We are currently on a short car-trip to Miami.
The primary purpose of the trip was to donate our old sails to http://sailsforsustenance.org/. This organization collects used sails and provides them to subsistence fishermen in Haiti. For sailors, if you have any excess sails, consider donating them to Sails For Sustenance or a similar organization. It can make a big difference in the life of a fisherman. A short video of re-purposed sails in action can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDLYlpcLz9I
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| Collection box in Miami |
We visited the HistoryMiami museum (http://www.historymiami.org/) in downtown Miami. We had been to this museum a few years ago, but it has been significantly expanded since they took over the space formally occupied by the Miami Fine Arts Museum, which moved and was renamed the Perez Art Museum Miami. A word of advice - there is still a lot of confusing or down-right misinformation about the downtown museums on the web since the recent changes. Their expanded space is largely devoted to folklife exhibits which present local traditional arts and culture.
A highlight of the visit was a concert by an excellent steel pan (drum) band named 21st Century Steel Band (http://www.21stcenturysteelband.com/home.htm). We have heard steel pan (rhymes with 'mon') bands many times before and this one was very good. A surprise was a number of classical music numbers that they played. Apparently in the early days of pan music in Trinidad, there were only two radio stations and significant airplay of classical music, and the bands played what they heard. Michael, the band leader and 'tuner', has been playing pan for around 40 years and once toured with Liberace.
No trip to Miami is complete without food (a bad place for a diet) and this trip was no exception with trips to Pollo Tropical and The Versailles Restaurant.
Also we discovered a relatively new Spanish restaurant in Coconut Grove named La Gamba. We were walking around the Grove on Saturday night and heard some great music from a trio playing on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. The percussionist used a 'drum box', and a guitarist and female singer completed the trio. The singer sounded to me like a young Celia Cruz, and they were great. We did not eat at the restaurant, but plan to on a later visit.
As usual, we enjoyed our visit to Miami very much!
Tom
By Car
Miami, FL
A highlight of the visit was a concert by an excellent steel pan (drum) band named 21st Century Steel Band (http://www.21stcenturysteelband.com/home.htm). We have heard steel pan (rhymes with 'mon') bands many times before and this one was very good. A surprise was a number of classical music numbers that they played. Apparently in the early days of pan music in Trinidad, there were only two radio stations and significant airplay of classical music, and the bands played what they heard. Michael, the band leader and 'tuner', has been playing pan for around 40 years and once toured with Liberace.
No trip to Miami is complete without food (a bad place for a diet) and this trip was no exception with trips to Pollo Tropical and The Versailles Restaurant.
Also we discovered a relatively new Spanish restaurant in Coconut Grove named La Gamba. We were walking around the Grove on Saturday night and heard some great music from a trio playing on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. The percussionist used a 'drum box', and a guitarist and female singer completed the trio. The singer sounded to me like a young Celia Cruz, and they were great. We did not eat at the restaurant, but plan to on a later visit.
As usual, we enjoyed our visit to Miami very much!
Tom
By Car
Miami, FL
