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© St. Petersburg Times, published May 9, 2002
Folksinger returns to his roots
Folksinger Michael Smith got his start in college, singing in a St. Petersburg coffeehouse called the Hungry Brain in the 1960s. He then traveled the country throughout the '60s, both as a solo artist and in a trio called Juarez.
For the next couple of decades, Smith continued to write songs that were sung by other people, most notably Steve Goodman. But in the late 1980s, Smith was commissioned to write the music for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of The Grapes of Wrath.
The play ran for more than a year in Chicago, London and La Jolla, Calif., before moving to Broadway, where it won two Tony Awards.
Smith is now a full-time touring musician. He performs at 8 p.m. Saturday at the Tarpon Springs Performing Arts Center, 324 Pine St. Tickets are $13 general, $11 members. (727) 942-5605.
Sure, some critics called them the worst major act of the 1970s, but that has done nothing to diminish fan support for Styx in the past couple of years. The band (now without '70s lead singer Dennis De Young) has popped up in South Park, The Virgin Suicides and even in Sex and the City, where Carrie Bradshaw two seasons ago declared "I loooooove Styx!"
Sing along now everyone: Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto.
The Styx show at Ruth Eckerd Hall, originally scheduled for March, was sold out for months before illness forced its postponement. A few tickets returned to circulation, but those, too, now have been snapped up.
The show begins at 7 p.m. Saturday.