Get ready, Miami. Now through the end of the year, this city's calendar is essentially a marathon of events and excitement. If you don't want to hit the wall halfway through Art Basel, you'd better start training now. Sway those hips to the crooning of Marc Anthony Friday. Eat your way through delicious Tex-Mex cuisine at Tacolandia Saturday. Brush up your K-pop knowledge at the Fillmore to close out the weekend. And then get ready to do it over and over and over again until the New Year.
Friday
If you think of Marc Anthony only when you remember that brief period in the early 2000s when the rest of the United States cared about Latin music, you probably don't know he's the best-selling salsa musician of all time. That means when you take your tÃa to see him this weekend, you're not only doing something nice for her but also watching an internationally beloved superstar. Plus he was married to Jennifer Lopez for ten years, which we can assume was aided by his impressive repertoire of romantic ballads. So take some notes while you're there. 8 p.m. Friday, November 17, and Saturday, November 18, at the American Airlines Arena, 601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 786-777-1000; aaarena.com. Tickets cost $53 to $3,273.
Though the main exhibits get all the glory at a museum like PAMM, your overall experience of the art there is developed through the smaller shows and acquisitions on display. Following Dara Friedman's huge retrospective, a collection of work from 15 artists using typewriters as their medium, titled "From the Truer World of the Other," will go up thanks to the Knight Foundation and the Sackner Archive of Concrete and Visual Poetry. The same day, the Steve McQueen film End Credits will open as an alternative look at visual language derived from the redacted archives from when the FBI was tracking civil rights activist Paul Robeson. 10 a.m. Friday, November 17, at Pérez Art Museum Miami, 1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami; 305-375-3000; pamm.org. Admission costs $16.
NGO N.E.S.T. is a fledgling effort to alleviate poverty through beneficiary-led programs. The nonprofit's first project is to fund a clinic in Anse-Rouge, Haiti, where $10,000 will provide medicine there for a year. Art donated to NGO N.E.S.T. will be for sale at Les Ange d'Haiti (Angels of Haiti), and 100 percent of the proceeds will go toward that project. The art depicts the people of Haiti through photography and mixed media. 7 p.m. Friday, November 17, at Macaya Gallery, 145 NW 36th St., Miami; 786-577-0322; ngonest.org. Admission is free.
If you didn't already know it, November is Italian American Heritage Month. (As if you needed an excuse to eat more spaghetti.) Put the meatballs down and celebrate Italy with music from Ermal Meta & Kalascima. Meta is an insanely popular singer-songwriter born in Albania and living in Italy. Kalascima plays tarantella, Italian folk music once thought to cure a psychological illness caused by tarantula bites. If you're tempted to feast on pasta before the concert, don't: Chef Christiano de Mario will provide bites from the soon-to-open Italian bistro Acqua & Farina. 7 p.m. Friday, November 17, at the North Beach Bandshell, 7275 Collins Ave., Miami Beach; 786-453-2897; northbeachbandshell.com. Admission is free.
Saturday
Last year, a Trump supporter warned that without strict immigration laws, there'd be "a taco truck on every corner." And the nation rejoiced, because who doesn't love tacos? Certainly not anybody in attendance at Saturday's Tacolandia, the New Times event dedicated to tortilla-wrapped goodness in its many forms. More than 30 of South Florida's best restaurants will serve their take on the iconic dish, including ice-cream tacos, sushi tacos, and, yes, even tacos tradicionales. In addition to scarfing down unlimited samples, attendees can snag beer and cocktails and enjoy live entertainment by the local band Tamboka. 2 to 6 p.m. Saturday, November 18, at Soho Studios, 2136 NW First Ave., Miami; newtimestacolandia.com. Tickets cost $33.75 to $60.
What better way to prepare for the holidays than to get tanked? Concrete Beach will help with the release of its seasonal beer, Deck the Walls. You can enjoy the imperial stout at the brewery's block party, where 12-ounce four-packs will go on sale. Aside from the usual food trucks and live music, Mosaic Dance Project is slated to perform, and local artists will be onsite to vie for the honor of creating next year's can art. One dollar of every Deck the Walls sold will be donated to the nonprofit Life Is Art. 1 p.m. Saturday, November 18, at Concrete Beach Brewery, 325 NW 24th St., Miami; 305-796-2727; concretebeachbrewery.com. Admission is free.
Miami City Ballet alums Carlos Guerra and Jennifer Kronenberg debuted their ballet troupe Dimensions Dance Theatre last November. They've quickly become an enriching part of Miami's cultural landscape. Their latest program, Rapture: Ballet's Pointe of Passion, includes four works choreographed by Jerry Opdenacker, Tania Vergara, Vicente Nebrada, and Gerald Arpino. Arrive early to enjoy a talk with Cameron Basden and Opdenacker about the late Arpino and his work as well as Opdenacker's own piece. 8 p.m. Saturday, November 18, at the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, 10950 SW 211th St., Cutler Bay; 786-573-5300; smdcac.org. Tickets cost $25 to $45.
