When New Orleans "Sissy Bounce" queen Big Freedia and her partner DJ Rusty Lazer last graced the magic city in December, they were just starting to break Nola's sexually ambivalent take on Miami Bass / booty music out of the wards and into the world. Now a mere 10 months later - they are on the verge of world domination.
Big Freedia and DJ Rusty Lazer's call and response chants and booty quaking beats are turning up in clubs all over North America. Their tour schedule is littered with high profile dates like theMontreal Pop Festival and Austin's Fun, Fun Fun Fest. The New York Times did a huge profile on them over the summer. And last night, they performed on National Television for Carson Daly's "Last Call."
The call to culoshas been sounded. Miami, get thee to to the Vagabond tonight and show Big Freedia and DJ Rusty Lazer what town wrote the 808th commandment: "Thou shall shake what your momma gave you."
And if all the hedonism going down tonight inspires you to find Mr or Mrs Right Now? Just imagine the sissy bounce queen in your dituation. What Would Big Freedia Do?
After tomorrow morning's cafe con leche goes down your throat, it will become clear what Big Freedia's strategy would be. She'd blame it on the alcohol.
Between 1965 and 2000, guitar heroes dominated rock and roll. If you wanted the hot girl and couldn't sing - you played guitar in the hopes of becoming the neighborhood Eddie Van Halen. Drummers were relegated to the background, unless they blew up stuff on TV like Keith Moon, played upside down in carnival-ride cages like Tommy Lee, or drank themselves to death like John Bonham. Sure, during your average arena rock show, there was a requisite drum solo - but this usually signaled "it's miller time" to most of the audience - and they headed for an overpriced flat domestic beer or a bathroom stall bump.
The exception to this rule was Canadian power trio Rush and their seminal 1981 album "Moving Pictures." For the 1980s music nerd, Rush had lots of musical attributes worth worshipping. Their song structure managed to be progressive and non-wanky at the same time. They didn't sing about girls (except for Ayn Rand). Lots of their stuff was syncopated. Bassist/Vocalist/Keyboardist Geddy Lee had more jobs than a Jamaican hotel manager during tourist season. His high pitched wail instantly separated the haters from the lovers. Either you could get past his annoying singing voice and embrace it as unique - or you were out of the Rush fan Club. And guitarist Alex Lifeson, in any any other band, would have been the featured shredder.
But Rush will always be a drum hero's band. Rush drummer Neal Peart's drum fills on "Moving Pictures" were breathtaking to musical suburbanites like me. They hit your ears like a 50 caliber machine gun, commanding your attention. All it took was one 30 second exposure to his fills on Rush'shit "Tom Sawyer" on a radio commercial promoting their upcoming appearance at the Hollywood Sportorium for me to go "What is THAT? I want to do THAT!"
I was 11 years old at the time. I began to lobby my parents for a drum set. I joined the middle school band the next year - and six months later I owned a Ruether 5 piece drum set. 25 years after that, I performed on an arena stage in Germany - thus living out the first line on "Limelight" - which closes out side A on "Moving Pictures": "Living On A Lighted Stage / Approaches The Unreal."
Rush have sold some 25 million records in the states, but 1/5 of them are copies of "Moving Pictures" and in honour of that fact - they are trotting out a 2nd set featuring "Moving Pictures" played in its entirety, in order, for the first time.
It would be impossible to list all of the bands that "Moving Pictures" influenced, but an easy call out is Primus - who quote the instrumental "YYZ" in their live show. Another one is 90s Miami Postpunk act Subliminal Criminal who lived, breathed, and ate Rush. Their Rush worship was to the point where all three of them could play their instruments inside-out and backwards, play 10 minute prog instrumentals, quote Ayn Rand books, and point out cliques they didn't want to belong to at 50 paces.
Unlike more successful post-punk acts like the Jesus Lizard, who lifted Rush's propensity for odd-metered syncopated rhythms but wouldn't admit to it for a million bucks, Subliminal Criminal not only copped to, but embraced their love of Rush. This confused your average hardcore punk kid, who had just finished shaving his head because he hated his pot-smoking parents and the Rolling Stone guide to rock and roll he was in the process of rejecting.
Unlike that kid's hair, Rush is coming back on Saturday to play Cruzan Ampitheater in West Palm Beach. Tickets range from $35 to sit on the lawn with binculars or $125 to see Geddy Lee's wrinkles with your naked eyes. Either way, I'm sure there will be a video screen filled with "Moving Pictures."
Once upon a time, there were a trio of Creative Class Brooklyn Punkswho ditched their instruments so they could rap about drinking Brass Monkey, smoking "woolers" and stealing cars. They wore giant over sized chains and cursed wherever it was inappropriate. Sure, after they finished "rhyming and stealing" the globe, and got cheated out of a few million in royalties - the Beastie Boys changed up, picked up their instruments again and started doing yoga - but their blunt-blazed trail from Brooklyn to Broadway, while crossed by acts like Cyprus Hill - has never been retraced.
