Sleigh at the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center in Sanford.

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I went to the final dress rehearsal for Sleigh presented by Gromalot Theater Factory at the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center (201 S. Magnolia, Sanford, FL 32771.) In this show, a pair of shopkeepers re-define “rivalry” as they coax customers away from their competitor. And three determined mail carriers fight the elements, a poorly addressed letter, and even each other to make a delivery. The entire show is silent except for sound effects, relying on exaggerated expressions and Vaudeville styled gestures to communicate the story.

I had seen Brandon Roberts play the part of a Christmas tree years ago.  I was a bit sad not to see him reprising his roll.  A silly section of the play involves an actor wearing the foam tree to express holiday cheer.  However the tree outfits are so silly that they just evoke laughter rather than the intended joy.  I recognized the director but couldn’t quite place her at first.  It was only after the rehearsal was over that it occurred to me that it was Toni Chandler, who is Brandon Roberts’ wife.

The stage set resembled a large Christmas card.  When closed, it showed a quiet little town to set the locale.  When it was opened it showed two shops next to each other, with the address numbers 1223 and 1227.  These were a bell shop and a whistle shop.  The female actress would be walking by the shops and the bell shop owner would ring her bell.  The shopper would stop in her tracks and with a huge exaggerated child like joy she would instantly want the bell.  She would pull money from her pocket and with a cha ching sound effect she would raise it above her head.  Before she could spend the money however the other shop owner would blow his whistle.  She wanted both and the shop owners played tug of war with her desire and with her money. 

Sleigh is a quick series of silent comic scenes with plenty of physical comedy.  Actors have many quick costume changes.  In one scene an actor rushed off stage and had to return dressed as a Salvation Army bell ringer.  The scene played out as it should, but it took a long while before he realized that he had forgotten to put on his pants in the rush of the costume change.  The result was that the actors where laughing so hard they had a hard time finishing the scene.  I hope that they leave that wardrobe malfunction in the final production.

The production is laugh out loud funny and your only chance to see it is tonight at 2:00PM and 7:30PM. 

Weekend Top 6 Picks for December 16th and 17th.

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Saturday December 16, 2017

5 PM to 9:30 PM –  Free.  Orlando Zine Fest 2017.  (Will’s Pub, 1042 N Mills Ave, Orlando, Florida 32803).  Orlando’s
local zinesters, artists, and writers–plus some folks from farther
afield–celebrate and support independent publishing and DIY/T with what they think may be the tenth consecutive annual Orlando Zine Fest outside of Will’s Pub/Lil Indie’s in the
ambitiously appellated Dirty Laundry Amphitheatre.

Accessible venue – swap and/or buy!

Bar at lil indies just inside where we’ll be hosting.

Record store pop-ups and screening movies again!

Coffee/tea by Danny
~food trucks – vegan options

REGISTER HERE:
https://goo.gl/CTHSZN
no registration fee.

All are welcome

growing list of participating zines:

Citrus Beat Press/ troykodycunio.com, Event Horizon/Orlando Area SF Society / oasfis.org, Gnome Comics / instagram.com/gnomedraws, Love Your Rebellion / Loveyourrebellion.org
Nickname / nicknamezine.com, Reflections on Gun Control
Street Type Zine / streettype.bigcartel.com/product/gdm, Florida is Loud will be ongoing throughout the weekend and Saturday night at Will’s.

5:30 PM to 7:30 PM –  $10.  Orlando Cringe IX – The Holiday Show! SAK Comedy Lab, (29 S Orange, Orlando, FL 32801.) For the last show of 2017, Cringe is teaming up with SAK Comedy Lab for a very special Cringemas Show! They are bringing back a very special reader from Cringe’s and SAK’s amazing team will be performing improvised scenes completely based on their journals. They also have other surprises, so naughty or nice, it’s going to be a great show!

2 PM to 11:30PM – Free.  Kaleidoscope Open House – Yoga, Music, Drawing, Painting Event. 

Kaleidoscope Venue For The Arts (1991 Corporate Square #1, Longwood, FL). 

Kaleidoscope will be having their first free ‘Open House’ in conjunction with the
Surrealistic Dreams art show on Saturday. The Open House begins at
2:00pm with Free Yoga at 2:00pm and at 6:00pm, Live Model Drawing with
Music begins at 7:30pm, the Art Show is from 7:30pm to 11:30pm and they
may be adding more things to see and do to this event as it draws
closer!

