The media rushed inside the Amway Center once the ribbon had been cut. I was still putting watercolor washes on the previous sketch. I got a text from Mark Baratelli saying he and Tisse Mallon were inside. I needed to get a media sticker in order to join them. He told me to look for a media tent. When I found the tent, it was deserted. I decided to just “fake” my way to the media section. A security guard told me where the media went. I got to a passage where I was stopped and I explained that I was with the media. I was given a sticker and a lanyard. The media and assorted politicians and building contractors were seated on the floor of the huge arena.
What followed was a series of numbing back patting and self congratulating. When the speeches finally subsided, the Mayor asked everyone to shout out the three words that appeared on the jumbo tron, “I was there!” The crowd shouted and clapped as all the lights in the arena blazed brightly in vibrant blue and white. When the ceremony was over, the media stayed behind for a guided tour of the facility.
The first stop on the tour was the Mercedes Lounge where paintings by local artist Tracy Burke were mounted everywhere. This unexpected abstract work was well integrated with the space. The liquid blue tones perfectly matched the room. Gernagin’s Restaurant recovered some of the magnificent stained glass from Church Street Station. This restaurant has three tiered levels where people can eat dinner and have a great view of the game. Reservations are required.
There is a children’s play area where kids can shoot hoop at baskets hung at 3 different heights.
The highlight at the end of the tour was the Sky Bar. Located at the top of the iconic tower, Sky bar offers stunning views of all of downtown Orlando. Light plastic seats are located all around the bar. I will be going to the Eagles concert next week and I can’t wait to see this brand new arena in action.
Amway Center Ribbon Cutting
The opening of the Amway Center to the public resulted in a sizable crowd assembling in the street for a ribbon cutting. Just to get into this area, all bags were searched. The security officer joked with me about having so many pens and notebooks. Seems most media folks are all digital. Mayor Buddy Dyer spoke about the long road that had to be traveled to get to this point. He pointed out that a major feature of the building was its transparency. A practice basketball court can be seen from outside the building from Division Street. He felt that the tower and beacon wodld be known years from now as an iconic Orlando feature. A great consideration is that the building offers great amenities to everyone, not just the Box seat season ticket holders. The $5 seats offer great views of the game. Rainwater is captured from the roof saving an estimated 8000 gallons of water a year.
The Center houses an art collection with work from 25 artists with 300 pieces in the hallways and suites. The open wire mesh that was used in the construction of the tower was produced by a metal worker in Parramore, just a few blocks from the Center. Rather than trying to get a glimpse of the ribbon getting cut, I focused on the media that were on hand to record the cutting. Once the ribbon was cut, fireworks exploded out from the Amway Center letters. Then as I was rushing to put on some watercolor washes, the crowds rushed into the huge open space.
World’s Largest Smiley Face
On the morning of the opening of the Amway Center, hundreds of people gathered on the roof of the parking garage adjacent to the Center to set a Guinness World record for the largest group of people to assemble to create a smiley face. When I starred the sketch the crowd was rather thin but slowly people arrived. Each person was given either a bright yellow or a black poncho. The previous record was 250 people who stood for ten minutes assembled to look like a smiley face. Over the loudspeaker an announcer said, “As soon as you enter the smile zone we want to see those pearly whites.”
Mayor Buddy Dyer addressed the assembled crowd along with Brian Dirk the chief operating officer of Smile Train. This organization is responsible for helping get operations for children born with cleft pallets. The organization was given a check for $19,825. One area of the parking garage had hundreds of note cards lying on the pavement arranged in a circular pattern. This was the smile zone. People were given note cards with numbers and letters on it. They needed to locate the matching numbers and letters in the smile zone to know where to stand. When they were in place the announcer said, “Everyone, please put the hoods of your ponchos up.” At the last minute volunteers put on yellow ponchos and squeezed in to fill in any holes. Several children who had cleft pallet operations then joined in.
The photographers on the lift verified that a smile was formed. Three helicopters hoovered noisily above the garage and the assembled crowd waited for ten minutes to set the record. Mark Baratelli who took over as the announcer shouted, “Anyone need to use the bathroom?” A few hands rise. “No! Welcome to Orlando!” Everyone was instructed to shout out “Orlando makes me smile!” Finally the clock countdown indicated the record had been set. A bullhorn blast sounded. People started to walk away and the volunteers shouted out, “Go back, Go back!” Morgan from the Guinness World book of records took the stage and announced that the record had been broken with 500 people. Many of the participants came from around the country because they won a competition by answering the following question, Why does Orlando make you smile? One contestant wrote, “It makes my wife smile and what makes her smile makes me smile even more.”
