Feel Like Going to Jupiter? 

Well, if you feel like it or are in the neighborhood this weekend, you might want to check out two very interesting bio-plays that are being held up there.  The first one is This Is Our Youth, which is a Kenneth Lonergan play about revisiting the Reagan era and three very lost young souls.  Call the Atlantic Theater of Jupiter at 561-575-3271 for more information.  If you happened to miss the bio-musical about Danny Kaye that was at The Broward’s Stage Door Theatre you can still catch it at The Maltz Jupiter Theatre through September 9^th.  This will star Brian Childers, Karin Leone, as well as new cast members Connie SaLoutos and James Cichewicz.  Make sure you call them at 561-575-2223 or 800-445-1666 for more information.  

On Display

Dawn Rosendahl at Stork’s 

Orlando native Dawn Rosendahl has brought to us the images of her childhood imagination through very clever and interesting pieces that almost look like lost civilizations, ancient rituals, and the basic dance of dreams.  This show can be viewed at the Wilton Manors location of Stork’s Bakery and Café.  By combining human and animal forms she has created a metamorphosis to create Social Surrealism to question socially accepted beliefs about the human condition.  Storks Bakery and Café is located at 2505 NE 15^th Avenue in Wilton Manors and for more information about ArtsUnited, go to www.artsunitedonline.org or call them at 954-530-2723.   

Julio Green Is At Stonewall 

Local artist and staple of the art community of Fort Lauderdale, Julio Green is the current Artist of the Month for Stonewall Library and Archives.  Through the help of ArtsUnited The Stonewall Library is able to highlight one of its members with a solo art show for many months of the year.  Drop by the Library and see his work or check out who was there for the Opening on August 6^th! To view photos from the opening: Julio Green Opening at ArtsUnited / Stonewall Library

Pablo Cano’s Marionettes  

The Coral Springs Museum of Art is proud to host Cuban immigrant Pablo Cano.   Founded on Dada ideals, he uses his imagination and Surrealist traditions to create a statement using marionettes.  With spontaneity and childlike innocence, Pablo wants to break with tradition and painting techniques and return to the elemental basics of art:  to start from scratch and to allow the process of imagination unfold and begin anew each time.  He was actually on the last flight out of Cuba before the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 and has been a resident of Miami’s Little Havana ever since and is even regarded by art patrons and critics as one of Florida’s premier contemporary fine artists.    Ever since childhood Pablo has been fascinated with puppets and marionettes, even making them out of household odds and ends and even today his work is out of found objects. For more information about the show go to http://www.csmart.org/currentpage.htm or call them at 954-340-5000.  

Norton Gets Big 

Currently, at The Norton Museum they have an exhibition entitled The Big Picture Show which proves that—size does matter!  They have taken photographs, and, thanks to technological advances in photography over the past 20 years, have made HUGE prints that are still crystal clear and wall-size.  This highlights 11 recently acquired works, some by world-renown German photographer Thomas Demand, Reiner Leist, Elger Esser, and Chuck Close.  This show runs through September 23^rd and more information can be found at www.norton.org or by phone at 561-832-5196.

Tamayo at MAM, Through September 16^th

Rufino Tamayo, a Mexican artist has his first posthumous show entitled A Modern Icon Reinterpreted in nearly 30 years.  This retrospective brings together approximately 100 of the best canvases made by Tamayo over a long a productive career that spanned seven decades.  The largest section profiles the most notable period of Tamayo’s career, the 1940’s and 1950’s where he discovered and developed a new form of abstract figuration that made him one of the most recognized and respected modern painters.  This seeks not only to present a careful collection of his work but also to offer a contemporary reinterpretation of this artist.  For more information about this show go to http://www.miamiartmuseum.org/exhibitions-current-tamayo.asp. 

