SO. Thanks to everyone who’s been checking in regularly over these three years. It’s been a ton of fun, and the support has been really really overwhelming.

Where we’re at as of now is this: I have a new thing, More Blog about Buildings and Food, that I’m putting together. It hopefully will be more open-ended, less locally-obsessed, and more infrequently updated then CM, but will hopefully also dovetail pretty well. I still owe you a slideshow of FOOD from the Georgia/Florida trip, and that’s going to pop up there in the next day or two. I also have a Twitter lest you forget, and you should totally subscribe to my updates. Further, friends and people that I actually know should get their own Twitter accounts post-haste. (No eye-rolling. You’ll thank me later. And btw, I’m reforming myself and will be regularly checking voicemail and e-mail from now on.)

My goal is to keep Critical Miami up in perpetuity. I’ll probably make some final adjustments to the linkroll, and some other tweaks becoming of a defunct blog (ie archives easier to access, etc.). That’s about all, folks. Hope to see you at the new place.

• The Miami/Bahamas Goombay Festival, a celebration of the first black settlers to arrive in South Florida from the Bahamas. Music and activities in Coconut Grove all weekend.
• Ongoing: City Theater’s Summer Shorts theater festival.
• Coral Gables restaurant week. Preset menus for fixed prices at some of the CG’s posher joints.
• Royal Poinciana Festival.
• Club stuff.
• Saturday: All the way in Pompano, but Paid Dues brings the old school, including Blackalicious and Rakim. $30.
• Pure Imagination radio show broadcasts live from Sweat Records, 9 pm. Then, bands at Churchill’s, presented by Nastie.
• Open casting call for The Amazing Race. No idea what that is.
• Sunday: Sunday Afternoons of Music concert #8, a recital for piano and violin.
• Steely Dan, Hard Rock Live.
• Wednesday: by the way, Ladytron at Studio A.

More photos from the trip, this time hopefully in contrast to the previous “nature” shots. To answer some of the practical questions I’ve been getting: I took the train up to Savannah last Friday. Upon getting to the train station at 8 pm (just as the sun was setting) I had to put my bike back together (it was boxed for the trip) and search for a camping spot for the night. I began pedaling the next morning, and arrived back in Miami the next Sunday. That’s nine days on the bike, including three night stays in motels and five nights of camping. My speedometer was once again on the fritz during this trip, but my daily mileage averaged over 80 miles, with at least a couple of 100 mile days. Other then an almost-constant headwind, the weather was cooperative, with no rain to speak of, and comfortable days and cool nights (at least until the last few days in South Florida, where the sun laughed at my SPF 30 and cooked me to a crisp).

As a bicycle tourist, I was able to tap into an abundance of goodwill from motorists, truckers, pedestrians, convenience store clerks, waitresses, other cyclists, bike shop workers, park rangers, law enforcement officials, and just plain everyone I ran across. There is a whole taxonomy of friendly waves that I discovered which unfortunately I cannot express in a text format (but ask me if you run into me).

One story I can share is the thing about the dogs. Folks in rural Georgia sometimes have loose dogs hanging around outside their homes, and a cyclists is exactly what these dogs love to chase. In fact, for the first few days of the trip, I’d be chased by dogs several times a day. Usually, a little adrenaline would kick in and I’d hustle a bit and soon pass out of the dogs’ territory, at which point they quickly give up chase. Two occasions stand out. Once, two dogs ran after me and straight into the path of an oncoming minivan, which came to a screeching (and honking) halt, within a hair’s breath of death. The other time, two good sized dogs saw me coming, and ran out to meet me, barking, growling, and blocking my path of escape. I got off the bike and tried to use it as a shield between myself and the animals, but they wisely spilt, each circling me from one side. I fended them off for a bit by yelling and squirting my water bottle in a wide arc, and walked down the left side of the road, my bike a sort of shield. They escorted me, and whenever they got too close I again squirted water and yelled at them (my yelling got gradually friendlier as the threat seemed to subside). Once I was passed their territory I was allowed to get back on my bike and ride on.

So. Anyway, here’s the slideshow of photos of man-made stuff from the trip.

In Miami, a dense urban and suburban strip of communities borders the Everglades on the west and the Atlantic on the east. So it’s easy to forget that most of the rest of the country is rural — a web of roads connecting scattered homes, farms, and the occasional small town. This is commingled with lots and lots of largely raw nature, with forests, prairies, rivers, and lakes, many of which look exactly as they have for thousands of years.

Or rather, on some level we’re aware of it. You can’t leave the state via I-95 without driving through stretches of forest, but it’s always seemed like an abstraction to me that way. And of course the best thing about riding a bike, even around the block, is for the slow way you experience your surroundings. Here then, the first of a few slide shows from the trip. I edited out anything with overt traces of humanity, trying to convey the varied and primal nature that’s still out there.

