Head Spins: DJ Ruen

​Sometimes you just want to have fun, without some egghead turntablist letting his noggin interfere with your nightlife. And you don’t need no stinking holier-than-thou white label purist insisting that you worship every nuance of a track’s rarity. You want to hit the club, and you want to dance –…

School of Rock: Glass Candy 101

Ida No and Johnny Jewel of Glass Candy.​If you’re planning to stop by the Vagabond tonight to check out Portland duo Glass Candy, you are definitely in for a disco-laced treat. But if your knowledge on the pair is pretty much equivalent to your knowledge of quantum physics, let us…

Diary of a Flasher: I Love DJs

Photo by JipsyDJ AM at the AG Adriano Goldschmied store on Washington in 2007.​To read past installments of Diary of a Flasher, click here. Over the weekend I felt I was the only one not at the Depeche Mode concert. Texts and tweets blew up my phone on Saturday night…

Political Boss

It was 2008, and another term of Republican rule remained a cruel possibility. Then Bruce Springsteen — the year’s second-highest-grossing touring act — led a supergroup that included Billy Joel through a hope-inspiring “Born to Run” at a fundraiser in New York City in October. The Boss then introduced “the…

Reverend Revealed

There have always been misconceptions surrounding Reverend Horton Heat. For starters, there is no preacher frontman – it’s just a name. Then there’s the whole genre-classification issue. Despite the popularity of the band’s awesomely unhinged ’90s cut “Psychobilly Freakout,” the trio doesn’t really fit under the banner or feel a…

Synth Saviours

There are reasons Depeche Mode is so often called “critic proof.” The group’s performance this past Saturday night at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise was, in a word, transcendent. That sounds like hyperbole, but ask any of the nearly 20,000 people in attendance that night. The performance drew its otherworldy…

He’s Explosive

If Grammys were awarded for hard work and hustle, Dainamite would win at least one every year. He’ll play anywhere for anyone at any time. And if he’s not performing, he’s either producing other artists or hustling up new beats. And he does it all from his little home studio…

Take That, Jimmy Buffett!

Let’s see… You can spend your Sundays watching mindless TV, laundering your undergarments, balancing your checkbook, or doing something equally and pathetically lame. Or you can slather on some suntan lotion and transport yourself to a tropical, drunken, decadent paradise during a five-hour minivacation at the poolside Hilton Hotel tiki…

Around the World in 80 Decibels: Otto’s Full Moon Black Metal Magic

The Earth’s moon was full as we arrived at the medieval castle for the OpenFields Festival, in the Belgium village of Rêves.The Bermuda Triangle’s Flamingo prince, Otto von Schirach, instinctually quenched the crowd’s thirst for his signature style of alien beats, playing for close to two hours.As Otto performed under…

Head Spins: DJ Heron — With Free Mixes!

​The knock on the door came late; too late for most folks. But DJ Heron was working in a recording studio, where work often doesn’t start till the witching hour. And the cat doing the knocking said he was a friend of a friend who’d been working in the studio…

Flyer of the Week: The Panix at Churchill’s September 17

​​These days it has become exceedingly rare to see a show flyer that’s been produced entirely without the aid of a computer. (I mean, we as a people are so obscenely wired that it seems the next logical step should be embedding a Bluetooth into my skull and/or seamlessly interfacing…

MP3 of the Day: Mister Drake Gets Deep DJ Mix

​Ready for the weekend? Well, you might think you are, but not until you download this DJ mix by local mix-master Sean Drake, also known as Mister Drake. Formerly a resident DJ at Pawn Shop Lounge, Drake has been away from the music game for a while. He made his…

Bella Rose Says Goodbye to Its 16th Street Locale

Photo by Jipsy​This news comes to us as quite a shock: After only 16 months, Bella Rose is closing it doors at its 16th Street and Washington Avenue space in Miami Beach. Owners Alfred Spellman and Keith Paciello broke the news early this morning via bellarosemiami.com.But there is good news…

Diary of a Flasher: Laboring Over Labor Day

Photo by Jipsy​To read past installments of Diary of a Flasher, click here. There was a time when Labor Day weekend meant something to me. It was a nice 3-day weekend to head out to a mini-vacation. Up in the northeast, I had a choice of rivers, mountains, oceans and…