Those jumpy 8mm films buried in the family attic might just be valuable cultural artifacts. Remember the footage of your trip to a strawberry patch when you were a kid? That fruit patch most likely is a Sunset Drive strip mall. From watching your grandmother's steamy days as hostess to viewing drunken conventioneers partying with burlesque girls in Biscayne Boulevard dinner clubs, each frame of amateur film sheds light on a given period. The Florida Moving Image Archive is highlighting the importance of family films in Home Movie Day, a 2-hour screening of kooky gems from Miami's celluloid vaults. Home Movie Day begins at 11:00 a.m. at the Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Ave., Miami Beach. Admission is free. Call 305-375-1505. -- By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Thursday August 14
Edge of Sound
Experimenter redefines music
Experimental musician Gustavo Matamoros is one of the leading tinkerers in a field that is often underrated or plainly overlooked. Still he believes Miami is fertile land for experimental music, and he offers the 15-year-old annual Subtropics Festival, which once featured the legendary John Cage, as proof. "It's really hard to get recognition," says Matamoros. "My goal has to be different, and it is. I love to explore music and sound possibilities and, as such, I feel I'm part of a global community that needs me here." Matamoros's lecture, titled "Sound and the Alternative Use of Tools," takes place at 8:00 p.m. at Books & Books, 933 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach. Admission is free. Call 305-532-3222. -- By Javier Andrade
Monday August 18
Living a Movie
In Donna Wheeler's screenplay Natalie Rising, a harmonica prodigy learns the hard way that she must pursue her dream no matter how crazy it could be. Wheeler, a former Kendall brat now establishing herself as a filmmaker in Los Angeles and New York, draws only vague parallels between the work and her life. She is smoothing out the kinks from her project, which has been workshopped at Sundance Screenwriters Lab. The reading begins at 7:30 p.m. at GableStage, 1200 Anastasia Ave., Coral Gables. Admission is free. Call 305-674-1206. -- By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Saturday August 16
City Summer
It's time to smear on the sunscreen, break out the flip-flops, throw on the wife-beater tank top, and venture out of the house for a day of festivities at the park. During the dog days of summer, urban excursions to city parks can be a holiday in the making. There's Frisbee, and soccer, and lanky teenagers trying to score some weed. At Wynwood's Roberto Clemente Park (101 NW 34th St.) you can enjoy coco frio, a pincho, and a bag of fresh fried churros as you chill in the heat, people-watching to groovy Latin-flavored tunes. The event is called Sabor Latino, a merengue and salsa fest set in Wynwood, the heart of urban Miami's Puerto Rican and Dominican community. As part of the City of Miami's Heart of Our Parks initiative, a summer-long series of neighborhood concerts at local parks, the party will include activities for the entire family, from face painting to dance contests to cool car exhibitions.
Headlining the event is Miami's homegrown pop troubadour, Jorge Moreno. The bad-boy Latin Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter is taking a break from the funky club dates he usually performs in, to break out a sweat among la gente. His brand of Latino rock, pop, and tropical-flavored tunes with sharp social commentary (not to mention Moreno's pop-star looks) will keep the party going into the sweltering afternoon.
Bringing an additional dose of community pride to the event, Sabor Latino will help mark the birthday of Puerto Rican baseball legend Roberto Clemente, the first Latino inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Clemente died tragically when his airplane crashed while on a humanitarian mission to Central America. Be sure to fill a cooler with Old Milwaukees, pack a stogie, grab your star and stripes -- Puerto Rican style -- and join the party. -- By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Sabor Latino takes place from 4:00 to 8:00 p.m. Admission is free. Call 305-579-6931.
Thursday August 14
A Never-Ending Journey
Baruj Salinas could sit and recount the days of when he studied with the great Spanish abstract masters Joan Miro and Antonio Tapies. He could mention their tutelage and influence on his frenetic paintings -- works that are weirdly evocative in minute details. The delicate rendering of an eye might actually be a topographic reference to the northern corner of his native Cuba. Salinas is the featured speaker tonight at the Jewish Museum of Florida's (301 Washington Ave., Miami Beach) ongoing exhibition, "El Viaje ... The Journey." The exhibit is a collaborative effort among 33 Jewish-Latino artists and poets, who delve into the Diaspora and perpetual movement of Jews throughout the Americas. Salinas will undoubtedly tell a tale of far-flung crossings in his life as well as his work. Salinas compares his paintings with renditions of outer space, where the dynamics of color instead of line or figure speak the language. He appears at 7:00. Admission is free. Call 305-672-5044. -- By Juan Carlos Rodriguez
Thursday August 14
Toot-Toot, Bling-Bling
Autos motivate beach fest
The Hot Wheels Cool Blues Festival brings together expensive cars, high-maintenance women, hip tunes, and fancy drinks on Miami Beach. (You might have some difficulty differentiating the festival from the regular SoBe nightlife.) Hot Wheels kicks into gear tonight with a DJ-enhanced preview of the 2004 Ford Ranger along Lincoln Road. Later it's Mumm's champagne at the Tides (1220 Ocean Dr.) followed by a party at crobar (1445 Washington Ave.). Friday things get fancy with a Cadillac showcase and Veuve Clicquot reception on the Bass Museum lawn (2121 Park Ave.). Then it's more Mumm's at the Skybar (1901 Collins Ave.). If you're not too hung over, consider entering your wheels in the auto exhibition at the Miami Beach Convention Center (1901 Convention Center Dr.) on Saturday. The event wraps up (or perhaps unwraps) Sunday at the Playmates Bikini Car Wash at Nikki Beach nightclub (1 Ocean Dr.). For detailed schedule information go to www.hotwheelscoolblues.com or call 305-538-3809. --By Margaret Griffis
Friday August 15
A Self-made Singer
Having performed in Miami since 1998, Cuban-born bilingual singer Lourdes Simon says the most important thing to remember before jumping onstage to sing a classic bolero is that "the way you interpret that song is crucial." Her passion for boleros, and for the "feeling movement" that included many Cuban and Puerto Rican troubadors in the past, has been fueling an artistic career that sparked after she traveled to Puerto Rico in 1994 to study. A true iconoclast (she arrived on the last freedom flight out of Cuba in 1972) who has managed to avoid day jobs in order to dedicate herself to music, Simon independently released her debut CD, Poemas y Feeling Volume 1, last year. She's planning a one-woman play, but that will happen after she performs her tribute to Puerto Rican icons Sylvia Rexach and Myrtha Silva. Simon performs at 8:00 p.m. at Centro Cultural Español, 800 Douglas Rd., Coral Gables. Admission is $10. Call 305-439-9876. -- By Javier Andrade
