Viatnamese Tết Festival at the Orlando Fairgrounds.

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(Thor) When Pam Schwartz and I arrived at the Tết Festival, I immediately sat down to sketch the preparations for the dragon dances. As a drummer and symbol set the beat, the acrobats practiced leaps and standing on each other’s shoulders. They all put on bright green t-shirts and bright pants which matched the colors of the dragons. There was a blue, red and yellow dragon each. A red rope was hung from a bamboo tree with a red beam that had two red tassels. Long red strips were unrolled on the ground and each was tied up to the rope from the bamboo tree. At the top of everything were octagonal firecrackers. An electronic firing device was rigged up in a Tupperware and the fuses snaked to various places on the field. After rehearsing, the dragon dance performers told everyone gathered to go to the main hall to see the show on stage. Pam and Lesleyanne Drake went on a food tour as I sketched.

(Pam) While Tom sketched the fantastical dragon heads outside, Ricky Ly of Tasty Chomps offered a free food tour at the Central Florida Fairgrounds during the 2018 Vietnamese Tết Celebration. He gave a small group of foodies a bit of background on Tết before taking us inside the food court. As we browsed from stand to stand he pointed out different dishes and Vietnamese specialties. I tried to pick up and remember each of the unique names as he said them, but it was nearly impossible through the roar of the main stage to our backs. From colorful gelatin desserts and fried banana cakes to pork on stick and a variety of delicious looking noodle soups, the stands were an absolute feast for the eyes.

Lesleyanne Drake and I, both incredibly passionate about food, began making a mental list of all the things we NEEDED to try before we were too full to go on. We began with a few light bites because we knew Tom could join us for the main course. The more friends you bring to a food fair, the better. You get to try more dishes at a lower cost and don’t fill up quite a fast as you would otherwise. It’s a win-win situation for all! The first thing we ate I had no anticipation of liking, was Chuoi chien, or fried bananas. It was light and crispy on the outside but warm and gooey on the inside. It was surprising because I really hadn’t planned to like it, I like bananas…just not things made from bananas. We also tried a pork skewer (there were just pans and pans of them all over the place) and egg rolls to start.

For the larger portions of our meal we divided and conquered, myself getting Mi Quang (a pork and prawn noodle soup with delicious chewy turmeric noodles, topped with peanuts and these incredible little sesame crackers that soaked up the broth and tasted delicious), Lesleyanne got Nam Vang (a Cambodian-Chinese inspired soup with assorted types of noodles, a quail’s egg, a little heat, and all sorts of fixings), and Tom focused on two types of pork, one from the north (the favorite choice) and one from the south, as well as a Bánh Tôm (a sweet potato and shrimp fritter). We were all surprised by how “airy” the fritter was. There were many MANY more things we wanted to try, but we will have to reserve those for next year. I grabbed a Cà phê sữa đá (coffee with sweetened condensed milk) and we all got a bag of Chuoi chien to go.

(Thor) As I tried dishes with Pam and Lesleyanne the dragons took to the main stage but their performance was brief. They were followed by groups of female dancers and then the Vietnamese national anthem and the United States national anthem. Everyone in the audience remained standing for a long ceremony for the ancestors. When we went outside there was a large crowd gathered where I had sketched before. It was time for the main dragon dance ceremony. The crowd surrounded the field. It was too crowded to see from my previous vantage point, so we went to the far side where the crowd was thinner.

The dragons came alive, with one acrobat in the head and one in the rump. A fourth dragon was animated by a group of acrobats with poles. It is the year of the dog, so an actor in a dog costume rudely sniffed and bumped the rumps of the dragons.

The fuses were lit and the entire field erupted with the rapid blaze of firecrackers. All of the red streamers were long lines of firecrackers wrapped in red paper. A huge plume of smoke engulfed us, and I could feel the hot shrapnel hitting me. We had misjudged the wind direction. We turned away from the smoke and many ran back for cover. Pam and I stood our ground squinting into the smoke. The rapid fire explosions seemed to last forever. Then they all lifted upwards towards the top of the bamboo tree. The silence afterwords was deafening. Then the dragons danced among the ruins looking down at the red carnage. They then broke free into the crowd and made their way back to the main stage. Our small group decided that we had seen enough for one day.

21st Annual Car Show at the Art Deco Weekend.

