Tiësto

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by Dan Sweeney

When the deal went down, and Ultra Music Festival announced it would take place two weeks after Winter Music Conference, the general consensus was that it would be bad for business for at least one of the operations, if not both. Surely, electronic-music fans had not the depth of numbers or purpose to hit Miami twice in the same month. And with Ultra arriving in Miami this weekend, we can now say with certainty who won the WMC vs. UMF competition: the fans.

Winter Music Conference was a huge success, Ultra has sold out, and the fact that WMC has already taken place has freed up clubs to put on even more house-heavy shows surrounding Ultra, when they would have been booked already with both WMC and Ultra in town. As a result, the week surrounding Ultra, which has been billed as “Miami Music Week” in an undeniably successful effort to build a WMC-like string of events around the main act, offers almost as many EDM-centric happenings as WMC itself.

Whether or not the two events can sustain themselves in the future, or whether one will dry up while the other eats its lunch, this year, both are going off huge. When and if one does knock out the other, our money would have to be on Ultra coming out on top. Much as we love WMC, the loss of its marquee event and that event’s ability to so quickly put together a week of festivities to compete with WMC speaks volumes.

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Although the massive lineup of parties makes it almost impossible to narrow recommendations down to one a night, and obviously your view may vary depending on individual tastes, our own schedule of must-dos breaks down like this:

Tuesday: Miami Massive at Nikki Beach. Three rooms, 50 DJs, 17 hours of music. ’Nuff said.

Wednesday: Ivory Tower at 11 11. The party at Miami Beach’s newest and snazziest parking garage kicks off at 5 p.m. and goes until midnight. Admission is free as long as you RSVP at Ivorytower1111.eventbrite.com. Alternatively, you can chip in $10 at that site and bypass the line to get in. The party will include art and fashion components as well as DJs Nadastrom, Beni, Totally Enormous Extinct Dinosaurs, Brenmar and High Rankin.

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Thursday: Because so many people will be at Ultra Friday through Sunday, Thursday seems to be the big club night. Nikki Beach is throwing a party that’s about on the level of Tuesday’s Miami Massive. Poplife, Miami’s longtime arbiter of cool, hosts a party at Grand Central featuring Tiga and Diplo. John Digweed’s at the Cameo. Mansion will host Cathy and David Guetta’s F*** Me I’m Famous party, which may be the most hedonistic thing going Thursday night. But we’ll be stepping aboard one of two yacht parties. (Ah, Miami — where you have your choice of yacht parties to attend). The Ultimate Yacht Party features Desyn Masiello and takes place from 3 to 9 p.m. Tickets at Magneticgrooves.com are a little steep at $125, but it’s a freakin’ yacht party, for God’s sake. Also, the party promoters recommend Dutch naval attire. (We have no idea.) Alternatively, you could pay just $60 (presale only) to step aboard the Sunset Yacht Party, which primarily features a bunch of DJs from Chicago (including Jimmie Page and Dave Moreno). Two things, though — the Sunset cruise takes place from 4 to 9 p.m., giving you one less hour of party time. Also, it offers a cash bar and no ATM, while the Ultimate Yacht Party boasts an open bar. Depending on how much of a lush you are, the decision has been made for you.

Friday: Ultra, Day 1. You know the score. Tiësto headlines. For the afterparty, we’re off to either the No Sugar Added Festival at Nikki Beach, which kicks off at midnight and features another 17 hours of music, or the first of Ice Palace’s three-night run of all-night parties that they are suitably entitling Lost Weekend. Best daytime alternative for folks who didn’t get Ultra tickets: The Pete Tong Pool Party at the Surfcomber, which takes place from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. and features Richie Hawtin, Luciano, Tong himself, and many others.

Saturday: Ultra, Day 2. Deadmau5 headlines. The possibility of complete and total physical collapse should become a reality about halfway through today’s festivities. Pace yourself and repeat whatever mantra works for you. Only the strong survive. Guinness for strength. When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro. If you’re up for an afterparty, 1) You’re a rock star, and 2) you’re hitting either the 11th annual Gathering — Digweed’s show at the Vagabond — or the eclectic mix of DJs and live acts at the Electric Pickle, which include Crosstown Rebels, Art Department, Clive Henry and a slew of others. Your daytime Ultra alternative: The Shelbourne’s Pasha Ibiza, featuring Bob Sinclar, Pete Tong and DJ Jazzy Jeff, a poolside party that takes place from noon to 10:30 p.m.

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Sunday: Ultra, Day Three. The Chemical Brothers headline with a live set. The dancing is zombielike now, more instinctual staggering to the beat than anything else. Afterparty? Fuck you, you maniac — we’re going to bed. But if you must know, Oscar G has a closing party at the Cameo, and Sasha has one at SET. Also, despite Ultra’s claims of exclusivity regarding its performers, the Disco Biscuits will be playing an instrumental show at Grand Central under the name Tractorbeam. Daytime alternative to Ultra: The Nervous Pool Party at the Clevelander, with sets by Oscar G, Junior Sanchez and more than a dozen others, including “an unannounced global duo set.”

If, after this week and WMC a couple of weeks ago, you wake up Monday morning with the urge to stay up all night listening to progressive trance or something, we really can’t help you. We’re done. In a coma and EDM-ed out. We’re listening to nothing but Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson for the next month. You’re on your own.

Contact Dan Sweeney at dfsweeney@citylinkmagazine.com.

A scene from a past Langerado.

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by Dan Sweeney

Yes, we said Langerado! (And for good measure, !!!!!) The South Florida music festival went dark in 2009 after a proposed festival in Miami had to be canceled due to poor ticket sales. The result of not only the move to Miami, but also a down economy and the decision by jam-band king Phish to hold its long-awaited return from hiatus on precisely the same weekend as the jam-friendly fest.

But this Oct. 8 and 9, Langerado will return to Markham Park in Sunrise, site of the best three incarnations of the festival. A few purists will tell you that the first two fests, at Fort Lauderdale Stadium and Young Circle Park, were the best, and some of the younger kids will rant about how the last Langerado, held at Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation, changed their lives. But those people don’t know what they’re talking about. Those Markham shows were pure magic.

The festival returns under the auspices of C3 Presents and Boros Entertainment, which acquired the festival name from the previous promoters after Langerado’s sad downfall. But think not, dear readers, that the new organization consists of a bunch of fly-by-night festival poachers. C3 is responsible for Austin City Limits and has had previous experience breathing new life into old festivals with Chicago’s Lollapalooza.

Details remain a little murky as to how exactly the deal with C3 went down. “I didn’t have anything to do with the name transfer, that was all my former business partner,” says Ethan Schwartz, the co-founder of Langerado with his former partner, Mark Brown, whose Cloud 9 Adventures also puts on the Jam Cruise that leaves from Port Everglades each year. “I’m thrilled that Langerado is coming back. It was and always will be one of the most-important things I’ve ever been involved in. Knowing the kind of lineups that C3 is capable of putting together with Lollapalooza and Austin City Limits, I think it’s safe to say that they’ll put something together that will blow South Florida audiences away. I will be attending, and I’m excited that I will actually get to see music at Langerado instead of running around working.”

Brown, Schwartz’s former partner, remains understandably tight-lipped about the sale. “I am not in a position to discuss the details of how the festival changed hands, but I am proud of all the hard work that went into building this great event for over six years and I am glad to see the festival come back to life,” he says. “I wish the new producers and the fans of Langerado many great times to come and hope South Florida embraces the opportunity to welcome great bands back to the festival platform.”

