Pre-Pandemic: Best of Orlando

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Each year the Orlando Weekly hosts the Best of Orlando Party at The Beecham (46 N Orange Ave, Orlando, Florida 32801). I sketched as they put the lettering up on the movie marquee sign out front.

This is definitely the most crowded club scene I tend too sketch each year. There was no Best of Orlando party in 2020 due to the pandemic. People did vote however and the Weekly put out a Best of Orlando Issue for when life returns to normal.

The best visual artists in 2020 were:

1st: Synthestruct synthestruct.comThe website featured interactive light displays.

2nd: Crystal Dombrosky crystaldombrosky.com Featuring mermaids and water.

3rd: Eric Pabon facebook.com/artofericpabon Featuring Comic and sequential art, graphic design and branding and caricature.
Far more important, the Best Burlesque troupe was 1st: Corsets & Cuties, a Burlesque Cabaret corsetsandcuties.com. They continue to perform with safety precautions in place, but I am holding off sketching them on location until this pandemic peters out.

Legislative Town Hall Featuring Representative Smith and Representative Mercado

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I went to Acacia Banquet Hall (1865 Econlockhatchee Trail Orlando, FL 32817) to learn what I could about the 2018 Legislative Session. I had seen the invitation from Representative Carlos Guillermo Smith  Representative Amy Mercado for a Legislative Town Hall. They provided an update on priorities, issues impacting our community and they took questions directly from constituents. Special guest Monivette Cordeiro of the Orlando Weekly will be moderating this important event. Montivette has since moved on to become a court reporter for the Orlando Sentinel.

Carlos Guillermo Smith is a community activist, lobbyist, and politician from Orlando, Florida. He is a Democratic member of the Florida House of Representatives . Upon his election in 2016, Smith became the first openly gay Latino to serve in the Florida Legislature. I was very pleased to see he recently got married.

The Florida Legislature meets in session every year for sixty consecutive days. Legislative proposals may be in the form of bills, resolutions,
concurrent resolutions, joint resolutions, or memorials. A bill is a
proposed law, and it may be either a general bill or a local bill.   A
general bill would have a general impact within the state; a local bill
would affect only a particular county, city, or town named in the bill. A
majority vote is required to pass a bill, unless otherwise provided in
the Constitution. The Florida Legislature is largely Republican so proposals for progressive democratic bills have an uphill battle.

The bill, cited as the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Public Safety Act, sought on its surface,to comprehensively address the crisis of gun violence, particularly gun violence on school campuses. Components of the bill included, among others, provisions to enhance school safety policies, procedures, and personnel on the state and local level, to improve and expand mental health services, and to revise laws and empower law enforcement and the courts to limit access to firearms by young adults or by individuals exhibiting a risk of harming themselves or others. The bill also created and or revised operating and  capital funding policies and provides appropriations to implement the provisions of the bill.

Endangers positive school climates by: 

•Allowing school employees, including some teachers, to carry guns; 

•Requiring the placement of armed personnel in every school; 

•Requiring educators to “consult with” law enforcement whenever a student commits more than one misdemeanor or “exhibits a pattern of behavior . . . that would pose a threat to school safety;” •Creating an anonymous reporting mechanism without proper due process protections.

The one take away for me was that the Florida Legislature feels bad that students were killed in Parkland, and therefor it is important to get guns in the hands of volunteer school employees and or teachers. It would seem $400,000,000 was appropriated to get more guns into more hands. Carlos voted against this bill which fights gun violence by providing more guns on school campuses. The bill was approved by the governor on March 9, 2018. Welcome to the Gunshine State.

Newsweek reported that “More children have been killed by guns since Sandy Hook than U.S. soldiers in combat Since 9/11.”

Interview at Maxine’s

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JB Webb and the Reverend produce a podcast about the Orlando Arts and Culture scene called The JB Rev Show. I recently did some art work for this show which depicted this dynamic duo as if on the cover of a comic book. It was fun working with JB to make that happen.

I was called in to Maxine’s on Shine for an interview on the show. The production was staged in the red room in the back corner of the restaurant. Before the place became the restaurant it is today this room was used to stage weddings. Now it’s walls are blood red and it has plenty of romantic and erotic art.

The JB REV Show is quirky and fast paced. I put on the headphones and joined in for the ride and it was over before I knew what hit me. Honestly I am not sure if I got a word into the mix. I was so mesmerized by the quirky hosts. I then settled in to sketch the production as they interviewed their next guest, Tony Mauss who was the husband of Billy Maines.

My life is measured by the pages in my sketchbooks. Just 15 pages prior to this sketch, I had sketched Billy Maines as he talked about his experiences after the Pulse Nightclub Massacre. Shortly after doing that sketch I found out that Billy had been let go from Watermark where he was the editor and chief, and shortly after, he died on Friday, July 21, 2017 at the age of 45. It was a real shock since he seemed in good health the day we spoke with him. He did joke about a persistent cough.