Paws for Peace
I drove towards downtown Orlando with the sun rising with a glorious orange glow from behind the skyscrapers. I parked behind the Day building near Panera’s. There was already a small crowd of people gathered on the east lawn registering for the dog walk around Lake Eola. Bright purple bags were handed out to each dog owner who registered. With all the frantic butt sniffing action and the occasional threatening barks, I decided to focus less on the dogs and more on the hard working volunteers. Former Democratic State Representative, Dick Bachelor spoke to the gathered crowd but the microphone cut out so I didn’t catch much of what was said. I knew that funds raised would go to help victims of domestic violence. 0ne speaker asked each person in attendance to tell five friends about how rampant domestic violence is. Three out of every four women will be victims of a violent crime during their lifetimes. Slightly more than half of female victims have kids under 12 in the house. Scattered all along the dog walk route were signs relating facts abowt domestic violence.
When all the dog owners and their pets were out walking, I decided to look at the colorful T-Shirts which were hung on clothes lines. The Women’s Resource Center supplies the shirts to Art Therapy courses at the Women’s Residential Counseling Center, the Howard Philips Healing Tree, the Victim’s Service Center and Harbor House. Harbor House helped organize the days event. The T-Shirts were boldly painted. This is what some of them said:
Silence the Violence 4-Ever.
I am afraid, help me.
Teach love, respect and equality not violence.
Judeth Johnson, age 40 of Orlando was beaten to death allegedly by her boyfriend.
Because of his choice to beat my friend, I too, am scared for life.
I have the right to live happy – unhurt and safe.
He should fry for what he did to her.
I deserve to be loved.
Scotty raped me on roofies. He’s dead now, call it karma. I love myself again.
What didn’t kill me made me stronger. No one deserves to be abused. Real men don’t hit.
If I cried for help, if I cried rape, would you believe me?
To dad, I made this shirt for you. What you did was wrong and dangerous. You hurt Jordan and you hurt mom. Please stop drinking. Why did you do it? I love you. -Taylor and Jordan
Mental abuse hurts.
We will never die as long as we are remembered.
U deserve true love.
There is light. Faith in god will heal your wounds.
Loyalty, Oppression, Violence, Enraged. This is the love I learned from you.
As I read, I felt a wave of anger and sadness that we live in a society that looks the other way as women and children are abused. The only thing I can do is tell you, and hope you tell others. Help stop the violence.
Redlight Redlight
Terry had a tip from someone that there would be pirates at Redlight Redlight (72 Bennett Road). She was right, as soon as we entered we were faced with pirates galore muscling up to the bar. One pirate with a patch over his eye was a former Disney Feature Animation artist named John Hurst. John and his wife bought the Cameo theater on Colonial and he has turned it into an amazing raw venue where I often find myself sketching. Terry pulled out her real fencing sword and challenged a pirate who pulled out his musket. “you should never bring a foil to a pistol fight” he said. Outside a group of pirates were setting up a 5 pound cannon and aiming it at the Roxy night club across the street. They set the charge and then waited for traffic to clear. The blast took me by surprise and I almost spilled my beer.
I stalked pirates all night but they were constantly on the move. I finally decided to sit on a comfy couch and I sketched Rick Jones’s birthday, his girlfriend Katherine Sullivan was at his side. Everyone at the table wore newspaper pirates caps which Rick continued to fold as needed. Hannah Miller stopped in and sat on the couch with me for a while to talk, then she joined the party at the table for the rest ot the night. I was drinking a light tasting honey ale and I liked it. I expected a band of pirates to gather in the background at any moment but they never did. Later Chad Bruce explained to me that pirate garb is rather heavy and hot so they were most likely outside to stay cool. An important lesson learned if you want to sketch pirates in their natural environment.
Turned Away from the Holy Land (Again)
This year I decided I would get into the Holy Land. I considered my plan carefully. Last year, parking involved long lines and was absolute chaos. I decided this year to park at the Millenia Mall and hike over I-4 to get to the park. When I got out of my truck the first thing I heard was helicopters. I knew I was once again entering a theme park war zone. When I approached the gate I entered last year, a security officer approached me and asked, “Got your ticket?” I replied, “No.” He said, “You are going to have to go down the sidewalk and enter down there, that is where they are giving away tickets.” He pointed.
I passed several news vans with their long coiled antennas raised. When I turned, there was a line of people stretching back in the parking lot as far as the eyes could see. The line switched back and I took my place at the end of the line. I stood behind a mother and father with their four daughters. One of the daughters shouted, “It’s my turn, It’s my turn!” The dad lifted her up quickly and kissed her face and neck several times,”mwah, mwah.” The younger daughter then shouted, “Do me! Do me!” The father did this for as long as he could then he said, “No more turns.” I turned and looked behind me, the line was growing longer. For a brief moment, a light breeze hit me, drying the sweat on my back. I resisted the urge to sketch since I had sketched the line last year and that was part of the reason I didn’t get in the park.
