iTunes Tells Buju Banton to “Boom Bye Bye”

Not everybody hates Buju. According to a story that came out in the Jamaica Star last week, Apple Inc has recently removed some songs deemed homophobic from their catalog. Buju Banton’s “Boom Bye Bye” was one of those songs and according to this article, some Canadian gay rights organizations are…

Nas and Kelis to Sue Miami for $100 Million

I’d toast to that! I knew there would be more to this story after Kelis first got arrested last year in Miami. Now it looks like both her and her legendary hip-hop husband, Nasir Jones, are going to be suing the City of Miami to the tune of $100 million…

Film Screening: Another Night at the Agora

Last Night: Another Night at the Agora at Sunrise Cinemas Mizner Park The Palm Beach International Film Festival wrapped up last night with the second showing of A Rock and a Hard Place: Another Night at the Agora, a concert film/documentary that sheds light on the once-vibrant but now forgotten…

Bruce Springsteen Supports Obama for President

You might think it’s commonplace at this point in the election for Obama to continuously rack up support from musicians. It is. But the latest endorsement holds some significant weight. The boss of all music bosses, Bruce Springsteen, is throwing his political muscle behind Obama. That might not mean a…

Girl Power

There are plenty of good reasons for women to be bitchy: the glass ceiling, social oppression, pantyhose, bad pick-up lines, double standards, uncomfortable shoes, and, of course, cramps. When I feel particularly picked on, I go for a long walk, make a cup of chai, and turn myself into a…

Junc Ops

Miami’s Junc Ops combines some of the better elements of South Florida music into a savvy and futuristic amalgamation that whets the appetite and satisfies the hunger. It’s party music in the way that poppy melodies and catchy rhymes seamlessly glide over bass-heavy productions and make you want to shake…

Play It Back

Beach Food Market clerk Pratap Chowdhury spends a lot of time focusing on South Beach diplomacy efforts. He practices basic Spanish, learns customers’ names, and reaches out with the handshake or fist bop deemed appropriate for each customer’s apparent nationality or culture. As such, New Times thought we might offer…

Sayonara, Suckers

I hate my fans,” huffs Al Jourgensen. The thing is, he’s not kidding. Not even a little bit. And it’s this hatred of his own fan base that, at least in part, accounts for Jourgensen’s decision to retire Ministry, which also happens to be his most popular and lucrative project…

The Grrrl Grows Up

Remember when people were calling Avril Lavigne the great grrrrl hope? Remember when Women-Who-Rock-minded scribes got all excited by Lavigne’s punked-up image on the cover of 2002’s multiplatinum debut, Let Go? Remember when feminists cheered along to songs on 2004’s Under My Skin, which included lines like “Don’t think that…

The Black Keys

The biggest knock on the Keys’ 2006 major-label debut, Magic Potion, was its failure to innovate. That can’t be said about Attack & Release, which remains steadfast in its blues allegiance while expanding the Akron duo’s territorial reach. Tastefully done, it’s undoubtedly a Black Keys album, with a musky grime…

Le Trio Joubran

Go anywhere in the Arab world, and one sound is omnipresent, bumping from car stereos and wafting hypnotically through narrow café-laden streets — the oud. This traditional lute instrument gets taken for an improv joyride with Majâz (“metaphor” in Arabic), the new release from Le Trio Joubran, a classical yet…

Black Spade

All of my life my father encouraged me to be open to all good music,” St. Louis rapper Black Spade sings on the intro to his debut album, To Serve With Love. On his MySpace page, he reaffirms his dad’s influence on his genre-defying new work, describing his sound as…

Nine Inch Nails

While a double album containing 36 instrumental vignettes from Trent Reznor may appear to be the very definition of self-indulgence, listeners should know by now that Reznor doesn’t do anything half-assed. That he focused on this material over a ten-week period late last year further suggests that Ghosts I-IV is…

Memorial Services for Cedella Marley Booker Tonight

If you want to go pay your respects to Mother Booker, the eclectic mother of reggae legend Bob Marley, all the info that you’ll need is below in the press release. –Jonathan Cunningham Cedella Marley Booker Memorial Service for the South Florida Community Set for April 15 at Fairchild Cedella…

Eminem to Perform for Mandela?

That sounds like an odd performance request, but according to this story, he’s onboard to perform at the Mandela’s 90th birthday party this summer. The article doesn’t speak too highly of Eminem and you can almost hear the detractors and gay rights activists who will probably jump all over this…

Jenny Laura Takes El Exito

Jenny Laura was thrust on stage to sing Gloria Estefan’s ‘Mi Tierra’ minutes after arriving at CocoWalk in Coconut Grove Wednesday night for a quick sound check. But her crystal clear chops did more than put a smile on the sound engineer’s face – they also helped the Columbian singer/songwriter…

I Love Bikes ‘n’ Pelts

Sure, I’m a girly-girl. I like pretty shoes and lipstick. I’m so sissified that a cockroach scurrying through the kitchen can send my voice traveling up to glass-shattering octaves. I don’t wear leather, I’m not pierced or tattooed, and the closest I come to a fight is punching an imaginary…

One Cool Cat

On first encounter, the voice actually sounds ageless, a supple, sensuous caress that quietly croons about romance and longing while evoking the feel of smoky cabarets. It would be easy to identify those vocals with a well-known diva or to imagine they came from a weathered soul who’s faced too…

Ridicule This

It’s not easy being in a band that’s labeled pop-punk. Not only do fans of other, more “mature” genres look down on you as sophomoric, but there are divisions within pop-punk itself. Forget the distinction between underground (bands inspired by the Ramones and Screeching Weasel) and mainstream (those who dig…