It's possible that a Brooklyn band constantly on the road hasn't kept up with every single upstart music gathering around the globe, so we decided to ask a couple of folks we thought would be closer to the organizational aspect, Tom Tom Editor-in-Chief Mindy Seegal Abovitz and her brother Rony Abovitz (founder of South Florida-based Magic Leap Studios), what was really going on here.
New Times: Are you aware that the Miami Music Festival is promoting your show as part of its events?
Mindy Abovitz: My brother Rony secured the Gemma Lounge for Saturday night during the
festival. He asked me if I would like to co-curate the event (as Tom Tom
Magazine) and bring down some Brooklyn folks. I throw parties here in
New York for Tom Tom, so getting some bands together for a show in Miami (with
support from Magic Leap Studios) was not too difficult. Vivian Girls, Taigaa, and Hard Nips are all Brooklyn bands (and friends
of mine) with female drummers in the band.
Why did you decide to get involved with the Miami Music Festival?
Rony Abovitz: We agreed to sponsor one of the venues at the Miami Music Festival
because I thought that it would be cool to have some of the kinds of
music we really like and love down here in South Florida. Mindy and
Tom Tom pulled together a very cool show in Austin during SXSW 2010 this
year (which we were at), and our venue at the MMF is trying to create
some of that indie/art/pop/rock feel.
Did the festival take control over the bands you put on the lineup?
Mindy Abovitz: MMF organizers were not involved in getting our lineup together.
Rony Abovitz: We have organized all of the bands playing our venue ourselves -- the MMF
basically had to OK them, but they are all great, so it was not a
problem.
