High Society p.24
Mayhem p.4
Tova Leidesdorf Hosts Soiree for the Weismann Institute at the Alexander
Campy Cocktails for Your New Year’s Home-Based Bash
Vol. XXV No. 52
December 30, 2010
Visit us at sunpostweekly.com
Miami 2010!
A LO O K BAC K
Covering Miami Beach, North Bay Village, Surfside, Bay Harbor Islands, Bal Harbour, Sunny Isles Beach, North Miami, North Miami Beach and Aventura, Coconut Grove, Brickell Avenue, Downtown, Design District, Wynwood, Upper Eastside, and Miami Shores. EXECUTIVE EDITOR Kim Stark kim@sunpostweekly.com SOCIETY EDITOR Jeannette Stark jeannette@sunpostweekly.com COPY EDITOR Mary Louise English CALENDAR EDITOR Jake Orsinni calendar@sunpostweekly.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jeffrey Bradley Charles Branham-Bailey Stuart Davidson
Marguerite Gil John Hood Dr. Sonjia Kenya Joshua Malina Ruben Rosario Mary Jo Almeida-Shore Michael Sasser Kim Steiner CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Stuart Davidson Jennifer Fragoso Marguerite Gil Ines Hegedus-Garcia Jipsy Mary Jo Almeida-Shore Mitchell Zachs
Page 2 • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • SunPost Weekly • www.sunpostweekly.com
PRESIDENT & PUBLISHER
PUBLISHER EMERITUS
Kim Stark
Felix Stark (1929-1995)
kim@sunpostweekly.com WEB SITE sunpostweekly.com ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Stuart Davidson
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ACCOUNTING
MAILING ADDRESS
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FOR ADVERTISING & RATE INFO: Please call 305.482.1785 or email kim@sunpostweekly.com
www.sunpostweekly.com • SunPost Weekly • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • Page 3
Tropical Mayhem BITS AND PIECES OF MIAMI LIFE
Miami through my iphone
MIAMI SAILS by Ines Hegedus-Garcia - miamism.com - ines@miamism.com Even when it’s not the ideal boating season, you can still enjoy Miami waters. Here’s a shot from The Miami Yacht Club right behind Jungle Island overlooking Hibiscus, Palm and The Venetian Islands. Lounging by the pool, enjoying the view and the company during the holidays.
Swingin’ New Year’s Cocktails It’s New Year’s Eve and you have decided to stay home. That is cool, not everyone likes to brave the madness and mayhem that is Miami during peak party time. We’ve come up with a few rocking cocktails that you can enjoy while you toast your TV. Start the evening off with a 24:75. Sounds so efficient! GLASS Flute GARNISH Fresh cherry METHOD Shake and strain into chilled glass, top with Champagne 20ML Beefeater 24 20ML Sencha tea syrup 10ML Lemon juice TOP UP Champagne Then we suggest the Ruby Negroni 1 PART Beefeater Gin 1/2 PART Campari
1/2 PART Tawny port 1/4 PART Raspberry syrup 3 PARTS Prosecco METHOD Stir the first 4 ingredients on ice in a jug or glass and then strain into a champagne flute. Top up with prosecco and garnish with a raspberry. And Finally end the evening with your midnight toast with the delectible French 75. Yum! 2 PARTS Beefeater Gin 2 PART Freshly squeezed lemon juice 1 PART Sugar syrup TO TOP Champagne METHOD Shake the gin, lemon juice and sugar syrup with ice, then strain into a Champagne flute. Top with the Champagne, and garnish with a Maraschino cherry.
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www.miamisunpost.com • The SunPost • December 30, 2010 • Page 5
Can He Say That? COLUMN
Don’t Drink the Snail Mucus, Especially From a Shrek Cup By Charles Branham-Bailey sobefla@gmail.com
On the subject of New Year’s Day resolutions, Mark Twain (whose autobiography just this year, a century after he started pushing up daisies, made it to the booksellers) pithily noted, “Yesterday, everybody smoked his last cigar, took his last drink, and swore his last oath. Thirty days from now, we shall have cast our reformation to the winds and gone to cutting our ancient short comings considerably shorter than ever.” But, first, before we’re thirty days into a new year, a replay of some of the old: A set of false chompers once worn by Churchill sold at auction for $23,000. A toilet once used by John Lennon went for nearly $15,000. A commode that once knew well the reclusive ass cheeks of J. D. Salinger, who died this year, was listed on Ebay for $1 million. Soon, a late Miami playboy’s estate plans to offer 42-year-old underpanties purportedly once belonging to the Queen of England. Victoria’s secret? No, Elizabeth the Second’s. Asking price: $9,000. Chelsea Clinton married, Al and Tipper Gore split, and Bristol Palin and Levi Johnston got engaged. Again. Then broke up. Again. Jews control the media, so implieth Rick Sanchez. Jews should vacate Palestine, so declareth Helen Thomas. Muslims on planes unnerve me, so confideth Juan Williams. Zionist-supporting America was behind the 9/11 attacks, so ranteth Iran’s demented leader at the U.N. The only one among the four who retains his job is also the boil on the world’s butt that is the most worrisome. If the dwindling patience of the Israelis has anything to do about it, his mouth might be shut for good in 2011. From a crazy Holocaust denier to its originator: A DNA report obtained by the Daily Mail suggests Hitler may have descended from both Jews and Africans. Oy vey! Say what, dawg? Lady Gaga has far more Facebook followers than you’ll ever have: 11.3 million, as of July, a record for a living person. It is unlikely that Elton John is one of them. “I’m at that stage where I don’t think I can write pop music anymore,” The Rocket Man, 63, confessed this year, feeling too old to compete with the likes of Gaga, 24. Fact: 3,283 tweets per second were posted during the World Cup. Fact: 71% of all tweets are ignored. Not this one, apparently: Tweeting her disapproval of a mosque near Ground Zero, Sarah Palin wrote that Muslims should “refudiate” the plan. Somewhere in Texas, Dubya must be getting a good chuckle. And joking about deserving a royalty.
