Night & Day

tuesday
december 22
Maybe you were once a gangster's moll, or maybe you were just a gangster, but the uncanny affinity you feel toward anything related to the Twenties leads you to think you may have lived a wildly exciting life during that era. You're nuts about Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Cole Porter. You love Streamline Moderne architecture. And you vainly hold on to the faint hope that Miami Beach's tribute to that time period, Art Deco Weekend, may one day go from being a yearly to a monthly event. Well, aside from plying you with books and having you hypnotized, we really can't send you back in time, nor do we have the bucks to fund a monthly festival. But grab on to your cigarette holder because we have a suggestion that will help satisfy that Twenties jones. Attend the Miami Design Preservation League Holiday Party from 6:00 to 9:00 tonight at the Essex Hotel (1001 Collins Ave., Miami Beach). Not only will you mingle with other Art Decophiles, you'll get a special preview of artist John Mattos's poster for Art Deco Weekend 1999 and have a chance to volunteer for the event. Hors d'oeuvres will be served, and a cash bar just may offer the champagne from which you get no kick. Admission is free. Call 305-672-2014. (NK)

wednesday
december 23
Watch it, Miami. It looks like Gainesville -- of all places -- is becoming the live-music mecca of the state. Yes, the sleepy college town seems to be generating its share of groovin' local bands, and they're all heading south to make their mark on our lame music scene. A few weeks ago Gainesville guys Refried Confusion performed a funky set at the Chili Pepper's Live Music Wednesdays (Streets of Mayfair, 3339 Virginia St., Coconut Grove). Tonight at 9:00 Gainesville rockers Big Sky do their thing. Admission is five dollars. Call 305-442-2228. (