PUREHONEY 127

5/1

REVOLUTION LIVE: VV

5/2

HULLABALOO: SoulFam

ARTS GARAGE: Open Mic

5/3

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Mdou Moctar >>> READ IN PH

RESPECTABLE STREET: Agent Orange, Suzi Moon, 1983

BAR NANCY: Strange Bass

CIVIL SOCIETY: Matt Brown & SoulFam

5/4

SUNSET COVE AMP: Gojira, Mastadon, Lorna Shore

LIBRARY SPEAKEASY: Wax On Wax Off

DOMICILE: Haute Tension, The Ruffans, Rude

Television, Flipp_er

BAR NANCY: Punk Nights in Lil Havana

5/5

REVOLUTION LIVE: Shrek Rave

NORTON MUSEUM: Art After Dark

CULTURE ROOM: Yngwie Malmsteen

BAR NANCY: Disco AF

REDLIGHT: Matt Brown

ARTS GARAGE: Art of Laughter w Alex Carabano & James Camacho

5/6

RESPECTABLE STREET: Jealous Lovers: Indie

Sleaze Dance Party

DELRAY BCH HISTORICAL SOCIETY: Twilight in the Garden Fundraiser. Live Music, Great Food & Cocktails!

CULTURE ROOM: Jackyl

BAR NANCY: Revenge Of The Sixth

SOLÉ MIAMI: Matt Brown

ARTS GARAGE: Yvette Norwood

5/7

HOLLYWOOD ARTSPARK: Karl

Denson’s Tiny Universe, Uncle Scotchy >>> READ IN PH

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Ballet

Flamenco, La Rosa

REVOLUTION LIVE: Valley, Aiden Bissett

ARTS GARAGE: Moonlight Thief

5/9

REVOLUTION LIVE: The Gaslight Anthem, Oso Oso, Emily Wolfe HULLABALOO: SoulFam

GRAMPS: Ingested, Devourment, Extermination Dismemberment, Organectomy, Implosive Disgorgence

BAR NANCY: 80’s Rap Attack

ARTS GARAGE: All Arts Open Mic Night

5/10

REVOLUTION LIVE: 100 Gecs, Machine

Girl >>> READ IN PH

BAR NANCY: Ambori Jani

CIVIL SOCIETY: Matt Brown & SoulFam

5/11

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Lights of Broadway

BAR NANCY: Stereo Joule

DOMICILE: Dirty Rivals, The Boas, Flirt, Freed

SWEETWATER: Matt Brown

5/12

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Lulu Santos

POMPANO BCH AMP: Melissa Etheridge

RESPECTABLE STREET: Secret Door Fest

REVOLUTION LIVE: Dirt Monkey & Jantsen

NORTON MUSEUM: Art After Dark

BAR NANCY: April Nicole

MATCHBOX: Matt Brown

ARTS GARAGE: Marlow Rosado Latin Jazz Ensemble – A Lo Jibaro

5/13

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Trouble No More ft Brandon “Taz” Niederauer, Daniel Donato, Dylan Niederauer, Lamar Williams Jr., nikki Glaspie, Peter Levin, Roosevelt Collier >>> READ IN PH

RESPECTABLE STREET: Echo’s Reunion

>>> READ IN PH

THE PARKER: Leslie Jones

CULTURE ROOM: Meg Myers, Weathers

BAR NANCY: The Kitchen Club

TEMPLE BETH EL: JewGrass Revival

BLUE STEEL: Matt Brown

5/14

ARTS GARAGE: Piece (Instr Beatles Trib)

5/15

CULTURE ROOM: Haken, Arch Echo

ARTS GARAGE: Poetry Open Mic Night

5/16

REVOLUTION LIVE: Voivod, Imperial Triumphant >>> READ IN PH

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Tove Lo, Slayyyter >>> READ IN PH

CULTURE ROOM: The Bouncing Souls, Samiam, Pet Needs

HULLABALOO: SoulFam

5/17

PARKER PLAYHOUSE: The Cult >>> READ MORE IN PUREHONEY

BAR NANCY: Alexa Lash

CIVIL SOCIETY: Matt Brown & SoulFam

5/18

REVOLUTION LIVE: Young Buck

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Paula Arena, Hunters of the Alps

BAR NANCY: Ricky Valido

DOMICILE: Bruvvy, Folktale, San Pedro, Late Bloomerz, Dnnyl

5/19

FLORIDA KEYS BREWING CO: AfroRoots Fest w Electric Kif

REVOLUTION LIVE: Jazz is Dead

POMPANO BCH AMP: Air Supply

RESPECTABLE STREET: Gimme Gimme Disco

THE PARKER: Straight Up w Stassi

NORTON MUSEUM: Art After Dark

BAR NANCY: Yacht Rock

GRAMPS: Mayday, Happy Colors, Nick Garcia

REDLIGHT: Matt Brown

ARTS GARAGE: Joe Cotton Band

5/20

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Psychedelic

Furs >>> READ IN PH

FLORIDA KEYS BREWING CO: AfroRoots Fest

Cortadito, MiamiBloco

RESPECTABLE STREET: Emo Night Brooklyn

BAR NANCY: Fire & Ice

LINCOLNS BEARD: Matt Brown Trio

ARTS GARAGE: Gafieira Rio Miami

5/21

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Laraaji, Arji

OceAnanda Cakouros perform Aqua Garden Flow w Coral Morphologic, Robert Beatty >>> READ IN PH