Nearly $10 billion was pledged by donor nations at an April UN conference to help rebuild quake-devastated Haiti. Nearly a year later, much of that has yet to materialize. Inspired to help, Charlie Simpson, a seven-year-old British boy, organized a sponsored bike ride in a London park, hoping to raise $800. He hauled in $160,000. As of November, only 5% of rubble had been removed from Haitian streets. A 51-year-old man in Vegas set the new world record for hugs given in 24 hours: 7,777. Doubtless, none compared in heart-felt sincerity to the ones that awaited 33 Chilean copper miners upon being carefully, methodically extracted from their 69-day underground prison, snatched from death. Toyota recalled 2.3 million vehicles due to faulty gas pedals. GM recalled 1.5 million for faulty windshield wiper systems. A most unHappy Meal: McDonald’s recalled 12 million Shrek drinking glasses after traces of cadmium, a carcinogen, were found in the paint on the cups. But it’s only a matter of time before they are pictured with Happy Meals spread out before them: Researchers looking at 52 painted versions of the meal determined that the portion sizes at the Last Supper have increased 69% over the last millennium. On the subject of masterpieces, a Van Gogh – worth $50 million – was stolen from a Cairo art museum. Number of alarms that were functioning: 0. Once the number-crunching is done, the airline industry is forecast to earn a projected $2.5 billion profit in 2010. Some of that no doubt comes from charging fees for carry-on baggage, which if it takes off can be blamed on (South Florida-based) Spirit Airlines, which started doing so last summer. And proving that no dumb deed goes unrewarded with something even dumber, ex-JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater had a hissy fit, grabbed two beers, and slid down a rescue chute to 25 reality show offers. Four women – a new record – were simultaneously in space following a shuttle launch this year. Three women – a new record – now comprise the U.S. Supreme Court. It’s not wise to deny teenagers things like senior proms. It can be costly. Constance McMillen of Mississippi wanted to bring her girlfriend to hers. Turned down, she got even and sued her school district. A $35,000 settlement was reached. Another Mississippi lesbian student, Ceara Sturgis, is suing her district for excluding a photo of her in a tux from her school’s yearbook. This would be a good time for Mississippi
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LENA HORNE
to consider investing in diversity training. And calendars that read 2011 and not 1811. Truth in advertising – or not: Of over 5,200 “green” products surveyed in the U.S. and Canada, 95% were found to have unproven environmental claims. An environmental calamity that’s indisputable: Twenty years ago, there were 100,000 tigers in the Asian wild; that number now hovers at 3,200. What kind of democracy are we trying to introduce in all this nation-building? Out of 5.6 million votes cast in Afghanistan’s September elections, 1 out of every 4 was fraudulent. Persistence may eventually pay off: Alvin Greene, an unemployed Army vet who unexpectedly won the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate from South Carolina, suggested that making action figures of himself would help spur job creation. He lost. Undeterred by defeat – or by his stupidity – he now seeks a statehouse seat in an upcoming special election. The housing bubble hasn’t exactly burst for everyone: Mukesh Ambani, India’s richest man, now has had built for him in Mumbai a single-family home, 27 stories tall, with three helipads. All for $1 billion. Signs that the local gene pool has a little too much algae: Exhibit #1: Two days before Christmas, a man was seized at LAX airport for carrying 14 pounds of coke in his luggage. Concealed inside Easter eggs. The ingenious smuggler? Esteban Galtes. From Miami, natch. Exhibit #2: Before she died in March, Miami millionaire Gail Posner willed $3 million to a loved one, Conchita. She left only $1 million to her son Brett. Conchita is a Chihuahua. The (well-)pampered bitch (Conchita, that is, not the departed Gail, though that might be debatable) shares her fortune with two other mutts. A probate expert confirmed that Florida legally allows any nut to let his or her trust money go to the dogs. Brett is contesting. Exhibit #3: The feds raided the Miami home of Charles L. Stewart in January after receiving complaints. Devotees to Stewart and the traditional African
religion he practices say they were sickened after drinking the mucus of a giant African snail (prohibited in the U.S. without special approval) used in “healing ceremonies.” Gone is Lena Horne, 92, who surmounted the stormy weather of racism with a voice that entranced movie and theater goers for over half a century. Daniel Schorr, 93, was put in front of a radio mic by the Great Murrow, then circuited from televised news on CBS to CNN, with a place on Nixon’s enemies list and a congressional contempt citation along the way, before closing a long and distinguished career with a return to radio, at NPR. Alexander Haig, 85, steadied a collapsing Nixon presidency in 1974 and from behind the scenes eased the nation into a transition to Ford. The Southern belle charm of Rue McClanahan, 76, gave a TV comedy about four Miami retirees a saucy, sexy sass. Patsy Cline could fall to pieces and Eddy Arnold could ask to make the world go away because Hank Cochran, 74, wrote the lyrics. Tom Bosley, 83, played a cranky, yet lovable, dad on a popular series about the 50’s while Barbara Billingsley, 94, played an unflappable mom on a popular series actually from the 50’s. Many a young boy, including me, could sing the theme song of Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, because we watched Fess Parker, 85, portray Davy, then, later, Daniel Boone. Gloria Stuart, 100, a faded screen actress from Hollywood’s past, was resurrected in the winter of her life and, through one of the most titanic blockbusters of our time, introduced to new audiences. Pavarotti called Joan Sutherland, 83, the greatest coloratura soprano “of all time.” And Clara Belle Denning, 86, taught high school English and journalism, serving as adviser to the school paper and yearbook staffs, then spent her retirement years traveling the globe beyond her small Ohio River valley hamlet in West Virginia. For decades, she imparted the 5 W’s of news writing to many a journalism student, one of whom still employs her lessons in the Miami Beach weekly for which he writes.
Politics COLUMN
Gunfight at Miami-Dade Corral Transit Style, That is By Jeffrey Bradley
The bad guys are in town. They’re down at the OK corral, awaiting a shoot-out. But these aren’t Texas toughs or high plains drifters, just various under- and overlings of the MDT (Miami Dade Transit department). Enter Wyatt Earp and a band of white hats (read: Transit Director Harpal Kapoor and the Feds). We all know the coda to this story, right? A hail of bullets puts the bad guys up on Boot Hill. Only this time it’s not quite so clear who wears the black hats or the white turbans. And while a few of the baddies have already been felled, there’s no way of knowing the final body count because the gunfight’s still raging. But who’s been doing what to who, and how they do it when they do, is abundantly clear. This being the County, there’s money involved. Lots of money. And truth be told, no tale of the Old West comes close to the wickedness of the cronies of County Hall. This familiar story grows only more sordid in the retelling. Financial shenanigans at MDT, Dade County’s third largest agency, early on caught the notice—and ire—of federal regulators concerned with the alarming lack of controls or even accountability over the $800 million a year budget. No local officials took any steps to arrest the incipient crisis altho’ they knew of it as far back as summer. By November the FTA (Federal Transit Administration) decided to suspend $180 million in transit grants. Coming hard on the heels of the 2007 federal takeover of the county housing agency after the lid on that septic tank blew, this latest federal fuming over the ineffectiveness of Transit’s internal constraints caused Miami-Dade’s slumping bond program to take another hit among Wall Street rating agencies—oddly enough! That’s not the only applecart threatened with upset. This latest transit imbroglio not only stinks to high heaven but to the very halls of Congress, where future funding requests are threatened. MTA’s reputation, already blemished in federal eyes, just hit a new nadir. Worse, this turned-over rock ex-
posed incompetence, illegalities and infamy, and charges of administrators misleading federal auditors. Hundreds of documents, interviews and emails show a department beset by more infighting, plot twists and betrayal than Machiavelli’s The Art of War. The rats soon began deserting the sinking ship, or turning on each other to deflect blame (“man up” apparently has no resonance with the political set), as staffers ran end-arounds their superiors or appealed directly to the feds. Appropriately, by Halloween, goblinesque emails began piling up. Luckily, the reach of the 17th Street Irregulars (our spies, informers and infernal-device anarchists that haunt the halls of power) extends to County Hall. And the backstory we got suggests that Assistant Transit Director Marjan Mazza, who popped off the loudest and clashed most frequently with Transit Director Kapoor, was in league with Transit Controller Joelle Janvier to practice malfeasance—wrongful conduct of a public official—then cover it up. Bear in mind Mazza was second-in-command of transit, and that a Controller (Comptroller?) handles the money. It goes higher. County Manager George Burgess first denied anything wrong, then pooh-poohed the mounting mess. He also withheld key information that might well have reassured auditors. But when stuff hits the fan at the County level it gets all over everything. Even the County Commission, probably able to distance itself truthfully for once, brought an awfully suspicious “outrage” to the party, especially when their actions effectively destabilized the transit department to begin with. Nor has that august body’s troubled and troubling presence done anything more than further tarnish a much-maligned image. These are the folks that squandered the halfpenny tax revenue and spent it on everything except transit. The agency’s now in thrall to misconduct, corruption, laxity. In essence, myriad Neros fiddle while
Rome burns. And the taint is everywhere: the Easy Card fare card was unequipped with basic antifraud features, so thieves were able to steal away a quarter million dollars; flaws in procurement practices made ineligible County requests for grants, and invalid expenditures canceled out reimbursements, among others, which prompted the federal review of the process. All the while Kapoor beseeched employees to assume responsibility minus the finger pointing rank incompetence overlay a deeper, more sinister malaise as Ms Mazza and her assistant completely ignored federal strictures against any more funding and tried accessing $15 million through an online account—which the irate feds have demanded back. But in revealing desperation, the pair went to the county budget director instead to complain that Kapoor had encouraged them to break the rules. They were deflected to Human Rights and Fair Employment Practices, where they filed complaints. With the feds closing in, noose in hand, things turned ugly as goading by auditors elicited nothing more than a penchant for backstabbing, sideslipping and crab-bucket maneuvering. The disingenuous Ms Mazza opined her job didn’t include ensuring that contracts met federal guidelines, before attempting to shift the blame (in our book, you draw down the funds then you better know what the fine print says). In a no-it’s-not, yes-it-is playground argument, she chided a colleague for not taking responsibility “for your role.” A wearied federal auditor copied on these frantic emails informed her that “Mr. Kapoor’s statements contradict your representations”—officalspeak for better get your act together. Sensing she was about to go over, the frenetic Ms Mazza next ran to an assistant county manager overseeing Transit to claim that her boss, Kapoor, lied. Both that administrator and Burgess himself kept their own counsel, and left the supplicant to twist in the wind. On November 23rd Mazza got fired, and that very day her compadre Janvier was reassigned. Amid the burgeoning chaos, the FTA suspended payments until corrective actions are taken. We’d love to see the rest of those emails! Lastly, a former transit employee known to us from the days when ART—the Alliance for Reliable Transport—actually mattered, Jeff Bechdel left over $20K stuffed in a drawer when he left in 2009 and couldn’t account for another $120,000 because of “lousy” bookkeeping. Shocked by these disclosures—he wasn’t charged with theft because of a lack of evidence and because these actions were just one more torpedo to a sinking ship—if guilty we’d be the first to string him up by the thumbs. He was supposed to represent the interests of Miami Beach in that transit rathole. Where’s Doc Holiday when we need him?
