americana)
Applebutter Express (ukulele folk funk)
Ray Bonneville (funky folk)

Saturday, May 11:

Stooges Brass Band (R&B brass band)
Sarah Borges (roots rock)
Los Hacheros (salsa)
Ryan Montbleau Band (rock-soul–folk)
Paul Thorn Band (roots rock)
Southern Hospitality (boogie blues)
Jason D. Williams (rockabilly piano)
Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison (alt-country)
Suenalo (Latin-funk-hip hop)
Ana Popovic (rocking blues)
Nikki Hill (soul, blues)
The Wholetones (bluegrass-punk)
Rebekah Pulley and the Reluctant Prophets (folk-rock)
Krissy Krissy (pop soul)
The Heligoats (alt-rock)
The Whiskey Gentry (alt-country)
Dirty Bourbon River Show (circus rock)
The Happiness Machine (alt-rock)
Day Joy (dreamy alt-rock)

Tickets: $20 advance, $25 at the door for Friday only, $30 advance, $35 at the door for Saturday only, $40 advance, $50 at the door for both days. Information, 813-238-8001 or www.wmnf.org.

Bradenton's Damon Fowler, Have Gun Will Travel to headline WMNF's Little Manatee River Jam

Damon Fowler at Blues Revue open house in Bradenton's Village of the Arts. Photo by Wade Tatangelo.

Read more here: http://heraldbuzzworthy.blogspot.com/2011/08/damon-fowler-sugar-shack-mondays.html#storylink=cpy

The Bradenton area's two greatest live music exports are joining forces to headline WMNF's 3rd annual Little Manatee River Jam.

The Tampa-based community radio station fund-raising concert is Nov. 17 at the Canoe Outpost in southern Hillsborough County features Bradenton Beach resident and international blues star Damon Fowler as well as the Bradenton natives of Have Gun Will Travel performing their equally acclaimed Americana originals. 

From WMNF:

The festival’s beginnings go back to early 2010, when the owners of the Canoe Outpost attended a friend’s wedding reception where Talk To Mark were providing the entertainment. A brief discussion with the band during a set break led to the subject of WMNF and the idea of a live music event on the Outpost’s beautiful 5-acre property. With a little coordination between the band, the station and the site owners, the concept quickly began to take shape. Brandon native Damon Fowler — whose roots in the area made him the natural choice — was tapped to headline the show, and a festival was born.

Complete schedule:

Christy Massey: 1-1:30

Ed Carter 1:40-2:20

Sarah Mac Band 2:30-3:30

Rebekah Pulley and the Reluctant Prophets 3:50-4:50

Talk To Mark 5:10-6:10

Have Gun Will Travel 6:30-7:30

Damon Fowler 8- 10 p.m.

Tickets are $20 in advance, or $25 the day of the event.

To order tickets online visit www.wmnf.org or call the station at 813-238-8001.

For camping reservations, call the Canoe Outpost at 813-634-2228 or visit www.Canoeoutpost.com.

WEEKEND: Chris Tucker, Have Gun Will Travel, Wiggles, WMNF Fest and more

• Chris Tucker at The Mahaffey in St. Petersburg 

• WMNF Americana Fest at Skipper's Smokehouse 

• Tampa Identity electronic dance music festival at Ask Gary Amphitheatre in Tampa 

• The Wiggles perform after Ray-Orioles game at Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg 

• Actress Robin Givens stages her play 'Joy in the Morning' in Bradenton with Manatee Players 

• Bradenton bands rock to raise money for Manatee Players 

•  Bradenton band Have Gun Will Travel with Matt Woods at Aces Live in Bradenton 

Check it out in Weekend.

 

—Publicity photo of Rebekah Pulley, who will be performing at WMNF's Americana Fest.

WEEKEND: Lady Antebellum, Tropical Heatwave, Wilco, Chris Cornell, Neil Simon and more

Here's what I have running in today's Weekend:

Country-pop trio Lady Antebellum dancin' into Tampa's ASK-GARY Amphitheatre

MCS Band Slam benefit concert features 20 acts at Sarasota Bradenton International Convention Center

WMNF 88.5's Tropical Heatwave features 60 acts across 13 stages in Ybor City


Wilco brings 'the whole love' to the Straz Center in Tampa

Chris Cornell sells out Tampa Theatre 


Anna Maria Island Players close 63rd season with Neil Simon's 'Fools'


'Moonlight and Magnolias' opens at Golden Apple Dinner Theatre in Sarasota

—Publicity photo of Lady Antebellum 

Rhett Miller on Bob Dylan giving permission for "Champaign, Illinois"

Just got off the phone with Old 97's frontman/solo artist Rhett Miller.

He was at the Stewart International Airport near his home in Hudson Valley, N.Y.

Shaky cell connection and 15 minute limit — Miller had another phoner coming in as soon as my time ran out — didn't allow for the lengthy type piece I did with him previously.

But we covered some cool topics including the long genesis of "Champaign, Illinois," off the Old 97's latest album "Grand Theatre Vol. 1."

The song sets new lyrics to the Bob Dylan classic "Desolation Row."

Miller said it took a decade to get permission for release. The band's new manager finally found a way to get a recording of "Champaign, Illinois" to Dylan last year.