The weight of the festival is off both of the men. Schwartz now lives and works in promotions in the musically fertile ground of Athens, Ga., and Brown now concentrates on destination musical adventures — both in Jam Cruise and his music-heavy vacation trips, first in Caribbean Holidaze and currently with Mayan Holidaze, which will take place Jan. 26-30, 2012 in Puerto Morelos, Mexico. But it’s hard not to hear some wistfulness in the promoters, now that their baby has not only grown up but has moved out of the house, married a nice girl named C3 and started a life of his own.

Contact Dan Sweeney at dfsweeney@citylinkmagazine.com.

Sharon Jones: “Whoever said anything about me, they know what they said. So they’re feeling it.” (photo by Steven Dewall)

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by Jake Cline

Sharon Jones has been told what she is not so many times, she can’t help but laugh. And laugh she does: a deep, joyful noise that, like an outboard motor, sputters to life, catches briefly and then expires with a series of snorts and snickers. Like so many of the things that emanate from the mouth of this voluble woman whose Georgia accent has been little diminished by decades of New York living, it is not an unpleasant sound.

Before breaking out in 2002 as the leader of the Brooklyn-based soul band the Dap-Kings and leaving behind a life spent scraping together work — as a wedding singer, backup vocalist and, for a brief time, prison guard at Rikers Island — Jones could hardly look at a microphone without being told to step away from it. In an oft-repeated story, a producer with Sony Records once personally dismissed her for not being tall enough, thin enough, young enough or light-skinned enough for the music business.

“I had people tell me, ‘Why is she trying, in her late 30s, to go out here and make it? Nobody is going to come and see her old ass.’ That was literally what was said: ‘Who’s going to come and see her old ass?’ ” Jones says from her home in Queens, disbelief cascading from her voice as if these conversations had occurred but days earlier. “I’ll be 55 May 4. Twenty years later, people are still coming to see my old ass. Even more people are coming out.” (Jones and the Dap-Kings will perform Sunday at the Fillmore Miami Beach.)

If Jones weren’t always able to laugh away such disparagement, she is now. In recent years, spurred in part by the Dap-Kings’ 2007 album, 100 Days, 100 Nights, the rising profile of the band’s own Daptone Records and Jones’ reputation as an entertainer with enough energy to form her own weather patterns, the singer has found herself in demand not only by a cross-generational swath of music lovers, but also by a diverse selection of her more-established peers. Her collaborators have included David Byrne, Michael Bublé, Phish, Lou Reed, Rufus Wainwright and They Might Be Giants. (Minus Jones, the Dap-Kings have worked with Al Green and backed Amy Whitehouse on that singer’s breakout album, Back to Black, somewhat overshadowing their work that same year on 100 Days, 100 Nights.) Last year, Jones says, the manager of the Apollo Theater in Harlem selected her and the Dap-Kings to perform two songs by Aretha Franklin at a concert celebrating the Queen of Soul’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

A question about what Jones looks for in a collaborator elicits a simple answer. “Nothing,” she says. “They look for me.”

She then relates a discursive story — punctuated, of course, by that combustible laughter — about a pre-fame invitation to sing backup on a track by David Byrne. The former Talking Head, Jones says, hired her for the session, only to ask her to recut her vocals to sound more like the younger, pop-oriented singer who was also working on the track. Jones, of course, said no.

“I never thought to do nothing with no David Byrne,” she says. “I feel like this: When you call me in to do something with you, you must want me to do soul-singing. Because you know I’m a soul singer. Don’t ask me to come in and rap. And don’t ask me to come in and sing pop. You ask me to come in and do Sharon Jones — soul. Let me sing. If you want me to sound like that young lady, then use that young lady.” Byrne later recruited Jones to contribute vocals to Here Lies Love, a concept album he wrote with Fatboy Slim about the Philippines’ Imelda Marcos. Jones says Byrne didn’t recall the earlier incident when she reminded him of it, and that the two are now friends.

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If Jones takes exception to being asked to compromise her talent and vocal style for someone else’s benefit, she becomes a model of defiance when presented with the idea that she and the Dap-Kings are a revival act, dispassionately mimicking the music of an earlier, deeper era for nostalgia-hungry listeners. This is a lazy, ignorant charge, though not an unlikely one, given the group’s avowed love for the music of Stax and Motown and our culture’s long-standing habit of viewing past art forms through a superior, ironic lens. But for Jones and her bandmates, authenticity is not a matter of degrees. It’s a matter of course.

“They keep trying to tell us that there is no soul music today. [They say] we’re retro. And I’m like, ‘No, it’s not,’ ” Jones says, her voice bearing traces of irritation for the first and only time during the interview. “Even now, like, [fellow Daptone artist] Charles Bradley is 62 years old and he got his debut album out. You hear him singing, he sounds like somebody from back [in the ’60s], like Otis Redding. He don’t sound like no contemporary retro. It’s not no new stuff. It might be new to you because you never heard this song. But that song reminds you of something from back in the day. So that’s how I take that. It just reminds you. We’re not not doing soul music. We’re doing soul music. I just want us to be recognized as doing soul music. Why don’t they just say that?”

Released last spring, I Learned the Hard Way, the Dap-Kings’ fourth album, should have settled that argument. There’s no confusing the group’s performance here for a simple act of homage. Jones is right to profess that the band is following a continuum established by soul greats such as Solomon Burke, James Brown, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding, and that the goal of the Kings and other Daptone artists is not only to keep the spirit of those artists alive but to embody it. Whereas the Dap-Kings’ previous albums could be inconsistent, capturing the sound of the group’s forebears but not always their compositional magic, I Learned the Hard Way is the first album on which every song measures up to the band’s intentions. A collaborative songwriting effort spearheaded by bassist and Daptone co-founder Gabriel Roth, the album smoothly shifts among Motown-like balladry (“Window Shopping”), grooving Philadelphia soul (“She Ain’t a Child No More”) and a gritty, Southern sound drawn from Memphis’ Stax label (the title track). “The Reason” could be mistaken for a lost Bar-Kays or Booker T. and the M.G.s cut, and Jones’ exasperated vocals on “Money” recall James Brown’s pre-hip-hop rapping.

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The aforementioned label affiliations are not lost on Jones, but they also are not all that important to her. Growing up, she harbored no fidelity for any particular soul genre, community or record company. The music, then as now, came first.

“Anyone to me back in the day was my favorite. Because I listened to everything,” she says. “I don’t remember who was from Stax when I was coming up. All we know was people did songs. I remember seeing labels like Atlantic. Of course, you remember Motown, you remember Stax. I didn’t know labels. There were so many different labels [that] I didn’t pay labels any attention. We were just about the songs: ‘Give me that James Brown song!’ ”

Days into a spring tour that will make five stops in Florida this week and keep Jones and the Dap-Kings on the road into June, the singer promises that no two shows will be alike and that she has no interest in performing the songs as they appear on record. “The main thing is once you learn them and get the story, you can play with them,” she says. “That’s the good part. I get someone out of the audience to come up and I dance with them and sing the song to them. It gives the song a whole different feel each night, you know, with a different person. Some nights, I don’t call people up on the stage. It all depends on how I feel.”

As for the idea that her success can be viewed as a juicy form of payback to those people who told her the music world was too tall, too thin, too light and too young to accommodate the likes of Sharon Jones, the singer is beyond diplomatic. That her critics could be so ugly and so wrong begs, at last, not bitterness or anger, but pity and, yes, laughter.

