RESPECTABLE STREET AND PUREHONEY MAGAZINE PRESENT
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DECEMBER 9,2017 9PM AT
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Front Line Assembly Courtey of Mindphaser
Canada is our awesome cousin to The North, known for many fine things: hockey, bacon, cheap pharmaceuticals and the pronunciation of “about” as “aboot.” Canada is also the birthplace of the influential electro-industrial band Skinny Puppy, one of whose offshoots is Front Line Assembly.
Front Line Assembly play industrial music that’s more reminiscent of New Order and Front Line Assembly early, disavowed Ministry; it’s a little creepy but you can totally dance to it. When South Florida’s ’90s goth kids ran amok after dark in their sun-bleached landscape, still seething from the heat, they were vamping to groups like Front Line Assembly in dimly lit corners of clubs reserved the other six nights of the week for light beer-fueled activities. Front Line Assembly have embraced elements of electronic body music, or EBM, which originated in Belgium and other parts of Europe alongside new wave. Bill Leeb, who formed the group after exiting Skinny Puppy, has named SPK, Test Dept., Severed Heads, Liaisons Dangereuses and Einstürzende Neubauten as primary influences. “I think it was finding a middle ground between all of that and Cabaret Voltaire and experimenting with it,” Leeb told Altvenger magazine in 2016. In truth, Front Line Assembly is more fun, dark, dance music than industrial, angsty goth. It’s a sensibility that’s better suited to the real world, frankly, since goths, like emo kids, can be sooo one-dimensional in their miseries. Somewhere along the evolutionary line from vampire makeup-wearing punk roots, to goth, dark wave, EBM, emo and all that jazz, a serious disconnect developed: In the middle of the transition, right after bands like 45-Grave and even Berlin, the fun got sucked right out and it was all gloom and doom, all the time. Let’s be honest: Nothing is gloom and doom all the time. Even if you find humor in the darkest of places, you’re still laughing. Front Line Assembly is the band that laughs at your pain when you sprain your ankle dancing but it’s alright because you’re out having fun. Anything with a beat and some kitsch is a gas. And who doesn’t like Canadians? Just look at that dreamboat Justin Trudeau. Front Line Assembly play November 4 at Respectable Street in West Palm Beach with Cubanate, Vampyre Anvil, Cyanide Regime and Skoros. ~ Tim Moffatt
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UDDHA LOUNGE & BREWERY 6lack
NOVEMBER 2017 EVENTS
Wiki Media Commons
funky buddha lounge & brewery
On October 10, Gucci Mane released a video of his talk with author Malcolm Gladwell. A year out of prison, the Atlanta-raised Godfather of Trap told Gladwell about life behind bars, about his personal transformation, and shared who was currently on his playlist. Occupying a top spot was another Atlanta hip-hop artist: 6lack.
6lack
This time last year, 6lack was at the tipping point of transitioning from a struggling hip-hop artist who had left college to work at a Miami record label into a viral sensation. That was when he released the video for “PRBLMS” on YouTube. It was the first single from his album “FREE 6LACK” with LVRN, an Atlanta-based indie label backed by Interscope.
THUR 11.2 ...............................THE METROPOLITIAN, LEFT HANDED JACKET, & FOUNT FRI 11.3 TREJAE BLU, DAVID GOODIER, SAGIT ZIBERMAN, & BRETT SKY LOWENSTEIN SAT 11.4 .............................................................................GUAVATRON & THE REALITY THUR 11.9 ....................................BA ROOS, OCEAN DISCO, & CLOSER TO THE OCEAN FRI 11.10 ...............................................................................CALM BOMB EP RELEASE SAT 11.11 ............................................................................FUNKY FALL COMEDY BASH THUR 11.16 ........................................................................................ANDY SHAW BAND FRI 11.17 ...........................................................GIRL JERRY: GRATEFUL DEAD TRIBUTE SAT 11.18 .......................................JONATHAN AUERBACH TRIO & INNER COURT BAND FRI 11.24 ..........................................................BRAD MILLER QUARTET & ADAM DAVID SAT 11.25 ..................................................FUNKY BUDDHA: BUDDHIST COMEDY SHOW THUR 11.30 ...............................................................................................CUSTARD PIE
It could be the highly personal, moody r&b lyrics over classic trap beats that attracted so much attention. It could be the live bear sitting next to 6LACK on bed throughout much of the video, or it could be that PRBLMS showed up as background music in one of Kylie Jenner’s Snapchats. Either way, Rolling Stone included him in a list of “10 New Artists You Need Now” barely a month later.
