The Boxer: Newsprint is Always Worth Fighting For

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After finishing a backstage sketch of Brian Feldman’s The Boxer, I fumbled my way through the black curtains and decided to get a sketch out front. I was quickly distracted by some beautiful women dressed as playing cards. The Ace of Hearts smiled at me and I felt I needed to get a sketch of her. She quickly left the scene before I could even get my sketch pad out.

Brian’s mother and father were there to show their never-ending support for him and his work. His mom was dancing, which was great to see. Brian’s dad kept bringing me food. I guess he thought I was a starving artist and thus felt the need to keep me nourished while I sketched. There was a cake made in the shape of Creative Loafing’s red newspaper box. There had been talk of Brian using the cake for his performance but he told the organizers that he wasn’t that kind of performance artist. Brian’s dad brought me a huge chunk of cake and I later saw that it matched the size of a huge chunk that had been carved out of the cake box sculpture.

The cover band on stage would have been fine for a wedding, but they lacked the energy needed to get the whole crowd onto the dance floor. Hannah noted that the white female singer trying to match the energy of Tina Turner missed the mark.

I walked around the venue with Hannah Miller. She convinced me that I had to try hitting a golf ball in one of those virtual projection screen scenarios. I knew I would likely make a fool of myself but decided to give it a try anyway. I had to give away all my personal information on a form before someone asked me which club I would like to use for the 250-yard swing. I had no idea, and just took whatever club I was handed. My first swing was actually impressive, the camera followed my golf ball, and it landed just short of the mark but bounced down into a ravine. I thought I might hit the mark with my second swing. Hannah had her camera out and was shooting footage as my club bounced off the carpet and the ball sputtered along the fake green. If you see any footage of me taking an awful swing at a golf ball, you can ignore it, it is fake news. My first swing was glorious.

After my humiliation, I decided to return to The Boxer to sketch. The lights on the archway made the scene look like a vaudeville set. People’s eyes would light up when they saw Brian, and they would quickly approach to take the paper. Upon arriving, I had originally thought that the newspaper box being placed in a back corner of the venue would be a problem, but it wasn’t. People constantly approached and Brian gave away over a skid of papers that night. He certainly gave away more papers than he ever did at the Orlando performances.

At 9:30pm, the lights in the venue flickered and the performance was over. Lee started taking down the black curtains and packed them away in a suitcase. Brian’s girlfriend posed for a quick photo in the box before everything was broken down. Brian suggested we all meet at a nearby movie theatre to see Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s new film Digger, but it was starting in 5 minutes. It took me about half an hour circling around the block to find the hotel parking lot, so I never made it to the movie.

I laughed, I cried, and newspapers were handed out. It was a good night.

The Boxer: Backstage

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I have sketched Brian Feldman’s The Boxer twice in Orlando, Florida. The first time was on the sidewalk outside of Orlando Weekly’s Best of Orlando 2011 Party. At that performance I was asked to move along by the police. I persisted and still got the sketch. I then sketched The Boxer 15 years later at The Plaza Theater, where it was once again part of Orlando Weekly’s “Best of” festivities.

Brian then brought The Boxer to Saint Petersburg, Florida where it would be part of Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s Best of the Bay 2026 Party. Brian offered me a rare opportunity to sketch his performance piece from backstage. The premise of The Boxer is that Brian is inside a tiny street newspaper box as he hands out copies of the paper. It is a rare case of adding a human touch to keeping newsprint alive.

Since Saint Petersburg is such a long drive, Brian offered me a hotel room as well. I decided to ask his former wife, Hannah Miller to join me on the trip. In 2010, Brian had a performance where he would marry anybody. He spun a bottle in the Orange County Courthouse to pick his bride. The point was that a heterosexual could marry a stranger while a gay couple who had been in love for years were not allowed to marry. The spin of the bottle pointed at Hannah, and they were married soon after in a strange informal ceremony where one person was wearing a wrestling mask. Hannah was a consummate spokesperson to explain to the media why she had married a longtime friend but romantic stranger. Brian was so happy to see Hannah in the Saint Petersburg Coliseum (535 4th Ave N, St Petersburg, FL) and gave her a warm hug before he got in the box.

Brian’s staging area was filled with piles of Creative Loafing newspapers. There were about two skids of papers that he would be distributing. The larger skid I left out of my sketch since including it would have made Brian way too small in the sketch. Production manager Lee Soule rifled through papers on Brian’s behalf.

Brian lay prone on the floor with his face in the newspaper box window. He extended his hand out so people could see that he had newspapers to give away. I thought Brian had his hips on a foam pad, but Hannah informed me that he just had a cardboard box under his butt. He would have to back out occasionally to grab more papers. He let out a groan multiple times making it clear his positioning wasn’t comfortable. Twinkling lights viewable above the black curtains hinted at a magical event happening just beyond the staging area. Red lights were shining on the red newsbox and light streamed through a narrow gap in the curtain to illuminate a short pile of newspapers.

People were so gracious and grateful each time they got a paper from Brian. I am certain there were plenty of selfies taken, although I couldn’t see them from where I sat. One lady said Brian had the best seat in the house as she took her paper. When my sketch was complete, I went out front and picked up a paper for myself from Brian. I leafed through it briefly, looking for the Saint Petersburg events calendar, and tried to give it back, but Brian refused to take it. I walked around to various food vendors with Hannah with the paper under my arm. There were some delicious vegetarian options. I had trouble handling all the tiny paper plates and utensils that came with the food. I “misplaced” the paper when Hannah and I ate at one of the standing tables.

