Due in stores Tuesday: Alkaline Trio, Agony & Irony (Sony). Chicago punk-rockers. G-Unit, T.O.S.: Terminate on Sight (G-Unit Records).
LIL WAYNE'S BIG WEEK Lil Wayne crashes in at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 with Tha Carter III, which sold just over 1 million copies to become the first album to cross the six-figure threshold since 50 Cent's The Massacre in March 2005.
LITTLE HAVANA
One of the hottest artists from the Havana music scene will play a concert in Little Havana on July 17, giving Miami audiences a live taste of contemporary music from the island that's been almost completely absent from the city in recent years.
POP CULTURE
The Beatles broke up nearly 40 years ago, but you can see them live in suburban Philadelphia. Or, at least, you can see their carbon copies.
An exhibit touting 'art and rock 'n' roll'' conjures visions of album covers, vintage concert posters and portraits of Lennon, Joplin, Morrison, Hendrix.
ALBUM REVIEWS
JOURNEY Revelation Nomota LLC The revelation of Journey's new album and lineup is not that this is the best Journey album in 25 years or that the San Francisco band found its new lead singer via YouTube.
BACKSTAGE PASS
Coldplay has stretched its musical vision with its grand, sweeping fourth album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, and now the band is coming back to South Florida to support it.
ARTS REVIEW
Celia Cruz was such an enthralling and beloved musical icon that it was natural to want to know more about her. But her very private life, whose great drama was being separated from Cuba, made her an elusive figure. What we got from Celia was music and energy.
DISTURBED RULES AGAIN Disturbed claims its third Billboard 200 No. 1 as Indestructible tops the chart by selling 252,000 units to follow in the footsteps of the hard rock band's 2002 album Believe (284,000) and 2005's Ten Thousand Fists (239,000).
Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal (Back Porch). Jon Foreman, Spring and Summer (Credential). Solo effort from Switchfoot singer.
With the instrument's inherent qualities of elegance and nostalgia, a flute recital is perfect summer fare and just the thing to banish the miseries de la humaine.
Desmond Child might not get the adulation the biggest musical acts of the past three decades are slathered with, but for those who know the industry, the prolific songwriter and producer, who spent much of his childhood in Miami and maintains a home here, is a true superstar.
MUSICAL
There she is, Celia Cruz, her irrepressible smile looming almost as large over Biscayne Boulevard as she does in the consciousness of Cuban Miami.
CONCERT PREVIEW
The rejuvenated B-52s -- Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson -- are still dancing this mess around 30 years after their deliriously wacko hit Rock Lobster shook up common notions of what rock 'n' roll should, and could, be.
ALBUM REVIEWS
POP COLDPLAY Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends 5 Capitol ˝ At first listen to Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay's fourth studio album, you might wonder: What is wrong with Chris Martin?
BACKSTAGE PASS
Remember when the brothers Hanson tore up the heartstrings of young girls all over the world in 1997 with their infectious pop hit MMMBop?
Chicago, Stone of Sisyphus (XXXII) (Rhino Records). Originally recorded in 1993. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (Capitol).
Seraphic Fire will present a special summer encore run of its popular Amazing Grace program, performed last November and now available on the choir's self-produced CD. The program traces the celebrated hymn through a variety of American music from rural Appalachia and country to the folk, bluegrass and gospel traditions.
Seattle grunge-rock pioneers Pearl Jam haven't rocked South Florida in five years -- nor have they released a new studio album since 2006. So logic would suggest that the greatest American rock band of all time (according to a 2005 USA Today reader's poll) would treat fans to their greatest hits, the songs that truly put the group on the rock 'n' roll map.
Live jazz music may become a regular event in Miami once again if famed Cuban jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval finalizes an agreement to lend his name and curatorial expertise to a new club inside the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
If ever there were an unlikely success story for a rock band, it would have to be Vampire Weekend. After all, four intellectual guys from Columbia University in New York with a passion for literature and African pop music probably doesn't inspire thoughts of The Beatles, Led Zeppelin or U2.
Gaping voids remain on the local music scene, but the inexorably expanding season is an encouraging sign. Not too long ago, Miami's classical season was over by April, and here we are in June with major artists still appearing.
COMING TO TOWN
Vampire Weekend -- which performs at the Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater Monday night -- is not your typical indie-rock band. The group is composed of four guys from Columbia University in New York who have a healthy obsession with literature and African pop and classical music, and it's reflected in their quirky yet sophisticated sound.
Stevie Nicks proved 60 is the new 30, as the rock legend nearly sold out Hard Rock Live near Hollywood Saturday night -- just a year or so after her last appearance at the 5,000-plus seat venue -- with a hit-packed, lively set that found her in good voice and reinforced her stature as a rock and roll original.
