It’s a great day to get out of the heat and into the cool at the James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art in St. Pete. For one thing, admission is only $10 on Tuesdays, and hours are extended to 8 p.m. For another, Tuesdays mean live music. Today’s performers are The Stillhouse Shakers (below), a Tampa Bay-based string band whose show, says the James’s website, “is filled with history, hilarity and a wide variety of fiddle tunes, folk songs, blues, ballads and breakdowns.”

But beyond the discounts and the entertainment, the James is a must-visit no matter the day. Yann Weymouth’s architecture is spectacular, and the permanent collection is a stimulating mix of contemporary and period works evoking the Native American experience, the myths and realities of the American West, and the singular beauties of wildlife.

And right now, there’s a must-see exhibition, The Cultural Connections of Edward S. Curtis, a collection of photos taken in the first three decades of the 20th century that capture (and in some cases recreate) “vanishing” Native American cultures. The faces will haunt you. (Be sure to read the details of Curtis’s extraordinary life, too; someone oughta make a movie about him.)

The James Museum of Western & Wildlife Art, 150 Central Ave., 

St. Petersburg. Open today 10 a.m.-8 p.m.; last tickets sold at 7:30 p.m. Admission $10 on Tuesdays ($15-$20 all other days). Free to members. Stillhouse Shakers perform 5:30-7:30 p.m. 727-892-4200, thejamesmuseum.org.

Photos by Edward S. Curtis above:

Left: Mosa-Mohave, 1903, platinum print

Right: An Oasis in the Badlands, 1905, platinum print