Swelter

You go out often enough and the countless episodes of boredom, low-grade idiocy, and nausea get to you eventually. So many pointless conversations, so many brushes with the ignoble, so much trash to wade through. But then, once in a while, something interesting happens. The singular capacity of nightlife to…

Program Notes

Things are different now. Pee-wee Herman. Kathy Willets. Jimmy Swaggart. Willie Smith. Clarence Thomas. It seems like a 2 Live Crew album come to life. And, coincidentally enough, there is a new Crew album out, Sports Weekend, the group’s best work yet. And you know what that means. Up north…

Swelter

Until very recently, we had always prided ourselves on certain core values, a minimum set of operative social standards. No drinking straight from the bottle. No lying, cheating, or stealing. No using the word “fabulous” without irony. No hanging out with criminals, overextended homosexuals, possibly psychotic sex-act performance artists, party-hearty…

Letters

I’ve attended several citizens’ meetings at which Huber spoke, and my impression of him was similar to that of several people quoted in the article. He was full of energy, determination, and drive – at the same time, he strongly projected an attitude of “I have never made a mistake,…

Program Notes

Unlike a year ago, this autumn seems to be devoid of rampant censorship. Thank goodness, ’cause the F-Boyz are back in town. Long before there was a Marilyn Manson and the Spooky Kids, Methadone Actors, or Human Oddities, there was F-Boyz, the most musical dick waggers to ever rock a…

Swelter

So there’s Halloween, looming up on the horizon with all the sickening dear-God-please-fix-my-life-and-make-it-glamorous inevitability of New Year’s Eve. And as usual the members of the fun brigade are honing the necessary social skills of envy and malice, desperately pining to be invited to something truly spectacular, the ultimate party that…

Letters

Marilyn Manson is a wild treat live, and Bergasse 19 seems to be from another planet, bringing to Earth a unique psychedelic, industrial matrix of cosmic sound. I wish we had more bands like these two. Ana Romano Miami Springs DE NADA, FOR THIS YEAR AND ALL YEARS PREVIOUS I…

Program Notes

Since May 2, 1968, Miami has had a true radio alternative in the form of WVUM-FM. From reggae to rap to local bands, from the obscure to the ridiculous, WVUM, not constrained by commercial concerns, gives voice to so much music that otherwise wouldn’t receive airplay. What the station needs…

Swelter

It’s a small town, pal. A small ugly town. Full of rats. Area troublemakers. Unprovoked attacks. Misinterpreted declarations. Fabulous writers profiling fabulous club owners/boyfriends. Nebulous celebrity investors. Wire cover boy Abe Hirschfeld actually portrayed as a viable human being, let alone a viable political candidate. A politician in tune with…

Letters

T.J. Callahan is absolutely correct. Lesbian and gay persons do want equal opportunity for life insurance, health insurance, job security, benefits, and estate upon death – just like he and every other citizen already enjoys. That’s all we want – equal rights. We don’t understand why we are routinely deprived…

Program Notes

The choice had to be made: become a cop killer or go into rehab. Decisions, decisions. The traumatic turning point came September 28 at, naturally enough, Churchill’s Hideaway. A new “band” – actually a loose amalgam that is open to membership changes with each show – called the Volunteers debuted…

Letters

I am the local-music-show DJ at WUFI (the FIU radio station), and I was appalled to read that someone who “supports” local music could be so outright prejudiced toward some of Miami’s newest bands that are also on the cutting edge. Aside from their beliefs and promotional ideas, these are…

Swelter

The weather on the hot bottom of the earth begins to change, the cafard slowly lifts, and once again a parade of cultural/charitable gatherings gives a patina of meaning to an increasingly absurd social life. Having an uncanny instinct for doing the worst possible thing at any given moment, we…

Swelter

Over the course of too many long years in Miami, we have learned a vital survival skill: actually appreciating the disgusting as a local art form. Sometimes it’s fun digusting, and sometimes its just plain disgusting, but whatever the case, the ability to revel in the offensive has allowed us…

Letters

THAT’S POOP,ALL RIGHT I must say that after reading your feature article concerning “George & Jane & Steve & Ellis & Kathy” (October 2) I became incensed. What kind of journalism is this? Why have you wasted your time and space? When are you going to do your jobs right?…

Swelter

You have not always been the kind of guy who shows up at Boomerang at 3:00 a.m., but here you are, and you cannot say that the night has yet lost all its promise. You think back to all that had led up to this hour. That pleasant spat of…

Letters

SO THAT’S HOW SLUMS GET STARTED! Regarding your story about a trash heap in a police parking garage (“Unsolved Mysteries, Dateline Miami Beach,” September 25): Your tongue-in-cheek approach to the incident was uncalled for. Chief of Police Philip Huber, coming from Baltimore, is obviously accustomed to clean streets and clean…

Program Notes

Let me state just two things before I go so you won’t forget: The South Florida Rock Awards (the third annual) is going to be awesome this year and is going to be December 9. And I’ve heard a rumor that the sales side of the New Times corporation will…

Letters

Those people you berate in the Guardian Ad Litem program and HRS are trying to protect these children from further damage. They are operating under laws of confidentiality and can’t respond to the unfair allegations in the article. I’ve really lost much of the respect that I had for your…

Program Notes

Every once in a while we take a stab at grasping the meaning of the blues (both in this space and in real life). Try this: James Thomas was born in 1926 on a farm in Ya¯zoo County, Mississippi. Influenced by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup and Elmore James, he worked…

Swelter

The upcoming socio-cultural season is taking shape, and gradually Miami is beginning to seem like a valid place to live, something more than just the hot bottom of the earth. Things are beginning to happen. The new Tony Chan’s Water Club restaurant at The Grand, in the space formerly occupied…

Letters

INSULTS FOR EVERYONE, EXCEPT DETECTIVE CHRISTOPHER Kudos and congrats on one of the most boring articles I’ve ever read by New Times (“The Case from Hell, Part One,” September 11). Maybe if Aimee’s mother hadn’t been such a devout Catholic and so worried about bad outside influences, none of that…