Magadog’s Ska, Soul, and Roots Reggae Mashup

Magadog Self-titled (Moon Ska Reocrds) myspace.com/magadogtampa It’s hard to believe Magadog has been soldiering since 1992. This band (and this album in particular) recall a time in life when going to shows with a group of friends was 100-percent fun. I’m referring to cool Sunday night shows at the now-defunct…

Chu’s Peking Duck Seen Differently By Photographer and Reviewer

Bill Wisser snaps the photos for Miami New Times restaurant reviews. He’s an accomplished photographer with impressive resume — if you haven’t checked out his slide shows on our site, you should. So this side-by-side look of my photo of the Peking duck with lotus root at Chu’s Taiwan Kitchen…

Miami Book Fair Clueless On Cookbooks

​The food industry is hot hot hot. Chefs are hot hot hot. Restaurants are hot hot hot. Food networks and food festivals and food anythings are hot hot hot. Cookbooks are hot hot hot. Seems as though every chef in the world has written one this year – except for…

Luis Bofill’s “No Me Vuelvo a Enamorar”

Luis Bofill got his start in Cuba’s Nueva Trova movement of the late ’70s with the group Cuba Nueva. From there, he would cut a mean rug as an exciting interpreter of standards and for generating an infectious blend of jazz, rumba, Latin, and Afro-beat. He’s been calling Miami his…

Katherine Fernandez Rundle Won’t Fight Jim Morrison Pardon

Without admitting Jim Morrison was railroaded by Miami-Dade’s criminal justice system 40 years ago, Miami-Dade State Attorney Katherine Fernandez Rundle says her office won’t fight Charlie Crist’s pardon of The Doors iconic dead lead singer.The county’s top cop claims the recession is the reason she won’t try to uphold Morrison’s…

Five Venezuelan Musical Acts We’d Gladly Deport Kat Stacks For

Okay, it wasn’t until my colleague Esther Park’s blog about Ms. Kat Stacks arrest and possible deportation that I learned hip-hop’s most hated bitch is Venezuelan. Needless to say, I was disappointed. Not only is the country presided over by one of history’s dumbest assholes, but now this “thing” continues…

New Times’ Brandon K. Thorp, Penn Bullock Named to Out 100

Two Miami New Times freelance writers, Brandon K. Thorp  and Penn Bullock, have been named as among the most significant contributors to gay America this year.They join Ricky Martin, Johnny Weir, and Julianne Moore (go figure) as members of the Out 100, who are being honored this week in Manhattan…

Interview: Author Mark Kurlansky on Edible Stories

Journalist, author, and historian Mark Kurlansky’s most well-known books are the international best-sellers Salt, Cod (which won a James Beard award), 1968, The Food of a Younger Land, and A Basque History of the World. His latest book, Edible Stories, is his third work of fiction.  It features a recurring…

Jay-Z Is Not A Devil Worshipper; He’s My Friend

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke debunks rumors spread on blogs and YouTube that Jay-Z is down with the Illuminati.People who depict Jay-Z…

Elastic Bond’s “Frecuencia Natural”

Elastic Bond returns to our ears with the deliciously danceable “Frecuencia Natural” (“Natural Frequency”). Though sung in Spanish by the always alluring and inviting Sofy Encanto, this track certainly carries their signature Latin rhythm and groove, but the spacey touches of electronica and the quasi-salsa/cumbia breakdown there got me bopping…

Claims Piling Up on Funeral Home Owner Rafaiy Alkhalifa

​ When Lazaro Morera’s father passed away October 29, the unemployed Cuban-American thought he had the funeral covered. He was wrong. Despite having paid $2,540 to Funeraria Latina Nacional at 151 NW 37th Ave. for his dad’s prearranged burial six years ago, the funeral home’s owner, Rafaiy Alkhalifa, would not honor…

2010 Latin Grammy Awards: Crossfade Cashes in Its Chips on Winning Picks

The awards are over. My hotel room is trashed. There’s debris everywhere — cigarette butts and cigar nubsand shards of glass from countless broken bottles. There’s a strange mustard mural painted — now dried — on the mirror, and I’m wearing a dinosaur tail with suspenders. And there’s something in the ashtray…

Miami’s Best Pizza? Time for a Name Change.

Miami’s Best Pizza, a 40-year mainstay on South Dixie Highway near University of Miami, is always packed. There’re children with noses smudged up against a glass partition watching cooks spin dough in the air, children playing on video game machines that line the walls, children huddled by their parents on…

Mississippi State’s Dan Mullen Is The One Smearing Cam Newton

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness once made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. Today, Luke comes to Cam Newton’s defense.There is a campaign to destroy the reputation of Auburn Tigers quarterback Cam Newton, and…