Two years ago, I found myself alone in the coastal territory known as downtown West Palm Beach. Being quite the experienced mover, I saw this big transition as an intriguing challenge, where others may have seen merely a sea of pizza places and tank tops.  More >>

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​You may know Ariyah Okamoto as Ravelstein, the Japanese Jew, former member of Shuttle Lounge, and South Florida music legend. A year ago, the musician found himself in Sendai, the city the closest to the epicenter of one of the most violent and devastating earthquakes that has ever affected Japan and the worst nuclear meltdown ever.

After many years, the Miami-raised Okamoto  visited the city where generations of his family were born and lived to care for his elderly mother. It was then that the Great Tohoku Earthquake and subsequent tsunami, and nuclear meltdown took place. 

Sendai is the hub of the Tohoku region in northeastern Japan. On March 9, the earthquakes began. "It really freaked us out. It was so strong," Okamoto related. Everyone was talking about the big one when it actually hit, a 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011.

"I have never felt anything of that power," he says.
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It is with a heavy heart and a vastly underrepresented listing of aural horrors that we come to an end with this list. While our peers over at the LA Weekly blog, West Coast Sound had themselves an easy mark crowning the Dave Matthews Band as the king and queen of musical banality, we find that we do not have it so easy on our end.More >>

Lord, help us all.

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The fun continues on this third installment of the Top 20 Worst Bands of All Time, and by now you should be fully aware of just how scientific our approach and methods are on these digital pages. Paired with our impeccable pedigree as South Florida's end-all/be-all of music, you know you've got yourself a winner. Or at least a chuckle. Fuck it, we'll even take you looking busy at work.

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Chapter 11 babies

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Here at the Grind, we continue having fun at the expense of your beloved musicians and blatantly ride the coattails of our peers over on the West Coast. Do we care? Hell no! We aim to get a chuckle and maybe a catty comment below comparing us to the much-maligned Chris Chase of Yahoo.com blogging fame.

If we could get numbers like his based on hate commentary alone, we'd be on easy street and not hanging with noted Chapter 11 luminaries like MC Hammer and Leif Garrett. Think of this list as a slow accident you can have fun with, pun intended.

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For cool, progressive East Coast collegiate types.

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We're not entirely sure what scientific methods our savvy colleagues over at our sister paper LA Weekly's West Coast Sound blog used to constitute the absolutely worst 20 bands of all time. But aside from clearly cribbing their steez to generate some dialogue over on our coast, we've added to this already impressive collection, utilizing our own laboratory chops.

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Behind the bar at the Green Room is the heavily tattooed, raven-haired, 26-year-old Krysti Pryde. Standing at almost 6 feet tall with pale skin, Pryde looks as though she fell out of a graphic novel. When she's not serving cocktails, she leads the ultimate gamer life in the alternate universes of Legends of Zelda and various comic books.

"I'd like to drink with Cloud Strife from Final Fantasy XII," she told New Times. "But my favorite character is definitely Solid Snake [from Metal Gear]. He's a total badass."

In fact, Pryde is so dedicated to the world of videogames that she was selected to compete on the third season of The Tester, a Playstation Network online-only reality show. Over the course of eight weeks, 12 contestants will live together and compete in various challenges to win the ultimate goal: a job as a production associate on an upcoming game at Sony's Santa Monica studios. The winner also gets a 2012 Ford Focus Titanium, a $5,000 signing bonus, a 55-inch Bravia TV, and a PS3.
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Nick Briggs/ITV for Masterpiece

​Downton Abbey is a total television phenomenon. So much so that this PBS Masterpiece Classic was added to the Guinness Book of World Records in 2011 as the most critically acclaimed TV show in the English language. More than American Idol. More than The Sopranos?! That's saying something.More >>