New and Noteworthy for the week ahead
Mark Curry
(Feb. 26 — Feb. 29/ Tampa Improv/ $16 – $20)
What’s that smell? Oh, it’s the smell of putrid comedy. Somebody must be Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper. Mark “Mr. Cooper” Curry — star of the comedy that pitted him as a former NBA hopeful turned grade school teacher living with a relative and a platonic friend who are both female (my goodness, how zany is that?) — brings his standup skills to Tampa on a tour that might cement his status as the black Bob Saget … or the next Sinbad. Not sure which is worse.
Kelly Clarkson and Clay Aiken
(Feb. 27/ St. Pete Times Forum/ $35 – $45)
Including the service charge, this show costs about $50. I’ll say that again to let it sink in. IT COSTS $50 TO SEE THESE PSUEDO STAR SEARCHERS. Children are starving, homeless folks are freezing, insurance-less citizens are dying; and these talentless, fraudulent hacks will surely get a bunch of people to waste $50 on them. If you find yourself at this show, be sure to drown yourself in the Bay after.
Fiesta Day(Feb. 28/ Ybor City/ Free)
This yearly celebration of the immigrants who founded Ybor working in the city’s earliest businesses — yes, that means cigars — is back again this year to enliven the antiquated streets of Ybor. That is, the night after a bunch of frat-boys puke all over them. There will be entertainment representative of many of the early cultures that inhabited Ybor throughout the city’s early era. How “P.C.” Although the hip hop and the Irish tunes might be on the cheesy side, passers-by will definitely want to hit up the South American and African funk artists for a good time.