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On day two of the Miami and Orlando Urban Sketchers crawl at South Beach in Miami, most artists were set up a block away sketching an Art Deco building on Collins Avenue. I wasn’t thrilled about just sketching a building, so I walked towards the crowds and commotion on Ocean Drive. I decide to sketch a long line of cars on display. Two Mini Coopers were at the front of the line. Pam Schwartz joined me and also sketched one of the cars in front of the Sury Hotel. The owner of the second Mini Cooper in line looked over my shoulder and was pleased to see his car in the sketch.

Pam was still busy when I had finished and I decided to rest in the shade of a palm tree and watch her work. I was amazed at how many people stopped to look over her shoulder. That must happen while I am working as well and I seldom notice. One young girl in ballet tights stopped to watch and she stood right in front of Pam blocking her view.  I have had people do that as a joke as if posing might get them in the sketch, but I think this girl was oblivious to the fact that she was blocking the scene Pam was sketching.

We stopped at the cafe in the hotel in front of us and ordered a huge iced margarita to split. A parade of giant puppets began to dance its way down the street. They were about 15 feet high. There was a merman whose arms dangled listlessly at his sides but he danced and leaned over to look at the crowds. Charlie Chaplin walked arm in arm with Marilyn Monroe.

Other artists started to explore the festival, and we watched them sketch as we sipped our drink. All the artists gathered in about an hour to share their work in front of a courthouse about two blocks away. The Miami Urban Sketchers had a rubber stamp that could be used to place the Miami Urban Sketch logo on each sketch. We then took a huge group photo and walked across the street to a vintage silver streamlined diner. Sitting near the couple from Puerto Rico, I got to learn about their struggles after hurricane Maria.

Art Deco Urban Sketch Weekend in Miami.

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The Orlando and Miami branches of Urban Sketchers collaborated to host a sketch crawl at Miami’s 41st Annual Art Deco Weekend on January 21st to the 14th. It is a long drive to Miami and when Pam Schwartz and I arrived, the sketchers were already finishing up a sketch of a beach side life guards station. Pam and I went down to the beach to dip our toes in the ocean.

When the gathering of several dozen artists moved to a new location, we joined them. I sat down to sketch the Edison and Breakwater Hotels. A vintage orange and white car was parked in front of the hotels. As the sun set, the Art Deco hotels lit up, creating an amazing bright contrast to the dark ultramarine sky.

Pam and I were seated next to a small courtyard where a pink ribbon was tied across the top of a staircase. It turns out we were at the event’s ribbon cutting. South Beach’s mayor came out to cut the ribbon to officially open the Art Deco Weekend. A man started taking to Pam saying that I would sketch so much better if I was high. He opened his palm and offered her some marijuana buds. She declined.

The crowd gathering for the Mayor got in the way of my seeing the scene I was sketching. I patiently looked between people and around butts to draw what I could see at any given moment. The Mayor invited the artist who painted the poster for the Art Deco weekend to the stage. The mayor in a three piece suit, announced the artist saying, “This is how an artist dresses for an event like this.” He got a few laughs from the crowd. The artist, Michael Young from Kansas City, was in khaki shorts and a t-shirt.

The Orlando Concert Band.

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I sketched a rehearsal of the Orlando Concert Band at Saint Luke’s Lutheran Church (2021 West SR 426 Oviedo FL.) Pam Schwartz and I arrived just as the band began to play the Star Spangled Banner. Everyone in the audience was standing so we stood in the back row waiting to scope out a seat. The concert celebrated the music of John Williams and even the Star Spangled Banner was arranged by him. After the usual musical refrain you would hear at a football game the arrangement then expanded as if scoring an important scene in a movie.

The Music Director, Jon Territo, clearly loves the John Willams musical scores and the evening highlighted music from films such as Jurassic Park, Jaws, 1941, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, Catch Me if You Can, Superman and Star Wars. Between arrangements the conductor spoke to the audience about each piece. This was a working rehearsal although the audience was packed. On occasion the music stopped so that a passage could be reworked. The evening was an eclectic mix of scores that have become iconic over the years to scores that supported the drama of less known films.

The Orlando Concert Band was founded in 1989. If is composed of both professional and amateur musicians. The band’s mission is to celebrate and preserve America’s musical heritage through professional level performances of music for concert band, including major symphonic works and a wide variety of traditional contemporary and popular selections.

Mark Your Calendar

The remaining concert this season include:

Saturday February 17, 2018 at 6 PM. UCF Symphony Orchestra. Rising Star a Local Legend – Chung Park Director with guest composer Stella Young.