FLORIDA KEYS BREWING CO: AfroRoots Fest

Nag Champayons, Johnny Dread, Grupo

Barrio Abajo

ARTS GARAGE: Portrait of Aretha ft

Cece Teneal

5/23

HULLABALOO: SoulFam

5/24

LIBRARY SPEAKEASY: Tiny Gear Concert

BAR NANCY: Burgundee

CIVIL SOCIETY: Matt Brown & SoulFam

5/25

REVOLUTION LIVE: Hippie Sabotage

BAR NANCY: ¡Mold!, Frogs Show Mercy, Foxgloves

DOMICILE: Camp Blu, Deux Visages, Flowers for Emily

5/26

RESPECTABLE STREET: Make Respectables

Goth NORTONAgainMUSEUM: Art After Dark

BAR NANCY: Freddy Stebbins

WILDER: Matt Brown

ARTS GARAGE: Memphis Lightning

5/27

RESPECTABLE STREET: Fantastic Drinks & Where To Find Them (Harry Potter Night)

BAR NANCY: Mainstreet

HOPPORTUNITIES: Dark Brown Duo

ARTS GARAGE: Emilie Claire Barlow

5/28

RESPECTABLE STREET: 80’s Prom: Purple Prom – Prince Edition

ARTS GARAGE: Celebrate

5/29

MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Miami

Bloco’s Saideira Social ft Samir Langus, Munir Hossn, Rosse Max & Ramatis, Jason Matthews, DK Le Spam >>> READ IN PH

5/30

HULLABALOO: SoulFam

GRAMPS: Narrow Head, Graham Funk Railroad

5/31

BAR NANCY: Amateur Burlesque

CULTURE ROOM: Sierra Ferrell

BAR NANCY: Perro Negro, Lonewolf Omb, Analog

CIVIL SOCIETY: Matt Brown & SoulFam

TOVE LO

by OLIVIA FELDMAN

Is Tove Lo still controversial? Back in 2016 YouTube pulled her short film, “Fairy Dust,” for being too sexually explicit, and the Swedish songstress decried censorship in the U.S. — where, undeniably, women being blunt about sex and drugs and pleasure have often faced more commercial resistance than men dealing in the same subjects.

But they say that being authentic is how you find your real friends, and Tove Lo’s friends — in this case, her fans — have stuck by her through raunchy outfits, racy videos and sold-out tours. “Fairy Dust,” R-rated end credits and all, now has 15 million YouTube views.

Tove Lo rolls with the unofficial indie-pop girl gang of Charli XCX (Tove Lo’s collaborator on a remix of “Bitches”), Ellie Goulding, Lorde and Dua Lipa — female artists broaching taboo issues of femininity on and off their records. She is not unusual in drawing lyrical content from her personal life, but even by today’s pop standards she holds forth with uncharacteristic rawness. Her 2014 electropop ballad, “Habits (Stay High),” about spiraling into substance abuse after a breakup, became a sleeper hit that resonated with millennial women going through similar trials.

After a stint in a rock band, she made a life-altering switch to pop. With five albums in eight years, she’s also penned songs for the likes of Nick Jonas and Icona Pop, and executive-produced Pussy Riot’s 2022 mixtape, “Matriarchy Now.”

Her latest full-length, 2022’s “Dirt Femme,” reflects on her pansexuality, femininity and career at a moment when she is also happily married to the love of her life. One track, “Suburbia,” wonders about the limits of domestic bliss as she contemplates children: “What if I’m way too lazy / For the Mom-Olympic team? / Will we still be romantic? / Will I still get my sleep?”

The album cover — Tove Lo alone in the desert wearing a metallic stinger like her astrological sign, Scorpio — tells you she plans to keep her edge even as she takes on new commitments.

Tove Lo with special guest Slayyyter performs 7:30pm Tuesday, May 16 at Miami Beach Bandshell. tove-lo.com

by ABEL

Karl

Denson name Tiny expanse saxophonist, Greyboy Allstars, and performed with Lenny and the Rolling Stones, among many others. — countless individual recordings for himself jump off the records into full-throttle virtuosic enjoy.

Small wonder he’s so beloved in the boundless the road for Denson encompassed four days club and a David Bowie tribute tour with singer Denson’s Tiny Universe plays a free show on Hollywood, Denson is scheduled to join an Amy

The most recent Tiny Universe album, 2019’s soulful grooves and infectious funk rhythms as out front, Denson is not a spotlight hog: His individual symbiosis. Its key elements are Chris Littlefield’s distorted keyboards, working amid an ad hoc

Album highlights include the upbeat and danceable soulful “Millvale, PA,” and the bluesy and reflective Tiny Universe are also celebrating their 25th pull from their five-album catalogue and more performances that are both exploratory and

Opening is local rabble rouser, producer and the irascible one-man-band Uncle Scotchy raconteuring on hardship, pain, and loss, Garcia kick drum, snare, crash, bell and harmonica.

Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and Uncle Scotchy Hollywood ArtsPark Experience free concert

MONI HAWORTH

KARL DENSON’S TINY UNIVERSE

ABEL FOLGAR

Denson is a bit of a picaro for bestowing the Tiny Universe upon his band, considering the expanse of their music. The acclaimed funk and jazz saxophonist, flutist and vocalist has led San Diego’s Lenny Kravitz, Steve Winwood, Slightly Stoopid others. Yet even with his sterling studio credentials himself and others — Denson’s live performances virtuosic extravaganzas that any music lover can boundless jam-band multiverse. A recent stretch on days at New York’s city’s storied Blue Note jazz singer Bernard Fowler. A few days before Karl on May 7 here at ArtsPark at Young Circle in Amy Winehouse tribute in New Orleans.

Gnomes and Badgers, positions the band’s as platforms for Denson’s soloing. Though firmly individual work gets that shine through a band Littlefield’s trumpet and David Veith’s wah-wah pedalhoc army of incredibly talented other players. danceable “Something Sweet,” the funky and reflective “I’m Your Biggest Fan.” Denson and anniversary so fans can expect the band to more importantly, from a quarter century of live and unerring.

and bluesman Eric Garcia, better known as . Dipping into the lore of blues for thematic Garcia shines playing — in tandem — guitar, harmonica.

Scotchy perform 7pm Sunday, May 7 at the concert series. karldenson.com

MOSAIC

by AMANDA E. MOORE

For all of April, a giant pair of aqua-colored sunglasses evoking green palms and blue waters perched at the intersection of Okeechobee Blvd. and Rosemary Ave., marking the entranceway to The Square promenade in downtown West Palm Beach. Instead of lenses, snapshots by by photographer and filmmaker JeanCarlo Ramirez of Palm Beach County’s cultural life filled the frames.

This ideal selfie backdrop drew visitors and locals alike to document their days on the town and, as a bonus, help the region circulate its brand on social media. More than a photo op, the Cultural Council for Palm Beach County’s signature specs also symbolized the impending arrival of MOSAIC, aka the “Month of Shows, Art, Ideas and Culture” that the Cultural Council puts on every May.

MOSAIC is inviting everyone here in May to explore and support The Palm Beaches’ many “Shades Of Culture” by picking from more than 30 local experiences in 31 days. It could be turtles at Loggerhead Marinelife Center, blown glass artisans at Benzaiten Center for Creative Arts, the monoliths at the Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens or a painting excursion to the Busch Wildlife Sanctuary with animals as your subjects. Or you may might take in a new MOSAIC addition for 2023: a Palm Beach County Open Studios art crawl on May 20, with dozens of local artists welcoming visitors into their creative work spaces.

“Over 25 cultural organizations are participating in MOSAIC this May,” Lauren Perry, the Cultural Council’s director of marketing and tourism, told PureHoney. “While this month-long celebration is designed to draw tourists to The Palm Beaches, there are some amazing deals on admission to museums, tickets to live performances, exciting eco-tours and hands-on art classes that Palm Beach County residents won’t want to miss.”

Discounted attractions include pop-up workshops on select dates at Armory Art Center and select classes at Lighthouse ArtCenter Gallery & School of Art. New additions to MOSAIC for 2023 include two touring Broadway shows: “Legally

Blonde” at the Kravis Center for the Performing Palm Beach Dramaworks. Perry hopes participants and the pictures — online by picking up MOSAIC and perfectly wearable) at sponsored events moments” using the hashtags #MOSAICPBC

To promote the monthlong campaign, the small preview group at the larger-than-life through The Square Arts District. Starting through the mall’s corridors, taking notice installations — its hand-painted murals, mosaic-tiled permanent visual centerpiece, the fountain.

Management at The Square is likewise encouraging Art District, and to dig deeper into the stories pieces. We can confirm: The jumbled lettered it’s an art installation.

Here’s another revelation: “The Wishing Tree in The Square’s center, contains 100,000 spectrum LEDs that in turn create the light Custom built by the San Francisco based Tree runs on a lighting algorithm “inspired inherent weather systems,” according to Hidden artistic gems like a towering LED Beach County. During this year’s MOSAIC, coast can discover and re-discover installations, favorite including The Society of The Four Garden, and Arts Garage.

After the little group tour of The Square, reception at True Food Kitchen to meet official artist: Florida native Tiffany Beasi. painting, appropriately juxtaposed against mural backdrop, was impossible to miss mingled, noshed and chatted about Palm Nestled in the back corner of the restaurant, was itself a snapshot of MOSAIC’s celebratory

As Beasi herself put it, “Palm Beach County is at once legendary and luxurious.” Her painting, “Palm Beach Blooming,” evokes the region’s wealth of history, artistry and wildlife. “This journey across musical, dance, and art culture drifts along with iconic botanical elements,” she wrote in a statement for MOSAIC, “a blooming hibiscus, swaying palm trees, and the pointed petals of a bird-of-paradise flower,

Locals will also recognize references in the painting to some Palm Beach County landmarks: the Henry Morrison Flagler Museum, Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens, and Mounts Botanical Gardens (Beasi is making reproductions of her 28” x 20” tropical ballad and limited-edition lapel pins available for purchase.)

Artisan cocktails and bites concluded the night, followed by Norton Open Studios’ dropin art class held on the lawn of The Square, led by Palm-based professional fine artist Anthony Burks, Sr., whose creative footprint flows through the county. Burks is the muralist behind “Natural Beauty Nicole woman and butterfly — located in the downtown.

