Life would have turned out quite differently for Louis Amanti had the jazz singer’s first career choice worked out. “I started playing baseball with my grandpa when I was three, and apparently I could hit the ball,” he laughs. “I played toward high school. I was scouted by the Tampa…
If the title “the Cuban Adele” sounds like a big deal, it’s because it is. To be dubbed as such means to be in the company of one of the most talented vocalist on the planet. “It’s an honor,” says Yoli Mayor, the 20-year-old that’s been called “the Cuban Adele”…
“Everyone thinks because of the way we look that we’re a Goth band, but we’re post-punk indie rockers,” explains singer Mychael Ghost over the phone. His band, Astari Nite, is often thrown into a box based strictly on appearances, but it’s not fair to typecast this diverse group of Miami…
I’ll never forget when 69 Boyz’ “Tootsie Roll” came on at an elementary school dance in 1997. This wasn’t the first time I had heard the Miami bass hit — my PE coach had already used the tune to choreograph a line dance for the girls to perform at an…
“It was a challenge. I had never before sung in the snow or the cold or the altitude we had in Aspen,” 21-year-old singer songwriter Brika tells us during a short break from the recording studio. Last weekend she performed at the X Games in Colorado. Not easy for a…
If you’ve been at all acquainted with the music scene in the past few years, you’ve likely heard of Pocket of Lollipops, a pair of locals who describe their own unique rhythmic flavor as “posh punk.” The musical mainstays have been performing around these parts since 2008, and from the looks…
Bubbles plows a big blue bucket along the border of his enclosure, tracing an invisible line. His fleshy feet thud against the concrete path. “He’s just letting us know he’s here,” one of his caretakers says. Bubbles is behind a steel-wire fence with the rest of the apes. “He’s big,”…
The Mavericks have never been the kind of band that readily fits one simple and convenient niche. “We never got picked up by the mainstream country market,” singer/songwriter/guitarist Raul Malo told us in an interview last September. “Of course, you can argue that we never were part of it. The…
Ask the world to close its eyes and say the first thing that comes to mind when it thinks of Miami nightlife. Chances are you’ll get a lot of Scarface, boobs, EDM, bottle service, and the occasional naked, ketchup-covered woman twerking at a Johnny Rockets. All of these things are technically…
Tony Robbins, Wayne Dyer, and Zig Ziglar could have never foreseen that the most well known motivational speaker of the last fifty years hasn’t penned a single self-help book (although don’t rule out the possibility). In 2016, Snapchat brought to the forefront a man who’s become so popular for…
Miami-based DJ and producer Michael Brun has become an international presence over the past five years via progressive house hits such as “See You Soon” and “Tongue Tied July.” But one particular spot on the globe still holds sway over his heart — his native Haiti. Though he’s long incorporated…
“He was quiet.” Imagine that. Of all the words in all the land one could use to describe DJ Khaled, Gary Holzenthal chose “quiet.” It would have been less jarring to learn that his best friend was a llama. “We have had our fair share of characters, but as far…
Perhaps you’ve been wondering why we haven’t really been covering DJ Khaled’s spectacular rise from zany hip-hop character to national icon. He’s a Miami-based artist. He’s ridiculous and fascinating. His story is important and hilarious and inspiring all at once. He meets all our criteria. Well, for the last…
Since Clarence Reid died last Sunday from liver cancer and organ failure, the Miami legend’s stage persona, Blowfly, has been eulogized in Rolling Stone and the New York Times. Celebrities from Ice-T to the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Flea to Run the Jewel’s El-P have paid tribute to Reid on…
On June 26 and 27, the Cure will perform two back-to-back shows at Miami’s Bayfront Park. But chances are they won’t cover themselves in fake blood and take an evil doo-doo onstage. Luckily, there’s a brave soul out there who will. Miami’s Notorious Nastie, the Miami parody artist who brought…
Two years ago, an alien hopped into a spacecraft with his space babe and travelled from Miami to Austin in hopes of infecting the local scene with psychedelic sound waves. There, he merged with three like-minded beings and the rest, as they say, is history. Such is more or less…
The Revolution might not be televised, but it is blasting nonstop through the airwaves, pumping an infectious and continuous beat from the northern Keys all the way to southern West Palm Beach. “A lot of stations have tried to bring EDM, or an electronic dance music format, to Miami, but…
For many health-conscious stoners, vape is life. So, it’s only fitting that Miami indie pop/hip-hop band, Furious Leisure, just dropped “Vape Life,” an ode to the healthier, less smokey version of marijuana consumption: the vaporizer. The video is stoner comedy meets educational film. Furious Leisure’s Bodizepha and Damian Major, accompanied…
2016 started off a little sour – like when Jack Daniels goes bad and tastes sugary — just awful. To have Lemmy’s passing followed so closely by David Bowie’s was too much for folks with progressive musical tastes. But to find out on an otherwise pleasant Sunday afternoon that another…
“The sound of the world right now.” That’s what you’ll be hearing at the North Beach Bandshell when the TransAtlantic Festival returns to the Magic City on April 8 and 9. Going on its 14th year, the Rhythm Foundation – the organization behind the fest – will be bringing the…
It’s a sad day for Miami music. It’s a sad day for all music. Yesterday afternoon on Blowfly’s Facebook page, a message was posted declaring Clarence Reid, also known by the stage name Blowfly, had entered hospice care after suffering organ failure as a result of terminal liver cancer. Dear Blowfly…
Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign is not going smoothly. Unless the heads of all the dictionaries in America get together to change the definition of “smoothly” to mean: when one’s house explodes in a fiery spurt of diarrhea. If they do that, then, yes, Jeb Bush’s 2016 presidential campaign is…
