by Strawberry Jam | Apr 20, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale
By Strawberry Jam
With a steady increase in pollution, toxins, and population, every day should indeed be Earth Day. Here are five hand-picked events to “officially” stand up for Mother Nature this weekend, from a gardening workshop to kids activities to cooling off indoors mesmerized by the beauty of nature on the big screen.
Check out Birch State Park’s Earth Day Everyday extravaganza of activities, food, and entertainment. Highlights include kids crafts, free veggie dogs, and a “Didgeridoo Orchestra”. The event runs from 9am-6pm on Saturday.
Learn about growing fruits and vegetables and how to turn your turf into an “Ec0-Yard” by attending the Growing Green Earth Day Workday and Lecture at Fern Forest Nature Center in Coconut Creek on Saturday.
Check out a nature flick in 3D on the extra big screen at IMAX Ft Lauderdale- Born To Be Wild or The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti.
Visit a National Park in Florida for FREE this last weekend as part of the National Park Service’s National Park Week.
Peruse the vendors at Yellowgreen Market in Hollywood for some unique artisan goodies, mostly local. Check out our blurb from October here.
by Strawberry Jam | Apr 18, 2011 | Local Business
By Strawberry Jam
Despite reading a majority of negative Yelp reviews complaining of the new Taco Beach Shack in Hollywood, their website’s mouthwatering descriptions are enough to warrant a trip for any decent taco-enthusiast. Almost all of the complaints dealt with the joint’s slow service but we figure that’s not that bad and what better time to risk it than Taco Tuesday? Well, we soon learned that “Taco Tuesday” was in fact limited to only chicken or beef tacos, subjecting us to the not-so-shack-like prices on the rest of the menu. We mulled over the menu for a while at the bar and waited for a table to open up. There seemed to be no seating or serving arrangements and after finally sitting about 15 minutes, our waiter hurriedly greeted us “So sorry. I promise not to ignore you guys anymore. Pllllease make it quick.” A sign of the night to come, perhaps.
We placed our order: one chicken taco, one beef taco, and a baja fish taco combo platter. Almost 40 minutes went by until our server came and apologized for the wait, offering some chips and guac on the house (normally $4 for a basket and small 4 ounce cup of the green stuff). The guacamole tasted light and fresh and seemed like an appropriately nice gesture by a new restaurant. In all fairness, there was a somewhat large party that ordered before us (5 or 6 people) but it seemed very much like two servers and one cook were taking care of the whole place, which was actually almost completely full.
While we waited we observed the decor of Taco Beach Shack. Is it a taco shack? Is it striving to be a swanky outdoor restaurant on South Beach? Alas, it is both. A shack built upon a luxurious blanket of white sand, with neon signs and expensive-looking wicker furniture, ping pong tables and white drapes. Oh and of course a fire pit.
by Strawberry Jam | Apr 16, 2011 | Local Business
Find out where after the jump
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by Miguel Bravo | Apr 14, 2011 | Art, Music
We’re anticipating another explosion of goodness this weekend in Broward County. Here are some choice cuts for the next four days:
Thursday
Tonight, Ft Lauderdale’s weekly indie music soiree Digital Love hosts Chicago-based mash-up mistros The Hood Internet. Unfamiliar with the DJ duo? Just peruse blog aggregator Hypem or the pair’s website to listen to one of their numerous mixes. Think Girl Talk, but edgier. Cover is $10, PBRs and shots of Jack will still be on special, $2 and $5 respectively.
Friday
The hottest new franchise in town, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, play their second home game at Lockhart Stadium against the notoriously dirty NSC Minnesota Stars. We had an insane amount of fun last Saturday for the opening game, and we’re expecting the same tomorrow night. Kickoff is at 8:30, but try and show up 6pm to tailgate with the Miami Ultras and South Florida United. Tickets are cheap ($15 at the box office, but look out for high school kids selling tickets for half off). DEFEND THE FORT!
