Fringe Fundraiser at Hard Rock

Posted on by Thor

The 22nd Annual International Fringe Festival had a huge fundraiser at Hard Rock Live in Universal Studios. Several days prior, I had difficulty getting into the parking garage using my Florida Drivers license. Predicting a similar hassle, I scanned the parking voucher and changed the date to Monday March 4th. I could use the counterfeit voucher if needed to park. Walking from the parking garage, I saw “Dem Guys“, David Horgan, Ed Anthony, and Myron Blattner. “DEM Guys” sponsor a venue each year at Fringe and they always had a friendly competition to see who could see the most shows. Sadly, Myron died of natural causes last weekend at his home in Altamonte Springs. He was 77.

Seth Kubersky was shooting photos on his iPhone for the Orlando Weekly. The fundraiser was a night of Music, Comedy, Dance, and nonstop entertainment from some of Orlando’s top talents.

The evening was hosted by The Man of 10,000 Noises, Michael Winslow. Michael gained fame from his performances in the “Police Academy” movies and other blockbuster films such as “Spaceballs” and “Gremlins”, and has gone on to entertain audiences across the globe for the last 25 years. A master of vocal gymnastics, Michael can imitate over 1000 sound effects using his voice alone.

Featuring Fringe favorites The Mud Flappers and local all-star band The Downgetters.

With additional performances by Yow Dance, Skill Focus Burlesque, Emotions Dance, Circus Arts, ME Dance, Misa Flemenca, Tod Kimbrow and Dorothy Massey, Piranha the Musical, Laney Jones and Matt Tonner and The Downtowners. The Downtowners are a retirement home singing group and as they sang “I want to be Sedated” the song took on a whole new meaning.

The show went on for over three hours. Had I known I might have done another sketch. Towards the end all the performers were on stage singing the Beatles “Let it Be“. The song went on forever. I shouted along, “Let it Be!” meaning “Let the song end already!” The evening raised about $7000 for the Fringe which will officially start on May 15th in Loch Haven Park and Ivanhoe Village.

Universal Parking Nazi

Posted on by Thor

On March 1st, the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida hosted a fundraising concert at Hard Rock Live. Hard Rock is located at Universal Studios City Walk complex. After 6PM, the parking garage becomes free for Florida Residents. I left home later than usual to make sure I got to Universal after 6PM.

There was a long line of cars waiting to get past the parking admission booths. When I got up to the booth, the collections agent asked me for my Florida drivers license which I was happy to show him. Now my license isn’t the prettiest thing in the world. It is dog eared at the corners and the renewal stickers that Department of Motor Vehicles keeps sending tended to slip a bit from being in my hot wallet too long. Anyway, I’m holding my license out the window and he barks at me that he needs a FLORIDA License. “It is a Florida license.” I respond. He frowned and took the card from me, then handed it back. “I can’t use that”. He said. After some arguing, he did admit it was a Florida license, but he said “I can’t scan that.” “What? You didn’t even try!” was my response. “It is valid till May of 2013, read the back.” I got five bucks out of my wallet since there seemed to be no way to reason with this Parking Nazi. I held my bill out the window but he took so long with the car on the opposite side of the booth, that I changed my mind. “I’m leaving.” I told him. He slapped a ticket on my windshield under the wiper and pointed me towards the exit. I turned on my wipers to send the ticket flying as I drove away.

After leaving Universal and cooling down, I decided to return to the parking garage but this time I would look for a female parking attendant. I figured a female attendant would be more reasonable than the Parking Nazi. It was quite a drive on side roads and a very crowded International Drive. When I drove up to the female attendant, she gasped when she saw the card, but she did let me into the garage. I probably wasted an hour of drawing time by arguing and driving in circles, but I was in. I stayed off the moving walkways and used the steps rather than the escalators, for the exercise and to warm up. Besides walking is often faster than the moving walkways.

There was a metal detector to get into Hard Rock Live. The security guard said, “You can’t bring that chair inside.” “Your kidding.” I replied, “What am I supposed to do with it?” “You’ll have to bring it back to your car.” If you’ve been to Universal, then you know that the parking garage is a loooong walk. If I had to walk all the way back, I’d probably leave in a huff. This was the last straw. As I was debating what to do, a second guard said, “Let him in.” I set off the metal detector then emptied all the art supplies in my pockets onto a table. Finally I was in.

Betsy Dye who had recently started working for the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida greeted me in the lobby. Her warmth and cheer melted away my frustrations. I went up to the White Lennon Room where people were able to meet the band members of 38 Special. The band members hadn’t arrived yet, so I went out on the balcony and sketched there. It was a cold night, so I drew fast.

K.D. Lang

Posted on by Thor

On May 27th, K.D. Lang performed at Hard Rock Live in Universal Studios. Terry scored some free tickets to the concert. We were pleased to find that parking is free for Florida residents after 6PM as well. We parked in the Jaws lot and rode the series of escalators and people movers towards City Walk. City Walk is the closest thing Orlando has to Times Square so I might be tempted to return for some night time sketching in the future.

Our seats were way up in nose bleed territory, but the price was right. Terry went to get some sodas at the bar. I saw Parker Sketch in the crowd but I didn’t have a chance to talk to him, I was already sketching. I layed out the sketch while the house lights were on, but then the place went pitch black. The warm up act was Jane Siberry and the Siss Boom Bang. She is from Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is most famous for her early 1980s new wave
hits such as ‘Mimi on the Beach’, ‘I Muse Aloud’ and ‘One More Color’.
Internationally, she is best known for her 1993 album ‘When I Was a
Boy’. She talked far more than she sang and honestly we couldn’t wait for her to get off the stage.

Terry has several K.D. Lang CDs so I was very familiar with her music. She  is a Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer and songwriter. She is
regarded as one of Canada’s foremost female vocalists, as well as a
champion of legal equality for LGBT people. K.D. is the same age as me. Terry told me that when K.D. came out publicly she was in her twenties and it took some guts since most performers hid their private lives and loves. She was on fire for this performance. I particularly liked her rendition of Hallelujah.  People were standing and swaying to the music by the end of the concert. There was endless applause when she left the stage and even louder applause for the encore. It was a great concert in a great venue.