The Florida State basketball teams hit the road for Tobacco Road this week, and a match up with perennial conference powerhouse Duke. With both the men and the women trailing the Blue Devils in the ACC standings, they’ll be hoping for a similar performance as they had on their latest homestand, where they combined to win five of their six games played.

Men’s Coach Leonard Hamilton said, “I think anything is capable of happening when two ACC teams show up, regardless of whether they’re in the top spot or the bottom. You can take the words “ACC upset” out of your vocabulary this season, because every game is what you call a “white knuckler,” one of those ball room balls. Very physical, very aggressive.”

For the women, their run through the Tar Heel State also includes a stop in Chapel Hill, to face 12th ranked North Carolina. Being able to check off both stops on one trip Coach Semrau believes will play to her team’s advantage..

Coach Semrau said, “You know, we get to kind of be Duke and Carolina for a weekend. We can drive 10 minutes to get to a game. You’re not going to have to come home and go back and forth. We always feel like being a team in Florida and we have to travel so far, and for us, to go up there and be able to play them in one weekend, be in one hotel, have our mind on our business, we’re looking forward to it.”

With the conference wide open for both the men and the women, a solid run on the road this week will do a lot for the Noles positioning in the ACC.

For an inanimate object, Tobacco Road has sure done a whole lot of living. Open (legally) since 1912, when it obtained Miami-Dade’s first liquor license, this legendary pub has provided booze-filled teapots to Al Capone during Prohibition; witnessed B.B. King, John Lee Hooker, and George Clinton perform live; and survived hurricanes, police raids, and a visit from the critically acclaimed culinary powerhouse Playboy Brazil, which dubbed Pepaw T.R.’s burgers the best in the world.

Plus, for kitsch’s sake, the bar has snagged and preserved one totally sweet flashback from the ’70s — a Scarface-esque, zigzagged mirror-topped table located upstairs and in front of a stage that has been a cornerstone for many a local band. And it’s apparent that after a recent weekend-long (and tapioca pudding-free) 97th birthday bash too big to hold on the Road’s wooden outdoor deck alone (crowds, a makeshift stage, and vendor tents spilled into the parking lot), this granddaddy of a subtropical saloon ain’t slowing down anytime soon.

Which is fine. But is this bar, with such a colorful history, outliving us — actual living, breathing, animate objects? Or do the people of the Magic City have some awesome aspirations to fulfill before we reach the ripe, old (haggard, grumpy, liver-spotted, and Matlock-loving) age of 97?

“I’d like to have sex with a midget in a bunny suit,” says Keith, a bloodshot-eyed, weathered 45-year-old wearing a purple suede top hat and drinking a 97-cent Malibu-and-pineapple out of a clear plastic cup.

Seriously? You wouldn’t rather swim with dolphins? Go skydiving? Ride a bicycle on the Great Wall of China? Preferably with Morgan Freeman in tow?

“No,” Keith decidedly says as he chugs his extremely masculine drink. “Think about it: If I can pull something like that off, to me, it means my life has been a success. Either I have the money or the social skills necessary to convince a midget to have sex with me in a bunny suit. It’s like… the Holy Grail.”

Fair enough. So I turn to his 30-something friend Matt, who sports wavy, shoulder-length dark hair and — despite earning man cred for drinking whiskey on the rocks — a very snug, long-sleeve polyester blouse complete with a psychedelic pattern.

“By the time I’m 97, I’d like to have a threesome with Jessica Simpson and Scarlett Johansson,” he says with a Hugh Hefner smirk.

In an attempt to stay, ahem, abreast with his slightly younger companion, Keith piggybacks with his picks: “I’d like one with the girl from Mad Men — Christina Hendricks — and maybe one of those big supermodels from the ’90s, like Cindy Crawford.”

