Create
Weekend spotlight: Martin, Short postpone Clearwater date
The devastating wildfires in California have caused comic actors Steve Martin and Martin Short to postpone several upcoming tour dates, including Friday’s scheduled performance at Ruth Eckerd Hall.
Martin posted a Los Angeles Times photo on Instagram Wednesday afternoon, showing a raging inferno along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, near where he presumably resides. “Everyone is alive, but there is devastation,” he wrote.
Also postponed was Saturday’s show at the Seminole Hard Rock in Davie, Florida.
Martin and Short began touring as a duo in 2015 (they appeared that first year at the Mahaffey Theater).
Martin and Short’s Hulu comedy series Only Murders in the Building (co-starring Selema Gomez) had a hatful of nominations at last week’s Golden Globes; it didn’t win any awards, but it’s already been renewed for a fifth season, so there you go.
The bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers – Martin’s frequent musical collaborator – was scheduled to open the show.
A spokesperson for Ruth Eckerd Hall said the event would be rescheduled as soon as possible.
There’s still laughs to be had this weekend. Sarah Silverman’s in Tampa Thursday (Jan. 9) to perform (shows at 6:30 and 9:30 p.m.) at the Seminole Hard Rock Event Center; Puppetmaster Jeff Dunham and his crew of comical ventriloquist dummies stop at Amalie Arena Friday; and the venerable standup Paula Poundstone returns to the Capitol Theatre Saturday.
Willy Porter: Friday at the Palladium Theater’s Side Door. Photo provided.
Acoustic sounds
Folk music legend Judy Collins returns to the Capitol Theatre Thursday. Friday at that Clearwater venue, it’s Seals & Crofts 2 – a band fronted by singer/songwriter Brady Seals and vocalist Lua Crofts (he was a cousin to the late Jim Seals, while she is Dash Crofts’ daughter). They perform many Seals & Crofts classics – read our 2023 interview with the twosome here – as well as songs from Brady Seals’ successful career in country music. And acoustic guitarist Willy Porter makes a welcome return to the Palladium Side Door Friday.
More concerts
Georgia singer/songwriter Randall Bramblett, a cornerstone of the 1970s Allman Brothers offshoot band Sea Level, plays the Safety Harbor Art and Music Center Saturday. We spoke with Bramblett this week.
Styx thunders into the Baycare Sound Saturday, with Loverboy. Here’s the Catalyst interview with James “JY” Young, the founding guitarist from Styx.
Latoya McCormick sings Saturday at The Studio @620, the latest in the “One Night Only series. Find tickets at this link.
Christian pop and rock artists Skillet, Anne Wilson, KB, Colton Dixon, Newsong and Micah Tyler appear Saturday at the Yuengling Center. Find tickets at this link.
Sold out Saturday at the Palladium (in Hough Hall) is the Jimmy Buffett tribute show with former Coral Reefer Band guitarist Roger Bartlett, Buffett’s longtime backup vocalists Nadirah Shakoor and Tina Gullickson, pedal steel player Doyle Grisham and others.
Sunday at the Palladium Side Door: An album release show from blues, rock, Americana singer/songwriter Sandy Atkinson and her band. Tickets for the 7 p.m. show are here.
At 3 p.m. Sunday Nate Najar and Daniela Soledade will perform bossa nova and other Brazilian music as part of the Peace Memorial Presbyterian Church concert series, at 110 S. Ft. Harrison Ave. in Clearwater. Donations are requested.
The classics
Australian violinist Geneva Lewis guests withe The Florida Orchestra Saturday and Sunday at the Mahaffey Theater. Publicity photo.
Victor Minke Huls, associate principal cello for The Florida Orchestra, performs 5-8 p.m. Friday at the Imagine Museum, alongside violinist Nina Kim. Find tickets here. Huls is our guest on Friday’s edition of the Arts Alive! podcast.
The Florida Orchestra has two performances this weekend, both of them at the Mahaffey Theater. Geneva Lewis is guest soloist for Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto; the concert (8 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday) also includes William Dawson’s Negro Folk Symphony and George Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1. Nicholas Hersh conducts. Find tickets here.
Theater
New this weekend is Guy Newsham’s Green Cheese, a dark comedy, at LAB Theatre Project. Find tickets at this link.
Coming up soon
Pink Martini plays the Straz Center’s Ferguson Hall Jan. 14.
The Cher Show (Broadway tour) is at the Straz Center’s Morsini Hall Jan. 14-19.
Shun Yun returns to the Mahaffey Theater Jan. 17-19.
The Jobsite Theater production of MacBeth runs Jan. 15-Feb. 9.
Jazz guitar great Al DiMeola brings his electric band to the Capitol Theatre Jan. 16.
Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section.
Please add us to your mailing list – send all press releases and event info to bill@stpetecatalyst.com.
You can also submit your events to the Catalyst calendar, by clicking here.
