If the manic riffing of Robin Williams occupies one end of the spectrum of pop-culture genies, Idris Elba’s glum and mournful jinn in George Miller’s new film Three Thousand Years of Longing sits, or rather stews, on its opposite end. Downplayed and downcast, he is suffused with languor, his occasional pangs of curiosity toward modern life blunted by sullen memories of previous … [Read more...]
Archives for August 2022
‘We are here’: Murals at Morikami explore Asian-American identity
The complicated question of Asian-American identity is explored in an exhibit running through next month at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in suburban Delray Beach. Beyond the Wall: Visions of the Asian Experience in America, on view through Sept. 25, explores the Asian-American experience in the United States through a non-traditional mural exhibit. With the … [Read more...]
Palm Beach Poetry Festival calls off 2023 event, plans return in 2024
DELRAY BEACH --- The Palm Beach Poetry Festival is taking a hiatus in 2023 as it regroups from the death of its founder, Miles Coon, and searches for a new home. Officials said the festival plans to return in 2024 in a new venue, a new city and with a new name. Founded in 2005, the festival brought many big-name poets, including poet laureates Billy Collins, Robert … [Read more...]
Bumblefest, Edition No. 6, takes West Palm streets Sept. 2-3
For cultured South Florida listeners seeking to hear things they've never heard before, who think that the area is inundated with only classic rock nostalgia tours and tribute acts paying homage to them, this "buzz" is for you. The sixth installment of Bumblefest (www.Bumblefest.com), celebrating the 11th anniversary of Lake Clarke Shores-based promoter and publisher … [Read more...]
‘Apples’: The bearable lightness of non-being
In the world of Greek director Christos Nikou’s debut feature film Apples, it could literally happen to anyone: You go about your day — perhaps to buy a bouquet of flowers — board a bus, nod off in your seat, and wake up at the end of the line with your memory erased. Such is the predicament facing Aris (Aris Servetalis), who finds himself one of countless victims of a … [Read more...]
Paintings by Jefreid Lotti: A dirty job gets the fine art treatment
A different type of oil change went on during lockdown at a mechanic shop in Miami where an artist found a full-time job at the peak of the pandemic outbreak. The resulting 19 oil paintings created among vacuums, tires, and commercial mop buckets now comprise a new exhibition. A frenzy of colors delivered mostly in impasto style sets up the scene of a sedated machine … [Read more...]
Convivial, enthusiastic Mozart, Schumann enliven SFSO chamber evening
By Robert Croan With live classical music scarce at this time of year, South Florida Symphony Orchestra’s chamber music series in Miami and Fort Lauderdale has been a welcome addition to the cultural scene, as well as continuing evidence of the organization’s self-described commitment to community engagement. The third and final program (heard July 22 at Fort … [Read more...]
West Palm’s own jam band, Guavatron, seeks larger territory
None of the members of young, West Palm Beach-based quartet Guavatron (www.guavatron.com) are old enough to remember when the original "jam bands" started out in the late 1960s, long before that term was ever coined. That's when the California-spawned Grateful Dead, Georgia act the Allman Brothers Band, and British bands like Cream and Pink Floyd colored outside of the … [Read more...]
The View From Home: Catching up with Criterion: Lean, Kwan and Franklin
It’s been years since I’ve perused Blu-rays from the gold standard of art-house cinema, the Criterion Collection. With diverse and exciting titles continuing apace from this vital distributor, it seemed high time to revisit its ever-expanding catalog. These three new summer releases, all loaded with generous bonus features, offer a welcome return. Venice has never received a … [Read more...]
Guitarist Carlton masterful at Funky Biscuit show
Larry Carlton is on the short list of iconic jazz/fusion guitarists who emerged between the late 1960s and mid-1970s, bringing more attention toward the subgenre that mixes jazz with rock and other popular music forms. And during his late show at the Funky Biscuit in Boca Raton on July 24, "Mr. 335" (a nickname based upon his frequent use of the hollow-bodied electric … [Read more...]