Friday, September 5:

*That retro-fried garage rock stuff that's going strong in the rest of the country doesn't often seep down here, so catch a little of while you can tonight, when the Seattle foursome the Boss Martians hit Churchill's. Click here for the scoop.

*The Microdots play the weekly indie-centric Friday-night shindig at the Vagabond. They're described as "trippy and funk-laced" -- wow, what a surprise! http://www.miaminewtimes.com/events/microdots-at-the-vagabond-1127370/ to read the full scoop.

*Brazilian forró seems to be on an upswing, and as proof, that genre's master Chico Cesar plays at the Culture Room in Ft. Lauderdale. It's a Rhythm Foundation production, naturally. Click here for the whole story.

*More from Brazil: multi-instrumentalist Gustavo Fidelis plays for a crowd of his countrymen at Boteco. Hey, the guy even made it onto the Brazilian version of American Idol -- this means he's also got a pretty face]. http://www.miaminewtimes.com/events/gustavo-fidelis-1126468/ for details.

Saturday, September 6:

*If you like Florida-bred, loud-as-fuck rock and roll, there is simply no excuse to miss one of Torche's rare hometown shows at (where else) Churchill's. The cat's out of the bag folks -- Spin, Mojo, Decibel, and even Pitchfork have slobbered all over the band's second album, Meanderthal. Click here to read more about it.

More

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.

More

*Not live, per se, but a special DJ event: check out B-more's Dave Nada at tonight's edition of Money$hot at the Vagabond. Click here to read more about him, and click here to check out a Pitbull remix by him.

*Something a little more high-brow: Ellis Marsalis (yep, like Wynton) performs at the Coral Gables Congregational Church. Click here to read more about it.

*Up-and-coming Oregonian jazz chanteuse Esperanza Spalding (what a name) plays at Jazziz -- um, not to be confused with Miami's older Jazid, it's a club inside the Seminole Hard Rock complex. Click here to read more about Spalding.

*As part of its monthly showcase series at the Florida Room at the Delano, the forward-thinking label Giant Step presents Little Jackie, a singer with a big voice and plenty of Sixties soul samples woven into her beats.

-- Arielle Castillo

Friday, August 8:

*Florida's only working Joy Division tribute act, 3 One G, plays at the Vagabond. You sort of have to be a superfan to care, but JD superfans are legion, so you should click here to read more about these guys from Winter Haven.

*Further north, more tribute action: Classic Albums Live plays at the Paradise Live in the Seminole Hard Rock. Tonight, they'll re-create, note for note, Hendrix's Are You Experienced? Click here to read more about it.

*In the news of old bands actually reforming in real life, Bad Company plays tonight at the Hard Rock Live, featuring original members Paul Rodgers, Simon Kirk, and Mick Ralphs. Weirdly, this South Florida gig seems to be a one-off. Click here to read more about it.

*"Crazy Fingers" Sanchez leaves aside his usual band, Ozium, for a solo gig at Tobacco Road. In case you couldn't guess by his name, yes, it involves a keyboard. Click here to read more about it.

*Brazilian pop-jazz chanteuse Maria Rita plays at the beautiful Gusman Theater in Miami. Again, promoters: Please use this venue more! Click here to read more about Maria Rita.

More

Today, a former prison guard (who won't admit it) gives back to his old 'hood in Miami, spacey nu-prog rockers touch down in Ft. Lauderdale, and two top-notch weekly events keep on keeping on. -- Arielle Castillo

*This is really more of a free daytime charity event, but if you find yourself around Carol City this afternoon, stop by the annual Rick Ross Be Out Day, which promises a few star appearances. Click here to read more about the event.

*Modern-day space rockers Coheed and Cambria play at Revolution, their first club gig in South Florida in a while. Their opening acts, Russian Circles and Secret Machines, show the band is aiming to further expand its fanbase and its sound. Read a quick bit about them here, or check out a feature on the band from the Miami New Times last November, when the band had just released its most recent record, No World For Tomorrow.

