Michael Dixon Band

Michael Dixon and his crew don't get off "the rock" — that's Key West — very often. "This is our first trip to play Miami," says Robin Menard, the band's sax player and resident hot chick (a SPILF, beg your pardon). "We had a gig in Fort Lauderdale last month and in Marathon the other week. We're working on playing up the Keys more often, but tend to play mostly here in Key West."

Ah, yes, Key West. Life's pretty breezy in their little tourist cocoon. "The music scene is great, since the community is a very artistic one," says Menard. "Of course Jimmy Buffett is popular with the tourists, but the locals enjoy a wide array of music" — such as Michael Dixon's stuff, with atypical stabs at countrified Americana. "529 Arundel Ave." could be Randy Newman fronting Bright Eyes; throw a hula-jiggling Jack Johnson guitar into the fray and you've got "Down by the Lakeside." The band self-released its first album, Time Takes Time, last year; it's available at CDBaby.com.