“Ugh, not Cindy,” says Matt, looking slightly repulsed by the thought of the gorgeous, ageless Rooms to Go furniture slinger. “She’s so overexposed. Claudia Schiffer is a much better pick. You know what? I’m going to switch out Jessica for Claudia,” he says as if this is an actuality.

And perhaps it is. Schiffer did date David Copperfield, and Matt resembles a magician — from New Jersey.

As the busted men continue to squabble over busty women, I decide it’s time to embark on a threesome of my own — with gin and tonic — and head to the bar, where I meet Jenea. Willowy and tall, this 28-year-old has a lofty ambition:

“I want to walk on the moon,” she says in a voice as sweet and unique as astronaut ice cream. And it’s not because she wants to do the moonwalk while sharing homemade moonshine with Aqua Teen Hunger Force’s Mooninites.

“I just think it’d be really cool to experience weightlessness and see the Earth in a different perspective. It just seems like it’d be one of those experiences that are too unbelievable to feel real. Not to mention it’s almost as far as any other man has traveled.”

Or woman for that matter, which is a gender that Ricky, a handsome blond 30-something actor, has a bit of an issue with:

“I want to beat a bitch before I die,” he says. “Not really, but at the very least I’d like to strangle one sexually. See, when I was 18, a girlfriend of mine asked me to choke her in bed. She also asked me to do this after she told me a little story about how her last boyfriend used to do it to her all the time and once got so carried away that he left black-and-blue marks all over her neck.

“Her parents saw it and freaked out. When they asked what happened, instead of admitting she was into kinky sex, she told them that her boyfriend beat her! And they called the cops on him! And that’s when she asked me to do the same to her. Of course, I flipped out and broke up with her. But now that I’m older and looking back… I think that may have been something I might’ve been into.”

Ready to snuff this conversation and lured by the siren song of local act Afrobeta, performing in the parking lot on a makeshift stage, I take my chances with lady luck and talk to another female, Wren, a dark-haired, blue-eyed 25-year-old beauty with shiny red lips.

“I think I’d like to wrestle an alligator,” she says, scratching her chin with black-painted nails. “Not many people can say they’ve done that.”

Suddenly her heavily lined eyes widen with excitement. “Or instead, I think I’d like to wrestle a dinosaur… like a raptor or something!”

Um, has she not seen Jurassic Park?

“I only say that because I’m thinking of it as a loophole. See, if my dying wish would be to wrestle a dinosaur and dinosaurs don’t exist, therefore rendering it impossible to wrestle one, then I won’t ever die.”

Well, with that kind of Jessica Simpson-like logic, why don’t you just ask to wrestle Sasquatch or the Tooth Fairy or even a vampire?

“Oh,” she says, “I wouldn’t mind wrestling Robert Pattinson before I die!”

Of course.

“And I would like to marry someone with an interesting career. Like a mortician or a musician or a magician or something.”

Hold up. A magician?

I scan the crowd for a psychedelic polyester blouse in order to scratch an item off of my bucket list: moronic matchmaker.

MANSFIELD — After 21 years operating downtown on the square, Tobacco Road recently moved to a new and bigger location at 87 Park Avenue West, across from the Holiday Inn.

Owner Jeff Walls said when he was growing up his father Robert started a pipe business in 1945 in his basement. It’s where he learned the trade.

In 1974, Walls said his father set him up in a pipe business, where he worked part-time until 1984 when he went full time to the pipe repair and pipe making operations.

“Pipes were his hobby,” Walls said. “My father was very good at what he did.”

In 1988, Walls decided he would open a tobacco store. There had been a tobacco store in the Richland Mall but it closed in 1979.

“So I started Tobacco Road from scratch,” Walls said.

He drove to Chattanooga, Tenn., and bought out the merchandise and display cases in a tobacco store which was closing.

“I moved everything to Mansfield,” he said.

Traveling to conventions, Walls said he met a lot of older men who owned tobacco stores around the country and they mentored him.