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COVER STORY
Miami 2010! A
L O O K
B A C K
Written by John Hood Contributing Writer
hat? You’ve got to be kidding. You mean to tell me that 2010 is over already? Are you sure? Man, that was some kinda fast, wasn’t it? Hell, if you would’ve blinked, you could’ve missed it. Then what would you do? Pretend it didn’t happen in the first place? I just bet. Come to think of it, there are more than a few folks out there in this wild world of ours who are undoubtedly wishing 2010 didn’t happen – or didn’t happen to them anyway. And I bet a billion bucks if they could go back and blink it away they would. The thing about it is: they did blink – in some cases more than once too. And each and every one of them missed their chance to do the right thing – or to at least avoid doing something very wrong. Who am I talkin’ about? Well, Charlie Crist for one, who seemed to blink himself right outta politics. The out-going governor first blinked when he decided to leave Tallahassee and run for Mel Martinez’s senate seat. (What was he thinking?) Then he blinked when Tea Party pretty boy Marco Rubio stepped in to go against him. He blinked when the Diaz-Balart brothers rescinded their endorsement (he should have told the world they did so, in part, because Crist put a black woman on the bench in Gadsden County), and he blinked when his post-stimulus hug of Obama was used as an attack (he should’ve made clear that governors Bobby Jindal, Sarah Palin, Mark Sanford and Haley Barbour all accepted stimulus money too). He blinked in the primary, he blinked in the general election, and he didn’t stop blinking till the Rube walked away with the race. To be fair Crist continued to stand by Florida Republican Party Chairman Jim Greer when the conservatives went gunning for him, but it was a dim year for the man once dubbed “Gov. Sunshine.” And it’s a bet he wishes he could blink it all away. Another formerly Floridian who probably wishes he could blink away the year is Rick Sanchez, who put his considerable foot in his considerable mouth back in October – and left
W
OPENING OF THE LORDS HOTEL
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it there for a full twenty minutes! I’m referring, of course, to Sanchez’s inglorious face-plant on Stand Up with Pete Dominick!, where the lummox not only had the audacity to call Jon Stewart “a bigot,” but to claim that The Daily Show host and his fellow Jews had no idea what it was like to be discriminated against. Too add insult to stupidity, Sanchez then said that “that everybody who runs CNN” (which had given him an anchor position), “and a lot of people who run all the other networks are a lot like Stewart.” In other words: liberal Jews. CNN, naturally, wasn’t pleased, and the broadcaster quickly issued a very terse, twosentence statement that read: “Rick Sanchez is no longer with the company. We thank Rick for his years of service and we wish him well.” Since Sanchez also lambasted the “angry white men” at Fox News on that momentous occasion, it’s unlikely he’ll be pulling a Juan Williams either. Williams, who is “not a bigot,“ is the former NPR news analyst who told Bill O’Reilly that gets “nervous” and “worried” when he sees “people who are in Muslim garb” on a plane, and who “are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims.” NPR, which was already miffed at Williams for frequenting Fox News to begin with, abruptly gave Williams his walking papers. Fox News responded by giving him a job. No, Williams’ remarks – which he qualified unconditionally and justified as “free speech” – were not half as ignorant as Sanchez’s, but both reveal a deep-seated fear of the other. And neither have room at the end of the first decade of the 21st century. Of course the year consisted of more than pratfalls from grace and ingrown prejudice. In fact, despite a contracting economy Dubai officially opened the Burj Khalifa, now the tallest man-made structure on the planet. Sure, Abu Dhabi had to give its sister emirate $10 billion to help pay off its debts, but one look at the shimmering tower will tell you the money was well spent – especially if you’re talking about buying bragging rights. At 828m (2,716ft) high, the Burj Khalifa is far taller than the previous record holder, Taipei 101, and the 28,000 glass
LEE / MAJOR
HAITI SAZ EVENT. PHOTO: SONIA MALBRANCHE
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panels will keep an army of window-washers employed till the Kingdom really does come. How long it takes Dubai to rent the 160-story tower’s more than 500,000 square meters of office and flat space is anybody’s guess. But it’ll probably be before someone jumps from the 124th floor observatory. Or will it? Here in Miami, we got to see the rise of another skyscraper too, and while ours only set back its owners a billion dollars, it put Downtown back on the map as a world-class destination – and it beat Dubai to the punch. In fact, as the first of the company’s new line of luxury inns, the Marriott Marquis beat everyone to the punch. And its affixed Beaux Arts tower brought back a bit of mid-century charm to a neighborhood that had begun to look as if it hadn’t been visited since then. Okay, so I exaggerate. Both The Epic (which is right across the street) and The Viceroy (which is right across the River) brought about a certain swing to the inner city. And each remains the kinda inns (and residences) of which we can openly boast. But the Marquis – with its Mad Men-like suites and it db Bistro eating – makes for a whole new buzz. And that’s essential in a town that often seems to exist solely on the sounds that bees make. There were other openings in 2010 – from Panther Coffee in Wynwood (which served as a sorta de facto host for some crazy Art Basel block parties) to The Lords Hotel (the nation’s first gay boutique inn) and its attendant restaurant Cha Cha Rooster (where the fare is decidedly fine, no matter what your sexual preference) – and each and every time another new venture opened its doors the hive buzzed just a little bit louder. Gigi made Midtown a hotspot for foodies who dine well into the wee hours of the morning, and La Fee Verte gave North Beach a bawdy house of its own and a whole new reason for being. But for all the buzz and the brouhaha we’re still a city that cares enough about others to share some of our wealth and expertise. So when a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti back in January, Miamians led the world in responding to our neighbors’ needs. In addition to the usual suspects (i.e. Red Cross, United Way, etc), there wasn’t a venue in town that didn’t step up to help in some way. Off the top of my head I recall clubs like The Vagabond throwing fundraisers and collecting donations, and each and every school from pre-K to college launched various efforts of their own as well. Miami served as a launching pad, from firstresponders onward. And our city continues to work in whatever capacity its called upon. More importantly perhaps are the continuing efforts underway to help restore Haitians’ dignity, and to remind the world that the country has a robust cultural history which is continuing to be made. If you checked the list of this year’s Grammy
LEFT: JOHN STEWART OF THE DAILY SHOW. RIGHT: RICK SANCHEZ
nominations you’ll have seen two entries for Alan Lomax in Haiti: Recordings for the Library of Congress, 1936-1937, which received nods for both Best Historical Album and Best Album Notes. Captured by a then 21-year-old Lomax and featuring a plethora of song styles, the 10-disc box set was execuitive produced by Kimberly Green of the Green Family Foundation (GFF) and it has helped pave the way for Haiti to again be considered for its culture rather than its tragedies. Right after the
Haiti is perceived to be a country filled with people of instead of victims, there can be no true change. Okay, so maybe this isn’t a cure-all for what ails Haiti. But it does show what people are capable of, given the chance. The efforts also illustrate the kinda can-do attitude that has made Miami such an increasingly magnanimous place. Regardless of what we’re faced with, we don’t blink. Not simply because we don’t wanna miss something, but because we don’t wanna miss out on
“We’re still a city that cares enough about others to share some of our wealth and expertise. So when a 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti back in January, Miamians led the world in responding to our neighbors needs.” earthquake, GFF and actor Fisher Stevens (whose documentary War Against War covers the country’s UN peacekeeping mission) launched “This is Haiti,” a series of PSAs culled from Lomax’s recordings and narrated by the likes of Naomi Watts, Ben Stiller and Sting. Since then the music has been used as a backdrop and focus point to the GFF-backed tour “Sinema anba Zetwal” (“Cinema Under the Stars”), which produced concerts and film screenings all along the faultline and gave Haitians a chance to see and hear the sounds of their forebears, in many cases for the first time. And more recently the revered New Orleans Jazz Festival invited GFF and its partners, among them Anna Lomax Wood, the ethnomusicologist’s daughter, to curate the Haiti Pavilion in 2011. As the adage says: “perception is everything.” And until
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a chance to do something. As another year dawns, and another series of opportunities arise, we all get another chance. It’s up to us to keep our eyes wide open.
