PUREHONEY 124

2/2

RESPECTABLE STREET: Homeboy Sandmand, E-Turn, Broot McCoy

2/3-5

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: GROUND UP FESTIVAL ft Snarky Puppy, Jeff Tweedy, Silvana Estrada, Nai Palm, Isaiah Sharkey Quartet, Bassekou Kouyate, Madison Cunningham, Kurt Rosenwinkel’s Caipi, Becca Stevens & Attacca Quartet, Edmar Castaneda & Gregoire Maret, Lizz Wright, Keyon Harold, Mark Letter Group, Mirrors, Rachel Eckroth, Gisela Joao, Shaun Martin Three-O, Jamison Ross

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2/3

REVOLUTION LIVE: Highly Suspect, Dead Poet Society

RESPECTABLE STREET: Black Fridays & Heavy Metal Patio

CULTURE ROOM: Gaelic Storm

ARTS GARAGE: Tanya Lee Davis

BROWARD CENTER OF PERFORMING ARTS: The Young Dubliners

PROPAGANDA: Medal Militia (Metallica Trib), Ghost of War (Slayer Trib), Black Denim Rage

2/4-5

DEERFIELD BEACH: Florida Renaissance Festival

2/4

KRAVIS CENTER: Tom Rush w. Matt Nakoa

RESOURCE DEPOT: Waste to Wonder Artist Workshop

RESPECTABLE STREET: Live Music Community

BAR NANCY: Nil Lara

ARTS GARAGE: The Motowners

PROPAGANDA: Like Pirates, Tiger Sunset, Mount Sinai

KRAVIS CENTER: Boys II Men

2/5

KRAVIS CENTER: Jimmy Webb

ARTS GARAGE: Kate Voss & The Hot Sauce

2/7

PROPAGANDA: Artificial Brain, Crossspitter, Godrot, Amenorrhea

2/8

CULTURE ROOM: St. Paul & the Broken Bones, Rett Madison

2/9

BAR NANCY: Stereo Joule

KRAVIS CENTER: Poetic Justice

2/10

RESPECTABLE STREET: Koffin Kats, Krank Daddies

CULTURE ROOM: Matt Nathanson, Stephen Kellogg

BAR NANCY: My Bloody Valentine (Metal)

PROPAGANDA: Rize, Eternal Punishment, Irra’s One, Papillon

ARTS GARAGE: Spirit of Harriet Tubman

2/11

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Dranoff Foundation West African Beats: “2 Pianos & Steel Pan Band” ft Leon Foster Thomas

REVOLUTION LIVE: Nirvanna (Trib), Blink-180 Deuz (Trib)

CULTURE ROOM: Soulfly, Bodybox, Half Heard Voices

MARTIN ARTSFEST: Brett Staska

2/12

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Miami Children’s Chorus “Encounters” w Juraj Kojs, Pioneer Winter Collective Dance Co.

2/14

KRAVIS CENTER: Andrea Bocelli

2/15

GRAMPS: Show Me the Body, Jesus Piece, Scowl, Zulu, TRiPPJONES >>> READ MORE IN PUREHONEY

BAR NANCY: Alexa Lash

KRAVIS CENTER: Gospel Gala, Tasha Cobbs

Leonard

2/16

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Palo! North Beach Social ft Cuban funk

CULTURE ROOM: Fitz & the Tantrums, Sammy Rash

BAR NANCY: Ricky Valido & the Hialeah Hillbillies

KRAVIS CENTER: Oliver Herbert, Xiaohui Yang

2/16-19

PARADISE PLAZA: Tropic Bound

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2/17

PROPAGANDA: Homesick Alien, Ex Monarchs, Blabscam, Big Child

ARTS GARAGE: Renegade

2/18

OAK GROVE PARK: A Great Day at Oak Grove Park ft Emeline Michel, Inez Barlatier, Papaloko, Sanba Zao, Spam Allstars, Cortadito

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RESPECTABLE STREET: intimate

BAR NANCY: Molly Takedown

PROPAGANDA: Mind Virus, God Rot, PoC, Voidrium

O’MALLEY’S: Real People, The Creature Cage, Gravess, Ruffans, Headfoam, Dog Boner

ARTS GARAGE: Stanley Jordan

2/19

RESPECTABLE STREET: Supersuckers, Franklin County Trucking Co.

