Vote SPC Theater for Best of the Bay

It’s that time of year again! The St. Petersburg College (SPC) Theater Department is once more competing to win Creative Loafing’s “Best of the Bay” award in several categories and needs your votes.

SPC Theater is represented in four different categories this year:

• Best Stage Director – Scott Cooper
• Best Theater Production – The World Goes ‘Round
• Best Actor – Matthew Morris
• Best Actress – Stephany Levi

This annual competition highlights everyone’s favorite people, places, businesses, events, and more from the Tampa Bay area. For the 2021 contest, only the top 20 nominees with the most nominations moved on to the final voting phase, so it’s quite significant that the Theater Department was able to be a finalist in four different categories. This also isn’t the first time that an SPC theater production was named a Best of the Bay finalist. The fall 2019 production of The Laramie Project was also up for Best Theater Production in the 2020 competition.

The college overall is also a finalist in the Best College or University category against some tough competition, so be sure to vote for SPC, too. Supporters can cast their votes through 11:59 p.m. on Thursday, September 9, 2021. You are only allowed one vote per category.

Winners will be announced in Creative Loafing’s annual Best of the Bay Issue on September 30, 2021. Fingers crossed that SPC runs away with the top spot in each category!

To learn more about the SPC theater program, visit the college website at stpe.co/theater. If you’re an SPC student who’s interested in auditioning for an upcoming production, auditions for the fall production of Peter and the Starcatcher will be held on August 24 and 25 at the Clearwater Campus.

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Chick Corea Akoustic Band 2018 kickoff show will be held at SPC on Jan. 13

The Chick Corea Akoustic Band, the pioneering acoustic trio featuring legendary drummer Dave Weckl and master bassist John Patitucci, will commence their 2018 touring season with a rare, intimate show at St. Petersburg College’s Music Hall, St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus, 6605 Fifth Ave. N., St. Petersburg, on Saturday, January 13, with sets at 6:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased through the “On Tour” tab at chickcorea.com.

Corea, a 22-time Grammy winner and NEA Jazz Master, formed the band with Weckl and Patitucci 30 years ago, and they’ve been redefining the music scene together ever since, as a trio and as the rhythmic backbone of Corea’s Elektric Band. And yet an appearance from the crowd-favorite Akoustic Band is still a rare experience for jazz fans. The trio’s 2018 tour will be its first in more than 20 years.

“Dave, John and myself are all excited about playing as a trio again! The Akoustic Band is back! There’s so much to explore – past, present and future. Yes, and the Adventure begins in St. Petersburg,” said Corea.

The 300-seat St. Petersburg College Music Hall invites the audience in close for a dynamic, thrilling performance of acoustic music by a band that perfected the art form. Expect the quintessential mix of brilliant Corea compositions, thrilling new takes on standards, and many more surprises.

The full Chick Corea Akoustic Band touring schedule, featuring a roster of shows throughout Europe and Australia, will be announced in early 2018.

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St. Pete Jazz Fest kicks off with funk

The St. Petersburg Jazz Fest kicks off Feb. 25 with the James Verdano Funk Band at 7:30 p.m. at the ARTpool courtyard in downtown St. Pete. Featured events go through March 1 and include an 18-piece big band with legendary vocalist Kevin Mahogany, eclectic NYC modern jazz group The Claudia Quintet, killer B-3 grooves from the Shawn Brown Group and a post-festival jazz session party at the historic Manhattan Casino.

Download the full program and schedule.

Originally dubbed the St. Petersburg College Jazz Fest, the event has evolved into a city-wide celebration now in its seventh year. SPC music professor, trombonist and composer David Manson started the event in 2009 as a way to build appreciation for what he calls a dying art form. He spent part of his sabbatical in 2013 working on cultivating sponsors for the event, which include the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Chamber Music America, St. Petersburg College & EMIT.

“Jazz is a real niche art form,” said Manson, who started music technology courses at SPC in the mid-1990s and is a founding developer in the MIRA (Music Industry/Recording Arts) program.

“Part of the mission of the festival is make people aware that it’s still alive … Students come to me afterwards and say they are blown away because it’s the first jazz concert they’ve ever been to.”

Do you have some shots you’d like to share from opening night? Post them on the Jazz Fest Facebook page and check out profiles of the scheduled artists on their website.

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Madrigalians perform at St. Petersburg Main Library Dec. 6

The Friends of the St. Petersburg Main Library look forward to welcoming back the Madrigalians, St. Petersurg College’s select choral ensemble, to “sing in” the holiday season on Saturday, Dec. 6, at the Main Library, 3745 Ninth Ave. N, St. Petersburg. (Note: The starting time this year will be 1 p.m. instead of 2 p.m.)

