12/3 GRAMPS: Wild Party HAMMERSTEIN HOUSE: RE:CONSTRUCTION ARTS GARAGE: Delray Stories SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: “Big Band Holidays” Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra w Wynton Marsalis ft Ashley Pezzotti, vocalist 12/1-3 MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: North Beach Music Festival ft The Disco Biscuits, Cory Wong, Sunsquabi, George Porter Jr. & Runnin’ Pardners, Eggy, Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country, Mark Farina, Say She She, The Heavy Pets, Twyn, The Adam Dietrich Quartet, Electric Kif, Erica Falls & Vintage Soul, Ajeva, Brad Miller ft Oz Noy & Thomas Pridgen ARMORY ART CENTER: 7th Annual Holiday Arts Festival 12/1 RESPECTABLE STREET: JLG, Mold! & Hadee. REVOLUTION LIVE: Gimme Gimme Disco FLORIDA THEATRE: The Fab Four NORTON MUSEUM: Art After Dark – Klezmer Company Jazz SANDBOX STAGE: Dont Panic, Fuakata, RoxxRevolt PROPAGANDA: Old Habits, For My Sins, Seven Serpents, Spine Eater, Cardiel, Ljesus MATHEWS BREWING CO: CreativeMornings Palm Beach Coffee, Connections, Good Vibes w Guest Speaker Gurferlady BAR NANCY: Disco ARTS GARAGE: Art of Laughter w Tammy Pescatelli
12/2-3 SOFLO FAIRGROUNDS: Steampunk Adventurers Weekend Day One ft Frenchy & the Punk, For Love and Money, DJ Vlad, Guitarmy, Bard & Minstrels 12/2 RESPECTABLE STREET: 36th Anniversary Block Party w Teenage Werewolves, Surfer Blood, The Haunt, The Dreambows, Violet Silhouette, Dirtbike, Cannibal Kids, The Hails, Rude Television, TC Silk and much more! REVOLUTION LIVE: Knuckle Puck, Real Friends, One Step Closer, Arm’s Length PROPAGANDA: Intoxicated, MRSA, Virulence, Eternal Punishment RUDY’S PUB: Smiles for Miles TIPSY TIKI: FT PIERCE PUNK ROCK FLEA MARKET: Dial Drive, FWA, The Problemaddicts, Human Error, Colorblind Dinosaur, Constant Throw SANDBOX STAGE: Viloria, Pavlovs Bell, Beach Mirage BAR NANCY: Alexa & The Old-Fashioneds ARTS GARAGE: Elvis in Person
12/4 SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: Mickalene Thomas, in Conversation w Isolde Brielmaier 12/6 RESPECTABLE STREET: Violin Concerto BAR NANCY: Strange Bass SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: Clay Henderson, Forces of Nature: A History of Florida Land Conservation SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: “Brandenburg Concertos” Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center 12/7 REVOLUTION LIVE: DVSN RESPECTABLE STREET: Soul Particles THE LIBRARY: Wax On Wax Off BROWARD CENTER: The Outlaws, Artimus Pyle Band, A Skynyrd Celebration SANDBOX STAGE: Art Basel w. Period Bomb BAR NANCY: Hardcore for Punx 12/8 MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Action Bronson RESPECTABLE STREET: Luicidal (Suicidal Tendencies Tribute) LW PLAYHOUSE: Divas Holiday Party POMPANO AMP: Dark Star Orchestra PROPAGANDA: Violet Silhouette SANDBOX STAGE: Viscaya, BabyG., Siesta BAR NANCY: PinkFoot Goliath ARTS GARAGE: Ann Hampton Callaway Sings the 70s SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: film screening: Chasing The Thunder Q&A with director Katie Carpenter 12/9 RESPECTABLE STREET: Sugar the Nu-Metal Party BROWARD CENTER: Colin Quinn SANDBOX STAGE: The Boas, Miss.Michigan, The Lab, Alukard PROPAGANDA: Thunderclap, Iron Buddha, Star of Khorala, Snake Healer, Scattered Reality BAR NANCY: Kitchen Club ARTS GARAGE: Ann Hampton Callaway Sings the 70s SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: MetOperaHD: Florencia en el Amazonas 12/10 ARTS GARAGE: A Very Divas Christmas SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: The Nutcracker 12/12 REVOLUTION LIVE: Stephen Sanchez, Stephen Day 12/13 MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Yeshiva School BAR NANCY: Soiree SOCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: Trust w Pulitzer Prize Winning Author for Fiction Hernan Diaz 12/14