It's not uncommon to think that all artists are a little mad, but the Mad Hatter Arts Festival is less of the ear-removal variety and more of the fun, quirky kind. For two days, a collection of artists, craftspeople, vintage repurposers, and collectors will gather for a juried art show and general revelry under the sun. In homage to its namesake, the festival will include a crazy-hat contest, and Disney's Alice in Wonderland will screen Saturday night to reacquaint you with the original tea-serving riddler. 10 a.m. Saturday, November 18, and Sunday, November 19, at the Barnacle Historic State Park, 3485 Main Hwy., Coconut Grove; 305-442-6866; madhatterartsfestival.com. Festival admission costs $2, and film tickets cost $6.
If you've dismissed Homestead as a hybrid Central American/Caribbean/hick town, think again. It's actually an oasis of natural resources. If you need a reason to head all the way down there, the Redland Fruit & Spice Seafood Fest will gather everything Homestead has to offer in one place. Seafood dressed up in Bahamian, South American, and Thai styles is just a fraction of the weekend. There will also be live music, catch-and-release fishing, pony rides, and local arts-and-crafts vendors. Even the Miami Marlins will show up Sunday, so bring the whole gang. 10 a.m. Saturday, November 18, and Sunday, November 19, at the Fruit & Spice Park, 24801 SW 187th Ave., Homestead; 305-247-5727; redlandfruitandspice.com. Admission costs $8.
There's very little as satisfying as indie radio. It's as if you're part of a secret club where everyone has knowledge of cool things. You probably first experienced that feeling as a high schooler listening to college radio. Now that you're an adult, the internet has taken over. Yet radio persists on the web waves! The Imaginary Radio Network keeps those cool feels alive "for new-school seekers of old-school radio." The network is coming out IRL with its inaugural local music festival at the Wynwood bar Gramps. All proceeds from the event will go directly to the ten bands performing. Support local radio and local acts at this catchall event. 5 p.m. Saturday, November 18, at Gramps, 176 NW 24th St., Miami; gramps.com. Admission costs $5 presale and $10 day of the show.
Vizcaya is a one-of-a-kind treasure. If you have the chance to visit James Deering's elegant home on Biscayne Bay with its sprawling and well-tended gardens, take it. The annual fundraiser Vizcaya Ball is an ideal opportunity to support the museum's mission and check it out under the moonlight. There'll be a red-carpet entrance, a cocktail soiree, entertainment, dinner, and a silent auction. The evening will culminate with fireworks over the bay. You won't find a more romantic moment in Miami than this one. 7 p.m. Saturday, November 18, at Vizcaya Museum & Gardens, 3251 S. Miami Ave., Miami; vizcayaball.org. Admission starts at $750.
Sunday
The 30th anniversary is traditionally celebrated with gifts of pearl, but New Times is going with paper. South Florida's rag is celebrating three decades of reporting all the news that's questionably fit to print by gathering a few of its most successful writers for Miami New Times: Spreading the Word, a Miami Book Fair panel recalling the good old days and looking toward the future. Ben Greenman, Luther Campbell, Jim DeFede, and others will tell their tales. You can think of them as pearls of wisdom. 4 p.m. Sunday, November 19, at Miami Dade College's Wolfson Campus, 300 NE Second Ave., Miami; miamibookfair.com. Admission is free with tickets to the street fair, which cost $8 for general admission, $6 for ages 13 to 18 and over 62, and free for children 12 or younger.
People might ask, "Why should I buy organic or fair-trade clothing? It's not like I'm eating my T-shirt!" Well, the manufacturing of clothing destroys rivers all over the world. So we know fashion can ruin the planet, but the documentary RiverBlue asks, can fashion save the planet? The award-winning documentary will screen at an event for Fashion Revolution, which strives to change the way clothes are sourced, produced, and purchased to make them environmentally sound. Organizers ask that you bring unwanted jeans for the UpCycle Project to use at Design and Architecture High School. 1 p.m. Sunday, November 19, at O Cinema Miami Beach, 500 71 St., Miami Beach; o-cinema.org. Admission costs $15.
K-pop and mainstream country music have two things in common: both are insanely popular, but nobody seems to know anyone who actually listens to the stuff. But if you ask around, you might be surprised at all the superfans of the Korean genre. The Fillmore is hosting K-Pop All Night with Grace from Unpretty Rapstar Season 3. Fans will gather to enjoy a live performance, sip K-pop-themed drinks, request their fave songs from the DJ, and perform choreographed brilliance onstage. It'll be a K-night to remember. 6 p.m. Sunday, November 19, at the Fillmore Miami Beach, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach; fillmoremb.com. Admission costs $35 and up.
