Critic's Notebook

It was just after midnight on a Friday in September 2000 at Mac’s Club Deuce in South Beach.

The first time I heard of Rick Moon was in 2012. He was a few years sober then, and his first EP Tired of Sleeping had just been released. The production was shiny and crisp, the songs fun and refreshing. It was a pop album made by a creative and obsessive…

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater will go down as one of the greatest video games of our generation. Originally released for Playstation in 1999, there have been ten installments of the franchise since then. Just about every millennial can recall spending hours in their room, trying to sharpen skills and master…

There’s a certain irony that has always tailed any talk about the Mavericks. For one thing, they’re a country band of sorts that was birthed in Miami, hardly the most prolific place when it comes to fostering Americana. For another thing, they boast a Latin lead singer whose early heroes…

I met the four members of Above the Skyline for the first time at a Chipotle, and couldn’t help but think what an interesting burrito this merry band of misfits would make: a tall Filipino, a very outspoken lesbian, a long-haired dude who looks like he’s really into heavy metal,…

There was a time between 2004 and 2012 when the Miami music scene shined brightly. Wynwood wasn’t bougie yet. Bands got their starts in places like the Dorsch Gallery. Jimbo’s was still open, and some local acts were even acknowledged outside of our weird subtropical hideouts. Standing around a tank…

How we will be ingesting our music 50 years down the road is anyone’s guess. But whatever it is we’re sticking in our ear holes in 2065, you can bet there will be a small but vocal minority bemoaning the good ol’ days of the first generation iPod. We tend…

After attending this year’s Burning Man in Black Rock Desert, it hit him. Miami’s Galactic Effect (real name, unknown) finally understood what his upcoming six-track release needed. The “other-worldly” weeklong event gave him an opportunity to perform twice, showcasing a lot of unreleased as well as unfinished music during his…

In a city that seems to have little value for its history, the Olympia Theater is an anomaly. Since 1926, it’s been entertaining residents, first as a movie palace and Vaudeville stage, then as a performing arts center after 1975. But what has remained constant all those years is the…

For some, the Everglades is simply a vast mass of land one has to get through on long, tiring road trips. Sure, you may see the occasional alligator or two, but from behind a car window, our massive swamp can lose some of its magic. But in reality, it’s a…

Sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic somewhere in Michigan amid a 60-date nationwide tour, Benjamin Miller (better known as Wrekonize) is feeling philosophical. The rapper is one-sixth of Miami’s underground hip-hop group ¡Mayday!, and his band is days away from the September 18 release date of its new album, Future Vintage. “It’s…

AJ Ruiz wants you to make you cry — you know, those authentic ugly, wet, gut-wrenching tears. At least that’s what he is hoping happens when you listen to his debut solo album Nimbus. “I want my album and my songs to be that song that you listen to in the…

I have been booking bands, playing in bands, and putting on events for 20 years now. I do realize what a gasbag sentence that is. But I’d like to say that up front to establish some form of credibility as I attempt to make sense of the recent trend of…

Other than a pack of middle-aged bikers, die-hard boozers, and people waiting to play some variation on punk rock, Churchill’s Pub was pretty empty early Thursday night. Granted, it was only about 9 p.m. and Little Haiti’s 36-year-old, loudest and loveliest shithole was just starting to get rowdy for a…

With every new musical venture, Harlow G. and Kristof Ryan of Jean Jacket have a mantra: Follow the Jacket. To them, this means creating music in the name and spirit of their project. Formerly known simply as The Jacket, the duo, who joined forces a little over a year ago,…

On March 24, 2010, a new venue called Grand Central made its debut during Winter Music Conference. Nite Jewel and Tanlines were the first artists to grace its stage, and after the closing of Studio A, Miami was aching for a new mid-size venue. Five years later, Grand Central proved…

What do you think about when you think about Miami music? Loud nightclubs on South Beach? Latin beats pulsing from Calle Ocho? The Churchill’s bathroom?  Like the rest of Miami, it’s an overwhelming pot of diversity. But it’s easy to forget just how important Miami has been to music history…

It’s been a little over two months since Rick Ross was arrested for kidnapping, aggravated assault, and aggravated battery in Fayette County, Georgia.  Ross, after posting a $2 million bail, is walking free now (with a GPS ankle monitor), awaiting his trial. Testimony hasn’t begun yet, so specific details are scarce but…

If you’ve recently tuned in to 104.3 FM, you were probably surprised to find that the voices of Dan Le Batard and Stugotz have been silenced, replaced by the sounds of Beck and Butthole Surfers. Listen a little longer and you’ll hear Cake, MGMT, and Florence + the Machine too…

Since its 1935 opening, Little Havana’s Ball & Chain has gone through a slew of owners, changing names along the way, before it finally closed and was vacated in the late 1950s. But prior to reaching its premature demise, the venue was the bustling epicenter of a city full of…

Despite what insiders and locals know of Miami’s thriving and eclectic rock ‘n’ roll scene, the area is not exactly a known hub for guitar culture. However, things might be changing on that front thanks to a former Dade County police officer who decided to follow his dreams. Rick Sell’s…

If you’re tired of seeing the same old faces in the Miami rap scene, Yung Simmie might be exactly what you need. The Miami native has been making a name for himself both in South Florida and around the country for a few years now, rapping about weed, life in…