Barbara Strauss (Photo courtesy ticketsarasota.com)Published November 4, 201020th Annual Sarasota Blues Festival11 a.m.-10 p.m. Sat., Nov. 6, Ed Smith Stadium Complex, Festival Grounds, 2700 12th St., Sarasota, 954-4101 ext. 5454 or sarasotabluesfest.com, $22 advance, $27 day of show.
Way back in 1990, the Sarasota Blues Society decided to give SRQ the blues in a big way by launching the 1st Annual Sarasota Blues Fest at the Sarasota County Fairgrounds. Headliner Little Milton, Kenny Neal, Twinkle Schascle, and a 12-year-old Derek Trucks, kicked off what has now become Sarasota’s premier annual music event. But after moving the festival to downtown Bradenton the following year, the Blues Society fell on hard times and eventually filed for bankruptcy. This would have effectively written the Blues Fest’s requiem, had it not been for a friend of Barbara Strauss who prompted the then-very-green local promoter to pick up the torch.
After Strauss obtained the rights from the SBS, she brought the Blues Fest back to Sarasota for its third installment, which took place on field one of Ed Smith Sports Complex. A fresh promoter at a new location, she started looking for big name artists that would draw out the masses, naively unprepared for the cold shoulder she received from most national booking agents. With a little luck and a lot of begging she was able to land two blues legends on the bill — James Cotton and Pinetop Perkins. (more…)
Published July 14, 2010
Sarasota-Bradenton’s three Mattison’s restaurants are not the first establishments people think of when seeking a good local original live set. A walk past downtown Sarasota’s City Grille usually reveals a piano man breaking out, well “Piano Man,†or some aging rockers taking “Mustang Sally†for a ride. But that notion could soon change with the adoption of the Muphin Chuckrs as a regular act at Mattison’s Riverside in Bradenton.
Although MC has been around the scene for a decade, their ages range from mid- to late-20s, and their music style is far from the usual “safe bet†that most local venues refuse to stray from. With a solid base in punk that has evolved over the years to include touches of reggae, blues and funk, their live shows are loud, raucous and in-your-face. Frontman and lyricist Dustin White has a set of pipes that can reach deafening levels and he’s usually not one to hold back, on the primal screams or the profanity.
As far as covers, you’re not going to get many. The Chuckrs included a version of the classic “Can’t Help Falling in Love†on their 2008 album House Party Heroes that sounded more on par with Incubus than Elvis. The band just dropped their latest effort,From Life to Paper, earlier this month. And as it is their ninth full-length release, they’ve amassed a myriad of original material to choose from. (more…)
Published in Creative Loafing Sarasota, July 14, 2010
Downtown Sarasota is not currently known as the heart of electronic music in Southwest Florida — far from it. But that title could soon be earned if the promoters behind Vinyl Music Festival stay on their current trajectory. Since last year’s inaugural celebration, VMF has more than doubled it’s number of performers, picked up a host of huge national sponsors, garnered the support of both city and county officials, and gained access to public venues that have historically been off limits to such party-oriented proceedings.
But for the young entrepreneurs that put on this sonic assembly, it’s more than just a DJ convention or even a much needed summer tourism boost — It’s an attempt to give Sarasota a long overdue makeover. Is our fair city ready and willing to change? Rich Swier, co-creator of VMF and local tech biz incubator The HuB, believes it is: “Every year we’re going to add a little more, just to see what this town can do.â€
VMF 2009 was reasonably well-attended, which was quite a feat considering it was conceived and organized in less than a month with barely any marketing, few sponsors and a drastic equipment shortage. This time around they got the ball rolling in January, and that advance preparation has yielded substantial results. Thanks to Swier and VMF musical director DJ Drager, top-notch turntable talent is flying in this week from Atlanta, Miami, Las Vegas, New York, South America, Europe and the Middle East; companies like Roaring Lion Energy Drink and Groove Cruise have pledged significant contributions; and Yamaha is bringing in $40,000 worth of rental equipment. (more…)
Published May 27, 2010“All We Have Left” by Boyce Avenue will be available on iTunes and Amazon.com June 15.
It’s no secret that the Internet has changed how the music industry operates. Bands can now do most of the duties formerly reserved for major record labels — promoting, booking, recording and distributing — right from their laptop. But very few bands in this modern age have managed to completely flip the script quite like Boyce Avenue.
