... or the artist strikes back: Please note that I was misquoted in the article "In Darkness There Is Light," (October 20) by Carlos Suarez De Jesus.
First there was this: "I'll live as I wish."
Maybe Liberace said this?
And then there was: "I'm bringing you the bad news," Singh crows, "I'm her, the 50-foot-tall mistress of the universe, and I am realer than real!"
I did not say this. However, "50ft Queenie" is the song by P.J. Harvey that informed the title of my painting Hey I'm one big queen. No one can stop me. Red Light, Red Green, Sat back I'm watching.
In fact I am five feet seven inches tall, (not 50 feet). I am no mistress-ruler of the universe, but I guess I could rise above.
Diego Singh
Via the Internet
Oh yeah, the article: Regarding "Park This" (October 20) by Eric Barton: Just once I would like to see media clean up their own house before they go checking in someone else's. It seems every time there is a slow news day, they turn to what the police department is doing. Why don't they mention the fact that reporters — in trying to report the news before they are scooped by someone else — employ such tactics as speeding, parking illegally (on sidewalks, crosswalks, et cetera) trespassing, and harassing individuals. It would be nice to see that sometime on the six o'clock news or during Problem Solvers.
By the way, nice article by Eric Barton, fair and impartial. I am a police officer in Florida and in no way condone parking in front of a fire hydrant, but those who live in glass newsrooms should not throw stones.
Juan Sanchez
Miami Shores
Coke is: The article by Carlos Suarez De Jesus "Cocaine and Me: A Memoir" (October 13) was excellent. The way he tells the story in such detail is not only informative, but also it actually makes you feel like you were standing right beside him through his experiences. He describes them all so thoroughly that he leaves no question unanswered and makes it easy for someone from a younger generation (like me) to understand the goings-on of Miami in the Eighties. Four stars. The only disappointment is that it wasn't longer.
Bethany Suarez
Miami
More on the great car debate: Regarding the letter by Raymond Coté, "Try Walking" (October 13): Brett and Ray (from Key Biscayne), let's get this Miami Vice car thing correct once and for all. In the first few seasons, Crockett drove a Ferrari 365 GTS/4 (official name) also known as a Ferrari Daytona Spyder, not a Dino. Daytona convertibles are very rare and very sweet indeed. However, this car was actually a replica car with Ferrari-designed body panels and a Ferrari interior built on a Chevrolet Corvette chassis. Crockett gets his Ferrari Testarossa after his Daytona is blown up. Ferrari wanted a real car for the show that viewers could see and purchase in the showroom.
Zachary Mann
South Miami
He was ahead of the coke curve: Your series about how cocaine made Miami, "Kilo," is fascinating. Interestingly enough, a friend and I were talking about that just a couple of weeks before your first article appeared. Thanks for a great series of stories.
Eric Aikin
Miami
He's behind the curve: Where in hell were the letters about "Kilo"? What wonderful issues! There were lots of people I knew of. Wildlife dealers dealing, once long ago, on the side. Reptile collectors stuffing snakes with, shall we say, contraband. Good people: sheriffs, firefighters, plumbers, and more being tempted enough to say yes to meeting boats offshore and carrying goods back to Miami. Friends with big cats living in the Golden Gate area who had more than big cats. The sections in the Big Cypress where planes would land and I would leave when I saw them. Horticulture in big pots called leerios planted among the pines between the loop road and the trail. Everyone spilling their guts about one individual to avoid long prison sentences.
Too bad you left out our hypocrisy regarding Kendall Coffey, one of our best and brightest U.S. attorneys who was really, really devastated by that loss. Too bad when the real reason for that loss was discovered years later it was not large-print front-page news: "Coffey Vindicated" ... for behavior that should not have resulted in his having to resign his position.
Alan W. Rigerman
Northwest Miami-Dade
But Tony Ridder's wallet might not: Regarding Chuck Strouse's September 15 column "Crash Dummy": The Florida State Attorney's Office has exonerated Jim DeFede. And rightfully so. I believe that the Miami Herald was most motivated to fire him and that this Teele taping event was just the perfect excuse to do so. I believe that DeFede will have an excellent case against Knight Ridder for a major lawsuit. I believe that Knight Ridder will end up paying big bucks to DeFede in an out-of-court settlement. I wonder when the public will get to know what was in the package left to DeFede by Teele. I bet that the Herald will exploit the contents of that package with a front-page story. And shamefully so.
Harry Emilio Gottleib
Coconut Grove
Didn't work out for these epicures: What a far different experience Pamela Robin Brandt had than my husband and I (possibly because the restaurant knew she was coming prior to arrival via a publicist perhaps) in her review "Moshi, Moshi, Oishi" (September 8).
Basically our experience sucked. And sorry us, we kept trying different appetizers, assuming the next would be better than the one just tried. Nope.
Yes, the restaurant is lovely. We agree there. And for the record, my husband is a Zagat-rated chef and ex-food critic for Time Warner Cable in NYC. We know food.
Our negative experience began with our server. We described our dry sake tastes and suggested he choose for us from Oishi's selection. He chose a very floral sake. We explained it wasn't our style, but $58 later, we were still drinking it — like it or not. Our server said it would become dryer as it aerated. Not true — floral is floral.
Now to the appetizers. Excitedly we saw a giant-oyster special appetizer with uni. The presentation was lovely, but it was not a giant oyster. It was not even a large normal size. Yes, the flavors were together on this dish, but if you're going to charge for giant, serve me giant. (Flavor-wise, this was the best all round.)
Next, Beef Negamaki. Awful. Tough, chewy, flavorless. I ate one and decided it was not worth a single calorie in my body! Then, the shrimp tempura appetizer, which we thought always as a safety net when things are going wrong. Oh, how wrong we were. This tempura appetizer was the equivalent of those from fast-food sushi places, boring and (again) flavorless. How someone — even working as a line cook at Nobu — could produce and serve this dish is beyond me.
We orderd one entrée and split it. Thank you for that, because our lobster teriyaki, which came with sushi and sashimi, was drab and amateurishly rolled. The teriyaki sauce was way too sweet without enough tang. The minirolls fell apart, and the sashimi was sliced paper-thin. By the way, our server became nonexistent sometime during the meal (possibly when he noticed our expressions). Water was requested three times before we received it, and the dining room had about only eighteen persons.
How much did this "dining experience" cost? More than $140 with tip. Yes, being in the industry, we still tip kindly, no matter what the situation.
Holly Black Quesada
Sunny Isles Beach
