Thursday February 5 He’s known as B.B., but he was born Riley King in 1925. And although his name suggests otherwise, he’s probably more of an “ambassador” of the blues than its “king.” B.B. King has gotten a lot of flak for recording with everyone from rockers U2 to rapper…

If you’re wearing condoms for protection from AIDS — or insisting your partner wear one — there’s something Peter Duesberg wants you to know: You’re wasting your time. Sure, prophylactics protect you from sexually transmitted diseases; it’s just that AIDS isn’t one of them, according to the molecular and cell…

Careening around a racetrack at 200 miles per hour with Michael Andretti is no Sunday drive. In fact, as he downshifts to take a curve, you may find yourself hitting a brake pedal that isn’t there, thanks to the IMAX film Super Speedway. Featuring surround-sound audio and Doppler radar-like visuals,…

Bent at the waist, with one ear near the rim of a large hand drum, Jim Seidel listens as first-timer Gary Ling beats out a rhythm at the Roots of Rhythm drum session at Wild Oats Community Market in Fort Lauderdale. A professional percussionist who helped get the weekly gathering…

Thursday January 29 “Peace and love.” That was the message during the ’60s, and pop artist Peter Max was one of the messengers. His Love poster was just that: a psychedelic, bubble-lettered version of the word. And the subject of Dove, his other breakout work, became a ’60s icon. Over…

The tourism industry may not be too fond of the way novelist Elmore Leonard depicts South Florida, but that’s what makes some of his books such great reads. “The contrast is what I liked there, with the old people lined up in front of their hotels with their nose shields…

Thursday January 22 Without snow, what’s the use of skis? The modern dance troupe Momix has a provocative answer. In “Skiva,” two dancer-illusionists — one male, the other female — hover, bend, and sway sensually, using the leverage of the skis they’re wearing (plus their taut abs) to make seemingly…

Rarely when watching a late-night airing of Smokey and the Bandit does one’s mind wander to Shakespeare. Okay, it probably never happens, but fans of classic theater have Burt Reynolds to thank for bringing the Bard to Palm Beach County — at least in part. Reynolds was getting his Jupiter…

Thursday January 15 Professional golfers swing into Pompano Beach today for the South Florida Classic golf tournament, a Nike tour event that will benefit the Adam Walsh Children’s Fund, the education, endowment, and special-events division of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. The four-day tournament will air live…

Ken Benjamin likes to bang on things. And he loves to dance. With that in mind, the Deerfield Beach dancer auditioned two years ago for the touring company of Stomp, the off-Broadway hit in which performers use everything from trash-can lids to basketballs to pound out rhythms. “I like to…

The suitcases were small, about the size of today’s carry-on luggage, and made of thick, brown cardboard with leather-reinforced corners. They were probably from the Fifties or Sixties, but what was inside was even older. “It’s something we came across while accessioning the collections and cataloging everything,” explains Broward County…

“I started collecting when I was about six years old,” says JoAnn Van Scotter. “That was 60 years ago. Let’s just bring it right out in the open.” The Tropical Post Card Club of South Florida member isn’t shy about revealing her age or talking about her hobby-turned-avocation. Relatives gave…

Thursday January 8 With Behind the Broken Words: A Tale of Two Voices, Emmy Award-winning actors Roscoe Lee Browne (Falcon Crest) and Anthony Zerbe (Harry-O) have created a moving mix of satiric, comic, and lyric poetry by culling the works of modern masters such as e. e. cummings, Dylan Thomas,…

He calls them his “cop pictures.” Viewers might call them something else. California artist Chris Hero is referring to a series of paintings — graphic, large-scale oils — that illustrate his vision of how police and other institutions of power affect the world in ways that vary drastically from their…

Thursday 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…

“Some of us leave at five, some of us at six, and so on,” says birding enthusiast Howard Langridge — and he’s talking a.m. “We try to encourage them to get out as early as they can, so they can catch some of the owls.” After all, Langridge adds, nocturnal…

Thursday December 25 Families in search of a new holiday tradition could do worse than the Christmas Day Picnic and Cruise to Deerfield Island Park. The day of Intracoastal cruising begins at 9 a.m. with hourly pickups by boat from Sullivan Park, which is located on Riverview Road at the…

Don’t take the term “historical novel” at face value as it refers to The Legend of the Barefoot Mailman, warns the book’s author John Henry Fleming. “I call the book a historical novel only in that it tries to re-create the character and the themes of those times [1880s], rather…

thursday december 18 You just can’t help but get the warm fuzzies when you hear Judy Collins sing “Both Sides Now” and “Send in the Clowns.” So imagine the overwhelming heart-warming you’re in for during tonight’s Judy Collins Christmas Special. For this show of religious and holiday music — including…

A full-limbed evergreen flush with lights and trinkets. An electric model train chugging around its base on a circular track, disappearing momentarily behind brightly wrapped boxes before coming back around the bend with its whistle cheerily declaring its return. The nostalgic tableau could be right off of a holiday greeting…

Gary Davis is ready to unveil his second feature film, but will somebody — anybody — please just let the guy write the music for a major motion picture? “You need to create your own opportunities,” declares the 43-year-old Royal Palm Beach filmmaker/pianist/composer/martial arts instructor. And so he has. Writing…

Thursday December 11 When you’re trudging through an untamed mangrove, art, music, and literature are probably the last things that come to mind. Much less a steaming cup of joe. But in the program Mangrove Cafe — A Literary Coffeehouse, a swath of swamp has become remarkably civilized. It’s actually…