This past February, as a trifle, two buddies got together to jam through free-form guitar exercises while smoking a bowl for the good of mankind. It should have been a one-time thing, but it took root, grew wildly, and flowered excessively. Now, almost a year later, that early impermanent duo…
Every year, the Organic Hip Hop Conference rallies conscious troops from all over the continent and beyond for a weekend of fighting for better communities through activism, vegetarianism, and music. Sponsored by nonprofit organization Difference Makers and Urban America newspaper, the 2009 edition will kick off this Friday with a…
As both the precocious bard and poet laureate of the Laurel Canyon elite, Jackson Browne created a late-’60s/early-’70s repertoire that found him standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the other notables of the day. Alongside peers such as Joni Mitchell, James Taylor, and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Browne helped define the West…
Proof that music journalists are sometimes good for something, Thomas Koch, AKA DJ T, made his true mark in the industry by founding Groove magazine some 20 years ago. With Koch at the helm as editor and publisher, it quickly became the bible in his native Germany for everything related…
One of the most tragicomic moments in the 2004 Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster features not the band but rather Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. In a touchy-feely on-camera counseling session, Mustaine reveals some major inferiority issues with Metallica’s drummer, Lars Ulrich. He even seems to come uncomfortably close to…
The Golden Filter’s take on late-’70s downtown glitz has taken Manhattan’s club scene (and the blogosphere) by storm. Consisting of record producer Stephen and vocalist Penelope, the duo is notable for its chilly arpeggios, pulsating beats, and plush vocals — as well as their elusive personas. (No, those aren’t their…
Ladies and Gentlemen, if you’re going to head out to a single concert in 2010, this is it. Bon Jovi is bringing his perfect hair, golden pipes, and a plethora of iconic riffs to BankAtlantic Center on April 18. Bon Jovi released The Circle, his 10th studio album, last week…
With her much-anticipated solo album, I Love You, out since August, the sassy rapper/singer Amanda Blank is repping Philly hard during Art Basel Miami Beach. Well, at least on Wednesday, when she’ll be performing live twice in one night. The biggest booking coup? An opening slot for Ebony Bones at…
The fourth edition of the recurrent Ska is Dead tour lands at Culture Room on Thursday with a bill straight out of 1997. Ska has been reviled and declared dead for about the last 30 years, but it seems its horn-heavy effervescence just can’t be dampened. The genre itself pre-dates…
A couple strangely grouped show announcements today. First, the jam train continues to roll through Broward with The Subdudes scheduled to play Culture Room on January 30. The NOLA based bluesy funk rockers have been together for 22 years (with the occasional hiatus for side projects) and have put out…
That John Belushi “College” poster on your wall is not art. Neither is that stark black and white Scarface/Pulp Fiction poster. Or the Periodic Table of Mixology that hangs in your kitchen, no matter how convenient it’s proven from party to party. But we understand: Art isn’t cheap. That is,…
Click here to view more photos from this show.YACHTSaturday, November 14, 2009Electric Pickle, MiamiBetter Than: Yachting on Biscayne Bay.Hong Kong is a long way from Miami, but YACHT was somehow convinced to do a small, two-city Florida trek between the Chinese financial capital and subsequent Korean dates. Logistically it doesn’t…
One of the most tragicomic moments in the 2004 Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster features not the band itself, but rather Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine. In an touchy-feely, on-camera counseling session, Mustaine reveals some seemingly major inferiority issues to Metallica’s drummer Lars Ulrich. He even seems to come uncomfortably…
Well, this kind of steals the thunder of the band’s big Miami debut tomorrow night at Poplife. But we just got word that the band is playing a free show at Radio-Active Records in Fort Lauderdale tonight. Actually, we heard about it before, but since it was billed as just…
O.P.S. stands for Once a Piece of Shit. They are a Miami punk rock band. Tonight they open for old style Southern Cali hardcore punk band Battalion of Saints at Churchill’s Pub in Little Haiti. If you’ve never been to a show there you should check it out. It will…
Click here to view photos from this show.The Get Up KidsWith Mansions and Kevin DevineThursday, November 12, 2009Revolution, Fort LauderdaleBetter Than: Actually regressing back to 1999.The Review:For better or for worse, the Get Up Kids’ reunion comes with no new album, just a tour (at least for now), behind the…
Ask any salsa lover worth his salt (or white powder of more dubious origin) which is the hardest hitting, most hip swinging salsa track of all time and a heated debate is likely to ensue. But you can bet your ass that Joe Arroyo’s “Rebelion” would be in the mix…
La Quinta Estacion (The Fifth Station) only rose to Latin pop prominence in the U.S. in recent years, first making an impact with their 2004 sophomore release Flores de Alquiler (Leased Flowers). It may have taken them a minute to catch on, but once they did, single after single became…
Alterna-rock band State Radio is on tour and has just announced a February 10 date at Culture Room. The Boston based band released their third album, Let it Go, at the end of September and continued their progression toward heavy guitar driven music and strong political views. The coolest thing…
If you’re nostalgic for the punk of the ’90s, when it still had some muscle (despite the osteoporosis that was setting in), catch Margate punk band The Shakers, a group that formed in 1994 and whose blend of punk and hardcore would have been an appropriate addition during the Warped Tour’s early…
Downtown-type promoters love booking 2 Live Crew. (It hasn’t been too long since they played the Vagabond, and there were those shows at the old Studio A before that.) This always creates a magical mash-up of a crowd that falls along a very, very wide irony spectrum. The thing is,…
For most, the thought of Southern California in the ’80s brings to mind a Less Than Zero-style existence full of cocaine and Ray-Bans. But the sun-baked swath of turf from L.A. south became, at the beginning of the decade, the cradle of searing underground punk. London’s punk had its angular,…
