It’s hot. Everyone who figured out a way to do so has fled Miami. Bike news is especially slow. Gone from the Bike Blog’s inbox are calls to meetings, the rallyings of the troops for this or that bike cause. Instead, hurricane season seems to have ushered in a rash…
Randy Chapman, gun for hire Fifty one-year-old Randy Chapman might have made headlines last weekend as the homeless Miami man set to go from rags to riches — by way of a $50,000 inheritance he never knew he had. But as details of his bizarre tale emerged, Chapman’s story sparked…
Jacqueline Carini Oscar Corral has written reams on Fidel Castro, Miami’s exiles, and the many controversies that roil South Florida’s most powerful immigrant community. A handsome 32-year-old Miami Herald reporter who married eight years ago and bought a half million dollar home in posh Coral Gables before age 30, he…
Darder gets down The sound of Brazilian drumming heralded our arrival at Uva 69 Sunday night. A live drummer, laying down a funky backbeat as Djinji Brown manned the ones and twos. “I’ll House You” by the Jungle Brothers, Celia Cruz’s “Quimbara,” and Rick James’s “Mary Jane.” He kept the…
In the face of countywide budget cuts, county commissioners will convene early next month to discuss slashing the county film office’s operating budget by 40 percent, its marketing budget by 60 percent, and its staff by 50 percent, to three employees. Another idea: implementing fees for entrainment industry types seeking…
Flava Works, the company behind the notorious CocoDorm, a live-action gay porn site featuring black and Latin men in North Miami, has been shaken by internal tragedy this month. The company’s home page has become a memorial after the death of its vice-president in his early 30s. “With a heavy…
In explaining his reason for giving Rudolph “Rudy” Crew a $41,000 bonus, Miami-Dade School Board Member Robert Ingram compared Superintendent Rudolph Crew to Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest professional basketball player in modern history. I beg to differ. Producing 26 F schools doesn’t come close to winning six world championships…
caption A strange call came to Riptide on Wednesday about the making of a rap video Monday night in good ‘ol Opa-locka. British Mitchell (AKA “Brisco: the Opa-locka Goon”) set up camp in the notorious Triangle. Brisco (a preeminent local talent in his genre) had come to shoot a video…
Let’s begin with an easy question: A triangular-shaped sheath of pink-tinted plexiglas arrives in the mail. It is an invitation bearing engraved party details that trumpet an extravagant opening night party honoring the arrival of the latest, greatest restaurant: Cocktail reception at 7:30 p.m. (spirits provided by the latest, greatest…
Let’s begin with an easy question: A triangular-shaped sheath of pink-tinted plexiglas arrives in the mail. It is an invitation bearing engraved party details that trumpet an extravagant opening night party honoring the arrival of the latest, greatest restaurant: Cocktail reception at 7:30 p.m. (spirits provided by the latest, greatest…
Crossing the Lehman Causeway into Sunny Isles Beach, you might wonder if you’ve been sucked into an interstate wormhole in the space-time continuum and landed in downtown Miami. Construction cranes perch atop a skyline that, though dominated by high-rises, still strains upward. The whine and hum of heavy machinery and…
Yours for a song Looking to scoop up some prime Miami Beach real estate? This could be your year. Nine properties valued at a million dollars or more have gone into foreclosure on the Beach since the beginning of 2007. According to research compiled by Condo Vultures, these include a…
Last week, Riptide reported the unveiling of two new bus “shelters” (think benches with roofs) outside the Miami U.S. Veterans Medical Center at 12th Avenue and 16th Street. Mayor Diaz himself cut the ribbon, with three city commissioners, one city manager, and a small flock of corporate flacks from Fuel,…
Looks good. What are the other customers going to eat? Dear Krispy Kreme, When we first met, I was still so young. My metabolism posed no threat to our hot and steamy trysts. Everything was all so fresh and new. I admit, I got a little obsessed. Not in a…
Looks good. What are the other customers going to eat? Dear Krispy Kreme, When we first met, I was still so young. My metabolism posed no threat to our hot and steamy trysts. Everything was all so fresh and new. I admit, I got a little obsessed. Not in a…
Go Arena! They came, they posed, and one of them may have conquered. 23 year old Miami girl Arena Turner was chosen from the curvy pack at last year’s audition for Mo’Nique’s F.A.T. Chance, which took place on March 5, 2006 at the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay. If you’d like…
Play soccer somewhere else, kids The fuzzy longing for children’s soccer fields slated to occupy a county parcel behind the American Airlines Arena could be shoved aside by the memories of those with much more political muscle: Cuban exiles. Decision-makers with the Bay of Pigs Museum & Library, the nonprofit…
Who you callin’ Fatburger? A contemporary Asian fusion restaurant is going to debut down the street from Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the Design District. Chef will be Timon Balloo, who has worked locally at Chef Allen’s, Azul at the Mandarin Oriental, and La Broche (in fact he spent…
Who you callin’ Fatburger? A contemporary Asian fusion restaurant is going to debut down the street from Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the Design District. Chef will be Timon Balloo, who has worked locally at Chef Allen’s, Azul at the Mandarin Oriental, and La Broche (in fact he spent…
Pieter and Ineke Both of Indomania, which only started up on the Beach a few months ago, will be closing shop and taking August off so they can return to Amsterdam — jeez, these Dutch people are lazier than the French! They say it’s to see family and look for…
Pieter and Ineke Both of Indomania, which only started up on the Beach a few months ago, will be closing shop and taking August off so they can return to Amsterdam — jeez, these Dutch people are lazier than the French! They say it’s to see family and look for…
The less said about the plot of the long-fabled, finally arrived Simpsons Movie the better. I know this instinctively, as a member of that particular segment of geekdom most psyched and apprehensive about its unveiling. I’m talking about the people who ask, “Does it suck?” and then prayerfully add, “Please…