RESPECTABLE STREET: PureHoney Hollow Daze Concert w. Kairos Creature Club, Brett Staska, Rude Television, Lindsey Mills, The Dreambows BAR NANCY: Stereo Joule
12/15 RESPECTABLE STREET: DRI, Deathwish REVOLUTION LIVE: Emo Night Brooklyn
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ULTURE ROOM: Samantha Fish ft Jesse ayton, Death Wish Blues ORTON MUSEUM: Art After Dark – PB Opera ANDBOX STAGE: Backroom Sessions ROPAGANDA: Rize RTS GARAGE: Dick Lowenthal’s Big Band ft sanne Lyons: Royalty of Jazz Salutes Holidays
2/16 ESPECTABLE STREET: Disco Never Dies EVOLUTION LIVE: Lil Darkie, Kxllswxitch, Lil oe, Eddison, Flvco AR NANCY: Otto Von Schirach ROPAGANDA: Kink Night RTS GARAGE: Mambo w David Lucca Y Los Clasicos OCIETY OF THE FOUR ARTS: MetOperaHD: he Magic Flute
2/17 MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Dumpstaphunk, arina Rykman w. R.L. Cooper ULTURE ROOM: Mae, Veaux, Maggie Miles ROPAGANDA: Graveyard Disco RTS GARAGE: China Grove: Ultimate Doobie rothers Tribute
2/21 MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: North Beach ocial ft Suenalo ESPECTABLE STREET: Young Cassidy ANDBOX STAGE: St.Optional, Stereo Joule, Out Of The Ashes ROPAGANDA: Emo Night 772: My Chemical hristmas
2/22 ESPECTABLE STREET: Goblin King’s Fantasy oth Ball ULTURE ROOM: Tand, Guavatron, Galactic Effect ROPAGANDA: Fiends, Further Within, Until I ie, Moment of Violence, Cutting It Close AR NANCY: Afrobeta RTS GARAGE: Anthony Nunziata – Joy of hristmas
2/23 ROPAGANDA: Billy Doom is Dead, No ame Ska Band, Sewerside, Gargantuan arantula, Tiger Sunset, Butch & the Fat Doobs ESPECTABLE STREET: Emo Night Respectables AR NANCY: Fire & Ice RTS GARAGE: Wayne Baker Brooks
2/28 ANDBOX STAGE: Glass Cities, Metro Mover, Remyz
2/27 HE LIBRARY: Tiny Gear Concert AR NANCY: Burlesque
2/29 EVOLUTION LIVE: Oteil & Friends ULTURE ROOM: Trombone Shorty & Orleans Ave ORTON MUSEUM: Art After Dark – Origial Studio 54 Band AR NANCY: Ryan Bauta Cabaret RTS GARAGE: Hot Legs – Tina Turner Experience
2/30 ESPECTABLE STREET: LITMAS EVOLUTION LIVE: Oteil & Friends ULTURE ROOM: Papadosio, Keeka the Brave ANDBOX STAGE: Electronic Music Event AR NANCY: Burlesque RTS GARAGE: Smooth STB – Santana Tribute
2/31 MIAMI BEACH BANDSHELL: Magic City ippies ESPECTABLE STREET: NEW YEARS EVE ASH
STEPHEN SANCHEZ by TIM MOFFATT
Stephen Sanchez is an example, and maybe even a product, of the power of social media. The singer has the talent; of that, there is no doubt. But many talented artists toil in obscurity due to a lack of exposure. So Sanchez took to TikTok starting in June 2020, and by the following month he had a professionally produced single and a record label deal in the works. It could all just be right place, right time but, again, the guy is very talented. So the stars aligned, and social media assisted. Sanchez has adopted a retro crooner look more akin to Elvis Presley than Michael Bublé, and since his TikTok debut he has kept fans supplied with a diet of singles, put together a headlining tour, appeared on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon, and performed “Until I Found