The following are excerpts from a short speech I gave to the SPC Values and Visions luncheon on Thursday, Jan. 27, in the Stavros Great Room at the Palladium: Welcome to the Palladium at St. Petersburg College. You’re in our Side Door Cabaret where the best jazz and blues musicians[…]
I love lots of our Palladium shows but as a piano player myself, the Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp has to be my favorite night of the year. We first presented the show last January and it returns on Saturday, Jan. 29, with four more rockin’ pianists. This year’s model[…]
Times arts writer John Fleming did a wonderful preview of Buglisi Dance Theatre’s upcoming performance in Sunday’s arts section. The New York City company, which features St. Petersburg’s own Helen Hansen French, appears Thursday night at 7 p.m. If you missed it here’s the link: http://www.tampabay.com/features/performingarts/buglisi-dance-theatre-previews-new-work-at-palladium–in-st-petersburg/1146161 Fleming also wrote a[…]
The young company Buglisi Dance Theatre renews the Graham technique in all its full-bodied glory…Everything is here: those potent torsos, contracting, releasing, spiraling; legs, arms and heads alert to every surge of emotion. They have inherited her theatrical mastery of lighting, costumes and stage space, her way of making us feel that each dance is an encounter with destiny.
Margo Jefferson, The New York Times
A couple of years ago Doug Wilson brought his Elvis tribute show to the Palladium. The world of Elvis tribute artists is a mixed one at best. I had seen some bad versions and some great ones – particularly El Vez, the Mexican Elvis. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Doug.[…]
I spent 25 years as a journalist and as every year draws to a close, journalists are required to come up with lots of “best (or worst) of the year” lists. Now that I’m at the Palladium, looking back on a year of great shows, and talented artists, seems like[…]
If it’s getting close to Christmas, it means that Nate Najar is coming back to the Palladium. The St. Pete jazz guitarist, who is building a big national reputation, has been doing holiday shows here since 2005. This year Nate and his trio, along with some special guests, take the[…]
Talk to anyone who has seen our annual production of Black Nativity and the conversation will quickly go to Sharon Scott. The powerhouse singer and actor plays the narrator and manages to stop the show more than once. But if you ask Sharon Scott herself about Black Nativity, you get a[…]
If you weren’t here last Friday night, you missed a great show! The Rowan Brothers – Loren and Chris – and champion fiddler Sue Cunningham were back in the Side Door last Friday for another night of Americana and bluegrass music, great harmonies, and lots of stories. If you missed[…]
The Palladium goes Celtic in November with three great concerts, starting on Friday, Nov. 5 with Solas. The series also features Celtic Harpist Patrick Ball on Friday, Nov. 12 and the legendary Scottish group, The Battlefield Band on Sunday, Nov. 21. I’ll have more on Patrick Ball and Battlefield Band in future[…]
If you grew up in Tampa in the 1960s, as I did, you were lucky. Tampa had lots of great bands and lots of places to hear them – teen clubs, rec centers, union halls, rock clubs, and opening for big names at Curtis Hixon Convention Center. Now, a bunch of guys[…]
After explorations of the music of Duke Ellington and Elton John, Los Angeles pianist, composer and arranger Ted Howe is going deep undercover – into the land of James Bond, aka Agent 007. He is bringing new arrangements of more than a dozen Bond film themes to the Palladium on[…]
One of the highlights of the Palladium’s 2010-11 season is coming up this Sunday, Oct. 17 at 8 p.m. Bombay Bellywood is a touring show that is amazing audiences around the world. In case you haven’t heard of this show, I wanted to share this from the website for Bombay[…]
I told you last week that Pump Boys and Dinettes, produced at the Palladium by New American Theater, was a must-see show. Now John Fleming, theater critic of the St. Petersburg Times, confirms it. Fleming says the show is a lot of fun, the cast is great and the songs are toe tappers.[…]
Brian Becker’s dream of a Tampa Bay theater company devoted to musicals comes to life this weekend at the Palladium. The rollicking gas station-and-grill musical Pump Boys and Dinettes opens for a two-week run on the Hough Hall stage. Brian has worked incredibly hard to bring New American Theater to life. The company has[…]
Our audiences already know that the Side Door Cabaret is the best listening room in the bay area. Musicians know it too and our downstairs room is quickly becoming THE place to record a live CD. Palladium favorite Nate Najar (www.natenajar.com) was the first one in the pool, recording his Live at the Side[…]
The Tampa Bay theater community is still mourning the loss of Jeff Norton, the actor and teacher who was tragically murdered in July. Now, the leaders of some of the area’s professional theaters have created a fitting memorial for him – The Jeff Norton Awards. (http://stpetersburg.broadwayworld.com/article/Tampa_Bay_Theatres_Announce_Awards_Named_In_Honor_of_Artist_Jeff_Norton_20100914) The awards will honor[…]
For tickets and detailed information on shows currently on sale click here. The Palladium’s new season kicked off last weekend with a shimmering production of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music. A great cast, a lyrical score built around waltz times and a tear-inducing rendition of “Send In The Clowns.” We’re happy[…]
