[🌞 #H!L] Buena Vista Social Club Opens Tuesday, Black Violin Comes Home, and the Man Who Put Windmills by the Highway

Plus: an orchid auction, ocean liner menus you can bid on from your couch, and where "for a song" comes from.

Oct 08, 2026

Thursday, October 8th, 2026 - Hispanic Heritage Month has one week left, and it ends with a lot of music: Ricky Martin and Tito Nieves on Saturday, and the Buena Vista Social Club musical opening Tuesday. Black Violin comes home to the Broward Center on Sunday. And this week we remember the man who put windmills by the highway in Weston.👇👇👇

Stuff You Won’t Want To Miss This Week:

★ TOP PICK THIS WEEK: Tuesday through Sunday - Tue and Wed 7:30pm, more shows through Oct 18 | Buena Vista Social Club at the Au-Rene Theater, Broward Center. The Broadway musical built on the Cuban album that carried Havana’s old dance-hall sound around the world. It won four Tony Awards in 2025, and its band won a special Tony of its own. Here for six days, right as Hispanic Heritage Month ends.
TONIGHT - 6-8pm | Free Salsa Classes at L Bar, Seminole Hard Rock, Hollywood. Free lessons for Hispanic Heritage Month, and first-timers are welcome. The last class is next Thursday.
TONIGHT - 6-8pm | Oldies Music Singo & Dance Show at the Herb Skolnick Center, Pompano Beach. Bingo played with oldies. $9 covers your cards, refreshments, and a shot at prizes, and the dancing starts when the games end.
TONIGHT - 7pm | A Taste of Jazz at Bailey Contemporary Arts, Pompano Beach. A wine tasting at 7, then an hour of jazz history played live by Martin Hand and the Gold Coast Jazz Quartet. Tonight’s chapter is hard bop. $25. Insider Tip: there are no tickets at the door, so reserve ahead.
TONIGHT - 7pm | Fortune Feimster: Takin’ Care of Biscuits at Wells Hall, The Parker. Stand-up from the comic behind three Netflix specials.
TONIGHT - 8pm | Billy Currington at Hard Rock Live, Hollywood. Twelve No. 1 country singles, including “People Are Crazy.” From $75.
Friday - 12-1:30pm | Riverwalk Tunes on Top at Tunnel Top Plaza, Las Olas Blvd and 6th St. Free live music on your lunch break, and this is the last one of the season.
Friday Night - 6pm | The Watermelon Woman at The Pride Center at Equality Park, Wilton Manors. A free screening of Cheryl Dunye’s 1996 film, the first feature directed by a Black lesbian. The popcorn is free too.
Friday Night - 6-9pm | ¡Fiesta de Cultura! at Island SPACE Caribbean Museum, inside Broward Mall, Plantation. Latin dancers, singers, artists, and pop-up shops, with the museum open.
Friday Night - 7-9pm | Music Under the Stars on the Great Lawn at Atlantic Blvd and Pompano Beach Blvd. A free outdoor show by the beach, with the Speaker Box Band playing R&B, pop, and classic rock. Bring a chair or a blanket.
Friday Night - 7:30pm | Jefferson Starship at Wells Hall, The Parker. “Jane,” “Miracles,” and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” with founding member David Freiberg still in the band.
Friday Night - 7:30pm | Aziz Ansari: Hypothetical Tour at Hard Rock Live, Hollywood. Stand-up from the co-creator of Master of None.
Friday Night - 7:30pm | Beyond the Beatles at the Pompano Beach Cultural Center. A show built on the four Beatles’ solo songs, and the audience helps pick the setlist. From $45.
Friday Night - 9pm | Bop to the Top at Revolution Live. A DJ dance night of Disney Channel throwbacks, and you are welcome to dance on the stage. 18+, from $26.
Friday and Saturday - 7:30pm | Aretha Franklin Tribute Concert at the Center for Spiritual Living, Oakland Park. Cristina Gilbert and the J Blue Band sing the Queen of Soul, two nights only.
Also starts this Weekend | Haunted Hamptons. Kicking off the scariest (and most fun) season of the year, this is a haunted trail at Hampton Pines Park in North Lauderdale. Admission is just $5.
