Local Singer-Songwriter to Watch: Travis Newbill

The 26-year-old Fort Lauderdale singer-songwriter Travis Newbill writes tunes that are one part quirky acoustic, one part angst, and one part philosophy. With a weekly gig at the nautical pub the Jib Room, a bar off of Oakland Park Boulevard just west of Federal Highway, Newbill fuses pop hooks with…

Friday Night: Astari Nite at PS14

Astari NiteFriday, June 5, 2009Flamingo Fridays at PS14, MiamiBetter Than: A pop goth cocktailAs my esteemed colleague (and de facto boss) Arielle Castillo so keenly wrote in these pages last September, Astari Nite singer Mychael Ghost is unquestionably “a proper frontman.” Which is to say (as she said), that he…

Yellowman Plays Respectables Saturday, June 27

Sexist lyrics and heavy beats go together like pork and beans when it comes to dancehall. There is something so good about it though. If you can cast aside the bigotry, the misogyny, the rampant and sometimes violent homophobia, and the bizarre posturing, the beats are savage, the delivery is…

Bonnie Raitt Playing Pompano Beach on October 23

Country/Blues icon Bonnie Raitt has announced an October 23 date at Pompano Beach Amphitheater. She’s recently released her 18th album, and simply refuses to stop touring. Most of this tour is being performed with Taj Mahal, but they won’t be making the trip down to Pompano Beach. Instead, Bonnie will…

Jacuzzi Boys Pop Up on Pitchfork

myspace.com/jacuzziboysIndie rock taste-makers/breakers Pitchfork Media threw some love to Miami’s tropical-death-metal-slash-swamp-rock threesome the Jacuzzi Boys this morning. In a review of their (comparatively) mellow anti-ballad “The Countess”, Amy Granzin threw up some fairly gushy praise by Pitchfork standards: “A bass drum drives the song straight and steady, but heavy reverb…

L.A. Guns shooting up Culture Room on September 12

One of the two bands currently touring under the L.A. Guns moniker is coming to Culture Room on September 12. Founding member Tracii Guns, Jeremy Guns, Marty Casey, Alec “Big Al” Bauer, and Chad Stewart make up this version of the Guns, while all Phil Lewis, Steve Riley, Stacey Blades,…

The New York Dolls

Going to see the New York Dolls is an odd proposition. On one level, it’s hard to deny the importance of a band so central to the legacy of rock and roll, and punk music in particular. Their genre and gender bending brand of heavy-hitting raunch rock is still vital,…

Little Feat

Let me paint you a picture. It’s a little hazy, but that’s just pot smoke (in the story, I swear). The year is 1969 in L.A., and Frank Zappa has just handed vocalist-guitarist Lowell George his walking papers from the Mothers of Invention. Some legends contend Zappa thought he showed…

Ryan Cabrera

Young hunk Ryan Cabrera’s third effort, The Moon Under Water, released last year, was supposedly his entry into serious music. Check out Cabrera’s brunette locks and soul patch as well as his Bono-inspired attire on the album’s back jacket — this guy is a thoughtful rocker, damn it. He’s been…

Astari Nite and Old Wives Tale

Friday night’s weekly Flamingo Fridays party at PS14 marks the first show there in a while for Miami foursome Astari Nite. The band has been steadily plugging away at its chilly, Placebo-influenced rock. Now that summer’s here, singer Mychael Ghost and company have set to work on a proper debut EP, heading into…

Johnny Winter Plays Culture Room on October 9

About BluesWhen I was a little boy I used to sit on the floor in front if a bookcase in my Dad’s living room and look through his records.  They were all in alphabetical order and I would play them on his old old old turntable and hi-fi stereo system. …

Willy Chirino Pa’Lante in the AAA This Saturday

Geez, I’m really torn here. Part of me wanted to start this post by singing, “Llevaba medias negras / Y me robó el corazón!” But then I’d be leaving out the equally worthy, “Oxigeno! Esa mujer me da oxigeno / Con su sonrisa simpatico / Con su presencia magnifica!” It’s…