Miami's Cuban Connection

Channel 22's Mega Madness

Spanish Broadcasting Systems, known for radio shows like El Vacilon de la Manana, bought Channel 22 a few months ago and launched Mega TV. Some familiar faces, like Maria Elvira Salazar are in there. But it's all new concepts. It's geared toward a younger audience, and is loaded with original programming.

They invited me on a show called Entre Fichas, which airs Fridays at 9 p.m. On the show, four people sit around a domino table and play a couple of rounds while a host asks questions and an audience watches. The show I'm on, which focused on la politica, will air this Friday, May 19.

My partner was former Venezuelan diplomat Jose Hernandez. We were playing against Miami City Attorney Jorge Fernandez and Manuel Busto, an old exile from Pinar del Rio that specialized in the cigar industry.

Needless to say, the exiles smoked us. We only won one out of four or five rounds. At the end, Busto, who had to be in his seventies, danced the funky chicken with one of the provocatively dressed audience members. That alone is worth watching.

Here's a photo of the woman who danced with Busto:

Here's a photo of my partner, Jose Hernandez:

Here's a photo of the studio:

And the rest of the audience, which is distracting enough to make you forget your turn:

http://www.mega.tv/entrefichas.html

La Casa De Las Guayaberas

For years, I got by in Miami wearing hand-me-down Guayaberas from my dad and abuelo. I never bothered to go out and actually buy one. Then at a family gathering a while back, a cousin pointed out that my guayabera was see-through. It wasn't designed that way. But 40 years of wear and tear will do that to linen. So I vowed that for my next guayabera event, I would dress appropriately.

Saturday, on my way back from my Calle Ocho mechanic (car trouble), I stopped by La Casa De Las Guayaberas, owned by Ramon Puig. I had read about Puig's guayaberas. The guy is somewhat of a Miami legend. So I figured I couldn't go wrong. I may have exuded wealth, for Sergio Sanchez, the salesman, led me directly to the best stuff in the house. I tried on a couple, liked them, and proceeded to the cashier, who promptly slapped me with a $425 bill.

Sometimes you have to bite the bullet. Money well invested, I figured, even if the guayaberas were $200 each. I'll casually ask my editor if I can expense them as required attire to cover Miami appropriately. But I won't hold my breath.

Photos of salesman Sergio Sanchez holding up my guayaberas, and of Ramon Puig at work at the back of the store Saturday afternoon.

Update: Miami Chica Lit Convention Registration CLOSED

The morning after I left a message for Alisa Valdes Rodriguez, asking about registration at next weekend's Chica Lit convention in Miami Beach, their website posted an update:

"IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Chica Lit Club Fiesta (May 19 to 22, 2006) is FULL for this year, and we unfortunately cannot accomodate any more registrations!"

Unless I don a wig and a dress, and infiltrate under the guise of an aspiring Chica Lit author; or sport a tuxedo and get hired as a waiter at the hotel, it looks like my plans to file reports from Chica Lit 06 -- in search of the mystique of Hispanic literature and feminism-- have been temporarily dashed!

Miami, The Unpredictable Mecca of Aspiring Novelists

"Chica" Lit author Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, who visited Books & Books in Coral Gables for a reading of her book, Make Him Look Good, last month, explained to the San Francisco Chronicle recently how she "required" a police escort during her Miami visit because of "groups of older Cuban men who do not look like typical chick-lit fans attending her appearances" and "death threats." Fair enough. For the record, I attended her book reading and did not see any "older Cuban men" there. There were about 25 people there, all fans. In theory, there could possibly have been some anti-Castro militants lurking around the bookcases, poised for an opportunity to hurl a D-battery at a woman known for writing about lipstick, periods, and relationships. But alas, it never happened.

It turns out that despite her trepidation and deep concern about Miami's political climate, Valdes-Rodriguez, a Cuban-American is coming back here next weekend to host a Chica Lit convention in Miami Beach.

