AC Cobra at Poor House tonight

The SOFLA blast from the past AC Cobra is wrong in so many ways it’s right. They’re playing at Poor House tonight, and I’m hoping for butts hanging out of pants and a big drunken mosh pit. Yay!

Lazy Sunday at Awesome Farmer’s Market at Commercial and Dixie…Seriously…

No concerts or art exhibits or interview this week, just daytime lifestyle exploration.

You have to check this place out! Everything that I could ever want — from beets to cilantro, apples, pineapples (for $3.50, what?!) — and that my body could ever need lines the shelves at this farmer’s market. But, my favorite thing about going to the farmer’s market at the previously mentioned intersection (actually just a little south of Commercial on Dixie) is that it’s just so fun to go in and try new stuff and make up recipes in my head. Plus, the best part is that the stuff is pretty inexpensive compared with the grocery store. I almost never take Sweet Bronco with me because he just stands there and looks cross and reminds me of all the veggies that I’ve let go bad (over the entire course of our relationship), which is just no fun. Then, when you’re on your own and dressed in your Sunday worst, there’s nothing better than hitting up Good Will for a few kid-sized t-shirts and $2 VHS tapes.

Lauderdale Beach Bike Ride and Beer at Blue Fish

Sweet Bronco and I swindled apathy and laziness out of their evil plans to confine us to the couch all weekend and took a pleasure ride (bike) on Fort Lauderdale beach. We cruised along A1A toward Hugh Taylor Birch State Park, where we planned to enjoy nature along the park’s bike paths.
We arrived 8 minutes before the park closed and told the guard at the gate that we were going to turn around, but then I said to Sweet Bronco, “make a run for it.” The guard casually looked out the window and said, “The rangers in there will kick you out.” He didn’t realize that we were only kidding. We hung a big fat U-ey (how do you spell that?) and headed west on Sunrise Blvd. Of course, we could let the exercise be untainted by a stopoff at some watering hole or another for beer and greasy food. As we could not decide where to go that was west of the Intracoastal, we turned back around to wet our tongues at Blue Fish. We scarfed fish sticks, mozzarella and chugged some big huge beers before trying not to barf as we peddled back home. [gallery]

Hanging Out at The Fort Lauderdale History Center

You know what’s awesome? The history of Fort Lauderdale, that’s what. Whether you want to impress on a first date or have a really good bar conversation (to attract a first date…or just for the fun of talking to strangers), it would behoove you to know a thing or two about the town that you live in. If you’re visiting Fort Lauderdale and you’ve heard of Las Olas and you’re wondering, why of all the streets in this heaven on earth that I’m vacationing in is Las Olas so freaking special, you just might want to check out the Fort Lauderdale History Center to fill yourself in on all of the details. What, after all, is that cute little house with the green awnings that’s situated right across the street from the Cheesecake Factory? Hmmm….what makes The Stranahan House so special? Who were the Stranahans anyway?

There it is…a nice view from the dock behind the house.

The Fort Lauderdale History Center is not located at the same site as the Stranahan House. It is, in fact, located a few blocks west of The Stranahan House in a not-so-quiet part of town known as Himmarshee (if you walk a few blocks west of Las Olas, you can pick up the Riverwalk, which leads to it, at Huizenga Plaza, right across the street from the Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale). Anyway, when we arrived to at the Fort Lauderdale History Center, we said our hellos to Research Director Merrilyn Rathbun before meeting up with a formidable tag team of local knowledge in the form of curator Margo Edwards and tour guide Tim Myette.

There’s Tim. He told us all about what life was like on the New River back in the old days and all about the arrival of Henry Flagler’s East Coast Railroad in Fort Lauderdale. According to Tim, Flagler used to build up towns at each of his railway stops, recruiting locals to be barbers and various other essential professionals. You wanna know why Fort Lauderdale doesn’t have a big, old-fashioned luxury hotel like the Breakers, which Flagler built in Palm Beach or The Royal Palm Hotel in Miami? Ask Mary Brickell. Below: New River Inn.

