The Grove gets its first Jewish music festival on Tuesday. The Avenue J Music Festival will rock the Barnacle State Park on January 14 from 6:30 to 10:30 pm. I think it is going to be outstanding. Some of the world's best alternative Jewish musicians will perform including the Breslov Brothers (seen here kicking butt on Israel's version of "America's Got Talent").
I heard one of the groups, 3 Distant Cousins, on the radio today and they were great, reminiscent of the The Avett Brothers. One of the cousins said, "Its not a Jewish music festival but one with Jewish musicians". Think Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel, or David Lee Roth.
The event is sponsored by Chabad in the Grove. Tickets are $25. For more information go to www.avenuejfestival.com .
Come see Cuba this weekend. "Two Visions", an exhibit of Havana photographs, winds up its six-week run manana. It is the work of two fine photographers with local ties, Marice Cohn Band and Gary Monroe. 
Their work is being exhibited at the Photography Gallery at Borders, 1601 SW 1st. St., 33135, here in Miami.
The morning of the show's opening, November 23d, Gary was photographing the first Kid's King Mango Strut Parade in downtown Miami. He told me, "This is great. I shot the first King Mango parade 32 years ago and here we go again!".
We attended the artist's reception that night.
Francesca and Gary
It'll be up for the next two days. Call the gallery at 305-649-0324 to get more specific information.
Gary and I go way back. He left Miami in the 80's to take a teaching position at central Florida college. He and his wife, Theresa, now reside in Deland. He swears, "It's the center of the universe". You can see more of Havana's universe and more of Gary's work at www.garymonroe.net.
Here are more photographs from the show,
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In the last week I've asked friends, "What changes did you you see in the Grove -good or bad- this past year?".
I put their responses, and a few of my own, into my annual awards list, 2013's The Year That Was. Let's kick it off with something good,
TEAR THAT SUCKER DOWN!
After watching the Grove's huge convention center collect weeds for years, they're finally demolishing it.
It looks so much larger when pulled apart.
City Hall tells us it's getting replaced by a park. It is up to us to make sure the city's park plan makes sense.
The "new park" is getting off to a bad start as the City builds the
dockmaster's office in the east parking lot.
The new Dinner Key Marina Dock Master's office with the existing one on the right.
It looks like this four-story view-blocking monster will allow the master of the docks to throw huge parties.
LAST YEAR'S "WINNERS" could also be on this year's list. The Coconut Grove Playhouse remains an empty eye sore, you still can't see the bay from seaside parks, and those cute but useless information booths continue to block downtown sidewalks.
PEACOCK PARK actually got worse. The community center (the "Glass House") has been abandoned for a year. It could be an outstanding community center where we gather, play, share, and learn. The south porch continues to be
a campground for the homeless.
This colorful tile bench was installed in '13 and
six months later, removed. I don't know why.
I also don't know why the City gave part of Peacock to the private school next door.
The City of Miami let them build a fenced-in soccer court. They use it for PE in exchange for ... nothing.
City officials announced the public would be allowed to use it after school hours. They lied.
It is locked and only the school and the parks department has the keys. Friends have tried on multiple occasions to use the court (or rent it) only to be turned away. It has become the school's exclusive Peacock Park playground.
The only welcome improvement is the Commissioner Marc Sarnoff Rubber Pit. He had this 80 feet of fun built just west of the Glass House.
A couple of months ago I rolled around in the shreds to see how much fun it could be.
I hear its the first step in turning Peacock into a new eco-tourist attraction, "Garbage World". In 
2014 they will build "Marc's Crazy Maze" next to the pit, 2000 discarded pool noodles hanging from the oak trees nearby.
The West Grove Gets Dumped On Again Award goes to the new Douglas Road Trolley Maintenance Facility. 
The neighbors didn't want it but the developer and Comm. Sarnoff did so, it got built. Courts now say it violates zoning laws. As a result, it now sits empty and forlorn like so many other West Grove buildings.
Next to Biscayne Bay, Coconut Grove's greatest asset is its people.
