Last Night: Gravy Train!!!! at White Room

Jose D. Duran Gravy Train!!!! perform at White Room Thursday night. Gravy Train!!!! with Mission Veo and Jose El Rey Thursday, July 10, 2008 White Room, Miami Better than: Er, gay porn I suppose. Gravy Train!!!! (yes, the exclamation points are part of the name) are one of those bands…

N-Ter

Electro DJ N-Ter is from Croatia, a fact that instantly incites curiosity among history dorks about how he survived the small European country’s bloody civil war. He’s the wrong tree to bark up, however. “I can say that my generation doesn’t care much about politics. My generation is trying to…

Shufly

The last time the Miami rockers of Shufly got some extended New Times love was in 2001, when it was duly noted that a bunch of teenage girls found them hot. That’s not a hard thing to believe when you’ve got singer Scott Smith’s soap opera waif-stud looks. Then there’s…

Matisyahu

Looks like everyone’s favorite Hassidic reggae singer/rapper might just outlast his novelty status after all. But that doesn’t necessarily make it safe to go back in the reggae waters for anyone aspiring to stand out based on his, uh … demographic makeup alone. On one hand, it’s unfortunate that Matisyahu’s…

Ann Hampton Callaway

I’d be willing to wager that, in 1995, more Americans knew all the words to The Nanny theme song than to Coolio’s chart-topping rap single “Gangsta’s Paradise.” Both were cultural phenomena in the mid-Nineties, but no pop single has the broad-spectrum appeal and mass distribution of a major TV sitcom…

Cute is What We Aim For Tonight at the Culture Room

Based on looks, I think they failed. Cute Is What We Aim For is likely the perfect 21st-century pop band. Almost purpose built for short-attention-span marketing campaigns, the four gents in CIWWAF focus so heavily on pop sheen, hooks, and scenester touchstones that it’s often difficult to figure out just…

Thursday: Gravy Train!!!! at White Room

Gravy Train!!!! I was debating whether to start this post with “All aboard the Gravy Train!!!!” But, er, I resisted the temptation. But don’t resist on checking out the California quartet Gravy Train!!!! (yes, the exclamation points are part of the name, I suppose to express utter joy) at White…

Last Night: Gilberto Gil at the Fillmore Miami Beach

Ernest Barteldes Brazilian musician Gilberto Gil performs at the Fillmore Miami Beach Saturday night. Gilberto Gil Saturday, July 5, 2008 The Fillmore Jackie Gleason Theatre, Miami Beach Playing to an audience mostly formed by his many Brazilian fans, Gilberto Gil closed his six-city U.S. tour with a two-hour set designed…

Last Night: Ringo Starr at Seminole Hard Rock

Lee Zimmerman Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band July 3, 2008 Seminole Hard Rock, Hollywood By now, the traveling nostalgia show that tours annually under the banner of Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band has been honed to a tee. Ringo offers up his best-known Beatles songs and…

Last Night: Tom Waits at The Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts

John Hood Tom Waits performs before a sold-out crowd at the Times-Union Center in Jacksonville, Fla. Tom Waits July 1, 2008 The Times-Union Center for the Performing Arts, Jacksonville Better than: Having a hobo in your home for supper – and having him sing murder songs for it. (Dateline: Jacksonville)…

Jamie Lidell at Heathrow Lounge July 18

Jamie Lidell Genre-bending musician Jamie Lidell will be stopping by Heathrow Lounge, a new UK-inspired club on South Beach, July 18. Who else could be behind this booking except the people from Poplife, which will be celebrating 9 years of bringing indie music to the masses that very weekend. The…

Gameboy/Gamegirl: A Hipster Mockery?

Gameboy/Gamegirl sans fourth member and beat producer Miami Horror. Here was what I can’t figure out about Australian quartet Gameboy/Gamegirl, are they embracing hipster culture or are they making an absolute mockery of it? With lyrics like “Vodka and cranberry/Shake it like it’s February/Gin and tonic/The shit is ironic,” it…

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts

Joan Jett never seemed overly concerned with glass ceilings. A very tough girl in a very male-centric industry, Jett simply showed up, rocked her ass off, and returned the next night to do it again, never referencing her gender to benefit her career. She was not a girl who played…

Gilberto Gil

“I have a hard time with modern technology,” Brazilian icon Gilberto Gil says, describing the theme of his latest CD, Banda Larga Cordel. “I admit that I use it with moderation, but I am nevertheless fascinated by it.” This awe was the inspiration for his first disc of original material…

Peter Murphy

The pale, delicately boned wraith known as Peter Murphy gained his seat as an anointed dark king in the Seventies and Eighties as frontman of the legendary Bauhaus. Channeling the glam theatrics of David Bowie by way of the morgue, he was drama incarnate, a Count Vlad look-alike who sometimes…

Kill the Noise

Ewun, hailing from Rochester, New York, has made a lot of drum ‘n’ bass hay out of his love for hip-hop, distortion, and glitchy breakbeats. Unbeknownst to d’n’b scenesters, though, a set of Justice-like electro grooves has been lurking in his hard drive, waiting for the right time to make…

Fourth of José and Nastie Fourth of July

We have come a long way since July 4, 1776. A real long way. But pseudo-commentary on the Bush administration aside, one thing a bunch of dead, crusty white dudes will not deny is that at least nowadays we have a whole bunch of options at our disposal! This coming…

Fourth of Jose with Jose El Rey at the Vagabond

Jose El Rey If you haven’t seen local artist Jose El Rey perform live yet, you are missing one of the best spectacles out there. He easily won my heart over when I saw him perform at White Room earlier this year. And when he gave his cousin (niece?) Yarisleydi…

Last Night: Wisin Y Yandel at the American Airlines Arena

Bryan Falla Wisin Y Yandel Saturday, June 28, 2008 American Airlines Arena Better Than: Watching your mom and dad grind inappropriately to “Noche de Sexo” at last year’s New Year’s party. By 8:45 p.m., the arena had filled up almost entirely and the crowd was antsy. With every cadence, every…

Last Night: SummerFest 2008 at BankAtlantic Center

Sayre Berman Keyshia Cole Lil’ Wayne, Keyshia Cole, Akon and more at SummerFest 2008 Saturday, June 28, 2008 BankAtlantic Center, Sunrise Better Than: Throwback hip-hop fest Power House from the ‘90s with a side of Pop Rocks and OE. For South Florida hip-hop enthusiasts, Saturday night’s South Florida SummerFest 2008…

Kenny Millions Tonight at Radio-Active Records

If you’re not familiar with local avant jazz guru Kenny Millions, then you’ve got some catching up to do. The man is a saxophone virtuoso and if you listen to his music, without knowing anything about his storied past as a musician in other cities, you get the sense that…