Big Jorge was done in by the mafia: I found Trevor Aaronson's October 2 story on Jorge Cortes ("Killer Scam") very interesting and informative... but I have a few questions. Did the detectives check for gun residue on Mr. Cortes' hand? If so, what were the results? Were the allegations...
There are few embellishments on the cover of Here I Am: Isley Meets Bacharach. There are neither gold lamé suits nor tuxedos, no silk sheets, and no flashy stage shots. Burt Bacharach and Ron Isley are merely wearing sweaters and smiling in front of a chess board, a testament to...
By now, Jeff Mangum must be sick and tired of avoiding people. Since dumping his 1998 meisterwork (In the Aeroplane Over the Sea) on the ears of a grateful populace, the leader of Athens, Georgia's, Neutral Milk Hotel has spent the past few years trying to live it down. By...
Fort Lauderdale attorney Norm Kent made a personal vow in 1999 as he lay in bed receiving chemotherapy treatment. At the time, the gay community was in an uproar. Days earlier, the Sun-Sentinel's coverage of the local pride parade included a photograph of two drag queens. The journalists in the...
Praise Bacchus: The god of wine's inaugural namesake celebration, Boca Bacchanal Winefest & Auction, was a big success last year, attracting more than 1,600 guests over three days. As a result, the festivities leading up to the 2004 Boca Bacchanal, which will take place March 19-21, are starting early. The...
Selling a specialty item and hoping to make a profit is iffy business. Whether it's empanadas or egg rolls, Jamaican patties or arepas, chicken wings or gyros, establishing a successful restaurant that revolves around a single dish requires a client base large enough to fill seats every day of the...
SUN 9/7 When our dearly beloved commander in chief landed on that aircraft carrier with a big "Mission Accomplished" banner behind him to declare major fighting over, we were at once pleased with the results and nauseated by the photo op. Pity that those "results" were a bit overrated --...
While guitar-driven music has continued to evolve into the 21st Century, you'd be hard-pressed to find any single guitar player today worthy of the title pioneer. Sure, some experiment left and right with their millions of sound-effects racks and ready-made sequencing loops. But what does it take to actually develop...
In the early-morning hours of Friday, July 25, 2002, Kevin Moore walked down SE Second Avenue in Deerfield Beach. The skinny, five-foot-nine-inch 23-year-old stopped in front of 1101 SE Second Ave., a yellow two-bedroom house that belonged to 92-year-old Yvonne Moss. Aiming to collect $30 for painting two iron bars...
The holidays are upon us, and with them comes the annual choice of whether to surrender to or resist their cheery traditions. Clearly intent on your surrender, the Actors' Playhouse in Coral Gables is presenting Annie, a big traditional musical staged in a big traditional way. But whereas past holiday...
All those damn kids are the problem!: As a recently retired police captain with 30 years of service, I have seen my share of death and destruction, particularly as it relates to the carnage that is occurring and has occurred on our highways. With this in mind, I attempted to...
A white, two-inch-tall teddy bear lies next to an M4 assault rifle. Behind them on a blue wall are T-shirts of Uncle Sam and the Statue of Liberty. One reads: "Fuck You Binn [sic] Laden." "And welcome to yet another Ted-E Adventure," a voice narrates. "This week's adventure is more...
Selling jazz albums in mass quantities usually involves some sort of trickery: Diana Krall's blue jeans, for instance. Back in the late '60s and early '70s, a common ploy was to include a contemporary pop standard, reinterpreted instrumentally. Sometimes the end would transcend the means and the result would wind...
Bitching about the system is as much a part of being in the military as bad food and dumb non-coms. But the longstanding complaints by National Guard soldiers in Iraq that they're always the last to get the latest battle equipment are starting to assume a deadly reality. "They always...
If you've read something in these pages about an upcoming event at the new Club Venu in downtown Fort Lauderdale, and, intrigued, decided to hoof it down there and check out a show... we apologize. God forbid you listened to us and took the plunge. Some fans grew suspicious not...
It's hard to imagine the development of skating without punk or other more aggressive forms of pop music, because it's always inspired the athletes," says Alan Deremo, musical director of "Tony Hawk's Boom Boom Huckjam." "There is a rhythmic aspect to punk that is very much conducive to skating and...
Talk about stepping into deep doggy doo. Authorities are still trying to piece together exactly what happened at an alleged local drug hangout in November 2002. What began as a late-night drug bust, with a scrum of Fort Lauderdale police officers poised to follow a battering ram into a marijuana...
When singer/songwriter/guitarist Sam Coomes closes the opener and title track to Quasi's latest album with "I just came back here to say goodbye," his signature strained croon as compelling as ever, you can't help but wonder who (or what) is being bid farewell. Considering he declared in a recent interview...
A not terribly long time ago in an uninhabitable galaxy called Burbank, a generally astute movie studio founded by four Polish siblings alienated a young hotshot filmmaker. The studio was Warner Bros., and the project was a cold, disturbing, highly stylized vision of a mechanized future called THX-1138. Not wholly...
The sun is setting on the 17th-annual Fort Lauderdale Blues Festival, and funk legend/rap innovator Clarence Reid, a.k.a. Blowfly, is pacing backstage. The lithe, six-foot-one, 58-year-old Reid has spent the afternoon waiting for Solomon Burke, the 400-pound, 62-year-old "King of Rock and Soul." Burke is headlining the festival and allegedly...
Maybe you know the feeling. Maybe it struck you one morning as you stared in the mirror before trundling off to the job you hate, or maybe it hit you so hard one night it woke you from your sleep like a prowler in the bedroom. It's that feeling of:...
Francine Katz is not happy. The 68-year-old Jewish matchmaker sits at her dining room table in Miami Beach, leafing through her big black date book. She shuffles through printouts of a 45-year-old divorcee looking for someone who is great with kids, a 28-year-old Hasidic man looking for a woman willing...
