What you see is what you get when singer-songwriter Dean Madonia takes the stage. In faded jeans, a comfortable T-shirt, and old Nikes, Madonia and his pop-rock songs are as easygoing and fan-friendly as those of his major influences, Paul Simon and James Taylor. Like them, Madonia weaves personal experiences…
Buddy Crawford can usually be found in the back of Dad’s Donuts, the shop he opened in Margate almost two years ago, frying up globs of white dough. Buddy, whose bushy, graying beard befits his nickname — “Dad” — usually starts work at 11 p.m. and bakes until well past…
Bonnie Raitt Fundamental (Capitol Records) Bonnie Raitt, bless her soul, didn’t go the Eric Clapton/Robbie Robertson/Madonna route and “update” her latest album with ’90s electronica influences. What she did do was shun the smooth sound of her last four recordings in favor of a more natural, almost live feel. On…
Her bare feet tap the pedals under the massive synthesizer keyboard. Tilting her head back, she thrashes about, causing her shoulder-length, dirty-blond hair to sway. Although closed, her big eyes roll under their lids. As her hands massage the ivories, her voice fills the air. Pianist-vocalist Kelley Dolan is definitely…
Last Saturday night at about 8:30, Adam Matza got a call from an employee at Squeeze, one of Fort Lauderdale’s longest-running alternative music clubs. Earlier this year the club celebrated its ninth anniversary of hosting national bands, performance artists, poetry readings, DJ nights, and art shows. The club had a…
In 1970 Steve Boone, onetime bassist for the Lovin’ Spoonful, went down to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, bought himself a sailboat, and made it his home. For three years he sailed around the Florida Keys and the Caribbean. He lived frugally and ate mostly brown rice and fresh…
After speaking with King Bria cofounder and guitarist Rich Briglia, it’s difficult not to get that fuzzy, warm feeling you have after talking to a close relative with whom you haven’t spoken in a long time. His attitude is easygoing and his voice welcoming. His childlike laugh when talking about…
Tori Amos From the Choirgirl Hotel (Atlantic) Tori Amos likes contradictions. She’s a classically trained pianist who plays pop music, a feminist who humps her piano bench in concert, a waifish nymph with a grasp of classic Greek literature. But the biggest contradiction inherent in this 34-year-old musician is how…
Flamingo Villas, a gated community in the suburban city of Pembroke Pines, is the home of Violation Records, an independent label dedicated to hardcore punk. RonVan Pelt, a twenty-year-old with stubble-length hair and a pair of black Doc Martens, resides in the Villas with his mother and father in a…
Drinking coffee at Hollywood Boulevard’s Warehaus 57 provides more stimulation than the average house blend. On the walls hang colorful paintings with titles such as Indian Tantric and Sun Keeper. Over 3000 used books, including Sadism and Masochism, The Anatomy of Witchcraft, and The Physics of Star Trek line the…
The lifeblood of rock ‘n’ roll has been getting terribly thin lately, the result of decades of generational inbreeding. The Beatles stole from Chuck Berry, Led Zeppelin borrowed from Muddy Waters, and even the anarchic Sex Pistols covered Eddie Cochran’s “Lonely Boy.” By the ’80s Sonic Youth was mimicking the…
Heading north on I-95 toward her home in Fort Lauderdale, Mary Karlzen takes a sip from a bottle of Miller Lite and returns it to the cup-holder hanging from her dashboard. It’s well after three o’clock on Sunday morning, and Karlzen has just finished headlining a Saturday-night show at Tobacco…
Billing itself as “Florida’s largest music, art, and waterfront festival,” the five-day SunFest comes to West Palm Beach next week, featuring 40 musical acts playing on three different stages. From Wednesday, April 29, through Sunday, May 3, SunFest will take over a one-block stretch of Flagler Drive between Banyan Boulevard…
Listening to Love Canal’s latest CD, Home, you can almost see the veins bulging from vocalist Chad Phoebus’ neck as he spits out his metalhead growls. But don’t get the wrong idea: The band isn’t your typical post-grunge, altrock outfit — at least according to its frontman. “Really we’re a…
This is the story of a clever, calculating, music-marketing machine. To date, it’s resulted in no platinum-selling album, no hit single, and no sold-out stadium show. So far, so good. It’s all part of one band’s plan to make it to the top — really, really slowly. The aptly named…
Their rave-influenced, glow-in-the-dark costumes and fluorescent makeup inspire Danny Kaye doubletakes. But when the theatrics wear off, an attack of gnarly, postpunk pop is what helps Al’s Not Well win over a crowd. “After people get over the initial shock of how we look, they usually say, ‘Wow, these guys…
On New Year’s Eve 1997, the Musicians Exchange celebrated its grand reopening. Its owner, Don Cohen, has seen the place open and close a number of times since he started the Musicians Exchange some twenty years ago. His latest gambit was the New York Entertainment Cafe on North Federal Highway…
While the Pamela Stanley Band plays the bluegrass number “Orange Blossom Special,” Randi Fishenfeld gears up for her solo. It’s a recent Tuesday evening at O’Hara’s in Fort Lauderdale, and the red-haired, green-eyed violinist, wrapped in a pair of leather pants, brings her crossbow-shaped instrument to her chin. She looks…
Propellerheads Decksandrumsandrockandroll (DreamWorks) The music biz has been buzzing about Propellerheads’ debut album for almost half a year now. Part of the excitement surrounding this British drum ‘n’ bass duo comes from its hyperactive live shows, during which Alex Gifford switches between Hammond organ and bass guitar, while Will White…
Porkpie hats and checkered suits make for great video imagery. So do stretchy-tubed trombones and overamped pseudopunks twisting their wiry frames around the syncopated beats of Jamaican dance music. The uplifting, sometimes political, and often wacky musical detour known as ska is simply made for MTV. Witness the video-rific rise…
Anyone who’s had a drink at the Elbo Room on a Monday evening has seen the blond-haired dude with a guitar and a keyboard standing on the makeshift stage in the corner. He can do “Brown Eyed Girl” just like Van, “Jammin'” just like Bob, and “Danny’s Song” just like…
Her vocal arsenal is made up of jazzy phrasings, titillating coos, and scat-speak. She knows her way ’round a guitar and has a little-kid way of delivering biting punch lines about people in the “Bible belt buckle” and men on motorcycles. Miami-based singer-songwriter Magda Hiller is a breath of fresh…