“I don’t need to insult anyone,” she avers. “The ones that I knew who said that, I don’t need to go back to them and say, ‘You see what you said?’ I don’t need to point my finger at them. Because right now, they’re biting their own tongue. Whoever said anything about me, they know what they said. So they’re feeling it. I don’t need to go up in their face. I don’t need to call their names out. I don’t need to do any of that stuff.”

Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings will perform 8 p.m. Sunday, March 20 at the Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave. Bobby Lee Rodgers will open the show. Tickets cost $37.50. Call 305-673-7300 or visit Livenation.com.

Contact Jake Cline at jcline@citylinkmagazine.com.

St. Patrick’s Day won’t take place until Thursday, March 17, but South Florida’s Irish community can’t wait that long to drown us all in green beer and shepherd’s pie. Beginning this Saturday, cities from Hollywood to West Palm Beach will host Irish festivals and parades, and they’ll continue partying until the holiday finally rears its Guinness-besotted head. Check this space next week for a list of day-of parties and events.

IRISH FEST ON FLAGLER

The Screaming Orphans (pictured above), four self-described music-obsessed sisters who left their dear old Donegal to bring their pop-rock quartet to New York, will be among the featured acts at Irish Fest on Flagler. Despite the name, they’re not a screamo band. A friend of drummer and lead singer Joan Diver proposed the name at a pub one night. The sisters found the moniker appropriate since striking out on their own as a band meant leaving behind their former lead singer (a.k.a. their mom) and their manager and sound engineer (their dad). They also attended school in a former orphanage and, like many people who come from big families, are accustomed to screaming to be heard. “I’ll scream a little louder until ya hear me/I’ll push a little harder so make room for me,” Diver sings in one song. The Screaming Orphans will perform 9 p.m. Saturday and 6 p.m. Sunday.

The sisters form just one of more than a dozen bands performing throughout the weekend. Others include the Prodigals, Seven Nations, The Young Wolfe Tones with Derek Warfield, and Irish Fest veteran Noel Kingston. Irish dancers will supplement all the mad drunken jigs that will take place after everyone has filled up on Guinness. Festival hours are noon-11 p.m. Saturday and noon-8 p.m. Sunday at Meyer Amphitheatre, 104 Datura St., in West Palm Beach. Admission is $5. Call 954-946-1093 or visit Irishflorida.org.

FINNEGAN’S WAKE

The shenanigans at Barrett’s Sly Fox Old Irish Pub will kick off about 6 p.m. Tuesday, when Tim Finnegan’s coffin (complete with a dummy that has a bottle of Jameson in its pocket) will arrive in a hearse with a police escort. Actors posing as the pope, a priest and a nun will follow the casket, along with weeping mourners (including a mysterious lady in black) and the Police Pipe and Drum Band. Once inside the pub, the coffin will be opened, an Irish tenor will sing “Danny Boy” and the mourning, singing, dancing and drinking will begin.

In true Irish-wake fashion, Finnegan’s farewell party will continue with “Practice Day” on Wednesday and roll right on through St. Patrick’s Day at 3537 N. Ocean Blvd., in Fort Lauderdale. Because they’re expecting a big turnout, the pub will set up extra bars, tables and chairs under a big tent. Call 954-383-2285.

ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE AND FESTIVAL

Fort Lauderdale’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival will begin noon Saturday and feature live music, Irish step-dancers, bagpipers, Irish cuisine and a noon parade in which Wini Amaturo (as in the Amaturo Theater at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts) will serve as grand marshal. The parade — which will have more than 100 entries, including floats, high school marching bands, NYPD Pipe and Drum Corps, bagpipers and street performers — will progress from Southeast Eighth to Southeast First avenues along Las Olas Boulevard and end at Huizenga Plaza, where the party will continue until 9 p.m. Admission is free. Call 954-828-5985 or visit Ftlaudirishfest.com.

DELRAY BEACH ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE

A party will take place before and after this annual parade, a tradition late pub owner Maury Power started 43 years ago. After moving from Chicago to Delray Beach, Power was disappointed by the city’s lack of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations. Egged on by friends and Irish whiskey, he strolled down Atlantic Avenue in a top hat and deemed it a parade — the first of many. Power died in 1996, but his parade marches on.

The party at Old School Square will begin 11 a.m. Saturday and the parade will run from 2 to 3:30 p.m. along Atlantic Avenue from Gleason Street to Swinton Avenue in Delray Beach. The after-party will feature Living on a Prayer: the Ultimate ’80s Tribute to Bon Jovi (3:30 p.m.) and Don’t Stop Believin’: A Tribute to Journey (5:15 p.m.). Admission is free. Call 561-279-0907 or visit Festivalmanagementgroup.com.

DOWNTOWN HOLLYWOOD ST. PATRICK’S DAY PARADE AND FESTIVAL

The Hibernians of Hollywood have been presenting this parade for 13 years. It will begin 1 p.m. Sunday, but the party will get rolling at noon and will include corned beef and cabbage, shepherd’s pie, green drinks and music by Joe Dougherty (12:15 p.m.), Celtic Bridge (2:15 p.m.), Tricianne Garrihy and Avalon (3:15 p.m.) and UV: the U2 Tribute Show (4:40 p.m.)

The festivities will take place along Hollywood Boulevard, west of Young Circle between 18th and 21st avenues. The parade will start at 21st Avenue and Harrison Street and travel north to Hollywood Boulevard, east to Young Circle, south to Harrison and back to 21st Avenue. Admission is free. Call 954-921-3404 or visit St. Patricksparade.com.

Contact Colleen Dougher at cdougher@citylinkmagazine.com.

Snoop Dogg will appear at Liv as DJ Snoopadelic.

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by Joanie Cox and Colleen Dougher

We don’t have to tell you that when the Winter Music Conference debuted 26 years ago, it was the biggest thing to happen to electronic dance music since Thomas Edison dropped ecstasy and invented the phonograph. And it still is. Taking place through Saturday at the Miami Beach Convention Center, the conference itself features the usual industry-oriented panels and seminars on topics such as artist development, legal issues, audio technology, club culture and — read this one with a thick German or Dutch accent — European markets.

As always, we really don’t give a damn about any of that. We’re not DJs and we couldn’t tell a mixing board from an ironing board. We’re only interested in the events surrounding WMC, namely the legion of parties, concerts and in-store appearances featuring the best DJs and EDM artists from around the world. This year’s club events are remarkably affordable, too, with the majority costing $15 to $20 per ticket. Sure, you’ll get gouged at the bar even if you decide to stick with beer, but at least your wallet or purse won’t go through a beating at the door.

The following list of events is by no means comprehensive. These are simply our recommendations of shows not to be missed this week. For a more-bountiful list, visit Wintermusicconference.com. And don’t forget to raise a toast to the basshead of Menlo Park.

BEACH PLAZA HOTEL
1401 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 305-531-6421, Beachplazahotel.com
WMC can get hectic, so you may need Wednesday’s Change of Pace garden party to prepare you for the week. DJs will include French house duo Fries and Bridges, Canadian soul-funk spinner Jason Hodges, Australian house act Random Soul and Chicago disco-house DJ Stacy Kidd. Noon-11 p.m. Tickets cost $15.

BURN
764 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, 305-205-2724
Thursday’s Dirty House Sessions will mark the grand opening of Burn, so the atmosphere at this party should be buzzing. House DJ Jason Falzone, who started his career as a drummer, will spin after DJ Jason K’s opening set. Tickets cost $15.

