It’s been tackled in films, on television, in memoirs, diaries, novels, and nonfiction. And despite all of those words and perspectives, there’s still plenty to be said about the war in Vietnam and its riveting effect on American society. The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel adds to the discourse by…
They once stood as an alternative to the Hollywood bad-moviemaking industrial complex. Now it seems every city, town, village, and intersection has a film festival. Our alternative to the alternative, the 48 Hour Film Project, includes Greater Miami, and the immediate (everything about this event is immediate) results are ready…
Miller Lite tried its best, but still Miami FC continues to lack whatever would help this struggling-in-the-wins-department soccer club truly represent Miami, bond with more area fans, and make a name for itself in the urbane world of soccer. Fights. Brawls. Skirmishes. The free-beer nights in June didn’t provoke hardly…
There’s a rumor Johnny Depp is in town desperately going door-to-door and begging people to see his awful new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Not true. He’s actually going around stealing mangoes. Right, like you’ve never plucked one off of some stranger’s tree. Johnny, bro, there’s no need for that…
Good TV shows air Sunday nights because people tend to stay home then. Music clubs consider Sunday a dead night. Smart club bosses – you can count trumpet master Arturo Sandoval among them – simply turn their venues over to open mikes or jam sessions. This can work out well…
The sins of Fidel Castro have been cast throughout the Caribbean, ricocheting, of course, most notably off the humble burg called Miami. Yes, of course there are benefits: While haters such as the very sick Michelle Malkin urge America to oust anyone who didn’t arrive on the Mayflower (bye-bye, Michelle),…
Never mind the retailing. For that, smaller malls — or, God bless ’em, stand-alone stores — will suffice. Dolphin Mall is more city that shoppery, complete with a covert subcity that houses the control system of its mighty ebb and flow, and a 24-hour crew of workers that keeps the…
The best jazz tends to be accidental. Past midnight in a pizza shop in the Grove (back when a pizza shop was about the only thing open past midnight in the Grove) or some dinky, danky bar; anywhere that sincere musicians (with some chops, please) and normal people might converge…
Populist party candidate Jim Wurster is a shoo-in for U.S. president in the 2008 elec…. Sorry, we are referencing Wurster’s hilarious hoax Web bio (www.jimwurster.com). Actually Wurster ranks as one of the most engaging and evocative of South Florida’s stalwart stars, having made a huge mark as frontman of Nineties…
As most Miamians know, vodou isn’t a religion exactly. It’s more like a code used by slaves and ex-slaves in Haiti to Africanize the Anglo crap that has been shoved down their throats. With trance-inducing, resonant, traditional drums leading the call, Erol Josué sings in tongues – lyrics are a…
Generally considered the best Brazilian singer residing in the U.S., Rose Max should not be taken for granted as just another local musician. Same goes for her husband, bossa nova guitar maestro Ramatis (Moraes). And for that matter, neither should Jazz at MoCA, which typically draws happy crowds to the…
Some are calling Street Sense’s brilliant Kentucky Derby run a resurrection for a sport. Yeah, we said the “s” word. Horse racing, unlike Lotto, slots, and Indian gaming, is, in fact, a sport — that’s been dying for a generation. Tomorrow’s Preakness and today’s Black-Eyed Susan, the second jewel of…
Take a sweet deep breath and imagine it for two seconds: You’re sick with HIV. Poor. And having legal difficulties. There are two reasonable responses to such a despairing circumstance: violent overthrow of the government in pursuit of anarchy to end inequity and oppression, or asking for help. Both might…
First it was the Beatles, until the best musicians in that band died. Then it was the Ramones, until the Reaper wiped them out, too. Now the biggest musical reunion imaginable (at least here in Miami) has arrived. Thirteen years after its demise, Natural Causes — the beloved roots rock…
Long before the birth of modern boytoy crooners, long before Justin would volunteer to bring sexy back, long before sexy would need bringing back, women by the scores (pun intended) excitedly tossed bras and panties at a stage occupied by a curly-haired hunk of singing beef named Tom Jones. Possessed…
Miami FC es el único equipo de fútbol profesional del Sur de la Florida, which is odd, considering the sport’s global popularity and the fact that the majority of the city’s residents are Latin. In any case Miami’s USL First Division team is back for another season, kicking things off…
No one so dominates association with a musical instrument as Ravi Shankar does with the sitar. But Ravi’s daughter Anoushka Shankar has made a profound effort to overcome the giant-shoes, long-shadow burden of being the master’s daughter. The best sitar music (call it raga roll) is like a powerful drug…
It remains difficult to separate the grandest of Irish holidays from excessive use of alcohol. So we say the hell with it. Drink up for St. Patrick’s Day. Here’s where: At the Save-a-Limb SmashJohnMartin’s Restaurant & Irish Pub (253 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables; 305-445-3777, www.johnmartins.com), get lucky at a kick-off…
Born in Pennsylvania, jazz pianist Michael Orta went to Miami-Dade College in the mid-Eighties and then to the University of Miami. Which means, of course, a heavy Latin influence. In fact in 1991 Orta toured and recorded with Arturo Sandoval; in 1994 he worked with Paquito D’Rivera. One of his…
The ReBirth Brass Band It’s less than a week before Fat Tuesday, and Phil Frazier finds himself in a good place: watching a parade in his beloved New Orleans. He can’t resist putting his phone on speaker and holding it toward the marchers’ music, so the guy interviewing him (me)…
Composer John Cage stretched every limit of the term “music,” even writing one “song” that consisted of nothing but silence. Merce Cunningham, who was Cage’s creative and personal partner, takes a similar approach to dance, blending choreography with edgy art and specially composed music. It’s perfectly suited to the avant-garde…
The University of Miami’s law library contains more than one million pages and another million microfilm-reel frames documenting federal and state actions regarding the Everglades. That’s not really much when you consider that the beleaguered swamp, already half drained, provides all the drinking water for about six million South Floridians…
