They’re everywhere these days: Movie actors like Juliette Lewis, Jared Leto, Russell Crowe, and even Jeff Goldblum all have one. No, we’re not talking about Laotian adoptees or fashionable drug habits. We’re talking celebrity rock projects, and actress/wife/mom Jada Pinkett-Smith has joined their ranks. When Wicked Wisdom, her spiritually minded…
What could be a better entrée to Jack Johnson’s low-key California strumming than one of the beach-bum heartthrob’s favorite bands? Given its shared dedication to sand-in-the-sandals, brushfire fairytales, it’s no surprise Jack handpicked ALO (short for Animal Liberation Orchestra — not a PETA action group but a band intent on…
Recently declared “the coolest record label on Earth” by Riviera magazine, California’s Ubiquity Records should eclipse perennial UK slicksters Ninja Tune in the forward-looking hip-hop game. Ubiquity’s banner-carriers in that arena are the Detroit production duo of Waajeed and Saadiq, better-known as the Platinum Pied Pipers. Years before they had…
Secret P.E. Club came to be shortly after a 2002 Street Miami collaborative article among Emma Trelles, Mindy Hertzon, and Andrea Vigil about Spy-Fi Records mogul Ed Artigas. The story goes that post-interview, Artigas was plagued with fantasies of an all-girl, power-pop, literary/artsy trio and approached the girls with intentions…
It’s a recent Saturday night, and as the band sets up at Club M in Hollywood, there’s a definite party vibe in the air. Flaunting her assets in a blood-red prom dress, a blond-locked musician wraps a feather boa around her mic stand. Another, in a red-on-black suit-and-tie combo, slides…
A few days spent wallowing in MTV/VMA/MIA hysteria can leave even the most pie-eyed, pop-culture devotee a jaded crank. Beatcomber has always settled somewhere between starstruck and cynical, and after all the hobnobbing, cocktailing, and white-carpeting, he feels even more divided. Celebrity is indeed a stiff intoxicant, but it leaves…
When William Elliott Whitmore sings, “It was the year of aught-one/And our life had begun/No perils could make us this strong,” it’s a toss-up as to what century he’s referring to. His Hymns for the Hopeless swims in time-warped currents of naked Mississippi blues, junkyard percussion, gospel harmony, and ragged…
Here’s one of those cases of a band making it purely on perseverance and positive attitude. 311 has come a long way from unsuccessful stabs at studio work in L.A., prodigal son-like returns to the Midwest, dog-food poverty in Van Nuys, and the great exploding RV incident of ’93. During…
Don’t confuse Scream Tour with Scream Fest: This isn’t a convention of B-movie horror stars and starlets. What we have on hand is hunky handfuls of heartthrobs and teenage titillation taking over the Miami Arena, promising to get the young ones hollerin’. Bow Wow (no more “Lil'”; this dog is…
As its moniker implies, Twin Cinema essentially doubles the theatricality of previous Pornographers efforts. While the title track constitutes hooky indie pop, the album as a whole conjures images of a Rent-like musical, with most numbers custom-made for cast members to belt toward the balcony. The shifting ensemble assembled by…
What Death Cab for Cutie does best on its major-label debut, Plans, is capture flashbulb moments of melancholy — the dissolution of a summer romance, growing apart from a lover, being dumped by an egotistical jerk — and analyze them with astounding honesty. Take the tear-inducing “What Sarah Said.” Solitary…
“So this guy comes up to me after a gig, grabs my shoulder, and says, ‘Thanks Buddy!'” the humanitarian recalls from his barstool throne at Gumwrappers, a neon-lit Fort Lauderdale strip shack/rock venue. Dressed in a blue silk dinner jacket with black lapels, he flicks a long-acquired cigarette ash while…
When Green Day left Lookout! Records in 1993, the label sounded off not with an alarm but a ka-ching. The Berkeley band’s first two albums remained in Lookout!’s back catalogue and raked in more money than owner and co-founder Larry Livermore ever thought possible for a punk indie. In 1997,…
The fans know it: Way before Trey and his posse bastardized the spelling, Radiators fans were called fish heads and gave the N’awleans funksters the same adulation reserved for space rocking jam bands. The band’s 25-plus year history is filled with thousands of shows, hundreds of tours, a slew of…
Since this week’s mondo lounge spectacular has brought us to the bustling intersection of Suave and Debonair, it’s only fitting to have a seat on the divan next to one of the true masters of the genre. Juan Garcia Esquivel — known to his highballing fans simply as Esquivel (ESS-kee-bell)…
Jorge Gonzalez — better known by his nom de record, Jorges — says he experienced a life-altering moment with his first listen to the Replacement’s “Gimme Noise.” That personal fascination with rock ‘n’ roll mythology has led the Miami native to a long and varied career hunting for the definitive…
After taking a look at this week’s cover story, you’ve probably surmised that New Times has happily retired to the lounge for a mid-summer reprieve. And while Dik Shuttle is our own fabulous local raconteur, a Dick by another name — that being Cheese — has gained notoriety on an…
They may not be changing the world, but the Sloppy High Fives wield a brand of hard-charging, three-chord rock that’s more than enough to get the beer-soaked throngs off their stools and in front of the stage. By their own description, the Fives have taken the wheels off the car…
Back when its sole, self-titled album dropped in 1998, Black Star set the standard for intelligence and poetry in underground hip-hop. Rappers Mos Def and Talib Kweli had already built individual reputations on the East Coast mix tape and open mic circuit, both espousing a knowledge-first philosophy of street survival…
In 1992, Karrin Allyson was an unknown jazz singer from Nebraska. A dozen years and two Grammy nominations later, she’s regarded as one of the most versatile and talented singers of her generation. Allyson’s vocal range is nearly unmatched in jazz circles, and her masterly inflection has drawn comparisons to…
Unique among celebrities who have achieved some measure of their fame through a sex tape, Motley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee doesn’t come across as a total idiot when he speaks. You’d think he would know that there are better ways to merchandise his reality show, Tommy Lee Goes to College,…
Artist-salute discs make plenty of sense from a business standpoint, since they let labels milk material that was paid for long ago. Problem is, they’re almost always lame — and this homage to Freddie Mercury and friends certainly doesn’t buck the trend. There are lots of ways to go wrong…
