The music industry virtually shut down this past week while every flack, hack, and sad-sack musician in the land converged on Austin, Texas, for the huge showcase convention SXSW (short for South by Southwest). There are panel discussions and such, but the big draw is the bounty of showcases. There’s…
Lamenting the demise of the vinyl configuration for recorded music is at this point as tiresome and pointless as the Simpson trial. The “wax” many of us grew up spinning now makes up a minuscule portion A perhaps three percent A of the market. Live with it. And celebrate the…
This space is devoted to musical reportage and commentary. It is not supposed to be an obituary column. Sadly, fate isn’t cooperating. I remember nights a lifetime ago watching Johnny “Stix” Galway illustrate what great rock drumming is all about. Often those nights consisted of shows featuring the legendary Bobs…
The Replacements were considered by many to be the best rock band in the world about ten years ago. Let It Be (1984) and Tim (1985) captured the foursome at its apex by blending the hard stuff A “Gary’s Got a Boner” and an inspired cover of KISS’s “Black Diamond,”…
JoJo hasn’t seen another bear since he was separated from his mother as a cub. Never having hunted or fished, he subsists instead on dog food, fruit, and table scraps. When he’s not swinging on the tire that hangs from a chain attached to the ceiling of his 12-by-25-foot cage,…
Sometimes the best way to measure the health of your pond is to find out who’s dipping their toes into the water. On that basis, Miami’s rock scene is robust. Billboard recently visited these shores with a piece that noted that Mary Karlzen, Nil Lara, and several others have signed…
The future must look bright for local polka-punkers I Don’t Know, who use accordion prominently in their songs, and occasionally toss in other instrumentation not normally associated with high-energy rock. First, this week the Rhino label will issue a collection of music by accordion greats (Flaco Jimenez, Clifton Chenier) and…
Isn’t this starting to read like an obituary column? If it isn’t a club closing, it’s a band breaking up — we have some bad news and some bad news. What’s ironic is that 1994 was a boon year for the (inter)national music business. Nearly 200 concerts grossed a million…
Back in 1978 violence and enmity were ripping Jamaica in two. On one side were supporters of socialist prime minister Michael Manley, on the other were backers of Manley’s conservative rival Edward P.G. Seaga. In the middle was bloodshed and rioting. That was the year someone tried to assassinate legendary…
“Whoever is famous at the moment is who I’m compared to,” says Ani DiFranco, clearing her throat early one morning after spending most of the previous night driving from Toronto to New York City. “I’d like to compile these articles where they say I have a style like Joni Mitchell,…
Noise bands have no credibility. It’s just…um, uh…noise. A passing fad, a selfish indulgence, a sham. Except. Except that among all the South Florida acts currently trying to make their way into the national limelight, only a few have any chance of reaching as high a level so quickly as…
The Talkhouse is closing. No it’s not. The Talkhouse is closing. No it’s not. After months of rumors and rumor-quashing, the owners of the Stephen Talkhouse have announced that the beloved Beach venue will go the way of Washington Square, Cactus Cantina, and countless other clubs. The Talkhouse, which opened…
Johnny Cash came to town the other night and killed a myth, perhaps just to watch it die. Johnny Cash is not seven feet tall. His music (not to mention the Man in Black image) always has made him seem so imposing, the way he takes simple rhythms and melodies…
Dateline: January 19, 1997. The ViaWarSon corporation — formed last year with the mergers of Viacom, Warner Bros., and Sony — announced today that their Blockbuster Entertainment Division has completed negotiations to purchase Yardbird Records, the last remaining independent record store in Florida. All recorded music — from the inception…
One year ago WSHE radio was considered an enemy of local rock. Ernesto Gladden replaced Bill Pugh as program director, the station dropped Glenn Richards’s local-music show, and, people on the Miami rock scene claimed, SHE was doing everything it could to avoid — avoid — playing any music made…
Chemical water pollution lowers testosterone levels in male alligators.
No one ever has disputed Robbie Gennet’s piano prowess — his eight-hours per night practice regimen doesn’t hurt, nor does the fact he began playing at age six — but that alone isn’t enough to satisfy his dreams of pop stardom. With earlier songs such as “Niggle’s Parish” and “Jones,”…
Mikey Dread has kept the reggae fires burning for almost 20 years.
Now that self-proclaimed “fanatical music fan” Quentin Tarantino has been enshrined as America’s rock and roll arbiter of taste, he needs to be called on his musical pretenses (before his next film comes out). There’s been more pulp written about Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction than anyone — even the filmmaker himself…
As bleak as 1994 was, with deaths of important figures too numerable to list here, it’s nice that the time is neatly framed, as if calendar measures meant something. As for 1995: Think positive. I’m predicting that to be the next year’s big trend: a move toward positive approaches, a…
Don’t ever say that Florida Attorney General Robert A. Butterworth isn’t a rock and roller. Actually it’s the local bureau of the attorney general’s office that’s throwing the party, but the boss and his Tallahassee posse are invited (sorry, but the public isn’t) to the office’s holiday party, where the…
Midday talk grouch Neil Rogers referred to him on the air as “Boy Gary.” In print, Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel critic Tom Jicha blamed him for a “ratings hemorrhage.” WIOD-AM (610), the radio station where he and Rogers worked, fired him. So Gary Bruce has done what any red-blooded American…
