Music vet and New Times scribe Lee Zimmerman offers his insights, opinions, and observations about the local scene. This week: Jim Wurster returns with his boldest effort yet. Jim Wurster can claim credit as one of South Florida’s most original musicians, not simply because he possesses a singular sound but,…
Photo by Ian Witlen Crazy costumes have always been a big part of the electronic music party scene. But these days, you’re nobody unless you’re pretending to be somebody you’re really not. Perhaps it’s the sense of anonymity that comes with a disguise. Or maybe it’s because every single one…
Photo by Ian Witlen After three years of raging at sea, Hard Events’ Holy Ship cruise has proven itself to be the best nautical EDM adventure that money can buy. (Of course, we here at Crossfade enjoyed press accommodations, so we didn’t actually pay.) It might still be a new-ish…
If you claim you never had a ska phase, you’re lying. Bands like Less Than Jake, especially in Florida, are an essential stopping point on the road to discovering your musical tastes. And while you may not have carved ska into your daily listening routine, the faint noise of horns…
Jorma Kaukonen is a genuine musical journeyman, a man whose trajectory has all but ensured his musical immortality. As a member of both the Jefferson Airplane and its bluesy offshoot Hot Tuna, which he formed with bassist and longtime friend Jack Casady, his name is forever ingrained in the annals…
“I started the club on a wing and a prayer with no bar experience at all,” Rob Stannard says of the beginnings of now-legendary Fort Lauderdale rockabilly watering hole Monterey Club. Though it shuttered its doors on New Year’s Eve in 2011, its spirit powers on, and by the end…
When New Times spoke with Les Claypool last month, he said the live experience of his Duo de Twang was “more of a hang than a show.” The man does not lie. With the house lights set down low and a campfire with artificial orange embers below faux logs, Les…
From the ashes of I Don’t Know, South Florida’s most carnival-esque and eclectic outfit Humbert has been ambling along at their self-imposed snail’s pace with a handful of releases to their name. They recently self-released an EP, Se Reparan Todos. It’s the first in a quartet of EPs the band…
With the lineup announced for this year’s Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival held in Indio, CA, one is torn between financial prudence and musical reward. The general admission for the three day festival starts at $375 (before service charges). Many are seeing money as no object, since the first…
If you liked to party, you’ll always like to party, at least a little. It’s part of who you are. All those years of sloshing cheap booze down your gullet and getting blasted on bass have integrated party-time into your actual physical being. Those flashbacks don’t come from nothing, and…
The latest trend in leading nightlife destinations isn’t “bigger is better.” Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and New York City are all taking a step back from the bombarding pulse of festival-style EDM and taking things to a more sophisticated plane. Dinner clubs offer the grown-and-sexy crowd opportunities to start their…
Better Than: This Billy Joel is an American institution. For many, Joel’s music is passed down through generations like a father’s advice on delivering a left hook or grandma’s silverware. In South Florida — also known as the balmy refuge favored by droves of self-exiled former New Yorkers and New…
The accolades given the Coen Brothers for their fictional “biography” Inside Llewyn Davis are definitely well-deserved. But the biggest rewards the film will reap will likely be those shared with the real-life folk singers who came of age in the early ’60s and extended their influence onward over the successive…
With so few venues for folk music, the chances the genre have to take root seem slim indeed. Fortunately, there are those troupers who persevere when it comes to bringing that sound to those that desire it, both artists and entrepreneurs determined to give folk music a place to thrive…
Photo by Sayre BermanCheck out County Grind’s full 28-photo slideshow from Jay Z at BB&T Center. Jay Z’s Magna Carter World Tour BB&T Center, Sunrise, Florida Thursday, January 2, 2014 Better Than: Another night of solo ass-shaking to The Hits Collection. “Broward County! West Palm Beach County! Dade County! “I…
Another year of local music has come to a close. And while many slices of the South Florida scene did their part to support the finest musicians in our glorious neck of the woods, it’s safe to say that some did it better than others. In particular, Lake Worth shined…
Spend enough time tracing modern music to its roots and you will undoubtedly find yourself at a blues crossroads. In the same way that science can trace the evolution of every pup from yapping yorkies to massive great danes to the bloodline of wolves, most modern, Western music has a…
Billy Joel isn’t your average rocker. And that’s not simply because he has accumulated more hits than any dozen other rock folk combined. While he boasts many of the same qualities that typify your average rock star – a penchant for drinking too much, his habit of wrecking expensive cars,…
With the holidays over, a lot of people fall into a deep funk thinking there’s nothing on the horizon. Not so. Our music calendar is brimming with excitement as we enter the middle section of our fair decade. So keep your chin up as we enter 2014 for the following…
There’s nothing like a Jam Cruise to kick off the new year in style, complete with free-flowing musical expression, an abundance of good vibes, and the endless partying and self-indulgence that music cruises have become so famous for. But don’t bother trying to book now. The 2014 cruise is already…
Stick around long enough, and you become what you pretended to be. When ZZ Top formed in 1970, they were a trio of twenty-year-olds trying to capture the blues of their home state of Texas. Thousands of whiskey bottle-emptying, smoky nights later and they’ve filled the role they cast themselves…
You love the Jiggaman, but do you really know all about his greatness? There are so many facets to Mr. Shawn Carter — loving father, attentive husband, chart-topping rapper, business, man. And thanks to his all-angles hustle, Hova’s latest album, Magna Carta Holy Grail, was certified platinum before it even…
