This week’s cover story takes a look at whether the U.S. government, with the help of a shady snitch, entrapped Buju Banton, and iconic and controversial, Grammy-winning reggae musician.Buju is one of those rare reggae artists who achieved global fame while remaining a fan favorite in Jamaica. His career has…
Born February 7, 1962, Garth Brooks has achieved the distinction of being one of the best-selling artists of the past 20 years. This is true not only in the realm of country, which he clearly dominated, but in the pop world overall. Indeed, while country music provides the predominant thread that…
One of the biggest blows to the musical community (hip-hop in particular), was the tragic passing of J Dilla back on February 10th, 2006. Cardiac arrest stemming from his lifelong battle with the rare blood disease thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP) also known as Moschcowitz Syndrome and lupus was the cause…
Not long ago, Sea Things, AKA Michael Floering, put out a beautiful mix called In Rare Form, which we’ll post below for your listening pleasure. It sounds like outer space laced with codeine, getting heady right away, and one of its standout tracks is the Clams Casino-produced “Shining Every Time” by…
More than 30 years after his untimely passing, Bob Marley’s influence remains as indelible as ever. The first major and still most important ambassador of reggae music to the world, he combined a poet’s flair, an activist’s vision, and a charismatic imprint with the swaying, hypnotic rhythms of his native…
He is their Lebowski Rug. He is their raison d’être, their drive, their focusing stone. Regardless of whichever way you’d like to look at it, there’s no simple way Sonic Youth would be Sonic Youth if it hadn’t been for the matched virtuosity of Ranaldo and Moore’s guitars…
Boise Bob isn’t just a guy who sings songs about ‘possum meat and swamp living. He’s a South Florida staple. Bob has been integrated into the local music scene since the late 1970s, playing everywhere from dive bars to art galleries. He’s certainly dazzled you with Americana music and hillbilly humor,…
We hadn’t heard from Sea Things in a minute, so we took matters into our own hands and emailed Michael Floering himself. Turns out he’s been quite busy.We completely missed the release of his EP, Jaws, which, he explains, marks “the end of an era… The era of intentional hyperbole in…
Mickey Raphael has spent more than three decades out on the road (ahem… again and again) with Willie Nelson as the harmonica player in the Family band. He and the whole Nelson crew are coming to Broward Center for the Performing Arts for a stoner hoedown. Raphael is one of…
In its seven-and-a-half year life, the late Alligator Alley in Oakland Park carved out a distinct swampy niche for itself. It was a rare intimate venue dedicated to a particularly old-Florida vibe, with geographically appropriate bar snacks, local micro-brews, and, most important, a nightly program of original, live blues and…
Back in August, we reported that local poet and promoter Renda Writer was giving up his post as editor of local arts mag WeMerge in order to focus even more of his energy toward getting the attention of Ellen DeGeneres so that she may invite him to read one of…
With one hand in Harvey and the Buckets and another in Suede Dudes, Nick Petakas knows how to balance dichotomies in sound. This is probably why his solo stuff sounds like poppily crafted little treasures sent straight through a layer of something scummy.A relatively new project, the oldest track on…
It seems there was a certain inevitability that doomed James Ambrose Johnson Jr., AKA Rick James, from the start. Despite his phenomenal success in the late ’70s and early ’80s, including no fewer than four number-one hits on the R&B charts (among them, “Super Freak,” “Mary Jane,” and “You and…
Campaign songs aren’t anything new. In 1960, JFK used Frank Sinatra’s optimistic “High Hopes” during the elections. In 2000, George W. Bush attempted to use Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” (that is, before Petty wouldn’t back down on not letting him use the song), Survivor’s suing Gingrich for using…
Born John Joseph Lydon on January 31, 1956, the man later known as Johnny Rotten became the ultimate punk protagonist. An unlikely icon, he helped revitalize rock ‘n’ roll by discarding its mores and stripping it down to the basics. Both he and his first band the Sex Pistols were famously…
Luckily, we already know the Pent Up Joy is still in the works. In case you haven’t looked at their Facebook page lately, they are, as Anthony Dewar told us, “leaking a flood of old songs onto Facebook from SoundCloud, and that’s mainly to till the soil for our crop of…
With a career that boasted a slow ascent and then followed with a perilously rapid descent, Phil Collins became an example of an artist who displayed both the best and worst of what fame and fortune could bring. Born January 30, 1951, he rose to the helm of Genesis, one of…
Just last Thursday, County Grind attended a particularly wild concert that included some near-nudity, stage diving, and lots of masturbation chatter. The show was that of Machine Gun Kelly, the Cleveland rapper whose gift is his ability to spit out lyrics as fast as, well, a machine gun. After the…
MAYDAY! may have something of a rep around South Florida for being a party band. This is true — the hip-hop group’s live shows are generally boisterous affairs. But careful listeners will have long ago noted a deeper, more cerebral and hard-edged side to the group. What’s long set them apart,…
You may remember both Bleeding Palm’s hypnotic cat-laden graphics and Dino Felipe’s intense performance, featuring a walker, at the County Grind Live Music show at Green Room. Even though the musical genius, and we don’t use that word lightly, had twisted his ankle the night before at a Churchill’s show,…
We hope you went to at least one of the recent string of shows where Suede Dudes made an appearance: the drone-y, surfy, and multitalented dudes (Dudes?) are taking a break from playing live. This winter, they turn their goals inward, indoors — as their kind ought to, if literary…
Protoman is taking some time off from creating another solo album to focus on his place in hip hop duo Alligator City.Even though he’s not putting together anything full-length, he’s not totally neglecting his own music. Today, his remix of Iggy Azalea’s “My World” single leaked. According to an email from…