Saturday and Sunday - 9:30am-4:30pm | Harvest Festival Weekends at Flamingo Gardens, Davie. Hayrides through a botanical garden and wildlife sanctuary that dates to 1927, plus mini Highland cows, new this year. This weekend’s theme is pirates. $24.
Saturday (times not yet announced) | Corgi Racing at Gulfstream Park. Yup, you read that right. The place famous for its horse racing… opens up the track for the shortest legs in the business. Thanks to The Browardist for finding this one.
Saturday - noon | Golden Age of Ocean Liners & Travel from Lion and Unicorn, Hollywood. An online-only estate auction of 590 lots from the great passenger ships: passenger lists, menus, and brochures from the Queen Mary, the Olympic, and the SS United States, plus shipboard china. You bid from home on LiveAuctioneers.
Saturday - 12-1:30pm | Decks for Discovery at NSU Art Museum. A workshop for grown-ups where you design your own mixed-media deck of cards. $25, 18+, and you need to register.
Saturday - 1pm and 7:45pm | Come From Away at the Amaturo Theater, Broward Center. Slow Burn Theatre opens its season with the musical about the Newfoundland town that took in 7,000 stranded passengers on 9/11. It runs through Oct 25.
Saturday - 2:15pm and 8pm | Tito Nieves: 50 Años at the Au-Rene Theater, Broward Center. The singer they call the Pavarotti of Salsa marks fifty years on stage.
Saturday Afternoon - 4-8pm | Deerfield Beach Fall Festival at Pioneer Park. Free, with a biergarten, artisan vendors, a pumpkin patch, and country music from the Whisky Six Band, then Gabriel Key with line dancing at 6. Insider Tip: skip the parking and take the free shuttle from Eller Street, near the Braithwaite Center, from 3:30 to 8:30.
Saturday Night - 6-9pm | Dania Beach Oktoberfest at Dania Beach City Hall. Free to get in, with live music, a costume contest at 7, and free pumpkins while they last. A tasting ticket covers unlimited samples from more than 40 breweries, wineries, and distillers. Insider Tip: parking is tight, so use the free shuttle from the Dania Beach Casino, running 5:30 to 10:30.
Saturday Night - 6pm-2am | Hells Gate: Dark Arts & Music Festival at Revolution Live. Two stages of darkwave, post-punk, and goth bands, plus burlesque, tattoo artists, and a market of oddities. 18+, from $32.47.
Saturday Night - 7-8pm | Kirk Zieser Pop-Up Performance on the Legacy Terrace at Huizenga Park. Free. Dylan to Buffett on ukulele and harmonica, beside the river.
Saturday Night - 8pm | Ricky Martin at Hard Rock Live, Hollywood. The San Juan-born star who started in Menudo, here in the last week of Hispanic Heritage Month. From $55.
Saturday Night - 8pm | Eva Ayllón & Daniela Darcourt at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center, NSU campus, Davie. Five decades of Peruvian música criolla from a Latin Grammy lifetime achievement winner. Insider Tip: park in the Alvin Sherman Library garage for $1 an hour.
Sunday - 12-4pm | Huizenga Park Community Market on the Civic Lawn. Local makers, small businesses, and food vendors with a DJ.
Sunday - 2pm | Cabrini at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center, Davie. A screening for Italian American Heritage Month, about the immigrant nun who became the first U.S. citizen named a saint.
Sunday Night - 6-9pm | Soulful Sundays at the Ali Cultural Arts Center, Pompano Beach. Andrew Luv & The Franchise Players play soul, R&B, and smooth jazz. $15. Insider Tip: tickets are sold online only.
Sunday Night - 7pm | Black Violin at the Au-Rene Theater, Broward Center. Wil Baptiste and Kev Marcus met in orchestra class at Dillard High School here in Fort Lauderdale. Now they bring classical strings and hip-hop beats home on the Be Free Tour.
Sunday Night - 7pm | Salud, Moldavsky y Amor at Wells Hall, The Parker. Spanish-language stand-up from the Argentine comic Roberto Moldavsky, with music by Valentín Gómez.
Sunday Night - 8pm | Postmodern Jukebox at the Pompano Beach Amphitheater. Pop hits redone as vintage jazz, swing, and soul, outdoors. Doors at 7.