ARTS GARAGE: The Joyann Parker Band

2/20

REVOLUTION LIVE: August Burns Red, The Devil Wears Prada, Bleed from Within

2/21

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Big Thief

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REVOLUTION LIVE: The Wonder Years, Hot Mulligan, Carly Cosgrove

2/22

GRAMPS: Nnamdi

2/23

ARTS GARAGE: Authors Speak: Dr. Jasmine Cobb

2/24

HARD ROCK LIVE: KC & the Sunshine Band >>> READ MORE IN PUREHONEY

REVOLUTION LIVE: Dave Matthews Trib, Spred the Dub

RESPECTABLE STREET: Gimme Gimme Disco

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Orchestra

Miami, Beethoven on the Beach

RESOURCE DEPOT: ReFashion Weekend VIP Preview Party

BAR NANCY: Alexa & The Old Fashioneds

PROPAGANDA: Winter Goth Fest

GRAMPS: King Buffalo, Swell Fellas, Umbilicus

CULTURE ROOM: Devon Allman Project ft

Donavon Frankenreiter

2/25 & 26

RIVERFRONT PLAZA JACKSONVILLE:

WINTERLAND V ft The Dandy Warhols, Os Mutantes, Sudan Archives, Sasami, The Nude Party, Gustaf, Jacuzzi Boys

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2/25

KRAVIS CENTER: Martha Redbone

REVOLUTION LIVE: FTL Taco & Margarita Festival

RESPECTABLE STREET: Emo Night Brooklyn

RESOURCE DEPOT: ReFashion Weekend

Fill-A-Bag Shopping Spree

BAR NANCY: Erotic Exotic, Chaos in the Veil, Element 104

PROPAGANDA: Winter Goth Fest Day 2

ARTS GARAGE: Blues Legend John Primer

2/26

KRAVIS CENTER: Martha Redbone

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Drag Brunch, South Beach Wine & Food Festival

ARTS GARAGE: Blues Legend John Primer

2/28

POMPANO AMP: Wille Nelson & Family

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MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: South Florida

Symphony Orchestra

KRAVIS CENTER: The Hit Men

3/6-12

VIRGINIA KEY: Virginia Key Grassroots

Festival of Music & Dance ft Donna the Buffalo, Dayme Arocena, Marlow Rosado, Ram Haiti, Jorge Glem, The Bones of JR Jones, Munir Hossn, Cortadito, Eva Peroni, Pepe Montes Conjunto, Richie Stearns, Machaka, Jose Albizu Jazz Sextet, Tand, The Resolvers, Cosmic Collective, Afrobeta, Miami Bloco, Fabi, Matthew Sabatella String Band Tamboka, Rebel Love, School of Rock N. Miami, Living Arts Dancewave, Vicious Fishes, Maddy Walsh & Miami Whizzdom, Don Martyr

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KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND

by David Rolland

“Do a little dance, make a little love, get down tonight.” ”That’s the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it.” “Shake shake shake, shake shake shake, shake your booty.” These are all lyrics that occupy the public consciousness as much as anything ever sung by The Beatles or Elvis. But Miami’s own disco supergroup, KC & the Sunshine Band, with their five No. 1’s and party-hearty vibe, don’t get six-hour Disney+ documentaries or Baz Luhrmann biopics made about them. KC & the Sunshine Band’s hometown shows little of the adoration that Liverpool has for the Beatles and Memphis for Elvis, except for KC Park at 4th and 44th in Hialeah.

KC was born Harry Wayne Casey in (believe it or not) Opa-Locka, grew up in Hialeah and started his climb working at local music distributor Henry Stone’s label, TK Records. When Casey got a little studio time at TK, he named his backing band after his home state, and KC & the Sunshine Band was formed in the Sunshine State.

Their easy to remember choruses and funky danceable rhythms were as flammable as any ’70s kindling. Their second and third albums, from 1975-1978, contain more songs familiar to anyone who ever turned on an FM radio than most greatest hits collections by Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. In January 1980 their song, “Please Don’t Go,” became the first No. 1 hit of the 1980s. But the new decade wasn’t too kind to disco. KC & the Sunshine Band found themselves out of style and in 1985, at age 34, Casey declared himself retired from the music business.

But you can’t keep a hitmaker down. Nostalgia flourished for disco balls, leisure suits and the good times that KC & the Sunshine Band soundtracked. A Rhino Records best-of compilation in 1990 helped make the case for KC as more than a fad. Casey revived the band in 1991 and has circled the globe playing close to 100 shows a year ever since, still your “Boogie Man.”

KC & the Sunshine Band play 8pm Friday, Feb. 24 at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood. heykcsb.com

BIG THIEF

by Carly Cassano

“That’s my grandma!” the audience yells along when Big Thief does their song “Red Moon” live. How could they not? Featuring Mat Davidson aka Twain on vocals and fiddle, the album version of “Red Moon” is the most boot-stomping track on Brooklynbased Big Thief’s acclaimed 2022 double LP, “Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You.” It wants to be played in concert, and it’s far from the only country song on this indie-Americana opus.

The whole sprawling 80-minute affair starts off with “Change,” a quaint number that was written by singer Adrianne Lenker and then recorded by James Krivchenia, the drummer and producer, in just a few hours. From there it ranges across live recordings in small rooms and big acoustic set pieces played with expensive gear, going from artsy ’80s (“Little Things”) to folksy formula (“Certainty”) and several places in between.

