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Out & about

By Times Staff Writer
Published September 23, 2005

SKIPPER'S SMOKEHOUSE: Come out tonight and Saturday to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road.

Tonight's show will feature a double-header of blues: Jimmy Thackery and his three-piece band the Drivers, and the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz.

Thackery brings more than 15 years of live blues experience to the stage and has played with blues masters including Muddy Waters. He has also worked with Nashville artists, which expanded the boundaries of his guitar work into country music. Thackery's many albums include Empty Arms Motel, Sideways in Paradise with John Mooney, Trouble Man, Switching Gears and Sinner Street, among several others.

Come laugh to the blues. Wirtz is known for his synthesis of blues and boogie-woogie musical styles with lyrics that are both socially conscious and funny. He brings more than talent to the stage: Wirtz has established a reputation as a musical journalist through a regular column in Keyboard magazine and also frequently participates in music education programs for children.

Friday's show starts at 8 p.m., and tickets are $18 at the door or $15 in advance.

Saturday's free show will feature an amalgam of musicians playing from noon until midnight, many of whom are local to Tampa.

Acts will include '60s and '70s rock from Lutz's own Cold Shot at noon and the reggae stylings of Impulseda at 12:45 p.m. The Quivering Rhythm Hounds will bring rock, soul and R&B to the stage at 1:30 p.m., followed by the Jimmy Buffett-style rock of Patrick Foy and the Conch Critters at 2:15 p.m.

The show will continue through midnight with Buffalo Strange, Ronny Elliott and the Nationals, the Magic Marco Band, Squirrels Gone Wild, Freight Train Annie, Skinny McGee & His Mayhem Makers, Sonuva Mod Squad, the Dukes of Juke, Sawgrass Flats, the Damon Fowler Group, and finally taking the stage at 11:15 p.m., Uncle John's Band.

The Saturday show is free, so come check out any or all of the bands playing throughout the day. Call (813) 971-0666.

MANUSCRIPT EXHIBITION: The University of South Florida library will host the third installment in its series of medieval illuminated manuscript exhibitions, Liturgy and Devotion: Manuscripts from England to Ethiopia. Manuscript illumination is the art of hand-decorating in ink a hand-written page of parchment. The previously unstudied manuscripts featured in the reception were used in western, Armenian and Ethiopian Orthodox churches from the 11th-18th centuries. The exhibit will open Oct. 1 in the fourth floor reading room of the Tampa Campus Library and is free to the public. Call (813) 974-1589.

USF THEATRE: USF's College of Visual and Performing Arts is getting ready to stage its production of Omnium Gatherum, a drama that takes place at a dinner party soon after Sept. 11, 2001. Tensions between the guests flare as they discuss racial and political issues, and the ways in which views of life and death have changed in the wake of 9/11. Faculty member David Mann directs, with a cast of eight USF students. The show opens 8 p.m. Friday-Sunday, with additional shows at 3 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $12 for adults and $6 for students and seniors. Call (813) 974-2323.

CARROLLWOOD THEATRE: The Carrollwood Players are continuing their 25th anniversary production of Move Over Mrs. Markham this weekend at the playhouse, 4333 Gunn Highway, through Oct. 1. The play, by Ray Cooney and John Chapman, is about three sets of lovers who accidentally plot to use the same place to carry on their affairs. They all converge on the same room, and hilarity ensues through attempts to cover up their misdeeds. Shows will be 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. Call 265-4000.

GORILLA THEATRE: The Gorilla Theatre's production of Caryl Churchill's A Number will continue through Sunday at the theater, 4419 N Hubert Ave. The play is about three sons who learn that they are clones of each other, and the ensuing confrontation with their father. Themes of cloning and father-son relationships are combined with psychological and sci-fi edges in this collaboration between the Gorilla Theatre and Stageworks Theatre, both of which are small, respected professional theaters. Shows are 7 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 3 p.m. Sundays. Tickets are $22 for general admission, $16 for seniors and $11 for students who arrive less than 30 minutes before the show's start. Call (813) 879-2914.

Send information on upcoming events to Jeremy Hayes, at 813 269-5302, e-mail at jchayes@sptimes.com or fax to (813) 269-5310.

[Last modified September 22, 2005, 09:00:09]