Weekend Top 6 Picks for October 14th and 15th.

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Saturday, October 14, 2017

Noon to 10 PM – Free. Come Out With Pride. Lake Eola Park and surrounding streets. Celebrated in October, Come Out With Pride welcomes everyone from
Central Florida and beyond to come together and #KeepDancingOrlando! The marquee event, “The Most Colorful Parade in Orlando,” will start at 4 PM next Saturday at Lake Eola Park. The route has been expanded down
to Orange Avenue.

7 PM to 10 PM – $35. 8th Urban Sketch Workshop – Come Out With Pride.  515 East Pine Street #1 Orlando, Fl 32801. One of ten workshops training artists to become sketch correspondents. 


9 PM to 2:30 AM Official After Party for Pulse. The main event runs 9 PM to 2:30 AM at 111 N. Summerlin Ave. It has a Latin Night theme and performances by
69 Boyz, Anais and the Pulse Orlando Family. You must be 21 and older to
drink, 18 and up are welcome. The pre-party starts at 4 PM. 

Sunday, October 15, 2017

10 AM 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. 

1 PM to 8 PM – Free. Will’s A Faire Fall Market at Southern Fried Sunday. Will’s Pub 1042 N Mills Ave, Orlando, Florida 32803. Will’s
A Faire, the one day retro, vintage, local and handmade market with
live music, food trucks and fun indoors and out is back for fall at
Will’s Pub! The outdoor market runs from 1PM until 8:30 PM, with food
trucks and live music from: Oak Hill Drifters, Van Gordon Martin, Invisible Sun (The Police Tribute Set), B-Tru Mann, Luke Wagner and Jessica Delacruz and More Music later, with a free show inside Will’s by Marc With a C, Steve Garron Is An Asshole and Milk Carton Superstars.
The outdoor music is free to the public and all ages are welcome. Bring
the Fam! Inside is 18+ after 9 PM.

2 PM to 6 PM – Free. Gentle, Manly Photoshoot 3. Macbeth Studio, 37 North Orange Avenue, Suite 900, Orlando, Florida 32801. Gentle, Manly is a photography project that seeks to explore and
challenge society’s cultivation of toxic, stereotypical masculinity. It
is a collaboration of Macbeth Studio, Elar Institute, and Jeremy
Seghers.

Who they are looking for: straight men of any background or way of life.

What they will be doing: photographing straight men holding hands with each other and being
affectionate.

Why they are doing this: because real, straight men show compassion and affection.

What this is not: sexual or exploitative in any way.

What to prepare: just come as you are with an open mind. Wear whatever makes you
comfortable. We want to capture your honest, authentic self.

To participate, please email your name and phone number to:
whiterabbitorlando@gmail.com

The Vagrant at Dangerous Theater in Sanford.

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The Vagrant is the little production that could. Hurricane Irma interrupted rehearsals and then Winnie Wengelwick, the theater owner, had to have oral surgery. One cast member had a family emergency and pulled out of production during the revised tech week and then another actor pulled out at the last moment. Amazingly, replacements were found within a day. The 5 week production run has had to be cut from 5 weeks to 3 weeks. The new intimate theater is continuing to take form.

I went to the production and was blown away by the play written by Brett Hursey. Lenny Madison (David Martin) is a vagrant living on the streets of the big city. He swindles hot
dogs from the comically soft-hearted and easily coerced Rodney (John Sullivan) and takes care of Maggie (Winnie) the bag lady. Eventually, it becomes too
difficult to hide in plain sight. 

The actor playing Lenny the vagrant did an amazing job. His roll involved acting insane while actually being incredibly intelligent. His quick-witted performance reminded me of the best parts played by the late Robin Williams. Winnie played Maggie the bag lady. She would wander onto the set while winding through the audience. She would comment on what people were wearing, breaking the 4th wall. From the stage she continued to bring the audience into the scene by trying to convince Lenny that people were watching them. She would stare out at us and say we were judging them with our laughter. And there was plenty of laughter. Lenny is a character that embraces each day and celebrates the beauty of the urban sprawl.


