PUREHONEY 55

5 Years of Joe at Harolds Celebrate 5 Years of Joe at Harold’s. When the psychologist recommends finding a focus, it’s time to get caffeinated.

At least, that’s what Keith Palagye did five years ago. He opened Harold’s Coffee Lounge and named it after his shrink.

Today, Harold’s has grown into one of the biggest and most popular coffee houses in South Florida. With a calendar filled with original art, live music and special events, it’s a place where coffee-lovers of all ages can feel comfortable.

There’s a lot to celebrate, said Daniel Wander, Harold’s director of operations. “We’re an original underground coffee house,” he said. “It started across the street five years ago, and now we’ve got more space and bigger events. It’s the heart of Northwood, with an emphasis on the art.”

Throughout each month, Palagye and his team schedule live comedy, drum circles and DJ sets, while featured artists are chosen to display their work. Every third Wednesday, they close down the street for a Food Truck Roll-In, complete with live music, vendors and more than a dozen food trucks.

But it’s the coffee that first brought Palagye’s passion into focus – and what brings in so many regulars. Harold’s serves organic, direct-sourced Intelligentsia coffee and the original “ice brew.” The triple-filtered reverse osmosis system takes up to 24 hours to create a coffee tar molasses for a seriously refreshing iced coffee.It’s no surprise that it was voted the best coffee house in Florida

by Zagat’s and TripAdvisor. There’s no beer or wine served at Harold’s, making it a safe choice for those in recovery. But after the 5th celebration, those who want to partake can head over the Bohemia AG, just down the street, for the after-party.

On June 11, Harold’s will celebrate its success with a 5th anniversary bash to fill the front and back patios of the coffee house at 509 Northwood Road in West Palm Beach.Featuring live music and art by Legends of Rodeo, Sweet Bronco, Shotgun Betty, Keith Welsh and Billy Gaffney and Martel Bird, the party will include raffles and original poster giveaways. The Caribbean Cowboy Food Truck will roll in for the fun, too. ~ Suzanne Wentley

Fractal Beach Festival “If you’re looking to hear cookie cutter mainstage EDM, then you have come to the wrong festival,” says Jacob Brady, better known as Skinny Hendrix. “The music at Fractal Beach is what makes this festival unique. We will be hearing everything from the psychedelic sounds of Ott. to the chilled out trip-hop of Blockhead to the deep, dark dubstep of Truth. You will see virtuoso live bands as well as live musicians sharing the stage with innovative electronic producers.”

Fractal Beach is the brainchild of Miamibased concert promotion and artist management company, Massive Ideas.

Looking to stay ahead of their competition in the already oversaturated dance music market of South Florida, this will be their Ott first annual showcase of local, national, and international talent. Hendrix, who’s been garnering momentum since he burst on the scene, has been working closely with the company since 2012.

With over 40 artists, including beloved locals Otto von Schirach, Afrobeta, Somejerk, Telekinetic Walrus, Nag Champayons, Hendrix and many more rounding out a weekend-long festival, Fractal Beach should become a compelling destination for festival fans. And with a boutique attitude that has incorporated art installations, live painting, workshops and panels on subjects like permaculture, healthy living and spiritual development, full day yoga, and beachfront camping under an affordable ticketing tier, it’ll be no time before those “other” festivals start biting on these guys.

Headlining this inaugural festival is old school British producer, DJ, and engineer Ott. who’s love for “organic dub and pristine electronics” dates back to the end of the New Romantic period and the beginnings of acid house and rave music; styles which he eschewed in favor of a purity of electronic sound. His two sets are sure to be the festival highlights, a live one and one with the Ottsonic Dub Sound System.

But what will be best of the festival is the spirit of community and the pleasant South Florida vibe as Hendrix describes it, “being a first year festival, it should be rather intimate, with lots of space to camp and enjoy the beach and the other festivities. It’s a perfect soundtrack to enjoy a weekend of camping, dancing and yoga right near the beautiful Virginia Key beachfront.”

