An FAU parking cop told me he’d save me the trip to “2007 Biennial Art Faculty Exhibit” with his own review: “It’s a good reason not to send your kids to study art here.” He harrumphed something about conceptual art as I walked toward the humanities building. I’d heard it…
I have a confession. I’ve never followed Dashboard Confessional. Mea culpa. I recently attended the first gig in the national tour to support Dashboard’s fifth album, at City Limits, a sold-out show for the national phenomenon that began in Boca. Promoters were even having trouble getting press and family into…
There’s been a Sapphic convergence in Palm Beach County. Two new, hip spots there now cater to ladies who love ladies. On a Thursday night, I hit both Les Beans, a coffee shop, and Lipstick Lounge, a club night, for variations on a theme. One thing was bothering me: how…
Shea’s Corner Pub is imbued with spirits, some say, and not just the drinkable kind. Yet Shea’s, which is in a soulless Boynton Beach strip mall by a Domino’s and a Dunkin’ Donuts, doesn’t feel spooky. It’s homey, thanks to touches such as dark-green walls with pastoral pictures and comfy…
Artist Sharon Huff believes that everything happens for a reason and that we can see “beauty and perfection” even in the most tragic circumstances. Versace’s murder, Princess Diana’s fatal car crash, the devastation of 9/11 — these are all challenges for us to perceive the “beauty in something horrific.” A…
Take 59 pages from a book on modern Colombian architecture and reproduce them as posters and you’ve got “Architecture in Colombia: A Sense of Place,” or so it seems (the book was under glass). Be prepared to read a lot of small print, search for itty-bitty superscript, and sift through…
The opening of the “Sex and Science” show at Bear and Bird Boutique and Gallery, the girly section of Tate’s Comics in Lauderhill, brought out all manner of perverts, who perhaps were encouraged by the show’s warning that it was rated PG-13 “due to boobies.” Upstairs, among art, jewelry, and…
As robustly enthusiastic and straightforward as their show’s title, the works in “Eat Up” are about as complicated as the cupcake in the show’s namesake painting. When you learn that the artist, Helena Garcia, once worked for Hello Kitty, a smiling, animé-style cat, extending a single serving dessert just makes…
You don’t have to have a tattoo to enjoy the South Florida Tattoo Expo, but it probably helps. To the question “Got ink?” the Night Rider raises her ballpoint. But to the tattooed, it’s not a joke: first ink is a rite of passage. So there at the Deerfield Hilton…
You might wonder how seriously you should take a gallery that got started on Craigslist. But that’s sort of the point: Gallery owner Peter Meyerhoefer thinks art should be as accessible as an online posting. The “Second Look” show at his Meyerhoefer Gallery offers a hodgepodge of art from emerging…
On a recent Monday night, the wannabes, the could-have-beens, and the almost-weres joined cover band Diesel at Dada for the kickoff of live band karaoke. There was Jen, the karaoke-crazed singer who’s been known to drive all the way to Port St. Lucie for a decent night of song. And…
It’s easy to take for granted what comes easily. But the thing about a showing of local or regional art: It gives you perspective on the pool of talent you’re swimming in. The “2007 All Florida Juried Show” offers 70 works by 59 artists in diverse media including watercolor, oil,…
“Well-behaved women seldom make history,” Harvard history professor Laurel Thatcher Ulrich said. And that’s why I say, “Get down with your cross-dressing, military self, Joan of Arc! Thanks for going to jail for my birth control, Margaret Sanger! Play that piano with your ginormous jugs, Candye Kane!” OK, I’m a…
Call it big pictures in a small exhibit that includes some big artists. “BIG Picture” offers a dozen of the Norton Museum’s latest large-scale photographic acquisitions. It’s an opportunity to see how size matters — that is, how scale informs the artist’s work. Some of the subjects are real people…
Drink has been called a tonic, laughter the best medicine. But they’re not covered by insurance. Between admission fees and drink prices, good health through bar comedy can get pricey. Not so at Buzz’s Bar. The no-frills, neighborhood joint in Sunrise just kicked off its free Thursday-night comedy showcase. It’s…
You don’t have to know a cheese knife from a palette knife to know that wine and mingling are what set apart an opening from any other day at a gallery. Photographer and painter Kevin Rouse got the bright idea to give his gallery that permanent, opening-night vibe by getting…
Nothing says party like a birthday bash, unless it’s a birthday gig for Truckstop Coffee’s frontman, Pete Stein. The Bamboo Room in Lake Worth hosted the shindig, and it not only sounded like more fun than most (thanks to the band and a kickin’ sound system) but probably looked like…
Long before 07/07/07 sent legions to Las Vegas in search of an Elvis wedding, the Japanese knew it was the ideal date for getting lucky. For them, the seventh day of the seventh month annually celebrates two lovers who were too busy getting busy to be bothered to do their…
Otaku, beware! Manga and anime are acknowledged only on a placard in “Pastimes and Amusements of the Japanese,” and that is just a passing mention. Perhaps that’s because obsession doesn’t constitute an amusement? To those less-hardcore fans of Asian culture, sure, a recreational exhibit during summer sounds like more of…
I was first introduced to Bar Maniac by a promoter in a skirt shorter than her panties. The hottie handed me a flyer announcing the Hollywood flair bar´s opening and then kept sauntering down the sidewalk, cheeky as could be. Five months later, the invitation from ¨Hot Ladies of Rock¨…
Last weekend, dance fever was in the air. I didn´t know it until the thing had run its course, and only then did I suspect that I might have been the Typhoid Mary of this particular jitterbug. It all began when, trying to avoid an outdoor gig for which I…
Tiki, I was told, is good times. Simple but permissively excessive, from the exotic rum drinks to the fun Polynesian prints. So Hukilau just seemed right for a reunion with my Nordic hunk, Antti, when he visited last week from Finland. That´s how we found ourselves around the pool bar…
