“This was the mecca of Yiddish culture other than New York in this country,” says David Weintraub, executive director of the Dora Teitelboim Center for Yiddish Culture, offering a surprising fact about Miami and explaining why Teitelboim — a Yiddish poet, activist, and labor organizer, who lived from 1914 to…
Where ghosts are, Linda Spitzer usually follows. Neither parapsychologist nor a ghostbuster, Spitzer is a storyteller of long standing who has entertained South Floridians all over town. The self-described “ghost maven of Miami” founded the Miami Storytellers Guild in 1990. But she is best-known locally for her nearly eight-year stint…
Amazing how some buildings can look truly hideous in the daytime, while by the light of the moon or artificial illumination they are suddenly remade into ethereal works of art. Some structures, says architect, architectural historian, and Brown University professor Dietrich Neumann, are actually designed to look especially dazzling at…
“May he rest in peace,” were the ominous words in the subject line of the e-mail North Miami art gallery owner Genaro Ambrosino sent on September 17. The “he” referred to Michael Richards, Ambrosino’s friend and one of the artists he represented. Only a week before, Richards had been sculpting…
He was born blind in one eye. She used to be a fashion model in the swinging Sixties. Both were unlikely candidates to spend a good part of their lives behind a camera, but Albert Watson and Sarah Moon became, of all things, photographers. Looking at the world through a…
“He doesn’t fit in anywhere,” says painter Carlos Suarez de Jesus about his Cuban-American colleague Sergio Garcia. “He’s constantly struggling with a sense of otherness.” Suarez de Jesus could very well be referring to himself, his equally creative wife Vivian Marthell, and the posse of artists who show at their…
A few weeks ago, in the wake of the unfathomable events that had unfolded in New York City, novelist Jonathan Franzen found himself with poet Maya Angelou, journalist David Halberstam, and writer Bebe Moore Campbell being interviewed by Ted Koppel on ABC television. Early in the program, the usually well-informed…
Who’s afraid of the big bad building? No one, if it shows off sleek Streamline Moderne-style lines. Because for the unschooled, architecture in Miami stopped in the early Forties when houses, hotels, and public buildings looked vaguely cruise-ship-like, as if inhabitants would be suddenly cast adrift in the middle of…
A white rhinestone-studded jumpsuit once worn by Elvis Presley during a 1970s concert in Miami. A 1964 mug shot from the Tallahassee Police Department depicting the handsome mug of Doors singer Jim Morrison. The piano on which the memorable refrain from Eric Clapton’s “Layla” was pounded out. The Gainesville High…
When deposed Miami Film Festival director Nat Chediak introduced his friend, famed Spanish filmmaker Fernando Trueba, to Latin jazz music many years ago via a Paquito D’Rivera record, Trueba, like Chediak before him, was hooked, ensnared in a net of sound that became a personal and professional passion. Their association…
To hear the words record and museum used in the same sentence doesn’t seem strange. Since long-playing record albums and singles were muscled out by compact discs in the Eighties, it’s the rare aficionado who owns a turntable and a copious supply of vinyl that can send him back to…
A breathless Rick Sanchez flop-sweating into the camera as he delivers another compelling report. A sober Sally Fitz earnestly stumbling over simple words and becoming the, er, butt of local urban legend. The snarky duo of Belkys Nerey and Lynn Martinez smart-alecking their way through another frothy installment of Deco…
What could be more fashionable than South Beach? Anything, apparently. Despite the tireless efforts of tourism types, the one-time hotspot for the international fabulatti is losing its luster fast. The models, designers, celebrities, paparazzi, and assorted oily hangers-on who at one time descended in droves to the unseemly island are…
Ocean Drive’s splendid streamline moderne Cardozo Hotel radiant from the sparkling sandy beach. Tony shopping haven Lincoln Road, its abundant storefronts creating desire in all who stroll by. The spectacular pool area at the fabulous Fifties-style Fontainebleau Hotel, a sunny pit stop where the wealthy bask and splash. All sites…
Judging by the plots of Julie Davis’s last two independent films (I Love You, Don’t Touch Me! and Amy’s Orgasm), it’s clear that the Miami-reared movie director/producer/writer/editor/actress believes wholeheartedly in finding that special someone, that perfect person, that ultimate counterpart known commonly as The One. Actor/writer Dan Bucatinsky, her friend…
They met in the early Sixties quite casually at a guesthouse in Saint Maarten. Both were at the bar by the pool. He had no idea it was her, but he recalls: “First words out of her mouth were: “A round of drinks on me, and don’t bother putting mine…
Sharks seem to be constantly in the news, which means dolphin are getting short shrift. Not for long, though. This weekend kicks off the eighth annual Original Florida Keys Ladies Dolphin Tournament, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Key Largo to benefit youth and educational programs. More than 150 women…
A self-professed romantic, Doug Williford spends a good deal of his time living in the past through his love for cabaret. He enjoys hanging out in a small club, sipping a strong drink, and listening to a great vocalist belt out songs that turn your insides out. Problem: There is…
The sense of imminent doom began around 7:15 p.m. The doors of Little Havana’s Manuel Artime Performing Arts Center were supposed to open at 7:30 p.m. for an 8:00 show, but they were wide open fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. The signs were ominous. No line snaked out the door,…
“It’s something I’ve lived with on a day-to-day basis. It was not new to me,” notes attorney Burnett Roth, referring to the reaction he had when he first saw the exhibition “The Art of Hatred: Images of Intolerance in Florida Culture,” currently on display at the Sanford L. Ziff Jewish…
Linda Richman is not feeling at all like buttah. The mother-in-law of comic actor Mike Myers, who immortalized her on Saturday Night Live as a big-haired, gaudy-clothed, yenta talk-show host with an intense Barbra Streisand fixation, is getting over the flu. But that won’t stop her from chatting about her…
It’s the Fourth of July again, the day when everyone across the U.S.A. is supposed to puff up his chest with pride and pat himself on the back for being fortunate enough to live in the land of the free and home of the brave. Well, as free and brave…
