5. Backstreet Boys
With Jessy McCartney and DJ Pauly D. 7 p.m. Sunday, August 25, at Cruzan Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansbury's Way, West Palm Beach. Tickets cost $29 to $109 plus fees. Call 561-795-8883, or visit cruzanamphitheatre.net.
Backstreet's back! What do we have to say to that? All right! The Orlando quintet is no longer technically a boy band, but that doesn't mean it's lost its sense of youthful exuberance. Spoiler alert: Nick, Kevin, Brian, A.J., and Howie's appearance in the final scene of This Is the End proves there's no cameo quite as satisfying as that of a '90s musical act and nothing more delightful than a synchronized dance scene à la She's All That. Vanilla Ice in That's My Boy? Almost unbeatable in its hilariousness; but the Backstreet Boys gave even our DIY homeboy a run for his money.
-- Liz Tracy
Read more about the Boys here.
4. Slightly Stoopid
6:30 p.m. Saturday, August 24, at Sunset Cove Amphitheater, 12551 Glades Road, Boca Raton. Tickets cost $45. Call 561-488-8069, or visit facebook.com/SunsetCoveAmphitheater.
In a culture that tends to pigeonhole practically everything for the sake of convenience, Slightly Stoopid defies any notion of easy categorization. It even defies its own branding, with an adept combination of reggae, funk, hip-hop, rock, and punk that's far from what the goofy name might imply. Singer, guitarist, and founding member Miles Doughty simply says of the silly moniker, "It's a funny name that always sticks in people's heads and makes people laugh." Unlike other bands who don't dare to step out beyond their self-prescribed boundaries, the members of Slightly Stoopid wander willingly and frequently into varied terrain, allowing themselves to be taken wherever their muse might carry them.
-- Lee Zimmerman
Read the full Slightly Stoopid interview here.
3. Joe Nice
With Gray Ghost and Unicorn Fukr. 10 p.m. Monday, August 19, at Original Fat Cat's, 320 Southwest Second Street, Fort Lauderdale. Admission is free. Visit facebook.com/originalfatcats.
On the "'I'm gonna fake it until I make it" mentality of today's dime-a-dozen DJs, Baltimore DJ Joe Nice told New Times, "Nah, man. You can't do that anymore. Those days have got to stop. People that actually have skills, that actually have talent -- they're always gonna be around, they're always gonna shine through."
Hailed as the "Ambassador of Dubstep" in the U.S., the influential Nice helped bring the latest bass craze stateside back in the early 2000s, pioneering a couple of seriously legendary early dubstep parties in NYC. Recruited by devoted dubsteppers of the local Too Future crew, Joe Nice heads down to Original Fat Cat's in downtown Fort Lauderdale this Monday for a very special edition of the monthly deep dubstep party.
-- Falyn Freyman
2. Marc Anthony
8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, August 23-24 at American Airlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd. Miami. Tickets cost $59-$179. Call 786-777-1000, or visit www.aaarena.com.
The reigning king of Salsa is gracing the stage of the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami for two nights of straight-up Latin fire. With a new album, 3.0, out last month and a new heiress girlfriend on his arm, the Grammy-hoarding powerhouse is pretty much guaranteed to deliver the hits to make those hips swing and gyrate all night.
1. Respectable Street's 26th Anniversary Block Party
Cold Cave, Jacuzzi Boys, the Band in Heaven, Beach Day, and others. 8 p.m. Saturday, August 24, at Respectable Street, 518 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. Free.
Call 561-832-9999, or visit respectablestreet.com.
Cold Cave is Wesley Eisold, the brooding, multifarious former vocalist behind influential hardcore groups Give Up the Ghost (previously American Nightmare) and Some Girls. Since 2007, he's been churning out a stream of self-produced experimental darkwave synth, occasionally collaborating with friends like Sean Martin of Hatebreed and the late Justin Benoit. But Cold Cave essentially remains a solo endeavor. By turns musician, poet, author, and publisher, Eisold is candid about his lifelong battles with drinking and depression. He puts out a brand of romantic goth art that remains seductive as it keeps you at arm's length. It is sincere and familiar, with a distinct chill: the culmination of a career marked by severe highs and lows and bursts of creative force. Of this dynamic, Eisold told New Times recently, "I think the dichotomy itself is balance. I've always felt extreme, and maybe creativity does thrive this way. That doesn't mean it's good, though. Lately, I feel centered and more productive than ever. I guess it may be a bit boring to just understand the most efficient way to live suddenly."
An extensive tour underway, a full-length album in the works, and a recent tour with controversial noise musician Boyd Rice have Eisold still making waves. As Cold Cave, he's become the sort of chimerical renaissance figure who hooks critics and followers across a spectrum of media and genres. But Eisold admitted to us that his songs are still all about love. "Love can be vague or expansive," he said solemnly, "It can be difficult to live a life of love."
-- Falyn Freyman
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