Trick Daddy Gets Roughed Up

Early this morning, the unofficial Mayor of Miami, Trick Daddy, was arrested at Tootsie’s Cabaret and charged with disorderly intoxication and resisting arrest. Knowing that Trick loves the strip clubs just about as much as he loves the kids, it’s no surprise that his latest scuffle took place at one…

An Interview with 50 Cent

By Ben Westhoff Recently, I met up with 50 at G-Unit Clothing headquarters on 23rd Street, which boasts a faux-library of gold-painted books and topless ebony mannequins. In the flesh, Curtis Jackson III repped his brand loyalties by wearing a white Yankees cap, white Reeboks, and having the office stocked…

Don’t Give Us Anymore, Britney

No albino python, no making-out with Madonna, not even any making out with a python! Britney Spears’ “comeback” performance Sunday on the MTV Video Music Awards, where she performed her new single “Gimme More,” was simply lackluster. It only served as validation that this former pop-princess – who once held…

Score One for Kid Rock

It’s an undebatable fact that the MTV VMA’s are a big waste of time. Britney Spears jiggling her way across a stage and Kanye West throwing yet another temper tantrum is not news. But damn if it’s not entertaining to watch the stars in all of their drunken glory! Aside…

New Dynas Video “Figure it Out

One of South Florida’s finest underground MC’s, Dynas, recently released a new video with good lyrics and some well-needed strong social commentary. Watch out for hip-hop’s Special Task force. The tune is called “Figure it Out” and Dynas isn’t holding his tongue on this one. Check it out. –Jonathan Cunningham…

Concert Preview–Bad Boy Bill at Voodoo Lounge

There aren’t many names within the global house community as recognizable as Bad Boy Bill’s. As the long-time poster boy for Chicago house, Bill has been taking house music to higher and higher levels since the mid-’80s, when he used to open for the famed Hot Mix 5. While he…

R.I.P. Luciano Pavarotti 1935-2007

Global news outlets are reporting that the most famous opera singer of our time has passed away. Luciano Pavarotti died at his home in Italy after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 71 years old. The king of the high C’s and longtime member of the famed Three…

Fortunate Son?

Ky-mani might very well be the forgotten Marley. One of countless children of the late, great Bob, he saw his release Many More Roads nominated for a Grammy for Best Reggae Album in 2001. But Ky-mani’s brother, Damian Marley, walked away with the award. “It is a blessing and a…

Rock Monster

Rob Zombie is a lot less scary in person. For years his grizzled appearance — thick beard, tattoos, and, quite often, dreadlocks — has combined with his love of horror, both in his personal life and his music, to create the persona of a creepy creature of the night. In…

Under the Covers

I admit it — I don’t like cover bands. In fact I’ve never heard a cover band that can substitute for the original record. My wife tells me I can’t appreciate cover bands because I don’t dance, and she’s right on that score; every time I attempt to gyrate, I…

Obituary

Obituary singer John Tardy was a pioneer of the low-growl metal-vocal sound, but he sounds pretty normal over the phone. “I can’t wait to see the fans in Miami,” he says, referring to the Tampa band’s first local gig in two years. Saturday’s stop at Studio A is part of…

Terry Mullan

Chicago DJ Terry Mullan’s house music is so acidic he should be pimping Eveready batteries. Mullan was last in Miami in March, at Nocturnal for the AM Only party during WMC. His renown stems in part from his track “Sidewinder,” which wound up on the Chemical Brothers Brother’s Gonna Work…

Wolfgang Muthspiel Trio

Austrian-born jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel invariably gives the first impression of a phenomenally understated musician. He rarely raises the voice of his instrument above a normal conversational tone. It’s a brilliant gambit; by keeping his cool, he draws the listener in. Now you’re in Muthspiel’s territory, and you have about…

Shane & Shane and Bebo Norman

Some of the brightest rising stars on the Christian rock scene arrive Tuesday for the local stop of their Pages Tour, so named for the journal in which headliners Shane & Shane penned many of their lyrics. The Shanes — last names Barnard and Everett — perform in support of…

Student of Life

The beautiful thing about art and music,” reveals 37-year-old renaissance man Djinji Brown, “is that you can redefine or reinvent yourself by trying some different shit.” He should know. A recent Miami transplant, Brown has perfected the art of reinvention over his musical career. Starting out playing in a hardcore…

Smooth Operators

The four guys of Tigercity must be totally smooth dudes. There’s the cover of their latest self-released EP, Pretend Not to Love — a photo of four graceful stallions galloping down a crystalline beach. Smooth. Then there’s the opening of “Are You Sensation” — grooving percussion picked up by funky…

VHS or Beta

The British and French can barely conceal their contempt for one another, so leave it to a band from Louisville, Kentucky, to unite the two countries’ rich, if diametrically opposed, musical traditions. VHS or Beta’s debut album, Le Funk — short on vocals but long on grooves — flaunted an…

The Mendoza Line

After 10 years or so, the members of Mendoza Line are still mining their original choice of topics: dashed hopes, failed relationships, and the uncertainties of life in the modern era. The band’s latest two-disc opus clings to this tangled trajectory, maintaining a decidedly downcast gaze. Therefore those unfamiliar with…

The Real Tuesday Weld

On his latest album, The London Book of the Dead, Steven Coates, the man behind the Real Tuesday Weld, goes deeper and deeper into the past. Contrary to what the title might suggest, Book of the Dead is less of a morbid affair and more of an exploratory one. Coates…

Freezepop

If you ever want to travel back to the year 1986 — and God knows why you’d want that, but at least Dick Cheney wasn’t running the country — this disc should do the trick. It’s filled with the sort of manically synthesized pop we all remember from those days…

Alanis has Lovely Lady Lumps

Alanis Morisette is conquering the web with an unpredictable cover. The typically angst-ridden Canadian singer produced a satire of the Black Eyed Peas’ inane hit song “My Humps.” There is even a Will.i.am stand-in for the video, which, while faithful to the original lyrics, is delivered in Morisette’s usual slow…