Edgar Allan Poe comes alive at a Boca speakeasy, Art and Jazz hits the beach in Delray, and the Norton’s newest exhibition packs a punch. Plus, the Chameleons and more in your week ahead.
WEDNESDAY
What: Art and Jazz on the Avenue
When: 6 to 9:30 p.m.
Where: East Atlantic Avenue from A1A to the Seagate Hotel
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/243-1077, downtowndelraybeach.com
The latest iteration of this cherished downtown Delray tradition returns with another nearly four-hour program of live music, live art, children’s activities and food and craft vendors—this time beachside! Visual artists will create murals in real time alongside a variety of performing artists. From 5:30 to 7 p.m., Bruno Does Sinatra will perform the timeless corpus of Old Blue Eyes and similar artists from golden age of vocal jazz; the Creative Souls will offer a short “Surprise Spooky Performance” befitting the season at 6:15 p.m.; a children’s dance performance will delight the crowd at 7 p.m.; and Mixtape Band FL will close out the evening with rock, pop and dance favorites from 7:15 to 9:30 p.m.
THURSDAY
What: Julian E. Zelizer: “The 2024 Election in Historical Perspective”
When: 5 p.m.
Where: University Theatre at Florida Atlantic University, 777 Glades Road, Boca Raton
Cost: $25
Contact: 561/297-6124, fauevents.com
We’ve heard the descriptor “unprecedented” countless times in the Trump and post-Trump eras, and this election cycle is no exception: How to reckon with, or predict, a contest between a twice-impeached, criminally convicted, nearly assassinated former president and a rival who won her party’s nomination without competing in a primary? If it feels like we’re living in house of mirrors, perhaps Julian E. Zelizer can supply the reflection that’s needed. A professor of political history at Princeton University, Zelizer has discussed politics on NPR and CNN and has guest-hosted on POTUS, SiriusXM’s non-partisan political channel. The writer and/or editor of 17 books since 1999, including the “First Historical Assessment” of Trump’s presidency, Zelizer is expert at looking past the barrage of daily headlines and through the long arc of history; if there are precedents in this topsy-turvy election, he’ll be able to spot them. Following his talk, he will sign copies of his latest books Our Nation at Risk: Election Integrity as a National Security Issue and Myth America: Historians Take on the Biggest Legends and Lies About our Past.
THURSDAY TO SATURDAY
What: The Edgar Allan Poe Speakeasy Cocktail Experience
When: 6, 8 and 10 p.m.
Where: Boca Black Box, 8221 Glades Road, Suite 10, Boca Raton
Cost: $48
Contact: 561/483-9036, bocablackbox.com
It’s long been my belief that, like the plays of Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe’s macabre tales are best appreciated when performed, not read. To that end, historians of the great writer will do just that at this unique evening of drinking and storytelling just in time for Halloween. At this “Speakeasy Cocktail Experience,” Poe experts will read and theatrically reimagine four of Poe’s stone-cold classics: “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Raven,” “The Masque of the Red Death” and “The Black Cat.” Each story will be paired with an exclusive themed cocktail concocted by a skilled mixologist: The “Pale Blue Eyes,” “Cocktail of Red Death,” “Edgar’s Twisted Brandy Milk Punch” and “The Nevermore.” Quoth Boca mag? You don’t want to miss this one.
SATURDAY
What: Opening day of “Strike Fast, Dance Lightly: Artists on Boxing”
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Where: Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach
Cost: $15-$18
Contact: 561/832-5196, norton.org
Boxing is considered to be the fifth-oldest sport in the world, with its origins dating back to antiquity. Boxers first appeared in Sumerian relief carvings in the third-millennium BCE, and the sport flourished amid the conquests of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Greece and Rome. It’s been featured in the Olympic Games, in the early motion pictures of Thomas Edison, and in famous paintings by George Bellows and Edward Hopper. That’s a lot of history and cultural importance for a sport as violent as it is elegant, as mental as it is physical. “Strike Fast, Dance Lightly” explores this long lineage through the artists who have defined, celebrated and critiqued boxing for generations and even centuries. Its more than 100 artworks span from the late 19th century to the present day, and are as varied and complex as the sport itself, from photorealism to surrealist fantasy. In turn, the exhibition explores issues that surface outside the ring, including psychology, storytelling, activism and social justice. It runs through March 9.
MONDAY, OCT. 28
What: The Chameleons
When: 8 p.m.
Where: Respectable Street, 518 Clematis St., West Palm Beach
Cost: $40
Contact: 561/832-9999
Emerging from the same late-‘70s/early ‘80s Manchester, U.K., scene that spawned the Smiths, Joy Division and many others, post-punkers the Chameleons never achieved the name recognition of their more successful peers. But in the emerging goth and dream-pop subcultures, they quickly became the consummate musicians’ musicians, inspiring decades of artists who would adopt and adapt their formula of atmospheric guitars, brooding vocals and acerbic lyrics, from Oasis and the Smashing Pumpkins to Interpol and the National. In their original incarnation, the Chameleons only released three LPs, and this reunion tour will focus on that vital third album that precipitated their breakup: 1986’s Strange Times, a product whose mystery is only deepened by its unavailability on streaming services and its scarcity on physical media. A statement piece, from its surrealist album art to its sprawling and intricate songs—fan-favorites “Swamp Thing” and “Tears” among them—Strange Times is one of the still-unheralded gems of its genre. Catch the band perform it straight through on this rare Florida appearance.
For more of Boca magazine’s arts and entertainment coverage, click here.
