Stand-up comedy returns to the Side Door this Friday. Ward Smith, an actor and comic, has put together almost a dozen shows at the Side Door and they are audience favorites.   The last “Ward Smith and Friends” show sold out, so don’t wait too late to get tickets for[…]

We survived a wild and wildly successful stretch here at the Palladium. It included a string of great shows, including two SOLD OUT Side Doors and a sublime Palladium Chamber Players concert.   Our buddy, Gary Bookout, was around to take photos of some of the shows and I wanted[…]

This Saturday night the Palladium’s Side Door Cabaret and our buddies in the band La Lucha, are hopping into the DeLorean for a musical ride back to the 1980s. You’ll hear the big hits of that wacky decade reworked with a jazz sensibility.   We did a version of this[…]

Looking over the next week at the Palladium, I realized that our list of upcoming shows is a perfect microcosm of what the Palladium is all about – amazing talent, local connections, and one-of-a-kind shows.   Let’s start with Friday night and Southern Hospitality. This blues super-group features our own[…]

Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday earlier this month has prompted a flood of live shows, recorded tributes and other Sinatra celebrations. But we are saving the best for last. Steven Maglio, the New York City singer who is generally acknowledged as the best in the business, will be here for one[…]

When I arrived at the Palladium eight years ago, I inherited a talented jazz guitar player named Nate Najar. He was performing a holiday jazz show that featured the music of Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker. I loved the show. Each year Nate’s musicians and singers varied, the venue was sometimes upstairs[…]

So happy to welcome back Chris Thomas King for his third visit to the Side Door Cabaret tonight (12-9). Chris’ sets are rich and varied – he’s a singer, a musician, a story-teller and a natural performer. If you haven’t seen him, don’t miss this chance.   There are still[…]

Thanks to our friends at the Northeast Journal for a great story about Helen Hansen French and our Beacon dance series. Helen and her colleague, Lauren Ree Sloane, co-founded the project. If you were at the show in November, you know it was a artistic and commercial success. We are[…]

Harry O’Donoghue and Carroll Brown have made a lot of friends in the Tampa Bay area over the years and lately they’ve been performing in our Side Door each holiday season. They return tonight with “Celtic Christmas” a collection of songs that include holiday favorites, but also some great Irish[…]

It has turned into a big guitar weekend at the Palladium, with legendary guitarists David Lindley and Adrian Legg, performing in Hough Hall on Friday and the young jazz guitarist Julian Lage – direct from Carnegie Hall – in the Side Door on Sunday. Here’s a bit of a blog[…]

Along with our slate of the best regional jazz and blues artists, we like to spice up the Side Door lineup with top touring artists. And one of the best young players in jazz – Julian Lage – fits that bill.   He just recorded an album with the jazz[…]

We’re so fortunate that Bob Alger married Whitney James and brought her to our town. We got not only a very funny gal, but an incredible jazz singer with a following on the West Coast and New York City. She and Bob are living both here and NYC these days.[…]

I am so excited about our upcoming night of dance and more – a performance on Saturday, Nov. 14 we are calling – Beacon.   Co-producers Helen Hansen French and Lauren Ree Slone have curated an evening of contemporary performance works for the Palladium that explore ideas of place and[…]

We love presenting the best new acts in our Side Door Cabaret and we’ve got one of those special performances coming up this Friday, Oct. 23.   We’re featuring The Peterson Brothers, two teen-age blues phemons from Bastrop, Texas, who are the buzz of the blues world. They’ve opened for B.B.King,[…]

The best reviewed film of the fall season is “Steve Jobs,” and unless you’ve been lost on a deserted island for the past four decades, you don’t need me to tell you what the film is about.   What I’m excited about is the timing. Just as this great movie[…]

Sarah Dees, a writer for Examiner.com, shared a great piece on the recent Palladium visit by Stephan Pastis, the syndicated cartoonist. Pastis spoke to a packed house recently, as he stopped by on his book tour. The event was brought to us by our friends at the Tampa Bay Times.[…]

