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THIS WEEK'S STORIES

 

MIAMI BEACH

Design Approval of New St. Patrick Pre-K Building Stalls in Wake of Resident Outrage

 

MIAMI BEACH

Miami Beach Commission Candidate List Grows

 

NORTH MIAMI BEACH

North Miami Beach’s New City Attorney Sworn In

 

Letters

 



Columns

 

BOUND>>

Hood chats it up with Shawn C. Bean, author of The First Hollywood, a book about the early years of silent movie making in Florida’s very own movie mecca — Jacksonville?

 

THE 411>>

Yeah, there were more stars out during Miami’s New Year celebrations than you could shake a stick at, but the big news was that the gold laden, skimpy speedo sportin’ Michael Phelps was spotted swimming in the rooftop pool at the Gansevoort…

 

FILM>>

Go ahead punk, make our day and watch the latest flick from the greatest, oldest tough guy left in the effete world of movie making. Yup, Clint Eastwood is back baby and although he’s an old coot, he’s an asskickin’ one and that’s all that counts. Oh, and Hudak actually liked Gran Torino.

FILM CAPSULES>>

 

MUSIC>>

Real Animal is the strongest album that Alejandro Escovedo has ever made. Well, at least that’s what he tells Alan Sculley. But, who cares about that, this guys band Nuns was the opening act for the infamous last ever show by the Sex Pistols. And, that rocks!

 

THE 2008 SUNPOST YEAR IN REVIEW>>

The 2008 [Somewhat Accurate and Mostly Sarcastic, or Perhaps the Other Way Around ] Year in Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The 2008 SunPost 50

 April 24, 08

Jim DeFede

Gritty Journalist

Hard-hitting and drinking and eating and smoking journalist Jim DeFede personifies the old school mantras of a trade that is increasingly being sterilized by politically correct, Ivy League-educated writers and corporate bean counters.

These days, DeFede’s cleaned up his act a bit — he is a regular contributor and Web columnist for CBS4, he has a radio show on 850 WFTL Fort Lauderdale and he writes for such publications as The New Republic, Newsday and Mother Jones.

Brooklyn-born and bred, DeFede made his bones during his 11 years with the Miami New Times, a paper that lost much of its character when he left to become a Miami Herald columnist. Not long after he joined the Herald newsroom, the space shuttle Columbia tragically exploded and DeFede praised the paper’s reporters for their hard work in a column that also bitch-slapped Knight-Ridder management for receiving million-dollar bonuses while reporters got little more than an occasional free slice of pizza.

DeFede later became the first Herald writer in about a decade to receive a visa from the Cuban government. The observations he made in the columns he sent back didn’t exactly follow the Miami exile party line.

But Defede is best known for his coverage of disgraced Miami Commissioner Arthur Teele, who went to the Herald to drop off some papers for Defede before putting a gun in his mouth and blowing his brains out in the newspaper’s lobby. The bullet tore through the back of his skull and broke a lobby window. That night, DeFede was fired for admitting he’d recorded his last conversation with Teele without his permission.

DeFede may have lost some weight since then and may now wear a dress shirt and sport coat, but that doesn’t mean he’s lost his gritty edge. Welcome back, Jim.

Armando Aguilar

Lin Arison

Ricky Arriola

Adrienne Arsht

Marleine Bastien Peter Bober

Matti Herrera Bower

Norman Braman

George M. Burgess

Charles W. Burkett

Donald Carlin

Charlie Cinnamon

Mary Conway

David Custin

Alex Daoud

Brett David

Jim DeFede

Frank Del Vecchio

Edward DeValle II

Lucia Dougherty & Carter McDowell

Peter Ehrlich

Gary Farmer

Jorge Fernandez & Julie O. Bru

Matthew B. Gorson

Andi Greenwald

Julie Greiner

Alan Lieberman

Keith London

Martin Z. Margulies

Keith Menin

Dana Nottingham

Tommy Pooch & Alan Roth

Gerald Posner

Manuel Prieguez Jr.

Louis Puig

Terry Riley

Luiz Rodrigues

Blanka A. Rosenstiel

Hiram Ruiz

Joe Sanchez

Don Slesnick Nicola Siervo

Javier Souto

Ike Starkman

Michael Stern

David Sugarman

Michael Tilson Thomas

Gillian Thomas

2008 SunPost 50 Credits

Editor: Rachael Lee Coleman

Writers: Cynthia Archbold, Angie Hargot, Lee Molloy and Ben Torter  Copy Editors: Mary Louise English and Ken Rivadeneira

Web Editor: Angie Hargot

Illustrator: Christian Meesey

Page Designer: Michael Menchero

John Timoney Larry Wilker  

Special Honors: George Berlin

 

Comments? E-mail letters@miamisunpost.com