The Guesthouse

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The Guesthouse (1321 N. Mills Ave Orlando, Florida 32803) is in the space formerly used by the Peacock Room. I sketched many times in the Peacock Room since they held artist openings and some of Orlando’s edgier performances. In October they would transform the interior with Hollywood grade Halloween displays.  I quite simply miss that venue.

I hosted ODD (Orlando Drink and Draw) at the Guesthouse because I wanted to see how the space had been transformed. The interior has many potted plants and dark walls an ceiling. Round soft orbs create a warm romantic glow. The bar stool are utilitarian but look rather uncomfortable.

Pam Schwartz and I sat at a small side table to sip our drinks. I didn’t order one of the craft cocktails preferring to just sip a beer as I sketched. I was told the Army-Navy, is a gin-based wonder.  Although the place gives off a classy vibe I rather preferred the grungier vibe of the former Peacock Room.

Places Less Traveled at the Peacock Room

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On May 6th, I went to the opening reception for “Places Less Traveled” at the Peacock Room (1321 N Mills Ave, Orlando, FL). This show featured Selected Graffiti Photographs taken by Grazyna Kleinman in Miami between 2011-2014. Grazyna travels to Art Basel in Miami each year and she documents the ever changing urban graffiti scene. The Wynwood Arts District in Miami has entire buildings covered in Graffiti and every year groups of artists travel there to expand and change the scene. She takes multiple photographs at each location and stitches them together to create her high resolution images. Some of the images are printed on metal giving them an interesting sheen. She had several self published books on display and I thumbed through to see more of her work. 3D glasses sat on the table along with the books. When you look at the photos with the glasses on, the graffiti tends to float above the walls.

Grazyna’s husband and son were at the opening. Her son is planning to become a stock broker and he bragged about how easy it is to make money in the stock market. I thought it would have been good for him to meet Terry to get a more realistic view of what the market has been like for the past twenty years. Those who ignore history are destined to repeat it.

In the main bar area there was a  Group Art Show by local Artists which was curated by Mendi Cowles.

Bad Wolf Art Night

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On November 14th I went to the Peacock Room (1321 North Mills Avenue, Orlando, Florida), to find out what Bad wolf art night is all about. Hosted By Kyla Rene’ the event invite explained that, after a one month break, the performers would be back to create some more art. Dancers would be improving to live music. There was no cover at the door. The hours on the invite were 5:30pm to 8pm. This was earlier than most events but I stopped by at 5:30 to have a drink.

The stage in the back room wasn’t set up but there was band equipment packed and ready.  I settled in at a table in the bar and drew the early birds like myself. The owner of the Peacock Room, David Rich was seated at the end of the bar. He took an interest in my sketch and stopped over several times to photograph the sketch in progress. Now I can see why new art is always on display on the walls. David truly loves art. He also works in the Disney Parks in operations. He must be someone who has no need for sleep.

As I was working on the sketch the band equipment was moved out. It was probably 7:30 or so when I was finishing up and there was still no hint of Bad Wolf Art Night so I packed up my art supplies and left. Either I got the date wrong, or the event didn’t start until much later. Either way, I had my sketch already and I headed home.

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Skill Focus Burlesque Presents: Classis Horror

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I went to a Skill Focus: Burlesque rehearsal of Classic Horror at the Peacock Room. Skill Focus is Orlando’s premiere nerdy burlesque troupe. The Peacock Room has been lavishly decorated for Halloween with life sized ghouls, demons and plenty of spider webs. The rehearsal was just getting started and Ruby Darling, the troupes director, had the performers run through their numbers in the order they arrived to the rehearsal.  On stage Andy Matchett was setting up for the live performance by The Continentals. Andy Matchett, Matthew Mendel, and Shawn Bryant – are Orlando’s
hippest trio of musicians, who bring you all your favorite hits from the
past with tons of style and a whole lot of rock and roll. The other members of the band hadn’t arrived yet so Andy was flying solo. At one point Andy asked if anyone knew how to play guitar. One of the girls knew a few chords, so he handed her his guitar and showed her the chords he needed her to play. Then he asked for anyone who could drum. Count Dracula got on stage and pounded out a beat on the snare drum. Andy had an instant band.The other performers did arrive after a break and the Continentals gave a hip edge to each Burlesque act.

This nerdy burlesque tribute will pay homage to everyone’s favorite classic movie monsters of the past, with live music by The Continentals! Come watch Dracula, the Bride of Frankenstein, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and more of your favorite creepy creatures take it off to the hottest songs of yesteryear. Skill Focus is made up of hot nerdy ladies (and guys!) who love geeking
out and sequins, performing saucy, sassy, sultry striptease while
portraying their favorite characters from comic books, video games,
sci-fi, anime, horror, fantasy, you name it.

Hosted by the illustrious Chan Sterling – human encyclopedia and master
of dick jokes – Skill Focus is proud to present a lineup of seriously
talented, seriously nerdy burlesque performers from Orlando:

Ruby Darling,
Cherry Bob-omb,
Rickabilly Bond,
Syber Digit,
Shy Labuff,
Fifi Latio,
Nekkid RoboJoe,
and
Rosita “Queen of Offensive Burlesque” Sparkles.