For full roster and ticketing information please visit fractalbeach.com ~ Abel Folgar

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28

PROPAGANDA J STREET BLOCK PARTY: Bands for Bernie Block Party! 28 Bands – 3 Stages. Shotgun Betty, Fuzzhound, Uproot Hootenanny, The Zoo Peculiar, Mick Swigert, Rising Down, Now Breathers, The Prescription, Sada, Karol Stop Kallin, The Sunflowers, Bishop, Kocosante, Pocket Of Lollipops, Jean Jacket & MORE!

KYI: Urban Sombrero

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: This Frontier Needs Heroes FUNKY BISCUIT: Natural Wonder, Stevie Wonder Tribute

SUNDAY, MARCH 6

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Bias Culture

CHURCHILLS PUB: Michael Graves (the Misfits), Riot Agents

MONDAY, MARCH 7

PROPAGANDA: Thelma & the Sleaze (Weiner Records), KYI: Adult Books, The Gun Hoes, Dénudés, Johnny Mile & Problem Child, Fat Sun, Milk Spot DADA: Basement Jams the Kilometers

TUESDAY, MARCH 1

HOWLEYS: WOMEN Art show

KELSEY THEATER: Alex Rockoff Ink Master Screening BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Paleface, Zack Jones

FUNKY BUDDHA: Lather Up!, Ben Sparaco Band, Holly Bowling

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2

PROPAGANDA: Adult Books (Lolipop/Burger), Plastic Pinks, Chaucer, Mo’Booty DADA: Whiskey Wasps KYI: Valdez HAROLDS: Seeds Open Mic FUNKY BISCUIT: Vanilla Fudge OLD SCHOOL SQUARE: Jamnasium: The Holidazed

HAROLDS: A Latte Laughs Free Comedy Show Night

TUESDAY, MARCH 8

DADA: Comedy Open Mic KYI: Acoustic-Kill Open Jam CHURCHILLS PUB: The Brass, Speculum, Menudo Death Squad, Dome of Obedience, Klout

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9

CHURCHILLS PUB: Creepoid, Holly Hunt, Shroud Eater, Haochi Waves DADA: Joel DaSilva

MARCH 3-5

SPIRIT OF THE SUWANNEE: AURA Music & Arts Festival ft.

Disco Biscuits, Thievery Corporation & MORE!

THURSDAY, MARCH 3

DADA: Karlos Mars Band

RESPECTABLE STREET:: Jellyfish Brothers, Montage BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Open Mic Night PROPAGANDA: LFTD LVLS, Fireside Prophets HAROLDS: Livin The Rhythm Open Drum Circle CULTURE ROOM: New Found Glory, Protagonist BOCA RATON MUSEUM OF ART: Legends of Vinyl

FRIDAY, MARCH 4

KELSEY THEATER: Comedy w. Ken Miller

DADA: Elastique Band KYI: Burger Revolution Pre-Party PROPAGANDA: Propaganda’s Peep Show (Burlesque)

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: 747

FUNKY BISCUIT: Walter Wolfman Washington, Joe Moss Band BOCA ART MUSEUM: Portraits of Old Floresta Opening CHURCHILLS PUB: New Found Glory

MARCH 4, 5, 6

SUNSHINE GROVE: OKEECHOBEE MUSIC FESTIVAL Mumford & Sons, Kendrick Lamar, Skrillex, Bassnectar, Robert Plant & The Sensational, Space Shifters, Odesza, Daryl Hall & John Oates, The Avett Brothers, Future, Miguel, Fetty Wap, Ween, Big Grams, Grace Potter, Jason Isbell, Big Gigantic, RL Grime, Portugal The Man, Dr. Dog, Lotus, Nahko and Medicine for the People, Youth Lagoon, The Heavy, Deer Tick, Lettuce, X Ambassadors, Hundred Waters, The Oh Hellos, White Denim, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Booker T. Jones, The Supervillains, The Soul Rebels, The London Souls, Moon Hooch, Roadkill Ghost Choir, Spam Allstars, Michael Christmas, Swimm, Sunbears! & MORE!

