Quick, name the youngest artist who performed on the main stage at Woodstock in 1969. No, it wasn’t Carlos Santana, Janis Joplin, Richie Havens, Sly Stone, Joan Baez, Jimi Hendrix, or any of the members of the Grateful Dead, The Who, Jefferson Airplane, or The Band. It was an 18-year-old singer/guitarist named Henry Gross, who performed with doo-wop vocal ensemble Sha Na Na. … [Read more...]
Amid the fields of Wellington, a serious recording studio springs up
Anyone who’s looked for a recording studio with world-class equipment in Palm Beach County knows that they’re hard to find. Until now. Liberated Studios (liberatedstudio.com) opened in Wellington late this summer to fill that world-class equipment void. Finding it, however, can still be a bit of a challenge. That’s partially by design. The 1,500-square-foot facility is … [Read more...]
Sound woes prove frustrating for Holdsworth, audience
No one inside the black box theater at the Mizner Park Cultural Arts Center in Boca Raton — not the overflow crowd of 300 or the reason they were there, the three instrumentalists led by veteran British jazz/fusion guitar great Allan Holdsworth — could’ve possibly been fully prepared for what they’d experience Saturday. Considering the reputation and incendiary talents of the … [Read more...]
Legendary fusion guitarist Holdsworth returns to Florida for first time in three decades
The unofficial title of “World’s Greatest Living Electric Guitarist” automatically eliminates late American contenders like rocker Jimi Hendrix, blues man Stevie Ray Vaughan, and the inimitable Frank Zappa. So the crown likely boils down to several prominent British veterans who’ve dipped at least a toe into challenging progressive music. Among them is the 1960s Yardbirds rock … [Read more...]
Arts preview 2015-16: The season in jazz
It’s a somewhat predictable 2015-2016 season in South Florida jazz. The biggest names, like the ageless, 89-year-old Tony Bennett, perform in our region often — and are realistically on the fringe of the genre. Jazz, especially at so-called jazz festivals, now seems to have expanded to include R&B, adult contemporary, pop, and any other style that includes horns (yet may lack … [Read more...]
Arts preview 2015-16: The season in pop
There are plenty of predictable megastars among South Florida’s 2015-2016 pop touring docket, so much so that most are purposely not listed here. Yet scratching the surface to reveal the remainder will pay dividends. Among the arena and ampitheater shows, smaller venues like the Culture Room and Parker Playhouse in Fort Lauderdale, the Fillmore and Knight Concert Hall in … [Read more...]
Lake Worth’s Bamboo Room revived once again
It’s only slightly more than 48 hours before the July 31 grand reopening of the Bamboo Room (www.facebook.com/TheBambooRoomLW) — the historic, if on-and-off, Lake Worth live music venue from 1999 to present-day — but general manager Ben Foster appears calm. At least on the surface. “They just hired me,” he says, “so it’s pressure-packed, but I’ve opened a lot of venues before. … [Read more...]
Cultural Council launches Musicians Services program
As emails go, one from May 28 proved unusual enough that it needed to be re-read. It was from Kathleen Alex, chief financial officer at the not-for-profit Cultural Council of Palm Beach County, inviting area musicians and music biz types to a June 15 meeting at the organization’s Lake Worth headquarters. And while the underlying purpose may have been to get some in … [Read more...]
For tribute bands, the music plays on — and on
The music biz adapts to setbacks in ways that aren’t unlike the tobacco industry, which reacted to a decrease in cigarette smoking by reformulating an interest in cigars and designing a range of new novelty smoking products, or Hollywood, which crippled modern screenwriting to embark upon remaking practically every existing film, TV show or cartoon. One current popular … [Read more...]
For legendary songwriter Webb, life still heading up, up and away
For composers to have songs that are more recognized than their own names is a rare phenomenon — yet, at the same time, a definition of success. But to have a slate of recognizable hits over 50 years while staying comparatively under the radar involves rare air breathed by few other than 68-year-old vocalist, pianist and Oklahoma native Jimmy Webb. At his forthcoming solo … [Read more...]