The theme of local artistry pervaded the

TIffANy BEASI ”PAlM BEACH BlOOMINg”

Performing Arts and “Topdog/Underdog” at participants will help spread the word — MOSAIC branded sunglasses (regular size events and capture their “Instagrammable #MOSAICPBC and #ShadesOfCulture

the Cultural Council recently assembled a larger-than-life sunglasses and sent them on a journey Starting at the big shades, the group weaved notice of and learning about The Square’s own mosaic-tiled staircases, and one of its more fountain.

encouraging visitors to snap away in the stories behind the artists and their striking lettered rooftop sign is not a mysterious ad;

Tree,” a banyan-like beauty standing tall 100,000 individually programmable, full-colorlight embedded in the tree’s 10,000 “leaves.” based collective Symmetry Labs, The Wishing “inspired by the fluid behavior of South Florida’s The Square’s online explainer.

LED tree can be found throughout Palm MOSAIC, art-lovers along South East Florida’s installations, sculptures and exhibitions at Arts, Armory Art Center, Mounts Botanical

Square, guests were welcomed to a private meet and greet the annual campaign’s The artist’s cerulean blue acrylic theme against lime green booths and a pastel floral as local artists, photographers and press Palm Beach County’s cultural uniqueness. restaurant, next a to “Live True” mural, this group celebratory good vibe.

campaign. In its sixth year, MOSAIC has partnered with Zero Empty Spaces to launch this year’s first-ever open studio sessions. “For the first time visitors are invited to explore art spaces and studios, and interact with 65+ professional artists during Palm Beach County Open Studios on May 20,” said Perry. “During this free event, visitors will have the chance to visit Palm Beach County-based creative professionals where they work, witnessing the creative process with the opportunity to purchase art directly from the creator. Artists’ demonstrations will range from painting to glass blowing, photography, jewelry making, sculpture, printmaking and more.”

Resident artists including Burks will participate in the open studio day at venues including Zero Empty Spaces at Legacy Place and at Boca Raton Innovation Campus. Beasi will welcome visitors to her painting studio, located at CCPBC’s headquarters in the historic Robert M. Montgomery, Jr. Building downtown Lake Worth.

Beasi is emblematic of a regional arts scene that has made its way into the winder art world. She’s an accomplished, multi-disciplinary artist with hand-painted original works on display internationally in Hard Rock venues in Las Vegas, Dublin, Buenos Aires and Munich). During MOSAIC, another Florida native, Sarah LaPierre, will debut her new studio at The Peach artist space in West Palm Beach. Local and international visitors may already know LaPierre’s palette-knife, thick-paint style often depicting vibrant, tropi-pop scenes inspired by local flora and fauna. Her mural work has been featured locally at The Square, while her paintings are regularly on display at the local annual art show ArtiGras. Other creatives based at The Peach will be there to welcome LaPierre and her MOSIAC guests.

With Palm Beach County now boldly calling itself “Florida’s Cultural Capital” — and even trademarking the phrase — local officials are aiming high in a region where the competition for visitors and prestige includes the Wynwood arts district and internationally renowned Art Basel, two counties away in Miami-Dade. MOSAIC is The Palm Beaches putting its own cultural riches forward — visual, historical, theatrical, musical, environmental, architectural — with the confidence that they can live up to the promise contained in that patented tagline.

The Cultural Council, with its sunglasses logo representing a way of “seeking the arts different,” is also reminding people that culture is more than just high-dollar fine art displays encircled by club nights and cocktail parties. In the Palm Beaches, it’s also community-centered, year-round attractions and institutions such as the Cox Science Center and Aquarium, The Wick Theatre & Museum Club, Rohl’s Readery, Sunfest, Lighthouse ArtCenter Gallery and School of Art, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Arts Garage and Mandel JCC Boynton Beach, Palm Beach Photographic Centre, Taras Oceanographic Foundation and The Wick Theatre & Museum Club, to name just a few of the participants in MOSAIC.

Nicole Escalera” — often referred to as the alley way next to Subculture Coffee in preview and it defines the annual

Vacayers or staycayers can take it all in throughout May, and to sort through all the offerings, from botanicals to “Legally Blonde,” there’s a complimentary Cultural Concierge program, which provides visitors with with expert recommendations, complimentary tips, and enhanced access to local events, talent, and venues. (Email concierge@palmbeachculture.com for more information.)

For early access to MOSAIC offers and events visit mosaicpbc.com and sign up via email

THE WISHINg TREE

ARMORy ART CENTER

PSYCHEDELIC FURS

by DAVID ROLLAND

“Dazed and Confused,” “Boogie Nights” and “Blue Velvet” are all great movies named after enduring songs. But it’s hard to find a movie as intertwined with its musical reference as “Pretty in Pink,”

filmmaker John Hughes’ angsty 1986 coming of age classic starring Molly Ringwald. Like the movie it inspired, the 1981 song of the same name by The Psychedelic Furs is short and bittersweet, bristling with the emotional ups and downs of adolescence.

A couple of years ago, founding bassist Tim Butler told me in an interview that Hughes and the producers loved their song — but wanted a cover version from someone else for the movie. “Then they wanted us to re-record it because they said some of the guitar on the original recording was out of tune,” Butler said.

Fortunately they stuck with the flawlessly flawed original, although Butler remembered some early Furs fans weren’t too keen about the mainstream exposure. “We lost some of our original following,” he said. “They thought we sold out. It got us new fans but lost some old ones who said they stopped following us because of the movie release.”

