With so many tough choices to make this weekend, we decided to give everyone a headstart on the decision making and preview Friday’s festivities a day early. Here are three events this coming Friday that caught our eye:
Island Water Sports’ Annual Midnight Madness
Unless there are Charm City burgers being served, it takes a lot to drag me out to the northereastern border of Broward County. That is, unless there is a free block party with quality local music, live skate demos, free swag, and cheap clothing on sale — oh yeah, and no cover. Island Water Sports’ annual Midnight Madness is being held on a closed off portion of A1A off Deerfield Beach by the Island Water Sports store from 8am – 11pm (if you’re wondering, it’s called midnight madness because the surf shop will be open to 12am). The band lineup is headlined by Alexander, along with BLORR, Buffalo Gun, Darkhorse Saloon, Hanna, Because Greatness Belongs, and Cadence. We aren’t sure about the alcohol situation at this event, but I’m guessing there won’t be any beer vendors based on the glaring absence of any mention of booze on the event website. I’m all for getting drunk on life, but it is Friday and we aren’t at work for 3 more days…pack an emergency flask.
Technically, they’re not local, but we’re big fans of BLORR (Bastard Lovechild Of Rock n Roll) after seeing them perform at 1921 a couple times and the Poorhouse. This Jacksonville dance-punk duo always induces wild dancefloors. Here’s a video of BLORR performing Hallelujah I’ve Been BLORRn Again.
Art/Heart October Live at Stage 84
Founded this past February, Art/Heart is an organization that focuses on giving back to the community through art. This Friday, they are throwing a big bash at Stage 84 in Davie with the proceeds of the party going to His House Children’s Home, an orphanage that is housing some displaced Haitian children and needs some help. For a $5 cover charge, you’ll get to see art by 15 different artists, as well as live music from What Glorious Things , Jennie Mahood, and Deejay Sensitive Side.
Here is Jennie Mahood’s music video for her song Seven.
Rocktoberfest: Beer and Music Festival
Last but not least, is downtown Fort Lauderdale’s drunken inclusion into the October 15th festivities. The Third Annual Rocktoberfest is back with it’s $20 all-you-can-drink/eat ($25 at the “door”) October party in Riverfront. Throw in some lineup of local music, and it’s an all around good time. This year’s musical lineup consists of The Freakin’ Hott, Fourth Dimension, Ghosts of Gloria, Audio Heist, Big Bang Radio, and Recover South. Like Art/Heart’s event, this event’s proceeds also go to charity.
Here’s a live performance by The Freakin’ Hott:
So I’ve stayed up too late adding myspace pages and youtube videos to this post. I hope I’ve given you enough media and details on these events to make an educated decision. At the very least, I hope I’ve provided enough links to keep you busy at work for an hour or so, checking out some local music.
No, I didn’t misspell the word “city” in the title of the post. The word Citi is a reference to the uniquely designed Citibankbuilding on Oakland Park Blvd and US1 — the same building that now has a new nightclub attached to it called Sky Nightclub. Don’t worry scenesters, we didn’t know about it either until yesterday evening. The club is hard to miss if you’re driving through the Federal/Oakland Park Blvd intersection after sun down — the multi-colored spotlights swirling on the building won’t let you drive by without rubbernecking. And even though that particular strip of Federal Highway is no stranger to spotlights, particularly the bright Bat-signal that leads the local horndogs to the boobies at Solid Gold, you can’t help but hit drive grandma speed and gawk at the bank-turned-discoteca.
After a raucous performance by UK trancecore band Enter Shikari at Culture Room, Fat Hand, Young Turk, and myself staggered across the street to grab an another beer at this mysterious locale. Located on the second floor, accessible via an entrance near the roundabout in front of the building, we entered into a swanky main room, totally underdressed (Turk was wearing an old school Phoenix Suns jersey. I was wearing my ‘hangout’ shorts and a sweaty tee from a BBQ restaurant. An old man laughed at me when I walked in). According to a flier I picked up off the ground near the entrance, the dress code is strictly enforced — clearly, our confident swagger superseded any rules for acceptable attire. The small-to-midsized, circular interior was covered in hues of red and purple lights. A few couples were on the dance floor, completely immersed in the latin music blaring from the speakers. The ceiling was painted with columns, leading to the center where there was a fake sky — slightly disappointing that they don’t have an actual moon roof revealing real stars. I’m not complaining or anything, but it seems a little odd to name a bar Sky that’s neither on the top of a building, has a good view of the city, or provides a glimpse to the Earth’s atmosphere through a window on the roof. But I digress.