This talented group is selected by audition, primarily among music majors with superior vocal skills and sight-reading ability. Led by Dr. Vernon Taranto, Jr., director of Choral Activities at the St. Petersburg/Gibbs campus, the Madrigalians in recent years have sung at Walt Disney World in Orlando, at Carnegie Hall in New York and Europe.

The group will sing songs from the early Renaissance to the 21st century. Barry Stevens will accompany them on the Friends’ donated grand piano.

The Friends of the Main Library have presented cultural and educational programs free and open to the public for almost 50 years. They sponsor summer youth and family reading projects and have bought supplemental equipment for the library branches.

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Creative Loafing names Palladium’s Side Door a top music venue

Richard Gilewitz, Fingerstyle Guitar Wizard

The Palladium’s Side Door Cabaret was singled out as one of the top music venues in Tampa Bay in Creative Loafing: The Music Issue 2014.

Billed as a comprehensive guide to local music venues, the annual guide also highlights a handful of favorite spots including the Palladium’s Side Door Cabaret.

Likened to a New Your jazz club, the “Side Door is small, dark and intimate, with cabaret tables, a 185-person capacity, and no seats too far from the stage,” wrote David Warner.

While the Palladium’s main stage has been closed for much of the summer for expansion and upgrades, the Side Door reopens Aug. 1 with a new air conditioning system and a great summer lineup each weekend through August including:

• The great ‘60s band Coo Coo Ca Choo
• Bluesman Selwyn Birchwood
• Acoustic guitar wizard Richard Gilewitz

Other recent honors

The St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce recently nominated both SPC and the Palladium as “Good ‘Burgers,” for their positive community contributions in education and arts and culture.

Related links:

• Palladium Paul’s blog
• Side Door Cabaret line up
• Creative Loafing: The Music Issue 2014 review
• Subscribe to Palladium emails

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SPC professor signs with Hollywood producer for screenplay ‘LIBERTAIRE’

Elizabeth Indianos holding her award for Best Screenplay at the 2013 LA Femme International Film Festival.

LIBERTAIRE, a screenplay written by St. Petersburg College fine arts professor Elizabeth Indianos, has been selected to be made into a movie.

“I’ve signed with a producer and am just now waiting for things to happen,” said Indianos, who signed with Hollywood producer Leslie LaPage.

LaPage is a producer dedicated to empowering women with quality films directed and produced by professional women. She also has produced, directed and line produced for film, TV, music videos, commercials and theatrical productions.

Indianos met LaPage when she won Best Screenplay at the 2013 La Femme International Film Festival in Los Angeles, an annual women’s film festival LaPage launched in 2005.

It’s a dream come true for Indianos, who consulted on her screenplay with Robert McKee, a Fulbright Scholar whose Story Seminar writing classes are world-renowned. She also worked with editor Annette Kaufman, whom she credits with helping hone every nuance of her written works.

LIBERTAIRE is the story of Joe Pulitzer and Auguste Bartholdi, a French sculptor and a newspaperman who fight discrimination an indifference for a woman no one wanted: Lady Liberty.

Excited about the opportunity to see one of her award-winning screenplays to come to life as a film, Indianos has been working with Hollywood film attorney Keith Burglund to help facilitate the process.

“This has been my first experience doing this, but it has been wonderful because we really see eye-to-eye and had a shared vision about things,” she said about working with Burglund.

Although no production date has yet been announced, LaPage is now working to find the talent, director, and film incentives in different countries to get the process started.

Indianos is eager to see the film’s production process begin. Once everything is in place, she hopes to serve as a consultant during the making of the film.

The movie poster for LIBERTAIRE.

LIBERTAIRE was selected as one of the Top 10 movie scripts and won Best Screenplay in the Historical Category for the fourth annual Sundance Table Read My Screenplay contest. Since then, the screenplay won additional awards across the country at the 2013 Williamsburg International Film Festival in Brooklyn, N.Y., and was a finalist at the 2013 Sacramento International Film Festival and the 2013 Beverly Hills Film Festival.

LIBERTAIRE also made it in the top 10 percent of all 7,197 entries for the 2012 Nicholls Fellowship in Screenwriting, which is sponsored by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The screenplay also has been nominated twice for a Culture and Heritage Award by Fresh Voices, a consortium of industry professionals that strives to discover, encourage and promote the most promising voices in storytelling.

