You probably send hundreds of LOLs and LMAOs by text message every day, but the true question is: Are you thumbing away with a straight face, or are you really laughing out loud? Cell phone messaging has created a loss of intimacy when it comes to funny. Let’s face it…
There’s a heap of conflicting viewpoints when it comes to Towelhead, the latest film by Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under). An adaptation of the novel by Alicia Erian, Ball’s most recent portal into suburban decay premiered at the 2007 Toronto Film Festival and won acclaim from some folks…
The last true Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) football game hasn’t been held in Miami since way back in 1984, when the game was played in the late, great Orange Bowl. But on Friday night, the city hosts its first HBCU football game in 24 years when the Howard…
Miami’s nightclub afterlife is full of venues that OD’ed on liquor and drugs, committed suicide due to a lack of attention from fickle partygoers, or — even worse — were murdered by a team of bad management. As for the vampires who clutch high-priced beverages until the wee hours of…
Margarita Benitez has a talent for stitching together political imagery as deftly as J Mac’s spidery handlers weave fibs. Fortunately the artist’s attention-grabbing creations are free of the Jurassic snark peddled by the GOP. “State of the Union,” Benitez’s chilling exhibit at ArtCenter/South Florida, knits a combination of crafts and…
Only in Miami — probably a worse theater town than Wasilla, Alaska — could a dramatic institution such as the Coconut Grove Playhouse find a way to amass millions in debt and close itself down. To put on a successful play in the Magic City, you need Lindsay Lohan to…
Sunday sucks for worker bees. The last ebb of a too-brief weekend inevitably winds up becoming the day of chores and errands. Groceries! Laundry! Housecleaning! Homework! You barely find the time to kick back and watch a little football and — poof — your weekend has gone ghost like Patrick…
The marimba is this bulky xylophone-looking thing made of wood. Not very 2008. In an era when we’ve replaced saying hello with Facebook pokes, antiquated instruments just don’t make the cut. We don’t bother with anything analog anymore when there is a sensible digital alternative. Today’s technology-savvy musicians prefer the…
Julian Schnabel for The Village Voice By the end of the ’90s actor Mickey Rourke found himself back in his child hometown of Miami living in a $500-a-month studio apartment with just the companionship of his chihuahua, money made from selling his motorcycle collection, and a face only a mother…
If you read our calendar section, you probably already know that tomorrow Brooklyn artist Brian Donnelly’s — also known as KAWS — exhibit Saturated opens at the Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin (194 NW 30th Street, Miami). However, KAWS is more than just a artist; he leaves his mark on apparel, shoes,…
One has to tip the chapeau to Anthony Spinello. The spunky young dealer transforms his modest gallery about as often as his competitors change their underwear. During last Saturday’s Wynwood season-opening art walk, he stopped traffic along NW Second Avenue, out-hustling most of the bigger venues fishing for eyeballs on…
Disappearances, Shadows & Illusions Through September 21. Miami Art Museum, 101 W. Flagler St., Miami; 305-375-3000, www.miamiartmuseum.org This exhibit, which aspires to challenge traditional notions of how the public views art, features upward of 50 works by more than 20 artists. It boasts pieces from the Miami Art Museum’s permanent…
Earlier this year, when I found myself assigned to jury duty on a drug-related trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court, our jury foreman turned out to be a blond, blue-eyed reality-TV producer from the bedroom community of Altadena. During the jury-selection process, when the judge asked if we had…
Where once the decline of Robert De Niro’s and Al Pacino’s prodigious talent inspired howls of anguish and impassioned critical essays, it’s a sad state of affairs when the best news about Righteous Kill, the cop thriller that stars them both, is that it isn’t awful. New York City tough-guy…
Crimson and Saffron is a journey into the Indian roots of Flamenco. This rare dance and music event, featuring renowned Flamenco dancer Clarita Filgueiras and Kathak dancer Syed Talut, explores and unravels common traditional threads in movement, costume, and music. Flamenco is Spain’s ethnic dance and was originally cultivated by…
Growing up, Vivien Lesnik Weisman found her father a bit of an enigma. To understand Max Lesnik, the filmmaker traveled to Cuba to helm The Man of Two Havanas, a memoir of her father’s turbulent relationship with his homeland and the hate he experienced from Miami’s exile community. In Cuba,…
Who knows what lurks in your home? Crack open your flooded emergency-preparedness kit and empty the water onto the floorboards. All manner of creatures will come floating out. Turn your thermostat down to arctic levels and — presto! — you have a menagerie on ice! If you want to avoid…
Seraphic Fire, a Miami-based choral ensemble with a cool name, broke into pop music in 2005 when it lent its soaring collective voice to Shakira’s platinum album Oral Fixation Vol. 2. With that, it became the second choir in history to ascend the Billboard charts. Seraphic Fire reached another milestone…
What’s the thing those politicians are always yammering about on television every night? Oh yeah, the economy. From what we’ve observed while flipping channels to watch Gossip Girl, it ain’t doing so good. In fact, rumor has it we’re almost in, like, a recession or something. Crazy, right? You’d think…
Each week, millions of dance lovers tuned in to America’s Best Dance Crew to watch groups of kids from across the nation pull off moves that would cause the normal human to break a hip or crack a kneecap. A beat would erupt from the speakers and it was on…
American biker lore speaks of the four-corners run, a rumbling pilgrimage to the farthest corners of the United States. One of the must-ride destinations — Monroe County — is at the bottom of the map. For 36 years, Phil Peterson’s Key West Poker Run has given riders a reason to…
Getting in the ol’ automobile and heading down south to Cauley Square feels like a trip back in time. You can practically imagine homesteaders in their horse-drawn buggies blazing the very same trail you’re taking down what’s known today as U.S. 1, trotting alongside the freshly built Flagler railroad as…
