Over the past few weeks I’ve been doing my job backed by an incredible live soundtrack – the score of Leonard Bernstein’s  West Side Story. The orchestra, composed of some of the bay area’s best musicians, are rehearsing just upstairs from my office. I’m not sure what people think as[…]

After a long search – which included visits and concerts by numerous candidates – the Florida Orchestra has a new Music Director. Michael Francis’ appointment appears to have the strong support of the musicians, the board and the search committee. He won fans with his recent Coffee Concert and brings[…]

The temperature says it’s summer, but you wouldn’t know it is the slow season by the pace of the arts and cultural life in St. Pete.   I couldn’t get to everything on Saturday night, since I was singing a few songs with the big band at the Celebrate Sinatra[…]

Congrats to my friend and neighbor Bob Devin Jones and the Studio @ 620 on their 10th birthday celebration this weekend.   Bob and co-founder Dave Ellis built a space that allows people to stretch their creative wings. There are times when a show or a performer flies right into[…]

It was a rainy, but busy weekend in the ‘burg and beyond. Here’s a recap of the arts weekend, mostly filled with stuff I witnessed personally.   In the theaters: Excited to see that Jobsite Theater opened Return to the Forbidden Planet, this weekend.   I did the show in[…]

  You’ve got one more chance to catch St. Petersburg Opera’s production of Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma. The final show is Tuesday night.   Tampa Bay Times review, Jim Harper, says this production continues the SPO tradition of breakthrough performances. I’ll be in the audience Tuesday night and I hope to[…]

The economic problems of recent years were challenging for arts organizations, but there was an upside – stability of leadership. With few jobs available, leaders of local arts organizations mostly stuck around doing their best to keep their organizations moving forward during trying times.   But with better economic news on[…]

The folks at St. Petersburg Opera assure me that no one in the audience will be sacrificed this weekend during their production of Vincenzo Bellini’s  Norma. But I should warn you that the backstage prop tables are littered with knives, broadswords and battle axes for this opera set in the time[…]

Part of what makes the Palladium special is our focus on talented artists that call this area home. The list is long – names like Damon Fowler, Nate Najar, Liz Pennock and Dr. Blues, John Lamb, Selwyn Birchwood and so many more.   This month we are welcoming another top[…]

I was too young in the early 1960s for the first wave of Exotica, so it was the Exotica revival in the mid-1990s that caught my attention. The bachelor pad, Latin-inspired jazz of Martin Denny and Les Baxter was being re-released and I feel in love with the sound of[…]

Don’t call Nate Najar a “local” musician. He’s a jazz artist who lives in St. Petersburg. And along with home based gigs at the Palladium, Nate and his guitar regularly tour the east and west coasts and other markets that are discovering his talents.   Recently, Nate has been working[…]

The four-day Sunscreen Film Festival is coming to the beautiful Palladium Theater this Thursday, May 1 for its opening day films and its opening night celebration.   The highlight of opening day is the film “Confessions of a Womanizer,” starring Nicole Bella and John Cena.  Bella and Cena, along with[…]

If you were there, you don’t need a review to tell you how amazing the final concert of our Palladium Chamber Players 2014 season really was. The audience was lively and enthusiastic throughout and jumped up for a standing ovation at the end of the concert.   But just in[…]

An historic Pinellas County theater company – with brand new management – makes its debut performance at the Palladium this weekend.   City Players has a 45-year history and has had homes at Ruth Eckerd Hall and the SPC Clearwater Arts Auditorium. The longtime leader, Betty Jane Pucci, retired in[…]

One of my personal highlights this season has been the success of our Palladium Chamber Players series. We sold almost 110 season subscriptions and we’ve drawn large, enthusiastic crowds. But most importantly, the music has been magnificent.   If you haven’t attended a concert, there’s one more this season on[…]

I’m so excited to have our friends at WMNF Radio back doing a show at the Palladium. And what a great show – Austin singer and songwriter Eliza Gilkyson,  who is touring in support of a new album – The Nocturne Diaries.   Friday night’s show is selling fast and[…]

