Miami Music Blog

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Night Watch is a regularly-occurring feature about bars and clubs, written by nightlife columnist Tara Nieuwesteeg.

This week, I bar-hopped in Hollywood and stumbled into the PRL Euro Café (1904 A Hollywood Blvd, Hollywood. Call 954-980-8945 or visit prlcafe.com).  PRL is a narrow venue with a few chairs at the front and a long bar extending along the right wall. I had to tit-punch and bow just to get through the sardine-packed bohemian crowd clustered around the bar and leaning against the walls.

Speaking of which, the brightly colored walls--tangerine and red--were smattered with eclectic artwork. One wall featured brightly-colored photos of naked Barbie dolls arranged in highly artistic (read: sexually explicit) positions. The other was composed of spray-paint style portraits of sexy rock icons, including Jimi Hendrix.

Jay, the Polish owner, was tall, ultra-cool, and spoke with a thick accent. He explained to me that PRL is the "sexy Communist name for Poland," and that the bar boasts a shitload of tasty beers from all over the world (Scotland to Spain, Brazil to Bulgaria).

​Despite the hordes of electronic dance music artists living and working out of Berlin -- natives and foreign transplants alike -- few embody the spirit and sound of Berlin's contemporary EDM scene as fully as DJ/producer Cassy. Born Catherine Britton in England to a Caribbean father and Austrian mother, Cassy got her start performing as a guest vocalist on Elin's "Music Takes Me Higher" on Sabotage Records in 1999. Soon after she got bit by the techno bug and began honing her skills behind the decks.

By 2003 she made the move to Berlin, where she's staked her reputation as one of the city's most formidable DJs and most forward-thinking producers, with releases on the Cocoon, Minus, Get Physical, and Perlon imprints. Blending elegant atmospheric textures with understated rhythms and a distinctive soulful vocal style, Cassy sounds something like a futuristic minimal techno Sade. Her residencies at the esteemed Berghain and Panorama Bar nightclubs have made her a staple of Berlin's late-night scene, and in 2006 she was invited to mix Panorama Bar's debut club offering. Fast-forward to 2009 and Cassy is once again spearheading a new compilation mix, In the Mix - Simply Devotion, this time for the prestigious Cocoon label, and supported by a North American tour that fortunately for us includes a stop by the Electric Pickle on Saturday. This one's an early bird special starting in the afternoon, so be sure you make it in time for Cassy's set!

Cassy at Electric Pickle, with Will Renuart, Alejandro Sab, Michael Christopher and Basti. Saturday, November 21. 4 p.m.-10:30 p.m. 2826 N. Miami Ave., Miami.  

Check out Crossfade's brief Q&A with Cassy after the jump.

​If you thought that the fact he's only 6 phone calls away from everyone in the world made Kevin Bacon cool, prepare to be blown away. He sings. He and brother Michael (can someone start a 7 degrees of Michael Bacon meme, please) have been performing as The Bacon Brothers all of their lives, but professionally since 1995. While the folk country rock duo may not have crossed your radar yet, they're playing at the historic Lyric Theatre (59 SW Flagler Ave.) Sunday at 4 and 7 p.m. Click here to get acquainted with their sound and here to get reacquainted with Kevin dancing in skinny jeans.

Here's video of Pitbull's recent performance in Istanbul, Turkey, where he's famous, and where he claims he had the album of the year for 2009, "Not 305. Not Miami. Not Dade County. Not none of that shit. Turkey. Pa que sepa. Internacional."

​As usual, there's plenty of music to hear in Broward and Palm Beach this weekend. If you're in the mood for some indie rock AND comedy, you should head out to Propaganda to hear John Ralston, Sweet Bronco, and the Beards of Comedy. If you want your comedy more hard-edged, head out to see Doug Stanhope at Culture Room. Solid Sound Studios hosts their usual ultra-passionate local acts with clever names featuring The Perfect Defect. Finally, you can hear a little celtic rock with Uproot Hootenanny at Tim Finnegan's in Delray.

Saturday, Forever the Sickest Kids, Rocket Summer, Sing it Loud, My Favorite Highway, and Artist vs. Poet are flooding the Culture Room, First October are rocking out at Swampgrass Willys, and the Blues and Americana Showcase of Bands is going on at Pulp Live.

Finally, Sunday you can Jam in the Park at Secret Woods Nature Center, Jam Acoustically Downtown at the Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens, see Caribbean Element at Coyotes Bar in Hollywood, or catch the last day of the Blues and Americana Showcase of Bands at Pulp.

via Flickr user Guy McCullough

​Hey look! It's a concert announcement that has nothing to do with jam bands, '80s hair metal, or sugary pop-punk acts! Don't worry, they'll be back next week. For today, let's focus on Brandi Carlile's announcement that she'll be coming to Culture Room on February 20. The folk-pop star released her third album, Give Up The Ghost, came out a couple months ago and shot up the Billboard charts. There's a reason: she's amazing. Her voice soars above sparce instrumentation. Oh and having Rick Rubin as your producer and Elton John as a collaborator doesn't hurt either. Tickets are on sale now through Ticketmaster.

We're happy to announce a punk rock act that doesn't have pop or power in front of it. No, if Dropkick Murphys have to be pigeonholed, it would be as celtic-punk. This Boston (well Quincy technically, but it's close enough) based punk rock act has one of the most rabid followings in modern punk thanks to their non-stop touring, high energy shows, and love of the drinking song. Revolution Live will play host on March 6, close enough to St. Patty's Day to ensure a mini apocalypse will occur on the dancefloor. Tickets go on sale this Saturday at 10 a.m. through Ticketmaster.

​Unmitigated cool never goes outta style. Ever. Especially when said cool comes from one of the originators. See then it's something at once insidious and divine, a thing in and of itself, unexplainable, indefinable and blessed beyond belief.

That kinda cool also tends to be highly emulated. And no one was perhaps more emulated throughout the Swingin' '60s than a dame named Ronnie Spector, front chick of The Ronettes. The beehives, the tight skirts, the black slashes of heavy eyeliner, all spoke bad girl in a time when there really wasn't such a thing. And Ronnie's gang set the stage for all the good female trouble to come.

After Ronnie hooked up and marryied Phil Spector back in '63, she and the Ronettes had a run of Top 40 hits which included "Be My Baby" and "Baby, I Love You," as well as a slate of Christmas classics that still get played to this day. But by the end of the decade their star had faded and Phil had pretty much lost his mind.

​Friday, November 20

photo by Ian Witlen

​The Ska Is Dead Tour