Notes from the Soundboard: Famous Fathers and Sons

Notes from the Soundboard is a new column appearing weekly on Crossfade,  focused on pop music’s history and ongoing evolution. Lee Zimmerman shares insights and observations on how music continues to connect with the weirdness of the world. Click here to read past installments.”It’s not time to make a change,…

Archive Diver: The Four Tops at China Club on May 25, 1988

Archive Diver is diggin in the crates for  New Times content from days gone by. We’ll be bringing you everything from fliers, to articles, to whatever throwbacks got something to do with anything.This week, check out promotion for a May 25 and 26, 1988 show by the Four Tops at…

Castro Eats Hot Pockets

Funny things happen when you set three alarms at two minute intervals on your cellphone and you snooze each one. High velocity REM sleep dreams.Two days in a row I dreamt I called Castro’s office to interview him for Short Order.This morning I got through to his secretary. I thought…

Feds Nail Two At Palmetto General For Stealing Patients’ Identities

What’s worse than having to go to the hospital? How about spending days in the hospital recovering from surgery or serious illness, finally going home, and then realizing that some jackass in the ER stole your identity?That’s exactly what happened to close to 50 patients at Palmetto General in Hialeah,…

10 Ways Miami Restaurateurs Can Improve Service

1. Hire better hosts and hostesses, meaning those who can do more than smile and offer rote salutations. When gauging hospitality skills, Danny Meyer of New York’s Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern looks for five traits in his employees: “1)extremely nice; 2)intelligent; 3)infused with an extraordinary work ethic; 4)empathetic;…

Throwback Tuesdays: Here’s a Freestyle Invasion Play List

While we’re on the subject of the Freestyle Invasion II concert this Saturday, we put together a play list of some of the best songs by the artists performing. Enjoy.Oh yeah – there’s also another HUGE freestyle show coming up, the Freestyle Extravaganza on June 27 at the AAA. That…

Miami Social Set to Debut Next Month

Word around town is that an air date has finally been set for Miami’s latest reality series (being billed as a “docu-drama”). Details from Bravo TV’s Miami Social have been flooding the beach, and we hear that the show is supposed to be hitting airwaves July 7.Speculated cast member, and…

Now On Open Table

Open Table pioneered reservation-making in the Big Apple, and has taken the world byte by juicy byte ever since. Um can we say IPO-oh baby! Miami’s catching on.  Some faves have yet to jump on the Internet reservation bandwagon, but many have recently converted to the platform or opened cyber-smartly;…

The Week That Was: We All Really Deserve a Three Day Weekend

A bunch of cats are being killed down there in South-Dade, but luckily are own Magic City Kitty has escaped the murder’s open legs. John Wall went to Kentucky, while Robert Marve picked purdue. Adam Lambert is a secret chonga, which maybe explains why he did so well in Florida. Not well…

In Support of Florida Virtual School

Florida Comprehensive Assessment test scores came out last night and they stunk. Particularly in Miami-Dade. Yeah, the Herald made a big deal about Liberty City Elementary improving. And over the years, we have improved. I thank Jeb Bush for that. Lawton Chiles gets a C and Charlie Crist an F…

MP3 of the Day: “Burnin’ Hell” by Rotagilla

RotagillaSeason For Leavin’ (self-released)You’d think it was 1970 again, for Chrissakes, what with the way the guys of Rotagilla let out their inner Led Zep. Granted, there’s no hint of a Robert Plant or Jimmy Page lurking among this lot. However, in recycling the old school power trio format and…

Friday Food Funnies: Sushi

We’re going with a sushi theme this week, with a couple of seafood-related ha-ha’s thrown in because, as it turns out, very few people have ever written or said anything funny about raw fish. If you’ve heard any good nigiri jokes, please feel free to share ’em with us.I never…

Notes From the Soundboard: The Joys of Poco

Notes from the Soundboard is a new column appearing weekly on Crossfade, focused on pop music’s history and ongoing evolution. Lee Zimmerman shares insights and observations on how music continues to connect with the weirdness of the world. Click here to read past installments. I try not to spend too…

Florida Was Adam Lambert Country

Last night America found out the results in what many were too quick to paint as the next battle of the culture wars: American Idol’s Adam Lambert vs Kris Allen. Possibly gay, probable chonga, California-bred Lambert came into the final as the Favorite against the young, Christian, non-threatening Allen from Arkansas. Pundits, including ol’…

The Critic: Musing On The Dock Of The Bay

Hint on how to avoid bad Miami restaurants: Take a look at the dessert menu before taking a seat. If it’s a compilation of Key lime pie, tiramisu, molten chocolate cake, and the other ubiquitous treats, politely excuse yourself and go somewhere else to eat. After all, there are hundreds…