Jose Tillan and Ruben Leyva already have their hands in the South Florida music business. Tillan, former bassist for Forget the Name, is managing Latin rocker Nil Lara. Leyva, erstwhile manager for local groups Erotic Exotic, Penguin, and Forget the Name, among others, is director of marketing for ANS Records,…
If You Write It, They Will Carp As a journalism major, I have long appreciated New Times as a means of expressing alternative points of view and reading stories not published elsewhere. However, Sean Rowe’s article “If You Sink It, They Will Come” (June 6) doesn’t appear to have a…
Playing Politics at the Expense of the Poor Robert Andrew Powell’s article “From Knight Manor to Nightmare” in last week’s issue touched a strong chord in me; I am an affordable-housing advocate. I commend nonprofits like Tacolcy that build safe, decent, and affordable housing for the working poor. Tacolcy’s Garden…
Despite the nature of my chosen profession, I sometimes have a hard time with words — both writing them and making them out clearly when I hear them in songs. Maybe that’s why I like instrumentals so much. There’s certainly no misinterpreting the raunchy sax blowing of Big Jay McNeely…
Reefer Badness Regarding Sean Rowe’s article “If You Sink It, They Will Come” (June 6): After diving the natural and artificial reefs of South Florida for twelve years, I can attest to the fact that all reefs attract marine life. They provide a habitat for every juvenile marine organism seeking…
In the coming months, the federal government will relocate the headquarters of Radio Marti and Television Marti from their current home in Washington, D.C., to Miami. The move from the capital of the United States to the capital of Cuban exile politics represents more than a 1200-mile trek down Interstate…
In its continuing (and mostly successful) efforts to shed its image as an old fart’s version of MTV, VH1 is introducing a so-called hip, fast-moving, road-trekking show called Route 96, which for eleven consecutive days will focus on eleven different American cities, including Boston, Chicago, and Las Vegas. The 96…
By all accounts the fundraiser held a few weeks ago at the Biltmore Hotel for President Bill Clinton was a huge success, as the $1500-a-plate affair raised $3.4 million for the president’s campaign coffers. It also raised the profile of disgraced former county commissioner Larry Hawkins, who was dumped by…
Put That on Your Agenda After reading Robert Andrew Powell’s article “A CANF-Do Attitude” (May 23), I wonder how Miami City Manager Cesar Odio can find the money to pay for police protection for Jorge Mas Canosa and other officials of the Cuban American National Foundation. At budget time this…
Jesus Alemany Cubanismo! (Hannibal/Rykodisc) Various Artists The Montuno Sessions — Live from Studio “A” (Mr. Bongo) There is little in life that can top the excitement and exhilaration of hearing a group of musicians taking off on an impassioned flight of inspired innovation, soaring atop wandering chord progressions, navigating solos…
Mas Canosa: Commie Target? Journalism reaches its greatest heights when sensational is not associated with sensationalism. Elise Ackerman’s article “Love and Cuba” (May 23) was an example — and a real whodunit, a who-can-you-trust primer for the public to decide privately. Is “Beatrice Puig” a bitter, power-hungry, money-mad monster? Is…
His major-label debut has been out for a bit more than two months now, inspiring numerous hosannas in places such as Billboard and the New York Times, and yet Nil Lara has hardly entered the realm of the comfy rock star. Even before his self-titled album on Metro Blue was…
Chuck Loose likes to talk about punk rock. Already a fast talker by nature, when the subject comes up, the words fly even faster, delivered with the kind of enthusiasm born of passion and conviction. He was only four years old when the first punk records were released in 1976,…
Best Rasta Man I just wanted to say thank you for recognizing Reggae Beat as the Best Reggae Radio Program in Miami for 1996 (“Best of Miami,” May 16). I am sincerely grateful for this gesture and hope that I may continue to carry on Jah Works and provide Miami…
A subpoena can be a marvelous thing. Just ask Tony Ridder. For weeks the Knight-Ridder chairman refused to release documents in his possession regarding a proposed new arena for the Miami Heat. He told reporters, including those at his own newspaper, the Miami Herald, that he was beyond the reach…
Do Not Believe This Headline In Jim DeFede’s recent series of articles regarding the politics of the new arena project, it is apparent that the headline (“Micky Arison Is a Greedy Corporate Pig,” April 25, May 2, May 9) was designed solely as a method to grab readers, because it…
Miami singer/songwriter Arlan Feiles says he’s made an album he believes in — one that accurately represents the tough and gritty new sound of the former Natural Causes frontman. Problem is, his label doesn’t want it. More than a year after he inked a deal with Island Records, Feiles fears…
Yes, as a Matter of Fact, That Is a Roll in My Pants Robert Andrew Powell had his percentages wrong in his article “Eat Early, Eat Cheap” (April 25). Ninety percent of early bird diners are content with and appreciative of the reasonable prices offered. The picture painted in the…
In Micky We Trust Nothing in Jim DeFede’s article about Micky Arison even remotely justifies its inane title (“Micky Arison Is a Greedy Corporate Pig,” April 25) or the other defamatory rhetoric littering the article. Arison clearly had no obligation to go through with the deal in Broward, where Huizenga…
Go figure: A techno band has a hard time getting a gig in South Beach, one of the nation’s musical meccas for all things that go beep, blip, and boing to a rapid-fire drumbeat. Strange, indeed, but as Soul Oddity cofounder Joshua Kay will tell you, it’s also true. “Doing…
As promised more than a month ago, here’s another roundup of local and regional music. Some new, some only kinda new. For what it’s worth, it’s all new to me. Unlike the last “Reverb” batch of South Florida stuff, this one leans more heavily toward readily available compact discs and…
Not to worry, rock and roll conservatives: Reports concerning the death of classic rock have been somewhat exaggerated. Sure, album rock radio programmers may be replacing their copies of Jailbreak and Escape with Sixteen Stone and Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness. Nonetheless the tireless Frankenstein’s monster, created from the…
