Best Things to Do in Broward and Palm Beach This Week

Thursday, May 19

There are a great many topics on which the U.S. citizenry cannot agree. But this week is a period to come together to celebrate the one thing 99.9 percent of us adore: beer. American Craft Beer Week is here. Celebrate at these South Florida spots:

• Thursday night, Funky Buddha Brewery in Oakland Park is hosting a Craft Beer 101 Class to honor the occasion. It covers a brief history of beer, ingredients and the brewing process, tasting and flavor evaluation, styles, and terminology. Participants get samples and a Funky Buddha sample glass to keep.

The cost to attend is $20. Funky Buddha Brewery is located at 1202 NE 38th St., Oakland Park. Call 954-440-0046, or visit funkybuddhabrewery.com.

• The west Boca outpost of locally owned pizza chain Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza is spotlighting Oskar Blues on Friday night with its G'night Imperial Red IPA and Pinner Throwback IPA. It'll be serving the brews throughout the day.

Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza is located at 21065 Powerline Road, Boca Raton. Call 561-218-6600, or visit acfp.com.

• Local beer mecca the Brass Tap is bringing together beers from near and far — mostly near, actually — for its local tap takeover on Saturday.

There is no cost to attend. It kicks off at 5 p.m. The Brass Tap is located at 624 SW 145th Terr., Pembroke Pines. Call 954-367-6930, or visit brasstapbeerbar.com/pembrokepines.

• Every day of the week, local favorite Due South hosts events at local spots around town. Its pièce de résistance is its Brewers Brunch, featuring a selection of Due South Brewing cocktails including Category 5 Margaritas, Radler-Mosas, and Mexican Stand-off Bloody Marys.

There is no cost to attend. It takes place from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Sunday at Dixie Grill & Bar, 5101 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach. Call 561-463-2337, or visit duesouthbrewing.com. 

Friday, May 20

For more than 50 years, photographer Chuck Close has been cataloguing something we all have: faces. His massive Polaroid portraits constitute a vivid cross-section of eyes, ears, noses, throats, and hairstyles from a multitude of ethnicities and from celebrities to the proletariat, or sometimes both. He shot Philip Glass back when he was driving a cab in New York City, and he's photographed Brad Pitt, Alec Baldwin, and both Clintons. Along the way, he has experimented with numerous formats, some more outdated than others, from daguerreotypes and Woodburytypes to tapestries and paintings, almost always of the face. One of his lasting legacies will certainly be the almost scientific scrutiny he brings to the features we glance at in the mirror every day. His oversized images invite voyeuristic consideration of every wayward eyebrow hair, chipped tooth, and regrettable bowtie. In the first museum retrospective of Close's photography, the Nova Southeastern University Art Museum (1 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale) is running "Chuck Close Photographs" through October 2. The exhibition showcases 86 images, including a number of large-scale artistic departures, from his asexual, multipanel nude forms to his sexually suggestive close-ups of flowers.

The museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesdays to Saturdays (extended to 8 p.m. Thursdays) and noon to 5 p.m. Sundays. Admission costs $5 to $12. Call 954-525-5500, or visit nsuartmuseum.org.

There's nothing better than art complemented with a little bit of dinner, especially when the wait staff is prominent community leaders and figures. At the 19th Annual Cuisine for Art fundraiser, that's exactly what you get. Presented by the Seminole Hard Rock, the lavish dinner raises money for the Art and Culture Center of Hollywood (1650 Harrison St.) by employing just a touch of schadenfreude. The local glitterati will be tying on aprons and serving you a nice sit-down dinner of petit filet mignon and salmon while you're entertained by singers and rock cellists. Celebrity waiters include WPLG Local 10 anchor Kristi Krueger, Jeremy Weinstein from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, the James L. Knight Foundation's Térèse Coudreaut Curiel, nearly the entire Hollywood City Commission, a Broward commissioner, and a few state representatives, among several others. The event features a silent auction with prizes that include a ride aboard the Goodyear blimp.

The 19th Annual Cuisine for Art fundraiser will begin with a cocktail reception starting at 6 p.m. on Friday, May 20, at the Seminole Hard Rock, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood. Tickets cost $150 per person. Call 954-921-3274, or visit artandculturecenter.org/cuisine. 

Saturday, May 21

Expect Tracy Morgan to receive the kind of standing ovation reserved for knights and presidents before he even utters a word on his current tour. That's because the continued existence of the former SNL and 30 Rock star, let alone his return to comedy, is nothing short of miraculous. Most of us wouldn't have survived the accident that nearly took Morgan's life in June of 2014, when a Wal-Mart truck (in case you need another reason to hate the Waltons) driven by an overworked motorist slammed into the back of Morgan's chauffeured limousine. The crash took the life of his best friend and rendered him comatose for about two weeks — during which time he says he met his father, who died when Tracy was 19. As a result, he's surely the only person with a history of blowjob jokes to ever appear on Oprah Winfrey's Super Soul Sunday. Indeed, Morgan may be a changed man, physically as well as spiritually — on his first tour since the accident, expect him to walk with a limp, sit down during much of his set, and possibly glance at notes — but he's still a blue comic. His act includes material about Caitlyn Jenner, for instance, that will send the PC Police reaching for their whistles. Which is to say, in every respect that counts, Tracy Morgan is back.

