Remember that great mid-Nineties pop-punk band from Bloomington, Indiana — Operation: Cliff Clavin? That’s right, named for the postal worker from the sitcom Cheers, the band played songs that were catchy as hell. The group broke up in 1999, but the drummer has resurfaced, reinventing himself as DJ Franki Chan,…
For those who grew up in a Cuban home, childhood stories of José Martí described the legendary poet and revolutionary charging the Spanish lines astride a white steed, waving his sword overhead. Parents spoke in reverent tones of the “Apostle of Cuban Independence” and his heroic death, making it impossible…
In preparation for the all-out 25th anniversary celebration that will take place at Books & Books tonight, the store created a blog (booksandbooksblog.blogspot.com), where Donna Shalala, Edwidge Danticat, Diana Abu-Jaber, Ana Menendez, and endless employees, publishers, and authors share their fondest memories of the shop. Owner Mitchell Kaplan is a…
In the early Nineties, the entire industry of Broadway theater was lagging from poor ticket sales, as people no longer cared to listen to the same happy-go-lucky drivel normally associated with show tunes. But then Pete Townshend came along and taught folks a thing or two about how to stage…
Ladies, it’s time to get over it. Stop saying all of your friends are guys because you don’t get along with other girls. Yes, you must be wary of backstabbing bitches, but then again, half of your male “friends” probably stick around ’cause they’d like to upgrade to a “with…
Just about everyone knows someone who’s had it. Maybe it’s that nice teacher you had in middle school. Maybe your friend from college, or a friend of the family. Or maybe it’s someone in your family — mom, aunt, sister, grandmother. They’re far from alone; there are about 2.5 million…
Recently on our blog Riptide, we called Ocean Drive “an eternal parking lot” and a place for “flabby, hairy foreigners with predilections for Speedos.” The famous main drag was just named one of 2007’s 10 Greatest Streets in America by the American Planning Association, which means the APA has determined…
A post on our blog last week related to a CNN poll that rated Miami as the American city with the most beautiful people has been removed. A picture that accompanied the post was demeaning to African-American women. We apologize. It is our intention to treat every ethnic and racial…
In an arresting series of six photographs at the Bass Museum of Art, María Magdalena Campos-Pons confronts us with her eyes closed and her face and chest encased in wax. The phrase “Identity Could Be a Tragedy” is carved into the opaque coating that mottles her dark skin. At first…
It’s New Year’s Eve 1972, and 15-year-old Janice Billie has decided to kill herself. She lives in a trailer on the Seminole reservation in Broward County with her brother, his wife, and their baby, and she’s waiting for the ball to drop. She has already stolen a gun, and after…
Wake Me Up When the Present Arrives: Over a 10-day period, Argentine artist Diego Bianchi trashed Locust Projects, filling the space with a battered boat hull, heaps of garbage, and a slick sheen of mud. Bianchi puts rock stars — and their lifetime hotel bans for taking wrecking balls to…
Will you leave your kingdom to a heretic?” That was the question posed to a dying Queen Mary in 1998’s Elizabeth, director Shekhar Kapur’s grim and dingy film now viewed in retrospect as the origin story of a superhero: the Armored Virgin Queen, faster than a speeding lead pellet, more…
More of a remix than a remake of the Elaine May-directed 1972 original, Peter and Bobby Farrelly’s The Heartbreak Kid seeks to rekindle There’s Something About Mary’s critical and box office magic by casting Ben Stiller as a newly wed sporting goods salesman, and newcomer Malin Akerman (a blond Diaz…
What’s left to say about Halo 3? How about this: All the pomp and circumstance surrounding its launch sure have been distracting. Commercials that look like clips from a Hollywood movie, extravagant collectors’ sets that sell for $130, limited-edition Xbox 360s with a green-and-gold Halo-inspired color scheme, and a midnight…
Shakespeare and Melvin Van Peebles are not generally mentioned in the same breath, though soon they’ll be sharing the same stage. This is thanks to the touring wing of the Classical Theatre of Harlem, which will open its production of Romeo & Juliet this week in the Studio Theater at…
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Three (Universal) Black Sheep Unrated (Genius) Bob Mould: Circle of Friends (Granary) Bruce Springsteen: Under Review-1978-82: Tales of the Working Man (Sexy Intellectual) Concert for Diana (Universal) CSI New York: The Third Season (Paramount) Man Push Cart (Koch Lorber) The Marx Brothers Collection (Passport) Meerkat Manor:…
You Kill Me (Genius) Funny thing seeing Philip Baker Hall in You Kill Me, because he’s already played the role of a drunken hit man’s boss in The Matador, to which this feels like a slapshtick-noir sequel. It’s also the photonegative of Sexy Beast: Once more Ben Kingsley plays a…
It will no doubt be said time and again of Michael Clayton: best John Grisham adaptation ever. Only, of course, it did not spring from the billion-dollar mind of the attorney turned franchise, but from Tony Gilroy, who made his big-screen bow 15 years ago as the screenwriter of the…
Seriously, kids, the Dolphins aren’t giving you much to cheer about this season, so this is a call to arms for sports fans: Redirect your efforts to hockey. Our Florida Panthers are lookin’ good, and their shortcomings (the boys have been a bit slow in the early periods) will be…
When it comes to movie buffs, gore-and-ghoul types are perhaps the most disenchanted of all. The gripping fear these freaky flick-lovers felt the first time they saw Halloween or Hellraiser was a thrilling delight. But alas, those jumping jitters have faded with age. The string of disappointments released in the…
Two years ago the honchos at the Florida State Division of Cultural Affairs decided the state needed to do something that would enrich the lives of Floridians, so they went to the Center of Emerging Art for help. The powers that be asked the CEA to form a chamber ensemble…
As land-roving mammals, we’ve been sentenced to a lifetime of seeing things from a very limited angle. Sure, we can feign a bird’s-eye view by levitating in helicopters and airplanes, but eventually the gas runs out and we’re back on the ground, reconfined to our lateral view of the world…
