Trailer: https://t.ly/6rbTD

We watched this because Brooke Hammerling raved about it.

I was aware of the Netflix series, but the reviews said it missed the mark. The first few were negative, the next said the series was fun, but a trifle, and then I saw Brooke mention “Nobody Wants This” in Pop Culture Mondays. You can read it/sign up for it, here: https://popculturemondays.com

But let me just tell you, it’s a lot of stuff. And if you’re a social media hater, someone who believes the smartphone is best turned off, you’ll scroll what Brooke has to say and be flummoxed, overwhelmed and ultimately dismissive. You see Brooke chronicles social media/internet trends.

Did you see those Frankie Valli videos?

I hadn’t, although I did catch some of the aftermath after being hipped by Brooke.

You see Frankie Valli is 90 and still on the road. I heard over a decade ago that he lip-synchs, so I’ve avoided the show, because I love the Four Seasons, my mother bought “Big Girls Don’t Cry” and that was just about the only pop record she ever purchased. And when the Beatles hit, the American acts that persevered, that got not only radio play but jukebox play, were the Four Seasons and the Beach Boys. “Dawn (Go Away)” sat right next to those original Beatles hits. And when summer came around, so did “I Get Around.”

So Frankie already seems dead. Mouthing the words as numerous people carry the tune behind him. And one time they introduce him and he’s frozen on the steps to the stage and… The internet said it was elder abuse. Frankie responded that he’s got all his marbles. He doesn’t, at least he can’t hear and sing, but he can’t give up that hit from the audience, it’s even more important than the money.

Anyway, I’d say that “Nobody Wants This is” is the new “Sex and the City,” but that’s not exactly true. “Nobody Wants This” is less of a fantasy, and it’s based on a true story.

So Kristen Bell and Justine Lupe are sisters with a podcast, who hope that Spotify will ink them to a rich and famous deal. As the series progresses, you’ll fall in love with Lupe. Because she radiates thickness and sharpness at the same time. I mean you think she’s a dumb blonde, but she’s not, over the ten episodes you realize she’s loyal and dedicated and perceptive. I’d say she’s the heart of the show, but really that’s about the relationship between Kristen Bell and Adam Brody, the shiksa and the rabbi.

Yes, Adam Brody is a rabbi. Not that Kristen Bell realizes this until after she falls for him, is intrigued. And he’s off limits…or is he?

And when you’re Bell/Joanne’s age, your criteria are different. When you’re in your middle thirties if it can’t possibly lead to marriage, you nip it in the bud.

As for Bell… I really only know her from “Forgetting Sarah Marshall.” And I’m aware that she’s married to now podcaster Dax Shepard. But I know her visage well enough to know…she looks different. I know, I know, it’s illegal to comment on women’s looks, I get it, but it was off-putting. There’s a whole thread about it on Reddit. I just couldn’t stop thinking about it.

And to the degree I know her, Bell plays against type. She isn’t the puppy dog ingenue. She’s an edgy woman who is unaware of her foibles who can’t have a relationship. Bell definitely plays an adult here. And other than her physical image, it rings true. She’s grown up.

As for Adam Brody…

Before the show I couldn’t have picked him out of a lineup. I never watched “The O.C.,” and in terms of names, I always confuse him with Adrien Brody, even though they’re nothing alike. But Brody is masterful here. Because he underplays, which means he acts like someone in real life. He’s not so madly in love that he engages in over the top demonstrations, and he will not forgo his rabbinical duties to chase Bell/Joanne and…

He rings true.

Now the dance, the beginning of a relationship, the infatuation, the doubt, is done extremely well in “Nobody Wants This.” They nail it. The first two episodes had me over the moon.

As for what came after… I wasn’t as enamored, then again was it my mood?

So there’s a certain amount of Jewish shtick, that will crack you up if you’re a member of the tribe. Brody/Noah’s parents want to know where Joanne went to school. Bingo!

And as much as Joanne is reluctant to go further with Noah…

Noah is just out of a relationship. You see his fiancée wanted it too much, was two, if not three or four steps ahead, she had their life completely planned out. Push men at your peril. And although Rebecca is a caricature at first, she becomes fully developed thereafter.

And what does Noah owe Rebecca?

And his brother’s wife is her best friend… And both she and he don’t completely ring true. Timothy Simons as Sasha Roklov is too over the top, too much comic relief until he ends up connecting with Lupe/Morgan near the end of the show, and then he becomes real.

