Live music highlights this weekend include the monthly Maddox Local Jam and several acts from other parts of Florida who we rarely see in Lakeland. Keep scrolling for the highlights followed by the updated music calendar: More
A new mural by a Lakeland-born painter at the RP Funding Center pays overt tribute to the Lakeland Magic and subtle homage to the city’s many lakes. More
Chadd Scott, a Jacksonville sports radio programmer who writes about the intersection of arts and travel for Forbes, visited the new Impressionists exhibit at the Polk Museum of Art and was impressed. He writes in Forbes that the art on loan from an institution in Reading, Pa., “to a museum in an even smaller city, easily bypassed on Interstate 4 between Orlando and Tampa, serves as a great reminder of the wonderful artwork which can be found outside America’s mega-collection institutions. You shouldn’t have to live or travel in New York or Chicago to see the greatest art the world has ever produced. This show proves you don’t.”
One advantage to having an inter-generational music calendar team at LkldNow is that we can offer differing perspectives on local shows worth checking out. Megan the Millennial has been deeply involved with Lakeland’s alternative and indie scene. Barry the Boomer is a decades-long music fan with eclectic tastes. Here are our takes on what looks interesting this week, followed by the updated music calendar: More
The local live music menu this weekend serves up some tasty classic rock with a spicy melange of jazz, funk and soul on the side. More
Take a downtown building that’s been largely vacant for more than a year. Add a bar and fill it with arcade games. What do you get? The Rec Room, a bar+arcade planned for the building at Massachusetts Avenue and Cedar Street that housed a Firestone tire store for many years and LkldTV more recently.
The Rec Room is being planned by a group that includes the trio that operates the Cob & Pen craft beer bar in Dixieland. The trio is also planning another venture: Good Thyme, a fast-casual takeout restaurant mixing healthy options and comfort food in the Dixieland Village spot that has held several eateries, including D’Lucas. More on that later. More
Musicians from Tampa, St. Pete, Sarasota and Orlando seem to be discovering new audiences in Lakeland. Or maybe it’s that the people who book shows at local venues are looking to neighboring cities for acts we don’t hear too often. Either way, here’s a look at some of the bands and solo artists coming here this weekend from nearby locales, followed by our updated music calendar: More
Paul Lewis Hughes, who influenced at least two generations of actors in Lakeland as the multi-decade artistic director of Pied Piper Players/Lakeland Community Theatre and through 32 years as a teacher, died Saturday night at age 63. More
Polk-raised Karen Olivo impressed New York critics in her lead role of Satine in the just-opened Broadway production of “Moulin Rouge! The Musical.” Take, for example, The New York Times’ co-chief theater critic Ben Brantley. More
For indie and alternative music fans, Friday offers some tough decisions: More
