Miami Music Matters

Lolo's Lovin the Knight Foundation

Lolo Reskin of Sweat Records is very very happy about getting that lovely $150,000 grant from the Knight Foundation along with cultural heavyweights like the Arsht Center and Miami City Ballet. I think we can safely say that none of the other recipients said they would be using the money "to make South Florida even more awesome!!!!" (yes, four exclamation marks), but we can be sure that Sweat, stalwart and loving home to Miami indie music and alternative life, will do so.

 

Among Lolo's plans - put out some 7-inches by local acts, put on some movie screenings they couldn't afford before, put in a door that really locks, so they won't have any more visits from the type of thugs who stole everything valuable and smashed the fishtank to boot. And more creative ideas are sure to come. "We're making all kinds of plans on ways to maximize the money, we're gonna do as much as possible with it," Lolo said. "That's why this grant is so great, you don't have to have anythign behind you, you just have to have a great idea. And they’re going to get great bang for their buck, because we’ve already done so much with nothing."

 

And now they have something. Yay Sweat.

Exene Cervenka's dark love at Pulse/Basel

Caught legendary punk singer Exene Cervenka of seminal LA punk band X at the Pulse Art Fair Saturday afternoon during Art Basel. No more grotty punk clubs - she played just before sunset in the green and genteely appointed garden in front of The Ice Palace on the developmental border between Overtown and downtown, where Pulse was held. (Exene seemed to appreciate the irony of the location. "This song is to chase away the devil," she said at one point. "Then we're all gonna get our crack outside). Cherry haired and wearing polka dot vintage, she still looked impish-to-evil, just older, cherry haired and played dark, ambivalent, catchy but despairing love songs on acoustic guitar. "Your empty bottle seems to say, If I was you I wouldn't wait this way, As I wait in the cold wait in the rain, wait in the pain." or "Now it's the 12th of never - weren't you supposed to be here?"

Lyrics like that, you'd think she'd be ready to give up now, but no, she was enjoying herself, loving the creamy peach pink sunset light (turns out she spent most of her teens in Florida, living in St. Petersburg and Tallahasse - no wonder the musical rage later), sitting on the grass surrounded by a small claque of aspiring young punks and other musicians. "I have a ton of respect for her," said Adam Lee Miller (also a multi-expressive musician/filmmaker) of Detroit band Adult, who bought his first X record, Make the Music Go Bang, in 1986, when the line "don't forget the motor city" made an indelible impression. "She's always been in the vanguard, and she's totally respectable - she's not a sell-out."

Unlikely as the folk persona seemed to me, Exene said she'd been making alt-folk/country music for years, with the Knitters, a band she started in 1982 while X was still going. The solo set was to promote Somewhere Gone, her first solo album since 1991. "There's no middleman, it's completely from the living room to the stage," she said, sitting on the grass. And punk and folk had more in common than you'd think. "They're the same music, only one's faster," she said. "The chords are the same, simple three chord songs, topical themes. They're all love songs - I'm always in love, I've never not been in love since the first day of my life."

Talking about another side of Exene, she also had artwork up at the gallery for New York's DCKT gallery at Pulse, collages and journal pages she'd been making for years. "The art thing really started about five years ago," Exene said. "I love that as much as the music."

Up-and-comer Wale to rock Mansion

Washington, D.C. representative Wale will bring his unique hip-hop sounds to Mansion in South Beach on December 11.

The laid-back wordsmith, who openly proclaims he's a University of Miami Hurricanes fan on his Twitter account, mixed clever party rhymes and socially conscious lyrics over a bed of '80s synthesizers, Afrobeat rhythms and go-go percussion on his debut album, Attention Deficit, which is one of the year's best hip-hop albums (read my review).

His first hit single, "Chillin'," was produced by Miami duo Cool & Dre and featured guest vocals by the "it" pop star of the moment, Lady Gaga.

The doors at Mansion should open at 11 p.m., and Miami's own DJ Irie will take a break from being the Miami Heat's DJ to spin before Wale takes the stage.

Tickets are available now for $20.

Lil Wayne's new single is all Miami

Sometime Miami resident Lil Wayne has enlisted help from some of Dade County's most talented musicians for his newest single, "On Fire."

The song, from Weezy's upcoming rock-heavy album Rebirth, is produced by locals Cool & Dre, who have been tapped to helm much of the new album and have an extensive resume including work with Busta Rhymes, Chris Brown, Nas and Gym Class Heroes.

The track itself samples "She's On Fire" by Amy Holland, best known for its use in the 1983 movie Scarface, infamous for its depiction of Miami.

To complete the local connection, Lil Wayne rushed to shoot the song's video Saturday in Miami (perhaps due to his impending sentencing in February). His backing band for the shoot? None other than ¡Mayday!