“Love Love Love” is a screeching psychedelic country rock song about — you guessed it. But the sounds of the country don’t come just from Krivchenia’s swing-shuffle drumming or Lenker’s whispery drawl. They are the humors running through the band, every part like a tributary. Lenker, the main songwriter and one of the best of our time, embodies the storytelling power of country music’s greats. Bandmates Krivchenia, Max Oleartchik on bass and Buck Meek on lead guitar create accompaniments as diverse and poetic as the lyrics. “Dragon … ” landed on numerous 2022 best-of lists, and was dubbed “as intriguingly mysterious and expansive as its name” by “That Record Got Me High,” a podcast hosted by South Florida punk rocker Rob Elba

The cryptic “Simulation Swarm” grew out of intense personal experiences Lenker had, including being hospitalized after too much touring, time spent in a religious cult, and the absence of a biological brother whom she also referenced in a 2017 song, “Mythological Beauty,” and has (still?) never met. And then there’s “Spud Infinity,” in which lines about literal potato dishes are interjected into an otherwise cosmic narrative. It’s reportedly become their set-closer — upbeat and enduring, poignant and profound. Just like the band.

Big Thief play 7pm Tuesday, Feb. 21 at Miami Beach Bandshell. bigthief.net

A GREAT DAY AT OAK GROVE PARK

by Abel Folgar

In our pursuit of good tans and great entertainment, it’s easy to forget that natural beauty surrounds us and doesn’t stop at our shores. Living where others vacation, from the Keys to the Palm Beaches, South Floridians don’t take as much advantage of their public parks as other, similarly blessed people around the globe do. So when two strong regional presenters, Miami Light Project and Community Arts and Culture, team up for an event with Miami-Dade County’s parks and rec division, it’s an occasion to note.

The result is A Great Day at Oak Grove Park, a musical reflection of South Florida at its most vibrant and varied, and a free, all-ages opportunity for South Floridians to take advantage of some of the quieter spaces that make our communities much more than just vacation stops. Great Day 2023 takes place at Oak Grove Park, a green oasis in the Golden Glades area near North Miami Beach that is often referred to as the crown jewel of the county’s Parks, Recreation and Open Spaces Department. They may never (if they’re lucky) duplicate the sitcom hijinks of television’s best-loved parks administrator, Leslie Knope, but the Miami-Dade crew have done outstanding work with their cultural partners in making this particular great day possible.

Haitian songstress and Red Cross ambassador Emeline Michel is the headliner, and an internationally acclaimed, multidisciplinary performing artist based in New York City. Her fusion of pop, jazz and blues with traditional Haitian rhythms has delighted audiences around the world.

Also on the bill: local drummer, singer and dancer Inez Barlatier, the daughter of another regional favorite, Jan Sebon, and whirlwind of multicultural sound and rhythm in her own right; award-winning acoustic folk band Cortadito, exemplars of classic Cuban son in the Buena Vista Social Club mold; the local, Latin Grammy-nominated Afro-Cuban jam-dance, multi-genre musical octopus known as Spam Allstars; visionary Haitian artist Papaloko; and Haitian roots music drummer Sanba Zao. A few as-yet-unnaounced special guests are also promised.

A Great Day at Oak Grove Park starts 1pm Saturday, Feb. 18 at Oak Grove Park in North Miami Beach. miamilightproject.com

EMELINE MICHEL

TROPIC BOUND

by David Rolland

A brand new book fair is hitting South Florida with a different twist on literary appreciation. On February 16-19 at Paradise Plaza in Miami’s Design District, Tropic Bound bills itself as “Miami’s first Artists’ Book Fair,” with organizers rounding up artists, publishers, curators, librarians, collectors and more to share their love for books as art.

Founded by Cristina Favretto, Sarah Michelle Rupert and Ingrid Schindall after receiving a Knight Arts Challenge Grant, Tropic Bound’s mission according to its website is “to elevate the understanding and value of hand-made artists’ books as an important contemporary art form where art and words meet.”

To that end, Tropic Bound’s first edition will host “a multi-lingual educational symposium that raises the discourse of artists’ books and fine art books in South Florida and the Americas with the input of historians, artists, and academics.” They also hope to make it a twice-yearly event.

Favretto is special collections director at the University of Miami. Rupert and Schindall are cofounders of South Florida’s annual Small Press Fair, a hands-on celebration of ink-and-paper art with printmaking demos and workshops, and a DIY spirit embodied by “The Steamroller,” in which an actual steamroller presses paper into inked blocks to create gigantic prints.

Think of Tropic Bound as Small Press Fair’s literary cousin. The four-day festival kicks off with local literary art shuttle tours, a welcome party and an afternoon keynote address by book artist and printmaker Tia Blassingame. Blassingame, known for her candid images and histories dealing with race and racism, will talk about how her work explores the intersection of race, history and perception.

Also on Thursday is a symposium entitled “Beyond Florida Man,” with a gaggle of local literary luminaries discussing the Miami book scene. Seven different presses from Florida will be represented, and close to sixty other printmakers from as far as London, Cairo, and Buenos Aires are also scheduled to make the trek to show off what art can be made from the bound and printed page.