In a statement to the Orlando Weekly, Tony said, “My husband, Billy Manes, passed away peacefully on Friday afternoon
surrounded by his family of friends. He had been ill for a couple of
weeks with what turned out to be pneumonia, and by the time we sought
medical attention, it was too far advanced. He died due to complications
of his condition leading to organ failure.”

Mauss continued, “Billy Manes was a walking fucking miracle, a man who
fought ferociously to create a world where justice, equality and respect
were the cornerstones of his community. He loved Orlando. He knew what
was possible here in this sprawling mass of ex-pats, misfits,
introverts, seekers, party people, bookworms, performers, makers,
artists and friends. His driving force was love. He loved you, Orlando,
and he knew of your love for him. He fed off it; it sustained him. He
would have fought proudly for each and every one of you forever.
Unfortunately, his body had other plans.

“So … grieve, Orlando, grieve, but don’t forget to laugh, create joy, and love each other wildly. That would honor him.”

Though the JB Rev Show makes a point of being irreverent, they toned down the jokes a notch to pay tribute to a man who had spent his life reporting about local politics in the Orlando Weekly and Watermark, making the seemingly boring inner workings of local government entertaining and relevant.

Smallest Gallery in Orlando

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Trevor Fraser, an entertainment reporter for the Orlando Sentinel put out a call for artists on Facebook for what he called the Smallest Gallery in Orlando. The gallery consisted of a small strip of wall between two doors. I decided to incorporate my 12th Night Orlando Shakespeare Theater sketch to fill the space and my submission was approved.

Trevor and his wife Lindsay Fraser decided to host a party where guests could paint in the sketch. I arrived about an hour early and projected my sketch on the wall and then painted in the dark line work. I Did a bit of painting on the central Shakespearean actor and then relaxed along with Pam and watched as people finished the painting. f course everyone had their own style so the disparate areas didn’t entirely tie in together but that is part of the charm.

All the food served was part of a “Beet Off” between he and Lauren Delgato. Everything had beets in it, Beet hummus, beet salad, beet cupcakes. It is amazing the variety of tastes you can get from a humble beet. It was a fun afternoon.

This little mural wasn’t quite finished by the end of the party, so I am not sure if it ever was completed. There was some talk of using this sketch in the Orlando Sentinel for an article about the gallery, but there was no budget so I saved it for this site. The Noor Salman trial was just beginning and unfortunately the Sentinel also didn’t buy any of the 70 or so courtroom sketches I did for that trial. Only CNN, Channel 9 and Channel 6 and the Orlando Weekly used some of those sketches. March was a crazy month.

The Orlando Weekly Best of Orlando Party.

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This year I was nominated as the Best Artist of Orlando. Andrew Spear won first place, and Boy Kong took second place. They both certainly deserve the recognition. I came in third place but just being nominated meant I could sketch the Orlando Weekly Best of Party at The Beacham (46 N Orange Ave, Orlando, FL 32801). The party of the year is a celebration for winners of Orlando’s
most prestigious awards, Orlando Weekly’s Best of Orlando. It’s a free
party for 2000 taste maker VIP’s: Best of Orlando Winners, Orlando Weekly
clients, select readers, artists, politicians and media.
This is always a blowout event that gets super crowded. Pam Schwartz and I arrived somewhat early and as I sketched the venue filled up to capacity. Only when people left, would more people be allowed to enter.

There were two entrances to the event, a “Winners” entrance at The Beacham, and a general admission entrance at 64 North. A series of bars were interconnected, including The Social, Aero, and The Patio. Different things were happening at all the bars. Lasers and spotlights created a two point perspective grid over the crowd. I sketched the grid and then took it back out feeling it hid too much of the crowd detail. When the live performance started confetti was shot over the crowd. I like to watch the hectic action at the two island bars as the bartenders are swamped by orders for free drinks. Working digitally meant I could catch the amazing lighting of the scene.

With the sketch done, we agreed that we had seen enough. We didn’t venture into the other crowded bars.

Ace Cafe Orlando.

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This was my first time going to Ace Cafe Orlando which opened in the former offices of the Orlando Weekly across from the main Lynx Bus Terminal. Pam Schwartz had been here before and she told me that the BLT sandwich was rich and recommended. The menu cover had old historic photos with some of the history of the place. Ace slowly filled up until it was packed around the time the sun set. Ozzie Osborn and other heavy metal bands were shouting on the TVs that lined the dining area. With all the noise, I couldn’t actually pick out any lyrics.