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6lack manages to maintain a spiritual connection to his musical predecessors from Zone 6, but forgoes the narratives of the hardcore, drugs-guns-and-money lifestyle for artistic introspection and intense contemplation.
WEEKLY EVENTS
2621 N FEDERAL HWY, BOCA RATON | 561-368-4643 | WWW.THEFUNKYBUDDHA.COM
GRIZZLY BEAR Tom Hines
Grizzly Bear started as founder Edward Droste’s bedroom recordings for a solo project — the name came from an old boyfriend’s nickname, and it stuck. In 2004, Droste released Grizzly Bear’s debut album, “Horn of Plenty,” accompanied by a future fulltime bandmate, the aptly named Christopher Bear, on drums.
Droste quickly saw the upside of playing with other musicians. “I was quite happy to relinquish the idea of being a solo artist,” he would tell The Scotsman in an interview many years later. “I hate the thought of being under a spotlight with my guitar, mumbling into a microphone. It’s horribly scary to me.” Grizzly Bear
With that, a band was born. And not long after, Droste and his mates were touring with the likes of Radiohead, and could count among their fans Radiohead guitarist and multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood, who in 2008 pronounced Grizzly Bear his new favorite band. In between the band’s third and fourth studio albums came the Grizzly Bear-scored soundtrack for the 2010 film, “Blue Valentine,” starring Ryan Gosling and Michelle Williams. The band’s sound is an atmospheric mélange of psychedelia, indie rock, folk pop and experimental music. There’s a distinct Beach Boys flair to the music, and further proof of their harmonious intent lies in a 2010 cover of The Crystals’ “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss).” Grizzly Bear’s haunting version improves on the original by adding dark undertones to an already devious justification of spousal abuse. “Painted Ruins,” the groups fifth full length, landed in August to widespread critical praise. Grizzly Bear teased the new album — its first for a major label (RCA) — with mysterious online videos and issued the first single, “Three Rings,“ at midnight on May 4 in each successive time zone across the world. Droste told Spin Magazine: “This is my favorite record that we’ve ever made, personally. We didn’t have a label [when we recorded it]; we were just like ‘If this is gonna happen, it’s gonna happen.’ We’re a democracy; there’s no leader.” For a band that started out as a solo project in a bedroom in Brooklyn, Grizzly Bear has capitalized on the possibilities afforded to musicians open to new ideas and experimentation. Grizzly Bear play November 16 at the Fillmore Miami Beach ~ Tim Moffatt
The video now has close to 60 million views, and 6lack has been making the rounds on late night talk shows, appearing with The Weeknd, and touring the country. There are three late-November stops Floridians can look forward to on the FREE 6LACK tour. So, if you’ve made it this far without googling how to pronounce Ricardo Valdez Valentine’s stage name, you can eliminate the pronunciations “six-lack” or “slack” from your list in exchange for “black.” The number six is a reference to several things that hold great significance for the rising artist, One of which is his childhood in East Atlanta. The area is affectionately referred to as Zone 6, the Atlanta Police Department designation for a patrol sector that also produced Gucci Mane, Rich Homie Quan and Childish Gambino.