Being called “Fort Lauderdale’s newest craze” by its organizers (hardly a new craze in our opinion, but who cares), the FTL Bus Loop is back for another installment. This time the trolley route takes you around the north end of FTL Beach (Blue Martini, The Parrot Lounge, McSorley’s, etc). 20 bucks if you prepay, 25 bones the day of. Check-in begins at 5:30 at either the Galleria Mall or Shooters/Bootlegger. The proceeds go to a number of worthy charities. Check out the FTLC’s bus loop post from back in the day.
One more option for your Friday evening: Dr. Dog at Culture Room . Tickets are $18. Check out Beached Miami’s interview with the bassist.
Saturday
South Florida has way too much stuff going on Saturday, but we’re going to try and navigate from event to event. Radio-Active Records headlines this busy day with their Record Store Day celebration. The record store really outdid themselves this time for RSD: Brooklyn’s Blank Dogs and Jacuzzi Boys headline, with additional performances by Miami band Axe & Oak, Tampa-based Merchandise, and DJ sets by Esoteric, Kems, Lance-O, and Urodub Soundsystem. Come out early and take advantage of all the vinyl specials and limited releases. Click for set times and some RSD exclusives.
After watching the Heat beat up the Sixers, make your way to Huizenga Plaza (the park across from the Art Museum) and join the Crohn’s Disease Walk to help find a cure for this annoying digestive disease that affects 1 our of every 200 Americans. Festivities begin at 6pm, the walk starts at 8pm. If you can’t be there in person, you can make a donation on their Ft Lauderdale website.
Although not the official after party for Radio-Active’s RSD festivities, we feel that the Spred The Dub show at divey 1921 is a perfect way to cap off a hectic but fun Saturday. Doors open at 10pm and there’s a $5 cover. Every time I’ve seen this band live, I’ve had a good time.
Sunday
A collective of South Florida EDM DJ’s will be spinning electronic music all day at North Beach Park in Hollywood to raise money for victims of the Japan earthquake. This event called Red Dot Relief is free, but the organizers are asking for donations through their Crowdrise site or directly to the America Red Cross site. Instead of spending the day at Ft Lauderdale Beach like every other weekend, try something different and head a few miles south to Hollywood Beach for this fun event. The music starts at 1pm and goes till 11:30pm.
Less charitable but probably just as fun is Poorhouse’s BBQ dubbed Hootenanny. The entertaining lineup consists of Viva le Vox, The Sawyer Family, Joe Buck Yourself, Heavy Boots, and Boise Bob. The event is free and there will be delicious barbeque for sale. It begins at 5pm.
by Strawberry Jam | Apr 13, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale
By Strawberry Jam
This past Saturday, Red Bull hosted their first Candola competition in Fort Lauderdale’s New River. Despite the scorching heat, hundreds turned out to watch the homemade boats launch into the water and race toward the end of the 1/3 mile route and see if they can or can’t-dola. Here are a few of the ones we caught:
photos by Strawberry Jam
by Fat Hand | Apr 12, 2011 | Local Business, News
by Fat Hand
This past weekend after having just arrived at FTL beach, I caught wind of an unfortunate rumor: the Pirate Bar had closed down. I went to see for myself and indeed, the wooden pirates stationed along the alley were gone and the doors, or openings, or whatever you want to call them, were shuttered. Pirate vacation, perhaps. Temporarily closed by health inspectors, seemed likely. But a quick check of their website confirmed the worst: Pirate Bar on FTL beach is gone. Cue the violins. Leave a bouquet of black lilies. A bar that seemed more Ft. Lauderdale than Ft. Lauderdale itself often seems, is no more.
Now, there are a couple pieces of information that may provide some silver lining:
First, as you know, and as the website linked above points out, there is another version of the pirate bar located in the old Shirttail Charlies location downtown on the south bank of the New River. It’s a good bar, has a full menu, tons of space, a pool, and outdoor picnic tables right on the dock. But the vibe is more Shirttail Charlies than it is Pirate Bar on FTL beach. It can never compete with the grungy, laid back, rock & roll feel of the original. For this blogger, it will never replace wasting away late afternoons at the beach, alternating between sake bombs and buckets of Polar beer, dangerously playing that ring game across a public alley, listening to rock music turned up a little too loud.
