[NOTE: This column covers the next two weeks ahead, to accommodate for a vacation next week.]
Mizner Park hosts a Brazilian bash, South Florida artists re-interpret the classic femme fatale, and Boca restaurants offer a month of prix fixe specials. Plus, Green Day, the Norton’s “Earth Works,” “Marjorie Prime” and more in the weeks ahead.
TUESDAY, AUG. 29
What: Opening night of “Femme Fatale” All Girl Art Show
Where: Howley’s, 4700 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach
When: 7 p.m. to midnight
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/833-5691, sub-culture.org/howleys
The archetype of the femme fatale—the seductive beauty from many a pulp novel and noir film, who ensnares a hapless male into a web of deception—is the subject of this diverse exhibition of work by 20 female artists from South Florida. The artists will reinvent, re-interpret and recontextualize femmes fatales, in a dynamic show curated by Kelcie McQuaid of Shangri-La Creations. At Tuesday’s opening, in addition to the art, at least 10 vendors will be on hand selling their wares, and local singer-songwriter Lindsey Mills will perform an acoustic set. You’ll want to stick around and order from Howley’s extensive, classic diner menu—or come back another day to view the art in a less raucous context. The show runs through Sept. 25.
THURSDAY, AUG. 31
Photo courtesy of CNHVision
What: Grunge Fest
Where: Revolution Live, 100 S.W. Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $10
Contact: 954/449-1025, jointherevolution.net
Those of us unlucky enough to have discovered Nirvana posthumously can experience the next best thing at this bargain-priced tribute concert. Orlando-based Nirvanna goes beyond the call of cover-band duty, re-creating the music, clothes and hairstyles of the grunge pioneers, perfectly imitating Kurt Cobain’s distinctive howls and signature disaffected look. One listen to the music, either in a live setting or recorded, confirms the group’s note-perfect commitment. Arrive early for Facelift, which memorializes the look and sound of another platinum-selling Seattle export, Alice in Chains.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 1
What: Opening day of Boca Raton Restaurant Month
Where: Participating area restaurants
When: Lunch and dinner!
Cost: $21 to $40 for prix fixe meals
Contact: 561/395-4433, bocarestaurantmonth.com
September is a great month to experiment with a new dish, or finally try that hot new restaurant in Mizner Park or Royal Palm Place. For the entire month, 23 restaurants will be offering prix fixe dinner (and sometimes lunch) specials, thanks to this initiative from the Boca Raton Chamber of Commerce. The theme of this year’s Boca Restaurant Month is “I Love New York,” and each venue will offer, as part of its special menu, a New York-themed item, from Manhattan clam chowder to N.Y.-style cheesecake. Given the number of ex-New Yorkers that call the 561 area code their home, standards will be high. But with eateries like Max’s Grille, Henry’s, Morton’s and City Fish Market participating, expect them to be exceeded. Visit the promotion’s website for all restaurants.
SUNDAY, SEPT. 3
What: Green Day
Where: Coral Sky Amphitheatre, 601-7 Sansburys Way, West Palm Beach
When: 7 p.m.
Cost: $27 lawn seating still available
Contact: livenation.com
For audiences of a certain age, Green Day became synonymous with adolescent awakening, channeling the anxieties and rebellion of the pre-college set on its 1994 breakthrough Dookie—still an awesome album, even by this 34-year-old writer’s tastes. But the pop-punk trio has remained relevant three decades later, after many of its peers have shredded and snare-drummed into the dustbin of alt-rock history. American Idiot, from 2004, became a potent rallying cry for the antiwar, anti-Bush left, and was later adapted into a musical. Last year’s Revolution Radio, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard charts, has become a similar cultural touchstone for the anti-Trump resistance, which will be in full flower at next weekend’s South Florida tour stop. Expect fireworks (literal and figurative), T-shirt guns, audience participation, imaginative cover medleys and a frenzied, eclectic set list spanning nearly the band’s entire career.
TUESDAY, SEPT. 5
What: Opening day of “Earth Works”
Where: Norton Museum, 1451 S. Olive Ave., West Palm Beach
When: Noon to 5 p.m. Cost: Free
Contact: 561/832-5196, norton.org
Art and science share canvases in this collection of more than 30 environmentally alarming works by photographer Justin Brice Guariglia. The New York City artist flew over Greenland seven times during 2015 and 2016 as part of NASA’s Operation IceBridge, which surveys the impact of climate change on the country’s melting glaciers. The resulting exhibition, subtitled “Mapping the Anthropocene,” is both a striking collection of abstract photo-paintings and a clarion call about sea level rise. Printed with an acrylic process Guariglia himself invented, the impossible-to-replicate aerial close-ups of “Earth Works” are both placid and tempestuous, astral and arctic, forcing us to look anew at the geography we’re slowly losing.
FRIDAY, SEPT. 8
What: Opening night of “Marjorie Prime”
Where: Lake Worth Playhouse, 713 Lake Ave., Lake Worth
When: 2 and 6 p.m. Cost: $6-$9
Contact: 561/296-9382, lakeworthplayhouse.org
This much-anticipated science-fiction movie arrives in theaters with an impeccable provenance: It’s based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. It’s set in the near future, where holographic projections of deceased loved ones are de rigueur, helping widows cope through the illusion of immortality. For the 86-year-old title character (played by Lois Smith), this technology becomes her link to the past and her crutch against Alzheimer’s, manifesting in the form of John Hamm’s virtual simulacrum of her late husband. A meditation on memory and mortality from the cerebral sci-fi auteur Michael Almereyda, “Marjorie Prime” co-stars Tim Robbins and Geena Davis, and it currently boasts a 93-percent “fresh” ranking from Rotten Tomatoes.
What: Opening night of “Dual Frequency”
Where: Art and Culture Center, 1650 Harrison St., Hollywood
When: 6 to 9 p.m.
Cost: $10
Contact: 954/921-3274, artandculturecenter.org
Not all of the best local artists struggle financially, but the romantic cliché of the starving artist still carries a lot of truth. Hence the continued importance of grants to ensure their impactful, unifying work can proceed without extreme financial hardship. “Dual Frequency,” an initiative/exhibition from the South Florida Cultural Consortium, showcases work from 14 preeminent South Florida artists pegged for 2017 grants of either $15,000 or $7,500. The diverse group show crosses many disciplines, with Art and Culture Center curator Laura Marsh stating in a press release that “this group of artists represents some of the most committed and community-engaged in South Florida.” Catch the exhibition through Oct. 22.
SATURDAY, SEPT. 9
What: Brazilian Beat
Where: Mizner Park Amphitheater, 590 Plaza Real, Boca Raton
When: 6 to 11 p.m.
Cost: Free
Contact: 561/367-7070, downtownboca.org
Brazil will celebrate its Independence Day Sept. 7, and for us in South Florida, that means it’s a great excuse to party like we’re South Americans. Downtown Boca hopes to draw thousands to Mizner Park for the sixth-annual Brazilian Beat, which has become the region’s premier celebration of Brazilian culture. The evening will feature gourmet and authentic Brazilian cuisine, a Zumba showcase, a Capoeira circle, carnival dancers and samba drummers, along with a couple of outstanding music acts courtesy of Miami’s Rhythm Foundation: national headliner Vanessa de Mata, the longtime Brazilian songstress whose reggae career included a stint with Jamaican legends Black Uhuru; and Batuke Samba Funk, an Afro-samba Big Band whose funk-influenced sound aims to bridge the gap between American and Brazilian music.
