Billy Rice Band leads off Savor the Sounds

The Billy Rice Band is the scheduled debut act for the Longboat Key Chamber of Commerce’s Savor the Sounds outdoor concert series, which opens Saturday, Feb. 29 at the Town Center Green.

Rice has opened for such acts as Tommy James, Marshall Tucker, the Moody Blues and Eric Clapton and is a regular at Mattison’s City Grille in Bradenton. The country-rock band appears regularly at festivals around southwest Florida and recently released “Just Sayin’ ’’ an album of country-rock songs.

Gates open at the site of the former Amore Restaurant, 555 Bay Isles Parkway, at 4:30 p.m. for the 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. show. General admission tickets are $15 in advance and $25 at the gate. VIP tables, which seat eight and include two bottles of wine, are $250.

There is no permanent seating at the site, so patrons are encouraged to bring blankets or lawn chairs.

Publix is offering boxed-dinner specials, which can be pre-ordered by Feb. 24 by calling 941-383-1502. A beverage truck will be on hand from Gold Coast Eagle Distributing for beer and wine sales.

Pre-sale tickets can be purchased at the Longboat Key Chamber offices at 5390 Gulf of Mexico Drive, Suite 102 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The concert series is scheduled to extend into late May.  Scheduled acts for the remainder of the series are: March 28 with Doug Deming and the Jewel Tones; April 25 with the Tim McCaig Trio and their salute to Neil Diamond and May 30 with Kettle of Fish.

Though work on the Town Center Green has not yet begun, town officials have been cleared to begin and commissioners unanimously approved a budget transfer of $144,000 from the town Land Acquisition Fund  to pay for rehab work to the former Amore restaurant parking lot and for earth-moving to smooth out and raise portions of the property to meet Southwest Florida Water Management District standards for wetland mitigation and stormwater runoff.

Additionally, some basic electrical, water and sewer connections are planned, and crushed-shell paths will be constructed to make the space more useful.  Savor the Sounds had been planned a month earlier, but an illness with one of the musical artists prompted a one month delay. Instead of closing after the April event, the series was shifted a month and will close in May.

The series is presented by Michael Saunders & Co. Supporting Sponsors are Cadence Bank, Grant’s Gardens, Secur-All Insurance Agency, Veteran Air and WrightWay Emergency Services.