About You’re Toy Story It was swell, but why the mispellings? We got word from Miami toymakers Friends with You that Celeste Fraser Delgado’s story was published, and so we checked it out on the New Times Website (“Revenge of the Misfit Toys,” October 23). It was a really nice…
Utopia in Three Easy Steps Here’s how I would fix Miami: In response to Rebecca Wakefield’s October 16 report on Miami’s poverty rating (“We’re Still Number One!”): An all-inclusive national healthcare policy, plus work programs similar to FDR’s New Deal, would get the homeless off our streets. And real documentation…
The Oracle Dude We called him the Fat One, and we listened closely to his words: Let me tell you something about Abel Folgar that maybe every other letter-writer has already said. The guy was the Blue Table Philosopher, the Kamel Red-Toking Oracle, the Space Cowboy, if you will, of…
“We’re trying to act as a mediator, but we’re really limited in what we can do,” says Miami Beach Police spokesman Det. Bobby Hernandez with a frustrated sigh. After fielding a week’s worth of calls from angry residents and scoop-seeking reporters, he’s just now coming up for air. The cause…
Over the Edge in North Bay Village Potty-mouth free weekly pushes journalism envelope: I want to thank Francisco Alvarado for his journalistic aggressiveness in telling the story of my living nightmare in North Bay Village (“Thug Meets Pug,” October 2). The New Times has extended the edges of regular journalism…
When the Spam Allstars abandoned Little Havana’s Thursday-night Fuácata party last summer, after two years of packing Hoy Como Ayer, party promoter and veteran session hand Steve Roitstein did his best to fill the void with Palo!, which has the same DJ/Latin jam band format and the same violent Spanish…
To the untrained ear, that loud rushing sound in the air last week may have been mistaken for Hurricane Isabel’s final gusts swooping past Miami. Listen more closely. It was actually the turbulence created by two massive press corps passing in the night, a whirl of snapping camera shutters and…
Core Curriculum: Civics 101 Required enrollment for José Cancela, Seth Gordon, Pat Tornillo, and Marcos Jimenez: Brett Sokol asks county mayoral candidate José Cancela about Cuban musicians playing in Miami (“Mixed Message,” September 18). Cancela hesitates. So Seth Gordon comes to his rescue with a letter to the editor (September…
Our Eccentric Uncle Fidel Yes, he has a thing for throwing people in prison, but he’s a lovable old codger: I know that many of my fellow gringos see Fidel Castro as an antiquated and irascible but basically harmless old coot — kind of like weird old uncle Hiram who…
José Cancela has stopped eating. He carefully places knife and fork across his barely touched salad and stares at Kulchur with a wounded expression. When he asked for a lunch meeting, this conversation inside the Beach’s Van Dyke Café was not what he had in mind. “I really thought we’d…
Coming to the FTAA? Welcome to the VFAM That would be the Violence-Free Area of Miami: Regarding Tristram Korten’s column “Meet Us in Miami” (September 11), on the protest activities planned for the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) ministerial meetings in November, and the possibility of violence and…
Were the Latin Grammys fixed by President Bush? Based on State Department documents Kulchur has received, that would certainly appear to be the case. Call it an only-in-Miami moment, one in which 2004 presidential politics collided head-on with Cuban music. And Cuba’s musicians, who subsequently found themselves watching the Grammys…
It’s a Bird! It’s a Plane! It’s a plea agreement from hell! It flew by you good folks so darn fast that you missed it, just like all the others. In his column “Closed Case, Open Questions” (September 4), Tristram Korten alluded to the former federal prosecutor who “spent more…
“Play it for me, Little Beaver!” Joss Stone breathlessly calls out in the middle of her new song “Super Duper Love.” It’s a command that hasn’t been heard on a record in nearly 30 years, but the stinging guitar notes sound just as fresh as the chugging, Southern-fried organ groove…
Desperately Seeking Stupid Gringos Tarnation, Jethro! You mean to tell me that Ricky Ricardo fella ain’t but some actor? Thanks to Celeste Fraser Delgado (“Feel the Latin Grammys,” August 28) we all know it was the Miami-based ad company Punto Ogilvy that came up with those pitifully lame “Feel the…
Hitting the campaign trail is an awful lot like marketing a pop star. Cult audiences, no matter how dedicated, are fine if all you’re after is cult hero status. But if you’re looking to rule the pop charts — or run for higher office — then crossing over to the…
New York Reader Befuddled Despite her efforts to understand, Miami makes no sense: Rebecca Wakefield’s story about public housing in Opa-locka (“Land Grab,” August 21) was very interesting, well written, and frightening — considering that major public funds are involved. And considering lobbyist Peter Bernal’s documented history of involvement with…
And they’re off! It may be more than a year away, but the 2004 election campaign is in full swing: swanky fundraisers, fist-pumping stump speeches, and that hallmark of American politics, the smoky backroom meeting. We’re not talking about 2004’s presidential aspirants, but instead a contest with just as much…
Of All the Gin Joints in All the Towns in All the World … … Mayor Diaz walks into ours: Good thing Rick’s Place was located in Casablanca and not Miami. Bogart’s establishment was hounded by Nazis. But in Miami, as Steven Dudley reported in “Sandwich and a Hooker” (August…
Celia: Race Does Matter Just look at the history of Cuba’s white elite: Kudos to Celeste Fraser Delgado for her article on Celia Cruz (“Over Her Dead Body,” July 24). I didn’t intend to write but was motivated to do so by the negative responses she received from Angelo Figueras…
I Will Not Be Destroyed Even though white media like you are out to get African-American men like me: I am not surprised that the white media would write a story on April 24 slamming the Miami-Dade Corrections Department’s internal-affairs bureau for alleged corruption in its investigations, then just three…
No Miracles, Just Hard Work Everyone did a great job at the NAACP event, including Rev. Willie Sims: Tristram Korten, in his column regarding the disciplinary action taken against Rev. Willie Sims of my staff (“Big Mouth, Big Trouble,” July 17), incorrectly implied that Reverend Sims was “miraculously” reinstated to…
