If the chorus of one of your favorite songs starts like this, “David Lee Roth lights the menorah, as do Kirk Douglas, James Caan and the late Dina Shore-ah”… then the 23rd Annual Matzo Ball is for you! The nation’s largest, Jewish singles party returns to Miami on December 24, 2009, at Cameo Nightclub on South Beach starting at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are available online (www.matzoball.org) for $25 in advance and cash only at the door. VIP Tickets are also available for $150 and includes a three-course non-kosher nosh at SUSHISAMBA prior to the event.

Now through December 23, RA Sushi in South Miami is teaming up with the Toys for Tots Program by giving away one complimentary appetizer per table that donates a new and unwrapped toy (minimum donation value of $10.00). With a good deed checked off the list, it’s time for a well-deserved Christmas in Tokyo cocktail – RA’s seasonal Asian twist to the champagne cocktail.

Read the rest of this entry »

Dwayne Wade

Sparks is in town this week touring the Eden Roc and solidifying plans for the Jordin Sparks Super Bowl Experience, a charity event she will be hosting on Wednesday, February 3^rd. Other celebrities confirmed as of now JoJo and David Archuleta. For more information, visit: www.sparkssuperbowlexperience.com.

Dwyane Wade was seen having dinner with girlfriend/actress Gabrielle Union at 8 oz Burger Bar in Miami Beach. The couple was enjoying some burgers and sharing a sundae on Monday night.

Read the rest of this entry »

Armani minus the Sticker Shock

Armani Exchange, which for 17 years has brought “Affordable Armani” (not an oxymoron) to South Beach, celebrated its facelift and expansion last week with a bit of fanfare. If you’ll recall, 17 years ago most of Lincoln Road was condemned by the city and Ocean Drive was a retirement community. Yet Armani Exchange set up shop to bring hip and stylish clothes to the pioneers of the SoBe we’ve come to know and love (most of the time). President & CEO Harlan Bratcher told the 411 “AIX was the first designer flagship store on South Beach, and Giorgio Armani was the first designer to offer a ‘diffusion line’ (that’s a fancy way to say cheap, chic designer duds). The average price for a designer piece is just $50, but it’s not a ‘one-time-wear.’ Affordable Armani is still Armani.” Other designers following in Armani’s footsteps by creating diffusion lines include Donna Karan, Oscar de la Renta and Marc Jacobs.

Read the rest of this entry »

Also on Saturday night, socialites, Nancy Malnik and Beau Beasley each celebrated birthdays with huge bashes. Anyone who’s been to a Malnik party or passed by their Palm Beach manse, knows they don’t tend to do things “small,” after all, Al Malnik had the late Michael Jackson at his 70th birthday bash and a team of synchronized swimmers and full orchestra at last year’s Make-a-Wish garden party. So it should come as no surprise that Nancy Malnik’s 80s themed party in Boca Raton was an over-the-top affair. Nicole Miller, Scottie Pippen, and Russell Simmons all showed up to jam to a performance by Tone Loc, of Wild Thing and Funky Cold Medina fame. The party boasted the requisite 80s party props: Rubik’s cubes, Ms. Pac Man, and break dancers. Even more thrilling than the seemingly endless array of food: filet, sushi, seafood… were the Thriller and Fame shows- quite the shindig indeed.

Read the rest of this entry »

It’s the most wonderful time of the year…Art Basel, the “Carnaval” of the art world. A time when we wish those experiments with human cloning had yielded positive results. It seems that the world’s largest and most important art show gets bigger every year, especially since in addition to Art Basel itself, Vanguard, Scope, Verge, Art Miami, Art Viceroy, Design Miami and countless other satellite fairs have set up camp all over town, not to mention the requisite parties being thrown nightly and club transplants from Paris and New York. This week, the 411 brings you South Beach locals and Art Basel insiders’ top picks of not-to-be missed events during this week- in which having fun (and surviving) is its own art form. Read the rest of this entry »