You” — an old-timey torch song from his debut album, “Angel Face” — at this past summer’s Glastonbury festival with Elton John. “Angel Face” operates on a literary conceit, with a fictional alter-ago, “The Troubadour Sanchez,” cast as a central character in a story fit for a ‘50s pulp novel. There is the singer, a mobster and the woman caught hopelessly between them. Sanchez recently told Billboard that he draws inspiration from indie musician Ben Schneider of Lord Huron fame: “He has made outstanding conceptual records with amazing characters. I’ve been inspired by him and his stories since I was in middle school. I am unbelievably honored to have written a few songs with him for the new record. His influence is one of the reasons this record ends in tragedy.” “Angel Face” is a statement, a deliberate tour de force from an artist on the rise with intimations of a farther reach for potential greatness. “Undeniable passion is Sanchez’s medium of choice; ‘Angel Face’ is his first great oeuvre,” NME opined with a troubadourlike flourish. If big swings and high concepts are Sanchez’s plan for his future, he is off to a dramatic start. Stephen Sanchez, with opener Stephen Day, plays 7pm Tuesday, December 12 at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale. stephensanchezofficial.com
SUENALO by AMANDA E. MOORE
Nothing captures Miami’s urban tropical playground energy like made-in-Miami music. Which brings us to Suénalo, whose funky, Afro-Caribbean fusionista sound is as varied and alive and body-moving as its place of origin. It’s an amalgam of the tastes and talents of the band’s many members, and Suénalo have developed and refined it for going on 21 years. A milestone that few bands reach, 21, will be celebrated in December with a birthday bash at the Miami Beach Bandshell, and with Suénalo delivering the mix of block party jam and high-life patio soiree that is their live-show signature. Birthed out of Miami’s DIY music scene in the early 2000s, the band formed under the vision and direction of founder Phil Maranges, whose recent passing his band mates announced in September on Instagram. “Phil’s jam band, reggae, and Afrobeat influences along with his unmistakable wah-wah guitar playing are foundational components of the band’s early identity,” the post reads, “but it was his ability to bring musicians and elements of Miami into the sound of the band that allowed so much of Miami to feel represented by the music.” In an interview, original band member Tony “Smurphio” Laurencio tells PureHoney that he and Maranges were living in Monkey Village, an artist commune in Little Havana, when Maranges corralled them and other housemates into a multi-piece jam band that began performing nearly overnight without any practice or rehearsal. Members have come, gone, and returned over the two decades since. Though a more refined version of itself today versus its DIY beginnings, Suénalo’s core, as current member Adrian Gonzalez tells PureHoney, still proudly resides in the tagline the band coined for itself: “Afro-Latin baby-makin’ descarga funk.” A tribute to Maranges and to Miami’s melting pot culture, the Bandshell gig will feature cameos from past members and roll out a new single, “It Takes Two,” ahead of a new album, “Dive Bar All Stars,” due in 2024. If it weren’t clear already, band member Amin De Jesus confirms to that “90% of the set is dance music.” So get ready. Suénalo perform 7pm Thursday, December 21 at Miami Beach Bandshell.
