Voci Dance

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Voci Dance is known for their mystical and surreal dances often times performed gorilla style in unexpected urban settings. Genevieve Bernard was one of the founding members of Voci dance, there were five back in the day, Adrienne Nichols got the group together. At the Orlando International Fringe Festival, the dancers performed with camping head lamps. The performance was staged next to the Orlando Museum of Art and the dancers interacted with the huge blue steel sculpture that is next to the museum on the green lawn of fabulousness. It was just past dusk and the dancers resembled dwarfs returning from the mines. Well, let me restate that, the dancers didn’t look like dwarfs, they were sleek and limber, OK I’ll stop digging. An audience of perhaps fifty people gathered in the darkness around the dancers. This was one of those situations in which I couldn’t see my sketch as I worked on it in the dark. Sometimes that can be a blessing when the sketch finally sees light.

La Granga

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La Granga is one of my favorite spots to grab dinner before going to an event to sketch. It is located across from Full Sail on 436 at the corner of Aloma Avenue. This place serves spit roasted chicken for cheap. A ¼ or ½ chicken meal comes with an inverted bowl of rice and a bowl of black beans. This time I asked for them to leave off the black beans but they gave me two bowls of rice instead. Needless to say there is always plenty of food.

I just ate at a fancy Paris restaurant that also serves spit roasted chicken. I ordered the prix Fix dinner for like 50 Euros and honestly I prefer the chicken at La Granga where a whole meal is only a few bucks. The Paris restaurant also had a hideous five foot high painting of a clown face. That hideous painting, in and of itself could ruin an appetite. Water was served in a clear wine bottle with the label removed. The inside of the bottle was tinged a rust color and the water when poured in a wine glass had a subtle yellow tint. I decided to skip drinking the water that night.

I usually eat at La Granga on evenings I plan to go to Mystery Sketch Theater and I relax to a nice long meal while listening to Spanish TV. The salty black beans and dry rice tend to leave me wanting more Mountain Dew than I get in a single can, so I ration my liquid elixir trying to make it last the whole meal.

Miami Beach Farmers Market

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When visiting Terry’s friend Elaine Pasekoff, I wandered on my own to the Farmers market down the street from the Miami Beach condos. I just found out today, while in France, that Elaine’s sister passed away from Parkinson’s disease. She was far too young. About a dozen tents were set up in the Miami Beach park offering fresh fruit and produce. I sketched from a bus stop which offered shade from the intense Florida heat. We were visiting for Art Basel which is a huge art fair that happens every December. I’m getting excited and making plans to report on Art Basel again this year possibly in partnership with The Daily City. Gears are turning.

I didn’t actually buy anything at the farmers market. I just needed to get a sketch under my belt before joining the assembled entourage on a day’s social outing.  There was some Egyptian looking odelisk in the public park where the market was staged. I believe the market is open the same day each week. Art Basel is a walking marathon and I need to remind myself to schedule a little time each day do just sketch. Last year, convincing the public relations people at Art Basel that I was press was a real chore. This year I hope to get a jump on all the required paper work. Sometimes getting the sketch is the easy part. Getting in is the challenge.

Shakespeare Gala

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Terry and I were invited to the Shakespeare Gala by our lawyer, Keith Hesse. I quickly set up at one of the tables and started sketching this couple enjoying champagne and food from local restaurants. The circular Patrons Room had all of the silent auction items. At the end of the evening I noticed that none of the art work had sold. Jeff Ferree who works in the Shakes scenic shop stopped by my table to say hello. It turns out he was the model who posed in the red t-shirt and ruffled collar for the Shakespeare poster in my sketch. I asked him to stick his tongue out to verify his identity. Betsy Dye who does the graphics for the Shakes said hello as well. She acted as a spotter during the live auction.

There was a live auction later in the evening and all told, over one hundred thousand dollars was raised to help support the theater. I showed a sketchbook to Harriet Lake and I was pleased that she took delight in flipping through the pages. I let her know that I had sketched her reading Catcher in the Rye and she responded, “So you are that guy?!”  Actors quickly acted out a scene from The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged. Delivered like a fast paced sports commentary the scenes were witty but I’m not fluent in all the plays, so some references slipped past me. The Shakes staff are fun and vibrant.

Drip’s Prison Party

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Drip’s Prison Party was held in a top floor of a downtown Orlando business sky rise. The floor to ceiling windows had a magnificent view of the new Dr. Phillips Performing Arts Center construction site as well as an amazing view of Lake Eola where a splash water skiing event was taking place. The idea of the prison themed fundraiser was that “prisoners” could not leave until they raised enough money so they could post bail. Of course “prisoners” were having so much fun, they wouldn’t want to leave. There were live performances through out the day along with food, drinks and massages.

Serafina Shiano, who was the actress who brought Lollybot to life in this years Dog Powered Robot show at the Fringe, performed a sensuous belly dance for the prisoners. Brandon Roberts, dressed as an 0fficer would set of a siren and announce a “Prison Break” about every hour. “Prison Breaks” were a time to stretch legs, grab a drink and enjoy a performance. The walls of the prison were covered with doodles all in a prison theme.

Each team of prisoners sat at a table and artistic thermometers gauged their fundraising progress.  The first team to raise $50 would be celebrated with confetti blasts. A young woman wandered the room in bright orange stilts.