SATURDAY, MARCH 5

HAROLDS: Fifth Anniversary Celebration Legends Of Rodeo, Sweet Bronco, Beatles Haircut, Keith Welsh, Billy Gaffney & Martel Bird FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Pablo Milanés

THURSDAY, MARCH 10

FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Coheed and Cambria, Glassjaw BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Open Mic Night DADA: Craft Bazaar

RESPECTABLE STREET:: Octo Gato, Now Breathers

HAROLDS: Livin The Rhythm Open Drum Circle Jam PROPAGANDA: LFTD LVLS, Holidazed FUNKY BUDDHA: Fractal Beach Pre-Party ft. Lucidea, Higher Learning

MARCH 11-13

VIRGINIA KEY BEACH PARK: FRACTAL BEACH FESTIVAL: Ott. (Live Set + Ottsonic Dub Sound System DJ Set), TRUTH, Thriftworks, Govinda Music, The Real Blockhead, The Nadis Warriors, The Heavy Pets, Roosevelt Collier’s PROPAGANDA: Goddamn Gallows, Husky Burnetter, Que Lastima All Star Jam, Yheti, Öona Dahl, EarthCry, Brightside, KELSEY THEATER: Guffpunch Screening The Resolvers, Unlimited Devotion Huffa Dubz, Skytree, DADA: Equinox Telekinetic Walrus, Afrobeta, Displace, Otto von Schirach, CHURCHILLS PUB: Joe Jack Talcum (Dead Milkmen), Dude Skywalker, Lowcut, SubSqwad, Galactic Effect, Coolzey, D&D Sluggers, Party Flag Jeremy Ismael, Electric Kif, Nag Champayons & MORE!

FRIDAY, MARCH 11

KELSEY THEATER: Nouveaux Honkies, String Assassins BREWHOUSE GALLERY: The Helmsman DADA: Big Chief KYI: Kitchen Club PROPAGANDA: Conflict Rhymes HAROLDS: Cafe Praise CHURCHILLS PUB: Batallion of Saints, Phobia, Ladrón CULTURE ROOM: Donavon Frankenreiter FUNKY BISCUIT: Ben Sparaco Band, Forlorn Strangers

SATURDAY, MARCH 12

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: JL Fulks

DADA: Speedway Giants KYI: Keep It Deep CHURCHILLS PUB: Mobb Deep CULTURE ROOM: Donavon Frankenreiter

RESPECTABLE STREET:: Leather Strip, Ludovico Technique, Cyanide Regime

HAROLDS: Opening Reception For Artist Anthony Burks FUNKY BUDDHA: Unlimited Devotion C&I STUDIOS: For the Love Music Festival: Further Seems Forever, MeWithoutYou, -kids-, Forlorn Strangers, Civilian & MORE!

SUNDAY, MARCH 13

FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Troye Sivan BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Garrett Fogg

BOCA RATON MUSEUM OF ART: Music in the Museum, Yasa Poletaeva & Darren Matias STUDIO 504: A.R.T. Live: Soul Night CHURCHILLS PUB: Bands, Burlesque, & Comedy

MONDAY, MARCH 14

DADA: Basement Jams HAROLDS: A Latte Laughs Free Comedy Show Night BOSTON’S: The Resolvers

TUESDAY, MARCH 15

FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Kirk Franklin

DADA: Comedy Open Mic PARKER PLAYHOUSE: Red Hot Chilli Pipers

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16

FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Vance Joy

DADA: Jason Soffer KYI: Guesthouse Music PARKER PLAYHOUSE: Joe Satriani CHURCHILLS PUB: Eons, X3SR, AstroMaps, Cannibal Kids FUNKY BISCUIT: Ben Prestage

THURSDAY, MARCH 17 DADA: Chucka Riddim

RESPECTABLE STREET: Zoo Peculiar BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Open Mic Night

KYI: Guesthouse Music PROPAGANDA: LFTD LVLS HAROLDS: Livin The Rhythm Open Drum Circle Jam FUNKY BISCUIT: St Patricks Day, Crazy Fingers, Fruition REVOLUTION LIVE: Rancid, Street Dogs, Coldside CHURCHILLS PUB: Mickey Rickshaw, 1309, The Gazms

