Well…Since You Asked!

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My first Fringe show was suggested to me by Denna Beena. Well…Since You Asked featured a solo performance by Kate O’Neal where she offered her opinions and personal life experiences. She would go to a small round table at the back of the stage to pick up slips of paper with questions, presumably from audience members and her mom. David Horgan, one of DEM Guys, was seated in the front row. An on running joke between us is that David always tries to pose in any scene I happen to be sketching. This time he succeeded being front and center. The center bleacher seating was full with run over audience members sitting on the sides,

Although much of Kate’s monologue was funny and irreverent, she succeeded best when she spoke from the heart.  When she related one of the most tragic moments of her life, the theater went dark and she was bathed in a red spotlight. Everyone in the room seemed to lean forward, fully present. She sang several songs which resonated deeply with me. Desperado by the Eagles and Bridge over Troubled Waters. Her singing alone was worth the price of admission.

She  has met some fascinating people in her life and has been through a number of jobs and husbands. When she discovered her husband was having an affair with the neighbors
wife, her retaliation had audience members gasping and laughing. This is why theater and the Fringe are magic. People will always want to gather in a darkened room to learn from someone elses life experiences. Kate shared them all, even her mistakes, bringing us along for the emotional ride. A show like this takes bravery and this was her first time doing a personal monologue. The Fringe makes taking such chances a reality for performing artists. I’m glad she took that chance. As she said, “It’s never too late to be who you might have been.”

Show schedule:

Monday May 21st at 6:45PM

Tuesday May 22nd at 7:15PM

Friday May 25th at 7:45PM

Saturday May 26th at 12:45PM

Performances are in the brown venue and tickets are $8.

Fringe Beer Tent

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The Orlando International Fringe Festival is now in full swing. I strolled the green lawn of fabulousness and found Tod Caviness taping a string of Christmas lights to his poetry vending machine. He was glad it was sunny out, but he warned me that a storm was coming. My first order of business was the beer tent. I searched for the beer ticket booth and asked for one $5 ticket. Beer taps come right out of the side of the beer truck. I decided to order a German beer because I liked the bright yellow tap handle. It was a sweet smooth blend and I suspect it will be my beer of choice this year. I took a few sips and then started drawing the truck. Puffy white cumulus clouds looked thick and friendly. Twice I had to extract dead bugs from my drink.

Later that evening, I planned to see “Well Since You Asked” starring Kate O’Neal. Denna Beena had suggested I make this my first Fringe show.  Logan Donahoo suggested I see “Cannibal! The Musical” which was written by one of the South Park writers. Actress Marty Stonerock saw me sketching and gave me a warm welcome. “I know the Fringe has officially begun when I see you sketching away” she said. She was a fireball of excitement and energy. She had volunteered last year and had a blast. She couldn’t wait to get started again this year. She took a photo of me at work and shouted, “Act natural!”

David Horgan, one of DEM Guys, stopped to say hello just as I was finishing my sketch. He stood in front of me posing with his cooler. Darn, I could have worked him into the picture had he arrived just a little earlier. He had posed for my Mennello Museum mural last year. DEM Guys are, David, Ed, and Myron. Every year they compete to see who can see the most shows. They also sponsor one of the venues. David hopes to see more than 60 shows this year. He gave me a DEM Guys pin which I was proud to put on my bag. With the sketch finished, I ran off to my first show. I felt at home. Happy Fringe!

Snap! Fashion Night

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Snap Orlando was a three day photography celebration showcasing the work of renowned international, national and local photographers. Fashion night was held in the “Urban Wild” Space Wendy(400 Pittman St). This turned out to be an empty warehouse behind the Sheraton Hotel near the Bob Carr Theater. Lion King was being performed at the Bob Carr so parking in the neighborhood was difficult. Luckily Terry and I left my truck down in the parking garage where she works. I had a press pass and Terry was a bit upset that she might have to pay $25 to get in. As soon as we entered the warehouse, Wendy Wallenburg was there to greet us. We then walked right in. It was still early in the evening and the place wasn’t crowded. While Terry searched for a bathroom, I hunted for my sketch.

Artist Andrew Spear was working on the second of two murals he was doing on the cinder block walls of the warehouse.  Using thick Krink permanent markers, he was transferring a crosshatched ink drawing based on one of the photos in the show. A woman was hugging the neck of a stag. Andrew stood stoically on his ladder adding the finishing touches to the animal’s neck and head. He worked non-stop the whole evening to push the mural towards completion. He came over to greet me. We admire each others work since we share an affinity for the power of line. Of course admirers would interrupt his work but Andrew would embrace them and speak about art with enthusiasm. Naked couples embraced in photos encased under plastic sheets.