Sitting at one of their sleek bars, enjoying a Wednesday 2-4-1 drink special (I’m pretty sure girls drink free), we chatted with the friendly bartender Melissa who provided us with some info, along with some icy cold, vortex’ed Miller Lites. According to our source, the club has been open for about a month, and although many nights have been slow, they’ve had some well attended events and are expecting bigger crowds as soon as the word gets out. On the weekends, the DJ spins house and hip hop; during the weekdays they’ll mix it up with more Latin music (this particular night, we were graced with salsa). As of now, they’re open to 4am everyday of the week, except for Sunday and Monday. I’m rooting for them to do well, but their business hours seem a little over ambitious for a club in Fort Lauderdale during the middle of the working week; don’t blame me if you stumble from a lap dance at the Solid Gold to Sky at 3am on a Tuesday night and it happens to be closed.
In such a competive industry, the only way they’ll stay in business is to get the word out. I read on a daily basis every active Broward blog, the Sun-Sentinel and Miami Herald, and various local websites, and I had never even heard a mere mention of this nightclub. That can’t be good sign for them. For starters, a well designed website would help, along with some social media presence to announce upcoming events. Get the New Times, popular blogs, and newspapers to review or preview your club. And even with all that, it will be tough because, at the moment, the only aspect of this club that is truly unique is that it’s attached to a bank. I mean, geez, could you pick a more generic name for a club?
On first glance, the main room has potential for a midweek indie dance party, which I mentioned to one of the promoters that night. The owners probably won’t bite on my recommendation, but who knows? Maybe DJ Mig will spin there one night — our readers would be the first to know.
Check out Sky Nightclub for yourself, even if its simply out of curiosity. In my opinion, Sky is a hard sell and will need some luck to succeed; I’ll be rooting for them to do well though.
It’s impossible to completely dislike Miami. It’s the yin to our yang. It completes us.Without the Magic City, we’d be one dimensional. I could continue to ramble on about how much I hate it when Ft. Lauderdalians say they hate Miami, when they really just dislike South Beach, but I won’t. I’m writing this post for a particular reason….
Since the day they installed it not too long ago, I’ve hated it. In a bar that attracts local musicians, artists, and people who enjoy cutting edge music, why have a jukebox that has a catalog that consists of American Idol winners, cookie cutter contemporary rock, and your run-of-the-mill top 40. Look, I’m not trying to dictate what’s good music and what’s not; I’m just saying that the music on that jukebox is not catered to its audience. If you want to hear anything worthwhile, you have to do a Supersearch on the jukebox and pay $1 per song, versus the usual $.50 (which I still think is outrageous). If no one picks a song, it plays random songs — songs from such artists as David Allen Coe, Clay Aiken, and Eiffel 65. How does this tie into the intro?…..
A series of recent trips to some of downtown Miami’s popular hangouts Vagabond and Electric Pickle have made me realize that we don’t have a nightly bar or club that plays indie or non-mainstream alternative music over the house speakers. The few times I’ve been to some of these venues in Miami, I find myself frequently trying to Google on my phone the lyrics to songs that the DJ plays so that I can find the artist or name of the song to legally buy (always) on iTunes when I get home. It adds a whole other aspect to going out — hearing new music that can’t be found on a radio station that isn’t 88.5 . Even Palm Beach county has Respectable Street, which in my opinion is just as good, if not better than the above mentioned locales.
To the defense of Ft Lauderdale, there are some spots to hear a unique playlist: Monterey Club, sometimes Fat Cats, between sets at Revolution and Culture Room, Brew, the few nights that 1921 is having a party (stay tuned), Roxannes before it burned down, and the nights where the jukebox is turned off at Poorhouse. I’m probably forgetting a few, and feel free to leave them in the comments. Maybe the new Laser Wolf bar that’s opening soon (so I’ve been told) can help fill this musical void (crossing fingers)….
So my message to Poorhouse and other bars in Ft Lauderdale that might want to cater to a grungier crowd: junk the jukebox, plug in an iPod or computer with hipper tunes. Heck, hire DJ Mig or any other hypem junkie to mix some music. I’m not saying it has to be strictly indie either; I’d settle for punk, hardcore, metal, underground hip hop, or any variation of those genres. Just give us a place where we can listen to something different during dead time when the live band isn’t performing. PS: Poorhouse and Monterey Club do a stellar job of booking solid local acts. Keep that up guys.
Here’s a little something I put together for this post. It’s a medley of 4 remixed songs from a band I’m completely with obsessed with these days, Two Door Cinema Club from Northern Ireland.
