Lil Indies

Posted on by Thor

Lil Indies (1036 Mills Ave N, Orlando, FL 32803) is right next to Wills Pub. I hosted an Orlando Drink and Draw event (ODD) there and when I arrived, Indies was not open yet. I decided to take the time to do a sketch outside and meet any artists as they arrived. Storm clouds loomed a steely blue grey on the horizon. Mills has a constant flow of traffic, and as I did this sketch, a van pulled up to Wills and a band started unloading their instruments and equipment. The sign outside the club says, “no colors and no weapons” which is a good policy in this day and age. I don’t think they actually check for weapons.

The storm clouds blew my way, and it started to rain just before I was finished. I decided the sketch was done when the first big drops hit the page. Greg Bryla arrived just before the deluge and we went inside together.Lil Indies is decorated like I imagine my grandmothers basement would look like. Kitschy paintings adorn the walls, and vintage couches and chairs are scattered around the entry rooms.

The bar itself is built from various colors of hand stained boards and feels hand made. The signature cocktails can be delicious. I found a table in the corner for the artists and set about drawing the stage area. I believe four of us were drawing that night.

On this evening Tod Caviness was hosting a literary event called Loose Lips. Five writers reflect on the news
with their own words, their own frightening words, and the drinks flowed (some of the best cocktails in town are made at Lil’ Indies), and
the world shall continue on as though uninterrupted. It was a good night of drinking, drawing, listening, laughing and reflecting on where we are headed as a nation.


The next loose Lips will be July 3, 2018 at 8 p.m.again at Lil Indies. The event is 21 and over and will return under the terrifying regime of the Functionally Literate crew.

Functionally Literate at Avalon Island Gallery.

Posted on by Thor

I went to “There will be words“, at The Gallery at Avalon Island (39 S Magnolia Avenue Orlando FL) to hear fiction read by local authors.  The evening was hosted by Jesse Bradley. An iPhone, mounted on a tripod recorded every reader. This event is always a great sketch opportunity. I get to see local art in the gallery and then listen to local authors reading their latest work.

The next “There will be words” happens on Tuesday, November 8 from 7 PM to 8:30 PM. This show will take place on the most important day
of the year: Election Day. And there will be writers who are reading
stories based on what the world looks like when you make a terrible
decision.

Glendaliz Camacho
John King
Rachel Kolman
Whitney Hamrick

Afterwards, all the authors will go somewhere and watch the votes being counted and hope that Florida doesn’t fuck this up for everyone.

Functionally Literate

Posted on by Thor

Functionally Literate is Burrow Press‘ quarterly-ish reading series that aims to connect, entertain, and possibly intoxicate, Orlando’s community of writers, bookworms, lit nerds, and the intellectually curious. Each Function pairs the best writers in Central Florida with visiting writers from all over the world. This event was held at The Gallery at Avalon Island.

This sketch is of John King who earned his MFA from New York University in 2010. His work has appeared in Palooka, Gargoyle, The Newer York, the 15 Views of Orlando
project, and others. He is currently a composition Sherpa at the
University of Central Florida, and he is the host of the amazing writing
podcast, The Drunken Odyssey.

I always love sketching these readings because as I sketch, my mind wanders allowing me to imagine the scene the author is painting. This is what a creative community is all about. An intimate audience gathering to share stories. The next Functionally Literate event will be held on January 16th at 7pm at the Orlando Shakespeare Theater (812 East Rollins Street Orlando FL). Authors will include Matthew  Salesses and Kristen Arnett.

College Park Jazz Fest

Posted on by Thor

On October 26th, Terry volunteered to help collect admissions fees and put wrist bands on patrons going to the College Park Jazz Fest. About five blocks of Edgewater Drive were blocked off and there were three stages for musicians. The street was crowded with people in their lawn chairs with picnics. For $200 entire tables were rented in the street. One area had couches and lounge chairs like someone had moved their entire living room into the street. One family had the ingenious idea of loading all their lawn chairs in a large kids wagon and then using the wagon as another seat when they were unpacked. They sat as a group on the entry to a bank.

The volunteers at this entry were all members of the Jack Kerouac Project.  The Kerouac House offers residencies to writers who are offered room and board so they can focus on their writing. Author, Caroline Walker, is the present resident author at the Kerouac House. She joined the volunteers at the entry. At one point we all wondered at a bright star in the southwest sky. It didn’t flicker much, so we debated about it being a planet. Caroline had an application on her phone that clearly showed planets and constellations when she held it up to the sky. With all the bright lights from the festival, most stars were hard to see, but with the cell phone the sky blazed bright and vivid. The mysterious point of light was Venus. Mark Your Calendar, Caroline Walker will be reading at Functionally Literate, on November 22nd at The Gallery at Avalon Island (39 S. Magnolia Avenue, Orlando, Fl) starting at 6pm.

Some of the volunteers left to find some food from vendors on the street. They returned with exotic Brazilian Tacos that looked delicious. Terry and I then went to find these tacos but all I ended up finding was a huge corn dog and a Coke. Some guy in a lime green souped up car parked near our entry station and cranked up his music to drown out the live jazz, The huge tires had those hubcaps that keep spinning after the car has stopped. The doors had huge sub woofer speakers in them and they caused the street to vibrate. After a quick flurry of photos he was gone.

Functionally Literate

Posted on by Thor

November 3rd was the inaugural episode of Functionally Literate held at Urban ReThink. The quarterly events aims to connect, entertain and enlighten Orlando’s growing community of writers, book club nerds and culturally curious. Each event will feature a visiting author along with thee talented local writers. The series is organized by Burrow Press and The Jack Kerouac Project. When Terry and I entered, a bit late, the place was packed. Large holiday lights were strung from the balcony creating a festive canopy over the audience. For some reason people were shy about sitting in the front row so we scored two front row seats.

Jared Silvia introduced the series and pointed out that Don Pomeroy‘s debut book, Wally, published by Burrow Press last month was available. Don Pomeroy thanked the book jacket illustrator Brian Phillips who had his work on display in the back of the room.  Summer Rodman and Rachel Kapitan then introduced Catlin O’Sullivan who is the resident novelist at the Kerouac House through the end of the month.  Catlin is working on a historical novel called The Kiss Off, involving a gangster on the lamb. She prefixed her reading by letting us know that a petite waitress had rented a room to the gangster. She went out with him one evening and things went from good to very bad. Upon returning home, she heard a raccoon in her attic. She went up to the attic with a hammer in her hand. What followed might upset any readers that despise cruelty to animals so I will end the scene there. If you want to read more, follow this link…

Susan Lilly read some wonderful poems. One was about a summer where she had to go to a camp where she was force fed sermons. A field trip to a rock concert exhilarated her to the point where she said, “If I had been a boy, I would have had a hard on.” She and her friend got in trouble for separating from the group. The other authors were John Henry Fleming and Don Peteroy. A reading versed in old English biblical phrasing told the story of Christ trying to win a basketball game to impress two girls. A large pad was flipped with the verses but the moderator unfortunately blocked my view. The audience would periodically respond with an Amen. It was funny but in time felt forced. Don’s story began to discuss how messy and gutturally funny human sexuality is when it is real. I will not even try to describe the slick, wet, messy, smelly and noisy details.

Afterwards, a large group of us went to The Wine Room a few blocks west of ReThink for some flat bread pizza and drinks. That morning the Kerouac Project had a garage sale that made over $1,400 which will keep the Artist residence running through the end of the year. There was plenty of laughter and barbed conversation to end the night.