Letters from the Issue of November 29, 2007

Liberty City Eight Put the prosecutors on trial too: Regarding Bob Norman’s November 22 story “Have Terror, Will Travel”: Great article about the work of a great investigator whose job is to expose the truth behind the allegations in criminal trials. But the actions taken by this court come as…

Tobacco Road

Surviving for more than 95 years, Tobacco Road (626 S. Miami Ave., Miami; 305-374-1198) is the oldest bar in town. While other nightclubs pop up and crumble within a year’s time, the ol’ Road’s faithful imbibers shack up within its abiding walls. Inside, a long bar spans the length of…

Sweat It

A formerly unlikely block on the southeastern edge of Little Haiti is set to become a playground of sorts for Miami’s slowly expanding underground culture. Churchill’s has long been holding it down punk rock-style on the corner of NE Second Avenue and 55th Street. Next door a new turquoise-and-purple-stripe awning…

A Little Old School Iggy

It’s hard to stay in a somber mood when you’ve got Iggy Pop in your life. The lean and lanky rocker is actually coming back to South Florida to perform in a couple of weeks with the Stooges, and though it probably won’t be as big and bombast of a…

Throwback Tuesdays: RIP Sean Taylor

Today has certainly started out on a somber note with the unexpected passing of Miami’s star football player Sean Taylor. It’s hard to wrap your brain around a situation that’s so “senseless” but for those of us that did wake up this morning, it’s just a reminder not to take…

LA Sports Bar and Grill

Longtime Kendall biker bar Scully’s Tavern better watch out. LA Sports Bar and Grill (10575 SW 109th Ct., Kendall; 305-270-0311) is new competition. On a recent Thursday night, the row of hogs lined up in LA’s elevated courtyard loomed over the adjacent street like a shiny black fortress. The Hermandads,…

Letters from the Issue of November 22, 2007

Rest in Peace Adrian Ellis was a good man: Regarding “The Life and Death of Adrian Ellis” (November 15) by Calvin Godfrey: First let me say that Adrian was a wonderful father to our children. He wasn’t perfect, but he was a man who wanted the best for his family…

Overtown’s Underground

Earlier this year, Back Door Bamby took a vacation and forgot to come back. The 10-years-running Monday-night party was the last of its kind on South Beach, a holdout from the days when freaks of all stripe — gay, straight, and in between — still partied together. This past spring,…

Hangin’ With Henrietta

“My mother was Italian — a Catholic — and my father was a German-Jew,” explains Henrietta, her blue eyes wide under two pencil-thin brows. “Back in those days, when I was a kid, people didn’t believe in mixed marriage. So when I came along and I was a gay boy,…

Letters from the Issue of November 15, 2007

A Pat on the Back for Patrick And a swat in the behind for the principal: I’m not surprised to read about all the discriminatory acts in Francisco Alvarado’s November 8 story about Patrick Williams, “Good Teacher, Bad Principal.” I recently graduated from Turner Tech and have personally been through…

Felt

On a recent cool Saturday night, things were status quo on South Beach: People were dressed up, paying, and putting on airs for the powers that manned the doors at packed clubs. Less savvy partygoers waited in line, thereby eliminating any chances they had of getting in. The only people…

StreetWorks – 14th St and North Miami Ave.

This structure (14th St., and N. Miami Ave.) sits near the railroad tracks that separate “Mid-town” from “Overtown.” No matter what you call it, it is still “Dirty Dade.” — Jason Handelsman…

Throwback Video of the Day: Love is Stronger Than Pride

It’s hard to believe it’s been 19 years since the Queen of the Forehead, AKA Sade released her stellar Stronger Than Pride album. It’s still the anti-break record of the century in my opinion as it has a way of talking to you regardless of where you’re at romantically. The…

Another Lost & Found

Here’s another local music mystery… A reader writes: “Hi, I’m trying to figure out the name of a local progressive band from the late 90s, (1997-2000). I know they were signed to a major label, and were influenced by bands that sounded like the Cure, and that the entire band…

Sex and the Single Pumpkin

There he is: a guy in a chicken suit, flailing around in a pseudo-mock mosh pit on the rain-slick concrete floor of Churchill’s back patio theater. As a punk band screams in the background, someone hurls a plastic cup of shitty beer, beaning him on the side of the head…

Titanic Brewery

The streets around the University of Miami were quiet on a drizzly pre-Halloween Sunday night. Most of the campus’s inhabitants had hunkered down for the week ahead and the only trace of sound was the rhythmic hum of a blinking yellow traffic light on Ponce de Leon Boulevard. From the…

Letters from the Issue of November 8, 2007

Rawlins Rocks And so does Walter Mosley: “Easy Does It” (by Raina McLeod, November 1) is as engaging as it is informative. As an incurable fan of Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, I am pleased in having read that Walter Mosley has both intentionally and consistently referenced the invisibility of black…

Slot Machine Ripoff at Gulfstream

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating an alleged slot-machine theft ring by employees at Gulfstream Park Racing & Casino. This is the first potential scandal for the fledgling industry, which is both heavily regulated and heavily taxed by the state. And I’m the one bringing you the news…

Coral Gables Walk

Like grains of sand in an hourglass, they squeezed from one side to the other. People — lots of hungry, slightly drunk ones — bottlenecked into the narrow entrance of Books & Books (265 Aragon Ave., Coral Gables; 305-442-4408). What pulled them was not gravity, but a force equally strong:…

SoFla Does CMJ

For a second, there’s a relative quiet at the Gramercy Theatre. Onstage at this swanky rock theater on Manhattan’s East Side are the South Florida hometown heroes of Torche, and they’ve just finished ripping through one of their trademark smart, heavy jams. They’ve made it onto a killer bill as…

Letters from the Issue of November 1, 2007

The Anti-Immigrant Song We need more like her: “Joyce Kaufman Hates Immigrants!” (by Amy Guthrie, October 25) is a great story! In a market where local radio content is almost unheard-of, Joyce Kaufman is a breath of fresh air, and her show is the only worthwhile one on WFTL-AM. Get…