Sunday December 17, 2017

10 AM to 7 PM – Free.  Grandma Party Bazaar 2017! Stardust Video and Coffee (1842 Winter Park Rd, Orlando, FL 32803.) It’s the fifteenth Grandma Party Bazaar and you’re invited! Bring your
friends for the best Sunday of the year. Grandma Party
is you and me and all of us making it happen, so you’d better be there
because it just won’t be the same without you. As always, the party will be held in the parking lot of Stardust Video and Coffee starting at 10 a.m. and closing at Sundown. You can get a
taste of what good ol’ Gran has to offer this year by following her on
Facebook and Instagram (@Grandma_Party). Orlando has some seriously
creative artists and makers that were hard to choose from, but she has
picked some of the best of the best to share their craft with you. There will be a raffle,  interactive booths and DJ sets by Nigel John and
Oled Dad and live music from Von Nacht, Tiger Fawn, TV Dinner and MORE!
Of course, lots food and drinks too.

If you are new to the bazaar, be sure to bring your cash (most vendors
take cards too), and finish up your holiday shopping with one of a kind
treasures. While you’re at it, buy yourself a little something too!
Parking can be a challenge on this day, but it’s a good thing they are
located in the great neighborhood of Audubon Park where there are lots
of streets. Other options are carpooling, biking and Uber.

4 PM to 9 PM – Free. Winter Garden Christmas Golf Cart Parade. Bradford Park (220 West Division Street, Winter Garden, FL.)  Are
you ready for the 2017 WG Christmas Golf Cart Parade?! They will begin their 5th annual Golf Cart Parade by gathering at
Bradford Park early to socialize and compare decorations before heading
out to tour Downtown Winter Garden and ending near Walker Field near the
Plant Street Market. They will have prizes for the best decorated golf carts so take this
seriously. All money raised will be graciously donated to the
Edgewood Children’s Ranch as they have done in past. Golf Carts only and all traffic laws still apply.

7 PM to 9 PM – $10 donation Give ME Cheer. Marshall Ellis Theatre (1300 La Quinta Dr #3, Orlando, FL 32809.) Get
in the Christmas spirit and join Give ME Cheer, ME Dance’s first
charity ball benefiting local dance organizations, events and
scholarships. Enjoy performances, food, drink, meet-and-greets, a silent
auction and raffle.

Ludovico Einaudi in concert.

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On a recent tip to Princeton, New Jersey, I arranged to sketch a concert by Ludovico Einaudi at the McCarter Theatre Center (91 University Place, Princeton, NJ 08540). 
Ludovico Einaudi is a renowned pianist and composer. The Italian musician was born in Turin, Italy where his classical career began, before he moved on to create music for film with influences of pop, rock, and folk music.

Einaudi began his career performing classical music in the 1980s after training at the Conservatorio Verdi, when he began composing orchestral and classical pieces, before progressing to more main stream music heard in popular culture in the mid 80s. As well as piano, he plays and composes for guitar, in which he is incredibly skilled and proficient. Although Einaudi is influenced by classical artists, his style is unique with the fusion of classical and popular music bridging the gap between the two genres, making his music extremely accessible to many types of listeners.

From his eclectic back catalogue of tracks he has won several awards, including Best Film Music at the Avingon Film Festival and Best Soundtrack at the Italian Music Awards. His music has also appeared in popular culture worldwide, composing the trailer music for the movie Black Swan.

His album Le Onde written for piano and performed as a solo was the best selling album in the UK and Italy, sending Einaudi to success. Still producing charting music, his latest album “In A Time Lapse” has taken him on a giant US and Canadian tour, as well as landing him a slot at the prestigious iTunes festival.

The house lights were dark for the entire evening, so I struggled to see my sketch by the dim light of my cell phone.  Through the first half of the concert, he was joined on stage by a guitarist, violin, cello, a second electronic pianist and a percussionist.  The lighting was stark with spot lights on each performer. The music is mesmerizing, leaving the impression of a dream state.  The other performers left the stage and then Ludovico performed a solo that lasted forever.  There were periodic pauses where he held his hands suspended over the keys and then the music resumed.  The percussion in one piece had a sheet of metal suspended in a vat of water.  The metal would be shaken to produce thunderous sounds muffled by the liquid.  It was an experimental way of producing unexpected mysterious sounds. Overall it was an amazing concert and if we ever have a chance to see him in concert again, would jump at the opportunity. 

The Museum of Osteology

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The tenth Orlando Urban Sketch Workshop was held at the Museum of Osteology (8441 International Dr Suite 250, Orlando, FL 32819) a few days before Halloween.  The goal of the workshop was to get artists to capture the posed skeletons with simple fluid shapes and gestures.  They were asked to not render each bone with precision, but to focus on the actions of the poses.  The museum is perfect for this since every skeleton is posed as if the creature were alive.

