Photo by Michelle F. Solomon Ricky Martin The Fillmore Miami Beach at The Jackie Gleason Theater October 10, 2007 The Review: The words Fillmore and Ricky Martin somehow just didn’t seem to go together. Ricky Martin opening the Fillmore Miami Beach, the namesake of the Fillmore San Francisco where Jerry…
It’s going to be a long Saturday night for New York house DJ Roger Sanchez. First he hits Cameo and then the infamous Space terrace for afterhours, beginning at 4:00 Sunday morning. And, mind you, all of this is on his plate 24 hours after finishing up at Voodoo in…
Time once again for Sander Kleinenberg to visit one of the burgs that helped put him on the map — or is it the other way around? Like a superelaborate GPS system, Sander Kleinenberg’s bloopy progressive-house megahit “This Is Miami” mysteriously becomes “This Is Ibiza” if you’re on a certain…
Bronx in the Sixties: Jerry Gonzalez and his younger brother Andy frequented their neighborhood’s street jams, which were powered by a soundtrack of Latin and Afro-Cuban rhythms. But at the same time, New York clubs such as the Colgate Gardens were featuring the hybrid Latin-jazz rhythms of Eddie Palmieri, Mongo…
Founder of the UK’s Roll Deep crew — a grime outfit that counts Dizzee Rascal among its alumni — producer/MC/”godfather of grime” Wiley announced early this year his retirement from the mike. At that point, the British release of his Playtime Is Over LP had yet to drop. When it…
The title might lead one to believe that Songs of Mass Destruction is a collection of political tunes, but that’s not the case. Annie Lennox has always been an outspoken feminist, but in her art she prefers to deal with individuals’ lives. “Love Is Blind” uses a punishing beat to…
Brooklyn-based trio Black Dice writes songs that confound, challenge, and sneer at concepts taken for granted in most popular music — things like linearity, pacing, and accessibility. Initially the group went for sheer noise overload, only to shift to time-blurring tactics for Beaches & Canyons. By 2005, with the band’s…
After expanding its head count, L.A.’s hippified West Indian Girl cooked up loose, electronically augmented rock for 4th & Wall, its sophomore album, following a departure from Astralwerks Records. Founders Robert James and Francis Ten fleshed out the group with more keyboards and vocals; huge crescendos on tracks like “Indian…
The rural Texas-based quintet Fair to Midland holds a platypus-rare distinction of sounding like pretty much no one else in rock music today. Take a track such as “Tall Tales Taste Like Sour Grapes,” from the band’s debut album, Fables from a Mayfly, released this past June on System of…
Val Kilmer has been a lot of things — Batman, Iceman, bloated — but he remains a renaissance man. The classically trained actor has done David Mamet and Shakespeare, and has even released a book of poetry. (Used copies of the rare tome, My Edens After Burns, go for upward…
Raver graybeards are dusting off beanie hats and swallowing the first two tablets — the Happy Mondays’ Bummed: Collector’s Edition (Rhino) and Paul Oakenfold’s Greatest Hits & Remixes (New State) — of what’s sure to be an intoxicating yearlong revival. It’s just in time for the upcoming 20th anniversary of…
Boyish good looks, a charming personality, and a tender voice made the character of Miguel Morez an overwhelming favorite among female soap opera aficionados in the mid-Nineties. The charismatic and flirty Hispanic bartender developed quite a fan base among followers of General Hospital. It was the kind of role for…
A stylish and elegant pianist in any setting, Danilo Pérez possesses a musical ear that’s pure gold. As such, he tops the list when the finest players in Latin jazz need someone to tickle the ivories. This includes the host for his Miami dates, Arturo Sandoval. Along with the celebrated…
You know, Radiohead, I was just about to go to sleep when I checked my email one last time. And lo and behold, the download code for your new CD, In Rainbows, popped up in my inbox. *sigh* I didn’t need sleep anyway. Since the rest of the blogosphere is…
I love love love Little Steven, of his eponymous weekly syndicated Underground Garage radio show (and 24-hour station on Sirius!). (Locally, listen in on Sunday night/Monday morning from midnight to 2:00 a.m. on BIG 105.9 FM, the only time you will hear something beyond the station’s seeming 20-song “classic rock”…
Everyone was atwitter about this year’s edition of the Bang! Music festival, which started in 2005. On one hand, people were amped to see blabbermouth Kanye West and the recently reunited (sans James Iha) Smashing Pumpkins on the lineup. On the other hand, there was the strange mix of the…
Ministry The Last Sucker (13th Planet/Megaforce) If The Last Sucker is, as leader Al Jourgensen says, Ministry’s swan song, fans are not left wanting. From the assault of opener “Let’s Go,” the album recalls the thick groove and overall intensity of The Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Taste, churning…
Few people in rock need less of an introduction than Slash, the legendary former ax man for Guns N Roses who built that band’s epic sound with his deft, but economical and sexy, riffage. Since 2002 he’s been one-fifth of what is now Velvet Revolver, along with former GNR bandmates…
Jenny Lewis Photo by Jamie Puntumkhul Rilo Kiley Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale October 1, 2007 Better than: A three-way between a man, me, and Jim. The Review: The last time Rilo Kiley ventured down to South Florida it was roughly two years ago at the I/O Lounge. They performed for about…
Fight Klub Buck 15 October 2, 2007 Better Than: Getting lost in Liberty City on your way to the beach. The Review: The first time I went to South Beach, I got attacked by a beautifull cross-dresser. So, I never know what to expect when I’m in the area. On…
In the South we’re all about Soulja Boy, but up in New York City, a girl named Tokyo Diva and her crew are showing us how the ’80s babies do it on her block — in neon leggings, big-print t-shirts and thick, gold dookie rope chains. In part, the style…
Miami’s favorite youth football coach, Luther “Uncle Luke” Campbell is back in the news again, but for a good cause. He’s reaching out to folks in the hip-hop industry and gathering support for the Third Annual Battle of the Stars Celebrity Football Tournament to be held in Miami next year…