The rehearsal was insanely fun with satin capes, baubles, glitter and plenty of flirtatious bump and grind. An eight foot stage runway will be added to the room allowing the ladies and guys to walk out into the audience. Guaranteed, this will be a standing room only show. Don’t miss the HORROR!

The show is TONIGHT, Tuesday, October 16th at
10pm. The doors and bar open at 9pm. 18+ only, please!  The Peacock Room
1321 N. Mills Ave., Orlando, with plenty of parking in back and on the side streets.

Tickets are $12 at the door. $2 off for Halloween Horror Nights team members! – If you are an Halloween Horror Night team member, please bring your work ID to the show to avoid extra charges at the door.

Peacock Trivia

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I decided to go to the Peacock Room following a lead in the Orlando Weekly that said there was going to be a trivia night. Believe it or not this was the most sketch able event that evening. Someone suggested I call such events Thor-Able. Anyway I arrived right after work, ordered a beer and started sketching the five or so other patrons. By the time I finished my sketch, I realized there wasn’t going to be any trivia.

A Rob Leaman flower was outside on the sidewalk, a remnant of The Corridor Project. The bartender let me know that they had to take it inside several times when it rained. Some of Rob’s day glow green branches were also above the bar. Art on the walls was all by tattoo artists. Some work looked like what you would expect to see on skin, but some was highly polished black and white oil paintings that I thought were great. One showed a rabid Easter Bunny attacking screaming children.

Library Garden

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I heard there was to be a paper flower making workshop at the Peacock Room (1321 North Mills Avenue). I arrived right after work which is early by nightlife standards. One room was full of paintings by Cameron Moore. He is a Full Sail instructor. The work was representational with a touch of the surreal. Skeletal horses were juxtaposed against dense forest scenes. There were some futuristic cityscapes and human figures were covered in patterns reminiscent of New Zealand tattoos.

The other room was full of fluorescent flowers. It stopped me in my tracks. The female bartender asked if she could help me. She thought I was looking for someone. I was just looking for a sketch. Rob Leaman was the artist who created the huge flowers in what he called,  the library garden.  Rob arrived with fluorescent paper and some Elmer’s glue.A woman in a black and white dress stopped in. The white of her dress glowed light blue. He began demonstrating how he creates the smaller flowers by folding the paper.  Then five women showed up all at once and Rob showed them the intricacies in every fold. My digital tablet flashed a warning letting me know my battery was low. I looked around for an outlet but couldn’t find one. This is the advantage of a paper sketchbook it never complains. Moments later the screen flashed off. The sketch was done.

Meeting at the Peacock Room

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This year I have decided to make a commitment to ask actors and dancers to pose in costume long enough for me to get a bold gestural sketch that I can post to promote the show before opening night. Up until now I have always worked clandestinely by getting into rehearsals and sketching the process. Of course no one stands still, and I am used to that, but a whole new energy slips into a sketch that is a collaboration between the artist and model. It was a revelation to me that people in this fast paced digital age are willing to take time to be sketched.

I asked Sarah Lockhard if she would pose in costume for one of the upcoming shows she will be dancing. That collaboration sparked an idea in her mind. She was going to perform a Vaudeville burlesque styled act where she would read a poem titled “Live Circus“. She wanted me to sketch live on stage with her while a musician performed eerie circus themed music. As soon as I listened to the Tom Waits reading the poem, I was hooked. I’m willing to try anything once. The challenge is that the reading is only 5 minutes long. Rich imagery is packed into every stanza with weather worn characters bursting with life. I became infatuated with the relationship between Funeral Wells, a knife thrower and his woman Poodle Murphy on target. I found a knife throwing scene online that was sexy and disturbing and that scene will be the inspiration for what I sketch.

I got to the Peacock Room early and got a sketch before Sarah and the crew arrived. The director, Kevin G. Becker was there discussing how the elements of the show might fall together. The show has a video game theme. Portal which can instantly transport players, ends up transporting players between different video games. Bio Shock a creepy underwater nightmare will have a huge influence on many scenes. I’ve seen stills, but never played the game so the conversation at times became edgy and strange. Susan Woodberry plays the part of a little sister. She has the odd roll of inducing Adam by sucking blood from fallen victims with a huge syringe, drinking it and spitting it out. The final product Adam, gives players super human abilities but takes its toll causing genetic decomposition and fast aging.

Sarah plays the part of a seductress who distracts a game player or Spice. Susan who is working on costuming described Sarah’s outfit. Her costume will be a sultry torn green dress with layers of crinoline and a hoochie skirt and turquoise blue ruffled panties. Feathers will be the only camouflage for her breasts. She will perform a hedonistic dance that entices the spice, played by Corey Volence. He rips off parts of her costume. Straps are broken and torn and crinoline is ripped off. She will lung at him like a wild animal, pushing his chair backwards and then straddling him. Panting loudly, she then will stab him in the heart with a giant syringe. Things could get messy.

