Buggin Out: A Small Musical

Posted on by Thor

This was a small musical for kids at the 2018 Fringe. The premise is simple enough, Mitch (Austin Palmer) is a shy Monarch Butterfly who has just molted and he is concerned about his new look. Tina the toothless termite (Melanie Leon) offers him some solace.

The show’s original songs are composed and performed by SAK keyboardist Ryan Goodwin, house left. The rhymes were playful and light-hearted. A large storm swept into Bugville and Mitch and his friends needed to bond together to ride it out. This high stakes scene had the actors crouched down together center stage behind chicken wire. The moral that kids, and perhaps parents, might take from the show is that friendship helps ride out any storm. In a time when divisiveness seems to be the daily norm, it is nice to hear a message that encourages kids to work together rather than fight.

Lynching Memorial in Montgomery Alabama

Posted on by Thor

Members of the onePULSE Foundation Board flew into Montgomery, Alabama to visit the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, commonly known as the Lynching Memorial. Pam Schwartz and I flew in the same day, but on a separate flight. While the Board explored the museum, I walked over to the memorial to sketch.

Entrance to the memorial costs $5 and there are two metal detectors for security. Video isn’t allowed but still photography is fine, although they don’t want people taking selfies in front of the sensitive  statues of enslaved people. Since we were only in town for a day, I had a change of underwear in my artist stool and I hoped I wouldn’t have to drag it out while going through the metal detectors. My sketch pad should get through fine.

I was surprised when security told me that I would have to leave my art bag behind, although I was told I could take out anything I needed. I said I would need my sketchbook and then I was informed that sketching was not allowed. I would also have to leave my art stool, so I faced the prospect of standing for several hours as I sketched, which can be exhausting. I decided to turn on my heel, get my refund, and leave.

I hiked around the block until I found this view of the memorial from an abandoned empty lot across the street. About half way into this sketch another security guard walked down the steps and across the street from me. I stiffened up, thinking he might try and stop me from sketching from this public spot. The opposite happened. He apologized and said I could could sit inside on one of the granite benches if I wanted to. I thanked him for the offer but I was already deeply committed to this sketch. I also had shade from a tree on the empty lot which was needed. There were few trees inside the memorial property.

This is the nation’s first memorial dedicated to the legacy of enslaved
black people, people terrorized by lynching, African Americans
humiliated by racial segregation and Jim Crow, and people of color
burdened with contemporary presumptions of guilt and police violence. The memorial uses sculpture, art, and design to contextualize racial
terror. The site includes a memorial square with 800 six-foot monuments
to symbolize thousands of racial terror lynching victims in the United
States and the counties and states where this terrorism took place. These rust colored monuments hang from the ceiling. The Equal Justice Initiative is inviting counties across the country to claim their monuments and
install them in their permanent homes in the counties they represent.

The streets of Montgomery, Alabama are strangely deserted. I got the feeling like I was the last man on earth walking the quiet streets. When a car did rush by it seemed out of place. The city wears its history of hate and racism on its sleeve with pride.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for February 2 and 3, 2019

Posted on by Thor

Saturday February 2, 2019

9am to 5pm Free. Saturday and Sunday. Mount Dora Arts Festival. Mount Dora, Mt Dora, FL 32757. What better way to celebrate one of the top Downtowns in the country than by walking America’s favorite home-town! Filled with fine-art from national artists, along a magnificent lake view! Discover terrific entertainment, food, superb shopping and of course, The Premier Arts Festival in Central Florida!



7pm to 11:30pm Free. Plankton – by Doug Rhodehamel. Stardust Video and Coffee 1842 E Winter Park Rd, Orlando, Florida 32789. Diatoms, cyanobacteria, coccolithophores, dinoflagellates…who doesn’t
love plankton?!! Leave it to Doug Rhodehamel to take them to an all new
fun and lovable level!

Plankton features an assortment of large
decoupage panels featuring many micro flora and fauna as translated by
Doug’s weirdo brain. There will be cheese.

8pm to 10pm Free. Shuffleboard. Orlando’s Beardall Courts 800 Delaney Ave Orlando FL. Shuffleboard at Orlando’s Beardall Courts at 800 Delaney Ave on the 1st Saturday of each month.

Sunday February 3, 2019

10am to Noon Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32811.  The Method of Heartfulness A simple and practical way to experience the heart’s unlimited resources.

