Staind, The Illusion of Progress (Atlantic) Shwayze, Shwayze (Geffen Records) Amy MacDonald, This is the Life (Decca U.S.) Ice Cube, Raw Footage (Lench Mob Records)
Seven years ago, Steve Arsenault left Boston for Miami. The 28-year-old Web designer couldn't handle more freezing winters. Yet, in South Florida, Arsenault faced another problem: The weather was great, but life was boring. Working days and nights as a bartender, he rarely got outside.
Herald movie reviewers rate movies from zero to four stars. Excellent | ½ Very Good | Good | ½ Worth Seeing Mediocre | Poor | No Worthless
Due in stores Tuesday: Jonas Brothers, A Little Bit Longer (Hollywood Records). David Sanborn, Here and Gone (Decca U.S.). Extreme, Saudades de Rock (Open E).
SCENE IN THE TROPICS
Even though they never officially came out as a couple, are-they-or-aren't-they gal pals Lindsay Lohan and Samantha Ronson were here for three days this past week.
In concept, the movies that form Judd Apatow's canon sound like a grab bag of 10-minute comedy skits: A schlub gets a hot girl pregnant. Two high school losers try to score alcohol for a party. An ordinary guy gets dumped by his TV-famous girlfriend. A 40-year-old virgin tries to remedy his situation.
Oh, George! Pop Superstar Michael Popped For Smokin' In the Boys' Room! The tabloids find great joy in dragging down the rich and famous when they fall from grace. British singer George Michael was at the top of the music world in the '80s and early '90s thanks to his infectious, highly melodic mix of R&B/dance classics and ballads, both with Wham! (Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go, Careless Whisper) and on his own (Faith, I Want Your Sex).
Jesus Basto coveted a friend-of-a-friend's Corvette when he was a teenager -- but he couldn't afford one himself. He could only visit the Chevy dealership to fantasize about the car of his dreams.
Take the exclamation mark in the title of Mamma Mia! as a warning. In practically every scene of this glossy, saucy adaptation of the Broadway musical, the actors talk to each other at such a high pitch, you wonder if every line in the script ended like this! Or this!! Or this!!!
Is computer animation still such a novelty that it will pull moviegoers into theaters? Do wisecracking critters still push children's joy buttons? Is Space Chimps really necessary?
Alice's House is actually a crowded Sao Paulo high-rise apartment where Alice (Carla Ribas) suffers the indignities of her adulterous cab-driving husband (Zecarlos Machado), keeps the peace between her three rambunctious sons (Vinicius Zinn, Ricardo Vilaca and Felipe Massuia) and tends after her aging mother (Berta Zemel).
ALBUM REVIEWS
SUGARLAND Love on the Inside -- Deluxe Fan Edition Mercury Nashville ˝ Jennifer Nettles' in-your-face performing style is akin to the sensation of diving into a chilly swimming pool. Even if you know what to expect, her nasal twang still feels like a full-body slap. Thing is, she's got a terrific voice once you get used to it.
CELEBRITY Q&A
DJ AM (Adam Goldstein), Hollywood's A-list spinner, became popular for his mash-ups of '80s and '90s classics with current hits at the hottest nightclubs. But it wasn't until DJ AM played at singer Melissa Etheridge's 40th birthday party in 2001 that he exploded onto the scene as the DJ of choice for private parties hosted by Hollywood's elite. (We're talking Ben Stiller's wedding, Madonna's birthday party, Steven Spielberg's son's Bar Mitzvah . . .) He partnered with drummer Travis Barker of Blink...
THE DATING GAME
Sometimes guys will do crazy things when it comes to getting the woman of their dreams (even though she may wind up becoming a nightmare).
VELVET UNDERGROUND
Summer is going rather swimmingly, we guess, and this weekend really promises to be a splashy affair thanks to the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Swim shows, a bathing suit trade show of sorts where clothing is almost optional. Although the shows taking place at the Raleigh Hotel are by-invitation-only, the requisite parties will coincide. While some may be harder to slip into than an overweight dude trying on a Speedo, others not so much. Good news for those who live on credit, though: All you need...
AFTER DARK
I went to see Matisyahu, who mixes orthodox Judaism with reggae beats, Saturday night at Revolution in downtown Fort Lauderdale. I wasn't interested in the opening band, so I sat on the stoop in front of the venue, and after deliberating for nearly an hour, scribbled this list of my favorite albums into my little notepad: Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run. Paul Simon's Rhythm of the Saints. Radiohead's Kid A. Jeff Buckley's Grace. Miles Davis' Kind of Blue.
Michael J. Fox will return to series TV with a four-episode guest role on FX's Rescue Me. FX this week also announced that Academy Award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden (Pollock) will be joining the Glenn Close legal drama Damages as a second-season series regular, while Ted Danson will return to the show for several episodes.