CATALINA HOTEL AND BEACH CLUB
1732 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 305-674-1160, Catalinasouthbeach.com
Detox by the Pool, a 12-hour party to raise money for the South Florida Leukemia Society, will present an international lineup that includes George Morel, Granite and Phunk, Eddie Cumana, Davidson Ospina, DJ Godfather, Maximus 3000, Louis Dee, Dylan Duke and 15 others. The party will begin 5 p.m. Thursday and continue until 5 a.m. Friday. Admission is a $10 donation or free with WMC badge.

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CHESTERFIELD HOTEL
855 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 305-531-5831, Thechesterfieldhotel.com
Women Man the Decks, an all-white dress party presented by ToneLove Productions, will feature DJs Anane Vega, Mikki Afflick, Francesca Magliano, Sabine Blaizin and Charo Velecio. 11 a.m.-8 p.m. Thursday. Admission is free with RSVP to Madadventures1@gmail.com or Toneloveprod@gmail.com.

CLEVELANDER HOTEL
1020 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, 305-509-1363, Clevelander.com
The laid-back Clevelander will offer the perfect backdrop for the third annual House You party featuring New York’s Spinna, Baltimore’s Ultra Nate and France’s Claude Monnet. 9 p.m.-5 a.m. Wednesday. Admission is $20 at Wantickets.com. On Thursday at the hotel’s 1020 Lounge, see Scooter and Lavelle, a duo that combines hip-hop and house while using four turntables. Chris Garcia and Ayla Simone also will spin. 10 p.m.-5 a.m. Tickets cost $10.

CLUB PLAY
1045 Fifth St., Miami Beach, 305-532-4340, Clubplaysouthbeach.com
Salted Gets Deep, presented by San Francisco dance label Salted Music and the Los Angeles nightclub Deep LA, will feature exclusive WMC sets by Miguel Migs, Marques Wyatt, Lisa Shaw, Julius Papp, DJ MFR and Random Soul. House singer Lisa Shaw also will perform. 9 p.m.-5 a.m. Saturday. Tickets cost $20 or $10 with WMC badge.

THE DOUBLETREE SURFCOMBER HOTEL
1717 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 305-532-7715, Surfcomber.com
DJ Boris’ mix of “Get This Party Started” reached the top spot on Billboard’s Hot Club Play chart, and this mixmaster is bound to do just what the song says Saturday at the Surfcomber during the seventh annual Get Wet Pool Party, which also will feature Chus and Ceballos. 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Admission before 4 p.m. is $50 and an all-day ticket costs $65.

On Sunday, the DJ Danny Tenaglia and Friends Closing Pool Party will blast progressive house from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Admission is $35 before 2 p.m. and $45 for an all-day ticket.

ELECTRIC PICKLE
2826 N. Miami Ave., Miami, 305-456-5613, Electricpicklemiami.com
Presented by Flaunt Magazine and Aquabooty Miami, A Sense of Danger will feature DJ Harvey, known for marathon sets in clubs worldwide, in a show the Electric Pickle calls a seven-hour “mind-blowing journey of epic proportions, flaming high-wire acts and top-secret special guests.” 10 p.m. Friday. Trus’ Me and DHM also will spin. Admission is $20.

On Sunday at the club, Dance for Haiti, presented by Haitian Heritage Museum, Cloak Inc. and Miami Assists, will feature Carlos Mena, Djini Brown, DJs for Haiti, Sabine Blazin and DJ Bruno. 5-9 p.m. Admission is $20, $10 with WMC badge.

LIV NIGHTCLUB
4441 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 305-674-4680, Livnightclub.com
The D-O-G-G will take a bite out of WMC Thursday when Snoop Dogg steps behind the decks as DJ Snoopadelic. Ross One also will perform. 11 p.m.-5 a.m. Tickets cost $60.

No WMC would be complete without a Paul Oakenfold party. On Friday, the trance giant will host his annual Perfecto Record label showcase with Rony Seikaly and Nervo. 11 p.m.-5 a.m. Tickets cost $100.

LOVE/HATE
423 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, 305-695-8616, Lovehatemiami.com
House Guests features DJ Sneak vs. Doc Martin “playing throwback house sets and tag team until the sun comes up” along with DJ Mes at a 10-hour party that will start 9 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $5 before midnight and $10 after.

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MANSION
1235 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, 305-531-5535, Mansionmiami.com
German trance legend Paul van Dyk with fire up the turntables Saturday along with Filo and Peri and Dan Marci. Expect Van Dyk to preview virgin tracks from his forthcoming album. 10 p.m.-5 a.m. Tickets cost $40.

MEKKA MIAMI
950 N.E. Second Ave., Miami, 305-371-3773, Mekkamiami.com
Go Big WMC promises five rooms of music for 17 hours with unlimited re-entry. The roster includes Mark Farina, Chuck Love, King Britt, DJ Heather, Jojo Flores, Quentin Harris, Terry Thompson, DJ Everyday, Danny Bled, Border Patrol and Freakshow. 10 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets cost $22.98.

NATIONAL HOTEL
1677 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 305-532-2311, Nationalhotel.com
Billed as the One Sound, One People Tribe Party, this event will include British Afro-beat mixer Zepherin Saint, hip-house DJ Spinna, and Carlos Mena, a soulful house DJ who produced beats for Arrested Development. Noon-11 p.m. Thursday. Tickets cost $10.

NIKKI BEACH
1 Ocean Drive, Miami Beach, 305-538-1111, Nikkibeach.com/Miami
Nikki Beach, Rhythm Freak and Vitamin C will present Electric Beach, an open-air, 17-hour bash showcasing deep house, tech house, electro house and progressive talents such as Harry “Choo Choo” Romero, Paul Harris, Mind Control and Tom Novy, who also will be celebrating his birthday at this bash. British house trio Dirty Vegas, which just released a video for “Electric Love,” the title track for its forthcoming album (see Setai entry below, will perform. Noon Thursday to 5 a.m. Friday. Tickets cost $34.28.

Purple Music Weekndance 3 will feature DJs Lewis, Meme, Roland Clark, Victor Simonelli, Soul Magic, Luca Cassani, Anthony Romeno, Souldynamic, Christian Hornbostel and Misteralf. Vocalists Keith Thompson, Kim Cooper, Natasha Watts and Hannah Hais also will perform. 1-10 p.m. Friday. Admission is $10 or free with WMC badge.

THE SETAI
101 20th St., Miami Beach, 305-520-6000, Setai.com
Dirty Vegas is best known for its trippy 2003 hit “Days Go By.” While the house act released a second album in 2004, many days have certainly gone by since we last heard from them. Dirty Vegas finally will release a new album, Electric Love, in April. From 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dirty Vegas will DJ and perform an acoustic set at the Guess store at 546 Lincoln Road. Then, from 8 p.m. to 1:30 a.m., Dirty Vegas, Colette and the Whooligan will perform at Setai. Admission is free with an RSVP. Visit Ommiami2011.eventbrite.com.

SHINE AT THE SHELBORNE
1801 Collins Ave., Miami Beach, 305-531-1271, Shinesouthbeach.com
The dance party Shelter NYC will celebrate its 21st anniversary with Timmy Regisford, Joaquin “Joe” Claussell and a yet-to-be-announced guest in the main room and Adam Rios of New York and Dino of Greece in the front room. 9 p.m. Wednesday.