6LACK performs with Sy Ari Da Kid on November 28 at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale ~ Jessica Chesler
Alt-J Gabriel Green
Alt-J landed in 2012 with “An Awesome Wave,” straddling a line between ambient and alternative. Tracks like “Breezeblocks” and “Fitzpleasure,” although hard in places, felt too soothing to represent for a record whose title is a line from the movie version of “American Psycho.” Five years later, the British band’s splicing of spiky synths and guitars remains tough to ca tegorize — but receptive to change, judging by Alt-J “Relaxer,” the third full-length from Alt-J and the occasion for a new U.S. tour. A trio since guitarist Gwil Sainsbury’s exit in 2014, Alt-J have re-emerged sounding more mature even as they reach back to their beginnings. Among the eight tracks on “Relaxer” are a handful, like “In Cold Blood,” they started assembling a decade ago at the University of Leeds. Standouts on “Relaxer” include a stately, almost choral cover of The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun.” And then there’s “Hit Me Like That Snare,” a go-getter about a someone wandering rooms in a sex hotel (“Fuck you! I’ll do/What I wanna do”). At university “we were fresh-faced and full of ideas,” keyboardist and vocalist Gus Unger-Hamilton told NPR in May. “And we’ve tried to keep that spirit, but we also got better at our instruments … and I think the experimental side of it has become a bigger thing.” Six of the eight feature strings by the London Metropolitan Orchestra, as Unger-Hamilton, singer and guitarist Joe Newman and drummer Thom Green tap musicians from other disciplines to help them achieve their vision. It will certainly be interesting to see how these heavily arranged, album-oriented tracks play out on stage. It’s always been difficult to place Alt-J by genre, and they’ve made some bold moves. People thought it was weird when they sampled a Miley Cyrus vocal on 2014’s “Hunger of the Pine,” but after a few listens it somehow worked. One minute they’re art rock, the next they mix folk and a Casiotone. The net result is a strangely beautiful hodgepodge of feelgood tunes. Alt-J perform November 10 at the Fillmore Miami Beach with NoMBe and November 11 at the House of Creatives Festival on Virginia Key with MGMT and Washed Out. ~ Olivia Feldman
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28
CLEMATIS STREET WPB: MOONFEST
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 29
VOLTAIRE: Joel DaSilva
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8
DUBLINER: Bron Burbank KILL YOUR IDOL: Holy Dances REVOLUTION LIVE: Hoodie Allen
REVOLUTION LIVE: The Marcus King Band CWS: Joey Tenuto Jr.
MONDAY, OCTOBER 30
VOLTAIRE: Salon No. 4: Boston Marriage, Monica McGivern DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays HULLABALOO: Beartoe
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31
FUNKY BUDDHA: Halloween Costume Bash DADA: Zoo Peculiar Halloween Show
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1
FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Jon Bellion
SEMINOLE HARD ROCK: Roger Daltrey w Members of The Who DUBLINER: Walk Rooney KILL YOUR IDOL: Rachel Rage
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 2
DADA: Tyler G & The Vibes Farm DUBLINER: Living Daylights KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke w/ Shelley Novak
RESPECTABLE STREET: Cardinal Moses
THE GROUND AT CLUB SPACE: Wax Tailor, Charlotte Savary, Mattic, Dirty Art Club FUNKY BUDDHA: The Metropolitan, Left Handed Jacket, Fount KELSEY THEATER: Knuckle Puck, Movements CWS: JL Fulks Duo REVOLUTION LIVE: Day of the Dead
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9
VOLTAIRE: Shana Falana, Lindsey Mills, Turtle Grenade DADA: Electric Red DUBLINER: Mark Telesca
RESPECTABLE STREET: Backpage Escort
CWS: Erik O’Neil REVOLUTION LIVE: Shaggy FUNKY BUDDHA: Ba Roos, Ocean Disco, Closer to the Ocean CHURCHILLS PUB: Michale Graves, Riot Agents, The 3 Amigos
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10
FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Alt-J
