Infusion Tea

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I had an event on my calendar called Cafe Night Open Mic at Infusion Tea (1600 Edgewater Drive College Park, Florida.) I had been working on the Ivanhoe Park Brewery mural earlier in the day from noon to 2:30 pm, so I was sweaty and grimy from railroad dust. Regardless, I wanted to get a sketch done for the day, so I headed to Infusion with Pam to experience the Cafe Night Open Mic.

We ordered tea and sat, waiting for the event to unfold. There was no Cafe Night Open Mic. I kept sketching anyway. The ladies across from us had ordered a three tiered finger sandwich and tea platter. There was lots of lettuce on the top tier. It must have been a special occasion. They chatted and joked… when they were not lost in their phones. Behind them was the Arts Co-op with funky dishes, jewelry, and t-shirts. One blanket said, “Live by the sun, love by the moon.”

Infusion Tea

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I often stop into Infusion Tea in College Park (1600 Edgewater Dr, Orlando, FL). I usually go to Soft Exposure to listen to poets and authors but this evening I just stopped in for a bite to eat. The food is delicious and it is always fun to try a new blend of tea. I get over whelmed when I order since there is a wall of teas behind the ordering counter. There is also a counter where you can order gelatos. Gelato is healthier than ice cream.  It uses more milk than cream, and less fat. Additionally, it usually uses fewer egg yolks, another source of fat in custard-based
ice creams. Ice cream is churned quickly introducing more than 50% of air into the mix. Gelato is churned much slower which makes it more dense. Gelato has a more direct flavor. It always reminds me of Rome.

Infusion has a 60’s retro feel with the yellow Formica tables and lime green chairs. Some people come to sit for hours, sipping tea and working on a laptop.  Outside a patio enclosure has been added that looks like it came out of a shagadelic Austin Powers movie. The Arts Co-op, a  chic gift boutique inside Infusion is also a great place to get unique local hand crafted items for the holidays. Now through the end of the year if you buy one item, you get 1/2 off on another item. Many of the items are perfect as old fashioned Christmas decorations.

Soft Exposure

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On February 27th, I went to Soft Exposure at Infusion Tea (1600 Edgewater Dr, Orlando, Florida).

Naomi Butterfield and Frankie Messina  hosted this monthly event that features the writing of local and visiting authors. Soft Exposure happens every 4th Wednesday. I ordered a delicious vanilla tea and a humus wrap and found a spot with a decent view of the podium. Terry arrives just before things got started, but she wasn’t feeling well so she relaxed on a sofa at the back of the room. Author Karen Price joined me at my table.

Janna Benge was the featured author. She and her husband Geoff run a monthly Silver Fern Writing Workshop out of their winter Park home. The couple hails from New Zealand. They became accidental authors and accidental immigrants to the United States. Janna has ghost written about 100 books; she and Geoff co-wrote two historical biography series which has 61 title, and three million copies in about 15 languages. She is now working on a fictionalized memoir of a Victorian murderess. She read an excerpt from that book. Written in the first person, the woman agonized over her need to confess what she had done. The murderess was based on true events that Janna researched and then fictionalized.

After Janna read, the mic was open for any author to share their work. There is something very rewarding going out and hearing fiction and poetry from local authors. Soft Exposure is Orlando’s kinder, gentler spoken word night. Much of that comes from Naomi’s quiet inspiring words and Frankie’s bear hug of artistic inclusiveness.

Soft Exposure

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Soft Exposure happens on the 4th Wednesday of every month. Frankie Messina has taken over as host for Soft Exposure at Infusion Tea (1600 Edgewater Dr College Park). Naomi Butterfield used to host this open mic night but she recently moved to Gabon. Frankie has added his own flair to this night of poetry and prose. When I arrived, he was still setting up. He had a stack of vinyl records and he spun his favorites as people arrived. Billy Holiday‘s silky voice greeted me. Frankie runs a local arts support organization called Apartment E. Formed in 1993 it offers local love and support. He came up with phrase “City Beautiful” and he owns the online domain.

