Wacky Wavy New Year

Posted on by Thor

Back when I lived in New York City, I remember seeing a show with a friend which let out just moments before midnight on New Year’s Eve. We walked out on the immense crowd in Times Square. There is an energy to being in such a crowd that is hard to define. It must be experienced in person. At the stoke of midnight the ball dropped and the song, New York New York began to play. We ripped up out programs to add to the confetti of the evening.

Last night Pam and I rang in the New Year while doing family history research on the couch. I knew the ball drop would be virtual so we turned on the TV ten minutes before midnight. fireworks were gong off all night in our neighborhood and the dogs sought comfort by curling up on the couch beside us.

The images of a largely deserted Times Square were surreal. Even more surreal was the choice event sponsors made to populate the once crowded event with Wachy Wavy Inflatable Tube Men. The tube men bore advertising as did every screen in Times Square. As the clock counted down in the final moments a truck ad played below the countdown clock. It was a strange way to visually ring in the new year but we made it better with a very real cup of prosecco champagne and a kiss.

New Year’s Eve.

Posted on by Thor

I wanted to sketch a New Years Celebration while avoiding the drunk drivers after midnight.  Raglan’ Road Irish Pub (1640 Buena Vista Dr, Orlando, FL 32830) celebrated New Years at 7 PM which is midnight in Ireland.  This seemed like a good pan, celebrate, at Raglan’ Road and then watch the ball drop from home, away from the crowds.   The Pub in Disney Springs had a limited number of reservations and when Pam Schwartz called they couldn’t take any more, but walk ins were welcome.  We decided to risk it, hoping there would be a few spaces at the bar.  

The lime parking garage at Disney Springs was listed as full, but we found a parking spot rather quickly on the second level.  Disney Springs was crowded and bustling with all the holiday decorations ablaze in the night.  The Raglan’ Maitra D’ didn’t have a table available for an hour and a half but she did offer the bar.  Our spot at the bar didn’t have a good view of the stage.  After stating a sketch several patrons moved on, and we slipped into their seats with a decent view of the stage.  

Sketching at Disney always seems frantic.  Every tourist is desperate for a good time and they are in a rush to find it.  Our bar stools were at a spot which created a bottleneck between the bar and the center tables. The restless crowd flowed past and often stopped because of the tight quarters.  I was constantly trying to see around the crush of the crowd.  It is a mind game that takes tons of patience.  I ended up loosing patience with one dad who stood right in front of Pam and the stage holding up his cell phone shooting video.   I got up stood in front of him and asked him to move to his right.  After wards he apologized saying he didn’t realize he was in our way.  There is hope for humanity.  

On stage just before 7 PM, the band performed with a guitar, accordion and fiddle.  I never did sketch the fiddle player, I tried several times, she was elusive.  A line of three female and one male dancer danced an Irish jig, their upper bodies perfectly still.  At one point children from the audience were brought on stage where they were taught how to dance the jig.  Two of the youngsters knew how to dance the jig, and the audience broke out in thunderous applause. Everyone was given a complimentary champagne which couldn’t be consumed until the countdown at 7 PM.  Everyone cheered sipped and kissed.  

After New Years, Pam ordered ham and colcannon, an Irish dish of cabbage and potatoes boiled and pounded. Pam rated her meal as a 5 out of ten. I ordered gnocchi, small dumplings made from potato, served with a white cream sauce. and scallops. The meals were cool by the time we got them.  Pam ordered a Rosemary Whiskey Sour and maple drink that she rather liked I took one sip, and it was STRONG.  I just ordered a Funky Buddah beer which was decent.  I was shocked that the beer was $10. 

I recently did one of those Ancestry DNA tests and found out that I am mostly Irish.  I always thought that I was half German and certainly Thorspecken sounds German but the DNA results begged to differ. I therefor am inclined to seek out more Irish celebrations so I can document more of the culture of my people. 

Walking through Disney Springs, a huge hulk of a man noticed my John Henry crew jacked.  He asked if I had worked on the film and I told him that I had.  He simply wanted me to know that he loved that short film.  The drive home wasn’t too bad.  A few people tapped their brakes on I-4, but most people were just getting ready to go out for the night.  We settled in on the couch and watched the Times Square Ball drop on Pam’s lap top.  We had to watch the insipid time wasting banter of the hosts who interacted with the freezing crowd.  The count down finally began before midnight Eastern Standard Time.  10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5…  The streaming video live feed froze.  A small icon covered the video screen and spun.  Noooooooooo! Fireworks were exploding all over Orlando.  We searched other digital streams to see if we could find the ball drop.  There was no instant replay. We think that Verizon must have frozen the data stream to convince people to upgrade to a cable package.  Apply was just in the news for slowing down data streams on old iPhones.  It doesn’t inspire customer loyalty. It instead inspires people to stop staring at digital screens and get out to experience life in person.  

A Phantasmagoria Fire Dance to Ring in the New Year.

Posted on by Thor

John DiDonna the producer of the Steam punk horror story telling group Phantasmagoria invited me to his home in Sanford for New Year’s Eve. I of course expected lots of actors and actresses and was intent on sketching the midnight fire dance. House numbers were impossible to see at night, so we parked in the general facility and walked the neighborhood in search of the party. We walked past this state historic mansion even they I heard voices in the back yard. By process of elimination I finally decided that this had to be it. I heard John laughing in the backyard, so I walked across the lawn toward a gate on the side of the house. Of course most normal guest would knock on the front door, but I walked towards voices and then tried to open a stubborn old side gate. John saw me struggling and he came over to help me force the gate open. Bricks were piled everywhere and a garden hose slithered in all directions across the path. Guests were relaxing around a fire pit in the back yard. I shook hands with Seth Kubursky and hugged his wife Genevieve Bernard.

