By Hilary Saunders The Thermals’ sound is fitting for Wynwood’s aesthetic. The Portland, Ore.-based trio is scuzzy and malleable, and its most recent album, Desperate Ground, is its darkest opus yet. But The Thermals have a sing-along (or at least shout-along) quality that gives the band a semblance of accessibility. And like Wynwood, there’s a reason people keep coming … [Read more...]
‘Wedding Singer’ pleasant, but lightweight
Once you make your reputation with edgy, unconventional musicals like Bat Boy, Assassins and Side Show, it is hard to switch gears, go mainstream and be completely satisfying. That is the challenge facing the adventuresome Slow Burn Theatre Company, which feels obligated to pull back from the offbeat during the summer, when its available audience pool is smaller. So it has … [Read more...]
Peter Lord and his band of merry stop-action pirates
Grown men don’t usually play with clay, but Peter Lord has made quite a tidy career doing exactly that. A co-founder of Aardman Animations, the Bristol, England studio that gave the world the Wallace & Gromit series, Lord co-directed and co-wrote the 2000 feature Chicken Run and directs The Pirates! Band of Misfits, in theaters today -- all in playful stop-action. Fascinated … [Read more...]
For Pink Martini, masters of retro elegance, the beautiful comes first
Thomas Lauderdale, founder, pianist, composer and arranger for genre-defiant big band Pink Martini, was preparing for the second of a two-night run in Oklahoma City on the afternoon of March 24. And while he may have been focusing on that evening’s concert, he had more immediate concerns when he answered his cell phone. “I’m walking over to get my dry cleaning,” he said. “I … [Read more...]
Beatles tribute band graduates to big centers
Just because you cannot afford to book a band, or the members have long since stopped talking to each other, let alone playing together, that should not stop a performing arts center from presenting the group anyway. Or at least a reasonable facsimile. That is the rationale behind the tribute band phenomenon, which has seen the likes of Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd on the … [Read more...]
Dweezil’s tribute band does Frank proud
Zappa Plays Zappa, guitarist Dweezil Zappa's tribute band to his late father Frank Zappa, first appeared in South Florida on Dec. 10, 2006. That concert at Mizner Park Ampitheatre in Boca Raton featured a circus-like atmosphere, partly due to a band that grew to 10 pieces through guest alumni from Frank's touring units, namely vocalist/saxophonist Napoleon Murphy Brock, … [Read more...]
ArtsPreview 2009-10: The season in pop music
The Allman Brothers Band, Steve Miller, Roger Daltrey, Miley Cyrus, Leonard Cohen, and Lady Gaga. Those are some of the pop acts that will grace South Florida before the new year. Only one problem: All are playing in Broward County or way down in Miami. By comparison, the musical calendar in Palm Beach County is dotted with entertainers who can still remember when their … [Read more...]