25 years later, Willamsburg rap trio Ninjasonik have come to change all that. I can speak from personal experience that they WILL drink your bottle of Jack Daniels if you're dumb enough to leave it unguarded. But given anthems like "B.A.R.S."you can only blame yourself for being dumb enough to leave it their in the first place. DJ/Producer Teenwolf, who is usually wearing a half-werewolf mask sets the tone with beats that draw from his love of DC hardcore punk, dance music and hip hop - and his rappers Reverend McFly and Telli "Bathroomsexxx" Gramm can be found in the crowd almost as often as onstage, doing their best to incite slam-dancing, grinding and minor riots.
Like the Beastie Boys, Ninjasonik make great music videos. Their safe-sex anthem "Somebody Gonna Get Pregnant" featuresMcFly hilariously bobbing his head on each side of a massively pregnant stomach, chanting the title for several minutes after explaining why he isn't down with his pick up of the night telling him not to "wrap it up." "B.A.R.S." shows the group taking over a subway car with their posse of girls and brothers who wear tight pants. Their remix of Matt & Kim's worldwide club hit "Daylight" rings as true as an IRS audit, because while the joker-smiley duo might not like the daylight ending their party - daylight ruining Ninjasonik's happens with more regularity than a PA calling out "code blue" on the "Rock Of Love" set.
Saturday night, Ninjasonik make their Miami debut at Grand Central - which has come under some scrutiny of late for starting their shows early - as opposed to starting them on Miami time. So be sure to get there by 10pm, or else - somebody might (not) get pregnant.
To meet Dam Funk is to know his music. The Pasadena, California native with the throwback braids is as cool as a customer as they come. His slow roll reminds you of Snoop Dogg - another soul cal suburb native. But where Snoop came riding in on Dr. Dre's and Death Row Record's express lane to the charts - Dam Funk dug for rare records and worked in his garage music lab by night, perfecting his take on "Boogie" -aka "electro funk" the missing link between 70s Funk and hip hop - popularized by such bands as Zapp, Cameo and The Gap Band.
After expanding his record collection until it bulged out of his house - Dam Funk began promoting "Funkmosphere" - an LA monday night boogie funk party. It grew in popularity to the point, where wildly popular/extremely selective stoner-hop label Stones Throw Records absorbed him into their posse - first taking him on their corporate-sponsored DJ tours - and then releasing the 5Lp/ 2 CD "Toeachizown" collection last year.
Released to near universal acclaim "Toeachizown" is a chamelion-like work that offers different flavors to people with different needs.
For crate diggers, it's a nostalgic throwback to the Boogie movement. For hip hop kids, it's notice that the music that backs up the music of their youth is meant to have vocals on it. For the folks who want to get on the dance floor - it's a slow G-funk grind that will allow you to develop musculature that will come in handy later in the night - if you play your cards right. For DJs, it's proof that perhaps a few music lessons might come in handy, as if you grind hard enough you might be able to replace the face on the 12" sleeve, with your own.
Tonight, Dam Funk will be going back and forth from the wheels of steel with a keytar in hand, showing Miami what a one-man funk show can be. As his Vagabond gig is likely to be packed, you might wanna head down to Overtown before 10 to make sure you get your musical waders on before the funk gets deep.
It took nearly a decade for taste-makers on both sides of the Atlantic ocean to hip audiences to the catchy guitar pop slung by Manchester, England band James. First, their hometown label Factory Records (run by legendary impresario Tony Wilson) gave it a shot - releasing the "Jimone" EP in 1983, which got James instant credibility with Anglophile music critics and a support slot with The Smiths.
Then Seymour Stien's Sire Records, which nurtured the careers of Blondie, The Ramones and, The Replacements and The Talking Heads, signed the band. Spinal Tappishness went down, and after one record, James bailed on Sire.
Their next record "Gold Mother" popped up right when "madchester" acts like the Happy Mondays were the next big things, and having both experience and a home field advantage helped out. They rode the "madchester" wave for another record and round of videos on MTV's 120 minutes, and finally crossed the pond for their first US tour.
With that momentum behind them, James returned home, hooked up with roxy music guitarist/david bowie collaborator Brian Eno - and together they made "Laid" - the britpop hit of the year. Despite the acoustic-guitar driven song having nothing "edgy" about it, save for its tale of gender-bending lovers who keep their neighbors awake - it mattered little to the kids. Rock and roll androgyny sells - just ask Blur, Peaches or Poison.