Tropic Bound runs Thursday-Sunday, Feb. 16-19 at the Paradise Plaza Event Space in the Miami Design District. tropicboundfair.org

WINTERLAND V

by Tim Moffatt

There’s a reason people can be fanatical about imbibing live performances: Music elevates the human experience, sometimes transcendentally. When certain chords or patterns of sound unlock the pleasure centers in the brain, it changes people. Aural intoxication really is that powerful. Especially when it’s paired with the bonding effect of community. Florida’s record in cultivating both — potentially transformative live music experiences in truly shared and community-minded settings — is up and down. Techno festivals such as Ultra serve one tribe, with Miami and Miami Beach as gleaming destinations for a jet-setting EDM populace. How localized they are, culturally speaking, is debatable.

Across South Florida, good news and setbacks compete: Respectable Street in West Palm Beach turning 35 as venue for local, national and international acts; the apparent demise of Churchill’s Pub in Miami leaving the region with no clear gathering place for punks and purveyors of artistic cacophony such as the International Noise Conference. Mourners of Churchill’s take consolation in homegrown annual live-music events including the Dan Hosker Music Continuum in Fort Lauderdale and (wink wink) PureHoney’s own Bumblefest block party in West Palm Beach.

So here’s a bow to our North Florida counterparts at Winterland V for recognizing both the necessity and fragility of music as a community venture. Heading into its fifth edition, the Winterland festival in downtown Jacksonville, Feb. 25 and 26, is the handiwork of a nonprofit organization focused on uniting music lovers with music from near and far. There is no set genre and no major agenda other than giving exposure to new and interesting music while exposing attendees to the beauty of Riverfront Plaza along the St. John’s River, the city’s central artery. The Winterland organization is partnering with the regional National Pubic Radio outlet, WJCT’s JME 89.9HD, to help promote the festival and carry live performances. A grant from a Jacksonville institution, The Jessie Ball duPont Fund, is helping to stand up Winterland V and underwrite festival costs.

And the entire two-day festival is free, although Winterland is also offering merch, VIP packages and other paid inducements (like a commemorative pint glass whose bearer gets access to a roped off VIP area with a free local beer tasting, seating, heaters --and a fancy bathroom). For attendees also curious about the surroundings, Winterland is within stumbling distance of jazz clubs, cocktail bars and cafes; the waterfront location offers all manner of diversions for people craving alternative stimulation. But the Winterland lineup this year doesn’t leave much room for boredom. It’s a stacked group of skilled veterans and up-and-coming genre busters that should keep concertgoers rapt. Here are some highlights.

OS MUTANTES

THE DANDY WARHOLS

Os Mutantes — As in “The Mutants,” this out-there Brazilian band from the ‘60s is closely associated with the Tropicalia movement that blended the Afro-Brazilian core of bossa nova and samba with avant-gardism and American- and Britishinfluenced psychedelia and pop. Tropicalia became a political statement during the time of Brazil’s military dictatorship and a reaction against political extremism of all kinds including the rightwing fascism embodied by the junta. Os Mutantes influenced generations of musical artists, with Kurt Cobain writing a letter to co-founder Arnaldo Baptista in 1993 requesting the band reunite.

The Dandy Warhols — An alternative rock band formed in Portland, Oregon in the ’90s, the Dandy Warhols are known for songs including “Bohemian Like You,” “Not If You Were The Last Junkie on Earth” and “We Used to Be Friends,” aka the “Veronica Mars” theme song. They are the subject of the fascinating 2004 documentary, “DIG!” along with their then-rivals The Brian Jonestown Massacre. The band experimented with garage rock, power pop and psychedelia en route to carving out its own distinctive, Dandy Warholian sound.

Sudan Archives — Born Brittney Denise Parks in Cincinnati, Ohio, Sudan Archives is an electro and r&b violinist whose instrument has — in Western music, at any rate — traditionally enjoyed more MC status in classical, jazz and country. She began playing violin at the age of 4 and, possessed of a true, magnetic talent, eventually found her place not in an ensemble but on her own. At raves, she had seen how DJs made music by themselves. Later while studying the history of violin, it all clicked. “I found violinists who looked like me in Africa, playing it so wildly,” the told The Guardian. “It’s such a serious instrument in a western concert setting, but in so many other places in the world it brings the party.” Sudan Archives’ 2022 album, “Natural Brown Prom Queen” is on numerous best-of lists for the year.

Sasami — Sasami Ashworth is an indescribable juggernaut of talent who flawlessly floats between genres. She’s primarily known for country rock, indie rock and, with her 2022 album, “Squeeze,” alternative metal. Sasami has described “Squeeze” as an incursion into the doggedly white male cultural space of metal, which she occupied in order to make her own incendiary racket. Pitchfork gave the album a mostly admiring 7.2 out of 10, calling it “awfully fun” at its best. Consequence of Sound placed it at No. 13 in their top 30 albums of 2022, hailing it as “a daunting feat other artists couldn’t even dream of attempting.”

