COVID Super Dodgers

Posted on by Thor

Have you not been infected by COVID-19 yet? How is that even possible? You are a member of a very exclusive and ever shrinking club. BA-5 invaded our home when a house guest caught COVID from a summer camper. Somehow by taking simple precautions of masking hand washing and social distancing, we manged to dodge that very close bullet. At some point, we all will get infected. There are no winners in a pandemic.

Over 80% of all school children have already been infected and they brought the virus home for the parents and grand parents. As of September 13, 2020 COVID-19 has infected over 600 million people. The CDC estimated that at least 60% of all Americans have already been infected at least once. Re- infections are now the new normal.

Some of us want to keep dodging the virus. Even being fully vaccinated, there is a risk of long COVID which could drag on for months or even years. Americans are acting like the pandemic has ended. I however am still ducking and dodging for as long as is humanly possible. In grade school I enjoyed playing dodge ball. At some point however, it becomes statistically impossible to keep from getting hit.

Phantasmagoria Stumble Through

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This Phantasmagoria rehearsal was held at a dance studio in Winter Park. Walking in the back door, Phantasmagoria founder John DiDonna instantly made me feel right at home. In the front dance studio, actresses from the Tampa acting company were getting fitted for costumes. The rehearsal proper however was in the back dance studio. John had generously set up a chair in the corner of the dance studio for me.

Phantasmagoria is a Victorian Steampunk Horror storytelling group stationed right here in Central Florida. What I appreciated from the start was the love and respect every member in this company showed for each other, because everyone wore masks for the duration of the rehearsal. Things started off with dance rehearsals.At times members of the cast were almost in my lap since the room must have been a bit smaller that the stage they were preparing to perform on. Though this rehearsal was the first time all the numbers were being performed in order, the dances in particular seemed to flow effortlessly. At the end of the evening I learned that there had been nine rehearsal prior to this one. Then fight sequences were rehearsed to be sure everyone stayed safe for the darker and more violent scenes in the show.

What followed next was a full run through of the show. Actors were still, “on script” meaning they could hold the script to be sure they could see, and if needed read, their lines. John had described this rehearsal as the “Stumble through” but it went amazingly smoothly. The only time things stopped was when the many actors had to re-position themselves on the stage.

After the rehearsal, everyone sat on the stage floor for notes and a discussion. The show rehearsal had run amazingly close to the desired run time. Every actor and actress could bring up concerns to be addressed in future rehearsals. This was a true democracy with every member having a say about how things could run more smoothly.

Victorian Horror Troupe PHANTASMAGORIA brings to life 8 haunting works of terror from Edgar Allan Poe in Phantasmagoria XIII – “POE, Through the Tales Darkly”. The perfect “whimsically macabre” way to usher in the Halloween Season! ORLANDO PREMIERE at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts – October 6th, 7th & 8th.

Juggling Variants

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The COVID-19 virus continues to create new variants. Some hope that the new variants will be less infectious and less deadly. However this outcome is not guaranteed. When I shared an illustration titled “Vaxed and Relaxed” I got a response from a nurse saying, “Working in the ER now, Covid is very much not “over”. I wish people took health and safety more seriously.”

I sketched at an opening last week and I was one of two people wearing a mask in a crowd of perhaps 300 people pressed into two gallery rooms. For most Americans the pandemic is over as hospitalizations slowly decline. The virus however has plenty of human fuel as we head into the fall season, ignorant and unprepared.

A new variant following on the heals of BA 5 is variant BA 2.75 nicknamed ‘Centaurus’. Studies suggest that this variant is similar to BA 5 which is capable to dodge immunity conferred by infection and vaccination. The variant seems to have a “quite sizeable” transmission advantage over BA.5 according to Tom Wenseleers, an evolutionary biologist at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, who has modeled its rise.

The Centaurus variant has arrived in Florida in mid-August. Viral loads are once again rising in the Miami, Orlando and Tampa Bay areas. Coronavirus particles found in wastewater from Orange County, home to Orlando, have nearly doubled in the past two weeks. COVID tests conducted last month in Florida confirmed that the BA.2.75 omicron sub-variant, which fueled a recent wave of infections in India, is circulating among people in the state.

So, have you gotten your fall vaccine booster? If not, you may be juggling chainsaws with little experience.

Contour at Crealde

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At some point in each series of Crealde Urban Sketching classes we cover contour drawing. A contour drawing is done by staring at the subject and moving the line on the page slowly and deliberately as the eye moves along the edge of the subject. It is possible to do a drawing this way without ever glancing down at the page. The slower a drawing is done, the better. The hardest thing is to get students to take the leap of faith. Things tend to get wonky but there are always passages of highly well observed line work. It is easy to see if a student was glancing at the paper and judging themselves while sketching since shapes are carefully closed off.

