Orange Street Riders

Posted on by Thor

I didn’t spend as much time at the Fringe outdoor stage as I usually do, but I heard Jessica Pawli did an amazing job booking local bands. There was one opportunity that happened between shows and I was waiting for Terry to arrive. The Orange Street Riders were performing and it was a great set. They performed with an energetic harmonica player, a guitar and drums. Large cans of libations were on the stage. Listening to these guys made me realize that I should make more of an effort to sketch the local music scene. Rick Lane was in the audience bobbing his head in appreciation.

Antony Bolante the writer of this years “Onomatopoeia“, met me as I was working to pick up a sketch. He thought ahead and actually had an 11 by 14 inch portfolio to slip the sketch into. I know that piece is going to an appreciative owner. Anyway two thumbs up for The Orange Street Riders. I’ll be looking to catch a longer set from them sometime in the future. Time to hit the open road.

Onomatopoeia

Posted on by Thor

Entering the Black venue on Virginia Drive we were greeted by the music of Miss Laney Jones and her band, Bill Jickell on mandolin and Chris Campbell on upright bass. Their sweet bluegrass music wove its way through the whole show. Onomatopoeia, written by Anthony Bolante, is a bitter sweet story set in 1929. On a back lit screen, a young couple meet and fall in love in a small mid West town. The title came from a conversation the young couple had about how two words could join together to have a whole new meaning. The analogy being, that two people in love could weather any storm.

At a town celebration and dance, the boy played by Adam Scharf proposes to the girl, played by Melina Countryman, by hiding a ring in a red balloon. Their fates change when the stock market crashes sending the country into the great depression. The boy has to leave the town and his girl with hopes of finding work. The girl returns his ring saying he might need to sell it. He leaves with his possessions in a satchel on a stick and he learns how to survive as a hobo.

There are odd jobs and comic moments. The boy looses his voice and has to communicate in mime. Audience member Michael Poley was called on stage to help him stack boxes. He had to learn the boy’s hand signals to comic effect. The young hobo never manages to find his fortune and ultimately returns to his home town, defeated. All the while he held on to the hope that his girl would be there when he returned. His town was situated in the dust bowl and everyone, including his girl, had suffered. She blames him for not being there when she needed him most. Dejected he leaves his satchel behind and walks away. She opens it and finds nothing but a red balloon.

The music of Laney Jones and the band really makes this show shine. I’ve been a fan of her music ever since I heard her play on a rainy day in a parking lot in College Park. Over a dozen songs punctuated the show. Many were written by Laney, one was by Chris Campbell and several others were by Anthony Bolante along with several classics. Elisabeth Drake-Forbes was the Music Supervisor and Producer. I drove the whole way home humming “It’s Only a Paper Moon.”  Two thumbs up for this production. You only have one last chance to catch this show.

When:

Saturday May 25 at 11:15PM

Where:

Black Venue,  511 Virginia Drive

Tickets:

$11 plus a Fringe button

Weekend Top 6 Picks

Saturday May 25th 2013

11AM – Midnight FRINGE! Both Days. http://orlandofringe.org/

Noon — 5PM FREE: Food Truck Fiesta for People and Pets at Fleet Peeples Park, 2000 S Lakemont Ave Winter Park FL 32789 Live music, great food, pet-friendly!

INFO: (407)296-5882 www.foodtruckcrazy.com

2PM – 4PM March Against Monsanto, City Hall 400 South Orange Avenue. https://www.facebook.com/notes/march-against-monsanto/mission-statement/579359972082527

10PM – Midnight FREE: FRINGE Toast Off, Outdoor tent, Lock Haven Park. Is it poetry? Is it a drinking game? Is it improv comedy? Is it some unholy human centipede of all the above? (Poetry is the 2.) Find out when host Tod Caviness gets Orlando’s finest comedians (and a few Fringe favorites) drunk for your amusement on the outdoor stage at the Orlando Fringe Festival. Did we mention that it’s free? We probably should. You’re going to need the money for the beer tent.

Sunday May 26th 2013

9AM – 4PM Kiwi Camera Swap, Kiwi Camera Service, 18808 Kentucky Avenue Winter Park I’m pretty sure this photography thing is a passing fad. Prime sketching of photographers and their large lenses.

Noon- 2PM Broadway Brunch at Hamburger Mary’s! Hot buns and Broadway tunes. Need I say more? 110 W Church St, Orlando, FL 32801

Earth Day Gator

Posted on by Thor

Since everything was certainly under control at my Earth Day tent, I ventured out to do another sketch. I had sketched Ibex Puppetry’s huge inflatable gator years ago, but I decided it was worth sketching again. An added bonus was that Oliver Kilkenny was playing accordion. He wore a palm frond hat and sun glasses. His music added a sort of French flair to the event except when he played “It’s a Small World After All” which was a crude reminder that we were in Disney’s backyard.

