Tampa Bay Times from St. Petersburg, Florida • 41

3d MONDAY, APRIL 2, 1990 St. PETERSBURG TIMES April from 10 Legalizing drugs would spell disaster LAtaas righfto the point. Death. Catchy, isn't it? Death joins its heavy-metal breathren, Devastation, for a show at the Masquerade, 8:30 p.m. April 19-20, Aerosmith The Boston quintet is a rare A 20-year band that has just recently started to do its best work.

The Aerosmith fellas got clean and sober about three years ago for the first time probably ever. The music is punchy and crisp with nods to the blues. Aerosmith's live act is said to have especially benefited from the clear-eyed outlook. The April 20 show was recently added. The word-of-mouth on Aerosmith has been so good that fans may just want to go both nights.

Shows are at the Sun Dome at 7:30 p.m. on the 19th; 8 p.m. on the 20th. April 20, Sanctuary More metal at Masquerade. Fate's Warning opens at 8:30 p.m.

April 20, Kaoma Everybody now Lambada! I get the feeling that the tropical version of dirty dancing known as Lambada hasn't even achieved fad status. Lambada is a dance. Lamabada is music. Lambada is the subject of two B-movies. Lambada smells like something being pushed past its welcome by cagey marketing minds.

Kaoma's single, Lambada, although a major international hit, made nary a ripple in America. The KabmaLambada tour rolls through Ruth Eckerd Hall (7:30 p.m.). Expect lots of steamy dancing and little musical substance. April 25, Pankow Masquerade will vibrate with the sounds of a machine shop when the Italian industrial act Pankow plays. The somewhat more melodic opens at 9 April 25, Gun The up and coming hard-rock act plays indoors at the Rock-It Club, 11 p.m.

April 28, David Byrne The head Talking Head is a musical nomad. Byrne is fascinated by ethnic musics. With the landmark Remain in Light album, Talking Heads was one of the first Western acts to factor in African pop. Byrne has produced two compilations of Brazilian music. His most recent project is Rei Momo, an album that fuses Byrne's unique melodic sense with authentic Afro-Cuban grooves, Byrne has gathered a large ensemble of top Latin players and taken Rei Momo on the road.

The tour stops at Tampa Theater, 8 p.m. April 28, The Ramones The venerable New York proto-punks play the Cuban Club, 8 p.m. April 29, L.A. Guns Another second-echelon hard-rock acts take on the Rock-It Club's outdoor tent. Shark Island opens at 6 p.m.

April 29, Sam Kinison The comic isn't the leader of the banned, as the title of his new album suggests. These days, the top-dog Triple-X comic is Andrew Dice Clay. Nevertheless, Kinison's act is still no-holds-barred. He's the proto-type heavy metal comic, belting out classic rock tunes to go along with racy stand-up material. Kinison's shrieks and yelps are his trademark.

Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Festival Hall, 8 p.m. April 10, The Wailers The veteran reggae outfit plays the USF Special Events Center in Tampa. Bumble opens at 9 p.m. April 12, Paul McCartney It's time to 'fess up. I wasn't all that sure that McCartney could sell out the more than 60,000 seats in Tampa Stadium.

His Flowers in the Dirt album was selling sluggishly; he had never established himself as a stadium act. Phew, was I wrong. The tickets went within hours. I guess I forgot: The guy used to be a Beatle. With Tampa Bay's baby-boomers, that is apparently good enough.

Still, it's not just a nostalgia show. Flowers is one of McCartney's strongest outings in years, and the show has been well-received around the country. 8 p.m. April 12, firehose A colleague of mine offered this particularly trenchant analysis of the raucous, nearly hard-core, firehose: "Pretty scary." Jellybrains opens the Masquerade show, 9 p.m. April 12, Terrance Simien and the Mallet Playboys One of the most charismatic young practitioners of romping Louisiana zydeco, singeraccordionist Simien plays Skipper's Smokehouse at 8 p.m.

