Whirly Dome

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Jessica Mariko, the founder of Drip, invited the entire cast and crew to an evening at the Whirly Dome, 6464 International Dr, Orlando, Fl. Terry and I tagged along. Jessica had game tokens for everyone, so once we entered, the game was on. There was a formula one racing simulator with three screens creating an immersive panoramic view. If the car went up an embankment, the chassis would tilt. Melissa Kasper and Brigette Frias tossed basketballs into a hoop which moved back and forth. They had excellent eye hand coordination, landing shot after shot. I tried playing along with Terry and I didn’t do half as good.

There was a mini bowling alley, but it was broken. It took Terry’s token and didn’t spit out the bowling ball. Then everyone went up to the second floor to play laser tag. We were suited up like storm troopers and given a laser gun. If you were hit, a light would blink on the vest and the gun wouldn’t fire anymore. We were split into two teams based on the vest colors. The first team entered the maze to find cover and then the second team entered. The adrenalin immediately kicked in as we blasted our way towards the far end of the maze. I worked up a sweat trying to avoid laser blasts. Frustratingly I allowed myself to be caught in cross fire, often being killed from behind. A computer kept track of each persons kills. I was never in the top ranks.

Finally everyone made it to the main attraction, a heated game of Whirly Ball. There were five bumper cars per team. Besides driving recklessly, contestants held a lacrosse scoop which was used to toss a wiffle ball towards a hole in a basketball backboard. For the first match, I sketched, watching the dancers laugh and compete. Of course, Yellow, Jessie Sander, piled into a yellow bumber car. For a second match, I got into a bumper car myself. You would think there would be little physical exertion, but I worked up a sweat. I’d love to see octogenarians from a retirement home play this game. Your killer instinct immediately kicks in as you ram the other bumper cars at top speed. Also, tossing and catching that ball with the scoop was a real challenge. Once two cars smashed the ball flat in a head on collision. After the game, Jessica gave everyone a beer wrapped in a nice gift bag. Everyone had worked up a thirst from screaming, laughing and ramming each other. Oh, and if you haven’t seen Drip on International Drive yet,  you are missing the hotter ticket in town.

Di-Verse Word

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0n June 30th I stopped by Dandelion Communitea Cafe (618 North Thornton Avenue Orlando FL) for the Di-Verse Word Poetry competition hosted by Shawn Welcome.  The eclectic spoken word poetry event exposes everyone to all types of styles in writing and performing to this
city. It offers inspiration for not only poets but for those who just
enjoy the art. Poets quickly filled the outdoor patio area as the sun set. The event became more crowded than I expected with people bringing lawn chairs so they could sit in the driveway.

Terry wanted to go to a concert at a cowboy bar so I didn’t have much time to sketch. Several girls with extremely high heels sat on a bench just before the poetry competition began. I later saw them in the cowboy bar. Poet Sasha Nichols Rivera said hello. Her mom and brother were there as well. A young poet was extremely anxious about getting up to perform his poem. There was a cash prize on the line and this was a cut throat competition. Sasha took him for a walk around the block to calm his nerves. I was asked to judge, but I had to refuse since I knew I would have to leave early. Besides, now I knew a poet competing and thus would be biased.

Melissa Kasper and her friends sat beside me. Melissa is a writer, artist and poet but she doesn’t want the stress of performing as a poet in competition. She said she has enough stress in her life with her two jobs. Her ex-boyfriend kept encouraging her to compete, but she would rather enjoy the poetry which remains personal. By the time the first poet got up, I had to leave to meet Terry at the concert where I got to watch several people collapse on the dance floor because they were so drunk.

Mark your Calendar, Di-Verse word is held every Tuesday starting at 8pm outside Dandelion Communitea Cafe.

DRIP Art Nights

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DRIP ( 8747 International Dr. Suite 102, Behind Denny’s and Senor Frogs, Orlando, Fl) has hosted several very successful art nights. There was LIVE art, body painting, art sales and music. I parked a good distance away and walked to the venue. The 8PM DRIP performance was over and there was no cover to get in for the Art Night event. Bodies were being painted everywhere. Artysta Lulu was standing on the bar and doing chalk drawings on the black walls. Mila Belle was body painting and dancing up a storm. Melissa Kasper had on a pair of insanely high platform shoes. I saw another pair of platforms that were designed with metal re-bar that would make a woman a foot and a half taller.

