Ugliness or Fact He just wants to inform the haters: On December 11, Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), was quoted in Miami New Times denouncing the award-winning documentary Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West. As the producer of this…
The year’s 10 best shows of the year? I’m sick of that shit. The top 10 albums? Tired. Finest songs? Forget about it. Here are my faves in the categories that music nerds probably won’t list this season. With a bonus: They were all onstage. Best Virgin Live Appearance: Tie…
E! is apparently creating a new show that celebrates the sanctity of traditional divorce, and guess what? According to Changing Channels, the show’s producers are seeking local divorced ladies to star in this sure-to-be Peabody-winning program. Apparently it’s less The Sad Divorcees of South Beach and more My Super Sweet…
To read past installments of Miami According to Brooklyn (and to find out who, exactly, guest columnist Brooklyn is), click here. I want to talk about the homeless in downtown around the clubs and how fucking annoying they are. I’m so sick and tired of the begging and everything else…
When Manu Chao released his landmark album, Clandestino, in 1998, it was regarded as an instant classic by most people who heard it. The 16-track disc was a funky underground pop album aimed right at the cultural left (and bourgeois right) of Spain, France, South America and Mexico all at…
At yesterday’s Miami City Commission meeting, a small group of neighborhood preservationists came prepared to do in Eric Silverman, owner of the Vagabond Motel on Biscayne Boulevard in the Upper Eastside. Members of the MiMo Biscayne Association and residents railed against Silverman’s use of his property for an open-air farmer’s…
José el Rey is a singer, dancer and jumper. What he feels and what he thinks is completely the truth to him. And his mom. His truths were developed while basking in the Miami sun while listening to “Diamond Girl” and Gucci Crew tapes.¡Ta mala la cosa! All day, every…
Come January, expect to see a new dynamic take shape on the Miami-Dade County Commission when Dennis Moss becomes chairman. For one, Natacha Seijas will no longer have influence over the selection of committee chairs and assignments. Each of the last three commission chairs, from Barbara Carey-Shuler to Joe Martinez to…
Anybody that was at the Q-Tip concert in Fort Lauderdale the night before Thanksgiving was treated to one hell of a show! The music was great, the openers were good, and even P. Diddy was in the building buggin’ out having a good time. I can’t complain about Q-Tip’s set…
Crazy Like a Condo A smokin’ condo: I enjoyed Gus Garcia-Roberts’s December 4 article about the $6 million condo, “Recession Special,” featuring Sildy Cervera, a real estate agent and specialist in “pump[ing] you for all sorts of information” — mostly info that will direct her to pumping your wallet bone-dry…
Aaron is a boyishly handsome and topless twentysomething in tight white silver-fringed pants, suspenders, body glitter, and an extravagantly feathered Spartan helmet. “Zeus was a slut,” he says while standing in one of the swirly, manicured gardens of Vizcaya (3251 S. Miami Ave., Miami). “But he was still a leader.”…
Last week, we introduced you to Crossfade’s latest weekly guest columnist, Brooklyn, the day manager and occasional night-time gatekeeper at the Vagabond. To read a longer introduction about who he is, click here to check out last week’s premiere installment of Miami According to Brooklyn.To the person who left that…
Soon-to-be-displaced County Commission Chairman Bruno Barreiro is no friend of the environment. The former state representative led the charge to allow developers to build beyond the county’s imaginary line that stops construction from encroaching on the Everglades and environmentally sensitive lands. He is pushing for a rewrite of Miami-Dade’s manatee…
Down south, between Pinecrest and Homestead, lies a place where boys don’t run, don’t cower, and certainly don’t cry when it comes time to stand their ground. They call this poverty-stricken, bleak community Perrine. Here, banging fists in the street is as common as the ice cream truck coming down…
Chad Pennington Is Great New Times’ story stinks: Michael Mooney’s November 27 Riptide article, “A Thanksgiving Ode to Meh-rino,” is horrible. Chad Pennington might be a mediocre quarterback in terms of arm strength and mobility, but in knowledge of the game, reading defenses, and leaderships skills, he is on the…
(Photo by Justin Namon)”Brooklyn,” as the current day manager of the Vagabond downtown is known, has done and seen it all around the South Florida music scene since arriving here from his native New York some 12 years ago. Younger types flitting around hipster nightlife know him as the improbably,…
With only two days to go until West Coast super DJ/Producer Madlib the Badkid, arrives in Miami for a show at Blacksheep Bar on December 4th, I’m personally excited to see how Miami reacts to him. There are times when he gets audiences like the one in the video above…
Plenty of songs have extolled the watery, nubile virtues of Miami, or even of Florida in general. But few — beyond those by hyper-local artists based here — have name-checked other specific locales in South Florida’s tri-county area. Which is why “West Palm Beach,” written by the folkie Bonnie “Prince”…
Free Weekly Controversy Cynical bastards: This letter is written in response to Francisco Alvarado’s tasteless “Letter to Barack Obama” (November 20, 2008). The article is characteristic of this newspaper’s history of petty mockery and character assassination, which has done nothing but tear our city at its seams. We do not…
James Melgar is a dark and handsome waiter in his early twenties. He is also a speed eater who has devoured 21 ears of sweet corn in eight minutes, modeled in New York, and done extra work in L.A. And he has been sucking down suds since he was 10…
Over the weekend, the hip-hop community was hit with sad news. Early ’90s rapper MC Breed died in his sleep, only two months after being released from an Atlanta hospital for kidney failure. He was just 36 years old. The official cause of death is still pending. It’s a death…
South Florida congressional leaders Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and Kendrick Meek sure know how to live the good life when they are on the campaign trail. According to campaign financial disclosure forms filed with the Federal Elections Commission, the federal legislators spent big bucks entertaining staff and supporters at some of the…