The Nude Party — Originally from Boone, North Carolina, lately of the Catskills in upstate New York, The Nude Party are mountain men. They don’t believe in shirts or pants, or any clothes, for that matter. What they do believe in is The Velvet Underground, The Rolling Stones and The Kinks, and really, when aiming that high, what else is there? Their 2017 cover of The Kinks’ “Sittin’ On My Sofa,” is a spaced-out garage tune about getting baked and chilling on the chaise, because who says rock ’n’ roll needs to be political or a deep dive? Sometimes it’s just the party wherever you find it. Their 2020 album, “Midnight Manor,“ was aptly described by one reviewer as “a chooglin’ good time,” and here’s hoping there’s more good times on the way.

Gustaf — The nom de plume of New York-based artist Lydia Gammill, the band called Gustaf calls itself an irresistibly danceable combination of ESG, Jonathan Richman and Alan Vega. Dropping those names in an official bio sets the cool bar very high, but Gustaf sounds confident enough to deliver. The group formed in 2018 and Gammill, a veteran player, has put the work into making people sit up and take notice even in jaded Brooklyn, where you can’t swing a cat without hitting a musician. The band’s newest album, “Mine,” has garnered some impressive attention due to heavy rotation on BBC 6, NME’s Essential Emerging Artists and NPR’s Slingshot Artists to watch.

Jacuzzi Boys — Miami’s answer to garage/indie rock is the Jacuzzi Boys. The band formed in 2007 and have been at it ever since. They count Iggy Pop as a fan and got a chance to play with him. Their fuzzed-out swamp rock will go nicely with a cold beer and hanging by the river.

Ben Katzman — With and without the “Degreaser” modification to his name, Ben Katzman is the soundtrack to a Florida Man weekend: All metal riffs and good-time party-down music. A member at various points of the bands Guerilla Toss and White Fang, Katzman is also the founder of By Us For Us Records (BUFU), which has put out music by Mannequin Pussy, Japanther, Krill and Miami’s own Las Nubes, among others. To say this restless, rock-obsessed dude has given his all to make the world safe for shred is an understatement.

rickoLus — Singer-songwriters can be stale; rickoLus, however, is not like other singersongwriters. He’s a one-man band with DIY roots and a penchant for giving great live performances. Half of the yacht rock, hip-hop duo Hurricane Party, rickoLus — nee Rick Colado — has been making music in one form or another for more than 20 years. That diverse background and tenure ensures a good time at any rickoLus show.

“Support your scene!” has long been the battle cry for musicians far and wide. Winterland V and its partners are poised to do just that. The payoff, hopefully, is a city and a region that every artistic type would be lucky to live and work in.

Winterland V ft The Dandy Warhols, Os Mutantes, Sudan Archives, Sasami, The Nude Party, Gustaf, Jacuzzi Boys, Kairos Creature Club, Ben Katzman, Rickolus, The Dewars, Visitation, Chew, The Venus, Gringo Star, Spirit & the Cosmic Heart, Afrobeta, Chlorinefields, Rudy De Anda, Howdy, Jay Myztroh & Friends, Kenzie’s Place, Ducats, Gnarcissists, Seagate, The Palmettes, Luci Lind, Jessica Pounds, Bebe Deluxe, Geexella runs Feb. 25 and 26 along Riverfront Plaza in Jacksonville. winterlandv.org

GUSTAF

JACUZZI BOYS

THE NUDE PARTY

SUDAN ARCHIVES

SASAMI

ANDREW THOMAS HUANG

SHOW ME THE BODY

by Tim Moffatt

It seems that genre exists these days more as a reference than a place. That makes sense as current generations grew up with punk, hip-hop, heavy metal and all other kinds of music living in their heads all at the same time. Bands like Soul Glo, Ceremony and Show Me the Body aren’t afraid to mix and match genres in order to get their point across.

The first iteration of Show Me the Body was founding members Julian Pratt and Harlan Steed meeting in ninth grade in the late aughts. Their self-released first recording, “Yellow Kidney,” landed years later, in 2014. In the interim, the band played opportunistically — “under bridge overpasses, alleys, in basements,” as a 2019 dispatch from VCReporter noted, “pretty much any place where the group could set up and gather together a group of people to share in the music and the band’s messages of inclusion, tolerance and respect.”

Today they’re a trio signed to an independent label, Loma Vista Recordings, founded by a former major-label boss. While the band primarily leans in on a punk rock base, they have collaborated with hip-hoppers Princess Nokia, Denzel Curry, Wiki, Mal Devisa and Ratking, and toured with singer-songwriter King Krule and noise rockers Daughters and HEALTH. This isn’t so strange; punk and hip-hop have always been cousins from different sides of the tracks. And bands increasingly are looking for more unbound ways to emote their dissatisfaction with, well, everything!