Sunday March 18, 2018 at 3 PM.  Lutheran Cantata Choir and Chamber Ensamble. A Voice from Heaven – Claire Hodge, Director. Reception for the audience after the concert.

Saturday April 14, 2018 at 7 PM. Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. Mozart and Dvorak – Benjamin Hochman, Pianist and guest Conductor.

Free admission to all concerts. For more information.

History in a Glass: The Grand Finale.

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The Orange County Regional History Center (65 E Central Blvd, Orlando, FL 32801) hosted three previous History in a Glass competitions.  At the final installment of the 2017 History in a Glass series, the winners from the previous competitions competed for bragging rights by creating one-of-a-kind libations. The drink recipes were inspired by the theme of “The City Beautiful.” Guests learned how Orlando chose our nickname as they enjoy great food and music, plus three hand-crafted cocktails.

Pom Poms Teahouse and Sandwicheria (67 N Bumby Ave, Orlando, FL 32803) catered the event and the food disappeared in an instant. The caterer returned to their restaurant and made a second batch of sandwiches to the sold out crowd. A hand crafted trophy was created by the History Center art department. The trophy consisted of a model of the lake Eola Fountain with a swan perched on top. Above the swan, was a pig and a bottle of whisky. The entire tower was painted gold. Each item referred to the stories told in past History in a glass competitions. The swan was based on Billy the swan who murdered his mate. The pig was from “Hog Wild” which told the story of how Winter Park had to pass an ordinance banning wild hogs from it’s streets. A similar ordinance was passed last year banning artists from the streets of Winter Park. The whisky bottle referenced the story of the murder in the San Juan Hotel in which a man a man was given a bottle of whisky which was then offered to the woman he was trying to impress that evening. She died after one sip.

The History Center Chief Curator, Pam Schwartz entertained the crowd by explaining how Orlando became “The City Beautiful. Once referred to as Mosquito County, the Central Florida region was considered a nightmarish place my many of the early explorers who couldn’t stand the bugs and insane heat. They denouncing the region as a “hideous,” “loathsome,” “diabolical,” “God-abandoned” mosquito refuge.

In 1908, an Orlando beautification drive inspired city leaders to find a
more suitable name than “The Phenomenal City.” Residents planted trees
and shrubs, and a contest was announced to find a new nickname. A number
of candidates were submitted, including “the Queen City,” “the Magic
City,” “the Picturesque City,” and “the Health City.” But Jessie Johnson Branch, formerly from South Dakota, won the prize
with “the City Beautiful.” The new name sparked a wave of interest in
beautification that soon made the Orlando an even more fitting setting
for its name.

With an event like this I always hope to sketch the winner. I sketched Dan Lynch in his baseball cap and bib overalls, and he did indeed win the coveted trophy for his delicious “City Beautiful” cocktail. 

Lakeridge Winery Winter Music Series.

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It is a bit of a drive up to the Lakeridge Winery and Vineyards (19239 US 27 North, Clement, Florida 34715), but the Winter Music Series made for a relaxing afternoon of music and wine.  It was chilly the day Pam Schwartz and myself went so we made our way inside the winery first thing when we arrived.  There was a wine tour in about half an hour and there was music upstairs in the Wine and cheese bar.  Joe Hand was performing cover songs on an acoustic and then electric guitar. Between sets he walked between tables talking amicably with member of the audience.  

Each Saturday afternoon during the month of January, Lakeridge Winery holds its famous Music Series, featuring live music on the outdoor stage, and inside at our Wine and Cheese Bar upstairs. The musicians selected are all fantastic performers, hand-picked from the wealth of talent located throughout Central Florida. Lakeridge wine, beer, soft drinks and a variety of food is available for purchase, along with complimentary Winery tours and tasting. This is a free event for all ages.

We did the wine tasting next, trying 10 different varieties of wine.  My favorite was the Pink Crescendo which is a sparkling wine with a fruity aroma and long lasting aftertaste.  Most of the wines were on the sweeter side rather than dry which I like.  The wines are made from Muscadine grape varieties which are Noble (red) along with Welder and Carlos (bronze) that flourish in Florida because of their disease resistance and adaptability to our warm, humid climate. The rows of vines  grow right behind the winery on the rolling hills leading down to a lake.  The vines were largely bare because it is winter and they will be full of grapes and ready to harvest next August.  A huge harvester rolls over the rows of grapes scooping them up for harvest.  The grapes are then crushed strained and the juice is fermented.  A short 10 minute film outlined the science behind the fermenting process.  The “Tour” however just involved our standing on a walkway staring st stainless steel storage containers and then standing on an empty patio.

