Of all her many hits, Canadian chanteuse Anne Murray may be best known for her first, a song called “Snowbird,” which winged its way to the top of the international charts. Of course, here in South Florida we regularly refer to our neighbors to the north as snowbirds, although that…
There is a great tradition, or at least a stereotype, of an association between storytelling and drunkenness among the Irish. With his new project, the Three Jacks, Henk “Jack” Milne proves musically there’s much to be said for tradition. And storytelling. And drunkenness. But let’s be clear here: The Three…
Irrational exuberance is so widespread in hip-hop right now that Alan Greenspan might freak out — if he understood rap lyrics. There are no two ways about it: Hip-hop sales are declining. Album sales dropped 30 percent in 2007, a figure that includes digital downloads. And ringtones, which have given…
Jack Johnson would undoubtedly make a wonderful dinner companion. Unlike the average rock star, who might break the good china, wipe his face on the curtains, and succeed at banging your wife, Johnson’s the type to wash dishes once he hears you use environmentally friendly light bulbs. But niceness doesn’t…
On his latest disc, South African-born jazz musician Deepak Ram presents us with a solid album and a sonic challenge. How can one adapt “Giant Steps,” one of John Coltrane’s best-known compositions, to the bansuri (a wooden Indian flute)? The answer is: by giving some tunes a Brazilian bossa-nova structure,…
In the early ’80s, before Sting rose to international superstar status (musician/actor/activist), he was but one-third of new wave combo the Police. Back then, few British artists bridged the worlds of reggae and mainstream rock/pop like the Police, with their blend of Jamaican rhythms and urgent, polished melodic flair. Call…
The local punk scene in South Florida isn’t as strong as it should be. The bands are here, and the venues exist, but there’s something that prevents all the dots from connecting. While in theory it should be as simple as honest promoters lining up shows and letting bands and…
It must be hard beings all things to all people — especially when your name is Pitbull and you happen to be the top Latin MC in the country. Yeah, broadly speaking, Pit’s music could be classified as good old-fashioned hip-hop, but when you pay close attention to our local…
The Back Room Blues Bar 7200 N. Dixie Hwy. Boca Raton 561-988-8929 Imagine North Dixie Highway as the Yellow Brick Road. You’re Dorothy, and you’re looking to get to where people lived and died by their music. Where each note bled straight from the soul. Where blues travelers still roamed…
The versatile multilingual vocalist Elin was born in Sweden, but you would never know it by listening to her. Her style has a strong Brazilian influence even when she is belting out standards like Gershwin’s “Fascinating Rhythm” or her own compositions, as heard on her début CD, Lazy Afternoon (Blue…
So Mad Cobra didn’t really have much of a career outside of this track, but for a short while this tune ran dancehalls around the globe. Since it’s throwback day, don’t be afraid to sing along to this one. — Jonathan Cunningham…
It seems crazy to say this, but it’s been 21 years since No Use For a Name debuted as a band. In other words, the band as an entity can legally drink; a substantial number of its fans cannot. Pop-punk intrinsically seems like a genre made both for and by…
Never mind the misleading band name: Average White Band were racially mixed, but still hailed from very unfunky Scotland. Amazingly, the [usually] sextet created a brand of Seventies R&B with a serious swing that sounded really American, and really soulful. Their songs were rife with juicy breakbeats, and as such…
MC Lyte will probably always remain one of the most underrated MC’s of all time. Of any gender–not just because she’s female but rather hip-hop enthusiasts tend to forget about her too easily. But what a lot of critics and award shows never acknowledged was that during the ’80’s and…
It looks like McDonald’s is going after the urban crowd with this one. “Cha cha now y’all.” — Jonathan Cunningham…
By ANDY VIHSTADT Sex & Violence For your viewing pleasure: the new Kanye West video, directed by Spike Jonze. Much like his 1995 vid for Wax’s “Southern California” (reminisce here), Jonze shows his penchant for slow motion and fire. Add a shovel-wielding lingerie model to the equation and you’ve got…
Its’ silly that folks still resort to treating entertainers like this but some idiot at a recent Pitbull show got in a real cheap shot by launching a bottle at the Miami rapper’s head. The video below shows it in slow-mo afterward so don’t worry if you miss it the…
Casiotone for the Painfully Alone February 16, 2007 The White Room Better Than: Having Dostoevsky read to you by an ex-lover. Hard to believe anyone would put their faith in heartbreak, let alone turn out en masse to listen to it. But that’s Miami – ever ready to flip the…
Everybody’s favorite local 305 hip-hop curator, DJ Khaled, is movin’ on up yet again. Yesterday, he announced the launch of his new record label, We the Best Music (named after his 2007 album, of course, We the Best). It’ll be ecxlusively partnered up with and distributed by Def Jam Entertainment,…
One of our sister papers in Texas, the Houston Press, has this great list today of 10 hip-hop break-up songs, “because Valentine’s Day is for suckas.” Among the selections from the list of mostly dirty south jams: “Crampin’ My Style” by UGK, “Dirty Bitch” by Geto Boys, and reppin’ the…
Sauer Apple Saloon 814 Harrison St. Hollywood 954-929-0755 This isn’t your father’s downtown Hollywood, buddy boy. The streets are spiffy. The boutiques and eateries have gotten makeovers. And the bars — oh-ho, the bars — they have no reason to envy the smug party scene of South Beach. Anchoring this…
Known primarily for his role as bassist in Bela Fleck’s Grammy-winning New Grass Revival band the Flecktones, Victor Wooten is a phenomenal composer and bandleader in his own right. Widely respected by fellow musicians and acclaimed by the bass cognoscenti (he’s the only three-time winner of Bass Player magazine’s Bass…