Noon to 1pm. Free. Yoga. Lake Eola near red gazibo. Bring your own mat.

10pm to Midnight. Free. Comedy Open Mic. Austin’s Coffee, 929 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL. Free comedy show! Come out and laugh, or give it a try yourself.

Jealousy

Posted on by Thor

Jealousy, by Ricardo Soltero-Brown featured three actors caught up in a love triangle at the 2018 Orlando Fringe.

Al (Colton Butcher) sits pensively on the floor in my sketch from “Jealousy.” He has had a crush on Celia (Cameron Gagne) since they were in school. Celia is sleek and aloof, and I like that fact that she was always sketching. Unfortunately, I never got to see what she was scratching on her sketch pad. Al was in the midst of explaining his feelings when Celia’s boyfriend, Gunnar (Jack Kelly) entered the room. He was self-absorbed yet possessive when he realized that Al was making moves on his girl.

Celia didn’t discourage Al, instead basking in the attention of both men who acted like sophomoric boys as they battled for her attention. I don’t understand why he didn’t just leave, but I suppose it would have been a much shorter play had he been that reasonable.

Directed by Jeremy Seghers, Jack came across as a self-absorbed jock mostly concerned with his own looks. Celia was just a prize for his self-absorbed ego. Gunner on the other hand seemed sincere in his desire for Celia until he doesn’t get his way. Then he came across as a spoiled brat not getting the toy he wanted.

Love came across as a depressing wasted emotion.

Story Club at the Abbey

Posted on by Thor

Orlando Story Club is held at The Abbey, (100 South Eola Drive, Orlando, FL 32801) and offers an evening of entertainment where the audience creates the show!

Everyone is invited to throw their name in a hat for a chance to tell a story. Ten participants are chosen from the hat. Stories must be no longer than 5 minutes in length, told without notes, and must connect with the theme. The results can be unpredictable, sometimes outrageous, sometimes poignant, but always a lot of fun!

Judges are randomly selected from the audience and special story prizes are awarded at the end of the evening. Other audience participation opportunities abound.

Best of all, this evening of fun raises money for a different local charity every month! Story club champion, Danielle Ziss was a host despite having to favor a twisted ankle.

Orlando Story Club was founded by storyteller and filmmaker Robin Cowie (producer of “The Blair Witch Project”).  After participating in the national storytelling series “The Moth,” Central Florida based Cowie sought out to produce the same event here and so Orlando Story Club was born.  The first event, held at Orlando’s East End Market in March 2014, was a standing room only smash hit.  Two years later, Cowie’s popular series caught the attention of Downtown Orlando’s dynamic  Downtown Arts District who teamed up to put on monthly events at The Abbey in Downtown Orlando, furthering the growth of Story Club and the arts.  

The April charity partner was Summer of Dreams.  Since 2011, Summer of Dreams has helped inspire hope and opportunity in those who need it most – homeless students in Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.  The program is designed to provide students with access to food, supervision and engaging activities, as well as financial counseling for parents.  Since 2011, Summer of Dreams has served 5,573 children and is proud of the impact they have had on homeless students and parents.  Their mission is to inspire and offer opportunities to all homeless students and provide a safe, encouraging environment for students to play, dream, and achieve. 

The theme for the next story Club is Smitten Kitten. It will be held on February 6, 2019 at the Abbey. Tickets are $5. Doors open at 7pm.

Ever had a CRUSH? On The Orlando Story Club stage tell us a time when
you got tongue-tied at the mere sight of a certain somebody. Was it
love or just an infatuation? You make eye contact and it’s pure giggles
or you’re full on enraptured. We know the, “I can’t think, I can’t
sleep” routine, but when you do sleep they just invade your dreams,
which is kinda nice actually.

From your brother’s friend who followed you around like a puppy in
that unrequited love story, to the neighbors who’ve been married for 67
years, to your art teacher who made “the colors, like, come alive.” Love
comes in many shades. By the way, pet stories are adorable.

Whatever it was, spin some silk from the cocoons the butterflies left
in your tummy and put those moments on display. What did they do that
set you off, or turned you on? Tell us who (or what) stole your heart.

All proceeds support the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando

Admission: $5 (additional donations encouraged)

Doors open @ 6:30pm. Show starts @ 7pm.