Zen Art at Artist’s Haven 

In & Out of Cologne 

There is a collection currently on display at The Museum of Contemporary Art in North Miami that is a narrative of the punk rock-ish art scene of Cologne, Germany in the 1980’s and early 90’s.  This exhibit reflects the maker’s Do It Yourself motifs and feature such artists as Albert Oehlen and Martin Kippenberger.  Make Your Own Life:  Artists In & Out of Cologne will be on display until July 29^th.  The Museum of Contemporary Art is located at 770 NE 125^th Street in North Miami and can be reached at either www.mocanomi.org or by phone at 305-893-6211.  

The Sky is Really Yellow 

The Sky is Really Yellow at The Art Center of South Florida.  This exhibition features artists who created visual illusions and explained personal realities that test the notions of perception and truth.  The Sky is Yellow runs through August 12, 2007 and is at the ACSF Gallery ( 800 Lincoln Road at Meridian , Miami Beach ).  A musical performance by local favorite Unheard Of and complimentary Grolsch beverages will be served at the event, which is free and open to the public.  For additional information please call (305) 674-8278 or visit the website at http://www.artcentersf.org/newinitialpage.htm

Local Theatre Gigs

Real Women Have Curves 

The Women’s Theatre Project is proud to produce Real Women Have Curves and tells the story of acceptance within a Latino family.  The play was produced in a HBO movie and won much acclaim and notoriety in the community.  The play will be at their Sixth Star Studios located at 505 NW 1^st Ave in Fort Lauderdale.. Tickets are $25 and be purchased at 954-462-2334.

Helen’s Back 

The Mad Cat Theatre Company is hosting something interesting and new in it’s annual Summer romp of life this month with Everything Will Be Different:  A Brief History of Helen of Troy.  As the Mark Schultz play goes, Helen is a teenage girl who is grieving over the lost of her mother and through bringing fantasies to reality, brings her mom back and punishing the world with a sordid reality show.  The show runs through August 26^th, so go catch it now at Miami’s Light Box.  For tickets or more information, call 305-576-6377.    

A Marvelous Party 

The Florida Stage is proud to host A Marvelous Party:  The Noel Coward Celebration.  This witty and poignant retrospective features many of the showman’s music hall talents.  With Stefanie Morse and Jeffrey Rockwell you will swing and sing and saunter to more than 30 Coward’s songs such as Sail Away and Would You Like to Stick a Pin in My Balloon?  For those who did not know, Coward was among the early and mid-20^th century’s biggest superstar, a vaudeville entertainer, songwriter, playwright, author, and producer whose multiple careers have spanned stage, film, TV, and bookshelves.  This runs through August 19 and tickets more information is available at www.floridastage.org or by phone at 561-585-3433. 

Tom Foolery 

The Actors’ Playhouse is proud to host Tom Foolery which is a witty, wicked, and offbeat and thoroughly twisted songs by satirical songwriter Tom Lehrer and nothing is sacred in his review that features such favorites as:  Poisoning Pigeons in the Park, When You Are Old and Gray, The Masochism Tango, The Old Dope Peddler, and The Vatican Rag.  Why not come out and rediscover the man and songs that have delighted and skewered the world for over forty years!  The Actors Playhouse can be found at www.actorsplayhouse.org or at 280 Miracle Mile in Coral Galbes and by phone at 305-444-9293.  

South Park Meets Desperate Housewives 

The Great American Trailer Park Musical features a cast of saucy characters that spoof the lives and loves of Florida’s most “exclusive” trailer park community—Armadillo Acres.  With an appealing and sparkling score this musical runs the gamut from Country balladry to Pop, R&B, and Rock & Roll.  Some of the characters include:  Pippi who is a saucy stripper with a heart of gold, loony Duke, Norbert the toll booth collector, as well as Jeannie the agoraphobic.  The show begins on February 21^st and runs through February 24^th, and tickets are available online at http://www.browardcenter.org. 

The Odd Couple 

Shout! 

Tickets are now on sale for Shout!  The Mod Musical.  This will take place at the Parker Playhouse and tickets are available at or call 954-462-0222.  The Parker Playhouse is located at Holiday Park in Fort Lauderdale.

