Comments (0) Best Acoustic Performer - 2009
The Big Bounce & Brendan O'Hara & Komakozie
South Beach loves music that inspires snorting lines or sweeping the ground with one's hind parts. But it's not so hot for the kind of melody that makes people swing-dance, two-step, and do the running man. Yet each Tuesday night at the Florida Room, the Big Bounce — Brendan O'Hara & Komakozie (comprising singer/piano man O'Hara, beatboxer Michael "Komakozie" Rodney, and a rotating band of artists consisting of an upright bassist, a trumpeter, a saxophonist, and a tap dancer) crank out tunes that can be described as the love child of KRS-One and Bob Dylan. And guess what? Ten fingers, ten toes, this baby is a gem. They play songs such as "Champagne and Apple Juice," a cheeky ditty about a steamy night out turned morning after that leaves the lovers thirsty for an unorthodox type of mimosa. The sound showcases O'Hara's pop-perfect potential to rock the airwaves, but when Komakozie adds his oral bass to a track such as "Mistress," you kinda want the pair to remain your little secret. Perhaps B & Koz should patent their time machine. Or better yet, maybe they should give some whacked-out perfumer an inch of their skin so the essence of blue-eyed soul and classic hip-hop vibes could be extracted, bottled, and placed gingerly into our icebox for the rest of eternity. Till then, we'll just take what they give us — a weekly residency on SoBe and countless other performances around the Magic City and the nation.