FRIDAY, MARCH 18

KELSEY THEATER: JOVE Comedy BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Zack Jones, Lexington Brewing & Distilling Tap Takeover

DADA: Someday Radio PROPAGANDA: DJ Needlez KYI: SpiderPussy Party, Todd Terry HAROLDS: Lyrical Ink Open Mic FATVILLAGE: The Nerve Performance Art Festival TWO&: SoFla Ukulele Fest Open Mic, Ukester Brown, Jay Nunes

SATURDAY, MARCH 19

The Alleys, Loyal Frisby, Abolish DADA: Byant Del Toro

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Custom Bicycle Show, Jason Soffer KYI: Keep It Deep

RESPECTABLE STREET:: Beetlejuice Burlesque PARKER PLAYHOUSE: The Johnny Clegg Band

KISMET VINTAGE: 8 Year Anniversary Party

PROPAGANDA: El Dub ARTSERVE FTL: SoFla Ukulele Fest, Ty Olopai, Fret Halligan, Penny Hoffman, Mapuana, Ukester Brown

CULTURE ROOM: Less Than Jake, Beebs & Her Honey Makers, Fallen from the Sky CHURCHILLS PUB: Femme Fest RCB GALLERY: 4 Visions Fine Art Photo Exhibition Opening FUNKY BUDDHA: VibeSquad, Bells and Robes 3RD & 3RD: Royale Majestique

SUNDAY, MARCH 20

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Nip & Tuck CULTURE ROOM: Less Than Jake, Quit, Beebs & Her Honey Makers

PARKER PLAYHOUSE: Wellington Intl Ukulele Orchestra BOCA RATON MUSEUM OF ART: Bob Colacello, In and Out w. Andy PARKER PLAYHOUSE: Wellington Intl Ukulele Orchestra TERRA FERMATA: Nouveaux Honkies Trio, Billy Gilmore

MONDAY, MARCH 21

DADA: Basement Jams KYI: Keep It Deep WMC HAROLDS: A Latte Laughs Free Comedy Show Night

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 23

PROPAGANDA: Mischief Brew, Everymen, Viva Le Vox DADA: Grace Givertz KYI: Richard Vasquez

THURSDAY, MARCH 24

DADA: Paul Anthony & The Reggae Souljahs

RESPECTABLE STREET: Migrate

PROPAGANDA: The Movement CHURCHILLS PUB: Bong Zilla, Black Cobra, Kings Destroy KYI: The Wire WMC, Tony Touch HAROLDS: Livin The Rhythm Open Jam Drum Circle

FRIDAY, MARCH 25

KELSEY THEATER: Josh Gracin, Gravel Kings BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Subgroove

PROPAGANDA: Hurly Burly DADA: Lake Worth Long Shots FUNKY BISCUIT: Earphunk, Dangermuffin PERFECT VODKA AMP: Chicago, Earth, Wind & Fire

SATURDAY, MARCH 26

KELSEY THEATER: Spred The Dub & MORE! BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Twisted Tapestry

DADA: Bryant Del Toro KYI: Keep It Deep PROPAGANDA: Lavola HAROLDS: Free Intro To Synthesis Workshop FUNKY BISCUIT: Selwyn Birchwood, Noah Wotherspoon

TUESDAY, MARCH 29

DADA: Comedy Open Mic KYI: Acoust-Kill Open Jam

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30

DADA: Chris Michaud PARKER PLAYHOUSE: Robin Trower

THURSDAY MARCH 31

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Artist Opening, Open Mic DADA: Sol Republic PROPAGANDA: LFTD LVLS

RESPECTABLE STREET:: Wikes Oswald, Fat Sun THE BIRDSEYE: REUNITE 2: MindLikeWater, On Watership Down, In Like Flynn, Glad, Exploding Horseboy,

Adult Books

Adult Books Credit: Cassandra Marquez

Adult Books are a lo-fi, surf punk band in the vein that only California can produce.