But one thing is for sure, Sasha’s wife Esther, Jackie Tohn, wears the pants in the family.

As for Tovah Feldshuh, she’s always great. And will not accept Joanne, that’s not what she wants for her boy. Mine were different, but Jewish parents are famous for meddling in their children’s lives. I can’t tell you how many people I know who became doctors and lawyers because their parents told them to/made them. Hell, even I went to law school! But I jumped the track, or never really laid down in it, but so many lived their parents’ lives when really, they wanted to do something else.

And intermarriage is not the huge issue it once was. But if you’re a rabbi… And if you are in a mixed marriage, or thinking of entering one, know that it’s very important for Jewish people, especially the parents, that the children be raised Jewish.

Now when we dove in a week ago, “Nobody Wants This” was #1 on Netflix. As I write this, it’s #3. But this success is not palpable, you can’t feel it in the world at large.

Remember when “Friends” was triumphant? There were reams of stories, but that’s not how it works anymore. Netflix doesn’t need that, it just needs you paying your monthly subscription. And the media is detached from reality. The outlets are all about the new shows on network. I literally can’t tell you the last time I watched a series on network, I’m pretty sure it’s the last century. You see you can’t do visceral on network, and that edge is what resonates with the public.

“Nobody Wants This” is almost a stealth hit.

And it’s not a huge commitment. Ten episodes, most of them not even half an hour long. You get to know the characters and you can burn through the episodes and…

This is the way television is supposed to be.

It’s hard to do comedy. But you’d expect it on Netflix first, where the sieve is not so narrow, where the suits don’t unduly interfere.

I know, the concept seems too artificial, so broad, so ridiculous that you might shy away. Don’t.

The RottenTomatoes ratings have come down since we watched, a week ago they were both in the 90s, today they’re 95/88. But that’s still damn good.

Will you love “Nobody Wants This”? Will you even like it?

I don’t know, but odds are you’ll prefer it to the rest of the dreck out there.

Check it out.

The last month has defined the issues.

The “Washington Post” has been doing incredible work. The paper may not be profitable, but it’s definitely worth reading. Yesterday there was this story:

“Hamas built an underground war machine to ensure its own survival – Vowing self-sufficiency, Hamas turned a maze of tunnels in Gaza into weapons factories and well-stocked fortifications. A year after the war began, parts of the group remain deeply entrenched.”

Free link: https://wapo.st/3Ycthfj

This is what Israel is up against. No matter which side you are on, you’ll find this investigation of Hamas’s war effort both illuminating and fascinating. The most important point is that the weapons were not being shipped from Iran, they were not coming through the border with Egypt, rather Hamas was building their arsenal, their rockets, from scratch in their tunnels. No one knew this previously, unless you were in Hamas yourself. And if you were, you were aware that a big action was coming, they’d been planning October 7th for years.

And in today’s “Washington Post” there’s another deep dive:

“Mossad’s pager operation: Inside Israel’s penetration of Hezbollah – New details emerge of Israel’s elaborate plan to sabotage Hezbollah communications devices to kill or maim thousands of its operatives.”

Free link: https://wapo.st/3NfkRNV

This is what the denigrated mainstream media does. Investigate, tell the story, but those on both the right and left hate the “New York Times” and there’s not a whole lot of respect for the WaPo or the “Wall Street Journal” either. TV news is the land of opinion. And that’s what you get in the scuttlebutt online. The internet has unleashed everybody’s fury. Everybody’s got an opinion and everybody wants to express it and everything is up for grabs. Most of America believes there is no truth, or won’t listen to a contrary opinion. I must admit that the right was correct about college campuses, they’re indoctrinating students into an us vs. them perspective, where those with money and power are the enemy, no matter what their bona fides and efforts might be. Sometimes those with the power are not the oppressor, sometimes the little guy is just plain wrong, or a terrorist.

For one year hate has been rained down upon Israel and the Jews. And don’t separate them, because the haters don’t. On the UCLA campus Jews were labeled Zionists irrelevant of their beliefs and prevented from passing and so much more. So when people tell you it’s only Israel they hate, don’t believe them.

