PUREHONEY 45

Brewhouse Gallery Turns One When AJ Brockman was moving into the empty Lake Park storefront he leased in early 2014, his straightforward goal was to “create a space for artists,” he says.

He’s done that and much more with The Brewhouse Gallery, where he is throwing a birthday bash from noon to midnight on May 16 to mark the first year and to celebrate an expansion whose centerpiece is an indoor 30-foot mural wall.

The artist space Brockman envisioned is also a beer garden, live music and events venue, and all-around creative gathering place that is part of a renaissance for the quiet village of Lake Park in northern Palm Beach County.

“This has all been happening so fast that it’s really kind of blowing my mind — the whole time frame of it all,” says Brockman, 26, who has some background in the business of culture but had never before run a venue.

Brockman is the founder of what he calls a “pipe and cigar apparel company,” called StacheWarden, that sells accessories and items modeled on the look and feel of the vintage smoke shop. With his own extravagantly waxed ‘stache, Brockman looks like a hipster incarnation of a 19th Century shopkeeper.

He’s also a visual artist, working in digital media, who has exhibited at galleries and juried exhibitions. Since launching Brewhouse, he’s added art dealer, talent booker and event planner to his portfolio.

That he’s done this while also confined to a wheelchair is all the more remarkable, but Brockman doesn’t emphasize his personal history with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which has kept him wheelchair-bound since age 2. His focus is on his work.

“I always wanted to kind of have my own art gallery,” says Brockman, who grew up in South Florida conscious of the region’s hit-or-miss history with establishing sustainable arts communities.

He went south to look at real estate around Miami’s Wynwood District, which has flourished in tandem with the popularity of Art Basel Miami, but the fit wasn’t right.

Closer to home, in Lake Park, he found what he needed — affordable space and people who endorsed artistic entrepreneurship as a building block of the economy.

“The city was very supportive of what we’re trying to do,” says Brockman.

Lake Park offered affordable housing, and a falling crime rate. What it needed, says Brockman, was for artists and businesses to start coming aboard to help with the revival and to begin establishing Lake Park as a destination.

“And to be honest with you, it’s happening,” says Brockman.

He sees Lake Park following — up to a point — along the paths taken by Lake Worth and downtown West Palm Beach, where entertainment and night life prompted neighborhood turnarounds. But he’s not looking to pioneer another bustling downtown.

“We’re not in a giant commercial district; you have to know where we are, and that adds to the allure,” he says.

Visual art remains Brockman’s first priority: “That’s the goal of everything, to support artists 100 percent.”

He charges a flat rental rate, with no commissions, to local artists who display works for sale. He estimates that 90 percent of those who have signed up have made money over and above their rent.

He said beer and wine — and then live music as well as comedy and themed events — grew out of gallery traffic. The stage occupies a corner nook, with intersecting art-covered walls unfolding on either side.

Brockman says it’s the kind of performance space where the audience tunes in and musicians are not battling the din. He books performers and composers of original music over covers artists because “it fits our mantra and our mission of the original art on the walls.”

As attendance grew in the first months, he kept an eye on his next door neighbor, a struggling convenience store that looked to be on its last legs — and did go out of business about six months after Brockman arrived.

“The landlord made me a great offer,” he says.

Brockman says his most important business partner is his mother, who, like him, had no background in hospitality. But she had worked in sales for 30 years was and was able to help with seed money.

“She is the main reason we were able to pull this off,” Brockman wrote in a follow-up exchange online. “My vision but her support. None of us were in the biz whatsoever, she was ready to retire and now we have created a monster.”

The One Year Party launches May 16 with Speaking Volumes, Sweet Bronco, Smith Sundy, Shotgun Betty, Raggy Monster, The Whiskey Wasps, The Psymatics, Fireside Prophets, Ella Herrera, The Inverted PLUS Art, Live Music, Craft Beer and Food Trucks. http://www.brewhousegallery.com ~Sean Piccoli

Thomas Fekete Benefit A friend of ours, Thomas Fekete, guitarist for Surfer Blood really needs some help. Do what you can. He’s a good dude.