The woman selling ice pops next to me stood on a small step stool behind her cart. She told me she felt like Scarlet Ohara from “Gone with the Wind” when scarlet had to man a booth at the social when all she wanted to do was dance. She shook her booty to the beat of the accordion and offered Oliver a free pop for the entertainment. She had come all the way from Jacksonville to be at Earth Day and very few people were stopping to sample her wares.

A park ranger walked up to Oliver and told him he couldn’t play his accordion because he didn’t have a permit. In Orlando, if you perform in public, it is considered busking, or begging. There is a small blue box painted on the pavement somewhere near the court house. That blue square is the one place where public performance is allowed. Oliver put away his accordion, collected his ice pop and moved along. The silence once he left was deafening.

Janice Böhrk McIntosh who volunteered to help me at the event ended up getting a $45 parking ticket on a street that was NOT marked very well to say no parking. You are able
to tell by the entire row of cars who received parking tickets at a
this city event! The city really knows how to rake in the bucks! This is how they reward citizens who are trying to make the world a better place.

Madama Butterfly

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There are just two performances of the Orlando Philharmonic‘s production of Giacomo Puccini‘s, Madama Butterfly. One performance is tonight (April 5th) at 8pm and the other performance is Sunday (April 7th) at 2PM. You can get tickets at orlandophil.org, or at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center box office two hours before each show.

I went to a dress rehearsal. I entered via the stage door at the same time as the set designer Lisa Buck. This was a semi-staged production, so the set was kept pretty simple. A really nice touch was that Lisa projected images on a large screen behind the orchestra. The images would change between each emotional shift in the opera.  Over 100 of the gorgeous images added much to the production.

Since I was sketching, I didn’t have time to look up at the closed caption translations above the stage. Since I was seated in the front rows I would have had to crane my neck. I’ve seen Madama Butterfly before however so I knew the story. If you have never seen an opera before, then I would encourage you to see butterfly. It could very well make you a convert.

Before the opera began, a gardener shuffled out and raked the gravel in the rock garden. He might not be a major character in the plot but I had to catch him. In the first act, Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy, played by Brian Jagde, fell in love with Cio-Cio San, Madam Butterfly played by Shu-Ying Li and there is a glorious marriage ceremony. Butterfly converts to Pinkerton’s christian faith to be closer to him and she is renounced by her uncle a Buddhist priest. Pinkerton leaves Japan and three years later Butterfly is penniless with his son who she named sorrow.

Butterfly hears the sound of a cannon from the harbor and she is sure that Pinkerton’s ship has returned. She stands vigil overnight, waiting and ever hopeful. Pinkerton does finally return, but with his American wife. Love lost leads to tragic consequences.

Riff Raff

Posted on by Thor

Larry Lauria who I work with at Full Sail told me I had to hear Dan Rafkin play guitar. He let me know that Dan would be [laying in Winter Garden in the Plant Street Gazebo on the evening of March 8th. Dan apparently has very fast fingers and his writes his own songs.

Downtown Winter Garden is a model for how a downtown can be am ideal place to gather. A pack of girl scouts rushed past me as I walked towards the gazebo. So much of Central Florida had developed into tasteless over developed strip malls. Plant Street maintains an old town feel with historic old brick buildings and a newly built public gathering place in the street’s central median.

I arrived a bit early but Dan Rafkin and the band had already set up and were ready to start their first set. The band was called Riff Raff. They sang old country cover tunes from musicians like Merl Haggard. I never got to hear any of Dan’s original material. This wasn’t what I expected but the crow ate it up. Larry, His wife and daughter and her son showed up and they hunted for a restaurant to eat supper. There were lines and an hour wait wherever they went. Before they got back, I finished my sketch and headed home.

Natura Coffee and Tea

Posted on by Thor

When I work till 9PM at Full Sail I tend to go out and sketch Jazz which pops up all over town. Natura Coffee and Tea is a hole in the wall coffee shop right near UCF (12078 Collegiate Way Orlando, FL). The front window proclaims, “Self expression welcome.” The place offers music, art and film. All the clientele are young college aged kids. Students smoked hookahs on a couch to the left. An older woman got a whole cup of hot coffee spilled in her lap. There was quite a commotion to get her cleaned up.

The jazz was lively but I never caught any of the musicians names. The guitarist just told me that he and Reagan on the keyboard had gotten the group together for the night.  I desperately want to return to sketch the students smoking the intricate and ornate hookahs. I may have to work late next month so I might be back.

