Local Musicians Highlight St. Pete Festival

SARASOTA – Greg Billings, Twinkle and Rock Soul Radio, Kettle of Fish, and Rj Howson and Friends are just some of the area bands who will be performing this weekend at the St. Petersburg Seafood & Music Festival, March 3 and 4 at Vinoy Park in downtown St. Pete.

The festival combines two of the area's most consistently excellent products: locally caught, freshly prepared seafood and local live music.

On the food side, all meals at the event are cooked onsite by local restaurants and food purveyors, using only the freshest ingredients, including grouper, mahi, stone crabs, oysters, shrimp and soft- shell crabs. All seafood dishes are prepared using local, sustainable ocean resources from Florida coastal waters.

On the music side of the ledger, local legend Greg Billings will headline, and he'll be joined by an all-star cast of gulf coast stars. Billings, whose Sarasota-based band, Stranger, was one of the most successful hard rock acts in the South throughout the '80s and early '90s, went on to form the Greg Billings Band and can still bring it with the best of them. Billings closes the festival Sunday in the 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. slot.

Sarasota's First Lady of Rock 'n' Roll, Twinkle, has been a gulf coast favorite since her 1991 Warner Brothers debut, Haunted by Real Life. Together with her brother Tony LeClerc (bass), Lenny Brooks (guitar) and Benny Puckett (drums), the high-energy rock diva is in the midst of a stellar second act.

With their outstanding original material along with signature versions of songs from bands like the Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin, Twinkle and RSR always deliver electrifying live performances. They'll take the stage Sunday from 1:30 to 3:00 p.m.

Known for their signature Festiblues sound, Dana Lawrence's Kettle of Fish has featured a revolving door of some of the area's best musicians since he founded the group in 2006. KOF, who won TBT'sBest Local Band awardin 2017, will headline Saturday in the 5:30 to 7:30 p.m slot.

With stellar musicianship and a massive catalog of both original material and deep track covers from the '70s, '80s and '90s, it's no wonder Kettle of Fish has earned a reputation as Sarasota's Hometown band. No two set lists are ever alike, but bands they frequently cover include the Grateful Dead, Tom Petty, the Band, Bob Dylan, Jackson Browne and Rusted Root.

Guitar guru Rj Howson hails from Chicago, but he can lay down Southern Rock licks just as deftly as the Windy City standards. Howson wowed music fans with his recentdebut albumSet it Freeand has also made noise as a member of All Rise Revival, a local super group featuring members of Dickie Betts' Great Southern and Berry Duane Oakley, son of the late founding Allman Brothers Band bassist. Howson will play Saturday from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m.

Other local bands performing include Sarasota's favorite dance-groove party band, Reverend Barry & Funktastic Soul featuring the Hellacious Horns, along with the Sarasota Steel Pan Band. The Black Honkeys Band and Nostaljah will also perform.

Hours for both Saturday and Sunday are 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission to the event and musical performances is $7 at the gate.