A GoFundMe campaign is in progress and there will be a benefit show on March 9 at Respectable Street with Beach Day, Wake Up and Sweet Bronco. Please come!

Statement from the band: “Thomas has been playing guitar in Surfer Blood for nearly six years, but since December has been Thomas Fekete sidelined by treatment for cancer. We miss him every day on the road but we know he is incredibly strong and we have faith in him, and in his doctors. We hope you can help with a donation of any size, and help spread the word by sharing on social media.”

http://www.gofundme.com/sb22g7f

A Note from Thomas: Hey all, A few months back I had a major surgery to remove a large tumor from my abdomen. I was diagnosed with a very rare and aggressive cancer (a sarcoma), which unfortunately has moved. A few days ago, my doctors informed me that it had spread to my lungs and my spine.

The lesion on my lower spine will be treated with radiation, and I’ll also start chemotherapy this week. Because my cancer is so rare, there is very little research on it (cancer treatment is a business after all), so going to a typical doctor and getting loaded with all types of drugs would probably kill me. However, I found a doctor who is on the cutting edge of cancer treatments, and we have assembled a team of brilliant doctors who all seem to be extremely confident in an alternative treatment plan, to complement the chemotherapy. Because these doctors are doing things a bit differently, insurance will only cover a portion of my treatment. I never in my life thought that I would be asking for money publicly, but the universe works in funny ways.

Any bit of help would be massive for me, as I’m no longer able to tour and make a living, and my wonderful wife/best friend whom I just married in November will now be leaving work to help me throughout my treatment. If you can’t help, no worries whatsoever, all I ask is that you spread the word. Any extra funds collected when this is all said and done will be donated to further my doctor’s alternative cancer research. I not only feel great, but I am in great spirits, and I know this will soon be over like a bad dream. Please take care of yourselves, enjoy every single day. Life is beautiful. Love and light always. ~ Thom

Strung Out It’s been said before that punk-rock has a specific shelf life and that punk-rock is a young man’s game.

While we can’t pin the quote exactly (We’re pretty sure it came from Noam Chomsky), it’s a platitude we generally believe to be quite true.

However, one should never operate in blanket statements as time has shown there is always at least one rogue variable amid the herd that renders such assertions invalid Strung Out and -- in this instance -Strung Out stands tall as a the odd number amid the aging pack.

The Southern California-based band has been kicking it around since 1989 in one form or another and -- while its sound has always been a unique, melodically charged, athletic take on punk’s energy -- the band has remained steadfast to the “if it ain’t broke...” school of songwriting. With its new album (and first since 2009’s Agent’s of the Underground) Transmission.

Alpha.Delta, Strung Out enters a new era of survival in the vague chasm between punk, metal, and rock ‘n’ roll that it’s carved out for itself. With the new record, Strung Out also further solidifies its status as a proper institution in a turbulent genre. However, this is not to say there has been no progression for the band that was an integral of building the Fat Wreck Chords legacy -- it’s simply been progress in perfecting and honing the distinct sound Strung Out has always had, a sound Transmission... proves is as potent as ever, and a sound that was intrinsically linked to the sunnier punk-rock of Southern California before making its way to our side of the country through the interpretation of Gainesville’s late ‘90s punk scene and the myriad of bands that it’s since spawned. So, if you’re really stoked on the lineup of bands playing Gainesville Fest, you really should recognize and show Strung Out some love when they come to South Florida!

Strung Out will be returning to South Florida on Friday, May 15th, to blast through West Palm Beach’s Respectable Street. The show features support from Red City Radio, a band from Oklahoma that sounds like it was imported directly from Gainesville in the ‘90s in the best way possible. ~ Von Bader

THURSDAY, APRIL 30

RESPECTABLE STREET: De/Vision, Astari Nite, Miss FD, Gallimimus, Great Aunts

CHURCHILL’S PUB: Network Glass, Rat Bastard, Fsik Huvnk, Human Fluid Rot, Bobby Flan

SUNFEST: Paramore, Sammy Hagar & the Circle, Copeland, The Rico Monaco Band, Knox Hamilton, Jonnie Morgan Band

TERRA FERMATA: Harper & Midwest Kind C&I STUDIOS: Recording Studio Grand Opening STACHE: The Heavy Pets Present: Dubble James ; The Moon Caravan

FRIDAY, MAY 1

SHOTS: Talking Off The Wall One Year Anniversary: Lucas D, The Details, Tamboka Live Art, Raffles, Silent Auction and more!

