Jammin Tuesdays

Posted on by Thor

Every Tuesday there are classes at Thee Jammin Drum School Studio (1216 N. Bumby Avenue, Orlando). Martin Greywolf Murphy greeted me at the door of the small suburban home.  His grey T-shirt was covered with the  calm expression of a lone wolf. The classes take place in a small room on the side of the home which might have once been a garage. Now the room is filled with dozens of exotic drums and other percussion instruments. I started blocking in the room on my sketch before students arrived.

Mark DeMaio taught the first class which focused on West African Dununba technique and rhythms. Three students and Mark sat in a tight circle playing the large handmade drums between their knees. Wooden dowels were used to set the beat. There is something primal and inspiring in the ancient rhythms. It was an opportunity for everyone to really focus on the syncopated patterns and to
become more deeply immersed in the cooperative practice that generates
the deeply melodic basis of these rhythms that the Djembe parts are
accompaniment to.

Greywolf taught the next class in poly-rhythmic Afro-Brazilian rhythm Samba! The class began with old school Samba de Roda, “Samba in a circle”, and worked towards Rio style Carnival Samba with a broad range of percussion instruments and incorporating unique Jammin! The two students were rather well versed in rhythm and poly-rhythmic structure. In the end they were playing dual cone shaped cow bells. Well, I doubt they were cow bells, but that is how they sounded. The endless rhythm and beats were a joy to sketch to. Greywolf showed a short U-Tube video he had worked on and explained how it mimicked  the beats and structure a drum circle. Classes are $12 a piece or 6 classes for $60.

Pirate Day!

Posted on by Thor

I was running late getting to the Orlando Science Center (777 East Princeton Street, Orlando Fl)  to attend and sketch Blog Con. It was raining so I sucked it up and paid $5 to park in the parking garage across the street. Walking across the glass enclosed walkway to the museum I passed children in costume as pirates. The place was packed full of pirates. The conference I was there was informative but I played hookey long enough to sketch the pirate at the entrance who quickly made balloon sabers, swords and cutlasses for the kids. The second two kids got their swords, they would be fencing and stabbing each other in the belly.

Leonardo Da Vinci‘s flying machine was suspended from the ceiling. Made of wood, I highly doubt it would fly, but the pirate seated next to me said the pulley systems would multiply the force applied to the winch six times.  Any time folks would walk by this friendly pirate would say, Arrrrre ye having a good time. I heard this said so often that I wanted a saber to run me through. Pirates behind me were rolling dice to pick crew mates. A wench informed me that quarters below deck were quite cozy.

Trends with Friends

Posted on by Thor

Wendy Wallenberg told Terry about a fashion show at Bloomingdale’s and I decided to tag along. Terry was worried that we might not get in since our names weren’t on the list. I was going straight from work and felt under dressed with jeans and a five o’clock shadow. The event wasn’t crowded and anyone could get in. We arrived long before people got seated on either side of the runway. I decided to stand at a table facing two manikins with a sweeping view of the runway. I noticed when the models arrived with their small roll along luggage and slender figures like flight attendants. Terry scouted for food and drink while I sketched. She brought back some smoked salmon on a slice of bread. It looked delicious. I’m not sure what drinks were offered, but she went back for more.

Wendy hadn’t arrived yet and Terry was getting bored. When Wendy did arrive, just before the show started, she texted me, “I’m here, don’t forget to put me in the sketch”. I looked up and waved to her seated next to Terry. Ten percent of all sales that night would go to MD Andersen Cancer Center of Orlando thanks to the efforts of Women Playing for TIME. Melanie Pace who was the wardrobe stylist, announced the models as they went down the runway. The runway presentation involved transforming “Daytime Wardrobe into Evening Chic“. I focused on Hope each time she strutted down the runway. I mixed and matched her wardrobe each time she modeled. Fashion models seldom stand still.

I was still applying color as the fashion show wrapped up. A server offered me a peach cobbler and man was it delicious.  I finished up the sketch so I could leave with Terry. Wendy wanted to shop. None of the outfits modeled appealed to Terry.

Mystery Sketch Theater

Posted on by Thor

Tonight, Mystery Sketch Theater will have a special session specifically focused on figure drawing with a long pose. Christie will be back as the model. Christie will be wearing a Galadriel dress from Lord of the Rings, also requested by the artists!

The event will last 1.5 hours. We will do a few sample poses at the beginning for everyone to get warmed up and figure out which pose they like best, and then we will continue with the selected pose for the rest of the evening with
breaks in between for the model, and the pose re-established after each break.

Please take note that this event is on a THURSDAY and starts promptly at 7PM. We wanted to be kind to our hosts and not keep them at the shop on an evening they are not open late.  The entry fee is $5 for the event (no games or prizes this time, but we’ll still pick up some snacks), and it will still be held at The Geek Easy, located inside of A Comic Shop (114 South Semoran Blvd # 6
Winter Park, FL 32792-4433
(407) 332-9636).