Artist Janae Corrado set up a display of her oil paintings and pencil sketches.  Her work has a flavor of the surreal while remaining grounded. Frankie asked her to talk about her work between readings. She was hesitant but finally stepped up to the mic. Her work is personal and she tries to keep titles and themes open as she is working on a painting. She has been painting for five years now but has been an artist since she was a child. She feels the Orlando art scene has plenty of talent, much of it unrecognized. The Florida art market tends to be driven by tourism with the exception of Miami which might be its own country. The largest painting she brought was of a woman with horns in front of a bare tree. The model for this painting was Kassandra Kharis. Kassandra was an amazing local artist who took her own life several days ago. I was shocked and humbled by the news from her friend Tracy Lulu Brown. Kassandra’s work is dark and mysterious. She appeared in an isolated sketch I did in Blank Space. I spoke to Janae briefly about Kassandra and her eyes lit up as she talked about how Kassandra wore antlers to an opening to look just like her painting. Laughter and joy in memories masked the loss.

Joe Rosier started the evening off with a poem he wrote at Fringe about a microphone not in use on the empty outdoor stage. He lamented the lost opportunity and endless potential that went unnoticed. Frankie read an amazing poem about lines. Like the line in the sand, the line we are meant not to cross. I wish I had heard this poem as I worked on the Mennello Museum line mural. There were emotional sparks flying in the poems. Several times my eyes burned and had to be wiped dry on my sleeve. Several tourists were in the room. They flew from Australia to Orlando to attend an Avatar self help course. They read from a group exercise handbook. I felt a bit uncomfortable as the material had a cult tinge to it, but in the end their message was of compassion and understanding which is what any art form should aspire to. A poet apologized for not writing much recently. He then recited The Love Song of Alfred Prufrock by T.S. Eliot. I love this poem, which I first read in high school. Now that my hair grows thin and grey, the poem has added impact and meaning as I search and scratch out images every day.  Curtis Meyer ended the evening with an emotional spoken word piece about the inventor of the inner circuitry in microphones. The thrust of his poem rushed forwards and back like a DJ spinning vinyl to a rap beat. The evening had come full circle.

I left feeling inspired and uplifted, yet sad that talent could burn so bright and often go unnoticed in an indifferent world.

SWAMI World Traveler

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Infusion Tea (1600 Edgewater Drive, College Park) hosted a talk by Swami about his world travels. Frankie Messina acted as the MC for the Soft Exposure event. After studying his notes for the longest time he stood behind the mic and read a poem to start off the evening. He then introduced Swami who he had first met in 1996 at the Florida Film Festival. Swami began his talk with an image of a car crash. He had been working as a computer animator for years when a car crash caused him to re-evaluate what he wanted from life and he began traveling the world.

One of his stories was particularly compelling. He traveled to Hiroshima Japan and visited the A-Bomb Dome. The first day he went as a typical tourist soaking in facts and figures about this building which had been kept in its original condition after the atom bomb was dropped on the city. The next day he returned, intent on finding out what the monument meant to the people of Hiroshima. His broken Japanese made approaching people difficult but he persisted. “Sumimasen. Konnichiwa…” He finally spoke to a Japanese woman who was willing to share her views in her broken English. She saw the building as a symbol of peace. She asked him the same question in return and he had to admit he saw it as a symbol of devastation. She looked to the future while he looked to the past. He said he hoped t0 one day see the building as a symbol of peace as well. An old man overheard the conversation and he asked Swami if he was American. The old man lived as a child on the outskirts of Hiroshima. He vividly remembered seeing the yellow orange glow on the horizon that day. Swami expressed his wish for eternal peace and the old man warmly replied, “You good man.” They had their picture taken together both men with their hands raised with the peace sign and the dome in the background.

Phenomenal Conundrum

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Back in Orlando, I found I had time to kill between scheduled sketch assignments. I was coming from Baldwin Park where the opening of a French furnishings store turned out to be an uninspiring subject. I drove to College Park where Mona Washington was going to have a reading of one of her plays at the Kerouac House. I was early so I stopped at infusion tea and ordered an Italian Gelato. Sitting on a comfortable couch in the back of the room, I was reminded of a scene in “Eat Pray Love” where the main character sits quietly in a bustling Italian square savoring a Gelato and enjoying being alone taking in the scene around her. As I savored my Gelato, using the delicate little spoon, I noticed Rachel Kapitan sitting at a table near the door, looking a bit corporate yet very edgy, working on a laptop probably writing up a storm.