upcoming sh ws december 1 GIMME GIMME DISCO 21+
DECEMBER 2 KNUCKLE PUCK & REAL FRIENDS
WITH ONE STEP CLOSER & ARM'S LENGTH
december 7 DVSN december 12 STEPHEN SANCHEZ WITH STEPHEN DAY
december 15 EMO NIGHT BROOKLYN 21+
december 16 LIL DARKIE
WITH KXLLSWXTCH, LIL TOE EDDISON & FLVCO
December 29 & 30 OTEIL & FRIENDS JANUARY 5 THE TAYLOR PARTY 18+
JANUARY 6 SAVED BY THE 90S JANUARY 19 DOPAPOD january 21 BOWLING FOR SOUP WITH LIT
january 22 STORY OF THE YEAR WITH WE THE KINGS & YOUTH FOUNTAIN
FEBRUARY 2 HIGHLY SUSPECT
WITH DEAD POET SOCIETY
FEBRUARY 3 STATIC-X & SEVENDUST AT THE BACKYARD WITH DOPE & LINES OF LOYALTY
february 15 NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS FEBRUARY 16 THURSDAY WITH RIVAL SCHOOLS & MANY EYES
february 24 JP SAXE MARCH 7 WILLIAM BLACK march 30 CIRCLE JERKS & DESCENDENTS
WITH THE ADOLESCENTS
APRIL 8 SAINT MOTEL
Los Muñequitos de Matanzas Grupo Afrocuba de Matanzas Los Muñequitos & Afrocuba All Stars Bassekou Kouyate feat. Weedie Braimah & the Hands of Time Acoustic Varijashree Venugopal Gisela João Kinga Głyk feat. Robert "Sput" Searight, Casey Benjamin, Brett Williams, Dominic Xavier Taplin Nate Wood - fOUr The Joy Lapps Project feat. Larnell Lewis FUENSANTA Marcus Strickland Twi-Life Etienne Charles & Creole Soul artist-at-large - To Be Announced
DECEMBER 2023 FRI 12.1 • SAT 12.2 • SUN 12.3 North Beach Music Festival FRI 12.8 Action Bronson WED 12.13 Yeshiva Elementary School THU 11.2 The Last Riff of 2023: Doug Burris
Tribute Concert
SUN 12.17 Dumpstaphunk & Karina Rykman
with R.L. Cooper
THU 12.21 North Beach Social: Suénalo FREE SUN 12.31 Magic City Hippies 7275 COLLINS AVE. MIAMI BEACH, FL
MIAMIBEACHBANDSHELL.COM
MAGIC CITY HIPPIES by DAVID ROLLAND
Even dedicated followers of Miami’s Magic City Hippies might not know about the band’s unusual beginnings. “I used to busk on the sidewalks of Coconut Grove. I climbed up on the awning of a bank and stole their electricity,” Miami native Robby Hunter told this writer a while back. “After a year I got kicked off my spot.” It was fun while it lasted if not especially lucrative. Hunter recently told Denver-based musician and podcaster Andy Frasco that he averaged $60 a day busking on someone else’s utility bill for college students and anyone else who happened by with tip money. The illegal one-man band moved on to a regular gig at Grove watering hole Barracuda and along the way recruited collaborators: drummer Pat Howard and multi-instrumentalist John Coughlin, both of whom studied music at the University of Miami. From there, Magic City Hippies were born — a core trio working on a sound the band calls “indie funk dusted with a taste of hip-hop and baked in an oven of soul.” And the local boys have made good. They’ve played Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza and, closer to home, Sunfest. Their second and most recent album, 2022’s “Water Your Garden,” is low-key funky lounge music at its best and most chill. It’s also part of live sets that Magic City Hippies play for adoring crowds near and far. The band’s 2024 winter tour will take them to Vancouver, British Columbia, with a key local date on New Year’s Eve at the Miami Beach Bandshell — an event with annual hometown tradition potential since they rang in 2023 at the same venue. And while you can take the Hippies out of the Magic City for tours, you can’t take the Magic City out of the Hippies. “There’s so much from all the different flavors of Caribbean and Latin music to the ’80s legacy or even just the fact that the Bee Gees set up shop there in their heyday,” Howard recently told Flamingo magazine, describing some of the Miami vibes they carry wherever they go. Magic City Hippies play 8pm Sunday, December 31 at Miami Beach Bandshell. magiccityhippies.com
Join our favorite Queens and host Pepper Monroe at her annual holiday celebration! Be prepared to laugh your way into the holiday season with this high-octane, high-quality and hilarious drag extravaganza! 18+ Only | Ticket Price: $25 713 Lake Avenue, Lake Worth Beach www.lakeworthplayhouse.org | 561.586.6410
BOOK REPORT by LIZ TRACY