Masked 

Masked, is a play written by an Israeli, Ilan Hatsor, and tells the story of three Palestinian brothers who are conflicted, question eachother’s loyalty, duty, and collaboration.  It was written in 1990—just a few years after the first involvement in the Middle East, yet feels really like it was written nowadays.  What is amazing is the fact that this play has been translated and performed in Iraq, Bosnia, and Morocco and has traveled to such places as Ireland and now comes to New York.  What is amazing is that the Jewish response to the subject is more of heartfelt sympathy for the Palestine struggle even if it is an Arab family.  Masked opened last week and can be found at the DR2 Theatre at 103 East 15^th Street in Manhattan and for tickets you can go to www.telecharge.com or call them at 212-239-6200. 

Absinthe Returns, Through September 30^th 

Currently, at Spiegleworld in New York’s South Street Seaport, you can catch Absinthe 2007 which features an intoxicating acro-burlesque concoction.  Sharing the bill will be the world premier production of La Vie which is Montreal’s sizzling circus-arts theatre company that mix life-threatening aerial acrobatics, wild characters, and wicked music.  This will be ongoing until September 30^th and tickets are available at http://www.spiegelworld.com/absinthe/absinthe.html or by phone at 212-279-4200. 

Patti Lupone is Gypsy 

Currently, and for a limited engagement, the incomparable Gay Icon Patti Lupone is taking the stage nightly as Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy.  This will only last unitl July 29^th so get your tickets now!  For tickets go to www.nycitycenter.org or call 212-581-1212.  If your also in the mood, real life couple Lisa Rinna and husband Harry Hamlin are staring in Chicago at The Ambassador Theatre and tickets are available at www.chicagothemusical.com.   

June Bride 

Currently at the Yossimilo Gallery in New York you can catch their latest show entitled June Bride.  This show features offbeat nuptials and other captured wedding photos.  The idea of the Bride varies as radically as do cultural differences, religious traditions, family dynamics, and modes of dress. Brides appear in various guises, from Diane Arbus’ bride shrinking from her groom’s overeager kiss to Nikki S. Lee’s impersonation of a Jewish bride.  For more information about the show go to www.yossimilogallery.com. 

Michelle Forman at Crème Lounge 

Icandee Productions is proud to announce the One Night Only appearance of the soulful sounds of Michelle Forman as part of their Monthly LIVE Music Series.  Michelle will serenade all the girls and some boys starting at 9pm.  The Crème Lounge is located in the second floor of Lincoln Road’s Score Nightclub.  This is a Saturday night party for women who love women, and the boys who love women who love women!  For more information and table service, go to www.icandeeproductions.com or call 305-535-1111. 

Common 

Chicago based rapper Common has come confessin’ to do!  What’s funny, and I just learned this myself, but Confessing is not just the act of getting your deep dark secret out to a Priest, friend, or family member, but is also a style of writing that only a few entertainers have mastered.  Common’s secret is to confide without actually revealing too much and you must see this in his seventh studio album, Finding Forever.  And fans of Nina Simone will definitely catch the sampling of her Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood in his Misunderstood.  With lyrics and lines like The Same streets that raised you can age you you almost feel the pain and realize the poetry. 

The Lord is Coming, March 6^th & 7^th  

Get A Smiley Face 

Are you looking for an uplifting scent that will guarantee to improve your mood?  Why not check out the Smiley line of products that are literally infused with molecules that have been proven to mood-boost anyone!  Why not take The Smiley Challenge with such things as bergamot-praline-musk-scented items and just maybe, you will start to look at things just a little bit brighter.  Got a grumpy coworker?—Make a gift basket and leave it for them on their desk!  They have eau de toilette, bath tablets, body gel—all of which are bright and cheery with a smiley face on them.  Check them out today!