CWS: Black & Creme DADA: Big Chief RESPECTABLE STREET: Viniloversus, Kids, Wilder SUBCULTURE COFFEE DELRAY: The Metropolitan Sons, Alex Di Leo DUBLINER: Poor Life Decisions DADA: Jonathan Auerbach Trio KILL YOUR IDOL: Bermuda Beach SUBCULTURE COFFEE DELRAY: Holy Dances FUNKY BUDDHA: The Calm Bomb Experience FUNKY BUDDHA: Trejae Blu, David Goodier, Sagit Zilberman, STACHE: Sofilla Brett Sky Lowenstein SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11 DUBLINER: Mechanical Hearts SEMINOLE HARD ROCK: Lindsey Buckingham & Christine CWS: Uproot Hootenanny McVie STACHE: TKA VOLTAIRE: Cabaret Voltaire Drag Extravaganza CHURCHILLS PUB: Day of the Dead Music Festival DADA: Ocean Disco SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 4 DUBLINER: The Last Word RESPECTABLE STREET: Front Line Assembly, KILL YOUR IDOL: Keep It Deep Cubanate, Vampyre Anvil FUNKY BUDDHA: The Buddhist Comedy Show VOLTAIRE: Cabaret Voltaire Drag Extravaganza PROPAGANDA: Barb Wire Dolls, Svetlanas, 57, Church Girls DADA: Soul of Brass CWS: Solemark DUBLINER: Spidercherry O’MALLEY’S: Spite, Bodysnatcher, I AM FUNKY BUDDHA: Guavatron, The Reality CHURCHILLS PUB: The Kitchen Club with 16BIT SEMINOLE HARD ROCK: Tracy Morgan SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12 CWS: Xander James VOLTAIRE: JP Soars & the Redhots C&I: MillionYoung THE GROUND AT CLUB SPACE: Whitechapel, Carnifex, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 5 Rings Of Saturn, Entheos & Guests
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 3
VOLTAIRE: JM & the Sweets
FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Circa Survive, Thrice
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 6
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13
KILL YOUR IDOL: Cattlefish Fritter (Japan), Dénudés, Octo Gato CHURCHILLS PUB: the Ethiopians
FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Niall Horan, Flicker Sessions 2017 DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays
CHURCHILLS PUB: The Black Market, No Raza, The Glorious Death, Faethom, Mordeum DADA: Open Mic KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays
CWS: Spred the Dub DADA: Matthew Joy SUBCULTURE COFFEE DELRAY: Tingy Thick DUBLINER: Jenga FUNKY BUDDHA: Brad Miller Quartet, Adam David KILL YOUR IDOL: Shameless Burlesque THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16 STACHE: JM & The Sweets FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Grizzly Bear, Painted Ruins CHURCHILLS PUB: Elysium ‘Black Friday’ CWS: Tasty Vibrations
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15
DUBLINER: Chase Stites KILL YOUR IDOL: Hoy Polloy O’MALLEY’S: MeWithoutYou KELSEY THEATER: Scale the Summit , Angel Vivaldi, Andy James
VOLTAIRE: Public Sounds Collective presents FUNKTION feat Alexander Star
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 25
DUBLINER: The Axcents FUNKY BUDDHA: The Andy Shaw Band
RESPECTABLE STREET: Afterlife, Fame on Fire, Happy Hour, Sounds of the Rodeo, Intervention, Seven Serpents, Church Girls
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17
VOLTAIRE: Cabaret Voltaire Drag Extravaganza
VOLTAIRE: Hillside Spirit Revival, Nervous Monks, Keith Johns
SUBCULTURE COFFEE DELRAY: Takers & Leavers FUNKY BUDDHA: Girl Jerry, a tribute to the Grateful Dead CWS: Future Prezidents STACHE: Spider Cherry O’MALLEY’S: Knockout Kid, Story Untold, Rivals, Rough Start DUBLINER: Thirty Hertz CHURCHILLS PUB: Lydia Lunch & Weasel Walter
DADA: The 321
DUBLINER: Three Amigos
FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Rodrigo y Gabriela
KILL YOUR IDOL: The Wire CWS: The Kinected FUNKY BUDDHA: The Funky Buddha Fall Comedy Fest CHURCHILLS PUB: Kool Keith, Mayday, Galactic Effect
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 26
VOLTAIRE: Joey George & the Deadbeat Daddies
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18
REVOLUTION LIVE: $uicideboy$ CHURCHILLS PUB: the Ethiopians
DUBLINER: High Tolerance
KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays
CWS: Bobby Lee Rodgers FUNKY BUDDHA: Jonathon Auerbach Trio, the Inner Court Band
REVOLUTION LIVE: 6lack CHURCHILLS PUB: All Folk’d Up
RESPECTABLE STREET: Everymen, The Zoo Peculiar, MONDAY, NOVEMBER 27 Lavola, Sunnyvale, The Wandering Girls, The DADA: Open Mic Muggles, Seven Serpents, Inside Jokes VOLTAIRE: Cabaret Voltaire Drag Extravaganza
SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 19
VOLTAIRE: Blues Crusaders CHURCHILLS PUB: Rakeem
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 28
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 29
RESPECTABLE STREET: Battalion Of Saints, The Nobodys, The Cryptics, M.D.S
