Audio By Carbonatix
Saturday June 21
The cockatoos have yet to strap on their little roller skates or jump on their tiny bicycles for your amusement at the new Watson Island incarnation of Parrot Jungle, now dubbed Parrot Jungle Island. The official grand opening is a week away. Nevertheless a variety of fundraising events have already been held in the Jungle’s Treetop Ballroom. Yet another unfolds tonight at 8:00 when the Diabetes Research Institute’s Feast Among the Grapes offers vittles and vino with a gourmet twist. Pacific Time, Nemo, Tropical Chinese, Rumi, and Prime Grill are among the eateries that will provide samples of their fine cuisine. And more than 40 wineries promise to pour a discerning selection. Once you’re satisfied and slightly sloshed, you can bid big money on silent-auction items including a stay at the Bahamas’ Royal Oasis Resort or a swimming lesson from an Olympic gold medalist. Tickets cost $85. Cough up $150 and you can attend a pre-event VIP champagne reception. Call 800-321-3437. — By Nina Korman
Saturday June 21
Food Flight
In the kitchen at Azul
Forget coffee: There’s no better eye-opener than a stiff drink early in the morning. Hot celebrity-chef Michelle Bernstein of Azul restaurant in the Mandarin Oriental Miami (500 Brickell Key Dr.) seems to agree. Beginning at 9:30 a.m. today, the interactive cooking class she’ll teach for 15 lucky foodies features a fabulous meal in 3 courses paired with flights of wine. Hmm, could that be the secret to her wild success and subsequent star status? Get ’em loaded and they won’t ever contemplate pushing away that plate of braised moose lips in amarena cherry reduction. Look how far that formula got Emeril Lagasse. Watch out with the knives if you’ve imbibed. Cost is $100. Advance registration and payment is required. Call 305-913-8254. — By Nina Korman
Tuesday June 24
Black Barrier Breaker
Before Spike Lee did the right thing, Ossie Davis directed the classic Cotton Comes to Harlem — the 1970 buddy cop movie. Starring Raymond St. Jacques and Godfrey Cambridge as two black detectives who investigate a back-to-Africa scheme in Harlem, the film pokes fun at both black and white stereotypes. As one of the first to be geared specifically toward black audiences, it is still a standard for blackness in filmmaking, which makes its Juneteenth (commemorating what is considered the true end to slavery on June 19, 1865) run date a fitting way to honor the occasion. The film screens at 7:00 p.m. at the Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Admission is $5. — By John Anderson
Now 24/7
Afro – School
The pros at Body, Mind, and Soul will teach you how to breathe in Egyptian Yoga and Meditation Classes. Then they’ll demonstrate how the European diet is destroying society. Check out their film festivals that promise lectures by some of “the best African scholars you never heard on television or radio.” Martial arts, open-mike poetry, the mysteries of Egypt, and The Matrix are combined at director Kushi Myers’s place. The classes are ongoing at 4606 NW 7th Ave. Call 305-575-1887. — By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Thursday June 19
Big Hair
Star praises do-good dos
Erykah Badu doesn’t need hair. Her incredible talent makes her stand out no matter what she looks like. Nonetheless Badu’s hair — or lack of it — is an integral part of her image. Whether sporting a huge afro like she did at last year’s Grammy Awards, a long shining river of tresses that cascaded to her ankles, or her signature mile-high turban, Badu communicates with her hair. Considering she’s actually bald, that’s a big accomplishment. Badu will be hosting a fundraising reception and “plutonium level” (whatever that means) auction at Nikki Beach Restaurant and Lounge (1 Ocean Dr., Miami Beach). The event, Hair Stories: An Evening with Erykah Badu, will feature cultural anthropologist Yvette Smalls’s short documentary Hair Stories, a 40-minute film that explores the cultural and psychological significance of hair to black women. Smalls, a master braider in Philadelphia, features Badu in the film talking about the importance of hair. Benefiting Community Builders Holistic Development Corporation, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic development in impoverished urban areas, this soiree is a must. — By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
The event begins at 6:00 p.m. Tickets range from $30 to $145. Call 305-358-5885. There will be an afterparty at Opium Garden (136 Collins Ave.) starting at 11:00 p.m.