Serenity (Universal) Joss Whedon’s film version of his TV series Firefly came and went like a lightning bug in October; the predicted phenom stuck around the multiplex just long enough to lose millions. But like Firefly, which sold enough boxed sets to warrant a movie, Serenity’s bound to do well…
You can find these and more NYE listings in our Listings Search on the Night & Day page. Acqua. New Years at Acqua: Kickoff the evening celebrations with a festive champagne reception at 8:30 p.m. followed by a gourmet seven-course dinner with pairing wines at 9:15 p.m. Live jazz will…
The plates placed before us each contained two thin, bloody red strips of duck magret draped over an ever-so-slightly sweet risotto, rife with cooked cubes of Granny Smith apple and teeny flecks of pancetta. “Pace yourselves,” I said to my dinner companions, for this was the first serve of a…
Those who will sit around wondering whether Munich is the work of an anti-Israeli or just a self-hating Jew — which is to say, Steven Spielberg, who has been branded both by Israeli officials and newspaper columnists in recent weeks — give the movie and its maker far too much…
The notion that Wolf Creek is opening nationwide Christmas Day brings to mind the scene from Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, in which a young boy opens up his holiday gift and finds a severed head. The movie is about as diametrically opposed to the concept of “goodwill toward…
A Nate Dogg hook is like an extra-large pinch of Essence of Emeril. His cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-pillow, soulful-stoic menace can kick any well-appointed banger up a notch or three (see Dr. Dre, Snoop, or Obie Trice). But what happens when the assisted superstar relegates himself to the role of assistant? Here we…
Akon has personality beyond his reedy tenor, which is why he has more hits than Mark Morrison and Kevin Lyttle combined. He also avoids hysterics, but this drab ballad — yet another that deals with social and political unrest in the form of a question — has little to recommend…
All rolling, smoldering foam considered, savory see-ya “Broken Drum” stood out as one of Guero’s more thoughtful moments. None of this understated rumble is lost in translation when reclusive electronica idlers Boards of Canada get their sun-blanched mittens on it. Beck’s original dark path of reverberating, deep-sea guitars is switched…
DJ/promoter/ journalist James F!@#$%^ Friedman clearly knows what it is to spread himself thin — it becomes his aesthetic on his DJ mix Go Commando with James F!@#$%^ Friedman. Friedman saws through current dance subgenres (acidic electrohouse, stadium dance rock, bubblegum electro, and revivalist space disco) as if they were…
These tracks constitute a genre only if Louis Jordan and Frank Sinatra are part of one called Dad’s Music and Ashlee Simpson and Raffi are grouped in one called Lil’ Sis. Considered chronologically, some other trends emerge: before, during, and after Lil’ Jon had a novelty factor; pre- and post-Caribbean;…
Whether we’re talking about her demonic warble, which soared like a transcendental battle cry above her band’s shambolic, proto-punk arrangements, or her unkempt andro-butch glamour, which enamored legendary homosexual photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, Seventies rocker Patti Smith has made a career of finding beauty in the grotesque. With the help of…
Mary J. Blige knows her listeners turn to her for drama, and that’s a problem. Her awareness of her misery-queen status bogs down her seventh album, The Breakthrough, which finds Blige just as invested in autobiography, except now she’s happy. As an album of love songs dedicated to her husband,…
Although he took his musical apprenticeship with the legendary Junior Wells, an evening with Albert Castiglia isn’t just another cruise through the blues. A consummate showman, Castiglia peppers his performances with witty repartee, offbeat and impromptu asides, original songs, and material mined from a diverse classic rock repertoire. The Coral…
With the exception of a handful of songs — most notably 1999’s “Yo Se Que Es Mentira” (“I Know It’s a Lie”) and 2001’s “Dime Corazón” (“Tell Me, My Love”) — Cuban pop balladeer Amaury Gutierrez has enjoyed little commercial success since leaving the communist island more than a decade…
DJ Tom Laroc has thousands of records, and every Thursday he brings more than 2000 of them to the Pawn Shop to spin a seven-hour mix that encompasses everything from hip-hop and R&B to reggae and freestyle. His sets have become increasingly popular with the bobbing masses of SoBe exiles…
Although he first landed on the scene in 1989 with his classic Frankie Knuckles collaboration “Tears,” another decade would pass before Satoshi Tomiie implanted himself in the national dance-floor consciousness. His critically acclaimed 2000 debut, Full Lick, featured the hits “Love in Traffic” and “Up in Flames” and established Tomiie…
The dance music festival season has traditionally begun in Candyland. Held at Nocturnal this year, the Candyland event has been around even longer than Winter Music Conference and holds the title of Florida’s longest-running dance music festival. In the past ten years, it has played host to everyone from Josh…
In an unfortunate confluence of the Hebrew and Christian calendars, Hanukkah begins at sundown December 25, which means that we Jews will have to deal with the ol’ “Hanukkah? Isn’t that the Jewish Christmas?” thing from those unenlightened goyim a lot more than usual this year. Still, when it comes…
It has been fifteen years since Albita Rodriguez decided to pack her bags and leave Cuba. And much has changed with the expressive and vocally gifted Cuban sonera/songwriter. Gone is the closely cropped hair. Gone are the Armani suits and fedora hats. But one thing that hasn’t changed is her…
Last month it was revealed that Sony BMG Music had been covertly installing spyware on its new CDs to combat music piracy. Sony used a program called XCP, created by UK firm First 4 Internet, that employed a cloaking system to hide the proprietary media player so consumers were forced…
The Source Latino made its debut on newsstands across the nation this week. The South Beach-based publication is the first nationally distributed magazine to concentrate solely on the Latin hip-hop and reggaeton markets. While this is an exciting development for these woefully underreported genres, the actions and stature of its…
When asked about favorite Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa memories, most people remember the good times. Ask a musician the same question and, instead of poignant tales of seasonal mirth, you hear stories of embarrassment and crime. There’s a lesson about artists wrapped up in there somewhere, but it’s a little…
