South Florida Jams Conent

Saturday April 11
@ Culture Room

Dickey Betts, a founding member of the Allman Brothers Band, has one of the most distinctive voices in music today. Known as one of the most influential guitar players of all time, Betts has mastered a seamless style of lyrical melody and rhythm -- marrying country, jazz, blues, and rock into one unparalleled sound. The New York Times has called Betts "one of the great rock guitarists…[who thinks like a jazz improviser, in thoughtfully structured, cleanly articulated, intelligently paced phrases…[when] Mr. Betts was tearing into one of his improvisations, the music was about as exciting as rock and roll gets." Playing since he can remember, Betts joined several bands in the sixties and eventually formed a band with bassist Berry Oakley. One fateful night in 1969, Betts and Oakley's band jammed with another local group featuring Duane and Gregg Allman, marking the birth of the Allman Brothers Band. In addition to matching band leader Duane Allman lick for lick, Betts also wrote such memorable songs as "Revival" and the instrumental tour de force "In Memory of Elizabeth Reed." After Duane Allman and Berry Oakley were killed in accidents a year apart in 1971 and 1972, the ABB worked through their sorrow, with Betts writing and singing the group's biggest hit, "Ramblin' Man". For more info visit www.dickeybetts.com

$25 - All Ages - Doors 8pm

Friday May 15
@ Culture Room

Every once in a blue moon along comes someone who can merge the forces of virtuosity and exuberance and unleash them on an unsuspecting public. The latest in this exclusive line of blue moon arrivals is Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews. Andrews plays trombone and trumpet. He is a man to be reckoned with on both. A product of New Orleans' culturally rich Treme neighborhood, Andrews was a bandleader by the age of 6. While Andrews was navigating New Orleans as a youngster with his band in tow, he was also absorbing lessons at the knee of his older brother James, a dynamic musical performer known as "Satchmo of the Ghetto." It is safe to say that by the time Andrews hit his early teens, he had a PhD in the ways of the streets, which you can still hear in his music. But he has also grown into a performer emanating elegance and class; gleaned from his successful studies at the prestigious New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA). As a graduate he joined the ranks of other grads like Wynton and Branford Marsalis, Harry Connick Jr., and Nicholas Payton. In 2005, Andrews was tapped by Lenny Kravitz to be a featured member of his horn section for a world tour. A tour that shared billing with acts such as Aerosmith. In London, during the summer of 2006, Andrews began working with producer Bob Ezrin and U2 at Abbey Road Studios. This association led to Andrews performing with U2 and Green Day during the re-opening spectacular of the New Orleans Superdome for the NFL’s Monday Night Football pre-game show. The show aired live on ESPN and was broadcast internationally by Westwood One. For more info visit www.tromboneshorty.com

$12 Advance / $15 Day of Show - Doors 8pm - On Sale Friday April 10

Tuesday June 2
@ Culture Room

The Virgins exemplify the sound and style of downtown New York City in 2008. The band came together in 2006, the brainchild of songwriter/performer Donald Cumming. Having lived on NYC’s streets since the age of 16, Cumming’s teen years were chronicled by artist/photographer Ryan McGinley in his now-legendary debut solo show at the Whitney Museum of American Art.With Cumming joined by bassist Nick Zarin-Ackerman, guitarist Wade Oates, and drummer Erik Ratensperger, The Virgins began playing at downtown parties at such spots as St. Marks Church and 205. For their third show ever, the Virgins took Paris by storm, performing at designer agnès b’s fashion week party alongside Patti Smith and Sonic Youth. The band’s connection to New York’s art scene is no more apparent than in their own album art, which features design and photography from Dan Colen and Terry Richardson. The Virgins have spent much of the last two years on the road, headlining and sharing stages with such bands as Cold War Kids, Tokyo Police Club, Jet, Tapes N’ Tapes, the Long Blondes, White Rabbits, and Ra Ra Riot. The band recently caused commotion in Europe, where they were featured on the cover of France’s Jalouse Magazine. The Virgins also hit London for a number of packed-out shows – including an acclaimed set opening for their good friend Mark Ronson at the Hammersmith Apollo, which saw NME honoring them as the “Best Band We’ve Seen This Week.” For more info visit www.thevirgins.net

with special guests Lissy Trullie

$12 Advance - Doors 8pm - On Sale Friday April 10

Thursday June 4
@ Culture Room

Together with Bob Marley, the Wailers have sold in excess of 250 million albums worldwide. In England alone, they’ve notched up over twenty chart hits, including seven Top 10 entries. Outside of their groundbreaking work with Marley, the Wailers have also played or performed with international acts like Sting, the Fugees, Stevie Wonder, Carlos Santana, and Alpha Blondy, as well as reggae legends such as Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer, and Burning Spear. As the greatest living exponents of Jamaica’s reggae tradition, the Wailers have completed innumerable other tours, playing to an estimated 24 million people across the globe. They have also been the first reggae band to tour new territories on many occasions, including Africa and the Far East. For more info visit www.wailers.com

$25 - Doors 8pm

Tuesday June 9
@ Culture Room

Comprising a loose collective of avant-garde musicians, Animal Collective was established in New York City by Avey Tare (aka David Porter) and Panda Bear (aka Noah Lennox). Spirit They're Gone, Spirit They've Vanished marked the group's first release in 2000. Issued on the musicians' own Animal imprint, it was the first of a flurry of captivating, occasionally frustrating releases exploring the fringes and intersecting boundaries of folk, noise rock, ambient drone, twisting psychedelia, and -- ultimately -- pure melody. Joined by their friends Geologist (aka Brian Weitz) and Deakin (aka Conrad Deaken), Tare and Panda Bear released Danse Manatee on the Catsup Plate label in 2001, followed by the live album Hollinndagain, which documented their debut tour alongside Black Dice. Here Comes the Indian (Paw Tracks) was issued in 2003 to considerable acclaim, and the Collective backed it up with the droning, folky simmer of Campfire Songs, again for Catsup Plate. For more info visit www.myspace.com/ animalcollectivetheband

$12 - Doors 8pm

Sunday July 19
@ Parker Playhouse

The Avett Brothers - If you put your ear to the street, you can hear the rumble of the world in motion; people going to and from work, to school, to the grocery store. You may even hear the whisper of their living rooms, their conversation, their complaints, and if you're lucky, their laughter. If you're almost anywhere in America , you'll hear something different, something special, something you recognize but haven't heard in a long time. It is the sound of a real celebration. It is not New Year's, and it is not a political convention. It is neither a prime time game-show, nor a music video countdown, bloated with fame and sponsorship. What you are hearing is the love for a music. It is the unbridled outcry of support for a song that sings to the heart, that dances with the soul. The jubilation is in the theaters, the bars, the music clubs, the festivals. The love is for a band. The songs are honest: just chords with real voices singing real melodies. But, the heart and the energy with which they are sung, is really why people are talking, and why so many sing along. They are a reality in a world of entertainment built with smoke and mirrors, and when they play, the common man can break the mirrors and blow the smoke away, so that all that's left behind is the unwavering beauty of the songs. That's the commotion, that's the celebration, and wherever The Avett Brothers are tonight, that's what you'll find. For more info visit www.theavettbrothers.com

$26 - All Ages - 7:30pm