When was the last time you experienced an adventure? Don’t count playing RPGs or driving across the Julia Tuttle Causeway. Really, when have you left behind the traffic of I-95 or the sound of your boss’s voice nagging you about leaving coffee grounds in the pot? He’s not your mother,…
The formula is pretty simple. Downright obvious if you ask us, but for some reason, only the Beaux Arts Festival has figured it out. The sun loves Miami. Miami loves art. Therefore, sun plus art equals a perfect Miami event. So instead of hoarding 240 artists under a roof, the…
If Renaissance festivals need a mascot, there’s no better choice than Petrarch. A 14th-century Italian poet who invented the sonnet, Petrarch also had the world’s most well-documented and horrific case of blue balls. Over the course of 21 years, P-diddy wrote more than 300 odes to Laura, a woman he…
They have the power to save lives, so it’s only right that not just anyone can slap on a pair of headphones and call himself a DJ. They scratch vinyl in ways that make party people fall in love, so although skipping through your iPod might make you feel like…
There are few things contemporary artists enjoy more than forcing us to face the harsh reality we’re all dying slowly, every single second of every minute of every day of our lives. For the sake of marketability, however, these bearers of truth try to soften the blow with arty euphemisms…
Elizabeth Gilbert has been writing since, well, she’s been able to read and write. Growing up on her family’s Christmas tree farm in Connecticut, Gilbert and her sister, Catherine Gilbert Murdock (also a novelist), didn’t have a TV set or record player, so they entertained themselves by reading and writing…
Sure, you could just wander into the kitchen and watch your mom slice an onion, or you could sit in a giant concert hall and gawk at celebrity chefs mincing garlic. Following other Food Network stars such as Anthony Bourdon and Eric Ripert, Emeril Lagasse will end season two of…
Itinerant showman and venerable con artist Phineas Taylor Barnum once infamously remarked, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” So let’s make this easy, you mark. Just line up, give up your bucks, and get those tickets, ’cause it’s that time again — the circus is coming to town. This Friday…
Every beat of your trans-fat-soaked heart causes your life to flash before your eyes, so do something that’ll make sure your legacy lives longer than you. Share tales from the crypts of your mind — ones about love for the Magic City, the time you tried to seek asylum from…
Has your Baselitis cleared up yet? Can you look at the lamppost banners along Biscayne Boulevard without going into anaphylactic shock? Does the sight of a white tent no longer cause existential dread? Are the days in your iCal looking pale and empty? Then it’s time to jump back into…
Paul Anka is a legend with a highly respected, 900-song body of work. And in case you didn’t know, no, he’s not the decaf version of a hot mug of Sanka. In the spirit of short bios about folks that every music lover should know: The Ankster rose to fame…
Humans and horses have been living together since 4,000 B.C.E. The relationship has produced many high points — the Budweiser Clydesdales, Mister Ed, Peter Schaffer’s Equus — and some low ones — Catherine the Great, Canadian Mounties, Seabiscuit. But like peanut butter and jelly, humans and horses are stuck together…
America’s boots rained their steel-toed march of death on the heads, hands, and backs of nonviolent protesters fighting for civil rights in the Amerika of our not-too-distant past. Martin Luther King Jr. was one of their leaders, and he was jailed, beaten, set upon by attack dogs, and assailed with…
French Army Capt. Ernest de Prudhomme merely wanted his back yard dug up for a garden. But on February 17, 1883, his plan to plant vegetables was foiled when soldiers under his command unwittingly unearthed the first archaeological ruins of a Roman-era synagogue on the grounds of his villa in…
From its birth eight years ago, local chamber choir Seraphic Fire has dedicated itself to investigating a remarkably wide swath of musical possibilities. Live, the group freely ranges from Latin to Jewish, sacred to secular, classical to pop. Meanwhile, on record, the choir has been just as dynamic with five…
We know what you’re thinking. Who needs another vampire book series? But word on the street is that The Vampire Academy is on an entirely different playing field than Twilight. Bella’s whole damsel-in-distress shtick annoyed a lot of modern gals, but in The Vampire Academy, Rose shows no signs of…
What is it about the Marlins Manatees, the world’s first dance group of overweight men, that causes baseball fans to go bananas? Well, the Manatees, emphasis on the man, are true baseball fans. They know the infield fly rule and how to carry five draft beers and a sausage back…
In an era when seemingly every writer has multiple graduate degrees and the publishing industry is declaring the death of books, Matt Gajewski is a model for the future. As an undergraduate at the University of Miami, he began reading his weird short stories late at night on WVUM-FM (90.5)…
Through his trumpet, Arturo Sandoval has broken down borders. And when he appears at the Magic City Casino this Saturday, all the influences that made this legendary trumpeter will be on display: from bebop to classical to Afro-Cuban. Need pedigree? Dizzy Gillespie was Sandoval’s “spiritual father.” The two met in…
Few organizations can boast the success YoungArts has had in discovering the nation’s top talent. Long before American Idol dominated the airwaves, YoungArts had carved an impressive record of recognizing and nurturing the country’s most talented 17- and 18-year-olds in the visual, literary, and performing arts. Its alumni include Emmy-nominated…
Few organizations can boast the success YoungArts has had in discovering the nation’s top talent. Long before American Idol dominated the airwaves, YoungArts had carved an impressive record of recognizing and nurturing the country’s most talented 17- and 18-year-olds in the visual, literary, and performing arts. Its alumni include Emmy-nominated…
The Village People have a little ditty that guarantees the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association) will never be erased from the American consciousness. But what you might not know about your favorite karaoke song is that its namesake, which began in 1844 as a do-good Protestant initiative for innocent young…
