Vikings Sail Through Wake

The first big upset of the NCAA Men’s Basketball tournament, #13 Cleveland State defeating #4 Wake Forest, really demands an intelligent analysis, especially since I watched it live from three feet away. But hey, this is the alternative press, and I have a great sense of humor, so instead, I’m…

The Quicksand Houses: A Miami Hood is Sinking.

If it gives you a recession-era headache to see the value of your house drop faster than the Miami Herald’s staff, try living in Miami’s Grosse Pointe Highlands. Homeowners here — between Northwest 27th and 37th Avenues and Flagler Street – were horrified to learn their modest, middle class houses…

Miami Herald, Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Hanging around our newspaper shelf, where copies of every local publication for us to look through are kept, I picked up a copy of today’s Miami Herald, because yes, I still enjoy reading things printed on paper — plus, it’s cool now because no else is doing it. Well, I…

Watch Pussy Play Poker

Big Pussy at Hot Tuna pushing Sleeping Fish sounds like a porno flick that takes place on a sunny day at the wharf starring a legendary prostitute and an American Indian. Really it’s an ex-Soprano appearing at a Coyote Ugly-esque bar and hawking a newItalian-inspired sushi roll. Vincent “Big Pussy”…

Miami Herald: Sinking Like a Rock

Yesterday was not a good day for the Miami Herald or its parent company, McClatchy. The two top editors at El Nuevo Herald announced they were leaving because, according to the editor and publisher, they couldn’t stomach slashing more newsroom jobs. In a positive spin on their departures that appeared on…

The “green” 15,000 square foot mansion

Frank McKinney is a “maverick daredevil real estate artist” according to his not-at-all-over-the-top website, a “super hero meets Robin Hood, 5-time international best-selling author; philanthropist, risk taker, and visionary who sees opportunities and creates markets where none existed before.”In short, he’s everything but modest. Same goes for the mega-mansions McKinney…

March Mental Illness In Miami! Live Blogging Courtside at AA Arena

‘Madness’ is a pretty outdated term — offensive really — so at Riptide we prefer to classify what’s going down at American Airlines Arena this afternoon a little more precisely. Our psychologists are rolling out a diagnosis of paranoid basketball schizophrenia with a touch of hoops paranoia and a major…

Break a Leg, Rover

According to Warhol, we humans are only allotted 15 measly minutes of fame. If one year is actually seven in a dog’s life, does that mean that they get 105 minutes to be celebrated by the masses for their incomparable talents? I’m not whining that man’s best friend gets a…

A disappointed open letter to Michelle Spence-Jones

Floridians haven’t followed the Marlins this closely since the Gary Sheffield Era, and today, another chapter was written in the saga of the proposed Little Havana stadium. Commissioner Michelle Spence-Jones pretty much played this perfectly, even using a fetus to her advantage. She was on maternity leave when the remaining…

Florida: Swindled and Beaten Bloody

Just in case yesterday’s news of a bounce on the stock market gave you a glimmer of hope, Riptide is here to remind you that your future is bleak and depressing. The CBC recently compared Florida to “a terrified cardiac patient,” lying awake at night, praying the angina will pass…

On the Hunt for Illegal Slaughter in Northwest Dade

Take a drive through West Miami-Dade — anywhere from as far south as Kendall to beyond the northern borders of the county — and you’ll see the signs everywhere. Se Venden Puercos. Venden Animales. Animals for Sale. Guess what? The farmers inside ain’t selling their pigs alive. But they certainly…

Riptide’s Guide on Who to Hate During Miami’s March Madness

By now you’ve seen the brackets so many times you know North Dakota State’s mascot by heart and you’ll break down in tears if another person mentions President Obama’s picks. But are you really ready for Miami’s first-round matchups tomorrow at the AA Arena? More important, do you know whom to mercilessly…

Shock Jock Enrique Santos Becomes a Lobbyist

Radio personality Enrique Santos isn’t exactly known for his social consciousness. He has made fun of everything from domestic abuse to racial tension — but he swears he’s serious about one thing: obesity. The blunt, pudgy host of  98.3 FM’s Spanish-language radio show Enrique y Joe just started lobbying for…

News Roundup

LocalHerald Metro editor Manny Garcia has been tapped to take over El Nuevo Herald. [Pulp]Mindy Marques will take over some of his duties, and more editors are expected to lose there jobs soon. [Pulp]Taking an unconstitutional passage out of the Marlins stadium deal makes you a segregationist, apparently. [NBCMiami]One of the companies…

Irish Blood

A Cutler Bay man funneled money to the Irish terrorists who murdered two British soldiers in Belfast earlier this month, federal prosecutors say in a complaint unsealed in Miami-Dade court and obtained by New Times. For at least three years, Roman Vidal, age 57, allegedly smuggled millions of dollars’ worth…

That’s a Wrap

Airplane fear can make a lot of money. Just ask the folks at Secure Wrap of Miami, who raked in $7 million for swathing suitcases in a cellophane-like material that prevents unscrupulous baggage handlers or others from pilfering travelers’ belongings. The once tiny company works in dozens of airports around…

Loose Ladies

If Miami were a lady, you wouldn’t take her home to mom. No, unlike Chicago, who would make a good mother, or New York City, who is working on her doctorate, Miami is, well, unique. She’s the kind of gal you’d meet for a mojito and then promptly pull into…

Dr. Dread

Plastic surgeon Richard B. Edison is a dubious doctor who has been hit with a lot of life-altering allegations over the years. Five patients at the medical facility he directs in Hollywood have died after routine cosmetic surgeries during the past 11 years, three of them under Edison’s own knife…

Unequal Justice

On the fifth floor of the Federal Detention Center in Miami, a short and stocky inmate stood sweeping the floor. Her name was Shonda Ross, and in her 32 years, she had seen the inside of more than a few prisons like this one — Tallahassee, Raleigh, and Danbury, Connecticut,…

Psystar Wars: A New Faux

Psystar Wars: Battle of the Clones continues. Apple and Psystar, the Miami-based hackintosh maker, are set for a court showdown in November. A settlement might be possible before then, but it seems Psystar is not backing down, and has released a brand new mac-clone called the Open(3) that costs as…