Loni Love Talks Mel Gibson, Arsenio Hall, and Chelsea Handler

Whether you’ve seen her on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno, Chelsea Lately, or VH1’s oddly addictive I Love the ’70s/’80s/’90s series, comedian Loni Love has been part of your pop culture channel surfing. And Love’s signature, smart-ass stand-up recently landed her a one-hour Comedy Central special called America’s Sister,…

The Bohemia Room at Vlada Lounge Puts the Sex Back in Poetry

Most people associate open-mike poetry nights with tie-dye, sneaky hits from Pyrex bowls, crusty flip-flops, and the stink of patchouli. But the Bohemia Room at Vlada Lounge is the “Boom Boom Pow” version of those hippie nightmares. Sure, there’ll be some political ranting, but it’ll likely be followed by Marvin…

Fifty Words Stages a Domestic Dispute

Have you ever wondered what your parents were up to while you were away at sleepovers? If you haven’t even considered the thought, lest it involve disturbing images of blindfolds and whips, consider your parents among the fortunate ones. Because often, in those rare moments of calm between washing crayon…

Kathy Griffin: You’re an Unfunny Asshole

OK, we know she isn’t an unfunny asshole. In fact, no matter how much we want to call her nasty names, Kathy Griffin seems pretty goddamn delightful. But we’re hurt. The Emmy-winning comedian will be in town this Wednesday at Hard Rock Live and we had been giddy with excitement at…

Do the Djun Djun with Delou Africa’s Drum and Dance Festival

It was the full-bodied movements of those bare-breasted women that first lit Njeri Plato-Dioubate’s long-term love affair with West African dance. And it was enough to convince the Trinidad-born performer, who had previously focused on Caribbean folklore dancing, to permanently change course. “It just captured me,” says Plato-Dioubate. She remembers…

Area Stage Makes a Comeback with Rent

Remember Area Stage? Miami critics fawned all over this little theater company on Lincoln Road until it closed in 1999. They recently reopened in Coral Gables, complete with a conservatory for young actors. This weekend, they stage Jonathan Larson’s Rent. We spoke with Area Stage’s directors about their role in…

AileyCamp Gives At-Risk Youth a Stage and a Microphone

Nietzsche declared, “One must still have chaos in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star.” It’s doubtful that the existential philosopher anticipated chaos giving birth to Dancing With the Stars, where B-listers tango for more fame. It’s more likely that he would have been down with…

Crazy Mary‘s Family Is Psychotic, Just Like Yours

Every family has its version of the outcast: the crazy aunt, the crazy half-brother’s ex-wife’s cousin. But would it change things if you learned that your deranged family member also happened to be crazy-rich? Would you seek them out for a donation to your backpacking-Europe-for-personal-enlightenment fund?Before you drive down that…

Por Las Tierras de Colón Cries the Grief of Latin America

Somewhere right now, an engagement is being hatched over the sound of gunfire, a baby is taking its first breathe amidst rubble, and a marriage is testing its limit as massive riots rage outside. They didn’t think to add “in peace and in violence” to the list of marriage vows,…

Forget Andrew Lloyd Webber, Gatomaquia Is the True Cats

Two years before Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare were born, the city of Madrid spawned Lope de Vega, one of the most prolific dramatists in theater history. Vega penned 1,800 plays and 3,000 sonnets, and sure, they weren’t all gems. (It’s hard to imagine anyone writing so many plays without…