Once upon a time on the island of Borinquen there were two kinds of kids: cocolos and rockeros. Cocolos were working class and dark skinned, spoke Spanish exclusively, and listened only to salsa. Rockeros had more money, lighter skin, spoke English as fluently as Spanish, and listened only to rock…
Is Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs still cool? The answer to that question is more than just a matter of taste. It speaks to the future of hip-hop and specifically to the economic fortunes of Puff Daddy’s $300 million conglomerate, Bad Boy Entertainment. It may even determine whether we one day…
The Stepin Fetchit CoverIt’s never too late to be offensive: Call me oversensitive, but did Mitch Greenblatt’s cover illustration of Puff Daddy for Brett Sokol’s story (“All Puffed Up,” July 26) have to show him grinning like a blackface cartoon? Haven’t we been over this? Jennifer Uleman Miami Beach The…
Apparently I was not the only person to get a little delirious over the idea of exile queen Celia Cruz singing a duet with island dame Omara Portuondo at this year’s Latin Grammys. The ever-vigilant patriots of Vigilia Mambisa secured a videotape of Our Lady of the Buena Vista Social…
While he was still mayor of Homestead, Steve Shiver used the city’s Tallahassee lobbyist to help one of his friends with a petition for executive clemency that was pending before the governor and the Florida cabinet. Shiver’s pal, William Chaney, had been convicted in the mid-Eighties for conspiring to import…
“He has a problem because white people are starting to hate him,” Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs said last week, and although he was speaking about fellow crossover artist George W. Bush, he could just as accurately have been referring to his own public fortunes. Puffy’s headline-grabbing trial this past winter…
The Reading ReportFree weekly dissected, wacky schools administrator found amid entrails: I enjoyed Jacob Bernstein’s profile of state Rep. Carlos Lacasa (“The Carlos Lacasa File,” July 19). I was happy to have been instrumental in his first campaign for the statehouse, which was successful. Carlos is a forthright and aggressive…
The performance that reflected best on Miami at the Second Annual Latin Grammy Awards took place outside the American Airlines Arena, far from the red carpet. In a gesture proposed by Ramon Saul Sanchez of the exile group Movimiento Democracia, passionate opponents of the Castro regime stood silent, their mouths…
As a member of the Homestead City Council, and then later as mayor, Steve Shiver accepted three all-expense-paid trips from the Community Bank of Florida. Despite the apparent conflict created by the fact that Community Bank regularly does business with the city, Shiver last week defended the excursions. “I took…
Don’t Get Me Wrong; I Like ChildrenEspecially when they’re properly cooked: Oh, joy! Jen Karetnick is at it again. Not so long ago she was whining about a restaurant at the western end of Lincoln Road that failed to appropriately (i.e., exhaustively) coo and cuddle her toddlers. Now she’s complaining…
Driving across northern New Mexico, I fiddle with the truck radio, looking for just the right vacation soundtrack. I stumble across Johnny Cash’s cover of “Riders in the Sky,” a four-minute ghost story about the fate that awaits bad cowboys: “Cause they’ve got to ride forever on that range up…
Robert Nachlinger is angry. “I’ve invested sixteen years in this community,” he tells me. “I have a reputation that I built up, and Steve Shiver is trying to destroy it. I’ve worked too damn long to have Steve Shiver decide he is going to pick me as his scapegoat to…
Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean…Being black in the Deep South will do that to you: I want to commend New Times for articles that are always insightful. I read Susan Eastman’s story “Our Lady of the Projects” (July 5) and would especially like to commend her for such a…
I went to Egypt in search of music. Music that lives inside of dance. Music that inspires freedom and laughter. What I found was more surprising than I imagined. I’d heard of Whirling Dervishes that spin themselves into ecstasy. I wanted to see belly dancers who light up the stage…
People be asking me all the time, “Yo Mos, what’s getting ready to happen with hip-hop?’ People talk about hip-hop like it’s some kind of giant in the hillside coming down to visit the townspeople. — Mos Def, “Fear Not of Man” “I want to build the Time Warner of…
Strong, Silent TypeBut in the courtroom John de Leon was a brawler: I don’t know former ACLU president John de Leon very well, but I met him several times and believed from his quiet, thoughtful demeanor that there was a lot to him. Jacob Bernstein’s excellent article (“It Takes a…
The invasion began in earnest four months ago, when the Grateful Dread moved into the house next door. Jahsun set up his psychedelic reggae band on the driveway of what had once been a quiet pitstop for airline personnel between flights. The positive vibrations drew more musicians to the street…
Every woman has her breaking point. Amy Gerstenfeld’s arrived at the crowning moment of her wedding vows. As her family and friends sat gathered before her on Memorial Day weekend inside a banquet room at South Beach’s Loews Hotel, she listened solemnly to her rabbi pose that all-important question. Then…
An Informed Public Is an Empowered Public Free weekly cheerfully does its part: Two fine articles in the June 14 edition of New Times prove once again that your paper plays an important role in informing the public. Jacob Bernstein’s article on outgoing ACLU president John de Leon (“It Takes…
The next time you hear Latin rock on the radio it won’t be a beer commercial, at least not if you’re tuned into Radio Uno (WKAT-AM 1360) between 8:00 and 10:00 any night of the week. Kike Posada, the founder and editor of Boom Magazine who won a local hero…
Humble Reader Offers Manager, Mayor Thoughtful AdviceRespond and repent, you two punks: I am writing in response to Jim DeFede’s article “Shadow Dwellers” (June 14). One question: Who the hell do county Manager Steve Shiver and Mayor Alex Penelas think they are? First of all, Mr. Shiver, Katy Sorenson as…
For five bucks back in the early Nineties, you could get a bottle of beer and a hand job from a Central American prostitute in the Little Havana dive at 2212 SW Eighth St. Pepe Horta changed all that when he gutted the bar and opened Café Nostalgia, a gathering…
