Swelter

Openings and closings, like the rapid semi-rise and ugly fall of 32 Grand in Coconut Grove. Ex-bartender Mark J. Vander Sande, among others, not happy about being owed back pay, writing an open letter/press release to partners Jimmy Asher of the Asher Insurance Group, Barney Kaufman of Premier Films, Steve Kraus of International Cinema, Richard Abel of the Tropics Hotel, Peter Polo, and attorney Mark Singer. Real personal and real irate: "We do not take the fall if your business suffers.... Jimmy Asher told me, `I don't care.... This is a pimple on my ass, people take chances....' You are in violation of federal law." The other side not real happy either, according to Mark Singer: "Some money was missing and some staff was let go. These things happen in the bar and restaurant business." It's real life, not performance art, messy and not shapely at all. The kind of situation that calls for tough culture, like The Goods, with just the right dose of post-Sid Viciousness: "You Make Me Sick - Fuck you!