In addition to LIBERTAIRE, Indianos also has written Waiting for Guacamole, a play inspired by Samuel Beckett’s play Waiting for Godot. It is not a modern retelling of Beckett’s play, rather a comedic drama inspired by and loosely based upon the literary classic. Forty paintings in the form of banners also contribute to the storytelling and the story’s conclusion.

Waiting for Guacamole was recently exhibited in a faculty art show at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art at the SPC Tarpon Springs Campus.

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Helios Jazz Orchestra releases DVD compilation

The Helios Jazz Orchestra is an ensemble-in-residence at St. Petersburg College. The 18-piece jazz big band is a college course that meets weekly to rehearse under the direction of SPC professor David Manson.

Members of the band include jazz professionals, music educators, SPC alumni and current students at the college. The ensemble has performed at the Clearwater Jazz Holiday, Ybor Jazz Festival, Salvador Dali Museum, Palladium Theater and St. Petersburg Jazz Festival.

“Radiant Forces” is a compilation of video from four live concerts given by the Helios Jazz Orchestra. The project was funded through a 2012 FGO Creativity grant received by David Manson. The first chapter of the DVD is from a concert of spy music from film and T.V. performed at the Ybor Jazz Festival. The second chapter features Helios with singer Lorri Hafer at the event venue NOVA 535. The third chapter featured singer Bryan Hughes at the SPC Music Center. The DVD closes with Helios and singer Whitney James at NOVA 535. “Radiant Forces” is being given to area music educators and potential SPC students.

The Helios Jazz Orchestra looks forward to a summer performance at the Palladium Theater Side Door.

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SPC celebrates National Poetry Month with poets Gallagher and Matsuda

In celebration of National Poetry Month, St. Petersburg College hosted internationally acclaimed poets Tess Gallagher and Lawrence Matsuda on April 21-22. More than 300 attendees participated in collaborative poetry readings at the Clearwater Campus Library, St. Petersburg/Gibbs Music Center and the Palladium Theater.

Poet interview The Tampa Bay Times published an interview with poet Tess Gallagher as a preview to the events.

Gallagher read works spanning her career of more than 40 years, including readings from her most recent work, Midnight Lantern. She spoke words of the loss and desires of love, the preciousness of life, and of the criticality of solitude.

Matusda has been her collaborator on a number of works, including Pow! Pow! Shalazam!, featured on the Plume Poetry website. Matsuda, who was born in the Minidoka internment camp during World War II, writes as a witness to the injustices of Japanese-American citizens sent to the camps by their own government. He serves as a voice for those who can no longer speak for themselves.

SPC Communications Professor Danny Lawless, editor of Plume Poetry magazine, and the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus Student Government Association helped make the event possible.

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SPC in the news: 3 Tarpon Springs exhibits open at Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art

The Tampa Bay Times recently published a write-up about three exhibits opening at the Leepa-Rattner Museum of Art. One features the work of George Inness Jr., who had a large winter home in Tarpon Springs and was the son of noted landscape artist George Inness.

Other exhibits are “Historic Tarpon Springs” featuring a group of prints by architect Edward C. Hoffman Jr. of historic buildings and “The Legacy Continues” with works by Tarpon Springs artists Christopher Still, Kevin Grass, Elizabeth Indianos, Mitch Kolby, Allen Leepa and Joseph Weinzettle. TBNweekly.com also featured news about the exhibits.

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New ‘Street Team’ spreads the word about SPC’s Music Industry/Recording Arts program

The Music Industry /Recording Arts (MIRA) program launched its Street Team at the Gasparilla Music Festival in Tampa in partnership with 88.5 WMNF Community Radio earlier this month.

The team includes student volunteers and was granted funding through an Innovation Grant from the St. Petersburg College Foundation. The goal is to expose students in the program to relevant events, professionals and networking opportunities with the potential to enhance their chances of employability.

As an extension of the festival’s mission to enhance music education, MIRA students will promote the program in their newly branded gear, network, and have the opportunity to partner with seasoned WMNF volunteers and staff.

The two-day event, March 8 and 9, was anticipated to attract 10,000 people to Curtis Hixon Park in downtown Tampa. MIRA staff and students were sprinkled throughout the event with “I Love Music Education” stickers and MIRA Street Team t-shirts. WMNF is welcoming MIRA students to share a tent and promote the program and hand out branded stickers and sunglasses to those interested.

This was the Street Team’s first event with many more to come!

See photos from the Street Team’s Spring Break efforts on the college’s Facebook page.

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