Lenny takes care of Maggie by getting her an extra hot dog and convincing her to take her medication. One day, two stock brokers stopped to rest on Lenny’s bench. He boldly introduces himself and offered stock advice. The young male broker, John Wilson (Sean Delaney), takes the advice and on a whim decides to play them out on the market. Sure enough the leads are pure gold. The brokers return again and again to cash in on the vagrant’s insights that yield huge dividends. Rachel Lamonde, (Jacqueline Papaycik) is content to leave the vagrant as is while John wants to get him set up in an apartment. He is talked out of such charitable notions. Maggie the bag lady is ignored as the vagrant plays the market with the brokers.


Both Lenny and Maggie have family they wish they cold see. Living on the streets keeps them from being close to their loved ones. John Wilson doesn’t just offer the vagrant charity, he offers a chance to get back to his family. This is a heart warming show that hints at the possibility that any one of us could be just two paychecks away from having to live on the streets. The problems of this vagrant are very much like the problems we all face. In the end Lenny picks up the newspapers strewn around the stage and shoves them in a plastic milk crate and braces for a new life. Since I still live out of milk crates that scene hit rather close to home.


The final performances for this show are on Friday, October 13th and Saturday, October 14th. I highly recommend the show at Dangerous Theater (115 W. 1st St. Sanford, Florida 32771). I laughed, and yes, I damn near cried. $20.00 cash at the door on the day of the show. $5.00 discount at door for students, seniors and military. The show is free for any homeless attendee.

Downtown Paper Launch Party

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Volume 1, Edition 1 of the Downtown Community Paper arrived in my mailbox in September. This monthly paper is devoted to keeping downtown residents like myself informed about what is new and trending. A simple article titled “Why would anyone want to live in the heart of Orlando?” reaffirmed all the reasons why I have been living and working downtown for this past year. I contacted the editor Michelle Rocheleau about contributing to the paper since I am documenting the arts scene and lifestyle downtown everyday already.

The paper held a launch party at the Orange County Regional History Center and I decided to sketch. The publisher Debbie Goetz and Michelle were pulled in all directions. Debbie already publishes a College Park Community Paper and when she met Michelle the idea of the Downtown Community Paper took form. The paper is founded on the principles that include bringing the community together and highlighting inspiring individuals who live in the area. The paper doesn’t plan to compete against the Sentinel or The Bunglaower to cover hard-hitting news. They instead  are committed to only positive uplifting news.

At the launch party, singer, songwriter, Justin Kangrga, entertained the crowd performing covers on his acoustic guitar. Tom Petty died this week, and Justin performed one of his songs. It was a lively launch party where advertisers got to meet staff and enjoy a drink and hors d’oeuvres. The paper’s demographic isn’t the 20 somethings hitting the downtown bars each night, instead they focus on the older more established demographic that calls downtown home.

The paper will be delivered monthly to 8,000 homes in the area and is also available at Newsstands downtown. There is a digital version posted on the paper’s website.

Walk for the Trees at Lake Baldwin.

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Harbor Park at Lake Baldwin (4990 New Broad St, Orlando, Florida 32814). In the Fall of 2015, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer launched an ambitious goal to strengthen Orlando by building our urban forest and expanding the tree canopy.

To achieve this goal, the City of Orlando launched the ‘One Person, One Tree’ program, an effort to engage private residents in creating a cooler and greener future for The City Beautiful, and help grow our urban tree canopy to 40% by 2040.

At Walk For Trees, every registrant received one free tree from a selection of tree saplings. They were asked to
plant this tree in their favorite location so that the tree can make
Orlando a better place. Orlando is proud to be listed as a Tree City USA since 1976, named a Sterling Tree City USA in 2011 and received a Tree Growth Award every year since 1990.

April 10th, IDEAS For Us and the City of Orlando launched the inaugural “Walk For Trees event” around Lake Baldwin to support Orlando’s tree programs, with a goal of raising enough funds to plant 1,000 trees in Orlando.

The event had local celebrities, elected officials, nonprofits, food trucks, and more.

It was a beautiful day. I soaked in the sun as I sketched the Orlando Philharmonic musicians who performed that morning. $30 Tickets were available for a 5K walk around the lake with proceeds going to IDEAS for Us. IDEAS works to solve environmental problems on campuses and in communities around the World. Since 2008, they have been supporting people and developing their ideas into solutions that solve the environmental crisis. Their approach to sustainability focuses on five key areas to catalyze local action.Those are: Energy, Water, Food, Waste and Ecology.

