Happy Summer Solstice! Here's your event guide for the longest day of the year.
1. ROCK: The Kinks is one of the most beloved and covered bands of all time by musicians, yet is somehow still unappreciated and unknown by most Americans. Apart from hits like "You Really Got Me" and "Lola," non-audiophiles don't really know too much about the band. Well, here's your chance to brush up on a British Invasion act that's been mightily influential. Honor the Kinks on frontman Ray Davies' big 70th birthday by attending WMNF's tribute festival, A Well Respected Man: the WMNF 70th Birthday Tribute to Ray Davies with Four Star Riot, Coco and Homo, Funny Bunny, Scone Train, Ronny Elliott Band, Soul Purpose, Rich Whiteley Band, Ricky Wilcox and the Moonsnakes, Doll Parts, Ed Woltil and the Loaded Question and Joe M. It's all Kinks, all day, showcasing the British Invasion act's ever evolving repertoire of sweet pop hooks, masterful lyrics and badass ingenuity. For more info, visit the Facebook event page.
2. CLASSIC FILMS: Tampa Theatre Summer Classics Movie Series presents its Sing Along Mary Poppins today and tomorrow at 3 p.m. Arrive dressed as your favorite character from the film or in a film-inspired outfit and participate in a costume parade on-stage immediately before this special sing-along version of the 1964 musical favorite about a magical nanny, starring Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke. tampatheatre.org.
3. FREE CELEBRATION: Happy Birthday, Studio@620! St. Pete's eclectic arts and performance space is a decade old. Wish The Studio well today at 6:20 p.m. Click here a local celeb salute and more information.
4. DANCE & ART: Talk about a power couple! For the past few decades, Susan Taylor Lennon has sashayed past boundaries. In addition to directing the stellar dance program at the University of Tampa, she performs throughout the community to help the aging population and others achieve brain health and other benefits from dance. This weekend, Lennon is in the spotlight, bringing to life lessons learned and her own personal for Aging in Time, a dance concert that will include storytelling through movement, as well as an interactive environment where audience members can participate in creative activities before and after the performance. In tandem with the show, her husband, Jim Lennon, will display a photography exhibit, titled On Stage: Women of all Ages, which features more than 50 color photographs of women of all ages during peak moments of live performances. The exhibit runs through July 3 and will be open before Susan Taylor Lennon’s performances. Free. June 20, 21, 27, and 28 at 8 p.m. Matinee at 2 p.m. on June 28. Scarfone/Hartley Gallery, R.K. Bailey Art Studios-University of Tampa, Tampa. 813-253-6217.
5. FUNNY STUFF: The comedy clubs are hosting some notable meisters of the funny: Josh Blue at Side Splitters and the gals from Girl Code at the Improv in Ybor. Read an interview with the MTV series'Jessimae Peluso.
6. WORDS: It's a big week at UT. The university is also hosting the Lectores lit series, which highlights authors Rick Moody and Nathan Deuel and several other prominent authors as well as poets. Saturday evenings headliners are Jason Ockert and Benjamin Percy. Ockert is the author of two collections of short stories: Neighbors of Nothing and Rabbit Punches. He has received awards from The Atlantic Monthly, Mary Roberts Rinehart and the Dzanc Short Story Collection Contest, and been nominated for a Shirley Jackson Award. Percy is the author of three novels, The Dead Lands (forthcoming from Grand Central/Hachette in 2015), Red Moon and The Wilding, as well as two books of short stories. He has been published in Esquire (where he is a contributing editor), GQ, Time, Men's Journal, Outside, the Wall Street Journal, Tin House and others. Click here for a schedule and more information.
7. MORE WORDS: More unconventional wordsmithery can be enjoyed at the Bends during this month's installment of Lucha Libro Literary Death Match: Street Writer Turbo III. Two authors are given a random prompt and have five minutes to create an original piece of written brilliance. The writers will present their work and a winner will be declared moving on to the next round until only one remains. Theatricality and costumes encouraged.
8. ALTERNATIVE SPORTS ACTION: Today is Go Skateboarding Day, an unofficial holiday promoted by the International Association of Skateboard Companies, which co-developed the Smithsonian Innoskate. Skateboarders can do their thing for free at the Skatepark of Tampa, which will be hosting a barbecue and other fun stuff today. The Polk Museum of Art is also free today and features the show All Decked Out!, Kick Start My Art's showcase of Tampa artists creating works from skateboard decks. Read more about it in Megan Voeller's visual art column this week.
9. GREAT LOCAL THEATER: Check out a few top-notch theatrical productions to take you out of the summer doldrums. Return to Forbidden Planet, a co-production of Jobsite Theater and Straz Center, got 4.5 stars from CL theater critic Mark E. Leib. Stageworks brings us a campy Southern classic in the making with The Sugar Bean Sisters, and freeFall Theatre is up and running with the coal-miner musical The Burnt Part Boys.
10. TONIGHT ONLY: I Am a Cuban Sandwich at the CL Space. Richard DiPietra's classic tale about growing up in Tampa is presented with music and dance now — and the art of Stainboy Reinel.