Another damp day in South Florida. The Calibrator cruises slowly down Dade Avenue on the campus of Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, searching for the Student Housing Services Building. Two students happen by. “Excuse me,” the Calibrator says, rolling down his window, “could either of you two ladies tell…
Marshall Crenshaw #447 (Razor & Tie) For the past 17 years, Marshall Crenshaw has managed to turn his personal obsession with Buddy Holly into a moderately successful, pop-music cottage industry. Since his impressive 1982 eponymous debut, Crenshaw has interpreted and reinvented Holly’s tragically small but infinitely influential body of work,…
In sharp contrast to the cynical pack of corruption mongers that constitutes the overpaid writing staff here at New Times, the Calibrator steadfastly maintains that it is Fort Lauderdale’s open, culturally progressive attitude — not wolfish developers and ethically challenged politicians — that is chiefly responsible for the city’s present…
For the past 15 years, record producer Nick Funk has been on a self-imposed mission to document the creative talent of some of South Florida’s best jazz musicians. He has done well, having recorded such locally based luminaries as multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan, tenor saxophonist Turk Mauro, drummer Duffy Jackson, and…
Because of the addlepated notion that rock ‘n’ roll is merely the music of rebellion and outrage, the delirious, romantic charms of doo-wop have gone virtually unnoticed among most critics and hipster elites. The music produced countless hits during rock’s mid-’50s infancy and through its glory days of the early…
Lou Bega A Little Bit of Mambo (Unicade/RCA) Mambo has always been a mongrelized genre — a kind of catchall style that incorporates aspects of son, salsa, and danzón — the primary goal of which is to get bodies onto the dance floor. But the label, elastic though it may…
Alligator Alley is precisely the sort of cavernous, musician-friendly establishment that “Bonefish” John Stacey and Carl “Kilmo” Pacillo had dreamed of opening practically since the night they met at the Ancient Mariner Restaurant 17 years ago. Their club, which opened for business last Friday night in Sunrise, is a celebration…
Keith Brown is in the midst of his second set on a recent Wednesday night at the BamBoo Room in Lake Worth. Perhaps two dozen people are scattered nearby on chairs, sofas, and stools or standing attentively in the back of the room near the bar and billiard tables. Brown…
Chris Cornell Euphoria Morning (Interscope) Forget the Grammys, the MTV Video Music Awards, and the rest of those jive-ass rock awards shows: The absolute highest honor any pop musician can receive is to be cited in a “musicians wanted” ad. You really know you’ve arrived when garage bands nationwide place…
With his finely honed senses on full alert, the first thing the Calibrator noticed as he strode purposefully into the maw of the weekly West Palm Beach event known as Clematis by Night was the pungent fragrance of beer in great abundance. The scent hung heavy in the fresh autumn…
On stage at the Wallflower Gallery in downtown Miami, Karen Feldner strums a burgundy, hollow-body Gibson guitar while singing with the latest incarnation of her local altrock band, Trophy Wife. Behind the foursome Night of the Living Dead is being projected onto a movie screen. In a surreal, reaching way,…
John Prine In Spite of Ourselves (Oh Boy Records) Nobody every bought a John Prine album for the beauty of his voice. The Illinois native has the vocal range of a bass drum and the subtlety of Kentucky moonshine. Prine’s genius — displayed erratically over almost 30 years and nearly…
For the most part, Randi Fishenfeld seems to exist in a general state of contentment if not downright ebullience. Her career as a bombshell rock violinist might not be everything she hoped it would be at this point, but it ain’t bad. At least three nights a week, Fishenfeld gets…
After jamming throughout South Florida and a good part of the remaining world for almost 20 years, Nicole Yarling has certainly paid her dues by now. Her old band, Little Nicki and the Slicks, toured Europe eight times and was a South Florida club staple from the mid-’80s to the…
Powerman 5000 Tonight the Stars Revolt! (DreamWorks Records) If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, and Korn should be supremely flattered by the new Powerman 5000 album. Taking derivation to new heights, Tonight the Stars Revolt! finds PM5K brashly appropriating the fatalistic sounds of…
Novelty songs. Hal Spector has always dug novelty songs. Ray Stevens, Roger Miller, Spike Jones and His City Slickers — all notorious novelty acts, all among Spector’s earliest musical heroes. “I’ve just always been a nut for goofy songs,” Spector explains without a hint of the shame you would expect…
Groucho Marx once said that aging gracefully is the grandest oxymoron of all — the big lie. After all, to age is to wrinkle, to wither, to shrink, to vanish. To do so gracefully means only to admit defeat. Grace has nothing to do with it; what’s so graceful about…
Richard Buckner Bloomed (Rykodisc/Slow River Records) You could say Richard Buckner plays alternative country, the so-called ’90s amalgam of alternative rock and country popularized by the likes of Uncle Tupelo and its offspring Wilco and Son Volt, but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. Buckner isn’t exactly another wayward hillbilly playing…
On November 21, 1955, RCA Victor made the sweetest deal in the history of the recording industry. For the grand sum of $35,000 plus outstanding royalties, which amounted to another $5000 or so, RCA purchased from Sam Phillips’ Memphis-based Sun Records the recording contract of Elvis Presley, an oddball country-and-western…
Robert Palmer Rhythm & Blues (Pyramid) Robert Palmer is one suave so-and-so. Ever since leaving the funky and cool Vinegar Joe in the early ’70s and going the way of the solo artist, he has made a career out of reinventing himself on a regular basis. Like David Bowie, Bryan…
The last time the four young men in Mama’s Root played before a well-connected, music-industry representative, they bombed. Miserably. Somehow or other the band cajoled the rep into attending a Mama’s Root show last December at the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale. The band had high hopes for the evening…
Paul Jones Pucker up Buttercup (Fat Possum) As the blues continues to work its way into the pop mainstream via smoothies such as Keb’ Mo’, Jonny Lang, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd, artists like Paul Jones are left to maintain the music’s brutal power and raw, soaked-sheets sexuality. Pucker up Buttercup…