There was a moment when it seemed like Limp Bizkit would be the apotheosis of “Judgement Night”-style crossover between hip-hop and rock. By collaborating adventurously, Show Me The Body is thriving creatively and helping to dispel any lingering nu-metal hangover. “Trouble the Water,” the bands newest record, garnered praise from Pitchfork for pairing “weird creatures of electronica and sudden clearings of melodic, galloping punk.” The Guardian called it “a cathartic release from volatile times,” and Stereogum praised it, while noting, “The best way to experience Show Me the Body is, of course, live.”

Show Me the Body, Jesus Piece, Scowl, Zulu, and Trippjones play 8pm Wednesday, Feb. 15 at Gramps in Miami. showmethebody.bandcamp.com

VIRGINIA KEY GRASSROOTS FESTIVAL OF MUSIC AND DANCE

by Amanda E. Moore

If you didn’t know it already, here’s a friendly reminder that Miami is one of the great global music capitals of the 21st Century. Latin and AfroCaribbean beats waft in the tropical air, casting spells on dancers, musicians and audiophiles alike. Wander the city on any given weekend night, and you’ll soon find that you are no longer sure where you are, geographically: The streets vibrate with techno, deep house, rap, and reggaeton; and oscillate with salsa, bachata, merengue, and hip-hop. Miami, rivaling an earlier era in New York City, is now — more than any city — the cultural melting pot of the U.S., brimming with Caribbean, Latin, African and European influences.

Hyper-aware of South Florida as a growing cultural hub, the organizers of an annual summer GrassRoots Festival in bucolic upstate New York launched the Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in 2012, choosing Miami’s iconic barrier island, Virginia Key, for their southernmost expansion in winter. (They also put on a spring festival in North Carolina.) The choice has worked out about as well as anyone could have hoped. The tenth edition, March 6-12 on Virginia Key, is the biggest by far. “We are so honored and excited to celebrate the 10th Anniversary this year, having started in 2012 at the beautiful and iconic Historic Virginia Key Beach Park,” Russ Friedell, GrassRoots’ marketing director, says in an interview with PureHoney

Unlike popular, more landlocked music summits such as Coachella and SXSW, Virginia Key GrassRoots attendees get to sway under breezy palm trees near Biscayne Bay. “The secluded and serene park features sandy beaches and miles of nature trails abutting the pristine, calm waters along the Atlantic Ocean,” says Friedell. Along with the hiking and maritime views, the festival offers live music, dance, dining, yoga, live art workshops, a sustainability fair, children’s activities and camping. “This year’s lineup focuses heavily on a wide variety of some of the best world, national and regional artists, and the magic that is created when these communities interact is indescribably amazing,” says Friedell. “Our team feels that the entire lineup is incredible this year.”

In a three-day musical lineup, highlights are almost too numerous to mention. But here goes: Marlow Rosado, a Latin Grammy-winning Puerto Rican salsa composer, producer and musician; Cuban Afro-jazz composer and singer Daymé Arocena (featured on NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concert); Venezuela’s cuatro folk master Jorge Glem; and Vodou rocker RAM, from Haiti.

There’s also Afro-Brazilian percussion collective Miamibloco, Jamaican roots reggae exponents The Resolvers, and gypsy-jazz swing band Tamboka. Last year’s attendees will see return visits from global synth pop combo Afrobeta, Latin Grammy-winning CubanAmerican singer-songwriter Pepe Montes Conjunto, electro-house-pop producer Dom Martyr, traditional Cuban folklore group Cortadito, and musicians from the School of Rock: N. Miami. And it wouldn’t be GrassRoots without the band that started the whole project 31 year ago, Donna The Buffalo, bringing their danceable zydeco Americana to the waterfront.

Guests can prepare for their festival experience by playlisting some of the other artists on the lineup in advance: The Bones of JR Jones, Munir Hossn, Eva Peroni, Richie Stearns, Machaka, Jose Albizu Jazz Sextet, Tand, Cosmic Collective, Fabi, Matthew Sabatella String Band, Rebel Love, Vicious Fishes, Maddy Walsh & Miami Whizzdom, and more.

The nonprofit GrassRoots organization invites people of all ages to take part in a weeklong event that promotes cross-cultural music education and collaboration while fostering connectedness among its guests and ties that last year round. Kids under 12 are admitted free of charge (but are required to be accompanied by a parent or guardian).

“It is amazing to witness three generations of families (grandparents, parents, children) enjoying the same festival together,” says Friedell.

Music festivals large and small go back centuries, through wars, pandemics and recessions, and they all seem to take on characteristics of their surroundings. Virginia Key GrassRoots has acquired some of South Florida’s rhythmic soul by drawing on Miami’s international music and dance culture to produce a blended experience that seeks to connect, revive, and inspire attendees in a setting the organizers call “a music lover’s paradise.”

