If you think the popularity of Latin music in the United States is limited to the salsa dance craze and the pop schlock of acts like Ricky Martin, you’re missing the bigger picture. Rock en español — or Latin rock — bands are to Latin pop music what alternative bands…

By John Ferri Although she shares her name with a songbird, Barbra Nightingale can’t carry a tune. Her father told her as much when she was a child, always teasing her that she sang “in the key of L,” which, of course, is not a musicalkey. “I am so totally…

“Design 2000 Exhibit — Blueprint For the Future” begins at 10a.m. (Buatta will speak at 11:30a.m.) Saturday, July17, in the Design Center of the Americas, 1855 Griffin Rd., A282, Dania Beach. Admission is $10. The exhibit remains on view weekdays (when admission is free) through July29. For more information call9549207997.

The whore with a heart of gold will always be a fixture in pop culture, but in an Ernest Hemingway novel, the archetype is like an ink spill on an immaculate sheet of paper. His women — dream nurse Catherine from A Farewell to Arms and Georgette the prostitute in…

Thursday July 8 You don’t have to be a wine snob to know that red wines go best with meat, whites with fish and poultry. The Italians, who consume more wine per capita than anyone on the planet, live by these dicta. In Italy, regional recipes are based on the…

Thursday July 1 Vaudeville acts — the lousy ones — used to be rousted off the stage with rotten tomatoes. But during the stage version of The Rocky Horror Show, the audience is expected to hurl objects and verbal insults at the actors. So bring along some rice for the…

When the Broward Cultural Affairs Council dubbed the former First Methodist Church in downtown Fort Lauderdale the Vinnette Carroll Theater in 1986, the ornate stained-glass windows of the two-story limestone building were left intact. But inside, tiered seating was installed, and the walls were painted black. Since the makeover, Vinnette…

Thursday June 24 The Delray Beach Playhouse may be doing more harm than good by hosting a Special Singles Night Performance of Murder at the Howard Johnson’s — or it may be doing singles a favor. The play revolves around Arlene, an underappreciated wife, Paul, her used-car salesman husband, and…

Donald Singer was working on another ho-hum research project for one of his architecture classes at the University of Florida in Gainesville when he came across drawings by Frank Lloyd Wright (1869-1959), the American architect whose use of natural forms in design had a huge influence on modern architecture. “For…

How does a vibrator design get from the conceptual phase to the adult-store shelf? How are the prototypes tested? Broward and Palm Beach county radio listeners will have a forum in which to discuss these probing questions when Thee Fantasy Show debuts at midnight on Sunday, June 20. Larry Leonard,…

Thursday June 17 Q: What’s 3 feet wide, 12 feet long, and green? A: The miniaturized 18-hole course golfers will play during the American Putting Classic today through Sunday at Broward Mall (University Drive and Broward Boulevard, Plantation). For $1 per round, golfers of any caliber can score like pros,…

Thursday June 10 What was the name of Han Solo’s ship in the movie Star Wars? Too easy a question, you say? Of course it is, since most of us have seen the original George Lucas space flick dozens of times and know the Millennium Falcon as well as our…

Thursday June 3 The average age of patrons at the Chili Pepper should jump by a decade or so tonight when the Radiators roll in from New Orleans. Inspired by Crescent City R&B forefathers like Professor Longhair and Dr. John, the twin-guitar attack of the Radiators informs bouncy, Mardi Gras…

Azar Aryanpour had heard about the dirty conditions and brutal treatment of inmates in the prisons of her country, Iran. As the wife of a famous orthopedic surgeon, though, she never imagined she’d actually see the inside of an Iranian prison. But there she was, standing in a grimy waiting…

Thursday May 27 Before taste was abandoned in popular music, insinuation went a long way. The Cigar Store Indians, a country/swing/rockabilly outfit that walks the line between Elvis and the Stray Cats, get a little naughty on “Fast Lane.” “I want to ride in your fast lane, ’cause drivin’ fast…

On an overcast Saturday afternoon in Davie, about 50 kids and parents emerge from Buehler Planetarium, where they’ve just watched a show called The Little Star That Could. In the animated program, a star searches the galaxy for a family of planets and along the way teaches kids the basics…

Thursday May 20 Adult-contemporary rock laced with saccharine lyrics usually isn’t our thing, but Bruce Hornsby’s piano-playing is so beautiful we can almost forgive him. Remember the lilting piano runs of “The Way It Is,” the title track from the 1986 debut album by Bruce Hornsby and the Range? The…

Two thousand feet below, the tile roofs of the tony golf course community in Boca Raton appear to be sitting atop Lego houses. Passengers in airplanes probably see this kind of thing all the time, but when you’re standing in an oversize picnic basket that’s dangling from a two-story hot-air…

Thursday May 13 Miami artist and anthropologist Sarah Keene Meltzoff, age 50, has spent her life traveling to remote villages, mostly in New Guinea and the Solomon Islands. After studying different peoples and their folk art, she now creates what she calls “cargo art.” The cargo cults of the Pacific…

At the turn of the century, one of the most popular swimming events was “the plunge.” It’s not anymore, and for good reason. Here’s how it worked: A contestant would dive into the water from a standing position, then remain motionless for 60 seconds; then he’d swim underwater as far…

Talking on the phone while trying not to burn herself with a glue gun she’s using to attach lace to a serving tray, Jennifer Lorenzi is rushing to prepare for two Florida Grand Opera shows at once. “He’s not specific,” she says, referring to opera director Bernard Uzan. “He’ll tell…