Independence exacts a toll. When Michelle Shocked releases her first CD on her own label, Mood Swing, this spring, nearly six years will have passed since the eclectic singer rallied the Thirteenth Amendment (the one that outlawed slavery) to win her freedom and the rights to all her music from…
On a crisp December morning, more than 1000 firefighters from across the nation lined a half-mile stretch of road leading to a small church in Deer Park, New York. They came to pay their respects to Raymond Downey, the most decorated firefighter in the history of New York City. The…
Miami Housing Officials: Comedy Central’s Newest StarsCheck out their Cheech and Chong imitation — killer! Kirk Nielsen’s story about the City of Miami’s housing loans and the deadbeats who received them (“My Dog Ate the Mortgage — Really!” January 3) points to just one of the many reasons why Miami…
Editor’s note: Last week’s letters section comprised a sampling of unpublished correspondence saved from the past year. Included was a letter from Miami resident Maria Gonzalez, which first appeared April 12, 2001. It was supposed to be followed by several replies it elicited. Owing to an editing error those replies…
Techno Beat Aphex Twin: Drukqs (Warp/Sire). Richard James is one strange fellow. The British producer does his damnedest to scare away potential listeners, but he still manages to command a sizable audience that hangs on every menacing metallic synthetic fragment, scattershot break beat, placid soundscape, and irreverent vocal he can…
Editor’s note: We greatly appreciate receiving letters from our readers, and we try to publish as many as possible. Predictably, though, some of them fall victim to space limitations or time constraints. In this final issue of the year we will try to make amends. Following is a sampling of…
Reports of the death of rock and roll have been greatly exaggerated. Far from vanquished by electronica’s black box, the spirit of the Delta stomp has risen again, stirring the unquiet soul of Motown, rattling the bones of Detroit garage, and resurrecting legions of Lou Reed’s undead. The glow sticks…
In the spring of this year, Deborah Curtin resigned as director of Team Metro, a county department she helped create in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew. At the time of her resignation, Curtin was battling cancer and most people assumed she’d resigned solely for medical reasons. “The official spin by…
Brian Andrews has been up for sixteen hours now. Rising at 3:00 a.m., the reporter for WSVN-TV (Channel 7) substitute-anchored the station’s morning news show from 5:00 to 9:00 a.m. Then he hit the streets to cut live on-air spots as the John Acosta story broke: a grand juror indicted…
Eduardo Padron: Call Him EmperorAnd call those around him academic boot-lickers: Gaspar González’s article about Eduardo Padron’s reign as president of Miami-Dade Community College (“Fear and Loathing in la Escuela,” December 6) highlights how the time-honored goals of the educational process — namely, the ceaseless, enthusiastic quest for and transmission…
As the final vote was announced, Katy Sorenson let loose an emphatic “Yes!” For seven years the county commissioner for South Miami-Dade had been fighting plans to build a commercial airport on the site of the former Homestead Air Force Base. For many of those years, Sorenson was the lone…
What a difference a war makes. Back in 1995 CNN devoted no fewer than 388 breathless hours to the daily murder-trial proceedings of OJ Simpson. On Tuesday, December 4, however, as news broke of Simpson’s alleged connection to an accused member of an Ecstasy smuggling/money-laundering/satellite-television piracy ring (talk about a…
Eduardo Padron: Sometimes the Truth Ain’t PrettyAfter fifteen years at MDCC, I should know: As a full-time faculty member for fifteen years at the North Campus of Miami-Dade Community College, I can say that Gaspar González’s story about MDCC president Eduardo Padron (“Fear and Loathing in la Escuela,” December 6)…
Angel Mora and Luis Miguel are natural enemies: paparazzo and pop star. Spurred by a star system that makes Miguel’s tiniest dalliance NEWS, Mora hunts the Mexican balladeer with all the big-game intensity of the Green Hills of Africa. The Miami-based photographer once spent hours hidden outside a hotel in…
I have a confession to make. I love the song “Chi Chi Man” by Jamaican quartet TOK. I know, I know, even with my barely speaky-spokey patois I can understand that the chorus “Blaze di fire mek we bun dem!!!!” is not a SAVE Dade slogan. And yet I love…
Ray Lata is about to wax nostalgic. The director of Wilhelmina Models’ Miami office leans back in his chair and casts his gaze out the window of his Lincoln Road office. “When Miami was at its worst, the fashion industry was at its best,” Lata opines of the turn-of-the-decade period…
Club Space from the Outside Looking InIt was nasty and unjustified, but at least we weren’t beaten by brutes with badges: Let me congratulate Rebecca Wakefield on her excellent article “Thump, Thump, Thump: No, That’s Not the DJ You’ve Been Hearing Outside Club Space” (November 29). It was a great…
The collective mood inside the Level nightclub for November 17’s Ford Models’ Supermodel of the World competition was less exultant than simply relieved. After all, for the past two months the very existence of the modeling industry has been called into question. In the immediate aftermath of the September 11…
Last week Mayor Alex Penelas gave his favorite county manager a hearty pat on the back. “This is a good, tangible example of what I’ve been saying for a long time — that the manager’s doing a good job,” Penelas told the Herald. “I don’t think Steve is getting the…
Praise for the PutridThat stench you detect comes from our very own political cesspool: I wanted to let you know how much I enjoyed and appreciated Jacob Bernstein’s article about Tomas Mestre (“Greed Stinks,” November 15). The depth, the effort, and the journalistic excellence were quite apparent. It is refreshing…
Forget about digesting turkey and stuffing. I’m still churning over the pre-Thanksgiving festivities from the week before. I know I previewed a lot of this stuff two columns ago, but I had no way of knowing what would actually happen. Pop psychology has it that if you never process the…
Message to Merrett: Get a Life!I was there and I can tell you he was spoiling for a fight: I work at the county’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) during activations and was there during the Hurricane Michelle activation described by Jim DeFede (“Bunker Mentality,” November 15). Miami-Dade County residents are…
