august 28
Big Wig: From New Jersey, the state that gave the world Bruce Springsteen, the Misfits, and Bon Jovi, among others, comes Big Wig -- a hyper-catchy melodic-core band that packs a punk punch. The band's recent album, UnMerry Melodies (on Fearless Records), boasts a dozen fast-paced, moshibly delightful numbers, as well as the most bugged bunny imaginable on its cover. Big Wig goes off tonight at 9:00 p.m. at the House of Rock (5360 N. Federal Hwy., Pompano Beach), with local bands the Vacant Andys and Radio Baghdad. Admission is five dollars for those age 21 and over, seven for those ages 18 to 20. Call 954-429-9966.
friday
august 29
Gilberto Gil: One of the most significant and beloved singers, composers, and instrumentalists of contemporary Brazilian pop music returns to Miami as the Rhythm Foundation presents Gilberto Gil, performing songs from his new album, Quanta, tonight at 8:00 p.m. at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts (174 E. Flagler St.). Three years ago Gil performed in Miami with Brazilian chanteuse Gal Costa in the 25th anniversary celebration of tropicalia, the musical and pop culture revolution he founded together with singer-composer Caetano Veloso in the late Sixties. Always at the forefront of popular Brazilian music, even during a period of exile in London in the early Seventies, Gil has infused the music of his nation with not only its popular samba and bossa nova beats, but with the traditional rhythms of his home in Bahia -- xote, xaxado, afoxe, and bai‹o -- and other rhythms from the Caribbean and Africa. Tickets cost $20, $30, and $40. Call 672-5202.
Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show/Fort Lauderdale Fall Home Show: If it's time to start thinking about remodeling and redecorating the old homestead, there are two places you'll want to be this Labor Day weekend. Dade dwellers can head over to the Miami Beach Convention Center (1901 Convention Center Dr., Miami Beach) for the Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show. The show features more than 1200 displays, including furniture and accessories from more than 30 countries; architecture and interior design services; home improvement products and seminars; and fine art, hardware, electronics, and gardening items. A highlight of the show is a series of rooms custom-decorated to fit the personalities of five local radio personalities. The show runs today and Tuesday from 6:00 to 10:30 p.m.; tomorrow and Sunday from noon to 10:30 p.m.; and Monday from noon to 7:30 p.m. Admission is seven dollars. Call 667-9299. If your dilapidated shack is farther north, you might want to visit the Broward County Convention Center (1950 Eisenhower Blvd., Fort Lauderdale) for the 26th annual Fort Lauderdale Fall Home Show. The show encompasses more of the same, plus a new-home display, a pet expo, a stress-relief-gadget area, and a Music in Design showcase, with live performances in rooms decorated in classical, rock, jazz, country, and rap motifs. Show hours are 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. today; 11:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. tomorrow and Sunday; and 11:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Monday. Admission is $6.50. Call 954-966-0704.
Ife' Ile' Dance and Music Ensemble: Neri Torres, founder and director of Ife' Ile' Dance and Music Ensemble, celebrates the opening of the troupe's Cuban Dance and Music Center with a fundraising performance tonight at 9:00 p.m. at Power Studios (3701 NE Second Ave.). A dancer and choreographer trained at Havana's Instituto Superior de Artes (she recently toured as a dancer and choreographer with Gloria Estefan's Evolution world tour), Torres has devoted herself to educating the public on the finer points of Afro-Cuban culture, exploding myths and celebrating its richness, and exposing Cuban-American children to their roots. Tonight's performance, titled Ache, consists of dances of the oricha, rumba, palo, and son montuno traditions. Tickets cost $30. Call 863-2151.
American Indian Powwow: Celebrate this Labor Day weekend with the color and rhythm of Native American dance and music at the ninth annual American Indian Powwow at C.B. Smith Park (900 Flamingo Rd., Pembroke Pines). The fest features intertribal powwow dancing, specialty dances such as the eagle and the hoop dances, and flute music, plus tepee displays, Native American arts and crafts, and traditional foods. (Maybe the event will make you think about the inappropriateness of naming a football team the "Seminoles." The "Fighting Caucasians," anyone?) Admission is three dollars (kids under six get in free). The festival runs today from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m., tomorrow and Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Monday from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. Call 954-437-2650.
Always First-Ever In-Progress Arts Festival: Okay, so Squeeze (2 S. New River Dr., Fort Lauderdale) has actually hosted a whole bunch of these, but they are always first-evers because they are each unique. What makes this In-Progress Arts fest installment unique is the reunion of veteran Fort Lauderdale band Black Janet, which tonight celebrates the sixth anniversary of its first show at the club. Just for the occasion, a plethora of players from the band's ever-changing lineup will come out to jam; the first 50 people at the door will receive a copy of the band's most recent CD, She. As is common practice at In-Progress fests, amateur and professional artists are invited to draw and paint, for prizes, on paper draped over the walls. Doors open at 9:00 p.m. Admission is five dollars for those age 21 and over, seven for those ages 18 to 20. Call 954-522-2151.
saturday
august 30
The Amazing Royal Crowns: They play rockabilly hard. They play rockabilly fast. They play the most devastating rockabilly this side of the Reverend Horton Heat. The punk devil children of Dick Dale, Jerry Lee Lewis, Lux Interior (the Cramps), and Jon Spencer, Providence's Amazing Royal Crowns offer frantic, wild-energy, punk-and-roll wailings on their self-titled debut CD. Coming off an extensive East Coast tour, the Amazing Royal Crowns (not to be confused with the swingin' Royal Crown Revue) dip down into South Florida for a supersonic, synapse-snapping show tonight at 10:00 p.m. at Churchill's Hideaway (5501 NE Second Ave.). Expect a hot show: This band has blown crowds away ever since its psychobilly show hit the road with the Rev and fellow New Englanders the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. The Double Agents and the Psychonauts open the show. Admission to this eighteen-and-over show is five dollars. Call 757-1807.
