The Field Irish Pub and Eatery
3281 Griffin Rd.
Dania Beach, FL 33312
+954 964 5979
www.thefieldirishpubdania.com

Open hours: m-th & sun 11a-10p; f & sat 11a-midnight

Coming from the land of the Irish mob as I do, I never hold out high hopes when someone tells me about an Irish Pub—especially in Broward, the land of terrible neon-clad Mexican, Outdoor World, and the Fishing Hall of Fame. So imagine my delight last Friday when we pulled up to a twinkly honky-tonk tucked under a massive banyan with a packed parking lot and a hopping vibe. Right away I knew I’d stumbled onto a South Florida rarity—an establishment with real ambience. Full of warm wood, great Irish fare, and some well-pulled pints, The Field transcends the Disney dreck that plagues most ethnic eateries down here. The Guinness and the smoked fish would have sent me away happy, but then [the band] Celtic Bridge started. Whoa, Maggie. These players rival any I’ve heard at Boston’s famous seisiúns. The combo includes frontman Ade Peever, siblings Eamonn and Roisin Dillon, John Schreiber, and a rotating cast of other players. (Just to place the caliber in perspective, Roisin is often out on the road with her other project Cherish the Ladies, one of the US’s most famous women’s Celtic combos. The rest of these guys aren’t slouches either.) The music is a nice blend of traditional Irish and American roots tunes, and the crowd loved it. And, just in case you’re missing your dose of cheeze in all this authentic hoo-ha, on Wednesdays there’s a fantastic Rod Stewart impersonator (The Hot Rod Show) to even the bill. If you’re looking for a comforting meal and a warm fuzzy vibe, head up to Dania and you won’t be disappointed.

Smiling Pets Mobile Veterinary Clinic
Dr. Avi Adulami
+305 754 0844
www.smilingpets.net

By appt: 8:30a to 6p; m-sat

Sometimes bad things happen to good people. And sometimes good people come along to help good people through a crisis. Dr. Avi Adulami and his staff at Smiling Pets are just these kinds of folks. I wish I could say I met them under better circumstances. On Earth Day I had to put my dog to sleep after nearly 15 years. Those of you who have had pets will appreciate how difficult this is. But here’s the thing—my dog was a wild creature through and through, and the last thing I wanted was to have her spend her last moments in a windowless, sterile room at a veterinary clinic. So when it became clear what the outcome was going to be, I started searching for someone who would come help us and I found Dr. Adulami and his wondrous mobile veterinary clinic. Basically, for the cost of a regular visit at one of the middle of the road clinics here in Miami, you can have Dr. A and his state-of-the-art clinic pull up and see to every need of your pet without the stress of crating, and traveling, and waiting around. He can even do laboratory testing and routine surgery. His van is a miracle of engineering—a veritable traveling medicine show—with a place for everything, and everything in its place. He handled my copious tears with extreme professionalism and good grace. He was very kind to me, and to my dog. It was clear to me that he would apply the same sensitivity and caring under better circumstances, which is just what I want from my vet so I will be using him from now on. Given the cost of gas these days, I think this is a win-win all around. Many thanks, Dr. A.

Postscript: To my friend Trina at Miami Dish, and anyone else who has wondered where the hell I’ve been, I wish I could tell you I was on an exotic island or an extended bender, but alas, life has just been very, very over-the-top. The dog death above was just the start. Play Nancy Drew and get a sense of what’s been going on over at my paying gig, pixie stix. Glad to be back.

WHEN: Thursday, May 1^st from 7:30-10pm

WHERE: Sweat Records
5505 NE 2nd Ave.
(Next door to Churchill’s Pub)
Miami, FL 33137
+305 758 5862 x5
www.sweatrecordsmiami.blogspot.com

Hey, yo! It’s the first DIY Miami Social! Come join us at Sweat Records, the cultural crossroads for all things cool, musical, and otherwise on Thursday, May 1^st from 7:30-10pm. We’re hoping to make this a regular event for our peeps to come together and meet other interesting people from around the city. (If you’re reading this, you’re our peeps. Come along!) We’ll have refreshments, things to watch, some board games, and some very interesting conversations, I’m sure. It will all be very relaxed. We’d just like to see your pretty face dressing up the place. BONUS: If you’ve never checked out Sweat before, you can scope out the whole package on April 19^th, as they celebrate their 3^rd Birthday AND National Record Day with a rockin’ party, live music, and plenty of shenanigans with their neighbor Churchill’s. Watch their site for details. Then come party like you mean it.

Rachel Goodrich online

Imagine a smash-up of Tiny Tim, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chrissie Hynde, and my elementary school librarian, and you would have a not-very-nuanced approximation of local rocker and ukulele goddess Rachel Goodrich. I caught her show last night at the MAP/Poplife party over at the White Room, and holy cow, she rocked. I had been warned, but I was still a little worried when the DJ faded out the music on the room full of sweaty, fabulous, and liquored up party-goers. I mean, she plays kazoo, for god sake. Well, I needn’t have worried, because she came out swinging with a beautiful cherry red Rickenbacker, a kickin’ rhythm section, and lots of self-proclaimed “shake-a-billy”. Apparently, she’s getting some attention these days, and rightly so. It reminded me again that one of the things I love about this city is that it truly appreciates authentic creativity, and Rachel’s got it in spades. Check out her upcoming 4/12 show at PS 14, or catch an earful on My Space. If you’re a live music fan, you won’t be sorry. Go ukulele girl, go.