BELOW: MICHEAL CAPPONI AND WYCLIFF JEAN AT A HAITI RELIEF EVENT DURING ART BASEL
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www.sunpostweekly.com • SunPost Weekly • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • Page 13
Calendar WHAT TO DO IN MIAMI THIS WEEK
LEONA LEWIS
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December 31 MUSIC Usher Pop crooner Usher brings his OMG Tour with guest performers Trey Songz and Miguel. 9pm. $41-$380.50. American Airlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd; Miami. For info: aaarena.com
December 31 MUSIC Jam on the Sand Ring in the New Year with Orange Drive’s Jam on the Sand with UK Popstar Leona Lewis, Natasha Bedingfeld and DJ Irie. Champagne toast and fireworks. Ocean Drive; Miami Beach. For info: orangedr.com.
December 31 NEW YEAR'S EVE Bayfront Park Bayfront Park is the place to be for the largest Free New Year party in south Florida. A Disco Dance Party with DJ Tarik spinning tunes and a count down to midnight with Miami's own Big Orange. Fireworks at midnight. 8pm. Bayfront Park, 301 N. Biscayne Boulevard, Miami. For info: bayfrontparkmiami.com or 305358-7550
December 30 COMEDY Jay Leno The Tonight Show host Jay Leno will bring his popular stand-up show back to Hard Rock Live replacing the Lewis Black comedy show originally scheduled for December 30. Leno followed in the footsteps of legendary NBC late-night hosts Steve Allen, Jack Paar and Johnny Carson as the host of the Emmy Awardwinning and top-rated The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, he honed his comedy in clubs all over the country, often exceeding 300 dates per year. 8pm. $44 -$104. Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way; Hollywood. For info: hardrocklivehollywoodfl.com
December 30 STYLE Rodney Cutler
FAR LEFT: KIRIKOU AND THE SORCERESS AT THE KIDFLIX FESTIVAL. LEFT: JAY LENO DOES THE HARD ROCK.
SAVE THE DATE:
From the pages of Allure and WWD magazines, to the Aventura salon tucked inside GBS, The Beauty Store, comes celebrity stylist Rodney Cutler for a special three hour meet and greet featuring complimentary cuts, styling, product demos and one-on-one consultations. Cutler will be cocked and loaded with all his styling supplies to show shoppers the tricks-of-the-trade for runway to reality looks, simplifying the 2011 runway hair trends for everyday life. 5pm. Free. GBS, The Beauty Store, 18545 West Dixie Hwy., Aventura. For info: 305-931-5291.
December 30-31 KIDS Kidflix Final few days of the Kid Flix Festival. The final two films shown at the film festival are the original 1963 children’s film classic about the loveable bottlenose dolphin Flipper (filmed by Miami’s own Ivan Tors Studios.) and Kirikou and the Sorceress, the tale of tiny Kirikou, a clever, courageous boy born in an African village on which the wicked Sorceress has placed a terrible curse. Each screening will be followed by fun film-related activities for children and their parents to enjoy. $6 for kids. $9 for adults. 2:30pm. The Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave; Miami Beach. For info: kidflixfestival.com
December 31 FILM The Freebie A one night experiment in infidelity, half romantic comedy, half a serious look at thirty-something angst. The Freebie is an insightful and humorous take on love, sustaining relationships and the awkwardness of monogamy when the haze of lust had faded. 7pm. $9. Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave; Coral Gables. For info: cinemateque.org
SATURDAY, JANUARY 15, 2011
Whoopi Goldberg ONE OF THE VERY FEW EXTRAORDINARY ARTISTS HONORED WITH OSCAR, TONY, GRAMMY, GOLDEN GLOBE, AND EMMY AWARDS, WHOOPI GOLDBERG'S COMIC WIT SURPASSES EVEN HER STUNNING LIST OF ACCOLADES. HER WISE AND WITTY REPARTEE IS A DAILY TREAT ON ABC'S THE VIEW, AND HER MANY STINTS AS HOST OF THE ACADEMY AWARDS ARE THE STUFF OF COMIC LEGEND. GOLDBERG BRINGS HER INIMITABLE STYLE AND OUTSTANDING BODY OF WORK FOR A ONE-NIGHT PERFORMANCE IN MIAMI. 8PM. $50 - $95. ZIFF BALLET OPERA HOUSE, 1300 BISCAYNE BLVD, MIAMI. FOR INFO: ARSHTCENTER.ORG. www.sunpostweekly.com • SunPost Weekly • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • Page 15
Calendar WHAT TO DO IN MIAMI THIS WEEK
LIN ARISON
January 1 FILM Tiny Furniture Using her own family members and friends, Filmmaker Lena Dunham explores the pain and disappointment of returning home after leaving the nest in her new movie Tiny Furniture. Depressed and disillusioned, Dunham learns that a college degree may not be the ticket to success that has often been promised by the system and she finds humor and beauty in this story of self-discovery. $8. 7pm. Bill Cosford Cinema, 1111 Memorial Drive, South Miami. For info: cosfordcinema.com
January 2 MUSIC Haitian Independence Day Concert Fun concert celebrating Haiti Independence. Featuring Farah Juste with special guests: Emeline Michel, Beethova Obas, and the Laissez-Faire Dance Group. 7pm. $24. James L. Night Center, 400 SE 2nd Ave; Miami. For info: jlkc.com
January 2
mandy Gym Fitness Fair. The fair will run for seven days each day working on a different dimension of their fitness principle. Head on over to take part in workshops, training sessions and donor drives. Runs through January 10. Normandy Gym, 1145 71st St; Miami Beach. For info: normandygym.com
January 5 BOOKS Lin Arison Bal Harbour resident Lin Arison presents her latest book, Feast for the Senses, A Musical Odyssey in Umbria, at a reading at Books and Books. Part memoir, part travelogue, this lushly illustrated multi-media book showcases New World Symphony musicians performing in the most beautiful and rare Italian locations, and features all the sites, foods, crafts and festivals that give the Italian region of Umbria its unique character. 7:30pm. Books & Books, Bal Harbour Shops, 9700 Collins Avenue, Bal Harbour. For info: booksandbooks.com
ABOVE: FLIPPER. MIDDLE: THE GOO GOO DOLLS. BELOW: SALUTE TO VIENNA.
