From Secret Service to Public ServiceScribe praised, demands promotion, big fat raise: Thanks to Rebecca Wakefield for accepting the challenge of investigating and writing about the plight of my son Patrick Cruise regarding the illegal conduct of the Secret Service (“Life in the Secret Service,” September 13). She did a…
Hoping to keep politics from drowning out the music, the Latin Grammys moved from Miami to Los Angeles. Then the suicide-hijacking of four commercial airliners on the morning of the event blasted the sound of Latin music out of the sky. With more than 5000 bodies buried beneath the rubble…
The silhouette of a go-go dancer shimmies above the broad staircase that leads to Billboardlive. Her ponytail flips as she bends, grabs her ankles, and jutts her posterior toward the promoters, producers, politicians, journalists, and stars waiting for their names to be checked off at the velvet rope below. So…
The condominium was ideal. Located on the twelfth floor, overlooking the ocean, it was in the heart of Miami Beach at 5701 Collins Ave. Two bedrooms and two baths, a cozy 825 square feet of space in a building that came with its own restaurant, fitness center, and beauty parlor…
Emilio: Convenient TargetFree weekly nukes another Cuban success story: I’ve got to hand it to New Times. You certainly don’t discriminate among Cuban Americans. You go after Cuban politicians, businesses, athletes, and now musicians like Emilio Estefan (“Los Producers,” September 6). If only your own biases and insecurities wouldn’t get…
Miriam Alonso, the Miami-Dade County Commissioner whose politics are as shrill as her voice, is under criminal investigation for allegedly misusing campaign contributions collected during her successful 1998 run for re-election. The investigation is being conducted by the public-corruption unit of the Miami-Dade Police Department. Sources close to the inquiry…
It seemed harmless enough at the time. Sitting with Source magazine head David Mays and Source Youth Foundation director Edward DeJesus earlier this summer, Kulchur noticed both men wearing the same distinctive medallion necklaces — an M set inside a black shield. Was there a third Musketeer missing from our…
Those Crazy ArtistsPhenomenological multimedia blitz flummoxes critic: Alfredo Triff’s piece about art events “The House at MoCA” and “The Sears Building” (“In the House,” August 30) was at once supportive, instructional, and full of hope. He used his position as a critic to inform the community about aspects of the…
Will the real thugs please stand up? After two and a half months of fearful teeth-gnashing preceding the arrival of last week’s Source Hip-Hop Music Awards, South Beach endured … just another weekend. There were no hotel trashings, no melees with police, and aside from the occasional woman about to…
Politics and ParentsMom and Dad, just want to thank you for blowing our chance at the big time: It is more than bitterly ironic that we’ve lost the Latin Grammys, as Celeste Fraser Delgado wrote last week (“Shake,” August 23). It is also a shame. Why? Because of the lost…
In the aftermath of the Latin Grammys debacle, an L.A. Times column pilloried Miami for delusions of grandeur about being the capital of Latin music and cast aspersions at homegrown Latin talent Gloria Estefan, Enrique Iglesias, and Jon Secada. Lord knows, I’ve cast plenty of the same aspersions myself, and…
To get a sense of Madonna’s cultural heft you didn’t have to look too hard at the audience gathered for her recent sold-out concert at Sunrise’s National Car Rental Center. Just a quick sideways glance would do. To Kulchur’s left was a squad of eighth-grade girls, erupting in squeals of…
Here, Sharkey, Sharkey Pretty baby wants some nice fishey fish, don’t you? I am a fifteen-year, NASD-certified diver and marine-research volunteer. After reading Juan Carlos Rodriguez’s article (“Swimming with the Sharks,” August 16) and several others about shark tours, I’ve decided to support a statewide ban on shark-feeding. Whether it’s…
“Here’s George W. Bush,” says Emilio Izquierdo as he draws a diagram. “Here are all his administrators,” he continues, running his finger down the page. “And here’s Emilio Estefan,” he concludes, placing the music mogul in a chain of command under the president. “But if Shakira says she hates the…
Maybe Sen. Bill Nelson spent too much time in space. After all, scientists believe that prolonged exposure to zero gravity can disturb a person’s cognitive abilities. That’s pretty much the only explanation I can find for Nelson’s comments last month regarding Florida’s governor’s race. Holding court in his office, the…
Miami’s Only Daily: Afloat in a Sea of Clueless ReadersNew skipper decent, honorable, gelatinous: While I have always considered the Miami Herald to be the enemy of the people of South Florida because its ivory-tower types care more about what’s good for the Herald than what’s good for the people,…
“The stars are wearing millions of dollars of diamonds,” comments Level nightclub owner Gerry Kelly, in a cadence as slinky as a catwalk. “The last time Sean Puffy Combs was in, he had $3.5 million worth of diamonds around his neck.” When asked who among the celebs frequenting the club…
Spunk Fan A role model for bureaucracy-busters everywhere: After reading Daniela Lamas’s article about Margaret Weedman (“21-Plus & Holding,” August 2), I’d say she sounds like the type of woman I hope to be one day. I admire that spunk and honesty, most especially when trying to deal with bureaucracies…
Once upon a time on the island of Borinquen there were two kinds of kids: cocolos and rockeros. Cocolos were working class and dark skinned, spoke Spanish exclusively, and listened only to salsa. Rockeros had more money, lighter skin, spoke English as fluently as Spanish, and listened only to rock…
Is Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs still cool? The answer to that question is more than just a matter of taste. It speaks to the future of hip-hop and specifically to the economic fortunes of Puff Daddy’s $300 million conglomerate, Bad Boy Entertainment. It may even determine whether we one day…
The Stepin Fetchit CoverIt’s never too late to be offensive: Call me oversensitive, but did Mitch Greenblatt’s cover illustration of Puff Daddy for Brett Sokol’s story (“All Puffed Up,” July 26) have to show him grinning like a blackface cartoon? Haven’t we been over this? Jennifer Uleman Miami Beach The…
Apparently I was not the only person to get a little delirious over the idea of exile queen Celia Cruz singing a duet with island dame Omara Portuondo at this year’s Latin Grammys. The ever-vigilant patriots of Vigilia Mambisa secured a videotape of Our Lady of the Buena Vista Social…