Talk about timing. Just as we’re kicking off our subscription sales for the Palladium Chamber Players 2015-16 season, the series wins a big award!   Creative Loafing, the journal of all things artistic in Tampa Bay, named our series as a “Best of the Bay” winner in this week’s big[…]

Before taking on the PalladiumPaul job, I was a journalist and was lucky enough to spend time with some amazing people. Up at the top of that list was one of my teenage heroes – Frank Zappa.   Twice, in advance of his concerts, I interviewed him. I’m not sure[…]

I had really hoped summer wouldn’t end so soon, but I can’t stop the clock. Fall is arriving and it’s time to launch our new season of shows.   We’re kicking off our jazz season Wednesday night with a special Side Door concert featuring three Palladium favorites – Nate Najar,[…]

We’re continuing to make improvements to the historic Palladium – all in an effort to make your experience better.   Most regular patrons have already noticed the beautiful new bathroom renovation off our lobby. Our bathrooms were not only modernized – we doubled our facilities so lines at intermission will[…]

Check out the current issue of the Northeast Journal for a nice article on the Palladium. Writer Josh Keeler focused on the historic preservation of our iconic 1920s building, which is recognized as an historic landmark both locally and nationally.   Josh was especially excited about our old gilt-laden elevator[…]

I’m so excited to get back from vacation just in time for back-to-back shows by our own Selwyn Birchwood in the Side Door. The Alligator Records recording artist is here with his band on Friday and Saturday night, Sept. 18 and 19. Tickets are going fast for both nights.  […]

Traveled south of the Skyway on Sunday, to be one of the judges for the International Blues Challenge event at Ace’s in Bradenton.   it was my first trip to Ace’s, which is a really nice music bar, with good food.   The competition was produced by the Suncoast Blues[…]

Even if you missed the Summer of Love, you can take a trip back there this weekend at the Palladium. We’re featuring the band Monday Monday in concert on Saturday night at 8 in our main hall. And judging by the brisk ticket sales, folks are ready for a flashback[…]

We want to thank the folks at Florida State Homes for featuring the Palladium in their newsletter. Staff Writer Paul Rowe did a great job capturing what we do down here.   If you want to read the full article just follow this link. Or enjoy the excerpt from the[…]

Growing up and becoming a musician in Chicago gave Steve Arvey a Ph.D in blues music – learning on the job with some of the great players from the Chicago blues heyday.   Playing with guys like Hubert Sumlin, Johnny Littlejohn, Honeyboy Edwards, and a host of others, Arvey knows[…]

Taking their name from the title of their favorite Waylon Jennings song, The Only Daddys play country-western music they way it used to be played in taverns and honky-tonk bars across America just before and immediately after WWII, into the 1950′s, and on through the ‘outlaw’ artists of the 1960′s and ’70′s.[…]

  You probably heard about the guy who was banned for life – then unbanned – from Starbucks for insisting the only people with handicapped tags actually use handicapped spaces outside a south Tampa Starbucks.   Robert Rowen is familiar to a lot of Palladium jazz fans as the man[…]

St. Petersburg’s own Helen Hansen French, is working this weekend in Umbria, Italy as part of Buglisi Dance Theatre‘s Table of Silence performance. And you can watch it has it happens on Aug. 1.   Helen, who will be performing and choreographing work on the Palladium stage on Nov. 14,[…]

Before taking on the PalladiumPaul job, I was a journalist and was lucky enough to spend time with some amazing people. Up at the top of that list was one of my teenage heroes – Frank Zappa.   Twice, in advance of his concerts, I interviewed him. I’m not sure[…]

Our jazz fans who moved here from bigger cities say the Palladium is their favorite jazz venue – and our nightclub, the Side Door, reminds them of their favorite jazz clubs in New York, Chicago or wherever their called home.   And they know our musicians are the best in[…]

Growing up in Tampa in the late ‘60s, the nights were alive with rock ‘n roll.  We got a few big name concerts – at the old Curtis Hixon Hall – but mostly we heard hot local bands every weekend at rec centers and teen clubs.   Riding the wave[…]

Comic and actor Ward Smith is back with more laughs in the Side Door this Saturday night. Hopefully, you caught one of our great Sunday night comedy shows last summer – all hosted by Ward.   We decided for this summer we’d put a bunch of funny folks together on[…]

