Miami Music Matters

Cuban rocker Carlos Varela at the Gusman could change it all

I was feeling kindof skeptical walking to Carlos Varela’s concert at the Gusman downtown on Saturday night. His time had really been the nineties, I was thinking, when he wrote Como los peces and all those songs that crystalized Cuba's discontent. Who would his music still speak to in Miami? He seemed a little too comfortable in his second generation elder troubadour status in Havana

. Even if his latest album, No Es El Fin (title track from the 90’s, actually – I have a copy on a 99 demo), was more powerful than the vagaries of Siete and Nubes and the other music he made in the early oughts, I wasn’t sure how relevant Varela could still be.

Still intensely relevant, it turned out, at least to Cubans. Anyone else might not care. But anyone might be moved by the way that an artist’s music can speak so powerfully to and for people’s deepest longings and emotions. Pop music here is so often background, product, a minute or an hour’s entertainment, easy to toss off because it means so little, a disposable soundtrack to a certain time of life, packaged feeling in easy to swallow bites. Yeah, maybe I’ve heard too much of it. Still, it’s startling to hear music really meaning something to people.

photo by Pedro Portal, El Nuevo Herald staff

Right up to just before Varela’s concert started, the theater looked far short of the sellout promoters had announced. But when the lights finally went down a little after 9 pm (we might as well have been in Havana

, starting over an hour late – but it sure does pump up the anticipation) the whole place suddenly seemed full. Not only full, but exploding with energy, lighting up the hall as the lights went dark. One of the most moving aspects of the concert, throughout the night, was the way the audience rose up, waved, screamed, sang and sang and sang along, called out to Carlos, an essential part of the show. I don’t know when I’ve ever seen a crowd so live and so involved.

Instant Whips Kick Off a Beautiful Musical Friendship Saturday Night At The Monterey Club

For much of the last fifteen years, it can easily be said that the Creepy Ts were most entertaining live rock band to eminate from Broward County. Lead singer Derek Hyde could always be counted on for nutty antics while cranking out catchy garage rock riffs and tales of Tiki Walks, Monster Parties and Boris Karloff.

If there was one bone to pick with the Ts, it's that Hyde's guitar playing  suffered the farther he went out in frontman land. So after an all-too-long 18 month hiatus, the remaining members of The Creepy Ts have shuffled their deck. They brought back their old drummer Ray "Fang" Henry, took the guitar out of Hyde's hands, kept Tom Walls (pictured above) on keyboards and rechristened the band "The Instant Whips."  Walls promises less horror kitsch- but plenty of fun at their debut this Saturday at the Monterey Club in Fort Lauderdale.  Joining them will be Angry Pudding and the Freakin' Hott. It should be a humdinger of a gig.

Agnostic Front Mosh Up Churchill's Pub Tonight

It's often been said that Miami is the sixth borough of New York City - and nowhere does that claim have more validity than it's hardcore punk scene. Musically speaking, the breakneck verse tempos and half-time  power chord choruses found in 80s New York Hardcore found their way down south via a steady stream of New York bands during the 80s and 90s until the subtropical hardguy sound was permanently infected.

First among the influential New York  bands is Agnostic Front, led by Cuban-American singer Roger Miret. A visit from AF at a local club can feature half of Miret's extended family on one the side of the stage, and the entire Hialeah hardcore scene on the other side - both sides bobbing their heads  to the music  as if they were witnessing a wedding instead of a mosh pit.

  AF's legendary 1984 lp "Victim In Pain" was  reissued last November in celebration of it's 25th anniversary. While the band's later records reveal Miret's love of Oi! and street punk (as does his side project, Roger Miret & The Disasters) - "Victim In Pain" - particularly the less-than-a-minute title track -remains the band's high water mark. Listening to the song is not unlike sticking an epi-pen in your jugular vein. It is very hard to stand still and almost as hard not to run around in circles banging your fist. Witness the majesty tonight at Churchill's Pub.

LA Rockers Everest Are On Approach For Stardom and Appearing At Revolution Tuesday Night

If you want to get ahead in music, it never hurts to have a famous patron. And it definately doesn't hurt to know exactly which one you desire. A few months after forming in 2007, LA Indie Rock act Everest heard  Neil Young was starting a record label and sent a demo to his management. A short time later, Young showed up at an Everest club gig during the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.  Digging what he saw, Young quickly signed the band to his vapor records label and released the haunting "Ghost Notes" Lp shortly afterwards.

Since then, Everest has logged thousands of road miles opening for a who's who in Americana Rock, including My Morning Jacket and (naturally) Mr.Young. Tuesday marks the release date of their 2nd album, "On Approach" and they are celebrating it by opening for Seatle-based soft rockers Minus the Bear at Revolution. While Everest's moody, contemplative arena rock-by-way-of-the-afgan-whigs would be a relaxed interlude for nearly any other show, compared to Minus The Bear's  ethereal minimalism, they might as well have AC/DC's "For Those About To Rock" cannon onstage.

So go get your mellow on Tuesday night. We (will )salute you.