***

ps. Props to Yvette Labov for the fantastic photo of Rachel above.

pps. 6-15-08 Our girl’s gettin’ famous!

The Dorsett Hotel
(part of the Catalina complex)
1720 Collins Avenue
Miami Beach FL 33139
+ 305 674 1160
www.catalinahotel.com

Open Hours: 4p-midnight daily

Sure. There are plenty of swank places on South Beach, but how many of them let you look at the sunset on one side and the ocean on the other, all while lounging like a pasha and drinking like a fish? Just one, my friends, just one. Very few people know that this hidden gem is actually open to the public. All you need to do is walk in the Dorsett lobby and catch the elevator to the top, and you too can be sipping something cool and frothy while getting a great view of the SoBe neon extravaganza. Although there’s no food service per se to cut your buzz, you can order ahead and bring some takeout along. Replete with spa style cushions, cabana goodness, and a charming postage-stamp sized pool, (no diving, please), this is a great place to lie around and cloud watch, or wet your whistle before heading out to dance or grab a dinner. Although the drinks are definitely SoBe expensive, the celestial décor makes it worth the splurge.

1111 Parrot Jungle Trail
Miami, Florida 33132
www.parrotjungle.com

+305 400 7000

Open Hours: 10a-6p; 365 days a year

I am a big fan of old Florida, which is why I cried the day I heard Parrot Jungle, a Miami bastion of old Florida was closing its original park in favor of swankier Miami digs. You can’t blame me for mentally hammering the last nail in the coffin when I heard the admission to the new 18 acre park was $27.95 adult/$22.95 for kids 3+, with an additional $7.00 to park. Foggeddaboutit. So imagine my surprise recently when I dropped by the park and took them up on their offer to get an annual pass for the price of a single admission. What was a bad deal for a single visit turns out to be a very good deal when you’ve got a toddler (free admission), and you want something fun to do throughout the year. Even without the promotion, an annual adult pass is only $38.95. The best part is, if you scrape away the shiny veneer, the old Florida peeks through. They still have the fantastic macaws out for hand feeding, they still have a bird show, and they have a killer playground area and petting zoo. I DO think their admission is too high for single visits especially when compared with the MetroZoo (300+ acres; $14 a/$10 c), or Disney (gazillion acres; $71 a/$60 c). AND, I can’t quite forgive them for turning their back on the old Parrot Jungle. But, like the park’s famous Liger, this new hybrid has some interesting, if slightly schizophrenic charms.

ArtCenter/South Florida
800 Lincoln Road Gallery
Miami Beach, FL 33139
www.artcentersf.org

Upcoming dates: 1-4pm on 4/5, 5/3 & 5/17
$10 donation
RSVP + 305 674 8278 ext 15

When one thinks of possible hobbies in sunny South Florida, knitting doesn’t jump to the fore. Macramé, sand art, and clamshell ashtrays all rank higher on the recognition scale than the idea of knitting down here. But hold your horses, jenny. In case you haven’t heard, knitting has been back with a vengeance in most of the rest of the country, with super-hip alterna-knitting circles, books, blogs, and sites like knitty.com and knitknit leading the way. It’s even being used for guerilla art. Yes, this isn’t your grandma’s knitting, folks. Which is why the Yarn It! Lounge at ArtCenter/South Florida is such a cool idea. (Don’t just take my word for it.) Forward thinking art-minded institution meets fantastic mixing opportunity. Here’s a chance to come together, scope out some like minded-people, screw around with some stringy stuff, and maybe cultivate a new pastime. At only $10.00 per, including coffee, treats, and expert advice, this is one of the best deals in town. Don’t feel like making a sweater? Then how about a monster. Or a super-chic clutch. Or a weasel. And of course, there’s always edible underwear. Sweet!

BTW: If you’ve never checked out ArtCenter/South Florida, you’re way past due. In addition to this great activity, they have a killer schedule of all kinds of educational opportunities. Lectures, drawing, jewelry making, photography and tons more. They’re just the place to cultivate your chops so you actually have something to say on your next crawl around Wynwood besides “Where’s the wine?”.

AMBITION BONUS: Check out this two-part video workshop by MAKE magazine on how to create a pattern in photoshop for a f*&%$#! awesome skeleton cardigan. (It would take many, many Yarn It! Lounges to carry this off, but you can always dream.)