Monday Night - 6:30pm | Fort Lauderdale Orchid Society Annual Orchid Auction at Christ Lutheran Church. Members donate rare orchids from their own collections, and the bidding starts at 7. The society turns 75 this year. Insider Tip: come at 6:30 to look the plants over before the bidding.
Tuesday Night - 7pm | Weezer: The Gathering at Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise. Weezer, The Shins, and Silversun Pickups on one bill. Great diversion on a Tuesday.
Tuesday Night - 8pm | “The Maids” at the Lauderhill Performing Arts Center. Roman Viktyuk’s staging of Jean Genet’s play has run for more than 35 years, with Kabuki-style makeup and a score of Dalida songs.
Wednesday Night - 6:30-8pm | Think and Drink Trivia at New River Landing, Huizenga Park. Weekly trivia by the river.
Wednesday Night - 8pm | Freya Skye at Hard Rock Live, Hollywood. The British pop singer who sang for the UK at Junior Eurovision, now past 1.5 billion streams. From $56.
SAVE THE DATES for Next Week
1. Thursday, Oct 15 - 7pm | Vamos Gatos Night: Canucks vs. Panthers at Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise. The Panthers’ Hispanic Heritage night. Doors open 60 to 90 minutes before puck drop.
2. Thursday, Oct 15 - 7pm | OUTshine Film Festival Opening Night: La Bola Negra at Regal Dania Pointe. Spain’s entry for the Best International Feature Oscar, in its only Florida screening before release, then an after party at 14 North Daiquiri Bar. The festival runs through Oct 25.
3. Thursday, Oct 15 - doors 7pm | Toadies: The Charmer Tour at Revolution Live. The Texas band’s new album is one of the last records Steve Albini produced. Local H and Emily Wolfe open. All ages, $41.50.
4. Thursday, Oct 15 - 8pm | Def Leppard at Hard Rock Live, Hollywood. “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Rock of Ages” from the band that has sold more than 110 million albums. From $75.
5. Friday, Oct 16 - 6-9pm | Old Town’s Backyard Jam in Old Town Pompano. Relentless plays dance hits from the 80s, 90s, and now. Free; bring a chair.
6. Friday, Oct 16 - 7-10pm | Carter Park Jamz at Joseph C. Carter Park. A free outdoor concert, and you can bring chairs, blankets, and a cooler.
7. Friday, Oct 16 - 7:30pm | Journey: Final Frontier Tour at Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise. Do we need to say anymore?
8. Saturday, Oct 17 and Sunday, Oct 18 - 10am-5pm | 39th Annual Las Olas Art Fair. Free. Painters, sculptors, photographers, jewelers, and glass and ceramic artists from around the country, and you can talk with each of them about the work.
9. Saturday, Oct 17 - 12-4pm | 10th Annual Riverwalk Fall Festival at Esplanade Park. Free, with food trucks, seasonal vendors, and pumpkin painting by the river, the same afternoon as the art fair.
10. Saturday, Oct 17 - 5-10pm | Pompano Beach Caribbean Fest at Community Park, 1801 NE 6th St. Free. Farmer Nappy and KLASS headline, with island food and vendors all night.
11. Saturday, Oct 17 - 7pm | Bassem Youssef: The Belly of the Beast Tour at Wells Hall, The Parker. He hosted Al Bernameg, the first political satire show in the Middle East, which drew 30 million viewers a week.
12. Saturday, Oct 17 - doors 7pm | The Chopin Salon at ArtServe, 1350 E Sunrise Blvd. Margarita Shevchenko, a winner of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw, plays in the main gallery. Free with registration.
13. Saturday, Oct 17 - 7pm | Knocked Loose & Denzel Curry at War Memorial Auditorium. A hardcore band and a rapper share the bill, with Superheaven and Boundaries.
14. Sunday, Oct 18 - 2pm | “25 Cats of Qatar” with PURRR at Savor Cinema. The cat rescue hosts a screening, and director Mye Hoang stays after to meet people. $15.
15. Sunday, Oct 18 - 4pm | Fists of Fury at Hard Rock Live, Hollywood. A night of live boxing. Cuban boxer Yuniel Dorticos, known as The KO Doctor, headlines, and Pompano’s Rosalinda Rodriguez is on the card. From $31.