This drawing of students was done with contour and I would glance at the page only when I needed to re-position the pencil. I like the way a pencil digs into the paper causing resistance. You can feel yourself creating the lines. I only put a couple of watercolor washes over the sketch since I wanted to focus my attention on helping the students.

I love sketching students as they create. Every artist has their own distinctive gesture as they draw. I also miss the days when people would responsibly wear masks. It meant I didn’t have to sketch noses or lips.

5 Minute Demo

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With my Crealde students, one class is devoted to just doing five minute sketches of everyone in the class. This is s demo done on the back patio, to show how much can be blocked in on a page in 5 minutes. I am training them to think of the figure as just  fraction of what goes on the page. Most beginning students don’t get much more that the head on the page in 5 minutes, so I give my students all the short cuts I use to get human proportions down fast.

I am also demonstrating how to use every tool in the toolbox to get things don fast. Sometimes a fast watercolor wash will block inn an area faster that a series of lines. This sketch also shows the strange transitional period of the pandemic. Masking requirements were lifted, but I was happy that one of my students remained masked at all times.

For the past 3 months more people have died from COVID-19 in Florida than in any other state. Hospitalizations are going down now so this peak has passed but I still believe in taking every precaution until the pandemic is over. Over 80,000 Floridians have died, many of them needlessly. Over 400 Americans are dying every day due to COVID-19  and that ha become the new norm.

Figurehead at The History Center

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Figurehead: Music & Mayhem in Orlando’s Underground opened last night at the Orange County Regional History Center (65 East Central Boulevard, Orlando, Orange, Florida). Between 1985 and 2001, the Orlando concert promoter Figurehead invigorated the musical landscape in Central Florida. This special exhibition, Figurehead: Music & Mayhem in Orlando’s Underground, tells the story of how the company helped grow the local scene with a focus on underground rock music and the club circuit. Utilizing the extensive Figurehead archive, now part of the Orange County Regional History Center’s permanent collection, the exhibition showcases an impressive display of eye-catching and jaw-dropping concert posters that capture the energy and drive of this era. Musical acts featured include Black Flag, Jonathan Richman, and Drivin N Cryin, hometown favorites Seven Mary Three and Rob Thomas, and many more. Figurehead: Music & Mayhem in Orlando’s Underground provides a glimpse into what made this time in the Orlando area so memorable – the bands and the clubs, the community and the chaos.

I was pleasantly surprised by the wide variety of poster styles created right here in Central Florida for very big name bands and local legends. Besides the opening night bask, there is a whole series of discussions about the Central Florida music scene. One of these is bound to wet your appetite. This was Jeremy Hileman‘s curatorial debut and he hit the ball out of the park.

Lunch & Learn – I’m With Her: Women in the Central Florida Club Scene
Friday, September 2, noon – 1 p.m.

The Story of Figurehead: A Panel Discussion
Saturday, September 10, 1 – 2:30 p.m.

Coffee & Conversation: The Hip Hop Scene in Central Florida
Sunday, September 18, 2 – 3 p.m.

Sensory Sunday: The Musical Museum
Sunday, October 16, noon – 4 p.m.

Totally Eighties Pop Culture Trivia Happy Hour
Thursday, October 20, 5:30 – 8 p.m.

Lunch & Learn – It’s Gonna Be Central Florida: The Boy Band Craze
Friday, November 4, noon – 1 p.m.

Art of the Underground: A Figurehead Panel Discussion
Saturday, November 5, 2 – 3:30 p.m.

Lunch & Learn – Figurehead: Deep Cuts & B-Sides
Friday, December 2, noon – 1 p.m.

Musical Mayhem Family Day
Saturday, December 3, 10 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Totally Nineties Pop Culture Trivia Happy Hour
Thursday, December 15, 5:30 – 8 p.m.

Vaxed and Relaxed

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With mid term elections coming up, all politicians will campaign on a Vaxed and Relaxed platform. They all will brag about what has been accomplished and ignore the steady state of over 400 deaths a day from COVID-19. If you say life has returned to normal enough times the sheep will believe you. The government cut its free at home testing program because they would prefer that you believe that the pandemic is behind us. It is not.

The vaxed and relaxed population took every precaution at the beginning of the pandemic. They locked down, social distanced, and wore masks.  Yet the virus just will not go away. It persists. These folks got vaccinated and some even got boosted and with that done they decided the pandemic for them was over. They decided that for them the COVID virus was no worse that the flu.

