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Camper Van Beethoven hooks up with fans

Camper Van Beethoven fans were delighted when the band's original members reunited in 2002 for a brief tour. It went so well that the group, a mainstay on college radio in the late 1980s, recorded last year's New Roman Times.

The album is filled with the same kind of nutty innovations that made Camper Van Beethoven, led by the fearless David Lowery (late of Cracker), a favorite of the underground alt-rock set the first time around. (This is a band that recorded a song-by-song cover of Fleetwood Mac's double album Tusk for the heck of it.)

New Roman Times is Camper Van at its most political, albeit in the artiest way possible.

The album is a rock opera about a Texas teen who joins the military after a globe-shaking catastrophic event similar to Sept. 11. Our hero becomes disillusioned, goes AWOL, and joins an underground antigovernment militia.

This is all told, of course, with Camper Van panache: crazy Lowery lyrics, lots of violin, a poignant homage to minimalist composer Steve Reich (Come Out), even a Twin Peaks reference (That Gum You Like Is Back In Style).

(Hey, the Pixies aren't the only old timers who can return with a bang.)

Camper Van Beethoven performs with the Hackensaw Boys, 8 p.m. Tuesday at Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa. $15 advance, $18 at the door. (813) 977-6474.

- GINA VIVINETTO, Times pop music critic

The Kennedys make the folk crowd and the pop crowd happy. The married duo of Pete and Maura Kennedy write supercatchy songs about road trips, coffeehouses, all the special moments in the boho's life, as found on their latest, Stand.

The couple, who met in Austin, Texas, and are known for their killer harmonies, get political, too, on numbers such as the album's title track.

The Kennedys perform at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Tampa, 11400 Morris Bridge Road, Tampa. $12. (813) 988-8188.

- GINA VIVINETTO, pop music critic

The Florida Orchestra winds up its Rachmaninoff festival with Kirill Gerstein as the soloist in the Piano Concerto No. 3. That's the work whose demands supposedly drove Australian pianist David Helfgott to the brink of madness in the movie Shine, and it will be fascinating to hear how the Russian-born Gerstein manages. The rest of the program is devoted to Ravel with Pavane pour une infante defunte and Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No. 2. Concerts are Friday at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater; Saturday at Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg; and Monday at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, Tampa. All are at 7:30 p.m. $15.50-$50.50.

Music director Stefan Sanderling hosts an open rehearsal of three Ravel pieces at 11 a.m. Saturday at Mahaffey. $15. 813 286-2403 or toll-free 1-800-662-7286; www.floridaorchestra.org

- JOHN FLEMING, Times performing arts critic

Josh Groban made fans happy on his last visit to Tampa when he played to a sold-out house at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Since his breakout appearance performing on a 2001 episode of TV's Ally McBeal, the strapping, classically trained young singer has won legions of fans in both the pop and adult contemporary set.

Groban, who turns 24 next month, has charmed Oprah Winfrey and many others with his brand of pop opera and new age music. He sings in a rich baritone, and ventures into many languages, sounding oh-so-romantic in Spanish, French or English.

But don't go thinking Groban's full of himself: The singer's live performances are filled with fun stage patter and his irrepressibly puckish spirit. Groban proves you can be young, cultured and fun, all at once.

Josh Groban performs at 8 p.m. Tuesday at the St. Pete Times Forum, 401 Channelside Drive, Tampa. $41.75-$66.75. (813) 287-8844 or (727) 898-2100.

- GINA VIVINETTO, pop music critic