Miami Music Blog

via myspace/djpurfiya

DJ Purfiya with Suga Shack from Wild 98.7

​DJ Purfiya is from the city of Palmetto, Florida, just south of Tampa. He's affiliated with Miami's own Slip N Slide Records as one of their official DJs.

Wednesday, rumors hit the Internet -- namely Twitter -- that he had died due to complications of the flu. Yesterday we found out he's alive and well, and claiming hackers got into his MySpace and Twitter accounts and spread the false message of his death.

According to his former boss, Howard Roberts, CEO and founder of Firm Life Entertainment, a concert promoter in Southwest Florida, DJs from Tampa to Fort Myers are saying Purfiya pulled the stunt himself for publicity.

DJ Purfiya's myspace page still lists Howard's phone number as his booking contact. Crossfade called him up to see what he had to say.

Here's what he told us, after the jump.

As long as we're talkin' bout Maggotron, we might as well do the right thing and put some of his sounds in your earholes. Get ready for robot voices, vocoder effects, screw type vocals, movie quotes, scratch noises, more cowbell, and the drum patterns that now define old school.

Here's a video of Miami's own Hemlock playing a song called "Sweet Sweet Music," and sounding like a disco version of the Allman Brothers. The movie appears to be a shoddy film to digital transfer. Click the HQ button at the bottom of the player to watch it in high quality. According to the YouTube description, Hemlock released a single called "Disco Break," apparently through Warner Bros. Here is that song.

Back in May Crossfade told you about Laurie Miller, original member of the superstar girl group Expose, who brought the world hits like "Point Of No Return."

We also found her website which details her current life as a performer and talks about her experience in the cruise ship industry. If you haven't heard, cruises aren't making all that much money these days, and apparently Laurie lost her job with Princess Cruise Lines.

This Miami Herald video details Laurie's applying for and receiving free plastic surgery from a Miami doctor who enacted a program to give away operations to help people feel more confident going into job interviews.

Good luck Laurie.

A. Vanderkooy

The Freakin' Hott in freakin' action.

Besides seriously rocking the fuck out, directly channeling an imaginary bastard love child of Kimya Dawson and Bob Stinson, and having the best ass and the prettiest face in the club, respectively, Maggie and Aaron also have the funniest, harshest and most deliciously cynical blog in our shitty little awesome armpit of a state.  They don't use their fancy blogspot or wordtypepadtwitter.  It's a plain old myspace dot com blog that spits out commentary on everything from singer songwriters to Kip Winger with a special soft spot for Parker Lewis.  I tune in whenever a new entry pops up and honestly it's probably the only thing I use MySpace for these days.  Did I mention they are also on a mission to save rock and roll? 

Back in Miami's bass music heyday, music video director Dario L. Jaramillo was making a killing creating, producing, directing and editing music videos for  Joey Boy Records and Warner Bros. artists. I found his 90's Miami Bass music video reel on youtube, tracked him down through the powers of whois, called him up at 7am Los Angeles time and conducted an interview, here's what he had to say....

It's been a while since I've gotten one of these Lost and Found requests, but I've actually managed to reunite a few musicians (thanks Internet!) so I hope this one works out as well.

Steve Satterwhite is looking for a fellow musician who goes by either Nes, Raraavis, or Nestor J. Gomez. They started a recording project together about six or seven years ago in Satterwhite's home studio in Belle Meade; Satterwhite describes it as "bluesy, jazz-inflected rock." He now has a ProTools HD studio, and would like to finish laying down the lead instruments and drums.

If anyone has contact information for Nes, please e-mail me here (do not post in comments). Thanks! -- Arielle Castillo

Here's another local music mystery... A reader writes:

"Hi, I'm trying to figure out the name of a local progressive band from the late 90s, (1997-2000). I know they were signed to a major label, and were influenced by bands that sounded like the Cure, and that the entire band had the same last name, like Marilyn Manson."

Any clue who he's talking about? Leave a comment here or e-mail me. -- Arielle Castillo

Our latest writer is looking for Ricky Williams, whom she describes as a "blind pianist." Her husband, now deceased, used to play guitar in a band with him in the Nineties.

Any tips can be sent to me here. -- Arielle Castillo

This next letter is about the hallowed, now defunct Miami rock venue, Washington Square.

"I used to live in Miami around 93/94, and I use to go see shows at the Square. I had the live disc, I was wondering if there is a way to get my hands on some of the those live album compilations.
Please Help."

Our writer also elaborates:

"I am looking for the 92 – 94 period. There were these guys, Zack, and Rob. They were putting out some great acoustic stuff at the time."

Anyone dig what he's talking about and have any info, e-mail me! -- Arielle Castillo

I've gotten a few messages recently from people trying to track down musicians, friends, etc from the South Florida music scene.

Hence, a new public service of this blog ... If you're looking for a person, copies of an old rare local album, whatever, send me all the info and I'll post it here. When someone responds, I'll pass the info along.

Please do not post contact info in the comments. Instead, e-mail ME privately and I'll put everyone in touch. Hope this helps someone out, somewhere along the line.

Now, for the first one: A former South Florida entertainment writer is looking for Mike Barra. The last mention of him in the New Times is here, in an article from 1996.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1996-03-21/news/reverb