County Grind Needs an Intern

Attention, students with writing skills, the beginning stages of tinnitus, and amorphous schedules: An internship has just opened up with your name on it in the County Grind/New Times Broward-Palm Beach den of music appreciation.Emphasis that you must be in school of some sort (undergrad, grad, post-grad, you pick), so…

Coat Man Outraged by New Times Mickey Clean Cover Story

Apparently the Fort Lauderdale beach scene isn’t big enough for two local curiosities. After learning of our widely read cover story about aging punk legend with a flair for caricature art Mickey Clean, the self-proclaimed “nationally known marathon runner” Dennis “Coat Man” Marsella placed several phone calls to the New…

Pretty Please Reconciles, Releases “Pistols & Revolvers” Video

So, this is kind of weird. After publicly lambasting each other on County Grind’s tawdry pages, Miami pop-rock intimidators Pretty Please’s Juan Oña (his unhappy comments here) and Bianca Brite (her lengthy reply here) have decided to put aside their differences. This, of course, was revealed via another few comments…

Black Lips, Surfer Blood and More Bruise Cruise Performers at Grand Central

We continue with our wall-to-wall coverage of the inaugural Bruise Cruise this week with news that both the Black Lips and Surfer Blood will headline a kickoff show on February 24 at downtown Miami’s Grand Central. Looks like the celebratory contusions on the swashbuckling garage-rock-on-open-seas bash keep getting more black…

In Print: Buzz Bake Sale and Art Basel

Aside from pointing as many eyeballs as possible to this week’s cover story about punk rock caricaturist Mickey Clean, there’s reading aplenty in the music section too. Has it already been 15 years since the Buzz Bake Sale’s initial running? Erica Landau and Travis Newbill break down the highlights, including…

Art Basel Miami Beach’s Masterful Slate of Music Performances

Go ahead, lie. You might manage to persuade a clueless acquaintance or airheaded first date that you’re some kind of enlightened and worldly art lover with an underground bunker stuffed full of priceless avant-garde treasures. But we’re too wise for that line. Face it: You’re broke. So this week, when…

Killing Joke Reminds Us That Reunions Don’t All Suck

“Moving Units” has many connotations, including this crappy dance-punk band and selling mad records, but herein is an album that moved Radio-Active Records’ Mike Ramirez and County Grind to have an effusive discussion about it.The Setup:Absolute Dissent, Killing Joke’s 13th album, finally welcomes the long-awaited return of the original lineup…

Five Things to Say to Flo Rida, Whose Phone Number Is…

305-528-2786!Not only did Flo Rida give out his number during his appearance on Chelsea Lately this week; he fully endorsed calling him in the middle of the night. Now this does give Flo fans (and haters) an opportunity to emote to the king of repurposing songs from the mid-’80s for…

MP3: Iron & Wine’s “Walking Far From Home” Is Regal

It was all too clear that Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam has a special kinship with South Florida — even if he hadn’t been here for years until his performance earlier this month at the Fillmore Miami Beach. As Tom Francis detailed, the guy who has cultivated an amphitheater-ready audience…

MP3: The Jameses – “Fifth Dimension”

Area synthesizer rock trio (and Zitfest organizers) the Jameses dominate “Fifth Dimension” live each time out. After hearing the song no fewer than a half-dozen times, easy access to a recorded version should up that count into the realm of daily stats we keep for “hours of sleep” or “tacos consumed.”…

In Print: Dashboard Confessional and Dancegiving!

Dashboard Confessional’s Chris Carrabba is generous with his words. Not only did Christine Borges get enough for this week’s big print feature with the man, she spilled the rest into a funny bonus Q&A over here. He loves the Jameses!Anyhow, the big news here is that The Swiss Army Romance,…

Five Songs That Could Use a Turkey Cameo

Remixes are aplenty for the holiday season. Sort of like an early holiday present that has already been regifted, rarely do the reworking resonate as much as the original — until now. Throw the bird (not Birdman) on a sagging track, and it’s bound to get better. Now let’s get…

MP3: The Roots and John Legend Cover Arcade Fire

With Arcade Fire busy filming music videos alongside Spike Jonze and puddle-jumping to promote their latest The Suburbs, you might be getting an itch craving Canada’s finest. Meanwhile, homegrown John Legend and the Roots have just finished collaborating on a their recently released Wake Up!, a collection of 12 covers…

T.I. and Tiger Woods’ Mea Culpa Essays, Mashed Up

T.I. and Tiger Woods are two men who recently had their lives royally screwed up at the point where fame, hubris, and the laws of society intersect. And boy, are they both apologetic today. Tip took to his personal blog, and Woods penned an essay appearing in Newsweek titled “How…

Why Pardoning Jim Morrison Doesn’t Affirm So-Called Counterculture

Never thought County Grind would sound so much like Alex P. Keaton in these pages, but here’s a rail against the “counterculture” supporters in the New York Times’ latest piece discussing Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s support of pardoning Jim Morrison. Writer David Itzkoff unravels the issue beyond its basic talking…