Five Centuries of Florida Cattlemen History

Posted on by Thor

Photographer Bob Stone gave a talk at the Albin Polasek Museum and Sculpture Gardens in the Capen House (633 Osceola Avenue, Winter Park, FL). It was a crowded event so seating was limited. I went back to the car and got my artist stool so I could get to work sketching. A few seats did remain open, so Pam managed to sit as well.

The cattlemen history began way back in the 1500s when Spanish settlers first brought cattle to Florida. Raising cattle has been a long tradition in Florida. One cattlemen explained it this way, “You can plant crops, but at the end of the harvest you have to load that crop onto the train. The cattle just walk onto the train themselves.” It is possible that the word cowboy originated as a derogatory reference to blacks who worked raising the cows. One woman in the back row was a real character who clearly has been raised in the cattle culture. She pointed out that some whips used to be 15 feet long and someone she knew could flick a match out of your lips from 15 feet away.

Bob had an amazing collection of historic photos that showed how raising cattle has changed over the years. Ranchers used to create cattle “dips,” or troughs in the ground and fill them with a poison that killed the bugs. When development encroached, these toxic sites had to be cleared.

Christianity has long been ingrained in cattleman culture. One photo showed a cowboy being baptized in a metal cattle trough, while other photos showed bull riders praying before getting on the back of a bull.

After the talk, Rachel Frisby invited everyone to see the exhibit, “Lay of the Land: The Art of Florida’s Cattle Culture.” This show, in collaboration with the Florida Cattleman’s Foundation, explored the 500 years of Florida cattle culture through art and hand-crafted items such as saddles and spurs. My favorite discovery at the exhibit was the sketchbooks of Sean Sexton. He has been documenting life on a cattle ranch in his sketchbooks since 1973. I desperately wanted to flip through the sketchbooks, but they were behind glass.

The Collective

Posted on by Thor

The Collective was launched in early 2017. The idea was to bring
together Central Florida’s nonprofit community and empower the region’s
change leaders. As a new organization big
strides were made in 2017.  The Collective, approved nearly 400 members, hosted 10 gatherings, launched a website and social media accounts, worked with several new organizations, including Opera Del Sol and Immerse, held monthly “Breakfast Breakout Sessions” at the Citrus Club and hosted the inaugural Change Everything Awards.

Each month, The Collective hosts several events and training
opportunities with the goal of sharing ideas, learning from proven
social innovators and creating a community of like-minded passionate
advocates. Those events include a membership-wide meeting, after-work
networking, and a breakfast learning session. This meeting in July was held at the Sanctuary, which has an open community room on the second floor.

Jon Busdeker introduced Mayor Buddy Dyer. The Mayor pointed out that he was so successful because he surrounded himself with truly talented people and he trusts them to do their best. Ideas are shared and nourished. It is rare to hear a politician talking about collaboration in a non-partisan way. It is a simple formula that works here in Orlando. “My hope is the history books will reflect that the Dyer administration
asked citizens to imagine a great city and created just that,” he said. His administration has tackled some big and costly construction projects which have brought Orlando a new Amway Arena and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts. Slowly, Orlando is growing up to possibly one day become a world class city rather than a suburb just north of the theme parks.

Martin Luther King Day in Winter Garden

Posted on by Thor

Pam Schwartz and I drove to Winter Garden to experience the Martin Luther King Day parade. When we arrived, we realized Plant Street was closed off for the parade, so we parked a block East in a small park on the biking trail. When we walked back to the intersection of Dillard and Plant Street, the parade had just started. The parade was organized to celebrate and honor this great leader of the civil rights movement. This was the first time the parade was being held in downtown Winter Garden. The parade staging area was in an empty parking lot across from the Foundation Academy North Campus. Two police motorcycles were flashing their lights.

Young cadets in white uniforms held a banner and stock marching rifles. The U.S. Naval Sea Cadet Corps is a national youth leadership development organization that
promotes interest and skill in naval disciplines while instilling strong
moral character and life skills through leadership and technical
programs modeled after the Navy’s professional development system.

The parade was small to say the least. Maybe 20 to 30 people and a few miniature ponies were in the parade line up in the parking lot. Because of this, I knew that I didn’t have enough time to sketch. Pam and I decided to walk along with the parade towards the park where the Farmer’s market is usually held. We walked the parade route at the same pace as the parade. The most interesting “float” was a pick up truck with a lawn maintenance trailer behind it. A preacher shouted a sermon from the back of the pick up towards his “congregation” who sat in the trailer. I never actually heard what he was shouting.