Yum-mi Sandwiches

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I had several hours to kill before meeting actors at the Peacock Room. I had seen the work being done to modernize this Yum-mi Vietnamese Sandwich Shop on Mills Avenue. I figured it would serve holistic healthy food so I went inside for a taste and sketch. The warm glow looked inviting as I approached. I read the menu for a while, not sure what to order. I finally decided a, “Miss Piggy” sandwich sounded good. It would have pork in a sweet sauce along with plenty of greens on French bread. I like coconut, so I ordered a coconut freeze to drink. Rosa Phan asked if I would like tapioca in the drink. “Sure”, I’ll try anything.

I sat in a corner booth and started sketching while I waited for my sandwich. I paused after my first bite wanting to spit it out. “Miss Piggy” seemed to be full of thick slabs of raw bacon. I gagged. The fat was rubbery and difficult to chew. The next bite surprised me with a flaming hot jalapeno. I politely pushed my sandwich aside and took a quick sip of my coconut freeze to cool my mouth. The straw had a really wide diameter and I immediately found out why. A quarter inch wide black ball of tapioca was the first thing to pop into my mouth. It was like sipping in a dead jelly fish. I chewed the rubbery mass hoping its slimy exterior housed a tasty treat inside. No luck. I gagged again. Since all the tapioca was on the bottom of the cup, I lifted the straw and sipped just the drink which was passable. I nursed the drink and ignored the sandwich for the duration of the sketch. I tend to be like a famished dog ready to devour anything. I was shocked to find food that I just can’t swallow. People were asked how their meals were and there were polite responses of, “wonderfull” or “fine”. Could they have tasted the same food? I’m not likely to return. I rushed down the street to the Peacock Room to get a beer to cleanse my pallet. I hoped the enzymes in the beer would keep me from being sick.

Lone Wolf

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The next performer at the Jug-ly Art & Antics fundraiser at the Peacock Room was the Lone Wolf. He set up behind a simplified drum set with a megaphone attached to the base drum. He had a harmonica set up with a brace to hold it to his lips. A tin can hung below the harmonica perhaps for added acoustics. His voice was raspy and deep. Something about singing into a megaphone made the vocals seem bad ass. I worked quickly trying to capture him in the dim light. His drum set was bright green and he disappeared into bloody reds. His girlfriend stood directly in front of the stage checking her iPhone occasionally. He called out to her once, to help him find the slide for his guitar. He was the quintessential one man band.

Next on the line up were the Kitschy Kittens Burlesque Troupe. Suddenly the room was jam packed. A thick wide and tall gentleman stood right in front of me. Two slender women dressed in German Tyrolean dresses got on stage. They each got a beer out of a cooler and popped off the caps. They began a seductive dance to a beer song. I only caught a glimpse of the one girl when she moved to stage right. Soon frilly under garments were flying into the crowd. John Theisen kept picking them up and putting them back on stage. The girls began to sway and stagger as they sipped and danced. Before I could close my mouth and put a pencil to the page, it was over. The girls bounded off the stage, their shiny symbol shaped pasties bouncing. They gathered their garments and exited stage left. Perhaps I’ll have a clean line of sight and get a sketch next time.

Another band started to set up their equipment on the small stage. They were all young college kids in stone washed cut up jeans. The Getbye was emblazoned on a drum set. I considered another sketch but decided I had enough eye candy for one night. I headed home. I had started the evening thinking I would sketch the Bloody Jug Band. I will have to catch them another night. Hopefully plenty of money was raised for a Gift for Music and the Crealde School of Art.

Jug-ly Art & Antics

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John Theisen from the Bloody Jug band told me about this fundraising event at the Peacock Room. When I got to the Peacock Room I was fascinated by a phosphorescent blue tree in the main bar area. It would have made a great sketch but I heard music in the back room so I headed that way. The pool room had an exhibit of jugs from all over the country. The art exhibit was inspired by Traditional JUG Bands and the Americana Movement. The jugs were on shelves and with the dim lighting it was hard to see the name plates. I lit them up with my iPhone. Some jugs were already sold as indicated by the red dots. Orlando artist Mike Siedsma had his own wall filled with fanciful face jugs.

On a table there were a dozen or so cigar box guitars for sale. The artist, Jim Mitchell, stressed that cigar box guitars have a long, rich history in American music. He handcrafts each instrument one at a time so he is always open to clients individual needs. People were encouraged to pick up the guitars and try them out. John Theisen pointed out to me that the Bloody Jug Band would be using several in performances later that evening. All Proceeds from art sold that evening went to benefit, A Gift for Music and Crealde School of Art.

GT Springer was on stage performing some lively rock and roll covers. At one point several members of the Bloody Jug Band got on stage to join in on the vocals. Someone shouted “Freebird!” As the guitar gods performed, a washtub single string joined in performing in a green spot light.