As for those against Israel, I point you to this article in the “New York Times”:

“Pro-Palestinian Group Is Relentless in Its Criticism of Israel, and It Isn’t Backing Down – Within Our Lifetime, a group formed by New York students, has galvanized pro-Palestinian activists who are calling for the end of Israel — and facing accusations of antisemitism.”

Free link: https://t.ly/TQdo9

Once again, the actions in Lebanon and the rocket attack by Iran have defined the issues very clearly.

It used to be about the poor people in Gaza, victims of the bloody, genocidal Israelis.

But now that the war has spread to Lebanon, people have become aware of what Israel is up against.

So what you’ve got here, in America anyway, if not the world, is the Palestine or die people,  those who think the Israelis should get out of Gaza, and should be prosecuted for war crimes while they give their country up to the Palestinians, from the river to the sea baby, and those who support Israel and its actions, and those who either don’t care or are afraid to take a side for fear of some retribution, some loss. Israel has been defined as the bully here, the aggressor, even though Hamas attacked the Jewish homeland, and if you say otherwise…

Even Biden and Harris are afraid of the pro-Palestinian posse. They’re pussyfooting, fearful of alienating anyone who might vote blue. Forget doing what is right, one must question how big the anti-Israel/pro-Palestine group really is. Do you kowtow to a vocal minority?

So now that Israel blew up pagers and walkie-talkies and then bombed Hezbollah in Lebanon…

People can get the complete picture. Israelis in the north had spent months in retreat from their homes because of bombing by Hezbollah. Netanyahu, possibly the most hated person on the face of the earth, who engenders more vitriol than Ticketmaster, decided that this could no longer be the case, he wanted his population to be able to go back to their homes. Which meant fighting Hezbollah, which like Hamas, is a terrorist group.

In Lebanon there were cheers and jeers when Nasrallah was killed. So many of the rank and file were sick of living under Hezbollah, which isn’t even the government.

And in Gaza… It’s the same. But you don’t hear any contrary opinion, any outcry from the residents, because that will set you up for not only reprisal, but probably death.

Now one thing has been made perfectly clear. Most of the media has no idea what is happening in the Middle East, never mind the public at large.

We’ve been subjected to Thomas Friedman’s bloviations about peace and a two state solution for the entire year. But this is not what the Palestinians, want, they want Israel GONE!

As do a lot of the protesters in the U.S.

But now everybody can see what is really going on.

Iran is behind the terrorists, otherwise why would the Ayatollah bomb Israel?

So do you lay your arms down, as even Macron is urging today…

Or you can be the United States, which gets into wars and never wins, ultimately retreats. I mean if you’re going to fight, why do so if you’re afraid of going all the way to victory?

But the United States is not Israel.

As for Netanyahu and Israel, they’re far from perfect. But now it’s perfectly clear, that it’s not only Hamas in Gaza, but the Palestinians and the Iranians and the Yemenites too want Israel wiped from the face of the earth.

It’s no longer about collateral damage in Gaza. Innocent people dying.

Now we’re down to the real nitty gritty.

So you may hate Israel and the Jews. You’re entitled to. But when you’re out protesting on behalf of Palestinians it’s now clear it’s not only about saving the supposed innocent, but hamstringing Israel, believing that the Palestinians have greater rights to the land than the Jews.

As for the Jews… For so many years, decades, young Americans were not exposed to antisemitism. I’m not saying it didn’t exist, I’m saying it wasn’t palpable. But now it is. And now the battle is more than Gaza. So if you’re a Jew and siding with the Palestinians…

Nobody likes war, nobody likes innocent people dying. But sometimes you’re attacked and have to respond, which is all Israel did in Gaza and Lebanon. And the nature of war is innocent people dying, ask the Allies about Dresden.

As for the America First people… Israel is our only bastion in the Middle East. You want a Christian nation? You have no idea how many Muslims are on the planet, you can’t put your head in the ground. Is every Muslim a terrorist? Of course not, but Hamas and Hezbollah are.

And then you’ve got the situation in Ukraine. The ultimate domino. Take your finger out of the dike and who knows what other Russian satellites of yore Putin goes after.

Would I like to watch Netflix and listen to music, ignore all this?

And it’s really not that complicated, even though it is controversial. You either support Israel or you do not. There’s no halfway anymore. You can’t say you support Israel but believe the war in Gaza must stop because of the havoc on the general population… Now you either want Israel to survive or you don’t. Which side are you on?

You get to choose.

