Last Night: Common and Erykah Badu at Chakra

Erykah Badu & Common August 4, 2007 Chakra The Review: This past Saturday, a dose of real Hip Hop and R&B drowned out the typical South Beach sounds of music. Hours after the curtain closed on the uber-hype Rock the Bells festival, Gorillas Lifestyle Marketing ( www.gorillasrevolution.com) brought conscious rap…

DJ House Shoes gets HVW8

Hip-hop junkies and beat heads need to familiarize themselves with DJ Houseshoes. He’s one of the foremost experts on all things Dilla related, which is a technical way of saying the two came up together in the same gritty Detroit night clubs and vibed outside of the typical DJ/MC relationship…

Usher Marries Pregnant Girlfriend

Say it ain’t so! First, rumors keep popping up that Kobe Bryant and his wife Vanessa are getting a divorce–which entitles the soon-to-be ex Mrs. Bryant to HALF of everything Kobe is worth. It’s California and they had no pre-nup. No sympathy there… fools and their money always part. You…

Concert Review: Combichrist at Studio A

Combichrist Studio A August 3, 2007 Better Than: A double dose of spankings The Review: An assortment of mesh, vinyl and exposed genitalia gathered around Studio A on Friday night to await the coming of Combichrist, as well as to celebrate various kinds of alternative sexual fixations. The party was…

Last Night: Hippiefest at the Seminole Hard Rock

Hippiefest The Turtles featuring Flo and Eddi, Felix Cavaliere’s Rascals, Mitch Ryder, The Zombies featuring Colin Blunstone & Rod Argent (Time of the Season), Country Joe McDonald, Mountain featuring Leslie West & Corky Laing, and Badfinger featuring Joey Molland Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino August 2, 2007 Better Than::…

Oreskaband–Japanese Pop-Punk/Ska at its Finest

This little disc just landed at the New Times office today–straight from Osaka, Japan and it’s already got a few of us dancing. Of course, it’s past 6pm and those of us still here are minutes away from cracking beers and laughing the night away so we might as well…

Album Review: Matthew Dear

Matthew Dear Asa Breed (Ghostly International) Matthew Dear has breathed new life into Detroit techno. “Hands Up For Detroit,” his debut single from 1999, became an anthem for the city, invoking the spirit of the mid-’80s, when the “Belleville three” ruled the clubs while inventing techno. After eight years of…

Album Review: Young Buck

Young Buck Buck the World (G-Unit/Interscope) The autumn release of 50 Cent’s Curtis surely has Interscope execs sweating like pigs praying not to be butchered. Will Curtis save the G-Unit empire or hasten its demise? While they’re waiting, the suits should parse related releases for hints. The formulaic Rotten Apple,…

Is R. Kelly Ever Going to Trial??

Don’t even get me started on this outfit. According to this news story, R. Kelly may finally be heading to trial to face charges on child pornography…which is a really spruced up way of saying “this jackass not only peed on a 14-year-old girl then slept with her, he also…

Bonerama

In the post-Hurricane Katrina days, it seems like all things related to New Orleans music could use some extra love. Maybe not Dr. John — frankly, his hoodoo voodoo shtick is getting old — but as for everyone else these days, most New Orleans musicians are in a bad way…

Push Comes to Show-Me

“Man, I been waitin’ five years for you to call me!” That, according to John Hammond, was G. Love’s reaction when Hammond called him to ask if Love would produce what would become his latest album, Push Comes to Shove. On paper, the pairing of Hammond, an icon in the…

Outgrowing Tom

Candee D*Vine wants to be your friend! She’s 19, cute, bisexual, and “up for anything.” If you approve her request, and you probably will, she’ll go into the pile with the rest of your “friends,” who are more than happy to invite you to check out their naughty webcams, remind…

The Piano Man

I caught up with famed singer/songwriter Ben Folds recently and chatted about the ten-year anniversary of the release of Ben Folds Five’s landmark album Whatever and Ever Amen and his current tour with John Mayer. It’s not surprising that the guy is a total cynic. Outtakes: Looking back, what are…

Bad Girls Don’t Cry

With striking looks, a voluptuous frame, and a personality that’s both sexy and serious, dancehall singer Ce’Cile has a good chance of being reggae’s new starlet. She’s already the center of gossip, à la Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, in the Jamaican press — rumors of whom she’s dating and…

Hip-Hop Jedis

Just minutes after the end of the recent Democratic presidential debate, Vinnie Paz is nonplussed. As the frontman of the rugged Philadelphia trio Jedi Mind Tricks, he’s always been a rabble-rousing MC. On the 2006 track “Uncommon Valor: A Vietnam Story,” he spits verses from the point of view of…

Common and Erykah Badu

Amid rumors of a bad breakup and cheating hearts, Common and Erykah Badu still continue to straddle that awkward “ex-lovers/now-friends” line in public. Who can forget their Billboard hit “Love of My Life,” which for many hip-hop fans gave hope that these two would one day manifest a child —…

Fernando Villalona

More than 30 years ago, a lanky Dominican kid with a deep and piercing voice could do no better than third-place in “El Festival de la Voz” (“The Festival of the Voice”), a local talent show organized by local artists in his native Santo Domingo. The performance left such a…

Green Velvet

In true space-age, dance-music-weirdness style, Green Velvet was birthed as the alter ego of an alter ego: that of Cajmere, AKA Curtis Alan Jones, a reigning house-music artist of the late ’80s and early ’90s. Cajmere was always a little more out there than the other disco dons of his…

The Chocolate Moose Music Café

It’s a weird combination: emo kids just out of high school, hipsters in their 20s, and older folks who, oddly enough, don’t seem out of place. But it works. The Chocolate Moose Music Café is a little spot hidden between Round Up and what used to be Sofa Kings. From…

Uncle Luke on Reality Television

Now here’s a show I would watch. It appears that Miami’s Luther Campbell, better known as Uncle Luke is getting his own reality TV show. Not sure when it’s scheduled to air, but I came across a pilot for the series yesterday that’s just hilarious. If anyone knows more about…

Contest: Win a Free Pair of Tickets to Projekt Revolution!

Coming this Thursday, check out both the Broward-Palm Beach and Miami New Times papers for coverage of the Projekt Revolution tour! The tour takes place Friday, August 10 at the Sound Advice Ampitheatre in West Palm Beach. Headlining are tour founders Linkin Park; accompanying them across two stages are My…

Jah Cure Enjoys His New Freedom

Hear the new track “My Life” from Jah Cure So reggae crooner Jah Cure is fresh out of prison. Lot’s of folks in the Caribbean are elated at the good news. At the same time, lot’s of folks in the Caribbean feel people shouldn’t be so quick to herald a…