April 13, Thin White Rope More hard, alternative sounds in a busy month at Masquerade. The bay area's Tommy Tye Dye opens at 9 p.m. April 14, Scruffy the Cat Touted by some as the "new Replacements," Scruffy the Cat is making solid strides with fans of alternative rock. Masquerade, 9 p.m. April 14, Alpha Blondy Reggae, primarily a Jamaican genre, is spreading around the globe.

One of the style's new lights is Blondy, who hails from the Ivory Coast in Africa. Jam-Iya and Cairo open at the Cuban Club in Ybor City, 8 p.m. April 15, Testament Heavy metal enjoys more loyalty from its local audience than any other genre. Testament brings metal crunch to the Cuban Club. Savatage opens.

7 p.m. April 16, Psychedelic Furs In the fleeting world of alternative rock, a veteran band like Psychedelic Furs takes on deity status. The British group has made some commercial waves through the years, but never co-opted its vision, never sold out. The P-Furs are still tough to pin down stylistically. Tampa Theater, 8 p.m.

April 17, Gary Richrath The former REO Speedwagon member will play a show at the Rock-It Club (indoors) that will include about 80 percent Speedwagon material. If you still have a soft spot for the Midwestern band's peppy sound, Richrath's set should be a good approximation. 11 p.m. April 18, Diana Ross Has Diana not become the most obsequious pop singer alive? If ever a show-biz smile shone false, it's Ross'. Her Last album was, in music-industry parlance, a stiff.

But Ross still has appeal as a live performer, even, though her Supremes medleys have grown stale. Sun Dome, 8 p.m. April 18, Death Now these guys get Dear Ann: Of all the screwball, asinine, muddle-headed, half-baked letters I have seen from your correspondents, the one from San Jose advocating the legalization of drugs takes the cake. Let us consider the ramifications of such a decision. Drugs would become much cheaper at least one-fifth the cost.

Then five times as many people could and would buy them. We would then Jiave five times as many addicts. Instead of only 100,000 addicted babies being born to addicted mothers each year, we would have half a million. After the addicts got their legal fix, they would then go out and steal, mug and murder to get more, from illegal sources. This is what happened when heroin was legalized in Britain.

We would immediately need several times the number of police officers, judges, physicians, psychiatrists, nurses, hospitals, nursing homes, mental institutions and prisons, for the increasing number of lawbreakers and dope-heads. In addition to all this, we would have a monumental problem involving morality and ethics. Can you imagine a civilized government becoming an accomplice to destroying its own citizens? The challenge facing us is to decrease the number of addicts, not explode it. M.W. in Celi-na, Ohio Dear Celina: Thank you for your letter.

Read on: Gains could be reversed Dear Ann: I have been following with interest your readers' letters on drug legalization. I have concluded that legalization would be a disaster. If we made drugs cheap, legal and readily available, drug use would surely escalate. Legalization advocates say drug use is a matter of personal choice. But what about the 100,000 babies born each year to crack-addicted mothers? These in- Jazz Festival is held at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota.

Times vary. For information, call 366-1552 in Sarasota. Wednesday, Royal Court of China One of the more respected, but still unheralded, hard-rock bands plays the Masquerade. The band's focus is more raucous than commercial. The bay area's Psycho Tribe opens at 9 p.m.

Saturday, Dr. John The New Orleans piano wizard gave a performance at Tierra Verde in December that, in my humble view, was the best concert of 1989. Now the good Doctor returns with a band, which will add new textures and a more overt energy level. Expect a boogie-heavy night at El Pasaje Plaza in Ybor City, 8 p.m. Saturday, Lionel Hampton with Dizzy Gillespie At almost 77, vibraphonist Lionel Hampton is a vital jazz player who tours virtually year-round.

Joining him at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center Festival Hall is comparative youngblood Dizzy Gillespie, 72. For de-Cades, the trumpeter played second horn to the late Charlie Parker when credit was handed out for the development of modern jazz. But in recent years, Diz has justifiably been getting his due. The show is at 8 p.m. Z.