Then again, if you’re pro-Israel, if you flaunt your Jewish heritage, watch out on college campuses. If Blacks were oppressed like Jews it would have been stopped immediately. But when it’s Jews…

Do you see this outcry when people are killed in Sudan or Syria?

Of course not.

Because it’s about the Jews.

And now it’s perfectly clear. You can’t hide behind humanitarianism anymore. Now the issues are palpable, defined. The terrorists against the Jews. America’s ally against a network of Middle Eastern nations that want Israel literally wiped from the map.

Once again, you’re entitled to believe whatever you want. Best if you familiarize yourself with the facts, but when has that stopped anybody in the social media age.

And fearful Jews… There’s talk about an election of Trump being the end of democracy, if Israel goes, where does it leave the Jews? Now if you’re a victim of antisemitism you can go to Israel, but if the country doesn’t exist…

So ironically, by doubling-down in his efforts against terrorists, Netanyahu has helped his case. Now the issues are black and white. Are you for Israel and what it takes for the country to survive?

Or not.

But Israel has money and American support and all that technology…  The war is just not fair!

Since when has war been fair?

So now when you see the Palestinian protest in your neighborhood know… This is not about the death of innocents, this is about the hatred of Israel and the Jews.

And believe me, it’s been a long game. Just like Hamas in Gaza, as delineated in that article. BDS was started by the Palestinians, they penetrated college campuses while the Israelis were asleep. To the point where even Jews were in support of the plight of the Palestinians…

But now?

Don’t tell me about the rank and file, who might be ready to step up for Hamas as put forth in the first article. The bottom line is Israel is fighting terrorists, well-funded terrorists, but so many in the world believe they need to lay down their arms and…negotiate? The Palestinians have been offered their own country again and again, but have rejected this, because they insist that Israel must go.

If you read the reviled mainstream press, this would be clear.

But today too many live in self-reflecting echo chambers.

The truth is the world is a complicated place. And sometimes the solution is not easy, sometimes you have to defend yourself. You wish you didn’t have to, but if their goal is not only your defeat, but your extinction, is there really a choice?

I haven’t been to Israel in fifty years. I can’t remember the last time I was in a shul. As for belief in God? Judaism is a questioning religion, you don’t have to believe in God to be a member of the tribe.

As for all this horsesh*t, this blowback because the Jews are supposedly the “Chosen People”… I mean if you’re not laughing… This is what every underdog, every marginalized people do to puff themselves up against strong odds. If you think the average Jew believes themselves to be special and entitled…you don’t know many Jews, and if there are Jews who believe this, they’re delusional.

But I have relatives who left Russia for Israel. They avoided the ovens. They got out early. They saw the handwriting on the wall.

If you’re a Jew and you don’t see the handwriting on the wall today…

When are you going to make a stand? When they’ve got a knife at your throat?

I don’t want more, I just want what everybody else does, a safe life and the ability to prosper.

But if you’re a Jew…

Now it’s all out in the open. Now it’s clear. Now is the time to speak up.

And I just did.

“Zach Bryan Is Absent From 2025 Grammy Ballot, as He Joins the Superstar Ranks of Drake and the Weeknd in Declining to Submit”

https://t.ly/vzfZn

And that’s why he’s such a big star.

When the Eagles sing we haven’t had that spirit here since 1969, this is what they’re talking about.

This is what made music so powerful, not Lady Gaga in a lame Hollywood movie, but those who were on their own path, away from the mainstream, thinking for themselves, which is why everybody followed them.

Bryan is in tune with the times. People are sick of the construct, they feel marginalized, they want someone to believe in.

This is the antidote to Kardashianism, that was so 2010s.

The story of the past ten years, the Trump ascendance, is that people are questioning institutions and the people who run them. Like Hillary Clinton. They want someone new, someone to lead them, someone to believe in. That was not Trump, but he tapped into a feeling, the zeitgeist of today’s America, meanwhile, historical institutions like the Grammys double-down like they still count, oblivious. He not busy being born is busy dying? That’s what Bob Dylan sang, meanwhile the Grammys are calcified. They can’t even eliminate categories for fear some marginalized musician will complain they don’t have an opportunity to win a statuette.

I could continue to trash the Grammys, but what’s the point.

The point is music can be our number one cultural driver, no art form is as powerful, but it requires artists to think for themselves, out of the box.