Lady Gaga to bring Monster Ball tour to South Florida... in 2011

After the announcement for Lady Gaga's summer Monster Ball Tour came and went with no mention of a South Florida date, local fans were up in arms. Radio station Y100 even created a Facebook page which had the support more than 25,000 people seeking a Miami show.

On Monday, Live Nation announced not one, but two Lady Gaga performances in South Florida. The catch: Both are a year away.

The pop singer will perform at both the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise on April 12, 2011 and the American Airlines Arena on April 13, 2011, which is bizarre considering most acts pick one of the two venues, not both.

The 24-year-old, who has only released two studio albums, has reached astronomical success in only two years. Even though neither of her albums, The Fame and The Fame Monster, have reached no. 1 on the U.S. pop charts, she has sold consistently and had a string of seven ubiquitous singles, the latest of which is "Alejandro." 

New York glam rock band Semi Precious Weapons will open on the 2011 leg of the Monster Ball Tour.

Tickets for the show will go on sale on Monday, May 17 at 10 a.m. on Live Nation.

Awesome New Republic Rock The Vagabond Tonight

Friday nights at the Vagabond in Overtown are the one night you can count on to see original live music in a tropical setting in the magic city. While there are tiki bars all the way up and down the coast that feature  cheesy cover bands cranking out Jimmy Buffet covers - The Vagabond's programmerr on Friday Nights, Lauren Reskin, suffers no such musical foolishness. She is very specific on which happening bands to play their live music Friday nights.

Tonight, Reskin plays host to her longtime favorites, eclectic-as-all-get-out duo Awesome New Republic. The act's strength lies in their ability to sink musical hooks no matter what alt-rock sandbox they build musical castles in. This talent was shown off to great effect on theirr 2009 "Rational Geographic" album - which attempted to juxtapose the original Star Wars Trilogy with the last 30 years of American politics via sex jams like "Go To Bed With North Korea."

At its best, ANR's music is joyful and uplifting, like on their R&B flavored tune "Parachute The Movie"  - and thier best is more than enough to shake you loose from the TIVO tonight and head on down to the vagabond before midnight.

The Aquabats Conquer Musical Evildoers Tonight At Culture Room

If you've had the pleasure of hanging out with a preschooler (or college dorm room dweller) in the last few years, you probably have witnessed an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba! - the greatest kids variety show since Miss Piggy karate chopped in prime time on the Muppet Show. In between monsters rapping "don't/ don't/ don't bite your friends!" the show is filled with musical guests doing "cool tricks" on their instruments. Best of all, is the segment "Music Is Awesome!" which features amazingly hip  performances by the likes of Japanese math rockers Cornelious and the de facto house band - Orange County goofball superhero/punk band The Aquabats- which is led by the show's creator: MC Bat Commander.

While The Aquabats were founded on the 3rd wave of Ska back in 1994 - over time their music dropped the islands and transformed into Devo-influenced synth-guitar punk. This fit in better with their comic book  superhero costumes, musical mythology (the original 9 members fled their native island "Aquabania" after it was attacked by "Space Monster M") and all around goofy good times.

With the success of Yo Gabba Gabba!,  tours by The Aquabats are rare. So if you're down for some high flying musical superheroism - get thee to The Culture Room this evening. 
 

T.I. on Memorial Day Weekend: I'm Back

Memorial Day Weekend in Miami is usually filled to the brim with parties and performances featuring hip-hop stars, but only one will celebrate the return of Atlanta rapper T.I.

T.I., who was recently released from prison, will make one of his first public appearances of 2010 at Klutch in Miami Beach along with unspecified Grand Hustle labelmates on May 30.

Since his release from a halfway house in March, he's been seen in videos for B.o.B's "Bet I" and Diddy's "Hello Good Morning." T.I.'s seventh studio album, King Uncaged, is set to hit stores on August 17, and features the appropriately titled first single, "I'm Back."

Tickets for T.I.'s South Beach return are pricey: $50 for general admission and $75 for VIP, both available at Wantickets.

[Spotted at The305.]

Legendary Vocalist Van "The Man" Morrison Moondances Wednesday Night @ Hard Rock Live

When one considers the nearly 50 year old career of Irish blue-eyed soul singer Van Morrison, it's easy to compartmentalize him into the oldies fm radio format that plays his biggest hit, the 1967 smash "Brown Eyed Girl." After all, despite his mammoth artistic output that followed - it's "Brown Eyed Girl" that never leaves the airways or wedding circuit.

But that would be a mistake. Starting with "Astral Weeks," Van Morrison's legendary 1968 Lp that he has been revisiting onstage as of late - Morrison's inimical tenor helped shape the pop music landscape for decades. The title track to his 1970 million-selling Lp "Moondance" allowed jazz stylings back into rock radio, and as "classic rock" never lets go of a track once it's classicism is denoted by the programming powers that be - its influence, and Van Morrison's, cannot be ignored. It would be hard to imagine Brian Setzer's swing career exploding in the 90s sans "Moondance" paving the way. 

For the last decade, Van Morrison's live dates have been very rare, and thus ticket prices for his gig at the Hard Rock Casino Wednesday night top out at $350, with $60 being the only seat under a C-note. But at least you know how much an hour at the casino with Van The Man is going to cost - unlike an hour at the poker tables.