I often forget to check up on Vice’s online TV venture, VBS.TV, and that’s just as well, because then I would really never get anything done at the computer. Why? Original mini shows that are informative and entertaining, but without relying on a bunch of slick professional “hip” gimmickry. Actually,…
I’m sure I’m late in the game on discovering this one, but Trent Reznor has proved once again that, love him or hate him, he’s always been a forward thinker. Newly freed from the shackles of his contact with Interscope, he’s launched a new site at remix.nin.com. It’s a platform…
The books published by Vice, the infamous free monthly magazine that has been a weathervane of trashy cool, are always smirkingly entertaining, and at the very least practical. My best friend keeps a copy of Vice Do’s and Don’ts on top of her toilet tank. Not because it’s shitty, but…
Every year around the office, it’s the same old pickle: What do you buy for the Secret Santa gift exchange? You don’t want to go supercheap, because somehow everyone always figures out you were the jackass who bought the stupid Bush-isms desk calendar. But you also don’t want to spend…
Field reports on reactions to the Flaming Lips’ 1997 experimental album Zaireeka are all over the Internet. “We conquered the boombox aisle in the electronics section at Sears; the manager gave us the heave-ho during the encircling drum solo in ‘March of the Rotten Vegetables,'” reports one message board missive…
Unclassifiable when they began making records, Manhattan Transfer were the Dresden Dolls of their day, sort of. The band was formed through a series of happy accidents — group founder Tim Hauser meeting the outfit’s first soprano, Laurel Masse, as a fare in the cab he was driving. The swing/a…
It’s hard to find anyone with a subtler touch on the keys than Maryland-born Cyrus Chestnut, who draws from both modern and traditional jazz, while also flirting with R&B and gospel. Such eclecticism has found him performing alongside the likes of Vanessa Williams, Wynton Marsalis, and the Dizzy Gillespie Alumni…
They’ll be rinsin’ the night away once again at Laundry Bar this Friday. Romford, England-based A-Sides — a.k.a. Jason Cambridge — headlines this drum ‘n’ bass night. One of the most prolific artists of the genre, he’s been producing music since 1990 and has released over 500 tracks to date,…
What a crazy few months it’s been for Beenie Man. These days, it seems like every time Beenie’s name is in the press, it’s pertaining to his personal life instead of his music. He’s the center of a tax evasion scandal, one that alleges he owes the Jamaican government more…
A pint-size novelty act who made preteen girls swoon with his 2000 debut, Beware of Dog, Bow Wow has somehow evolved into an elder statesmen in the hip-pop genre. Now 20 years old, he has split with longtime producer Jermaine Dupri, and his sixth CD, Face Off — a collaboration…
Beanie Sigel’s rough and ready new CD, The Solution, stands in contrast to the latest from his mentor, Jay-Z. American Gangster saw Jay reminiscing about the days before he settled into his plush corporate lifestyle, but Sigel is still living hard. Having been acquitted of attempted murder and done a…
There was a time when covering Bob Dylan was downright easy. The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, the Turtles, and even William Shatner put their distinctive spins on the legend’s tunes. Those times, however, have a-changed. Witness this 2-CD soundtrack to the current Todd Haynes film; even though it assembles a who’s…
After more than 30 years as a reggae musician, Cocoa Tea should be either a cutting-edge groundbreaker or a standard-bearing legend. As Biological Warfare disappointingly makes clear, he’s neither. The dancehall vibe he’s worked with for most of his career has seen him occasionally flirting with progressive electronic sounds that…
Contrary to what its name implies, Miami’s 2005 Grammy-nominated Cuban son ensemble Conjunto Progreso is anything but forward-thinking. Not that the band members mind: They proudly claim to be the only local Latin act not trying to create experimental fusion. “We’re strictly a roots-oriented band. We haven’t gotten past the…
Café Tacuba Sunday, December 16 the Gusman Theater, Miami There are very few bands around that can continue to garner new, younger fans almost two decades into their careers. Mexico’s Café Tacuba, however, stands as one of those select few. Downtown’s Miami old and marvelous Gusman Theater was brimming with…
Pregnant chicks are cool, I guess, because they eat like stoners and can hold your beer on their stomach while you play Halo. But I still feel mildly weird about these pictures of Xtina trying to look all uber-slutty with a small human inside her stomach, I guess because a…
Café Tacuba Gusman Center Dec 16, 2007 Media: Check out a slideshow from the concert. Between the art deco splendor of the Gusman Center and the flock of Mexican hipsters making their way through the nipply cold wind tunnels downtown last night – it felt like we were in Chilangolandia…
By ANDY VIHSTADT Led On Those of you waiting on a full-scale reunion tour from Led Zeppelin should find something else to obsess about in 2008. According to Robert Plant’s site , he and Alison Krauss are launching a European tour in May with US dates to follow. In the…
The Y100 Jingle Ball December 15, 2007 The Bank Atlantic Center School will soon be coming to a brief respite as youngsters gear up for the holiday break. In celebration, every teen and tween in South Florida seemed to have congregated at the Y100 Jingle Ball with parents in tow…
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…
Chad “Pimp C” Butler 12/29/73-12/4/07 By John Nova Lomax I came late to the UGK party. I was out of the country for much of their rise from 1992-1995, and then I lived in Nashville, where their legend had not yet spread, until the end of 1997. Even after moving…
Stephen C. Foster, composer of Florida’s current state song There’s been talk of getting rid of Florida’s state song for years. “The Swanee River (Old Folks at Home)” by Stephen C. Foster was officially adopted in 1935 — less enlightened times, shall we say. At the end of 2007, it…