*Crazy Foolz and Stray Bombs play at the weekly Dub’d Out event at Delux in Delray Beach. Between the bands and the Djs, expect a blend of groovy vibes from surf rock, to reggae, to ska, to a little punk, to, of course, dub. Click here to read more about it.

*Over at Churchill's in Miami, the featured guests at tonight's edition of Can You Rock a Little Softer? are Ravelsteen and Sol. Click here to read why CYRALS got the Miami New Times nod this year for Best Open-Mike Night.

*Who knows who will turn up at any given event of the dinner-party-turned-just-straight-up-party, Miami L.I.V.E. at Santo? With a live R&B band, any number of urban music illuminati have, and continue to, show up to throw down. Click here to read why Miami New Times named it Best Weekly Party.

Tonight looks good for those who like, well, beats. Beyond a regular open mike, tonight's picks involve hip-hop, reggae, and the blues. -- Arielle Castillo

*Up-and-coming Broward County MC Swazy Styles travels south across the county line to hit Flavour, in Coconut Grove. Nice to know this underused performance space might kick back into gear (where art thou, onetime punk show promoters who booked this place all the time?). Click here to read more about the gig.

*The Open Mike Gong Night continues at the Chocolate Moose in Davie. Kudos to those brave enough to enter. Click here for more details.

*The blues stylings of both Albert Castiglia and Graham Drout are always a safe bet. Both play tonight at Tobacco Road.

*Need a reggae fix? Head to the appropriately chilled-out Bougainvillea's Old Florida Tavern, which is getting a weekly Tuesday reggae night under way. Don Sha and the Lalibela band play, with DJ DrasticX on the decks between sets.

The week's basically in full swing with several national shows today and tonight, so get moving. -- Arielle Castillo

*If this is the first you're hearing about it, it may be too late for you to get to the Rockstar Mayhem Fest today at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach... But just in case, it's a star-studded (if subgenre-mixed-up) traveling circus of all things loud and able to be played on "active rock" radio. Headliners are Slipknot -- on a surprisingly acclaimed comeback -- and fellow nu-metallers Disturbed... But hey, there are a number of other diverse acts including the awesome Mastodon, Dragonforce, Underoath, and Miami's own Black Tide -- if you missed my recent cover story on these guys, click here to catch up.

*Return to Forever, the closest thing jazz ever had to a popular supergroup, plays at the Fillmore Miami Beach. Click here to read more about the trio.

*I guess you should.... ride your bicycle to the Flobots/Busdriver gig at Culture Room. They're against the whole SUV thing, right?

*Spam Allstars play at Purdy Lounge, and that's always a surefire bet.

*If you like gambling and country music, here's your dream evening: Earl Thomas Conley performs at the Miccosukee Casino (which seems to be hosting an awful lot of live music lately, for better or for worse).

Tonight, lots of smoky stylings, and an open mike that is not for the faint of heart. -- Arielle Castillo

*The urbane crooner Brendan O'Hara returns to the bohemian environs of the Florida Room, at the always-chic Delano. Click here for more about this handsome cat.

*There's another installment of the weekly open mike night at the Chocolate Moose Cafe in Davie, featuring an actual gong -- step onstage if you dare! Click here to read more about it.

*As if you need an extra excuse to crack out the fancy shirt.... But if you do, head to Jazid for its weekly Guayabera Party Night, with live salsa featuring the percussion stylings of Tomas Diaz of the Spam Allstars.

*Local blues master Graham Drout of Iko Iko still reigns at Tobacco Road. And there's no cover!

*Listen, you will be so glad once you've dined at the surprisingly fabulous Magnum Lounge on NE 79th St. in Miami. Trust me, the outside environs are a little less than glam, but inside is a return to more gracious years. If you're like me and like living in your own pretend vintage la-la-land, order a martini and enjoy the excellent live piano-driven cabaret standards.

It's Monday, but there's still music to be found out there. -- Arielle Castillo

*There's no better way to ease into the week's grind than Purdy Lounge's weekly Monday reggae night. There's dancehall in the back, but the mainroom is pretty strictly roots. Jean P. Jam performs, alongside DJs Governor Lee and Junior Green.