The route I followed started in Savannah and followed Section 6 and Section 7 of the Adventure Cycling Association’s Atlantic Coast series of maps. Through Georgia the rout heads about 60 miles inland from Savannah and meanders through the interior of the state, then follows the coast for most of Florida. Here’s the slideshow.

My only contact with this site will be by cell phone, which is why the twitter updates have once again taken prominence. Should be back in 1 week and some change, barring unforeseen circumstances, in which case all bets are off. Stay tuned for updates from the road.

Scenes from Lung Gong BBQ eel center, house dumplings bottom right, spicy pickled turnips (if everyone tells you to try them you probably should) center right.

Beef tongue, heart, and intestine. I’m not kidding, and it was great (although it did not a tripe convert make of me; if you don’t like chewy meats, stay away from the white bits). Again, order from the traditional menu and the dry-erase boards posted in the restaurant. You may also to check out LG’s website, charmingly devoid of a menu or any other useful information, or any actual photos of any actual dishes served at the restaurant.

By the time I went to grab a copy of the New Times this weekend, someone’d pulled out all the ‘Best Of’ inserts (couldn’t help but notice that the design of the interior had been nicely re-vamped), so we’re stuck doing the slog on the internet. Here we are: New Times best-of, Diversions (more over the next coupla days, if I have the energy):

• Best activity to do while intoxicated — Hashing: Too bad the hashing group is out of Ft. Lauderdale, which, um, has it’s own New Times. Otherwise, this would have been a good find. Hashing is sort of a combination of urban hide-and-seek combined with running and drinking. Good times. Update: for some reason almost all the comments on this post are about hashing. Check On! On! a Miami running blog that points to Miami-based hashes (thanks Ashley). And yes, the NT’s group is Ft-Laud based but holds events in both counties.
• Best art gallery — David Castillo: This is sort of a no-brainer, but it’s good that the NT got it exactly right — Castillo really came into its own in the last year, and probably did edge out Gallery Diet, which buzz-wise would be the other natural contender.
• Best Blog — Eye on Miami: Eye on Miami is sharp and prolific. In the year and a half it’s been around, I’ve rarely been a regular reader, mainly because I just can’t keep up. But it’s nice to know that there are two guys out there paying attention, and giving their thoughtful blow-by-blow on a daily basis. Odd that the NT would describe EoM as “easy to read” and compliment their blog design, though. Don’t those “Read More” links (on every post, whether there’s a jump or not), the elastic width, and the yearless archives dropdown make it sort of the opposite? Whatevs — I’m just glad the NT finally realized that “Best Blog” is even a category. Although just a little too late. There are now hundreds of blogs in town, and if you want to do them justice you need a whole separate category, just like you have Shops & Wares, not “Best Shop.”
• Best day trip — The edge of town: They mean Krome and Tamiami — the casino, the Pitt, the airboat ride, etc. This is a no-brainer, but it bears repeating — everyone should head out there at least about once a year or so. I recommend going a bit farther and also doing Big Cypress.
• Best hike — Florida Trail between Loop Road and U.S. 41: Add this to my ‘to do’.
• Best little-known sport — Slough-slogging: This would be jumping into the Everglades muck and wading, knee-to-waist deep in mud, looking for wildlife. I’m sure this is bucket-loads of fun, but I just learned that the Everglades is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles exist side-by-side. I wouldn’t do this without a very very experienced guide. Start here.
• Best local artist — Clifton Childree: Hell yes. More a film maker then an artist, but who’s counting. Cliff is the bomb. You might point out that NT is a couple of years late to the party, but still — Hell yes.
• Best local website — Crappers Quarterly: Yawn.
• Best movie — Pencil Fighting: The Life and Times of Team Balderdash: The comments prove NT is on to something here. Do kids pencil-fight anymore? No — we’re all showing our age here. Whatever… let’s have more movie sillyness.
• Best picnic spot — Enea Garden Lounge: I always wander into this place and wonder where the hell I am. Turns out it’s just a little quiet spot, and you’re allowed to go and hang out there. Good to know.
• Best place to go stoned — Alabama Jack’s: Ok, this is a place in search of a category. “Best place to drive 100mph to, fish at, and then drink beer while looking at water through the floor” would have worked. Next time on your way to the keys, take Card Sound road and stop by. Try to time it so you catch some of the live music.
• Best place to kayak — Pelican Island Park to Morningside Park: Do they rent kayaks there? (I don’t think they do, actually.) Can you do it by canoe? Isn’t there a bit of a risk of getting stranded, what with the currents in the bay? Dunno, but if doable, this route sounds amazing.
• Best rural bike ride — Homestead: Not sure why they didn’t link to the ride itself, but no matter — the fact that the Redland is a great biking area is confirmed. I might just advise you to grab a Redland Riot map and follow that, too.
• Best urban bike ride — Along the Miami River: This one sounds pretty good too, if you know your way around some serious non-bike-friendly streets. You may want to check the route out on Google maps first, and keep in mind that a couple of the bridges are closed.