Miami's Cuban Connection will try to attend and file reports. Consider it a delicate journey into the mystique of Hispanic feminism and literature.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/07/LVGNOIJF5I1.DTL

http://www.chicalitclub.com/

Orishas Bring Cuban Hip Hop To Miami's Covacha

The Herald's Jordan Levin writes about Orishas: "You'd think that a group called Orishas, the name of the gods of Santeria, Cuba's unofficial religion, would be welcome in the center of el exilio. But it's been a long and frustrating road to this week's multiple appearances in South Florida by Orishas, the Cuban hip-hop fusion trio based in Europe." To Read more and listen to Orishas songs, click on Jordan's article:

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/entertainment/14409562.htm

Cachao & Andy Garcia Team Up For Mambo Blowout

The Miami Herald's Lydia Martin has a great story about Cachao: "Well into his second golden era, mambo great Cachao performs music from the film "The Lost City" on Friday in Miami with the film's star and director, Andy Garcia, on congas and the famed Generoso Jimenez on Trombone.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/14383126.htm

Miami Artist Launches South Beach Mangrove-Planting Crusade

Cuban American Artist Xavier Cortada, whose painted mangrove forest decorates the bottom of Interstate 395 in Downtown, is on a mission again. He wants to plant mangrove seedlings outside South Beach businesses. "It's about having mangroves reclaim a concrete and neon jungle," Cortada said over a glass of wine Tuesday night. His new exhibit, The Reclamation Project, will be unveiled at the Bass Museum of Art in Miami Beach Saturday. "I consider myself Johnny Mangroveseed," he said.

http://www.cortada.com/

Chick Lit Queen: "I Sound Like A Chipmunk on Helium"

Cuban American chick-lit author Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez confessed that she doesn't feel comfortable at book readings to promote her new novel, Make Him Look Good, because "I think I sound like a chipmunk on helium." Not so. The controversial former journalist, whose voice never rose to the level of rodent squeal at her Coral Gables book reading Tuesday, instead exhibited the same kind of sharp wit that peppers her novels, including her debut, "The Dirty Girls Social Club." "Make Him Look Good" is based in Miami. Valdes-Rodriguez lived in Coral Gables for two months to research the book, which is generally about "the notion of celebrity in America," she said. "Other than Albuquerque [where she lives], Miami is the only city where I feel having a Spanish last name doesn't matter." Miami's Cuban Connection appreciates her assessment, but wishes Valdes-Rodriguez had no need for a police escort at the Books and Books reading. She said she had received threats and had at least two cops nearby. Apparently, her take on Cuban exile politics have rubbed some people the wrong way (more about that in her blog). But this writer can attest that no one showed up to throw batteries or wave placards. Besides, Valdes Rodriguez says she feels much more comfortable talking Prada, Armani and relationships than about Cuba.

http://www.alisavaldesrodriguez.com/

Famous Writer: The Herald Hates Me

Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, the Cuban-American author of three well-known novels, including the upcoming "Make Him Look Good" has her own blog, and a few words posted there about the Herald and other things:

"So, the Miami Herald? They freakin' hate me over there. They've hated me since my first book, when they were the only paper in the nation to say something like "she's just lucky, in the right place at the right time. She'll never do it again."

Then, when I did it again with "Playing with Boys," they sort of whistled and looked the other way.

Now that I've got a third novel coming out - a book that in presales on amazon is already doing better than the first two combined - the Miami Herald is outright boycotting (punishing?) me.

Even though the novel, "Make Him Look Good," takes place in...Miami. Even though it is - one week BEFORE being released - the second top-selling book in the Hispanic Women's Fiction genre IN THE NATION, according to Amazon. Even though thousands upon thousands of my readers are based in...Miami. Even though it is gossipy and soapy and has elements that are a roman-a-clef about a famed Latina celebrity in...Miami.

*COUGH*

Two years ago, when I read at the Miami Book Fair with Lauren Weisberger, organizers were suprised when, after fawning over Lauren and essentially ignoring me in the green room, hundreds of women lined up for me to sign their books and only a handful came for Lauren. Lauren's book sold better than mine everywhere else - but in MIAMI, Dirty Girls ruled the day. It's one of my top markets, if not THE top market for me.

Yet the daily paper pretends I don't exist. Or rather, they don't like the book. They published my oped piece from the Post last week, but are ignoring the book and my local appearance. WTF?

My publicists have called everyone they could think of at the paper, and they all say the same thing: "There's a big story about a playhouse closing. No one's available."

They all say it, in exactly the same way, almost as if there were a memo cirling the newsroom. If that disgusting Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez's people call, here's how to blow them off. It's very Granma of them to censor stories about people they think they disagree with, actually. Besides, I just linked the playhouse story. They already did it. Why should it prevent them from doing something NEXT WEEK? Doh!

I have a couple of theories about this..."

Read More at her blog:

http://alisavaldesrodriguez.blogspot.com/

Que Pasa U.S.A. on DVD

So, you grew up watching Pepe chew out Joecito for listening to Rock and Roll? Or Abuela telling Carmencita that things were better in Cuba? You don't have to wait around for PBS to replay your favorite episode of Que Pasa U.S.A. You can buy the show’s entire series on DVD.

http://www.quepasausa.org/