What an eclectic week we’ve got ahead of us, from SunLit’s final week to Sunscreen’s opening night, from Chopin that will make you swoon to erotica that will (maybe) make you blush. Plus: Patti’s back!
- Patti LaBelle. The one and only Patti, she of the unmistakeable vocals and diva-tastic style, had been slated to perform in February, but a scheduling conflict led her to change the date. Tickets purchased for the February 7 concert will be honored at the new date. Thurs., 4/25, 8 p.m., Ruth Eckerd.
- A Celebration of the Erotic. What is erotic writing? Popular or high-minded? 50 Shades of Gray or Lady Chatterley’s Lover? Is the erotic about one’s own body or relationships between bodies? Must it illuminate the sensual and avoid the explicitly sexual? Is it best when it comes from a place of fantasy or is the job of the erotic to light up ordinary experiences from the inside out? Most of all, why is erotic literature even important in this #MeToo moment? Those questions and more will be addressed by a panel of esteemed local writers — Lisa Birnbaum, Amber DiPietra, Maureen McDole and Enid Shomer — who will present from their own erotic work as well as share pieces by other writers. Cash bar, 18+ audience only. Mon., 4/22, 7-9 p.m., Venus, 244 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. St. N., St. Petersburg. A SunLit Festival event.
- Igor Lovchinsky: An Evening of Chopin and Gershwin. The much-lauded young Russian-American pianist plays a program featuring some of the most exquisite music ever written for the piano. (He can also talk science; besides having degrees from Juilliard and the New England Conservatory of Music, he has a Ph.D from Harvard and has published articles on astrophysics and nanoscale metrology (?). Tues., 4/23, 7:30 p.m., The Palladium.
- Literary Carousel. Another great SunLit Festival event, this now-annual treat invites local authors to choose photos from the Museum of Fine Arts’ archives and write a poem, a short story, a play, or whatever they like in response. Thurs., 4/25, 6:30-8 p.m., MFA, free w. museum admission.
- Sunscreen Film Festival Opening Night. The opening-night film, Mother’s Little Helpers, stars actors you’ll recognize from shows like This Is Us and The Leftovers — kicking off a four-day festival that closes on Sunday with a much-heralded documentary about the Colombian artist Fernando Botero. The festival, now in its 14th year, offers a packed schedule of screenings, networking events and workshops with slightly tongue-in-cheek titles (“What I Really Wanna Do Is Direct,” “What Does a Producer Do Anyway?”) in which film professionals share their knowhow. Opening night Thurs., 4/25, AMC Sundial St. Petersburg. Red carpet, 6 p.m.; screening, 7:30 p.m.; after-party, FarmTable Cucina at Sundial, 9:30-11:30 p.m. sunscreenfilmfestival.com.