Among all the talk of fiscal cliffs and shootings, the death of Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii on Monday didn’t reach the level of newsworthiness to which it was perhaps due. Following the death of Sen. Robert Byrd in 2010, Sen. Inouye became the longest-serving member of the Senate’s majority party, and thus the Senate [...]
To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, Bobby Load was a drinker with a singing problem. He died this morning after weeks in hospice, and long weeks in the hospital before that. His death surprised no one. Really, he’d been dying for 20 years. If you were out on the local music scene from about 1995 to 2010, [...]
The news still stings for fans of underground and somewhat artsy heavy music — two days ago, the venerable Los Angeles-based Hydra Head Records announced it would, essentially, cease operations. In a post on its Hydra Headlines news blog, label founder (and Isis frontman) Aaron Turner refused to mince words: “Years of imbalance between creative [...]
The South Florida blues scene has suffered a tremendous loss with the passing of Musi “Big Poppa E” Faisal. The popular Miami-based vocalist, songwriter, guitarist, and harmonica player died on Saturday following a heart attack. He was 64. The first time I met Poppa, he was performing in a tiny storefront café in North Miami [...]
Back when I was writing a music column for a local altweekly, I befriended a lot of sources. It’s bound to happen when you spend more time around the musicians you’re covering than you do anyone else, including your co-workers. The way it usually worked was, I’d catch a show, talk to the band afterward, [...]
Lurking in the depths of every musician’s soul resides another, completely frustrated musician. The general consensus is that most guitarists want to be drummers, most drummers wish to be lead singers, and the lion’s share of bass players often fancy themselves lead guitarists. As a guitarist, I follow suit by holding a bit of a [...]
Steven Tyler’s voice has died, and I’m in mourning. For me, rock ‘n’ roll began with Steven’s voice. In particular, it began with the world-eating scream that begins the song “Nine Lives,” the first track on the 1997 record of the same name. I was 14 when I saw Aerosmith on the Nine Lives tour, and not interested in [...]
Eric Barton has been removed from his post as editor of New Times, Broward-Palm Beach, according to sources at the weekly newspaper. His last day was today. Miami New Times editor Chuck Strouse, who was editor in Broward for five years preceding Barton, will again take over editing chores, with BPB’s Deirdra Funcheon staying on [...]
Adam “MCA” Yauch passed away Friday, prompting The Nation’s sports editor, Dave Zirin, to write for NPR, “In the ’60s they said, ‘don’t trust anyone over 30.’ When it comes to remembering Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch … I don’t trust anyone under 30.” It doesn’t feel fair to write about Yauch in any way that is [...]
You already know this: while earning your college degree was informative and pleasant enough, plenty of us head in a different direction. Or maybe the experience wasn’t so awesome or helpful, but we’re sticking, steadfast and stubborn, to what we set out for in the first place. Joshua Miller, the executive director and founder of [...]
Venezuela has been in the media lately: following the death of Hugo Chávez, his chosen successor, Nicolas Maduro, beat challenger Henrique Capriles in the current election for presidency. It was a miniscule margin of a win—about 50.7%–and as of this write-up, a contested verdict. But if you’re the average United Statesian, you are less aware [...]