PROPAGANDA: Beating Arts

SUNFEST: 311, Kaskade, Lindsey Stirling, The Hip Abduction, Zeale, Bea Miller, Morning Fatty, Dear Tatiana, The McNaughstys VINTAGE TAP: Living Daylights BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Victoria Leigh CHURCHILL’S PUB: The Wildtones & Bushmen TERRA FERMATA: Donna The Buffalo STACHE: Blues by Joel Zoss SWAMPGRASS WILLYS: Outlaw Tendencies, Wrecked Like Clockwork KREEPY TIKI: Sibannac

SATURDAY, MAY 2

SUNFEST: Hozier, Stone Temple Pilots w. Chester Bennington, Schoolboy Q, Letts, Dreamers, Kehlani, Elliot Root, Dew Pendleton Band, JS the Best, Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, Eddie Money, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Johnnyswim, John Cafferty & the Beaver Brown Band, SOJA, Trial by Stone, The Inverted, Jumbo Shrimp RESPECTABLE STREET: Bullet to Blade PROPAGANDA: Jon Jordan’s Bday w. The Muggles

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Paul Rowan REVOLUTION LIVE: Indie Craft Bazaar GRAND CENTRAL: Alison Wonderland CHURCHILL’S PUB: The Killing Hours, Suffering Tool, Chlover, Revolution, Loyal Until Death, Escape, Toasted marshmallow Zombies, They Might Be Zombies, D/effektor, Mindepth TATE’S COMICS LAUDERHILL: Free Comic Book Day Fiesta KREEPY TIKI: Eddie Spaghetti TATE’S COMICS BOYNTON BEACH: Free Comic Book Day TERRA FERMATA: Lili Lavon Band SWAMPGRASS WILLYS: TNT Acoustics, Guavatron

SUNDAY, MAY 3

SUNFEST: Pixies, Matisyahu, Hundred Waters, Boston, Fall Out Boy, Awolnation, Kasson, The Spazmatics, SomeKindaWonderful, Felicity, Leaving Haven, Milky Chance, Iration, Sidereal PROPAGANDA: Bobo & Irina’s Honeymoon Show w/ Que Lastima, Black Haw Shake, Sinners & Saints, If Not I Then Who Then & Erik Peterson (Mischief Brew) GRAND CENTRAL: Earl Sweatshirt TATE’S COMICS LAUDERHILL: Star Wars Fun Day TERRA FERMATA: Ben Prestage

MONDAY, MAY 4

VINTAGE TAP: Home Made Jam REVOLUTION LIVE: Flogging Molly CHURCHILL’S PUB: Miami Jazz Jam & Theatre De Underground TERRA FERMATA: Drum Circle, Open Mic KREEPY TIKI: Game Night, In the Biz

TUESDAY, MAY 5

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: In the Round CHURCHILL’S PUB: Hologram Gig 6: Pedestrian Deposit, Kick Klein, Sharlyn Evertsz, City Medicine TERRA FERMATA: Open Jam

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OLYMPIA THEATER AT GUSMAN CENTER: Neutral Milk Hotel, Mind Brains

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 6

PROPAGANDA: DJ Needlez presents. Rock The Mic CHURCHILL’S PUB: Vinyl Solutions. You Bring It, You Spin It. TERRA FERMATA: Start Making Sense

RESPECTABLE STREET: Lazer Puzzy, Golden Pelicans, Swingin’ Utters, Warning Shots, Jangle Leg, Goddamn Hustle

