Brantley Gilbert, Colt Ford perform in Tampa

  If you couldn't make it to Joyland to see Colt Ford on Friday -- or if you caught his show and it left you wanting more -- we've got some good news for you: Ford will be back in town in just a few months.
   He's one of the acts in the "Throwdown by the Bay," a mammoth country show headlined by Brantley Gilbert that's scheduled for 8 p.m. Dec. 12 at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa.
 

Parmalee

 Also slated to perform are Parmalee, Tyler Farr and Chase Bryant.
   Gilbert's having a phenomenal year, with his successful "Let It Ride" tour, his gold album "Just as I Am" and his platinum single "Bottoms Up."
   The concert's presented by radio station US 103.5, and the lineup offers something for just about any country-lover's taste, from the bluegrass-flavored music of Parmalee to the hick-hop of country-rap pioneer Ford.
   Tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. this Friday, Aug. 22. They'll run you $29.75, $35 and $43 plus service charge. Call 813-301-2500 or go to tampabaytimesforum.com.

Filmmaker Waters brings one-man show to Tampa

   The Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival is almost always worth checking out, for the assortment of odd and often great films that you might not get a chance to experience in a theater otherwise.
   This year's 25th annual festival has a great bonus: Iconic outsider filmmaker John Waters (of "Pink Flamingos," "Polyester" and "Hairspray" fame) will be there, performing

John Waters

his one-man show "This Filthy World: Filthier & Dirtier" at the gorgeous Tampa Theatre.
   In 2012, Waters hitchhiked across America. The show deals largely with that experience, which is also the basis for his entertaining new book "Carsick." He'll be autographing copies of "Carsick" after his Tampa Theatre performance.
   Waters' show is set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 4. Tickets are $33, $43 and $63. You can get them through the festival's website, tiglff.com. Tampa Theatre is at 711 N. Franklin St., in the heart of downtown Tampa.
   The festival runs Oct. 3-11.

Martina McBride to perform at Sarasota's Van Wezel

   Martina McBride's been making hit records for more than 20 years, and she won her first Grarmmy Award 18 years ago. That's a very long career in popular music terms, but she's as popular as ever.
   In fact, her most recent album, "Everlasting," was the first independently distributed

Martina McBride

female album to debut at No. 1 on the Top Country Albums Chart. It also debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200.
   McBride will perform songs from the album -- which features her interpretations of classic soul songs -- when she comes to the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota at 8 p.m. Oct. 16. Her concert also includes some of her best-known songs, reworked with a Motown vibe.
   Tickets for the show go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Aug. 15. Prices are $31.75-$84.98. Call 941-953-3368 or go to vanwezel.org.

Diana Krall comes to Sarasota's Van Wezel

   Grammy-winning jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall has a new album that's slated to drop on Oct. 21. Just a couple of months later, she'll be performing songs from the album win she comes to Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota.

   The recently announced concert is slated for 8 p.m. Oct. 13.

Diana Krall

   The Krall's new album, "Wallflower," includes her interpretation of pop songs from the 1960s and later. One track is a Paul McCartney song called "If I Take You Home Tonight" that's never even released before.

  On the Wallflower World Tour she'll perform songs by Bob Dylan. the Mamas and the Papas and the Eagles, among many others.

   Her band on the tour is guitarist Anthony Wilson, bassist Dennis Crouch, fiddle player Stuart Duncan, drummer Karriem Riggins and keyboard player Patrick Warren.

   Tickets for the Van Wezel show go on sale this Friday (Aug. 15). They'll rub you $35 - $120.

    Call 941-953-3368 or go to vanwezel.org.

WUSF devotes evening to St. Peterburg's Kenny Drew Jr.

   Kenny Drew Jr., the son of a major figure in jazz, was himself one of the greatest jazz pianists of his era, with a virtuosic sound that was instantly recognizable. He made more than 20 recordings of ensembles that he led himself, and he recorded worked with the Mingus Big Band, Stanley Turrentine and others. He also played classical recitals in Europe.

Kenny Drew Jr.

   In recent years he made his home in St. Petersburg. Drew's health had been deteriorating, and he died earlier this week at age 56.
   This weekend, Bob Seymour will devote his "Saturday Night Jazz" program to Drew, with music from his own groups, a number of collaborations and a few pieces that have never before been heard on the radio.
   Saturday Night Jazz  starts at 9 p.m. on WUSF-FM, 89.7.

Bernie Yanelli wins Sarasota Players Theatre playwriting competition

   Bernie Yanelli has been named the winner of this year's Players New Play Festival.

Yanelli

   Yanelli, a history teacher at St. Stephen's Episcopal School in Bradenton, is a regular contributor to -- and a regular winner of -- playwriting competitions in this area. He won Theatre Odyssey's 10- minute play festival just last year.
  For the Players New Play Festival, which has been presented for 13 years by the Players Theatre in Sarasota, Yanelli's full-length play "Not Our Time" was chosen as one of five finalists out of more than 30 submissions. The finalists all received readings -- one a night for five consecutive nights -- and a panel of theater experts selected Yanelli's play as the winner.

   It will get a full production as part of the Players Summer Sizzler Series at the end of the August 2015.

   "Not Our Time" is a coming-of-age story set in the rural south of 1969. A young African-American football star must choose between what he wants for himself and what his best friend and mentor want for him.

   Jeffery Kin, the artistic director of Players Theatre, called "Not Our Time" a powerful, telling and yet, at times, an amusing look back at how far we have come in the last 50 years." 

    

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Sarasota's Players Theatre announces 2014-15 Backstage season

   The Players Theatre has some really cool stuff planned for its fourth Backstage season.
   The three-show 2014-15 season, which presents shows in the Players' intimate black-box space, offers works by three of America's most exciting contemporary playwrights.

Annie Baker

   The season kicks off in October with "Breaking Out in Ives," a program of six one-act comedies by David Ives. Ives is best known for "Venus in Fur" and "All in The Timing," a highly entertaining collection of short plays, and he's among the most widely produced playwrights in the country. The shows runs Oct. 17-26.

  Starting Jan. 30, the Players will stage  "Circle Mirror Transformation" by Annie Baker, who won the Pulitzer Prize earlier this year for "The Flick." "Circle Mirror Transformation" is a drama about a group of theater students during  six weeks of theater games and acting exercises. It won an Obie Award in 2009 for Best New American Play. It runs through Feb. 8.

    Nicky Silver's comedy "The Lyons" wraps up the season, April 10-19. Silver's been a popular playwright Off-Broadway and in local theaters for decades, but "The Lyons," about a family gathered in a hospital room of the dying father, became his first Broadway play a couple of years ago. Silver's plays are generally not appropriate for children or anyone who's easily offended.

    Tickets are on sale now for $18, or $45 for all three shows. Subscriptions are available for $45 and guarantee reserved seating. Single tickets are $18.

   The Players Theatre is at 838 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Call 941-365-2494, or go to theplayers.org.