The Miami Beach-based trio Jacob’s Ladder knows that hard, relentless work is the backbone of an, errr, ascent to success. This Thursday marks the beginning of the young band’s fourth recent monthlong East Coast tour, bringing the band’s career performance count close to 300. Seriously these guys have played everywhere,…
Once considered by saxophonist Stan Getz as the natural successor to Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughan, the Tacoma, Washington-born singer Diane Schuur is now in the fourth decade of her award-studded career. To celebrate, in June she released a live CD, Diane Schuur: Live in London, captured at that city’s…
Since 1994, the B-Side Players have stirred the world music melting pot with remarkable vigor. Fusing the sounds of Cuba, Jamaica, Mexico, and Brazil with American funk, rock, jazz, and hip-hop, the nine-man San Diego-based outfit has delivered some memorable results. Colin Hay of Men at Work joined by a…
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to tell that the dark side of the Eighties still shadows our soundscape. All it takes is a radio or a healthy addiction to a blog aggregator. Popular acts such as She Wants Revenge, Blaqk Audio, and even Interpol mine those fabled depths for…
If there’s one thing Asheville, North Carolina, is good at exporting, it’s sure-fire music talent — especially of the Afro-hippie variety. That town’s got more dub, Afrobeat, and West African percussion acts fronted by Anglos than you can imagine. Interestingly, most of them are pretty good, but one Asheville group…
Witness Sigur Ros talking to Luke Burbank, in advance of its upcoming release, Hvarf / Heima. Or, rather, witness Sigur Ros really not sure what to say to Burbank’s line of questioning — a phrase I use loosely. The video is linked here. Now, commenters have been lashing out at…
If you stumble onto your favorite familiar, well-trodden path of earth tonight, you won’t find your weekly drum circle bros. Nay, hand-percussion instruments and less portable toking tools will also be abandoned for the next 48 hours in honor of the two-day stint by jam-band-powerhouse Medeski, Martin & Wood. The…
Guster October 14, 2007 The Culture Room Better Than: And egghead keg party 10 years after graduating college. Thank Zeus for huge favors: Last night Guster did not open for Barenaked Ladies or Toad the Wet Sprocket or Modest Mouse (as they have in the past), nor did they play…
Octopus Project, Humbert, Zombies! Organize!!, Electric Pizza Party City Limits October 9 We rolled up to City Limits just as Humbert, the second band of the night (Emergency Pizza Party had the early slot), was about to play. The lights dropped as the boys were settling in near their instruments…
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…
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…
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…
Matt White’s story is truly a grassroots one, in both the prehistoric analog and 21st-century digital senses. After graduating from the University of Wisconsin a couple of years ago, the Englewood, New Jersey native headed back to his teenage stomping grounds: New York City. But rather than immediately duke it…
The stars are aligning over Little Havana for a late entry in the running for best local live jazz show of the year. The stars, in this case, are the gifted violinist and composer Federico Britos, the young jazz-singing and double-bass-playing phenom Esperanza Spalding, and white-hot tenor saxophonist David Sánchez…
There’s a number in Fred Cole’s live set in which he addresses head-on the fact that he is Nat “King” Cole’s “baby” brother. It’s a midtempo blues song that encapsulates the challenges of such a distinction, and his performances of it practically overflow with dry wit and self-deprecating humor. Most…
The legendary Vibrators may be getting long in the tooth, but they’re hardly short on energy and O.G. punk spirit. The quartet could school any spikey-haired-come-lately in true road warrior style and longevity: They got together in London in 1976, broke up for a minute around 1980, and reformed in…
“We enjoy each other as people; we get along and play music we love,” Yellowjackets bassist and cofounder Jimmy Haslip says about the band’s famous longevity. “We seem to have a common goal, and that makes it easy to travel and perform together.” Existing for more than 25 years since…