Our Ask: What is the best thing you ever found at an estate sale, a yard sale, or the Swap Shop?

Featured Fort Lauderdale

You get a two for one this week:

A Local Shelter Dog Who Sniffs for Bombs

When Fort Lauderdale police found her, she was seven months old and tied up in a backyard. Nobody knew whose she was. Broward County Animal Care took her in and waited for an owner to come forward. Nobody did.

Officer Dougle Ng-A-Kien wondered whether a shelter dog could do police work. He fostered her and trained her himself. Her name is Mal, and she is a Belgian Malinois. She passed the same tests the department gives the dogs it buys from professional suppliers, and she has worked bomb detection since July. After her probation, she got her badge.

A Malinois brought in from overseas can cost up to $25,000. A dog from the shelter often costs less than $200. Mal is one year old now, and she is Officer Ng-A-Kien’s second work dog. FLPD K-9 Mal.

Source: Hoodline, from WSVN 7News, Oct 2

Windmills by the Highway in Weston

If you have driven I-75 at Arvida Parkway, you have seen the windmills. Roy Rogers put them there. He was the central figure in planning Weston for Arvida, and the wide medians, open green space, and parks came from his belief that a suburb should not feel closed in.

He also helped bring Butterfly World into being and helped found the Parks Foundation of Broward County. In 2023 Pompano Beach named the park at Hillsboro Inlet for him.

Rogers died Sept. 26 at 90. His family will hold a celebration of his life at that park in November.

Source: Sun Sentinel, Oct 1

So... You Think You Know South Florida

You probably already know (I didn’t, but cool story)… about Black Violin, the two Fort Lauderdale musicians who play classical strings over hip-hop beats.

What you might not know is… Wil Baptiste ended up in orchestra because two teachers bet on him over a round of golf.

Years before Dillard, Wil signed up for band because he wanted to play the saxophone. He was put in the string class instead. In 2012, long after Black Violin had made its name, he found out why. The band teacher and the orchestra teacher had made a bet: whoever won the golf game got him in their class. The orchestra teacher won. Wil took up the viola, and at Dillard High School he became stand partners with a sophomore named Kev Marcus.

They play the Broward Center this Sunday night.

Source: WLRN

More Treats To Try

We don’t let just anyone sponsor this newsletter. Here’s who “made the cut” this week:

Children’s Business Fair UPDATE: For supporters and participants. Next Fair is Saturday, December 5th at MODS. Registrations opening soon. Watch here for the updates. We always have a waitlist so register early.
If you have been looking for music lessons to start the school year, Thoven is an online music academy founded in South Florida, where we help families find 1:1 music lessons that fit their kid and their schedule, from home. We work with a hand-picked, vetted network of teachers, including musicians and educators from schools like The Juilliard School and Berklee College of Music. If you’d like a personalized match, you can reach out to keri@thoven.co to talk to our head of music education.
Sunset Music Cruise from Shooters Waterfront, Fort Lauderdale. Live music and the sunset from the water, for $49. Two more Fridays after this one, and then the season is over. Insider Tip: cruise guests get a $10 Shooters coupon for after.
👉 Buy YOUR OWN Classified Ad Here 👈

Just hit reply to this email to get started. Work with us to reach over 1500+ Greater Fort Lauderdale families.

Quote Of The Week

“Every passion borders on the chaotic, but the collector’s passion borders on the chaos of memories.”

This one is from Walter Benjamin, the German writer, in his 1931 essay about unpacking his book collection, "Unpacking My Library." Seems appropriate on a week with an Estate Auction from Cruise Liners and an Orchid Sale. We all collect something, even if it is just a collection of moments.

Flotsam & Jetsam

Here’s an interesting one to explore. We are getting into the political season (voting in November) though it feels like politics have become a year-round and brutal sport.

WHY do we think what we think? That’s the premise of 12 Axes. Instead of just jumping on the bandwagon, it is a political quiz that goes past the left-right line. It scores you on 12 separate scales, then shows the ideologies, countries, and political figures you match most. You might be surprised by your results.

Word Play Of The Week

“Going for a song.”

When something sells for far less than it is worth, it went for a song. A song costs nothing to sing, and English has used it to mean next to nothing since at least 1601, when Shakespeare wrote of "a goodly manor for a song" in All's Well That Ends Well. ~ Source

‘Under-The-Radar’ Openings Job Board

Lots of folks offering cool positions here locally. Maybe there’s one for you or a friend?

Sea Turtle Worker with NSU’s Broward County Sea Turtle Conservation Program. Hourly, nights and weekends, hiring for next nesting season. You patrol Broward’s beaches on an ATV, mark new nests, and check the ones that have hatched.
Museum Registrar at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale. Full time with benefits. You keep track of every work in the collection and run the packing, shipping, hanging, and condition reports. Applications close Saturday, Oct 10.
Booth Photographer at the Awkward Family Photos holiday pop-up, Broward Mall, Plantation. Seasonal, Nov 6 to Dec 24, with training the week of Oct 19. You shoot people in wigs on a set built like Grandma’s living room.
Changeover Crew at Amerant Bank Arena, Sunrise. Part time, nights and overnights. You’re one of the people who turn the Panthers’ ice into a concert floor and back again.
Ocean Lifeguard for Deerfield Beach Ocean Rescue. $23.85 an hour, on call. Applications close Oct 16 at 5pm.
Classic Car Body Man, Fort Lauderdale. $22 to $25 an hour, full time. A restoration shop wants someone who can replace rusted floors and straighten old frames by hand. The post is in Spanish.
Event Technician at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Seasonal, nights and weekends. You learn stage production from the inside, setting up shows at the Broward Center and The Parker.

Do you have a listing you would like to place here for next week? Hit reply and let us know.

Lastly… One Big Idea For Your Week

We all carry so many thoughts in our heads. What could we do with them, that would make us feel better… less stressed… more heard… better prepared?

Tell Us How We Are Doing

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