The Over the Top BLT was indeed a monster of a sandwich. The thickly cut Applewood Smoked Bacon was caramelized along with Iceberg lettuce, herb mayonnaise, and vine ripened tomatoes. The Texas Toast was super thick and covered in an extra layer of crispy cheddar crust on the outside of the sandwich which made it particularly messy to eat. I ended up cutting it up and eating it with my fork. The bacon tasted like candy. The sandwich was served in a metal mesh bread basket which made it tough to cut the sandwich up. The solid crust of cheddar cheese on the bottom of the sandwich was particularly hard to cut through. Despite the eating logistics, it was quite delicious. Pam ordered the buffalo chicken empanada appetizer, which she stated were pretty run of the mill. She ordered based on the plan to enjoy one of their alcoholic ice cream shakes. The waiter didn’t inform her until after the meal that the coffee bar/milk shake area was out of commission. That was a huge disappointment. 

After sunset, trucks began to line up outside the restaurant. This was simply an opportunity for gear heads to check out other 4 X 4 rigs. Small jeeps were predominant, but there were several rigs with lifted suspensions and even lights underneath the chassis. I used to own a yellow 4 X 4 Xterra which I rigged up with an Australian deer guard and winch. The winch got me out of several tight spots. I dented up that truck when I was going over a log between two trees and the truck leaned over and hit a tree which smashed a tail light and dented the back chassis. I filled and sanded the dent with Bondo but had to pay to get a decent touch up paint job. Owning a 4 X 4 is expensive, especially if you go mudding often.

My little Toyota Prius got stuck in the mud several weeks ago when Pam and I went to the Thai Festival. She managed to rock the Prius free by pushing on the hood as I eased the accelerator. From my 4 X 4 experience in soft sand, I knew not to gun the accelerator and dig my tires deeper into the mud.

An Interview with Billy Manes at Watermark.

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On June 30th Pam Schwartz, Dan Bradfield and I entered the Watermark offices to conduct an oral history with editor-in-chief Billy Manes about the events following the Pulse Nightclub massacre. Billy grew up in Florida and was a bit of a club kid.  He suffered much adversity and sexual abuse in his childhood. At the time, he felt that Florida is a place without history, so you have to make your own history.  In 2005 he ran for mayor, being the first openly gay candidate to do so. He felt he was the best choice to replace the then suspended Mayor
Buddy Dyer specifically because he’s not a politician.

He met Alan Jordan who was very different than himself and they had a long relationship. “We were very Burt and Taylor in our relationship.” said Billy. On Easter Sunday of 2012 Alan shot himself in front of Billy. Alan had HIV but didn’t want to admit he was positive. Billy watched his love die in front of him. Alan’s family took everything a redneck could need, despite the long relationship, even threatening to take the ring off of Billy’s finger. Billy fought them in court and won back some of his possessions. He decided to become more purposeful about these issues. “Trying to save someone else saved me.” said Billy. There is a documentary that was filmed entitled ” Billy and Alan“.

As a senior writer at the Orlando Weekly, Billy found his voice as he made jokes about Tallahassee government policy which is often, “so fucking boring”. Billy Manes was hired by the Watermark in 2015. As I sketched, I found the black blinds strangely ominous. He coughed once, and Pam commiserated since she had a cough for 6 months after cleaning up dead flowers and collecting items at the Pulse Memorial sites for the One Orlando Collection.

“I only remember 5AM on June 12th.” Billy said. He used to work there, when it was Dante’s. He was friends with the owners and staff. It wasn’t “divey” at all. It was a good place to come together. At 5 AM his husband Anthony Mauss woke up. He told Billy not to look at his phone. Billy of course looked at his phone and was immediately pulled on for an MSNBC interview. Unshaven and uncombed he spoke with Tamron Hall. As he spoke, he realized that he didn’t know if his friends were alive who worked at Pulse.

This was a hate crime and Billy was annoyed at any news organization that would white-wash this fact by playing up the terrorist theories. On that first morning, a mother drove by and she asked if her son was alive. Billy said he would try and find out.

After Pulse, the whole tone, everything changed. Billy suddenly found
himself in a whirlwind of interviews by over 7 networks in the days
following. Watermark approached the following weeks with a three step
program. They did a glossy cover, a story about the psychology behind
the attack and stories about the need for gun control. In the barrage of
activity, he stopped caring about himself. Watermark was at every
event. Billy reflected, “It is still amazing to me. You can say 49, but
imagine the moms and families having to deal with probate, the law.”

Our oral history interview was just an hour long. We wanted to get together for a second interview to grapple with the intricacies of the weeks following Pulse in more depth. Shortly after this interview Billy Manes said he was “let go” from Watermark on Friday, July 14th. In a Facebook post on the following Sunday Billy shared, “I was effectively let go on Friday and it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t psychologically easy. I wanted to give Watermark the chance to break the news. Not sure why, but it was fair enough. Best to the future editor and please keep up…the work. I’ll figure something new. I always do.”

Billy died just after 4 p.m. on Friday, July 21, at the age of 45,
surrounded by his husband Anthony Mauss, friends and family at Orlando
Regional Medical Center.

