Quilt It!

Not just for grannies THU 6/10 When one thinks of quilting, the inevitable image of a cute old grandma in a rocking chair usually comes to mind. Nothing too fancy or artful, just some old bag wiling away the hours on her front porch. Of course, that’s just the stereotype…

Space Pop

SAT 6/12 Don’t be fooled by its innocent good looks: Power-pop has a dark side, and its name is Spacebar. The band’s mix of electronics and indie-rock adds a third dimension to the catchy hooks and melodies essential to the pop aesthetic. Its sound is a result of the band…

Flakes Gone Loco

It’s a sign that a nation may be losing its collective mind when it grants a nutty hack like Quentin Tarantino an exalted title like Officer of Arts and Letters, but there’s France for ya. Whether Gallic pop culture is rousingly progressive or embarrassingly adolescent is anyone’s call, but few…

Fitting the Bill

So let’s get this straight: You’re a much-loved comedian who just did a low-budget, multiaward-winning film with an acclaimed up-and-coming director. In recent years, thanks in part to your work with the younger, edgier filmmaking set, you’re starting to be taken seriously as an actor. You even managed to score…

Itsy-Bitsy Drama

Has it already been a year since City Shorts was last in town? This festival of short plays (20 minutes max) has become a nationally recognized event in its nine-year history and something of a must-see/must-be-seen-there social event for South Florida cognoscenti. Shorts has its own cheerily subversive personality; this…

Stagebeat

Crazy for You zings with one-liners, vintage glamour, and high-energy music and dance la Fred and Ginger. With only six weeks of rehearsal, Director/Choreographer Marc Carmen whipped more than 20 dance novices into a toe-tapping sensation. Whether tap dancing on house siding, swinging on a pick ax, or creating music…

Artbeat

Rock ‘n’ roll officially turns 50 on July 5. That is the day, half a century ago, when Elvis Presley recorded his first single for Sun Records, “That’s All Right Mama.” Needless to say, the event will be celebrated worldwide, and not just among musicians. Graceland’s official artist, Joe Petruccio,…

Now Showing

Asterisk by Jerome Weidman tries to be clever, but two of the principal actors weren’t in on the game plan. Every Sunday, Seymour (Steve Cohen) arrives in gray suit and tie to visit his aging mother (Susie R. Goldberg) in her sparsely furnished Queens living room to convince her that…

Now on Display

“Joan Brechin Sonnenberg: Images Transcending the Mediums” — It may be uneven, but when Sonnenberg is good, she’s really good. The South Florida-based artist, a Pennsylvania transplant, works in mixed media on a large, occasionally overwhelming scale. The breathtaking CitiScape, for example, is a massive acrylic triptych that transforms an…

Head Pounding

A man of many characters FRI 6/4 Imagine you’re on your first date with someone new, and the inevitable question of your employment comes up. You can either tell the truth or create some wild, boldfaced lie like, “I’m an actor/playwright/author/screenwriter/solo performer.” Depending upon the gullibility of your date, you’ll…

Harry Goes Scary

Directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Screenplay by Alfonso Cuaron, based on a novel by J.K. Rowling. Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, David Thewlis, and Michael Gambon. Rated PG.

The Unlikely Lambs

Moviegoers who know the tides of recent Brazilian history will likely get more from Hector Babenco’s new prison movie, Carandiru, than the rest of us, because the filmmaker tells us so little about the society beyond the walls that helped shape the violent yet carefully ordered world within them. On…

Artbeat

Artbeat dawdled about going way out west to see “Joan Brechin Sonnenberg: Images Transcending the Mediums” at the Coral Springs Museum of Art. Don’t make the same mistake. The show, which includes more than three dozen pieces, is uneven, but when Sonnenberg is good, she’s really good. The South Florida-based…

A Band Worth Gambling On

So you’ve admired the glittering monstrosity that is the brand-new Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. You’ve been tempted to blow a wad in its 130,000-square-foot casino and bang your head in its eight nightclubs. But you’ve been waiting for someone to put the “rock” in the Hard Rock! Well,…

This Week’s Day-by-Day Picks

THU 3 Oh man. Last week’s dinner with the relatives didn’t go so well, eh? You had to open a can of worms with that asinine comment about Iraq, and now your WWII-vet grandfather has labeled half the family unpatriotic. Perhaps your extended family should attend today’s poetry reading by…

Party Like It’s 2999

The South Florida SciFi, Comic, and Anime Convention takes place Saturday and Sunday, June 5 and 6, at the Holiday Inn Plantation (1711 N. University Dr., Plantation). Tickets cost $15 for one day or $20 for both days. Call 954-565-6588.

Flex the First

The State of Unitarianism SAT 6/5 Quick — name one thing this country stands for. Does the First Amendment come to mind? In a terror-stricken world regressing to dogmatic cultural conservatism, the ideals of freedom and tolerance need to be shouted from the proverbial mountaintops. But if you live in…

Boxed In

Someone’s goin’ down! TUE 6/8 South Florida sports will never be the same now that the new Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood has opened its doors. The lavish, $250 million venue will change the way boxing fans watch fights, and the edifice is ready for its first…

Stagebeat

Asterisk by Jerome Weidman tries to be clever, but two of the principal actors weren’t in on the game plan. Every Sunday, Seymour (Steve Cohen) arrives in gray suit and tie to visit his aging mother (Susie R. Goldberg) in her sparsely furnished Queens living room to convince her that…

Twin Peaks

The lettering on the wall at the top of the grand staircase at Fort Lauderdale’s Museum of Art (MoA) says it all: “Ansel Adams & Clyde Butcher.” It’s a match made in nature lover heaven, an inspired pairing of American photographers that prompts contrasts as well as comparisons. The California-based…

Yesterday’s Beach

Lots to sea at the Norton SAT 6/5 Ah, the beach. The perfect place to take that special someone for a nice, romantic walk; a place to enjoy the calm, cool breeze, collect shells… and hurdle around washed-up men-of-war and used syringes. OK, so maybe our beaches aren’t as ideal…

Now Showing

Sexual Perversity in Chicago, David Mamet’s 1974 play, takes the audience back to a time when women’s rights, drugs, and sexual freedom were in the forefront and political correctness was nonexistent. Prepare for exposed flesh, a cacophony of curse words that would make George Carlin proud, and frank discussion about…