When I was done with my sketch, a fellow named Frank asked if he could flip through the pages.  Terry asked me for my press pass so she could go in the VIP area while I worked. With my sketch done, I went to go find her. I marched into the VIP area like I belonged, but one of the female bouncers stopped me saying I needed a ticket. I tried to explain that I was press but she wasn’t buying it. I was wearing a suit but still had on my hiking boots. A dead give away that I didn’t belong. Tommy Cannalonga, a gallery owner, greeted me from inside and as I turned to greet him and shake his hand, the bouncer said, “Oh, all right, go on in.” Later I thanked Tommy and he said, “I knew that would help.”

Sara Segal told me about the photographer’s lectures she had been to that morning. She explained how photographer Frank Day‘s work had its roots in the history of European and American Landscape painting. She mentioned the Hudson River School’s Frederic Church and I knew of his huge paintings. She pointed to a man seated alone on a couch and it was Frank, the same man who had flipped through my sketchbook. Frank had wide set eyes and a small nose on which thick glasses were perched. Sarah began talking to him about his work as Terry and I listened in. Terry bragged that she took some pretty crisp pictures with her cell phone, and she showed Frank a photo of our pet cockatoo. Frank was quite amused. Later photographer Gregory Scott joined us. Terry was convinced she knew the designer of his shirt and he allowed her to inspect the label on the inside of his collar. Across the way a man was tweaking another man’s nipple as a photographer took a digital picture of a large red dragon tattooed on a woman’s back.

By the time Terry and I left the VIP tent, the fashion show was already over. Terry and Wendy had an ongoing commentary going about the horrible fashion mistakes by many of the women in the room. Wendy was particularly offended at some of the purses. I was amazed at how many people were on cell phones. I held my cell phone up to my ear even though no one was on the other end, just so I looked like I fit in.

The Eighties Strike Back

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Imagine if the original Star Wars trilogy took place in the 1980′s – and it was a musical! That’s what this Fringe stage production is all about. The lyric from some of the most memorable songs from the eighties were changed up to re-tell, in detail, one of the most known and beloved stories of modern times. I first learned of this production when I took a required course at Full Sail called “Using Improve in the Classroom.” Simon MacDonald was one of the instructors and the class was a blast. Simon is directing “The Eighties Strike Back.”

A dress rehearsal was held at Lake Howell High School. It poured on the drive over. I ran under awnings and started searching the hallways for the auditorium.  A student finally lead me there. A band concert was going on and the audience was full of adoring parents. Trumpet solos blasted notes off tune but still the audience went wild. I started to think I was in the wrong place but then the concert ended. I watched the mad shuffle to move orchestra chairs and music stands. Then the stage stood empty with only a few students still posing for photos in the isles. Cody Donaldson stepped out on the stage dressed all in gold with a golden Frisbee on his chest. There could be no denying that he was an 80’s version of C3PO. Kelly Dunn Lowenberg skated on stage as a roller derby version of R2D2.

The cast assembled and then they did a full run through of the show. The production certainly pulled out the Star Wars geek in me. Richard Barados rendition of Chewie in one of the musical numbers had me laughing out loud. Emily Cutting added some new dance moves to one of the numbers and as Leia, she will earn any fan boy’s attention. Matthew Mendel as Luke was dressed as Marty McFly from “Back to the Future.” He wanted to be sure I captured his hair wave accurately in the sketch. Adam Bellas had a fun rebel punk attitude as Vader and Simon was particularly hilarious as Yoda. I was bobbing my head and ended up singing along as I sketched. They get my vote for a super awesome, fun, Fringe show!

Show times are:

Saturday, May 19th, 11:15 am

Sunday, May 20th, 3:00 pm

Wednesday, May 23rd, 7:30 pm

Friday, May 25th, 5:00 pm

Saturday, May 26th, 7:45 pm

Sunday, May 27th, 1:45 pm

Tickets are available on the Orlando Fringe website. Prices are $10 per show and there is a $1
handling cost. (If you are a card carrying member of the 501st or Rebel
Legion you get a $1 discount.) It is also required that in order to see
a Fringe performance that you have a Fringe button which is $8. All information is available on the Orlando Fringe Website.

