Tiny Houses are Big Draw in Orlando

Posted on by Thor

Emily Lindahl and Dorian hosted a Tiny Houses open house at College Park Village RV/Tiny House Community in Orlando. Dorian lives in a custom-built single-level tiny house with an open floorplan (The Dorian, built by Maximus Extreme), while Emily lives in a tinier house, built by Elaine Walker of the Tiny House-Community,  based on the Tumbleweed Lusby plans (now the Elm 18 Equator). Built in 2009  the house has traveled nearly 7,000 miles from New Hampshire to
California to Washington DC to where it resides now in Florida. Emily met Elaine at a meetup in November and she told Elaine that she planned to sell her large house to start living small. About a month later, Elaine moved out of her tiny house to care for a family member in Florida and offered to let Emily move in. Emily accepted, but someday she hopes to save up enough to build a tiny house of her own.

When I arrived at the Tiny House Open House, Emily gave me a quick tour of her place. A huge vine has grown up the back wall of the home and is climbing onto tree limbs. Emily reached up on tip toe to show me a large gourd that will be a loofa sponge when she harvests it and dries it out. The first landscaping feature Emily added was a winding garden path. She definitely has a green thumb because the garden around her tiny house is flourishing. Her tiny house looks out across a gorgeous lake. Though she is living small, she has a million dollar view. Two hundred or so people showed up to the open house. It was a bit surreal to see a long line of giants waiting to tour the tiny house.

Emily Lindahl has been interested in tiny houses since she was in college. She first saw a Jay Shafer YouTube video on tiny houses in 2006. She grew up in a huge house but was always a bit of a minimalist. She attended a tumbleweed Tiny House building workshop in January 2013 and she and a classmate started a Tiny Houses Facebook group shortly after. The group page started with just 20 people but has grown to over 1600 members. The Tiny Houses Community is getting more organized by pooling resources and getting a website and forum. Emily is the Director of Communications for the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra so she knows how to bring people together using social media. She hopes to one day see Tiny House communities throughout Florida. A tiny housed video series will be released on YouTube soon. Emily wrote the theme song for it. She uses the hashtag #emilystinyadventure online to share her experiences. You can also follow the adventure on Instagram at @emilystinyadventure plus she is sharing her tiny adventure on her blog.

The Barber of Seville: Press, Blogger, Tweet Night

Posted on by Thor

On October 23rd there was The Barber of Seville: Press, Blogger, Tweet Night, at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre (401 W Livingston St, Orlando, FL), which was the final dress rehearsal before the show opened. An usher informed me that there was no photography allowed, but I was ready with my sketchbook. I had to use the book light to see, but thankfully there was no one seated near me. The Orlando Philharmonic’s semi staged operas usually have the orchestra on stage but for this production they have been moved to the music pit. Emily Lindahl, the Philharmonic)s PR person, said that the musicians are much happier down there. For her there is magic in seeing the musicians lit from below like a Degas painting. It feels more like an age old opera. Projections kept the simple set lively.

The Barber of Seville  by Rossini opened October 25. The 3-hour production left me plenty of time to sketch in the first act. Since I was busy sketching, I didn’t have time to read the subtitles. In general the Opera seems to be about a lecherous barber Wooing a married woman. She instantly fell in love when he sang to her as she stood on her balcony. There were several funny scenes where her husband wandered outside and the barber hid by lying on his back like a rug, or pretending to be a bush. The old man must have pretty bad eye sight. No wonder his wife’s attention wandered.

I only know the music because Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd performed in dueling barber chairs. One scene reminded me of the one aria sung by Citizen Kane‘s mousy girlfriend. The opera was actually based on the novel Salammbô by Gustave Flaubert, which was a much more straightforward sword-and-sandals story of a princess, barbarians and that sort of thing. Susan Alexander Kane just didn’t have the chops for the job. In the Orlando Philharmonic Barber of Seville production however the music was sublime. My mind just always wanders as I sketch.

Mark your Calendar! You only hare one more chance to see the Barber of Seville!  

The next performance is October 27, 2 p.m.

Venue: Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre

Address: 401 W. Livingston St.

Phone: (407) 770-0071

Web Site: http://www.orlandophil.org

Price: $20-$82

Stars and Stripes and All That Jazz

Posted on by Thor

The Central Florida Sounds of Freedom Band and Color Guard held it’s premiere concert, called Stars and Stripes and All That Jazz at the Orlando Shakes Theater on June 10th. The mission of the band, close to 50 members strong, is to inspire community and connect people whether they are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or straight. Their goal is to unite, serve and educate through music, entertainment and arts. The concert was free although they accepted donations. Juan Canasi dreamed of a LGBT Community Band over ten years ago, and it was finally formed just one year ago thanks in part to contacts made with friends on social media. Some band members took their dusty instruments out of the closet to join and others are professional musicians.

Conductor Lee Sellers addressed the audience before the performance. He taught band at several middle schools and said he liked stepping up to conduct this mature group. “A band member in middle school might announce that he was getting braces the day before a performance. Oh, wait one of the Sounds of Freedom band members just got braces…” he said and laughed. The Color Guard wasn’t on stage, they volunteered by handing out programs and acting as ushers.

The band began with selections from Chicago. I was pleased to see Emily Lindahl stroll out performing a trumpet solo, using a mute to flair the jazz filled notes. Emily is the director of public relations for the Orlando Philharmonic and I had no idea she played trumpet. I worked feverishly since I knew it was a fairly short concert. Band members switched seating positions between songs which added to my challenge. The band performed a rendition of Over the Rainbow, dedicated to Bob Imlah and ended with some traditional John Philip Sousa.