  My favorite example was a small critter digging into a box of Milk Duds.  As an added bonus children were trick or treating at the businesses around the Orlando Eye.  The author Chad Shea of a children’s book called, “The Skeleton in the Closet” was in the Museum of Osteology gift shop.  As we were waiting for workshop attendees to show up, he pulled me over to his table to show me his book.  The book comes with a pose-able plastic skeleton that is in line with the tradition of a Christmas Elf on the Shelf.  Parents for generations have hidden elves in their homes for the children to find at Christmas.  Well they took that tradition and have a skeleton in the closet which can be hidden.  It is a clever idea.  The author knew of Analog Artist Digital World and he said he really liked an article I wrote called “The Otter and the Gun.” Chad ended up giving me the book and skeleton package, so this will become part of my Halloween tradition in the future.  Some skeletons had a realistic human skull, and others have a skull stylized like the illustrators depiction in the book.  The author popped off a realistic skull and popped on a stylized version to give me. Unfortunately withing a minute of opening the package, I decided to check the mobility of the head and I busted the skull off the spine.  Artists, especially animators,  are the worst on toys. 

The workshop was three hours long and I encouraged students to try and complete a more finished sketch with multiple skeletons together for the last sketch.  Since I was giving each student sketch suggestions I didn’t have time to finish up a more finalized sketch myself.  I was content to do a series of studies.

I settled on a a pair of sea otters for my final quick sketch.  I was planning a computer animated film about a sea otter and a sea lion.  I have modeled sea otters in the computer and even modeled their entire skeleton, so I am familiar with their quirky long forms.  I liked the yin and yang posturing of the skeletons.  One otter had his paws behind his head, a pose that isn’t often seen in nature.  Since they preen all the time however, it isn’t an impossible anthropomorphic pose.

There were some great sketches done that night by attendees.  If you have relatives visiting this holiday season, I would suggest a trip to the Osteology Museum.  It is a rare gem right here in Orlando. 

IMMERSE by the Creative City Project.

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On November 21st, the downtown street of Orange Avenue was shut down from just north of Pine Street, down towards South Street.  IMMERSE is an invitation to unexpected creative encounters in the
heart of Downtown Orlando. You’ll find yourself truly immersed in art,
performance, and interactive installations.

With collaborators like Cirque du Soleil, Orlando Philharmonic,
Orlando Ballet, and the Central Florida Community Arts Orchestra, you
won’t want to miss this evening which is unlike any other.

In 2016, the Creative City Project brought nearly 1,000 performers to
the streets and public spaces of Downtown Orlando for more than 20,000
patrons. IMMERSE 2017 continued the tradition of growth and excitement
by bringing you more large scale WOW moments and unexpected, intimate creative encounters.

From Classical to Hip-Hop music, murals, dance, acrobatics,
interactive installations, artists from Orlando, around the country, and
the around the world converge on Downtown Orlando for one of the
largest showcases of innovation and creativity in the performing and
installation arts in the country.

I hosted one of the Orlando Urban Sketch Workshops during this incredible event.   With so much going on at the same time it was difficult to decide on a single subject to sketch.  I offered personalized instruction to each Urban Sketcher and then dashed off to do a quick sketch myself.  I decided to focus on performers waiting to get on the stage next.  This gave me some time to focus on them before heading off to see the twirling dancers on the stage. 

The Art of Medicine Gala at the Orlando Museum of Art.

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First Green Bank and The Art of Medicine Foundation invited health care professionals and brain injury survivors to submit artwork to be auctioned for charity. This event is educates and inspires awareness about the impact that brain injuries and other neurological disorders can have on those affected. Proceeds from the event benefited the University of Florida Trauma, Concussion, and Sports Neuromedicine Program.

The gala is in honor of Dr. Cindy LaRoe, who sustained a traumatic brain injury during a competitive biking accident. The injury paused LaRoe’s career in medicine, but also led her down a path of discovering her artistic talents. During her recovery, LaRoe found painting therapeutic, and now, six years after her injury, she continues to paint. She paints in vibrant bold colors. Cindy is standing in front of her painting of clown fish in my sketch. 

