Throwing it way back once again. I came across this old school EPMD video and felt the need to drop it on a day like this when the hip-hop world is so out of focus. Everyone seems to be looking forward to Sept. 11 when 50 Cent and Kanye West…
Rachel Brown Jazziz Lounge August 15, 2007 Better Than: Listening to pillow-talk R&B on the radio Last Wednesday night, sultry singer, Rachel Brown showcased her long awaited debut CD, Love, Life & Relationships at Jazziz Lounge in front of a packed audience of fans and industry-types. The locally based R&B…
Peter Frampton And The Doobie Brothers Hard Rock Live August 19, 2007 Better Than: The usual recycled vintage radio rock acts. In a night that gave classic rock fans a double shot of live and loud, the question hovered over the crowd like a waft of pot smoke. Should Peter…
The Legendary Max Roach At work In sad news, great jazz percussionist Max Roach passed away yesterday at the age of 83. He’d been sick for some time according to reports and died on Wednesday in a Manhattan hospital. Roach was one of the well noted innovators of bebop jazz…
Marisela Verena Marisela Verena has never sat down to compose a song – or sing one for that matter – with the idea it’s going to climb the charts or end up getting regular airplay. It’s the message she’s trying to convey to the masses that concerns her most. “I…
Don’t let the name fool you. If you show up to a Dance Gavin Dance show expecting to boogie like it’s the disco era all over again, you’ll be disappointed. The six members of the California-based group focus more on four-to-the-floor, balls-out power rock than dance music. If you happen…
One of the last times I flew on an airplane, I sat next to Kid Sister on a two-hour flight from Jacksonville to Austin for SXSW. She was the flyest-dressed girl on the plane (tight red jeans, doorknocker earrings, fresh pair of dunks on her feet) and also the most…
The hard part of being a musician in love is choosing between making music and making love. One wins at the expense of the other. If you’re lucky, like Jeff and Christine Maldonado, you’ll never have to make that choice. For the Hollywood-based singer/songwriter couple, music and love are like…
Jay Beckenstein makes it a point to be prompt. Maybe too prompt. Phoning from his home in upstate New York, the leader and sax player for the jazz band Spyro Gyra duly checks in for an interview scheduled for 9:30. Only problem is, the call’s on tap for 9:30 p.m.,…
The Apocalypse is upon us. Or so nü-metal superstars Linkin Park would have us believe. They mean it too. They even cleaned up their soccer-practice-carpool friendly act and actually inserted a fuck here and there. On their third album, Minutes to Midnight, Chester Bennington, Mike Shinoda, and the rest of…
As far as South Florida is concerned, nobody else is cranking out mixtapes with the quantity and quality of Fort Lauderdale’s DJ GQ. The longtime resident mixmaster of Broward County clubs like Voodoo Lounge, Art Bar, and Whyte Noise is known within the mixtape circuit for his lush blends of…
He’s the master of the smooth croon, and his low-key delivery might give the impression that he rarely breaks a sweat. But with a career that spans two decades and nine best-selling albums, Chris Isaak’s unassuming attitude has garnered him a fiercely devoted following. Taking his cue from the classic…
If you don’t know what a doobie is, then brother, chances are you weren’t around when the Doobie Brothers lit up the Top 40 charts while scoring big back in the ’70s. In retrospect, that multiplatinum success seems somewhat ironic for a group that borrowed its handle from a slang…
Finish Line Sports Bar 5300 N. Powerline Rd. Fort Lauderdale 954-491-6265 It’s never smart to drink and drive. Especially when the car is tiny and fast enough to require that you wear a helmet. But the folks at Finish Line Sports Bar are kind enough to make the decision for…
Direct from the Grateful Dead’s multitrack master tapes is the third installment in the Vault series. Believe it or not, it was ready for release back in the early ’90s, shortly after Two From the Vault surfaced. Regardless of the reasons for the delay, this recording from a February 19,…
Britt Daniel wants us to know a thing or two. One, he’s not a particularly good speller; Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga titles include “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” and “Rhthm and Soul.” Two, he’s perfectly happy to continue lining the pockets of Spoon’s vampy guitar-piano pas de deux with…
It’s a muggy Wednesday night in Plantation, and reggae is blaring through my car speakers. It’s a tad scratchy, as local station 101.1-FM isn’t an above-ground frequency, but the signal is strong enough that I can clearly hear the inimitable voice of selector Gary Enforcement. Enforcement’s been a staple in…
While his older brother and label-mate Madlib was digging around in the Bollywood crates for his latest Beat Konducta outing, Oh No came up with even-more-unconventional source material for Dr. No’s Oxperiment. The superpsychedelic rock records that emerged from the Mediterranean and Middle East in the ’60s and ’70s have…
The Projekt Revolution Tour, featuring Linkin Park, My Chemical Romance, Taking Back Sunday, Placebo, H.I.M., and others Sound Advice Ampitheatre August 10, 2007 View a slideshow of photos from the concert here. Gerard Way of My Chemical RomancePhoto by Jeffrey Delannoy Better Than: If you like rock and don’t mind…
Second Annual Ozone Awards James L. Knight Center, Downtown Miami August 13, 2007 Better Than: The over-hyped, over-rehearsed and just plain ol’ boring MTV Music Video Awards. OK, the Second Annual Ozone Awards are meant to honor the very best that Southern hip-hop has to offer, but judging by Monday’s…
Is it just me, or was LL Cool J a lot “cooler” before all the botox and lip-licking that he does now got out of control? Not sure why he’s so image conscious, but if you ask me, LL was at his best back in the day during videos like…
Macy Gray Hard Rock Live, Hollywood August 14, 2007 Better Than: A Sideshow Give Macy Gray her due. The woman’s not just a one hit wonder even though it’s her song “I Try” that brought most of the crowd out to the Hard Rock to see her. Part chanteuse, part…
