Interview on the Ted Show

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I sketched a Lip Sync Battle at The Abbey and it turned out that one of the celebrities who performed on that night was Ted Bogert who is the host of a podcast called the Ted Bogert Show.  In my sketch Ted was dresses as Tina Turner with an amazing flaming orange wig and tight black dress. He later explained that he had to duck tape that wig on. Anyway, he loved that I documented the evening in my unique and and he invited me on his podcast to learn more about what I do.

He had multiple guests lined up for the day and his website has a streamlines way of getting guests to share their social media profiles and info. He tapes his show in the Citrus Club in the BB and T Building (255 S Orange Ave, Suite 1800, Orlando Fl). His email warned that there can be no ripped jeans of flip flops in the Citrus Club. Since I never wear either I was safe and it was good to know that I didn’t need to wear a dinner jacket. It was however quite cold that morning so I ended up wearing a hoodie. Hoodies wee not directly mentioned as being forbidden so I took my chances to keep my ears warm as I walked downtown.

Ted’s invite said I should just mention to the person at the front desk that I was there to see him. The guard at the front desk in the lobby had no idea what I was talking about when I said, “I am here to meet Ted.” I checked my iPhone to re-read the message and realized that Ted meant I should ask up o the 18th floor. When I arrived at the Citrus Club the woman at the front desk pointed me towards Ted. He was offering wedding venue advice to a woman at his table. After a quick intro, I sat at the table next to theirs and started sketching the view out the window. I  seldom get to see downtown Orlando from this high up so I was excited to sketch. I started the sketch knowing I had at most 15 to 30 minutes to work.

A new skyscraper has just recently been finished across from the Amway Arena so that became my focal point. It has an interesting modular shape with sections of the building being different values and colors a bit like a Rubik’s Cube.

The interview was held in the Wine Room. Ted had his phone on a tripod in front of the floor to ceiling window and a building across the street offered magnificent reflected sunlight. He briefed me and let me know about a couple of questions he might ask towards the end of the interview. We chatted, joked and before I realized it the show was over. At one point we were talking about my nick name Thor and how that became my nickname at Disney, long before the Marvel movies came out. Then we talked about creating and creators and the phrase Creathor was thrown into the mix. It was such a fun show to do. Our missions to promote the arts are so similar. I was preaching to the choir when I was talking to Ted. Afterwards I shared the podcast on  my social media saying it was a fun irreverent time. Ted thought that might have a negative connotation. I suppose that is the danger of quick sound bites on Social Media. The meanings can be confused if the whole story isn’t told. Thanks Ted for the opportunity, It was a fun way to kick off the New Year.

Story Club: What a Mess

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Orlando Story Club is a live storytelling competition which takes place at The Abbey in downtown Orlando. Anyone can enter by putting their name in the story hat, where 10 names are randomly selected to compete. Each storyteller is given five minutes to impress the audience and the top three tellers take home prizes.
All proceeds benefit local charities. It’s a night of laughter, fun, and
connection!

Judges are randomly selected from the audience and special story prizes
are awarded at the end of the evening. Other audience participation
opportunities abound.

I enjoy sketching knowing I will have only five minutes to catch one of the competitors. Despite that challenge I enjoy pushing the sketch to a finish as best as possible. These are everyday stories from peoples lives and you never know how strange, surreal or common a story might be. Most tug at my heart strings since we all are making it through this game of life together, despite the challenges and setbacks.

At specific events around town, Danielle Ziss and Bobby Wesley set up a story wall. Event attendees fill out note cards with “one-liners” – short
stories that fit with the story themes. One-liners can be as short as a
word or as long as the note card allows. It is a fun way for audiences
to participate in Orlando Story Club, even if they haven’t attended a
show!

One-liners are a huge part of Orlando Story Club live
shows. Between each randomly selected storyteller, our hosts read the
one-liners to the audience. They are completely anonymous and fit with
the selected theme of the evening, allowing all storytellers and story
listeners a chance to participate.

Example one-liner:

Theme: What a Mess!

I woke up to find my toddler holding a pair of scissors and a handful of hair. It was my hair. Who knew I could pull off bangs?

The next Orlando Story Club: Best of 2019, Homecoming, will be on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 at 7 PM – 9:30 PM
at The Abbey
(100 S Eola Drive, Suite 100, Orlando, Florida 32801). Tickets are $5.

Lip Sync Battle

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Opera del Sol and Central Florida Vocal Arts hosted a fun evening, of fun-raising, silent auction items, live musical
performances by Opera del Sol Singers and of course Celebrity Lip
Syncing at The Abbey, (100 S Eola Dr #100, Orlando, FL). The catch phrase for the evening was, that it was “for those of us who CAN’T sing- raising money for those who can.” The goal was to have local celebrities compete for the loudest cheers and most outrageous performances.

A single Mic stood on stage along with a drum set. Theresa Smith-Levin stepped up to the mic and introduced the all female Opera leadership team which brought a roar from the audience. Theresa explained that many young performers feel they must leave Orlando to go to larger cities like LA or NYC to pursue their career in the arts. Her hope is that the Opera programs they are promoting might someday find venues and creative opportunities for talent to stay in Orlando.