After a few months on the charts -the song took a life of its own - propelling James to arena rock status back home in England and bona fide buzz act everywhere else. Alas, despite James' other musical charms, the success of "Laid" damned them to permanent 1-hit wonder status in the US.
But as 80s nostalgia seems to know no bounds these days, James have found a second wind. Thanks alt-disco nights have been force-feeding "Laid" down the throats of hipster kids for almost two decades - it's no wonder that James have released two mini albums this year and are kicking off their 2nd US tour in two years at the Culture Room tonight. So put on your tightest pair of pants, and bring a fun date to the cutlure room tonight. Nostalgia and beer goggles are a powerful combination.
It says something when a band's first attempt at recording an album (on a tascam consumer 8 track) winds up delivering a theme song for an iconic HBO ("Hung") show 7 years later. It also says something when an act stripped down to vocals, guitar and drums can continue to escalate their career on their own terms. While "polishing" one's sound is inevitable after playing for 9 years straight - tonight's Black Keys gig at Cruzan in front of 10,000 people will essentially be the same as when I saw them at the gypsy tea room in Dallas. Two guys, turned up to 11, cranking out a signature sound that falls somewhere in between the late blues great Junior Kimbrough and the non-guitar hero moments of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
The infectousness of that sound is why in just 2 years, the 'Keys went from playing their basement to headlining large clubs. While it may have taken another 7 years to bump up to the next level, their grind has produced some sweet coffee. The Black Keys latest Lp - "Brothers" - debuted at #3 on the Billboard charts. The first single "Tighten Up" recently won an MTV VMA Award. While MTV doesn't really do music anymore, the video, which demonstrates why playground love triangles never work - has had over one million, eight hundred thousand views. The song is catchy, the concept is clever and the story is universal. It's no wonder the Black Keys are movin' on up ala "The Jeffersons."
Miami has avoided another storm during hurricane season. Thanks to the economic downturn that makes insanely expensive 30-piece-orchestras-backing-up-heavy-metal-singer tours impossible, System Of a Down vocalist Serj Tankian has had to cancel his US tour. That means the 50 folks in South Florida that might have been holding tickets, his October, 9 date at the Fillmore on Miami Beach is cancelled and refunds may be had at the point of purchase.
Note to Serj: In the US, when you lead a chorus that has the words "burning bodies" in it, we wanna hear distorted guitars - not cellos. Sure, Metallica did this gross exercise in musical pomposity(recorded in australia) before you did - but at least they ruined records that had sold millions - whereas you're revisiting a solo record that hasn't gone gold - and the live version (recorded in New Zealand) has probably gone zinc.
Not that having the brass ones to make me wanna dig up Joey Ramone to destroy pomp-rock all over again doesn't have it's charms - but I'm glad you're off my lawn. Now do something nice for your fans and reform System Of A Down.
The Associated Press reported that legendary R&B singer/Emcee/DJ / Reverend Carlton "King" Coleman passed away this past Saturday. While he was best known for providing the vocals on the 1959 James Nat Kendrick & The Swans (A pseudonym for James Brown's Famous Flames) smash hit "(Do The)Mashed Potatoes" - Coleman's tremendous influence and outsized persona stretched for miles beyond that.
As a young man in the early 1950s, Coleman's stint as the lead vocalist with the Griffin Brothers Orchestra made "Weeping & Crying" one of the bedrocks of Rock &Roll. His Rhyming DJ patter on Miami R&B stations WFEC and WMBM in the late 1950s broke a whole "southern style" rhyming DJ which influenced Jamaican Toasters and the earliest rappers. His primitive R&B tunes were instant dance classics, which are still played at R&B parties across the globe. His Emcee work at the Apollo Theater in Harlem defined the profession for years. He exported R&B revues across North America, Europe and India in the mid 1960s. That he did all of this before the age of 36 is remarkable. That he managed to become an ordained minister after that and keep his vitality for 42 more years is incredible.
In 1995, I had the privilege of hiring King to mash potatoes at a now-defunct, small punk rock joint named "Cheers." I was hipped to his story by the liner notes in the James Brown "Star Time" box set. Florida music historian Jeff Lemlich has tracked down King's number for me, and I phoned King, not quite knowing what I was getting myself into.
"Toooommmm!" King boomed. "Tell me about yourself"
After a few minutes of chit chat, King asked "How much does it pay?"
"Well it's just one song." I said. "How about 60 dollars?"
King chuckled."Tom, it is a blessing to be remembered when you are still alive. Most people are only remembered when they are dead. I will take your 60 dollars. I will see you at the Cheers.
Six weeks later on the day of the show I arrived early to find the 6'4, sharp dressed King waiting for me andthe band I had assembled. After one run-through, that wasn't gritty enough for him, he got behind my drumset.
"Drums are my instrument!" King exclaimed. He then proceeded to tear up the traps for a few minutes. After schooling me, he dropped the sticks, smiled and said "That's how you mash the potatoes!"