Saturday, Identity The yeoman's reggae act plays Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa. Uprising opens at 8 p.m. Saturday, Alabama The wholesome, down-home band has seen its popularity dip a bit in the country music world. Nevertheless, Alabama is still a strong concert draw. Strong newcomer Clint Black and Lorrie Morgan open.

Lakeland Civic Center, 8 p.m. April 7-8, Sam Robinson Music Festival This two-day jazz fest features headline's Branford Marsalis on Sunday (7 p.m.) and Richard Elliot on Saturday (7 p.m.), with bay area acts providing varied jazz starting at 2 p.m. Straub Park, downtown St. Petersburg. April 7-8, Johnny Mathis The vel-tet-voiced crooner plays Ruth Eckerd Hall at 8 p.m.

On the 13th and 14th, he moves to Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota for shows at 8:15. April 8, Cher Skimpy costumes do not a rocker make. I'll give Cher her due as an 4ctress, but as pop singer she comes off as woefully artificial. That throaty voice is especially grating and the ho-hum material is another shortfall. Attending Cher's concert at the Sun Dome (8 p.m.) is to fall for the media's star ftiachine.

April 8, Georgia Satellites Hard-rock with a distinctly Southern flavor is the Satellites stock-in-trade. The band will play the outdoor tent at the Rock-It Club in Tampa. A fine new Boston band, Raindogs, opens at 6 p.m. April 8, Run Westy Run The grun-gy guitar band plays Masquerade at 9 p.m. Pink Lincolns open.

fants are ravaged by cocaine be-fore birth. What choice did they have? And what about high school students? According to the National High School Senior Survey, more than 60 percent of high school seniors are drinking alcohol at least once a month. This is bad news. But marijuana and cocaine use is not nearly so prevalent According to the same survey, 18 percent of high school seniors smoke marijuana at least once a month, and fewer than 4 percent use cocaine. The truth is that the current policies of enforcement and education are working.

Consumption of marijuana and cocaine among seniors is roughly half what it was only a few years ago. If you want to reverse the gains we are making, if you want to see marijuana and cocaine use among high school students rise to the level of those now using alcohol, go ahead and legalize drugs. American education has enough troubles. Do we want to broaden the availability and legalize the consumption of substances that make our students less attentive, less competent and less energetic? Every survey I have seen indicates that the vast majority of Americans don't want it. Sincerely, William J.

Bennett, director, Office of National Drug Control Policy, Washington, D.C. Dear William Bennett: My mind is made up. I'm with you. 1990, Creators Syndicate Inc. KCRCC Decorator Frame mCC with Purchase hA Pop from 1D ART WAREHOUSE 1 284 S.

Missouri, Clearwater (Across from Sears) 441 -2357 3000 Oil Painting -5000 Frames PWW44TES Try a little tenderness. STEAKS PRIME RIB SEAFOOD nflAltrJ "1 FM, 93.3) coming in, it should help the market." How will the slowdown affect the bay area's overall concert scene? If it continues or becomes more severe, the number and variety of shows could drop off. More immediately, "we could be forced to pass on borderline shows," Castellano said. Although just one concert among many, the loss of Don Henley is a notable setback. "You get amount of dates for the state (from a booking agent)," Cohen said, "so you might have to look at throwing the.show somewhere else.

Maybe add another Miami date instead of putting one in Tampa (Bay)." Although promoters maintain their long-term confidence in the Tampa Bay market "No one's boycotting Tampa," Cohen says solutions for shaking the malaise are not easily pinpointed. One source of optimism for the bay area concert business is the Florida Suncoast Dome, a large building with varied seating urations. John Stoll of West Palm Beach-based Fantasma Productions says, "I think the Suncoast Dome should shift the action back to Tampa Bay to some degree." fhe QUferiot STEAK HOUSE 8800 BAY PINES BLVD. NORTH ST. PETERSBURG 345-5335 CASUAL DINING MINUTES FROM THE BEACHES.

