Tonight, We Go See Some Bands That Aren’t New!

A dizzying number of new band names are popping up on flyers and show listings. Presumably this means that even more new bands are emerging or that previously non-gigging bands are taking the stage or that we’re seeing more side projects from the already considerable number of musicians who are entertaining South Floridians week in and out. Exciting as that is, tonight it’s all about the tried-and-true South Florida bands that have been gigging the area for a few solid years. Propaganda’s got The Pretty Faces and Blond Fuzz (Stonefox),  who will share the club’s stage with newer acts The Clementines and Everymen, a pack of shirtless, suspendered madmen. This is a line-up that’s definitely worth checking out, even for Broward crews. Despite feeling exhausted, I will probably try to catch this show. It could be The Pretty Faces’ last South Florida gig, according the article I wrote for New Times BPB.

The Broward temptation that puts this plan into question is the show at The Monterey Club with the truly old school 954 rockers from Tongues of the Heartworm and Mr. Entertainment. Hmmm.

This Weekend — Stuff We Wish We Could Attend, But Can’t.

Retrocities and 80s night tonight at Respectable Street. We wish we could go, and not for the Miller High Lifes special. We enjoyed seeing boys last weekend at 1921, but we gotta stick to Laudy tonight.

D*ck Knuckle starring TIMB and the members of Zombies Organize and The Freakin’ Hott tomorrow night at Propaganda. It’s the hottest ticket in town and I sorely wish that I could experience the strange sensations that they stir up within me, but I gotta hit a birthday party. ;( $5 is the cover price. Now that’s entertainment value!

Tonight! Lake Worth or Bust!

We’re so excited to hit up Lake Worth tonight! Six great bands will be playing in that little Palm Beach town, and we’re gonna chill up there for my birthday. We even rented a hotel room so that we could party hard and not worry about driving home.  We’re gonna catch this show and see the incomparable John Ralston-fronted Invisible Music, the Dan Bonebrake-fronted Grey & Orange and see what the Northwood Social Club at South Shores Tavern. Northwood Social Club is pretty new, and I’m curious to see what it’s all about. Chris has heard a couple of the tunes before and he says that I, and anyone else who’s planning to attend, should expect good things.

Then, we’re going to head over to Propaganda to catch The Freakin’ Hott, Stonefox and Zombies! Organize!! live. Yes, that Stonefox. Yes, back together. Yes, you should probably already know that. Unfortunately, we’re going to have to miss the Florida Yeah Poor House show tonight with Kill Miss Pretty, Dooms De Pop and Murderous Rampage!

For Truly Curious Lauderdale Kids, Ancient River

Hey dudes! I was just surfing on the internets a bit and trying to catch up with the cool kids. For that reason, I cruised across Gainesville-based psychedelic blues trio Ancient River, which grown Gibbons geeks and Lauderdale scenesters from their mid-20s to early 30s will know includes former Outrights drummer Chad Voight. The band did an interview with Break Through Radio that goes pretty deep into its formation, influences, sound, etc. Most of us have seen at least one of Marco Argiro’s (Voight’s former bandmate in The Outrights) bands, The Killing Floor or The Mood, when he’s toured down here from New York. It would be awesome if Ancient River would come to South Florida to rock the smirks off of our faces.

Ancient River – “Four Letter Word”

ANCIENT RIVER | MySpace Music Videos

When You Grow Up in SoFla, the Soundtrack to Your Fondest Childhood Memories Sounds Like This…

My brother just sent the video to me and said “it must be watched” — not a bad way to prep for the weekend. This song is the source of my stock response when people ask what kind of guys I like: We like them short and we like them tall, we like them one and we like them all”. It cracks me up! Few things are as amusing in this world as women with omnivorous taste in men. Enjoy!

