Bands in Bloom

Great things often come in pairs: Hall and Oates, North Korea and South Korea, peanut butter and herring. Okay, those are all terrible examples. So here’s a better one: Tonight at 8:00 p.m., the Dears and the Annuals – two of indie rock’s most exciting bands – come to Studio…

Iconic Imagery

We’ve all seen that photo of political, and now pop, icon Che Guevara — rockin’ that beret, hair blowing in the wind, eyes all steely and intense. But few know the man behind the camera, the man who told El Che: “One, two, three … say, ‘Socialist revolutionary!’” All right,…

Messing Around with Movies

What does Snoop Dogg call a light rain? A drizzle. (Ouch.) Professional comedians would refer to that, derisively, as a “street joke.” Justine Barron, Michael Murray, and the rest of the Cine-Improv troupe work at a higher level than even the pros you see on Comedy Central, late-night TV, and…

Forget FTD

The Parisian press dubbed him the “Sculptor of Flowers.” The term floral arrangements doesn’t do his work justice; he composes verdant, blossoming masterpieces. Melding the beauty of nature with the spontaneity of design, Emilio Robba creates pieces (yes, pieces) that will have your little Publix bouquet crying Miracle-Gro-saturated tears of…

Clay Makin’

It’s not every day mere mortals get to rub elbows with a creative genius who snagged an Oscar at the onset of his career. But tonight at 5:00 at Miami International University of Art & Design, you can share some rarefied air with Will Vinton, best known for catapulting a…

Bebop for Bags

A South Florida jazz treasure so often taken for granted, Ira Sullivan has been blowing great bop for the better part of six decades. The versatile Sullivan, who long ago eschewed the bright lights of big jazz cities for the relative calm of Florida, is equally adept on sax and…

Ballers and Clowns

By day he’s a paranormal baseball star. By night he’s double-dating with Beyoncé and Jay-Z. But today Alex Rodriguez will be hobnobbing with a legendary celebrity we all know and love — the guy with the red hair and that big-ass smile. (What’s really in those Happy Meals, Ronald?) The…

Shalom, Screenings

Now that you’ve caught up on the latest releases over the holidays, and with movie studios entering the dumping ground season, it’s time again to settle in for some lesser-known celluloid. Though it might seem as if small film festivals hit Miami every other week, hang in there: This one…

Beat of the Ghetto

Mento and ska provided the backbeat for good times, but reggae became Jamaica’s pounding platform for addressing serious and difficult issues. Artists like Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Culture, Burning Spear, and Jacob Miller sounded the boom shot heard around the world. The power of reggae has been compressed into an…

S&Mbibe

Only the good die young, and from the looks of it, you’re going to be around for a while. Tonight celebrate the long stretch of hedonism ahead at the DV8 party at Adrenaline Miami. DJs Eric Rage, Tek-Z, C Baldwin, and guests spin wax while that girl with the whips…

The Ultimate Herbal Remedy

Before the invention of aspirin, marijuana was among the world’s most prescribed medications. The very plant that for centuries offered relief in Eastern cultures was listed in the United States Pharmacopeia from 1850 to 1942. Then dark propaganda tainted the good herb’s image. Despite years of evidence and scientific research…

Gosh Darn It, People Like Him

Remember when Al Franken was just the goofy guy on Saturday Night Live who did feel-good skits in a powder blue cardigan? As Stewart Smalley, he took the piss out of the self-help movement by bringing athletes and celebrities to glycerin tears and misguided self-realization. Most folks expected Franken to…

Shaken, Not Stirred

When one sits at a bar and requests a martini, certain elements are expected. Gin or vodka, vermouth, and certainly an olive or two should come into play. You can find precisely one such drink on the menu at the ironically titled Martini Bar – the Dirty Executive martini provides…

Where Itchy Hands Get Scratched

So what if you’re a tomboy who can play with the big boys? As the late, great James Brown once screamed, “This is a man’s world,” so the ladies need to have each other’s backs. Simone Kelly-Brown, president and CEO of Gots to Have It Marketing, has created a venue…

Light and Heat

Pat Riley has jumped ship to tend to his various ailments, and our defending NBA Champions are fighting to break .500. But there’s still a light at the end of the tunnel: Dwyane Wade is back after missing several games with an injured wrist, and because the rest of the…

War and Crimes

Gunfire; political corruption; a beautiful, tormented woman; and bottomless shot glasses. Sure it sounds like what you did last summer, but it’s also what Jack Swyteck does in the latest installment of author James Grippando’s mystery series about the adventures of this lawyer/perpetual bachelor. When Darkness Falls is a gripping…

Ye Olde Comedy

Was it ever confirmed that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet? Would a play by Shakespeare be as good if it were written by Fakespeare? William himself entertains the art of deception in his classic (but then which of his plays aren’t?) Twelfth Night. This comedy…

Fearsome Foreshadowing

There are certain novels that creep into the current political discourse, stories that – decades after their original publication – can be interpreted as being eerily prescient. One such book is Richard Condon’s The Manchurian Candidate. The stellar performances by Frank Sinatra and the chilling Angela Lansbury (ages before Murder…

Redefining the Classics

When the world-renowned Cleveland Orchestra takes up its two-week residency in Miami and spreads a legion of instrument-wielding members across the stage of the Knight Concert Hall at the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, keep your eyes peeled for a striking soprano soloist. Measha Brueggergosman, a beautiful woman with…

The Funny All-Stars

The event organizers of the highly anticipated South Beach Comedy Festival spent this past week at the Miami Improv, hosting a talent search for a local act to host a performance and possibly grace the stage at the Lincoln Theatre or Colony Theater. Talk about stage fright: The prospect of…

Save Our Rolexx!

This week’s Metro about Club Rollexx tells the tale of a local gentleman’s establishment that has attained global notoriety thanks to Miami’s thug rap triumvirate: Trick Daddy, Rick Ross, and Trina. Rappers nationwide now pay homage to “the Rollexx,” and rap fans from Tokyo to Reykjavik have the name of…

“Let’s Go…” Again

Remember that kids book that put hardline exiles in a tizzy and made Miami a national laughingstock a few months back? Otto Zequeria sure does. The journalism adviser at Coral Gables Senior High School is pissed that only two school board members deigned to respond to his letter urging an…