Prairie Home Cruise to sail from Tampa

Garrison Keillor and A Prairie Home Companion are hopping on a boat like Leo with the Prairie Home Cruise, setting sail from Tampa on March 14. Keillor and the Prairie Home cast will travel around the Caribbean until March 21, performing and mingling with fans, and stopping in Belize, Costa Maya and Cozumel.

Garrison Keillor in Cozumel. God help us all.

"I love these cruises," Keillor writes on the cruise Web site. "Never expected to, but I do. The salt air, the sea light, the friendly company, the nightly music all over the boat, the long walks on the promenade deck, the nightly dance in the Crow's Nest, the stargazing late at night, and the slight vibration of engines that lulls you to sleep at night. If you're free and in the mood, we'd love to see you March 14 in Tampa."

This is actually A Prairie Home Companion's fourth cruise, but it's the first in a warm-weather climate. A few cabins on Holland America's Ryndam are still available, starting at $2,500 per person (double occupancy).

This definitely trumps all the other cruises we've seen leaving Tampa this year, including the Kid Rock cruise, the Lynyrd Skynyrd Cruise and the, ahem, "Best Cruise Ever." We like A Prairie Home Companion, but mixing charmingly folksy, old-time Americana with all-you-can-eat shrimp cocktails and Banana Boat suntan lotion? DOES NOT COMPUTE.

Lilith Fair will include Tampa in its tour

The Lilith Fair Web site has Tampa listed among the cities its revamped tour will hit in 2010. Details about the tour are very scant at this point, so we don't know where the show will be (probably the Ford Amphitheatre) or who will be on the bill.

An absolutely crackerjack lineup of folksy femme fatales have been confirmed for at least part of Lilith Fair, including Sheryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Loretta Lynn, Norah Jones, Colbie Caillat, Miranda Lambert, Beth Orton, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Heart, Indigo Girls, Tegan and Sara, Cat Power, La Roux, Lights, Corinne Bailey Rae and Mary J. Blige. There are even some guys lined up, if you count the bands Sugarland, Gossip and Metric.

Only a few of these artists will be on each bill, so don't get your hopes up for a Lilith megashow featuring all of them.

Soundbytes

• Two notable metal shows are coming to the State Theatre in the span of two days. First is Tampa Bay's own Deicide on March 13; tickets are $15-$20. Then it's Otep on March 14. Tickets to that one are $18.

• Is it possible we won't see a Kenny Chesney tour at the Ford Amphitheatre this year? According to Entertainment Weekly, the country uberstar is planning to sit out most of the summer.

• Coming to the Orpheum on Feb. 28: Bowling for Soup. Tickets are $18.

• In the midst of what sounds like intra-band chaos, local punk band Steady State is calling it quits — at least under that name — after its gig Feb. 6 at Fubar.