Blog No. 49 of 2025

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving and good times with friends and family and welcome December which is my birthday month and the birthday of many of my family and friends.

I’ll start off this week with last Friday, the day after Thanksgiving when I did a whole lot of nothing. Besides getting tacos and flautas to go from Uptown 66, a place Elizabeth wanted to try, watching the Macy’s Parade which I didn’t get a chance to see on Thanksgiving Day and taking Michael to the airport, Friday was pretty quiet.

Sitting at the beautiful Casa Wutzler dinner table ready to enjoy some turkey tortilla soup!

Vance and Bob chatting it up in the Casa Wutzler kitchen.

Saturday we had a great time at Casa Wutzler for their annual turkey tortilla soup party. They make a delicious stock with which we filled up our bowls then topped with their leftover cubed up turkey and lots of other yummy toppings. So glad Elizabeth and her boyfriend David could make it this year.

Sunday I dropped Elizabeth and Nick off at the Dolphins game at Hard Rock Stadium because Vance couldn’t go, he had to work. Vance then went to pick them up from the game and then he, Elizabeth and I went to buy the Christmas tree. Later that night, Elizabeth headed back up to Orlando to UCF for finals week. :(

The lovely set and the cast of CLUE Live on Stage! dashing around after taking a final bow.

Tuesday I went to see CLUE Live on Stage! at the Arsht Center. The show is an 80-minute, no intermission performance/play based on the popular board game and the feature film from the 80s. It was a fast-paced, quick as lightning, dialogue-filled whodunnit mystery with plenty of comedic banter and mysterious music. The sets were great too! It’s playing through Sunday and there is a 20% discount available with the code CLUEVIP, click here to read about it and buy tickets. Oh, and I did get to see my nephew Tony from Seattle for a quick few minutes at my sister Susy’s house before we went to the show.

Yesterday, I decided to spend the day doing my annual solo Miami Art Week mad dash around town. I started the day off with breakfast at Latin Cafe 2000 with my friend Marcia. After that, I headed to the Bakehouse Art Complex for their Baker’s Brunch event where I saw a few friends and enjoyed chatting with artists in their studios. I also picked up a free book at Bookleggers Library, I spend a lot of time there as you can tell. I loved the retrospective exhibition at the Bakehouse “Bakehouse at Forty: Past, Present, Future” which tells the history of the complex since it went from a bakery to artists studios in 1986.

A piece by local artist Vanta Black on display at Revolt Art Fair. Because I’m a fan of her work, I was able to identify it as hers right away. I have also interviewed her and written about her installations many times.

After that, I went to Overtown where I took a leisurely look around at the artworks in the Revolt Art Fair at Ice Palace Studios. The show is divided into four different areas that feature the works of several Black artists from paintings to LED displays and 3-D pieces and installations. And I ended the day at YoungArts Gallery where I visited their two-story loft space and spoke to a few of the YoungArts alumni whose work was on display. On the first floor are exhibitions by Nadege Green and Qadir Parris and on the second floor are shows by Andres Gimenez and Nadia Wolff. All four are very personal accounts by each artist and I’m glad I got to chat with a few of them and learn the context behind their displays.

The exterior of the Locust Projects building in Little River.

I ended the day with a quick drive by Locust Projects to see the transformation of their building’s exterior done up in pastel colors and renamed “La Esquinita (Little Corner).” I might attend their party tomorrow night and will definitely be checking out the exhibition/installation inside by Miami musician/artist Tara Long.

Today, I had every intention of attending some more events but opted to just stay home. Tonight I’m going to the City of North Miami’s tree lighting at 6 p.m. at MOCA Plaza and may drag Vance with me.

Here are some things to do around Miami this weekend and beyond:

For something unique and different for the holidays, there’s Black Nativity by Langston Hughes presented by Brevo Theatre from Dec. 6-21 at various venues. Brevo was founded by college friends Zaylin Yates and Terrence “TM” Pride, who I profiled for Artburst Miami a while back. Click here to read my profile.

If you’d like to check out some free and cheap art fairs before Miami Art Week ends, click here to read my post on South Florida on the Cheap.

You can watch free movies or catch a free New World Symphony concert under the stars at Miami Beach’s Soundscape Park. Here is a link to the movies which are every Wednesday night and click here to learn about the upcoming Wallcast concerts.

In the meantime, I leave you with a look at the Christmas decorations at Casa Gulliksen, last night’s lovely full moon and a picture of a gorgeous tree I sat under at Ed Burke Park during one of my walks this week.

Have a great weekend and I’ll see you back here next Friday!