David Byrne & Sacre Bleu Wine at the Fillmore, Miami Beach
Last night was a blast. I went to the Fillmore, which is the revamped version of the old Jackie Gleason Theater on South Beach. The art deco theater that used to broadcast Gleason's classic show has been restored into an approximately 2,500 seater in cozy, warm decor. And in the lobby, you have Sacre Bleu wines being served in groovy wine bar, with a mural evocative of vintage South Beach, designed by Miami artist Claudio Picasso.
I particularly enjoy Sacre Bleu's white blend call the CVM -- it's made in small quantities and consists of Chardonnay (50%) Viognier (25%) and Muscat Petits Grains (25%). It's a really nice wine for our hot summer days; while being a light wine, it has a richness and floral depth because of the muscat. And seriously, I don't mean to sound like some wine snob, because I'm far from it and never would be, even if I had a budget like Scott Storch for Rolls Royces and alimony. It simply tastes and smells great and in the words of wine guru and marketing wizard Gary Vaynerchuk, that's all that really matters!
Also, I love the name "sacre blue" .... it means "holy crap" in French. However irreverent though, a generous cup of this Dionysian treat will cost you about $8 - $12 at the theater, but heck, that's not so much more expensive than popcorn and soda at the cinema, and a bargain compared to cockails at The Delano.
The house was packed last night with David Byrne fans. Brian Eno was supposed to be there but Byrne dominated the performance. Everybody stood up from their comfy seats and shooked their boot-ehs when he jammed classic Talking Heads tunes like Burning Down the House. I especially enjoyed the performance of his Twyla Tharpish dancers, who were clad in white sneakers.
A while back there was a controversy about who'd take over this South Beach theater. I'm glad it wasn't Cirque du Soleil. Live Nation's Fillmore South Beach is doing a good job of maintaining the tradition of quality musical and comedy performance here. It meshes well with South Beach's history, what with this being the hub of the Sinatras and Gleasons of the past. It was in 1964 that Gleason moved his show here -- the same week that the Beatles performed at the Deauville up by 67th and Collins!
Little known fact: Jackie Gleason used to live on the premises and his residence is somehow preserved. I need to check that out!
I live-streamed a shit load of videos last night. The one embedded below is a tour of the facility. You can see more or clicking on the video and following the link to @vicequeemaria's Qik.
PS, if you are into wines, you might also want to follow my friend @mmwine on Twitter. He does some fun live twitter wine tastings.
