One of the great things about the USA exporting culture to the rest of the world, is when it boomerangs back and knocks us on our butt. Canadian export K-OS falls under the guise of a hip-hop MC - but he is one heck of a lot more than that.
K-OS is a genre-bending multi-instrumentalist / front man who has done everything from playing this year's Winter Olympics closing ceremony in Vancouver, to collaborating with big beat/techno kings The Chemical Brothers to portraying Bo Duke in his video for "I wish I knew Natalie Portman" - K-OS is an original is a sea of clones. He has covered John Lennon (at Yoko Ono's request) and a listen to his latest record reveals he is both an unapologetic lover of both rock music (his music samples both Phantom Planet and Nirvana) and 80s cultural detris like Morgan Freeman's portrayal of rogue prinicipal "Crazy" Joe Clark in the film "Stand By Me."
Tonight, K-OS appears at Revolution in downtown Fort Lauderdale, who for the second night in a row have managed to usurp "urban beach week" on South Beach with better gigs at lower prices. A mere $15 gets you into K-OS. That's one square deal compared to a $75 general admission ticket to T.I. at Klutch Sunday night.
If there's one thing sure to anger a reactionary in south florida, it is the influx of young black folks to south beach that goes down every memorial day weekend. But thanks to Black Beach Week's expansion - the breed of white flighters who sport "will the last american to leave miami please take the flag?" bumper stickers and wouldn't dare step into Miami-Dade this weekend aren't safe from bass, beats and rhymes on the north side of the county line.
Tonight, hip hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa spins his renegade funk at Revolution in downtown Fort Lauderdale. While it is being billed as a "breakbeat" set - there's enough funk in Bambaataa's trunk when he lays down his hit "Planet Rock" to summon his entire Zulu Nation and school the world in the five elements of hip hop.
Also getting funky tonight in Fort Lauderdale is underground MC Murs. While Murs is known as a member of the groups Living Legends and Felt ( a collaboration with Atmosphere's Slug) and as a collaborator with everyone from Humpty Hump of Digital Underground to 9th Wonder and Terrace Martin- as a solo artist he has been kicking mainstream rap in the teeth for over a decade.
It's quite an embarassment of riches for the hip hop head tonight. To party old school with Bambaataa or bang it out 21st century style with Murs? The choice us yours.
Art is music, art is album covers, art is a good time... mira! que lindas opens at the Awarehouse in Wynwood (550 NW 29th St 305-576-4004) at 9pm Saturday. A show of 519 Latin American designed album covers from Zona de Obras will run with a month's worth of concerts from some great sounding Latin alternative musicians. First up Saturday is the funky, dub-laden chillout of Pacha Massive, from New York and Elastic Bond, one of Miami's most inventive, vital Latin fusion bands.
The series includes an acoustic show by Aleks Syntek on June 3 and Clorofila of Nortec Collective on June 19th. Check out full sked and info at presenters Fabrika (in English) or the Centro Cultural Espanol
Stop the music! A host of artists from all genres has called for a boycott of Arizona over that state's punitive and controversial immigration law. Pitbull (who announced several weeks ago that he was canceling an Arizona stop on his U.S. tour), Juanes, Kanye West, Sonic Youth, Calle 13, Massive Attack, Cypress Hill, Conor Oberst, Los Tigres del Norte and more have said they won't play Arizona. They've also asked music fans to protest the law in Arizona and copycat legislation that's spreading like a slimy virus to other states. They're calling it the Sound Strikeand urging people to sign a petition against SB1070.
(For information on SB1070 imitators popping up around the country, check out Voto Latino, a non profit which harnesses pop stars and new media to get young Latinos to register to vote, answer the census, and otherwise make themselves heard and counted).
Here's the text of the boycott statement from organizer Zack de la Rocha, the Mexican-Irish-German descended (and therefore immigrant) frontman for Rage Against the Machine and One Day as a Lion.
"We are
reaching out to get your ear for a minute about this critical situation in
Arizona.
If you
haven't heard, the Arizona state legislature passed a bill (SB 1070) that was
signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer that legalizes and sanctions racial
profiling. Straight up.
It
forces the cops to hunt down and target anyone they "reasonably suspect" that
may be undocumented. And if the people they harass don't have proof that they
were born in the U.S., they can be detained and arrested. This must be stopped.
