Where were the Cubans? That was the nagging question hanging in the air at this year’s MIDEM Americas conference. Cuban music may be hotter than ever, but it was virtually invisible at the convention. The official word out of MIDEM head Xavier Roy’s office was that the conference was “diversifying”…

Delano security is acting a bit nervous. It’s a beautiful afternoon in the hotel’s artfully sculpted grassy back yard, but today’s lounging guests look very different from the usual run of schmoozing businessmen, high-rolling European tourists, and Hollywood figures. Instead it’s a parade of thug chic, with a large gathering…

Kiss the Cameo Theatre goodbye. That’s the word from Chicago-based developer Ken Smith, who has just signed a ten-year lease to take over the operating reins at the Miami Beach venue. The winner of a fierce bidding war for the site, Smith intends to drastically overhaul the interior of the…

The word crossover hangs in the air at this year’s MIDEM Americas 1999 conference, which rolls into Miami Beach next week with a series of daytime panels and evening music showcases, all spotlighting Latin, Caribbean, and African artists and the record labels eager to sell them to American audiences. “What…

When drum and bass first washed up on these shores from London in the mid-Nineties, there was rampant talk that it would rejuvenate hip-hop. Drawing on the same Jamaican traditions of toasting MCs, cut-up DJ moves, and the manic street-level sensibility that sparked the first rap parties in the South…

Frank Consola, host of the morning jazz show on WDNA-FM (88.9) was a bit miffed at the implication in Kulchur that there’s pressure from station management to avoid pushing the programming envelope. He insists any parameters on his playlists are strictly self-imposed. “I’ve got free rein here,” Consola says of…

If one word describes Miami’s current club culture, it’s trance, the joyous, bubbly sound that currently dominates the playlists at the major nightclubs. “People like happy stuff. When they go out, they want to have a good time,” is how Duncan Ross explains trance’s triumph over house and techno as…

Miami’s beat-maestro extraordinaire DJ Craze is everywhere these days, winning the International Turntablist Federation’s scratching competition in Amsterdam, jetting off to Calgary, Canada, for a club date, and receiving accolades from the New York Times. His full-length debut Crazeë Musick is set for release later this month on San Francisco’s…

The population of accordion players in South Florida nearly triples this weekend when the Cajun/Zydeco Crawfish Festival 1999 arrives at the Fort Lauderdale Stadium. Don’t be put off by the goofy ads for the event, which focus on the multitude of food and beer vendors, neglecting to mention even one…

“I thought I could find him before the police did,” Gary Indiana says with a laugh from his upstate New York home, referring to his initial attraction to the media spectacle that was the Andrew Cunanan manhunt. With the killing of Gianni Versace, however, a murder spree that already had…

Country music isn’t the first thing that springs to mind when you hear the name Wyclef Jean, whose work with the Fugees as well as numerous remixes for others has left an ubiquitous stamp on pop music. Still there he was, performing alongside the Mavericks, Brooks and Dunn, and Trisha…

Churchill’s, the Little Haiti nightspot famed for underground rock, has always relished its reputation as a club situated on the wrong side of the tracks. The locale adds a bohemian tinge that gibes well with owner Dave Daniels’s insistence on maintaining an oasis of unpretentiousness in a town whose nightlife…

“If you want to get energized about dance music, go to London for a few days,” declared DJ Times editor Jim Tremayne at the opening panel for this year’s Winter Music Conference. “It’s the mainstream there!” Of course Tremayne could have just stepped out onto the streets of Miami. The…

“It’s an adventure you can still have in America, just like Neal Cassady on the road. You can’t hop the freights anymore, but you can chase the Grateful Dead around,” Jerry Garcia explained in a 1989 interview. “You can have all your tires blow out in some weird town in…

Churchill’s owner Dave Daniels was pleased to find his bar — a focal point for Miami’s underground rock scene — immortalized in Elmore Leonard’s new crime thriller Be Cool. A sequel to Leonard’s Get Shorty, this latest installment returns to the life of Miami Beach loan shark-cum-Hollywood-producer Chili Palmer. This…

From March 13 to March 17, DJ culture looms large as more than 4000 participants descend on Miami for the annual Winter Music Conference, a worldwide gathering of the dance-music industry. During the day most of the action centers around the Fontainebleau Hilton, home to the conference’s many workshops and…

“You’re not going to hear as much about bands anymore. That whole underground rock-and-roll scene is ending,” explains Toby Hauser, better known as DJ t.farmer. He’s part of the drum and bass lineup Thursday evenings at Beatcamp, a popular party held at the Mission nightclub on South Beach. “Sure, you’ve…