Dizzy Gillespie's dead. Total Pain. So there comes a certain intensity to this event: Diz's one-time drummer Ignacio Berroa brings his quartet to the Shoppes at the Waterways (east of Biscayne Boulevard on 207th Street, Aventura; 935-3201) for a free show tomorrow (Thursday) at 6:30 p.m.
There's a new video out from Radioactive (ahem) Records and Greenpeace that features U2, Public Enemy, Kraftwerk, and others demanding that humanity Stop Sellafield, Sellafield being a nuclear waste reprocessing plant in Northern England that Greenpeace considers the most radioactive spot on the planet. Hot stuff. And a Greenpeace benefit takes place Saturday -- all of it -- on Florida Atlantic University's outdoor stage in the University Center. The Abel and Allen Reggae Revue, the Bellefires, Other Voices, Chatterbox, Baloney Sandwich, Toast and Jam, and others will play, with more acts providing acoustic sounds between sets.
Emmitt Till was just one person, but his story reaches everywhere; I even came across a version in a detective pulp novel once. In the mid-Fifties, Till, a dark-skinned fourteen-year-old, supposedly whistled at a white woman. Yeah, of course they killed him for it. Racial Pain. Till's is just one story to be musically told by the Rayne (Sue Crago and Monica Pavlik) when they play Eastside Coffeehouse this Saturday at 8:00 p.m. There'll also be open-mike activities.
Too mowsh, two shows: Tomorrow (Thursday) the Button South goes all out with F.O.C., One, and Forget the Name. Talk about triple headliner bills. And then on Friday the Edge stages Skin Tight, still ascending.
Good thing that hurricane/aftermath thing is over and everybody's very fine nice now. No more gutted structures, uninhabitable homes, impassable roadways. Natural Pain. Vernissage, the opening night preview of Art Miami 93, takes place this evening (Wednesday) at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Admission costs $35, with $25 of that promised to the Dade Community Foundation. As in past years, the proceeds go to help fund visual-arts institutions. This year that mission is a bit more compelling. "Even the museums that were not knocked down," says Foundation president Ruth Shack, "suffered. Devastated employees out of work, two weeks' lost revenue, every institution needs help. This year we're doing more of the same, but with more intensity."
Help raise some help for Metrozoo with a sea cruise starring the blues of Piano Bob and the Snowman and the jazz of the SJO All Stars this Saturday. Call 663-9746 for info.
If you meditate enough, you can recall an ancient era during which humans listened to music on vinyl (italicized because it is now a non-English word). Yeah, well, you can kiss my CD, pal. I just got a new vinyl single by locals Harry Pussy, and I also just got wind of Revolution Records & CDs at 1620 Alton Road in Miami Beach. Owner Daniel Weiss opened the outlet a month ago, and sells all types of music, including rock, Fifties, soul, disco, soundtracks, and collector's items. 'And about 95 percent of the stuff," says manager Carlos Wood, 'is vinyl," adding that the store buys records and whole collections. He also adds, tragically, 'And we buy CDs."
Butthorn of the week: The Miami Dolphins and their public relations department. About a year ago the folks over at New Times Classified advertising began planning to save some human life, or at least chill a bit of Holiday Pain during New Year's 93. They wanted to run a full-page ad, nonprofit, paid for by "signature" advertisers, people and businesses that would chip in to cover costs in exchange for having themselves mentioned in small type at the bottom of the ad. The design the Classified gang came up with had the headline THINK THIS IS OFFENSIVE? above a photo of Dan Marino taking a snap. (Get it? Offense, offensive?) Beneath the pic would be the words CONSIDER MANSLAUGHTER CHARGES. DRIVE SOBER. Great idea, huh? It was set to go when, at the eleventh hour, New Times's publisher ordered the Classified department to contact the Dolphins and make sure it was okay to use the photo for such a purpose. The Dolphins said it wasn't. The ad was drastically altered, running without a photo. I don't care if the Fish win the next ten Super Bowls. They are losers.
The media circus: Who is this Amy Fisher person?
Pet corner: Devilish rockers Deicide are back in-country, alive and well after touring across the pond. At Stockholm's Fryshuset Club a bomb went off before the group could play their set (which they did anyway, under police protection, even though the bomb blew out a wall and slightly injured several people -- Boom Pain). Just before the incident, Deicide's Glen Benton allegedly received a letter from a purported animal rights' activist warning him that if the band played in Manchester or London as scheduled, "you have effectively signed your death certificate. Not even Satan himself will protect you once you set foot in England." It was signed Animal Militia, Manchester Cell, and was provoked by comments Benton made in the Brit press about how he likes to rip the flesh off living animals as part of his Satan worship ritualism. Tough guy Benton responded by saying, "Kill me if you can. And if I meet the guy who's been making those threats, I'll rip his tongue right out of his throat. That's no threat. I mean it!" Ooooh. Break-Bad Pain. Obviously terrorized, the so-called Animal Militia responded with a statement that "Stockholm was just a taste of what is to come," followed by more threats. I could care less whether Deicide got blown up or not, but I hope this serves as a warning to animal abusers, researchers, sacrificers. The animals might be defenseless, but their supporters can get fairly offensive when necessary. You've been warned.