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 20
REVOLUTION LIVE: Poptone DUBLINER: Necessities KILL YOUR IDOL: Left Handed Jacket
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 21
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30
KILL YOUR IDOL: Drag Mondays CHURCHILLS PUB: Makoto Kawabata & Tatsuya Nakatani DUBLINER: Rio Peterson KILL YOUR IDOL: Sight Set CWS: Spider Cherry
FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Masterclass by Samer Khouzami CWS: Bryce Allen Band
RESPECTABLE STREET: Coral Canyons DADA: JL Fulks FUNKY BUDDHA: Custard Pie DUBLINER: Spidercherry KILL YOUR IDOL: Karaoke w/ Shelley Novak
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 6
FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Paramore
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 8
VOLTAIRE: Ben Katzman’s Degreaser, Milk Spot FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Tchami x Malaa
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 9
RESPECTABLE STREET: of Montreal, Christina Schneider’s Genius Grant, Dead and Loving It
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 22
FUNKY BUDDHA: The Buddha Open Mic Special Event
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 23
DADA: Southern Tier DUBLINER: Mechanical Hearts
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 24
FRIDAY, DECEMBER15
VOLTAIRE: Sinners & Saints, Boston Marriage, The Wandering Girls FILLMORE MIAMI BEACH: Sin Bandera
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22
VOLTAIRE: Spred the Dub Album Release
Shana Flana Sheri Giblin
Psych rock, shoegaze and dream pop are just a few of the descriptors tagged to the music of Shana Falana, and more might apply as this New York-based siren and soundscapist contemplates her next album - an EP that she hasn’t yet made but which is beginning to take shape in her head and in preliminary bouts of songwriting.
Falana tells PureHoney she foresees “a darker, trancier sort of tribal sound, because that’s what I really want to hear.” She finds herself circling back to the recordings of Dead Can Dance, with their haunting amalgam of ambient, goth and modern classical. Shana Flana
In the same spirit, Falana mentions her previous, long-ago stint in a Bulgarian women’s choir performing music comprised of words and language but which was often emphatically tonal - or “nonlyrical,” as Falana puts it - in its use of the human voice. The exploration of timbre has always figured, one way or another, into the sprawling catalogue of music that Falana has been recording on her own since the ‘90s, whether sparse, layered, concisely cryptic or probing and experimental. It’s in this decade that Falana has methodically condensed her work into album-length releases, the latest being 2016’s bracing - and very lyrical - “Here Comes The Wave.” It’s also the time frame in which Falana honed the immersive coordination of music and visual projection that is her in-concert signature. Live, Falana sings and plays guitar, accompanied by her boyfriend Mike Amari on drums, plus a wreath of audio loops. Between songs, she says, “I don’t really talk on stage because it really gives people a chance to get lost in the vibe without breaking the spell.” A veteran of music scenes in San Francisco and New York, Falana has since escaped the city for the comparative quiet of Kingston, N.Y. a river valley town near forever-famous Woodstock that is evolving its own musical identity. The producer of “Here Comes The Wave,” Dan Goodwin, lives nearby. Falana, who paints houses as a sideline, says not entirely in jest that she might barter Goodwin some work on his place in exchange for studio time. Shana Falana performs with Lindsey Mills and Turtle Grenade November 9 at Voltaire in West Palm Beach - Sean Piccoli
AUG. 31
SEPT. 8
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SEPT. 23
clean bandit
OCT. 2
SEPT. 29 & 30
OCT. 3
OCT. 8
www.jointherevolution.net
Moni Haworth
The Drums It’s hard to forego any kind of bombastic and percussive line when talking about The Drums; even something as cheeky and obvious as saying that front man Jonathan Pierce has finally found the perfect beat to march under. Well, failing to find something cheekier, the fact is that Pierce really is doing the majority of the marching: For the fourth effort of The Drums, “Abysmal Thoughts,” he’s well over 90% of the beating heart giving the machine life.