The Fabric 56 CD launch will take place 10 p.m. Thursday and feature Terry Hunter, Jonathan Cowan and Derrick Carter, who mixed the 56th installment of the Fabric series and last month played the infamous London nightclub of the same name.

WeAreOne will feature Dave Seaman, Desyn Masiello and Jonathan Cowan, who will be celebrating his birthday. 10 p.m. Friday.

Josh Gabriel, Dave Dresden and Jonathan Cowan met during the 2001 Winter Music Conference, formed a group and split up in 2008 after receiving their second consecutive WMC award for Best American DJs. Their reunion performance will begin 10 p.m. Saturday.

Cadenza Nights will feature Michel Cleis and Robert Dietz, who reportedly took Pacha Ibiza by storm with their Sunday Vagabundos party last summer, and Shelborne resident DJ Jon Cowan. 10 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets cost $20 for all shows.

SHELBORNE POOLSIDE
On Thursday, Grammy Award-winning house DJ/producer David Morales will celebrate the release of his new album, Resurrection. Presented by Def Mix and Glamsta Records, the party also will include Quentin Harris, Ultra Naté, Jonathan Mendelsohn, Hector Romero, Brandon Morales and Frankie Knuckles. Vocalists Lisa Pure and Ultra Naté will also perform.

On Friday, Made in Miami, presented by Nervous Records, will mark the return of Miami’s Murk (the house production duo of Oscar G and Ralph Falcón), along with Patrick M, Behrouz, Lazaro, Casanova, Rony Sekaly, Jon Cowan, DMS12, Edgar V, Stryke and Danny Daze.

Saturday’s Body and Soul party will mark the group’s 15th anniversary. The act played New York’s Vinyl every Sunday until the club closed. This will be Body and Soul’s first performance in Miami.

We Love Miami, a Sunday celebration of Detroit’s EDM scene, will feature Derrick May, Kevin Saunderson, Stacey Pullen, Desyn Masiello, Feel My Bicep and Monty Luke. Octave One, which consists of house/techno brothers Lenny and Lawrence Burden and a revolving lineup of other brothers, will perform.

Tickets cost $40 for all shows.

SOBE LIVE
1203 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, 305-695-2820, Sobelivesouthbeach.com
If deep house is your thing, Wednesday’s Get Large Miami party will provide an ideal soundtrack. Get lost in mixes by DJs from all over the world, including Derek Dunbar of Los Angeles, Nathan G of Australia, DJ Scope of Ireland and Mr. V of New York. 9 p.m.-5 a.m. Admission is $20.

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SPACE MIAMI
34 N.E. 11th St., Miami, 305-375-0001, Clubspace.com
On Friday, Space’s terrace will be booming with house beats by Madrid-born Wally Lopez, Spanish DJ David Tort, British DJ Desyn Masiello and Miami DJ Louis Puig. Doors will open 11 p.m. Admission is $40 before midnight and $50 before 2 a.m. For a separate $40 admission, progressive house and trance DJ Markus Schulz will spin in the main room at 11 p.m.

When Madonna asks you to remix 10 singles, you must be pretty good. Such is the case with New York house DJ Victor Calderone, who will DJ a party Saturday while house team Chus and Ceballos will take over the terrace. Doors will open 11 p.m. Tickets cost $40 before midnight and $60 before 2 a.m.

Also on Saturday, house and trance producer Matt Darey will broadcast his Nocturnal Radio Show from the club. Miami trance mixer George Acosta, Swedish DJ StoneBridge, house music DJ Glenn Morrison, progressive house group Manufactured Superstars and Italian DJ Luccio will perform. Admission is $25 before midnight and $35 before 2 a.m. Finally, on Sunday, Space will host Lazardi, Mark M, Jewelz, Sula, Carabetta and Doons, Pedro M and Leo Montoya. Doors will open 11 p.m. Admission is $20 before midnight and $30 before 2 a.m.

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THE VAGABOND
30 N.E. 14th St., Miami, 305-379-0508, Thevagabondmiami.com
Todd Terry’s Inhouse Records party, an eight-hour bash featuring DJ Sneak, Junior Sanchez, Rock-It Rockett, Mattias Heilbronn, Norty Cotto, Benji Candelario, Oscar P, DJ Lucho, Pete G, DJ Eric F and Danny Genius, will begin 9 p.m. Wednesday. Tickets cost $12.

Shake + Get Low’s WMC edition will feature DJ Hatcha (pictured), a founder of the United Kingdom’s dubstep scene. Juan Basshead, Agape featuring Nadia Harris, MC Jumanji and the Nome, Somejerk vs. Methodus, Ashworth, A-Train, Rob Riggs and Sounduo also will perform. 10 p.m. Thursday-5 a.m. Friday. Tickets cost $12.

Fridays at the Vagabond, a seven-hour party billed as “a night of electro-everything,” will feature “Godfather of ElectroClash” Larry Tee, electro-pop act Class Actress and MillionYoung. It all will start at 10 p.m. Tickets cost $12.

Dance Ritual, described as a night “drawing on soul, disco, Latin, jazz and hip-hop, the deep and funky sound of the Vega Records family,” will include Louie Vega, Mr. V, Johnny Dangerous, Carlos Mena, Fabio Genito, Davidson Ospina, Anane and Josh Milan. The party will begin 10 p.m. Saturday. Tickets cost $22.98.

DJ Jazzy Jeff is best known for his role as Will Smith’s lovable sidekick on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and behind the scenes, the pair was just as close. Twenty-five years later, he’s surprised to find himself still working as a full-time DJ. This Friday, he’ll share a bill with Miami’s DJ Irie at the W Fort Lauderdale hotel. He called City Link from his home in Philadelphia to discuss how he became Smith’s BFF, his bond with DJ AM and what happened to the wild wardrobe he wore on TV in the ’90s.

Do you remember the first record you ever bought?
No, but it was probably something from one of my brothers or sisters. We used to listen to a lot of classic funk and soul. There was a store in Philadelphia that had a sale: three 45s for $1.50. You would go down the list and pick your favorite 45s until you got them all.

How did you meet Will Smith?
I didn’t grow up with him, but in the early ’80s, instead of everybody wanting to be in a band, everybody wanted to be a DJ. There was an aspiring rapper on every street. We’d have these big parties in the neighborhood and at the YMCA, and Will was just in another rap group in the neighborhood. We knew of each other but we weren’t formally introduced. You kind of knew all the guys from mixtapes or seeing them at parties. Someone asked me to do a party on his street, and the guy I used to have emcee for me was sick that night. When I got there, Will came down and it was the mutual, “Hey, how’s it going?” He asked, “Do you mind if I get on the mike?” I said, “No,” and it was just a really huge bond and a lot of chemistry that night. We had a ball, so the next night, I had another party, and he gave me his number. It was a partnership that kind of just formed without even saying anything. We had a good time and I felt like he read my mind and I read his, and it just kept going on and on and on.

Did you get on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air together?
No. When we started, his goal was to be on television. At 16, he was saying, “I wanna do TV and music.” We used to joke I could do the music for the TV show. So that’s why even until today, we still look at each other and he’ll say, “Do you believe this?” The only people that really understand what he’s talking about is him and I. To kind of will it into existence is still mind blowing to both of us.

Do you ever catch reruns of the show?
Sometimes. But I’ve always gone through a weird little thing where it’s so hard for me to watch them. I don’t know why. It’s funny because my oldest son could never watch The Fresh Prince with me in the room. It was just something that was weird to him. He’d say, “I can’t watch you here and right next to me at the same time.” Every once in a while, I’ll watch it and chuckle remembering the behind the scenes and what went into filming those. But I’ve never really sat down and just watched.