• CubaNostalgia — for those who want to see what this whole “Cuba” thing is all about.
• Big bluegrass festival up in Hollywood, with free admission all weekend.
• Another orchid festival? Yep, this time at Fruit and Spice Park.
• HAHAHAHA!! Whoever’s doing promotion for the JVC Jazz festival is getting their ass fired REEL soon — their website is currently down and showing “This account has surpassed its CGI resources allocation at the present time.” Hilarious. You are welcome to keep clicking the link in hopes that it comes back at some point, but I wouldn’t bother — the biggest “name” on the festival is Sergio Mendez.
• Yee-haw, there’s a Miami International Agriculture and Cattle Show. Bring the kids.
• Tonight: Awesome New Republic at The Vagabond [MySpace].
• Les Standiford’s new book is about the founding of Washington as the nation’s capital. He speaks tonight at Books & Books Coral Gables.
• Cuba Libre block party outside The Globe, w/ live music and good food.
• Saturday: Haitian Compas Festival, but CAREFUL — the website started screaming at me, even with flashblock installed. There is some safe information here.
• Elvis Costello performs, which would be pretty cool, but apparently he’s “special guest” of the Palm Beach Police, which is a little weird (I think — admittedly I’m not sure I understand what’s happening here).
• Wallflower Gallery’s 11th anniversary celebration
• Sunday: The Greynolds Park Love-in, with a performance by the “legendary” Spencer Davis Group.

This issue opens with a story on downtown club promoters, follows with a great interview with artist Aramis Gutierrez, and along the way features Del the Funky Homosapien, Luis Gispert, Dino Felipe, Gustavo Matamoros, the Postmarks, Jaco Pastorius, Paul Auster, and Rachel Goodrich. That, my friends, is a damned good list. Oh, and …

right smack in the middle, an article on Sweat Records. Perfect.

Editor Omar Sommereyns is a longtime Miami journalist, having most recently kicked ass at the Sun Post and Flavorpill. You couldn’t have picked a better guy to head up a magazine, as evidenced by the results.

For the gallery walk this month, Map threw a party next to Snitzer gallery, with a coffee bar, funky user-configurable seating, and a rock concert. They gave away the magazines, and distributed a card that guided folks through a carefully-picked group of the best galleries on the circuit, with step-by-step instructions. A nice touch.

Oh, one other thing I need to gush about — it’s beautiful. Map lets its graphic designers toss visual caution to the wind with each new spread, and you get stuff like the pages above — eye-popping but smart, and complimenting their topic. A series of grayscaled upside-down photos over a color gradient on one page, multi-colored plaid graph paper at 45-degrees on the next. It’s held together by a tight grid for the copy (set in a nice san-serif) and printed on lavish matte paper.

You can pick up Map free at lots of places around town, but why not spring for a subscription — your $25 is well worth it and supports what will hopefully be a long-running institution. Oh, and you can also flip through the magazine on their website and download a high-res PDFs of any of the 4 issues. Go read!

You missed Christina Lei Rodriguez’s show at Perrotin, right? Shame, because it’s gorgeous. By dropping the overt references to natural forms, the new work achieves a sort of post-apocalyptic disco grandeur.

Detail.

Take an exterior wall, paint it flat black, and write something on it in block letters. It’s pretty hard to miss, as Locust has been demonstrating for the last few months.

Amber Hawk Swanson’s sex-doll twin shows off her business end. As you lean in to look, a camera’s watching you, with a live feed showing on a screen on the other side of the wall.

Photos of the doll making friends accompany the installation. These leave something to be desired, actually.

Map Magazine’s coffee lounge. Cold espresso in little cans distributed.

In a trailer at the back of the lounge, Snitzer’s trailer hold’s COOPER’s latest work, ass-kicking as usual.

Gavin Perry demonstrates what happens to artists when their work appears on the cover of a book: you’re issued dress shirts and cigars, and required to sport them when in public.

Robin Griffiths’ sculpture at Dorsch, replete with WWII-era shaving kit and multiple whiskey bottles.

Spinning lanterns by N. Sean Glover at Diet.

At Castillo, Frances Trombly’s latest work, including woven cardboard boxes with embroidered labels.

Meanwhile, palmetto bugs the size of a child’s hand prowled the streets, attacking stray cats and the occasional art collector. Must be summer kicking in.

Bulldozed.