Hailing out of Brooklyn with stylistic layovers in Central Florida and spiritual beginnings in the early friendship and partnership of Pierce The Drums and Jacob Graham, who officially left the band earlier this year, The Drums continue to inject personal tonal touches into their growing catalogue of surf-inspired indie rock via British postpunk and New Wave synth. Their nine-year ride has not been without interpersonal skirmishes, of which Graham’s exit might be the most amicable, as Pierce currently trains his energies on a hired cast of touring musicians who follow his cues. Four albums in, one would expect the refocusing to cause a sharp rift in sound, but “Abysmal Thoughts” falls nicely into the evolutionary pace set by 2014’s “Encyclopedia,” which found the band experimenting with far fewer restrictions. Whether the break-up freed Pierce to pursue his own vision for the album or to just continue an ascension charted by previous iterations of The Drums is hard to tell; either scenario makes sense for the progress on display on “Abysmal Thoughts.” It’s a work of pure pop, miles away from any “abyss” the title might suggest, syrupy in the celestial glow of its surrealist notions and airy dreams. Perhaps this is all the end result of Pierce’s psychological development as a musician who, though long at the helm of The Drums, can now sit in the relative comfort and calm of the captain’s chair. Where he takes it next will be telling. For now, for the 50 minutes it lasts, Pierce does well on his own. Maybe we should’ve skipped drumming quips and examined how the lead single, “Blood Under My Belt,” sets the perfect stage for this album to shine on. The Drums perform w. Hoops December 1 at Gramps in Wynwood ~ Abel Folgar
Jon Zielinski
JP Soars
JP Soars
For scorching Boca Raton bluesman JP Soars, serendipity arrived on a muggy Memphis night in 2009, when his band the Red Hots won first place in the International Blues Challenge competition. Soars himself also picked up a best guitarist crown that night — no small accomplishment for a guy who had first sharpened his guitar pick not on blues but in the metal bands Raped Ape, Divine Empire and Paingod.
”Sometimes you’re the mule, and sometimes you’re the plow,” Soars growls on the fiery title track off 2014’s “Full Moon Night in Memphis,” recalling with a full-throated rasp the moment he won the career-changing awards. “After that full moon night in Memphis, things won’t ever be the same.” They were not, and Soars and company have toured relentlessly ever since. Sludgy, gritty and nasty, the 14 songs on “Memphis” snap like firecrackers, whether paying homage to grit (and grass, on the jazzy “Reefer Man”), roasting exlovers (the slow-burning “Mean Old World”) or lamenting constant travel (the twangy “The Road Has Got Me Down”). Even as a budding metal-band shredder, the Cedarville, Ark.-raised Soars was grooving on Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker and Jesse May Hemphill. But it was B.B. King who won him over. In a raffle at a West Palm Beach record store in 1988, Soars scored a guitar and two backstage passes to a King concert to have it signed. Soars and his signature cigar-box guitar have been mainstays at Lake Worth’s Bamboo Room, Fort Lauderdale’s Poor House and the now-defunct Backroom Blues Bar in Delray Beach. Along with Red Hots bassist Cleveland Frederick and drummer Chris Peet, Soars is still tinkering with a new album (still untitled) and lending his tight licks to Southern Hospitality, the roots-rock supergroup he formed with lap-steel guitarist Damon Fowler and keyboardist Victor Wainwright. (Southern’s 2013 album, “Easy Livin’,” peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Blues chart). The road may be never-ending for Soars and company, but since that night in Memphis, blues fans await him at every stop. Ray’s Downtown presents JP Soars and the Red Hots November 12 at Voltaire in West Palm Beach. Sub-Culture.org ~ John Doane
Monica McGivern
Small PRess Fair 2017
ADAM ANT
The more print is railed against and declared “dead,” it seems, the more individuals and events spring up to prove otherwise. The Small Press Fair, now in its second year in Fort Lauderdale, is a growing local happening doing good on that counterpoint. Art books, mimeographs, leaflets, chapbooks, zines and the like continue to grow in popularity as new and established artists embrace ink on paper. “Prints, books, zines are some of the most inclusive, democratic, artistic forms that exist,” says Girls’ Club Gallery Director and SPF Co-Director Sarah Michelle Rupert. “SPF is important because there’s nothing like it here in Fort Lauderdale.” Along with Ingrid Schindall, Founder and Director of IS Projects, a printmaking and bookbinding studio in Fort Lauderdale, Rupert is looking to continue growing this platform as one-stop place, she says, to “learn, show, share, sell and trade.”
