Spoken-word poetry has always been performed by artists from different walks of life: Allen Ginsberg, Laurie Anderson, and Henry Rollins have all made notable contributions. Now the literary genre has become the voice of a new, mostly African-American generation. Rebecca “Butterfly” Vaughns is a local luminary, and every venue she…
Book-readings are usually less about the book and more about the nerdy joy of meeting the author. But tonight at 7:30 at the Lincoln Theatre, you can get your literary rocks off with a dash of cultural theater thrown in for fun. Charles Frazier, best known for his best-selling and…
It has been 36 years since the Beatles broke up, and still no other band has demonstrated the range of their artistry. From bubblegum come-ons to adult love songs, with stops at cartoonish psychedelia, Twenties pop, trippy circus music, and maharishi-inspired chant-alongs in between, the band defied genre labeling. Instead…
Tuesday night: I was drinking white wine in a white-walled art gallery and standing over a plastic bowl containing crumbled sheep brains. “So,” I said, turning to the woman next to me, a tall, fresh-faced woman named Saskia Jorda. “How many brains have you washed?” She paused. “Three,” she replied,…
Some time after 7 p.m. last night, out here on Northwest 71st Street and Second Court, Jacqui Brown (aka Miami artist Jacqueline Jackson Johnson) was ready to hustle. She wore a stylish black fedora atop her straight blond locks, a ripped wife beater over a black tank-top, gray sweats, and…
Snap out of it! The ideas at play in Up Wake are simple: Life is short. People are not machines. Pay attention to the things that count. Contemplate. Despite the passion performer Natasha Tsakos brings to these themes in her one-woman show, playing through Saturday at the Carnival Center’s Studio…
Solemn, flashy, and flabbergasting, The Fountain — adapted by Darren Aronofsky from his own graphic novel — should really be called The Shpritz. The premise is lachrymose, the sets are clammy, and the metaphysics all wet. The screen is awash in spiraling nebulae and misty points of light, with the…
Men are literally disposable in Pedro Almodóvar’s Volver. But the film, particularly for fans of the gynophilic, flamboyantly color-coordinating maker of loco melodramas, is essential. The title translates as Coming Back — as in “back from the dead,” referring to the matter-of-fact resurrection of Irene (Carmen Maura), an old grandmother…
If anything could tempt an adult to go see a dancing penguin movie, it’s the phrase “from the guy who brought you Babe.” That movie got everything right about talking animals, but, alas, George Miller does not live up to his earlier work here. Happy Feet starts out well enough…
For any institution, a million-dollar gift is a cause for celebration. But at the Miami Art Museum (MAM), Charles Cowles’s donation of 101 photographs from his noted private collection has left honchos turning cartwheels. The gift represents the largest donation of artwork in MAM’s ten-year history. Cowles, whose collection tops…
Asian Art from the Bass Museum Collection and Treasures from the Bass Museum of Art: With a bushel of blue-ribbon shows, the Bass has embarked on perhaps its busiest programming season. Deciding on which shows to see among the museum’s expansive menu might be as slippery as handling a hog…
Up Wake: The stage is set: three blank walls, one actor, and no script. For this performance be prepared to go on a sensory journey. Natasha Tsakos’s show synchronizes the disciplines of animation, music, and acting, exploring a completely original style of theater that integrates technology and performance. As the…
Superman II: The Richard Donner Cut (Warner Bros.) At long last, Richard Donner’s much-whispered-about “original version” of Superman II sees the light of day, and it quickly joins the ranks of the reconstructed Touch of Evil, Apocalypse Now, and Blade Runner as films made superior in the recutting and retelling…
By now, you’ve probably heard about Bully. It’s the game that was supposed to finally ruin America’s youth. Crusading lawyer Jack Thompson, the self-appointed schoolmarm of the videogame industry, called it a “Columbine simulator” and tried to block stores from selling it. Lou Dobbs — who hasn’t seen a videogame…
The Ant Bully (Warner Bros.) Criminal Minds: The First Season (Paramount) Dane Cook: Vicious Circle (HBO) The Ellen DeGeneres Show: DVD-licious (Warner Bros.) Foo Fighters: Skin and Bones (RCA) Hot Wheels Accelerators: The Ultimate Race (Warner Bros.) Joan of Arcadia: The Second Season (Paramount) Jamie Kennedy’s Blowin’ Up (Paramount) Little…
New York City we are not. With no off-Broadway to look to for inspiring and thought-provoking theater, Miami-Dade denizens are making their way up to Miami Lakes, where the Alliance Theatre Lab is presenting its rendition of Down the Road. Tony-nominated playwright Lee Blessing’s crime thriller tells the story of…
You strive to be the hostess with the mostest, but you always end up spending the entire evening in the kitchen, and your guests never get to see that sassy holidazzle skirt you have hidden beneath your equally cute Anthropologie apron. Girl, you need to keep it simple — Real…
If you have ever wondered about the creative shift that occurs when a painter ditches his brushes for a camera, two photography projects at Alonso Art offer windows into the process. Opening tonight at 7:00, José Iraola’s “Memoria Televisa” and Tomás Esson’s “The Empire State Building Versus the Water Tank”…
It is the distinct feeling you get when watching bodies in motion, leaping across, writhing upon, and treading softly on the stage. You long for their flexibility and envy their strength. Prepare to feel those pangs at the launch of Momentum Dance Company’s 25th-anniversary season, featuring the Florida premiere of…
A few weeks ago, photographers and professional gossips were racing around South Beach in a tizzy, searching fruitlessly for the newly liberated Britney Spears. The media mob easily could have found Brit-Brit, La Lohan, and Paris Hilton on the University of Miami campus at the CAS Gallery (1210 Stanford Dr.,…
Get out your safari chic, but keep it cocktail comfortable, because you will have a wild time at tonight’s Feast with the Beasts at Miami Metrozoo. Presented by the Zoological Society of Florida and Metrozoo, the gala will treat guests to savory samplings from more than 40 fine restaurants and…
It is one of the great tragedies of moviedom that Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant career ended with Eyes Wide Shut, a terribly awful film by anyone’s hand, but especially lousy compared to any of the great American auteur’s other works. To make a comparison, spend the weekend with host Shelley Novak…
