Cool Kids and Class Clowns

If the walls of Mac’s Club Deuce could talk, what debauched tales they would tell. Twisted yarns of sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll, and celebrities who come for the nonchalant anonymity and stay to get plastered with locals, hookers, trannies, and one poor iguana that got pitched tail-first across the length of the bar. In case you’ve never experienced The Deuce, be forewarned: This might look like an innocuous Miami Beach dive, but shit gets crazier and crazier as the hour hand ticks closer to morning. If you’ve ever spent an evening at the Deuce and, um, don’t exactly remember it, fret not. There’s probably photographic evidence of your drunk and disorderly behavior, courtesy of veteran bartender (and former New Times “Best of Miami” winner) Melissa Burley. She’s been slinging shots for 13 years, and during that time, she earned the title of Best Bartender by capturing the shenanigans, casual nudity, and spectacular tattoos that make The Deuce, The Deuce. Her photos are featured as an ongoing slide show projected onto a screen behind the bar. Patrons love it. And now she has compiled the finest photos in a beautiful keeper of a book. There isn’t a whole lot to read — the photos speak louder than words.

“The book is a celebration of and attempt to hold onto some great people and times, afternoons, and late nights when we were happy and in love and tipsy and listening to groovy tunes and dancing and talking and just hanging out. It’s 96 pages, 460 images, 40 bucks. Basically it’s like a yearbook where everyone’s the most popular, or the class clown,” she explains. The most popular (and those who aspire to join their ranks) are invited to gather Wednesday evening from 7 to 9 for the book launch of Mac’s Club Deuce. There shall be temporary tattoos and booze aplenty.
Wed., Nov. 12, 7-9 p.m., 2008