While his business still focuses on tobacco, he has a license for beer and wine carryout. He specializes in some premium wines, which goes hand-in-hand with the premium cigars he sells.

“Being downtown in this urban area I have learned how to cater to the people that not only work down here but live around me. At my store, whether you’re a pipe smoker or cigar smoker, it doesn’t take long until I know your name,” Walls said. “This is a very friendly store. I’ve always wanted to have a very friendly store and I’ve always wanted to know my customers.”

The new store features a walk-in humidor, plenty of pipe tobacco and pipes, cigars and cigarettes. All liquor and tobacco is sold at state minimum prices, Walls said.

“I mix-up pipe tobacco. We sell a lot of pipe tobacco,” he said. “My house blend is my No. 1 seller. If you want premium pipe tobacco in Mansfield, you have to come to Tobacco Road. There’s nowhere else.”

Walls enjoys giving his customers knowledge about the tobacco industry and its products. Most of the pipe tobacco he sells is grown in the Carolinas. He carries premium cigars from the Dominican Republic, Nicara-gua and Honduras.

He carries a sought-after cigar, the Padron.

When he isn’t tending to customers, Walls is making or repairing pipes.

Photographs on his store walls detail local tobacco history, including a photograph inside the city’s J.R. Rigby Cigar Co. showing the factory and children working there in the 1920s.

His late father was featured in a News Journal article in 1956. Walls was pictured with Mickey Rooney at a cigar convention. In another, he’s standing next to David Letterman.

“My business is really my hobby but I don’t take it lightly,” he said.

Walls said his wife Connie helps him with all decision making.

“She helped me find this place,” he said.

lwhitmire@nncogannett.com 419-521-7223
By LOU WHITMIRE, News Journal, November 22, 2009

The 28-win average over the past five seasons. The regular place in ACC contention. A plethora of nationally televised games and perhaps the greatest name brand in college basketball.

So what does Duke have to show for its steady excellence in the latter half of this decade? Reminders its neighbor happens to be a bit better – at least lately.

Only on Tobacco Road, where less than a 15-minute drive separates one of the sport’s giants from another, can a team achieve all the Blue Devils did during the heydays of J.J. Redick, Shelden Williams, DeMarcus Nelson and Gerald Henderson and still come under scrutiny.

The problem is twofold – a towering legacy built over the past three decades and, more significantly, a North Carolina outfit down the street that has won two national titles and reached four Elite Eights since the last time Duke made it past the round of 16.

“We have two of the top four or five programs in the history of college basketball right here,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. “They’re in the same conference, and they’re eight miles apart. The continued excellence that’s shown from both programs is not going away.”

But if that excellence is extreme – as it is for North Carolina, which has rattled off four 30-win years in the past five seasons – it leads to some curious questions. There’s one big one: What’s wrong with Duke?

Not a whole lot, if anything at all. Perhaps the Blue Devils were a piece shy of an extended postseason run a couple times. Maybe graduation damaged them more severely than usual en route to an un-Duke-like 22-11 record in 2007.

More likely, the school they’re invariably compared with is simply in the midst of one of its finest stretches in decades, fueled by the arrival of Roy Williams – much like Krzyzewski lifted Duke above Dean Smith-led North Carolina in the 1980s.

“It’s kind of funny,” Maryland coach Gary Williams said. “They’re being measured against that one team, just like in the ACC we’re measured against Duke and Carolina. He’s getting measured by that, and that doesn’t mean they’re not a great basketball team. It just means Carolina’s really been good.”

The Tar Heels aren’t going away, either, not after Roy Williams added a loaded freshman class featuring four McDonald’s All-Americans (John Henson, Dexter Strickland and twins David and Travis Wear) and secured a preseason No. 6 ranking.

Not bad for a team that lost four NBA draft picks and still brings back Ed Davis, Marcus Ginyard and Deon Thompson to extend the Tar Heels’ recent mastery of the ACC – as well as Duke, which has dropped seven of its last 10 against North Carolina.