FOR KIDS
MUSIC Salute to Vienna Inspired by Vienna’s world famous Neujahrskonzert, this holiday tradition from the The Strauss Symphony of America for a 12th consecutive year. A cast of European singers and dancers perform famous Strauss waltzes, polkas and operetta excerpts. 7pm. $45 to $105. Knight Concert Hall, 1300 Biscayne Blvd; Miami. For info: arshtcenter.org
January 3 MUSIC Goo Goo Dolls Indie rockers, the Goo Goo Dolls will perform at the Orange Bowl for a special halftime show during the orange bowl. $95 to $215. 8pm. Sun Life Stadium, 2267 Dan Marino Blvd; Miami Gardens. For info: orangebowl.org
January 3 HEALTH Fitness Fair Learn all about the 7 dimensions of fitness at the first annual NorPage 16 • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • SunPost Weekly • www.sunpostweekly.com
SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 2010
Comic Kraze THIS IS A GREAT WORKSHOP FOR OLDER KIDS. THE DIGITAL WOLF LAB @ THE WOLFSONIAN–FIU WILL ONCE AGAIN OFFER COMIC KRAZE, A SERIES OF WORKSHOPS FOR TEENS AGED 14-17 ON THE ART OF COMICS AND GRAPHIC NOVELS. THE FREE COURSES WILL TAKE PLACE AT THE WOLFSONIAN, 1001 WASHINGTON AVE., MIAMI BEACH. FOR INFO: EMAIL CLAUDIA SULLIVAN AT OR 305.535.2684.
www.sunpostweekly.com • SunPost Weekly • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • Page 17
Cinema
I AM LOVE
REVIEW
Movie Love: Best of 2010 By Ruben Rosario (ruben@sunpostweekly.com)
Oscar Night 2010. Barbra Streisand opens the envelope. “Well, the time has come,” she enthuses as she calls out Kathryn Bigelow’s name. As the Hurt Locker director walks up to the stage to pick up the first Academy Award for Best Director ever given to a woman, you could hear that glass ceiling
studio system-meets-indie spirit kind of way. I daresay some of the pixie dust from that night carried over to imbue the rest of the movie year with just a little more glamour than usual. I’m not saying 2010 was a fantastic year for film, but I think disaffected viewers ready to write it
SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD
shatter...at least for one night. Seeing the two filmmakers embrace as Streisand hands Bigelow the golden statuette was simply grand, magical in a rare,
off as an underwhelming sampling are probably making a snap judgment based on the higher-profile titles that graced American screens in the past I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS
Page 18 • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • SunPost Weekly • www.sunpostweekly.com
twelve months. Whether you saw all your movies at the mall cineplex or favored the hushed confines of an arthouse, love of film was everywhere you looked in 2010. It was there in the new generation of movie buffs who traveled back in time with Marty McFly in the special reissue of Back to the Future. It was there in the thunderous applause that greeted every screening of Fritz Lang’s restored version of Metropolis at the Miami Beach Cinematheque. It was even there in the spirited conversation an usher at the Tower Theater had with a middle-aged Cuban couple following a showing of Wild Grass. For South Florida moviegoers, it was a year of goodbyes. That cozy “Temple to Cinema” tucked away on Española Way closed its doors as the Miami Beach Cinematheque migrated to its just-aboutready-to-open new home on the ground floor of the Historic City Hall on Washington Avenue. Sunrise Cinemas, the locally owned theater chain that includes North Miami Beach’s Intracoastal Mall theater and Fort Lauderdale’s Gateway Cinema, was quietly bought out by Frank Theatres, an event that was hardly covered by the local media. It was also a year of new beginnings. Two nonprofit theaters catering to wildly diverse audiences set up shop in Coral Gables and Wynwood, creating in the process an arthouse boom the likes of which Miami has not seen in decades. And just this month, Muvico Theaters reopened its Hialeah location as a state-of-the-art megaplex featuring Sony’s ultracrisp 4K digital projection and an auditorium retrofitted with a newfangled motion simulation system (seats that move in synchronicity with the action onscreen) from Canadian company D-BOX Technologies. But before I become mired in techie lingo, let’s get back to the reason we’re here: good old-fashioned, staticseat movies. The time has come for me to cite the ten films that restored my faith in the seventh art, the ones
more prone to make me do a happy dance whenever I think of them. It’s worth noting that seven of the following titles are already available on DVD and, in all but one case, Blu-ray, so keep feeding those rental queues. Let’s start at the bottom of the list and work our way to the top, shall we? 10. I Love You Phillip Morris: Ace Ventura and Obi-Wan, sitting in a tree: K-I-S-S-I-N-G. If the other nine titles on this list constitute a film lover’s feast, then the gleefully irreverent – and disarmingly sweet – tale of real-life con artist Steven Jay Russell and the soft-spoken prison inmate who loves him is dessert. As the unlikely couple, Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor deliver their most nuanced work in ages. My kind of feel-good movie. 9. Mother: The Korean New Wave hit a high point with this haunting murder mystery in which the title character (a phenomenal Kim Hye-ja) goes to extreme lengths to prove her mentally challenged son did not kill a girl he fancied. Like he did in his previous effort, the sensational monster movie The Host, director Bong Joon-ho displays a gift for inserting satirical social commentary in otherwise straightforward genre material. His masterful shifts in tone often happen within the same scene. (!) 8. Winter’s Bone: Debra Granik’s riveting film noir/coming of age story, this year’s Grand Jury Prize winner at Sundance, was that rare festival darling that lived up to the hype. As Ree Dolly, the stubborn Ozark Mountains girl determined to find her meth-dealing dad before she and the rest of her family lose their home, Jennifer Lawrence gives the year’s breakthrough performance as a beacon of goodness adrift in a stark, morally corrupt landscape. An Amerindie gem. 7. Vincere: Before he became Il Duce, Benito Mussolini had an all-consuming affair with Ida Dalser, the headstrong woman who would become his first wife and, following his rise to power, a
rather vocal thorn on his side that needed to be silenced. The turbulent political climate of pre-WWII Italy is merely a backdrop for veteran director Marco Bellocchio’s operatic tour de force, one that captures a forgotten chapter in that country’s history with unfettered brio. Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi sizzle as the ill-fated Mr. and Mrs. Mussolini. 6. Wild Grass: This movie’s nuts. I loved it. French New Wave stalwart Alain Resnais throws logic to the winds in this joyously daffy stalker comedy about a morose retiree (André Dussolier) who becomes obsessed after finding a woman’s wallet in a shopping mall’s parking garage. The object of his desire: a dentist/aviatrix with a shoe fetish and a full head of frizzy red hair (the lovely Sabine Azéma, aka Madame Resnais). In bringing Christian Gailly’s novel to the screen, Resnais, 88 this year, retained
4. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1: When it comes to the Boy Wizard’s journey to adulthood, many critics have become fixated on his destination: his climactic showdown with evil mage Voldemort. Indeed, they were so busy looking ahead to Deathly Hallows 2 (out next summer) that they barely noticed the stunning, skillfully executed film right in front of them. Covering roughly two-thirds of J.K. Rowling’s bestselling conclusion to the Potter saga, director David Yates and screenwriter Steve Kloves refuse to soft-pedal the book’s overarching sense of despair, and the result is the most fully realized entry in the series. Potter’s darkest hour might just be his finest one. 3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: During this past summer’s San Diego Comic-Con, English filmmaker Edgar Wright (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz) gave fanboys a chance to see his one-of-a-kind adap-
MOTHER
the characters’ inner monologues, and what seemed impossible to transfer from one medium to the other became in his capable hands a thrillingly cinematic tête-à-tête. 5. Winnebago Man: There were more socially relevant documentaries (Inside Job, The Tillman Story). There were definitely hipper ones (Catfish, Exit Through the Gift Shop). For me, none showed more storytelling verve – or made me laugh harder – than Ben Steinbauer’s heartfelt portrait of YouTube phenomenon Jack Rebney, the cranky RV industrial film producer whose gloriously profane outtakes in the late eighties became part of the pop culture lexicon after they were leaked and copied. The director’s search for the potty-mouthed malcontent leads him to embark on a complicated relationship between filmmaker and subject that becomes more and more intriguing as it unfolds in front of the cameras. Do me a kindness: see this movie.