Those stubborn souls missed out because The Psychedelic Furs have put out some great tunes across their 46 years of existence. It’s a shock, in fact, to realize that 2020’s “Made of Rain,” the band’s first studio album in 29 years, is just as vibrant and alive as beloved Furs tracks such as “Heaven,” “Love My Way” and even — forgive us, Jon Cryer and James Spader — “Pretty in Pink.”

“Made of Rain” is unmistakably the work of Tim and his vocalist brother Richard Butler, but from a different time, musically and technologically, and under changed circumstances. “I was listening to the Killers, the Arctic Monkeys and those first two Roxy Music albums,” Tim Butler said, adding, “We all live so far apart, but I’d send a song idea to Richard. He’d throw in some lyrics and make a suggestion like, ‘Speed it up.’ We were still the Furs but with some new influences.”

The Psychedelic Furs perform 8pm Saturday, May 20 at Miami Beach Bandshell. thepsychedelicfurs.com

years in the mid 80’s is still a rather tight knit of 250 members that still chat daily about music

The original DJ from Echo’s - Glen Nelson will regulars Jeff Wrye and Jonathan Moore who own at a number of venues. Expect all the of punk to the mid 80’s new wave, industrial They have already confirmed attendees traveling the country for the reunion, and are super the old faces. A slideshow is planned with halcyon days accompanied by limited interviews and regulars as well as livestreaming of the event are unable to attend.

Step back in time with the orginal crew missed! Guess which three tracks on the CURIOUS are included to foreshadow the nights activities.

The Echo’s Reunion will once again be by Respectable Street on 518 Clematis West May 13, 2023 from 10pm to 4am.

Performing “Eat A Peach” in full, with Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country

ECHO’S REUNION

by BRIAN JACOBS

For the uninitiated, Echo’s was the first Alternative music only club in Palm Beach County opened in 1986 by Rick and Beth Dewalt at 5 North “H” Street in Lake Worth. Echo’s was an all ages venue, so it is only appropriate that the reunion is being held at one of the oldest alternative music clubs in the country... Respectable Street.

The club, while only open for a few community with an active facebook group music past and present.

will be present along with guest sets from club who later went on to have DJ careers of their great underground classics from the dawn industrial and goth scenes.

traveling from across super excited to see all photos from those interviews from staff event for those who

and

see what you

CURIOUS EARS playlist activities.

generously hosted West Palm Beach on

Los

Searock presents the iconic Cuban band

FRI 5.19

Psychedelic Furs

Legendary post-punk British rock group in concert

SAT 5.20

Coral Morphologic x Laraaji

Aqua Garden Flow: ambient pioneer Laraaji with live a/v immersion by Coral Morphologic, animations by Robert Beatty.

SUN 5.21

Miamibloco Saideira Social

Season finale for the #305 Brazilian percussion ensemble, featuring special guests from Brazil, Morocco and beyond.

MON 5.29

Dirt Femme Tour + Special Guest Slayyyter

Morphologic art well-being

It’s projects with J.D. In Laraaji voyage idea Coral consciousness reefs

Consciousness is at the core of Laraaji’s work, which and prolific creation in a realm variously described disciplinary approach that has encompassed Laraaji is known for his joyful and encouraging space through his artistry for listeners to be enveloped, “People come up to me and tell me they left planet,” he said. ”Or the music helped them to Aqua Garden Flow restores one of our most ancestral all life on Earth. It also lets us know that we’re paying constant assault on our personal bandwidth and Visuals created by Coral Morphologic — whose that is both contemplative and breathtaking from artist and musician Robert Beatty. On collaborator, musician and sound healer Arji that aims to shift bodies and minds from “fixed”

Laraaji said he’s especially looking forward ocean waters, noting that we’re 70% water is one way to tap into our “soft flowing” nature, unconsciously when we “get on a swing or we

From his music and his references in conversation one thing becomes abundantly clear: Laraaji creates. His affinity for evolutionary repetition and based compositions; in recurring titles and motifs the fantastical (unicorns); and in the stories he Stories like how his love of music arose in church housework; how a magical voice told him to the zither in the pawn shop window; how the business card into Laraaji’s instrument case; and walk, the universe cracked open and revealed The process of repetition — in music, dance or stop driving out of Present Time and become concentrated such moments we can access deep relaxation and expansiveness of Laraaji’s music — a product achieve and maintain — we can center ourselves

When asked if he has advice for aspiring artists, with a three-word, representational “pet name” one of his. “That name helped me to focus on vibrational,” he said. “In other words, it could than just a linear performance trying to impress He said to be open to constructive opinions: conscious of what people are hearing and feeling When he started to make a practice of asking busking in New York City, he said it was “sometimes But after a while, “I realized that if I’m going with suggestions and constructive criticism,” me or it doesn’t apply to me.”

Asked what a perfect day would look like to When I feel totally prosperous.” And what is universe? “Being able to do what I want when “bringing discomfort to anyone else.” Or, likely,

Laraaji and Arji OceAnanda Cakouros perform and Robert Beatty, 7pm Sunday, May 21 bandcamp.com, coralmorphologic.com

by Celebrated Laraaji Bandshell immersive Flow.

l ARAAJI

LARAAJI

by CARLY CASSANO

Celebrated New York ambient musician Laraaji is coming to the Miami Beach Bandshell on May 21 to perform a new immersive experience called Aqua Garden Flow. His partner in this presentation is Coral Morphologic, the filmmaking Miami-based art and science collaborative focused on the well-being of the world’s marine ecologies.