Fans
of our music, our stories, our films and our words can be pulled over and
harassed every day because they are brown or black, or for the way they speak,
or for the music they listen to. People who are poor like some of us used to be
could be forced to live in a constant state of fear while just doing what they
can to find work and survive. This law opens the door for them to be shaked
down, or even worse, detained and deported while just trying to travel home from
school, from home to work, or when they just roll out with their friends.
Some
of us grew up dealing with racial profiling, but this law (SB 1070) takes it to
a whole new low. If other states follow the direction of the Arizona government,
we could be headed towards a pre-civil rights era reality. This unjust law was
set into motion by the same Arizona government that refused to acknowledge
Martin Luther King Jr. day as a national holiday.
When
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, they arrested her. As a result, people
got together and said we are not going to ride the bus until they change the
law. It was this courageous action that sparked the Montgomery bus boycott. What
if we got together, signed a collective letter saying, "we're not going to ride
the bus", saying we are not going to comply. We are not going to play in
Arizona. We are going to boycott Arizona?!
Signed,
Zack
de la Rocha
Here's
a list of the courageous artists who have taken a stand for civil and human
rights in this collective decision to boycott Arizona:
Cypress
Hill Juanes Conor Oberst Los Tigres del Norte Rage Against the
Machine Cafe Tacvba Micheal Moore Kanye West Calle 13 Joe
Satriani Serj Tankian Rise Against Ozomatli Sabertooth
Tiger Massive Attack One Day as a Lion Street Sweeper Social
Club Spank Rock Juanes Sonic Youth Tenacious D
We are
asking artists the world over to stand with us, and not allow our collective
economic power to be used to aid and abet civil and human rights violations that
will be caused by Arizona’s odious law.
Timeless is a loaded word in pop music. When one wants to differentiate between throw-away top 40 trifles and what he or she value as important culture - "timeless" gets tossed around like a beach ball.
It is not a word your average Joe would use when describing Hall & Oates - who despite having hits that stretch back to the mid-70s did most of thier chart-topping in a breakneck stretch during the early 80s, and are as identified with the Regan era as much as the members only jacket.
But, if you divorce the most successful rock duo from their mullet-friendly image, and just concentrate on Daryl Hall's soaring tenor as it wriggles on some of the catchiest blue eyed soul ever committed to wax. "Rich Girl," "She's Gone" and "Say It Isn't So" are timeless pop classics and can hang right there with the Motown catalog. The pair's love of Motown was fully examined on 1985's "Live At The Apollo" album, on which Hall & Oates sang with vocalists David Ruffin and Eddie Kendricks of The Temptations.
Of late, pop culture has been giving Hall & Oates their due. Modern acts like Death Cab for Cutie have sung their praises.They've appeared on Fox's animated sitcom: "The Cleveland Show". And last fall they released a mammoth box set entitled: "Do What You Want, Be Who You Are: The Music Of Darryl Hall & John Oates" which is what brings them to Pompano Beach Amphitheater this Sunday. You can expect all the hits. But be on the lookout - the maneaters will chew you up.
Sorry, U2 fans: 16 upcoming North American dates on the Irish band's sprawling 360° Tour have been postponed until 2011, including the July 9 show at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens.
50-year-old frontman Bono underwent emergency back surgery in Munich Friday, which will sideline him for at least eight weeks, according to MTV.
Live Nation is encouraging U2 fans to hold on to their tickets, pending the announcement of a rescheduled show. They are directing any questions to Ticketmaster Customer support at customer_support@ticketmaster.com or 1-800-653-8000.
If there is any silver lining for disappointed fans, it's that U2 360° at the Rose Bowlwill be released June 3. The DVD and Blu-Ray captures the band's October 2009 performance at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
"Stagnant" is one word that cannot be used to describe the career of bluesman Jonny Lang's 15 year career. Starting as a teenage prodigy from North Dakota in the mid-1990s, he blasted to the top of his genre in 1997 with the multi-platinum selling "Lie to Me." Over the next several years he toured the globe with Aerosmith, The Rolling Stones, Buddy Guy and even gigged at the White House for the Clintons.
After his faith helped him win a battle with the bottle in the first part of the 21st century, he came back with 2006's "Turn Around" - which won a Grammy award for best Rock or R&B Gospel album. Since then he has continued to tour like a beast - culminating in the recently released "Live At The Ryman" CD.
