Subject: Music

• Q&A With Tom Araya of Slayer, Headlining Mayhem Festvial at Cruzan on August 12!

  photo by Mark Seliger​For all his band's purported fascinations with life's uglier aspects, Slayer frontman Tom Araya sure is a cheerful guy. Calling from a moving bus in rural Washington state, Araya laughs seemingly every couple of minutes. Surely, though, it's this laissez-faire sense of humor that's gotten him through almost three decades of leading one of the most notorious, most influential metal bands on the planet.That's not an understatement. Nor should one take Araya's relatively chi

  August 4, 2009

• Get Punk Rock

  August 6, 2009

• Dog Days of Summer

  August 6, 2009

• Dethklok, Mastodon, High on Fire, and Converge at Pompano Beach November 8

  ​Fans of Adult Swim's Metalocalypse are probably not reading this post right now. No, they're feverishly searching out tickets for the show, which goes down on November 8 at Pompano Beach Amphitheater.If you're not familiar with Metalocalypse or Dethklok, the death metal band it profiles, here's the skinny. Dethklok is a sometimes fictional, sometimes virtual comedic death metal band created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blancha. If comedic death metal bands that sing songs like "Hatredcopter" an

  August 5, 2009

• Concert Review: Green Day At American Airlines Arena, August 4

  Photo by Sayre Berman​To view a full slideshow of pictures from the show, click here. Green DayTuesday, August 4American Airlines Arena Better Than: A show by any other pop-punk outfit playing today. The Review: Green Day rules, despite the fact they're all grown up. Sure, in their early days, the snotty punks from the Bay Area shared concert bills with Operation Ivy and sang about masturbation, low motivation, and whores. But those were the days of the first three albums,  1,039/S

  August 5, 2009

• Woodstock Promoter Michael Lang Started Out A Miami Dude

    The above video is from an 8mm film transfer shot by a fifteen year old South Florida kid on May 18, 1968. The images come from the Miami Pop Festival, which featured The Mothers Of Invention (Frank Zappa's band), Chuck Berry, Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and more. The Miami Pop Festival took place at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale. According to a Wikipedia entry on the subject, bands played on stages built on flatbed trailers.The concert was put together by a

  August 10, 2009

• Would You Like a Song with That Steak?

  August 13, 2009

• SoBe, So Soul

  August 13, 2009

• Concert Review: Mayhem Fest at Cruzan Amphitheatre, August 12

  photo by Ben Thacker​Click here to view a full slideshow of photos from the show.Mayhem Fest main stageBullet For My Valentine, Killswitch Engage, Slayer, and Marilyn MansonCruzan Amphitheatre, West Palm BeachWednesday, August 12, 2009Better Than: Sitting at an office desk!The Review:Mayhem Fest is Warped Tour Kevin Lyman's metally offspring, a similarly scaled summer package tour now in its second year. Last year's inaugural edition was fun in its relative scrappiness -- the line-up ranged ev

  August 14, 2009

• Reggae Legend Don Carlos Headlines Pulp Live This Thursday

  via doncarlosreggae.com​When it comes to roots-rock-reggae music, few old school legends that are still touring have the pedigree for great songwriting that Don Carlos possesses. Although he's often overshadowed by more popular Jamaican reggae singers like Burning Spear and Toots Hibbert, Carlos started out in the same era (early '70s) and arguably has better chops than both of them. His crooning on the classic song, "Sattamasagana," helped create a whole new style called one-drop reggae music

  August 18, 2009

• Jordin Sparks Added to Britney Spears' September 2 Show

  ​Jordin Sparks, American Idol's youngest winner has been added as another opening act on Britney Spears' second leg of "The Circus Starring Britney Spears" tour. So if you're counting reasons to buy your tickets to the show: Jordin Sparks, Kristina DeBarge, $50 million production, 50 dancers, magicians, clowns, acrobats, and a 34 truck convoy to carry all the equipment from show to show. Britney is really outdoing herself on this tour, and it's showing in ticket sales. According to a press rel

  August 19, 2009

• Riding with Poseidon

  August 20, 2009

• Concert Review: The Jonas Brothers at BankAtlantic Center, August 19

  photo by Michele Sandberg​To view a full slideshow of photos from the concert, click here. The Jonas BrothersBankAtlantic Center, SunriseAugust 19, 2009Better Than: The Backstreet Boys, N Sync, and NKOTB put together.The Review:I felt a little ashamed as I slinked up to the BankAtlantic Center for the Jonas Brothers concert on Wednesday night. Here I was, an over-30 woman venturing to the far reaches of I-595 to see a trio of barely post-pubescent boys.  Alone. (Long story -- my 9-year-ol

  August 21, 2009

• Bonus Free Music: New Mixtape From Shonie, Hosted by Slip N Slide DJ 5053

  ​You may remember rising local R&B queen Shonie from an episode of Prunk TV here on Crossfade from last May. Since then, she's been working on material for her upcoming debut album, to be released on Slip N Slide and Def Jam, for now titled Passionate... Pieces of Me. Recently, she scored some YouTube heat with a female-perspective response to Jeremiih's "Birthday Sex," Capitalizing on the Internet traction, Shonie's released a new mixtape, What the Game's Been Missing. It's hosted by DJ 5

