At the opening of The Roots’ 1999 album Things Fall Apart, esteemed writer Harry Allen remarked, “Inevitably, hip-hop records are treated as disposable. They are not maximized as product, even, not to mention as art.” Nearly six years after the Media Assassin made this statement, it has become cliché among…
Most pop music fans have probably never heard of Erick Morillo. He is a top DJ and producer, one of the few American leaders (alongside Christopher Lawrence, Danny Tenaglia, Deep Dish, and others) in an international dance scene traditionally dominated by Europeans. But Morillo doesn’t produce the cheesy trance shit…
The Gifts I Could Never Give You: In this show Bert Rodriguez shelves the “conceptual prankster” tag and wears his heart on his sleeve. You can’t help but share his lament. The work delves into the detritus of failed relationships, shifting perception from visual displays of marketing props, mannequins, neon…
Last month the world learned of the following Website message co-signed by Ansar al-Sunna, the Islamic Army of Iraq, and the Army of the Mujahideen: “Democracy is un-Islamic.” An earlier posted manifesto held that democracy amounted to a Greek practice of idolizing human beings. Such an awkward statement (even under…
Merm and Me: The nomadic EDGE theatre, now encamped in Miami Lakes, presents Jim Tommaney’s autobiographical play about his complicated, confusing relationship with Broadway star Ethel Merman. The play, which tracks four friends of Merman in 1985 who conjure up her spirit one year after her death, is a stra…
With its enticing characters and an engaging plot, Enchanted April lives up to its name. The tale begins in 1922 in dreary England, where a frumpy Lotty Wilton (Cary Anne Spear) finds herself dissatisfied with her tyrannical husband and her humdrum existence. She finds escape through an ad in the…
The minor works of a genius are often more rewarding than the best that lesser mortals can bring. In the case of Paul Bunyan, the unclassifiable musical entertainment that had its South Florida premiere Saturday night at the Miami-Dade Auditorium, the rewards are actually double: This is the work of…
The death of a parent, especially the mother, is usually a particularly painful passage and one for which most people, however well meaning, can offer few meaningful words of solace. But in Shelagh Stephenson’s funny, moving The Memory of Water, now being performed at the Mosaic Theatre in Plantation, such…
My Daughter, Bad and Good With help she went from one to the other: Rebecca Wakefield did a great job with her article about my daughter Laurie Lichtman (“Tow Head,” January 6). She truly captured the real Laurie. Laurie and I are not proud of her drug years, but I…
The last burnt-orange light of day dissipates over the dusty buildings as I drive along North Miami Avenue looking for prostitutes. Really, just one in particular. This takes place during the fevered buildup to the holidays and I’m thinking it’s an appropriate way to mark the season. I’m not alone…
Now that the deluxe edition of Napoleon Dynamite is out on DVD, there is absolutely no reason to do anything but remain indoors indefinitely, memorizing every line of the uniquely hilarious, eminently quotable film about a clan of unselfconscious Idaho nerds and their junk-food-eating llama. To help readers get started…
Carlos Suarez de Jesus was thrilled his article about Miami’s money-inflamed art world was appearing on the cover of Street Weekly’s January 7 issue. It was the freelance writer’s first feature-length story, on a subject the paper prided itself in covering. But any hopes the assignment would lead to more…
Early in the evening on December 29, several residents of the Greens apartment complex in Doral came upon what appeared to be a Muscovy duck massacre on the banks of the property’s manmade lake. There they found five of the waterfowl in the throes of agonizing deaths. “There was another…
For those who love to dine out, strolling along Giralda Avenue in Coral Gables is like being a kid again and traipsing through the aisles of a candy store — a global one at that, with alluringly packaged delights from Spain (La Dorada), Italy (La Gastronomia), Vietnam (Miss Saigon), and…
There are strong similarities in many dishes originating in Latin America and the Caribbean, but there are also differences, however subtle. It is a source of frustration for people who like to taste-test food analytically that so many Miami ethnic eateries supposedly specializing in the food of one country also…
The mob guys were leery of taking Laurie in on the big job, even though, at 28, she was one of the best cat burglars on Miami Beach. “They didn’t want to bring me because I was a girl,” Laurie Lichtman remembers. “Phil told them, öShe’s better than any one…
Big opera for the little ‘uns SAT 1/8 Paul Bunyan, the hunky lumberjack who could fell 23 trees in a single stroke, is pure Americana: ridiculous, annoying, glorious. And loaded with camp possibilities: In the late 1930s, two gay British expats living in New York, poet W.H. Auden and composer…
Blood, paint, and hairs SAT 1/8 Anthony Spinello is trying to make a name for his handsome little Wynwood Arts District digs, Liquid Blue Gallery (3438 N. Miami Ave.), so he wants to feature artists who think outside the palette to attract thrill-seeking art crowds. “Organic” is a two-person exhibition…
SAT 1/8 Paso Fino horses are born with a unique and graceful four-beat lateral gait which is smooth for the rider and beautiful to watch. See the pretty horses walk this way beginning at 9:00 a.m. today and Sunday at the Tropical Park Equestrian Center, 7900 Bird Rd. Free. Call…
Wolf suits and mischief-making Ask children’s librarians to name their most requested picture books and you are bound to hear the 1964 Caldecott Medal Winner Where the Wild Things Are rattled off again and again. Maurice Sendak’s classic story is about a sassy boy named Max who is sent to…
With the art market hotter than Las Vegas asphalt in August, Art Miami is celebrating the fifteenth edition of what organizers and local participant galleries are calling “Miami’s hometown art fair,” citing the presence of Art Basel last month as more of a boon than threat to its stability. Ramon…
THU 6 VW Beetle owners will travel around the country to hang out at Bug Jams with other Beetle drivers. A biker who loves his Harley-Davidson would rather see his sister in a brothel than his brother on a Japanese crotch rocket. And don’t even mention a PC around Apple…