4566 North University Drive
Lauderhill, Florida 33351
+ 954 748 0181
www.tatescomics.com

Open hours: 11a-8p m-thu; 11a-9p f-sat; 12n-6p sun

For all of the bitching about the cultural vacuum in South Florida—Cubans, Haitians, Wynwood, and all of South America excepted, of course—I’m constantly stumbling on some of the best things I’ve ever seen. Take Tate’s Comics, for instance. In a totally undistinguished strip mall in the sprawling area west of Ft. Lauderdale, Tate Ottati, his wife Amanda, his dad Tony, and a phalanx of staffers run one of the coolest comic and underground culture stores I have ever set foot in. 6,000 square feet of cool, not including the nearby Gamer’s Satellite. To make the story even better Tate opened the store at the ripe old age of 17 with money he got from playing the stock market in his high school economics class. (The stock he was playing? Marvel, of course.) This place is packed with the coolest stuff from Japanese Anime, to vintage comics, DVD’s, art supplies, clothes, toys, posters, and geekery galore. Don’t make the mistake of thinking this is only for the dark and greasy types. The place is full of affordable pop-culture surprises, and much of the stuff they carry would be equally at home in BASE–Miami’s trendy temple to early adopters–at three times the price. They have the absolute best selection of handmade graphic ‘zines I have seen anywhere including NYC, and a very robust book selection. Upstairs in the loft, Tate’s wife Amanda curates Bear & Bird Gallery, a super-hip exhibit space and gift shop. Threadless T-shirts, toys, indie housewares, original artwork, jewelry, cute bags—object d’ amour all. And, that doesn’t even cover the amazing exhibitions they do. The current show by Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh (up only until 3/16) was worth the trip alone, and their schedule is just as strong moving forward. Convinced? You should be. The whole place is awesome.

POSTSCRIPT: Sadly, the Mark Mothersbaugh show is done. You can read a show report here. But, the exhibition schedule moving forward is equally kickin’. Check it out:

Cute Attack
We’ve all had a cute attack, a convulsive feeling of fuzzy! Group show exploring the highs and lows the world of cuteness.
Opens March 22, 2008

StitchBird Workshops
Gatherings of the crafty inclined. StitchBird April Workshop: Make a Stuffed Creature!
Sunday, April 13th from 1:30-5:30pm

Everything/Everyday: Lomographesque
Group show exhibiting photographs in the lomographic style. What does that mean?
Opens May 2, 2008

Yokai in Your Eye
Japanese Ghostly Zoology as seen through the eyes of a variety of North American artists. List of Japanese Yokai
Opens June 14, 2008

Skot Olsen’s Frankenstein
Hundreds of individual painted panels from a soon to be released Graphics Classics Volume 15. Book will be available at the opening and Skot will be on hand for signing. Click to see cover art!
Opens August 2, 2008

More…

12918 N.W. 7^th Ave.
North Miami, FL 33168
+305 685 2666

Open hours: 10-5:45p tu-sat

One of the first things I was trying to find when I hit town was a good fabric store. You know–one that has all the cool stuff that the vanilla shoppers at JoAnn’s were afraid of, so it got sold to the secondary market and is available to the über-creative. The one where all the Latin ladies shop when they are making their over-the-top confirmation dresses, like my old fav Sewfisticated in the slums of Cambridge, MA. Great stuff at killer prices. Well, this isn’t that exactly, but it’s the best source I’ve found for bulk fabric at rock bottom prices. Need to dress a poolside vista with yards and yards of billowy white fabric? Doing a little amateur dramatics and need cheap black fabric for set-dressing? Feeding a hundred, and want 50 yards of fuchsia organza for table cloths? Go see Arnold, and you can buy bolts and bolts for between $1.00 and $5.00 a yard. This isn’t the place for fancy sparkle, but on solids he can’t be beat, and he has some pretty good deals on fur. He also has some good looking upholstery and decorator fabrics for $10.00 a yard. This is definitely the place to go when you want to make a big statement with a small wallet.

6900 Biscayne Blvd
Miami, FL 33138
+305 754 9022
www.uva-69.com

Open hours: 10:30a-11p m-th; 8:30a-11p f-sun

It’s somewhat rare to come across a Miami restaurant that serves up a neighborly nice-to-see-you-stay-awhile vibe and absolutely killer food at great prices. Uva 69 is just such a place, and it is a pretty good poster-child for the up and coming MiMo District on upper Biscayne. Featuring a tight menu of eclectic international fusion, a tasty wine list, and plenty of swank vibe, this is a great destination to impress a date or hang with the regulars. Unlike many of its happening brethren, it welcomes hipsters of all ages, right down to the tater-tots in strollers. Friday-Sun, put a civilized end to your hangover with a leisurely latte, and a Breakfast of Champions Burrito for less than your previous night’s cocktail on South Beach. Other lunch and dinner favs include the Fig Crostini appetizer ($6.00), Shaved Tomato Salad with Parmesan ($8.95), La Minuta grilled mahi-mahi sandwich ($8.95), and the superlative Salmon Fillet on a Bed of Bonito Mashed Potatoes with Crispy Spinach ($17.95). Seriously, nothing on the menu has ever been less than stellar, so no matter what your taste, you’ll tickle your tongue at Uva 69. My one complaint: I want the menu to either expand or change a little more frequently because this is the kind of place I’d like to visit even more frequently than I already do.