I was traveling to Austin for a wedding last Friday when the great pianist Henry Butler reached me by phone. Henry was on the bill for our March 4 Boogie Woogie Blues Piano Stomp.   Turns out, Henry has been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer and must travel[…]

The Palladium Chamber Players make their 2017 debut Wednesday night (1-18) in Hough Hall with a selection of piano trios by Mozart, Barber and Dvorak.   Season tickets for all five shows – one each month through May – are still available.   Here’s what Tampa Bay Times Performing Arts[…]

BEACON, the dance and performance series that debuted in 2016 to much acclaim, returns this Friday and it promises to be more ambitious and exciting than ever.   Again, the Palladium is working with St. Pete’s own Helen Hansen French and Lauren Sloane – both veteran dancers and choreographers –[…]

Welcome to January 2017!   Your favorite blogger returned from a two-week holiday this morning and I’m exhausted just hitting the delete button on all the emails. Imagine how much work it would have been to read them?   Coming back to work is not really so tough when I[…]

After Thursday night’s record-breaking Jazz Holiday show, with our own Nate Najar, the Palladium’s holiday season is wrapping up with another December favorite  – St. Pete Opera’s Seasonal Sparkle.   This crowd-pleasing show features a mix of opera and holiday works, beautiful holiday decor, and the excellent singing and musicianship[…]

It has been another tremendous year at the Palladium. As we close out 2016, I am looking back at a year of  record-breaking attendance and fundraising, great new additions to our staff, and so many memorable shows I can’t count ’em all. And 2017 promises to be even better!  […]

How fast the years fly – our young jazz guitarist, Nate Najar, is suddenly celebrating the 11th anniversary of his Jazz Holiday show. That’s two years longer than I’ve been at the Palladium.   Over the years the show has become a much-loved holiday tradition in St. Petersburg and among[…]

After selling out the Side Door and amazing everyone there with his “Florida Bjorkestra” show last summer, pianist and arranger Jeremy Douglass is back this Sunday with a new project. Red Rain features the music of Peter Gabriel and Tori Amos – performed live with 16 players and singers on[…]

If you are considering a donation to the Palladium – in particular before Jan. 1 – we are making it very easy for you.   You can donate to our Friends of the Palladium fund at the St. Petersburg College Foundation by simply clicking on this link and using your[…]

With the Palladium celebrating our 18th season – yes Virginia, we opened in 1998! – our historic theater has established some wonderful holiday traditions.   It starts this weekend with our annual weekend of dance and holiday magic that’s known as The Nutcracker. St. Petersburg Ballet, AKA The Academy of[…]

We are in our third year of a partnership with the Suncoast Jazz Classic – the weekend long jazz festival that fills the hotels on Clearwater’s Sand Key with great music. The festival opens this Friday.   Over the years, Palladium audiences loved Gypsy Jazz. So I’m excited that we’re[…]

It was August of 2012 and the Republican Convention was coming to Tampa. And Gwen Ifill and PBS’s Washington Week was coming to the Palladium.   Gwen was a vibrant, smiling force that day both during the taping and at a post-taping reception in our Side Door. I spent 25[…]

  I’m so excited that The Blue Ocean Film Festival – which opens this week – has chosen the Palladium Theater as a home venue.   If you are not familiar with this festival here are a few facts. Blue Ocean moved to St. Petersburg in 2014 from Monterey, California.[…]

Like a lot of other artists who find their way to the Tampa Bay area, Gisele Jackson was drawn first by family.   Her father, who had exposed her to so much blues, soul and R&B music when she was growing up in Baltimore, had moved here. So had her[…]

Just in the years I’ve been running the Palladium, I’ve seen the caliber of musical talent in Tampa Bay grow exponentially. One prime example is the band that we are bringing in Saturday night that performs as  “Phil’s Juke Joint.”     These guys are stellar players, with national and[…]

We’re excited to welcome Acme Jazz Garage, along with some special guests, to the Side Door this Saturday. Our friends at WUSF Radio are also excited about the show.   Acme will be appearing on All-Night Jazz this Friday night, talking and playing some new music, at 9 p.m. with[…]