Writers Abel Folgar and David Rolland are regular contributors to PureHoney as well as several other South Florida publications. They’re also the authors of two recently published books that, in both cases, took about 20 years to reach readers. Folgar’s “Renault 30,” published last year, is a poetry collection about his childhood in Venezuela. Folgar first wrote the poems in the late 1990s while studying at Florida International University in Miami. Rolland penned the novel “Concepts,” about a young author who craves fame, at around the same time, when Rolland was himself a budding writer imagining his future. His novel came out in July. While vastly different works, both give readers an intimate look at times past, real and imagined, through the eyes of the authors as younger men. PureHoney checked in with them to talk about each book’s journey from thought to print. (Full disclosure: I’ve worked with Abel and David before.) Folgar named “Renault 30” after the car his father drove in Venezuela. The book tells of the Saturdays Folgar spent riding with his dad in the beloved vehicle. “My dad’s presence is felt in the poems,” he says. It is set in a period when a middle class thrived in the oil-rich South American nation. “Looking back at that time, the post-petrol boom in Venezuela but right before socialism — that sweet spot,” Folgar says. Folgar credits “66 Galaxie,” the only book ever written by Michael Loncar, as an influence. “I like that balance of the pop culture, the personal, the observational, the self-referential,” he says. The pandemic lockdowns gave Folgar time and opportunity to revisit the unpublished poems. He found they needed some updating. “It’s all super cringe. It’s like, ‘Who wrote this?’” he says, “I didn’t have the amount of life that I have under my belt now.” Folgar worked with his friend Yago Cura of Los Angeles-based Hinchas Press to shape up and publish the book. “These poems are in the wild now, they live free,” he says. Now, as a dad of two, Folgar spends his Saturdays with his young kids. Returning to the poems after so many years reminded him of the generational gap between himself and his father — a doctor by trade who is not the type to “bore” people with his feelings, according to his son. Folgar says of himself at this point, “I have a mostly gray beard, but I just went to Sweat [Records] earlier today and bought punk rock records.” Rolland, the blog editor at Miami-based Jitney Books, is the author of three previous novels and a screenplay writer. For “Concepts,” Rolland decided to do something very different from most authors, himself included: He put the book into the public domain. “No rights reserved,” the foreword begins. “Every part of this book may be reproduced without the author’s written permission.” Rolland is just sort of learning what it all means to let the world own your novel. It’s a huge pivot from what “Concept’s” main character, fame-hungry Jacob, would do. The book’s protagonist meets a Nobel-winning author who reads and loves Jacob’s manuscript. The famous author wants to publish it, but under his own more bankable name. Jacob wants the spotlight all to himself. Rolland’s many-layered narrative explores the dynamic between the two writers and Jacob’s shortcomings as he becomes a public figure. “Concepts” asks a question that transcends the ages: “Will people remember you and is that important?” Rolland says. Jacob represents the dark side of Rolland and all writers who crave recognition and immortality through their work. “That pursuit of being a legend, that pursuit that gives your life meaning,” Rolland says of the impulse. After dusting it off, Rolland thought he might update the pop culture references, but changed his mind. “I didn’t put a date on this, when it takes place, but I think it’s pretty obvious it’s in the past because there’s like answering machines and stuff,” he laughs. “There was no social media.” The book’s epilogue places Jacob at the Miami Book Fair, where Rolland was, as of PureHoney’s press time, scheduled to be promoting “Concepts” in November. Find “Concepts” at pablochiste.wordpress.com and “Renault 30” at hinchaspress.com
DAN HOSKER by ABEL FOLGAR
