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Weekend spotlight: A pop art party at FloridaRAMA
The Catalyst’s every-Thursday guide to Tampa Bay entertainment and the arts.
Friday at FloridaRAMA: Be there or be square.
Artist Luke Heath is the brains behind Warhol Birthday & Pop Art Party 4.0, 7-10 p.m. in the Impact Gallery. In the center ring is an exhibition of pop art, paintings, drawings, sculpture and more (there’s always more), which will be on view through the end of the month.
Friday’s party, however, arrives the day after what would have been Andy Warhol’s 98th birthday.
There may be cake involved.
The interactive party includes cosplayers – Warhol (in the form of fellow St. Pete artist Paul “Lucky LeRoy” Gehres), Marilyn Monroe, Lou Reed, Elvis and a hunka, hunka other characters with ties to the late, great pop art pioneer. Festivities include live performances, a live chalk mural by Carrie Phillips and your chance to make a Warholian “screen test.”
The Friday birthday bash, Heath explains, “is really the main part of the event. The art on the walls is cool, but it’s a little bit different than your standard art show, where you just go and look at stuff on a wall. It’s a production. It’s a happening, that’s kind of the goal of it. A party atmosphere, combined with the art show.”
As the name implies, it’s Heath’s fourth such enterprise. A dedicated pop artist himself, he says he’s not a big Warhol devotee, but recognizes – as Warhol did – that selling your idea takes some creative thinking.
“Using the name Warhol is kind of like the flashing light, the beacon to get people interested in the event,” he says. “It’s the name that people know. It’s the giant sign on the highway that says ‘Take this exit if you need gas.’”
Featured artists: Mark Williams, Rachel Covello, Michelle Lisan, Dorian Alberti, Kostar, Canvas & Clouds, Tim Von Cloedt, Brittany Freemon, Patricia Tierny Moses, Rachel Salazar, Jose Mohammed, Lucky LeRoy, Artful Saint, Barb Gerdeman, Chris Van Vooren, Luke Heath, Rachel Salazar, Taylor Victoria, Latonya Hicks, Skye Dolan, Ricky Singh, Scarrie Phillips, The Chandelier Queer, Antonio McDowell, Rachel Stotler, Meriam Gardner, Luci West, Filipe Bergson, Michelle Parasole, Adam Turkel, Andrea Pawlisz, Jason Cripps, Zulu Painter, Luke Heath, Jessica Baird, GWAK, Sunset Custom Framing (Scotty).
Admission is free; visit this link for more info.
The other stuff
Great Britain’s Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane, collectively known as Mumford & Sons, play Tampa’s Benchmark International Arena Friday. Find tickets at this link.
Friday brings country music singer/songwriter Jim Lauderdale to St. Pete’s Jack Kerouac House for intimate, solo shows at 6 and 9 p.m. The Catalyst spoke with Lauderdale this week.
Band or brand: Saturday’s 6 p.m. BayCare Sound show features Deep Purple (with classic-era lead singer Ian Gillan, bassist Roger Glover and drummer Ian Paice aboard) and Kansas (according to the Kansas website, neither remaining founders, guitarist Richard Williams and drummer Phil Ehart, are currently performing with the band). Tickets at this link.
Notably, it’s your last weekend to catch Jobsite Theater’s electrifying production of Green Day’s American Idiot at the Straz Center’s Jaeb Theatre. Find showtimes and tickets here.
Coming Saturday in the Catalyst
Coming soon
Aug. 12 Thomas Dolby, A Flock of Seagulls, Men Without Hats, et al at Ferg’s Pavilion
Aug. 14-23 ThinkTank’s The Spongebob Musical, at freeFall Theatre
Aug. 14-16 Powerstories Theatre Staged Reading: Conscience at Stageworks Theatre
Aug. 15 Motley Crue at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Aug. 16 Gipsy Kings at the Mahaffey Theater
Aug. 18 Avenged Sevenfold, Good Charlotte at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Aug. 19 Jack Johnson at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Aug. 19 Squeeze, Adam Ant, Haircut One Hundred at the BayCare Sound
Aug. 19 Aug. 19-Sept. 6. Jobsite Theater Penelope
Aug. 20 Starship, John Waite at Ruth Eckerd Hall
Aug. 21 Rob Zombie, Marilyn Manson at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Aug. 21 Classic Albums Live “Breakfast in America” at the Capitol Theatre
Aug. 22 Jonathan Cain at Central Park Performing Arts Center
Aug. 22 Dokken, Lynch Mob at Ferg’s Pavilion
Aug. 23 Buddy Guy at Ruth Eckerd Hall
Aug. 23 K-Pop Warriors at the St. Petersburg Coliseum
Aug. 24 Goo Dolls at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Aug. 26 Buckcherry at Jannus Live
Aug. 27 Devo at the BayCare Sound
Aug. 29 Dirty Heads, 311 at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section.
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