Sarasota brothers Alejandro (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Fabian (guitar, vocals) and Daniel Manzano (bass, percussion, vocals) took turns going through the Southside to Pineview to University of Florida line of schooling. After all graduated and eventually reconnected back home, they decided to start a band, naming it after the location of their childhood home on Boyce Street. But instead of following the usual routine of getting music out to the masses, peddling poorly produced demo CDs at sparsely attended local live performances, they just went straight for a worldwide audience. Thanks to some unique cover song variations and a few viral videos, they soon captured it. (more…)
Published January 6, 2010
Sarasota float-around guitarist Dan Rixon unleashed a solo project in December with help from a number of other local hired guns. The album, fittingly called In My Head, is heavily Pink Floyd-inspired, especially Wall-ish, with random infant squeals, droning machines and thunderstorms filling the breaks between songs to add some natural rhythms to the tight instrumentation. Rixon admits that Floyd’s sound has always had an effect on him: “They’ve been my biggest influence since I discovered them in high school,†he says.
Rixon currently plays in a band called The Living Man with Matt Frost, who lends his keyboard and vocal talents throughout the project. Siesta Key staple Garrett Dawson takes up much of the drumming with fellow Key rat and Berklee College of Music student Steve Duerst filling in the bass and drums on other tracks. Rixon also attended Berklee in 2001 and his developed skills are apparent in the intricate reverb-laden guitar techniques he weaves together through alternate solo and riff. Layered vocal harmonies and Frost’s driving organ take you on a trip through drastic key and song structure changes. (more…)
Published May 20, 2010
“My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to recruit you.”
Harvey Milk Festival1-10 p.m. Sat., May 22, Rosemary District, 5th St. and Central Ave., Sarasota, 228-4872 orharveymilkfestival.com; The Milk Collection Art Opening: 6-9 p.m. Fri., May 21, Pure Luxe, 513 Central Ave., Sarasota, 364-5800 or pureluxeonline.com.
Shannon Fortner sits in her home just north of the Rosemary District flipping through a small notebook filled cover to cover with phone numbers, hastily scribbled notes and artistic doodles. “This is my Harvey Milk book,†she explains, her scratchy voice straining with exhaustion. The volume was nothing but blank pages not two months ago when she decided to start organizing the Harvey Milk Festival just before traveling to England to visit her girlfriend of three years.
Fortner’s partner was her inspiration for the festival. The U.K. native has been limited to no more than 90-day stays in the U.S. due to the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that same-sex partners of U.S. citizens are not granted permission to be sponsored for family-based immigration. So Fortner, a long-time civil rights activist and lead singer of local bandsMeteorEyes and Spontaneous Habit, decided to spend much of her two-week vacation on the phone putting together the event to raise awareness about laws that she sees as discriminatory toward Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals. (more…)
Published May 27, 2010
“All We Have Left” by Boyce Avenue will be available on iTunes and Amazon.com June 15.
It’s no secret that the Internet has changed how the music industry operates. Bands can now do most of the duties formerly reserved for major record labels — promoting, booking, recording and distributing — right from their laptop. But very few bands in this modern age have managed to completely flip the script quite like Boyce Avenue.
Sarasota brothers Alejandro (lead vocals, guitar, piano), Fabian (guitar, vocals) and Daniel Manzano (bass, percussion, vocals) took turns going through the Southside to Pineview to University of Florida line of schooling. After all graduated and eventually reconnected back home, they decided to start a band, naming it after the location of their childhood home on Boyce Street. But instead of following the usual routine of getting music out to the masses, peddling poorly produced demo CDs at sparsely attended local live performances, they just went straight for a worldwide audience. Thanks to some unique cover song variations and a few viral videos, they soon captured it. (more…)
Published May 20, 2010
“My name is Harvey Milk and I’m here to recruit you.”
Harvey Milk Festival
1-10 p.m. Sat., May 22, Rosemary District, 5th St. and Central Ave., Sarasota, 228-4872 orharveymilkfestival.com; The Milk Collection Art Opening: 6-9 p.m. Fri., May 21, Pure Luxe, 513 Central Ave., Sarasota, 364-5800 or pureluxeonline.com.
Shannon Fortner sits in her home just north of the Rosemary District flipping through a small notebook filled cover to cover with phone numbers, hastily scribbled notes and artistic doodles. “This is my Harvey Milk book,†she explains, her scratchy voice straining with exhaustion. The volume was nothing but blank pages not two months ago when she decided to start organizing the Harvey Milk Festival just before traveling to England to visit her girlfriend of three years.
Fortner’s partner was her inspiration for the festival. The U.K. native has been limited to no more than 90-day stays in the U.S. due to the U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that same-sex partners of U.S. citizens are not granted permission to be sponsored for family-based immigration. So Fortner, a long-time civil rights activist and lead singer of local bandsMeteorEyes and Spontaneous Habit, decided to spend much of her two-week vacation on the phone putting together the event to raise awareness about laws that she sees as discriminatory toward Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) individuals. (more…)