Miami Oculto season finale: rock icons in Miami, concerts, albums and scandals
Music icons like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Eric Clapton, The Beatles and the Bee Gees are associated with places like the Village in New York, London or Paris, the city where Morrison spent his last days and was buried, one of the most visited graves in the Père Lachaise cemetery.
Each one of those rock stars has their own history with Miami, which served as creative refuge, a stage to perform and sometimes the venue for a legal scandal.
This is the topic of this week’s el Nuevo Herald podcast, Miami Oculto (Hidden Miami), which discusses Coconut Grove’s bohemian past, when it was a mecca for counterculture and a warm-weather escape for hippies in the 1960s. We also discuss Golden Beach, one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in South Florida, where Eric Clapton recorded an album in one of his mansions, which he titled with the address of the house, 461 Ocean Boulevard.
Watch the podcast video with subtitles here:
Clapton left the white house on A1A to the Bee Gees, who were in a somewhat stagnant moment in their career and wanted a fresh start. Thus began their adventure in Miami, where they recorded their wildly successful “Saturday Night Fever” (1977) at Criteria Studios in North Miami.
All three brothers, Robin, Barry and Maurice Gibb, maintained residences in South Florida over the years. Today a Miami Beach park commemorates Maurice – who died in this city – with a simple mausoleum at the Maurice Gibb Memorial Park, on Purdy Ave. and 18th Street.
A tour of Miami’s popular culture
Miami Oculto’s guest this week is Peruvian writer Pedro Medina León, author of the book “Tour: A Tour of Miami Popular Culture,” which includes essays and anecdotes about these famous musicians and their time in Miami.
Medina León tells about the Grove store where history’s most important rock music festival, Woodstock, was conceived. Before it took place in a town on the outskirts of New York in August 1969, the festival existed in the imagination of the owner of that store, Michael Lang.
In May 1968, Lang organized the Miami Pop Festival at Gulfstream Park Racing in Hallandale Beach, where Jimi Hendrix arrived by helicopter. Dressed in a spectacular white flowy shirt, Jimi sang “Foxy Lady” that day.
A year later, in March 1969, The Doors offered a memorable concert at the Dinner Key Auditorium in Coconut Grove, not because of the music but because Jim Morrison ended up being accused of dropping his pants on stage.
Today the Dinner Key auditorium no longer exists – it was demolished in 2014. Miami Marine Stadium (another topic of a Miami Oculto episode), which also hosted important concerts, is also in danger.
Miami residents and tourists also lost the Deauville Hotel, where the Beatles performed live on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964. Two luxury towers for hotels and residences will be built on the land on Collins Avenue.
It is worth reflecting on the loss of important venues associated with music legends for more luxury towers to be built. A city without a past, without landmarks to remember important moments, will have little to offer.
This is one of the missions of Miami Oculto, to preserve what made the city and its residents great. The podcast bids farewell until next season, and is always open to suggestions from listeners about what stories of Miami should be explored in the future.
Listen to the podcast here:
Watch the episodes on YouTube and the el Nuevo Herald website. Find all the episodes of the Miami Oculto podcast on your favorite audio platform:Spotify Podcast, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music.
