A dizzying blitz of corporate-generated hits blasts the ears of today’s songsmiths, plaguing them with a sense that if their music does not sell, it does not matter. That sense is especially sharp in Miami. The boom of the Latin-music industry brings to our beaches the platinum pop idols of…
With the decision on the future of Homestead Air Force Base now less than three weeks away, newspapers around the state have begun publishing editorials urging President Clinton to kill Miami-Dade County’s efforts to transform the base into a major commercial airport. The editorials reflect growing public sentiment that an…
There’s a theory that the pop music of a given moment in time isn’t determined by aural trends, record-company marketing plans, or even artistic flashes of brilliance. All those elements simply are dogs chasing the rabbit. Instead, if you want to decipher a period’s music, look to its drug of…
Editor’s note: We greatly appreciate receiving letters from our readers and try to publish as many of them as possible. Predictably, though, some missives fall victim to space limitations or time constraints. In this issue we try to make amends. Below is a sampling of correspondence from the past year…
Few people have invested more in the business of salsa than Ralph Mercado. The 59-year-old CEO of RMM Records was in the game before the genre even had a name, representing originators in the early Seventies such as Eddie Palmieri and Ray Barretto. In the universe of Fania Records, whose…
Although the complex proposal to build a new baseball stadium for the Florida Marlins is fraught with uncertainty, two things are clear: Secrecy was absolutely necessary in order for Marlins owner John Henry and his Miami political collaborators to fashion a dishonest deal like this; and should they succeed in…
As Bill Clinton’s presidency draws to a close, one of his last acts will be to decide the future of Homestead Air Force Base. Miami-Dade County is pushing to have the base turned into a major commercial airport, while environmentalists oppose such a plan, arguing the base’s location between Everglades…
Elections the Miami WayThe Electoral College of the Americas sets the standard: I really enjoyed “Professionalism in Politics” (December 14) and the Electoral College of the Americas. Indeed we should take Miami’s political culture to a national level, as you suggest. Perhaps the nation could see to it that we…
“The difference between the communist and capitalist systems is that, although both give you a kick in the ass, in the communist system you have to applaud, while in the capitalist system you can scream. And I came here to scream.” — Reinaldo Arenas, shortly after arriving in Miami, 1980…
Public Service the Braddock WayFirst thing you do, you tell the damn public to go to hell: When I first read Miami-Dade school board member G. Holmes Braddock quoted in the Miami Herald as saying, “I’ve never thought we had a very bright public,” I thought he might have been…
The novelist Ngugi wa Thiongõ once complained that it is impossible to write satire about Kenya; the dictatorship that rules his native land is already too absurd. No writer could possibly invent anything more ridiculous. The same could be said about the contemporary-music industry, which might as well be called…
Less than 24 hours before the Miami-Dade County Canvassing Board met to halt the manual recount of ballots in the presidential race — a decision that all but doomed Al Gore’s chances of winning the White House — Alex Penelas was dining with a Republican state legislator at the Governor’s…
Read Part 1 If you really want to ponder the strange and wonderful world of Florida politics, forget the ongoing Gore-Bush drama. Look instead to Cuba. As a reminder that not everyone has given up on Boris-and-Natasha cold war games, this past week saw the opening of the trial of…
Demetrio’s Ethical ChallengeDidn’t that law-school honor code mean anything? As a student at the University of Miami School of Law, I have followed with great interest the tale of young Demetrio Perez’s candidacy for the Miami-Dade County school board. Since moving to Miami in 1994, I have been repeatedly disgusted…
The CIA-backed exile invasion of Cuba at the Bay of Pigs failed in 1961. The Beatles were more successful, taking the beaches in the years that followed via portable radios perched precariously on Havana’s sea wall and secretly tuned to Miami’s WQAM (560-AM). Sixty-one-year-old Alexander Dominguez remembers listening to “La…
Lost amid the hullabaloo over Florida’s presidential recount is this profound fact: The only reason Al Gore is within a few hundred ballots of George W. Bush is the historic turnout among Florida’s black voters. According to election analysts, blacks cast between fifteen and sixteen percent of all votes in…
Read Part 2 As the results of the Florida presidential election came in on November 7, Volusia County officials sitting in Daytona Beach were faced with a situation much more alarming than Gore and Bush tally irregularities, or even rumors of stolen ballot boxes. Without any advance warning Volusia County…
History Might Have Been Different if Only …Al Gore had publicly opposed an airport at Homestead AFB: As Jim DeFede pointed out (“Collision Course,” November 23), if Al Gore loses Florida’s 25 electoral votes and with them the presidency, he can blame himself for having refused to stand in opposition…
The Missing Mayor’s Buttered BreadHe may be a snake in the grass, but he’s our snake in the grass: I read Jim DeFede’s slanted article concerning Mayor Alex Penelas (“The Dead-End Kid,” November 16). While I can understand those who feel the mayor is a political snake in the grass,…
Completely Unsolicited Praise for Suzy Stone, Part 1Up with kidz, down with New Times: The fact that my son has happily been a student in the Hip Hop Kidz program for more than four years allows me the opportunity to voice my opinion more than the obviously bitter parents Robert…
Where’s Alex? In the midst of the closest presidential election in U.S. history, at a time when the eyes of the world are riveted on South Florida, our sexy little mayor is nowhere to be found. And I’m concerned. I fear that Alex Penelas may be thinking about ending it…
What happens when subcultures come of age? The answer would look a lot like the roomful of 75 social workers, therapists, teachers, activists, and self-professed “party people” who sat in a circle in a meeting room at downtown Miami’s Wyndham Hotel last month. An intense high school girl in baggy…