Break dancers started spinning on the dance floor as the DJ pumped up the volume. Black lights made peoples white shirts glow blue. DRIP dancers and body painting models posed in their undies and bras. The dancing really heated up as I finished my sketch and packed up my supplies. DRIP Creative Director Jessica Mariko, joined all the women dancing Gangnam Style as if riding horses. As I left the lights flashed red and green and the entire room was laced with sexy dancers. Paint was everywhere.

Treat your loved one to a Special Valentine’s Day Experience on  February 13-16, 2013.

Looking for a way to impress your date on
Valentine’s day that doesn’t include the same old dress up, buy a box of
chocolates and go to a regular restaurant for dinner?  

JOIN DRIP FOR AN INTERACTIVE EVENING THAT INCLUDES:

*A four course Dinner-by-Color

*Full DRIP performance

*Dessert party

*Make-your-own Valentine station.

*A white DRIP t-shirt 

Limited to an intimate crowd of only
100 people per night. Reserve your tickets before Feb 13th and we’ll
include a $10 gift card from Fairvilla’s Sexy Things per person!

Ticket prices:

Wednesday, February 13: $65 per person

Thursday, February 14: $90 per person

Friday, February 15: $80 per person – *Special All Female Cast

Saturday, February 16: $80 per person

DRIP Splashes onto International Drive!

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Drip is now officially making a splash on International Drive (8747 International Dr. Suite 102, Orlando, Fl 32819, behind Denny’s and Senor Frogs).  The venue is a cavernous dark warehouse that guests enter via a loading dock. My wife and I have been to several performances and the show keeps getting more dynamic. The last show we went to was sold out and I have never seen the venue so crowded. Near the entrance there was a sign saying the limit was 264 people. There was a waiting list for people who couldn’t get into the show.

At the entrance you have to sign a release stating that you know there is a chance you will get wet and covered with paint. White tee shirts are for sale that inevitably got covered in paint. Some women had hand prints on their chests, indicating some creative use of paint. As I see it you are guaranteed to be in the “splash zone.” Once you sign the release then your hand is stamped with the Drip logo. Inside the bar and waiting area, Melissa Kasper was at a table with jars of paint. She asked what color I wanted and I got a bold slash of blue paint on my left cheek. I knew that I might get wet, so, to protect my sketch, I wore a waterproof wind breaker. I might have looked like a geek, but I was prepared. The bar offered various colored beers. I ordered an orange beer and Terry ordered a blue beer. By the end of the night her tongue was as blue as a panda’s. Jessica Mariko, Drip’s founder and choreographer was at the door to greet us. This show was a long time in the making and it was exciting to finally see it all come crashing together.

The show opens with a loud, raw and vibrant rock band performing live on the stage under a wagon wheel suspended from the red metal ceiling rafters. The modern dance focused on a love story of a young couple, who meet and breakup. The female dancer, Jessie Sander, strode onto the center of the dance floor with a bold beam of light behind her. She approached the male dancer, Marcus Alexander Cartier, with slow deliberate steps like in a wedding march. She was showered with yellow sand and water while the male dancer’s color was blue. Together their colors mixed and combined to create green. Sand was thrown in a wild dance contained within four clear plastic walls that were later removed and stored next to the stage.

With this sketch, I focused my attention on the band as they were back lit by strong stage lighting. Below the stage, lights raked their beams across the sand covered dance floor. The show had a bold energy that had the entire audience involved. There is no passive seating, instead the audience stood around the edge of the warehouse to watch. Water balloons burst against the walls sending their milky white spray everywhere. Several times my sketch got drenched and I had to wipe off the sand and paint. This show has an energy that is addictive. Tourists and locals will be blown away. This is the most hip show to hit Orlando and International Drive in a long time. After the show you can linger and meet the sexy cast while sipping colored beer. Marcus has really grown into his roll and the Jessie is expressive and energetic adding her spark to the show. If you want an amazing date night, this is the ticket for you. Performances are every Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8PM.

Drip Rehearsal

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The cavernous space DRIP is renting on International Drive is slowly transforming. I went to a dance rehearsal during the week long intensive. The space was full of the debris of a work in progress. Two ropes hung from metal rafters with knots and a foot loop at the base. They were used by dancers during the high energy show. The walls are being painted black and the floor is getting a multi pigmented marbleize effect using spray bottles. Scully Nolan and Melissa Kasper were working on the space as the dancers warmed up. Melissa was constructing paint can chandeliers which will eventually hang throughout the performance space. She also took photos of the loading dock entrance which will be getting signage and a black paint job. Getting into this dark venue will be like finding a back alley speakeasy.

