King Mango Strut brings out the crazies
Another King Mango Strut came and went. I don't think I remember it ever raining during a Strut, it's the dry season and usually 65 degrees. While it rained a bit before the parade, it dried up by parade time. Ellen, the town psychic tells me that the rain is good it means a safe and dry summer. We'll see.
The Beatles group was a crowd favorite, the Fab 4 tried to do a little Abbey Road here crossing Main Highway.
The Duck Dynasty parody was right on. This guy on the left really looks like Uncle Si and there's Willie and Jase
Mayor Tomas Regalado, left, gives Toronto Mayor Rob Ford (played by David Collins), the key to the city, as Commissioner Marc Sarnoff looks on.
It was a fun event as it always is. It's always nice to see all the Grovites out. All the photos will be posted tomorrow.
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Worst Strut ever! Is there nothing that Marc Sarnoff touches that doesn't turn to shit? He was announced as the Chief sponsor, followed by the BID, then the guy who owns Green Streets and Lulu's and even David Martin was announced as a sponsor.
Not a single parody or reference to the things that happened in Miami this year. Nothing about the City of Sweetwater, Southland Towing, the Coconut Grove waterfront.
Nothing about Miami City Hall, or Sarnoff and wifey taking a $23,000 junket to China paid for by the Chinese government, or Commissioner Carollo calling the Chief of Police up to try and fix a traffic ticket on the fly, or anything having to do with all the condos going up, or anything having to do with Absentee Ballots and Commissioner Suarez.
Really, it's embarrassing that a parade that was supposedly created to parody the local craziness that is Miami, had as it's most political comment a woman marching around by herself claiming to be Wendy Davis running for Governor of Texas.
Even the Rob Ford scam was lame, although David Collins in his own way actually made sense as a Rob Ford character.
I'll be dealing with this in more detail when I post my first stories of the New Year on January 6th, but I felt that I needed to say this now because it's obvious that the Mango Strut is no longer anything other than another attempt to hustle folks to come to Coconut grove to spend some money, and that the parade and everything that is allowed to take place is severely scripted.
I can't express how happy I am now that I was banned from being in the parade 2 years ago!
al crespo
Dear Al Crespo,
The woman walking by herself, running for Gov. of Texas, was Trina Collins, wife of David Collins, AKA "Rob Ford, pseudo Toronto Mayor". They both have a good sense of humor.
Wish I had seen you, Regalado & Sarnoff doing a 'selfie' together.
That would have been truly hilarious. Hey, it's The Strut, ...could've happened.
Best Regards,
JRL
another grove event that went to shit.
The Miami Herald had a three-quarter front page article titled, "The Year of the Bust : It was the dirtiest of years when it came to public corruption in Miami-Dade County".
Pictures of four separate mayors in Soulth Florida being led away in handcuffs grace the top half of the page but the best political mockery our current King Mango could come up with was to point a finger two thousand miles north and make fun of a coke head? Miami making fun of a coke head is about as hypocritical as it gets.
The bands were the high point and listening to the music and people watching was the best part of the event. It's a shame that the best local political commentary that anyone could come up with was "Aren't people who take selfies / text while driving annoying?" while the two biggest local stories, Bayside the sequel and toxic parks, were swept under a rug. :/
It's a commentary in itself that people that won't/don't get involved complain, criticize & whine the loudest.
As if any further proof was necessary that the PC, group think, thought police have killed the strut ..
Why conflate obama's phoney sign language interpreter with rick scott, which was confused and unfunny, when sticking with the original, and interpreting obama .....on things like obamacare, putin and syria, would have been rife with humor? Can't do that, because it's obama?
and what was the point to that wet, sloppy shout out to Wendy Davis, a democratic state senator from texas? It's not like we have any shortage of local pols, who deserve a skewering?
Want an example of what the Strut used to be and could be? listen to the "Doctor, Doctor, I got a bad case of obamacare" song parody, which was this year's only funny bit.
It's no coincidence that it was also the only bit that was not either ham handedly PC or just plain insipid. Reminded me of the clinton "devil with a blue dress" song parody from the good old days when the strut was a funny, irreverant, equal opportunity satirist, cutting all of the rich and powerful down to size.
Sorry to see it go.
Agreed that these photos illustrate why the Strut has become a party for liberals to play for cheap yucks by expressing their contempt for anybody who disagrees with them. The smiling lady with the "Stupid White Men" poster pretty well sums it up.
If 'anonymous' wants the KMS to reflect other views or 'be funnier' or echo more of what made Miami the butt of a lot of jokes, then let them be involved. It's easy to shout from the sidelines after the fact. It takes a lot to mount this satirical parade and without commercial dollars too. If the BID offers funding,or a restaurant offers funding a quick shout out is in order. You don't realize how difficult it is for a few hardy volunteers to raise the funds for 'police, insurance, barricades, city clean-up, cost of loud speakers etc. No Mayor or Councilperson had a say in any of the strutting groups. No, it will never become the 'Depends King Mango Strut'. Of course, unlike previous years there were a few banners on parade vehicles, but that's the organic evolution of a thrown together event like this. It brings people together for a laugh and local business's benefit. From my perch, both in the GMO group in the parade and as an emcee, everyone got what they came for. A good time!
Hey Buzz,
I'm not anonymous, and I had first hand experience in 2011, which I detailed then, and will now repost on my website January 6th, regarding the way in which Antoinette Baldwin handled what was going to be a parody by me directed at Commissioner Sarnoff.
Furthermore, the Miami City Commission voted a while back to provide city services for a number of community events, starting with the 3 Kings Parade that will take place in a couple weeks, even though the sponsors are the Univision Radio Network.
No one associated with the Mango Strut ever showed up at City Hall while this was going on and said, "Hey, how about including us."
There are a number of reasons why I think that the Strut has gotten worse over the last few years - including the fact that many folks originally involved are either dying off or getting older and tired, not to mention the fractious split with the Glenn Trry branch of the original group - but there is also no way that anyone can seriously argue that political interference - directly or indirectly - has played a part in making sure that Sarnoff and his pals are not embarrassed by anything that appears in the Strut.
That's a reality that isn't just applicable to the Strut, but to just about everything that Sarnoff and his toadies has a hand in and can influence.
As for the difficulty in putting the Strut together, I suspect that it was always a difficult endeavor, but there is no correlation between the difficulty in putting the event together and the level and degree of humor, parody, satire and just outright weirdness that the Strut was able to deliver for several decades.
You, of all people should agree that being funny and/or outrageous doesn't necessarily depend or require money.
Not only was this Strut the worse that I've seen over the last couple decades, but it was I think the smallest in terms of participants.
That, in and of itself is a message that a lot of potentially funny people chose not to take part in the event this year.
Perhaps its time for folks to look in the mirror and really look at themselves and decide whether it's time to pass on the Torch to a new generation.
al crespo
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