SUN 9/21
Yeah, baby! She began as an icon in swinging ’60s London; had a nude scene in Michelangelo Antonioni’s controversial film Blowup; lived in Paris with her incomparably hip husband, musician Serge Gainsbourg; and was immortalized as the breathy vocalist in the scandalously sexy song “Je T’aime Moi Non Plus.” Jane Birkin is one groovy chick. Now the chanteuse is reworking the classic French chanson of ex-husband Gainsbourg and combining it with the music of North Africa in her Arabesque project. The perennially cool Rhythm Foundation will present Birkin in concert tonight at 8:00 at the Lincoln Theatre (541 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach). Joining her onstage will be 5 African musicians playing Eastern harmonies and the rhythms of the Maghreb on violin, piano, lute, vocals, and traditional percussion. Tickets cost $29. Call 305-672-5202. — By John Anderson
SUN 9/21
Latin Laughter
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Argentine parodists play on
Argentine quintet Les Luthiers return to Miami’s James L. Knight Center (400 SE 2nd Ave.) at 8:00 tonight to perform the musical parodies they’re famous for all over Latin America. Last year their show Bromato De Amonio had the crowd cackling in the aisles. Surely their latest extravaganza, Solo Porque Rías (read “Just Crap”), will have the same effect. Since their founding in 1967, Les Luthiers — think a cross between Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Spinal Tap in Spanish — have made an art out of having fun with musical genres, though not necessarily mocking them. Their hilarious lyrics and homemade instruments (weird strings and horns) are essential in all their shows, which end up being oddly and pleasantly musical. Tickets range from $24 to $94. Call 305-372-4633. — By Javier Andrade
FRI 9/19
Loli’s Leap
Zany cabaret singer Loli Marquez Sterling reaches deep to her historic Cuban roots in her performances. With a bloodline that goes back into the politics of pre-Castro Cuba (her grandfather ran for president in 1958), and a childhood rooted in Plymouth, New Hampshire, she is a hyphenated Cubana if there ever was one. In her show Loli But Not Alone, she pokes fun at Latin stereotypes, politics, and her family’s experience growing up in America. She performs at 9:30 p.m. at Club Tropigala, 4441 Collins Ave. Tickets cost $25. Call 305-672-7469. — By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
THUR 9/18
Folk and Joke
Side-splitting ditties galore
Songs about wedgies. Songs about boobs. Folk songstresses Carla Ulbrich and Deirdre Flint are coming to Homestead’s Main Street Cafe (128 N. Krome Ave.) wielding their acoustic guitars and kooky tunes in order to tickle your funny bone and scramble your brain. Ulbrich, a South Carolinian turned South Floridian, bills herself as a professional smart aleck, also the name of her latest CD, which includes melodies like the mildly menacing “I Have to Kill You Know,” the self-explanatory “The Wedgie,” and her critically lauded ode to offing a romantic rival, “What if Your Girlfriend Was Gone.” “Girlfriend” appeared on a previous recording but now boasts alternate endings (mercy, perhaps?). A favorite of radio schlockmeister Dr. Demento and president of the Difficult Last Name Club, Ulbrich brings sharp writing and even sharper chops on the guitar to the stage. Flint, a former elementary school teacher from the Philadelphia area, who has had her first name mangled as many times as Ulbrich has had her last name garbled, croons about hideous bridesmaid dresses, the hell that is serial dating, and the heartbreak that is a small chest. Expect plenty of tunes from her latest CD, Then Again, and her former release Shuffleboard Queens. Showtime is 8:00 p.m. Tickets cost $10. Call 305-245-7575. — By Nina Korman
TUE 9/23
PoeticSounds
Offbeat composer is honored
Ned Rorem is considered one of America’s greatest composers. His music stands out from the discordant modernist movement by actually being appealing. Although pundits try to find meaning in Rorem’s work, the master dismisses the notion. “I don’t think that nonvocal music can be proved to have any meaning whatsoever,” he says. “It means whatever the composer tells you in words that it means. All the other arts have concrete meanings — they mean ‘cat’ or ‘dog’ or ‘Guernica’ or something — but music doesn’t.” UM’s Festival Miami presents Rorem’s 80th birthday concert at 8:00 p.m. at Gusman Concert Hall, 1314 Miller Dr, Coral Gables. Tickets cost $15. Call 305-284-6477. — By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