The Fall Arts Issue of Creative Loafing puts the Palladium right in the middle of St. Peterburg’s blossoming music and concert scene. Here’s what they said: The Palladium Theater: The historic theater has continued to expand its programming since getting a facelift and becoming part of St. Petersburg College a[…]
Tampa Bay Metro Magazine has again chosen the Palladium at St. Petersburg College as the area’s “Best Local Theater.” This is the third year in a row the metro magazine has handed that title to the Palladium. Among their comments: “In addition to the continual line-up of stage performance, check[…]
“New art galleries have opened on Central Avenue, Gulfport’s arts community is bubbling, multi-disciplined Studio@620 is the hip place to go. Jazz and other music, including opera, are popping up all over, spearheaded by Paul Wilborn at the Palladium. “
Fine Arts writer John Fleming featured two Palladium theater companies in his article on Sunday. The Blue Scarf Collective shows are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week. The New American Theater debuts in September. For the full story click this link: http://www.tampabay.com/features/performingarts/st-petersburg-theater-scene-is-booming/1106332
After a stellar opening outing by 19 year old guitar protege Chase Foster, Tommy Emmanuel took the stage and wowed every last one of the 700+ audience members in a rousing performance to the nearly packed house. Those who weren’t die-hard fans before they took their seats, surely left them as such.[…]
The venerable Hammond B3 is a musical instrument claimed equally by blues, rock and jazz musicians. The wonder of the B3 is that it has its own distinct sound when used in each genre. Up in Pinellas Park we’re blessed to have perhaps the world’s top Hammond B3 provider, Keyboard Specialties. When Eric[…]
Damon Fowler and his band made a triumphant return to the Palladium on May 28, packing our Side Door Cabaret. Despite spending all week in the studio on a new record, and celebrating with beer and ribs the night before, Damon and the boys put on another memorable, multi-set show. Not only was[…]
The thing that impressed me most about my late friend Rosa Rio wasn’t her incredible musical talents. Of course, she could play anything in any key. She was a clever and inventive silent film organist, always finding the right melody for the right moment. When she played a Gershwin medley[…]
Rosa Rio, the 107-year-old master of the theater organ and the piano, died Thursday. She went peacefully, says her husband, Bill Yeoman. We were so fortunate to have her on the Palladium stage for the past two years. And I was blessed to know her and, on occasion, sing with[…]
A Sunday afternoon in our cabaret with the Rowan Brothers and the great fiddler, Sue Cunningham, was already a treat – they are some of the finest singers, songwriters and musicians in the Americana/Bluegrass scene. But when an old friend stopped by to sing, things got even more interesting. Marty[…]
Summer in Florida has always been a time to forget your troubles and have some fun. That’s why the Palladium is ramping up the fun-quotient with six pop concerts in June, July and August. You like ’60s pop stars? We’ve got two of the biggest – Peter Noone of Herman’s[…]
To celebrate the April birthdays of Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington, the Palladium is bringing in some top notch-talent from the New York City jazz scene. Amy London, a jazz singer and vocal professor with a Broadway pedigree, will be handling the Ella side. Her husband, guitarist Roni Ben-Hur, will[…]
Back in the mid-1970s the critics dubbed Firefall a “Supergroup,” filled with players with impressive musical resumes. Not all of the groups given that moniker lived up to the title, but Firefall was that and more. And Jim Mason, now a resident of the Tampa Bay area, was a big[…]
Sophie Milman, the rising jazz talent appearing this Thursday at the Palladium, is profiled by Philip Booth in this week’s edition of the St. Petersburg Times. Born in Russia, raised in Israel and now living in Toronto, Milman has made a name for herself in jazz circles for taking pop[…]
The Palladium is recognized as Tampa Bay’s best venue for live jazz. But in the past year, we’ve become home to some of the best blues shows as well. Damon Fowler, Roy Book Binder, Dr. John, The Sauce Boss, and boogie-woogie piano legend Bob Seeley are among the great blues acts we’ve hosted[…]
Thanks to St. Petersburg College, the restoration of the historic Palladium Theater is continuing. While a lot of improvements – like our new air conditioning and wiring – aren’t easy to see, our latest renovation project will be visible to everyone. This week workers are replacing all of our front doors. […]
What you remember about a Roy Book Binder performance is his mastery of delta blues guitar, his knowledge of the genre and its now-legendary performers, and, his dry wit. I first heard Roy in the early 1980s playing at a new-age, vegetarian restaurant north of USF called the Sprout House.[…]
“We sat down on the floor in an apartment in New York City and came up with a tune was very exciting…collaboration in that era was a brand new ballgame for me,” Stookey said. “I think (Bob) Dylan’s strong presence, ideologically, contributed to a lot of writers taking chances and speaking out of their personal perspective.”