The dancers were making sure new arrivals were up to speed on the choreography. Videos on iPhones were consulted to clarify moves. There was athletic crab like movement followed by sweeping movement through imaginary pigments. The performance space brings a new meaning to “the splash zone” since the whole room is in the zone. I splashed watercolor on my sketch, knowing I was safe for now.

Jessica Mariko ll the dancers wore neutral colors, blacks and whites along with browns and denim. Jessica was explaining that all colored pigments in the show have meaning. Each dancer is associated with a particular color. A female dancer throwing red pigment instantly attracted the attention of a male dancer of orange. He is with another dancer but can’t help but look when red catches his eye. The dance was about relationships and his need to do his own thing to make his life work.

A recording of the rock music blazed and the four female dancers did a run through of the routine. A dancer tried to figure out how high she could swing on the rope during the dance. Raw, sexy, colorful and unexpected, things are falling into place fast at what might become the hippest show in town.

Fashion Funds the Cure

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Terry asked if I would like to sketch a fashion show at Saks Fifth Avenue in the Florida Mall. I approached Saks from inside the mall and found the gate had been pulled down and a sign put up announcing a private party. I had to backtrack a bit then walk outside to enter Saks from the parking lot. The women at the reception table searched for my name on the list and they couldn’t find it. I had been invited so I stubbornly told them to check again. They finally just let me in. There was food and drink but I wanted to get right to work. Most of the seats in the front rows had reserved signs on them. I fount a seat right next to where the models entered the runway. From my seat I could see the models backstage as they prepared.

The event was a fundraiser for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation. This organization launched a new clinical trial to treat 18 children with relapsed Acute Limphoblastic Leukemia or ALL as it is commonly called. Each child’s treatment would cost $13,000. My father had died from Leukemia shortly before I moved to Orlando so I know first hand how this disease can ravage and deplete a family member.

Eight year old Gina Marie Incandela started things off by singing “Baby you’re a Firework” by Katy Perry. She had sung the National Anthem at a Magic playoff game I recently attended. Her song began tentatively then when she marched down the runway with her hands raised the audience was hooked. I wasn’t ready for what followed. Angelys, an adorable young eight year old girl, made her way down the runway with her mom escorting her. Angelys along with all the other young models is battling Leukemia. The girls were smiling as they sported beautiful oufits down the runway. Several girls had lost strength in their legs and they still made it down the runway with adults escorts supporting them by the elbows. They exhibited strength and beauty.

The host, Brandi Williams would announce some enlightening snippet for each girl. One girls simple bio read, “I am so much more than my cancer.” I saw women across the runway dabbing their eyes and I struggled to keep my eyes clear so I could sketch. Terry had to leave since the scene made her sad. For one shining moment every one of these survivors were superstars. A young girl got to the end of the runway in front of the video cameras and she did an extra sassy hip move that bought a loud cheer from the audience.

Then came an auction. A woman won an amazing week long trip to Colorado for just $2,000. A trip to Paris France had me tempted to bid. When the auction was over, the area quickly cleared out. Melissa Kasper was nice enough to bring me a plate of food as I finished the sketch. The pork and mashed potatoes were amazing. I got up to get a second plate. I found Terry talking to Rachel Kapitan who was helping Ella Kapul at Chocolate Provocateur.When Terry went to hug Jessica Mariko of Drip Dance, a martini glass crashed to the floor. Never a dull moment. We laughed so we wouldn’t cry.

Holi Fest at the Citrus Bowl

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I went to the Citrus Bowl to sketch Holi Fest knowing full well that this Indian springtime celebration would touch and color my life. Last year I went to the event in a black suit and that was a mistake. Live and learn. I walked past the Police Mounted Unit Barn and the horses greeted me by walking up to the fence. Across the street the Indian music was playing loudly and I saw that some people were already multi pigmented. I seated myself with my back against a light pole and immediately got to work. A husband, wife and daughter settled in next to me. The little girl was maybe 5 years old and the supersoaker water pistol she carried was as big as she was. She aimed it at me once and I raised my sketchbook up to my face in a joking gesture of self defense. The dad told her, “No!” I was a little disappointed. A few minutes later I was shot in the right shoulder from behind with a bright purple stream. I wiped the stained pages of my sketchbook and kept working. A woman approached from behind and wiped my cheek with a bright blue pigment.