Here’s a nice view of New River Inn from the Riverwalk in Fort Lauderdale. This building, which has stood in this spot since 1905, housed many who came to Fort Lauderdale to conduct agricultural business dealings and to visit our town in the early part of the 20th century. It’s a remarkable structure with the original interior made out of a very hard type of local wood called Dade County Pine — very hard, heavy and resistant to termites. Inside of New River Inn, the Museum of History hosts many exhibits about the town. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like down here during WWII, why the area was so underpopulated until Frank Stranahan came down here in 1893 (hint: it has something to do with a conflict between local Seminoles and William Cooley arising from an unsatisfactory outcome in the trial of the murderers of Chief Alibama), what kind of bathing suits the beauties used to wear on Fort Lauderdale Beach, how the Seminoles lived and changed over the centuries, you’ll find many answers inside of this building. Below: The King-Cromartie House.

The King-Cromartie House — like most of the early homes in the area — was built by Edward T. King. It was also his home for some time and served as the home of his daughter and her husband, Bloxham Cromartie. The cool thing about the King-Cromartie house, besides the insights its interior offers into Lauderdale Pioneer living, is that it was moved up the New River on a barge to its present location in Fort Lauderdale’s historical district. Inside, there are photos of the home’s former occupants and some pretty impressive images of those Junior Leaguers getting their hands dirty for the sake of preserving history.

As you can tell, I had an amazing time going deep in Fort Lauderdale history with Margo and Tim. When you tour the historical buildings of Fort Lauderdale, you will get to visit all of the exhibits at the Museum of History, tour the King-Cromartie House, visit a replica of the original schoolhouse and hear all about the the early days in party central, AKA Fort Lauderdale. CLICK ON THIS LINK TO THE FORT LAUDERDALE HISTORY CENTER “VISIT US” PAGE TO FIND OUT WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO GET DOWN THERE AND FIND IT ALL OUT FOR YOURSELF. If Tim Myette looks like the guide for you, you should know that he gives tours on Sunday starting at around noon, and he will be prepared to receive you after church of after your fourth bloody mary/mimosa.

My Neice, Ava…

…rocking a distinctively Hambright style, methinks.

Hearty congratulations to The Brand!

Court and Sweet Bronco go to the Stranahan House

Yesterday, Sweet Bronco and I went to The Stranahan House in downtown Fort Lauderdale, located right where the Henry E. Kinney Tunnel goes under the New River and across the street from The Cheesecake Factory. Built in 1901, this building is a fine example of the pioneer lifestyle in early South Florida.

The Stranahan House is the former home of Fort Lauderdale’s first family, Frank and Ivy Stranahan. We met up with a very informative docent named Doris, who’s been giving tours at the historical home for over twenty years. She told us all about how the Stranahans lived and what they gave to this community. The site of the historic Stranahan House is more than just the home of a couple that once lived here. When Frank first moved to Fort Lauderdale, there was no tunnel or bridge across the New River. He operated a ferry by pulley that allowed people to cross the rather wide New River when they were en route to Miami on the road that is now Federal Highway. People would come up to the site of Stranahan’s place on the river and ring the bell below to alert him to their presence:On that same site, Frank opened a post office and a trading post with a campground. That’s where everyone — including the Seminole Indians, with whom Frank traded frequently — stayed when they came to trade with Stranahan. All was running smoothly, and Frank even had a little post office operation running on the grounds. What does a post office attract if not fine young single women, such as the 18-year-old Ivy Julia Cromartie, who’d come up to Fort Lauderdale from her home town in North Miami to take a teaching post in 1899, who just love to write long letters to their families? Frank couldn’t help but take notice of Ivy — cutie though she was, as you can see in the picture below (her wedding picture), Doris informed us that she was the only single woman in town at that time. Frank and Ivy married in 1900, which meant that Ivy could no longer formally teach. She taught Seminole Indian children to read when they visited Stranahan’s trading post with their families. Over the years, Frank sold his trading post and became a banker. He made a great deal of money, and he and Ivy entertained a few big names such as Henry Flagler in their pioneer home on the New River. The China above the doorway in the photo below is a gift from Flagler.
Things turned for the worse in 1929, when Frank’s health and the U.S. economy started to fail. According to Doris, Frank took his own life. Ivy lived on in The Stranahan House and struggled to make ends meet until her death in 1971. The home became a boarding house for some time as well as a restaurant that some may remember called The Pioneer House. Now, the home is restored to its early 20th century state and is open for daily tours just like the one we took with Doris. The one-hour tours are available every day at 1 p.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m. Well-informed docents like Doris take you through every room of the home and answer important questions. How did Ivy really feel about Frank’s beard? What feature of the home did Ivy and Frank bicker about most? What low-cost items did Ivy use to dress up her shoes? Photo gallery below:

This Moodvane post fueled by Intown 411.