*Alright, this isn't live music but would you really want to miss this week's installment of Sweat Records' Music Movie Mondays? Really, Purple Rain is this week's movie! Click here to read more about the event.

*Churchills' Monday Night Jazz Jam is always a well-attended, chilled-out, food-for-the-brain way to ease into the week. Click here if you need to read more (but really, under what rock have you been hiding?)

*Mondays must be the night for jazz, because up north, in Ft. Lauderdale, we've got The Sugar Daddy's playing at O'Hara's Jazz Cafe.

*Pat DeLeon plays, as he has done for the last few weeks, at Tobacco Road.

Here's a wrap-up of the highlights this weekend in live shows. -- Arielle Castillo

TONIGHT:
*As I blogged earlier in the week, Miami indie outfit Call it Radar plays its last show at the Vagabond's awesome-fun-times weekly Friday party.

*More of Laundry Bar's usually Friday-night drum'n'bass, this time featuring Random Movement. Click here to read more about it.

*Secondhand Serenade tugs at your heart strings at Culture Room. He's helped along by Rookie of the Year, the Graduate, Playradioplay!, and My American Heart. Click here to learn more about the man behind Secondhand Serenade.

*Kendall-born folk troubadour Shawn Snyder heads north to Broward, where he plays the Chocolate Moose in Davie. Click here to read a feature about him in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.

*Also in Broward, at the East Side Pub in Ft. Lauderdale, the amazingly named Bone Lee Tadpole plays his signature gritty repertoire of roadhouse-style jams perfect for both dancing and crying into your beer. Not an easy feat! Click here to read more and get the address and phone number (hey, pub, you need a web site!).

SATURDAY:

*Like your indie dark, moody, post-punky, and featuring a dreamy singer with a tasteful collection of fuck-the-weather scarves? Yes, you do, or you should. And so you should go see Astari Nite play at midnight at the weekly Poplife get-down at the White Room.

More

Thursday's the unofficial start of the weekend, so here are a few things to get you going. -- Arielle Castillo

*The big event in Miami tonight is MOCA's second installment of its Battle of the Bands series. Old Wives Tale, Treasures, Minimal, the Psycho Daisies, and the Hongs play. Click here to read my predictions for the evening, in the Miami New Times.

*Prog-ish, psych-ish, weird-ish Alaskans Portugal. the Man hit Culture Room, with the Rx Bandits (OMG they're still around) and Facing New York. Click here to read about these guys' unorthodox methods of songwriting in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.

*Soulful local R&B crooner Lucian, as well as hard-hitting MC LMS, both play at the bimonthly Art of Expression event at Zero Ping in Hollywood. (Amazingly, the venue is usually a LAN gaming center!) Click here to get the scoop.

*Back in Miami Beach, the always-excellent Jacob Jeffries Band gets down in the upstairs lounge at Van Dyke's.

Here are tonight's highlights in live music around town, in case you're already getting the itch to go out and do something. -- Arielle Castillo

*Sebastian Bach, Poison, and Dokken at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach. Seriously, Bret Michaels must really love South Florida -- he played here with Poison last July, and recently as a solo artist (uh, playing all Poison songs) after a Marlins game. Now he's back with an album to push, and a different set of openers. Click here to read a Broward-Palm Beach New Times story about what Sebastian Back has been up to.

*GBH plays with the Krum Bums at Culture Room, Ft. Lauderdale. If you like your punk spiky, old, and featuring song titles like "City Baby Attacked by Rats," this one's a must-see. (The Krum Bums, however, are younger and from Austin, Texas.) Click here to read about it in the Broward-Palm Beach New Times.

*Xperimento plays again at its weekly Wednesday night residence at Jazid. Click here to read about it in the Miami New Times.

*Of course, Can You Rock a Little Softer? continues at Churchill's. Special guest tonight is the folks from Pure Imagination -- a sort of music/lit radio drama that returns to WVUM's airwaves this October. Cover is $5.

*BeBob Grabowski's weekly jazz jam continues at Tobacco Road -- but someone over there seriously needs to update the venue's online calendar with more detailed lineup information, stat.