You’ll have to go to Albertsons to get it, but Smokey Robinson now has his own line of grocery products, aptly titled “Smokey Robinson Foods.” They feature select meals he’s fallen in love with while touring for the past 50 years. Sure, he’s a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer,…
Talented songwriter k.d. lang has clearly learned a few things from spending so much time around Tony Bennett. The two have been recording together since they released 2002’s A Wonderful World, and on her latest disc, you can hear the influence of Bennett in her approach to singing. The Alberta,…
These days, it’s hard for pop artists to make a lasting impression with Generation Y. MySpace and YouTube have hijacked America’s attention span when it comes to music, and a singer/songwriter needs to find new ways of gaining popularity if radio play isn’t happening. Local singer Yoni seems to have…
Roxy’s Pub 309 Clematis St. West Palm Beach 561-296-7699 The coaster under my Rogue Dead Guy Ale reads “Roxy’s, licensed in 1933.” That’s the year Prohibition ended. Clematis Street was not the original home of Roxy’s Pub. That was a little spot on Okeechobee Boulevard and Dixie Highway. As the…
Much has been made of the JT LeRoy-like mystery surrounding Clutchy Hopkins’ identity: A MySpace page and a host of YouTube vids recall a crusty ex-Motown engineer traveling the world and making tracks, but that could just be a smokescreen for an anonymous side project of Ubiquity’s Shawn Lee and…
Nobody would blame Sheryl Crow if she decided to turn pensive on Detours, her first album since breaking up with Lance Armstrong and beating breast cancer a couple of years ago. But her last CD, 2005’s Wildflower, was pretty much that record — an introspective and melancholy “personal” album that…
In case you didn’t already know, Erykah Badu’s long-awaited album, New Amerykah, Part One: 4th World War is in stores now. The album came out yesterday on Erykah’s birthday and it’s tight. Yesterday was also Ky-mani Marley’s birthday…and it seems that a musical lovechild between the two artists must be…
This one takes me back to the last year that Slum Village was still together as a group and promoting videos for Fantastic Vol 2. Jay Dee was already working on Common’s Like Water For Chocolate album and doing beats for a slew of other hip-hop heavyweights but Slum as…
By ANDY VIHSTADT DangerKeys Photo by Melanie Pullen for Fat Possum Records Akron, Ohio’s Black Keys called on Danger Mouse and a handful of guests to flesh out their two-piece sound for LP5. Stream the first single, “Strange Times,” at the duo’s MySpace page. Attack & Release hits stores April…
Leon Russell February 23, 2008 The Culture Room Better Than: And old 45 and a Kleenex. There are very few songs that I’d travel some seventy-plus miles to hear sung live – very, very few. But among that short list is Leon Russell’s “A Song for You.” Covered over the…
Click here to see a slide show of the Jose El Rey’s performance. Jose El Rey at Poplife February 24, 2008 White Room Better Than: Shopping at Flamingo Plaza Local musician Jose El Rey is the embodiment of the Cuban stereotype. He is flirtatiously misogynistic, unbelievably crass and sports a…
Since this festival is only two weeks away, you might as well start mapping out your plans for Langerado weekend now. It’s March 6-9, which is right around the corner. Here’s the official line-up with set times for all the bands that you want to see. Friday and Saturday are…
One of Central Florida’s most popular jam bands, Shak Nasti, is in town and playing a couple of shows–one in Fort Lauderdale, the other in Coral Gables. Langerado is just around the corner and if you want to get in an early jam fix, go check these guys out tonight…
A.B. Quintanilla being interview by a reporter at his Listening Party. A.B. Quintanilla & The Kumbia All Starz Listening Party February 20th, 2008 The Raleigh Hotel Better Than: Staying at home and listening to a 20-second song snippet from Amazon Oeuvres, Champagne, and Cumbias? Last night’s listening party sponsored by…
Bleubird is a rapper who has taken an unusual path to success. His style is a combination of the heady white-boy rhymes of Aesop Rock and the rapid-fire spoken-word style of Saul Williams. Hell, call him Allen Ginsberg with shelltoes on if you want to, because he can fit that…
From the first moment you get on the phone with Willie Stewart, you can tell he’s vibrating on a higher plane. The 55-year-old musical savant speaks with the slow joviality of a sage — or at least a man who’s learned a thing or two during a lifelong journey through…
Why does everything have to be Forbes magazine?” scoffs Aaron Funk, the electronic music madman who performs as Venetian Snares. Speaking with New Times by phone from his native Winnipeg, Canada, he’s 30 minutes into his first U.S. interview in two years, and on a rant of sorts. “I see…
Well before he became a befuddled, cuddly, idiotic reality TV star and living cartoon, Ozzy Osbourne really was the Prince of Darkness. Fronting Black Sabbath, the heaviest of heavy bands with really no precedent in sound or style, guitarist Tony Iommi, bassist Geezer Butler, drummer Bill Ward, and Ozzy created…
There’s an uncomfortable sense of placelessness to the sound of Saba’s debut CD. Though it could be attributed to her press-release ready biography (Italian/Ethiopian parents, Somali birthplace) or the diverse array of musicians on the disc (from Cameroon, Senegal, and Italy), there’s also the nagging sense that it’s simply a…
On their follow-up to 2006’s Madrugada, Miami’s Elastic Bond shows all the right stuff, with maturity, solid arrangement, and know-how all on display. Working off of Andrés Ponce’s arrangements, Excursion is an album you can get your dance on to, get your fuck on, and still be able to play…
Most bass players don’t get recognition, let alone fame. You can probably count on two hands the bassists that found the limelight in the past 40 years. I’ll spot you Jaco Pastorius and Stanley Clarke; good luck coming up with eight more. It’s an unfortunate casualty of the instrument. It…
On their 2006 debut, While the City Sleeps, We Rule the Streets, Cobra Starship’s lead man Gabe Saporta smugly sings, “Success has its price;” but success also has a few perks — like becoming pals with Pete Wentz and Patrick Stump and winning a spot on the 2007 Honda Civic…
