Bands that formed in the mid-1960s and beyond capitalize on nostalgia tours, and Chicago-spawned alt-rock icons The Smashing Pumpkins reached their commercial and critical peak a full 30 years beyond that time frame. When lead vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist and band leader Billy Corgan was able to rein in original members James Iha (guitar, vocals) and Jimmy Chamberlin … [Read more...]
Lake Worth’s Bamboo Room renews itself as Phoenix Charity Bar
Risen from the ashes, the Bamboo Room opened for the fourth time in Lake Worth on June 8 as The Phoenix Charity Bar (www.facebook.com/PhoenixCharityBar) at the Bamboo Room. The reason for the new name is based more in benevolence than in the mythical bird’s revival, though. More on that later. The iconic venue, located in the 1920s-era Paradise Building, has featured … [Read more...]
Cake leaves out ‘Survive’ dessert from strong SunFest set
Unlike the primary California gold (and platinum) rush of popular music acts between the 1960s and present day, most of them from Los Angeles (The Doors, Van Halen, Los Lobos, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Ice-T, Jane’s Addiction, N.W.A., Maroon 5) and the San Francisco Bay area (Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Sly & the Family Stone, Tower of Power, Primus), Cake emerged … [Read more...]
Summer season preview: Pop music
To paraphrase a favorite question of the late Andy Rooney from 60 Minutes, do you ever wonder why you see so many “Local” stickers on South Florida cars? The ones with the upside-down silhouette of Florida forming the “L?” It’s partly because of the stickers’ availability, of course, but also because more natives are choosing to stay rather than move away. And that, … [Read more...]
One-time live music promoter branches out into beer
Bands and beers are practically the twin engines that drive the clubs and restaurants in any live music scene. And North Palm Beach-based James Noble has blended performers and brews for more than a decade in Palm Beach County, in both traditional and his current not-so-customary ways. From 2005 to 2012, the 59-year-old Noble was the proprietor of the Orange Door in Lake … [Read more...]
SNL’s G.E. Smith to lead Boca benefit to promote fair pay for musicians
Any concert featuring guitarist and former Saturday Night Live musical director G.E. Smith — with an all-star band of former Johnny Winter vocalist Jay Stollman, British blues guitar and vocal icon Matt Schofield, Boynton Beach-based Mark Telesca on bass, and Jeff Beck bandmate Jonathan Joseph on drums — is a benefit for attendees. Throw in an opening act like singer/guitarist … [Read more...]
At 91, Tony Bennett shows he can still make magic
An adoring capacity crowd greeted the artist formerly known as Anthony Dominick Benedetto on Monday as the ageless, 91-year-old vocalist confidently strode onstage at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts’ Dreyfoos Hall in West Palm Beach. And why not? As Tony Bennett, the singer has earned 20 Grammy Awards, the most recent for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album for Tony … [Read more...]
At Mizner Park, Sunshine Music Fest cooks, Big Easy-style
With a lineup that included two bona fide New Orleans acts, plus several others steeped in Crescent City musical history, the sixth annual Sunshine Music Festival stop at Mizner Park Ampitheater in Boca Raton on Jan. 14 was expected to be more funky than its previous installments of blues, rock, and roots music performers. Yet what couldn’t have been expected was how easy … [Read more...]
Sunshine Fest at Mizner will have a New Orleans feel
As always, the sixth annual installment of the Sunshine Music Festival will be headlined by the Tedeschi Trucks Band, the powerful, 12-piece roots music juggernaut led by husband-and-wife festival co-founders Derek Trucks (guitar) and Susan Tedeschi (vocals/guitar). But the ever-impressive supporting acts take on a decidedly more jazzy, funky, and New Orleans-themed vibe in … [Read more...]
Lake Worth’s own John Ralston returns to music, new album after detour
“Small-town boy makes good” is a familiar tale, but not one often told when the town is Lake Worth. And not often about a small-town boy who’s as resilient as singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist John Ralston (www.John-Ralston.com). Born at Good Samaritan Hospital in West Palm Beach in 1977, Ralston (who’ll turn 40 years old on Dec. 29) has lived most of his life in … [Read more...]