Critical Miami recently pointed out Pitchfork Media’s pretty unforgiving review of Trilla. Yes, that’s a decimal point — on Pitchfork’s sort of infamous 10-point scale, I’ve never understood how reviewers arrive at the exact number. Why is it a 2.4, and not a 2.6 or a 2.3? Is there some…
Logan Fazio Erykah Badu and the Roots Mizner Park Amphitheater, Boca Raton Tuesday, May 20, 2008 Better than: Listening to Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop” on the radio for the umpteenth time. You never know what you’re going to get when you see the Roots concert. The band has roughly 14 years…
Sayre Berman Duran Duran Mizner Park Amphitheater, Boca Raton Monday, May 19, 2008 Better Than: Just about every other show in the last six months by a band existing for more than fifteen years. The Review:Last night Duran Duran, now at some 28 years and running, managed to achieve nearly…
Ivon David Rojas THE POLICE CRUZAN AMPHITHEATRE SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2008 Better Than: What’s better than sitting in traffic for three hours? Somewhere in Palm Beach County there is a sadistic concert-hater who said, “I know, let’s close half of Southern Boulevard out by the Fairgrounds – that way it…
The Square Egg, once upon a time, was one of THE best live acts going in Miami, with a live hip-hop/jazz/soul kinda thang that has yet to be paralleled in quality in this town. But eventually, as too many people do, frontman Lee decamped to Brooklyn – boohoo! Luckily, though,…
Tomorrow afternoon and evening, snag a free spot to learn some of the latest hands-on electronic beatmaking programs with George Acosta, Miami boy and legendary trance and progressive house DJ. (In 2007, Acosta was voted America’s Best DJ in DJ Times magazine. Also, remember those days at the Mix afterhours,…
Ahh, to be an aging rock star. What better possible way could there be to live out one’s golden years than trying vainly to relive one’s golden youth? Leather pants, screaming groupies, pharmaceutically enhanced machismo. The Dennis Hopper-endorsed, carpe-diem boomer mentality has given second wind to bloated rock corpses the…
Now that the kids in Be Your Own Pet aren’t exactly kids anymore – they were still in high school when the explosive garage-rock band was born, but they’re nearly drinking age now – it’s not surprising that they’re beginning to show a little bit of, um, maturity. Sure, Jemina…
The Broward Center for the Performing Arts’ Amaturo Theater is sure to shake with sweet vibrations Friday when the county’s Brazilian Voices pays homage to samba music. The performance is the first time the 50-woman ensemble, directed by vocal divas Beatrice Malnic and Loren Oliveira, has tried to move and…
Speak to anyone in their 50s about Carly Simon and their eyes flicker. It’s like asking today’s youth about Jay-Z or Radiohead; she’s a musical powerhouse that changed the trajectory of boomer culture. Her life story is made for daytime TV, from her early rise in her hometown of New…
Instead of just posting an old song, this time around, Throwback Tuesdays brings you a bunch of video goodness of some Miami legends who represented a these-days-often-forgotten element of hip-hop: B-boying! (No b-girls in these videos, oh well – if anyone out there knows of some web videos of breakdancing…
In case you missed the news in the world of Myspace and blogs, Dead Prez is popping up kinda randomly for a show tonight — a pretty good coup for a weekly party in Hollywood, known as Mellow Mondays. It’s a soul-poetry-funk-conscious sort of thang, and followers of that scene…
There’s absolutely no reason for Mindless Self Indulgence to be around in 2008. For starters, their aggressive, quasi-industrial sound – on paper, at least – is long past its sell-by date. Furthermore, they’ve been up and down the indie-major-indie label rollercoaster and should now be experiencing their inevitable decline into…
When it comes to blending straight-ahead rock with Americana and bluegrass twang, there’s no other group locally that does it better than Black Finger. These guys have the feel of a band that could have starred in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou, but instead of ripping off the Soggy Bottom…
A couple of years ago, Atlanta rapper Young Jeezy was seen as the last great Southern hope. He had the hood respect of T.I. and garnered the admiration of practically every drug dealer in North America. It’s not that he’s overly gangster or that his rhymes aren’t crisp. He’s plenty…
It might not be appropriate to refer to them as the best of praise and worship. But few gospel artists stir souls across multiple cultural and economic lines like Yolanda Adams. Couple her with the legendary Shirley Caesar, the matriarch of gospel music, and you’ve got a concert appropriately billed…
People are still talking about DJ Heather’s set at this year’s Om Records WMC party. Like fellow Chicago DJ Colette, whom she followed on the Ultra Lounge stage, Heather is part of Superjane, one of the first known female DJ collectives. There’s nothing new to report from the Superjane camp,…
Seminole Hard Rock/Tom Craig Eric Clapton and Robert Randolph Hard Rock Live Monday, May 5, 2008 Better Than: Watching TV pundits continue to treat Hillary Clinton’s campaign seriously. Is Eric Clapton God or just a higher power some choose to call God? Unfortunately, the decades-long debate over Clapton’s exact theological…
Ari Rothenberg RADIOHEAD CRUZAN AMPHITHEATRE MONDAY, MAY 5, 2008 Better than: Singing about the techno-apocalypse by yourself in your room. Thom Yorke wears a white linen jacket, Jonny Greenwood’s mop of hair dangles in front of his stooped head like the curtain in front of the Wizard of Oz. Stalactites…
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND THE E STREET BAND BANK ATLANTIC CENTER FRIDAY, MAY 2, 2008 Better than: Watching Steven Van Zandt on reruns of “The Sopranos.” The lines between rock ‘n’ roll show and revival meeting were effectively blurred beyond distinction Friday night as Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band…
B.B. King and Joe Bonamassa at the BankAtlantic Center Saturday, May 3, 2008 Better Than: When you ask your baby for water and she brings you gasoline. At 82, the good news is that B.B. King can still play and sing with aplomb. The bad news is that he’d rather…
Sayre Berman Carlos Santana and Derek Trucks Hard Rock Live Wednesday, April 30, 2008 Better Than: Sitting home and watching the speeches of Rev. Jeremiah Wright loop constantly on every channel. There are three sure things at a Santana show: 1) Carlos will display the highest level of improvisational virtuosity;…
