Broward County Derby Grrls whirl, crash, get out
The much anticipated opening of the TM Sisters installation/performance piece Whirl, Crash, GO! at Locust Projects drew a huge and creative crowd -- so creative that the line outside made for a more interesting show than the performance inside. The jockeying for position was cut-throat as would-be patrons fought for the pink wrist bands that would guarantee admission. The de facto costumes outdoors rivaled the Krush Groove-y Krelwear knits designed for Whirl (and that's saying alot; we love Krelwear!). Among the most eye-catching: a Roman toga in purple; a cigarette-girl skirt set off by a vinyl single record as a head piece. Continue reading 'Audience Stars in Whirl, Crash, GO!'
Print advertising and radio may seem unlikely compatriots. Jason Hughes of Classical Music South Florida (89.7 FM) argues otherwise in this exploration of the station’s most “It’s Alive” advertising campaign...
Continue reading 'Selling the Classics'
Summer’s almost over, which means it’s time for a new art season to kick off. And who better to ring in the new season than local art duo and Hilger Artist Project Award winners, the TM Sisters.
For the past two months, sisters Tasha and Monica Lopez De Victoria have been assembling what may be their most ambitious performance to date.“WHIRL CRASH GO!” is the name of their current exhibition, and it opens 8 p.m. tomorrow night at Locust Projects.
Continue reading '"WHIRL CRASH GO!"'
Amherst College junior and former Knight Foundation intern Lee Oglesby spent her summer interning at the City of Miami Beach Department of Tourism and Cultural Development.
Her boss Gary Farmer, cultural affairs program manager, asked Lee to describe her experience with the “convoluted juggling” of the 300 artists participating in this year’s Sleepless Night, scheduled for November 7, 2009. Here are Lee’s words…
Continue reading 'Sleepless Night 2009 Preview'
Ever since I first saw the poster for The Harder They Come outside the Arsht Center early this summer, I've been eager to see what happens when Broadway meets reggae (well, okay, when reggae meets London's Theatre Royal Stratford East). Could the ultimate slack of Jimmy Cliff's performance in the 1972 movie survive the cheery lights of a stage musical? After all, this is reggae, not ABBA.
Reggae meets Broadway in The Harder They Come, the musical
Continue reading 'Broadway Meets Reggae in The Harder They Come'
Pianist Yuja Wang.
Few things are as much fun, or as contentious, as arguing about which singer, which conductor, or which performer on a certain instrument, is the best.
As a fellow who started playing the piano when I was a little boy, I've always enjoyed talking about great pianists of the past and the present. I remember, for instance, seeing Vladimir Horowitz in the mid-1970s in Chicago and being impressed not only by the music but by the reverence in which the audience held him. I always try to find time to attend as many piano recitals as I can during a given season, and I always come away with a lot to think about.
Continue reading 'Two Younger Titans of the Piano'
Manny Prieres has been a mainstay in the Miami art scene for over ten years now, with a good portion of that time dedicated to having founded and run the early and influential alternative art space, The BOX, alongside Jose Reyes and Leyden Rodriguez-Casanova.
His latest solo show, which opens this Saturday at Spinello Gallery, is titled What We Do Is Secret, and takes its namesake from the song by legendary punk group, The Germs. Prieres’ work in the past has usually dealt with themes of underground youth culture, but this current show, however, deals with more personal subject matter.
Continue reading '"What We Do Is Secret" At Spinello Gallery This Saturday'
At first the idea of "sweatin' it" at Sweat Records was fun. But that was back in March, when the A/C at the record store-come-hipster meet-up-come cupcake and coffee shop had just gone on the fritz. Plus, the weather was still kind of cool. Six months on, the joke is beginning to wilt in the summer heat.
So comes Iggy Pop to the rescue. Miami's adopted rock star/iconoclast agreed to let the little record shop that could offer up limited edition t-shirts bearing his rugged mug at a benefit concert where -- well, Iggy didn't perform, but he did peer down beatifically from his perch in a loft above the dance floor in the art and studio/performance space Awarehouse.
He even descended for a few minutes to watch Francesco LoCastro paint a triple-portrait: here's Iggy looking straight on; no, he's looking left; no, he's swinging right. The punk god stood staring with pretty much the same look on his face as he's wearing on the t-shirt, while nearly everyone (yes, me too) in the two long lines for the bathroom whipped out some kind of camera to get a shot.
Meanwhile, the Jacuzzi Boys tried to get right onstage in front of a mostly immobile crowd. Later Awesome New Republic alternately thrashed and noodled about to a slightly less immobile crowd (major points for the face paint, ANR). Perhaps to remind us what this was all about -- air conditioning! -- the Awarehouse kept the artificial chill to a minimum, leaving fans sticky and stuck.
There was a ripple of excitement through the crowd when a man in a red suit with a yellow lightbulb head marked Bad Brilliance bopped by. Just about then, ANR covered Iggy's song "Nightclubbing." Up in the shadowy loft, the punk eminence smiled.
There’s a new art space now open in Miami’s Design District, Swampspace to be exact. Run by local artist Oliver Sanchez, out of his own art studio, right around the corner from Locust Projects’ and Spinello Gallery’s new locales.
Perhaps you remember last December when Sanchez transformed his studio into a makeshift bodega across the street from the Design Miami Fair. Since then he has erected walls and cordoned off roughly 12 x 23 feet of that studio for an exhibition space to showcase works by local artists. Continue reading 'Swampspace Gallery'
Flickin' Summer film series flashes back with Flashdance
Blame it on my self-loathing. When I read about the Gusman's Flickin' Summer film series, I thought how could Fame, Flashdance, and The Wiz be projected on the same screen where I've enjoyed classics like The Sound of Music and Casablanca? What business do these frothy 80s flicks have in that august hall with the starry roof, Moorish balconies, and stuffed peacock?
Then I realized that I'm just crabby. If these films are classics, then I must be old! As Gusman director Margaret Lake patiently explains to me, she wanted to bring a new crowd to the old theater: "So many times the art that happens in Performing Arts centers can feel inaccessible to people who have not tried it," she says. "If a patron attends a movie and a dance party at the Gusman, they may be more likely to attend another event at the theater."
And what could be more accessible than Jennifer Beals' body double Irene Cara stomping in circles in her leg warmers? Or a passel of teens throwing down on the hood of a car? Or to ease on down the yellow brick road with a pre-propophol Michael Jackson? Flickin' Summer gives you the chance to join in, with a dance party after each film. What a feeling!
Flickin' Summer film series starts tonight, Thursday August 20, with Fame, and continues on August 27 with Flashdance, August and The Wiz, September 3 at the Gusman, 174 E. Flagler, Miam, 305-374-2444, gusmancenter.org. All shows at 7pm followed by dance party on stage with DJ Pauer. Tickets cost $10 in advance, $15 at door.
