Rick Scott and Bill McCollum Are Florida’s Grand Wizards

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke claims Democrats are missing in action in the governor’s race.The Democratic Party is out of sight and…

Political Vulture Ralph Arza Hovering Around Perla Tabares Hantman

Even though Ralph Arza recently popped up at one of her fundraisers and at her campaign headquarters in Hialeah, Perla Tabares Hantman insists the disgraced former state representative is not working on her re-election campaign for Miami-Dade School Board. “He has no involvement as far as I know,” Tabares Hantman tells Banana Republican…

C’mon, Miami Herald, Hustle Up in the MIA!

The last year or so has been tough for our city’s paper of record, where I used to work. Reporters at the Miami Herald have gotten the shaft, and editors have been forced to do double duty. But hey, guys, please cover the City of Miami. It is the wheel around…

Hall of Shame: Five Candidates You Want to Vote Against

With the primary election less than a month away, Riptide is doing its civic duty by letting readers know about the five worst candidates running in local, state, and federal races. A vote for these jokers is just another leap toward Idiocracy, the made-up future world conjured by Beavis &…

MP3: Orion (of Elastic Bond) – “Massacre Pt. 5”

If I thought that Orion had solidified his bones with his work with Elastic Bond, I was certainly humbled and pleasantly surprised by his first solo effort, Esperanza. It was a sweet dose of chemically balanced hip-hop that not only paid respect to his Caribbean roots, but used them as a…

Jersey Shore Damage Report: The Guidos Come to Town

Just a few months ago everything was right in the world. South Beach was home to its own particular brand of party trash, and the world’s most famous guidos and guidettes were in their native Long Island/Statan Island/Rhode Island settings. Then MTV shook everything up and decided to set Snooki,…

Five Annoying Things About Today’s Herald Story On Miami Spice

When I first saw The Miami Herald front page headline this morning — “It’s Time To Add The ‘Spice'”, I thought reporter Elaine Walker was copying Short Order’s tallying of which restaurants were worth going to for Spice and which weren’t. But there was no critical commentary involved — probably…

The Jersey Shore in South Beach Drinking Game

Are you prepared for the most important night in Miami pop culture history? MTV unleashes the second season of Jersey Shore tonight at 10. It follows everyone’s favorite guidos as they hook up, drink, and fight their way through South Beach. This might bring a tiny bit of shame to…

Miami Executive Chefs Among Highest Paid

A salary survey of 1,400 culinary professionals by StarChefs.com shows that Miami and New York executive chefs were paid more in 2009 than their counterparts in other U.S. cities. The average salary for an executive chef here was reported at $101,400 — not far from New York’s $101,500 and about…

MP3: Afrobeta – “Two Different Worlds”

Afrobeta needs little introduction to Crossfade readers, but the band is finally and deservedly gaining some serious international traction. Of course, there was that performance at the massive Glastonbury festival, and a gig with Booka Shade in Ibiza (!) around the same time. Now, they’ve also got a PR representation…

Overrated Eats: Ortanique on the Mile

Ortanique’s Web site has an “Accolades” tab. One click on it lists 23 excellence awards. Esquire Magazine named it “Best New Restaurant in America.” And the eatery was placed on Zagat’s Top 10 Best Restaurant List nine times. The New Times has even shown its love more than once. Our…

Miami Herald Wants You to Taste the Rainbow

Today, the Miami Herald splashed one of those Greater Miami Chamber of Commerce promotional brochures on the newspaper’s homepage and called it journalism. Citing a report by Miami’s Downtown Development Authority claiming condo sales increased 110 percent over the first six months of 2009, chamber spokeswoman reporter Toluse Olorunnipa proclaims,…