Weekend spotlight: Whole lotta rock

Look out, kids. There’s some pretty scary stuff heading our way.

Metal man Rob Zombie, whose music hashes together elements of industrial and hard rock, headlines Friday’s show at the Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre.

The former lead singer for White Zombie, he began a solo career in 1998 with Hellbilly Deluxe, and has continued making albums (most recently, The Great Satan) that display his ongoing fascination with both camp and the cinematic gory-horror genre.

Zombie is also a filmmaker whose work includes House of 1000 Corpses, The Devil’s Rejects, re-makes of two Halloween movies and the big-screen adaptation of TV’s The Munsters.

Sharing the bill on this tour is controversial shock-rock metal performer Marilyn Manson, whose pseudo-religious imagery is, to some Americans, scary for entirely different reasons.

Opening acts are Orgy and the Mongolian folk metal band called The Hu. Showtime is 6 p.m.; tickets are at this link.

Starship, John Waite

Fifty years have now passed since “Fooled Around and Fell in Love” was a massive hit record for the Elvin Bishop Group. The distinctive singer on that record was Georgia’s Mickey Thomas, who in ’79 became the lead vocalist for Jefferson Starship, which had risen from the ashes of the iconic Jefferson Airplane.

Eventually, “Jefferson” was dropped from the name, and the Thomas-fronted Starship landed a couple of major hits (including the chart-topping “We Built This City,” named on many critics’ lists as the worst song of the 1980s). “Sara” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop us Now” went to No. 1, too.

There’s no one else from Starship (or anything Jefferson, for that matter) in the band that is today known as Starship Featuring Mickey Thomas, performing tonight (Aug. 20) at the BayCare Sound.

Opening is British rock vocalist John Waite, who as a member of the Babys made some really, really cool records. He was also lead singer for Bad English (“When I See You Smile”).

Showtime is 8 p.m., and tickets are at this link.

Jonathan Cain

Journey’s Jonathan Cain is onstage Saturday in Largo. Publicity photo.

Waite’s Babys and Bad English bandmate Jonathan Cain will be onstage Saturday at Central Park Performing Arts Center (Largo). The American keyboard player appeared on the final two Babys albums before jumping ship to play with Journey, where he co-wrote numerous hits including “Open Arms,” “Don’t Stop Believin’” and “Faithfully.”

He is still a member of Journey, although he aroused the ire of founding guitarist Neil Schon a few years ago for performing “Don’t Stop Believin’” at a Donald Trump-hosted event at Mar-a-Lago.

Cain is an outspoken Trump supporter; his wife Paula White is a “spiritual advisor” to the president. He is also a devout Christian who has written and recorded five albums of Contemporary Christian music.

At the end of Journey’s fall tour, he has been telling the media, he will most likely part ways with the band. “I’m not nearly done with what I want to do,” Cain told Ultimate Classic Rock. “I think there’s many great opportunities in the future. Whether or not it’s with everybody that’s here right now, I’m not certain.”

Find tickets for Saturday’s 8 p.m. show here.

Dokken and more concerts

Classic Albums Live returns to the Capitol Theatre Friday with a note-for-note performance of Supertramp’s Breakfast in America. Tickets for the 8 p.m. concert are here.

Taking a page from the Starship Featuring Mickey Thomas playbook, multi-octave vocalist Don Dokken is the sole classic-era member of the L.A. metal band Dokken, headlining Saturday at Ferg’s Pavilion. The lineup, however, also includes a set from Lynch Mob, the similarly hard-rocking band formed by ex-Dokken guitarist George Lynch.

Tickets for the 7 p.m. show (with Deep in the opening slot) are at this link.

Blues guitar legend Buddy Guy, who turned 90 in July, brings his band to Ruth Eckerd Hall Sunday at 7:30 p.m., with show opener Taj Farrant. Find tickets at this link.

Sunday, 3 p.m. at the St. Petersburg Coliseum: A national tour called K-POP Warriors, described on its website as “A futuristic K-pop spectacle of dance, pyro and digital visuals. Sharp choreography, thunderous percussion and a live cast of warriors delivering an arena-sized show inspired by the energy of modern Korean pop culture.” Find tickets at this link.

Kasondra Rose’s “Not-So-Starving Artist” is at the Straz Center Saturday through Monday. Photo: James Zambon.

On theater stages

Colleen Cherry stars in Jobsite Theater’s one-woman musical Penelope, the story of The Odyssey told from another perspective altogether. Here’s the recent Catalyst profile of Ms. Cherry.

Alternating with Penelope on the Saturday and Sunday schedule (and continuing Monday) is Not-So-Starving Artist, a one-woman, humorous, semi-autobiographical musical from Kasondra Rose (meet her at this link).

Both shows are in the Straz Center’s Shimberg Playhouse.

Coming soon

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

Sept. 1 Blues Traveler, Gin Blossoms, Spin Doctors at the BayCare Sound

Sept. 3 Psychedelic Furs, Living Colour at Jannus Live

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 Ampitheatre

Sept. 10-20 Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike at the Off-Central

Sept. 10 Ann Wilson at the Capitol Theatre

Sept. 11 Grupo Frontera at the Yuengling Center

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 Florida Orchestra The Music of Taylor Swift at the Mahaffey Theater

Sept. 16 Modest Mouse at the BayCare Sound

Your Weekend Spotlight appears every Thursday in the Catalyst’s CREATE section. 

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