Blogs

Fort Lauderdale had its own alley cat bike race this last weekend, the River Rat race put on by Justin Brunetti, who does the South Florida Fixed blog. It was sponsored by the Bike Spot, Atlantic Bikes, and Keirin Cycles of Miami, and they all also donated their time by working at the race's check points. This was an awesome weekend, an awesome race and an all-around great time.

If you're unfamiliar with an alley cat race, it goes like this. First you're given a manifest (map) of the check points -- in this race, there were 15. There are volunteers at each check point, and at each one you have to get your manifest stamped before you move on to the next one. There is no specific order in which they have to be completed; it's up to you to figure out the fastest route to get between them all. Once you get the last stamp, you haul ass to the finish line.

To read past installments of South Florida According to Brooklyn, click here.

While this blog has covered events there several times already, this week I want to talk about the Bubble in Fort Lauderdale. This place is what this town needs to bring back the D.I.Y. fist-raising of the late '80s and early '90s, when putting on a music or independent art show really meant something. This place is amazing because it combines both -- not only do local bands play there regularly, but it regularly features work from local artists like Rhee Polhamus, Matthew Barteluce, and Erick Arenas.

I first discovered the place recently when I went to go see the band Murderous Rampage play there. The band is fronted by Tommy Newman, the back bartender at the Poorhouse. It was an awesome show -- loud, fast, and evil, all the things you need for a good time, as far as I'm concerned.

A few months ago I wrote about the new anti-tether law that Joe Sanchez got approved in Miami-Dade County this past March. That was a step in the right direction to protect who can't speak for themselves. That was real progress. Which is why I'm even more pissed off, in contrast, at the return of Michael Vick.

Can someone please explain to me how a man convicted of over 15 deaths of harmless animals is free so soon? And how and the hell is he playing in the NFL again? The board of directors for NFL should be embarrassed of themselves. Vick has been brought to court and convicted
by a jury of his peers, and he doesn't deserve to play pro football again. In fact, he should still be behind bars -- if those were human deaths, he'd be on death row.

To read past installments of South Florida According to Brooklyn, click here.

I attended the local stop of the Warped Tour, on Saturday, July 25 at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach, and was disappointed that no one really watched Bad Religion. I don't get it! These guys are pioneers of punk rock. If it wasn't for them, these young kids wouldn't have bands like the Devil Wears Prada, or the other crap like that, to listen to. (Well, maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing, but still.)

It bums me out that a lot of the kids there that day didn't seem to have any sense of that history. Bad Religion's first album, How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, came out in 1982 -- some bands playing the Warped Tour today weren't even sucking their mom's teat yet!

This week I would like to talk about how the punk rock and hardcore scene here really has no support anymore. Today, kids see "punk rock" on MTV and channels like that, but the truth is that shit's not real. The bands you see there are bands that really didn't do any footwork to get were they are -- they just happen to have been very lucky. Today's trend is have your mom and dad pay for nice equipment and buy your band a van so you can play crappy pop punk.

And there is not a whole lot of respect between this generation and even the previous crop of bands from the '90s! It wasn't that long ago, and I remember bands like Lifetime, Sick Of It All, and local heroes Poison The Well were all in vans, working their asses off to get from one show to the next. And trust me, there were days were these guys didn't eat because they didn't make enough money at a show, or their van broke down and they had to have it fixed to get to the next one.

 

Yes, it's no secret I hang out at the Poorhouse in Fort Lauderdale a lot. But here's a new event worth mentioning at the bar: My Pod Mondays. It started a few weeks ago and is hosted by the place's legendary bartender, Mr. Jon Owens. People interested in putting their iPods up for scrutiny make up playlists for the night, and hand them over. One iPod gets turned on and played, but if Owens thinks the song selection sucks, the iPod gets turned off, and the next one gets plugged in. Yes, crowd reaction counts, but Owens gets veto power in the end.

It's a simple idea, but a good one for socializing. You end up discussing the music people picked, and always end up thinking, Wow, I haven't heard that in a while. It's a really laid-back night, but everyone always ends up talking.

To read past installments of South Florida According to Brooklyn, click here.

Last Sunday I went to the Cinema Paradiso record swap that was put on by Mark Pollack of New Art School. Three local bands played: the first was No Class Action, the second was Band Number 12, and the third was the Shakers. They also showed the Iggy Pop documentary, Lust for Life, which was amazing. The event was a lot of fun, attended by a lot of people that I hadn't seen in a long time.

No Class Action had a really good set. They're like a hardcore/Oi! band. Band Number 12 was amazing, especially. The band features John Owens on vocals, who also sang for Anchorman. Dan Bonebrake plays bass -- he was in Dashboard Confessional, Where Fear and Weapons Meet, and Anchorman. Darryl Bonebrake, his brother, plays drums; he was in Anchorman as well. Band Number 12 isn't hardcore though; it's more of a straight-up rock band, really catchy, and definitely deserve to be signed to something.

To read past installments of South Florida According to Brooklyn, click here.

It's the middle of June, so that means it's about time for the monthly Keirin Cycles open sprints. The event takes place tomorrow night, June 11.

At last month's events, we had a debut local screening of Maca Frama, a documentary by a bunch of fixed-gear riders out in San Francisco. It was them doing tricks, and pushing the envelope as far as possibilities on a track bike. Tomorrow night, there will be another screening, this time of The Road to Roubaix, which is another documentary, this time about an intense one-day cycling race in France.

To read past installments of South Florida According to Brooklyn, click here.

What I want to talk about this week is how I miss Miami. For the past two months, I've been living back in Ft. Lauderdale again. I was really excited to move back at first because my true friends are here. But as it turns out, there was something missing from my life. It turns out, I really miss living on South Beach! I loved living on South Beach, I really, really did. I miss that I didn't have to drive anywhere; I could ride my bike anywhere I went. I really don't miss the people, but I miss the fact that everything was so close and so easy to get to.

Fort Lauderdale definitely has its perks. It has a pretty decent downtown with one bar that's worth going to, and even though I don't drink or anything, there are really good people there. People there aren't trying to put on a front. And that's the one thing I never really liked about Miami. I wouldn't say everybody, but 95 percent of the people I met there along the way are fakes and phonies. All cock, and no balls, so to speak.