The Wonders of Everglades National Park Tourists as gator bait by day, billions and billions of stars by night: As Mike Clary noted in “Happy on the Outside” (January 9), Everglades National Park truly is an underappreciated treasure. My wife and I have lived here for more than 25 years…
Sometime Spam Allstar, redheaded guitarist Adam Zimmon, recently took issue with the media coverage of Miami’s favorite processed beat liberator, DJ Le Spam and his merry avant-jam band. “People always write about the cultural stuff,” Zimmon complains of articles on the Allstars and their ecstatic site of multicultural communion, the…
Steve Satterwhite, the photographer, and I recently saw Gangs of New York at 11:30 in the morning at the CocoWalk 16 in Coconut Grove. Gangs, director Martin Scorsese’s great American telenovella, had been getting the full media treatment for a week prior, Orwellian slavering for Christmas product from Miramax, and…
You’re middle-age, your hairline is receding, and when the lights go down, keeping it up for your legendary three-hour stretches is getting harder and harder. What do you do? If you’re Bruce Springsteen, you break out a large sponge. He’s traveled a long way from his intimate nightclub glory days,…
Fay Wray Days It wasn’t my way or the highway: I enjoyed reading Tom Bowker’s article “Forever Punk” (January 2), but I have a comment to make: If he plans on writing an article based on facts, I suggest he check all sources first. His story was entertaining but the…
New Editorial Formula Unveiled Free weekly predicts cost savings, no content change: To make the New Times more profitable in these difficult times, I suggest the following simple cost-cutting measure: Fire Kathy Glasgow and in place of her “Metro” stories, such as “Bolita in Havana” (December 19), run a weekly…
Bombs Away: Cheap Shot Surely he doesn’t think we’re all commies: I have a few questions for Brett Sokol regarding his “Kulchur” column “On the Left, Off the Wall” (December 12). I wonder why his article about the November 19 antiwar gathering at the Coral Gables Congregational Church began with…
Of all Miami’s dubious distinctions, one in particular is X-rated: No other city in the United States boasts a tighter relationship between the hip-hop scene and strip clubs. The reasons why are not so difficult to figure out. But if you’re having trouble, Opa-locka-born singer/rapper Luc Duc is happy to…
At 8:33 on the night of December 9, the lights went out along Arthur Godfrey Road, between Alton and Collins. The windy rain was whipping the Beach like one of those Club Madonna dominas, and a power line just gasped and quit. The red and green traffic and matte white…
He’s not quite beefy enough to qualify as a Praetorian Guard, but Alex is doing his best to look tough as part of the Socialist Workers Party’s (SWP) security detail. Or at least as tough as you can look standing amid the humor section inside Coral Gables’ Books & Books…
Bring Back Bobby Golden Beach, you never had a better cop: I just read Tristram Korten’s article “Officer Trouble” (December 12) and I must say I am baffled that Golden Beach Police Ofcr. Michelle Santinello, who I think is badly in need of a shrink, could destroy the lives of…
“Let me see that!” demands Alexandra Mercedes Cabrera de la Cruz, snatching a CD out of the hands of her singing partner Ramón E. Rijo. The sweet-voiced pair better known as Monchy & Alexandra has ruled the tropical airwaves in the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Central America, New York, Miami,…
These are good days to be a revolutionary socialist. Just ask Mary Ann Schmidt, of Miami’s chapter of the Socialist Workers Party. “We signed up four new members at that demonstration,” Schmidt boasts, referring to the 100,000-strong rally on October 26 in Washington, D.C., to protest the looming war with…
Targeted Assassination Is Just Fine But don’t even think about stifling free speech: After reading Kirk Nielsen’s article about Miami religious leaders seeking a pardon for anti-Castro Cuban exiles on trial in Panama (“Righteous Bombers?” December 5), two words come to mind: hypocrisy and arrogance. Anyone in full use of…
A few weeks ago I invited readers to submit ideas that might be helpful to the City of Miami, which, being the poorest big city in America, needs all the help it can get. This solicitation arose from our two-part series “We’re Number One!” (September 26 and October 3). An…
Last Saturday, New Times celebrated its sweet fifteenth anniversary by coming out with some great big cakes, a few thousand friends, a few great bands and DJs, fabulous food from fifteen restaurants, and fifteen drag queens all dressed up as quinceañeras. If that last word lost you (Spanish for a…
It’s safe to crack jokes inside Miami Beach City Hall again. That much was clear at November’s meeting of the Nightlife Industry Task Force (NITF). In a fourth-floor conference room, the group’s chairman, attorney Steve Polisar, gazed out at a long table’s worth of clubland figures and then motioned toward…
Bucks for Blood The business was cash money for donors and it was tainted: I would like to compliment Eric Alan Barton for his detailed story about the finances and competition between South Florida’s two blood banks (“Blood Money,” November 28). If he should write another article, he might be…
“I feel like such an asshole,” joked Rilo Kiley guitarist Blake Sennett to appreciative hoots from the packed audience at Churchill’s. Stepping back from the microphone, he stared incredulously at his broken guitar strap — which had come apart for the fourth time in just as many tunes. It’s hard…
Haitians Are Not Cubans Their lives back home may be miserable, but misery isn’t enough: In response to Francis Francois’s letter titled “Hey People, It’s Time to Call Out the Cavalry” (November 14), first and foremost is the fact that most Cubans do understand the plight of Haitians. We shed…
Riddle: What do the local bands Raw B Jae, Sixo, the Kind, Fulano, and the Spam Allstars all have in common with Colombian pop siren Shakira? Answer: drummer Brendan Buckley and guitarist Adam Zimmon. The two strapping University of Miami grads may well be the hardest-working musicians in Miami –…
The premise seemed sound enough. Not once but twice last week the Design District’s Brit-Pop-and-then-some night Poplife went extracurricular, presenting Rainer Maria and Rilo Kiley last Tuesday at Churchill’s and then a K Records showcase at the Polish American Club’s Blue Velvet Lounge (it’s not really called that), featuring K…