I heard that Drip Dance has finally been granted all their city ordinances, so they will be going live on International Drive soon. The Drip bar will offer brightly colored brews as guests explore the dark and hip space. Drip is sure to become a hit among Orlando tourists who want to escape down a dark back alley to find some of this town’s most edgy, sexy and colorful dance. Watch art come alive!

Scooters for Hooters

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Scooters for Hooters was a fundraiser for Breast Cancer research in which hundreds of scooters and Vespas rode around downtown Orlando. The scooters were all lined up on Central Boulevard just south of Lake Eola. I had to sketch fast since everyone was revved up and ready to go. When someone gave the word, all the engines roared to life and all the scooters roared off. There were tents set up where the Lake Eola farmers market usually is. One tent was auctioning off artwork by local artists. I remember seeing a painting by Hurricane Maria on the auction block.

This was also the day of the International SketchCrawl and I relaxed in the park sketching and listening to the musicians who took to the stage for the Scooters for Hooters cause. It’s good to know any snacks I bought that day went towards an important cause.

City Beautiful Church

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I went downtown to the Lake Eola band shell to meet Sarah Lockhard and a Voci dancer named Brie to discuss possibly doing a live projected sketch during a dance performance. Cory Violence would be reading a Tom Waits poem called Watch Her Disappear. Apparently every day in October there will be public performances like this all around town. When I got close, I noticed musicians playing in the parking lot behind the Polish Catholic Church. Meals were being distributed to the homeless and the music suggested that they surrender to Jesus.

When I got to the band shell, I sat in the back row and waited for Sarah. A band was setting up on stage with a large screen behind them. The screen and projector system would be perfect for the performance piece Sarah was considering.  One of the tech guys walked up to me and introduced himself. He was a former student of mine who was volunteering to help out with the City Beautiful Church concert. Since Sarah was a no show, I decided to sketch the band as they did their sound check.

Cole Nesmith explained that this church would be moving into a new bricks and mortar establishment just south of Lake Eola in a couple of weeks. In the mean time they were worshiping in the park. The band was quite good, playing lively and uplifting Christian rock. I’d never heard the songs before. Some of the lyrics were, “There is an army rising up. Break every chain. I may be down but I will rise. It may be dark but God is light.” Cole gave a sermon about the Prodigal Son, who took his fathers inheritance, squandered it and then returned home begging for food and forgiveness. The point of course was that god is all forgiving and full of love. Clouds of gnats swarmed around my head. I swatted they away as I drew. I finally had to leave in the middle of a song to get away from the bugs. A couple ran after me as I walked around the lake. They wanted to see the finished sketch. Their son was at the key boards.

Full Sail GPS

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As a Studio Artist at Full Sail, there are certain classes that I am required to take. Dan Riebold told me about this class on GPS so I agreed to go. Most of the instructors hunkered down in the back row like deviant students. I sat in the second to last row with a fair view of the room full of instructors.

The GPS program was started after Full Sail students were sent to help out a local production company. Of the ten students sent to help, only two were considered hire able by the company. The students knew how to use the equipment, but they lacked motivation or that extra spark of knowing how to solve problems even before they cropped up.

When a student starts their studies at Full Sail, they are given 100 GPS points. If they are tardy they can loose 5 GPS points. If they fall asleep in a lecture they can loose points. Each teacher decides if point reductions are needed. On the flip side, points can be awarded if a student goes above and beyond by assisting other students or volunteering in the classroom or community. It was this community volunteering that perked up my ears as I imagine it might offer sketch opportunities and good human interest stories.

Jack Kerouac Project Yard Sale

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Each year, the Jack Kerouac Project holds a yard sale to help bring new talented authors to the Kerouac House in College Park. Jack was living in this home with his mother when he found out his novel, On the Road, was being published. That novel shot him towards a fame he wasn’t prepared for. He had to borrow money for the bus ride to New York to sign the publishing deal.

Now, every few months, a new author goes to the Kerouac House for uninterrupted time to write.  I like to meet and sketch the authors when I can. They usually have a reading of the work in progress which is a great time to meet the authors. The Kerouac Project is a real grassroots group that does an amazing job supporting authors by covering room and board during each authors stay. More importantly, they offer time which is a rare commodity in this day and age.

Caitlin O’Sullivan has landed for this year’s fall selection. She is
currently working on The Kiss-Off, a historical novel about a small waitress in 1931.

Peacock Trivia

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I decided to go to the Peacock Room following a lead in the Orlando Weekly that said there was going to be a trivia night. Believe it or not this was the most sketch able event that evening. Someone suggested I call such events Thor-Able. Anyway I arrived right after work, ordered a beer and started sketching the five or so other patrons. By the time I finished my sketch, I realized there wasn’t going to be any trivia.

A Rob Leaman flower was outside on the sidewalk, a remnant of The Corridor Project. The bartender let me know that they had to take it inside several times when it rained. Some of Rob’s day glow green branches were also above the bar. Art on the walls was all by tattoo artists. Some work looked like what you would expect to see on skin, but some was highly polished black and white oil paintings that I thought were great. One showed a rabid Easter Bunny attacking screaming children.