Although they’re still not quite of drinking age, it’s time to celebrate Miami’s hometown heroes who have reached a true milestone in a city whose very nature is transience – our beloved Spam Allstars have traveled around the sun TWENTY times and in that period, overwhelmingly shaped our local music scene. Bow down to DJ le Spam, Tomas Diaz (timbales, vox), AJ Hill (saxes, vox), Mercedes Abal (flute, vox), Chad Bernstein (trombone, vox), Jose Elias (guitars/tres), Ted Zimmerman (trumpet), Lazaro Alfonso (congas), Adam Zimmon (guitars), & Steve Welsh (saxes) as they work their own party tonight at the North Beach Bandshell.
I remember attending one of their Thursday night residencies at Hoy Como Ayer (they still perform there weekly) when I first arrived to Miami in 2007. Having just relocated from NYC where I had been immersed in performance culture for 5 years, it wasn’t until that fateful Thursday night in Little Havana, amidst the smoke, sweat and funkified beats that I finally felt at home. They played well into the morning hours and I left feeling reassured that Miami really has its own magic and sound and that the Spam Allstars are the caretakers of that ideal.
Here’s to twenty years of defining electronic descarga, elevating our cultural scene and we are looking forward to the next chapter in the Spam Allstars saga.
Cheers,
The Buskerfest Miami Team