It’s the first in a planned series of audiovisual projects uniting the veteran soundscaper with Coral Morphologic’s tandem of musician J.D. McKay and marine biologist Colin Foord a telephone interview with PureHoney, Laraaji sounded keen to get this aquatic voyage underway: “I look forward to the idea of sharing live music with video with Coral Morphologic — people who are raising consciousness about the situation of the coral reefs on our planet.”

which spans more than 40 years of pioneering described as ambient or New Age. With a multiencompassed music, stand-up, meditation and instruction, encouraging way with audiences — a healer who creates enveloped, nurtured and held.

left their body and they were flying around the to connect with a lost friend or a lost memory.”

ancestral memories — of the seas that gave rise to paying attention and staying positive at a time of growing unease about the health of the planet.

whose signature is a style of “underwater media” — will be accompanied here by animations stage, Laraaji will be joined by his longtime Arji OceAnanda Cakouros, for an experience “fixed” to “fluid.”

forward to spending time in South Florida’s warm water ourselves. Bobbing around in the ocean nature, he said, something we may also do we dance or we rock a baby.”

conversation to the rhythmic properties of human behavior, Laraaji is comfortable in the space that repetition and variation is there in his otherworldly, dronemotifs that encompass the real (oceans, suns) and shares in interview after interview.

church and by hearing his mother sing along to to forgo cash and instead trade his guitar for the legendary musician Brian Eno dropped his and how, one day at home after a meditative revealed itself to him in a chorus of horns.

even laughter — “allows the consciousness to concentrated in the present moment,” he said. In and a state like savasana. Through the intensity product of the centeredness he has worked hard to ourselves and calm our overactive minds.

artists, he shared a method of his: Come up name” for the work. “Vibra Space Sound” was on a direction — music that was spatial and could impact people as a vibrational field more impress people.”

opinions: “Accepting feedback is a way to become feeling or where their imaginations are going.” asking audiences for their input, back when he was “sometimes uncomfortable” to hear.

to grow and expand, I’ve got to experiment he said.“You find out, either it does apply to

to him, Laraaji said, “It’s a 24-hour free flow. prosperity for someone so in touch with the when I want to do it” — “without,” he emphasized, likely, any living thing.

perform Aqua Garden Flow with Coral Morphologic at Miami Beach Bandshell. laraajimusic.

THE CULT

by TIM MOFFATT

The Cult are the spawn of a hypothetical “what if…” scenario of Jim Morrison being born a decade later than he was and experiencing the punk movement first hand. Ian Astbury — the Morrison stand-in on an aughts tour with surviving members of The Doors — brings frontman charisma and countercultural mysticism that wouldn’t be out of place in 1960s, but with an over-the-top flair that could best be described as punk-adjacent.

Astbury scrapped his first band, goth rockers Southern Death Cult, but kept some of the vibe and variations on the name as he stepped into a partnership with guitarist and fellow Briton Billy Duffy that would define them both musically: Astbury, hair swinging as he delivered vocal come-ons and incantations; Duffy, oozing punk cool and hard rock vitality with his Chuck Berry riffs and post-punk caterwauling harmonics.

The pairing was volatile, but it produced a distinct sound and some indelible music that headbangers, punks and goths could all get with. We challenge you to find a better anthem than “Rain” or “She Sells Sanctuary” as the set-up for an interesting Saturday night. That chemistry has kept The Cult in front of audiences for most of the last 30 years, give or take a few breaks.

Under the Midnight Sun, released in late 2022, is The Cult’s 11th studio album. It might have arrived sooner but for the Covid-19 pandemic, and what did emerge was a product of remote work with Duffy and Astbury doing their recording — in almost too perfect an arrangement for famously quarrelsome bandmates — on opposite sides of the Atlantic Ocean.

They road-tested new songs on dates last year with Alice Cooper, Creeper, Zola Jesus and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club — an assortment that underlines the strange place The Cult occupy in the zeitgest. They’ve toured with Bauhaus, they worship Johnny Thunders, they’re into Native American imagery and culture, and are probably welcome in any biker bar in the land. The Cult hail from a moment in music when anything that could be weird and awesome was encouraged to be weird and awesome.

The Cult play 8pm Wednesday, May 17 at Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale

much like poutine, the St. Lawrence River be enjoyed by folks outside of Quebec — themselves. (Kidding, sort of.)

Voivod have existed since 1982 trampling sprawling to mention: Russian and Czech headbangers, post-krautrock Germans, New power trio of some renown that once had Voivod

Essentially, pick a band, a genre, any genre, for Voivod to pull from. This sort of omnivorous devotees of “METAL!” and all things that stem But don’t overthink it. Because really, wherever about bands they may or may not have actually defenses and conditioning, and stand right

The Voivod paradox — is it brilliantly highbrow some future eggheaded dissertation, and class at university dissecting the band’s inner Those learned opinions won’t be wrong. Annoying, about heavy music can be as valid as the binary — of denim and leather-clad heshers swilling windows. Think of Voivoid as a road trip with Béla Bartók all piled in. Wouldn’t that be a party! Voivod and Imperial Triumphant play 7pm Lauderdale. voivod.com