The winery uses corks which have the advantage of expanding as they soak up the wine. Each cork costs ten cents. Much of the wine industry is moving towards synthetic corks for cost reasons not because they are better for preserving the wine.  The wines from Lakeridge are meant to be consumed within a few years.  I have always wanted to consume a wine from the year of my birth, but that might just taste like a sour mess that needs to be poured down the drain.  In August there is an annual gape stomp competition which sounds like an event I have to sketch. 

BAND SCHEDULE:
OUTDOOR STAGE

Jan 13, 2018 NOON – 4pm The Nightly Grove Band 

Jan 20, 2018 NOON – 4pm Shawline 

Jan 27, 2018 NOON – 4pm Mike Quick Band 

WINE and CHEESE BAR 

Jan 13, 2018 NOON – 4pm Bobby Koelble

Jan 20, 2018 NOON – 4pm Bobby Blackmon

Jan 27, 2018 NOON – 4pm Jeff Whitfield

To Grandmothers house we go.

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Christmas with the Schwartz family always involves a car ride to Grandma Martha Schwartz‘s home. Dirt snow encrusted roads turned into asphalt roads that then turned into snowy side roads.  The small farm house has been in the family for generations.  The white paint is worn and chipped and the place lists a bit from the pull of gravity over the years.  The front port is at such an angle that it feels like being on the Titanic.  Years ago a family member had a ticket to go on the Titanic, but he decided to make the crossing on another ship two months later.  Had he made the Titanic trip he would have been in steerage and would have most certainly died.  That would have meant that Pam, her dad and all the siblings would have never been born.

In the living room, the TV was on, showing a program where a bow hunter was tracking a goat with a huge lion’s mane. The men were seated and stories told were of the latest dear hunts. Ron had to shoot at a deer from a huge distance between one foot gaps in the tree branches.  The end of his barrel literally covered half of the deer.  Regardless, the shot dropped the animal to the ground.  The venison is packed and ready for the winter in the outside barn cooler.

The temperature outside had dropped to negative nine so cold drinks could be stored out on the porch.   A refrigerator would be overkill.  Grandma Schwartz is a traditionalist.   She insisted that the men line up for food in the kitchen before the women could eat.  That left the living room available for the children to open presents.  I kind of would have liked to sketch the kids ripping open presents, but instead, I had to do my manly duty and eat.  I learned quite a bit about the narrow profit margin in farming corn and the challenges of moving huge hay bails.  I listened intently wondering how I would fare in this harsh winter landscape.  Outside the snow blew horizontally past the window insulated by sheets of plastic.  I spotted black cows marching against the stark white landscape. 

The children played in the front room with a small Christmas tree.  There is a tiny little half step staircase that spirals up to the top floor of the rickety farmhouse. The tiniest toddler couldn’t resist trying to climb her way up. Parents kept having to interrupt her progress. Pam’s dad Ron Schwartz told the story of how he climbed that staircase as a child and his sister pounded him with a pillow at the top of the stairs causing him to topple down the steep steps head over backwards.  He had his revenge when he slipped a whole bunch of pins inside his sister’s seat cushion at the dinner table.  She squealed loudly and never again tried to knock him down the steps.

Family history covered every wall.  A wedding photo on the wall showed Ron and his wife, both slim and beautiful in their youth. Pam keeps 5 by 7 inch note cards that have notes about what she has done each year.  Her notes for Christmas day were always the same, “Christmas at Grandma’s and then at home.” Family traditions remain strong on this Iowa farm thanks to a matriarch that is approaching her hundredth year. 

White Christmas.

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Pam Schwartz and I are in Iowa for Christmas. On Christmas Eve
it started to snow and it snowed all day long. I set some time aside to paint
the view out of some bay windows that overlooked the property. The house is on
top of a hill that overlooks all the land around it. There is a pond down at
the bottom of the ravine in the direction that I was painting. There was a fine
dusting of snow all day. I was pleased to find out that there was a brush on
the tablet that easily paints snow. 