Cool Videos I Saw Today

Sweet Bronco sent me this heartwarmer from CBS News:

Watch CBS Videos Online

This one, I found while searching for interesting and bizarre stuff — like people walking on non – newtonian substances — on YouTube:

Saturday at Poor House with The Freakin’ Hott and…you’ll never guess…Stonefox

Yes, the place was spilling over with hot-type persons. Exhibit A:

There were other types of people too:There’s no favortism here for Stonefox. They really are playing that much. After experimenting with our new fondue kit, Sweet Bronco, Misha and I went downtown to meet up with Tom and Evan at Poor House, where we could drink a bit and absorb the that ever-tasty slice of sex on a stick that calls itself The Freakin’ Hott. Maggie and Aaron were exactly as they ought to be: a blur of guitar playing, tambourine slapping, hip shaking, insult spewing madness. Stonefox was rockin’ very hard too.
I took a bunch of pics of everyone, and drank up a few drinks with my friends. At this juncture, there’s not too much for me to say about these bands except see ‘em when you got a free night and a few extra bucks for beer. TIMB, whose show we missed on account of extreme lateness, stood in the crowd to show The Freakin’ Hott some love: Photo Gallery Below: Do you want to nab one or ten of my pics? Go ahead and do it.
This Moodvane post fueled by Intown 411.

Fire Zuave at City Limits with The Weird Dancing Thing

Fire Zuave, which despite repeated corrections I continue to pronounce Fire Zuav-A (I’m working on it), has some pretty curious stage antics, but this one takes the cake. I really wanted to know what that thing was, but do you think that they would tell me? No. I think it’s a person jerking around beneath a sheet with a styrofoam head on a stick. That’s my best guess. I know that they have a styrofoam head on a stick, so…

City Limits Show 01-09-09 – Ex-Norwegian, Fire Zuave, The Pretty Faces…

…Tongues of the Heartworm, Jupiter One and Stonefox. His Hotness, Sweet Bronco, and I popped in on the huge local show at City Limits in Delray Beach on FRIDAY. We arrived in time to watch Ex-Norwegian, a poppy fun band from Miami that’s recently released a single called “Dance, Trance, Pants” — Gingerman309 posted on his YouTube channel. Roger, the front man, is kind of a hottie; he’s got Courtney Taylor-Taylor mouth, which is a good thing. Here’s a pic of the band onstage at City Limits:
After Ex-Norweigan played, Fire Zuave took the stage. It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen them; the last time was a few months ago at Alligator Alley, which, for all of its many awesome qualities, does not have a very big stage. A band like Fire Zuave can use all of the space that they can get because they’ve got creatures feline — and one strange little white bobbing creature — lurking and dancing around the stage with them.
Chuck’s a pretty funny guy. We met him on the way into the building, and he told us that his drummer is a homeless guy who’s always getting pulled over on his bike. He’s mentioned this before. Met drummer Jason Fusco after the show, and he asked me, “Did Chuck tell you that I’m homeless?” He’s not. Next up was The Pretty Faces:The Pretty Faces played a rockin’ set, and frontman Jeph Thorslund was working a black moustache. I didn’t get a picture of him, but I did get one of his brother, drummer Thomas Thorslund, who looks kind of like the actor Ron Livingston (star of Office Space):The Pretty Faces is for life: the only way into the band is to marry a Thorslund and the only way out of the band is in a box. So, before you decide to get a crush on the only single member of The Pretty Faces, know what you’re getting into. After The Pretty Faces rocked out world, Stonefox, who’d just returned from a 2 1/2 week tour, took the stage, without their Atlanta-based bassist Ross, and rocked hard with cardboard signs that read “will rock for beer” (or some similar phrase). I love hearing all of this blues-heavy rock. Like The Black Keys and Gainesville-based band Ancient River, Stonefox gives me that dose. I blew out my camera battery on Fire Zuave, so I didn’t capture the boys’ charming stage decor, but I did get this great shot, which I will leave you on, of frontman Jordan with band manager and local media vixen Keri, AKA Modest Bombshell.
Photo gallery below:

This Moodvane post is fueled by Intown 411.

Next Page »