I was carrying a cold bottle of Prosecco and needed to drop it off in the kitchen. Dion Leonhard greeted us in the doorway. She grabbed the bottle and whisked us inside. She immediately started giving us a tour of the home. John and Dion had recent purchased the historic home from someone who had lost his partner and wanted to escape the memories. The price was a steal. An inspector working for John expected to find dry rot and structural problems, but after several hours, he pulled John aside and said “You have to buy this home.” The original floor plans are hung in the entry hall and a giant staircase was decorated with dozens of framed theater posters. Dion pointed out what looked like a trap door in the floor. This is just on of six houses in Seminole county that has a basement. She opened the basement door, and I could see a skeleton reclined on a basement shelf. Original cabinetry, historic wallpaper and a giant four post bed really made the place feel like it had stepped back in time. The restoration is an ongoing project. Dion was very excited about a room at the top of the stairs that will soon be her dance studio.

The home has a ghost. The upstairs guest bedroom is where Minerva’s body had been reclined for two weeks. It was a strangely long time to leave her lying there. It is believed that she still wanders the halls. It was getting close to midnight and Dion had to get ready for the fire dance. Guests gathered in front of the home  and the Phantasmagoria fire dancers used the sidewalk as a stage. I decided that the best view was “backstage'” across the street. My friend was confused by my choice and she huddled together with the rest of the theater audience on the front lawn. The count down began… 10, 9, 8, 7, . . . A midnight everyone cheered and the flames ignited. Each performer had a torch candelabra with four or fire flames in each hand. A car driving by honked its approval. Fireworks were exploding all around the neighborhood. It felt like I was sketching war zone. Hours later I would learn that a terrorist attack happened at Reina nightclub as hundreds of revelers marked the new year. In the report I read, 39 had died. That number has likely risen. It felt like June 12th all over again. At the Orlando Tournament of Roses Parade a float with a giant dove and rose pedal rainbow reminded us all of the senseless loss at Pulse.  New Year’s Eve should be about new beginnings but madness prevails.

A quite New Year’s Eve.

Posted on by Thor

On New Year’s Eve, I ventured out right at sunset to do one last sketch of holiday decorations. I drive past this house every day and the lawn is covered with flaccid piles of plastic. The plan was to go to Drip for New Year’s Eve, so I wanted to get the sketch done early so that I could just be social a the party. Rudolf’s head rotated left and right surveying the scene. There was an inflatable manger as well, but it was partially inflated, y it was hard to figure out who was who. The helicopter rotor kept turning, but sadly the minions didn’t slide down the slide that looked like a high healed shoe.

A woman, whom I had startled on a previous sketch outing walked by with her dog, Shadow, and l presume her daughter and possibly her mother. She asked if I was an artist and when l responded, “yes I am”, she replied, “Well isn’t that nice. ” It was nice to see a family going out for an evening stroll together. A dad and his daughter walked by and he made some remark, suggesting his daughter should fly the helicopter. Fireworks burst in the distance, possibly from Sea World or Disney. Smaller fireworks were also being shot out over the lakes in the neighborhood.  I was actually sweating the entire time I sketched. Winter seems to have forgotten Orlando this year.

Instead of going out, I took a long hot bath to relax. Zorro our pet cockatoo sat on a wicker basket on the bathroom sink counter. When I slipped into the tub, he got curious and marched over. The counter overlooked the tub,and he stood at the edge and bowed his head down looking like he wanted to jump in. Now, a cockatoo isn’t like a duck, they don’t have webbed feet and they can’t swim. He changed his mind, and instead grabbed my eye glasses and threw them in the tub to spite me. I splashed water on him, and he didn’t like that one bit. He backed up, but a portable mirror on the counter got in his way. Trying to back up around it, he slipped and fell off the counter. He flapped his wings to cushion the fall, and ended up flying directly into the tub. I scooped him up before he went under water, but he got soaked. I put him back on the counter, and he marched back to the safety of his basket. When he perched on the wicker handle, he lifted a soaking wet claw and looked at it in confusion as water dripped from his talon. He certainly helped make the final moments of the year unexpectedly entertaining.

Fireworks

Posted on by Thor

In the week between Christmas and New Year’s day, all the large tents on Colonial Drive are converted from selling Christmas Trees to selling fireworks. Dry Christmas Trees and fireworks are both explosive with a simple spark. The proprietor of this fireworks tent actually has a little pup tent set up inside where he sleeps at night. You can buy anything from firecrackers to large mortars. Boxed sets are arranged on most of the shelves offering a wide variety of bangs for the buck. A bus stopped, dropping off passengers. They narrowly avoided getting hit by oncoming traffic as they crossed Colonial. A busted strip mall sign was naked allowing the wind to blow through the rusty frame.

On New Year’s Eve, Zorro my pet cockatoo raised his crest in surprise and concern every time a rocket blast echoed down our suburban street. New Year’s Eve isn’t his favorite holiday.  I sat watching a Twilight Zone marathon until minutes before midnight and then I switched the channel to watch the ball drop in Times Square. Years ago I was in that crowd with friends, and we ripped up our Playbill programs from the play we had just seen, creating confetti. In downtown Orlando, a beach ball sized ball was suspended from a flag pole above Latitudes bar. Illuminated with orange Christmas lights, it didn’t pack quite the same punch as the Times Square ball.