The Christmas tree had been set up with care and the next morning
the presents under and next to the tree would be unwrapped. All the open fields
became white encrusted in the snow as we rode to grocery stores for holiday
supplies. On Christmas Eve evening we had a 15 pound NY strip loin roast that was amazingly
tender along with cheesy potatoes and green beans with bacon. I gave Pam’s brother
credit for a pan full of roasted water chestnuts wrapped in bacon that were delicious, that had really been made by Pam. 

Relatives come and go in waves and the family chats in the
living room, warm from the snow outside. We often gather at the table to play
board games. The sun has just set and online sites track Santa’s progress
around the world. His sleigh seems to always be in flight. He never seems to
and drop off presents. There is only an electric fireplace here in Maquoketa, so he must
have to be good at breaking into homes to drop off his presents.

The Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians in Philadelphia.

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Pam Schwartz and I have been binge watching American Horror Story: Freak Show.  Side show freaks were murdered in that show and then their deformed bodies were put on display in formaldehyde glass cases.  The museum curator was depicted as a woman of questionable morals who only wanted to find the most unique deformities to put on display.  Both the side show and museum were desperate for patrons as the public turned to TV instead of live entertainment.  The museum in that series must be based on the very real Mutter Museum of the College of Physicians in Philadelphia (19 S 22nd Street Philadelphia, PA 19103.)

On display in the Mutter Museum is every conceivable deformity know to man.  On a recent trip to the Ringling Museum, I saw circus posters depicting Chang and Eng Bunker who are arguably the most famous conjoined Siamese twins. They were born in what is now Thailand in 1811. They
came to the United States in 1829 to tour and speak. Eventually tiring
of life as touring performers, they married sisters and bought adjacent
farms in North Carolina in the early 1840s. Between them, they raised 21 children and managed two farms. 

When the brothers died in 1874, Fellows of The College of Physicians
conducted the autopsy and arranged for the specimens to be transferred
to the museum. On display in the main gallery are their conjoined
livers and the plaster death cast of their torsos. Fetus’ with various abnormalities were on display in glass jars on the shelves around the twins. No photography is allowed, but sketching is encouraged.  I could get lost in this place for weeks sketching all the unique forms.  

On the ground floor of the museum was an amazing art display by Lisa Nilsson.  In her Tissue Series, she created ornate quilled paper constructions that explore
the complex geography of the human anatomy.  She used
images of transverse, coronal and sagittal cross sections from medical
sources as reference. Her work finds a delicate balance between art and anatomic accuracy,
beauty and the grotesque.

The forms, made from Japanese mulberry paper
and the gilt edges of antique books, are rendered in a technique of rolled
and shaped paper called quilling or paper filigree. The technique, first
practiced by Renaissance nuns and monks and later by aristocratic women
in the 16th-18th centuries, finds a contemporary relevance in Nilsson’s
work.

Board Games in Iowa.

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After the Thanksgiving Turkey Dinnr, the Schwartz family plays board games for the rest of the day into the night This game called “Quelf” was rather strange. The board has characters that move around a rainbow brick road using a die to set the number of moves. Different spots would have players pick up cards much like in a game of Monopoly. Some cards in the deck insist that a player perform an action throughout the length of the game, “Roolz Cards.” For instance, Pam Schwartz had to say “Wacka Wacka” any time another player laughed. Of course when she said “Wacka Wacka” we would all laugh again. Another card had Pam shout out commands like a drill Sargent, which she did with some gusto.

I pulled a card that said I must pinch the flesh around my belly button to manipulate it like a mouth to say something like, “Well this is awkward.” I thought long and hard before performing that task, but ended up doing so to avoid paying a penalty. Another card insisted that I must stand in slow motion and point at the player to my left and say, “You have sabotaged my plans for the last time, en guard!” The simple goal of the game was to get to the end of the rainbow paved rainbow first. I didn’t win.

Another board game called “Baker Street,” based on the Sherlock Holmes books, had four players trying to solve a murder on the streets of London. Once again, a die set the pace of game play. I thought I was being clever by bypassing many possible clues to get to the scene of the crime first. The clue at the scene was no better than any other spot on the board so I had to backtrack to learn what the other players already knew. I knew that the crime had to do with the value of a bible. So I had my suspicions about the murderer and his motive, but I wasn’t able to find the weapon used in time. Each player was on their own private quest and didn’t have any reason to interact. After the  boisterous insanity of Quelf, this seemed far too tame a prospect.