Family Fun How do you say “rip-off” en español?: I read Janine Zeitlin’s article “Adults Only” (May 29), about the La Cosa Nostra Spanish TV show. It’s just a cheap, second-rate imitation of Family Guy. You notice it’s in the same 11 p.m. time slot, but Family Guy is so…
Sweet, I thought, upon seeing the band Vampire Weekend’s name online the first time. New cheese goth rock! From the first download, though, I realized I was so, so wrong. With their Columbia University pedigree, these guys were more Patagonia fleece than morbid black. And the music sounded, well, like…
When it comes to concocting bad government policy, Miami-Dade government officials are head and shoulders above everybody else. Last week, county commissioners Bruno Barreiro and Barbara Jordan floated the idea of asking voters to approve an additional half-cent sales tax to bail out the county’s mass transit boondoggle, otherwise known…
Jose D. Duran Mural on the side the Margulies Collection at NW 6th Avenue. So when I woke up last week to find a subject to feature, this was originally what I had in mind. The mural, on the side of the warehouse that holds the Margulies Collection, is located…
I’ll be honest — I had more or less forgotten about Yngwie Malmsteen’s existence until recently, while riding in a car with a Swedish metal type. “So where does Yngwie live?” he asked out of nowhere. And that’s when I remembered — Oh yeah, that swifty-fingered guitar legend with the…
Gotta give it to Nas for having great videos. This one is an old favorite…half hip-hop/half Goodfellas. Something to enjoy on a Tuesday. –Jonathan Cunningham…
Best? Give It a Rest Another great “Best of Miami” issue (May 15), with a few exceptions, but one glaring fairy tale of note: Best Criminal Conviction of the Past Year. Do you honestly expect us to buy this souped-up crock-o-crap? State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle is a political blowhard,…
The story went this way: Stuck at MIA en route to Houston, flyweight Miami Commissioner Johnny Winton gulped down 16 drinks — wine, whiskey, amaretto, and beer. Then he got loud. Delays stink, he carped. The airlines are worthless. A nervous gate attendant called the cops. When two very large…
Standing in a weirdly calm commercial kitchen and looking both bemused and amused, Taking Back Sunday frontman Adam Lazzara grabs a tray with two Polish sausages. Then he delivers an important message to the YouTube audience: “Make sure you check out DennysAllNighter.com!” Lazzara, you see, has just scored a coup…
Jose D. Duran Sidewalk on the corner of NW 28th Street and NW 6th Avenue. Waking up early this morning to realize I had nothing for this week’s StreetWorks meant I had to drag myself out of bed to find something to talk about. I hopped into my car and…
In this week’s New Times, I report on an internal investigation of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Lt. Lisa Hart, who wasn’t showing up for work yet still getting paid. The investigation is based on an anonymous complaint filed with the Miami-Dade Police public corruption unit. Here you will find a copy…
Best or No? In response to “Best of Miami” 2008 (May 15): I’ve noticed a trend in your yearly “Best Of” editions, especially when it comes to the restaurant listings. Whatever the “hot” restaurant or “restaurant-of-the-moment” is in a given category at the time of publication, it appears that particular…
LaShunda Flowers, a.k.a. Shunda K, is simultaneously black, gay, devoutly Christian, and the writer of songs such as “Kryptonite Pussy” (refrain: “Yo’ punanny better make that moneyyyyy!”). And the founder of the Tampa-based electro-rap outfit Yo Majesty is totally, comfortably outspoken about all of these things. If punk was originally…
While by no means is this in any shape or form graffiti, this mural easily is one of the most identifiable symbols of Miami’s Design District. It has been there for what seems like forever, draped across the posterior of the building which is occupied by retail spaces selling expensive…
How do you follow up a story on a Duran Duran concert? By hitting folks with a video to one of their most popular songs of all times–that’s how. When they first dropped this Indiana Jones like vid back in the early 80’s, it didn’t seem nearly as weird then…
So, who doesn’t want to gently easy into their Monday afternoon with a good 20 minutes of time-wasting bad Internet videos? The smartest YouTube searchers know that the site’s treasures are often found simply by typing “worst” whatever in the search box, or, for a grab bag, just “worst” itself,…
The Language of Madness Carlos Suarez De Jesus’s article about outsider art, “Madness and Art” (May 8), was often beautifully written. But on these occasions, it was not: “The mentally ill”: I am not an advocate of this form, whether expressed as “the” Jews, “the” Blacks, or as a stereotype…
Dale Spitler folds his arms across a fitted gold vest that’s complimented by a matching bowtie. Then the tall, stern-looking man with close-cropped blond hair leads me through a silicone valley of leggy girls with thongs stretched deep into their ass cracks. We end up in his workplace of the…
Jose D. Duran I promise this is the final Wynwood mural in the series I’ve been doing lately. Who could blame me though? The entire area surrounding NW 2nd Avenue and NW 23 Street is covered in murals. This is one I actually saw getting painted a few months ago…
We hear at the New Times camp are die fans of all things old school. So as I came across this stellar footage of Teddy P doing his thing (while still walking I might add) from 1979, it seemed appropriate to share it with the blogosphere. He’s undeniably looking good…
While we’re on the subject of old dance jams, here’s another classic: “Security” by the Beat Club, which dropped around ’87 or ’88. This classic record had both that tinkle-tinkle that linked it both to freestyle and electro in these parts and the emerging early rave sound in England –…
Miami-Dade’s top public corruption prosecutor doesn’t have to worry about the Florida Bar coming after him anymore. Bar counsel Arne Vanstrum has dismissed a complaint against Joseph Centorino, the assistant state attorney who heads the public corruption unit, alleging he acted unethically by not prosecuting high-ranking officials in the Miami-Dade…