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Open Mic Night PROPAGANDA: Nassie: Ladies Night STACHE: Gallimimus; The Riot Act; The Grey 8’s TERRA FERMATA: Letters to Abagail CHURCHILL’S PUB: Lussuria, Alberich, The Siamese Pearl, Drowning the Virgin Silence, Last FILLMORE MIAMI: Ryan Adams

FRIDAY, MAY 8

VINTAGE TAP: Jangle Leg Album Release, Mylo Ranger, Scarecrow Jenkins Brimstone Jamboree SHADE POST: Sosos Album Release

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: The Whiskey Wasps GRAND CENTRAL: Action Bronson CORAL SKY AMP: ZZ Top, Jeff Beck STACHE: Jazz/R&B by The Colonel BEAR AND BIRD GALLERY: The Time In Between: Artwork Inspired by Studio Ghibli’s Magic TERRA FERMATA: Take Warning/Shot Gun Betty THE GLEASON ROOM: Out In The Tropics: Surveillance Punishment and the Black Psyche SWAMPGRASS WILLYS: The Bad Notes CHURCHILL’S PUB: Cave Of Swimmers, Wrong, Shroud Eater, Orbweaver, Wrong, Kunt Knuckles KREEPY TIKI: Contorted, Murder Suicide, At Odds with God, Sapraemia and KORPSIK SALTWATER BREWERY: Brett Staska

SATURDAY, MAY 9

RESPECTABLE STREET: Thomas Fekete (Surfer Blood) Benefit with Beach Day, Wake Up, Sweet Bronco

PROPAGANDA: Nemesis, Old Habits, Cinderblock, Business as Usual, Right Through BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Greg Hansen REVOLUTION LIVE: Nightwish, Sabaton, Delain CULTURE ROOM: Zach Deputy WYNWOOD ALLEY: Wynwood Art Walk TERRA FERMATA: Heart Shaped Box CHURCHILL’S PUB: Vampirettes, Machinist, Mind You, SSK, Sponge, Nutcheck KREEPY TIKI: The Rocketz SWAMPGRASS WILLYS: Glamour Goddesses Burlesque Troupe

SUNDAY, MAY 10

PROPAGANDA: Acoustic Showcase / Open Mic BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Ella Herrera GRAND CENTRAL: Goatwhore, Shroud Eater, Orbweaver, Koroidia, Ancestor TERRA FERMATA: Emi Sunshine and the Rain

MONDAY, MAY 11

VINTAGE TAP: Home Made Jam TERRA FERMATA: Drum Circle, Open Mic CHURCHILL’S PUB: Miami Jazz Jam & Theatre De Underground

TUESDAY, MAY 12

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: In the Round CULTURE ROOM: Minus The Bear, Into It. Over It TERRA FERMATA: Open Jam

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WEDNESDAY, MAY 13

CULTURE ROOM: Built To Spill, Wooden Indian Burial Ground TERRA FERMATA: Christopher Dean

THURSDAY, MAY 14

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Crane & the Down Right STACHE: Raggy Monster KREEPY TIKI: Worhol CHURCHILL’S PUB: Night Demon, Nekromaniak, Kunt Knuckles, Satanic Turdworship

FRIDAY, MAY 15

RESPECTABLE STREET: Strung Out, Red City Radio, La Armada BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Slip & the Spinouts TERRA FERMATA: Hackensaw Boys CHURCHILLS PUB: CONTROL, a tribute to JOY DIVISION SWAMPGRASS WILLYS: Operative Me, Butch & The Fat Doobs STACHE: Phil Barnes KREEPY TIKI: There Might be Zombies, Escape

SATURDAY, MAY 16

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: 1 Year Anniversary Party/Show: Speaking Volumes, Sweet Bronco, Smith Sundy, Shotgun Betty, Raggy Monster, The Whiskey Wasps, The Psymatics, Fireside Prophets, Ella Herrera, The Inverted PLUS Art, Live Music, Craft Beer and Food Trucks RESPECTABLE STREET: Cupcake Burlesque’s Greatest Hits