Here's a chance to catch the reunion tour of influential '70s jazz-rock fusion act Return to Forever at Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater at 8 p.m. July 30. The band includes bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Lenny White, with keyboardist Chick Corea and guitarist Al Di Meola. Tickets are $93.50, $78.50, $58.50 and $48.50; Ticketmaster.com.
Due in stores Tuesday: Black Kids, Partie Traumatic (Columbia Records). Jacksonville indie-pop band. Candlebox, Into the Sun (Silent Majority).
With the endless versatility of materials used today to make a contemporary work of art, people seem to have forgotten the most basic way in which artists express their ideas: by putting them on paper. And so with the exhibition The Beauty of Paper, The Americas Collection in Coral Gables is reminding us that works on paper are no less valuable, and celebrating the way artists have used paper for drawing, painting and printmaking. A stellar lineup of Latin American and Iberian artists are featured...
That knowing laughter you'll hear through mid-August at Actors' Playhouse is coming from Baby Boomers who are going through the catharsis of seeing their lives onstage. Not their lives, precisely, but actors Margot Moreland, Wayne Steadman, Allan Baker, Maribeth Graham, Barry J. Tarallo and Lourelene Snedeker get close enough to universal truths that Mid Life! The Crisis Musical should seem very familiar to those between 40 and 60 -- or to anyone who loves them. The show runs through Aug. 10 at the...
For nearly 20 years, Ed and Kathy D'Alesio have been going 'just around the corner' to their fave restaurant, Antonio's Pizza-Rant in Shenandoah Square in Davie. The couple has been such a fixture at the place that 'very friendly' co-owner Anthony Silvestro Jr. has named D'Alesio's favorite thin and crispy pizza 'Ed's Pizza.' Kathy's favorite is the chicken Francese. 'Another favorite is the shrimp scampi, and the eggplant Parmigiana (well done) is great as are all the...
If your kids are LEGO fans, here's a chance to see how far the imagination can go with the building blocks at the exhibit The Art of the Brick. The opportunity gets even easier on Sunday, when the Art and Culture Center in Hollywood offers its free family admission from noon-4 p.m. The gallery will feature three original art exhibitions:
3 Doors Down -- dubbed 'the thoroughly modern American band' by Billboard magazine -- heads for West Palm Beach's Cruzan Amphitheatre Sept. 25, along with Hinder, Finger Eleven and American Bang. You'll hear 3 Doors Down's massive hit Kryptonite, plus plenty from the self-titled new album including the single It's Not My Time, which the band performed before the Home Run Derby Monday night at Yankee Stadium as part of All-Star Week.
Modern-rock fans are no doubt pumped up to see most of the main acts on the Vans Warped Tour -- Angels & Airwaves, Relient K, As I Lay Dying, Every Time I Die, Mayday Parade, to name a few. But no one is more thrilled to be at the concert than one of the bands: A Dream of Reality.
There are two ways to see Journey to the Center of the Earth: In plain old two dimensions and, in theaters equipped with the proper projectors, in 3-D format. The second option is definitely the way to go.
The title of Hellboy II: The Golden Army makes the movie sound like something intended primarily for people who saw the first Hellboy movie -- which was OK but not exactly memorable -- and can get excited about another one. It's a dry, mundane title. It's also the only thing about the film that doesn't blow your mind right out of its comfortable, I've-seen-all-this-before rut.
EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- The lunch meeting grew into something of a legend over the years. It's gotten ''mythified,'' says Andrew Stanton, who was there.
THE DATING GAME
In the never-ending pursuit to define men -- according to some women we're all a bunch of big dummies -- Spike TV and Social Technologies recently published their results on the State of Men in 2008.
BACKSTAGE PASS
Coldplay has stretched its musical vision with its grand, sweeping fourth album Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, and now the band is coming back to South Florida to support it.
ALBUM REVIEWS
JOURNEY Revelation Nomota LLC The revelation of Journey's new album and lineup is not that this is the best Journey album in 25 years or that the San Francisco band found its new lead singer via YouTube.
DISTURBED RULES AGAIN Disturbed claims its third Billboard 200 No. 1 as Indestructible tops the chart by selling 252,000 units to follow in the footsteps of the hard rock band's 2002 album Believe (284,000) and 2005's Ten Thousand Fists (239,000).
Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal (Back Porch). Jon Foreman, Spring and Summer (Credential). Solo effort from Switchfoot singer.
BACKSTAGE PASS
Remember when the brothers Hanson tore up the heartstrings of young girls all over the world in 1997 with their infectious pop hit MMMBop?
CONCERT PREVIEW
The rejuvenated B-52s -- Fred Schneider, Keith Strickland, Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson -- are still dancing this mess around 30 years after their deliriously wacko hit Rock Lobster shook up common notions of what rock 'n' roll should, and could, be.