One of the great things about the decimation of the major labels is that now acts don’t have to listen to suits tell them what to do. This is the way it was in the late sixties and seventies. The suits finally realized they didn’t know, the acts were in control, they just delivered finished albums, there was no remixing, none of the constant drone about a hit single…

There’s this canard that music is a commodity. That the major labels are stewards of what is popular now. That’s business, not art. And never confuse them.

There is no artistic competition. It’s a faux construct. Who is better, Picasso or Braque or Pollock or… Picasso kept changing, knowing that to stay stuck in a rut is anathema. Pollock threw out the entire rulebook forget traditional representation.

Imagine a TV painting competition. Couldn’t be done. What are the criteria for excellence? How long does someone get? But now too much music is made on an assembly line.

Meanwhile, when the outside triumphs, it’s good for everyone. Chappell Roan is good for everyone. Because she’s not a tween from a TV show singing songs written by committee.

And in country age is no longer a barrier.

And the most revered man in country, who is also very successful, is 46 and overweight.

You have to be able to say no. You have to be able to question convention and authority. You must think for yourself and risk.

This is what the public is looking for from artists.

Artistry knows no bounds. It’s about inspiration, vision. Not some committee deciding whether you’re good or bad.

We need more artists pulling out of the Grammys as opposed to those complaining they’re not winning awards.

A Grammy is meaningless. A song that changes someone’s life is not.

If your obituary says how many Grammys you won, either you missed the point or the writer did.

We live in a bottom up society. Think of what the public wants. When you hang with celebrities and are featured in TMZ, when you flaunt your lifestyle, when you start selling us perfume and brandy…you may be making money, but you’re missing the point.

That’s got nothing to do with music.

And the money goes to those who focus on music, and only music.

Because when you do this, when you are uncompromised, people believe in you, FOREVER! You can pursue your art FOREVER!

Music is not about the momentary, it’s about careers, those who explore and last.

The stars should exist in their own world, outside the corporation, beacons to the people.

Which is what Zach Bryan does, which is why he succeeds.

“You know those lights were bright on Broadway

That was so many years ago

Before we all lived here in Florida…”

“Miami 2017”

Billy Joel

Hasn’t Billy moved to Florida, and Howard Stern for a lot of the time too?

Actually, I first heard this song in 1981, as the opener of Billy’s “Songs in the Attic,” live versions of numbers that were previously cut in the studio that Mr. Joel felt didn’t get proper treatment, and now after a trifecta of hit albums, it was finally time.

Actually, “Miami 2017” was originally on “Turnstiles,” the overlooked 1976 album that convinced Billy to stop self-producing and work with Phil Ramone, and the rest is history. But pound for pound, “Turnstiles” is fantastic. It includes the original “New York State of Mind” and “Summer, Highland Falls,” which follows up “Miami 2017” on “Songs in the Attic” in a rollicking version. (I was looking for a description, I couldn’t quite nail one in my head. It’s fast, but not exactly jaunty. Let me just go with the generic it’s GREAT!)

And the thing about “Turnstiles” is it was made when Billy was on the downswing, so it’s personal in a way what came thereafter was not. Kinda like David Gray’s “White Ladder.” You could picture Billy on the New York Thruway, you could see him in the Catskills.

And that’s a state of mind I know so well, it’s in my DNA, but instead of decamping for Florida, I came to Los Angeles. And in the meantime, Miami became hip.

You’ve got to know, it was where old Jews went to die. Where those with money vacationed during the winter, you know, the people whose parents drove Cadillacs.

And then Madonna came along and then “Miami Vice” and cocaine and… Funny these United States, you see it on TV, but until you actually go there, you don’t really get it.

That’s what I was thinking in the drive from the airport. Used to be we were all focused on the same things. I just asked a woman with daughters to name me two Taylor Swift songs and she couldn’t. You get the impression from the media that we’re all focused on the same things, but never has America been so Balkanized, at least in my lifetime. In other words, what happens in Miami may not travel to the west coast, and vice versa.

Actually, I regretted booking a hotel downtown, I thought we should have stayed at the airport, like Steve and Nancy. We weren’t going to arrive until 7 and had to be out just twelve hours later.

But I was wrong, because if we’d stayed at the airport I would have missed it.

This is not the Miami of my youth, not that I ever went there, but Jackie Gleason used to do his show from there, and the Beatles played “Ed Sullivan” down there. But the landscape was not populated with skyscrapers. Empty skyscrapers.