What a great week in St. Pete – the Tampa Bay Rays start their season at Tropicana Field and the great jazzman Branford Marsalis stops by the Palladium with his quartet. I’ll be cheering on the Rays on Wednesday night and then cheering on Branford and his band on Thursday.[…]

When I tell you that Dennis Gruenling is one of the best harmonica players on the planet, it’s not just typical show-biz hyperbole. Dennis is a star in the blues world and has the press clippings and awards to prove it. Blues411.Com just named Dennis their top harmonica player for[…]

I met Rick Gee a couple of years before I took my job at the Palladium. I was just a music fan showing up for the jazz show downstairs at the Palladium in a room they called “The Side Door.”   Rick made jazz a part of the menu here[…]

  I am really excited that we are getting closer to the to the kickoff of the Palladium Chamber Players Inaugural series. The first concert, of three, is happening on Wednesday, Feb. 26, with another on March 19 and April 23.   Tickets are selling briskly (subscriptions are still available[…]

One of the best things about celebrating an anniversary is that you can look back at lots of great times and special occasions leading up to it. With the Palladium celebrating its 15th anniversary during 2014, I thought it was a perfect time to celebrate the guy who founded the[…]

Can you really do a show that links John, Paul, George, Ringo and Johann? Classical guitarist James Barr says it is not much of a stretch.   “If not for Bach, the Beatles wouldn’t exist,” Barr says, adding that modern musicians and Baroque musicians had a lot in common.  […]

If you had trouble reaching our box office at any point last week, I apologize. A software upgrade to the entire St. Petersburg College phone system resulted in a couple of days of phone chaos in our box office. The phones are working now.   The good news out of[…]

Hope you were here for one of our sold out Southern Hospitality shows last weekend. The boys pulled out the stops again, warming up for a gig as a featured act on the Legendary Blues Cruise that sailed this week.   The sets were filled with highlights. Some of my[…]

Roy Book Binder is arguably the best known musicians living in St. Petersburg, though he keeps a pretty low profile here. Around the U.S. and in Europe, Roy is recognized as one of the world’s top acoustic blues artists and a master storyteller, who learned his craft some 50 years[…]

To get you ready for Thursday’s Robyn Hitchcock show in the intimate Side Door Cabaret, here’s an excerpt from an interview with the British singer/songwriter that appeared this week in Atlanta’s Creative Loafing.   To read the full story follow this link: http://clatl.com/atlanta/robyn-hitchcock-digs-in-for-the-long-haul/Content?oid=10186948   By Kevin Forest Moreau From Creative[…]

Tickets are going fast for several of our upcoming Side Door shows, so consider this an advice column. My advice is this –  if you want to see a Side Door show in January get your tickets now!   Both shows this week are heading to sell-outs and both feature[…]

I’ve got my tickets for Saturday night’s Seasonal Sparkle  – St. Petersburg Opera’s now annual holiday show. Past shows have earned rave reviews from music lovers of all types – not just opera.   When that show closes with a matinee on Sunday, the Palladium staff will head off to[…]

I’m  thrilled that my friend Cynthia Gries is bringing her famed Entertainment Revue to the Palladium for two holiday shows this coming Saturday (Dec. 14).   Chances are you’ve seen the talented young girls from Entertainment Revue at a charity function, or a major sports event. Entertainment Revue has produced[…]

I survived another big night in downtown St. Pete on Thursday – checking out a hot new steakhouse and hearing some of my favorite musicians.   I started at the VIP opening for Rococo Steak, the new restaurant on 2nd Ave South. The historic Y has been meticulously renovated to[…]

Haven’t been blogging for the past week but I was hearing a lot of music – and eating a lot of great food. We did a long Thanksgiving holiday with my wife’s family in her hometown – New Orleans.   The city is really coming back strong these days. Lots[…]

One of the things I love about running the Palladium is hatching plots with talented people. The latest one developed over a Kahwa coffee with my friend and former newspaper colleague, Gina Vivinetto. Like me, Gina is a musician and a writer – and lately a teacher at University of[…]