You used to wear some wild clothes. Did you keep any of the clothes you wore on the show?
I tried to keep as many of the clothes as I humanly, possibly could. It was funny because I had a little scheme going. I never relocated to the West Coast, so I commuted when I did the show. My flight out was always a Friday-night-red-eye flight right after we finished taping. As soon as I finished my last scene, I’d race to the car and leave. A lot of times, I never had a chance to change my clothes, which was by design because I wanted to keep some of the clothes. They really had some cool clothes.

Are you working on a new album?
I just finished a new album with a young lady from Toronto named Ayah. We’re going to try to put it out later this year. She’s an R&B artist. I’m doing the music production.

Have you DJ’ed with Irie before?
Oh, yeah. A bunch of times in Miami and Vegas.

Have you ever battled one another?
Oh, no, no. I’m so far from that. Now, I just want to get up there and make sure everybody has a good time.

What was it like working with the late DJ AM, and do you have a favorite memory of him?
One of them was in Miami at Mansion. We did a show there that was incredible. It was probably the first time him and I played together. We played two records a piece at the same time and we’d go back and forth and do routines together. People really, really loved it. It was during Winter Music Conference and it was a packed house. I actually have a live recording of that set. It kind of started the whole ball rolling that we would do that a lot. [Losing him] was really bad. It sucked.

Do you plan to release the recording?
I got it from someone who sent it to me on the Internet. The Internet is a very interesting place because it allows shows and recordings to never die. Someone is always posting somewhere to keep the memory out there. It’s amazing to see pictures and videos from stuff Will and I did early on that we lost. People have found it and posted it on the Internet, and we’re sitting there saying, “Oh, my God, thank you.” We have an unofficial DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince Web site a guy from Australia started. It was so funny when I found it. He had the best accounting of everything Will and I had done together and separately.

Will you ever do more acting?
Possibly. I’ve been hounding Will for a part in Men in Black 3. Almost every movie he has made, he’s asked me to come to the set and do something, and I hadn’t. So I think when I told him I wanted to do something in Men in Black 3, he didn’t believe me. They started shooting in December and took a break and they’re supposed to start shooting again later this month.

DJ Jazzy Jeff will spin with DJ Irie 9 p.m. Friday, March 11 at Whiskey Blue and Living Room in the W Fort Lauderdale, 401 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd. Tickets cost $20 at Wantickets.com.

Contact Joanie Cox at jcox@citylinkmagazine.com.

Rick Odria and Ashley Pope

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by Colleen Dougher

A smile is a powerful thing. This week, we found five South Florida musicians with songs about the facial expression. Say “cheese” and read on.

In “A Smile’s Always a Good Thing,” singer-songwriter Mark Spinner explores the power of smiling. “She looked across the room, her smile caught my eye/I had to smile back/I thought, ‘Oh me, oh my,’ ” Spinner sings. “We had a cup of coffee, we smiled all the while/Sometimes, things go right, a smile’s always a good thing.” Spinner says he’s noticed how routine tasks such as grocery-shopping became more enjoyable if done with a smile, but that it was a smile flashed in his direction that inspired his song. “I was at an event and I noticed a girl who smiled at me,” he recalls. “I smiled back, and the song was etched in my mind. I went home and had the melody going through my mind and I just went with it.” Spinner says a smile can brighten a person’s day and convey appreciation, understanding and comfort. “Even over the phone, if a person smiles when they speak with someone … a good vibe ensues,” he says. To hear “A Smile’s Always a Good Thing,” from his 2010 album Comical Persuasions, visit Reverbnation.com/markspinnermusic.

Singer-songwriter Sam Friend says “Smile for the Camera” is about faking it until you make it. After the song’s “Stray Cat Strut”-style intro, Friend sings, “I just can’t wait, plain and simple/To dance with you, to shake the darkness/I just can’t wait … until it’s bright and early again/My hands here have been out, and your best foot seems a bit forward, oh, ya/A meeting where the middle happens/Smile for the camera.” As Friend explains, “We live in a culture that is increasingly gung ho about presenting itself as a smiling, bubbly bunch. This song is about how people are getting into the swing of a newly peaked interest in self-celebrating, and what that means for the rest of our selves.” To hear “Smile for the Camera,” visit Myspace.com/samfriend.

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Just as Rick Odria, a.k.a. My Electric Heart, finishes singing the line, “The first time I saw you, you turned away,” singer-songwriter Ashley Pope launches into the next with “I couldn’t see you with the sun shining in my eyes.” And so it goes as the pair alternates vocals on their highly listenable cover of +44’s “Make Me Smile.” Odria says he and his ex-girlfriend Pope were looking for a song to do together. “’Make You Smile’ has always been a favorite of mine,” Odria says. “It’s just a completely different feel than most of the songs +44 released, and I knew we’d really enjoy making it our own.” To hear their version of “Make Me Smile,” visit Facebook.com/myelectricheartfl. My Electric Heart will perform at the Hard Rock Battle of the Bands 8 p.m. Thursday, March 10 at the Hard Rock Café in Hollywood.

Miami reggae artist Ryan “Jahmali” Thomas also explores the warmth of a smile in “When I See You Smiling,” his song about a smile that inspires love and brightens a morning. His tune contains these important words of advice: “Never let them stop you from smiling.” To hear “When I See You Smiling,” visit Reverbnation.com/jahmali.

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“A Lover in a Fighter’s World,” by singer-songwriter Tommy Bussey, a.k.a. TommyB, starts on a cold, sad note and leads to a warm smile. As Bussey sings, “Like the cold tile floor, my heart can’t take much more/Of getting stepped on and walked over. And like the bright moon tonight, your eyes give me hope to fight/So tonight, I’m fighting off thoughts of this girl, and tonight, I’m becoming a lover in a fighter’s world./Like the warm sun today, your smile gives me strength to say that I can fall in love again someday.” Bussey says he’s bounced around relationships over the years, but that something was always missing. “After spending over a year immersed in my work and almost giving up on love, I met someone,” he explains. “I was randomly introduced to my hairstylist’s cousin, and after only our second date, felt inspired to write ‘A Lover in a Fighter’s World.’ … I was very apprehensive about the possibility of getting into another relationship, but there was something about this girl that really broke down my walls. …This girl made me believe in love again, and just everything about her has totally captivated me.” To hear “A Lover in a Fighter’s World,” visit Reverbnation.com/officialtommyb.

Contact Colleen Dougher at cdougher@citylinkmagazine.com.

Photo by Adrien Broom

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by Joanie Cox

When Grace Potter hit the stage for VH1’s Divas Salute the Troops this past December wearing a skimpy, silver, flapper dress and gripping a Gibson Flying V guitar, all eyes were on the blond bombshell before she strummed a single note. And then, she unleashed her soulful, raw voice on America. Her band, Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, has been selling out shows ever since.

Onstage, Potter can shake it with abandon, feeling bold in front of 20,000 people. But when she’s not performing, the 27-year-old singer says she can be quite reserved. “I was a really loud kid, but I was a silent volcano. I was very shy and I wouldn’t talk much in class,” she recalls in a phone interview. “And then, when I did have something to say, it would come out in these little explosions — these little tantrums. I’m still that girl, but sometimes, I wish I could always be loud. I was at the airport the other day and Cee-Lo comes walking by, but I couldn’t muster up the wit or the chutzpah to say hello.”