(The 305 has video of Weezy jamming with ¡Mayday! at the video shoot.)

Listen to "On Fire" below. Beware, the song has some naughty language:

Grassroots Alert: MTA productions sneaking rock music back into Coconut Grove on Sundays.

In these times of limited venues in the magic city - any joint that has original music has to be embraced. In my 18 years of  playing, producing, promoting and writing about music in the magic city - I've spent some time in some funky venues, but never a steakhouse.

But hey, if I can do a Blowfly gig at a 3 star italian restaurant in Santa Rosa, California  - there's no reason why you shouldn't go see Alix and the Rockers tomorrow evening at chicago steakhouse. Alix is a 12 year old slide guitar player who hopes to follow in the footsteps of Derek Trucks - sans the famous dad (Butch Trucks of the Allman Brothers). It appears that this is her first headlining gig - so if you're into that kinda thing - go on down to the grove and party like its 1969.

You know, when Alix's grandparents met.
 

Scion wants the youth dollar so much, they will give you free music until your ears bleed. Including tonight's "Made To Play" label dance music gig at Rok Bar

Back in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was scandalous in rock culture to be associated with selling anything besides records and cds. If your music was in a commerical, you were a sell out has been and that was that.

Of course, people still bought music in those long-deceased things called "record stores" that used to live every mall in the united states, instead of stealing it online.  And bands went on tour to promote records, rather than release records just to have an excuse to tour.

A few years ago, Scion realized that the edgy kids graduating from college were gonna need a car when they got out of school -- and began wrapping themselves in any kind of alternative culture they could find. Miami ex-pat doom rockers Torche get almost as much money for having a Scion table next to their merch booth, than they get on a weekday show. Scion held a doom rock fest in their new hometown of atlanta.

 Our beloved local garage heads The Jacuzzi Boys, were recently flown out to Portland, Oregon to play the Scion garage fest - which featured every damn band in the garage punk and garage rock scene playing the uber-trendy old town neighborhood next to downtown portland.

But alas, Miami is known as a town that loves dance music instead of rock and roll - so instead of getting Roky Erickson or King Khan - Scion brings us yet another incursion of  euro dance music djs in a town that needs them like it needs a hole in the head. I'm sure it's great that Jess Rose invented "fidget house" and I'm sure my friend DJ JRNY can tell me why he's important - but to me this caps off the lamest musical showing art basel has had  to date. Sure, Ebony Bones is better than yelle - but it began and ended right there.

Black Eyed Peas bring 'The E.N.D.' to Miami in February

February is shaping up to be a big month for the South Florida concert scene: Not only will Jay-Z and John Mayer be in town, but the Black Eyed Peas just announced a Feb. 6, 2010 performance at the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami.

The show will be the second date on the Peas' The E.N.D. World Tour 2010, an ambitious trek that is set to include 100 shows around the globe.

The tour is in support of the foursome's platinum-selling fifth album, The E.N.D. (read my review), which has spawned the massive hits "Boom Boom Pow," "I Gotta Feeling" and "Meet Me Halfway."

The Peas were most recently in town in March 2009 as headliners for the Ultra Music Festival.

Prices haven't been announced yet, but tickets should be on sale December 12.

UPDATED: Tickets go on sale December 12 on Ticketmaster and range from $46.50 to $89.50

Big Freedia brings "Sissy Bounce" to "Art Bassel" at Vagabond tonight

This week, when the whole art world gets out of the cold, and tries to out freak each other - it's nice to have at least one bona fide freak in town. Tonight, New Orleans Drag Queen "Sissy Bounce" Queen, Big Freedia plays  Get Low's "Art BASSel" party tonight at the vagabond.

In a hip hop world filled to the brim with homophobes - "sissy bounce" is a refreshing hedonistic booty clap. In Nola, "sissy bounce" -  a slightly more up tempo version of classic miami bass, thats virtually all call and response chants -- attracts good looking girls by the horde, a lucky few of whom get to shake their stuff onstage  alongside Bg Freedia to songs like "Azz Everywhere" and "blame it on the alcohol" tunes. As miami is the culo capitol of the americas - she should feel right at home.

Timbaland's oh so smart phones

Apparently, not even being one of the world's most successful and highly regarded producers lets you off the need for corporate sponsorship these days - or maybe it just makes being the company shill more lucrative.

And so Timbaland, producer for just about everybody, hits the Fontainebleau Miami Beach on Saturday in a party and performance celebrating the release of his album Shock Value II, out Tuesday, in what a press release bills as a showcase for [company name here] unrivaled portfolio of smartphones. No, I will not be giving them even the tiny bit of free publicity they might garner in this blog, will not be slavering at the red carpet for the chance of an empty promotional soundbite with Timbaland and the special guests (given his music portfolio, could be just about anyone), and presumably won't be offered any interviews with Timbaland any time soon either. Too bad, I admire the man and his work. And he's local.