Attendees this year can sample works from more than 50 presses, print shops, artists, designers and other participants; create and trade their own zines on-site; watch a giant steamroller printmaking session and other live printing demonstrations; take in readings and panel discussions; and enjoy fare from local food trucks and craft brewers.
Monica McGivern
The rise of SPF tracks the collective effort of DIY and maker communities across South Florida to show that anything is possible, regardless of skill level, if one gives it a try. “Anyone can make a print, book or zine,” says Rupert. “Everyone’s voice is valid, which is so important, especially right now when it feels like so many of us are not being heard in our community, our state, our country.”
Beyond the practical, SPF has cultivated a spirit of camaraderie that makes the fair a place of nurturing for the creative impulse. “The more we can bring people together, the more empathy we develop towards each other,” says Rupert, “and the better off we are as people, as a community.” Learning by doing is the best way to demystify processes, and there’s no better place to get started than at the Small Press Fair. The unbeatable feeling of creating something from scratch will also remind you that handmade trumps mass-produced any day. The Small Press Fair runs noon to 6pm November 11 at FATVillage, Fort Lauderdale. www.spf-ftl.com ~ Abel Folgar
SCOTT PUTESKY I never met or even saw the public figure known as Daisy Berkowitz. I knew his inventor: Scott Mitchell Putesky, the guitarist and songwriter who took “Daisy Berkowitz” as his stage name in Marilyn Manson, a band of alter egos spliced from starlets and serial killers. Putesky, who died of cancer on October 22 at age 49, co-founded Marilyn Manson in Fort Lauderdale with the band’s eponymous frontman, Brian Warner, as an antidote to their surroundings: South Florida in the late ‘80s, an emerging coastal metropolis of shopping centers and megachurches. The scaly underside they spied around them didn’t stop at sun belt suburbia. Originally known as Marilyn Manson & The Spooky Kids, they were American social coroners, writing autopsies of personal and cultural downfall with thumping screamers like “Get Your Gunn” and slow bleeders like their cover of “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This).” In some communities, these goth-metal-industrial princelings, with their hipster taste for horror and air of clownish menace, made fearful, offended adults figuratively plug their children’s ears. To less invested observers — and to an extent within the band — it was all terribly funny. That was a past chapter by the time we met. Putesky had left the Manson fold and waged (and won) a legal battle over songwriting credits. In the late ‘90s, he was figuring out how much of his Manson legacy to hang on to and what to lose. I think that remained the central question of his life as he negotiated between his résumé and his aspirations. A talented and inventive musician, Putesky stayed in Fort Lauderdale and continued to support the scene he had helped to build. He collaborated with kindred spirits Jack Off Jill and formed new bands — Stuck on Evil, Kill Miss Pretty — with other South Florida mainstays. He recorded and released music on his own as Three Ton Gate. He oversaw a DVD release of early Spooky Kids material (also litigated). The person at the center of this conflict was different than I imagined. Putesky had an edge, sharpened by experience, but he was also vulnerable, witty and generous. You could engage him over drinks at venues like the Poorhouse. His fame opened doors but I never saw him wield it hurtfully. Behind, or alongside, the shock-trooper Daisy was a real human being. ~ Sean Piccoli