Audio By Carbonatix
Thursday August 21
Ever witness one of those “only in Miami” kind of scenes and think: “Someone should write a book about this place”? Like the other night, when the angry homeless man chased the glamorous supermodel down a South Beach street, and she was saved by a machete-wielding Haitian taxi driver shouting curses in Kreyol. Well, lots of people have penned stories about this place, including Miami-based authors Michael Carlebach, James Hall, Joanne Hyppolite, and Felix Lizarraga. During the Miami Voices and Stories panel discussion, they’ll read from their works and talk about the great source of literary inspiration that is life in this city. Presented by the Miami Art Museum (101 W. Flagler St.), the program is the result of the “Miami Stories” project, where local residents sent in personal tales and objects that celebrate the variety and culture of our town. The discussion begins at 6:30 p.m. Admission is $5. Call 305-375-1706. — By John Anderson
Adios Biscayne
Midsummer night brings reality
There we were, a group of artists, pseudo-intellectuals, anti-fashionistas, and exiled filmmakers taking a respite from the world on the edge of Biscayne Bay. Around us a steady tide of hipsters, boozers, pot smokers, and stockbrokers arrived like waves on the weathered sea wall. It was a balmy night and everybody simmered like a sweaty Miami stew perfumed with night jasmine and cheap wine. Summer’s hypnotic trance was upon us. On the water we watched as the light faded from the sky. Later we marveled at the reflection of moonlight rippling on the bay. Cool drinks and warm conversation, in some cases, led to hot make-out sessions behind bushes and in darkened corners. Inspired moments found us flashing our underwear and threatening to jump in the bay fully clothed. There’s something about the hot season in the subtropics that makes normally uptight people unwind, while transforming normally loose folk into a wilder species.
The back yard affair was called to mark the passing of an era. The Villas of Edgewater, a beautiful row of pre-WWII apartments, with wooden floors and an abundance of windows all set on a grassy patch along the bay, are being torn down to make way for a new high-rise. The villas withstood countless tropical depressions and Hurricane Andrew. Yet their charm was no match for developers cashing in on liberal zoning for the areas along the remainder of the waterfront.
The Villas will soon give way to Ice, a frigid 34-story behemoth with condos starting at $400,000, part of the luxury loft disease spreading like a bad case of shingles across the city. Capitalizing on the funky mix of artists, musicians, and long-time survivors who live in the neighborhood, the developers painted houses bright colors, planted palm trees, and then rechristened the hood MiArt, a marketing gimmick meant to bring in droves of air-conditioning addicts and fancy-panted blowhards.
Our party was the last hurrah for the old building, but more than that, it waved farewell to a Miami lifestyle rooted in the swampy charm of the environment, and the seduction of a Miami moon shining down on Biscayne Bay. — By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Justice
I, the Jury
Summoned. Deferred. Summoned again. Number 907. Phone call. Numbers 1 to 500 report. Phone call again. Numbers 500 to 900 report. Whew! Off the hook. Not so fast. Final phone call. Numbers 1 to 1400 report. Curses! Discount parking lot at 7:30 a.m., only three dollars and three blocks away. Elevator to the second floor. The wrong elevator. Back to the lobby. Up the elevator and into the room. Wait for orientation at 8:00 a.m. Still waiting at 8:30 a.m. Orientation via video at 9:25 a.m. Afterward names called, group empaneled. My Big Fat Greek Wedding broadcast. Chauvinism, Windex, rotisserie lamb in the front yard, clichés, crap. Another group empaneled. Aroma of chocolate chip cookies. Serendipity. Gloves, love, fate, John Cusack, cute. And John Corbett — again? Feels like Christmas. Not! Another group called. Lunch. Not! Shopping at Burdines. More Serendipity. Enlisted for justice. Plunked outside a courtroom by bailiff Mike. Parties intimidated into settling case. Back to the room. Unknown movie starring Nicolas Cage. True torture begins. It’s jury duty, or is it Nightmare on Flagler Street? Where’s the roof? Must hang with the vultures. — By Nina Korman
Thursday August 21
Cooked Up
Quiz: Would you rather have a delicious dish made by some of this town’s top-name chefs like Norman Van Aken, Robbin Haas, Cindy Hutson, and Jonathan Eismann? Or would you prefer a creative creation made by artists such as Karen Rifas, David Rohn, and Miralda? Well, if you attend a rather premature closing reception for the art exhibition “Bubble, Bubble, Boil … A Miami Visual Stew” tonight at 7:00 at the Miami-Dade Public Library (101 W. Flagler St.), you can partake of edibles from in and out of the kitchen. Curators, artists, and chefs who contributed to the show of paintings, drawings, and artists’ favorite recipes will all bring along some chow for what promises to be an eclectic potluck party. “Bubble, Bubble, Boil” is not ready to be taken out of the oven just yet, however. The show will be on display through Friday, September 5, along with companion exhibition “Bon Appetit! South Florida Cooks,” which showcases local chefs’ preferred cookbooks. Admission is free. Call 305-375-2665. — By Nina Korman