As always, outside food and drink are welcome, and come early for a good seat. Those drawing tables go quickly!

Models Rehearsing

Posted on by Thor

Artist and designer Lynne Polley gave me a tip to sketch a rehearsal for the models that will take to the cat walk for Harriett’s Park Avenue Fashion Week. The rehearsal was in the small Wedding Chapel (301 West New England Avenue, Winter Park). I was a bit early approaching the chapel, but I saw a young man go in. As I approached the door, I heard a driving, hip, pop beat from inside that seemed out of place. Gorgeous models were lined up along a wall. Church pews were lined up on a diagonal line creating a runway. The modeling coach was at the end of the runway for a view of each models strut.

The darn pews kept me from sketching the models sinewy legs. The angular poses and relaxed walks are all highly rehearsed. The line kept moving and the models walked for many hours. The instructor shouted out that they all needed to relax. Arms were stiff and tense. She was a bit upset that one of the male models had shaved the hair on his head leaving a Mohawk. She warned everyone to keep their looks. They were picked by clothes manufacturers because of their hair color and looks. Photos of models taken at the last session apparently weren’t that good. Showing the photos to fashion designers, she had to reassure them. “She is pretty in person, really!” She warned everyone, “If you trip on the runway, I will find you.” I sat with several moms who were there to support their young budding models.

Later in the rehearsal, a leggy, blonde 16 year old model joined the group. She wasn’t used to wearing the high heels she had on and when she walked down the isle, her heels clomped down, sounding like a bull in a china shop. She leaned forward like a stilt walker loosing her balance. The modeling coach worked with her extensively trying to get her to relax. Another model offered her another pair of heels and she improved but still walked with an imbalanced awkward grace. I smiled inside. One of the models looked over my shoulder and asked, “Are you an artist?” I cringed, never looking up from the sketch and barked back, “Yes!”

Grand Opening Celebration at the Obama Volunteer Office

Posted on by Thor

The Obama Volunteer Office held a FREE Grand Opening Celebration on Friday Sept 7th, starting at 5:30PM. The office is located at 200 North Denning Drive in Winter Park right behind the Winter Park Village. I saw police cruiser lights flashing as I drove down Denning towards the event. I figured parking might be a problem so I drove into a Publix parking lot and walked the half mile or so to the event. Sure enough, cars were parked on lawns and all the street parking spots were full.

 Tables were set up in the parking lot and musicians were setting up in the performance tent. The John Valeri Quintet began to perform and Miss Jacqueline Jones
sang with them later in the set. I began my sketch by studying an elder man wearing an American Flag shirt. Four food trucks were set up in the back of the lot. As I sketched a dark sinister cloud pushed in from the west. I rushed my line work fearing rain.

There was a deluge. Everyone ran for cover. Most people, including myself, crowded under the performance tent. A large puddle began to form where I was standing so I lifted my art bag off the ground onto a cement curb. I went inside the volunteer offices thinking I might have time for a second sketch. People were pressed tight together. Former Sentinel theater critic Elizabeth Maupin seemed to be working in the office as a volunteer. An acapella quartet broke out in song in the hallway.  I had to pick Terry up from the airport so I vetoed the notion of a second sketch. I opened up my little umbrella and braved the walk back to my car.

Red Fox Lounge

Posted on by Thor

Mark Wayne and Lorna Lambey were an Orlando Lounge act legends. Sadly Mark passed away last spring. I’ve often wondered what act could possibly follow their brand of Vegas style kitsch. The urban legend was that Mark and Lorna’s act inspired a Saturday Night Live bit where two teachers perform for students. Part of me hoped Lorna would continue to perform although I knew that wasn’t likely. I had to return to get another sketch.

When I got to the Red Fox Lounge in the Mount Vernon Inn (110 South Orange Avenue Winter Park, ) the room wasn’t as packed as the last time I had been there. The sixties era room sported prints of horse riders on the hunt. Bathed in blue light, Patty and Michael were performing behind a poster sized caricatures of themselves. I found it odd that Patty and Michael’s business card and website didn’t once mention their last names. Perhaps this first name branding makes them seem as big as Sonny and Chere. I liked their covers of Norah Jones  songs but they couldn’t match Norah’s silky voice. They played a wide selection of covers but the music never had the energy or conviction to get people dancing or singing along. The music was kitschy and sweet but an empty caricature of the energetic originals. There is another act performing on alternating evenings and perhaps one day I’ll return.

Melinda Wagner

Posted on by Thor

Composer, Melinda Wagner, gave a talk about her music and creative process at the Timucua White House (2000  South Summerlin Avenue, Orlando). She won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for music. Her laptop was open so she could play her compositions for us. Besides composing music she is also a house wife in New Jersey. The other house wives don’t really understand what she does. When Melinda explained to one woman that she was a composer, the woman responded, “I thought all the composers were dead.”