"Then they told me he wanted to read the lyrics," Miller said. "So I frantically started typing."

Dylan's reaction?

"This is great."

Miller now shares a songwriting credit with Dylan on "Champaign, Illinois."

"It's a huge honor," he said.

Look for my feature on Miller to run in the Herald —I'll link to it here as well — prior to the Old 97's' March 2 performance at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa. WMNF (88.5) is presenting the show.

Bradenton Beach-resident Damon Fowler on national release 'Devil Got His Way'

DAMON FOWLER by TIFFANY TOMPKINS-CONDIE/ttompkins@bradenton.com

Here's my interview with Bradenton Beach-resident Damon Fowler, who just released "Devil Got His Way" on Blind Pig Records.

Fowler returns from the Bahamas just in time for a WMNF (88.5)-sponsored CD release party Saturday at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa. “Devil Got His Way,” his second album for the prestigious Blind Pig Records, came out Jan. 18. It has already received glowing reviews from top Americana publication No Depression and daily newspapers such as the Pittsburgh Post Gazette and Philadelphia Daily News. Many of the songs on “Devil Got His Way” were written in Bradenton Beach.

 Continue reading.

Damon Fowler Group with Mike Kach (keyboards) performing "Devil Got His Way" track 

"You Go Your Way" at Daytona Blues Festival Oct. 2010

HGWT No. 3 on WMNF most played albums of 2010

Bradenton alt-country luminaries Have Gun, Will Travel's "Postcards from the Friendly City" ranked No. 3 — behind releases by Vampire Weekend and ahead of the Avett Brothers' — on Tampa-based community radio station WMNF (88.5)'s recently released list of most played albums of 2010.

Here's the tally:

This list does not include theme songs and is restricted to music that came out in the last 18 months or so.
1) Vampire Weekend   - Contra
2) Mumford and Sons  - Sigh No More
3) Have Gun Will Travel  - Postcards From the Friendly City
4) Avett Brothers  - I and Love and You
5) Black Keys  - Brothers
6)   Spoon  - Transference
7)   Arcade Fire  -  The Suburbs
8)   John Legend and the Roots  - Wake Up!~
9)  Yeasayer  - Odd Blood
10)  Sleigh Bells  - Treats
11)  Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers  - Mojo
12)  Preservation Jazz Hall Band  - Preservation 
13) Carolina Chocolate Drops  - Genuine Negro Jig
14)  LCD Soundsystem  -   This Is Happening
15)  Janelle Monae  -  The Arch-Android
16)  Ray Lamontagne  - God Willing
17)  Passion Pit  -  Manners
18)   The National  - High Violet
19)   Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings – I Learned the Hard Way
20)  Trombone Shorty  - Backatown
21)  Miles Davis -  Bitches Brew reissue
22)  Robert Glasper -  Double Booked
23)  M.I.A.  – Maya
24)  The Birds and the Bee  - Interpreting the Masters
25)   Frightened Rabbit -  The Winter
26)   Paul Thorn  - Pimps and Preachers
27)   La Roux  - La Roux
28)   Gorillaz  -  Plastic Beach
29)  Flobots  - Survival Story
30)  Alejandro Escovedo  - Street Signs
31)  Bettye Lavette  - Interpretations: British Rock
32)  Peter Wolf  -  Midnight Souvenir
33)  The Thermals  - Personal Life
34)  NNeka  - Concrete Jungle
35)  Dr. Dog  - Shame, Shame
36)   Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffitti  -  Before Today
37)  The Hold Steady  - Heaven Is Whenever
38) Brandi Carlile –Give Up the Ghost
39) Galactic  -  Yaka-May 
40)  Steve Connelly and the Lesser Gods -  Every Monster
41)  Michael Franti and Spearhead  =  The Sound of Sunshine
42) Of Montreal  - False Priest
42)  Crystal Castle  - Crystal Castle
43)  Janiva Magness -  The Devil Is an Angel
44) Los Lobos  - Tin Can Trust
45)  Broken Bells  - Broken Bells
46)  Superchunk -  Majestic Shredding
47)  Old 97’s -  Grand Tbeatre Vol. 1
48)  Mavis Staples  - You Are Not Alone
49)  Various Artists – Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine
50)  Justin Townes Earle-  Harlem River Blues

Photo by Wade Tatangelo of Have Gun, Will Travel performing Dec. 18, 2010 at Ace's in Bradenton. 

WMNF show with Damon Fowler, Have Gun Will Travel

Tampa-based community radio station WMNF (88.5) makes a rare south of the Skyway appearance to spotlight Manatee County’s most celebrated acts of recent memory: 

Roots music multi-talent Damon Fowler (pictured) and alt-country luminaries Have Gun, Will Travel featuring singer/songwriter ace Matt Burke. 

The event, which benefits the Elmira Wildlife Sanctuary, takes place Saturday at the Canoe Outpost under a beautiful oak canopy on the banks of the Little Manatee River.

2:30-8:30 p.m. Nov. 20, Canoe Outpost, 18001 U.S. Highway S., Wimauma. Tickets: $15 (advance); $20 (day of show). Information: (813) 238-8001. For camping reservations: (813) 634-2228. 

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Damon Fowler performing title track off his 2009 national label debut "Sugar Shack" at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa.