Leave it to Otto Von Schirach and Jose El Rey to put "bass" in "Miami bass." The pair, along with Peasant With Feathers, Notorious Nastie and El Tigre, took over PS14 in Downtown Miami for Club Jupiña Colada. Click here to view the full slideshow.
My Morning Jacket at The Fillmore
Friday, August 29, 2008
The Fillmore Miami Beach
Better Than: Bare-knuckle boxing a grizzly bear punch-drunk on thunderous riffs and silky falsetto funk.
My Morning Jacket wandered past a strange crossroads straight into Miami's Fillmore Theater on Friday, finding themselves somewhere between the epic stoner jams and Southern rock that put them on the map, the delirious pop of their breakthrough, "Z", and a new flirtation of Prince-miming funk on their newest disc, "Evil Urges." Oh, and along the way, they may have stumbled across and inherited the long-discarded mantle of "America's greatest live rock band."
So, even though frontman Jim James was referring to the apparently mind-bending effects of his tour around Miami earlier that morning, his best quote mid-show could just as easily have been about the crowd's reception to seeing MMJ bring the goods live:
"Our mental landscape ... was changed forever," Jones intoned darkly.
The Village Voice documents the last party at the infamous McCarren Pool with Yo La Tengo.
Houston Press' Rocks Off blogger Chris Gray loses his Guitar Hero cherry.
SF Weekly does its best to capture the odd fashion choices at Outside Lands. Warning: it ain't pretty. Check out the pictures here and here.
With the Democratic National Convention in Denver over, Westword's Backbeat blog relives the best performances during the week -- er, by musicians not politicians.
Tonight, Friday, August 29
*The big deal for scruffy indie lovers tonight is My Morning Jacket at the Fillmore Miami Beach. Some people say they're the best live band ever -- hyperbole? You decide.
*Rock en espanol darling Geordano Henriquez plays at Jazid -- and maybe someday he will finally get around to releasing a proper album.
*How could you not love a punk band called the Crack Whore Sweethearts? And where else would they play besides a converted hulking strip club monstrosity? (That would be the old Crazy Horse, in Miami Gardens, easily visible from I-95.). Click here to read more about it.
*Up in Delray, the ever-hopeful, local Anglophile workhorses Nothing Rhymes with Orange play at Dada. (They're also at the Dubliner in Mizner Park on Saturday, where the hordes will be amassing for Slightly Stoopid.)
Saturday, August 30
*Former hardcore dudes, are you creaming your pants yet? The amazing, amazing H.R. (of the Brad Brains!) plays at Churchill's. It's with his solo band though, so you'll have to chill out a little. Click here to read more about it.
*Obvs, the big event for weirdos in Miami is Club Jupina Colada at PS14, thrown by New Times faves Otto von Schirach, Jose El Rey, and Peasants with Feathers. Click here to read more about Peasants with Feathers, and get all the details.
Remember Rokbar LA? No? Don't worry, neither does anyone else. When Rokbar Miami flourish, owners quickly opened a Los Angeles version in Hollywood, competing with institutions like Viper Room and the Roxy. But the problem was that Rokbar was a play on those kind of venues, so why would the LA set want to go to a place that already existed?
But as the late Aaliyah once sang, "If at first you don't succeed, dust yourself off and try again." Well Rokbar is definitely trying again with a Las Vegas outpost at the New York New York Hotel & Casino. From the press photos, Rok Vegas (the "Bar" is dropped because this place is huge when compared to the Miami version) reminds us of Studio A (R.I.P.) but a bit flashier, featuring a huge projection screen that wraps around the venue.
Well if you happen to be Vegas this weekend, stop by because it's the grand opening. Local DJ Danny Daze will be there spinning all weekend long (how appropriate) and faux lesbian Katy Perry performs live tomorrow night.
A couple of months ago, I took a little pleasure in debating the possibilities of the new "Rockstar Menu" announced by Denny's. Read that piece to get all the details -- but in a nutshell, the 24-hour psuedo-diner chain recently launched it's "Denny's All-Nighter" campaign. They're sponsoring bands with free food, but have also let four higher-profile bands create a signature dish each, to be served on the late-night menu from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. (That menu has also been enhanced with new college-haute-cuisine dishes like "Potachos" -- think loaded nachos, only made with potato chips, and the "Cinna Sweet Ride" -- unsalted tortilla chips covered with a bunch of sweet crap like chocolate syrup. F'reals!)
Anyways, the long-awaited band-themed menu items launched a couple nights ago, so it was with a little beer-soaked anticipation that, on the way home from the last MoCA Battle of the Bands, I dragged my companion to a Denny's to take the plunge.
With this being Laundry Bar's final weekend, Shelley Novak and friends decided to give the venue a proper roast. Patrons laugh and drank as Novak entertained the crowd the way only drag queen royalty knows how. Click here for the full slideshow.
Yes, the gloved one really is turning 50 years old today. It's hard to think of the one-time king of pop at 50. That's partly because he's had so much work done, that it's difficult to image what he'd actually look like as a normal, aging person.
To me, I'll always remember Michael from these glory days of the '80s. Jheri curls, dark skin, moonwalks, and leather jackets. Here's his infamous Pepsi commercial--the one where he burned himself during the taping of it and allegedly developed an addiction to pain killers. None of that is shown in this clip (thank God) and instead, we get Michael while he still had plenty of melanin and moves left in his system.
Just got a press release stating that for today only, all of you die-hard Chris Isaak and Lisa Loeb fans can get a sizable discount on tickets for their upcoming performance. All of the details are below. And check out the infamous "Wicked Games" video after the jump--considered by many to be the sexiest music video of all time.
FOR ONE DAY: THIS THURSDAY, AUGUST 28TH... ALL DAY...
TICKETS WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR JUST $15 (+ service charge)!
CHRIS ISAAK
with special guest
LISA LOEB
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 / 7:30PM
POMPANO BEACH AMPHITHEATRE
This one-day special offer is available online, by phone and at Ticketmaster outlets.
The "regular" price of these tickets is: $49.50 and $25.00.
....but for one day... just $15 (plus service charge)!
We are hearing around town that Miami is in store for a busy fall and winter seasons. Big names are being tossed around and events are in the works -- too bad we can't tell you just yet, but you can rest assured we'll be the first to let you know.
But looking ahead at this long Labor Day weekend, there is so much to do that we couldn't possibly list every single event happening, so here are the highlights this weekend you may want to check out.
Laundry Bar (721 Lincoln Lane, Miami Beach) is closing y'all! But don't worry, it will remain under the same management, but just a different look and feel. But before that happens, the sudsy venue is going out with a bang -- or a permanent press wash. Tonight, Laundry Bar is giving itself a roast courtesy of a bunch of drag queens, bringing back the glory days of the venue it catered to the gay set. Shelley Novak hosts and will feature plenty of other prominent South Beach players.
Skip to Sunday for the venue's truly final farewell, when San Francisco's Nikola Baytala and Michael Louis give the venue's speakers one final workout.
Legendary reggae artist Toots Hibbert is coming to Broward County this weekend. If you're even vaguely familiar with the history of reggae, you'll know that Toots is a long-time staple of the genre...so much so that he lays claim to being the first musician to use the word "reggae" in a song. His 1968 hit, "Do the Reggay" really might be the first tune to use that word...but he's still a consumate reggae ambassador (and a badass performer) regardless of if his claim is true or not.
He's playing the Culture Room this Sunday and if his set is anything like the last time he was in town, this will definitely be a night to remember. You can read more details about that show by clicking on this link.
Here's a clip of the original Maytals playing their hit, "Sweet and Dandy." Props to anyone who knows what movie this scene is actually from...or better yet, if you can name the famous producer who died in 1971 (apparently from a curse) that's also featured in this clip.
No not those designer drugs, we're talking about Designer Drugs, the DJ duo from New York. The duo will stop by Miami September 8, as part of their mini-tour of Florida, where they will take over the decks of White Room's Monday night bash Exposure.
These boys have played at parties like Dim Mak in Los Angeles and Ruff Club in New York, and are also residents at one of Philadelphia's biggest parties called Live Forever. You can also scour the internet and find plenty of official and unofficial remixes done by the pair, as well as some original tracks.
In case you don't believe in their pure unadulterated awesomeness, we are always here to provide you the audio proof. You can download their mixes, titled Datamix 01 and Datamix 02, which includes the likes of Justice, Timbaland, Boys Noize, Feist, Armand Van Helden and more. The mixes were done in 2007, so some of the tracks have been, er, a bit overplayed since then, but their skill level is still there. Also, you can listen to their remixes of Thieve Like Us' "Drugs In My Body" below.
There is no denying our love for Miami's own Lazaro Casanova, so when he posted up a new track via his MySpace yesterday we were sort of excited to say the least. His first release "Venganza" was a dancefloor thriller that had us shaking the moment we heard it, and his newest track "Klöver" is no different. With a backbeat similar to Fedde Le Grand's "Put Your Hands Up 4 Detriot" (sample maybe?), it's all electro with plenty of thump.
Since it's Throwback Tuesdays and the post below this one mentions local guitarist, Daisy Berkowitz, who used to play in Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, I figured I'd scour the Web for old Spooky Kids footage.
The band was a staple in Fort Lauderdale's metal scene long before they became famous, and shortened their band name to just Marilyn Manson and were known for putting on some rather crazy shows. I came across this jewel of a video from August 1, 1992, featuring the eccentric rockers playing a show at the old Plus 5 Lounge. At the time, the line up for the band was as follows:
Marilyn Manson - Vocals
Daisy Berkowitz - Guitar
Gidget Gein - Bass
Sara Lee Lucas - Drums
Madonna Wayne Gacy - Keyboard
So Boynton Beach electro-rockers, Kill Miss Pretty, recently shot a new video for their song, "Drawing Pictures of Haunted Houses With You." It's the first single off of their new album, Permission for Strange, which the band is having a CD release party for this Saturday at Respectable Street in West Palm. The tune is definitely well-written, and there's even a short cameo in the beginning of the video from Scott Putesky (formerly known as) Daisy Berkowitz from Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids.
Putesky and Kill Miss Pretty's bassist, Martin Davis, have matching Ouija board guitars and both are featured in this video. Be sure to check my column, Dred Scott!, this week for a longer story on Kill Miss Pretty's new album and their return to the stage. And if you're going to be in West Palm on Saturday, be sure to come out and support this show, which is also featuring Captain Dan and the Scurvy Crew and the Holy Terrors, who rarely play out these days.