We’ve got three nights of “Best of the Bay” winners in the Side Door Cabaret this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.   Pick a show and you won’t be disappointed with these groups that earned Besties from Creative Loafing.   Thursday, drummer Dave Rudolph brings in an all-star jazz band. Opening[…]

I just got word that our Saturday night show with Whitney James and James Suggs is SOLD-OUT! If you didn’t get tickets in time don’t worry – we’ll bring this show back sometime in 2017.   If you’re a fan 0f bluesman Damon Fowler, don’t wait until this Friday to[…]

It’s a good time to be Damon Fowler. His trio is just back from a European tour that had them playing to big audiences in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland and Norway. That tour came on the heels of a string of dates opening for George Thorogood.   As a matter[…]

At the Palladium our performance season always starts with the opening production from our friends at St. Petersburg Opera.  And this weekend, Verdi’s Il Torvatore is here!   And after a long-hot summer, there is finally some cooler temperatures outside, but on stage passions will be running hot.  Il Trovatore[…]

Got some great photos of our recent show with Show Biz Kids. Thanks to my pal Larry Feldman for sharing these shots from a big night of Steely Dan tunes.   Show Biz Kids’ leader and arranger, Phil Magallanes, will be back on Saturday, Nov. 5, with his smaller band[…]

The Palladium was a winner in Creative Loafing’s 2016 Best of the Bay Awards. CL’s “Besties” were handed out Wednesday night at the Mahaffey.   Our new dance project – BEACON – was singled out for special recognition. Co-producers Helen Hansen French and Lauren Slone and BEACON were named. So[…]

It’s been a very funny summer in the Side Door Cabaret at the Palladium. Our pal Ward Smith has brought in some great comics this season. And this Saturday’s finale show promises to be the best yet.   Along with Palladium favorite Lou Angelwolf and three other stand-ups, we will[…]

Coming of age in the 1970s, the soundtrack to my life was the jazzy, rhythmic and often darkly humorous music of Steely Dan. They managed to produce hits that were smart and catchy. The band fused jazz and pop using the best studio musicians working in both genres.   Now,[…]

The Palladium is proud to be part of this year’s SPF 16  Festival which celebrates the arts in St. Petersburg.  You’ve got three chances this weekend to see some great festival shows at your favorite venue – The Palladium.   Tonight, there just a handful of tickets left to see[…]

Where do we even begin? The War Virgin –aka  Laura Westley — is the real woman behind a)  this very real story, b) her upcoming book by the same title, and now c) her musical comedy touring the U.S. and making a stop here at the Palladium on Saturday, September[…]

Posting for the vacationing PalladiumPaul, Mr. Wilborn had an opportunity to talk with ALEX Harris about his upcoming show before said vacationer’s departure to the north country. ALEX is coming to the Palladium for the first time ever, on Friday, September 16th. We’re excited!   Here’s what he had to say about[…]

It’s late summer and that means one of our favorite acts is back from a big tour and stopping by the Side Door for two amazing nights of music. Of course I’m talking about Selwyn Birchwood, Tampa Bay’s favorite son, who has spent the last few years becoming a big-time[…]

I call it the surprise hit of our 2015 summer season – the Palladium debut of Monday Monday in Hough Hall.  We had booked the band because two of the performers  – Liz Hollister and Ed Woltil – are some of the most talented folks I know.   But the[…]

Just before the start of our sold-out Bossa Nova Guitars show in the Side Door last Friday, someone asked me “what’s the secret to all these sold out shows in the summer?”   That was an easy one. The formula for the elusive “sell-out” – even in the dead of[…]

Here at the Palladium we love presenting some of the top blues musicians working today. And this weekend is no exception. We’re bringing in JP Soars and The Red Hots to the Side Door for a Saturday night show.   JP is one-third of our favorite super-group – Southern Hospitality[…]

Always  happy when the local paper takes a look at our shows. This week, TBTimes arts writer Andrew Meacham previewed not one but two of our weekend Side Door shows.   Meacham interviewed Ward Smith, the actor and comic who is organizing our Friday night comedy show (which also features[…]