Second piece of info: I stopped in the pirate gift shop next door and asked the young lass working the counter what she knew of the situation. She says the landlord is taking over the bar and is currently working on renovations. The bar (or some bar) will supposedly re-open in the future.
We shall see how closely the new bar will resemble the Pirate Bar, if at all. Maybe it will re-open, seem exactly the same, and we will forget the original ever closed. Maybe. But no matter what opens in that location, be sure to go back at least one time, order a couple sake bombs if they are available, and pour one out for your old pirate friends.
by Fat Hand | Apr 11, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale
by Fat Hand
Over the weekend the FTLC checked out Ft. Lauderdale’s newest professional sports team: The Strikers. The new NASL soccer team plays its home games in Lockhart stadium and this past Saturday was their season opener against Ft. Lauderdale’s traditional rival city: Edmonton, Alberta. Edmonton is basically the Tallahassee of Alberta. When people move out of Edmonton to try to find a little culture, you know where they move? Calgary, which is just a larger version of Davie.
A sizeable (approx. 6,400 attendance) and enthusiastic crowd filtered in after a lively tailgate to cheer on the hometown team, with much of the crowd donning Strikers colors: striker red and striker yellow. Enthusiastic supporters were everywhere, with the area behind the north goal being the focus of the stadium’s drumming and singing.
The first half featured several Strikers scoring chances, but no goals. The Strikers struck first on a header early in the second half, but Edmonton rallied with two of their own and ultimately held on for a 2-1 victory, a disappointing result to an otherwise successful opening match.
Great things about the Strikers game include exciting minor-league American soccer action, inexpensive general admission tickets, and an overall fun atmosphere.
My only complaint (other than losing to a team from that horrible craphole of a city Edmonton) is that the beer is a little overpriced, at $6-$8. These prices are not unordinary for professional sports, and concessions revenue is obviously important, but this is a Strikers game not a Dolphins game. It would be nice if we enthusiastic Strikers fans could get sloshed for our team at a more reasonable price.
But that one drawback aside, the FTLC wholeheartedly supports and endorses the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers. The next home game is Friday against another traditional Ft. Lauderdale rival, the Alberta of the US: Minnesota. Tickets can be had for about the price of a beer. So grab your drum, paint your face yellow, smuggle a couple airplane bottles of gin in your pockets, and we will see you at Lockhart.
Scope out a few pics we took, after the jump…
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by Miguel Bravo | Apr 7, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale
So we’re a little late with our Rebecca Black reference in our post title (that was soooo 87 million views ago). We recommend not being late on some of the good stuff going on this weekend because it’s going to be a good one. Here’s our picks for tonight, Friday, and Saturday:
Thursday
Tonight at The Green Room, check out FTL’s go-to eccentric rock/folk/jam band band Travalonia. Rumor has it, the band is pushing an old-school gym theme for their performance. Feel free to wear your shortest middle school gym shorts and vintage neon sweat bands. No cover, $2 PBRs. Party starts at 10pm.
Friday
According to GoRiverwalk.com, Friday’s Riverwalk Get Downtown located in the YOLO plaza is Fort Lauderdale’s largest outdoor cocktail hour. Even though I think that every weekend at the beach is FTL’s biggest cocktail hour, I’m sure this will be an enormous gathering of beautiful people and plenty of extra tasty beverages. $25 gets you 2 drink tickets ($20 prepaid online), lots of free samplings from local eateries, and live entertainment from Funkette. The party runs from 5pm-8pm. Click here for more info.
Saturday afternoon
We recommend starting your day off downtown by the New River to enjoy the inaugural Red Bull Candola. Watch 25 teams race their homemade gondolas along the river for 1/3 of a mile, starting from Huizenga Plaza and ending at Esplanade Park (right by the Broward Performing Arts Center). Expect some super creative and unique vessels. The action starts at noon. Here’s the official Candola website for more details
Saturday night
Celebrate the re-arrivial of FTL’s storied soccer franchise The Strikers as they take on our dreaded rival from the north, Edmonton FC . Even though Miami FC has been playing in Broward all along, it’s so much cooler now with “Ft Lauderdale” in front of the team name. Tickets are only $10 (will go up to $15 for the rest of the season) and kick-off is at 7:30pm at Lockhart Stadium (just west of 95 off Commercial).
