Have a Happy & Healthy New Year! - the Parklander

South Florida’s Alexx Calise
Photos and Story by Todd McFliker
During both the Ladies of Rock
show and the Gear Up Benefit
Concert to help the post-trauma
victims of 9-11, Fort Lauderdale’s
own Alexx Calise tore up
Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and
Casino’s Paradise Theater. The
elite venue and its phenomenal
sound system were used to introduce
South Florida to the future
of music with two of the youthful
woman’s 30-minute sets this
summer. Following fellow Ladies
of Rock, Melissa Burnos and
Lennon, Alexx Calise and her
band were introduced by Big
105.9’s Courtney Young, Zeta’s
Razor and Mel-T of Rock 93.
The seductive vixen in her early
twenties has a deep voice, reminiscent
of Joan Jett. Born in
Staten Island, but raised in Fort
Lauderdale, her influences stem
from her folk’s vast record collection. The singing writer who plays guitar
grew up on a wide collection of vinyl, ranging from Mozart to Janis, the
wailing Led Zeppelin singles, as well as the distortion of Stone Temple
Pilots and Soundgarden. She went on to enter countless talent shows and
perform in every public appearance made available. Alexx is also a published
poet and has spent seven years reporting on entertainment as the
Sun-Sentinel’s youngest journalist. “I remember in second grade we had
to write these sentences using vocabulary words the teacher gave us,” she
said. “Everyone hated it, but I'd always ask her when the next time was
that we could do it because I just loved writing so much.”
Alexx recently decided to fuse the writing with her love of music, and
today the combination is her full-time career. Her father used to play a
guitar for hours with Alexx and her brother when they were mere toddlers.
“She has always been a talented
lover of words and music,”
said her father and bass player, Dr.
Paul Calise. “I introduced her to the
guitar at age 11, and she just flew
with it. Today, it’s an incredible
experience to share the stage with
my own daughter. I’ve never had so
much fun in my life.” The dozens
of men screaming for Alexx onstage
does not bother him. The veteran
of show business who worked his
way through med school by playing
guitar has accepted that his daughter
being a sex symbol is merely part
of the business.
Blending genres onstage and in
the studio, the young band has been
together for just a few months.
Besides the neurologist playing
bass, Beau Million supplies a
Jamaican look and tone. Alexx’s
howling stage-presence is topped
76 JANUARY 2007
off with Lloyd Holley,
the 16-year-old drummer
who impresses
with an extended drum
solo towards the end of
the hard hitting “Shake
Dem Bones.”
Alexx always makes
light conversation and
jokes with her audience
of a couple hundred.
She once discussed
midgets onstage and
tossed her denim jacket
into the crowd before
playing her very first
single, “My Song.” The melodic tone reminded listeners of Metallica’s
“One.” Alexx usually departs her quick sets, about 30-minute each, after
seven or so passionate songs with no encore. “Short and sweet,” she
explained. “It’s always better to leaving the crowd screaming for more.”
“Young female rocker, Alexx promised the Hard Rock that she and her
band would deliver a stellar performance,” said Cary Reichbach, Paradise
Theater General Manager. “Afterwards, we all agreed that she is on her
way to rock stardom and did indeed produce the kind of onstage excitement
we usually only see with veteran, national acts.”
Alexx began writing raw material in 2003 that will be featured on her
upcoming debut, Morning Pill. The ten songs that she personally wrote
recount both dark and uplifting experiences from the artist’s real life and is
scheduled for release this winter. Along with an opportunity to purchase
the CD, its lyrics can all be found on the Alexx Calise website, along with
several audio samples of the material, such as the deep “C’mon You,”
“Touch My Hey” and “Falling.”
“This album represents balance,” Alexx explained. “It doesn’t dwell on
the negative, but it doesn't promise you a rose garden either. As in life, you
take the good with the bad.” The young lady continued, “I live my life like
I’m the hero in an epic story. I’m resilient. I keep moving forward. I’m
a warrior.”
After traveling to the Big Apple and San Diego with the band in the
near future to shoot a video and land a major record deal, she will be enormous
in the industry. It is time to share her fresh and intense material with
the rest of the country, followed by the entire globe. Alexx summed up her
career’s future; “It’s passionate, it’s biting, and it has an edge. It’s an open
book, and this is only the first chapter.” The attractive young poet continued,
“It’s really going to hit every one over the head, don’t mind me, I’m a
lyrical muse. It’s just word play, I don’t mean to confuse.”
Be sure to view the Alexx Calise homepage at www.alexxcalise.com, and
check out the homepage of Paradise Theater in Seminole Hard Rock,
the venue formerly known as Legends, at www.seminolehardrock
hollywood.com/entertainment/legends_in_concert.
Todd McFliker, who recently signed a contract to publish his first
book, earned his Maser’s Degree in Mass Communication. He writes
about entertainment in South Florida, reviewing films, CDs, venues
and concerts ranging from local artists to Sir Paul McCartney and U2.
E-mail him at mcfliker@theparklander.com.