All at once they conjure up sounds reminiscent of the Ramones, the Beach Boys, the Smiths and garage punk bands like the Black lips. Their approach to the shoe- gaze, surf punk vibe lends itself more to chilling on a beach with a radio and a beer than slamming in a pit, but this is 2016; who said that the punk spirit has to exist solely in sweaty, smoky bars. It’s hard to think that with the name Adult Books and their being from L.A. that there isn’t some reference to the band X in there too.

The band was hatched out of the prolific DIY house show scene in Orange County and the songs on their debut E.P. are intimate and urgent. They literally sound like a bunch of your friends who you would see at an overcrowded house show, where the sound is terrible, the beer is warm and the vibe is awesome. Since dropping their self titled E.P. in 2012 they have shared the stage with an impressive number of talented folks in the punk and indie scenes: FIDLAR, Tijuana Panthers, Mike Watt, Off! and the Vibrators, to name a few.

Their new album, and first full length, Running from the Blows, comes out March 4 on Lolipop/Burger Records. Judging from the first track they’ve released, Casual Wrecks, it sounds like they continue to mine the sun drenched, pop with an attitude that brought them attention to begin with. However, the production is full and the songwriting seems to have taken a bit of a turn towards early Cure era melodies and that will only help their cause in hooking casual listeners and converting them into fans.

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Leather Strip An engine of hard electronica known by his one-man musical brand, Leæther Strip, Claus Larsen showed a different side of himself in January when he posted an audio link to Dreaming — the “first song I ever wrote and recorded,” he explained on Facebook.

Leæther Strip

Dating to the mid-1980s, Dreaming is pure synth-pop — a chirping baby chick of a love song that could nestle on a club playlist next to Erasure and OMD.

A much harsher sound and sensibility would come to define Larsen, beginning with his very first releases as Leæther Strip in 1989 and 1990 on a German label, Zoth Ommog, named for the creature mythologies of horror writer H.P. Lovecraft.

But even as he vented with sadomasochistic fury about war, sex and death, tracks such as Japanese Bodies and Razor Blades (Go Berserk) bespoke the techno-pop buzz in his head. Larsen’s dream as a young Dane in the 1980s of making keyboard music in the style of his British idols — Soft Cell, and Depeche Mode and Yazoo — would live on in altered form.

Toiling for decades in the hybrid, electro-industrial realm of electronic body music, or EBM, Leæther Strip today is regarded as “[p]ractically the biggest influence for aggrotech, futurepop, and all other forms of post-millennial EBM,” reads the announcement of Larsen’s upcoming performance at Infest, a three-day electronic music massive this summer in Yorkshire, England.

As he lines up dates in 2016 for what he is calling The Zoth Ommog Tour, after his early years, Larsen is also on a retrospective kick with his recordings. In 2014 he released Æprecciation, a covers set ranging from The Cure to PJ Harvey.

The aforementioned Dreaming first appeared on Teenage Demos, an almost confessional compilation from 2015 disclosing his primary influences.

Larsen himself refers to what he does as “symphonic electro” — letting traditional harmonic notions bleed into a genre that treasures white noise.

Leæther Strip, with Ludovico Technique and Cyanide Regime, performs on Saturday, March 12 at Respectable Street, 518 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, 561832-9999, sub-culture.org/respectable-street. Showtime is 9pm. Advance tickets are $20. ~ Sean Piccoli

With the new release Adult Books are taking the party to parts unknown after finishing up their February residency at the Echo in L.A. Their sometimes melancholy take with an upbeat vibe may very well be what we all need to get us ready for Spring after a bummer of a Winter.

Adult Books play with Plastic Pinks, Chaucer and Mo’Booty at Propaganda on March 2 and with Gun Hoes, Denudes, Johnny Mile & the Kilometers at Kill Your Idol on March 1. ~Tim Moffatt

New Order, Singularity

New Order Credit: Nick Wilson

Music Complete, the band’s latest album).

