Back in 1972 when I was in grade school, out across the causeway in Rickenbacker Marina on the way to Key Biscayne, the Rusty Pelican opened, a seafood joint that became a Miami institution. But to paraphrase the old Groucho Marx saw, who wants to eat at an institution? Over nearly 40 years, the wear and tear and decline became noticeable, and so last summer the Pelican closed…

Where is Azerbaijan? Millions of people learned just that from the annual Eurovision song contest held this past Tuesday through Saturday and they were also in for…

I’m a big fan of Latin pop, but I’ve come across few tunes lately that I’ve found to be such infectious earworms as Ai, se eu te pego! (Oh, If I Catch You!). It’s been a runaway hit in Brazil, Europe, and even Quebec since last summer, and is now starting to make a growing splash in the U.S. As the Miami Herald put it recently,…

Oh sure, there's Shakira, Paulina, Thalia, Camila, Juanes, Marc, Ricky, and other popular poppers, God bless 'em. But ay,  bendito, the sensation of the 12th annual Latin Grammy Awards earlier this month -- as it was at the same awards in 2009 -- was the Puerto Rican duo Calle 13, nominated for ten awards, and bringing home nine, breaking Colombian singer…

German-born Tarkan Tevetoğlu, 37, has been compared to a cross between Turkey's Elvis and Michael Jackson in terms of his impact on his country’s pop music scene, and he’s achieved a measure of fame abroad, as well, particularly in Europe. The dude garners A-list coverage from Turkish media, of course, for almost everything he does, whether it’s verbal gaffes; groundbreakingly racy video scenes; temporary military draft-dodging; shilling for Pepsi-Cola; scary run-ins with the paparazzi; a…

I recently came across and was charmed by this late-2009 hit from the Philippines' popular band Hale celebrating nostalgia for this sprawling archipelago’s countryside whence most Filipinos come, at least within a generation or two. Bahay Kubo is the sweet, laid-back lead single from this four-year-old band’s fourth album, Kundiman. It’s a bit of a departure for this foursome — their first entirely in Tagalog and focusing on purely Pinoy themes. With a simple story line starring…

Dining in Miami just keeps getting better. Just this morning, on the way back from an appointment, we were looking for a place to have a quick, simple lunch, and settled on a French café that opened not too long ago on Miracle Mile, in the heart of chichi Coral Gables (one of the few parts of South Florida that feels like a real city and not a suburb). We knew…

Shopping in New York City, even for a somewhat jaded ex-New Yorker like myself, can often yield some pretty nifty surprises. A few years ago, to cite but one example, I found three spectacular wooden Catholic saints from Macau in an outdoor Chelsea antiques market that no longer exists (thanks to a new condo). What caught my eye about these saints was their distinct Asian features, something I'd never seen before, or since. The price? $90 each. Two still adorn my home in Miami; the third I…

Gelato. For some, it's an obsession. For me, the word "cult" comes to mind. Now, before you go thinking I'm nuttier than pistachio, let me explain. It all started with my first trip to Italy back in 1987, where I learned that all I thought I knew about ice cream had been a lie. I still remember the moment of epiphany: standing at dusk outside a small gelateria artigianale in the town of Mariano Comense north of Milan, near Lake Como, with a local friend who…

You might think London hotels would be sold out or vastly marked up during Royal Wedding week. Well, you might be wrong. Seems a lot of folks got the idea that it would be a total Picadilly circus, and decided to stay away. Travelocity, for example, just reported there’s plenty of availability, affordability, and even bargains – so if you can scrape the time together, you can get thee thither for Wills and…

Every fall, tourists converge on New England for the opportunity to witness one of nature's most dazzling spectacles, when leaves explode with color in one triumphant grand finale to a summer of photosynthesis. Few realize that "fall" colors may also be found as far south as South Florida... in the spring. Shortly after the vernal equinox (this year on March 20th), certain species of subtropical deciduous trees put on a show that, while admittedly not of the magnitude of New England's, is…

by José Balido

Washington State‘s best-known city is famous for its spectacular setting and downtown attractions, including downtown’s Pioneer Square, a few blocks south of Pike…

by José Balido

Just a little more than eight weeks to go till pre-Lenten Carnaval time, and if you’re thinking of a warm getaway to the biggest par-tay in the Latin world, Rio de Janeiro’s is always a rip-roaring crowd-pleaser — but it’s also massively mobbed, pretty pricey, and…

For your next tropical beach vacation, would you consider a couple of days in a bleak little town of cinderblock homes and corrugated tin roofs on the stark, dusty coast of northern Peru?



I didn’t think so.



How about a couple of hours? I just did, courtesy of the new Coral Gables Art Cinema, a recently opened non-profit…

I admit it: I'll go see just about any movie set in a great locale, even if I suspect the plot's a stinker. That partly explains why we braved the frigid winds rattling the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge last night to join a dozen or so Upstate New York locals at the Hudson Valley Mall to watch Venice, Angelina Jolie, and Johnny Depp (in that order) in The Tourist.

We'd been warned: "Pretty people went to Venice and made a pretty movie. Joining them won’t be thoroughly…