A couple hours later, the club filled up with a collection of punk rock kids and hipsters primed for one of the most magical moments this city has ever produced onstage. After a rousing introduction, King got on the microphone and said "God bless you all. The last time I was onstage was in 1967 at the Apollo Theater."
The audience audibly gasped.
King tapped his foot four time. I missed the cue, he stomped his heel four times,harder, willing us to turn back the clock like Cab Calloway in "The Blues Brothers."
"Mashed Potato Yeah!"
The song started and stopped with each potato preparation. Driving the kids nuts. Every old cotillion school dance was trotted out. 19 year olds were twisting like their grandparents. King raised his arms over his head like Moses parting the red sea.
"Hash Brown Potato, Yeah!"
King drank it all in, his classic R&B persona blowing away in 3 minutes everything that had ever happened in that space. Cheers is a Quiznos sub shop now. But I'll bet if you put your ear to the back door, you can still hear King screaming about potatoes.
"Mashed Potatoes, YEAH,YEAH YEAH!.'
King danced offstage and out of the building. He couldn't be lured onstage for an encore. Because there was no need for it. He had stopped the show cold.
I met King outside in the parking lot. He took my 60 dollars and gave me a personalized 8x10 publicity photo. "To my man Tom. Thank you for everything. Here's To The beginning of a beautiful friendship."
Between 2000-2005, we would run into each other with musical, literary and (often) hilarious results. There was no one quite like the King.
I am proud to have been his friend, even if my wife will never let me forget he mispronounced her name two dozen times while officiating our wedding ceremony. Those malaprops resulted in one nudge to my ribs right before the "I dos" and culminated with King doing a hip swivel while chanting: "now you got that ring / So you can do that thing!"
Some people might think that was inappropriate. But it was just King being King.
It's safe to say that Toronto club duo Crystal Castles are the first dance music act that's programmed by an ex-member of a GG Allin tribute band. But whereas the late shock rocker liked to throw his excrement like a chimp at the zoo, Crystal Castles front-woman Alice Glass keeps her GG-ness to crowd baiting, stage diving and the occasional punch to the face to those who dare touch her naughty bits when she flings herself on top of them.
Glass' fanboy fisticuffs are the primary reason the 'Castles get attention outside of the alty-dance scene, and that's too bad, as her primal energy intertwines nicely with producer/DJ/svengali Ethan Kath's P.I.L.-in-a-laptop on winning disco tracks like "Yes No." On the other hand, without Glass stirring the pot, Crystal Castles would be just another faceless dance music act, albeit with a drum set onstage.
The debate on whether Crystal Castles is a track act or a live band or a hybrid of both elements is probably of little interest to their fans who will pack out Grand Central Saturday night. They just want to dance off their badonkadonks and shout along with Glass.
But it does make one wonder if live instruments are finally going to be expendable to the hipsters who historically have propelled live music. The brisk sales of "Rock Band" (the video game) says "no" - but Kath's abandonment of guitar rock in favor of bedroom music experiments and pressing the return key in public says "yes".
For over 20 years, the quartet known as Sick Of It All - led by the Koller brothers from Queens, NY - have been exporting the circle-pit magic they discovered as teenagers during "hardcore matinees" at the historic, defunct punk rock mecca CBGBs.
Following the lead of defunct acts like Youth Of Today, Black Flag and Minor Threat - SOIA took the early 80s hardcore lud-fast-rules, mixed it with skinhead-friendly street punk and threw in enough chants to keep a hari krishna busy for weeks. With hardcore on the decline in the late 80s, SOIA held the flame high, becoming the token hardcore act on packaged metal tours and having rapper KRS One introduce their debut album, "Blood, Sweat And No Tears."
For the first half of the 1990s, fellow NYHC act Biohazard (aka the spinal tap of hardcore) outstripped SOIA in record sales, metal tours and MTV video play. But save for Biohazard's Evan Seinfeld singer/bassist appearing on VH-1 ultra-lame "Supergroup" reality show, and marrying/divorcing porn star Tera Patrick - no one has seen Biohazard's name outside of a cut-out bin in a decade.
To paraphrase Sick Of It All's ex-roadie Toby Morse from H2O - SOIA, like their ancestors the Ramones, stick to their guns and know their roots. It's why they are still able to headline 1000 seat clubs worldwide, and have outgrown the knucklehead segment of their audience who had a bad habit of starting riots at SOIA South Florida gigs in the mid-late 1990s. Thankfully, for those interested in attending Friday night's show at Revolution, most of those people are now too old to fight.
Furthermore, a fresh cut skinhead starting trouble at a Sick Of It All gig in 2010 would be like picking a fight at your parents' wedding anniversary party. Not a good look.
