Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
and Uncle Luke. We'd be remiss not to mention Pitbull, who has successfully branded his
sound as a bridge between reggaeton, hip-hop and pop.
There has been a small but strong indie-rock boom over the past decade, mainly
centered on Sweat Records and Churchill's in Little Haiti. The crop of homegrown bands
is growing; events such as Sweatstock are a good means of accessing the scene. Besides
Churchill's, other good spots to see the cutting edge of Miami rock are Vagabond and Bar-
dot.
MIAMI TRACKS (& WHERE TO PLAY THEM)
'Conga'
Gloria Estefan & the Miami Sound Machine - Ocean Dr
'Rakata'
Wisin y Yandel - Little Havana
'Moon Over Miami'
Joe Burke and Edgar Leslie - Julia Tuttle Causeway
'Miami'
Will Smith - I-95 past Downtown
'Miami'
U2 - Wynwood or North Miami Beach
'Save Hialeah Park'
Los Primeros - Hialeah
'Swamp Music'
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Tamiami Trail to Everglades City
'Jaspora'
Wyclef Jean - Little Haiti
'Your Love'
the Outfield - A1A
Film & TV
Crime sells this city - at least cinematically. Sam Katzman chose Miami for B-movies
about gang wars, and several (lowbrow) classics - as well as the
Jackie Gleason Show
- in
the 1960s.
Scarface,
Brian DePalma's over-the-top story of the excesses of capitalism,
entered Miami into hip-hop's common lexicon; and
Miami Vice,
the 1980s TV series about
a couple of pastel-clad vice-squad cops, put Miami on the international map. The images -
of murders, rapes and drug-turf wars - were far from positive, and the powers-that-be in
the city were not initially happy. But
Vice
was more about Ferraris, speedboats and booty
than gang-banging, and as branding goes, it depicted Miami as more than a high-crime
slum where everyone's grandparents retired. As William Cullom, a President of the Great-
er Miami Chamber of Commerce put it, '
[Miami Vice]
has built an awareness of Miami in
young people who had never thought of visiting Miami.' A pretty mediocre Hollywood
film version starring Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx, released in 2006, capitalized on the