See the historic show Saturday at 8 p.m. May 21 at Hard Rock Live, located at 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood. Tickets cost $40 to $70. Call 800-745-3000, or visit myhrl.com. 

The Jorge Nation Foundation, honoring travel-savvy and adventure-hungry University of Florida alum Jorge Brouwer, was formed in 2011 after Brouwer, affectionately known as "Phi Kapp Jorge," passed away unexpectedly from a pulmonary embolism following surgery. The 32-year-old founder of Xtreme Trips inspired those who loved him to create the JNF, a nonprofit that raises funds to send children with terminal or serious illnesses on their dream trips. Partnered with Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, this year's White Party is their fifth annual fundraiser and promises to be the biggest one yet as it hopes to grant a growing number of wishes. Anticipating over 400 guests, this event will feature top shelf cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, live music and performers, celebrity appearances, a retrospective of past dream trips the nonprofit has realized, and a silent auction. Having built a reputation in collegiate life as a playful humorist and ultimate jokester, Brouwer's legacy is in touching the lives of sick children and their families, giving them the types of experiences that many take for granted. And even though it might look like a Santeria convention, all white attire is required.

The Jorge Nation Foundation Fifth Annual White Party Fundraiser is at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 21, at the W Hotel, 401 N. Fort Lauderdale Beach Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Tickets cost $150 and corporate sponsorship opportunities are available. Visit jorgenation.org. 

If you're not familiar with the Covenant House, the Florida nonprofit serves homeless, runaway, and at-risk youth under the age of 21, including teen moms and their babies. Now in its seventh year, the annual Covenant House Florida 5K on A1A raises money to support those lofty goals. The race is hosted, specifically, by the Young Professionals for Covenant House, which is a group of socializing socially minded individuals who regularly attend mixers and sporting events to raise money and awareness for the nonprofit. Since 1992, the group has raised over $1,715,000 to help homeless youth who seek refuge. The most recent study conducted by the National Coalition for the Homeless in 2002 estimated there to be 1,682,900 homeless and runaway youth in the U.S. Even more alarming, the Health Resources and Services Administration estimates as much as six to 22 percent of homeless youth are pregnant.

You can help homeless youth by participating in the 5K on A1A at 7 a.m. on Saturday, May 21, at 911 Sunrise Lane in Fort Lauderdale. Registration through May 20 is $30 and you're guaranteed a T-shirt. It costs $35 to register on the day of the race, but you're not promised a shirt. Not the athletic type? Participating doesn't necessarily mean running. You can take part in an online "virtual race" between May 21 and 29. Call 954-568-7914, or visit 5kona1a.com. 

With perpetually decent cycling weather, supremely flat roadways, tropical scenic routes, and a plethora of padded spandex up for grabs at the thrift stores, this area is truly a bike rider's paradise. Add to that the general growing popularity of custom bike culture, group rides, cycling meet-ups, critical mass events, and general geeked-out enthusiasm for anything that operates on two wheels and it's easy to see that this bike love is only going to grow and grow. To see the amorous feels on full display, head to Sprockets & Spokes: Custom Bicycle Show at Brewhouse Gallery. On the third Saturday of each month, the gallery that just celebrated its second anniversary puts pedal(s) to the metal with a custom bicycle show in the space's back alley where a select showing of hand-built, functional works of art from Jupiter's own Mercado Custom Cruisers are on display. All custom bikes are welcome for the night that also includes live music, artwork, and eats from Diner Dogs Inc.

Sprockets & Spokes runs from 8 until 11 p.m. at Brewhouse Gallery, 720 Park Ave., Lake Park. Call 561-469-8930, or visit brewhousegallery.com. 

Sunday, May 22

If you are fascinated by nature but aren't too keen on getting down and dirty in the woods, this event may be your cup of tea. The Museum of Discovery and Science will allow guests to get a hands-on experience of wildlife without getting too wild with their Wildlife Rescue Weekend event. In addition to telling the stories of rescued wildlife and the dedicated humans who did the rescuing, the exhibit will include plenty of interactive exhibits ranging from multimedia and mechanical to full-scale recreations and actual specimens. The Animal Tracks feature allows guests to identify certain animal tracks as well as make their own. For a bit of fun, play the Ecotwister game, which explains necessities of each ecosystem as well as the crucial threats that can affect them. And Species Charades will allow participants to get in touch with their wild side as they act like an animal while others have to guess what they are. Fittingly, the community partner for this event is the Bird Lovers Club.

The Wildlife Rescue Weekend starts on Saturday, May 21 at noon and ends Sunday, May 22 at 4 p.m. May 22 is also the first day of the Wildlife Rescue exhibit, which is slated to end on September 5.

Admission for nonmembers is $15 for adults and $13 for children from 2 to 12 years of age. Members get in for free. The Museum of Discovery and Science is located at 401 SW Second St., Fort Lauderdale. Visit mods.org/visit/index.html. 

For more events, visit our online calendar or pick up the print edition of the New Times Broward-Palm Beach every Thursday. To submit an event, use our online form.