october 1
So you're totally bummed about missing the WCW Monday Nitro at the Miami Arena a few weeks ago? Well, wrestling lover, you can still get your fill of pumped-up guys and gals with funky names and bizarro costumes jumping all over each other tonight at 7:30 when Florida Championship Wrestling hits the mat at G. Holmes Braddock Senior High School (3601 SW 147th Ave.). You won't see "Hollywood" Hulk Hogan there, but the battle in Braddock promises title bouts between the FCW champion Hack Myers and Scoot Andrews ("The Black Nature Boy"), and ladies' champ Riptide, who will defend her title against former champion Liz Chase. The Puerto Rican Powerhouse Ricky Torres and Tony Apollo, the Caribbean champion from Havana, are also slated to appear. And for those who prefer group sports, tag teams will leap off the ropes too! Admission is nine dollars. Call 305-225-9729. (NK)
Perennial talk show host and cheeky guy Jon Stewart comes to Books & Books (933 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach) tonight at 8:00 for what is being called an evening of humor and signing. No, the soon-to-be-host (again!) of Comedy Central's Daily Show won't be performing funny bits for the deaf. He'll be reading from and autographing his new book, Naked Pictures of Famous People, which contains nary a photo but eighteen absurd essays featuring odd scenarios such as Larry King interviewing Adolf Hitler, Vincent van Gogh discovering Internet chat rooms, and the Taco Bell chihuahua dying. (Sniff!) Admission is free. Call 305-532-3222. (NK)
friday
october 2
With swing music and its dance revival currently peaking around the country, the Miami City Ballet couldn't have made a more prescient choice to start off its season than The Big Band SUPERMEGATROID, brilliant resident choreographer Jimmy Gamonet De Los Heros's spirited tribute to the glorious swing era, set to the music of Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. If that's not jazzy enough, the troupe also performs the George Balanchine-choreographed Who Cares? to Gershwin tunes, and Paul Taylor's Company B, backed by the harmonies of the Andrews Sisters. Performances are at 8:00 tonight and tomorrow and 2:00 p.m. Sunday at the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Tickets range from $17 to $55. Call 305-532-7713. (NK)
saturday
october 3
Sacred Grounds Coffeehouse, the music series that takes place in a cozy Jewish temple that once was a house, resumes tonight after a brief summer vacation. This season, instead of aiding one single charity, every concert will benefit a different cause. (Tonight's revenues go to the Center for Positive Connections, a nonprofit support and resource center run by and for HIV-positive heterosexuals.) At 7:30 the open-mic portion of the evening for aspiring music stars begins, and an hour later the pros take the stage. On the bill: folksinger/songwriter Marie Nofsinger and husband-and-wife acoustic folk duo Ron and Bari. It all happens at Temple Beth Or, 11715 SW 87th Ave. Admission is ten dollars. Call 305-663-1039. (NK)
When was the last time you participated in a limousine-driven Trivial Pursuit game, scavenger hunt, and progressive cocktail party combo? Just recently, you say? Of course you have. This time it's for a good cause. Today at 6:00 p.m. approximately 400 people will meet at Groove Jet (323 23rd St., Miami Beach) to enjoy a champagne toast and then pile into chauffeured limos for the annual Historic Pursuit Limo Rally to benefit the Historical Museum of Southern Florida. Rallygoers will be zoomed around South Beach and Miami for three hours and plied with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, all the while searching for clues to historically challenging riddles during scheduled stops. Even if you're not so good at solving puzzles, you'll still get your fill of booze and munchies at Groove Jet's party at 10:30 p.m. Registration for the limo rally costs $100 per person. Postparty tickets cost $30. Call 305-375-1492. (LB)
sunday
october 4
Thank goodness for William Levitt. In 1947 he designed the first planned suburb, Levittown on Long Island, New York, as a solution to the country's critical housing shortage. The forerunner of countless cookie-cutter communities, those rows and rows of identical structures not only enabled many people to own their own homes but spawned mavericks like rocker Eddie Money and cartoonist Bill Griffith (creator of the wonderfully subversive, doughnut-loving clown Zippy the Pinhead). To this day Levittown still provides plenty of fodder for writers, artists, musicians, and filmmakers. John O'Hagan is one such moviemaker. His Wonderland, screening at the Alliance Cinema (927 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach) through Thursday, takes a long and hard look at Levittown and its inhabitants in the Nineties. Admission is six dollars. Call 305-531-8504 for times or see "Showtimes," page 52. (NK)
monday
october 5
Born in Cienfuegos, Cuba, in 1926, artist Gina Pellon went into exile in 1959 and resettled in Paris. There she honed her vividly energetic works -- oil paintings, gouaches, and lithographs -- and produced tapestry designs and illustrations. She has exhibited her work in many places, including Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Caracas, and Lausanne. In 1978 the French government awarded her the Chevalier de L'Ordre des Artes et Lettres, the highest honor that country gives to an artist. See her striking work through October 30 at Elite Fine Art, 3140 Ponce de Leon Blvd., Coral Gables. Admission is free. The gallery is open from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Call 305-448-3800. (NK)
tuesday
october 6
In late-nineteenth-century Argentina, the tango was considered to be the ultimate form of dirty dancing and was snubbed by polite society as declasse. Not surprising, considering that the stylized, sensual dance originated in Buenos Aires's bordellos. These days the tango is hot, though not so raunchy, at least not when compared to things you might catch the president doing. Forever Tango, the dance extravaganza created by classical cellist Luis Bravo, enjoyed a long run on Broadway last year, tracing the history of the provocative tango with fourteen sizzling dancers slithering around the stage and an eleven-piece orchestra performing the sultry tunes. Forever Tango runs through Sunday at the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Performances take place at 8:00 tonight through Saturday, 7:00 p.m. Sunday, and 2:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets range from $24 to $47. Call 305-673-7300. (NK).
wednesday
october 7
Yes, author P.J. O'Rourke may be politically irritating. You've gotta admit, though, the guy's got a certain wry charm, libertarian nut or not. He also writes rather well (Parliament of Whores, All the Trouble in the World) and he can even be a spiffy dresser! (Not that Tom Wolfe has anything to worry about.) At 8:00 tonight at the Coral Gables Congregational Church (3010 DeSoto Blvd., Coral Gables), Books & Books presents O'Rourke reading from Eat the Rich: A Treatise on Economics, his latest tome skewering capitalism, communism, socialism, and every other ism you can possibly imagine. Admission is free. Call 305-442-4408. (