Some indie dance parties that have caught my attention:
– Noir Wednesdays at Club Cinema in Pompano Beach w/ Marvelous Kendall
– Thursdays at Monterey Club with DJ Sweetswirl (is this still going on?)
– Revel Party at Sea Monster w/ Marvelous Kendall and ??? (is this still going on?)
If you’ve gone to any of the above mentioned indie dance parties, let us know what you thought by commenting below. Maybe you can write a review for us (hint hint).
The name Scott Stapp evokes several different images in people’s minds. Some people probably still remember him as the religious, lead singer of post-grunge band Creed, who wrote a heartfelt song for his kid that ended up being the bands top hit With Arms Wide Open. I tend to remember him for his slew of outrageous, negative publicity: the feud with rap-rock pioneer Fred Durst and the boxing match that never happened, the Thanksgiving Day drunken brawl between Stapp and the lead singer of 311 in a Baltimore hotel lounge, the infamous “it’s good to be king” sex tape with Kid Rock (not with each other), and my favorite — his latest, idiotic song about the the Florida Marlins.
In lieu of his acoustic gig tomorrow at Revolution, I’ve decided to grace you with the video for Marlins Will Soar (at the bottom of the post). I know many of you have probably seen this (it’s been mentioned nationally, usually in jest), but it always makes my day a little brighter. In my opinion, it’s still not as bad as T-Pain’s rendition of the Miami Dolphins touchdown song or Jimmy Buffet’s Fins (Dolphin’s Version).
If you’re like me, and don’t like wasting your hard earned greenbacks to watch a washed up, train wreck strumming his wooden guitar — you can do that for free at Briny’s anyway — you might think about checking out 2 talented, local rappers, Protoman and Gaps, at Monterey Club tonight. The event is being heralded as a birthday extravaganza, no cover charge. Below are some song streams. Go to their myspace accounts (click on links above), they have a lot more tuneage and even some free downloads.
It took several months, but I finally made it to the brink of Broward County to taste one of South Florida’s better burger at Charm City Burger Company (Facebook fan page link). After reading the overwhelming amount of positive reviews about this place’s food (check out the links at the end of the post), I put it at the top of my must-try list. What can I write about this hole-in-the-wall eatery that hasn’t already been written? After one bite of their 8 oz. Cowboy burger, there’s no denying that this is one of the best burgers in our metro area. Along with the burger, I sampled the french fries, onion rings, sweet potato fries, and chocolate Blue Bell milkshake. The meat was juicy, the bacon was crispy, the aged cheddar was melted just right, and the grilled and sauteed veggies were perfect toppings. Both types of fries and rings were tasty as well — I give the onion rings a slight edge in taste (sadly though, they only give you 5 rings); however, the sides were greatly overshadowed by the belly-busting burger and the thick ice cream milkshake that would give Jenny Craig night terrors.
Enough about the details that the local food bloggers has already covered. I’ve read a lot of deservingly great reviews about this Deerfield Beach restaurant’s meat and fried side orders, but I have yet to read anything about their veggie burger. You might ask yourself, why would anyone go to Charm City and order a meatless burger? Well, it just so happened that 2 animal-friendly people at my table willingly ordered the Hippie, a burger made of mushrooms, black beans, and herbs. I asked famed FTLC blogger Strawberry Jam and Edos Minnos (the FTLC’s future Turkish restaurant correspondent) their opinion of Charm City’s cow-free burger. Here’s what they said:
“It was filling, juicy, and well-seasoned. The bun was disappointing. Just because you don’t want meat doesn’t mean you want to forego the tasty sweet bun the other burgers get.
Ps: They should include sides as a meal. And sell cole slaw.”
– Strawberry Jam
The veggie burger was piquant and satiating…but to be completely honest, it wasn’t the greatest veggie burger I’ve ever had, so I can’t think of anymore adjectives.
– Edos Minnos (pronounced Ay-dosh Me-nosh)
I was able to steal a few bites from S Jam’s meatless burger, and I thought it tasted excellent. Keep in mind though, I don’t usually opt for vegetarian options at restaurants, so I don’t have much to compare.
So apparently Charm City isn’t perfect, so what. I agree with the multitude of positive reviews about this place, and recommend it to all of the FTLC’s carnivores. This is a must-try if you enjoy a good hamburger. If you choose greens over beef, don’t miss trying their milkshake and onion rings and in my opinion, the Hippie is worth a taste.
Some additional notes:
I enjoyed the eclectic selection of indie music they played while we were eating. Songs by Passion Pit, Ratatat, and the XX were all heard at some point during our meal.
The staff is extremely friendly, and didn’t mind that we took 5 minutes to decide between a vanilla or chocolate shake.