Someone help me out here. Why does someone of Timbaland's calibre, reputation, and presumedly astronomical paycheck need to do this? Want to do this? Is it just the money? Must be a lot. And record companies don't pay for anything anymore.

Or is it that companies have eaten up so much of our psyche that a corporation which makes %$#%$#%^# telephones (no matter how many games, gadgets, apps, ringtones etc etc they flash and no matter how much they cost, it's still just a goddamned phone) is just as cool as one of the most genre-defining music-makers of the last decade? Is how you send your s--- over the air as important as what you're sending?

However, you can win free tickets to the event by following @VCASTMusic on Twitter. Judging from my experience of these kind of celebrity/promotional events, you probably won't get close to Timbaland, but maybe you can get 10% off one of those smartphones. Or maybe you'll get to pay extra for the privilege.

Borscht Film Festival is Miami alt-culture summit

 
Borsht Film Festival Sells Out. Photo by Tomas Loewy for Miami.com

  
It took hours to bring in a working projector to replace the broken one at the Borscht Film Festival at the Gusman Saturday night (came all the way from Hialeah, after all), but even the hour and a half delay in the start time couldn't squelch this indie-life celebration. Almost no one left, the Gusman stayed full to the gilded rafters, and I didn't hear any bitching and moaning in the lobby, not at the delay and not at the loooonnnnngggg lines for the bars, either. Just a theater full of chilled out, fabulously varied looking and mostly 20-something culture lovers and makers. Jupina soda was flowing ("Just the kind of the culturally specific and ironic sponsor we would love to have more of," says Borscht Fest director and founder Lucas Leyva) and the mood was elated.

 
  Borscht Baby - Photo by Tomas Loewy for Miami.com.

Sure, free admission helps, but this festival was definite proof that creative alt-art life is thriving in Miami. And proud of it too - when the movies did finally start, each one was preceded by a graphic map of Miami's hoods (Hialeah, Little Haiti, Brickell, Kendall, Tropical Park etc) and farflung suburbs (Cuba, Puerto Rico), and each one was greeted by a cheer. "You heard where the different neighborhoods were seated and really saw a range of different communities represented," Leyva said, speaking, in the proud tradition of struggling artists everywhere, from his day job. 

More proof of homegrown talent and spirit - most of the wait time was filled by bands plucked from the audience, who happily did an impromptu acoustic set. Animal Tropical, new to me, did eerie pop in barely-recognizeable as Spanish Spanish, and roamed the hall after handing out free cd's. Smurphio and Cuci Amador of electro-pop faves Afrobeta played, as did the surprising and shy but gutsy Kelly Bartley, sister of one of the filmmakers, who did terrific bluesey soulful versions of Leo Kottke's great  Louise, and, very impressively, Janis Joplin's Me and Bobby McGee. Boy behind me was clapping along, couldn't tell if he liked it or was making fun of what now sounds like the campfire spirit. "That's Janis Joplin!" I hissed at him. He just smiled and kept clapping - couldn't tell if he didn't know who Janis Joplin was, or thought I was an idiot.

Kelly Bartley keeping it live at the Borscht Festival. Photo by Tomas Loewy for Miami.com

Leyva was over the moon at the turnout, the biggest in the festival's six year history, and exponentially larger than last year's version, which brought out the fire marshalls to the 250 seat Tower Theater. The Gusman holds almost 1700, and at one point people were waiting to get in (when Lucas walked out to get some more of that fabulously sugary Jupina soda, someone offered to sell him a ticket).

I've been watching culture in Miami for two decades now, and this felt like a critical mass that was new. "It's really encouraging to see there really is an interest in the community," Leyva says. "It’s hard to build culture in this city where sometimes you feel like no one really cares. But this shows we are wanted and people do want to see their stories up on screen and do want indepdent film in this city."

 

Miami's always bred talent - but it doesn't usually manage to keep it. Too hard to get produced, too hard to make the power brokers pay attention to anything new and young, too hard to find a new space when the few available resources are taken up by figures that have been ensconced for a long time. Maybe the Borscht Festival, and its like, can change that - not just for film, but for theater and performance and music (the films I saw were filled with local music - from the Afrobeta music video premiere to the Panic Bomber soap opera to the film on the Cuban showgirl who lost her rhythm).

 

"We feel like Miami’s always created creative people, but they give up and leave to and go to L.A., to New York, and have wonderful careers there," Leyva says. "We’re trying to get people interested in staying and growing. I think that was represented there - we don't want to just be a home for Art Basel."