Sunday
Go watch some horse races at Gulfstream. We had a good time last weekend doing that.
by Miguel Bravo | Apr 6, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale
Seems like every day I read about a new budget cut to the public library system. One side of me is not surprised – let’s face it, how many people do you know that regularly hang out at the library? Another side of me is disappointed because the library is an excellent place to get work/blogging done, rent free movies, see rotating exhibits, attend free classes, and of course, use really fast internet. Inside the Main Library in downtown FTL there is a sandwich eatery called Charcuterie Too! that not only serves your standard array of deli sandwiches (tuna, roast beef, chicken salad, turkey, etc) and rotating entrees, but also pours a fairly priced cup of coffee and espresso. Excited about another perk of the public library, I’ve been meaning drop in and get some work done over coffee and a tuna sandwhich, but its daytime only hours have made it nearly impossible. Since I’m neither retired or work downtown, the limited hours bother me just a tad; however, my main problem lies elsewhere.
I came to the library today for a particular reason: to get some much needed blogging done. In order to log into WordPress and do what I got to do, I kind of need the internet. Enjoying a cheap jolt of caffeine inside the library’s cafeteria seemed like the perfect way to spend my allotted blogging time. Problem is that despite the fact that the restaurant is located at the top of the escalators of the library and ten yards from the book check out, THERE’S NO EFF’N Wi-FI in the RESTAURANT! Correction: you can get maybe one bar, possibly two if you sit at closer to the entrance, but it’ll disconnect before you can say “Damn, wish I just went to Brew”. I’d be somewhat OK with this if I was allowed to walk into the library with my large coffee I just ordered. Now I’m forced to blog in Microsoft Word and chug a 16oz cup of joe that I would never have ordered had I known.
All I’m saying is, would it kill the library to extend the wireless to the Charcuterie Too? Or, would it kill the restaurant to add their own Wi-Fi connection? I don’t care either way. Even though the food is probably really tasty and the coffee is acceptable, I won’t be blogging at this sandwich shop again. It’s a shame too because a place to get a quick bite and liquid energy can only help bring more people into the library.
Side note: From the majority of reviews that I’ve read, the food is excellent at the Charcuterie Too! If you don’t need the internet, I’m sure it’ll be an enjoyable lunch spot. Also, this is no knock on the main library. I highly recommend doing work at a public library, especially on one of the higher stories. Here’s my backdrop on the 6th floor as I upload this post:
by Miguel Bravo | Apr 4, 2011 | Fort Lauderdale
As the Northeast (more specifically, those annoying New York sports fans) continued to shiver this past weekend, the FTL Collective staff enjoyed a scorching hot afternoon in flip flops and floppy hats at the horse track at Gulfstream Park for the annual Florida Derby. For the unaware, this highly anticipated race happens every year around this time and currently carries a massive purse of $1,000,000 for the winning horse. Typically, the 3-year-old that wins the this derby goes on to be one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby.
With free entry, minimum bets of $1, decently priced beers ($20 buckets), and lots of ridiculous looking hats, this made for a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Here’s some of our photo documentation of the event:
Photos by Mig and Strawberry Jam
Check out Birch State Park’s Earth Day Everyday extravaganza of activities, food, and entertainment. Highlights include kids crafts, free veggie dogs, and a “Didgeridoo Orchestra”. The event runs from 9am-6pm on Saturday.
Check out a nature flick in 3D on the extra big screen at IMAX Ft Lauderdale- Born To Be Wild or The Ultimate Wave: Tahiti.
Peruse the vendors at Yellowgreen Market in Hollywood for some unique artisan goodies, mostly local. Check out our blurb from October here.
