Henry Stone Talks Turning 93

Henry Stone first met James Brown in about 1954, when King Records founder Syd Nathan told both him and Ralph Bass to race to Macon, Georgia, to sign the R&B singer to a record deal. Bass got there a day before Stone and inked the contract with James Brown for…

DJ Drastic X Talks Phish vs. Hip Hop

It wasn’t long ago that DJ Drastic X turned his “It’s All Gravy” show on FIU’s WRGP Radiate FM into the vehicle by which artists like Pitbull, Rick Ross, Flo Rida, and DJ Khaled saw some of their first college radio airplay. And today, he continues to break new ground…

Franco Parente Talks Churchill’s Pub Documentary, Little Haiti Rock City

Churchill’s the Movie is currently in production, and there’s a Kickstarter campaign raising funds to help complete Little Haiti Rock City. The dude responsible is Franco Parente, a freelance filmmaker born and raised in Miami. He has won numerous film festival awards. He has a French television series development deal…

Mova Lounge Closes: South Beach and Brickell

The 305’s nightlife scene is notoriously fickle. Since last year, more clubs than ever before, specifically in Miami Beach’s Lincoln Road and downtown’s Brickell neighborhoods, have relocated to other parts of town or closed their doors. Places like Score, the Van Dyke Café, and now Mova Lounge have all moved…

Crazy Stories at Churchill’s Pub: A Video Interview

Blood. Shit. Spilled beer. “And a girl,” as Churchill’s Pub enforcer Nicky Bowe recalls, “pissing into a saucepan.” Only a few examples of the weird, wild, and occasionally disgusting stuff that can happen in the course of a trip to Our Beloved Shithole at 5501 NE Second Avenue on any…

Favorite Bands at Churchill’s Pub: A Video Interview

It’s been said that Churchill’s Pub just might hold the world’s record for having the most live acts in a single venue. But while the massive mission (and accompanying pint-drinking campaign) to complete that count rages on, we here at Crossfade can say it’s no doubt been the home to…

History of Churchill’s Pub: A Video Interview

It is Miami’s embassy of punk, rock, metal, noise, and pints. After 35 years under the ownership of beloved founder Dave Daniels, the cultural landmark otherwise known as Churchill’s Pub has been sold. Some are worried about drastic changes. Others expect the place to see another million mosh pits. In…

QuESt on Almost Quitting Rap

“I actually wanted to do a mixtape called Iced Coffee back when I was 19,” says QuESt as he drinks an Iced White Chocolate Mocha from Starbucks. “Terrible idea. Terrible idea.” The coffee chain’s stores have become temples of freshly brewed ideas for the 22-year-old Miami rapper, who sometimes spends…

Wood Tavern Owner Opening Benchwarmers Sports Bar

“From the hippest hipster to the loudest fratboy, we’ll all be cheering together.” That’s the tag line for Benchwarmers, a new sports bar from Wood Tavern owner Cesar Morales. This latest nightlife venture from the “Wood Tavern Family of Companies” is slated to begin doing business “just in time for…

Miami’s Ten Best Underground Rock Venues of All Time

Music venues in South Florida have always come and gone with an alarming casualness. Over the last 30-odd years, only one place, Churchill’s Pub, has held the torch for Miami’s savvy underground rock fans. Now that new owners have taken control, an era is coming to an end. And that’s…

South Beach Clubs Closing for Urban Beach Week

South Beach is ’bout to be mobbed. It’s almost Memorial Day weekend in the 305 (otherwise known as Urban Beach Week), the annual four-day span during which the beach (as well as mainland Miami) gets swarmed by famous rappers, celebrity strippers, and 250,000 party people from all over the Dirty…

Ten Best Miami Rap Anthems Ever

Everyone loves Miami. Our food, our people, our beaches. But we here at Crossfade would argue that it’s our music that puts us above the competition. We’ve never tried to steal anyone else’s sound. We keep it 100 with grooves and style of our own. We are leaders in the…

Justin Bieber Taking Teen Model to Miami Senior High School’s Prom?

We could hardly belieb our eyes. Could it be true? Has the world’s most popular singer-dancer-badboy been approved to attend the prom festivities at Miami Senior High School? Is some lucky girl (and teen model) from Little Havana named Yovanna Ventura actually dating the Biebz? Are they so super-cereal that…

Churchill’s New Owners: An Open Letter

In the early ’80s, Pepsi had begun seriously encroaching on sales of Coca-Cola, even outselling the latter in supermarkets. In an effort to rejuvenate sales, Coke outright replaced its formula with what would be known as “New Coke” — an “improved” version of the formula that would replace the original…