A countdown started from a family in line, “3…,2…,1…” was followed by a shout of “Hallelujah”. A little girl dressed in pink maneuvered her wheel chair with amazing dexterity. An old man relaxed in a lawn chair. There was no shade. Two Roman Soldiers all in red and gold marched through the line and into the park via a gap in the fence. A woman shouted out, “Hello everyone, Jesus Christ loves you all!” I didn’t understand why she was preaching when everyone in line was drinking the Kool-aid. I finally inched forward to a spot where the line turned. I was shocked to discover that the line turned the corner away from the entrance for a hundred yards or so. I waited another half hour and then an angry woman walked past the line saying, “You are all waiting for no reason,. They ran out of tickets!” I immediately got out of line and rushed up to the gates to sketch. The Central Florida News 13 van pulled up and set up their camera. Two women approached the news anchor and said, “We never got a ticket. We came all the way from New Jersey only to be turned away.” A policeman started shouting at the people still standing outside the gate, “Everyone to the left! We need room for vehicles to get through! People in the back of the line, back up, I need five feet clear in front of the gate.”
Once a year, Holy Land is required to open the park for free in order to keep their tax exempt status. The park has a capacity of 2000 guests and then they have to close the gate. Last year the people who didn’t get in, all got vouchers to return for free any time in the next month. A park spokes person said the vouchers resulted in a situation that was out of control. Hundreds of people showed up the next day resulting in more chaos. The voucher was the Christian thing to do, but if you think about it, also resulted in profits going down. Even if everyone used their free voucher, it would still be cheaper for Holy Land than paying their taxes.
As I packed up to leave, the line outside the park’s closed gates continued to grow. People were waiting for guests to leave the park in the hope that they would then get in. I don’t have the kind of faith needed to stand baking in the sun for many more hours.
On the walk back to my truck, I decided to treat myself to a Tutti Frutty Frozen Yogurt at the Millenia Mall. On the windshield of my truck I got this note from security officer Krigsner: “Mall at Millenia parking lot is for Mall at Millenia guests or employees only. Please relocate your vehicle if you are not shopping or working at the mall. Thank you.” God I hate malls and theme parks. What am I doing in Orlando? Security guard Krigsner, my Tutti Frutty receipt is in the mail to you.
Stuffing Backpacks
I went to the Children’s Home Society offices to sketch as 800 or so backpacks were stuffed full of school supplies. Amanda Chadwick greeted me at the door and walked me around the work space. As part of his “Available” project, Brian Feldman was in a back room removing unwanted marketing items from donated backpacks. Three young girls, children of Home Society workers, had volunteered as well. Their names were Corinne, Madison and Bailey. First all the backpacks had to be emptied of all the donated supplies inside, so that every backpack was guaranteed to have exactly the same supplies when they were stuffed. Brian goofed around and had the girls laughing the whole time. Brian would make a great dad. He found a tiny donated bicycle with rather deflated tires and rode it around the cubicles much like Butch Cassidy. The girls took great pleasure in throwing school supplies at Brian and Amanda would step in and insist we all get back on task. Somehow through all the play, the job got done. I only did one sketch because at noon I was going to meet a Children’s Society case manager and ride along to see a backpack get delivered to a child who needed it.
Landmark Forum
While I was sketching in the lobby of the Sonesta Hotel, Kelly Medford, an artist from Florence Italy struck up a conversation. She invited me to return the next day to experience what she called a wisdom workshop which is an offshoot of “Landmark Forum.” Being curious, I returned. When I entered the ballroom, people were gathered in small clusters in animated conversations. There was a point to all the social interactions. On the chalkboard at the front of the room the following questions were written: “What is happening in your life? What do you want to get out of being here?” It was later stated that life is a conversation, that one person can change a conversation and a conversation can change the world. Participants were asked to continue a conversation even when it got uncomfortable. One person said that when the conversation moved beyond the awkward moment, then suddenly the person would offer some insight which he needed. Everyone was asked to get seated. I continued to work on the sketch in the back of the room. People were asked to introduce guests. Kelly stood and gave me such a glowing introduction about being an influential artist who is helping build and strengthen the arts community. I got choked up, and a tear rolled down my cheek. I didn’t bother to wipe it away since no one was close enough to see. I shouted out, “Thank you Kelly” and got right back to work.
