Each year, for six-straight days in March, our city gets a little louder. Its known as Miami Music Week, and it has become one of the world’s greatest migrations of dance music lovers. Like thirsty buffalo in search of water, both tourists and locals alike will brave the dangers of…
For live artists, praising the city they have found themselves playing in is an all but essential practice. Whether it be New York City or some Podunk town in nowhere, U.S.A., the codification of concert etiquette has all but strong-armed artists into proclaiming “I love/thank you/ ‘insert municipality of choice…
There are six days in March where the 305 is inundated with every DJ and dance music-lover this side of the equator. They call it Miami Music Week, but for the music lovers who don’t know EDM from WTF, you don’t have to spend the entire week with your head…
Last year was my first time at Ultra, and when I close my eyes and think about it, one image in particular keeps popping up. It was the final night and Eric Prydz was playing at the Carl Cox & Friends Arena. The arena was an open-air semicircular enclosure and…
Gorky Aguila and Lia Villares, members of Cuban rock band, Porno Para Ricardo, were detained for 24 hours upon returning to Cuba’s Jose Marti Airport. The activists were coming back from Miami, where they performed shows at Cuba 8 Museum and Performing Art Center and Market Gallery. “When they got there, they…
Fifteen years isn’t very long. You still can’t legally drive a car or do any fun adult things. Unless, of course, you’re a tattoo shop, and more specifically, a tattoo shop on Calle Ocho. “After the Furious Dudes show at Sidebar back in December, I talked to Raul about doing…
Back in the mid-2000s, Studio A was known as Miami’s quintessential underground party spot, a place where the Magic City’s misfits would go to see everyone from M.I.A. to Moby put on raw, uncensored performances. It was a mid-sized venue that hosted some of the 305’s most infamous weekly parties,…
Anders Sherberger is a man with a plan. He, along with his company Massive Ideas, has been seamlessly putting on parties and events that combine live music with electronic music in Miami for a while now. Filling a void such as this is the mark of a promising promoter. Anders’…
The Heavy Pets have always had a conflicted relationship with cover songs. “We always had a soft spot for covers, but we avoided playing them for a long time because we always thought it was overdone in our scene,” explains singer and guitarist Jeff Lloyd, who helped form the band…
Most dance fans would kill to travel the world and attend all the dance music festivals this earth has to offer, but for Geronimo, the head of EDM Programming at SiriusXM Radio, it’s just another day at the office. As the program director for SiriusXM dance channels, he handles all…
The term “underrated” is relative. One could argue that the Beatles are underrated considering Parliament hasn’t renamed Liverpool after them. But, for our purposes here, let’s boil it down to this: an artist who is not getting the attention he or she deserves. These days DJ rankings tend to be…
It’s rarely good news when a long-standing and beloved bar shuts its doors and opens as something completely different. But that wasn’t the case this past week when the space formerly known as Magnum Lounge reopened as the Anderson. “Miami is a city that likes change,” says Anderson co-owner Elad…
The first time we tried to track down Martin Garrix — born Martijn Garritsen — for a phone interview, he was on a skiing holiday, cruising through the mountains. Reception was spotty. It’s an easy image to conjure: The EDM prodigy sliding down a pristine mountainside in a designer jumpsuit,…
Thirty years after guest-starring in an episode of Miami Vice —in which he played con man “Phil the Shill” — Phil Collins now calls the Magic City home. Following his two sons who attended school in South Florida, Collins bought a home here last August and is hoping to give…
Alex Omes was found dead in his bed January 12, 2015, the day before his lawsuit against Ultra Music Festival, which he cofounded, was set for trial. From the get-go, his death was shrouded in mystery. Police found a vial of coke in the Biscayne Boulevard apartment where he lived…
Rihanna’s success has never been bound to language or a cohesive set of lyrics. Cast her effortless chic on the beat du jour and all you need is a few syllables on the hook to create joints like “Disturbia” and “Umbrella,” two of the best-selling digital singles of all time…
If there ever was a party that epitomized the true attitude of Winter Music Conference and Miami Music Week, it was Sunday School for Degenerates, which took place at several locations during its run, most famously at Pawn Shop and Ice Palace Studios. It started out as a 24-hour event…
Going on a year now, clubgoers seeking respite from Miami’s formulaic commercial nightlife soundtrack have been able to find it at the Electric Pickle every Tuesday, thanks to the folks behind the weekly Love Below. Those folks would be Manuvers, Pazmal, Gamma Bot, Telescope Thieves, and Jun-Ill, the beloved DJ/producers…
We first learned of Major Lazer’s plans to throw a Havana concert back in January of this year. And just last week, the Rolling Stones told the world that it planned to do the same. With time, each big leap in American and Cuban relations becomes less jarring. Even news…
DJ, producer, frontman for The Ancient Moons, label boss, and epic party organizer, Damian Lazarus is one of the most revered and respected figures not just in underground house music, but in the U.K. dance scene in general. Like a Dylan Thomas poem come to life, Lazarus has built a…
10. Sinatra Sings Sinatra: A Multi-Media Centennial Celebration with Frank Sinatra Jr. Presented by Jazz Roots. Friday, March 11, 8 p.m. Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-949-6722; arshtcenter.org. Tickets cost $25 to $130 plus fees via arshtcenter.org. From Frank Sinatra’s 100th birthday celebration with special dinners and Jack Daniel’s at the…
“We all grow and evolve on many levels, and I’ve always found refuge in the spiritual realm,” Alex Diaz says. “It’s always saved me from the insanity of the world, and helps me find peace within. At the time of recording Orange Violet, I felt I was outgrowing many things…”
