Guess what her favorite band is. Big Bang Radio Swampgrass Willy’s December 15, 2007 Saturday seemed like it was a day of Big Bangs. South Florida’s hard rock juggernaut, Big Bang Radio, played three shows within a 10-hour span to celebrate the release of their debut album, To Mars from…
Jethro Tull at Hard Rock Live Thursday, December 13, 2007 They may belong to an elite group of Sixties survivors, but unlike others of that ilk, Jethro Tull have never attained the special stature accorded others of that ilk. Sure, “Aqualung” remains a perennial classic, and the band’s brainy synthesis…
I wasn’t sure what to expect from Andrea Bocelli’s concert at the Hard Rock Live Wednesday night. I knew he had sung a duet at one point with Celine Dion, and I was worried that the entire concert would be in that vein: cheesy, easy listening pop. I was pleasantly…
Local indie rock fans have long since considered soft-toned rocker John Ralston as a hometown hero. As a native of Lake Worth, he has rocked out around South Florida for years, opening for, and occasionally headlining with, other local-but-then-exploded acts like Dashboard Confessional and Legends of Rodeo. But now Ralston…
There are certain riffs that are forever emblazoned in the soundtrack of rock and roll: the Beatles’ “Day Tripper,” the Stones’ “Satisfaction,” the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me,” Cream’s “Sunshine of Your Love,” Hendrix’s “Purple Haze.” Then there’s the opening guitar lick to “Locomotive Breath,” the inevitable showstopper at any…
Canadian-born techno veteran Richie Hawtin makes his home in Berlin these days and seldom performs in the States, so we’re lucky that local techno clique Future Mob has brought him to Pawn Shop this weekend. Since moving to Deutschland a couple of years ago, he has immersed himself in consulting…
For nearly two decades, the Mexican alt-rock stars of Café Tacuba have systematically dissolved the language barrier. Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the most important bands in the hemisphere,” the quartet (flanked live by Alejandro Flores on violin) has a distinctly arty sound. The band’s most…
South Florida’s mixtape king, DJ GQ, is having an album release party this Saturday, at Art Bar in downtown Fort Lauderdale. He’s dropping the Let Em Know Vol. 20 mixtape with guest appearances from DMX, Junior Reid, Pitbull, Trina, Kevin Lyttle, Mr. Vegas, and N.O.R.E., all of which are not…
Let me preface this by clarifying something: I’ve got great gams. It’s true. Everyone has something: hair that doesn’t go flat, perfectly long lashes, soulful eyes, curvy hips. But me, I’m a legs girl, so it’s strange that I don’t think about them all that often. In fact, until last…
Photo by Jeffrey Delannoy Iggy Pop and the Stooges performed as part of the Art Basel kick-off. See a slideshow from the concert. “I AM YOU!!!” Stooges frontman Iggy Pop bellowed, extending a bony finger at the swirling mass of flesh bouncing up and down on the sand in Collins…
Whether they know it or not, most radio-listening gringos have heard Alejandro Sanz. In 2005 the Madrid native recorded a little duet with Shakira called “La Tortura” (“The Torture”) for her sixth studio album, Fijación Oral Vol. 1. When the dust had settled from this reggaeton nuke, it had become…
When Ida No was deciding what to call her glam-inflected, no-wave-channeling, minimalist-disco, shrapnel-shrieking dance-floor mindfuck of a band, she must have had an Archimedean moment of epiphany. No and friends took the elements of Ziggy Stardust-era David Bowie, the anti-everything cacophony of James Chance and Lydia Lunch, and Siouxsie Sioux’s scary/sexy,…
The Italian-born Alex Gaudino had already enjoyed more than a decade and a half as a successful DJ, remixer, and A&R guy when, earlier this year, he concocted a little musical alchemy and struck real international gold. Deciding to revisit a 2003 track he wrote with Maurizio Nari, “Destination Unknown,”…
Don’t let the glossy veneer and marketing budgets befitting a multinational conglomerate fool you. Tuscany’s towering tenor is a rare, satisfying talent. That is, when smarmy producers stay out of his way. Andrea Bocelli launched his career into the stratosphere with 1997’s international multiplatinum crossover album Romanza. Painstakingly packaged for…
Deerhoof December 4, 2007 The NADA Art Fair Better Than: The Mojitos I had last night Ever get the feeling that everything is surreal while watching a band? Sometimes it’s because the band has a live show that it’s incapable of capturing on a recording and other times it’s just…
Photo by Elvis Ramirez “Poetess” made up a poem out of words solicited from the audience. I always figured that open mic poetry nights usually didn’t attract huge crowds. I imagined low lights, smooth music playing in between acts and a people lounging in couches relaxing, some huddled together all…
Son del Centro rock out justicia. Photo by Esther Park Concert For Fair Food Saturday, December 1, 2007 Bayfront Park, Downtown Miami Better Than: winning a lifetime supply of Whoppers. This past weekend, the Coalition of Immokalee Workers were in full effect, along with 500 or so of their supporters…
When it comes to playing Southern blues, some musicians have a stronger ear for it than others. If you really want to play it, you need an inherent ability to hear the music. When it comes to the banjo-picking and drum-thumping skills of Ben Prestage, he’s got an advantage that…
Imitation, it is said, is the sincerest form of flattery. But what do you call an exact replication? A tribute, of course. It’s a musical one in the case of Australian Pink Floyd, the world’s finest tribute band to, well, Pink Floyd. Starting way back in ’88, five Aussie musicians…
In today’s world of Cuban music, there’s nothing really exotic about a band as well rehearsed in chamber music as it is in rock. But roll back the clock to the end of the Cold War, and you’ll find Artevivo was at the heart of artistic resourcefulness on the island…
“Vocalese” is a jazz technique in which lyrics are added to instrumental tunes to convey a certain idea or feeling. Its origins can be traced to the Twenties, but it really came into vogue later, in the Fifties and beyond. And it is Kurt Elling’s passion. The Chicago-based musician develops the…
It’s almost guaranteed when you pursue a career in sports that you better have a backup plan in mind. For six-foot-nine former NBA power forward Wayman Tisdale, his plan B was a music career, and it’s gaining him just as much acclaim now as he garnered on the basketball court…
