It hit him hard, the passing of a good friend. “I’m dead on my feet right now,” says blues guitarist-singer-songwriter Bob Margolin in a weary drawl. Just the other day saxophonist Fats Jackson, best known for his work with Elmore James and Little Walter, had gone on to his final…
The rock of South Florida’s Sixties is about to be born again, thanks to a reunion of some of the era’s stars. Exactly 28 years ago, the WFUN-AM Boss Survey had the Kinks at number one with “A Well-Respected Man.” Also hitting the charts that week: Frank Sinatra, Tom Jones,…
As the demand for new and innovative music increases, some bands are becoming tougher to peg. Their music contorts, manipulates, stretches to create new variations within a genre. Rap borrowing from rock and jazz, jazz from rap and rock, and rock from everything. There are even degrees of rock ranging…
Traditionally, thanks to an embargo between two sovereign nations, Cuban music floated across the Florida Straits by way of bootleg copies or, in the case of internationally recognized bands such as Irakere, through a third country. In the latter case, the act tours abroad, a performance is recorded, licensed, and…
Do these things really happen? Johnny Clyde swears it’s true. He was about fifteen, gawking at an electric guitar in the window of a music shop in Houston’s Third Ward district, when a man approached him and asked if he had a band. Turns out the guy owned a local…
Most musicians resent categorization, hate being compared to other musicians. Critics, on the other hand, rely on comparison to give consumers some idea of the band’s sound — oh, dude, it’s like if Deborah Harry fronted the Beatles (or whatever). The musicians are right, really — it’s pretty much an…
“You Better Get It in Your Soul.” Bassman Charlie Mingus’s song title could be considered the watchword of jazz in the Sixties, especially for African-American jazz musicians. Young piano virtuoso Herbie Hancock created the greasy R&B monster jam “Watermelon Man.” Established piano man Horace Silver rolled out brass-fueled fandangos such…
Koko Taylor Force of Nature (Alligator) By Bob Weinberg If any singer can be considered a force of nature, it’s Koko Taylor. Howlin’ Wolf knew it the first time he heard her in a Chicago nightclub; before Koko’s mike had been turned off, she was signed by the erstwhile Mr…
Eddy the Baptist. It’s not what most South Floridians think of when they hear the name Eddy Grant. As the artist himself readily admits, the knee-jerk response to that moniker is “Electric Avenue.” Boosted by exposure on MTV back when that moribund institution was still a scrappy, eclectic upstart, the…
While Eddy Grant’s endeavor to socafy the world through his Ice label is a fresh twist, he’s hardly the first pop star to turn up his own imprint. Long before he traded in his name for a psychosexual doodle, “retired” from studio recording, and announced his intention to concentrate on…
It couldn’t be more fitting that the sweltering city of Phoenix is haven to one of metal’s high priests. From the ashes of Judas Priest rises Fight, with former J.P. frontman Rob Halford spreading his wings, or at least pumping his ironclad lungs, over the metal airwaves with War of…
It was my first rock concert. Ozzy Osbourne had canceled one date and then rescheduled, so my anticipation was reaching a second climax. I entered the heavily trodden worshipping grounds of the now demolished Hollywood Sportatorium, knee-high to a swarm of security guards armed with flashlights and harsh glares. I…
Two years ago, in the pages of this newspaper, I wrote an open letter to the Mavericks nominating myself as a replacement for founding guitarist Ben Peeler, who had just been dropped from the band. They chose to go with a Texan, David Lee Holt, instead. They’ll tell you it…
The Watchmen McLarenFurnaceRoom (MCA) By Steven Almond Just because the world’s two best bands were born and reared in Canada doesn’t mean Americans should have to remove their heads from their asses long enough to hail a terrific new Canadian band. After all, the removal of the national head from…
I’m just a guy who watches life go by and sometimes writes songs about it. — Frank Zappa, 1985 A simple statement from a complicated man. I first met Frank Zappa in March 1968, backstage at Thee Image, a Sunny Isles bowling alley converted into a “psychedelic dungeon,” to borrow…
Rooster Head Tasting Your Molester (Swelter/Style) By Greg Baker Is this a musical recording about child sexual abuse? The repercussions of a violent society reflected in its art? Does this represent a change in sound direction from their three earlier albums? Do we really have to say goodbye? Just remember,…
Had Patrick Codenys been present when Edison first demonstrated the light bulb, his reaction would most likely have been, “That’s cool. But what else can it do?” Front 242 (Codenys plus Jean-Luc de Meyer, Richard Jonckheere, and Daniel Bressanutti) has devoted the past decade to taking the same juice that…
No, no, no. With all due respect to a certain beer brewer who decided to spend jillions of advertising dollars in a futile effort to convince the American public that its suds don’t taste just like every other brand even though we all know that the only reason more than…
On the other side of the world water swirls counterclockwise down the drain, animals carry their offspring in pouches, and a left-handed slide guitarist plays a right-handed guitar from over top of the neck using his index finger. “The first guitar I was given,” says southpaw strummer Dave Hole in…
Michel Camilo’s voice is excited. Hoarse, but excited. The world-renowned pianist has just returned to his native Dominican Republic to perform and to pick up one of his government’s highest honors: the Heraldic Order of Christopher Columbus, akin to knighthood. And the media, who weren’t hipped to it until the…
How cold is it in Milwaukee? “Too cold,” says Inner Circle’s Ian Lewis, on the phone from a suburb of the Wisconsin city. Of course, it’s cold in Sweden, too. Inner Circle, on the other hand, couldn’t be hotter. And, for not the first time, the popular Miami-based reggae outfit…
This political correctness thing’s gotten so out of hand there aren’t too many words left that won’t offend someone somewhere. Americans don’t call themselves Americans any more, they come up with ethnic hyphenations. You better not call a woman anything more affectionate than “woman.” And people lacking certain senses or…