MUSIC
Every once in a while a band comes along and saves rock and roll. The Shins did it eight years ago; now Vampire Weekend seems poised to be the post-millennial savior of pop music. The band, headed by guitarist and vocalist Ezra Koenig, with bassist Chris Baio, keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij and drummer Chris Tomson, met at Columbia University, and adeptly mix pop rock and African rhythm mash-ups with academia-laden lyrics. So what if the lyrics are enigmatic, referencing raincoats, Peter Gabriel and...
When you start by having your dreams dashed, it tends to make you cautious about trusting them again. Which is why Mexican songwriter Mario Domm is not as euphoric as you might expect about the success of his band Camila, one of the biggest acts to come out in Latin pop music recently.
ALBUM REVIEWS
AIMEE MANN @#%&*! Smilers SuperEgo Records Aimee Mann will forever reside in '80s lore for singing the hit Voices Carry for her band 'Til Tuesday. But her true career-defining moment would come more than a decade later when she parlayed a friendship with Magnolia director Paul Thomas Anderson into contributing eight haunting songs to the film's soundtrack, including the Oscar- and Grammy-nominated Save Me. (Anderson was so enamored of Mann's songs that he actually used her lyrics to inspire the...
BACKSTAGE PASS
John Mayer has been dubbed a ''Guitar Hero'' for the second straight year by Rolling Stone mag, and it has nothing to do with his video-game prowess.
The Mainly Mozart Festival will turn mostly Mendelssohn this Sunday with an offbeat program featuring half of the Amernet String Quartet. Amernet violinist Marcia Littley Arias and cellist Javier Arias will team up with pianist José Lopez for Mozart's Piano Trio in B flat K. 502, Hummel's Piano Trio in G major, Felix Mendelssohn's Piano Trio in C Minor and two excerpts from Fanny Mendelssohn's The Year. Performance time is 4:30 p.m. Sunday at the Westin Colonnade Hotel, 180 Aragon...
Adele, 19 (Sony). Up-and-coming British soul singer is hailed as one of ''the new Amys'' (as in Winehouse), hopefully minus the self-destructive tendencies.
with Miami City Ballet The Cleveland Orchestra's 2009 Miami season will launch a three-year partnership with Miami City Ballet in addition to its concerts at the Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.
CLASSICAL MUSIC REVIEW
Orchestra Miami's 2008 concerts have put the emphasis on guest artists to spark ticket sales rather than showcasing the fledgling ensemble in its own right.
LUNCH WITH LYDIA
Cuban-American rapper Pitbull, who moved around Miami so much when he was a kid that he can rattle off stories about stuff that went down on street corners from Culter Ridge to South Miami, Westchester, West Miami, Little Havana, Wynwood, Carol City and Opa-locka, likes to keep things real.
MUSIC
Sunday Afternoons of Music's 2008-2009 season will serve up a varied lineup of chamber, vocal and instrumental recitals. Violinist Elmar Oliveira will open the season on Sept. 7, followed by a genre-crossing program of classical and jazz on Sept. 28 with the Bergonzi String Quartet and pianist Shelton Berg, dean of the University of Miami's Frost School of Music.
FREE PERFORMANCE
More than 400 arts-loving kids will get the opportunity to perform on a high-profile stage when Growing Up With the Arts, a free program presented by The Children's Trust, takes over the John S. and James L. Knight Concert Hall at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts at 4 p.m. Sunday.
BACKSTAGE PASS
Madonna fans have a lot to be thankful this year, as the ageless wonder hits Dolphin Stadium Nov. 26 -- Thanksgiving Eve. The iconic singer -- who will be 50 by then -- is touring to support her latest album, the hip-hop-tinged Hard Candy, which features the production touch of Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. She's sure to perform the bulk of the new material, including the first single 4 Minutes, plus Candy Shop, Miles Away and Devil Wouldn't Recognize You.
ALBUM REVIEWS
USHER Here I Stand LaFace Records ˝ The first third of Usher's new album, Here I Stand, spurs concerns that he has lost his magic touch. As on his previous albums, the R&B hitmaker called on hip-hop's elite for help, recruiting Young Jeezy, will.i.am, Jay-Z and his wife Beyoncé and Lil' Wayne.
Ashanti, The Declaration (Universal Motown). Features first single The Way That I Love. Disturbed, Indestructible (Warner Bros.).
Orchestra Miami will close its short season at 8 p.m. Saturday with a significant local premiere featuring Angel Romero. The acclaimed Spanish musician returns as soloist in David Chesky's Guitar Concerto, a work that fuses Latin elements, including flamenco, within a traditional classical style. Conductor Elaine Rinaldi will also lead the orchestra in Mozart's Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio, Rodrigo's Three Traditional Dance Airs and Mendelssohn's Italian Symphony. At the University...
MUSIC
On her debut album, pop music newcomer Hilary McRae sings, ``You probably won't even like this song.'' But that's not a problem the Boca Raton singer-songwriter faces these days.
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