Spacebar – Analog Artist Digital World

Mark your Calendar! Every Tuesday between 6pm and 10pm Food Trucks gather in a parking lot in the Milk District for Tasty Tuesdays. The Trucks used to park on the street but local restaurants complained and a city ordinance shut down that practice. The parking lot is behind Spacebar (2421 East Robinson Street, Orlando FL). So food trucks can sell food in parking lots and driveways but they can’t do business on the streets. It’s a shame food vendors have to hide in back alleys yet prostitutes can work the streets.

It looks like Andrew Spear started a mural on the wall behind Space Bar. Terry told me about another local artist who agreed to do three murals for $1000 and he posed in front of an Andrew Spear mural for the announcement. If you consider the number of hours it will take to cover 3 walls with paint, that artist will be making well below minimum wage. A house painter would probably charge more to cover those walls with one coat of semigloss paint. Posing in front of someone else s work and claiming it as your own is just insane.

While doing this sketch I was given a business card by a fellow who just started an awning company. He suggested I could paint large logos on awnings that need them. I don’t know if there is money in that type of endeavor but I’ll consider anything. With the sketch done, I decided to order an Empanada from La Empanada Food Truck. It was pre-prepaired so I didn’t have to wait. I ordered the sweet potato & goat cheese for $3.50. It had roasted sweet potatoes with shallots, thyme, creamy goat cheese and a dash of curry. The outer crust was crunchy and potatoes, cheese and herbs inside were delicious. They gave me a second empanada sample which was filled with chocolate and that was pure heaven.

On February 19th, I went to the Milk District’s Spacebar,( 2428 E. Robinson Street, Orlando), to sketch an arcade game tournament. The grand prize would be a $25 bar tab.
The event started at 10 p.m.I had never been to Spacebar before. The bar was super crowded when I entered. One wall had vintage arcade games like Ms. Pac Man and pinball machines. The Marvel and Capcom machines I believe were first person fighters although it was hard to see the screens from my vantage point.

Since there were no seats available with a good view, I sat on my artist stool next to the door. The proprietor asked me what I was up to. I explained about the blog since he might have been thinking I was some weird homeless guy who brings his own seat into bars. I asked for a light fruity beer and he suggested a German beer called Wittekerke. It was good. I sipped it slow as I sketched.

It was hard to tell exactly when the tournament began since there were always people playing. Artist, Chris Tobar stopped by to say hello. He has work scattered all around town in a show he calls “The Adventures of my Dexterous Shadow” and he is having a scavenger hunt where art patrons have to take pictures of each piece to prove they saw it. The winner would get a free print.

The crowd had thinned a bit by the time the tournament began at 10p.m. In the end Paul Andrade won the grand prize. As I was packing up, the proprietor and his lovely bar maid stopped over to see the sketch. He hadn’t expected to see color. When I asked how much I owed for the beer, he said it was on the house. Whoo hooo! We have a winner!