In a video presentation Cindy remembered the day of her accident at a bike race.  There were incentives with each lap which incited racers to sprint. She was in a group of racers heading up a hill.  Some of the girls started to sprint to pass and Cindy let them. They crossed the lines which is against the rules.  There was a big crash in front of Cindy.  She recalled a flash of bodies going down in front of her.  After the accident, she couldn’t see for a while, there was twitching in her right eye and blurred vision.   She couldn’t handle the over-stimulation of live music and crowds.  She always felt she was seeing movement to her right side.  Memories were gone.  She woke up and was a different person.  She doesn’t want anyone to ever have to experience that.  She likes to think that things happen for a reason.  Color was more intense and vibrant. Creating art gave her life a new meaning.  In some ways she feels she might be a better person that she was.   It doesn’t all suck.

Her recovery and her talent were the inspiration for she and her husband, Ken LaRoe, the founder of First Green Bank, to create the Art of Medicine Foundation. Ken took to the microphone.   He explained that after the accident, his wife developed a seizure disorder.  There were days where she had over 100 seizures.  She was put on a cocktail of pharmaceuticals but they had no effect.  One day one of Ken’s biggest clients said randomly that he smokes dope.  He smokes so that he can get to sleep at night and has done so since he was 15 years old.  He has a net worth of over 60 million, so clearly he isn’t just a stoner.  He invited Ken over to his Isleworth mansion to pick up a joint.   Ken reluctantly agreed and hid the joint in a baggie under his car seat.  A week later he told Cindy that she needed to try it.  She said, “No.”   He said, “Look, you are a doctor, this is a medical experiment.” He took a couple of tokes to cut the ice.  After she took her 4th toke off the joint, her seizures stopped.  They stopped all night and into the next day.  It worked day after day.  Her neurologist couldn’t explain it.  Over 6 months she got off the pharmaceuticals. In the interim, medical marijuana became legal.  Cindy finds a silver lining in every situation.  The gala is an example of that.  

Cutting the Turkey.

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Thanksgiving in Iowa was a crash course in Midwestern hospitality. The family farm occupies 16 acres but is land-locked on three sides by neighbors’ farms. The red house is at the top of a hill which allows epic views of sunsets and sunrises. It is the end of bow hunting season, but that didn’t stop a lone doe from standing at the edge of the woods about 100 yards away from the back sliding glass doors. Up in another clearing about a quarter mile away wild turkeys foraged at the edge of the field.

Ron Schwartz was responsible for carving the turkey and I couldn’t resist sketching the Norman Rockwell moment. First, all the stuffing was removed and then carving commenced. Ron is skilled with knives, so the carving went quickly. The kitchen behind him was alive with activity as the other Thanksgiving sides were prepared. Green beans had crunchies, potatoes had gravy and four different pies waited for desert. No one at a Schwartz dinner table leaves hungry.

Once the Turkey rib cage was cut free of all the white meat, Ron put the bird and platter on the back porch where four outdoor cats picked it clean. The cats must have even swallowed some of the bones. Later, after we ate and were playing board games, the black cat hauled a huge dead squirrel up on to the porch and dropped it down by the sliding glass doors like some sort of reciprocal peace offering. The cats had celebrated Thanksgiving in grand style, and even enjoyed a squirrel for dessert.

Board Games in Iowa.

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After the Thanksgiving Turkey Dinnr, the Schwartz family plays board games for the rest of the day into the night This game called “Quelf” was rather strange. The board has characters that move around a rainbow brick road using a die to set the number of moves. Different spots would have players pick up cards much like in a game of Monopoly. Some cards in the deck insist that a player perform an action throughout the length of the game, “Roolz Cards.” For instance, Pam Schwartz had to say “Wacka Wacka” any time another player laughed. Of course when she said “Wacka Wacka” we would all laugh again. Another card had Pam shout out commands like a drill Sargent, which she did with some gusto.

I pulled a card that said I must pinch the flesh around my belly button to manipulate it like a mouth to say something like, “Well this is awkward.” I thought long and hard before performing that task, but ended up doing so to avoid paying a penalty. Another card insisted that I must stand in slow motion and point at the player to my left and say, “You have sabotaged my plans for the last time, en guard!” The simple goal of the game was to get to the end of the rainbow paved rainbow first. I didn’t win.

Another board game called “Baker Street,” based on the Sherlock Holmes books, had four players trying to solve a murder on the streets of London. Once again, a die set the pace of game play. I thought I was being clever by bypassing many possible clues to get to the scene of the crime first. The clue at the scene was no better than any other spot on the board so I had to backtrack to learn what the other players already knew. I knew that the crime had to do with the value of a bible. So I had my suspicions about the murderer and his motive, but I wasn’t able to find the weapon used in time. Each player was on their own private quest and didn’t have any reason to interact. After the  boisterous insanity of Quelf, this seemed far too tame a prospect.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for December 9th and 10th.