tation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s graphic novels about a lovestruck Toronto ne’er-do-well (Michael Cera, never better) and his battle to win over the girl of his dreams (Death Proof‘s Mary Elizabeth Winstead). Reaction was through the roof, and Universal Pictures braced for some strong opening numbers. (Cue crickets.) To those of you who gave this virtuosic sugar rush of a movie the cold shoulder...SLAP, SLAP! (That was me bitch-slapping some sense into you.) My favorite studio release of the year is also the one with the most replay value, for my money the most successful example of capturing on film what it feels like to read a comic book, as well as an homage to arcade games from the past three decades. It’s every bit as award-worthy as some of those highly lauded pieces of Oscar bait out there... 2. The King’s Speech: ...though there are times when prestige movies merit all the accolades. Taking the mothballs out of the historical costume drama, director Tom Hooper and screenwriter
THE KING’S SPEECH
David Seidler chart the decades-long relationship between King George VI (father of the current queen) and the Australian speech therapist who treated his stammer, and became his friend in the process. Viewers expecting a staid tea-andcrumpets affair will be very nicely surprised. As the Queen Mum, Helena Bonham Carter’s subtle turn is her best work since helping bring Henry James’s The Wings of the Dove to the screen back in 1997. 1. I Am Love: Strong, independent-minded women were a motif throughout this year’s movies, and few of them rocked my world quite like Tilda Swinton. As the Russian wife of a Milanese industrialist who begins an affair with the young Arab chef who’s also her son’s close friend, the porcelainskinned actress nails her character’s transition from dutiful matriarch to passionate adulterer with understated grace. She’s the muse to writer-director Luca Guadagnino, who bursts onto the international movie scene with this ravishing, coolly romantic melodrama. Coming across like the lovechild of Douglas Sirk and Lucchino Visconti, Guadagnino aims for a throwback to European arthouse fare of
the sixties and seventies and ends up with dazzlingly modern revision of it. I don’t use the “m” word often (that would be “masterpiece”), but this is as close as it got for me. It’s brilliant. Let’s hear it runners-up as well, fine entries on any year-end lists and further proof that this was a pretty darn good movie year. In alphabetical order: 127 Hours, Blue Valentine, Carlos, Everyone Else, Last Train Home, Let Me In, Morning Glory, No One Knows About Persian Cats, The Social Network, Tangled. Before we all run out and make New Year resolutions we have no intention of keeping, I’d like to take a moment and dedicate this column to the people who work behind the scenes of Miami’s independently run theaters. To Miami Beach Cinematheque’s John Physioc and Coral Gables Art Cinema’s Charlie Michael, you’re the unsung heroes who make our enjoyment of quality cinema possible. And thank you, devoted reader, for putting up with my movie rantings and continuing to come back for more.
HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS
www.sunpostweekly.com • SunPost Weekly • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • Page 19
Music COLUMN
OMG It’s Popstar Usher By Alan Sculley
Usher may still be a young man at the age of 32, but he has hinted in recent interviews (including one earlier this year in the “New York Times”) that his days as a touring live performer may be over by the time he hits his 40s. But as he stressed in an early November conference call with music writers, he has no intention of disappearing from the concert stage – much less his career as one of the major figures in R&B music. “I’ll be able to still do that (perform live) until I’m 50,” Usher said, a statement that is sure to reassure his fans. “My point is, I would also choose to do other things, and other aspects of business that I’d like to be in, (things) I’d like to venture (in). You know, as I introduce talent, as I develop talent, I would never want to feel as though that’s my only op-
tion. “So at 50, you know, I hope that all the business that I’ve built allows me to, you know, go and hit the stage at my discretion,” he said. “I want to be able to have the ability to do that, but I also want to be mindful of all the other things that I’ve done.” The man born Usher Raymond IV is well on his way to achieving that kind of lucrative multi-faceted career. Six full-length CDs into his career, he is among the most popular R&B artists going, and widely considered one of music’s more magnetic performers. Beyond his own career as a recording artist, the five-time Grammy winner has branched into other pursuits. He is now part owner of the NBA’s Cleveland Cavaliers, and an actor who has appeared in movies
Page 20 • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • SunPost Weekly • www.sunpostweekly.com
such as “She’s All That” and “Texas Rangers.” He has his own line of fragrances. Usher also has his own label, US Records, and is active in developing the careers of several young artists, most notably the hugely popular teen pop/RB sensation Justin Bieber, who’s signed to US Records. There have been ups and downs along the way, and Usher’s two most recent CDs have been seen as reflecting his own life. The spring 2008 CD, “Here I Stand,” came shortly after Usher had married Tameka Foster and
had a son, Usher Raymond V. It presented a more mature Usher, who was cherishing romantic stability and the joys of family life. The couple went on to have a second son, Naviyd Ely, in December 2008, but only six months later, Usher filed for divorce saying the couple had been living separately for the previous year. “Raymond v Raymond” (released in March) and its companion EP, “Versus” (released in August), found Usher taking a step back to the single man persona of his earlier CDs, with many of the songs centered on being free and unattached and the various benefits that come with that. Some have speculated that Usher thought some of his fan base wasn’t as keen on the committed fam-
ily man of “Here I Stand.” That album sold 1.5 million copies in the states, but wasn’t nearly as successful as his 2004 blockbuster CD, “Confessions” (20 million copies sold worldwide), and this prompted the shift back to the more footloose and fancy free Usher of earlier albums on “Raymond v Raymond/Versus.” Usher didn’t address that speculation, but said both sides of his persona are honest and valid. “I think that every album that I make is intended to give you a different facet of my personality and also speak to what I feel, where I am, and what my interpretation of art is at that time,” he said. “If you’re married, then ‘Here I Stand’ is going to speaking to you a bit more. If you’re out having a great time and partying, you know, and living the single life and enjoying the experience of being available, you’re going to love (the song) ‘OMG,’ you know, you’re going to love “Raymond v Raymond.’ So, you know, there’s a little bit of something for everybody.” Usher said the thematic arc of his career will also come into focus on his fall tour, billed as the “OMG Tour,” named after the aforementioned single, which features a guest appearance by will.i.am of the Black Eyed Peas. “It all comes together in the show because you get the entire package when you come to the show,” he said. With his OMG tour, Usher isn’t merely out to entertain his fans. With a visually spectacular state-ofthe-art show, he’s shooting to make an indelible impact that will elevate him to a level of a concert icon. “The over arching impression that I’d like to leave is that, you know, this guy is really stepping it up to a level where, you know, people can hopefully compare him to people like Michael Jackson, and great entertainers of the past,” Usher said. “I’ve put the time into creating an incredible show, but also I give it all,” he said. “I leave it on the stage. I give you the energy. I basically tear myself apart emotionally, energetically, you know, connecting with you and making sure that you enjoy this moment and leave saying ‘O.M.G!, Oh My God.’” Usher will perform New Year’s Eve, December 31st in Miami. Guest performers include Trey Songz and Miguel. 9pm. $41-$380.50. American Airlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd; Miami. For info: aaarena.com
Bound COLUMN
Get Fortified This Year, Make Yourself a SoulPancake By John Hood