VOIVOD

by TIM MOFFATT

Voivod are a little band from Quebec that can do practically anything. If one were so inclined, one might say that a more perfect amalgamation of ’70s prog rock, new wave of British heavy metal and ’80s hardcore punk does not exist anywhere else, which would also mean this bastard offspring of music is Canadian by birth. But River and saying “Je me souviens,” Voivod can to the proprietary chagrin of the Quebecois

genre and absorbing influences almost too Czech symphonic composers, British progs and New York punks, and even a certain Canadian Voivod as a tour opener back in the ’90s genre, a time, a place, and there’s an inspiration omnivorous awesomeness can be a bit much for pure stem from the horned holiness of Satanic rock. wherever you go, there are people yammering on actually heard. It’s okay to drop your cultural in front of those speakers.

highbrow or ingeniously lowbrow? — is surely fit for 100 years from now there will no doubt be a inner workings and The Meaning of Voivod. Annoying, yes, but not awful. Scholarly opinion binary feedback — thumbs up, thumbs down swilling Molsons and chucking empties out of car with Yes, Motörhead, Genesis, GBH, Venom and party!

7pm Tuesday, May 16 at Revolution in Fort

100 GECS

by DAVID ROLLAND

If I was to guess 20 years ago what music would sound like after the apocalypse I would have probably described something like 100 gecs That is not meant as an insult. This Midwest duo combines keen pop instincts with a saboteur’s willingness to see where technology can put a glitch in the matrix. If you liked the combination of danceable beats, poppy vocals and heavy-metal guitar riffs that, say, Brooklyn’s Sleigh Bells provided in the last decade, and you wondered what would happen if artificial intelligence got a hold of that formula, 100 gecs have an answer.

Performing as 100 gecs since 2015, Dylan Brady and Laura Les really arrived with their 2019 debut album: “1000 Gecs” was unlike anything else, at times sounding like a record played at the wrong rpm. But both audiences and critics fell for it.

This year’s sophomore album multiplies everything by 10 — not just with the title, “10000 Gecs,” but by making things even more zeitgeist-y and of this short attention span era. Only two of the ten songs pass three minutes, and if you don’t like one genre they’re speedily experimenting with, another is quick to follow.

Les told The Guardian about the thinking behind one noticeable change between albums: less auto-tune on her voice, after the pitch-bending cyborgian software so omnipresent in pop was such a big part of the first record. “I’m not a very good singer,” she said, “so I generally haven’t tried to sing without manipulating my voice a whole bunch. But on this one I wanted to do less of that and I like it. I don’t like having to rely on a tool every time I want to do something.”

Footage of the pair performing in concerts has them bouncing around stage using voice modulators as they perform an ode to junk food, “Doritos & Fritos,” or pump-faking their audience by slowing things down for a brief moment on “I Got My Tooth Removed” before accelerating into a novelty ska song. Welcome to their hyperpop world.

100 gecs and Machine Girl perform 7pm Wednesday, May 10 at Revolution in Fort Lauderdale. 100gecs.com

BIRA & SUOM

That force is Miami’s own Miamibloco, a 40-plus musical joy with community activism.

Founded in 2017 by Brian “Bira” Potts, a graduate who fell in love with Brazilian music, celebrates and shares Brazilian music and culture. backgrounds who share a passion for many things understanding and community engagement

While putting on classes and concerts featuring samba, maracatu, and axé, Miamibloco also the globe percussively. For their third annual are rolling out the full squad for a live exploration African, Brazilian and global diasporic rhythms.

“We’re very proud of the fact that we’re presenting Potts, the ensemble’s co-founder and musical percussion community homegrown in the 305, this city. We’re honoring the tradition I’ve been something undeniably Miami.”

“Saideira” is a Brazilian Portuguese term translates to “last one” or “one for the and this year’s event will feature local acts internationally acclaimed musicians like Brazilian multi-instrumentalist Munir Hossn, Latin Grammynominated duo Rose Max & Ramatis, Matthews from Electric Kif, and DJ Le Spam, among others. The headliner, Samir LanGus of Morocco, is a Grammy-nominated maker of Moroccan Gnawa music, a centuries-old spiritual fusion instruments and voices that LanGus blends contemporary influences.

“Being able to produce a show that you through the narratives of Gnawa music Morocco, across the Transatlantic slave trade, its influence in Brazil and all other Afrodiasporic groups in the Americas feels like part of a healing journey for me as a woman of African heritage,” said suOm Francis, Miamibloco cofounder director of operations. “Every show has been cultural exchange, but this time we are going Modern-day Gnawa people are descended and central Africa. Their music, which LanGus hypnotic rhythms, call-and-response vocals, as the guembri — a three-stringed bass instrument LanGus is known for his guembri playing and jazz and rock into Gnawa. He has collaborated including The Brian Jonestown Massacre and Attack. He champions preservation and promotion London, and takes part in educational and cultural “The collaboration with Samir and his group influence is the cultural base of so much of Gnawa have a lot in common – music built tap into the healing power of being a small

The percussion-powered African musical diaspora the world, especially in Brazil, where it is acknowledged heritage and a shaping force in the whole famous of Brazilian genres, is rooted in the rhythms brought to Brazil by enslaved Africans.