  August 25, 2009

• Moon Tunes

  August 27, 2009

• A Concert with Wings

  August 27, 2009

• Concert Review: Can I Say II at Cinema Paradiso, August 30

  photo by Ian Witlen​To view a slideshow of photos from the event, click here.CP Rocks Presents: Can I Say-Sunday II With Tongues of the Heartworm and AnchormanCinema Paradiso, Fort LauderdaleSunday, August 30, 2009Better Than: An hour-long sermon The Review:This past Sunday marked the second installment of longtime local promoter Mark Pollack's "Can I Say Sunday" series at Cinema Paradiso in Fort Lauderdale. Conceived as a vinyl record swap, music-movie screening, and show, the event again cam

  September 1, 2009

• In the Name of Dub

  September 3, 2009

• Top Ten Thursdays: The Top Ten Greatest Rappers Alive (Let the Haterade Rain....)

  via lilwayne-online.comDid Weezy make the cut?​Self-proclaimed "greatest rapper alive" Lil Wayne performs Sunday at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise. That boast had serious clout when Tha Carter III dropped last year. But with Weezy's ruinous rock album Rebirth in delay hell -- latest news has it coming out in November -- it's time to reassess the "greatest rapper alive" title. By that, we mean the best rapper right now, and offer a top ten tally (in no particular order) after the jump.Lil'

  September 3, 2009

• Concert Review: Dubfest at Hollywood ArtsPark, September 5

  Bunny Wailer​DubFest Featuring Bunny Wailer, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Reel Big Fish, Goldfinger, and othersHollywood ArtsPark at Young CircleSaturday, September 5, 2009
 Better Than: Anything that has come to the ArtsPark in a very long time.The Review:Last Saturday, the rain just wouldn't let up. By the time 2:00 p.m. rolled around, yet another burst of storm clouds descended on downtown Hollywood. Promoters from AEG Live, along with DubFest's dozen vendors, looked annoyed as they scrambled to

  September 8, 2009

• Gilberto Santa Rosa

  September 10, 2009

• Dainamite: He's Explosive

  September 10, 2009

• Stargaze on Earth at LIV

  September 10, 2009

• Q&A With Termanology, Performing at PS14 Tomorrow Night

  To understand up-and-coming MC Termanology's commitment to the golden age of hip-hop, just take a look at the production credits on his new album, Time Machine. It's enough to make you cry: the Alchemist, Large Professor, Pete Rock, and even the untouchable DJ Premier all lend beats to this sophomore effort. And of course, the Puerto-Rican-extracted MC didn't get to work with top talent out of nowhere.As a teenager in his heavily Latin hometown of Lawrence, Massachusetts, he started his climb

  September 10, 2009

• Wisin y Yandel

  September 17, 2009

• Gypsies Minus the Fila Tracksuits

  September 24, 2009

• Brand Nubian

  October 1, 2009

• Metallica's Death Magnetic tour stops at BankAtlantic Center

  October 1, 2009

• Show Announcements: David Ellefson of Megadeth and Raphael Saadiq

  via flick user NRK P3​Do you think David Ellefson might miss playing for Megadeth? He left the band in 2002, and declined to rejoin the band when Dave Mustaine tried to get them back together in 2004. In fairness, every other original member of Megadeth declined to rejoin Mustain, save guitarist Chris Poland. But Ellefson has been downplaying his career with Megadeth, sometimes even failing to mention it during interviews. Sure there was a pretty big falling out thanks to some royalty issues,

  October 8, 2009

• Leonard Cohen

  October 15, 2009

• Kiss Alive/35 tour stops at BankAtlantic Center

  October 22, 2009

• MP3 of the Day: Black Metal Soundsystem Mix from Mixhell, Playing White Room November 7

  ​It's enough to make metalhead purists wail and gnash their teeth. Half of the producer/DJ duo Mixhell is Iggor Cavalera, who co-founded seminal Brazilian groove-metal act Sepultura when he was just 15 years old. For the next 20 years, he toured the world and sold out stadiums as the band's drummer, until a 2006 epiphany that came unexpected, at least to outsiders. He changed the spelling of his name from the original "Igor" to its present, two-G iteration, quit Sepultura, and, apparently, dis

  October 29, 2009

• Radio-Active Records Hosting Punk Rock Food Drive

  ​Punk rock has always been more about the attitude than the music. Unfortunately, that "punk rock attitude" is often portrayed as a hate-everything, outsider-only, anti-social group. While some of those things may be true from time to time, things like this can also really show off what punk rock is all about: On November 14, Radio-Active Records is hosting a Thanksgiving Food Drive in conjunction with Big Mama. There is no cover for the show, but if you're going to show up, you'd better bring