Blue Box 12, Sasha Kendrick Violinist.

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I established the Blue Box Initiative, so I could sketch talented performers in each of the 27 blue boxes which are painted on the sidewalks downtown Orlando. These boxes
are for panhandlers and buskers. Busking was possible only during day
light hours, but a recent amendment allows the boxes to be used at night. Although set up for panhandlers, police often insist street
performers must use the blue boxes. Performing outside the boxes can
result in 60 days in jail and a $500 fine.

I sketched Sasha Kendrick at Blue Box 12 which is located across the street from the Disney Band shell at Lake Eola. There was no shade on this stretch of sidewalk and the heat was unbearable. Sasha was worried that her violin would warp in the intense heat, but she performed anyway. Not a single person walked past as she performed. No one walks that stretch of sidewalk in the noon day sun.

When the sketch was done she wanted to perform at Lake Eola which she does regularly. Police in the park do not ask her to leave. They turn a blind eye to the city ordinance that bans busking because she is pleasant and respectful. It was much nicer sketching in the shade with a lake side breeze. One man stopped to listen and sat on the bench next to Sacha. He decided to go to the Relax Grill and Bar and he bought Sasha and I a drink. This was the first time I had ever been given anything while I sketched. He was legitimately grateful for Sasha’s performance.

She told me about a charity she was establishing which raises money for musical instruments for the homeless. She figures that by performing music, a person can raise some cash just as she has done for years. She gave an instrument to a man in town who also raises money selling palm frond woven flowers. The instrument disappeared and she thinks he sold it for money for crack. Unfortunately this musical charitable experiment became a failed experiment.

$1 Sketch Sale.

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When I moved out of North Bay, near the Bay Hill Golf Club, I needed some extra cash to help pay for the moving expenses. I have mountains of figure drawings and decoded to have a sketch sale with each sketch available for $1. I held the sale all day on a Sunday. People arrived all day long to riffle through the sketches piled up on the dining room table.

There were some major deals to be found. Besides the figure studies, there were sketches done for paintings and even a few drawings that had turned into paintings. A pink robot build by Evan and Christie Miga overlooked the scene. Zorro, a white umbrella cockatoo greeted people and screeched for attention.

I raised several hundred dollars which helped a bit as I settled into a new place. Some people just waked in off the streets because I had a sign in the front year. Friends and strangers didn’t know that this was close to the last day that I would be living in this neighborhood. All my sketchbooks had already been moved. When I die, this is my legacy, a mountain of sketches that hopefully will find a home. The sketches are culled down each time I move.

One Orlando Alliance organized an Orlando Vigil for Las Vegas

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The lawn in front of the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts was packed with thousands of people 16 months ago after the Pulse Nightclub shooting. Tears were shed and strangers hugged one another in a truly moving vigil to honor the victims of the nightclub shooting. Days after the mass shooting in Las Vegas, the same stage was erected in the Dr. Phillips lawn to show solidarity and support for that city which is now the site of the largest mass shooting in American history with 58 victims to date. 515 others are injured, so that number may well rise as people fight for their lives.

Pam Schwartz and I arrived a bit early expecting to find the lawn crowded with Orlando citizens who who would show their support for such a tragic event. The lawn was strangely empty. One third of the lawn was a construction zone for the new Dr. Phillips theater being built.  The entire area was surrounded by temporary concert barricades. There was no crowd to contain. A single wreath stood on a tripod in front of the stage. The press huddled together on the walkway opposite me. Desperate for some sort of story, a young reporter asked to interview me, but I explained that I had a limited amount of time to finish my sketch so I couldn’t stop to talk.

The green lawn remained empty the entire time I sketched. I had looked at some of the video footage from Las Vegas earlier that day and recall seeing people running for their lives or lying on the grass hoping not to get hit by the bullets raining down from 32 stories above. The Dr. Phillips lawn, surrounded by humble Orlando high rises, wasn’t much different than the Las Vegas field where concert goers were massacred. One Orlando high rise had several windows blown out from hurricane Irma, just as the Las Vegas gunman had blown out his hotel room window to massacre the crowd below.

