Alt-country’s answer to Frank Abagnale, Will Oldham has recorded under noms de plume such as Palace Brothers, Pushkin, and Superwolf. Although his work under these monikers has gravitated toward eleventh-hour dustbowl despair and pre-ironic acoustic minimalism, Oldham has spent much of the 21st Century loitering as the warbling country-gent Bonnie…
If Madonna were half the intellectual she colors (sorry, colours) herself as, she’d be embarrassed by her own lyrics. The cliché-ridden, pretentious Confessions on a Dance Floor attempts to transplant Madonna’s inner life onto a spinning platform under a disco ball. But a loud club, after all, is a terrible…
“Mixing pop and politics, he asks me what the use is/I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses.” — Billy Bragg, “Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards” Musicologists will argue about the beginnings of politically conscious music, but a thumbnail sketch of its life span might look something like this:…
Though less than a decade has passed since 1998, it seems like a lifetime ago. There was a Democrat in the White House and a robust economy, and the greatest threat to national security arose from a little stain on a blue dress. It was also the year America was…
Summiting the Rickenbacker Causeway on a bicycle at sunset offers a startling take on Miami. Whitewashed skyline juts like an artificial reef from Biscayne Bay, which stretches far below and southward into endless Atlantic. Cars whiz by indifferently. From the peak of the causeway’s towering hump, two scruffy cyclists take…
Earth, Water, and Fire: This group homage to three of the four fundamental elements — hurricane-force winds probably deserve an exhibit of their own — curated by FIU professor Carol Damian, hardly does justice to its almighty nomenclature, an imposing task no doubt. For the “Earth” segment, Tori Arpad —…
Relief for frazzled nerves, hypertension, stress, and other ailments might be as close as a Walgreens, but at two Miami Beach stores you don’t have to comb the shelves to find it. The Windows at Walgreens public art project, organized by ArtCenter/South Florida, is playing an unheralded role in helping…
M Ensemble’s first fall production not only begins its new season, but it also opens the festering wounds of America’s murky past, offering audiences an elegant yet tragic look at history’s harrowing repercussions. The action in Bourbon at the Border takes places in 1995 Detroit, but the play revolves around…
Giacomo Puccini is often regarded as the world’s most beloved and most performed operatic composer, and a scene during the first act of Florida Grand Opera’s fall season opener, La Fanciulla del West, illuminates why. A moment early on in the recent opening-night performance at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium —…
The Bitch is a big fan of the “Look Book” feature in New York magazine; the two-page full-color spreads capturing the personal style statements of sartorially outspoken Manhattanites adorn the walls of her doghouse. So imagine the clothes hound’s delight when the November 7 subject was none other than part-time…
On a recent weekday afternoon, massive yachts bobbed gently off Turnberry Isle in Aventura. Sunbathers on shore lolled in a sea of white lounge chairs around a glittering pool, the only background noise a waterfall ruffling the chlorinated surface. It’s here that a dispute over zoning, lifestyle, and towels escalated…
In late 2004 the Humane Society of the United States released a report condemning deplorable conditions at Miami-Dade County’s animal shelter in Medley. Healthy creatures were being caged next to sick ones. Dogs were choking on short leashes. Shelter workers violently thrashed cats around. And many of the animals were…
Squealing bikini-clad blondes and brunettes throw their hands up rollercoaster-style as they skim across the Everglades. The six wannabe models look like they’re having a hell of a time, shimmying in their seats and tossing out come-hither smiles each time the director calls for another take. Of course, it’s not…
X Out That Alex Stuff It was soooo long ago: I am writing because I fail to see relevance in reporting the information Trevor Aaronson did in his article “Videogames: Just Say No” (November 10). The piece started out okay — quoting from the Senate bill put forward by Alex…
“Im having to make a quantum leap in my way of thinking, a total shift,” says Gulfstream Park general manager Scott Savin. It’s not that Savin is changing jobs — rather, his job is changing. Radically. “There’s a way of doing business that I’m used to, but that’s totally gone…
The Beat That My Heart Skipped (Wellspring) The Ed Sullivan Show Rock & Roll Classics Boxed Set (Sofa Entertainment) Fantasy Island: The Complete First Season (Columbia/Tristar) Friends: The Complete Tenth Season (Warner Bros.) Friends: Collector’s Box (Warner Bros.) Greg Behrendt Is Uncool (WEA) Guided by Voices: The Electrifying Conclusion (Plexifilm)…
Putting together a sequel to a hit videogame is tricky business. Play it safe and give people more of the same, and it ends up feeling stale. But try to innovate too much, and you dilute what made the game great to begin with. Soul Calibur III somehow manages to…
Born to Run: 30th Anniversary Three-Disc Set (Columbia Home Video) The centerpiece of this three-disc boxed set isn’t the classic 1975 album, but the two DVDs that come with it. On one, shot in London in 1975, Bruce and the band tear through most of Born to Run and its…
Last month, when Miami-Dade County’s Historic and Environmental Preservation Board granted the Coconut Grove Playhouse protected historical status, local preservationists breathed a sigh of relief. The 1926 Mediterranean Revival building would be protected forever. But when the board meets again November 17, the playhouse will appeal the designation. “We want…
Wilma was on the way when we walked into The Press Room, a newish eatery on the butt end of Lincoln Road. The sky was ominously gray and full of foreboding. The restaurant takes its name from the collage of antique presses on the wall of its brick-faced, back-of-the-room sports…
Madiba has come to South Beach by way of South Africa, with a stopover at Fort Greene, Brooklyn — which is where Mark and Jenny Henegan, with long-time friend Serge Jules, opened their first Madiba in 1999. Their new establishment made its debut this past September in the neighborhood once…
Go ahead — roll your eyes at Bono’s persistent messianic complex. But maybe the guy’s got good reason to think he’s bigger than Jesus. Don’t forget, Jesus has had 2000 years to firm up his reputation, while the U2 singer has only been alive since 1960. And — sorry, Pat…