Fringe: Letters in Need

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Phoenix Tears Productions from Haines City Florida presented Letters in Need at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. In a corner of the Family Theater lobby near the Silver Venue, a small post office box station with a barred teller window was set up. This was an ongoing 1 on 1 performance which allowed individual audience members to request and give help on a small community-based scale. The goal was for the audience member to sort the need and deliver the help. Since this was a one-on-one interactive performance, I wouldn’t be able to sketch and also sort letters. I had to watch from afar.

I happened to go when Orlando Weekly theater reviewer Seth Kubersky attended the performance. I was sketching from a crowded theater lobby and could only catch snippets of what was going on behind the post office boxes. I had just rented a post office box for the first time in Downtown Orlando since I was bouncing around between Air B&B’s while Fringe was happening. Since my life was upended, I really identified with the premise of this installation.

Mary Hosford designed the antique looking postmaster station on casters. Hillary Shurtleff acted as the United Support Processing Service postmaster. She showed Seth letters from lonely members of the community that were in need. He worked with her to find someone local who could fill that need. That makes it sound like this was a dating service, but it was rather about finding nuts and bolts practical help like lawn service of fixing a faucet.

I could only see Seth’s ear and a bit of Hillary head and shoulders through the bars, so I cannot vouch for what exactly was accomplished. Based on Seth’s review, I should say the experience must have been uplifting and worked in a way we all wish a well governed community should work.

With his signature handlebar mustache, Matti McLean,  the writer and performer of The S#it was handing out cards to his show as Letters in Need wrapped up.

Fringe: Then, Eve

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The World of Billy Jane from Orlando Florida presented Then, Eve at the Orlando International Fringe Festival. God created Adam and then Eve was left to create herself. In one awkward moment the lights in the theater went black and Eve had to figure out how to procreate with Adam. From the grunts and painful silences, it seemed that the encounter was a failure. Eve never needed to see Adam again.

Eve was eternally curious and went about spending her time naming the species of animals, including thousands of beetles. She learned all she needed to know from her animal companions. She was dressed a bit like an explorer in a loose white garb like Laurence of Arabia with a hip satchel.

Eve’s monologues were centered around how humans can best spend their time on earth. Her curiosity kept her from ever experiencing a dull moment. With so many facets to creation she wanted to see and learn all she could.

She discovered a caterpillar which then spun a cocoon and later emerged as a butterfly. Eve imagined that she too would experience a metamorphosis. Though she could not spin a cocoon, she did morph in how she saw herself in the world. The play is largely about personal growth and learning each and every day to alter a naive a limited world view. The show was often laugh out loud funny while being tender and insightful.

Coming at the Biblical story of creation from my Sunday school upbringing, I assumed Eve was the world’s first woman. It wasn’t until very late in the show that I realized that Eve was Transgender. My affection for the character didn’t change but my mind exploded.

The show was named one of the “Best Shows of the Fringe Festival” by the Orlando Sentinel and received glowing praise from the Orlando Weekly for its fluidity and gut-punch emotional depth.

David Plotkin Memorial

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I have been staying in an AirBnB in Thornton Park Orlando Florida for the past week. It has been wonderful to be able to walk to venues each day to sketch. One of the first places I wanted to sketch was at Stardust Video and Coffee. At this coffee house, Doug Rhodehamel has been assembling a magnificent display of brightly colored cardboard fish in honor of a dear friend David Plotkin.

David who was a close friend of Doug’s was a former Orlando Weekly staffer, WPRK DJ, a political activist and a cultural mover. Doug was asked by the Casselberry Arts & Sculpture House to do a solo show and he enlisted the help of David to come up with a concept for the show. Unexpectedly David died on April 1, 2025 from heart failure before the brainstorming session. Doug considered canceling the show, but decided instead to make the show a tribute to David.

Doug wondered what Dave would want to see if he were to go to the show. David was on a pickle kick. He had old drawings that Doug called war pickles. Doug decided he would build the show around pickles but also allow them to become something else. He ultimately decided to create a huge school of pickle fish swimming through the void. The fish are light and vibrant reminding anyone seeing them that there is light and wonder in the world which is often all too dark and drab. Besides the large school of pickle fish, Doug created a green pickle moon and blue corrugated cardboard columns that resembled coral. The opening reception for Flight of the Pickle Fish was on July 18, 2025.

It took Doug close to a year to cut out all the fish out of corrugated cardboard. I am familiar with Doug’s fish because he mails out a fish each year as a Christmas ornament to friends and supporters of his work. I look forward to seeing each unique fish each year. Some time in the future I hope to have a Christmas tree to display all the ornaments.

The David Plotkin Memorial Aquarium was unveiled on March 22, 2026 at Stardust Video and Coffee. Doug plans to keep making changes to the installation over time. The Stardust installation recruits many of the fish that were on display in the Casselberry Pickle Fish show along with new exotic species.

I went to Stardust Video and Coffee first thing in the morning to sketch. The online Stardust website showed photos of delicious looking waffles. At the front counter I asked for a coffee and the waffles. The woman behind the counter apologized. They no longer have waffles although they are listed in chalk on the blackboard above the counter. There was also an item on the blackboard called the Rhodehamel. I asked what the Rhodehamel was. I imagined it must be some kind of delicious sandwich. Maybe it was a pickle fish sandwich? She had no idea. The kitchen also does not open until 11AM. At least I got my coffee and set about doing the sketch. I was fascinated by a woman at the bar who was on a Zoom meeting about wine sales. Her earth toned dress had fish shapes all over it. When the sketch was complete, I went back to downtown Orlando to grab the waffles I craved.

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.