We’ve not only got a great blues guitarist and singer coming to the Palladium Side Door this Friday, the show is also the first of what we hope will be a great partnership with the Suncoast Blues Society.   The Palladium and SBS are co-producing Friday night’s Side Door show[…]

Since he emerged as an acoustic music prodigy in the early 1960s, Peter Rowan has been known by the company he keeps. That starts with Bluegrass legend Bill Monroe, who added Rowan to his Bluegrass Boys as lead singer and guitarist in  1965.   After learning on stage with the[…]

We’re excited about the return of the great Brazilian jazz band, O Som Do Jazz. They’ll be back in one of their favorite venues – the Palladium Side Door – on Saturday night, Nov. 9 at 8 p.m.   The last time the band played – on a sold-out night[…]

Take a look at these photos posted this week on the Daily Loaf, Creative Loafing’s music pages. They are from singer Lauren Mitchell’s recent photo shoot at the Palladium. The photos are by Dunedin photographer Kevin Tighe.     Lauren, who is known for her powerful singing and her fire-engine[…]

  Bob Night – a show we also call – All Bob Dylan, All Night Long – is returning this Saturday to the intimate Side Door Cabaret. The ringmaster is Palladium favorite Grant Peeples, the left-neck poet who created last year’s Bob Night and others around  Florida.   Grant, by[…]

Down at the Palladium we are all still reeling from the amazing opening weekend of our 15th Anniversary Season.   Friday nights Side Door show featuring David Amram and John McEuen was absolutely magical.  McEuen played some Nitty Gritty Dirt Band hits – like Mr. Bojangles and Will The Circle[…]

  Paul Guzzo, of the Tampa Tribune, has written a wonderful story about David Amram, who appears tonight in the Palladium’s intimate Side Door Cabaret. Amram was a collaborator with many jazz and music greats, but he’s perhaps best known for his work with the beat writer Jack Kerouac.  […]

Tampa Bay Times writer Steve Persall interviewed Kris Kristofferson about his upcoming show at the Palladium. To read the full story follow this link or enjoy the excerpt below:   http://www.tampabay.com/things-to-do/movies/poet-picker-kris-kristofferson-performs-wednesday-in-st-petersburg/2147204   Ask Kris Kristofferson how he’s feeling and the raspy voice of the first New Nashville simply says: “Old.”[…]

If you don’t know the name David Amram, it may be because this master musician and composer is simply too talented. In a career that spans the 1950s to the present day Amram has been a musical chameleon, moving easily through jazz, classical, film scores, bluegrass, folk, world music and[…]

Tuesday night is your last chance to see the critically acclaimed St. Petersburg Opera production of Romeo and Juliet at the Palladium. I’ll be there Tuesday and word from friends and colleagues who saw the show this past weekend were all raves.   Another rave came from the Tampa Bay[…]

We’re bringing back the Statesmen of Jazz, an ever-changing lineup of great jazz talents, produced by Arbors Records. This time the show features Palladium favorites Nicki Parrott on vocals and bass, Chuck Redd, vibes and drums, plus Adrian Cunningham on reed instruments, and an amazing young pianist named Ehud Asherie.[…]

NASHVILLE – Where we live the highways are lined with billboards for stern-faced auto accident attorneys. Probably we should nickname the Tampa Bay area – “Accident City.”   In Nashville, they go by “Music City” and even their highway ads back it up. Nashville’s got billboards for Toby Keith’s new[…]

Billy Cobham has been in the top rank of jazz drummers – in fact all drummers – since his breakthrough in the early 1970s as a founding member of the Mahavishnu Orchestra. As a drummer/leader on recordings like Spectrum, his powerful, complex style of play exerted a strong influence on[…]

We had a lovely night of music Sunday – with Nashville Troubadour Jeff Black and Tampa Bay’s best songstress, Rebekah Pulley – in the Side Door.   The show was one of the first in what we hope will be a series of great singer/songwriter nights in our intimate club.[…]

We are so proud to welcome Jeff Black to the Side Door this Sunday. The Nashville-based singer-songwriter is excited about returning to the ‘burg, where he made a lot of friends at shows at the Hideaway Café and the Studio at 620.   “It seems like I’m traveling regularly to[…]