Ivon David Rojas THE POLICE CRUZAN AMPHITHEATRE SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2008 Better Than: What’s better than sitting in traffic for three hours? Somewhere in Palm Beach County there is a sadistic concert-hater who said, “I know, let’s close half of Southern Boulevard out by the Fairgrounds – that way it…
Speak to anyone in their fifties about Carly Simon and their eyes flicker. It’s like asking today’s youth about Jay-Z or Radiohead, a musical powerhouse that changed the trajectory of boomer culture. Simon’s life story is made for daytime television, from her early rise in her hometown of New York…
Going to see the Spencer Davis Group these days is a bit like drinking nonalcoholic beer. The name’s the same, but the oomph is all gone — that oomph, of course, was Steve Winwood. Davis is a talented musician in his own right, but it was Winwood’s bluesy, gritty vocals…
Ahh, to be an aging rock star. What better possible way could there be to live out one’s golden years than trying vainly to relive one’s golden youth? Leather pants, screaming groupies, pharmaceutically enhanced machismo. The Dennis Hopper-endorsed, carpe diem boomer mentality has given second wind to bloated rock corpses…
The last time Donald Cumming, the 25-year-old frontman for the New York quartet the Virgins, visited Miami, he ended up in jail. Somewhat forcibly transplanted by his mother to the horrors of northern Florida from his native Manhattan, then-15-year-old Cumming took a bus down to meet an old friend. “We…
There’s absolutely no reason for Mindless Self Indulgence to be around in 2008. For starters, their aggressive, quasi-industrial sound – on paper, at least – is long past its sell-by date. Furthermore, they’ve been up and down the indie-major-indie label rollercoaster and should now be experiencing their inevitable decline into…
Uh Huh Her sounds like one of those slightly glitchy L.A. pop bands you hear during your favorite edgy cable TV series and consequently keeps you watching through the closing credits to find out who it was. Luckily for that comparison, cofrontwoman Leisha Hailey happens to play Alice Pieszecki on…
People are still talking about DJ Heather’s set at this year’s Om Records WMC party. Still touring in support of last year’s Summer Sessions 2 compilation (a joint effort with Om Records veteran Onionz), she’s been putting in a ton of studio hours toward a forthcoming artist album. Along with…
It’s time for all you late-night hot-bodies to give some love to the new guy, Patrick M, the Argentine DJ who has taken Miami as his home and the Sunday a.m. terrace gig at Space as one of his vocations. This Sunday finds Patrick releasing his new track, “Hulk,” a…
Don’t let Tera Melos fool you with its textbook cover. For this California three-piece, “math rock” means much more of an affinity for chaos theory than for the staid and stoic world of algebraic expressions. In fact to the uninitiated, the term might call to mind things like precision, restraint,…
A couple of years ago, Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy was seen as the last great Southern hope. He had the hood respect of T.I. and garnered the admiration of practically every drug dealer in North America. It’s not that he’s overly gangster or that his rhymes aren’t crisp. He’s plenty…
Seminole Hard Rock/Tom Craig Eric Clapton and Robert Randolph Hard Rock Live Monday, May 5, 2008 Better Than: Watching TV pundits continue to treat Hillary Clinton’s campaign seriously. Is Eric Clapton God or just a higher power some choose to call God? Unfortunately, the decades-long debate over Clapton’s exact theological…
Ari Rothenberg RADIOHEAD CRUZAN AMPHITHEATRE MONDAY, MAY 5, 2008 Better than: Singing about the techno-apocalypse by yourself in your room. Thom Yorke wears a white linen jacket, Jonny Greenwood’s mop of hair dangles in front of his stooped head like the curtain in front of the Wizard of Oz. Stalactites…
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND BANK ATLANTIC CENTER FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2008 Better than: Watching Steven Van Zandt on reruns of “The Sopranos.” The lines between rock ‘n’ roll show and revival meeting were effectively blurred beyond distinction Friday night as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band…
B.B. King and Joe Bonamassa at the BankAtlantic Center Saturday, May 3, 2008 Better Than: When you ask your baby for water and she brings you gasoline. At 82, the good news is that B.B. King can still play and sing with aplomb. The bad news is that he’d rather…
Sayre Berman Carlos Santana and Derek Trucks Hard Rock Live Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Better Than: Sitting home and watching the speeches of Rev. Jeremiah Wright loop constantly on every channel. There are three sure things at a Santana show: 1) Carlos will display the highest level of improvisational virtuosity;…
They were hailed far and wide as digital visionaries last fall, when they offered up their newest album as a “pay as you like” download. But Radiohead lead singer Thom Yorke says it’s not likely to happen again. “It was a moment in time,” he tells the Hollywood Reporter. In…
New Zealand twosome Concord Dawn is the biggest drum ‘n’ bass thing in its native country. The band’s deliriously danceable tunes have been played for years by international heavyweights such as Grooverider, Goldie, DJ Hype, Ed Rush, and Dieselboy. They — Matt Harvey, a.k.a. Matty C, and Evan Short, a.k.a…
Imagine, for a moment, that there are whole worlds of music about which you know nothing. Stars rise and fall in these other spheres, completely uninfluenced by the mechanisms of popular Western music. From time to time, one artist will galvanize an entire nation; one song will become an intrinsic…
Few singers make their career after returning to their native land from the United States. But Noa is no ordinary singer. After growing up in New York City, the Israeli native headed back to the homeland on her own at age 17 in order to serve her mandatory two years…
Much like their most beloved musical forebears, long-surviving hometown trio Outereach is hard to peg to one microgenre or scene. First on the list of influences on the group’s MySpace page is The Police. It’s instantly recognizable in frontman Joey Espinoza’s clear, smooth tenor; in his snappy, repeatable refrains; and…
Pelican, Circa Survive, and Thrice Revolution, Ft. Lauderdale Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Better Than: Considering just Thrice’s set – better than the band’s last appearance in South Florida, last December at the Fillmore Miami Beach. The Review: Alright, I start this review very irritated that it can’t be more detailed…