America is now about the haves and have-nots. And barring some economic revolution, it’s going to stay that way. Then again, there’d be a revolution if the poor saw how the rich truly live.

If you’re checking your wallet, you don’t belong in Miami, at least not downtown, by Riverwalk.

It’s kind of like “Blade Runner.” Tower after tower. Each one more than half dark. Because the wealthy now have multiple homes, and this is shoulder season, it’s not quite cold enough in the northeast to decamp.

And it’s the three rules of real estate, location, location, location. As in how close to the water you can be.

And to tell you the truth, if I told you I’ve seen more than twenty five minutes of “Miami Vice,” I’d be lying. But it’s midnight, and yachts are cruising, music blasting, such that you can hear it up on the 24th floor as the boats idle waiting for the bridge to rise.

There are boats in Marina Del Rey, but you don’t see them unless you go there, whereas just downtown… Actually, a hundred footer was docked right outside the hotel. And two other yachts almost as big. And I’m asking myself which comes first, the yacht or the jet. Probably the jet. But do you really need to own a yacht? I mean most people are on them even less than the number of days people spend in these Miami residential towers.

But it’s part of the lifestyle.

I mean you’re looking out at the lights, which don’t quite rival Broadway, but it’s far from dark, and you stare at the boats and you can see it…cocaine. I don’t think you can bring in Bolivian Marching Powder by boat these days, never mind marijuana, but they once did.

As Jimmy Buffett would say, it’s a haven of pirates.

And to tell you the truth, the rich aren’t that law-abiding. How do you think they made that money?

But it’s overwhelming, and inspiring, and HOT! If these people just flew to Los Angeles I doubt they’d buy in Miami. It’s the HUMIDITY! It never feels this hot in L.A., never ever. Up until climate change reared its ugly head you didn’t even need A/C on the westside, even the houses of the rich were naturally cooled.

But not anymore.

And Miami is just three hours from New York. A hop and a skip, but no jump is required. And what you’ve got to know is the east coast mentality is completely different from the west. No one drives ten hours on a whim. And a New Yorker will tell you that the city is the greatest in the world, and there’s no telling them otherwise.

Actually, I might agree, and I’d like a condo there, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

So Miami is New York south, with a whole lot of Spanish speaking people. Every Uber driver. It reminded me of that TV series “StartUp,” which is ultimately unsatisfying but I’m glad I saw it. You’ve got the Latin culture and the dope and it’s visceral and includes the Miami you think you know and the one you don’t.

The U.S. is about the hustle. Sure, there are some entertainers, some tech titans, but everybody else is looking for an edge, a way in, a way to lift their lifestyle above the hoi polloi. And Miami is one place you can do it.

So I rode the elevator down to Riverwalk, which was just outside the door. Can you walk alone in the dark at ten p.m. in Miami? I mean for a long while you couldn’t in New York City, but still…you think before you take chances.

But I’m out there, walking past the hotels, the restaurants, the occasional person, and it was palpable, you could feel the vibe, the opportunity of the city.

Now unlike L.A., if you want to play you’ve got to have the clothes. This may be the beach, but if you’re wearing flip-flops you’re either filthy rich and don’t care, or you’re part of the underclass.

Everybody’s flashing it.

Everybody wants to show up and show off. I saw outfits which never appear in L.A. A one piece green thing with sparkles, a similar tight outfit in red…

That was at the restaurant, not out on the walk.

And the restaurant got busier as the night wore on.

We all want to play, we all want to exhibit our bona fides, evidence our quality, whether it be money, looks, talent, intellect or all of them. Some lick their wounds afraid they’ll lose. But the brave and the ignorant show up. Sometimes the less you know, the further you go.

And I know, I know, they tried to establish a new Silicon Valley in Miami and they failed, even New York has a hard time competing with the real thing.

And you’ve got all the rich New Yorkers who’ve moved for the tax benefits, including those teetering on bankruptcy who want to keep their houses.

And then there are the South Americans. That’s not something you see in L.A.

And all you had to do was go outside, for a walk, or sit on the balcony, and you could feel it. It’s different, and exciting, and hot! People spending all that money to shvitz?

But this is where you go to impress.

Miami has moved beyond the dope and even the partying of the eighties and nineties. It’s now the big time.

And I’m no longer there.