The HeART of Theater

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0n May 10th and 11th, Central Florida Community Arts presented, “The HeART of Theater, An Evening on Broadway.” The event featured the Central Florida Community Choir, orchestra and Dance Team, at the Northland Church (530 Dog Track Road). When I pulled into the church parking lot, I saw a mini van unloading seniors in front of the venue. My NYC snobbery kicked in and I expected to experience an amateurish production. Most folks waiting in the lobby did have grey hair but I had to do a reality check, so do I.  The worship center was huge and the large crowd in the lobby filled maybe a third of the available seats. I sat midway back so I could capture the immensity of the space.

Joshua Vickery, the founder and Executive Director introduced the evening. He stressed that Central Florida Community Arts positively influenced the community by connecting, serving and performing. The group has a vision to make the performing arts more accessible and to help local charities achieve their missions. This volunteer singing group has performed for the Coalition of the Homeless, Runway to Hope, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, Hope for the Nations, Florida Hospital and many other great local organizations.

The ongoing theme to the Broadway Musical numbers performed, was how the arts inspire and enrich the artists who perform. Staged scenes, and dance numbers punctuated the evening between choral performances. I was swept along by the shear power and enthusiasm of the performances. This was an energetic evening of music that far exceeded my expectations. The last piece called “You Can’t Stop the Beat“, had everyone standing, clapping and singing along. Beach balls floated down from the catwalks high over head and the audience batted them about. This was an energetic, wild evening, with CFCA splashing on the Orlando Arts scene like a tidal wave reaffirming the creative spirit. I’m indebted to Sharon Hegedus, who first introduced me to this amazing group.

Upcoming performances include, American Pops on May 19th, The Classical Music of John Rutter on August 11th and a choral concert version of the musical, Titanic on September 7th to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the sinking. On August 4th there is The Heart of the Arts Gala, held at the Gaylord Palms, which will raise funds to help CFCA impact the community where we work and live.

The Central Florida Composers Forum Concert

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CF2 was evening of new music by local composers at the Timucua White House. I arrived with Terry about an hour before the concert because the idea had been tossed around with Serena Jones, that it might be nice for me to project a sketch I was working on live during the concert. Unfortunately for technical reasons, that didn’t work out but I still got a great sketch from the second floor balcony. Serena worked the multi media imagery on a flat panel TV screen from her laptop.

The featured artist for the evening was Woody Igou. Woody set up a series of sculptures on card tables. One sculpture was of a series of hollow horns stacked up. At the beginning of the performance he mixed some gorilla glue with pigments and salt and he poured the mixture inside the horns. For the rest of the evening the mixture expanded like the blob, overflowing and oozing down like lava.

The CF2 concert offered contemporary composers an open forum to showcase their recent work.

Featured Composers on the Program:

Daniel Crozier (Rollins College) – Piano solo (2009)

Benoit Glazer (Music Director for La Nouba) – Brass Quintet and Percussion Quintet (2011)

Charles Griffin (Full Sail University) – Flute Quartet, prerecorded audio and video projection (2010) Rebekah Todia (Full Sail University) – Soprano and piano (2012)

Charles Griffin’s composition featured animated projections that responded to the music. The audience was encouraged to repeat vocalizations as they appeared on the screen. Everyone followed with shhh, and ah, ah sounds. This gave a primal feel to the proceedings.

The concert was an invigorating multimedia mix of electro acoustic, post-minimal, contemporary art song, solo piano and big-band jazz pieces by musicians and composers from Rollins, Full Sail, UCF and of course, Benoit Glazer, the musical director of Cirque du Soleil, and resident of the (Timucua) White House.

Israel Independence Day Festival

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Terry and I went to the Israel Independence Day Festival in Cranes Roost Park behind the Altamonte Mall. Cranes Roost Boulevard was blocked off and lined with festival tents and food trucks. It was hard to distinguish from any other festival except for the occasional tiny Israeli flag. There was a large kids play area with inflatable jumper rooms, slides, a bungee sling shot and even pony rides. I decided to get a sketch of the face painter. She wore butterfly wings and could bat out a face painting every five to ten minutes. There was often a line of kids and their parents waiting expectantly. The little boy I sketched turned into Spiderman.

Terry and I ordered some Israeli food from one of the tents and we sat in the shade of a tree on a cement wall. A chorus began singing Israeli folk songs and some people in the audience joined in. Artist Bonnie Sprung was there with her mom selling tie died shirts with hand painted designs. Terry bumped into some friends from book club and while I sketched, she finished up a crossword puzzle.

