ShizenDiss the oncoming condo parades if you must, but if saturating downtown with monied, sushi-hungry aristocracy allows more restaurants like Shizen to open, then sunsets be damned. Bring on the noblesse and their concomitant garish high-rises. How else are you going to find a proper rainbow roll ($9) at 1:30 a.m. served in a stylish […]
The sidewalk in front of the Poor House (110 SW Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale), a meeting place as old as a Georgia sunset for the local rock 'n' roll crowd, has disappeared. On a recent Wednesday, patrons driven outside by the night's noise show sat in white plastic chairs, their...
In a well-worn T-shirt and shorts, Ed Little appeared a bit disheveled. There was stubble on his face, and his graying blond hair was uncombed -- not surprising, perhaps, for anyone disturbed at home on a Sunday afternoon. He stood at the wooden gate of his brick patio, which was...
In Victorian England, 40,000 novels were published every year. Of the few that have endured, perhaps none is more worthy of a film adaptation than Vanity Fair, if for no other reason than this: It's a chore to read. Clocking in at 850 pages, with frequent excursions into unrelated subjects...
FRI 8/13 The late Ray Charles was no doubt a great musician, and no one can dispute Aretha Franklin's gifts as a soul singer; both fully earned the commercial success they received. But it's no coincidence that both used the same producer -- the great Tom Dowd. A musical genius...
He was 16 and scared. Jason was a newcomer at Growing Together, a boot camp-style drug treatment center for adolescents in downtown Lake Worth. During the day, he attended group therapy at the program's two-story, banana-yellow building, which is equipped with security gates and barred windows. At night, he'd sleep...
As a reviewer, one can be tempted to want in on the ground floor of a phenomenon, to say you were there first when some low-budget feature with a nifty premise made its festival debut, only to be picked up by a big studio and become a national phenomenon. Whether...
Josephus Eggelletion's people wait. The Broward County commissioner has called a town hall meeting at Dillard High School, and about 40 residents have shown up to hear what their man in office is doing for them. The 55-year-old politician, dressed in a gold-colored, U.S. Open golf shirt and black slacks,...
Vincent Del'Ostia, a tattooed, five-foot-nine, 160-pound 31-year-old with a history of drug abuse and psychological problems, paced outside the office door of the Entrada Motel on Federal Highway in Hollywood. High on cocaine, he wasn't there to rent a room. He wrapped his hand around the doorknob and banged on...
Touring in support of its first album, The Beginning Stages of... , the Polyphonic Spree seemed likely to fall into a novelty-act trap, what with all the people up onstage with their flowing white robes and sweeping Technicolor dreamsongs. If the Polyphonic Spree wasn't a cult, then the band at...
Oh, Janis. Oh, gorgeous, outrageous, soul-ripping, rockin', bluesy momma Janis Joplin. She's a volcano. She's a tsunami. She's a fearless, reckless, raging American beauty. Watch her tear open her chest to reveal her hot, pulsing wounds. Watch her rage with burning, glorious light. Watch her smile that sweet Janis smile...
So last week, I told Tim Donnelly, head of the Broward State Attorney's Office public corruption unit, that his office seemed pretty much useless. And Donnelly came back with: "Well, it seems like when we do prosecute public officials, nobody notices." Which public officials had his office prosecuted? "The sheriff...
THU 8/26 According to Harland Williams' biography, the Toronto-born comic started telling jokes as a way to cope with the passing of his father, who allegedly was killed by a dead crow that fell from the sky. The bird's beak supposedly pierced the farmer's skull, and he "dropped like a...
Cramming a band into the living room at Dada can be like watching clowns pile into a VW bug. With a setup that includes three horn players, a bulbous standup bass, an elaborate drum setup, and a vibraphone, 8-Track Mind provides the sultry soundtrack for dining couples and packs of...
Edmund Elias Merhige is an artist among hacks. Suspect Zero, the new thriller from the Brooklyn-born, L.A.-based filmmaker, employs a lot of elements of the serial-killer genre popularized throughout the 1990s, set in familiar noirish desert locales. Yet it’s compulsively watchable, featuring a meticulously shaded performance from Ben Kingsley (whom...
If you've visited any of South Florida's major museums in the past few years -- and if you haven't, I don't even know how to begin chastising you -- you've seen them. Maybe you haven't paid attention to them, but you've seen them. I call them "Incidental Pleasures" -- works...
Near the Earth's core exists a subterranean conference room, replete with comfy leather chairs, chilled carafes of water, and delicately perfumed air. Recent meetings there have resulted in low-rise jeans, Wal-Mart's underwriting of NPR, and Jimmy Kimmel. In the corner, Hot Topic founder Orv Madden enjoys a sandwich from Burger...
TUE 7/27 When the Olympic Games first took place, in 776 B.C., the grand prize awarded the top athlete had far less bling than today's gold medal. In fact, after a few days, the prize would become rotten. Yep. Sure enough, ancient Olympians sweated their naked bodies off for a...
SAT 6/12 Don't be fooled by its innocent good looks: Power-pop has a dark side, and its name is Spacebar. The band's mix of electronics and indie-rock adds a third dimension to the catchy hooks and melodies essential to the pop aesthetic. Its sound is a result of the band...
Since the 1980s, the folks at Lumonics Light Museum have populated their Lauderdale warehouse with trancey light sculptures, fountains, and comfy chairs. They sprayed video projections against the wall, cranked up the techno, and invited us in for tea. The result? Years of late-night, mind-liberating circuses of light and sound...
Randy Dunlap is a plump man with thinning white hair, large round glasses, and a down-home Alabama, "Yeah, buddy" speaking style not generally heard among the glut of polished South Florida politicos. It's become a shtick for Dunlap, making him something of a foil for his 12-year incumbent rival: reserved,...
"If you get busted for drugs over there, you're in for the hassle of your life." -- ominous, 1970s-era U.S. Public Service Announcement Last month in Istanbul, two Broward County women made history when they were arrested in what is reportedly Turkey's biggest drug bust ever. The incident has gone...