Dozens of people showed up to the vigil held in Orlando. Any photos of the vigil show a few people together in closely cropped shots.  Perhaps it was just to soon. The staff at the History Center said that they just weren’t ready to accept or digest that such a horrific incident had happened so soon after the incident at Pulse. Days after the Las Vegas shooting, rainbow flags appeared on all the Orlando downtown street lights. I thought this was in solidarity for the Las Vegas shooting but it might just have been in preparation for the Gay Pride Parade coming up next week.

Someone removed the metal steps that lead up to the stage. A source at The Center said that a permit had not been applied for and thus
no one was allowed to go up on the stage. How amazing that such red tape should
come from a city who had just experienced mass murder 16 months earlier. One Orlando Alliance organizers stated that a radio station set up the stage just for the amplification and they didn’t want any speakers.

Five or six of the 49 angels in action arrived and stood silent in
front of the stage, their fabric wings flapping in the breeze.

 one PULSE Foundation president, Barbara Poma, spoke to the small group gathered from behind the stage. Her online statement read, “Finding words to convey the depth of horror we are all witnessing in
Las Vegas is just impossible. It is unimaginable that another mass
shooting of even greater scope than that of Pulse Nightclub could occur
again in this country, but indeed, it has. We must work harder to stop
these crimes that destroy human life. We pray for those whose lives were
taken, as well as for the wounded and the hundreds who will forever be affected by this monumental tragedy.”

The Orange County Property Appraiser arrived to get his picture taken in a tuxedo in front of a banner which people signed in support of Las Vegas. Mayor Buddy Dyer made a cameo and disappeared quickly. I recognized some of the Pulse family and activists like the Eskamani sisters who truly made a difference in our city following the Pulse shooting. A GoFundMe set up by Ida Eskamani for Equality Florida raised more that 2.4 million dollars for Pulse victims families. With Hurricane Maria causing so much damage in Puerto Rico, many Hispanic activists are perhaps occupied with that cause.

The Vigil held at the Dr. Phillips for Las Vegas was a small gathering by a few of Orlando’s core activists but the impression it left with me was apparent indifference by the community as a whole. The Methodist Church bells rang for each victim of the
Las Vegas shooting. I left disheartened.  The faces of the beautiful people lost in Las Vegas are just now
appearing online. All of those lost have not yet been identified. Perhaps people stayed home because mass murder is now the norm. A mass murder is defined as 4 people dying in a single gun related incident. Close to one mass shooting happens every day in America.

Pam was going to the Savoy to be a Celebrity Bartender. That event would raise funds to help The Center which is a refuge and family for the LGBT community as well as playing an important role in testing and treating sexually transmitted diseases. Sketching that event felt more supportive to an organization that makes a positive change in the Orlando community. Life goes on as social services struggle to stay afloat. I needed a stiff drink. How we memorialize is becoming increasingly important as these shootings are becoming more common.

P.S. Justine Thompson Cowan, one of the events organizers reported that
City representatives were willing to do whatever it took, helped with
permitting, and opened up garages for free parking, spending staff
resources to pull it together. He stayed
until the end and joined with what he estimated to be about 250 people as
they heard the bells toll, the Orlando Gay Chorus sing and spread out
into the audience with their voices that touched their hearts. She felt
solace. She felt companionship. And maybe even a bit of hope.

Weekend Top 6 Picks for October 7th and 8th.

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Saturday October 7, 2017

5 PM to 10 PM – Free. 10th Annual Zombietoberfest. Audubon Park Garden District Orlando, Florida 32803. Orlando’s original zombie festival returns, with all the dread, undead and revelry that entails. Food trucks, open air market, zombie crawl, costume contest, food and drink specials and more.

7 PM to 10 PM – $35. 10 x 10 Orlando Urban Sketching Workshop. The workshop will be held at Zombietoberfest. Urban Sketchers is celebrating 10 years by inviting sketchers from
around the world to attend ten on location workshops with an Urban
Sketching official instructor in your city! You may choose to
participate in one or more of the workshops at the following prospective
locations in Orlando.