DADA: Jangle Leg TERRA FERMATA: Innasense GUANABANAS: Roots Shakedown KREEPY TIKI: The Slackers, Stop the Presses, The Duppies SWAMPGRASS WILLYS: in Motion, Keep It Civil, Tyler Denning Band CHURCHILL’S PUB: Muster, Solstice, Dismemberment, Hate Storm Annihilation, Koroidia, Korpsik

SUNDAY, MAY 17

PROPAGANDA: Acoustic Showcase / Open Mic BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Nicholas Caputo CULTURE ROOM: Ed Kowalczyk Throwing Copper Unplugged TERRA FERMATA: Keep It Civil, Horizon SALTWATER BREWERY: Roots Shakedown CORAL SKY AMP: John Fogerty KREEPY TIKI: Sailor Jerry Pin Up Workshop

TERRA FERMATA: Selwyn Birchwood, Betty Fox LEFTOVERS CAFE: Brett Staska STACHE: The Nightcasters CHURCHILL’S PUB: Cryptopsy, Disgorge, Erimha, Soreption, Sapraemia

SATURDAY, MAY 23

PROPAGANDA: EDM Christian Adele VINTAGE TAP: Juke BREWHOUSE GALLERY: The Jon Greco Band KILTED MERMAID: Jangle Leg CULTURE ROOM: Todd Rundgren Global Tour 2015 TERRA FERMATA: Betty Fox KREEPY TIKI: No Traffic HOLLYWOOD ARTS PARK: Roots Shakedown SWAMPGRASS WILLYS: Speaking Volumes CHURCHILL’S PUB: Destroyio Records Punx Not Dead

SUNDAY, MAY 24

RESPECTABLE STREET: 9th Ever 80’s Prom!

PROPAGANDA: Acoustic Showcase / Open Mic TERRA FERMATA: Mighty Mystic, Ellameno Beat NICK & JOHNNIES: Brett Staska

MONDAY, MAY 25

VINTAGE TAP: Home Made Jam TERRA FERMATA: Drum Circle, Open Mic CHURCHILL’S PUB: Miami Jazz Jam & Theatre De Underground

TUESDAY, MAY 26

HOWLEYS: Kevin Goff Solo Show

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: In the Round TERRA FERMATA: Open Jam

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27

PROPAGANDA: Dirty Rotten Snakes in the Grass TERRA FERMATA: Deal James Band

THURSDAY, MAY 28

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Open Mic Night VINTAGE TAP: Dirty Rotten Snake in the Grass, Jangle Leg, Sawgrass Kin TERRA FERMATA: The Prescription, American Idiot STACHE: Tremends, The Grey 8’s, Mr. Jolt DJ set CHURCHILL’S PUB: Generacion Suicida, Nunhex, Die Trying!, Awkward Kisser, Artifices

FRIDAY, MAY 29

VINTAGE TAP: Home Made Jam TERRA FERMATA: Drum Circle, Open Mic CHURCHILL’S PUB: Miami Jazz Jam & Theatre De Underground

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Harry VINTAGE TAP: Living Daylights FUNKY BUDDHA: Turbo Suit, Lucid Frequency, Afro Monk FAT VILLAGE: FAT Village Art Walk GRAND CENTRAL: Rittz, Crooked I, Otto Von Schirach TERRA FERMATA: Bath Salt Zombies SWAMPGRASS WILLYS: Liquid Thunder

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: In the Round TERRA FERMATA: Open Jam

CONCHY JOE’S: Roots Shakedown STACHE: Chloe Dolandis

MONDAY, MAY 18

TUESDAY, MAY 19

CHURCHILL’S PUB: Melt Banana, Wastelands, Human Fluid Rot, She Wulf Whips Millions

WEDNESDAY, MAY 20

SATURDAY, MAY 30

PROPAGANDA: Homeroom TERRA FERMATA: Raquel Renner CHURCHILL’S PUB: Modern Pain

THURSDAY, MAY 21

BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Open Mic Night VINTAGE TAP: Fusik TERRA FERMATA: The Brent Byrd Band STACHE: Bobby Lee Jazz Trio | Mulder, Sigh Kicks, & Millionyoung DJ Set by Gummdrops

