When Robin Williams was America’s favorite funnyman in films like Mrs. Doubtfire, it always felt a little strange admitting that the guy seemed kinda creepy. When he “got serious” in irritating tearjerkers like Hook and What Dreams May Come, it was certainly in vogue to proclaim him annoying, but few…
“Hot enough for you?” The next time some smart-ass tosses that tired one your way, direct him or her to Gallery 421 in downtown Fort Lauderdale, which is hosting “Hot Summer Nights II: An Erotic Art Show.” The show was originally intended to be no more than a weekend event…
If the Meters were still around, it would be a close contest. But, as it stands now, if you consider talent, expression of the New Orleans sound, and longevity, only one band can claim to be at the top of the heap in the New Orleans music scene: the Radiators…
Cyndi Lauper may be less than a year shy of age 50, but the girl still wants to have fun. Calling from the road in the middle of a tour, she begins singing “I’m just a girl in Little Rock” as her way of telling us where she is. “I’ve…
To misappropriate a choice comment from TV journalist turned music-biz impresario Tony Wilson, I’ll just say “Ian Curtis.” If you know what I mean, great; if you don’t, it doesn’t matter, but you should probably read more. That is, one need not be a fan of the late Curtis, epileptic…
Robert Evans wrote his autobiography in 1994 as much out of desperation as hubris. It cried out, “Damn it, look at me… please?” He’d produced one film during the past ten years, The Cotton Club, which was such a colossal failure that it rendered Evans a moot point in Hollywood,…
In Tom Walker, a new play at the New Theatre, a very old story is given a modern twist. The devil appears to the title character, dupes same into a hellish bargain, and runs off with poor Tom’s soul. Playwright John Strand has performed a similar act of piracy: He…
To train for competition, bartender Paul Strike plans to clean his home. Someone advised him to vacuum in the unfamiliar footwear he’ll run in: women’s platform shoes. Actually, the uniform for Strike’s Washed Ashore Team from Lulu’s Place in Delray Beach is supposed to include high heels, coconut tops, and…
Drama queen and drag queen oftentimes go hand in hand, which is probably why drag queens make for such great soap opera. At least, that’s what Robby Kendall hopes. The writer’s creation, Victoria Place, is in stage productions, though Kendall’s ambitious plans for the cast of oddball characters include having…
Andrew Niccol keeps making the same movie over and over again and dressing it in slightly different clothes: the sleek charcoal Hugo Boss grays of Gattaca, the crisp Crayola hues of The Truman Show and now, the silk-and-satin Hollywood resplendence of Simone. Niccol, writer and director, is obsessed with a…
Zhang Yimou, the most internationally famous filmmaker from the People’s Republic of China, is primarily identified with lush period dramas (Red Sorghum, Raise the Red Lantern, and Shanghai Triad) and secondarily with simpler, more realistic tales (Not One Less and The Road Home). What he definitely is not identified with…
Things you will learn from a forthcoming oral history of Saturday Night Live: Dan Aykroyd slept with, among others, Gilda Radner, Laraine Newman and writer Rosie Shuster, the latter of whom was, at the time, married to the show’s producer and creator, Lorne Michaels. To this day, Chevy Chase regrets…
If you haven’t been to the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach in awhile (mea culpa), brace yourself. The museum, which underwent a 77,500-square-foot expansion and renovation almost a decade ago, is expanding yet again — by 35,000 more square feet, increasing exhibition space by 75 percent. That’s…
For most South Floridians, late summer means numbing heat, hurricanes, and back-to-school specials. But for those astute and lucky New Times readers, the dog days of August also herald a revived arts scene. Within a month or so, dozens of theater companies up and down the tricounty coast will be…
Even though he has railed against capitalism for about a decade, John Samson, heart and soul of the folksy punk group the Weakerthans, is distinctly soft-spoken. He’s so quiet that New Times’ voice-activated tape recorder picked up only about half his words, so some of Samson’s ever-so-quotable statements are lost…
The dysfunctional family is now as American as Mom and apple pie. Time was, the American family was reflected on TV in such sugary shows as Ozzie and Harriet or Father Knows Best. But the world has turned since then, become a decidedly weirder place, and unless you were going…
Let’s all agree on one thing from the outset: The poster for Blue Crush is fantastic. It has a great color scheme; actresses Michelle Rodriguez (Resident Evil), Kate Bosworth (Remember the Titans), and Sanoe Lake (a professional model and surfer making her film debut) look as good as they’ve ever…
If nothing else, give French actor Yvan Attal credit for his faith in domestic bliss. At a time when matrimony has a shorter lifespan than mayonnaise, Attal has sought to mingle the joys and traumas of his own marriage (to actress Charlotte Gainsbourg) with his piquant views on the ambiguities…
After two months in chilly London, I must say that sultry Florida feels good. And propelled by a notebook full of observations from UK theater, it also seems a good time, before the fall season, for me to reflect on the good and the bad in our own scene. First…
Often in show biz, men enjoy the juicier roles. Women serve as love interests, sidekicks, or second bananas. When they do get center stage, women are all too frequently asked to play wild, over-the-top stereotypes: the virtuous blonde, the bitchy brunette, the seductive siren. At least, that’s the opinion fueling…
Intuitively, Lisa Teasley understands that somewhere along South Florida’s east coast, a man waits for her to discover him. He doesn’t realize this yet. And for her part, she has never set eyes on him. “But I know that he’s there,” she explains, speaking over the phone from her home…
Coral Springs doesn’t exactly boast a reputation as South Florida’s epicenter for alternative culture, but that’s where you’ll find the seventh-annual International South Florida Tattoo Expo 2002, put on by the same folks who bring you the annual motorcycle Toys in the Sun Run. Nestled in the heart of suburbia…