Quick Draw Las Olas, September 1^st 

On September 1^st¸ The Broward Art Guild will once again have their very successful Quick Draw competition!  The last one was in the Alibi parking lot through Hagan Park and featured many local artists painting whatever they wanted for a specific amount of time, then time for framing and clean up, then judged and auctioned off for charity!  Highly successful and be sure to check out the photo gallery here.  For times, entry process, procedures call 954-396-3213.

The Queen of Miami Vuelvas! 

The undisputed Queen of Miami will be returning next month with another Spanish album, 90 Millas (90 Miles).  Hitting stores on September 18^th, the first single No Llores (Don’t Cry), is currently being played on the radio and includes guest appearances by Latin Music giants such as Carlos Santana, Jose Feliciano, and Sheila E.  There are 14 tracks to chose from and is definitely a clear celebration of and homage to her Cuban roots.  (P.S. for those who did/do not know, Cuba is only 90 miles away from Miami…)

Shopping Bag Chic 

There has been a lot of talk over the past couple of years of the things that we need to do to combat the effects of Global Warming, the Green House Effect, and dependency on crude oil for such things as plastics.  Like the contestants of Bravo’s hit TV show Project Runway, many designers have stepped up the plate to offer us a viable and yet extremely fashionable alternative to Paper or Plastic for our goods.   Welcome the Age of Trendy Tote Bag.  If you did not already know this, many countries around the world are actually banning plastic bags!  South Africa has already banned them as well as New Delhi, and Taiwan but places like Ireland charge you at $0.20 tax to use them, San Francisco has banned non-biodegradable plastic bags in large grocery stores and pharmacies and Paris plans to ban this year and nationwide by 2010.  Enter the Designers…Their challenge is to take Granmaw’s shopping tote and make it fierce.  Well, Stella McCartney has a Vegan canvas bag from her  organic line of clothing for $495, Hermes want you to not forget style and function with a SilkyPop bag that can be compressed to wallet size for only $960, and Louis Vuitton by Marc Jacobs is simple, canvas, and hand embroidered that contains 620 gold and silver tube beads for a mere $1,720.  Now who wants to be a Bag Lady?!?! Pictured Luis Vuitton Love Bag and Hermes Silk Pop Bag

The Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus is having their annual auditions for their exciting 22^nd Season!  They will take place at The Sunshine Cathedral on Saturday, August 11^th at 1pm.  Come and experience the excitement and joy of the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus.  For instructions and requirements, go to www.ftlgmc.org and click on the Join the Chorus-Auditions section.  The Sunshine Cathedral is located at 1480 SW 9^th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale.  Tickets are also on sale now for their newest production entitled An Evening with Barbara Cook. 

Bon Festival, Saturday, August 11^th 

On Saturday, August 11^th, The Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens will host The Bon Festival 2007.  This will feature:  Toro Nagashi latern floating, Ennichi Street Fair games and vendors, Taiko drum performances, traditional Japanese folk dancing, and fireworks.  For more information about this festival, go to www.morikami.org or call them at 561-495-0233. 

Fairchild Goes Bananas! July 21^st through September 8^th 

Beginning on July 21^st, The Fairchild Tropical Botanical Gardens is going Bananas!  This summer’s exhibition is entitled No End to the Banana and will explore the diversity and conservation of bananas for those who use them and various ways they are used.  For more information go to www.fairchildgarden.org or call them at 305-667-1651 X3301 or 3362. 

The Secret Servant Comes to South Florida 

Famed spy thriller and best-selling novelist Daniel Silva will be making several South Florida appearances this week to promote his latest book, The Secret Servant.  With such topics as: the aftermath of the fall of the Berlin Wall, dissolution of the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War Daniel has decided to go the Post 9-11 route with terrorism and espionage.  This begins with the murder of an outspoken terrorism scholar that recalls the 2004 assassination of the Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh.  This leads to the kidnapping of an American Ambassador’s daughter by Egyptian and Palestinian jihadists.  Sold yet?  Well, Daniel will be at Barnes & Noble in Plantation on Wednesday, August 8^th at 7pm, at Books & Books in Coral Gables on Thursday, August 9^th at 8pm, and finally at Costco in Boca Raton on Friday, August 10^th at noon. 