FRIDAY, MAY 22

RESPECTABLE STREET: Morrissey’s Birthday, Smiths/ Morrissey Tribute PROPAGANDA: DJ Needlez presents. Rock The Mic BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Zack Jones

VINTAGE TAP: The Flying Balaika Brothers featuring Igor of The Red Elvises

PROPAGANDA: Ritz BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Jangle Leg, Craig McInnis Live Painting

CHURCHILL’S PUB: The Holydrug Couple CULTURE ROOM: The Psychedelic Furs GRAND CENTRAL: Kill Paris TERRA FERMATA: Strung Like a Horse

SUNDAY, MAY 31

PROPAGANDA: Acoustic Showcase / Open Mic BREWHOUSE GALLERY: Nicholas Caputo

FRIDAY, JUNE 5

RESPECTABLE STREET: The Business, The Attack

VINTAGE TAP: Killbillies CULTURE ROOM: Sepultura, Destruction, Arsis, The Last Ten Seconds Of Life, Starkill TATE’S COMICS LAUDERHILL: TATE’S Endless Summer Movie Night!

Neutral Milk Hotel, Mind Brains It’s still kind of inconceivable that anyone, let alone South Floridians, are seeing Neutral Milk Hotel live in the year of our lord 2015.

Neutral Milk Hotel hermetic isolation and Y2K paranoia.

From 1998, at singersongwriter Jeff Mangum’s artistic pinnacle, to 2011, you could count the number of Neutral Milk Hotel live performances on less than one hand. Just as Mangum had begun to scale the (semen-stained) mountaintop of success, he vanished into willful obscurity, retreating into

For those of us too young to discover Neutral Milk Hotel during its first tours, the band began to seem like an almost mythical relic of its mid-‘90s time, its pair of LPs like talismans to be worshipped: These were recordings transmitted not from a human being’s skill and imagination but beamed in from a more otherworldly place, the same source that drove Syd Barrett and Daniel Johnston to twisted genius while dispatching them to mental oblivion.

NMH’s 1996 debut On Avery Island is a fuzzed-out indie-rock classic, but in hindsight, its unorthodox lyricism and instrumentation seem like the tapas whetting appetites for the main course: 1998’s In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Mangum’s fraught concept album about Anne Frank. Today, in the era of mp3s, iTunes Shuffle and shortening musical attention spans, Aeroplane demands to be listened to in proper succession, as a heartbreaking, transcendent narrative experience, its imagery dark as it is vivid, its music as alternately clean and clear and as it is sloppy and seemingly filtered through broken speakers. Mangum’s lyrics explored women’s reproductive organs, sexual awakening, reincarnation, pianos filled with flames, and brains falling out through teeth, his voice reaching fevered emotional pitches that would, proudly, cause no chairs to turn on The Voice. The record’s imperfections have solidified its genius.

Neutral Milk Hotel Then, burnt out from touring and from the endless battery of media interviews from writers asking the same mundane questions, Mangum disappeared, taking Neutral Milk Hotel with him. For at least 13 years, he funneled his singular musical personality into field recordings of Bulgarian folk music and occasional studio work for his friends in the Elephant Six Recording Collective. In the meantime, we memorized every lyric on Aeroplane, and the die-hards among us memorized On Avery Island too. We forced ourselves to be content with the countless YouTube bedroom covers of NMH songs by Mangum’s increasing horde of admirers, who salivated over whatever sonic remnants—a single post-Aeroplane song, a mediocre live album, a 2011 compilation of unreleased early material— that found their ways into our earbuds during this lost decade, while hanging on every false rumor about a potential reunion tour.

And now, on May 6, after years of limited touring and festival appearances, it is finally happening, the indie-rock equivalent of the second coming of Christ: Neutral Milk Hotel is playing Miami for the first and last time ever, and I’m still waiting for somebody to pinch me. The lineup that recorded Aeroplane will be joining Mangum, their panoply of unusual instruments in tow, for a balanced selection of songs from both albums and a smattering of B-sides, to an audience of hungry fans who have been waiting to shout along with these songs for a very, very long time.