  October 29, 2009

• Q&A With Converge, Playing With Mastodon and Dethklok November 8

  photo by Matt MillerConverge, with Jacob Bannon second from right​To the uninitiated, the Massachusetts quartet Converge can be downright terrifying. And it's not because they appear clad in face paint or leather and chains -- this underground punk-bred foursome would never waste time on costume-like trappings. Rather, part of the reason they are so scary is because they are so physically unassuming, but so loud, and so clearly do not give a fuck. And neither does their crowd, famous for

  October 30, 2009

• Big D and the Kids Table, Unlikely Survivors of '90s Ska, Play Propaganda November 10

  Frankly, the many-membered Boston act Big D and the Kids Table were not, at their inception, among the front-runners for survival of ska's so-called "Third Wave" in the '90s. The band started a little too late - 1995 - to be seen as truly authentic at the movement's peak, around '97 or '98. Its hometown, too, was seen as an also-ran to the big ska epicenters of New York City and Southern California. What's more, the band's slap-happy, distorted punk guitar stylings alienated the genre's so-cal

  November 2, 2009

• Mixhell

  November 5, 2009

• Damas Gratis

  November 5, 2009

• Not that Sacha

  November 5, 2009

• More Than the Mr. + Mrs.

  November 5, 2009

• Concert Review: Dethklok, Mastodon, Converge and High on Fire at Pompano Beach Amphitheater, November 8

  photo by Ian WitlenClick here to view a full slideshow of photos from the show.Adult Swim Presents the Dethklok Tour 2009With High on Fire, Converge, Mastodon, and DethklokPompano Beach AmphitheaterSunday, November 8, 2009Better Than: Getting home in time for Robot Chicken.The Review: The current Dethklok tour, which landed at Pompano Beach Amphitheater this past Sunday, was a work of booking genius. A headlining set by a band birthed on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block got kiddies -- lit

  November 10, 2009

• The Get Up Kids Rise Again

  November 12, 2009

• Megadeth At Revolution on November 25... Yes, Really, Revolution

  ​One of the most tragicomic moments in the 2004 Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster features not the band itself, but rather Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. In an touchy-feely, on-camera counseling session, Mustaine reveals some seemingly major inferiority issues to Metallica's drummer Lars Ulrich. He even seems to come uncomfortably close to tears as he recalls how fans, in the '80s, would yell "Metallica!" at him on the streets.It's with that in mind that it only seems more stinging,

  November 16, 2009

• A Primer on the '90s Survivors at the Ska is Dead Tour, Thursday at Culture Room

  The fourth edition of the recurrent Ska is Dead tour lands at Culture Room on Thursday with a bill straight out of 1997. Ska has been reviled and declared dead for about the last 30 years, but it seems its horn-heavy effervescence just can't be dampened. The genre itself pre-dates reggae, coming out of Jamaica in the early '60s and incubating the careers of later stars. Outside of the island, though, its flickers in the mainstream have, to be honest, come through white punk kids' appropriat

  November 17, 2009

• Megadeth

  November 19, 2009

• The Sixth Annual Organic Hip Hop Artist Showcase

  November 19, 2009

• Ska Is Dead tour lands at Culture Room this Thursday

  November 19, 2009

• Concert Announcements: Hey Monday, Four Years Strong Coming to Culture Room.

  via Flickr user Linzera​A couple of shows chalk full of pop-punk are coming to Culture Room. First up is the West Palm Beach-based Hey Monday, who are on the verge of being pop-punk's next big thing. Sure pop-punk bands are a dime-a-trillion, but this local act has a beautiful female lead singer (in appearance and vocally) and a sound custom made the kids to love and bitter bloggers to scoff at. Unwarranted negativity aside, they've signed to Decaydance and just two years after going full time

  November 19, 2009

• Concert Review: The Ska Is Dead Tour at Culture Room, November 19

  ​The Ska Is Dead TourWith Deal's Gone Bad, Voodoo Glow Skulls, Mustard Plug, and the ToastersCulture Room, Fort LauderdaleThursday, November 19, 2009Better Than: Remembering the misled late-'90s mainstream notion of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones supposedly epitomizing ska.The Review:In 2009, ska sure isn't the healthiest genre of underground music. But it sure ain't dead, either -- or if it is, the several hundred people packed into Culture Room last night missed the memo. It was the most crowde

  November 20, 2009

• Head Spins: DJ Meta 4, Spinning at Space on Saturdays

  ​You want cool? Try this on for size. In a town and a time where everyone works every angle and drops every name, here comes a cat who, in this Head Spins interview, didn't mention the fact that we both knew each other in the old-school days of Jessie's and Rose's and Brandt's Break and Chili Pepper. Whether he did so to spare me the potential embarrassment of not immediately remembering, or simply because he wanted to stand strong on the laurels he's earned since then, is really beside the po

  November 23, 2009

• Showcase Schedule Is Up for the Miami Music Festival

  ​With all the Art Basel hype (only one week away, woooo), you can be forgiven if you forgot our previous announcement about the Miami Music Festival. In its inaugural year, it's a three-day shebang styled after bigger industry conferences like SXSW and CMJ, with simultaneous showcases at a bunch of different venues, and panels and workshops with industry folks. You can also be forgiven if that last sentence makes you really skeptical, considering how other large-scale local music festivals hav

  November 23, 2009