If your inner culture vulture is fiending for toe shoes and pirouettes, Miami is a great city to live in this week. Consider checking out the Dance Now! Ensemble at Arts At St. Johns (4760 Pine Tree Drive, Miami Beach; 305-613-2325), and any dance fan worth their season tickets should…
This blog item contains two, separate, unrelated (except for being about music) pieces of data. The second is actually more important but the first is of such unparalleled entertainment value that it is presented, well, first: An email from Tito Puente, Jr., himself, bearing the following subject line (repeated in…
Slow Hand Soldiers On My editor made fun of me when I told him we had tickets to the Eric Clapton show last night at the American Airlines Arena. “Jeez, is he gonna come out on stage in a walker?” he asked, chuckling. As it turns out, my editor was…
Astrid Hadad The long lines blocking the sidewalk in front of the Colony Theatre on Lincoln Road this past Saturday night had locals and tourists alike asking What show is this for? The diverse crowd — ranging from college students to retirees, but leaning heavily towards Latino — was patiently…
Clowning Around Brian Ruiz had a lot of challenges on Sunday night. The lead dancer in Petrouchka, the Art Ballet Theater of Florida’s production in North Miami Beach, put up with a lousy sound system. The show started 20 minutes late, then there were technical difficulties that delayed it even…
Joann Biondi When journalist Joann Biondi began writing Miami Beach Memories, she knew she had a sprawling, extraordinary project on her hands. Her goal was to depict a full and clear picture of the evolution of Miami Beach into the SoBe we know today, and to reveal the star power…
If the greatest magicians never reveal their tricks, then Christopher Nolan wouldn’t make it past the children’s birthday party circuit. It’s not that Nolan has anything against the old hocus-pocus, but it’s the practical side of magic that appeals to him most — the nuts-and-bolts explanation behind the seemingly impossible…
I guess it doesn’t matter where I begin,” reasons the adult narrator of Running with Scissors, the inevitable Oscar contender adapted from Augusten Burroughs’s wacky memoir of coming out as a gay teen in his adoptive guru’s carnivalesque commune. “No one is gonna believe me anyway.” No one? In fact,…
Following an amusing supporting turn in the minimum-wage comedy Waiting… , Dane Cook takes the lead in this similarly silly cinematic concoction, which sees his character Zack barely working at a Costco-like warehouse store. Was Ryan Reynolds not available? As a lead, Cook lacks any significant character traits beyond his…
The decision to stage Fahrenheit 451 is a thinly veiled response to a 1990s Miami-Dade County ordinance banning groups with ties to Cuba from receiving public money. (Of course in Miami, not denouncing Fidel Castro at every turn is almost as bad as saying Gloria Estefan can’t sing.) In 2000,…
Elliot: A Soldier’s Fugue: Quiara Alegria Hudes’s play about three generations of an American military family is picking up steam across the nation. Ricky J. Martinez’s current production for New Theatre comes on the heels of a successful off-Broadway run, and it will be followed by different stagings in prestigious…
The image of a woman pointing a gun in one’s face in “10 Defining Experiments” at the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation (cifo) could not be a more apt metaphor for the still-crappy nabe that is home to the gallery. After all, it’s difficult not to believe most folks would feel…
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…
American Dreamz (Universal) Till this, Paul Weitz had a stellar filmography, a career in ascension: American Pie (good), About a Boy (great), In Good Company (absolutely perfect). But this, er, satire about a dumb American president (Dennis Quaid, channeling whassisname) trying to get smart, a cynical wannabe singer trying to…
Ice hockey isn’t for the weak of heart. It’s a bruising, fast-paced game, featuring large sticks, razor-sharp blades, and far too many angry Canadians. Of course, hockey’s scrappy style is exactly why people love the blue-collar sport. For chrissakes, Stanley Cup winners chug Labatt’s out of the trophy during the…
Alfred Hitchcock Presents: Season Two (Universal) Anytown USA (Film Movement/Repnet) Behind Enemy Lines II: Axis of Evil (Fox) The Big Black Comedy Show (Fox) Big Love: The Complete First Season (HBO) The Break-Up (Universal) Clean, Shaven: The Criterion Collection (Criterion) Feast: Unrated (Weinstein) Frankenhooker (Anthem) Charmed: The Complete Sixth Season…
Although they are ephemeral insects with no heart or brain to speak of, butterflies love just as passionately as we do. The bond between butterfly and flower is as fervent that between Shakespeare and the dark lady in the sonnets. Butterflies brave the elements over incredible distances to gain sustenance…
Keeping track of the seasons is difficult in these subtropical climes. If you haven’t noticed the cackling displays of creepy creatures at Target, we are here to remind you that the autumnal equinox has passed and the witching hour is upon us. To put you in the mood, Spa V…
Oh, we see your handle and your spout, and we are so ready to tip you over and pour you out, what with that perfectly round bottom and cute little top. And even though you’ve been around since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), you’ve aged so well, little teapot. Now we’re…
Whenever pundits want to wax philosophical about hip-hop, they always look back to the Eighties with rose-colored retrospect and talk about Salt-n-Pepa, MC Lyte, and Queen Latifah. Now flip on Rap City and look for a strong female role model. Good luck. “We’re in the bling-bling phase, where it’s really…
There’s something a bit strange about the name The Brand New Heavies. The group has been laying down effortlessly transcendent acid jazzy grooves for more than fifteen years. Rather than change the name à la New Kids on the Block (whose NKOTB alteration impressed no one), the Heavies are winning…
You can walk into almost any bar in this town and get a mojito. The Cuban mint julep — made with mint leaves muddled with lime juice and sugar, shaken with light rum, and topped off with club soda — was Colin Farrell’s drink of choice in this summer’s big-screen…