The field wasn’t very crowded when I started the sketch but by the time I finished there had to be at least a thousand people all joyfully throwing pigments and chasing each other with pigmented water pistols. Melissa Kasper from DRlP Dance company came out to do research for Jessica Mariko, DRIP’s founder who was unfortunately out of town. I hugged Melissa who was like a giddy school girl ready to play. I gave her a plastic bag to protect her camera and then she bounded away to put a few things back in her car. The next time I saw her she was covered in pigments and she had met some friends who were swing dancing to the Indian music. When my sketch was finished I introduced myself to her friends who were all brightly colored. They had a bag of pigment and they helped fully initiate me.

For my second sketch I decided to introduce myself to an Indian family that was sitting against a fence. There was constant activity. People tended to keep turning around always on the lookout for a brightly colored shower from behind. In the opening remarks from the stage it was announced that people came from as far away as North Carolina, New York and Nebraska. The word Holi came from Hola which means sacrifice. The festival celebrates the beginning of spring. It asks that we renew ourselves and move forward with love, understanding and compassion. There was no drinking at the event. The family I was sketching offered me several round fried dumplings dipped in a sweet yellow sauce. They were quite good. After finishing my second sketch I bumped into Hannah Miller and Jack Fields. They and their friends were vibrant and bright. When I left the event, I had to go to Loews on an errand. I turned a few heads as I wandered the aisles. The clerk checking me out said, “You must really get into your painting!” “Yes I do.” I replied.

DRIP’s Wet Run

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It was late afternoon when paint can lids began to be hot glued to the central column. Jennifer Wagner stood on a tall ladder with the hot glue gun hard at work. For some reason one of the lids just refused to stick so that task was set aside.
After a cast lunch of delicious wraps and giant cookies, everyone was anxious to see if everything worked. Thomas was in charge of dumping a bucket of water on the stage floor to see how the drainage worked and to check for leaks. Sure enough leaks were found and silicone was applied along all the joints. Jennifer sealed all the seams of the vinyl curtains that surrounded the dancers stage. A big difference between the initial design and the final stage is that the paint and the tubing supplying the chandelier fountains all remained hidden under the stage and inside the central column. This streamlined the design.

With the sun setting in the west, the dancers came downstairs to rehearse. There was just enough time for one wet run. I did one last sketch of the performers inside the space. One of the stage techs told a dancer that the water was very warm, like 94 degrees. When the water showered down on her, she shrieked because it was freezing cold. As always the dancing was sensual, fun, and compelling. Within six short minutes the performance was over. Jessica Mariko wanted to get one run done with paint instead of water, but the dancers had to leave. Melissa Kasper, a long time “drippy” and the DRIP Assistant Workshop Manager, was asked if she would stand in for a dancer and she shouted, “Yes!” For her this was a dream come true and the remaining cast considered it “Epic!” I was asked to step inside as well but I didn’t have a change of clothes. Melissa changed into a pair of jeans which were ironically cleaner than the paint splattered jeans she had worn all day. She had lost weight and these jeans were getting too loose. She stood under the yellow chandelier and was covered head to toe with bright yellow paint. The paint splattered everywhere coating the vinyl screen. The hardest part of her job became cleaning the vinyl using a towel and then getting on her hands and knees to scoop the thin paint into the drains with her cupped hands. The dancers will have to clean up four times on performance night since the show is repeated for separate audiences.

Drip Paint Can Chandeleires

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I was invited to sketch a stage construction and rehearsal by the DRIP Dance Company. They were setting up in the Isleworth Country Club as part of a Travistock Cup Golf Tournament gala evening. About a month ago I did a sketch of what the set could look like based on suggestions from Jessica Mariko as we sat in Starbucks. The sketch helped sell the performance to the venue.

When I arrived at Isleworth, I had to surrender my drivers license to the security guard at the entrance to the gated community. My license is pretty old. In the photo I still had a full head of hair. The license is updated periodically with a sticker on the back. In a typical case of security guard blindness he didn’t see the expiration date on the back. I had to point the 2013 expiration date to him.


I was asked to park in the cast parking lot which is way past the clubhouse. A golf cart shuttled me to the cast entrance of the clubhouse where I wandered through the bustling kitchen past the security office and down endless basement hallways until I found an elevator upstairs to the main floor. Everyone was rushing to get the place ready for the gala.

The dance staging area was set up in a central court area surrounded by arches. White curtains had been set up surrounding the stage to hide the work in progress. Melissa Kasper, Jennifer Wagner and Thomas Starr were busy painting paint can lids. These lids would later be used to decorate the central column of the stage. The theme for the performance was Pop Art. On a second floor balcony, huge Pop Art paintings were covered with black fabric waiting to be unveiled. I could just make out an Andy Warhol soup can image as it peaked out from within it’s curtain. Set construction went on all day long.