Growing up on an artsy compound in Waitsfield, Vt., Potter may not have had a traditional upbringing, but it fostered a love of the arts, musical and otherwise. “I grew up in Potterville. It’s the house that my parents built in the ’70s that grew and sprouted into a bunch of little buildings that housed my parents’ art projects and whatever they were pursuing at the time,” Potter says. “It’s my home. I still live there.”

The singer describes a typical day in Potterville as sleeping in until 3 p.m. Then, there are the chores. “There’s a lot of cooking. There’s a lot of Frisbee. There’s a lot of cleaning up,” she says. “In the wintertime, it’s all about shoveling snow. You could literally spend the day shoveling snow and there’d still be more snow to shovel. In the fall, it’s all about raking leaves. So lots and lots of chores.”

Cooking remains one of Potter’s passions, but much like with her songwriting, everything has to come from a pure place. “I get pretty serious about making paella, but I can’t make it unless there’s a fresh fish market. I’m not going to get frozen scallops. It has to be fresh,” Potter explains. “The reason it’s my most-exciting meal to make is because it’s special and you have to go through that extra effort.”

While she grew up with supportive, progressive parents who she says “raised her right,” Potter still could be rebellious. “I had my bad teenage years just like every other kid, and my parents were patient and loving with me,” Potter recalls. “They allowed me to delve and explore musical realms that some parents would’ve tried to protect their kids from. But I’m really glad they let me go there and be on my own journey. In doing so, I’ve come right back to them, and that’s why I still live with them at home.”

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Potter’s parents remained surprisingly accepting even as her recreational activities grew farther from the norm. “I just took a lot of acid and hitchhiked around. It’s a small town, so my parents would get a call within eight minutes of me hitchhiking. They’d be like, ‘Yep, Grace is trying to hitchhike again,’ ” she says. “But they always knew where I was. And it was a small enough, safe community, where I could do those things and it wasn’t quite so dangerous as it would be if I was in the city or traveling internationally.”

Potter also remembers stirring up controversy at some of her earliest musical performances. “I got into all these music festivals and choirs where you’d meet kids from other schools and learn music and collaborate and I was always, always getting kicked out because I wasn’t wearing the uniform,” she says. “If the uniform was a white shirt and black pants, I’d wear white pants and a black shirt and be barefoot. Sometimes, I’d have a pink feather boa. I was just a bad kid and very anti-establishment. I still have a little piece of that.”

The soulful singer now shares that attitude onstage. Her powerful performances and electrifying vocals have earned her comparisons to Janis Joplin and Bonnie Raitt. While most performers her age are sticking with pop, Potter says she isn’t concerned with labels. “I don’t think about us as blues rock. I don’t think about us as anything. We’ve become undefinable and we make music that you can’t really put into a category. And that’s why I never really look around and think, ‘Man, I’m alone out here,’ ” she says. “I feel like everywhere we go, we’ve got friends and fans in every town and we’ve got people coming to see us that are part of a bigger community, a community that doesn’t necessarily have a definitive name other than rock ’n’ roll.”

She acknowledges a “classic bend” to the Nocturnals music, but she maintains that the band’s sound is constantly evolving. The group’s self-titled 2010 release featured two new Nocturnals, whose addition Potter believes took the band to a new realm. “It will be two years in May since Benny [Yurco, rhythm guitar] and Cat [Popper, bass] joined the band. We’ve really switched up the sound and gotten a whole new swagger,” she argues.

Although it may seem as if Potter became rock’s new poster girl overnight, she has been writing music and performing since she was 12. She also has been releasing albums since 2005. “It has been a really slow, amazing process,” Potter says of her career. “I think the VH1 Divas thing really did push things over the top, though. Performing for the troops and being in company with some of those incredible women I performed with in December was the first time I was starting to get recognized on the street and get stopped for autographs out of the blue. That definitely reminds me that every time we’ve grown as a band, every milestone we’ve hit, there’s definitely different levels of gravity to each one.”

Potter also has scored some famous fans. Last July, Madonna’s daughter Lourdes wrote on her Web site, Blog.materialgirlcollection.com: “Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are great … two of the guys in her band look like Jesus Christ. Praise the Lord. LOL.” Potter was excited and flattered.

“I think we were getting our makeup done for The Ellen [DeGeneres] Show that day, and one of the makeup artists said, ‘I was reading Madonna’s daughter’s blog, and she was talking about you and she said something about how everybody in the band looks like Jesus.’ It was great,” Potter recalls. “Rihanna tweeted about us after the Divas show and she said some really great things. It’s just so flattering and wonderful that musicians and actors I respect are giving us support. It’s just starting to happen now where this critical mass is sort of hitting a fever pitch, and people are aware of us now and shows are selling out. Things happen that make you realize how lucky you are to have this job, and certainly having Madonna’s daughter talk about us was an exciting one.”

Although she oozes sex appeal — donning short skirts and recklessly swinging her hair around onstage — Potter has a silly side. On Feb. 1, Potter and Popper surprised fans with a cover of “Milkshake,” the 2003 R&B single by Kelis. “The fans were astonished,” Potter says with a giggle. “It’s nice to get out of character for a second and not feel like you’re protecting some brand or some genre and you could just sort of be a girl for a second and sing a silly little song like that. It makes me happy that we can go there and our fans will go there with us.”

While the Nocturnals have no new album in the works, Potter has been writing songs whenever and wherever inspiration hits. “The bathroom does tend to be a place where I write a lot of songs,” she admits. “I recently wrote a song in an old, small Hollywood bathroom. It was one of those places where they kept the original old, shitty Chateau Marmont sort of plumbing. I really needed a quiet place, so I brought in the folding luggage thing to put my computer on. I wasn’t using the toilet, but I sat on it and had my guitar in the sink and I just started strumming away because it was the only place I could get an isolated sound.”

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals will perform 9 p.m. Saturday, March 5 at the Culture Room, 3045 N. Federal Highway, in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $20. Jonathan Tyler and the Northern Lights will open. Call 954-564-1074 or visit Cultureroom.net.

Contact Joanie Cox at jcox@citylinkmagazine.com.

Saskya Sky

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by Colleen Dougher

In honor of horrific workweeks, we’ve gathered five party songs from local musicians. Listen to them as you primp for a night out that will make you forget you even have a job.

Lead Rock Stars, the rock-and-hip-hop trio of Lead Man Lacy, Rock Candy and Jae rr Star, also wrote a song about partying VIP-style. In “Party Hard,” they brag, “Pull up in the flyest, crazy whip game/Ain’t no need for words, the bouncers know my name/Yeah, I’m VIP, and bottles are for free/Escort me to my table … What we do, party hard/We having a good time/And I ain’t goin’ home tonight.” Star says he wanted to produce a track with a party and techno-pop vibe. “All I kept thinking was, ‘I want to party hard to this music,’” he explains. “So I kept saying, ‘Party hard.’“ His mantra became part of the chorus. To hear “Party Hard,” visit Reverbnation.com/leadrockstars.

“Call my homies get my girls/We gonna party the night away/We ain’t gonna get in line/VIP all the way,” sings Saskya Sky, a.k.a. the Haitian Princess, in the pop song she calls a departure from her previous tunes. “I was 19 when I wrote ‘Party,’ ” she explains. “I wanted to write something different from my previous songs, which were love songs and songs about things going on in the world. I wanted to do a feel-good song that was fun and about partying.” To hear “Party,” visit Reverbnation.com/saskyasky.