On tables around the room, there were scrapbooks which had visual biographies. Each page signified a year. Kelly showed me hers and there were childhood photos and snippets of conversation. Post its with negative thoughts were pasted here and there. These negative comments were things she said at the workshop and they originated years ago in her past. By recognizing the origin of the negative thoughts she could leave them behind. She could complete her past.
Other collages were called Originating Circles. They acknowledged that words that come out of our mouths create our new reality. Images were picked to symbolize those words. I read the back of one,
“Seems like I don’t trust women.”
“Seems like I don’t trust people.”
“Seems like life is a big lie.”
“Seems like everybody but me is crazy.”
None of these statements were true and by visualizing them they can again leave them behind.
The workshop really stressed the idea that we are part of a community. We need to talk to people to find out what they have to offer. If we use the community, anything is possible. Things we create live through other people.
Another important aspect of the workshop was to recognize the importance of play in our adult lives. Life can be play and it is important to bring that to the people in our lives. By playing we bring a flow back into life. As an exercise people sat in circles and had to relate something that they always wanted to do in a group but never had. Kelly pointed out that she had just seen people shouting out hell and brimstone on Church Street at night. She had never shouted out her convictions to a group. She stood on a chair an shouted with her fist raised. I had related that I never express anger. I shouted in anger though I had no one to direct it at. Then the play began. I was recruited as part of a human pyramid. At the front of the room a chorus line formed and then a conga line. A woman related that while she was in the women’s room, she started singing, “If your happy and you know it clap your hands!” Women in the other stalls started to sing along. When it was all over, Carl related that “This never happens in life, only in the movies. In the proper environment there can be play. Thank you.”
To make anything happen, first you must dream it. Perhaps a community that allows for play is possible. The universe rewards action. Nervousness is power and energy. Be big in the moment. Inspire those around you with playful exuberance. Continue to grow every day. Think big, pursuing that dream while being truly alive.
Theater Tailgate #1
I arrived at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater to find Brian Feldman, Sultana Ali and my wife Terry relaxing in lawn chairs in the parking lot. Sultana’s Nissan Pathfinder had it’s tailgate open exposing her clutter. I noted the clutter, like her Vasque hiking boots and a dinosaur puzzle, since she asked me to neaten things up in the sketch. Brian offered Terry a non-alcoholic drink since she arrived just moments before I did. Brian initiated this tailgate party for “The 39 Steps” which was having its first matinee performance that day. The truck’s stereo was playing a book on tape reading of the John Buchan book the play is based on. I sat in the shade across the way to sketch. Sultana jogged over and put a pirate head eraser on my pencil. Then Matt Simantov arrived with Amanda Chadwick who was hooting and hollering. “Oh Yea! Time for a theater tailgate party! Wooo!”
This tailgate party had been going on since about nine that morning with the actual play starting at two. I arrived for the last hour figuring the largest number of people would be involved right before the show. This is an inspired idea. I’m usually rushing to get to performances on time. In fact, I missed one Fringe performance by being late. It would be so nice to arrive early, socialize and enjoy great conversations with friends at a relaxed tailgate. I hope arts groups around town adopt and expand on the idea, or I hope Brian expands the premise. This idea has a touch of the Fringe about it and its time has come.
Mounted Police Horses Struck
On October 1st the Amway Center opened its doors to the public for the first time with much fanfare and an obligatory ribbon cutting. Mounted Police were dispatched not so much for crowd control but as a display of Orlando’s finest. The Mounted unit barn is a bucolic spot right next to the Citrus Bowl. Rather than loading the horses in the trailer they decided to let them get some exercise by riding them to the Arena.
On the way two of the horses were struck from behind by a vehicle traveling an estimated 30 miles per hour. The horses legs buckled and the two volunteer riders were thrown clear. There was broken glass and the horses were bloodied. Both horses bolted once they got back up and they returned to the barn without the riders. The struck horses were named Captain and Peanut. Katherine and Katie were the volunteers. Katie was scraped and bruised and she had to be taken to the hospital. Her riding helmet was cracked. After a barrage of tests to be sure there was no concussion, she was released. The policeman, named Joey stayed at the scene and called for help. His horse named Farran, had bucked but he managed to stay on. The horses didn’t suffer any broken bones but they were bruised and cut up. Captain had a bloody patch above his eye and Peanut had a nasty gash around his mouth possibly from the bit.
Thankfully no one was seriously injured.The driver involved is the father of City Commissioner Sam Ings. He is 90 years old and said he couldn’t see due to glare and his visor was down. It is unknown if charges will be filed. Veterinarians were quick to respond and the horses have been eating so hopes are high that they will pull through this tragedy.