Irv Mordes has a manuscript under his wrinkled and spotted hands, but he doesn't want to open it yet. It's too soon. He needs to build up anticipation for that four-inch-thick text of his life's most important work. So he ponderously goes through his story the way old men do,...
I'm not shaking my bonbon, and I'm not doing the Latin-lover thing," says Franky Perez. "I didn't set out to do a Latin record, because I didn't want to get trapped into that. But I'm an American of Cuban descent, and I'm very proud of that." The Las Vegas singer/songwriter's...
One of the maddening aspects of theater is how uncertainty plays havoc with the best-laid plans. Gather the best actors and directors to work on the best scripts and you still can end up with a misfire. That's the result of The Countess, now in production at the Caldwell Theatre...
In Dead Prez's world, politics and activism usually take precedence over the music or, to be more precise, motivate the music and give it a reason for being. Every song is another opportunity to talk about issues, whether it's the gentrification of "Hip-Hop," the transformation of urban America into a...
THU 5/15 Run, kids! Run as fast as you can! Bombardment League begins at Carver Ranches Park (4750 SW 21st St., Hollywood) at 6:30 p.m. today. Anyone who remembers grade-school P.E. class knows what the Bombardment League is about: in a phrase, dodge ball. This scourge upon the youth of...
I should know this by now: Never trust a restaurant whose written history has more mythological quantity to it than the Greeks and Romans combined. Chances are the quality of food is similarly a figment of somebody's overwrought imagination. I'm not exactly sure what led me to Iguana Mia in...
By now, most sports fans know that the Miami Herald on May 10 published an apparent blockbuster questioning the integrity of the nation's premier equine event, the Kentucky Derby. And by now, almost everyone knows the Herald blew it. Commentators around the world have hit the paper for falsely insinuating...
Editor's note: We received dozens of letters in response to Jeff Stratton's May 15 column about the Florida Philharmonic. Below are just a few examples; more will follow in coming weeks. You Get What You Pay For It could even happen here: Since Jeff Stratton works at an alternative weekly,...
Emil Danciu says he smelled victory a year ago. He's slouched in his chair and looks a bit out of place seated in front of his daughter's office desk. He's faced with a phalanx of framed baby photos. Charlotte Danciu, a Boca Raton attorney who specializes in adoption and juvenile...
I dragged my feet about going to a trio of exhibitions with religious content, all three currently at the Boca Raton Museum of Art. The titles of the shows -- "Lesser Ury: Images from the Bible," "Modern and Contemporary Works from Private Israeli Collections," and "Psychic Landscapes: Paintings by Michal...
WED 5/14 If you are a University of Florida alumnus or even just a Gator fan, you probably miss Steve Spurrier's presence on the Gainesville sidelines. Spurrier left Florida for greener pastures in the NFL last year. His reward? A 7-9 season with the Redskins and many grumbling Skins fans...
Dressed in a black Brooks Brothers suit, Michael Pecora strode into Signature Grand in Davie on Tuesday, April 29, as calm and affable as ever. Following his usual routine, Pecora had driven alone from his million-dollar home in Weston to the Grand, a two-story, salmon-colored catering center, which, with its...
Summer weather hasn't quite arrived in South Florida, but the Sol Theatre isn't in the mood to wait. This Fort Lauderdale-based company is setting off some fireworks of a theatrical nature in an uneven but sometimes dazzling production of a wildly imaginative play called Marisol. The Sol, in only its...
A reader recently wrote to me, disagreeing with my somewhat-critical review of Madras Café. If I'd eaten in other Indian restaurants around town, he wrote, then I'd know that Madras Café is much better than they are. My response? In short, I don't grade on a curve. That said, of...
Respects the dead: Finally the truth about George Zirwas and his life in Cuba ("Murdered in Havana," Kathy Glasgow and Lissette Corsa, April 17). I met George just once, about two weeks before his death, and I liked the man almost immediately. We argued for about two hours about U.S...
Even before the start of the Gulfstream Park season in January, horse trainer Mark Shuman and his boss, New Hampshire mortgage banker Michael Gill, were talking large about their prospects. They had sauntered into Hallandale Beach like a couple of pistoleros, muscling their way into the pastoral confines of the...
Many playwrights draw from their personal experiences, but Edward Albee appears to be downright obsessed. The veteran, venerable playwright returns again and again to familiar subjects: dysfunctional family dynamics and the inescapable isolation of human beings. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Tiny Alice, The Play About the Baby all seem...
Virginia-based Mae has packed together a background in hardcore, a love for Bruce Hornsby, and a wild-eyed aesthetic theory to produce some of the most bombastic rock ever to come out on an indie label. Singer/guitarist Dave Gimenez cracks a boisterous guffaw when it's suggested Mae's luscious debut, Destination: Beautiful,...
For years, Chicago-born MC Common (a.k.a. Lonnie Lynn) has been a standard-bearer for the Native Tongues' progressive style of hip-hop. During this time, he's been rightly celebrated for his intelligent lyrics and his rejection of hip-hop's rampant misogyny (³I'll never call you my bitch or even my boo,² he promised...
Adrian Sherwood's pioneering work with bands like Tackhead was a major influence in the rise of the industrial and Bristol trip-hop sounds of the '90s. His early use of sampling and ambient noise with projects such as Dub Syndicate and African Head Charge established the basis for the dubby dance...
Artists are funny people. There are the struggling, the certifiably insane, the eccentrics, the faux-eccentrics, the drunks, the pretentious fops, and those ubiquitous "starving" artists. Then there are the artists who catch you off-guard by creating a collage of new beats out of old sounds at once genuine, poetic, and...
THU 5/1 Though it started yesterday, SunFest continues through Sunday in West Palm Beach along Flagler Drive from Banyan Boulevard to Lakeview Drive, bringing you the very best in... well, let's not delve into hyperbole. Many media outlets with music coverage, including New Times, have derided SunFest in general and...