Goals

1. Show stories from your city, one drawing at a time

2. Improve your drawing skills

3. Learn how to select, frame and design visual stories on a page

4. Learn how writing and drawing can work together to communicate more to your audience

5. Experience the advantages of group learning and seeing the many paths to success

10:30 PM to 12:30 AM Get a bite or drink. Son Flamenco. Ceviche Tapas Orlando, 125 W Church St, Orlando, FL. Hot blooded Flamenco dancers perform to live acoustic guitar.



Sunday October 8, 2017

10 AM 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.

 2 PM to 3 PM, Free. Celebrate with Dance. Orlando Public Library 101 East Central Avenue Orlando Fl. Enjoy a lively performance of Spanish folk dances by Alborea Dances in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month.

2 PM to 6 PM Get a drink. Halloween Hair of the Dog Day Charity Event. The Thirsty Topher

(601 Virginia Drive Orlando FL). A canine costume contest tops off a day of raffles, complimentary homemade dog treats and mingling with furry companions.
Donations will be made to the Humane Society’s disaster fund.

Espolon Cocktail Fights 2017 at Will’s Pub.

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The Espolon Cocktail Fights took place at Will’s Pub (1042 N Mills Ave, Orlando, Florida 32803). Six of Orlando’s best bartenders went head to head with six of Tampa best bartenders  in a no holds bared showdown  for the title of the most creative cocktail. The winner of this evenings competition would go on to compete in New York City in the semi- finals and then possibly move on tho the finals in Mexico.

Competing bartenders each took on the persona of a Mexican wrestler. Million Dollar Dan (Daniel Messina) from Orlando entered the competition as a braggart who threw play money at the howling audience. Perhaps the most flamboyant competitor was El Serpiente (Jacob Ceciro) from Tampa, who claimed he could tame any serpent, but is drink was rather lack luster. Other competitors from Orlando were, Red Feather (Robyn Conen), Quetzal the Great (Felix Fernandez), Finger Guns (Sean Sheenan), and El Lobo Gris (Jeremy Hazmier).

Tampa competitors were bused to the event and I imagine they were already a bit tipsy before they got to Orlando. There was just one female competitor in the line up and she was Foxxy Lady (Linaris Santiago-Wright) who had long red eye lashes, and a feather boa. She won every round to become the champion of Orlando and Tampa.

The hosts did a good job of keeping the energy up in the room. Samples of each drink were available for tasting. Some were spicy hot and the serpents was like poison. Judges sat in front of the stage to sample each concoction. One round had all the competitors each prepare margaritas while one hand is behind their back in a boxing glove. It might have been fun to see the bartenders compete with both hands in boxing gloves. The final rounds had a giant table of ingredients and the competitors had to select their ingredients and prepare a drink while working against the clock.

Orlando Urban Sketching Workshop 5 at House of Blues.

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Hurricane Irma blew the wind out of the sails of the 5th Orlando Urban Sketch Workshop that was held at the Ultimate Art Party in Tavares Florida. I decided to reschedule that class since so few artists attended. The next week we met at House of Blues in Disney Springs. When I arrived artists were already gathered at the iconic rusty water tower. We looked for a location where I could talk without the canned in Disney music. I thought we would hang out in a grassy area, but the lawn had loud speakers. We ultimately walked across the courtyard to a bunch of benches a short distance from House of Blues.

I had everyone work small on thumbnail drawings. This allowed us all to do a series of sketches rather than one long sketch. I executed this sketch quickly as everyone worked. I encouraged everyone to limit their color palettes so this sketch was just in sepia tones and then I added color later. The large cement courtyard between us and the water tower gave a good ground plane for me to explain how to populate a sketch.

We did 5 minute studies of each artist in turn as they looked at their cell phone or sketched. With all those quick sketched done I asked the artists to create a ground plane using two point perspective and then copy several of the quick 5 minute figure studies onto the grid. The figure studies were like chess pieces on a chess board. Pieces in the foreground were larger, and pieces in the background grew smaller.

Live music could be heard coming from the House of Blues, so the last exercise was to approach the music and draw the crowd gathered to listen as well  as the musicians. I executed a second tiny sketch while everyone found a spot and got to work. We then returned to the benches to see each others work and take some photos.  It was a fun night and I think the attendees age getting a feel for the excitement of working on location.