In the far corner, a guitarist got behind the mic and started strumming. His friend worked the knobs on a speaker and walked into the middle of the room to check the sound levels. When he was satisfied, he sat down and started playing the drum. They had a warm, mellow soothing sound and I moved closer. A group of women had just abandoned the front table, so I sat down and started sketching. I really had to rush the sketch since I only had an hour before the Kerouac house reading. One of the women returned and she jokingly raised an eye brow and pointed at me as she picked up her full cup of tea. I laughed as she quickly made her way to the door to catch up with her friends.

The musicians were Alexander Gunn and Raymond Hussmann and they called themselves “Phenomenal Conundrum.” They hail from Washington D.C. and they had been performing the Pirate Bars along Florida’s coast before sharing their music at Infusion Tea. They had some paintings from a friend leaning against the wall beside them. On the guitar a message was scrawled that said, “This machine kills Fascists.” As I got close to finishing the sketch, I saw Rachel walk past the plate glass windows. I knew she was looking forward to Mona’s play reading, so I knew I was out of time. The Kerouac house is only a few blocks from Infusion. The sketch was finished with a mad flurry of watercolor washes. I left in the middle of a song, fanning the sketchbook to try and dry the washes.

Mona Washington Reads at Infusion Tea

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Monthly author readings have resumed at Infusion Tea. Mona Washington who is the new resident author at the Kerouac House, read from a work in progress. Terry had never been to Infusion before so she asked that I get there a half hour early so we could talk for a while before I started sketching. I got a last minute call that T-shirts I had ordered for the ColORLANDO event were ready to be picked up. I called Terry to let her know I was bound to be late. I parked two blocks away from Mother Falcon, where I had ordered the shirts. I called Terry as I walked and again after I had the shirts in hand. I got to Infusion just as Naomi Butterfield was getting up to the podium to get things started. There was little time for conversation before I got to work. When Mona got up to read, Terry mouthed, “I’m going.”
Mona’s story had to do with a married couple who no longer knew how to communicate. The romantic spark of their youth had burned out. The husband created a promiscuous mistress in his mind that satisfied his sexual desires whenever he wanted. As Mona said, “They fell into a pattern where they didn’t treat each other with even the respect they might show a taxi driver.” The couple went to a marriage counselor where they talked about their feelings and how they felt about their feelings. They then fell right back into old established patterns of behavior. The husband hinted at his wife’s weight when he suggested she shouldn’t have ice cream. She tortured him by licking the ice cream cone with pornographic delight. The only exchanges the couple seemed capable of were clandestine attempts to destroy each other’s egos.
After the reading was over, Mona confessed that she needed help resolving issues in the story. I hadn’t realized that the man’s mistress was imaginary. The sexual exploits were so vividly descriptive, that it seemed more real than the bickering. A discussion followed, but little insight was offered on how things might be structured better. In the break that followed, Rachel Kapitan, who had been serving tea from behind the counter, walked up to Mona and started offering suggestions which the author listened to intently. She was delighted, shouting, “This is much better advice than what I have ever gotten at writing workshops.” She jotted down Rachel’s number so they could get together and chat some more. Mona’s play “The Mason Jar” will be read by the Bleeker Street Theater Company in Greenwich Village in NYC on Monday, October 4th. If you happen to be passing through NYC be sure to check it out.

Interview at Infusion Tea

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Monday, I met Elizabeth Maupin the theater critic for the Orlando Sentinel, at Infusion Tea. Elizabeth wanted to interview me for the print edition of the paper, and I am always happy to talk about this blog and how it is changing my life.
As is my habit I showed up early and ordered some lunch and an iced tea. I decided I would try and get a sketch done before she showed up. But like a true professional, she had the same idea of showing up early so she ordered and we ended up having lunch together. I did not sketch her since I wanted to focus on our conversation and getting the facts right. Yes even I know when to put the pen down.
I admired her analog approach to the interview, she took notes with a pencil and paper and she came up with questions as we talked. I hope to learn from her example and improve my own interviewing skills for the blog. I might not have related all the joys and heartaches that have come about on this journey but I think she understands the pleasure to be found from taking the time to listen and sketch in a world that is moving way to fast.
When she left I sat back and continued this sketch. The guy working on his laptop was there when I arrived and he remained when I left. Several others sat staring at laptop screens and working in this relaxing setting. Perhaps it is a sign of the times that people are now truly mobile and work where they feel most comfortable. I feel like I have joined those ranks, minus the laptop.