“We just see it as a great opportunity to be a part of great tradition of great basketball,” Ginyard said. “We feel fortunate to be in that position. We also feel we have that responsibility to keep up that level of play. There’s no question I think we’ve been doing a fairly good job.”

There is a chance, though, Duke might just get the upper hand this season after watching the North Carolina juggernaut grow stronger in recent years. It might not be a return to the dominance of 1999 to 2004 – when the Blue Devils won 14 of 16 meetings – but the swing of the rivalry toward Durham wouldn’t be a shock.

The Blue Devils are ranked ninth in the preseason and arguably possess the ACC’s best duo in Jon Scheyer and Kyle Singler. There’s depth inside, and while the backcourt is thin, arguably Krzyzewski’s greatest skill is maximizing the talent at his disposal.

Almost as important is the need to handle issues regardless of what happens to unfold down U.S. 15-501.

“It’s not like we base our performance – and I’m sure they don’t either – on ‘We did better than Carolina did, it’s a great season,’ ” Scheyer said. “Obviously both of us have expectations of Final Fours and national championships. That’s something with any team that if they beat you prior to that season, like the last year, you’d want to beat any team.”

There’s also the possibility perception is tilted not just by the Blue Devils’ past but the absurd success of their coach.

Krzyzewski owns three national titles and 10 Final Four appearances as he begins his 30th season. The Blue Devils reached seven Final Fours between 1986 and 1994, establishing a standard no other program has come close to matching since the mid 1970s.

That includes the Duke teams of recent vintage, including the outfit that won the ACC title last season but was pummeled in the regional semifinals of a tournament North Carolina captured.

“I’m proud of them,” Krzyzewski said. “We’ve won 80 games in three years. But my guys will be judged because I’m still coaching.”

Whatever the reason, there could be at least a temporary balance of power this season, regardless of preseason rankings. North Carolina and Duke were deadlocked in first in the ACC’s preseason media poll, and ultimately they will be compared because of proximity and excellence.

“I think both programs have been very good for each other,” Roy Williams said. “If we win [or] they win, it pushes us a little more. When we play, it’s the biggest stage there is in college basketball.”

November 10, 2009 Washingtontimes

MIAMI-Scuba divers worldwide now have a place on the web to call home-the most media
rich, interactive, social portal for divers-through which they can dive, connect
and share their unique underwater experiences.

ScubaNation.com, “One Nation, Underwater,” officially launches on November 21,
2009 with a launch party at Miami`s oldest bar, Tobacco Road, which celebrates
its 97th anniversary on the same night. Scuba divers and other ocean enthusiasts
can learn about ScubaNation.com and create their online profiles between 7 pm
and 2 am during this event, or by visiting ScubaNation.com.

This unique niche website is a one-stop shop for divers. At no cost, members can
stay connected with other divers all over the world; digitize their dive log,
upload, store and share their photos and videos; access up-to-the-minute dive
news; create their own blogs; participate in daily polls; review dive-related
products; access “The Nation`s Best” dive business directory, and experience
original ScubaNation webisodes.

ScubaNation.com is the brain child of 14-year South Florida resident, Billy
Catoggio, a native of Malden, MA, whose passion since childhood has been the
ocean, marine life, and scuba diving. Catoggio`s love of the ocean led him to
Tallahassee, Florida, where he studied Marine Biology at Florida State
University. Upon graduating he moved to Miami, Florida, where he took his diving
experiences to a new level and worked a brief stint at the Miami Seaquarium,
where he trained dolphins and sea lions.

Catoggio held a successful career in Human Resource Outsourcing for 13 years,
but his passion to be a pioneer in the scuba diving industry never quieted. His
desire to live his passion and be an entrepreneur took precedence in 2007 and
the creation of the “Nation” ensued. “I am a fan of social media and an active
diver. I wanted to bring social media to a dive-specific website with a cutting
edge, web 2.0 feel,” shares Catoggio. “There was really no other website out
there that combined scuba diving with social media and ScubaNation.com will be
that solution for scuba divers worldwide.”