The 10th annual Virginia Key GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance runs March 6-12 at Historic Virginia Key Beach Park in Miami. virginiakeygrassroots.org

DAN FLOREZ

DONNA THE BUFFALO

RICH LEVINE

WILLIE NELSON

by Olivia Feldman

As a pioneer of “outlaw country,” Willie Nelson challenged the Nashville music establishment from his Austin, Texas base and redefined what country music could be in a career spanning more than 60 years. Now approaching 90, the white-haired “Red Headed Stranger” is on the road again with his musical family.

Where icons such as Hank Williams Sr. and Chet Atkins modeled traditionalism down to their cowboy hats and collared Western shirts, Nelson became a very different kind of country gentleman. He openly smoked marijuana, ate hallucinogenic mushrooms and was unafraid to braid his long, flowing hair. As a member of the supergroup The Highwaymen, he and fellow outlaw country crooners Johnny Cash, Kris Kristofferson and Waylon Jennings spread their new Americana to younger listeners. He took on causes such as animal welfare and marijuana legalization. His annual Farm Aid concerts have benefitted struggling family farmers since 1985. And when he ran afoul of the IRS, his crafty businessman side emerged: He paid off his tax debts with the release in 1992 of “The IRS Tapes: Who’ll Buy My Memories?”

His 2021 release, “The Willie Nelson Family,” is an intimate portrait of the Nelson clan: He collaborates with his daughters Amy Lee Nelson and Paula Nelson, sons Lukas Nelson and Micah Nelson, and sister Bobbie Nelson (who passed away in March of 2022), all accompanied by the Family Band, his touring and recording group. Lukas takes lead vocals on a faithful yet fresh interpretation of George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass,” sounding not unlike a younger version of his father. The addition of acoustic guitar and Bobbie’s piano pleasantly softening a rock-era classic.

The elder Nelson’s latest solo album, 2022’s “A Beautiful Time,” snagged a Grammy nomination for best country album, showing that Shotgun Willie’s still got it. His voice shows some age but it’s undeniably him, with a soft sweetness coming through on the opening track, “I’ll Love You Till The Day I Die,” written by a couple of Nelson’s notable admirers, Chris Stapleton and Rodney Crowell Willie Nelson & Family perform 8pm Tuesday, Feb. 28 at Pompano Beach Amphitheater. willienelson.com

CHRISTINA ROMEO

by Veronica Inberg

Ask yourself: Does art matter if no one is around to see it? Christina Romeo, - originally from Fort Lauderdale - and the featured artist in this month’s PureHoney, thinks so. While living in a remote small town in Canada’s Selkirk Mountains, Romeo found herself painting as a way to keep busy. After time, the joy and pride she felt in the work she was making, even without an audience, was enough to keep her going. “This was in the early ’90s,” she elaborates in an interview, “so no internet to share images, just me, myself, and I enjoying the process and results of practicing.”

Oregon-based Romeo has come a long way since her mountain isolation. She now has two Instagram accounts — a way to keep the illustrations separated from her more intuitive contemporary art — and a website where she sells large and small scale paintings, drawings, textile collages and ceramic work. Her output is impressive — new pieces land a few times a week on her Instagrams — especially considering she has a day job in healthcare.

Always beginning with faces, Romeo adds touches of color and other flourishes to communicate states of mind. “I am trying to allow my emotions to present in the faces I draw,” she explains, describing faces almost as portals — to beliefs, opinions and feelings that are readable in expressions “even without words attached.” Never just a simple portrait, Romeo’s illustrative faces burst beyond seas of watercolors and lightly drift through abstract shapes.

When asked to describe her work, Romeo chooses her adjectives carefully: “I think I would describe my aesthetic as a little creepy, dark, moody, emotive and ‘otherworldly.’ A mix between a fantasy world and dark gothic.” She notes famous artists like Edward Gorey, Andrew Wyeth and Egon Schiele as inspiration for her own practice. Through aesthetic and subject matter Romeo manages to capture a bit of each one of these artists in her own work — the strong illustrative and gothic aspects of Gorey as well as the contemplative and emotive subjects in the paintings of Wyeth and Schiele.

What Romeo doesn’t mention about her own work, which we happily will, is her wonderful use of color, incorporated into all of the mixed media she has mastered. Unlike Wyeth, a realist painter whose muted colors portray the vast open landscape of New England, Romeo’s use of color takes her portraits from reality to fantasy; they are creepy, joyful, funny and ornate all at once. And if the work induces both happiness and a shiver in audiences, all to the good. “Art has always been an outlet for me to work through emotions,” she says. “I allow the images to ‘come out’ of me instead of trying to emulate another artist. I hope to encourage the viewer to feel something.”

After years devoted primarily to painting and textile work, Romeo recently got hooked on making ceramics after taking a two-week workshop. Ceramics allow Romeo’s work to breathe and live in a third dimension: Her otherworldly characters are now transformed into items such as art plates, bowls, ornaments, sculptures, vases and vessels. Each piece is hand built, fired and glazed by Romeo and features her unique designs. Even with their pouty faces and large heads, there is something extraordinarily whimsical about Romeo’s tiny sculptures. They go from Edward Gorey to Tim Burton with a change of dimension and exist in their new, tiny, magical worlds.