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dwr. M8.3053 1-80024237 Hw223-2i7i OJ-UJM fe.hr! ful, state-of-the-art facility, it did bang-up concert business right out of the blocks. The O-rena quickly lured a handful of shows that would likely have played Tampa Bay, Bon Jovi among them. The most common scenario these days is for major acts to play both Orlando and Tampa Bay. This curtails the bay area's draw from Lakeland and Orlando, which Sun Dome director Mike LaPan says once accounted for up to 15 percent of his building's audience.

The overall flow of concert travel appears to have changed from westward to eastward. "In my opinion, when Orlando (Arena) opened up, anybody who lived five miles east of Tampa would go to the Orlando show," said Cellar Door's Cohen. "Nothing against the Sun Dome, but the Orlando Arena is a brand-new facility." LaPan sees it as a case of market exposure. "For years, the Orlando fans had no place to go," he said. "They didn't get the shows.

With Whitesnake, for instance, we played them the last time they came through. Orlando didn't. Fan interest in Orlando is bound to be higher." Some experts see the eastward shift in concert dominance as another example of Orlando's eclipsing Tampa as Florida's No. 1 boom town. Promoters point vaguely to a Tampa Bay economy they perceive to be slowing.

Certain indicators bear this out. The Orlando area outpaced Tampa Bay in job generation during the 1980s and is expected to continue the trend in this decade, according to a study by the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at University of Florida. Orlando's population is also growing at a faster rate. Another key player in Tampa Bay's concert climate is pop Rock and Top 40 stations have always been essential to a pop concert's promotional scheme, and promoters say it has been difficult to galvanize broad-based radio exposure in the bay area. Powerhouse stations such as WRBQ-FM (104.7) and WYNF-FM (94.9) often demand sole promotional rights.

"We look for an exclusive if we feel we've been greatly responsible for nurturing a particular act in this market," said WYNF program director Tom Marshall. Tampa Bay's more hotly contested radio race of the past six months could help break the concert soft spell. "Without a lot of competition, Q-105 and 95YNF could be very selective," said Cohen of Cellar Door. "And they wouldn't touch a show that the other had. With 98-Rock (WXTB-FM) and the Power Pig (WFLZ- Comfortable Hush buy at all.

These days, most shows sell more quickly in Orlando. American Concerts' Castellano says he can count on selling 2,000 to 3,000 more tickets there than in the bay area. "That comes to a substantial amount when you're trying to make a profit," he said. The hard rock act Whitesnake recently drew about 9,800 at the Orlando Arena, while 7,200 turned but at the Sun Dome, according to Ticketmaster. The progressive dance group Erasure played to 4,600 at Orlando Arena; 2,000 at the Sun Dome.

Cher's upcoming show at the Orlando Arena has sold 9,500, while the Sun Dome is at roughly 6,000. This new disparity leaves some concert-biz types perplexed. Others don't buy the premise at all. Donna Dowless, director of Ticketmaster in Orlando, prefers to look at the Central Florida market on a show-for-show basis. She points to a comparable sale for May's Milli Vanilli shows in Tampa and Orlando.

A second Aerosmith show was added at the Sun Dome, but not in Orlando. "When ticket sales do not meet the expectations of concert producers and facility management, they are going to question the reasons," she said. 7 In the early 1980s, most major rock tours rolling through Central Florida played the Lakeland Civic Center, drawing concertgoers from the Orlando and Tampa Bay markets. Ongoing population growth and the establishment of new buildings cut back the number of Lakeland shows considerably. Orlando's Orange County Civic Convention Center opened in mid-decade, as did the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach.

2. Neither facility was ideal for concerts, however, and in time most of the action shifted to Tampa Bay. Top acts often passed over Orlando. Fans from Lakeland, Or-. lando and farther east regularly drove to the Sun Dome and even the Bayfront Center in St.

Petersburg for shows. In 1987, Tampa Stadium began staging concerts after a several-year hiatus and re-established itself as a premier tour stop. Orlando's Citrus Bowl underwent renovations during much of that period. Nationally, the concert industry became keenly aware of the Tampa Bay market. The scenario changed with the opening of the Orlando Arena in January 1989.

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