Consider how many Grove citizens dress up on the second Wednesday of each month, for our new event, "Crazy Hat Afternoons".
I can not get enough of these Groveites and their creative extremes! I'll be strutting on Main Highway next Wednesday in my fluorescent fedora and I expect you to do the same!
Most of them are artists and they sell their wares at the BEST ART EVENT, the annual Gifford Lane Art Stroll. Unlike February's mega art fest, this mini-fest features Grove artists and it costs nothing to attend.
Come to the next one on Sunday, March 2. Gifford Lane is one block NW of Coconut Grove Elementary School.
The 2013 ACTIVIST OF THE YEAR AWARD goes the South Grove's, Charles Corda. Mr. Corda is just what our city officials hate, citizens who question them, people who stand up to power.
While Francesca and I were away for the summer our city commissioner, Mark Sarnoff, came up with an awful idea, replacing one of our favorite restaurants, Scotty's Landing,
with a Don Shula's Steakhouse and a "Grove Bay" mini-mall.
It was an absurd idea, a stupid idea, an idea that many of us first thought was a joke.
Scotty's represents what we love about Coconut Grove. It sends a cool vibe that says, "Anyone can come here, listen to live music and have a beer by the bay".
Charles immediately sprang into action with a petition that quickly garnered 3000 "Stop Grove Bay" signatures. His efforts transformed into a coalition that fought Sarnoff's Grove Bay plans.
There was a November election. Most folks in the Grove voted against Sarnoff's proposal. Unfortunately, the rest of the City of Miami was allowed to vote as well. Outspent, 25 to 1, the Grove lost to Sarnoff and his developer buddies.
We commend Mr. Corda & friends for their valiant effort.
The BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT Award goes to Scotty Wessel. After initially fighting to keep his rustic cafe, he was bought out by the Grove Bay developers. Money doesn't talk, it screams
Scotty's Landing was one of our main venues for live music. They say they will build something like Scotty's away from the water but who knows what and when.
Music makes everything better. The BRING ON THE SONG Award goes to our own Barnacle State Park. Their monthly concert series continues to be one of our few outstanding community attractions.
Bobby Ingram & Friends will be playing there on Friday, January 10th. 500 hundred of us gathered there a year ago for great music and a great time.
Come next Friday. You'll be glad you did.
Runner-up awards go to the Grove churches
( St. Hughes, Plymouth, and others) who present intimate concerts and, the Grove's own Alhambra Orchestra.
Their next concert will be on Sunday, January 26. The free event, "South Florida's Got Talent", will have some of our area's most outstanding young musicians performing backed by a full orchestra.
It will take place at 7:30 pm in the Ransom-Everglades Auditorium, a block south of our haunted playhouse.
The BIGGEST SCREW-UP OF COLOSSAL PROPORTIONS AWARD goes to the City of Miami. Their parks and sanitation departments conspired years ago to dump poisonous contaminants on public properties which later became public parks. 
As we all know, many of Coconut Grove's parks have been shut down and fenced off because of "the poisons below". To add to this killer joke, the Center Grove's Blanche Park is now covered with Astroturf which we are told, "seals off the chemicals that could hurt you".
Like Scotty's, this one also sounds too bad to be true which leads us to the final award, the
IS THIS A GREAT CITY OR WHAT STRUT AWARD which goes to Coconut Grove's 2013 King Mango Strut parade. The annual event has had a long reputation for making fun of the City of Miami, its annual problems, and its often-arrested officials.
This year there was no mention of the City's problems because the City of Miami now controls much of the Grove parade. This is because it decides who gets a parade permit and helps pay for the satirical event. As a result, the City now decides what you can laugh at.
It still is a pretty good parade enjoyed by many but where were the,
-Park kids playing in hazmat suits?
-The Funeral for Scotty's Landing? and the
-Chorus singing "Crandon Bridges Falling Down"?
I know this parade and it was a shock to learn from friends (I didn't go) that these parts were missing.