Romeo is a rarity in her ability to migrate her distinctive style from one medium to another. It’s not easy to create something you love only to then recreate it in another material or context. But this isn’t something Romeo shys away from. On top of her current artwork production and aforementioned day job, she also hopes to publish children’s books in the near future. For the moment, she is limiting her gallery exhibition commitments in order to focus more on writing and her ceramics. Living in the Pacific Northwest, she says she doesn’t love the rain but knows it helps inspire her work.

POSTER TO THE RIGHT: “Sorrow and Joy”. Find Christina Romeo’s work at cromeola.com Instagram: @cromeola and @cromeola.illustrations

NOISE POP

by Abel Folgar

It’s low-key funny that Googling “San Francisco noise” produces an autocomplete drop-down menu of municipal-sounding options such as “ordinance,” “map,” “complaint,” “curfew,” “permit” and “quiet hours,” and right there in the thick of it — near the top, in fact — is “pop festival.” The big hometown search engine has obviously learned a thing or two, but it’s no real surprise that the acclaimed Noise Pop Music & Arts Festival has been chugging along since its pre-Google founding back in 1993.

Produced by Noise Pop, San Francisco’s fiercely independent music promoter, the festival has grown from the humble beginnings of “$5, five bands” to a weeklong indie bazaar staged all across the Bay Area, and gone on every year save for a pandemic blip in 2021.

For its 30th anniversary, Noise Pop is pulling out all the stops with reunions and out-of-left-field choices that will wow and amaze even the most jaded alt-rock hipster. Headlined by New Jersey indie rock legends Yo La Tengo, Georgia-born electro duo darlings Boy Harsher, and San Jose’s own Duster, this year’s 160-plus strong lineup of music and more will stay in the hearts and minds of attendees for years to come. A seemingly impossible feat, given Noise Pop’s already matchless record of hosting early-career performances by emerging artists such as The White Stripes, Modest Mouse, Joanna Newsom, The Flaming Lips, Death Cab for Cutie, the Shins, Fleet Foxes and Grimes. Here are some highlights.

Formed in 1984 by the now-married duo of Georgia Hubley (drums, vocals) and Ira Kaplan (guitars, piano, vocals) – and featuring more bass players in their first eight years than days in a pay period – Yo La Tengo are simply one of those acts that everyone loves. Coinciding with their headlining of the Noise Pop Festival will be the 31st anniversary of their current bass player, James McNew, and the release of their 17th studio album, “This Stupid World.”

Kicking off on February 20 with a multi-act showcase featuring Chisel, Everyone Asked About You and 20 Minute Loop, Noise Pop will also make the region quake to the sound of resurgent San Francisco punk legends CRIME. And over the following week indie shows will proliferate as Bob Mould, Slow Crush, Fidlar, The Reds Pinks & Purples, Fake Fruit, Chime School and Tourist, among others, descend. Even Singaporean rockers Sobs are scheduled to make their North American debut!

This balancing act of promotional savvy and mayhem follows last October’s 20th Street Block Party, another Noise Pop production with a more pronounced neighborhood vibe, whose 20th edition unofficially closed out S.F. summer with one raucous afternoon featuring over a dozen bands and chefs/restaurants sharing in the glory of Noise Pop’s hyper-localized love for its surroundings.

Noise Pop Festival attendees curious about the region’s music scene should take note of artists including Maria BC, an Oakland-based “folkie” operating within the environs of doom metal, avant-garde pop and darkwave; former pro skater Tommy Guerrero, whose discography goes back to the West Coast skatepunk ’80s; and the genre-bending stylings of Oakland’s Chrystia Cabral, aka Spellling (three l’s), whose 2021 album, “The Turning Wheel,” is described as a “celestially twisted, Fellini-risque pop masterpiece” by local news and culture site 48hills.

Recurring festival events including a multi-night series at the SFJAZZ Center and an international music showcase, He.She.They, are back in 2023. A newcomer to the festival, but not the area, is “The #HellaFunny Comedy Night, a mainstay of the Bay Area’s entertainment scene, with Noise Pop Festival stand-ups in store by Stroy Moyd, Chris Riggins, Allison Hooker, Emily Van Dyke and some promised surprise guests. There film screenings, multimedia demos, and organized happy hours, under the banner of a 30th anniversary poster designed by Shepard Fairey.

There’s a good chance the Internet will be awash in Noise Pop chatter and clips once the dust settles on this edition, and all that data will be gobbled up by the aforementioned machine learning entity over in Mountain View. With any luck then, the first row of hits for “San Francisco noise” will be links to great music, amazing experiences and what happens when a promoter cares about its community.

The 30th Noise Pop Music & Arts Festival runs February 20-26 at various venues across the Bay Area. noisepopfest.com

YO LA TENGO

CHERYL DUNN FIDLAR

THE REDS, PINKS & PURPLES