Greetings fellow South Florida music fans. I miss the days of flipping through the pages of a fresh-off-the-press copy of a saucy alt-weekly magazine in an indie coffee shop. It was long before the chaos of social media, texting, and instant photo filters. When you wanted a single, you had to suffer through the whole CD. I'm talking about the days of sneaking out to see Dashboard Confessional at the Chili Pepper and New Found Glory at a random party in Coral Springs. I remember the anticipation of developing last night's concert memories in the one-hour photo. And what I wouldn't give for one more existential conversation over half-melted Slurpees in the sand in lieu of the instant gratification of Facetime.
After working at the tabloids for a few years, I landed my dream job at City Link magazine, which was a weekly alternative magazine published by Tribune and Sun-Sentinel. For 14 years, I interviewed dozens of local and nationally touring bands and attended hundreds of concerts including private shows with Prince, Joss Stone, Good Charlotte, Jennifer Lopez, Pitbull, and Stone Temple Pilots. I attended a studio rehearsal session with Damian Marley when Welcome To Jamrock was being released, and I was in the crowd for countless concerts with Aerosmith, Run-D.M.C., Zac Brown Band, Brad Paisley, Luke Bryan, Joan Jett, and The Blackhearts, Eddie Money, Bobby Brown, Vanilla Ice, Kid Rock, Meat Loaf, Barenaked Ladies, and so many others. My heart will always be entrenched in the South Florida music scene even if the publications that so lovingly covered it have gracefully faded away.
This blog is my nostalgic, unapologetic, sweet, and sweaty love letter to South Florida's ever-evolving music scene. Live music will always have my heart. Here's to the music that made us, the shows that defined our youth, and the songs we haven't even heard yet. Let's keep the music playing, South Florida!
Joanie Cox Henry
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