Thursday, October 8
There's nothing worse than spending your hard-earned cash on crappy cocktails, especially those made with bottom-shelf swill you know costs half of what they're charging you to pour it. Thankfully, the third-annual Craft Spirits Festival gives local libation lovers the chance to get a big taste of the good stuff.
At the Craft Spirit Festival's main event, the Grand Tasting, more than 30 spirits producers from around the world will gather for a comprehensive, large-scale tasting event, which will feature more than 120 spirits to sample. At bars throughout the building, Miami's best bartenders from the U.S. Bartenders' Guild will serve unique craft cocktails that highlight the various brands. Guests can mingle over their favorites — from the best gins, rums, and whiskies to vodkas, liqueurs, and bitters — while sampling free food from local restaurants, including bites by Finka Table & Tap and coffee by Relentless Roaster.
The Grand Tasting runs from 7 to 11 p.m. Thursday at the Cruz Building (3157 Commodore Plaza, Coconut Grove). Tickets cost $75 and include samples of spirits, cocktails and light bites. Guests must be 21 or older to attend. Visit craftspiritsfest.com.
"Pool party in October" is a phrase you'll hear only in Miami. As the rest of the country clings to its PSLs in a fruitless attempt to ward off the cold, Miamians are breaking out the loungewear and buying new bikinis. It's at this seasonal juncture that Cannonball, Miami's eclectic arts organization, is hosting its annual Endless Summer Pool Party at the Freehand Hotel.
There will be bites provided by Blue Collar and Mignonette; craft beers by Box Elder; a silent auction with works by artists Daniel Arsham, Pepe Mar, Jim Drain, and Glexis Novoa; and, of course, a pool. Attendees can sip and splash while watching synchronized swimming performances by Verso and video accompaniments by Obsolete Miami Media.
Bring your floaties and make prolific use of the hashtag #wishyouwerehere. Because what's the point of a pool party if you can't make everyone on IG jealous?
The party runs from 7 to 10 p.m. Thursday at the Freehand Hotel (2727 Indian Creek Dr., Miami Beach). Tickets cost $50 per person. Visit cannonballmiami.org/pool-party or call 786-347-2360.
Cinema Italy returns for its 13th year to Miami Beach with a small batch of Italian films featuring the hottest stars working in that country's industry today. As evidenced by a comedy that pits atheists against religious devotees in the festival opener, Se Dio Vuole, and a clichéd culture clash between big-city living and farm life in Sei Mai Stato Sulla Luna?, Italians prove they know how to laugh at themselves. Le Badanti, a sexy comedy set in a retirement home, might be about misunderstandings between generations while surreptitiously teaching a lesson on immigrant labor in the European Union. Crime and thriller fans will be interested in the atmospheric La Terra dei Santi and the hard-edged Perez, while those who like a little action with their popcorn might be more into the screwball antics of Zio Gaetano e Morto.
Italian cinema's long-running tradition of quality filmmaking is bound to make this fest delightfully fun. Regal Cinemas South Beach (1120 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach ) will screen the films this Thursday through October 13, so there will be plenty of time to clap and yell, "Bravo!" For showtimes, listings, and tickets, call 305-864-0101 or visit cinemaitaly.com.
Cirque Éloize is not Cirque du Soleil. Though both are Quebec-based circus-inspired acrobatic troupes, Cirque Éloize began much later, in 1993, and is a much more intimate production than its more famous corporate, theatrical-company cousin. For its latest trick (and eighth original creation), Cirque Éloize has choreographed and produced the vibrant show iD, a mix of traditional circus acrobatics and contemporary urban dance.
Set in a city locale and told through loose character confines, 15 performers ranging from break dancers to contortionists twirl and gyrate across the stage and sets. They double-dutch on bicycles, jump rope on inline skates, and slide down fire-station poles, all to the electronic and synthesized street sounds created by composers Jean-Phi Goncalves (AKA Beast) and Alex McMahon. Additionally, iD includes original multimedia video projections and what the producers refer to as "a one-of-a-kind video trampowall." It's like West Side Story with seemingly impossible feats of human acrobatics and a hipper, grimier soundtrack.
Cirque Éloize's iD will take place at the Adrienne Arsht Center's Ziff Ballet Opera House (1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami) this Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $49 to $89. Call 305-949-6722 or visit arshtcenter.org.
Friday, October 9
There must be something mystically powerful about the third year of a festival called III Points. The annual Wynwood-centric celebration of all things hip in the music, art, and technology worlds comes back to life this Friday through Sunday, and with two years of experience behind them, organizers are stoked to put their best foot forward.
Festivities kick off bright and early Friday morning with tons of city-wide "activations," such as a free-with-RSVP exhibition from Exile Books at the Miami Center for Architecture & Design (100 NE First Ave., Miami); an interactive videogame exhibit at the Brogaming Lounge (450 NW 27th St., Miami); and an interactive Moog sound installation at Gramps (176 NW 24th St., Miami).
Guests can participate in nearly 40 activations and afterparties throughout the weekend, though it's the musical main event at Mana Wynwood (318 NW 23rd St., Miami) that will no doubt attract the most attention. The sound-studio warehouse will be converted to a multistage musical meltdown, opening nightly at 7 p.m. and featuring more than 100 rappers, DJs, and bands. The beauty of III Points is that it puts locals like Otto Von Schirach, Plastic Pinks, and Robb Bank$ on the same bill as Run the Jewels, Nicolas Jaar, and Panda Bear. III Points is trying to put Wynwood on the map, but it's all for nothing if you don't come out to support.
Age restrictions and pricing for activations vary (ages 21 and up at the Mana concerts). Concert tickets cost $111 for a three-day pass or $55 for a single day. Visit iiipoints.com. See page 39 for more coverage of III Points.
