Rosecrans Baldwin is the author of Paris, I Love You But You’re Bringing Me Down, a travel memoir that GQ named one of its Favorite Things of 2012. The book chronicles Baldwin’s experience living and working in Paris, a city to which he, like so many Americans, felt a powerful romantic attraction since adolescence and which he, unlike so many Americans, came to know in all of its inglorious modern glory as a copy writer at a Paris ad agency. (You can read a very entertaining excerpt at GQ.com.) Baldwin is also the author of the acclaimed debut novel You Lost Me There, a co-founder of the online magazine The Morning News, and a book reviewer for NPR’s All Things Considered.
Last month’s Start-Up City: Miami, an event we previewed in my interview with urbanist Richard Florida, brought together entrepreneurs and techies for a day-long discussion about Miami’s potential future as a global ideas and innovation capital. This video from The Atlantic, which co-hosted the event alongside the Knight Foundation and Florida’s Creative Class Group, features several of the speakers and attendees, including Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, former City of Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, and someone who looks and sounds a lot like me.
Most people know Maurice Sendak and his book Where The Wild Things Are, which, since its publication 50 years ago, has transported millions of children around the world to a darkly magical island in their minds. But who’s this Tomi Ungerer guy whom Sendak says taught him “to be braver than I was”?
Meet Eagle Chief. Look familiar? — photo by Karla Ruiz-Gomez
Miami, say goodbye to Arboles Libres. Don’t worry. Singer Juan “Nacho” Londono, guitarist Eddie Moreno, and drummer Anthony Genovese are not ditching their hometown, though they are making a drastic change.
The Sunday Stroll will feature neighborhood “hotspots” like the Little Haiti Cultural Center, pictured here during a performance of a vodou ritual. — photo by Robby Campbell
With the increasing number and volume of complaints about Wynwood’s Second Saturday Art Walk and its rowdy atmosphere, a Little Haiti-based coalition is inviting the culturally curious to explore a different Miami neighborhood. Spearheaded by Yo Miami with the support of Sweat Records, the Little Haiti Cultural Center, and other neighborhood anchors, the first Little Haiti Sunday Stroll will take place from noon to 6 p.m. on March 3.
“The ‘garage’ scene doesn’t want much change,” says Morales. “Kids feel threatened when you come in through the window instead of the door.” — photo by Nancy Mae Perez
After earning the #7 spot in our Top 50 South Florida Songs of 2011 with a track off of their 7″ debut release, Lake Worth trio New Coke — comprising singer/guitarist Danny Morales, guitarist Gabe Schnirnan, and drummer Steve McKeane — spent last year working on a new record and playing a few shows around Florida. Well, the near silence was worth the wait, as New Coke’s second release proves from its very first strum. Recorded with Torche’s Johnathan Nuñez and mastered by Carl Saff (who has also worked with Unsane and Guided By voices), the three-track 7″ makes its digital premiere (under a working title) here on Beached Miami ahead of a possible hard-copy release via Slovenly Records, whose owner invited New Coke to play in the label’s SXSW showcase on March 14. In the meantime, you can stream all the tracks from New Coke’s bandcamp after the jump.
Ever feel like a demon’s stalking you? Maybe you just need to learn how to fall in love. That’s ICECREAM’s advice on “Blessings”, a listless lullaby of a track off of the doom-pop foursome’s upcoming second album, His Approval. Here’s the “Blessings” video, directed by Xander Robin around Crown Heights, Brooklyn, where ICECREAM moved from Miami last year.
Organized by influential urbanist and author Richard Florida (pictured), Start-Up City: Miami will feature talks by Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh and AOL co-founder Steve Case on Wednesday, Feb. 13. — photo by Jaime Hogge
The narrative of Miami’s ongoing transformation comprises various story lines, including, most prominently, the burgeoning of its artist community and cultural offerings (as chronicled in the recently released documentary Rising Tide). There’s also the less prominent stories of its increasingly vibrant music scene — attested to by our list of the Top 50 South Florida Songs of 2012 — and its surprisingly rich bike culture (surprising because our sprawled-out, car-centric city would seem utterly inhospitable to bike travel — and, in fact, it can be.)
Gautier will read from her award-winning short-story collection At-Risk and lead a craft workshop at Miami Dade College on February 11.
This post is sponsored by the Center for Literature and Theater at Miami Dade College
Growing up in Brooklyn during the late ’80s and early ’90s, Amina Gautier witnessed poverty and the crack epidemic first hand. “As most people know,” she says, “that was a really rough time to be a New Yorker.” Gautier survived the experience and ultimately channeled it into her short-story collection, At-Risk, which won the Flannery O’Connor Short Fiction Award from the University Press of Georgia in 2010.
Amid a heavy touring schedule, synth soother Judson Rogers — stage name: Sumsun — has released Avey Oliver, a new EP via Halocyan Records. Available now on iTunes and due out on vinyl in February, the five-track release features “New Piano”, a song with the gentle-sun, receding-tide, drum-circle ambiance that both pegs Rogers as a South Florida native and makes him a coveted party starter wherever his turntables take him. Here’s the new video for “New Piano”, which somehow emits the scent of sea breeze when you listen to it on full volume.