Some of us bore witness to the emergence of New Order in mid-80s dance clubs. Some of us (like this writer) were born the year “Blue Monday” was released to become the biggestselling 12-inch single of all time. For the latter, we might have been introduced in a backward kind of way by unwittingly bearing witness to the indisputable influence of New Order through bands from Radiohead to LCD Soundsystem to Santigold and La Roux (whose vocals appear on three tracks from

The Magic City is one of six stops on the band’s U.S. tour after the 2015 release of Music Complete. This is the ninth full studio album from New Order, and the first in about ten years. The tracks feature guest vocals from the likes of Iggy Pop and Brandon Flowers from The Killers, and the minimalistic cover art is appropriately designed by graphic designer and former art director for Factory Records, Peter Saville.

The sound is singularly New Order, but this isn’t an anachronistic drop of an album from an 80s band. The fact that the album doesn’t seem out of time in the least is a reflection not only of their own artistry, but of the reach of their influence through nearly four decades from Manchester right through to Millenial pop culture.

As part of the release of “Singularity”, the first single from Music Complete, they launched an online space where fans and artists can express through images, words, and sounds the influence the British electronic synth-pop band has had on them. There are entries like a six-minute “mix-tape” from The Cure’s Robert Smith. Paul Wolinski of Manchester band 65 Days of Static shared the moment he realized that “what New Order are essentially doing here is transcending the idea of remixing before it had even been properly invented.” In an entry from Interpol’s Sam Fogarino, he describes being a kid in the mid-80s and discovering this new “dance-pop” that was “still, dance floor friendly, but with a quality that delved below the ‘pop’ surface.”

Visit Singularity-NewOrder.com to see other entries (or share your own), and you can delve below the pop surface with New Order at The Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater, Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 8:30pm. Buy tickets www. livenation.com. ~ Jessica Chesler

Return of Creepoid When a gloomy-sounding noise band decides to call itself Creepoid and then names two of its first three albums after graveyards, it’s natural to wonder what’s going on in that collective psyche.

Creepoid Credit: Noel Conrad

living and rocking out.

But don’t freak out: Death has thematic and decorative uses for these melancholy punks, but is not an object of morbid fascination.

Heirs to a wall- and well-of-sound tradition that spans Sonic Youth, Guided by Voices, Red House Painters and Low, Creepoid is more consumed with the challenges of

In an interview, drummer Patrick Troxell described the band’s recordings as autobiography, beginning with the bandmates’ childhoods in a leafy Philadelphia suburb, Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, that also contains an old equine burial ground known locally as “Horseheaven.” Troxell called Horse Heaven, the band’s 2011 debut, “personal and secretive,” in the manner of children holding their experiences close and sharing them only selectively, like a private language, with each other.

The 2014 follow-up, Creepoid, was about the developmental next step — “our teen-age existence as a band,” he said, adding, “All the lyrics on that album are questions.”

For 2015’s Cemetery Highrise Slum, Troxell, bassist and vocalist Anna Troxell (they are married), singer and guitarist Sean Miller, and guitarist Nick Kulp (since replaced) looked at their present circumstances. “We’re adults. We’re in our 30s,” said Troxell. “It’s money and it’s class and it’s all these things that teen-age kids and young adults don’t think about.”

They recorded the album in Savannah, Georgia — an historic small city famed for its crumbling graveyards. Besides providing atmosphere and inspiration, Savannah was the jumping off point for a year of heavy touring and refinement as a band before a return to home base in Philadelphia.

“We played 200 shows last year. We drove almost 90,000 miles and went overseas for the first time ever,” said Troxell. “We became real musicians.”

Creepoid with Holly Hunt, Shroud Eater and Haochi, 9pm Wednesday, March 9, at Churchill’s Pub, 5501 NE Second Ave., Miami. Admission is $5. 18 and over. (305) 757-1807, churchillspub.com. ~ Sean Piccoli

Less Than Jake The two-tone army was strong in the 90’s. Those that were there remember that, at some point around 1997 you couldn’t get away from checker board patterns and pork pie hats. However, the undercurrents of ska-punk bands were really the ones who helped jump start the craze. Unfortunately, for every decent ska-punk band there were at least a hundred that were making clown music for bandwagon jumpers.