When we got to the end of the parade, at the Downtown Pavilion, we followed the sound of music to the main stage. A blues band was on stage along with two red, white, and blue balloon pillars topped by large Mylar stars. One guitarist got up to the microphone at the front of the stage, and I thought he was going to sing so I started sketching him. His guitar strap broke and he sat back down to fix it. He was replaced by Willie C, who is 94 years old and knows his way around the blues.

A line of kids from an art group called Art After 5 stood on stage, and each in turn got up to the mic to say what their dream for the future was. It is heart warming to hear kids innocently proclaim that they would like to see a world without racism or sexism. The sun blinded me from the sketch page and I had to wipe a tear from my eye. One of the children had a fine set of lungs, and she sang “Climb Every Mountain.”

8th Annual Night of Fire at Crealde School of Art

Posted on by Thor

Each year, Crealde School of Art (600 Saint Andrews Blvd Winter Park, FL) opens its campus at night for guests to explore during the Night of Fire. Coming straight from teaching at Elite Animation Academy, I arrived late. I quickly wandered around searching for a subject to sketch. The outdoor kiln was glowing hot. In the courtyard there was a Raku and horse hair firing in progress in a much smaller kiln. Outdoor torch cutting and blacksmith demonstrations were going on, but there was a line to get in, so I skipped those options.

From the small foot bridge, I saw the light and fire painting demonstration on the lake. A small row boat was in the middle of the lake and someone stood and twirled a sparkler. It was quickly released and flew off into the water sizzling out. It wasn’t much of a sight but the point was that people could take open exposures and the light would create a pattern on the final shot.

Cats in the House Band was performing on the back patio. I decided to sketch them. Pam was going to meet me there, so I sent a photo her way via messenger so she knew where to find me. Before I got a line on the sketch the band took a break. Rather than hope they might start playing again, I wandered off again and settled on sketching the fire pit. Some people sat here to eat their Peruvian Food truck fair.

A storyteller sat and told tales around the fire. When Pam arrived she sat close and listened. One story was about a magical blank book that was given to a couple which could be used to record each day’s good memories and bad memories. I assumed the blank book might be a sketchbook. The couple recorded their memories diligently at first but then got lazy and started to skip days. Soon, they were skipping weeks at a time letting memories slip by because to the stress of everyday life. At the end of the year they opened the book and relished in seeing their memories relived. The good memories were vibrant and fresh. They wished they had been better about keeping them alive. The bad memories however slipped away on their own, becoming distant and faint.

The fire snapped and crackled with embers floating up into the night sky. Some people recognized me and we joked as I kept sketching. As I worked to finish, I realized that people had left, and the event was winding down. Pam and the storyteller spoke about how oral histories help to keep stories alive. They exchanged cards. Their core missions seemed much aligned. With the fire embers smoldering we walked out to the parking lot and decided to get some groceries at the Publix supermarket next door.

Weekend Top 6 Piicks for January 26 and 27, 2019

Posted on by Thor

Saturday January 26, 2019

8am to 1pm Free. Parramore Farmers Market. The east side of the Orlando City Stadium, across from City View. Purchase quality, fresh and healthy food grown in your own
neighborhood by local farmers, including Fleet Farming, Growing Orlando,
and other community growers.

10am to 4pm. Free. Sanford Farmers Market. First and Magnolia Sanford.

10:30pm to 12:30am Free with dinner reservation. Son Flamenco. Ceviche Tapas Orlando, 125 W Church St, Orlando, FL. Hot blooded flamenco dancing.



Sunday January 27, 2019

10am to Noon Free. Heartfulness Relaxation and Meditation Class. University, 5200 Vineland Rd, Orlando, FL 32811. The Method of Heartfulness A simple and practical way to experience the heart’s unlimited resources.

Noon to 2pm Free but get some fish. Florida Gospel Jam. Fish on Fire 7937 Daetwyler Drive Belle Isle FL. Every 2nd and 4th Sunday.

10pm to Midnight Free. Comedy Open Mic. Austin’s Coffee, 929 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL.  Free comedy show! Come out and laugh, or give it a try yourself.