Could it be that someone spiked our egg nog with hallucinatory agents or is it just a little strange that Art Basel Miami Beach seems to be dressed up as the MTV Video Music Awards this year, what with a celebrity onslaught that includes tabloid darlings such as Paris and Nicky Hilton? One could say that candid paparazzi photos are art, a vivid commentary on society and its obsession with pop culture or, rather, with celebrities moonlighting as train wrecks.
At any rate, Miami is crawling with celebrities this weekend for many reasons, not just the opportunity to be photographed in a flattering, arty light.
The Hiltons, for example, will be at Thomas Kramer's Star Island manse on Saturday for a big benefit party Nicky is hosting. Among the bold-face names on the guest list: Pamela Anderson, Gloria Estefan, Shaquille O'Neal and Scott Storch, who just so happens to be working with Britney Spears on her comeback album. But more amusing than all of that, perhaps, is the fact that Mansion, whose most artistic contribution to the city until now has been its canvas of sozzled celebrities, is throwing a big, arty event Sunday night for author Slava Mogutin and iconic photographer Bruce la Bruce's book Lost Boys, which has been described as ''a cross between porn and fashion, pop culture and marginal kink, a poetic and sometimes raunchy journey into different obsessions and fetishes of the cosmopolitan urban youth culture.
'' That sounds about right for Mansion, actually. Photo and video installations will add to the live performance art that goes on there on a nightly basis. Party starts at 11 p.
m. and goes until 5 a.m.
The Delano is also hosting a slew of events, including the official Art Bar, which will be hosted by Dennis Hopper on Friday night following a private dinner and an 8:30 p.m. Easy Rider screening at the Colony Theatre.
The Shore Club hosts the Art Lounge, where the official Art Basel farewell party will take place on Sunday night.
And if all the art bars, art lounges and art talk makes you just want to artfully dodge all of it, check out the new Friday night happy hour, After 6, at the newly renovated rooftop pool terrace at the Conrad Hotel, 1395 Brickell Ave., Miami, where you'll be smack in the middle of it all, yet worlds away.
Cocktail specials and a deelish bar menu by the Conrad's cool and creative chef Michael Gilligan are available, as are cabanas in case you experience altitude sickness or just a vague homesickness caused by crossing the causeway. Or, douse yourself in tequila at Agave Sundays, the new weekly 5 p.m.
cocktail party at the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne's stellar oceanfront Cantina Beach, with Pierre Zonzon spinning and countless brands of tequila.
But while tequila brands may come and go out of vogue, Evian water always remains a fashionable accessory, especially when artist Romero Britto designs the bottles. The limited quantity will be displayed Monday night at a Brazilian-themed party at the Hotel Victor's View Terrace from 8-11 p.
m. In addition to water bottles, there's a silent auction, proceeds from which will benefit Best Buddies International. Food from Tantra, Vix and Smith Wollensky will be available as will cocktails and, of course, that fashionably thick Evian with which to wash it all down.
Speaking of washing, Karma, the cool car wash and hipster hangout is hopping, especially on Wednesdays for Brazilian Vibes, which features two DJs spinning funky bossa nova and house music, not to mention beer and wine specials. On Thursdays, it's Karmasutra, a mostly gay gathering thrown by M.C.
Gomez, promoter of the long gone yet beloved 821 on Lincoln Road, set to the tunes of DJ Umber Bendi Ville.
Come to think of it, there's a lot of good Karma going around, this time in the form of a deelish new Asian restaurant of the same name at 2325 Galliano St. in Coral Gables, where chef and co-owner Michael Schukar joined forces with nightlife savvy Shawn Shahnazi to create quite a buzzworthy -- and tasty -- scene in the City Beautiful.
In addition to the Hawaiian- and French-inspired Asian fare, Karma's bar scene is buzzing thanks to potent cocktails like the Scorpion Bowl, a concoction served in a fish bowl, meant for two, and guaranteed to have you believing in your own karma, even if it's just a temporary hallucination.
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