For more information, email: info@scubanation.com, or call: 305-343-7260. Guests
can register on line to receive frequent news and updates.

ScubaNation.com
Billy Catoggio, 305-343-7260
Copyright Business Wire 2009

Wirtz resident finds out first-hand what goes into making a fine cigar.

Where did you go?

We flew into Tegucigalpa, [Honduras] and then drove by van through Danli to El Paraiso. [Go to YouTube and look up flying into Tegucigalpa. There are some great videos. It's a tough airport to get to.] The purpose of the trip was to tour all the aspects of making Rocky Patel premium cigars. The tour was hosted by Rocky Patel employees. We toured a box-manufacturing plant, greenhouses, fields, curing houses, fermentation buildings and manufacturing plant. We stayed at a Rocky Patel compound in El Paraiso that had a pool, garden, many bedrooms, kitchen, dining room and basketball court.

Who went?

David Meyer (co-owner of Milan Tobacconists in Roanoke) and 12 customers.

When did you go?

March 22-25

How long were you there?

Three nights

How did you hear about your destination?

I heard about it at a Milan Tobacconist cigar function. Rocky Patel sponsors tours to his facilities in Honduras on a regular basis.

What did you like best about your trip?

I enjoyed learning about the premium cigar industry and all of the steps that go into making a great cigar. I would compare it to what goes into making great wine. The people were friendly and very hospitable. The food was incredibly fresh and flavorful. The terrain reminded me of western High Sierra. The valleys were lush.

What, if any, were the negatives?

We didn’t have the opportunity to really visit the area or get into the towns. It was a very compact trip.

What advice would you give to lake residents who are considering this destination?

If you plan to take a Rocky Patel trip, then try to plan to put a few days on one side or the other of the trip and see some of Honduras. There are Mayan ruins and the island of Roatan to visit.

What attractions should people make sure they visit?

If you like cigars, do the tour.

October 09, 2009 Smithmountainlake

Banjul — A significant number of compounds, streets and car repair workshops on Tobacco Road, Banjul, located within the Campama ward are currently experiencing persistent floods.

The flood which started three days ago, as a result of the periodic fluctuation of the sea tides, covered large areas of Tobacco Road. Areas such as Tesito, the Gambia National Library junction, the Campama Mental Clinic and behind the Banjul Independent Electoral Commission branch are severely affected.

This reporter visited the flooded compounds and streets within the area. Several compounds could be seen filled with water right from the premises into the living rooms, toilets, bath rooms and kitchens. The flood seems to leave no space for normal habitation for three days now.

“We could some times see crocodiles at the Tesito area.Some compounds are filled with water,” said Aminata Savage Jadama,the councilor of Campama Ward. She on behalf of the lord mayor of Banjul,Samba Faal, accompanied by her treasurer, Mafugi Minteh and Amie Ceesay, ward mobiliser and some victims led the Daily Observer team on a conducted tour of the affected areas.

According to them , the occurrence of the flood is a periodical thing, which comes every six hours of the low and up tides of the river. Some pointed out things are at worst during the night, when the compounds get filled with water making it difficult for them to carry out their activities. “At night every where used to be filled with water, you cannot think of sleeping in the house much more cooking. I do spend the night in the neighborhood”,said Amie Ceesay, the women’s mobiliser of the Campama Ward.

In a compound described by many as the worst affected and believed to owned by one Alhagie Kebba Samateh, now residing in Bundung, tenants could be seen desperately struggling to make a living in the flooded compound. The tenants complained bitterly of the lack of basic facilities such as toilet,cooking place, safe drinking water, among other things in the compound. Some hinted that the land lord only appears on a monthly basis to collect house rents from them.

