Your weekend arts forecast: Hey man, it’s the actual Doobies
Time, fate and the road certainly take a toll on once-popular rock ‘n’ roll acts. Often there’s only one or two original members remaining – in some cases, none at all – and so playing concert dates becomes little more than a celebration of the band’s name and reputation by, say, the bass player and a bunch of ringers.
Many of our beloved ‘70s and ‘80s rock bands are, by necessity, no more than brands. Audiences gather to celebrate what the brand used to represent. That’s just the way it is.
Playing Tampa’s Mid-Florida Credit Union Amphitheatre Friday, the Doobie Brothers are the rare exception. Here’s a band that sold more than 40 million albums, through two very different and distinct eras: The first with Tom Johnston (“Listen to the Music,” “China Grove”) on lead vocals, the second with Michael McDonald (“Takin’ it to the Streets,” “What a Fool Believes”). And guitarist Pat Simmons sang “Black Water,” another massive and memorable hit.
Friday’s concert is part of the Doobies’ 50th Anniversary Tour, which means that both Johnston and McDonald will be singing. Simmons will be there too, along with founding co-guitarist John McFee.
Although Johnston, Simmons and McFee frequently perform together, this is the first time McDonald has joined them in more than 25 years.
We got ourselves a quorum!
The band’s lineup now also includes veteran Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne and former Yellowjackets saxophonist Marc Russo.
Tickets for the 50th anniversary show are here.
Amazing guitar
Tampa Bay’s award-winning fingerstyle acoustic guitarist Christie Lenee is onstage Friday at Central Park Performing Arts Center in Largo; joined by Joe Cosas (keys/bass/melodica) and Jonathan Thomas (drums). Read all about her in this story; tickets are available here.
Judy, Judy, Judy
Melissa Minyard
Tonight (Thursday, June 2) at freeFall Theater, singer Melissa Minyard and a three-piece combo perform Forget Your Troubles, a musical celebration of the life and legacy of Judy Garland. Minyard played Garland in freeFall’s 2017 play End Of The Rainbow. Tickets for the 7 p.m. performance are here.
Pride events
Vinoy Park is ground zero for the 2022 Pride Run, a 5K run/walk along the waterfront, 6-11 a.m. Saturday. All your info is here.
The Gulfport Pride Festival is Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with live music on two stages, art and food vendors and a walking tour – featuring the Gulfport Gecko Amalgamated Marching Band – that starts at 1 p.m.
June is, of course, Pride Month. Here’s the schedule of official events from St. Pete Pride.
Kelly Curtin plays Marie in St. Pete Opera’s “La fille du Regiment.” Photo: Jim Swallow/Packinghouse Gallery.
Regimentally yours
Donzinetti’s La fille du Régiment ends the current season for the St. Petersburg Opera Company June 3 (Friday), June 5 (Sunday) and June 7 (next Tuesday) at the Palladium Theater. It tells the story of young Marie, adopted as an infant by the 21st Regiment of the French army (she was rescued from the battlefield). She falls for handsome Tonio, who is technically one of the enemy … like a lot of operas, Daughter of the Regiment (the English translation) deals with love, honor, patriotism, betrayal, valor and all the other things that make life so interesting.
The fully-staged SPO production, with Mark Sforzini conducting the orchestra, will be sung in French (with English dialogue. Tickets and details are here.
On theater stages
New this weekend are The Dreamer Examines His Pillow, the John Patrick Shanley drama from the Tampa Repertory Theatre (read about it here) and Stageworks’ production of The 25th Annual Putman County Spelling Bee (details and tickets here).
It’s the final weekend for Bertolt Brecht’s political satire The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui at Jobsite Theater (here’s our story on the show).
Click here to read about freeFall’s A Skeptic and a Bruja, continuing this weekend, and on through June 19.
Art art
It’s First Friday Art Walk time in Gulfport again, 6 to 10 p.m. Friday (that’s June 3), with a juried fine art show and sale up and down city streets. See you there.
Tampa’s Florida Museum of Photographic Arts debuts The Art of Life Friday. It’s a retrospective of works by the late Suzanne Camp Crosby, the City of Tampa’s 2004 Photo Laureate, and a 40-year photography instructor at Hillsborough Community College.
Works by Zulu Painter, Eb&Floww, Dr. Goggles, Myiah Pink, The Nature of Fire and others are included in Journey to Emancipation, opening Saturday and running though June 30 at thestudio@620.
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You can also submit your events to the Catalyst calendar, by clicking here.