Melinda explained that anytime she starts a composition, there is a period of angst and worry where the music is in absolute chaos. Then the piece reaches a stage where she realized it is all going to fall into place. Then she can relax and enjoy the process. When she played her music for us, she closed her eyes and listened. She explained that an artist’s roll is to take risks for the sake of beauty. She is listening and looking for a piece with heart. As she said, “Music offers composers an immeasurably rich and
generous sonic landscape in which to explore the ‘life story’ of each
musical idea — its dramas, intrigues, joys and sorrows — a life. I
strive to find various and persuasive ways of moving through the
resulting temporal narrative, and to traverse a wide spectrum of
expression and color on the way. Ultimately, I want listeners to know me; I want them to hear that while I enjoy the cerebral exercise, I am led principally by my ear, and by my heart.”

Blur

Posted on by Thor

I went to the final run through rehearsal for Emotions Dance performance of Blur at Turning Pointe Dance Studio (470 E Lake Brantley Drive, Longwood, FL). Rehearsal started at 9PM so I had time to eat dinner with Terry at home before I left. The dance company’s founder was on a conference call to California when I arrived and she told the dancers they had five minutes to warm up before starting to dance “full out”.

Using contemporary dance, Blur examines social networking, consumerism, the corporate world and reality television and asks “Are we really connected to one another”? Energetic, heartfelt and also playful choreography came together to look at our habits in today’s hectic world! Things are not always black and white. My favorite dance number involved all the dancers moving in a grid like pattern on the stage as they tapped out text messages. The driving techno music by Draft Punk Techno Logic set the fast paced beat to messages sent with little heart. “Buy it, use it, break it, fix it, trash it, change it, melt – upgrade it, charge it, pawn it, zoom it, press it, snap it, work it, quick – erase it, write it, get it, paste it, save it, load it, check it, quick – rewrite it, plug it, play it, burn it, rip it, drag and drop it, zip – unzip it, lock it, fill it, curl it, find it, view it, code it, jam – unlock it, surf it, scroll it, pose it, click it, cross it, crack it, twitch – update it, name it, rate it, tune it, print it, scan it, send it, fax – rename it, touch it, bring it, pay it, watch it, turn it, leave it, stop – format it.” I love the lyrics! They seem to document my mad struggle to keep up with a digital world.

Tonight, Saturday September 15th, is the last performance so get to the Orlando Repertory Theatre Blackbox (1001 E Princeton St, Orlando) by 8PM. Buy it, charge it, rip it, then prepare for some truly thought provoking dance! There is an opening act by Turning Pointe Elite. Go!

The Sketchbook Project

Posted on by Thor

The Sketchbook Project has been touring the nation and it made a stop at Urban ReThink (625 East Central Blvd., Orlando). The Sketchbook Project sells small sketchbooks to artists around the country, asking the artists to return the book full of art. I participated the first year I heard about the project but it was painful to give up a full sketchbook. I learned from fellow Urban Sketchers that the Sketchbook Project retains all reproduction rights to the sketches. It is nice to have the one sketchbook in the Brooklyn Sketchbook Library but I’m not tempted to do it again.7000 sketchbooks were neatly stored in bookshelves on wheels. They can be quickly rolled off a truck to be moved to a new city. Dina Mack sat flipping through sketchbooks. As she put it, “I’m in sketchbook heaven.”

Urban ReThink which was formerly a book store seemed perfectly suited to house the collection. The first step in checking out a sketchbook was to get a library card. I already had my card from the previous year, so I skipped to step two, which was checking out a book. There was a laser bar code reader to scan the card and then you used a computer to pick out sketchbooks by theme, location or artist’s name. I picked two local sketchbooks to start. The sketchbook from Orlando was dark, brooding and full of angst. The next category I searched was “This is a sketchbook.”  I figured I’d get to see some quality sketches. One artist did catch my eye. Cheism was an artist from London and his sketches were light hearted and fun. Larry Lauria an animation instructor from Full Sail stopped in. Larry had submitted a sketchbook this time around so I tried to check out his sketchbook. It wasn’t available. Someone else must have checked it out. I seemed to keep checking out duds while the young couple next to me kept getting fun creative sketchbooks. One of their books was taped together accordion style and the whole book was one big colorful Dagwood sandwich.

Artist Mary K. Shaw sat with friends at the table in front of me flipping through sketchbooks. Blank post cards were available for artists to sketch on. If you sketched on a postcard, it would be sent to the next stop on the sketchbook tour. Robin Maria-Pedrero completed a postcard sketch and in return, she was given another artists postcard. The postcard sent her warm wishes for a beautiful day. The next step for the Sketchbook Project is a mobile library, similar to a food truck.