What Went Down When the Gal Pal Posse Encountered Best-Selling Author Elizabeth Gilbert…and The Big Wow

Despite appearances, I found author Elizabeth Gilbert‘s Saturday night book reading and Q&A session at the Temple Israel in Miami compelling. The bright blond 40-year-old cutie discussed her journey from the time when she was just a soul-searching divorcee (soon-to-be or actual, I can’t remember) meditating in Bali to the present, when she is married to the man whom readers of her first book Eat, Pray, Love know as Felipe. Her new book is called Committed, and the best that I can gather from her description of it is that it details her and Felipe’s shift from a couple that never intended to marry to the happily-married suburban couple that they are today. This transition was riddled with difficulties because the federal government intervened in their high-flying romance, which entailed a scene, humorously depicted in the book, in which they ended up getting relationship advice from a government official at a Texas airport.

The talk was amusing in and of itself. For example, Gilbert encouraged us to buy as many copies of her book as we possibly could not for selfish reasons, she claimed, but so that we could assist her in knocking the best-selling (and certainly ghost-written, well co-authored) book of a former Republican vice presidential candidate, whose name I refuse to publish in any form of media, out of the top slots of the best-seller non-fiction list. Don’t worry, local people. When Gilbert signed my copy of Committed, I asked her if she poked fun at Fort Lauderdale in this book the way that she did in the last one, and she assured me that she did not. By the way, it should be noted how wildly my eyes rolled when my BF Jess first recommended Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love to me. “No chick lit for this lady” was my solemn vow. Well, I was wrong and Jess was right. What else is new? True, I’m way past the age at which coolness should be discussed in relative terms, but JJ’s dominance in just about all realms of intellect and culture make me constantly aware that she is a step ahead of me and the rest of humanity. Check out her engagement pic if you don’t believe me:

Congrats to the most amazing peeps on blue-green planet! That’s right! JT helped with the proposal backstage in Arizona.

Adorable — Faith, the dog

Last night, I watched my little niece Ava working on her first steps. She was pushing this little walker all around the hallways. I could not stop laughing. She looked so cute and silly. So, it won’t be long now before she’s up on her own two feet. Cute. The video below shows a two-legged dog called Faith getting around on its hind legs. I watched it four times before my laughter subsided, so I figured it was worth posting here.

I want a dog!!! Gratuitous Bodhi shot!

OK, I am off to the beach to watch the blue moon rise with my mom. SoFLA? So fun!

Happy New Decade

The last decade of my life has been an adventure that hasn’t unfolded in the way that I expected it would when I was a 20-year-old college student watching the century turn over while hanging out with friends, most of them now engaged or married, who wanted nothing more than to find a stranger to kiss at midnight. Can you see my eyes rolling? The weird thing is that when I was 20 I really did expect that my life would follow along one of a few courses that I had in mind. None of them entailed living in South Florida. One of them saw me living in New York and working at a publishing house or magazine. Cocktail parties and book shelves spilling over with dogeared tomes (the show “Hoarders” terrifies me) were part of that vision. I did not enjoy New York when I lived there after graduation. Another vision saw me living in Paris, same parties, same books, just a slower pace of life. When I lived in Paris, I was homesick something awful. These circumstances, I believe, were possible for me the same way that the life anyone envisions is possible for him or her, but they were not my life.

Same thing three years ago when I moved to Los Angeles. I woke up almost every day and asked myself, “What am I doing here? Seriously where am I?” The imagination presents many possible selves, but there’s really not time, for me, to attempt to live out all potential identities. From the day I arrived at college, not in Florida, I was greeted with a world full of exciting and intelligent people with whom I could not identify. Getting “it” as I saw “it” was not their strong point. I thank providence for endowing me with the inclination to wander and explore, but I am truly grateful that it always leads me home to South Florida. The last year and a half of my life has been, by far, the most enjoyable. I could easily do without 80% of the culture on the southern tip of this peninsula — from tacky sports cars to vodka happy hours to dance floors that come to life when the DJ spins “Brick House” — but the other 20% of the wonderful people who compose my group of friends and acquaintances really keep my dance card full. They get “it”. It is enough for me. I can contentedly live my life within that little pocket of 20%. I am truly happy to be ringing in the decade right here in SoFla. Thanks to everyone for being exactly as you are, my touchstones.

