Derek Miller and Alexis Krauss make up Sleigh Bells. The Brooklyn-based (but Florida-'born') band is playing 'Saturday Night Live'. (Photo by Patrick Odell)

NOTE: This story uses information and quotes already published in another story about the group on pbpulse.com. You can read the original story here, as well as a review of the band’s recent show at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale.

Derek Miller has gone from being "a little surf rat" playing with the guitar club he founded at Palm Beach Gardens’ Benjamin School to playing live from New York on Saturday night.

As in Saturday Night Live.

"I’m just pinching myself," says Derek’s mother, Vicki, of Palm Beach Gardens, about her son and his indie band Sleigh Bells, which will appear as musical guests on NBC’s long-running comedy show tonight (11:30 p.m., NBC).

A 2000 Benjamin graduate, Derek, 30, was raised in Jupiter and has kicked around the national and local music scene for years, including time with a previous band, Poison The Well.

In a recent telephone interview, Derek Miller recalled that his musical ambitions weren’t quite working out in Florida. He left his job as a bartender’s assistant at Cucina Dell Arte in Palm Beach a few years ago and made his way to the arty Williamsburg neighborhood in Brooklyn.

"Nothing was really panning out for me here, so I went to New York, and ended up working at a Brazilian restaurant, which is where I met (singer) Alexis (Krauss)," Miller said. "I’d say within a month or two it was pretty clear to me that we’d work well together. We began working on (the song) Infinity Guitars, and it sounded good almost immediately. "

By the way, the band is basically all-Floridian — Krauss is originally from Thonotosassa, a suburb of Tampa.

Since forming in 2008, the so-called noise pop duo (a mix of mainstream melodies and avant-garde buzziness) has released an album and an EP, and has another disc, Reign Of Terror, scheduled for release on Tuesday.

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Jason Mraz, Cee Lo Green and Jeff Beck are some of the performers at SunFest 2011.

More: SunFest coverage | Check out our SunFest chat replay | Poll: Which performer are you most excited to see? | Event Listing: SunFest Sip & Savor | Facebook and Twitter reactions to the 2011 lineup

The line-up for SunFest 2011 is, arguably, one of the annual waterfront festival’s most current and up-to-date in recent years. Featuring in-the-moment newsmakers like Cee Lo Green, MGMT, Mike Posner and the Avett Brothers with returning headliners like Jason Mraz and legends like Gregg Allman, Jeff Beck and Earth, Wind & Fire, the still incomplete schedule is shaping up to be a winner.

Also in the mix — enough ’80s and ’90s-era names (Styx, Toad The Wet Sprocket, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, Sublime with Rome and Ziggy Marley) to keep SunFest’s reputation as a retro party intact, plus the coolness of jam band O.A.R. and New Orleans’ legendary Preservation Hall Jazz Band.

Several weeks ago, parts of the schedule were leaked – but not confirmed – when Toad (“All I Want,” “Walk On The Ocean”) and legendary guitarist Beck announced their participation on their Web site. But SunFest, for its part, refused to confirm any part of the schedule before hand.

Still to come – more national and local names. SunFest has also announced its first-ever 5K race, on Fri., Apr. 29.

Here’s the full list of headliners and the dates and stages on which they’re playing that SunFest announced this morning (FYI, Bank of America Stage is the main one closest to Clematis Street; Tire Kingdom Stage is the Meyer Amphitheater; FPL Stage is the one closest to Okeechobee Blvd.):

Wed., April 27:
• The Supervillains, evening, Bank Of America Stage
• Sublime with Rome, evening, Bank Of America Stage
• The Avett Brothers, evening, Tire Kingdom Stage

Thurs., April 28:
• Brooke Fraser, evening, Bank of America Stage
• Jason Mraz, evening, Bank of America Stage
• Cee Lo Green, evening, Tire Kingdom Stage

Fri., April 29:
• Anberlin, evening, Bank of America Stage
• Taking Back Sunday, evening, Bank of America Stage
• Cherry Poppin’ Daddies, evening, Tire Kingdom Stage
• Gregg Allman, evening, Tire Kingdom Stage
• Mike Posner, evening, FPL Stage