One of our Palladium Side Door faves – Lauren Mitchell – is returning this Saturday night with a new band and some new songs and a new “do!”.   Because she’s in the Side Door – our great listening room – she’s also trying something else new. She will open[…]

Standup comedy is returning to the Side Door this Friday night with another edition of Ward Smith and Friends. In case you’ve not seen Ward’s shows, he’s got a ton of national TV credits as a comic and actor and Palladium fans saw him recently as the blowhard Navy Commander[…]

Our summer season is starting off strong with a sold-out cabaret show on Friday night and Saturday’s inaugural appearance at tbe Side Door of one of my favorites – Uncle John’s Band.   I didn’t realize but these guys have been playing Dead music since 1989.  I’ve caught them at[…]

I’ve been spending some time with Palladium favorite John Lamb and decided to take notes and turn our visits into a story. I’m publishing it here today. Hope you enjoy it:   You don’t have to look far to find someone anxious to sing the praises of John Lamb, the[…]

The Palladium has become a home for key political debates during election season and 2016 is no exception. Candidates for U.S. Congressional District 13 will meet in a televised debate co-sponsed by the Tampa Bay Times, WTSP TV and St. Petersburg College.   For details, here’s a link to the[…]

People are falling in love with St. Petersburg Opera’s production of South Pacific – currently running at the Palladium through July 10. Friends who attended shows over the July 4th weekend were gushing about the production, the singing, and, of course, the songs.  Few shows in the history of musical[…]

I was lucky enough to be among the judges for a scholarship competition sponsored by the Tampa Bay Business for Culture and the Arts. I got to hear a lot of great music including a young trumpeter from Gibbs High named Jason Charos. Jason won the instrumental music scholarship and[…]

The Palladium is now officially edible.   Sure we’re an award-winning venue with name stars and shows from top arts and community organizations.   Sure we’re got the best nightclub in Tampa Bay – the Side Door Cabaret.   In the past five years our audience has doubled. So have[…]

Sometimes, when a big jazz show was coming up, Buster Cooper would call me. I had told the  jazz legend that he could be my guest for any show he wanted to see, but Buster never assumed anything.   This time, Branford Marsalis was coming to the Palladium and Buster[…]

That stormy fellow named Colin – also known as Tropical Storm Colin – must be an opera lover. Or perhaps a supporter of St. Petersburg Opera. Or maybe he’s just a self-destructive bohemian who lived excessively and died young.   Whatever the reason, Colin spared SPO production of La Boheme[…]

So much news as the Palladium heads toward our summer season that it takes a list to get it all in:   Our Side Door Cabaret has been quiet in May and June – community shows on our main stage have taken all potential Side Door dates. It’s a good[…]

Califore quartet continues to establish themselves as the hottest young ensemble in chamber music. Another major award, this one with a $100,000 prize from the University of Michigan, drew the attention of the New York Times and the TB Times. It’s quite an accomplishment for a quartet just a few[…]

I’m happy to report our beautiful theater continues to earn honors for our shows, our facility and our prices.   The current issue of Tampa Bay Magazine includes a list of businesses, arts organizations, resaturants and people who have earned a “Best of 2016” award. The Palladium was named “Best[…]

I’m very proud of our favorite young musicians in the Calidore String Quartet. After a return engagement in April, as part of our Palladium Chamber Players season, Calidore will debut next week at Carnegie Hall.   Calidore features violinist Ryan Meehan, who grew up in St. Pete, and cites our[…]

Tuesday, May 3 is Give Day Tampa Bay – and the Palladium, your favorite venue for music, community events and so much more – needs your support.   Join thousands across the region who take pride in their community by contributing online to their favorite nonprofits during this special 24-hour[…]

Rain, lightning and low-rumbling thunder literally stole the show at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival’s second weekend.   It rained early and often and the festival grounds became a good place to launch a canoe, but not a place to enjoy music. Stevie Wonder’s much-anticipated show never even[…]