ALBUM REVIEWS
POP COLDPLAY Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends 5 Capitol ˝ At first listen to Viva La Vida or Death and All His Friends, Coldplay's fourth studio album, you might wonder: What is wrong with Chris Martin?
Seraphic Fire will present a special summer encore run of its popular Amazing Grace program, performed last November and now available on the choir's self-produced CD. The program traces the celebrated hymn through a variety of American music from rural Appalachia and country to the folk, bluegrass and gospel traditions.
Chicago, Stone of Sisyphus (XXXII) (Rhino Records). Originally recorded in 1993. Coldplay, Viva La Vida (Capitol).
Tony Award nominee Douglas Carter Beane will find out on June 15 whether he'll take home a Tony for the deliciously tongue-in-cheek script he wrote for the musical Xanadu. But this weekend, Beane will be in South Florida, where he'll be honored with the first Ovation Award given during the annual Lavender Footlights Festival. Celebrating work with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender themes, the two-day festival begins at 6 p.m. Saturday with a reading of Ted Sod's The Lost Art of Conversation...
BACKSTAGE PASS
When Ashlee Simpson takes the stage June 21 at the Pompano Beach Amphitheatre, forgive her if she doesn't rock out too hard: If you believe the tabloids, the new bride will be five months' pregnant by then.
ALBUM REVIEW
BACH: The Art of Fugue Pierre-Laurent Aimard Deutsche Grammophon ˝ BACH: Fugues Emerson String Quartet Deutsche Grammophon. These two releases from the yellow label offer a complementary pair of discs exploring Johann Sebastian Bach's fugues.
If you missed Miami Lyric Opera's May 17 production of Lucia di Lammermoor, a repeat performance is slated for 8 p.m. Saturday at the Colony Theater, offering an ideal opportunity for dinner and opera on Lincoln Road. Donizetti's tragic tale of the innocent Lucia, who is forced into a loveless marriage to aid her treacherous brother's fortunes, is one of the glories of the bel canto repertoire, containing such celebrated set pieces as Lucia's mad scene and the Act 2 sextet. Darynn Zimmer will...
The directing debut of Oscar-winning actress Helen Hunt, Then She Found Me, is less noteworthy for its erratic parts than for its atmospheric whole. Here's a film that whips loss, romantic yearning and the accelerating ticking of a woman's biological clock into a moody dramady that is by turns touching and exasperating.
ALBUM REVIEWS
POP CLAY AIKEN On My Way Here RCA/19 Clay Aiken has a message for his Claymates, that odd cult following that maintains an obsessional devotion for the singer. On The Real Me, written by Natalie Grant, the American Idol runner-up sings, ``I'm tired of the song and dance / Living a charade / Always on parade / What a mess I've made of my existence / But you love me even now.''
The Miami International Piano Festival continues through Sunday with three wide-ranging recitals and the traditional Concerto Night closer.
CONCERT PREVIEW
British pop singer Natasha Bedingfield, who performs Saturday at SunFest, catapulted to fame in 2005 with her infectious songs Unwritten and These Words (I Love You, I Love You) dominating Top 40 radio for months. Two years after its release, Unwritten lost out to Christina Aguilera's Ain't No Other Man for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the Grammys.
ALBUM REVIEWS
ASHLEE SIMPSON Bittersweet World Geffen Records ˝ Ashlee Simpson has become a tabloid darling for dating Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz, getting caught lip-syncing her hit Pieces of Me on Saturday Night Live, and, of course, for simply being Jessica Simpson's little sis (she even recorded a song, Shadow, detailing her bitterness over Jessica stealing most of the limelight).
Reversing the usual sequence, for classical aficionados, April came in like a lamb and it's going out like a lion. In addition to Florida Grand Opera opening its production of Handel's Julius Caesar on Saturday night, the New World Symphony is offering an intensive three-program Viennese festival, and there are several other worthy events.
In addition to its esteemed national reputation for training gifted student singers and instrumentalists, the New World School of the Arts offers a number of events that are open to the public. This weekend, the school's College Opera Ensemble will present Mozart's Cosi fan tutte in two fully staged performances.
Every Friday night, Alexis Newell leaves her South Miami home for Miami Beach, where she plops down on cushioned outdoor seats on Lincoln Road and orders a beer and a hookah, a long, ornate water pipe with roots in the Middle East. Usually joined by a few friends, her group lounges for hours, passing the fruity smoke-exuding pipe around, munching on falafel between puffs.
ALBUM REVIEWS
MARIAH CAREY E=MC˛ Island After bizarre meltdowns and questionable career choices early in this decade, Mariah Carey came back with a bang in 2005 with her album The Emancipation of Mimi, which gave us the hits Shake It Off, Don't Forget About Us and We Belong Together. Now, the songbird proves her comeback was no fluke with E=MC˛.
