January 1
The nightclub neighbor of the Kings Park Condominium complex in Oakland Park is wasting no time in helping more than 100 tenants displaced by the raging fire that destroyed 51 units there December 18. A portion of the proceeds from tonight's Kings Park Benefit at Roxy Nightclub (4000 N. Federal Hwy.) will be funneled to the Red Cross to help former Kings Park residents and victims of other local disasters. "We're right across the street," explains the club's general manager Matt Mearian. "There are a lot of elderly people there and a lot of younger people. A lot of our regular customers lived there." Entertainment for the evening is provided by DJ Robie T. A minimum $5 cover donation is requested. Doors open at 8 p.m. Call 954-565-3555.
Friday
January 2
Japanese-born dancers-choreographers Eiko & Koma create innovative movement theater that combines elements of modern dance and a language of physical poetry all their own. The husband-and-wife team present Wind, a lush, dreamlike production that reflects the cycles of life. In Wind -- as in more than a dozen other pieces the duo has written and performed since the mid-Seventies -- stylized, often slow-flowing movement is combined with strategic lighting and props to tell wordless tales of humankind's often tenuous relationship with nature. (The show includes nudity and is recommended for mature audiences.) Eiko & Koma perform at 8 p.m. today and Saturday at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Tickets cost $25. Call 800-572-8471 or 561-832-7469.
They run as perfectly today as they did in, say, 1940, but their rubber doesn't meet the road much these days. They are collectible cars, painstakingly restored visions of our automotive past. From a 1931 Ford Model A pickup and a 1940 Ford Convertible to a 1951 Mercury with gull-wing doors and a 1955 Cadillac El Dorado convertible, dozens of vintage vehicles will be shown, gawked at, bought, and sold today through Sunday at the Fort Lauderdale Collector Car Auction at War Memorial Auditorium (800 NE 8th St., Fort Lauderdale). Admission is $8. Doors open at 6 p.m. today and at 9 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. For auction information call 561-533-7945.
Saturday
January 3
There weren't really many Civil War battles fought in Florida. In today's terms most encounters between Confederate troops protecting Florida's cattle, crops, and other valuable war assets from marauding Union soldiers would have been called "incursions" -- quick, small-scale affairs. So explains Florida Light Artillery 1st Lt. Raymond A. Meinberg, who is part of this weekend's Civil War Reenactment at Markham Park (16001 W. State Rd. 84, Sunrise). To depict such a skirmish, working cannons issue black-powder charges, simulating the sound, shock, smoke, and confusion of the battlefield during 45-minute reenactments at 2 p.m. today and Sunday. Additionally, actors in period attire re-create scenes from an army camp and a nursing station from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days -- portraying a mock payday or a court-martial and execution. "We want to let people watching look through a window into the 1860s," declares Meinberg. The event is free, but the $1 park admission will be in effect. Call 954-389-2000.
Compared to the rowdy revelry that is a tradition here in the U.S., the Oshogatsu Japanese New Year Celebration at Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens (4000 Morikami Park Rd., Delray Beach) seems refined. Based on Japanese traditions that include the lion dance -- performed for more than 1000 years to exorcise bad luck from shrines or neighborhoods -- the celebration takes place on the grounds and inside the museum from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Demonstrations of rice-pounding and the making of rice cakes, viewing of the tea ceremony ($3), hands-on calligraphy, New Year's card-making, and fortunetelling ($1) are also offered. A concert by the Avatar Brass Quintet is scheduled at 2 p.m.; at 3:30 p.m. two young Japanese violinists (age seven and three) from the Suzuki School in Japan perform. Usual museum admission fees of $2 to $4.25 apply. Call 561-495-0233.
In An Evening With Lauren Bacall, the Oscar-winning actress appears on stage to tell how she went from being a theater usher named Betty Joan Perske to becoming Hollywood's most celebrated starlet in less than two years. A child of divorce raised by a working mom, New York City-born Bacall did odd jobs -- including ushering and modeling -- while waiting for that proverbial "big break." It came in the form of her appearance as a model in three Harper's Bazaar magazine fashion spreads after the eighteen-year-old aspiring actress was discovered by editor Diana Vreeland. Hollywood took notice, and Bacall unleashed her sensual good looks and purring voice on film in 1944 with To Have and Have Not, in which she costarred with Humphrey Bogart, whom she soon wed. She went on to make 34 more films, earn two Tony Awards on Broadway, and write two best-selling books. And she's still going. Bacall talks about it all at 8 p.m. tonight at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach. Tickets range in cost from $25 to $45. Call 800-572-8471 or 561-832-7469.
Tuesday
January 6
Big is back. The new, musical stage adaptation of the 1988 Tom Hanks hit movie tells the story of young Josh Baskin, a twelve-year-old who wishes he were "big" and is granted his wish by carnival genie Zoltar -- but only Josh's physical size increases. Inside the adult body lurks the mind of a kid. Don't go expecting an exact rehash of the movie, though. Director Eric Schaeffer presides over an all-new version of the original Broadway show that features songs written especially for the 1998 tour ("Welcome to MacMillan Toys" and "My Secretary's in Love"). Fans will recognize revived favorites such as "Stop Time" and a revised version of "Talk to Her." The national tour opens its South Florida engagement at 8 p.m. tonight at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts (201 SW 5th Ave., Fort Lauderdale) for a run through January 18. The curtain goes up at 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, with 2 p.m. matinees Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. Tickets range in cost from $34.50 to $47. Call 954-462-0222.
Wednesday
January 7
The Smothers Brothers have taken sibling spats, topical humor, and music on a long ride, and their vehicle is still cruising. Their brotherly banter -- Dick playing the aggressive straight man to Tom's sheepish, guitar-playing smart aleck -- is just mean enough to be funny, not truly mean-spirited. That, combined with continually updated slams on politics and society, has kept them popular with audiences for 35 years. From their own TV series in the Sixties and Eighties to national concert tours and headline gigs in Las Vegas, the pair have continued to evolve. Hey, these days they even have their own Website and wine store. The Boca Pops brings the brothers in for an evening of laughs and music, opening the performance itself with Sci-Fi Music, a set that includes orchestral scores from Star Wars, Species, Independence Day, and other "spacy" films. Performances are today and tomorrow at 8 p.m. at Florida Atlantic University Center Auditorium, 777 Glades Rd., Boca Raton. Tickets range in cost from $35 to $60. Call 561-391-6777.
