When she’s not fronting the Boca Raton-based rock band Blonde Enuff, Cassandra Eubank is busy snagging interviews with megahot rockers like Matchbox 20 and Collective Soul when they pass through South Florida. The interviews are aired on her local music-video show, Home Grown Music. Eubank also hosts local battle-of-the-bands contests,…

With beads of sweat glimmering atop his clean-shaven head and his maniacal eyes simmering, Endo vocalist Gil Bitton halted an explosive set halfway through an appearance at the now-defunct Prop Room to ask this question: “Has anybody seen a gun? Somebody just told me they lost one. Everybody back up…

Watching the robust guitarist and vocalist Darrell House get the twentysomething crowd at Durty Nellie’s collectively to chant “Bullshit,” or the older beach and biker crowds at Cafe Blue Fish to sing along to “The Man From Nantucket,” you’d never guess that, aside from singing dirty limericks, House writes message-oriented…

Strolling the Strip in Fort Lauderdale the other night, I almost walked by Evangeline, until I heard the faint yet feverish intensity of a violin. Stepping inside, I spotted the white instrument, which was tucked under Kimberly Jaffar’s chin. She wasn’t alone. Right next to her was Jonathan Panks, singing…

The gyrating hips, the pompadour, the thick sideburns, and a rockabilly singing voice that makes the ladies melt. No, that’s not an apparition you’ve seen shaking, rattling, and rolling around Broward County. It’s early-Elvis tribute performer Chris MacDonald. “What I try to do is have a good time with the…

I was polishing off a sizzling skillet of crocodile fajitas on the top floor of Bayside when I felt the floor begin to vibrate and heard strange plucking sounds. At first I thought the Poltergeist-like scene was a result of the Tabasco-laden fajitas. However, after a glass of ice water…

If you saw Jimmy Buffett’s musical, Don’t Stop the Carnival, at the Coconut Grove Playhouse last spring, they were the pit band. The Miami-based Iko-Iko have also popped up on Hollywood soundtracks: They recorded “Purple People Eater” (along with Buffett) for Robert Zemekis’ Contact and “Don’t Mess with the Voodoo”…

A little less than a year ago, I was nose-deep in Kerouac’s Some of the Dharma at the Borders Books in Coral Springs when I heard someone playing a flute. A few minutes later, I also heard a synthesizer, and, as if hypnotized, I exited the “Literature” section and moved…

When the West Palm Beach trio Friction Farm performed for the first time, in the Downtowner Saloon in Fort Lauderdale in December 1996, nobody knew where they’d come from or what kind of sound the thrifty-looking outsiders would produce. But as the gig got underway, the laid-back members of the…

Instead of watching oversexed Melrose Place characters sleeping around every Monday night, a better way to charge up the libido is to listen to Valerie Tyson’s sultry R&B song stylings at Mango’s in Fort Lauderdale. I went to check out the award-winning singer on a recent Monday night, and she…

Teenage hipster wannabes, their faces pierced with silver hoops, their cups filled with steaming cappuccino, ambled around the Red Room in Boca Raton a couple of Saturday nights ago, as folkster Michael Stewart strummed his glossy, black Yamaha guitar and talked about Juliana Hatfield, the inspiration for one of the…

People say Crease sound like Offspring. Others claim they mimic Bad Religion. A few listeners hear Foo Fighters-esque tones. Hell, even drummer Eric Dorigo has a hard time labeling the sound. “I would call our sound…. Well, its not really punk or metal,” he says. “It’s kind of a mixture.”…

To pinpoint the eclectic sound of Hashbrown, one needs to examine the musical tastes and influences of members Clarence Spencer (vocals), Duncan Cameron (guitar), and Wayne “DJ Crash” Walters (drummer). “We can’t help but be a hybrid sound,” Walters notes over the faint static of his portable phone. “I come…

Affectionately named after a nickname for young Rossella Annati (lead vocals, acoustic guitar), the alternative-pop trio China Doll came to life six years ago. Rounded out by sister Renata Annati (keyboards, backing vocals) and brother Matthew Annati (bass), the Fort Lauderdale band has since perfected their Beatles, U2, Carly Simon,…

While other high-school teens are worrying about zits and agonizing over getting their driver’s licenses, Pembroke Pines blues guitarist and vocalist Josh Smith is recording CDs — three so far. “Age doesn’t matter,” says the eighteen-year-old Smith. “I just play all kinds of blues music, so people of any age…

If you’ve ever danced your ass off at the Chili Pepper, Bermuda Bar, or the Button South, chances are it was DJ Rick Von Halle who got you moving. In addition to serving as musical director at the Chili Pepper for the past five years, Von Halle is currently the…

“Ska can be a lot of different things mixed together,” claims Joe Basi, drummer for Fort Lauderdale-based ska octet King 7 and the Soulsonics. “It has elements of jazz and reggae, but ska is really about the beat and can be interpreted in many individual ways.” Basi and his bandmates…

Although blood brothers will be eternally infamous for numerous disagreements and quarrels (just think of Biblical legends Cain and Abel or Oasis’ feuding Noel and Liam Gallagher), siblings Carl (vocals) and Rich Coccaro (guitar), of Fort Lauderdale-based rock quartet EXIT, get along just fine. Joined by bassist Dave Laber and…

Need to relax? Too many thoughts running around inside your head? Music for Healing and Meditation is an entrancing, healing, and relaxing cassette full of meditative flute tunes by Silver Nightingale (a.k.a. Laura Sue Wilansky). It’s the perfect accompaniment to a comfortable couch, a cup of herbal tea, and some…

Named after a former band member’s mangy cat that attacks dogs, Livid Kittens has adopted the ferocious feline’s attitude and applied it to their gothic-punk sound. Already a staple at local rock venues such as Tavern 213, Squeeze, and the Theater, Livid Kittens are currently planning a tour of the…

Before embarking on a European tour in early December, the five-piece Christian hardcore group Strongarm has a few more songs to belt out right here in South Florida. Promoting its most recent CD, The Advent of a Miracle, the Fort Lauderdale-based group will perform tonight (Thursday) as part of an…