Dan Hosker is still a force thanks to the people who have tended his legacy with care. Before his untimely passing in August 2012, Hosker was one of the scene’s most beloved and genuinely different guitarists, throwing down at South Florida stages and recording studios for more than 20 eventful years. He was probably best known for being in the Holy Terrors, Boise Bob & His Backyard Band and Harry Pussy, but you could find him jamming with seemingly everyone in numerous settings. The annual Dan Hosker Music Continuum (DHMC) honors his memory with an annual South Florida fundraising concert — a festival, really — for the scholarship established by his sister, Chris Hosker O’Brien, to benefit his high school in Danvers, Massachusetts. Typically celebrated around his birthday in early December, the concert helps to fund a cash award to deserving students with a passion for music at Dan’s alma mater, Bishop Fenwick High School, to further their musical pursuits. The 20-plus invited artists for this year’s concert have “Made in Massachusetts” as their theme and will perform at least one song per set by a Bay State band or artist — like a page from the Albert Collins “Adventures In Babysitting” playbook, where “Nobody leaves this place without singing the blues.” Two stages at Tarpon River Brewing in Fort Lauderdale will feature a who’s-who of South Florida since the ’80s. Expect Mr. Entertainment & The Pookiesmackers, Humbert, Rat Bastard, Sparkchamber, Ugly Truth, and Russell Mofsky & Friends, among others. Also onstage, the DHMC4 featuring Holy Terrors alumni Rob Elba and Will Trev. The show, hosted by Erin Lee of South Florida Concert News, is free and family friendly, with raffles and more. DJ Skidmark will cover the gaps between bands. The DHMC celebrates more than the life of a musician who touched so many; it celebrates the essence of the music scene that formed him: A cobbled-together family of punks, freaks, artists and rockers that carved a place in a geographically isolated and musically ignored corner of the country. A sense of belonging that still guides locals to this day. The 11th annual Dan Hosker Music Continuum starts 11am on Sunday, December 10 at Tarpon River Brewing in Ft. Lauderdale. facebook.com/DanHoskerMusicContinuum
BRYAN RINDFUSS
WILD PARTY by OLIVIA FELDMAN
Wild Party came bopping out of San Antonio, Texas in the mid-2010s on a current of upbeat, danceable indie pop alongside L.A.’s Saint Motel, Cincinnati’s Walk the Moon and upstate New York’s Joywave.
It was good company and a promising start for singer Lincoln Kreifels and guitarist Lucas Hughes. They were seventh-graders making comedy rap and metal for lolz who got serious after hearing the likes of Phoenix and Passion Pit. By age 19 they were touring the U.K. as Wild Party with The Wombats. Their first LP, “Phantom Pop,” came out in 2014 and they hit the road again, now as a four-piece, for a planned yearlong tour with everything looking up. And then … crickets. “The album just wasn’t gaining a whole lot of traction,” Kreifels tells PureHoney. “I was starting a family at the time and felt some guilt for leaving them so often without making much money at all.” Kreifels was also dealing with multiple health issues, and the band left the road in 2016. They were effectively, if not officially, disbanded. Then about four years ago, the Spotify algorithm intervened: Songs from “Phantom Pop” started picking up streams, and interest in Wild Party surged. Just when they thought they should give it another go, Covid hit the touring economy. Separately, Kreifels’ ongoing health struggles culminated in an eight-day hospital stay. The experiences left him with another chance for himself and for Wild Party. A six-song EP, “Get Up,” came out in February. A new full-length album — their second — is coming early next year. The band is on its first tour in seven years, and being on the road again has introduced Wild Party to an adoring fan base. “We were always the opening band and playing to people who had never heard our music and just weren’t that interested,” Kreifels says. “To come back after seven years to rooms with 100 to 300 people with most of the audience singing along to almost every song was super amazing to see … it just made me really thankful for the detour we’ve been on.” Wild Party, Landon Conrath & Marielle Kraft play 8pm Sunday, December 3 at Gramps in Miami.