My expectations were for a pretty tame evening of watching people lip sync. It should be a fun and straight forward sketch opportunity. Those expectations were quickly blown out of the water.  The first act featured news caster, Bob Frier and his support band wearing very fake wigs and lip Syncing to Nirvana. One song involved the submerged baby with a dollar bill dangling in front of it. Giovanna Ciccone danced out and thrashed the plastic baby about with it’s creepy red eyes bulging as it reached for the bill. It was a hilarious moment. A smoke machine billowed a wispy cloud across the stage.

Next Ted Bogert of the Ted Show, took to the stage this time dressed in an opulent rainbow gown and an orange wig that was out of control. Things were happening so fast that I struggled to keep up with the action in my sketch. The crowd went wild when he ripped off the rainbow gown to showcase a tight fitting black dress with fringe that showed plenty of leg. Two sexy backup dancers, Giovanna Ciccone, and Olivia Figh raced on stage to dance behind him.

Next, a county themed Savannah Boan a Gator Land Ambassador, came out with a singing horse. You heard me right, a singing horse. I struggled to get the horse in my sketch, but it was cut in half before I finished getting its misshapen head on the page. Clothes flew off and costumes changed in a blink. The horse team turned out to be two Gator Land Bose including Brandon Fisher first in overalls and then in torn tops and flowing skirts. The audience was up and dancing and clapping to the wild action on stage as I scribbled.

Some sanity returned when Dan Altman and Olivia Figh from Opera del Sol, performed a moment from Phantom of the Opera. She has an amazing range and she brought home Opera del Sol’s mantra to make Opera sexy again. Sabrina Ambra co-host at the News Junkfollowed this up with two amazing back up dancers that were puppets connected to her with a complicated series of poles. I wish she had kept those back up dancers for the duration but like every other act she made a quick costume change which was hilariously difficult to pull off since she got tangles in the web of poles and pant legs. She followed up with some over the top hip rap with two live back up dancers.

Next came a cross dressing bomb shell by Rauce Padgett who is from the Jim Colbert radio show. The crowd absolutely loved him. I sketched madly to try and capture the wild pig tails and skimpy skirt and top. He had a bold, nervous, stiff staccato way of dancing that caught everyone’s attention. Jim Colbert followed up with a fiddle battle with the devil performed by Opera del Sol’s Nichole Dupre. She seemed right at home in her bright red skin and horns whaling away on her fiddle.  Ultimately at the end of the night Rauce won for his stellar performance and he stripped of his top to raise the trophy to the sky. He shouted that he had stripped the prize from Jim Colbert.

This was a fun evening of fun-raising with a flair. As Theresa Smith-Levin said, “We got some strange friends.” That is just what Orlando needs, a taste of strange to keep the arts thriving.

Purple Rain

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In March of 2019 John Hurst celebrated his 50th birthday along with his twin sister Alecia at the Abbey (100 S Eola Drive, Suite 100, Orlando, Florida 32801). The party was actually a surprise orchestrated by John wife Chimene Pindar Hurst. As she said, “
I have done what any self-respecting wife of John would do, and hired
an amazing Prince impersonator (Sir Jac) with his full band, horn section, sexy
backup dancers, the whole shebang. We have seen him perform and it’s
really fun. I booked The Abbey (100 S Eola Dr #100, Orlando, FL 32801) for the night, a cool venue around the
corner from us where they will play and we can do it up all night! Full
bar, projector, stage, [and a] great sound system.”

When Pam and I arrived there was a thong around John and the venue was packed. I decided to slip through the crowd and find a seat on the sidelines with a view of the stage. I sketched the stage as the band set up. Once they began to perform I placed each performer into the scene in turn. One of the back up performers was a performer and model I had sketched at other events. She had a great voice but was limited in her dancing moves by a pair of very high platform shoes. The prince impersonator (Joey Colon) himself was full of energy. He performed non stop for the duration of the evening. He has been performing as Prince in The U.S.A. for over 10 years. There is an uncanny resemblance, with every body movement sound being like the Purple Legend.

Orlando seems to be a hub for impersonators perhaps because of the theme parks. Anyway the band was great and I tried to capture a fraction of the high energy performance. AS they performed Purple Rain, I covered the sketch in Purple washes. John found me hard at work and introduced me to his twin sister. Back in high school in Tenafly, New Jersey, I studied American History with John’s dad. As extra credit for that class I built a scale model of a dutch settlement home out of sandstone blocks that I cut using a tile saw. When John and I worked together at Disney we discovered that one degree of separation. The world is a small place.

John really is a Prince fanatic. John resisted social media for the longest time. After the party I began noticing that he posts some Prince related trivia every day on Twitter. He was on the dance floor throughout the night and when he was asked to get on stage. He held his own playing guitar and singing. John works for the animation industry as a storyboard artist but he might have missed his calling as a rock and roll star. The birthday cake was shaped as a purple frosted guitar. Drinks flowed and by the end of the evening Pam and I were dancing as well. It was a fun night and I got to see a side of John that I had never seen before.