If you’ve attended a Palladium Chamber Players concert, you know that our ensemble is composed of some of the country’s finest chamber musicians.   But just to prove it, please pick up this week’s New Yorker magazine. There on Page 6 is a full page photo of two members of[…]

Thanks to the good folks at Tampa Bay Magazine who again included the Palladium in their annual “Best of the Bay” awards. The awards were announced in the current issue of the magazine.   The Palladium was named “Best Community Performing Arts Center.” And they said this:   “As part[…]

Kym Purling, the popular pianist who once called our town home, is coming back to help raise money for the earthquake-ravaged country of Nepal.   Until he left for the west coast and gigs that have taken him around the world, Purling was one of our Side Door stars. He’ll[…]

Spent about five days in New Orleans, hearing bands at Jazz and Heritage Fest (first weekend) and around the city. It’s an annual trip for me and a chance to hear lots of different bands both on festival stages, but also on smaller stages around the city.   Weather was[…]

Tickets are going fast for Damon Fowler’s live recording session in the Side Door on Saturday, May 9.   Damon says his Side Door shows are his favorites and he’s wanted to do a live album for a while, so doing it in our place was an easy decision.  […]

The best album I heard all last year was René Marie’s tribute to Eartha Kitt “I Wanna Be Evil.” It wasn’t just me. The album earned René a Grammy nomination and brought a lot of new fans.   She is playing  bigger rooms now, but we are so lucky to[…]

Friends tell me I have a great job – being around music and great musicians and getting paid for it. Today, I think they are probably right.   I’m working in my office but also listening to a rehearsal of the Palladium Chamber Players – the notes wafting down from[…]

Our annual Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp was another one for the memory books. Rockin’ music, some great personalities on stage and a full-house in our big room.   The show featured our own Liz Pennock and Dr. Blues, the legendary Bob Seeley, Ann Arbor’s Mr. B, and the showman[…]

The wonderful performer CJ Harding is back at the Palladium this Saturday (March 28) for the third time with her great Patsy Cline show – Sweet Dreams. And she’s paired with my  favorite classic country band – The Only Daddys. They’ll be backing her up.   CJ has performed this[…]

Our show season is going non-stop this spring, but I wanted to take a minute to tell you about a very different kind of event.  “Discover DaVinci & Michelangelo: Side by Side” – an original, national touring theater performance – is coming to our mainstage on Friday, March 27.  […]

We’re so proud to announce another musical coup for the Palladium. The Grammy nominated jazz singer, Rene Marie, is bringing her Eartha Kitt tribute show to the Side Door in April.    René Marie brings her trio to the Side Door, in support of her new album – I Wanna[…]

    I’m still feeling great in the afterglow of our kickoff concert Wednesday by the Palladium Chamber Players.   A record crowd of over 400 fans heard great works by Mozart, Piazzolla, Enescu and Schumann. The three string players – Jeff Multer, Danielle Farina,  and Ed Arron – were[…]

  We’ve got a great weekend of shows coming up. Friday night it’s the most acclaimed and interesting  Beatles tribute act in the biz – The Fab Faux, which brings the band to life without the Beatle wigs.   The group includes Will Lee (bassist for Paul Shaffer’s CBS Orchestra[…]

Outside the weather is chilly, but the weather report inside our intimate Side Door Cabaret tonight is warm and inviting. Nate Najar is bringing in a special quartet for tonight’s 7:30 show.   We are down to just a handful of tickets, so if don’t want to be frozen out,[…]

Damon Fowler is an important part of the Palladium Family, and it’s with real sadness I have to report that Damon lost his Mother, Connie Fowler,  this week.     Damon had hoped to be able play tonight’s sold-out Side Door show, but he decided Friday morning he would not[…]

We’ve got the Rat Pack coming back this Sunday afternoon at the Palladium. You can see and hear Tony Sands, who has done several sold-out shows as Frank Sinatra in our Side Door,  Johnny Petillo as Dean Martin  (he has appeared on the The Tonight Show and Late Night with David[…]