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Saturday December 9, 2017

11 AM to 5 PM – Free.  Santa Con 2017! (Thornton Park District, 617 E Central Blvd, Orlando, Florida 32801).  Santa Con is celebrated all over the country and is simply a gathering of
people dressed as Santa that go as a group from restaurant and bars
celebrating the Holiday Season with some tasty adult libations!

This year they are again encouraging participants to bring musical
instruments, Example: Tambourines, Harmonicas, Guitars what ever you
have to bang, play on, and make some joyous noise!

5:30 PM to 7:30 PM – $10.  Orlando Cringe IX – The Holiday Show.  (SAK Comedy Lab, 29 S Orange, Orlando, FL 32801).  For their last show of 2017, they’re teaming up with SAK Comedy Lab for a
very special Cringemas Show! They’ll be bringing back a very special
reader from Cringe and SAK’s amazing team will be performing
improvised scenes completely based on their personal journals. They also have other surprises, so naughty or nice, it’s going to be a
great show!

7 PM to 9 PM – Free.  The 5th Annual “Violectric Holiday Show.”  (Walt Disney Amphitheatre at Lake Eola Park, 99 N Rosalind Avenue, Orlando, Florida 32801). Rock Into The Holiday Season with Violectric, Central Florida’s Top Strings Rock Group.   This is a fun and free LIVE concert featuring classic holiday tunes with a twist and more.

Bring a pet supply, donation and your furry friend to support Pet
Alliance of Greater Orlando.

Sunday December 10, 2017

11 AM to 5 PM – Free.  Day 2 of Santa Con. (Thornton Park District 617 E Central Blvd, Orlando, Florida 32801).   Santa Con is celebrated all over the country and is simply a gathering of
people dressed as Santa that go as a group from restaurant and bars
celebrating the holiday season with some tasty adult libations!  This year we are again encouraging participants to bring musical
instruments, Example: Tambourines, harmonicas, guitars what ever you
have to bang, play on, and make some joyous noise!

7:30 PM to 9:30 PM – $30.   An Evening with Anna Deavere Smith.  (Orlando Shakespeare Theater, 812 E Rollins St, Orlando, FL 32803).  Best known to television audiences as Nancy McNally on The West Wing and Gloria Akalitus on Nurse Jackie, Anna Deavere Smith’s theater work has become an inspirational source for civil discourse. Through a short performance and interview, audiences will hear about the process of combining a passion for social causes with documentary style theatre making.  Ms. Smith seeks to “discern the American character and to capture its politics.” The discussion will focus on how she finds the authentic voice of the people she interviews and then creates on stage.

7:30 PM to 9:30 PM – Free.  A Picture Perfect Christmas.  (Maitland Presbyterian Church, 341 N Orlando Ave, Maitland, FL 32751).  Performing Arts of Maitland sponsors the Maitland Symphony Orchestra’s
Holiday Concert: “A Picture Perfect Christmas”. Guest performer Joshua
Messick is a National Hammered Dulcimer Champion performing premier
selections with the MSO: “The First Snowfall” and “Blue Ridge Sunrise”.
MSO also performs “Parade of the Wooden Soldiers” by Jessel, “Maltese
Winter” by Hayen and more.

Playing Canasta.

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Playing cards and board games are a family tradition in the Schwartz household in Iowa. Grandma Schwartz, and Pam’s other grandparents, have been carrying the card game Canasta on as a family tradition for decades. I followed along trying to understand all the rules. Two team members sit diagonally across from each other, the cards are put down on the table in groups and the first team to get rid of their cards wins the round. Any cards remaining in players’ hands are then added up as negative points.

These card games can go on until three in the morning. I sat in on several games with Pam Schwartz offering advice over my shoulder. For the kids, we played Gubs, which is a card game in which you try and collect as many Gubs (bugs) as you can. The trick is that opponents can steal your Gubs, entrap them, or even kill them. I never did manage to hold on to all my Gubs.

Thanksgiving was a week long event in which family slowly arrives in a crescendo until Thanksgiving day when there were 24 people in the Iowa household. Then over the next several days people slowly disappear. When the house was full, everyone shouted out their story over each other. It was a bit overwhelming at first, but then I adjusted and just enjoyed the variety of exchanges. All the board games reminded me of Thorspecken family games that I have sketched in the past. My family however has scattered to the winds and no one household hosts large holiday parties.