For the Florida dates, Neutral Milk Hotel is bringing along Mind Brains, a psychedelic supergroup that conjures Olivia Tremor Control and the inchoate experimentation of the early Elephant Six movement.

Composed of former members of OTC, of Montreal, the Music Tapes and others, Mind Brains records on nostalgically outmoded instruments—think the Electric Autoharp, the Toy Drum Machine and the Casio SK-1—that have been reconfigured without losing their junked-out color. Mind Brains is supporting its self-titled debut Mind Brains album, and the band is ideally suited as an NMH opening act, hailing from Mangum’s old stomping ground of Athens, Georgia. Its music is heavy on tape loops, fuzzboxes and theremin, creating a hypnotic sound that thrives on an uneasy border between a haunting funeral and a surrealist carnival.

At the time of this writing, there are still a few tickets available in the veritable nosebleed section of the Olympia Theatre, 174 E. Flagler St. in downtown Miami, for the May 6 performance. They run $30 each, which, for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, sounds like a bargain. The show starts at 8. Call 305-374-2444 or visit olympiatheatre.org. ~ John Thomason

Jangle Leg Half Way There Lake Worth’s brand of gypsy-punk-infusedAmericana has solidified over the past few years into something far more distinct than a smattering of high-energy pseudofolk bands providing the soundtracks to the drunken nights at the bars that dot the side streets which jut off of Federal Highway.

While some bands -Everymen in particular -have worked hard to bring that sound to the masses on a national level, Jangle Leg has developed into another bright light of this micro-scene.

The group describes its sound as “swamp-stompin’ bluegrass,” and while that’s certainly an accurate description, we feel it does the group a disservice as the band’s energy has an appeal that reaches far beyond just those with a penchant for the various shades of bluegrass. Within Jangle Leg’s bluegrasstinged music resides the fibers of rock ‘n’ roll, punk, and even a touch traditional outlaw country -- all delivered with a bit of swagger.

Jangle Leg has played more than its fair share of gigs in tri-county area and earned its bones as a top tier live group beyond any argument, but there has been nothing to represent the band properly in any recorded medium, well... outside of a smattering of live captures that are relegated to the group’s Soundcloud page. However, Jangle Leg has finally completed a debut release and will be celebrating with a release party and performance on May 8th at the Vintage Tap in Delray Beach!

Your $10 entrance to the show includes a copy of the band’s EP, entitled Half Way There which is intended as the first portion of a full length the band has slated for future release. If you don your Jangle Leg or Janglin’ Duo shirt to the show, you’ll get a dollar off of your admission, and the band has also arranged to have a food truck on premises and plenty of opening firepower, including Mylo Ranger and the Scarecrow Jenkins Brimstone Jamboree. The show kicks off at 8 PM. While anyone that has caught a Jangle Leg (or its predecessor, Janglin’ Duo) gig knows the nature of rowdiness that awaits, we’ll say it’s safe to assume that things are going to be extra wild for this album release show and that you’d be a proper fool to miss such an occasion! ~ Von Bader

Houndstooth Cottage

“We like to play host to traveling bands. We will line them up with a show or they do one at the cottage,” says Tony Kapel. “So far we have had a good run of what we call ‘Silly Sundays’ or ‘Watermelon Wednesdays,’ these shows are usually matched with a local act and they are recorded as a live set.” Though Kapel’s been a man of many hats in South Florida for the last two decades, he is best known as an avid and involved member of the music scene. Along with his wife, Maitejosune Urrechaga as Pocket of Lollipops, they’ve championed the crossings of the arts and music worlds with their raw, experimental, NYC No Wave, postpunk racket.