Forget New Year’s resolutions. Not only do they generally wear off with the year’s first hangover, but they’re really more akin to regret than to initiative. I mean, it’s highly unlikely you’ll be resolving to do something that you’re happy about not doing the year before, right? Right. Ditto the inverse. Nobody vows to stop doing what they’re proud to have done. Besides, do you really need a date to dictate when you’re gonna be resolute? Of course you don’t. And if you do, there’s no calendar in the world that can solve that problem. Yet a New Year is dawning (for those who tow the Gregorian line anyway), and it would be dynamite if we could all make it more fortifying. To that end I recommend a scrumptious little book entitled SoulPancake (Hyperion $19.99). Created by The Office oddball Rainn Wilson and his pals Devon Gundry, Golriz Lucina and Shabnam Mogharabi, and based on the bright ideas found in their same-named website, this collection of “Life’s Big Questions” is the philosophical equivalent of having a Manwich instead of a meal – and it doesn’t even come in a can! SoulPancake could be said to come with canned laughter though. But if so, it’s the kind that’s been canned in the basement of some very thoughtful souls. In other words, it’s a light-hearted look at some of humankind’s heaviest matters, and it’s rendered with as much cheek as it is candor. The sub-subtitle dares one and all to “Speak Your Mind. Unload Your Questions. [and] Figure Out What it Means to be Human.” The questions get the most play, be they all-time classics such as “How Do You Determine
Truth?” and “What is the Difference between Fate and Free Will?” or more personal prompts like “What’s the Biggest Mistake You’ve Ever Made?” and “How Are You Selfish?” There’s “What is Love?” and “Why Do We Hate?” and “If You Only Had One Hour Left to Live How Would You Spend It?” and “What Do You Hope Happens When You Die?” Any one of the aforementioned is enough to keep even the brightest minds up at night. Taken in tandem, they may just keep you awake you’re entire life. And that’s the point. SoulPancake is, well, a kinda wake-up meal for the soul. Something hearty to help you start living life right – or at least living as if you depended on your life. In addition to the thought-provoking questions, there’s a series of exercises that are each guaranteed to boost you’re aware system. Under the rubric
“What’s Stopping You?” you’re asked to “List 5 Risks You Haven’t Had the Guts to Take Yet.” And with every entry you’re prompted to eliminate any reservations by answering “What the Worst That Could Happen?” In “Could We Live with Nine?” you’re asked to “Carefully List 5 Things You Would Literally Chop Off Your Little Toe For.” And just in case you
weren’t extremely careful assembling your list you’re requested to “Please Elaborate.” One of the best though – and most social – is “We Double-Shot Dare You,” which encourages you to pay for the coffee of the person behind you the next time you’re in line at the caffeine counter, and then to “Bond Over Your Mutual Addiction.” Yeah, I know. This concept isn’t new to the world. In fact, it’s been going on in drive-thru’s for a while now. But it’s the kinda simple gesture that brings about big smiles, and if done face-to-face rather than from the comfort of your own car, it could spark all kinds of conversation. And who knows? It might make you a new friend to boot. There’s more to this meal of a read, of course – much, much more. And each course is as enriched with enough vitamins and minerals to meet every above average person’s daily requirements. Remember though, that this isn’t only something that’s damn good served for breakfast; it’s just as tasty for lunch, dinner or a late-night snack. So the next time you’re rummaging around the fridge or the cupboard, cook yourself up a stack of soulpancakes. Because we could all stand to be a little more fortified.
www.sunpostweekly.com • SunPost Weekly • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • Page 21
The 411 COLUMN
New Yorkers Bring a Blizzard of Fun for New Year’s Eve By Mary Jo Almeida-Shore
In South Beach where it’s perpetually New Year’s Eve, you will find an onslaught of places to pop your bottles in the ice and get “snizzled and sizzled” as the clock strikes 12 and you usher in 2011, albeit at 1000% mark-up. We trust that you have been eating your Wheaties, taking your vitamins and have stashed away some cash to blow on the big night, so we are providing you with a short list of parties that may actually be worth said cash. After all, is two months’ salary too much to spend on the most fun night you won’t remember? Happy New Year! Bringing much needed New York sparkle to the Delano this year are famed New Yorkers Susanne Bartsch and Patricia Field, (yes, THE Sex and the City stylist) with their Modern Royal Court for the perennial NYE star studded count down to 2011. This Royal Court will pull some ingenious creative stunts, to justify the hefty ticket price and front door thrashers to thwart off the inevitable crashers. Lucky partygoers who obtain access will be treated to six different themes on the fully transformed beach front property including the Patricia Field Lobby Lounge, the Clans in the Court, Harlots in the Orchard, Disco Dungeon in The Florida Room, Swan Lake at the Pool and the Bloody Mary Beach Bar. Count down to 2011 will be brought in by the voice in drag Joey Arias’ midnight musical expressions and water impressions of Swan Lake at the pool and Bloody Mary Beach Bar. Bartsch is known to provide the unexpected so anticipate other live performances and surprises. The party begins at 9 pm, with an open bar from 9 pm to 1am. To purchase tickets which cost $325 call 305.674.6152 or visit: Nye.delano@morganshotelgroup.com. New York party maker, Alan Philips of the Sky Group along with our beloved Alan- (Roth that is and David Schulman, Josh Shames, Tommy Pooch and Mondrian in South Beach will present a celebration, for those looking for something a bit more “authentic” this New Year’s Eve at the Mon-
drian on West Avenue. Philips and the gang invite you to, “Eschew your need for commercial indulgence, and join us as we welcome downtown Manhattan to South Beach.” NYE at the Mondrian with host Chloe Sevigny and will feature musical performances by Andrew Wyatt of Miike Snow and the sounds of DJ Paul Sevigny and The Misshapes. This party will be topped off with an awesome fireworks display where the rockets burst just over guests’ heads as well as a sweeping view of the Miami skyline and the many other fireworks displays throughout the city- making this venue one of the best spots for watching the Magic City’s sky become lit up with beautiful colors and sounds to signal the end/beginning of the calendar year. Partygoers will be able to do some wrist curls at the open bar from 9pm to 1am. Tickets go for $300. To get yours, visit: newyearseve.morganshotelgroup.com. One party we told you to put on your radar a while back was the much-buzzed about celeb-fest happening at the W South Beach. Grammy nominated recording artist, Drake, will be ringing in the New Year with a live performance at Wet to be followed by more fun at WALL with New York-based DJs, 4AM Phresh, Sinatra and Jacomino. For last minute tickets go to: wmiami2011.com If you are interested in nightclub adventures, consider the Opium Group’s lineup which features something for everyone. From a Pink Everything bash at Mansion, to a Playboy party with Lil Jon at Cameo, to the “Don’t Tell My Booker” party at SET and parties at Mokai and Opium Hard Rock, the themes seem to run the gamut. Get more information and buy tickets at theopiumgroup.comFor hassle-free action off of South Beach consider heading to Cafeina in Wynwood where there will be no door drama, cover charge or line, all at the same price we’ve come to love the other 364 days of the year. Cafeina’s cool vibe will be the chill choice for NYE. This Wynwood location will be welcoming the New Year with a live feed of Times Square and the Ball
Page 22 • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • SunPost Weekly • www.sunpostweekly.com
Mavrix; Photos: INFdaily, Bauergriffinonline
maryjoshore@sunpostweekly.com
Above: Johnny Depp at the Dolphins Game this past Sunday in Miami. Below: Kevin Bacon Jogging on South Beach.
Drop on the Garden Wall. Sounds will be played by DJ Troy Kurtz and A Train. Reasonable bottle service specials include two bottles of Kettle One for $250. The party begins at 9 pm and goes to 5 am.
CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS: Kevin Bacon and wife Kyra took their two children, Travis and Sosie to Eden South Beach-owned by one of New York’s Top Master chefs, Christopher Lee. Last week, our favorite swashbuckler Johnny Depp, a Miramar native, snuck into Sun Life Stadium via police escort to cheer on the Miami Dolphins (Who knew he was a Dolphin fan??!!) The gorgeous and talented actor provided eye candy for the disappointed Dolphin fans. Depp is reportedly a lifelong fan who wears his Dolphin socks every day.
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www.sunpostweekly.com • SunPost Weekly • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • Page 23
High Society
Tova Leidesdorf Hosts Weismann Institute Soiree By Jeannette Stark jeannette@miamisunpost.com.com Photos: MagicalPhotos.com / Mitchell Zachs
Richard Enslein, Tova Leidesdorf, Professor Hadassa Degani and Marshall Levin
Marshall Levin, June Seley Kimmel and Pennie Abramson
Mrs. Tova Leidesdorf hosted the Weizmann Institute of Science’s Professor Hadassa Degani at the fabulous Alexander Hotel where she resides. Party goers included many distinguished guests from the Miami community. Mrs. Leidesdorf presented Professor Degani as “her holiday gift to the community”. Professor Degani demonstrated to a large audience her latest research using magnetic resonance imaging as a tool for early breast, prostate and lung cancer detection and diagnosis. This method is harmless, non-invasive; it’s more accurate than mammography and eliminates the need for biopsy.