That day I was visiting the winner of the BEST NEW COUNTRY Award, the Mango Republic.
If the Grove doesn't figure out how to get its act together, you can expect many people to move there.
Let's hope we can restore some of the faded glory of Coconut Grove in the coming year. Maybe someone will finally do something with the playhouse, Peacock Park, and cart the park poisons away.
It's a new year. Step up, speak your mind, and maybe the good guys will win a few in 2014.
Signing out for another year,
Glenn Terry,
The Grove Guy
Yesterday I wrote about "The Ringling", a 20-acre art complex in Sarasota. It is the legacy of circus owner John Ringling who wintered there a hundred years ago.
His Ringling Bros.- Barnum & Bailey circus was the greatest show on earth back then, possibly better than the renown King Mango Strut.
It must have been like Disney World rolling into your town once a year. You get a sense of this inside the Ringling's Circus Museum.
The first building houses the world's largest miniature circus. It was created by Howard Tibbals of Knoxville, Tenn. For fifty-five years (since he was 15) he's been building rail cars and carving the thousands of people and animals that make up this replica of Ringling's circus in its 1920's golden age. He's still adding to it.
Mr. Tibbals took a break to make millions in the hardwood flooring business. It's fortunate because it allowed him to pay for the $10 million building that houses his little circus and the adjacent building's museum displays.
A miniature freak show is a part of the 3000 sq. ft. exhibit.
The walkway through Howard's Big Top led to full size circus displays. Many of them were interactive. You could imagine yourself riding a circus horse, walking a high wire, or
stuffing yourself into a tiny clown car.
Three clowns
What I liked best was Bruno Zacchini's human cannon. Mounted on a Mack truck, it shot people through the air for years. The sign on the side says their method "is a closely guarded family secret".
It's no secret that we had a great time ringing in the new year at The Ringling. I'm already looking forward to our next visit.
s
City Hall tells us it's getting replaced by a park. It is up to us to make sure the city's park plan makes sense.
LAST YEAR'S "WINNERS" could also be on this year's list. The Coconut Grove Playhouse remains an empty eye sore, you still can't see the bay from seaside parks, and those cute but useless information booths continue to block downtown sidewalks. 
PEACOCK PARK actually got worse. The community center (the "Glass House") has been abandoned for a year. It could be an outstanding community center where we gather, play, share, and learn. The south porch continues to be 
six months later, removed. I don't know why.
2014 they will build "Marc's Crazy Maze" next to the pit, 2000 discarded pool noodles hanging from the oak trees nearby. 
Consider how many Grove citizens dress up on the second Wednesday of each month, for our new event, "Crazy Hat Afternoons". 
I can not get enough of these Groveites and their creative extremes! I'll be strutting on Main Highway next Wednesday in my fluorescent fedora and I expect you to do the same!
The 2013 ACTIVIST OF THE YEAR AWARD goes the South Grove's, Charles Corda. Mr. Corda is just what our city officials hate, citizens who question them, people who stand up to power. 
with a Don Shula's Steakhouse and a "Grove Bay" mini-mall.
Music makes everything better. The BRING ON THE SONG Award goes to our own Barnacle State Park. Their monthly concert series continues to be one of our few outstanding community attractions.
Bobby Ingram & Friends will be playing there on Friday, January 10th. 500 hundred of us gathered there a year ago for great music and a great time.
As we all know, many of Coconut Grove's parks have been shut down and fenced off because of "the poisons below". To add to this killer joke, the Center Grove's Blanche Park is now covered with Astroturf which we are told, "seals off the chemicals that could hurt you".
The first building houses the world's largest miniature circus. It was created by Howard Tibbals of Knoxville, Tenn. For fifty-five years (since he was 15) he's been building rail cars and carving the thousands of people and animals that make up this replica of Ringling's circus in its 1920's golden age. He's still adding to it.
The walkway through Howard's Big Top led to full size circus displays. Many of them were interactive. You could imagine yourself riding a circus horse, walking a high wire, or 