In order to keep things fresh, Lang's touring schedule this year has had more variety than a Baskin & Robbins store. In March, he hit the road with the "Experience Hendrix" tour with fellow guitar slingers Joe Satriani, Kenny Wayne Shepard and Brad Whitford (Aerosmith). On that run, the axemen took turns interpreting the work of the late, great Jimi Hendrix. South Florida may have missed out on that, but thanks to the format of his current "Live By Request" tour - local Lang fans have the opportunity to write Lang's set list for his Fort Lauderdale show at Parker Playhouse Sunday, May 23. All they need to do is head over to www.jonnylang.com and fill out the form found behind this link in order to request a tune.
Just please, don't get drunk and virtually request "Freebird." That would be wrong. You're supposed to do that in person.
There is no greater icon in western music than the late reggae legend Bob Marley. Some 29 years after his death, both his image and his music remain ubiquitous. This has created an entire industry of Marley's progeny (Ziggy, Damien and Steven) and ex-bandmates who continue to spread his music around the globe.
The latest act to do this "The Original Wailers" are led by two of Marley's lead guitarists, Al Anderson and Junior Marvin. Both guitarists toured and recorded extensively with Marley in the 1970s as "Bob Marley & The Wailers" and contributed signature licks to such classics as: "Jammin," "Exodus" and "No Woman No Cry." While calling themselves "Original" may be a sticking point to some, as the name "Wailers" was appropriated by Marley from the singing group he started with fellow reggae legends Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer - the fact remains that both Anderson and Marvin played with the post-Marley version of the Wailers for 27 years before splitting with them in 2008. Thus they have played Bob Marley's music longer than Marley did.
All that practice has paid off, as evidenced by their live show - which is going down tonight at Revolution. Here's a little taste:
Once upon a time, on a thriving, bustling, diverse south beach almost totally unrecognizable to today's strip of eurodiscos and boutique hotels - there lived a black box nightclub named Washington Square that in its five year lifespan, changed Miami's music scene drastically.
Yes, both platinum acts that launched from south florida, The Mavericks and Marilyn Manson, spent quality time on the square's stage - but what made the club special was that it was alive. You could show up at 1 am during one of the "Thon" nights (10 bands a night during the month of march) and see avant garde industrial band Cop Shoot Cop play with local punk heroes The Holy Terrors (pictured above). You could show up at 7pm on a sunday and see Hare Krisna hardcore bands play. Local rock stars such as Load, Quit and The Goods regularly rocked the stage - as did nearly every touring rock band that dared to drive 200 miles south of Orlando. Green Day played to about 90 people at the square in 1991 - and 400 in 1993. And of course, there's the legendary Primus gig which was so oversold - steam rolled out of the club as Les Claypool played in his bikini briefs.
Every musical stripe (as long as it was original) was welcome, and nearly everyone had a colorful exchange with Doc Wiley, the square's soundman/music director/emcee who famously wore black jeans and a black leather vest every night the club was open. And if Doc wasn't engaging you, doorman/Voidville guitarist Sturgis Nikides probably was dropping a perfectly timed wisecrack at your expense as he took your money.
Thanks to the magic of facebook, Square GM Kevin Cornish garnered enough interest to take a weekend off from running his restaurant, KC's Rib Shack, in New Hampshire - and bring back that old Washington Square magic to Churchill's Pub Saturday Night for a thon-like 20+ band blast that will last from 6PM to 3AM. The Holy Terrors, Voidville, Talisman, Charlie Pickett and Scraping Teeth - Spin Magazine's "worst band in america" contest winner - are among the headliners. For advance tickets hit the Washington Square reunion's homepage.
Taking a page out of the Lady Gaga book of touring, Shakira will bring her She Wolf Tour to South Florida for two separate shows at two different venues.
The 33-year-old Colombian songstress will take the stage at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise on September 25 and the American Airlines Arena in downtown Miami on September 27.
Shakira's last performance in South Florida was at the Y100 Jingle Ball '09 in December, and she filmed her Oral Fixation Tour DVD and Blu-Ray in Miami in 2006.
The latest tour is in support of her sixth studio album, She Wolf, which is her electro-pop-tinged third English-language release. It has sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide, and spawned the singles "She Wolf," "Gypsy," and "Give It Up To Me" with Lil Wayne.
Tickets for both shows go on sale Friday, May 21 on Live Nation and Ticketmaster, and range from $9.50 to $149.50.
