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Weekend spotlight: Devo, 311 and ‘Penelope’
The Catalyst’s every-Thursday guide to Tampa Bay entertainment and the arts.
Slow week. for the performing arts.
It’s been 11 months, almost to the day, since singer, songwriter, rapper and guitarist Nick Hexum performed in the Tampa Bay area. For that show, at Jannus Live, Hexum was backed by Tampa’s Ries Brothers, and together they played acoustic music and bluegrass.
Which was unexpected, since Hexum’s famous as the hard rocking fulcrum of the Nebraska band 311 (named for the police code for indecent exposure). Since the band’s 1993 debut, they’ve sold something like 10 million records (the 311 album, from 1995, is three times platinum).
With Hexum out front, 311 plays the Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre Saturday, on the bill with Dirty Heads, the California reggae-rock band.
In a 2025 Catalyst interview, Hexum explained his decision to play different styles sometimes. “Yes, there are people: ‘Bluegrass, gross. Why would you do that, Nick? I want you to do heavy music,’ or whatever. I just had to like let go of any of that, realizing that you’re never going to be able to please everybody. So you just have to follow the muse. If you deny the muse, she will abandon you.
“This is what excited me, so I just had to go for it even if there’s going to be a few people … and then other people will be like ‘I wasn’t sure I was going to like this, but it’s amazing!’ So that’s very nice, I broke through people’s prejudices.”
Saturday’s concert, a return to the hard stuff, starts at 5:30 p.m. Find tickets at this link.
Along with Hexum, 311 includes Aaron “P-Nut” Wills (bass), Chad Sexton (drums), Tim Mahoney (lead guitar) and SA Martinez (vocals, turntables and percussion).
Are we not men?
Tonight brings the one and only Devo to the BayCare Sound. We spoke with co-founder and singer/songwriter Mark Mothersbaugh this week, and he told the Catalyst that the band’s longtime theory about the de-devolution of humanity, in his mind, has evolved:
“I used to think everything was just devolving and going downward. There are people that think that, you know, but I feel like maybe what’s in reality is there’s a constant struggle between evolution and de-evolution. That’s what I feel now. I feel maybe that’s what’s happening.
“Because there were times in the last 30, 40 years that I was proud of my country. And we did things that I never thought could possibly happen. And I saw things in the world that were very positive and optimistic.
“And then it got dark again. I think it’s a time now where artists, they’re usually the first to respond to social injustice, for instance. And I think if Devo has a purpose now, it’s maybe to help inspire or invigorate those kids that are going to be making art now that five years from now, you and I are going to go “That is so amazing. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Tickets for tonight’s show (7 p.m.) are at this link.
Colleen Cherry (with pianist Jeremy Douglass) in Jobsite’s “Penelope: An Epic New Musical.” Photo: James Zambon.
On theater stage
Penelope (subtitled An Epic New Musical) continues its run with Jobsite Theater, in the Straz Center’s Shimberg Playhouse. Colleen Cherry stars as the long-suffering wife of Odysseus, who’s off on The Odyssey, in this comedic – and very musical – loose adaptation of Homer’s classic work. Penelope will be onstage through Sept. 6. Find showtimes and tickets at this link.
Coming soon
Sept. 1 Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms, Spin Doctors at the BayCare Sound
Sept. 4 Yellowcard at the BayCare Sound
Sept. 8 Music Night: Tone I.E. at the James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art
Sept. 10 Luke Bryan at Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sept. 10 Ann Wilson at the Capitol Theatre
Sept. 11 Grupo Frontera at the Yuengling Center
Sept. 10-20 Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike at the Off-Central
Sept. 11 Kehlani at the Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre
Sept. 11 Vanilla Ice, Tone Loc, 2 Live Crew, Montell Jordan at Ferg’s Pavilion
Sept. 11 Arts Fest at New Tampa Performing Arts Center
Sept. 12 & 13 Bruno Mars at Raymond James Stadium
Sept. 12 Mersiv – MorFlow Fest (3:15 p.m.) at the BayCare Sound
Sept. 12 The Mavericks at Ruth Eckerd Hall
Sept. 12 The Strokes at Benchmark International Arena
Sept. 12 The Florida Orchestra The Music of Taylor Swift at the Mahaffey Theater
Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section.
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