The loss is a shock to me. Billy and I were both born on May 22 and he playfully reminded me of this each year via Facebook.  Having lived through so much tragedy, Billy always injected humor into every exchange. He will be deeply missed. He helped to write Orlando’s history while joking about the political forces that stifle Orlando’s future.

Snap! print day sale.

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Snap! Space, (1013 East Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL) held a Snap! print day sale with limited editions, and or open edition prints from local and international artists selected by Snap!
Tables were set up throughout the space for artists.

Each participant had their own photos to showcase and have some type of take away envelope or packaging for buyers to walk away with. I decided to participate, and I sketched the other artists displaying their work as I sat at my table. Chris Tobar was seated at the table beside me with a large tiger print behind him. Chris is now the art director at the Orlando Weekly. It was nice to meet the other artists and see their work. Although it was a pleasant way to spend a Saturday afternoon, I unfortunately didn’t sell a single print.

Violectric Debut Revolutionary LED Instrument Lighting “Violuminescence” at Bite.

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Bite Night, hosted by the Orlando Weekly was held at The Orchid Garden and Ballroom at Church Street in Downtown Orlando from 7pm-10pm on June 29th.   I went to the event specifically to sketch the premiere performance of Violuminence. 

Michelle Jones the founder of Violectric asked her husband, Jerry Jones, the groups technical director to design the diodes along the rims of the instruments which made them glow like souped up Harley Davidson motorcycles. Violuminescence produces unique, lighted string instruments that can be remote controlled to enhance any performance in an unrivaled manner.

When I arrived, the event was just getting started but there were already long lines for food. I immediately started hunting for my sketch opportunity. I ran into Ilene Lieber the groups pleasant and hard working PR representative and she let me know that the Violuminence performance would start at 9pm in front of the DJs table on the main floor. That gave me several hours to sketch in the Orchid Room’s magical turn of the century decor. When Violumenence began, I added color starting with the blue glow of the instruments. The instruments glowed in every color of the rainbow as if celebrating the recent Supreme Court decision allowing everyone to share the rights of marriage.

“We are beyond excited to finally unveil Violuminescence to the public later the month,” said founder of Violectric and Fretless Rock, Michelle Jones.  “This will be the first opportunity for public audiences to experience Violuminescence and revel in this truly spectacular and awe-inspiring musical innovation.  We are known for getting audiences up out of their seats and dancing along with us as we play, and we look forward to blowing away all our loyal fans with Violuminescence and hopefully gaining many more new ones worldwide.”

When the violins performed Journey‘s Don’t Stop Believing, everyone in the room started singing along. “Shadows searching in the night”. It was really a magical moment. The crowd was hooked and I sang along as I sketched. The violinists weren’t passive. They began moving around the room finding their way through the crowd.  By the time my sketch was done, the crowd was starting to thin out. All the food vendors had packed up. Darn it. I hadn’t tasted a bite so I can’t report on how good the food was. Genevieve Bernard and Seth Kubersky told me that the food directly across the room from me was absolutely delicious. I am pleased by the rich warm and cool colors that I could catch with my digital sketch.  For more information on Violectric contact 407-434-1261 and for more information on Fretless Rock by Strings Etc visit their web page.

There Will Be Words is Orlando’s Premiere Literary Reading Series

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On June 10th I went to The Gallery at Avalon Island (39 S Magnolia Avenue Orlando FL) to sketch There Will Be Words. The monthly event gives local authors a place to share their writing. The event is organized by Jessie Bradley and usually features up to five local authors. There are many poetry reading opportunities in town but this is the only regular event to feature fiction writing. On the walls were paintings that were a collaboration between Monte Olinger and Donna Dowless.

On this evening I focused on Stephanie R. Johnson. Her story was about the ghost of Truman Capote. He haunted a young woman’s apartment causing not fear, but a mild annoyance with his pretentious airs. Stephanie would shift into Truman’s personality on a dime. Truman’s flamboyant affectations eventually became unbearably and the living and dead needed to have a talk. Truman was quite used to always having his way  and spending money as he pleased but the two needed to reach an agreement. The story had me laughing the whole time. Stephanie’s performance added to the delight. This is why the arts will always thrive. There is magic in the moment when people gather to share stories. Watching an author read her own words is far more intimate than sitting passively in front of a tube. Discovering Orlando’s hidden arts scene can be fabulous darling!

There Will Be Words was named Orlando’s Best Literary Reading Series by the readers of the
Orlando Weekly in 2013, it showcases the best writers
Florida has to offer, on the second Tuesday of every month at Gallery at Avalon Island, 39 S. Magnolia in Downtown Orlando. Mark Your Calendar! This months event will be tomorrow night, September 9th. The show starts promptly at 7pm and runs until 8pm and is event is free.