More Lulz from Eurovision, Possibly Unintentional

Because today’s a slow, lazy holiday, here are some more highlights from last week’s and weekend’s Eurovision song contest. The previous blog entry looked at some countries’ intentionally funny entries. Now is time for some possibly unintentional lulz. Azerbaijan: Elnur & Samir – “Day After Day” It looks like they’re…

Spain Does Reggaeton at Eurovision…. Sort of

This last weekend marked the finals of the Eurovision song contest’s 2008 edition…. What, haven’t heard of it? If not, you’ve missed out on years of amazing spectacle, full of slinky costumes, little-heard languages, and some of the most painful strains of Euro dance pop we’ll never hear widely on…

5 Reasons Not to Miss Best of the Best

Best of the Best weekend has finally arrived and there’s lot’s of reggae madness going on all over South Florida for the next 3 days. Here are five artists who are a part of the show that you definitely should not miss. 1) Buju Banton. He’s been a mainstay in…

Dubstep: Diary of an Afro Warrior

Benga Diary of an Afro Warrior (Tempa) South London dubstep veteran Benga operates on several (next) levels when he plants himself in front of a synthesizer keyboard and a hard drive of edited drum patterns. The producer’s Diary of an Afro Warrior, in its array of divergent sonics, speaks to…

Come Get Funky With Obama

In case you didn’t already know, Senator Barack Obama is here in South Florida today. He’s got two separate speaking engagements, but the one I’m most excited for is his speech at 4p.m. at the BankAtlantic Center where the Spam All-Stars are actually opening up for him. Yes, you read…

10 Greatest Moments in White Rap History

Since it’s a very chill Thursday morning and we could all use a few laughs, CrossFade is glad to present 10 of the dorkiest and funniest moments in the history of melanin-challenged rap: 1. Here’s a dorky guy who can impersonate LL Cool J, Mystikal and Digital Underground:…

PrunkTV – Alicia Keys Makes Me Cry

Alicia Keys listened as I nervously explained why her song, “Like You’ll Never See Me Again ” makes me cry. From Alicia’s reaction, it sounds like she really cares about me. So my next question for Alicia is, will you marry me? var so = new SWFObject(“http://media.miaminewtimes.com/players/vvmMiniPlayer.swf?audioFile=http://media.miaminewtimes.com/2186624.0.mp3&autoPlay=no”, “theSWF”, “91”, “32”,…

P.A.T.H. to Wisdom

“I’ve always seen myself opening and running a hip-hop college or a hip-hop school of some sort,” says Miami MC Brimstone127. Now the tireless preserver of hip-hop history is one step closer to his goal — and local heads of legal age are going to be jealous they’re no longer…

Local Motion

Vic Kingsley These Frequencies (self-released) www.myspace.com/kingsleyofmiami This “Vic Kingsley” seems to be a Mr. Vic Garcia, backed by Messrs. Luke Moellman, Jon Draper, and Ethan Carlson on various capacities, organic and otherwise. This 11-tracker is another solid calling card for the boys over at Dungeon Studios, and is, for all…

Avondale

Sunday afternoon marks the latest installment in an informal series of in-store performances at Sweat Records. It’s a nice change of pace in (gasp) daytime activities. Taking the store’s cozy stage this time is brand-spanking-new local quartet Avondale, purveyor of sweater-warm and comfy, acoustic-guitar-driven pop. The backbone of the group…

Trick Daddy

In case you didn’t already know, the mayor of Miami is not always Manny Diaz. Although Diaz is a nice fellow and knows a lot about politics, he can handle only so much authority and essentially presides over the city from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. But as nighttime approaches,…

Destroy Everything

Let’s see … a show at Churchill’s, a MySpage page headline that reads, “Fuck it up for the kids!” and a band name involving the word destroy. It’s a safe bet that Tuesday’s extravaganza at the premier rock dive in Little Haiti should include plenty of true punk-rock rowdiness, some…

Alicia Keys in Miami

Alicia Keys has finally learned how to breathe. Coming off seven years of heavy international touring, an ever-increasing number of film roles, and high-level charity work, the 27-year-old seems tranquil, just before launching on a high-profile arena tour with fellow crooner Ne-Yo. Perhaps it’s the Zen-like calm she’s acquired after…

Rolling Stoners

On a recent Sunday, instead of trying out my awesome new driver at the golf course, I’m trying to herd the Heavy Pets into making just a little sense for the sake of a phone interview. Because, man, are they wasted. So stoned that their manager, Alex, handles half the…

World Party

It’s Tuesday night in Miami Beach and the pan-Latin popsters of Feneiva are in the middle of a well-attended live set at Jazid. Over cool Brazilian beats and electric guitar licks, long-and-sandy-haired singer Fabian Hernandez gets the crowd moving with a fresh blend of funk, rock, and assorted breezy tropical…

Nickel

Not one to forget the eight years he lived in Miami, New York rapper Nickel is holding two CD-release parties, one here and one up there. The occasion is his debut LP, The Journey of Plato the Orphan, 65 minutes of head-jerking beats and nervously clever flows hammering out a…

Full Q&A with Yo Majesty

In this week’s issue of the Miami New Times, for my Suicide Blonde column I spoke with JWL B and Shunda K of the Tampa-based electro-rap group Yo Majesty. Click here to read my explanation of why they’re one of the most punk rock things out there right now. But…

Switches Tonight at Revolution

I miss Franz Ferdinand. Yes, unfortunately the Scottish quartet has continually suffered massive overexposure of all its singles. But that’s because you absolutely cannot fail with top-notch, hooky, angular U.K. rock that works as well on a dance floor as on a concert stage. Luckily, to fill in that gap…

Pitchfork Gives Rick Ross Album a 2.4

Critical Miami recently pointed out Pitchfork Media’s pretty unforgiving review of Trilla. Yes, that’s a decimal point — on Pitchfork’s sort of infamous 10-point scale, I’ve never understood how reviewers arrive at the exact number. Why is it a 2.4, and not a 2.6 or a 2.3? Is there some…

R Kelly Sex-Tape Trial Begins

It seemed like this trial would never happen, but as of yesterday, R Kelly’s child pornography trial finally began in Chicago. The famous R&B singer has managed to delay this trial numerous times to the point where the 14-year-old girl he’s accused of performing lewd sex acts on camera with…