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GREAT WHITE

 
Published Sept. 17, 2009|Updated Sept. 17, 2009

With Julliet, Thrown Alive

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday. Bourbon Street, 4331 U.S. 19, New Port Richey. $18-$25. (727) 843-0686.

Once, you could talk about a Great White show and only mention their hits, like Once Bitten, Twice Shy. But those days ended on Feb. 20, 2003, when pyrotechnics at a Great White show in West Warwick, R.I., sparked a blaze that engulfed the nightclub, killing 100 people, including guitarist Ty Longley. The band continued to tour, often to raise money for families of the victims, but split in 2005 in part due to singer Jack Russell's struggles with addiction. They're now reformed - Russell and guitarist Mark Kendall are the sole original members, but drummer Audie Desbrow and guitarist/keyboardist Michael Lardie have played with the band off and on since the '80s.

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Truckstop Coffee

With Gentlemen Please, Old North East, Solia Tera

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday. New World Brewery, 1313 E Eighth Ave., Ybor City. $6. (813) 248-4969.

Radiohead released In Rainbows on a pay-what-you-want platform, and it seemed to work out okay for them. But what happens when the band that attempts such an experiment isn't a world-class alternative group, but a working-class alt-country collective from Lake Worth? Truckstop Coffee plays Southern stompers a la Whiskeytown or Slaid Cleaves, and if you want to download MP3s of their latest effort, For Dear Life, you can do so at whichever price point you like at truckstopcoffee.com. This is tentatively the band's final show before whisky-voiced singer-guitarist Pete Stein heads off on a cross country solo tour. Float him a couple of bucks so he can buy some, uh, truck stop coffee on the road.

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Midnight Bowlers League

With Sarge and the Aeromen, the Cadillac Bombers, Big Jef Special

Details: 8 p.m. Saturday. Market on 7th, 1816 E Seventh Ave., Ybor City. $7. (813) 248-2356.

Rockabilly vets Midnight Bowlers League celebrate their 10th anniversary with a blowout showcase featuring several friends and fellow throwback bands. Ten years after singer Tim Masters and guitarist Nafa, who worked together at a library, bonded over one of Masters' rebuilt guitars, the group remains hard-core about its retro sound (think Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly). They restore vintage instruments, amps and mikes to keep their sound as close to old-school as possible.

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Irritable Tribe of Poets

With Ronny Elliott, Rebekah Pulley, Jim Beckwith, Ray "Rayzilla" Villadonga, Bob Brown, Rick Olsen

Details: 5 p.m. Sunday. Skipper's Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa. $10. (813) 971-0666.

Led by artistic director Rhonda J. Nelson, the Irritable Tribe of Poets is a group of poets and instrumentalists who perform spacey, free-form sets of spoken word backed by improvisational jazz, rock, gospel, soul and other strange soundscapes. During shows, poets (usually up to six) give guest musicians parameters as to what they want their backing music to sound like, and the musicians improvise behind them. "If you imagine a band that has a singer as the leader, it's the same, except there's a poet in place of the singer," Nelson said. This show's poets include Tampa poet laureate James Tokley, Melissa Fair and Bradley Morewood.

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The Almost

With This Providence, Anarbor, the Dares

Details: 7 p.m. Wednesday. State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $14-$16. (727) 895-3045.

It was nice news when we heard Tampa melodic rockers the Almost, the poppier side project of Underoath drummer Aaron Gillespie, would be opening for the Used on a cross country tour this fall. But then we saw that the bands neglected to schedule a Tampa Bay date, and we began to worry: Were the Almost getting too big for us? Turns out our fears were unfounded. As they gear up for the fall release of their album Monster, Monster, the Almost will embark on a short headlining tour, including this hometown show. Nice to know they haven't forgotten where they came from.

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Rock Solid Pressure Industry Showcase 2009

With Southside Serenade, Not Tonight Josephine, Male Order Brides, Falling Awake, Killer Without a Cause, more

Details: Noon-2 a.m. Saturday. State Theatre, 687 Central Ave., St. Petersburg. $15. (727) 895-3045 or rocksolidpressure.com.

The syndicated radio show Rock Solid Pressure hosts its seventh annual daylong festival giving 20 bands from around the Southeast, including artists from Georgia, North Carolina and Louisiana, a chance to play in front of executives and A&R reps from a handful of indie and midlevel labels. Among the local highlights on the bill are funky Riverview roots-rockers Southside Serenade, whose fun-loving acoustic college rock (think O.A.R.) has caught the attention of artists like Edwin McCain, Marc Broussard and Sister Hazel. Metal-tinged punks Not Tonight Josephine have been playing consistent shows around town in support of their recent EP, This Orphan Heart. There's also a pre-party featuring bands like New Violation and Deshrived at 5:30 p.m. Friday at the State Theatre; tickets are $10.

Times staff writer Jay Cridlin can be reached at cridlin@tampabay.com.

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