The Campama ward councilor, expressed the need to bring the situation under arrest before it is too late. “It is not proper and it is unhygienic for human beings to live in such a horrible condition,” she explained.

© Copyright: 23 September 2009 Allafrica

DURHAM, N.C. — The Blue Devil women’s soccer team (4-3-2) will travel to top-ranked North Carolina on Thursday, September 24, for their ACC opener. Kickoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. at Fetzer Field in Chapel Hill, N.C. Admission will be free for all fans.

This is the beginning of a four game stretch of matches against ranked opponents for Duke, with the first pair of games on the road and the second pair at home.

Duke will continue ACC play with its next match, Thursday October 1, at seventh-ranked Wake Forest.

A Look at the Opponent
North Carolina enters Thursday’s match with a 7-0-1 record. The Tar Heels are led by Jessica McDonald with four goals and two assists. As a team, UNC has only allowed two goals, both coming in the opening match against UCLA. This will mark UNC’s ACC opener as well.

The Series
This will be the 35th installment of the series, with the series record currently standing at 2-31-1 in favor of UNC. The last victory was a 2-1 triumph at North Carolina on October 9, 2005. The last time the two teams tangled, North Carolina came away with a 3-0 win on October 2, 2008.

Carlyle Cup
Thursday’s contest will be a part of the Carlyle Cup, which is a year-long competition between Duke and North Carolina. The winner will receive one point. So far in 2008-09, UNC leads 1-0 with a win in men’s soccer over the weekend. The Carlyle Cup is sponsored by Carlyle & Co., which is based out of Greensboro, N.C.

In The Rankings
North Carolina is ranked No. 1 in the NSCAA poll, while being No. 2 in the Soccer America and SoccerTimes.com listings. The Blue Devils are unranked after being preseason ranked in the top 25.

Shooting Spree
Through nine games on the season, Duke has registered a total of 203 shots. The 203 shots through nine contests are the second-most in school history. In 1989, the Blue Devils attempted 227 shots in the opening nine matches. So far this year, Duke has attempted 30 or more shots in three of the nine matches.

On The Road
Duke is 0-1-0 on the road, with the loss coming at the hands of then 14th ranked Florida. The Blue Devils are 4-0-2 this season at home, and 19-5-2 over the past three years at Koskinen Stadium. Duke has scored 18 goals and allowed three goals at home this year.

In The ACC Stats
Duke senior Elisabeth Redmond is tied for the lead in the ACC in assists per game with a 0.75 average with six in eight contests. Sophomore Cody Newman also ranks tied for ninth with four assists. Redmond is also second in shots and shots per game with 43 and 5.38 averaged respectively. Senior KayAnne Gummersall is sixth in shots (34) and seventh in shots per game with a 3.78 average. Gummersall and sophomore Chelsea Canepa are tied for 10th in the ACC with five goals apiece. Freshman Tara Campbell is third in saves (28). Her 1.12 goals-against average is 10th.

Tough Defense
Duke has only allowed three goals in the first half this season and only nine total goals in nine matches. The defense has allowed 41 total shots at home so far this season. Sophomore Emily Nahas and freshman Tara Campbell have each seen time in the net, while the combination of Gretchen Miller, Nicole Lipp, Maddy Haller, Erin Koballa, Molly Mack, and Libby Jandl have all played well in back.

Starting Freshmen
So far this season, Duke has started four freshmen – Campbell, Lipp, Haller, and Koballa — this season. Campbell, a goalkeeper from Cincinnati, Ohio, has started seven of the eight matches and currently holds a 1.12 goals against average in addition to an assist. Lipp, a defender hailing from Lake Forest, Ill., currently has played the second most minutes on the team while anchoring the center of the back line. Haller, a defender from South Salem, N.Y., has picked up two assists and has played in all nine matches, starting seven while playing outside back. Koballa, a defender from Wrightsville Beach, N.C., has started all nine matches at outside back and currently is tied for fourth on the team in minutes played.