Sat., April 30:
• Ziggy Marley, afternoon, Bank of America Stage
• Never Shout Never, afternoon, Bank of America Stage
• Toad the Wet Sprocket, afternoon, FPL Stage
• Styx, evening, Tire Kingdom Stage
• MGMT, evening, Bank of America Stage
• Prince Royce, evening, FPL Stage

Sun., May 1:
• O.A.R., afternoon, Bank of America Stage
• Preservation Hall Jazz Band, afternoon, Tire Kingdom Stage
• Sick Puppies, afternoon, FPL Stage
• Earth, Wind & Fire, evening, Bank of America Stage
• Neon Trees, evening, FPL Stage
• Jeff Beck, evening, Tire Kingdom Stage

So now it’s all over but the envelopes. And, of course, the question: “Who are you wearing?”

Join me and Leslie Gray Streeter tonight at 6 p.m. for five hours (gasp!) of Oscar snarkitude. Will James Franco and Anne Hathaway win us over as hosts? Will The King’s Speech run away with every award? Will Christian Bale bring Dicky Ward on stage with him again?

You’ll just have to wait and see:

Video: Watch premiere highlights

Figure skater Evan Lysacek and Pussycat Dolls frontwoman Nicole Scherzinger

Now that the season premiere’s over, take a look at what we (being Jon Tully and Leslie Gray Streeter) thought about it and what promises to be an amazing season of Dancing With the Stars.

There’s an astronaut! A bad girl! A skater! A “Bachelor!” And whatever Kate Gosselin’s supposed to be!

Watch with us, woncha?

8:00 p.m.: JT

First, some full disclosure: I am not that good a dancer. My ballroom career consists of about three weddings and two bruised feet. Therefore, my snark is quite ill-placed, especially if I bring up anything about how bad people dance.

That said, with the possible exception of Nicole Scherzin… Scherzel… Sch… the Pussycat Doll, I’m not expecting much. Read the full story

The men: Aldrin, Turner, Pavelka, Ochocinco, Lysacek; The women: Andrews, Nash, Scherzinger, Gosselin, Anderson, Doherty. (All photos by Getty Images)

Buzz Aldrin among stars set for `Dancing’ debut

A Bachelor. The premier Baywatch babe. A bad girl. Reality TV’s favorite naggy multiple mom. A figure skater. And an 80-year-old astronaut.

This is either going to be the best, most insanely awesome season of Dancing With The Stars or the most awesome train wreck, a mismatched, “No, don’t go in there!” horror movie of a show.

Which means it’s still going to be amazing.

The crazy lineup of competitors on ABC’s ballroom showdown of the famous and fame-ish is so epic that it’s more than a game show — it’s a rumble.

We break down possible matchups based on the celebrities’ skills, weaknesses and probability of pitching some righteous diva fit and torching the whole thing:

Chad ‘Not Exactly a Wallflower’ Ochocinco vs. Evan ‘Golden Skates’ Lysacek

THE STATS:

Chad — Wide receiver, Cincinnati Bengals; formerly known as Chad Johnson, changed name to match his number (85).

Evan — Gold medalist in figure skating from the 2010 Winter Olympics.

THE POSITIVES:

Chad — An artist at self-marketing, he’s unafraid to say anything about himself or do anything to draw attention to himself at any time. Also, NFL players past and present do very well on this show.

Evan — Figure-skating training may help him somewhat in his transition. Also, he’s got a tall, lithe frame, which suits him well here.

THE NEGATIVES:

Chad — Over-saturation of said self-marketing can get extremely annoying. Ask any past or present NFL commissioner.

Evan — Was shown up by silver medalist Evgeni Plushenko on the medal stand in Vancouver. Also, very hard to do a quad toe loop in a ballroom.

THE ODDS:

Chad in a landslide. What he lacks in dancing skill he more than makes up for with his sheer self-promotion. You think he would’ve taken that mess from the Russian on the medal stand? As Chad says on Versus’ Sports Soup, “Child, please!”

Read the full story