Jazz at Taste

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Taste Restaurant (717 W. Smith Street in College Park) is where I go to sketch on a slow Monday if nothing else if going on around town. Musicians gather at the bar and around 8PM the Jazz begins. Who ever gets to the stage first starts off the set. Frank Walter was on trombone, Miguel Alvarodo was on Tenor Sax, Tom was on drums. The place was so packed that I couldn’t find a table with a view. Instead, I sat in the entryway to the restaurant.

The music flowed and swelled. sporadic and spontaneous solos ignited and then  the other musicians joined in when the moment felt right. Sets can extend forever or be over in a flash, so I tend to sketch frenetically to catch the moment before it is gone. Monday night Jazz is always a good time so it is always on my calendar as a fall back option.

Saint Patrick’s Day

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Terry and I went to Ollie’s Public House, on the corner of Edgewater and Par, on Saint Patrick’s day. Terry had two free tickets for some reason. The parking lot was packed when we arrived. There were green shirts everywhere. Terry brought a beach chair and I had my artist’s stool. We sat fairly close to the outdoor stage. We both ordered a Shepard’s pie which was good and quite filling. Neither of us drank any beer, but there was plenty of Guinness all around.

The first band on stage was “Off Kilter“. They performed Irish traditional songs like, Danny Boy and then went into rock and roll cover songs. We bumped into Kathryne Sullivan, Mike Underwood and their friends Joe Busdecker and his wife Leann Siefferman Busdecker. I spoke with Katheryn a bit but it was impossible to hear over the bagpipes. Women started dancing in front of the stage.

After Off Kilter, the Orlando Fire Department Bag Pipes and Drums Band gathered in front of the stage. There were maybe a dozen bag pipe players and just as many drum players. The crowd gathered around them. The loud shrill sound was quintessentially Irish. The crowd clapped to the beat as the firemen picked up the pace. They played “Amazing Grace” and then doubled the beat. The book light I was using to see my sketch died, so I decided the sketch was done.

It was a fun night. Some people staggered and fell while dancing. One woman had to be helped into the passenger seat of her car by a security guard. T-Shirts read, Kiss Me, Pinch me and I’ll punch you. There was a long break after the Firemen so Terry and I headed home. Just as we drove off, the bag pipes started up again.

Taste of Jazz

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Every Monday night starting around 8PM, there is a jazz jam at Taste Restaurant (717 West Smith Street).  I arrived straight from work. The drum set was just being set up, so I sketched the pieces as they fell into place. Several performers were UCF professors. Tracy Alexander performed on the drums, Greg Zabel on upright Bass, John Krasula on guitar and Joe Young on Trumpet. As the evening wore on more musicians entered the bar and they would step in on different riffs. I ordered tater tots and a Blue Moon. The dipping sauce was on the hot side so I needed the beer to negate the heat in my mouth.

I recognized some of the regular patrons from past sketching trips to Taste. The guy seated next to me asked a question I hear quite often, “Did you do that here?” Since the sketch is of the musicians we both just saw perform, it would seem quite obvious that I didn’t do it out on the sidewalk or in my car. Anyway, the music was great. Each performer in turn launched into a long solo and when the moment was right the rest of the performers would join back in. I stepped out after the first set to rush back home.

College Park Brunch Market

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Mark Baratelli, Owner
The Daily City, has taken over College Park Farmers Market and turned it into “College Park Sunday Brunch Market.” The Market happens in the Infusion Tea parking lot (1600 Edgewater Drive, College Park FL). It happens every Sunday from 11am-3pm.I went to the inaugural opening to relax and sketch. Robert Thompson was playing guitar and singing in an outdoor tent. Mark greeted me and pointed out Orlando’s very first fashion truck called Lollipops and Pistols.

Kristin X sat in a lawn chair beside her vintage fashion store on wheels. She is a stay at home mom mom, living her dream of being an artist and creative freak. She studied commercial illustration in college, many moons ago, but it
seemed too structured for her. Her true love is designing
invitations and stationary goods. Oh and thrifting, lets not forget
thrifting. Several women got lost in the trucks vintage clothing for quite some time. Kristin’s son took an interest in my sketch and at one point, Kristen’s husband took her spot in the lawn chair. He joked that I shouldn’t put his beard on his wife.

When I finished my sketch, I went to the Local Roots tent and ordered some shrimp and grits along with a strawberry Mimosa. It was a delicious treat made from all local ingredients.  Mark had his 60’s themed plastic chairs set up around a patch of fake lawn. Some Kerouac House authors were having a heated discussion presumably about literature. Mark was busy sending out tweets on his cell phone. If you are looking for a unique place to have brunch on a Sunday then stop by the Brunch Market.