Similarly, North African music is characterized with instruments such as the darbuka and Moroccan and Algerian music. As LanGus connecting with our roots, samba and Gnawa Miamibloco’s Saideira Social ft Samir Langus Miami Beach Bandshell. miamibloco.org

SAIDEIRA SOCIAL

by Abel Folgar

Mention a large gathering of percussionists and inevitably, a patchouli-scented vision of magical drum circles will form. But before you cue djembe-carrying hippies running wild with an untethered sense of rhythm, consider what a unified percussion force can actually bring to the stage. 40-plus strong percussion ensemble that blends

University of Miami Frost School of Music music, Miamibloco is a non-profit organization that culture. Made up of performers from different things Brazilian, Miamibloco promote cultural engagement through music and education.

featuring traditional Brazilian rhythms such as also reach beyond Brazil’s borders to circle annual Memorial Day Saideira Social, Miamibloco exploration of Miami’s own musical roots through rhythms.

presenting a show that is unlike any other,” musical director, told PureHoney. “We’re a samba 305, full of some of the most incredible talent in been lucky to participate in in Rio but building term that road,” acts and Brazilian GrammyJason among Morocco, Moroccan fusion of blends with takes music in trade, and Afrodiasporic healing heritage,” cofounder and been a new and deeper exploration through going all the way to the roots!”

descended from slaves brought to Morocco from west LanGus began learning as a child, consists of vocals, and the use of traditional instruments such instrument — and krakeb — metal castanets. and ability to incorporate elements of blues, collaborated with musicians from around the world, and the British electronica collective Massive promotion through his own organization, Gnawa cultural initiatives in Morocco and abroad. group might appear unlikely, but the African Brazil and the U.S.,” said Potts. “Samba and around community and groove. They both part of a larger thing.”

diaspora has had a significant impact around acknowledged as part of the nation’s cultural of Brazilian music. Samba, one of the most rhythms and percussion instruments that were

characterized by its distinctive percussion-driven sound, bendir featuring prominently in traditional told PureHoney, “It has always been about Gnawa came from the same mother, Africa!”

Langus takes place 6pm Monday, May 29 at the

ARTIST

SAMIR lANgUS

DAN LEVENSON

by VERONICA INBERG

You’ve heard of abstract artists? Dan Levenson is an abstract historian who paints. Through his canvasses and installations, the Los Angeles-based Levenson peers into the past to interrogate art history for clues to where, and what, art is today.

A conceptual juggernaut, Levenson is the featured artist in this month’s PureHoney and he has thoughts about many things art-related, such as: the school-to-gallery pipeline that he himself has traveled, and the contemporary art-world gatekeeping practices that maintain it; the contradictions of being a “professional artist,” and the limits of creative freedom. His vehicle for many of these inquiries is the “State Art Academy, Zurich (SKZ),” an art school that exists entirely inside Levenson’s head, and a body of work that Levenson produces himself but attributes, by name, to an equally fictitious group of SKZ students. Levenson’s canvases, with their hairline cracks and abrasions, can be admired without any meta-narrative. But they reveal even more once you know what he knows.

In an interview, Levenson confessed that his own time as an art student was not joyful. “I was very unhappy in art school, which is funny, because looking back it feels like such a privilege,” he said. “I was in London. I was surrounded by friends who were all great artists, I had nothing to do all day but experiment and make art.”

But art school didn’t manage to put him off his path. “Looking back it seems like it was inevitable,” he said. “I always loved doing art projects even before I can remember, in preschool. For a long time I nurtured the idea that I could be a lot of things at once. The truth is that the world makes this very difficult. It’s hard enough to do even one thing badly, let alone do it well. … Art seemed like the most meaningful choice.”

Meaning, for Levenson, is expressed through an abstract modernism comprised of geometric shapes. In Levenson’s hands, geometry and its historical uses yield a visual vocabulary for the discussion of art itself. In Levenson’s own understanding of what he’s doing, geometric order stands for “abstract concepts [that] are considered more important than concrete individuals.”

From Bauhaus greats such as Josef Albers farther back to the French avant-garde, Levenson has gathered inspiration for his fictional (but somehow familiar) timeline. His paintings, all made in this century, are transformed into worn or damaged artifacts through a bit of sleight of hand. By starting with linen canvas and paper as a base, Levenson has an arsenal of techniques to mimic natural aging: heat, cold, water, sunlight and more paint. All it takes is a little experimentation.

“When I visit museums I like to look at the edges of the canvas to see the dirt and little cracks that have formed over the years,” he said. “There is a poignancy to the material aspects of painting which we are not supposed to notice, which are meant to be hidden or covered over, but which assert themselves over time. I want to emphasize that in my work.”

Names and titles add another layer of historical make-believe. Artists such as “Ramona Naef,” “Imelda Hiltebrand” and “Clement Monhart” are just a few of the Zurich academy alumni memorialized in Levenson’s bold modernist canvasses. The names were all created in 2004 with a computer and a Zurich phone book.

“At the time,” Levenson said, “I was thinking about how the world constantly produces new artists, and each of us is supposed to be a unique, interesting individual and make work that is new and exciting. Then after a few years we are discarded.”

Levenson doesn’t attempt to supply viewers with answers but he creates room for contemplation. With his talent, philosophy and intention to be — in his own self-deprecating estimation — “more boring than ever!” he is moving through the art world at his own pace and on his own terms. He’s even teaching at some art schools.

To explain how he developed his own style, he quotes the late Martin Kippenberger, a (real) 20th Century artist: “I got very stuck until I suddenly realized that having no style is also a style … That set me free.”

“ETIENNE gSEll”

“IMEldA HIlTEBRANd”