ZZ Top December 28, 2007 Hard Rock Live Better Than: Not having dared at all. The Review: “ZZ Top at the Hard Rock?!?!” “That’s what I said.” “Wow! You know that’s one of the few bands I’ve never seen?” “Really? So you’ll go, then?” “No, sorry. I’ve got other plans.”…
Ah, the New Year. Time of transformation, time of bubbly-spawned magic, time of awkward passes and resolutions you mean at the time. While you’re preparing for the long sled ride down Hangover Hill, here’s some topical listening material. — Jeff Shaw 5. Death Cab for Cutie, “The New Year” “So…
Go figure. But you gotta give credit where its due and as of today, Miami’s own Flo Rida has bumped Alicia Keys out of the number one spot on the Billboard charts and his song, “Low” has ascended in its place. It’s a proud day for South Florida music fans…
Dave Navarro & DJ Skribble December 22, 2007 Pawn Shop Lounge Better Than: A fistfight in front of a mirror. Contrary to unpopular opinion, kids still get riled about rock; when the rock comes dosed with bottom heavy rap, they get really riled. Make that: really, really riled. Witness Dave…
Rick James had it wrong. That girl he sang about in “Super Freak”? She doesn’t even come close to the world’s freakiest superfreak: R. Kelly. The R&B chart-topper, alleged pedophile, and consummate booty lover can’t even tour without causing tons of controversy. A few years ago, Kelly abruptly left his…
A pair of aged hippies sit on a couch. One says, “If you could be any Bob Dylan you wanted to, which Bob Dylan would you be?” Our answer: Dewey Cox. The New Yorker cartoon was probably meant to conjure Todd Haynes’s kaleidoscopic, sort-of biopic I’m Not There, but intriguing…
This has been a sad year for some of our favorite musical artists. Many of them self-destructed to a degree we never thought possible, even as we rooted for their career salvation, while others inexplicably ruined events to which we were greatly looking forward. Instead of analyzing just what went…
Something jazzy this way comes Friday night at Tobacco Road. Fort Lauderdale’s Lights Down Low offers a breezy vibe, a stylistic combination of Spiro Gyra and Pat Metheny. The band has hit The Road before, playing upstairs, and keyboardist Chip Gardner had a great time. “The sound guy, Cosmo, is…
Few star DJs are genetically equipped to keep the marathon after-hours, 4 a.m.-start-time sets at Space interesting. Ever a work in progress, the British producer/DJ/label-owner was once considered the pioneer of twisted house. That was just one stop on his steady rise from the infamous “motorway raves” of the early…
This Saturday at Jazid, Miami rock quartet Article 66 becomes the newest pack of lucky dogs to score the opening slot for Suénalo Sound System. “We’ve never played there before, and we’re very excited and grateful for the opportunity,” says vocalist/guitarist Tony “T-Bone” Tomas. “It’s a great place in a…
Go ahead, say awww: Audiocrash got together thanks to a couple of preschoolers — well, not exactly. See, the wives of band cofounders Craig Schembri and Guy Strempack attended preschool together. Explains Schembri: “They said, ‘Hey, we should go to dinner or to a concert.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, yeah,…
For every grand gesture, every history-changing moment, and every genre-defining band in the annals of music, there is a bandwagon. Mudhoney, Nirvana, the Melvins, and the rest of the Pacific Northwest grunge originators might have launched the most pervasive and profitable bandwagon of them all, laying the groundwork for the…
Have you ever told a dirty joke so well it eventually wound up owning you? It began innocently enough — a light-hearted anecdote whose punch line you could scarcely make it to without laughing. What it morphed into was a narrative monster out of your control, one you were asked…
Many kids grow up dreaming of pop stardom, and in Miami it’s no different. But for some, the route to the business leads them straight into our region’s fertile Latin music scene, where young aspiring pop singers are groomed from childhood to become the future stars of the Spanish-speaking world…
Local band Map of the Universe hit the South Florida scene in late 2005, after Ed Artigas and Ivan Marchena’s band (acclaimed local act Bling Bling) called it quits. Along with drummer Johnny Calderin, they started gigging all over the tri-county area, spreading some righteous hooks and melodies while releasing…
Dem natty dreads who first rocked it steady in Spanish Town, Jamaica, probably never imagined their music could translate out of patois and back into the language of their country’s original colonizers. Pero sabes que, bredren? Putumayo’s new Latin Reggae compilation proves the genre has wound its way all over…
Though some believe Lupe Fiasco is too smart for mainstream rap, that’s not exactly true. Most of the lyrics on his sophomore release, Lupe Fiasco’s The Cool, are pretty basic, cliché stuff, right down to the CD’s opening monologue: “They thought it was cool to tear down the projects and…
For a guy who’s been credited as the godfather of “cosmic country,” Gram Parsons hasn’t exactly been well represented when it comes to concert recordings. This goes for his solo work as well as the Byrds and the Flying Burrito Brothers, two of the most influential ensembles of which he…
A couple of weeks ago, we posted video here at CrossFade of South Florida’s mixtape king, DJ GQ chilling in the studio with his friend DMX. The video ended up all over YouTube, and every other viral video website and essentially played on the fact that DMX looked like he…
MSNBC is reporting that Jay-Z is resigning as president of Def Jam records at the end of this year. He took over post three years ago when former boss Lyor Cohen left the position to become the chief executive at Warner Music Group. Yesterday’s move isn’t surprising (his artists have…
Okay, I admit to reading this on Perez Hilton first, but the Miami Herald’s also got the whole scoop. In a nutshell, Mr. 305 got caught driving drunk early this morning. The story kinda deserves LOLz, though, for how ultimately Miami it is. First, he didn’t get busted on South…
South Florida’s favorite jam band, the Heavy Pets are rocking a show tonight with Suenalo. For more on the Heavy Pets, check out this recent feature on the band, but if you really want to learn more about them, check ’em out this evening at the Culture Room in Fort…