As far as competitions go, Coconut Grove's annual Bed Race might seem, well, cushy (technically anyway, because mattresses are involved). But Miamians are a competitive bunch, even when it comes to pitting tricked-out cots against one another. And there's nothing Miamians are more competitive about than pre-gaming. This year's Road to the Race pre-party will happen Friday at Concrete Beach Brewery.
You can support your favorite participating team by checking in under its name, and it'll earn extra inches on race day. Just think, ten people can score ten inches for their fave team. That's a serious head start.
Expect beer specials, burger samples (a preview of race day, when there'll be burger and beer pairings by Burger Time), and lots of trash-talking. The event kicks off at 6 p.m. at Concrete Beach Brewery (325 NW 24th St., Miami). Visit concretebeachbrewery.com or call 305-796-2727.
Saturday, October 10
Burger King wants you to put the "fast" in fast-food this Saturday at its fundraising 5K, the third-annual Burger King Beach Run. Maybe running about three miles isn't exactly what comes to mind when you're eating a Whopper, but it's certainly a great way to burn those extra calories and get your blood flowing. If you're an overachiever, you can push your limits on the new 10K course. Runners of all levels will be happy to hear of the refreshments and delicious treats waiting at the finish line.
Besides the race, there will be live music and a DJ, plus a fun-zone for kiddies. You'll be high from the endorphins and the knowledge that your proceeds will benefit the Burger King McLamore Foundation's Burger King Scholars program, which has assisted BK employees and their families with more than $25.3 million in scholarship funds since 2005.
The race kicks off at 7:30 a.m. at Lummus Park on Ocean Drive between Fifth and 15th streets in Miami Beach. Registration costs $5 to $40, depending upon age and length of race. Visit bkbeachrun.com.
It's not often that art lovers get to share in the artist's creative process, let alone connect with the elements that inspired those creations. At Pérez Art Museum Miami's PAMM Free Second Saturdays, the museum welcomes the public to explore exhibitions and try their hand at the arts — all in one free-of-charge afternoon.
For this month's gathering, Hot Topics — Poetic Tropics, PAMM invites guests to view the special exhibition "Poetics of Relation," which explores shifts in the sensibilities and global outlook of artists whose work engages the historical legacy of trauma caused by colonialism and migration. Afterward, participants head to the terrace for art-making that uses words and images to tell stories of people migrating from one place to another.
Inspired by the writings of philosopher Édouard Glissant, "Poetics of Relation" responds to Miami as a site defined culturally by its diasporic communities and looks to place these local dynamics in dialogue with more distant contexts that share similar histories. The artists featured — Hurvin Anderson, Yto Barrada, Zarina Bhimji, Tony Capellán, Ledelle Moe, and Xaviera Simmons — offer complex narratives informed by historical experience, highlighting the role of place and location as central to the conception of identity.
Hot Topics — Poetic Tropics runs Saturday from to 1 to 4 p.m. at PAMM (1103 Biscayne Blvd., Miami). Admission is free. Call 305-375-3000 or visit pamm.org.
Miami is known for its Latin and Caribbean musical preferences, but jazz fiends all around the city constantly hunt down sporadic live performances wherever they can find them. Those enthusiasts can finally get a dose of jazz outside the bar scene with the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center's Backyard Bash, held on the facility's concert lawn this Saturday.
Kicking off SMDCAC's 2015-16 season, the bash promises music lovers of all ages an evening of swing and New Orleans jazz, performed live and outdoors. Featured acts include California-based swing revival band Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, New Orleans-based brass band Hot 8 Brass Band, South Florida-based jazz group Aaron Lebos Reality, and DJ Le Spam of Miami-based improvisational Latin-funk band Spam Allstars. Between live music sets, guests are invited to explore the center's various performance spaces, meet the staff, peruse the upcoming season schedule, and grab tickets for future shows. Concertgoers are encouraged to bring lawn chairs and picnic baskets; food and drinks will be available for purchase.
Backyard Bash begins at 7 p.m. on SMDCAC's Concert Lawn (10950 SW 211th St., Cutler Bay). Admission is free, but tickets are required for entrance. Call 786-573-5300 or visit smdcac.org.
Crawling from bar to bar during a night of debauchery is not always the classiest thing to do — unless you're surrounded by a group of similar crawlers. Last Call Pub Crawls make it easy for you to drink with friends surrounded by potential friends and look totally normal as you take a shot like a champ. At each LCPC event, attendees get to enjoy happy-hour pricing at up to four venues all night long, plus a free shot at each stop. That's a whole lot of discount drinking.
This Saturday, the lord of the crawlers has organized a crawl through Coconut Grove with stops at Duffy's, Taurus, Barracuda, and Mr. Moe's. Guests will gather at the first stop, Duffy's Sports Bar (3015 Grand Ave., Coconut Grove), at 8:30 p.m. and will stay at each bar for about an hour, ending the night at Mr. Moe's. Participants must be 21 or older. Tickets cost $20. Visit lastcallpubcrawls.com.
Sunday, October 11
Kick off Columbus Day in the traditional carnival celebration of Trinidad and Brazil, done only in South Florida-style. Dress up in masquerade and join the festivities of Miami Broward Carnival at the Fair Expo Center (10901 Coral Way, Miami). The festival will celebrate the culture, traditions, and art of the Caribbean through food, music, and performance. The carnival is open to families and children of all ages and will feature music from the Hispanic and Haitian communities, with a spotlight on Carnival and Caribbean sounds. The carnival will conclude with the crowning of the Carnival King and Queen Panorama, along with the Junior Carnival and Miss Miami Broward Carnival Pageant winners.
The main event takes place this Sunday, with happenings occurring throughout October. Visit miamibrowardcarnival.com.