The BA 5 virus is the most transmissible variant of the virus ever and we do not yet know the lingering effects of long COVID. Since testing is so lax, we have no clear picture of just how many people are being infected every day. BA 5 now seems to have peaked and cases are starting to fall.

During a typical flu season you might see on average 800 to 1,780 deaths a day. Right now there are about 2,3oo deaths a day from COVID-19. COVID is not like a mild flu. If the rates of death due to COVID remains the same for a year there would be 832,600 deaths globally. OCID is the number 4th cause of death in America right now.

COVID is here to stay. Any hopes of mitigation or eradication have long since passed. The virus will continue to mutate. The virus has found ways to escape the protections offered for the vaccinated. Though vaccines that were designed to offer specific protection against the Omicron variants are now becoming available, the uptake will likely be limited. That leaves plenty of human fuel to stoke the viral fire.

Lake Eola Farmer’s Market

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Each Sunday morning the Lake Eola Framers Market is open on the South East corner of the park. There is a picnic area under a huge live oak tree surrounded by a fence where people enjoy the snacks they picked up at various food vendors. I took my advances Urban Sketching student here to sketch.

A table opened up just as we got there offering a perfect view of people enjoying their Sunday in the park. The bulldog was a real challenge to catch in the sketch since he never stood still. It was hot out and he sprawled out for a moment but couldn’t sit still.

Before we were finished sketching the food vendors started to pack up. The some drizzle caused everyone to rush off. I was done enough with the sketch and called it a day. The drizzle never transitioned in to a downpour, so we could have lingered, but nature sometimes has a way of telling you that the sketch is complete.

Monetizing COVID Aid

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Republicans the filibuster to block a $10 COVID Aid bill which would have helped the Department of Health and Human Services to buy more therapeutics, vaccines and testing supplies. The federally funded free at home testing program came to s screeching halt. If you need a COVID test you have to hope your insurance will help cover the cost. Free testing is a thing of the past, now be prepared to possible pay hundreds for a nose swab.

Omicron specific vaccine boosters are becoming available for this fall. The new shots from Pfizer and Moderna are bivalent, meaning that they target both the original Covid strain and omicron’s BA.5 subvariant. To be eligible, you’ll need to have completed your primary vaccination series — and be at least two months out from your last dose of any Covid vaccine, according to the CDC.

The new shots are free of charge to receive, for now. Here’s where you can get them if you’re eligible:

  • Walgreens began offering both Pfizer and Moderna’s new boosters on Friday. The shots haven’t reached all of the chain’s locations yet, but new appointments are being added daily. You can view and schedule appointments on the Walgreens website, on the pharmacy’s app or by calling 1-800-WALGREENS.
  • CVS also began offering both updated boosters on Friday. Its online system allows you to schedule multiple patients at once, which could make it easier for your family to get vaccinated together. You can schedule those appointments on the CVS website or on the pharmacy’s app.

“The consequences of not getting COVID funding are really serious—scary, almost,” Senator Chuck Schumer said, “The rest of the world is racing to buy up the supply of these treatments and these therapeutics, and if the U.S. falls behind because of a lack of funding, vulnerable Americans, and our whole country, will pay the price.”

America has seen more deaths from COID-19 than any other county in the world with over 1 million 400,000 dead. More than 400 Americans are sill dying every day but that has become business as usual. When politician have a chance to make a difference, they choose instead to run around with their hair on fire. Your tax dollars will no longer help protect you from the next COVID wave this fall.

WJBW New Season: Ether

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JB Webb has been the executive producer, hosting WBWB Networks  for over a decade.WJBW is a live internet radio station, and is a passion project. The 10th season ended in 2020. WJBW Syndicates to over 20 different platforms and counting. Programs are recorded  LIVE then released across all distribution sites. In the past, you could catch the roving studio set up in the mysterious love dungeon in the back room, or on the front patio of Maxine’s on Shine (337 Shine Ave, Orlando, FL). I had been interviewed in the back room in the past and it was a riotous affair.

JB Webb decided to end the show solo, just as it began. In the coming season, known as season Ether, he will be the sole host. The goal is intelligent phone calls and interactions with people, minus the tomfoolery that was rampant in the previous season. The goal is to help people by giving them a platform to exercise their voices.

As he put it on Facebook, he is back to dumping praise on talented folks every week! Curiosity and admiration. Sincere heartfelt appreciation of people and their talents and passions. Respectful and intelligent conversations with people that deserve some love and recognition! I’m genuinely excited and eager to bring this voice back to the community.

A more serious journalistic season lies ahead.