Scoring Blue Devils
Of the 17 goals that Duke has netted through seven matches, 13 of those have come during the first half of play. The duo of seniors KayAnne Gummersall and Elisabeth Redmond continue their torrid offensive play with five goals, two assists and two goals, six assists, respectively. Gummersall and sophomore Chelsea Canepa currently lead the team with five goals apiece, while Redmond leads the squad with her six assists, followed by sophomore Cody Newman with four. Canepa had a streak of three consecutive contests with at least one goal, scoring against Florida, Alabama A&M, and LSU.

Spread The Wealth
Eight Blue Devils have scored so far, six of whom have multiple goals, while 12 student-athletes have posted one or more assists.

Injury Update
Duke will be without the services of senior Sara Murphy, freshman Callie Simpkins, freshman Kim DeCesare, junior Molly Lester and sophomore Ashley Rape for the 2009 season due to injuries. Sophomore goalkeeper Emily Nahas will miss the next 2-3 weeks after suffering an injury in practice last week.

The Record Book
Senior KayAnne Gummersall owns 28 career goals and is currently tied for fourth place. Her 65 points has moved her into ninth place on Duke’s all-time list and is only three away from eighth. Senior Elisabeth Redmond owns 29 career assists to rank second on the Blue Devil charts and is 13 away from Andi Melde’s record of 42. Her 25 goals ranks seventh on Duke’s list. Redmond owns 79 career points, which is fourth all-time for the Blue Devils. With 238 shots in four years, Redmond ranks second at Duke.

The Duke/Nike Classic
Three Blue Devils were awarded All-Tournament Team honors this past weekend at the Duke/Nike Classic: Campbell, Redmond, and Newman.

The Head Coach
Robbie Church is in his ninth season with the Blue Devils and owns an overall record of 98-63-21 mark at Duke. His overall record as a head coach for men and women is 281-177-35 in 24 years, while his overall record as a women’s head coach is 185-112-32 in 16 years.

The Captains
Blue Devil seniors KayAnne Gummersall, Elisabeth Redmond, Jane Alukonis and Sara Murphy are captains for the 2009 campaign.

- d – u – k – e –

For more than two decades, Frank Falestra, better known as Rat Bastard, has shaped the South Florida music scene. A masterful producer and an eminent luminary in the noise music movement, he is without a doubt one of the most admired local heroes. As a result, all kinds of mind-blowing stories have circulated about him.

So Rob Elba (of the Holy Terrors), along with pal Brian Franklin, set to work to pay tribute to his friend and mentor. Last year, the pair began writing a musical — yes, really — based on Rat Bastard’s life. It’s called Hearing Damage: The Rat Opera, and last Saturday at Tobacco Road in downtown Miami marked its first public performance. The atmosphere was celebratory, with Mr. Bastard making the rounds and catching up with old friends.

The concert began with the energetic, boisterous “Wings and Parts 1,” followed by “A Boy Called Rat.” And although many of the songs performed at the beginning of the night were acoustic, things eventually revved up when bandmates Will Trev, Russell Mofsky, Andre Serafini, and Jim Camacho created a real wall of noise. Another highlight was “Outside the Bar,” a nod to Rat’s guerrilla method of mounting spontaneous concerts in unlikely places. The song truly captured the magic of his creative approach. All in all, the evening was a fun unveiling of a well-deserved musical tribute to one of Miami’s legendary musical mavericks. If you missed it, don’t fret — an October 3 performance at Churchill’s promises to be a more fleshed-out, theatrical stage show.


By the way, a set piece used at the show — a one-of-a-kind, life-size photo cutout of Rat — went missing. If anyone knows its whereabouts, please contact the creators of Hearing Damage through their Facebook page, facebook.com/pages/rat-opera.
© September 22, 2009 Miaminewtimes