Travel around Miami

The The return after a nine-year absence and to judge from the fanmail on the band’s website, the Viennese are mad for it. Matt Johnson, no stranger to controversy over the years, has been ostracised by his record label since deciding to permit MP3 downloads of the band’s latest album, NakedSelf, leaving them with no alternative but to market their wares on a gruelling world tour, already in its third year. So hats off to the tenaciously independent Johnson and his fine band. Expect to hear the new tunes with a good helping of ‘Uncertain Smile’, ‘This is the Day’ and other glorious 1980s anthems.

Telephones are the thing at the new club Park Avenue. There are four bars and two dancefloors but downstairs in the basement area – called ‘Zapadnaya’ or Trap – are single person telephone booths. Inside, erotic shows are screened on the television and you can phone any of the other booths for a chat or chat up. Cheap beer fuels the loquacity. The cloakroom also has telephones if you get the itch on the way in or out.

This is a welcome revival of the Tony award-winning musical chronicles the lives of Tevye and his five daughters in the impoverished Russian village of Anatevka, minutes before the revolution. This tale of maintaining warm family life in the face of prejudice and oppression is based on a collection of stories by the great Yiddish humorist Sholom Aleichem. This production stars Theodore Bikel who in his career has played the role of Tevye more than 1,600 times. The score includes such classics as ‘If I Were A Rich Man’, ‘Matchmaker, Matchmaker’ and ‘Sunrise, Sunset’.

Crowdpleasing tale about a young lad growing up in Yorkshire during the miners’ strike of the 80s and developing a passion for ballet dancing. This year’s The Full Monty.

Talk about a ghost of Christmases past. It was 21 years ago that Joe Jackson first entered the New Wave pantheon with the unforgettable ‘Look Sharp’, whose ‘Fools in Love’, ‘Happy Loving Couples’ and ‘Is She Really Going Out with Him’ painted a jaundiced picture of the mating game. Flash forward two decades, via a forgettable detour into classical composing, and he’s out touring to promote his 19th album, the jazzy ‘Night and Day II’.

Geography is not just a physical science and this exhibition presents work exploring space as questions of mental state, identity or journeys and displacement. Work displayed includes rising British star Darren Almond’s photo and video of a container ship on a voyage across the Atlantic, Graham Gussin’s Scottish loch and Anri Sala’s video of ritualistic pastry making in Albania.

While New Orleanians are resigned to celebrating Christmas amidst palm trees and balmy 60-degree weather, the outdoor ice rink at City Park affords a brief experience of the ‘White Christmas’ fantasy. Laboriously erected and maintained during the holiday season, the hockey-sized ice rink is open daily for fun skating, lessons and special events such as birthday parties. Nearby is an indoor section featuring a ski exercise machine.  Located in the shadow of the beautiful Popp Fountain, one of the park’s landmarks, the ice rink even has a concession tent with hot chocolate to reinforce the illusion of a wintry wonderland.

ski exercise machine