South Florida owes a debt of gratitude to former Florida A&M Marching bandmates, schoolteachers, and music aficionados Willie Clarke and Johnny Pearsall. Without their gamble on the short-lived Deep City Records, there would’ve never been such a culturally identifiable thing as the “Miami sound.” While some of the Deep City…
Those mourning the closing of Fort Lauderdale nightclub Christopher’s have something to look forward to with the Chase. The locale of the former Broward County institution opened again under this new moniker last night. No relation to the banking organization, the Chase will occupy the same 10,000-square-foot location that Christopher’s…
A new late-night venue is coming to downtown West Palm Beach, and before you roll your eyes and mutter “Oh, what now?” just wait and hear us out. The man behind the concept is Rodney Mayo, South Florida’s foremost nightlife connoisseur who, of late, seems on a mission to revive…
Tegan and Sara are the most unlikely pop stars on the planet. The twin sisters from Calgary were picked up by Neil Young’s record label right out of high school. In the mid-’00s, they found critical success with great oddball singles like “Walking With a Ghost” and “Back in Your…
How do you hip-hop? If you are Tanner Kauffman and James Bauer, you experiment. Together they make up the Sunny DeVilles, the Boca-based hip-hop act who’s spanking new album In Search Of… is just the beginning of their journey. The record is laced with heavy lyrics and saxophone grooves, quite…
It’s hard to imagine a world without Justin Timberlake. No lovably awkward Mickey Mouse Club duets, no bleached-blond curls or coordinating denim outfits, zero hours spent in front of the mirror trying to learn the choreography from the “Bye Bye Bye” video, definitely no “Cry Me a River” (the greatest…
“Our mission is to resurrect the bass gods and have coochies popping worldwide,” Da $wap $hop Kid says of his new project, Death Jam Posse. Three dudes you might recognize as Bleubird, Jabrjaw, and Protoman have taken on entirely new personas: Young Lauderdale, Mr. Belvedere, and Da $wap $hop Kid…
In part one of our series profiling South Florida’s most inspiring unsung champions of guitar, we spoke with Orbweaver’s Randy Piro about his gear, influences, and what sets him apart as a player. Here, we speak with Orbweaver’s other intrepid shredders, guitarist Sally Gates and bassist Jason Ledgard, both of…
Good news, clubland folks. Miami’s former eclectic hot spot the Pawn Shop has announced a definitive opening date for an upgraded West Palm Beach locale. It’s all going down on March 6. Back in November, we reported that the former downtown Miami dance club and celebrity haunt was reopening and…
There was a time when Sam Beam, the creative force behind Iron & Wine, was more famous as a film professor than a musician. His main gig was teaching students at a South Florida post-secondary institution about film history and cinematography. “Now it’s like the Art Institute of Everywhere,” Beam…
Hello! Who could this be?” The voice — that voice — at the other end of the line sounds remarkably reassuring, especially considering the fact that it belongs to one of the greatest singers and most revered musical icons of the past 50 years. “It’s Lee,” I respond. “And who…
South Florida gets a bad rap as a barren wasteland when it comes to guitar music and guitar culture. However, lurking in the shadows strewn by the area’s neon festooned dance clubs thrives a community of inspiring guitarists, all with their own unique philosophies and approaches to the instrument and…
In an area like South Florida, so chock-full of talented musicians, it’s really hard to stick out. But Boca Raton’s Mike Mineo has made a name for himself, not only with his deft songwriting skills, but more importantly, with a drive and determination we don’t see too often in local…
There is a way of speaking and writing that maintains an air of dignity and reverence about that subject that toes the line between eulogia and the elegiac. Thankfully, I as an orator and man of letters have failed with thunderous aplomb in all three scenarios. Don’t let me sing…
The Internet is so many things: A glorious tool for the transfer of information and ideas? Certainly. The greatest facilitator of communication humanity has ever created? Maybe. But so often, the Internet becomes a digitized version of the ooze river from Ghost Busters II — a flowing concentration of humanity’s…
Happy Blowfly Day. 75 years ago, in the backwoods of Vienna, Georgia, Clarence Henry Reid was born at the farm where his family sharecropped. The odds that scrawny, cantankerous, foul-mouthed “Junior” would escape those humble beginnings were staggering. The music world can thank his mother, Annie, for moving to Florida…
In Churchill’s Pub, Dave Daniels established and maintained a safe space for musical and artistic expression, the watching of international soccer games, and drinking heavily in the heart of Little Haiti for 35 years. But, at 74, Daniels tells us: “It’s time for me to move on.” An undisclosed investor…
There’s no better time to profess or reconfirm your love with an obese teddy bear and a cardboard box of sickly sweet chocolates than on Valentine’s Day. Oddly enough, February 14 is also known as Singles Awareness Day, when many of the unloved find themselves wearing their exes’ sweaters, sobbing…
It’s been a minute since County Grind caught up with Fort Lauderdale native and Limited Fanfare Records founder Brian Kurtz. The young record label has shown much promise in the few years of its existence by releasing stellar records from scuzzy Miami rockers Lil’ Daggers, Mike Marsh’s (former drummer for…
With apologies to Jon Secada’s legion of adoring fans, it wouldn’t be hyperbole to say Chan Marshall is the finest singer to reside in South Florida. Marshall, who records and performs as Cat Power, has lived on and off in our neck of the woods for more than a decade…
The American government has a long and violent history of enslaving, persecuting, lying to, cheating, and stealing from people all over the world. And it has done an especially brutal job of it right here at home. Just look at the historical roots of our government’s interactions with the many…
Lavola is back, and in a big way. County Grind received word last week that one of Palm Beach County’s fiercest sonic forces had just completed its next album titled This Book Is My Cowardice. Through the social media webs, we heard a smidgen of Lavola frontman Julian Cires’ next…