The ultimate drown-out-the-workweek party involves getting lost in music, and “We Live for the Music,” from Miami DJ Robbie Rivera’s third album, Closer to the Sun, is the perfect soundtrack for doing just that. Featuring singer Jerique Allan, the track opens with “We live for the music, no matter what this world comes to. “ Consider the song, with mesmerizing vocals atop rhythmic thumping beats, a prelude to an even bigger party; house music producer Rivera and his wife and business partner, Monica, are the duo behind the infamous Juicy Beach party held each March during Winter Music Conference. To hear “We Live for the Music,” visit Reverbnation.com/robbierivera.

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Reggae singer Calibe’s “It’s My Birthday” is a high-energy collaboration with rapper Ultimate. “Even though it’s not my birthday/I’m gonna party like it’s my birthday,” Calibe sings. “We gonna party like it’s my birthday/It’s my birthday, it’s my birthday.” By the time Ultimate breaks into “It’s my day, nobody gonna get in my way/Give me some of that Grand Marnier,” listeners won’t need that Red Bull he’s requesting from the bartender. Calibe says she and other members of the production team BlackOut Movement were contemplating party songs when DJ Don P suggested the idea of partying like your birthday even when it isn’t. “The first hook melody that came to me is the melody we used. And, of course, I had to throw in the extra Jamaican flavor with the chant ‘Fling up your hands in the air,’“ Calibe explains. “We wanted to make sure that people have every excuse they need to have a great time anytime.” To hear “It’s My Birthday,” visit Reverbnation.com/calibe.

Jimmy Durkin makes no apology for planning to stay out all night in “Party On,” a song in which he proclaims, “I got a note here from my momma/Says I can stay out all night long/She don’t care if I party on … till the break of dawn.” The song was inspired by his memories of the Flick, the Coral Gables coffeehouse his father owned in the 1960s. At the venue, which hosted Dion, Joni Mitchell, Townes Van Zandt, Bobby Ingram and David Crosby, Durkin made coffee, set up the stage and learned about music. “I sat behind the little wall in front of the kitchen door, watching the performers onstage and dreamed of one day writing a song and doing that,” he recalls. Over the years, he wrote many songs and, in 2009, finally gathered the nerve to play an open mike at Luna Star Cafe in North Miami. He continues performing there and also has played at Titanic Brewery, the former site of the coffeehouse that inspired his song. After shows at the Flick, musicians would head to the Grove for more live music. “Being underage and the owner’s kid put me in a bad spot, but I had a car so eventually I was asked to tag along, because they needed a ride,” Durkin explains. “One evening, Vince Martin and Bob Ingram wanted me to come along to the Feedbag to hear this guy they wanted my dad to hire. … Someone said, ‘C’mon Jimmy. I keep a note here in my pocket from my momma, says we can party on till the break of dawn.” To hear “Party On,” visit Reverbnation.com/jamesdurkin. Luna Star’s next open mike, which Durkin now hosts, will begin 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 26

Contact Colleen Dougher at cdougher@citylinkmagazine.com.

Keller Williams (photo by C. Taylor Crothers)

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by Dan Sweeney

I am not supposed to like Keller Williams. When I first became aware of the man, sometime in the late 1990s, I was at a loss to explain his burgeoning popularity. He struck me as just another one of those guys you see in the parking lot at a Phish show, playing guitar for the crowd as though they had shown up to see him instead of the band whose name was on their tickets. And while such people do provide a bit of entertainment for the tailgating experience, I have always held a weird contempt for them. Who the hell do they think they are? I mean, if you’re camping at a festival for days at a time, I can understand busting out a guitar. But these people who get up on a soapbox and jam out in the middle of a parking lot struck me as a bunch of narcissistic losers. And I counted Keller Williams as their king.

He’s a one-man band, his admirers would tell me. He electronically loops his guitars so that it sounds as if there’s four or five people playing instead of one. But that was nothing I hadn’t heard before at those self-same Phish shows, Trey Anastasio being a whiz at looping guitar effects.

No, no, no. I will not like Keller Williams. Narcissistic hippie douchebag. Why don’t I just grow dreadlocks, take up the Hacky Sack, and start touring around in my parents’ SUV while pretending to be broke and selling grilled-cheese sandwiches? It’s bad enough I’ve seen Phish 30-some times. I refuse to appreciate the King of the Lot Guitarists.

And so it went for a decade. It was Williams’ first album with the Keels, 2006’s Grass, that finally forced me to reassess the man. Stripped of all the effects and paired with the husband-and-wife bluegrass duo of Larry and Jenny Keel, Williams’ guitar work positively shined. And the album didn’t just rework rock tunes into the bluegrass format, though there was some of that, particularly Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall.” But it also took tunes from bands with bluegrass influences and put a new spin on them, such as a cover of “Dupree’s Diamond Blues” by the Grateful Dead, a band that looms large in all Williams’ work.

So it was with what I can only call begrudging excitement that I welcomed the release of a new Keller and the Keels album, Thief. Like its predecessor, the album includes covers both in the tradition of bluegrass (Yonder Mountain String Band’s “Wind’s on Fire”) and well outside it (Amy Winehouse’s “Rehab”). As before, there’s the obligatory Dead cover, in this case “Mountains of the Moon.” And, damn it, the album’s really good.

“I did [Thief] for the sole purpose of having an excuse to hang out with the Keels more,” Williams says as he returns home to Virginia by train after a pair of shows in Philadelphia. “Not that I needed one, but I wanted one, I guess. I love hanging out with those people, and they bring such an authenticity to a bluegrass record. And I love hanging out with them. We have a good time together.”

The enjoyment between the musicians comes through on the album, which sounds more like a few friends getting together to noodle through some covers than a professional recording effort. That it still sounds so polished is a testament to the ability of both Williams and the Keels.

“The Keels record was done in two eight-hour consecutive days, then three or four days to mix it,” Williams says. “And the Kids record was recorded over the course of a year or two back in 2008. Did the Kids record, then the Keels, and then, ended up releasing that record first.”

The Kids record is Williams’ recently released children’s album, all original songs covering topics such as the purchase of a goat to mow lawns and remove trash, a mother’s flatulence, car seats, taking baths … all the usual childhood topics and a few oddball ones. In that sense, the songs’ themes are a bit like the song selection on a Keels record. This has led to Williams performing children’s shows, as in Philadelphia, where he performed a children’s matinee and then a nighttime show for adults.

“It started with the record Not for Kids Only, the kids’ record done by Jerry Garcia and David Grisman. I’m always into anything Grateful Dead-oriented, and I listened to that record and thought, ‘I should do one. A lot of people do it,’ ” Williams recalls. “But it took a long time to come up with enough material for one record. So we recorded it slowly, bit by bit. We’ve gotten reports of some parents listening to it without the kids in the car, and that makes me very proud.”

That even his recordmaking decisions are based on a fan’s love of the Grateful Dead should come as no surprise. But my reassessment of the man has forced me to reconsider even my stance of his early, noodlier work. What is this resentment of a fellow who went from a rabid fan of jam bands to a man with his own following? That he started out with the rest of us out in the parking lot and rose up to become One of Them, the onstage demigods, should be cause for celebration, not derision. Keller Williams is the lot-hippie American Dream, a man who, through hard work and skill at his craft, went from a face in the crowd to something much more.

Keller Williams will perform 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 25 at Revolution Live, 100 S.W. Third Ave., in Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $19. Call 954-449-1025 or visit Jointherevolution.net.

Contact Dan Sweeney at dfsweeney@citylinkmagazine.com.