TINY GEAR CONCERT by ABEL FOLGAR
The rules are simple for anyone wanting to play the Tiny Gear Concert series at The Library speakeasy in Lake Worth: performers can sign up at 7 p.m. on a first-come, first-served basis; the show starts at 8 p.m.; only three pieces of musical equipment are allowed — and they must all fit inside either a briefcase or a backpack. Also, no laptops and no solo vocal performances. Got all that? A growing cadre of musicians has embraced these limitations at a once-a-month gig where new ideas and sounds are workshopped and refined in front of a close, receptive audience. “Beat makers, ambient artists, experimental artists and everything in between share their creative output in an inclusive and supportive environment,” series host Rod Furious tells PureHoney. “It’s a truly unique evening and one of the few art-forward events in South Florida.” Tiny Gear was the brainchild of a South Florida expatriate, Marlon Foster, and carries on with Furious emceeing since Foster returned to his native England. Held on the last Wednesday of the month for the last two years, Tiny Gear has become a home for experimenters and tinkerers from every genre corner operating in South Florida. “There is always something we’ve never seen before and it’s fun to see what everyone brings to the table each month,” Furious says. “We’ve seen theremins, melodicas, otomatones (a quirky Japanese instrument that looks birthed out of a Super Mario Bros. production meeting), toys, modular synths, samplers, homemade effects, and tapes.” The constraints on instruments “accomplish three main goals,” the host says, “to challenge the musicians to rethink their creative musical flow through new sounds and equipment, keep all participants in the same equal parameters with which to work, and to allow quick set up and transitions between artists.” In an era of mammoth movie franchises and pop tours, Tiny Gear rethinks entertainment as sheer scale to focus on something intimate and special — fleeting even as it lives in the moment — and sustainable. The Tiny Gear Concert series happens 7pm every last Wednesday of the month at The Library at Lilo’s in Lake Worth. Instagram: @ tinygearconcert_waxonwaxoff
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ESTE MACLEOD by KELLI BODLE
UK artist Esté MacLeod says that she has “a passion for blending colors” — everything from the traditional red, blue, and yellow to the more modern (and more modernly named) magenta, lemon yellow, and cyan. Color is one of the most basic qualities inherent to visual art that defines its form. Most artists tend to hold strong feelings about color. But what separates a master from a dabbler? First, says PureHoney’s artist of the month, ”Stick to a limited color palette to maintain focus. Additional colors can be introduced later once the base artwork has been established. I prefer working on canvases with existing marks and colors. This is something I discovered when my son was a toddler, and I allowed him to paint on my canvases to keep him occupied. Recognizing the energy in these marks, I started using them as an underpainting. I love how unexpected elements like brush marks in clashing colors or unique textures can steer a painting in unexpected directions.” Second, she says, “Create a habit of drawing in a sketchbook. Drawing is essential for establishing the basics of a creative style. Engage in observational studies, simple doodles, and quick sketches to discover your unique voice. Consistent practice is key: explore different media to find what suits you best. Working in collections of six or more artworks in a subject, style, or color is a great way to really get into the creative process and produce a cohesive body of work. This is preferable to doing lots of work in different styles that might disrupt your flow.” MacLeod is an accomplished textile designer, most recently launching In the Pink, a quilt fabric collection for Freespirit Fabrics. Integrating textile design with painting has yielded a unique viewpoint for the artist. “By abstracting forms, they become designs,” she says. “This is fundamentally how textiles are designed and how you develop a clear voice artistically. During my studies in textile design in the late 1980s and early 90s, everything was created by hand using gouache, nothing digital. Silk screens were used for printing fabric, with each color requiring a separate screen. You learned to be clever with color layering, incorporating translucent layers to develop more colors as they are printed one on top of another. Even now, I apply this mindset in my art, utilizing translucence to add depth.”
LINDIAS KITCHEN
However, the achievement she is most proud of was an unexpected coup – becoming an instructor for thousands of students worldwide. “Teaching art happened unexpectedly. When fellow students in an online art business course I was taking asked me to teach an online painting course, I thought that if enough people were interested, I’d put a course together. This number increased, and since 2015, I’ve taught thousands of students worldwide, all with different levels of artistic experience. It’s a joy to see how they develop their voices over time. I simplify processes in my teaching, and in 2016, I developed a program called Create Leap, where handwriting letters and numbers are used to start drawings. By using something familiar as an anchor point, the process becomes easier, and it helps creative energy to flow. I use this process in all of my courses, regardless of media or subject.” The third step in mastering color, according to MacLeod, would be to “keep an open mind and continue to learn and push your own boundaries. Share your work on social media and personal websites. We are all influenced by other artists, by our contemporaries and artists from the past but it’s important to keep your artistic integrity. Never post your copies of another living artist’s work online! If you BLUE CAT want to learn techniques by emulating them, that’s fine as a learning tool, but it’s never a good idea to base your own work on another’s. Creating direct copies for your own work is not only unethical but is also considered illegal. Remember: authenticity vs originality. It is almost impossible to create something truly unique as far as the subject of art is concerned. However, by focusing on authenticity instead and making art that reflects your style and choice of colors, your voice will stand out. Keep on creating, and remember, all artists were first amateurs.” Find PureHoney’s December 2023 artist of the month @estemacleod on Instagram and at estemacleod.com.