Freedom of Expression Rally: Noam Chomsky wrote, "It is the responsibility of intellectuals to speak the truth and expose lies." If you fancy yourself an intellectual (what the heck, go anyway), join the Weeds tonight at 9:00 p.m. at Sunflower Recording Studios (1914 Hollywood Blvd., Fort Lauderdale) for an open-mike free-expression extravaganza. Led by writer/publicist/musician/poet Adam Matza, the Weeds is a rhythmic spoken-word-and-percussion project devoted to intellectual, emotional, political, and social expression. As part of this evening, guest artists Kathy Fleischmann, Dominic Traverzo, Steve Buxton, and Stanley Gemmell, among others, will speak or perform. Feel free to grab a mike and express yourself. Admission is as free as expression can be. Call 954-537-3161.
Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show/Fort Lauderdale Fall Home Show: See Friday.
American Indian Powwow: See Friday.
sunday
august 31
MoJazz's Last Chance: This is getting depressing. Local live music in South Florida is cursed; venue after venue has closed down (please God, spare us Churchill's). Tonight we mourn the loss of yet another great joint, MoJazz Cafe (928 71st St., Miami Beach), which closes its doors tomorrow morning after four and a half years of providing live jazz. Owner Mo Morgen says the club's eight-and-a-half-year lease has been sold to a group that is planning to open a restaurant and music club (um, isn't that what MoJazz was?). So tonight's your chance to start mourning the demise of yet another institution at a reunion of the MoJazz Band, along with guest artists of the past. Dolph and Tony Castellano, Lew Berryman, Bill Peeples, Federico Britos, Mel Dancy, Mike Gerber, Melton Mustafa, Ira Sullivan, and Morgen himself are among the many musicians that will jam from 9:30 p.m. until 2:00 a.m. There's no cover before 9:00 p.m.; $20 (includes two drinks) from 9:00 till midnight; $10 after midnight; free after 1:00 a.m. Call 865-2636.
The Mango Kings: Turnberry Isle Resort & Club (19999 W. Country Club Dr., Aventura) hosts its second annual culinary festival, titled "The Mango Kings," tonight at 7:00 p.m. in the Ocean Club. This flavorful journey through the capitals of American cuisine includes South Florida's famed Mango Gang -- Norman's Norman Van Aken, Chef Allen's Allen Susser, and the Turnberry Club's own Todd Weisz -- and other guest chefs from around the nation. Taste succulent yellowtail snapper prepared by Tavern on the Green's Patrick Clark (New York), Chinese lacquered duck as done by Sapphire's Kevin Graham (New Orleans), gazpacho cooked up by Four Seasons chef Hubert Des Marais (Palm Beach), cinnamon quail smoked by Red Sage/Coyote Cafe chef Mark Miller (Washington, D.C./Santa Fe, et cetera), and onion tamales created by Star Canyon's Stephan Pyles (Dallas). Each dish will be paired with a fine wine. Suddenly we're hungry. Tickets cost $75, and all proceeds benefit the American Institute of Wine and Food. Call 933-6500.
Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show/Fort Lauderdale Fall Home Show: See Friday.
American Indian Powwow: See Friday.
monday
september 1
Labor Day Irish Music Festival and Picnic: Step lively this Labor Day as the Irish Cultural Institute of Florida hosts its annual Irish Music Festival at Tradewinds Park (3600 W. Sample Rd., Pompano Beach). Two stages offer continual traditional Irish music by the Irish Times Band, Noel Kingston, Echoes of Erin, and Avalon, plus marching bagpipers and colorful stepdancers. Enjoy volleyball and horseshoes while the wee lads and lasses take in puppet shows and carnival rides. And check out the Irish marketplace for nifty Celtic crafts. The fest runs from noon to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free (although there is a one-dollar park-entrance fee). Call 954-946-1093.
Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show/Fort Lauderdale Fall Home Show: See Friday.
American Indian Powwow: See Friday.
tuesday
september 2
Robert Huff: Miami-Dade Community College's Kendall Campus Art Gallery (11011 SW 104th St.) opens its 1997-98 season with an exhibition of works by one of the longest-standing members of its arts faculty. Artist Robert Huff has taught art at MDCC since 1969, and his works have been presented extensively in Florida as well as throughout the rest of the U.S. and in Germany. Huff's works straddle the line between sculpture and painting by combining their defining elements; some three-dimensional works have patterns on them drawn in pencil and painted in acrylics and oils. The exhibition is on view through through September 19. Gallery hours are 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday, Thursday, and Friday, and noon to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday. Admission is free. Call 237-2322.
Miami Home Design and Remodeling Show: See Friday.
wednesday
september 3
Sesame Street Live: With the bigger kids back in school, tiny tots might not have a whole lot to keep them entertained. Their Giga pets just died. Nobody has Tomagotchis in stock. They left their Chutes and Ladders out in the rain. Instead of letting them watch that most-beloved of children's shows on television, take them to the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (201 SW Fifth Ave., Fort Lauderdale) for a performance of Sesame Street Live. All of their favorite Sesame Street characters -- Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Elmo, the Count, Bert and Ernie, and Oscar the Grouch -- sing, dance, and encourage kids to use their imaginations in the brand-new show 1-2-3 ... Imagine! Performances run today through Friday at 7:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 and 5:30 p.m., and Sunday at 1:00 and 4:30 p.m. Tickets cost $10, $15, and $20. Call 954-0222.
Robert Huff: See Tuesday.
