NWS . Symphony in the Sand @ Raleigh

wooow. how beautiful. how perfect. The Symphony in the Sand shich Dustin and the other New World Symphony musicians had created with the Raleigh's DJ was too short even, as everybody was enjoying that special moment when miami´s perfect weather gives you a sunset temperature of 77F / 25C and everything feels right, the energy level is high and mellow at the same time.
maybe it was captured in this photo gallery, just click.
this event was to make more friends of the new world symphony, encourage people to join on a yearly basis. so if you aren´t yet a member and want to enjoy 7 or 8 similar events a year (normally the events are members only, this one was an exception) contact Stacey Glassman at stacey.glassman@nws.edu to become a member. If you want to see what previous events of the Friends of NWS looked like click here for the event last year on Palm Island (and here for the second photo gallery of that event) ... and also click here for the mini-symphony a month ago at the unique TempleHouse on Euclid & 14th.
tomáš

Young President's Club Mt. Sinai

Click on any of the photos or here to see the photo gallery.

Best Buddies Moveable Feast

A Moveable Feast benefitting Best Buddies with lots of food and open bars at several locations on Lincoln Road, including Touch, Britto's gallery and 626 and then a delicious dessert nightcap at the Ritz Carlton and access to Crobar. A donation of 60$ gave you all that and good company. The nice part of moving parties like this is that people who start as strangers at place A, know each other when they meet "again" at the next Feast stop, and then are already well acquainted at the next occassion. A beautiful concept.
Best Buddies was founded in 1989 by Anthony Kennedy Shriver and is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enhancing the lives of people with intellectual disabilities by providing opportunities for one-to-one friendships and integrated employment. Check out the Best Buddies website and consider joining next time in this Moveable Feast.
tomáš

P.S. See this years photo gallery by clicking on any of the pictures. You can also see photo from last years moveable feast by clicking here.

Fairchild Tropical Gardens . Chihuly Night

very nice! the chihuly glass meets nature exhibition at fairchild tropical gardens in the night viewing session (every thursday, 6 to 9 pm; lots of people wandering around; take a flashlight if you go). nice, also, as they have a very relaxing live band playing soothing music, fits the surroundings,
and reasonably priced munchies in an elegant setting at the north entrance.
i want to go again during the day, where completely different elements will dominate visually. can´t wait. and you will see the results, :-) .
cheers
tomas

AJC's 5th Anniversary Jungle Party

GenArt Ignite!

We are used to it. And will never get used to it. GenArt mounts events which are a pleasure to attend. Not only because of the staged show, including filming a movie scene, with people waiting all night long to get their shot at pseudo-stardom.
Not only because of the silent performance in the upstairs lounge of these angelic faces. Not only because of the jolt of energy from the punk band playing after that. (More punk bands, please. Miami needs more punk bands, even if this one was pretty well dressed). Not only because of some good short films always playing to a packed room and almost well projected with almost understandable sound.
GenArt Ignite! was an artistic, hedonistic, hang-out-istic, perfect-miami-evening-istic extravaganza. More of those. Or maybe not. It would be too easy to get used to them.

tomáš

P.S. Would someone stop wasting resources on goodie bags which contain: a small bottle of Fiji Water, New Times' childish key-chain light (but, hey, kids will indeed love it), a SoBeWineAndFooidFestival rubber band - all in a far too BIG bag which mocks any good intentions of preserving the environment most of the attendees would say they have.
PP.SS. For photo gallery click on the photos or... here.
Another photo gallery from GenArt's Fashion event last year at the Surfcomber is here.

Woof! Humane Society Event

PawPurrAzzi. Although I still don't like the name, the event was sweet. Several dozens dogs, in every shape, size & breed convinced their human companions (on this evening we don't want to call them owners) to come to the Village of Merrick Park center plaza and participate in a pet extravaganza benefitting the Humane Society.
Centerpiece was an exhibition and silent auction of photos of pets (almost exclusively dogs, hopefully next time there will be more cats and parrots) with celebrity human partners, like Britto, Barry Gibb, Jason Taylor and Katharina Campins.
Yes, self promotional break here, I photographed 10 of the pets and happily said hello to my best animal friends, Jordan (with ties to the Agastsons, helping you with the "South Beach Diet"), Athena and the twins (who came with Olympic Silver medallist & world champion Lauryn Williams ) and Walker (who if necessary models for Michelle Pommier).
All went well for a good cause, most of the photos sold well for the good cause and the diea of serving good old cuban ropa vieja as a delicacy in a cocktail glass i great.
See all the photos from the event here and if you wanna see more check out the original photo galleries with all pictures of the animals i photographed here.
Woof.
tomáš

Italian Event Design District

Legal Art: Duval-Carrié @ Temple House

Legal Art, a great not-for-profit organization dedicated to providing artists with affordable legal services, unique events and educational opportunities used Dan Davidson's Temple House to present Edouard Duval-Carrié in conversation with his gallerist Bernice Steinbaum.
Great about it was to get a better understanding of Haiti, Voodoo and the possible future paths of Haitian artists, both there and the many who are in Miami.
And, after the talk there was plenty of delicious food by Tap Tap, the Haitian Restaurant on 5th Street, with the opportunity to enjoy the suddenly warm (at least in the sun) day on Dan's terrace and kitchen.

tomáš

See pics from the event by clicking on any of these images.