As a duo, they’ve served South Florida as artists, documentarians and ambassadors; “we feel it’s important to document what’s going on, not just in our city or scene, but playing host to touring bands.” Kapel’s documentary, Closing Time was shot over a few years and covered what would’ve otherwise been a lost moment of music in the transitional pre-digital era. An arduous endeavor, Kapel and Urrechaga have since 2013 chosen to control the variables out of their Coconut Grove home with their venue/studio/space/gallery, the Houndstooth Cottage – a self-described “creative safe haven” for artists.

Whether there’s an intentional or unintentional appropriation of the instantly recognizable tessellated clothing pattern; the effect is unmistakable and assuring as houndstooth is just at home in boardrooms as it is in kitchens. This dichotomy serves the duo well as they’ve become nurturing parents to voices within the scene (and out) who need a comfortable spot to get their legs wet in. The Cottage’s greatest appeal is the intimacy that it affords the artist and spectator.

Their events, semi-private affairs have already hosted Scotland’s Frog Pocket, Whoorish Boorish, In Oculus and Fsik Huvnx among others. Many times, these sessions are recorded for documentation but the Cottage is “not trying to be a label,” as Kapel explains, “but we do have a few artists we are recording and will be releasing by this summer. I consider them audio sketches, and if the artist likes what I did and wants to do more, then we do.”

This falls in line with a spring 2014 recording project called “The Loop – Off Session,” which was set up at a gallery and spotlighted musicians and the recording process that was then turned into a compilation. A second one in Delray and a third in Rhode Island continued the trend blending their fascination with art and music, “obsessing over someone’s tracks is no different than obsessing over a painting.”

With an already busy schedule upon them as a live and recording act, Tony and Maite are actually well-equipped to undertake the Houndstooth Cottage’s task of providing that safe haven for emerging and established artists in South Florida as they understand all-too well the rigors of etching out an existence as a band in this scene through perseverance and hard work. That it occurs in the shady environs of Coconut Grove is a great boon that mirrors the neighborhood’s artsembracing attitude.

Find them online at http://houndstoothcottage.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/houndstoothbooking ~ Abel Folgar

SOSOS, Naturally Many bands have trouble capturing their live sound in the studio. The SOSOS (pronounced So-Sos), a Fort Lauderdale-based Americana band, have solved that problem on their third and latest release, “naturally.” Recorded, mixed and mastered at Soundbox Records in Fort Lauderdale and featuring only acoustic instruments, the melodic, folk and bluegrass-tinged “naturally” feels soulful, timeless and authentic.

“We went into the studio and played the songs live,” said Chris Monteleone, multiinstrumentalist and vocalist. “It sounds exactly like we sound live. It sounds like us.”

The decade old sextet will celebrate the culmination of three years of on-again, offagain work on the 10-song album with a CD-release party 8:30pm. on Friday, May 8th at the Shade Post in downtown Fort Lauderdale. Shade Post, which merges music, art and fashion, recently relocated to a larger downtown warehouse space at 16 NW 1st Street in Fort Lauderdale.

“Naturally” is the band’s first release featuring the collaborative songwriting of Monteleone and Mitch Herrick, who also sings and plays several different instruments on the album. “We have very different songwriting styles, but they meshed well on the album,” Monteleone said. In addition to Monteleone and Herrick, the SOSOS include: Kelly Halloran (violin), David Klein (shakers, tambourine, pump organ, vocals), Ben Manburg (upright bass, vocals) and Peter Vega (drums).

The $10 cover charge at the party will include a CD and a complimentary craft beer from 26o Brewing Co. Following the party, “Naturally” will naturally be available for download on iTunes, Spotify, Bandcamp and CD Baby. Monteleone said the band will play the album from beginning to end and will have plenty of time to hang out with everyone afterwards.

“We might do an encore of older songs, but we learned from our previous release party that we want this to be an opportunity to socialize with those who support what we do,” he said. “We’re looking forward to having a drink and talking with everyone.”

SOSOS “naturally” CD RELEASE PARTY: 8:30pm on May 8 at Shade Post, 16 NW 1st Street. $10 cover also gets you a CD! Visit www.sososmusic.com for more information. ~ Adam Matza