Brad Meltzer

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On the morning we arrived back at the port in Miami, Terry got incredibly sick to her stomach. Passengers started getting off the ship at 7am. I left her lying on the bathroom floor with a pillow, and made my way down to the medical office. No one was there. I then went to the concierge to try and get some medical help. There was a long line of people complaining about this expense or that. When I finally got up to the counter, the concierge informed me that the medical office had just opened. So, I went back down. The nurse gave me a few pills in an envelope and I rushed back to the cabin. Terry took them and sprawled out on the bed. Passengers disembarked in waves based on a letter printed on the room key. We were among the last called. Terry couldn’t get out of bed so I went back down to the concierge to try and get a wheelchair. A porter came to the room with the chair and we were off. We slipped past lines of people waiting to get off. Elaine Pasekoff picked us up curbside and after a short ride, Terry got to lie down again in Elaine’s guest bed.

Elaine is the host of a literary radio program called “The Book Report.”  She interviews authors about their books. The show airs in nine major markets. That evening she was going to Books & Books to see author Brad Meltzer. I joined Elaine and Derek Hewitt on their outing to get a sketch, unfortunately Terry still couldn’t move, although she was regaining strength. Brad was at Books & Books to talk about the book he wrote for his six year old daughter called, “Heroes for my Daughter.”  A few years prior he had written, “Heroes for my Son” and his daughter kept asking, “Where the heck is my book?” Brad pointed out that our American culture seems to only highlight the achievements of sports stars and actor/celebrities. He told us how a middle school teacher encouraged him to write. She told him, “You can really write.” He figured everyone knew how to write but she saw his talent and encouraged him. He sought her out years later to thank her. These were the types of heroes he wanted his children to know about. He was wearing a T-Shirt with Abraham Lincoln on it. The shirt said, “I am Abraham Lincoln.” This line of shirts were designed for kids to emulate real role models.

The room was packed, with people standing in the back of the room. Brad’s wife and children were there, as a matter of fact his six year old daughter did the reading. An audience member asked Brad how to get started writing the first book. Brad equated writing a novel to placing grains of sand in a bottle one at a time. “If you write a page a day, then at some point you will have a book.” Another question came from a comic book fan. Brad has written for the comic book industry for years. The fan wanted to know if there was any comic art that Brad favored above all the rest. Brad did covet some art done by Rags Morales of Batman and Robin crying. Brad went so far as to contact the artist to purchase the original art. Unfortunately it had already been sold to another fan. Years later Brad was signing books at a comics convention. A fan walked up to him and asked him to sign the very same piece of art. He tried to convince the fan to sell it to him but he must have come on too strong. He scared the fan away. Years later however the fan contacted him and sold him the piece.

St. Martin

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I didn’t do much sketching on the islands since time was limited and we were always on the move. When the Celebrity Eclipse docked in Puerto Rico, we hiked from the cruise ship towards Castillo San Filipe del Morro. There was a path, called Paseo del Morro, that followed the shoreline. 20 foot high cliffs covered with foliage were on our right and the rocky shore of San Juan Bay was on our left. Kites were everywhere, their strings winding among the vines, lost in the foliage. A fortress wall was at the top of the cliff. The path lead us to the foot of the fortress but there was no way to get up to it. We had to hike all the way back and find another route through Old San Juan. We eventually did explore the fortification. Cannonball shrapnel was still lodged in the walls from a battle hundreds of years ago.

In St. Martin, we rented a jeep and Terry drove around the whole perimeter of the island.  We drove up to Pic Paradis, the highest point on the island then got lost in the city of St. James. This sketch was done when we stopped at the beach. We sat under an umbrella and a local immediately asked us for $10. Rather than pay, I walked back to the shade under a tree to sketch and Terry went for a walk on the beach. I sketched quickly to try and finish by the time she got back. When the sketch was done, we went to a beachfront bar and ordered Pina Coladas. Terry had things she needed to say. I was speechless. The waves crashed and the gorgeous aqua water sparkled behind the bright yellow umbrellas.

Ice Sculptor

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On the deck of the Celebrity Eclipse, near the pool, an ice sculptor demonstrated his techniques. The activities coordinator had a microphone and she kept the crowd guessing as to what he was sculpting.  Large chunks crashed to the deck and then he chipped away, refining the shapes. I never caught the sculptors name but he was from the Philippines. Another crew member had a squeegee and he collected the pile of shavings and chips. Children were discouraged from taking any of the ice chips since there was salt in it.  The first sculpture, completed in less than 15 minutes was of a parrot. The second sculpture I believe, ended up being a turtle riding a wave.

Within half an hour, the sculptures were done. Parents posed their children next to the new creations and then the kids grabbed large chunks of ice and ran to the pool or hot tub. The parents were too relaxed to care.