Ernest Barteldes Latin Alternative Music Conference, Day 4 Saturday, July 12,2008 Central Park Summerstage, New York With no more panel discussions to attend anymore, we headed out to Central Park’s Rumsey Playfield during a mild Saturday afternoon for the final round of concerts for this edition of the LAMC. Like…
Juan Luis Guerra Saturday, July 12, 2008 American Airlines Arena, Miami Roaring airplanes – on dual screens – and luggage towing flight attendants on stage, albeit uninspiring production tools, were clear indicators that Juan Luis Guerra could not be far behind. And while his mere presence seconds later was welcomed…
Dave Matthews Band Saturday, July 12, 2008 Cruzan Amphitheatre, West Palm Beach Better Than: Eating, drinking and being merry with a side of chocolate-covered weed brownies. After what seemed to be the perfect return to West Palm Beach by the Dave Matthews Band Friday night, fans wandered back to the…
Ernest Barteldes Latin Alternative Music Conference, Day 3 Friday, July 11, 2008 Roosevelt Hotel & Prospect Park, New York On the second day of panels and networking at Midtown’s The Roosevelt Hotel, former producer Moses Avalon discussed the various pitfalls faced by young musicians in the dog-eat-dog world of show…
Against Me! will be in town this weekend for the Vans Warped Tour. I interviewed their lead singer and founder Tom Gabel last year while the band was in Europe and as you can hear, I am an “obnoxious reporter.” var so = new SWFObject(“http://media.newtimes.com/players/vvmMiniPlayer.swf?audioFile=http://media.newtimes.com/2336228.0.mp3&autoPlay=no”,”theSWF”, “91”, “32”, “8”, “#FFFFFF”); so.write(…
I just got word that Miami’s favorite girl band, A.K.A. is playing a show at the Vagabond tonight which is sure to be a good time. If you’re not hip to them yet, go and get acquainted. They were just voted best female band by the New Times (since when…
Jose D. Duran Gravy Train!!!! perform at White Room Thursday night. Gravy Train!!!! with Mission Veo and Jose El Rey Thursday, July 10, 2008 White Room, Miami Better than: Er, gay porn I suppose. Gravy Train!!!! (yes, the exclamation points are part of the name) are one of those bands…
Ernest Barteldes Los Fancy Free perform at the Bowery Ballroom Thursday night during the Latin Alternative Music Conference in New York. Latin Alternative Music Conference, Day 2 Thursday, July 10, 2008 Roosevelt Hotel, S.O.B.s and Bowery Ballroom, New York On the second full day of the Latin Alternative Music Conference…
If you haven’t been to White Room’s Monday night party Exposure, I don’t blame you — you are probably thinking why party at the beginning of the week when so much happens on the weekends. Well, sorry to tell you that plenty of action happens during the week, and Exposure…
Charles Sweeting There’s a good chance that you’ve been hearing his new hit, “She Bout It” a few times a day if you’ve listen to Power 96 lately. His name doesn’t initially seem ready-made for stardom but his sound definitely is. And when you think about it, if you’re a…
Move over Fillmore Miami Beach, Bayfront Park Amphitheater is about to get in on some of the Live Nation action. Whether you love or abhor it, Live Nation, one of the nation’s leading concert promotion companies is set to take over the operation of Bayfront Park Amphitheater in Downtown Miami…
Ernest Barteldes Cucu Diamantes, lead singer of Yerba Buena, performing at Central Park in New York. Latin Alternative Music Conference, Day 1 Wednesday, July 9, 2008 Central Park Summerstage & Mercury Lounge, New York An overcast sky over Central Park and a severe weather forecast that never came to fruition…
Bertha, the first hurricane of the season formed in the Atlantic this week, and while its no threat to South Florida, it definitely brought with it the summer slowdown we’ve been expecting for a while. Nightlife pickings are slim this week and probably won’t pick up until the fall. Such…
More than just a handy reminder to aspiring poets and lyricists everywhere, the Miami-based group Nothing Rhymes With Orange strikes a perfect balance of shoegaze, pop, and anthemic guitar rock. Although it may not seem so imaginative to list the likes of Oasis and Ryan Adams as influences, this four-piece…
When I was growing up, my father and brothers were very competitive, or, more accurately, completely ruthless at videogames, board games, sports, bowling, air hockey, and especially go-carts. My dad is a great man, but he would completely kick my little toddler ass at Candy Land and any other board…
There’s a strong push within mainstream music to categorize recording artists and stick them in a box. Case in point — take a look at New York-based reggae chanter Matisyahu, and he seems easy enough to classify. With a big religious beard, Hasidic attire, and pale skin, the fact that…
Sleep Well, the new album by Electric President, finds the Jacksonville duo of Ben Cooper and Alex Kane expanding on the indie-pop/electronica vibe that won over fans and critics two years ago on their self-titled debut. With a more refined palette of sounds and a more intuitively pop-minded vibe this time around,…
For all his obsession about writing the “perfect” pop song — a preoccupation that has always made Weezer records sound forced and constricted — Rivers Cuomo comes pretty damned close at the start of this album with a refreshing, ultracatchy ditty named “Troublemaker.” Finally, Cuomo and the band deliver the…
For a while, the groundbreaking work credited to early Tommy Boy Records alumnus Steve “Steinski” Stein felt destined to elude mainstream acceptance forever. While classic Tommy Boy hip-hop gets mined for celebratory collections on a regular basis, Steinski’s DJ compositions — slick marriages of turntable stunts and manually chopped samples…
Singer/songwriter David Berman is as much of an ironist in life as he is in art. Note that after landing in rehab following a Xanax overdose (an act with sardonic aspects of its own), he belatedly embraced Judaism — a belief system he’d never taken that seriously despite his band’s…
David Kearney isn’t the type of senior citizen who wants to fade off into retirement. At the age of 72, he still sees himself as a confirmed bachelor, checks his email every day, loves his full-time job, and doesn’t plan to slow down anytime soon. Kearney, better-known to the world…
How long does it take to fall in love with Cat Shell’s voice? Depending upon how open your heart is to melodic, blues-tinged rock ‘n’ roll, not very long. The gorgeous singer/songwriter is an ace guitar player and a witty lyricist, and she has been a veteran of the local…