Also, thank you to all of the remarkable bands and venues that have made wandering and blogging this year a real adventure. Poor House, Propaganda, The Bubble, Alligator Alley, The Dive Bar, Radioactive Records are amazing. And to the best bands ever, who demonstrate the vitality of S. FLa live music ,thanks for keeping me entertained. The Freakin’ Hott, Stonefox, Zombies Organize!!, The Pretty Faces, Quiet River, Dooms De Pop, Sweet Bronco, John Ralston (Invisible People and Invisible Music), Ketchy Shuby, The Methodaires, Surfer Blood, Murderous Rampage, Alex Nelson, Fusik, Retrocities. Ana, Misha, Jeremy, Erica, thanks for being suckers and reading my blog.

All that being said, I have no idea what I’m doing tonight!!!!!Agghhh!!!!!!!!!! Poor house???

Last Friday Night: Beards of Comedy, John Ralston and Sweet Bronco

Obviously, I went to Propaganda in Lake Worth on Friday for a night of comedy and rock ‘n’ roll. I took a ton of pictures, which you can check out here, if you like.  The Beards of Comedy came down from Georgia to regale us with jokes about Applebees, being fat and out of shape and the sadness of the state of life among people who have a strong preference between Van Halen with David Lee Roth and Van Halen with Sammy Hagar. The audience’s amusement peaked when Andy Sandford, one of the four beards, read Wutang Clan lyrics with the voice and in the manner of Morgan Freeman.

The new 8-member incarnation of John Ralston’s project called Invisible Music played next. With two members from Lake Worth-based band Black Finger and the usual all-star line-up of Dan Bonebrake, Jeff Snow, Susan Sherouse, Nathan Jezek and Tiffany Jezek, the band is approaching the dimensions of Arcade Fire in terms of size (that band sometimes tours with 10) and variety of instruments and if its not careful might swell to the proportions of Polyphonic Spree. In all seriousness, they really need all of these people playing violin and slide guitar and percussion to incorporate the size of the sound, which is not only huge but brilliant. They are a joy to watch not just because they sound amazing but also because they are hot-looking people.

Sweet Bronco played its first electric show at Propaganda on Friday night, which was very gratifying for me because it proved that Chris actually was at band practice all of those nights and not having an affair. Yay! They sounded pretty darn good in my wholly biased opinion, but other people said so too, so that’s good. Check out drummer Steve Copeletti’s guns!

If you thought that all of the hotties at Propaganda on Friday night were on the stage, think again. Check out what I spied across the bar! Did you know that Brent Indeed is going to have a big birthday bash at Propaganda on December 12th with The Freakin’ Hott, TIMB, Zombies! Organize!! and Stonefox. Brent Indeed will play too! Pretty rad.

Moodvane shares its ridiculously awesome content with Fort Lauderdale-based informational website Intown411.

Last Friday: Well, That Was Unexpected — Good Times with The Methodaires

I didn’t even know the band was playing this weekend until I got dragged to Magoos on Friday night to see them, but after seeing them for the third time I have to declare that The Methodaires are just the radness.

I don’t know anything about this new hottie vocalist that they recently acquired except for her name, which is Nia Devine(hmm…is that a real last name?), but I know that she’s got just the right pipes to render irresistible the band’s original songs and covers of Bob Marley songs and of Alicia Keys’ “No One”, all while making you feel like dancing, singing and randomly holding hands with and hugging people whom you do not know. This band has a pretty big following too, which adds to the energy of the room. Also, I must say that I enjoy the trend of Magoos adding lots of quality acts to its its live music roster.

The Methodaires played Culture Room on Saturday night with The Supervillains — heard it was pretty rad from one person who went. I had other things to do on Saturday, which is a different story…
PS. Sorry Moodvane was not so hawt last week. Sweet Bronco was out of town, so as you might imagine I was paralyzed. I just don’t know what to do when he’s not around to tell me that there are better places to leave my eyeglasses than under the couch, for example.

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