“He has a problem because white people are starting to hate him,” Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs said last week, and although he was speaking about fellow crossover artist George W. Bush, he could just as accurately have been referring to his own public fortunes. Puffy’s headline-grabbing trial this past winter…
The Reading ReportFree weekly dissected, wacky schools administrator found amid entrails: I enjoyed Jacob Bernstein’s profile of state Rep. Carlos Lacasa (“The Carlos Lacasa File,” July 19). I was happy to have been instrumental in his first campaign for the statehouse, which was successful. Carlos is a forthright and aggressive…
The performance that reflected best on Miami at the Second Annual Latin Grammy Awards took place outside the American Airlines Arena, far from the red carpet. In a gesture proposed by Ramon Saul Sanchez of the exile group Movimiento Democracia, passionate opponents of the Castro regime stood silent, their mouths…
As a member of the Homestead City Council, and then later as mayor, Steve Shiver accepted three all-expense-paid trips from the Community Bank of Florida. Despite the apparent conflict created by the fact that Community Bank regularly does business with the city, Shiver last week defended the excursions. “I took…
Don’t Get Me Wrong; I Like ChildrenEspecially when they’re properly cooked: Oh, joy! Jen Karetnick is at it again. Not so long ago she was whining about a restaurant at the western end of Lincoln Road that failed to appropriately (i.e., exhaustively) coo and cuddle her toddlers. Now she’s complaining…
Driving across northern New Mexico, I fiddle with the truck radio, looking for just the right vacation soundtrack. I stumble across Johnny Cash’s cover of “Riders in the Sky,” a four-minute ghost story about the fate that awaits bad cowboys: “Cause they’ve got to ride forever on that range up…
Robert Nachlinger is angry. “I’ve invested sixteen years in this community,” he tells me. “I have a reputation that I built up, and Steve Shiver is trying to destroy it. I’ve worked too damn long to have Steve Shiver decide he is going to pick me as his scapegoat to…
Just Because You’re Paranoid Doesn’t Mean…Being black in the Deep South will do that to you: I want to commend New Times for articles that are always insightful. I read Susan Eastman’s story “Our Lady of the Projects” (July 5) and would especially like to commend her for such a…
I went to Egypt in search of music. Music that lives inside of dance. Music that inspires freedom and laughter. What I found was more surprising than I imagined. I’d heard of Whirling Dervishes that spin themselves into ecstasy. I wanted to see belly dancers who light up the stage…
People be asking me all the time, “Yo Mos, what’s getting ready to happen with hip-hop?’ People talk about hip-hop like it’s some kind of giant in the hillside coming down to visit the townspeople. — Mos Def, “Fear Not of Man” “I want to build the Time Warner of…
Strong, Silent TypeBut in the courtroom John de Leon was a brawler: I don’t know former ACLU president John de Leon very well, but I met him several times and believed from his quiet, thoughtful demeanor that there was a lot to him. Jacob Bernstein’s excellent article (“It Takes a…
The invasion began in earnest four months ago, when the Grateful Dread moved into the house next door. Jahsun set up his psychedelic reggae band on the driveway of what had once been a quiet pitstop for airline personnel between flights. The positive vibrations drew more musicians to the street…
Every woman has her breaking point. Amy Gerstenfeld’s arrived at the crowning moment of her wedding vows. As her family and friends sat gathered before her on Memorial Day weekend inside a banquet room at South Beach’s Loews Hotel, she listened solemnly to her rabbi pose that all-important question. Then…
An Informed Public Is an Empowered Public Free weekly cheerfully does its part: Two fine articles in the June 14 edition of New Times prove once again that your paper plays an important role in informing the public. Jacob Bernstein’s article on outgoing ACLU president John de Leon (“It Takes…
The next time you hear Latin rock on the radio it won’t be a beer commercial, at least not if you’re tuned into Radio Uno (WKAT-AM 1360) between 8:00 and 10:00 any night of the week. Kike Posada, the founder and editor of Boom Magazine who won a local hero…
Humble Reader Offers Manager, Mayor Thoughtful AdviceRespond and repent, you two punks: I am writing in response to Jim DeFede’s article “Shadow Dwellers” (June 14). One question: Who the hell do county Manager Steve Shiver and Mayor Alex Penelas think they are? First of all, Mr. Shiver, Katy Sorenson as…
For five bucks back in the early Nineties, you could get a bottle of beer and a hand job from a Central American prostitute in the Little Havana dive at 2212 SW Eighth St. Pepe Horta changed all that when he gutted the bar and opened Café Nostalgia, a gathering…
Last week Katy Sorenson waited patiently for her item on the commission agenda to be called: a report from County Manager Steve Shiver on the future of Homestead Air Force Base. A commissioner for the past seven years, Sorenson is the board’s leading critic of Miami-Dade’s effort to put a…
Nobody’s been this excited about Jermaine Jackson in a very long time. “He dropped by and we spoke,” gushes Algerian singer Cheb Nasro over lunch on Lincoln Road, recalling the fruits of a Los Angeles recording session in a studio owned by Jackson’s long-time bassist. Apparently unaware that Jermaine Jackson…
Hizzonor the OinkerBanish the boobs, the butts, and the bimbos they’re attached to: In heaping abuse on such a sensual, beautiful, and just plain nice person as his wife Mari, Miami Mayor Joe Carollo has once again affirmed that he deserves an addendum to his already dubious “honorable” title: His…
Dressed like a huntress from some faraway heaven, a white feather quiver slung across her back and leather falconry gloves strapped to her forearms, the bald and beautiful Erykah Badu warns roughly 7000 black professionals gathered at the Miami Arena earlier this month: “The papers don’t know us. The commercials…
DeFede and PenelasPardon me for asking, but could there be some perverse attraction here? I can’t believe I’m writing again about one of Jim DeFede’s routine trashings of Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas, but his cheap shots make it hard to resist. It seems anything that happens in Florida (or the…