Less Than Jake is one of the distinct exceptions to the misguided notion that ska-punk is lame and dead. Their debut, Pezcore, is a staple for most people who we’re experiencing all of their teenage angst in those turbulent mid 90’s. The holy triumvirates of the time were Less Than Jake, AAA and the Voodoo Glow Skulls; all of which put on incredible shows that could inspire everyone from metal heads, punk kids and rude boys to get down into the pit and get their dance on.

After a while, the 90’s faded and so ska-punk fell out of fashion. Bands like Skabba the Hut traded members and became the Bravery and the wave moved on to swing music; because horns. However, Less Than Jake just doubled down on their original idea. They kept making the music they love and forged on making records and touring. In fact the Less Than Jake crew has taken their original idea and built on it utilizing every opportunity to branch out in several different directions for their side projects. Some of which include other musical endeavors, but there’s at least one toy company and recording projects for other bands. Basically, LTJ have never shied away from any DIY, punk ethic and as such continue to stay relevant not only with their peer but with their audience as well.

Members have come and gone during their tenure, but Less Than Jake has maintained a steady base that helps them keep a constant sound despite any changes in the line-up. That’s not to say they haven’t changed and grown as a band, but developing a sound that can only be described as their own is a feat, in and of itself, for any band. To do that and stick it out during tough times and still find themselves on top in the end is a testament to the sheer power of will and tenacity it takes to succeed at anything in life. Cheers to that.

Less Than Jake play the Culture Room in Fort Lauderdale, Saturday, March 19 with Beebs and Her Honey Makers and Fallen from the Sky; Sunday March 20 with Quit and Fallen from the Sky. Doors at 7pm and tickets are $18. ~ Tim Moffatt

Nu Deco The Nu Deco Ensemble, Miami’s “21st century chamber orchestra” is on a roll. Fresh off an intoxicating night of collaborating with Miami’s Afro-Cuban jazz fusion group The Spam Allstars and performing their Daft Punk and LCD Soundsystem suites, conductor Jacomo Bairos and composer Sam Hyken are still buzzed by the crowd’s reaction that night at the North Beach Bandshell.

Speaking via phone from San Diego, the conductor recalled the energy from their most recent performance. “Something about this concert was really, really magical,” he says. “The collaboration went off better than at least I thought it would go, and the energy of the crowd was definitely unique. By the time we got to the second half everyone was standing up. It was almost like a rock concert.”

Credit Southerland Films/Monica McGivern

That was only the ensemble’s third show. The 24 piece group is composed of classically trained musicians from the New World Symphony, University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and the Florida Grand Opera. Bairos and Hyken founded the group to break down perceived barriers in classical music, something Hyken was very aware of having witnessed the night of the Spam Allstars collaboration. “For me what was special about this concert is that I saw our mission unfolding before our eyes in terms of its inclusiveness of music being universal and connecting to such a diverse audience,” he says.

Now they are about to unleash a new suite of music based on Radiohead’s music, and the interest in Nu Deco is bound to expand. Asked what songs he has adapted for the show, Hyken remains coy only revealing some of the albums both he and Bairos looked at for the songs. “There’s so much to choose from,” says Hyken. “I’m looking at OK Computer, Kid A, In Rainbows, Hail to the Thief and even King of Limbs.”

Hyken and Bairos promise their take on Radiohead will be as distinctive as their previous adaptations, which also includes bringing Latin influences to classical pieces. “It’s not a copy,” says Bairos, “because Sam and I are really composing things just like the other stuff. It’s original material… We both love Radiohead.

There is so much incredible music to draw from, inspiration to draw from, their harmonies, their melodies, everything.”

The Nu Deco Ensemble perform with Project Trio on Thursday, March 3, at 8pm at the Light Box at Goldman Warehouse. www.nu-deco.org. ~ Hans Morgenstern | The Independent Ethos www.indieethos.com