6th Annual Miami International Wine Fair, September 8^th through 10^th 

Beginning September 8^th guests of the 6th Annual Miami International Wine Fair will have the opportunity to taste 1,000 different wines from all over the world including Argentina, Spain, Italy, California, France and Portugal.  This is the largest wine expo in Florida showcasing more than 400 wineries from 18 countries and 20 local restaurants will also be offering samples of their menu. This will be at The Miami Beach Convention Center which is located at 1901 Convention Center Drive in Miami and for more information go to www.miamiwinefair.com or call 305 777 2255. 

Galanga Wine Festival 

Wilton Manor’s very own Galanga Restaurant is celebrating their Five wonderful years by offering 50% off bottles of your favorite wines.  This will take place on each and every Monday until further notice so get in there and get yourself a bottle!  Galanga is located at 2389 Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors.  Call 954-202-0000 for reservations and directions. 

Roundup!,  August 11^th   

Are you a fan of Country Western music?  Do you like to see some mens in Cowboy hats?  Well, Toby Keith will take The Sound Advice main theatre along with:  Miranda Lambert, and Flynnville Train on August 11^th  at 7:30pm.  The Sound Advice Amphitheatre is located at 601-7 Sansbury’s Way in West Palm Beach.  Tickets start at $25.77 and go all the way up to $65.  For tickets or more information go to www.ticketmaster.com. 

The Neville Brothers 

The infamous group of the 80’s who gave us great hits such as Lady in Red will take the stage at Hard Rock Live on October 11^th.  They will be singing other favorites as well as tracks off their latest album Walkin’ in The Shadow of Life—which is in stores now! Tickets are now on sale at the Box Office or at www.hardrocklive.com  

Live, Sept 25^th 

Tickets are now on sale for the September 25^th appearance of famed rockers Live who will take the Mizner Park Amphitheater stage along with Collective Soul.  For tickets and more information go to www.ticketmaster.com or www.fantasma.com.  

Henry Rollins, September 25^th 

Ok, I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a Slamming Heavy Metal Rocker fan by any means.  I will give them credit as a genre of music that plays an important role somewhere in society.  With that being said, one of my earliest crushes is coming to town, famed scream rocker now talk show host Henry Rollins will be at The Theatre on September 25^th in West Palm Beach.  This performance is called Provoked:  An Evening of quintessentially American Opinionated Editorializing Storytelling.  Tickets are available at www.ticketmaster.com or call 561-833-7305 for more information. 

Macy Gray, August 14^th 

On August 14^th, legendary unexplainable sensation Macy Gray will take the stage at Hard Rock Live at 8pm.  Singing songs off all three of her albums, Macy is sure to entertain you.  Tickets start at $35 and can be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com or at the Hard Rock Live Box Office at 1 Seminole Way in Hollywood.   

Twelve Girls Band, October 16^th 

On October 16^th, the Asian sensation sweeping the world, Twelve Girl Band, will take center stage at The Broward Center for the Performing Arts.  Recently named International Artist of the Year, they have crafted a unique niche in world music playing such songs as:  Coldplay, Enya, Dve Rbrubeck, as well as others on classic Chinese instruments!  For tickets and further information, go to www.browardcenter.org or call their Box Office at 954-462-0222. 

Clay Aiken, August 18^th 

On August 18^th American Idol runner up and amazing showman Clay Aiken will take the stage at The Kravis Center for the Performing Arts at 8pm.  He will take the stage with a full Orchestra and will perform hits from his debut album Measure of a Man—which went Number One on Billboard’s 200 Chart and then Triple Platinum as well as This is the Night/Bridge Over Troubled Water that won the 2003 Billboard Music Award for Best Single.  For tickets, which go on sale Saturday, April 14th go to www.kravis.org.