Blast Friday returns to the Cleveland Street District in Downtown Clearwater for its seventh season. This free food and craft festival kicks-off featuring a live concert starring Spyro Gyra on Friday, Jan. 27, from 5:30 to 10 p.m. on the Tampa Bay Times Cleveland Street Stage. Concerts will be held each month through May. Food trucks and vendors will be serving a wide variety of freshly prepared specialty food and beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages that will be available for purchase.
Spyro Gyra are contemporary jazz icons who have reached an international audience for more than 40 years – resulting in sales of over 10 million albums and playing shows on five different continents. Spyro Gyra observed their 40th year in 2014 with shows that showcased their breakthrough Morning Dance album. After that year of looking back, they decided to spend 2015 concentrating on their more recent material, playing many songs from their post 2000 releases.
The audience reaction was so positive to their recent material that bandleader Jay Beckenstein decided that their albums from that period deserved a little more focus. So, in order to spotlight this innovative and productive period, Spyro Gyra released their latest hit, The Best Of The Heads Up Years in 2016.
Concert goers are welcome to bring their lawn chairs to watch the concert. New and featured in January will be a Beer Garden at Station Square, located in the 600 block of Cleveland Street, with live local music and a sampling from Crooked Thumb Brewery. Blast Friday is free and open to the public. The event is presented by Bank of America.
A local art experience will also be featured at each Blast Friday. This month a free exhibit will be held outside Studio 617, hosted by Lina Texiera. Studio 617 is located at 617 Cleveland Street and the exhibit will be from 7 to 9 pm.