Sharing the spotlight that Wednesday night are Executive Chef Miguel Aguilar and Wynwood Walls Miami-based artist Santiago Rubino. Rubino’s diet of plant-based foods and seafood, which he says “allows me to start each day fresh,” is the inspiration for the evening’s four-course meal.

Aguilar and Rubino joined forces to come up with — smoked tuna empanadas with capers, tomatoes and escabeche; avocado romaine salad with toasted almonds, yellow tomatoes in a balsamic sesame dressing; grilled Chilean sea bass with boniato puree and chimichurri and Argentina’s famed chocolate alfajores for dessert.

Specialty cocktails and live music add to the evening’s ambiance and a wine package is available for an additional $20. A commemorative menu designed by Rubino and signed by both is a nice parting gift. Seating times are 7:30 and 9 p.m.

Wynwood Kitchen & Bar is located at 2550 NW 2 Ave. Dinner is $50. Click here to visit their website or call them at 305-722-8959.

Symmetry/Asymmetry draws attention to African textiles as abstract works of art to highlight their aesthetic dimension. At the same time the exhibition suggests a synaesthetic experience as these once kinetic works engaged multiple senses.

Over 40 works of African textiles, dress, and adornment – including objects from throughout the continent, from South Africa to the Sahara – are presented. A broad spectrum of objects spanning more than 7,000 years of artistic innovation, from a Neolithic stone bracelet to twentieth and twenty-first century commemorative cloths emblazoned with the faces of Kwame Nkrumah, Nelson Mandela, and President Obama, are included. A magnificent selection of indigo cloths from West Africa and Kuba textiles from Central Africa are also presented. The exhibition provides a surprisingly diverse range of symmetric and asymmetric designs.

The exhibit runs through August 25, 2013. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday. Click here for more information.

Whether it’s comics, movies, horror, Superman, video games or Anime, Comic Con has something for the nerd inside all of us.  Philadelphia’s Comic Con will feature film and television icons such as Lou Ferrigno, (The Incredible Hulk), Shawn Ashmore (Iceman, X-MEN), Former Superman actors Dean Cain & Brandon Routh. and Holly Marie Combs, (Piper Halliwell, Charmed), This is the biggest event all year for proud gaming geeks and comic enthusiasts in Philly, and comics aside, the event itself is so off-beat and interesting, that it would be a blast even if one were to merely stand outside and watch all the “cosplayers” head in and out.

Miami’s premier wine educator Barry Alberts hosts the events on the first and third Fridays of the month. His more than two decades of expertise in the field and vast collection of wines for sampling are just as impressive as the venue’s spectacular panoramic city views.

Each week, they feature 10 wines by theme, grape type, region or country of origin along with a complimentary artisan cheese platter. Prepare to sample varietals from around the United States as well as Europe and South America including Oregon, New Zealand, Chile, California, France.

The tasting takes place in the Four Season’s Edge Restaurant, 1435 Brickell Ave., 7th Floor and costs $20. Click here for more info.

Photogravure, a printmaking process that combines elements of engraving and photography, was a prized medium among artist-photographers of the late nineteenth century, who labored over their hand-pulled prints. Although not widely practiced today, the process remains a preference for certain contemporary artists. This exhibition includes around fifty-five works, most of them master prints from the 1880s through the 1910s by Pictorialist photographers such as Edward S. Curtis, Peter Henry Emerson, Gertrude Käsebier, Edward Steichen, and Alfred Stieglitz. There are also extraordinary examples from the 1930s by Man Ray, Paul Strand, and Doris Ullman, and contemporary works by Ian van Coller, Jon Goodman, Eikoh Hosoe, and Lorna Simpson. The exhibit opens on May 11, 2013 and runs through August 11, 2013.
Click here for more information.

In Focus: Ed Ruscha

Ed Ruscha’s art is characterized by graphic simplicity, playful humor, and a keen interest in the vernacular as it applies to both language and architecture. This exhibition explores his photography, including well-known photo-based book projects, and it runs through September 29, 2013.

Ruscha moved to Los Angeles in 1956 to study design at Chouinard Art Institute. Throughout a career of more than fifty years, he has produced paintings, photographs, prints, drawings, and films that often reflect on the city’s vernacular architecture, urban landscape, and car culture. Photography has always been central to his artistic practice, most notably for the slender, pocket-sized volumes that he began publishing in 1963 and his extensive documentation of Los Angeles streets, beginning with Sunset Boulevard in 1965. Several of the photographs that appeared in these publications became source material for works of art that he would realize in other media, either at the same time or years later—for example, the photograph of Standard Station, Amarillo, Texas, published in Twentysix Gasoline Stations and later abstracted in a well-known painting now in the Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College.

The works in this show are drawn from recent acquisitions of vintage prints by the Getty Museum and of Ruscha’s Streets of Los Angeles Archive by the Getty Research Institute. Click here for more information.

Since the restaurant’s menu is a blend of Japanese, Peruvian and Brazilian cuisine, the sakes are the perfect complement to any dish.

The six featured sakes include the Masumi whose fruity taste and aroma of Ginjo sake pairs well with the Brazilian fare; Tedorigawa with a balance of acidity, fruitiness and sweetness and Seikyo with notes of watermelon, mango and citrus.

For the rest, you’ll have to check out SushiSamba at 600 Lincoln Rd., Miami Beach and try them for yourself.

Blue Man Group cannot be explained; it can only be experienced.

Blue Man Group is the interactive show that is continuously mesmerizing audiences. It’s a full sensory experience of performance art, music, comedy and multimedia theatrics. The men in blue are making a splash, literally.
Best known for its award-winning theatrical productions which critics have described as “ground-breaking,” “hilarious,” “visually stunning” and “musically powerful.” These performances feature three enigmatic bald and blue characters who take the audience through a multi-sensory experience that combines theatre, percussive music, art, science and vaudeville into a form of entertainment that is like nothing else. Blue Man Group is a unique performance piece incorporating many different ideas, such as science, technology, noise, liquid, innocence and plumbing.

The poncho section is the first four or five rows closest to the stage. Patrons in this area are given ponchos to wear, because sometimes materials splash the audience. These substances are washable, but we suggest that you do not wear anything that needs dry cleaning.

Now Playing at the Briar Street Theatre Located at 3133 North Halsted Chicago. Blue Man Group appeals to all ages, but children under five (5) years of age are not permitted. Click here for more information.

Country Music and BBQ at Bub City…Paradise for BBQ fans!

Bub City brings in rising stars from Nashville, Austin, and other places, to play on the stage, in Chicago. You might see someone you could only see in Nashville.

It’s a casual atmosphere, where you can stop in for a beer, and some bar-b-que, and listen to some fine country music. Bub City is open late every night. On Tuesday they have Country Karaoke. You wont find a more lively, fun place in Chicago’s River North neighborhood. Click here for more information.

On December 4, 1956, these four young musicians gathered at Sun Records in Memphis for what would be one of the greatest jam sessions ever. MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET brings that legendary night to life, featuring a score of rock hits including “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Fever,” “That’s All Right,” “Sixteen Tons,” “Great Balls of Fire,” “Walk the Line,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Who Do You Love?,” “Matchbox,” “Folsom Prison Blues,” “Hound Dog” and more.

This thrilling musical brings you inside the recording studio with four major talents who came together as a red-hot rock ‘n’ roll band for one unforgettable night. Don’t miss your chance to be a fly on the wall of fame… at MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET! Click here for more information.