Hildine and Jerry Potashnick, Judge Karen Mills-Francis and Tova Leidesdorf
Marilyn Fellman, Ria Rodgers, Carol Roth and Shelley Bergman
Left: Professor Hadassa Degani, Nicole E. Leidesdorf, Marilyn Fellman, Olivia Zanfardino, Tova Leidesdorf, Shelley Bergman and Jonie Sabo
Tova Leidesdorf, center, and friends
Jonie Sabo, Tova Leidesdorf, Norma Quintero, Nicole E. Leidesdorf, Edmond Leidesdorf and Tova Leidesdorf William Meyersohn and Suzanne Dewitt Page 24 • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • SunPost Weekly • www.sunpostweekly.com
Tova Leidesdorf
Hildine Potashnick and Sonja Zuckerman
Happy Holidays... Thank You! Miami Beach SINCE 1937
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www.sunpostweekly.com • SunPost Weekly • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • Page 25
Sex
Fitness COLUMN
COLUMN
You Have To Want To
Senior Sex
By Jeffrey Bradley (crazykidjoey@gmail.com)
By Dr. Sonjia Kenya
Sonjia@drsonjia.com
IS YOUR MOM HAVING SEX? If you’re repulsed by the idea of mom getting freaky and avoided conversations about her sex life over the holidays, you are completely normal. While you should be disgusted by imagining your mom having sex (if not, seek therapy), the truth is she should be doing the deed. Despite the throw-up you just swallowed, its important to realize that good sex can keep mom healthier, help her live longer, and reduce the time she has to interfere in your life. If she has too much free time, she may beg you to go to church, set you up with her gay florist, or ask you to write an article on seniors having sex. At 82 years old, Dr. Ruth said at an AARP convention, that most can have a hot and healthy sex life as long as they’re still breathing. AARP is for people over 50 and used to be called the Association for Retired Persons, until 1999, when TV shows like Friends, Seinfeld, and Sex and the City showed us how to make adolescence last well into our 30’s and 40’s. I know this because I’m an adolescent who reads Mom’s AARP magazines regularly. While my friends and I applaud the magazine’s praise for George Clooney (who will be 50 in 2011) I realize that no one thinks it’s strange for me to read AARP. It dawned on me that most of my set are eligible to join AARP or will be able to in a couple of short years. Antonio Banderas is 50, Bruce Springsteen is 61, and Russell Simmons, the king of hip-hop, is already 53. I just got a pair of patent-leather light blue ADIDAS with fat laces. As my friends oooh and awww over these timeless classics, I realize I will probably be 50-something before my unborn kid is old enough to make fun of them. I’m starting to think this senior thing is not so far away. And I panic, wondering, will I be able to have sex when that happens? But my therapist (who is also my friend so it would be rude to pay her) comforts me by telling the story of nine seniors, aged 73 to 98, who were kicked out of Edith Scarborough
Nursing Home a few years ago, for attempting to have an orgy. Just after midnight in the rec room, candles were lit, music was played and three men and six women stripped down to celebrate the 90th birthday of one of the girls. Just as they started slathering each other with baby oil, security busted up the party. “They hadn’t got too far. I guess it was taking some of the gents a while to get started. But they were all naked. Believe me, it was the scariest thing I’ve seen in my life.” Because I’m her friend, I realize my therapist may lie to get me off the phone, so I google her story to confirm. Several sites verify the senior orgy occurred, including suddenlysenior.com which has an awesome sex page that had me hooked for hours. This site has even better sex stories than AARP! It was here I learned that herpes and HPV are spreading like wildfire in an Orlando senior community called the Villages. One local doctor said she treats more STDs there than when she used to practice in Miami. After praising the seniors for maintaining an active sex life, Frank Kaiser, Suddenly Senior’s sex columnist, told them to “grow up and wear a condom!” Times are definitely changing. Back in the day, my grandmother wore a girdle which could not be penetrated without a wedding ring. Married to my grandfather for 68 years, they slept in two separate beds, and discussing sex was taboo. My mother, now a senior citizen, was a baby boomer who rarely wore a bra, fought for legalization of the pill, and still jogs with me when she visits. My best friend’s 75 year-old father survived a heart attack and the first question his mother asked in the recovery room was, “When can he have sex?” I hope when I’m finally old enough to join AARP, I’m still in the game too. Increased nooky may be the best way to do that. Dr. Oz says sex makes you live longer. In addition, a study of 900 middle aged men pub-
Page 26 • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • SunPost Weekly • www.sunpostweekly.com
NOTHING IMPROVES ENERGY AND MENTAL AND PHYSICAL HEALTH BETTER THAN EXERCISE.
lished in the British Medical Journal found that those who have sex twice per week lived longer than those who didn’t. Did I mention Dr. Oz also says more sex makes you live longer? That must be why all those baby boomers are living forever, ruining the reputations of nursing homes across the world. Dr. Oz says sex makes you live longer because the ability to have orgasms indicates whether you’re healthy or need immediate medical attention. If a man can’t give a firm salute or a woman can’t welcome with a wet smile, it’s time to see the doctor. If you can’t get an appointment with Dr. Oz, see your regular MD. If nothing is holding you back except age, they may prescribe a stimulant like Viagra. Or send you to the local coffee shop. A study at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor found that caffeine can spice up sex among seniors. Almost 60% of the men studied did not drink coffee and reported problems getting it up compared to 36% of men from the same group who drank coffee and could get it up on demand. Other researchers at Southwestern University in Texas published studies indicating caffeine may sexual increase desire in females too. No wonder Starbucks attracts so many singles. Success is all in the name. While sipping coffee at the AARP convention, Dr. Ruth advised seniors to experiment with new ways of intimacy, telling the crowd that orgasms are good. Masturbation is good. “Read about sex, enjoy intimacy, buy a good vibrator.” As I headed to Starbuck’s to catch up on the latest issue of AARP, I wondered whether I gave mom the right Christmas gift.
Let me repeat that… Nothing is better for your overall health than exercising! …and motivation is key. Sure, self-motivation can be tough. And once you’re all psyched up, then what? A good personal training facility might provide the guidance and expertise you need to get results fast because it helps improve your life by achieving health and fitness through education, facilitation and motivation. But if starting your program’s the hard part, consider this: Decide. Change. Commit. It’s important to stop rationalizing and finding excuses for not exercising. What a difference a commitment to change makes! This isn’t rocket science; put in the time and you will see results. Action this day. Get off your duff, and get going. Now. Here’s a few ideas to get you started: move to a cardio video, dance to some music, take a walk in the fresh air, perform squats, sit-ups or push-ups, even join a friend in a fitness activity. Doing makes the radical difference. Keep your friends close. Keep your goals closer. Environment is a huge factor in achieving success. Keep company with the naysayers and pretty soon you’ve got that “I Can’t!” mentality. Forget that—surround yourself with fit and healthy types who instill positive vibes and a “can do” attitude. If you’re not at their level of fitness, so what? Start where you are, then run hard toward your goal every day. Use active people to motivate and inspire you. And don’t be surprised when suddenly you are somebody else’s fitness role model! You can’t fight the law of attraction. Go with it instead. Work with it, use it to your advantage. The first step for achieving success? You have to want to! Never give up. Without exercise we deteriorate. If that doesn’t sound appetizing, well, it’s not. Your body is an organic machine requiring maintenance. Wherever your machine is operating from right now is called your fitness level. Your job is to optimize that level. Ask yourself: How is my machinery running? If you’re less than satisfied with your answer—or with what you see in the mirror—it’s time you started your “new you” process. YOU TOTALLY HAVE THE POWER IN YOUR OWN HANDS TO BETTER YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW! All you need do is make the commitment, then take the action. As the Chinese proverb says, the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. For more information email crazykidjoey@gmail.com
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www.sunpostweekly.com • SunPost Weekly • Thursday, December 30, 2010 • Page 27