Alexander and the Grapes are one of the Top 5 reasons you don't want to miss Ringling Underground on Thursday. COURTESY PHOTO
For Sarasota-Manatee millennials, school night parties really don’t get any better than this bash. Held the first Thursday of September through November, Ringling Underground started strong last month with this week’s edition of the indie music and art series looking even better. Here are five reasons you really should be in the fancy museum courtyard Thursday night, mingling and soaking up the music and art, below the famed, full-frontal of David, not worrying at all about arriving groggy to work or class Friday morning.
1. Music
After impressing Ringling Underground organizers and regulars with an impassioned performance last year, folk-pop quartet Alexander and the Grapes return to headline this roster, which includes Permanent Makeup and DieAlps! All three acts have garnered national attention by being signed to Tampa’s Pitchfork-approved New Granada Records.
2. Costumes
Everything from house parties to pub crawls are way more fun when masquerading. Tonight’s costume theme should be equal parts giggles and lust with attendees encouraged to dress up as his or her favorite superhero or librarian. Want to really dazzle? Show up as Barbara Gordon. She’s the “Batman” superheroine who has a doctorate in library science and heads Gotham City Public Library.
3. Art
Up-and-coming artists will be displaying their work in the Museum of Art Courtyard with the south galleries of the permanent collection also open.
“The October Ringling Underground features four contemporary artists who work in both two and three dimensional mediums,” says, Natalya Swanson, Ringling Underground artist liaison. “Artists Kelly Boehmer, Jennifer Lauren Smith, Janett Pulido, and Brian Joseph exhibit art which visually recreates both apocryphal stories and axioms alike. Using mediums such as soft sculpture and videography, the artists create uniquely universal visions that look both to the past and to the future.”
4. RIAF
Anyone in costume, as Barbara Gordon or whoever, is entered into a raffle for tickets to Ringling International Arts Festival act Intergalactic Nemesis. Perhaps the hippest thing happening in the sci-fi corner of the theater universe, the troupe melds radio drama and graphic storytelling to create a fresh, contemporary live show. Intergalactic Nemesis will be at RIAF Oct. 16-18.
5. Affordable
Admission to Ringling Underground is a very reasonable $10 but free for students with a valid college I.D.
Ringling Underground
8-11 p.m. Thursday; The Ringling, 5401 Bay Shore Road, Sarasota; $10; free for college students with valid college I.D.; 359-5700; ringling.org