Nerd Nite 6 Year Anniversary

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The Nerd Nite 6 Year Anniversary was held at Celine Orlando, (22 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL 32801.) Nerd Nite anniversaries are usually held at The Abbey but that venue was booked for the night. The evening was slated to begin at 6 PM but the first speaker didn’t take to the stage for another hour and a half. I suppose that was time set aside for mingling and networking. I used the time to block in my sketch. I had never been to Celine before so the space itself was exciting. Ricardo Williams started off with excerpts from some of his favorite Nerd Nite presentations over the years. His white suit caught the blue light to great effect.

Dr. Krista Noble was the first speaker for the night. Her talk was titled “Why the Heck Are We Conscious? The Hard Problem of Consciousness”. As she said, “Everyone agrees that our mental processes (meaning our thoughts,
emotions, and perceptions) correspond with physical processes in our
brains. The question is, how and why? Why do we have subjective
experiences at all? Why aren’t we genetically programmed to pursue
survival, yet lacking consciousness? These fundamental questions still
plague scholars in spite of our most advanced scientific discoveries.” As she spoke about comparing two objects and noting that they were both bright red, I put some red notes on my sketch. If I sketch am I conscious? Perhaps I am more like a zombie using my few synapses to document what is around me with my hands and eyes.

“To Boldly Go: A Brief History of the Space Toilet” by Brendan Byrne followed with hilarious results. Brendan works for WMFE and he covers the space beat. As he said, “Human spaceflight has been plagued by waste. From urine-soaked
spacesuits to floating turds, the history of human spaceflight is flush
with dirty (and hilarious) anecdotes of dealing with waste in space.
Engineers seem to have a handle on #1 and #2 as we explore low Earth
orbit, but the future of deep space exploration hinges on our ability to
overcome a heaping pile of physiological, biological and engineering
problems. So how will we do it? Brendan has
been exploring the history of the space toilet for a new book and
presents a brief history of the galactic commode – and ideas for new
hardware that will boldly take our poop to places like the moon and
Mars.” 

On the first space flight, the astronaut was supposed to be in flight for just 15 minutes so no thought was put into a toilet. He was nervous and drank many cups of coffee that morning. Then there was a delay in launch which resulted in his needing to ask permission from mission control if he could wet his spacesuit. Engineers followed with a hard dock solution in which a condom was attached to a bag. A crap was more difficult requiring a cup strapped to the butt and a two fingered method of snipping off the log. Gravity usually helps the solids fall away but there was no gravity. Brendan read a recently declassified transcript in which astronauts debated about whose crap was floating around the capsule. Upon opening a recently recovered capsule a navy man vomited upon smelling what was inside. There was some hilarious audio of astronaut John Young (namesake of John Young Parkway)  as he was on the moon. He farted loudly and curses saying he would never eat citrus again.


Technology did catch up with the problem with a small fan providing suction to draw the excrement from the source. He played a video of astronauts pee being vented into space and it instantly crystallizing. Today however all liquids are recycled to be reused as drinking water. For long distance space flight a researcher is creating a device that burns down all waste and turns it into water and hydrogen. Brendan ended the presentation with a photo if him sitting on a space station toilet replica. is  mom must be so proud. I geek  out just as hard trying to get to as many space launches as I can to  sketch.


It was an evening of scatological and cerebral pursuits, who could ask for more?

The next Nerd Nite is April 11, 2019

Weekend Top 6 Picks for July 14th and 15th, 2018

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Saturday June 14, 2018

8 a.m. to 1p.m. Free. Parramore Farmers Market. The east side of the Orlando City Stadium, across from City View. Purchase quality, fresh and healthy food grown in your own
neighborhood by local farmers, including Fleet Farming, Growing Orlando,
and other community growers.

4 p.m. to 6 p.m. Free. Young Voices. JB Callaman Center 102 North Parramore Ave Orlando FL. Teen Open Mic Every second Saturday of the Month.

5 p.m. to 11 p.m. Free.  10th Annual Bastille Day Celebration. Audubon Park Garden District, 3201 Corrine Dr #216, Orlando, FL 32803. French Market at Audubon, Wine and Cheese tasting, baguette fencing, live music and more. Oui oui!

Sunday June 15, 2018

10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. Lake Eola Farmers Market. Lake Eola, Orlando, FL 32801. Farm fresh produce in the heart of Orlando FL.

2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Free. Vintage Market At The Abbey. The Abbey 100 South Eola Drive #100, Orlando, Florida 32801. The Abbey will be hosting its first Vintage Market. It will be a fun day of local vendors for your
shopping pleasure, food trucks, and drinks made by The Abbey’s amazing
bartenders. What better way to spend your Sunday Funday than by
supporting local businesses?
If you are interested in being a vendor, please contact us at gcvintageshop@gmail.com

10 p.m. to Midnight Free but get a coffee. Comedy Open Mic. Austin’s Coffee, 929 W Fairbanks Ave, Winter Park, FL. Free comedy show! Come out and laugh, or give it a try yourself.

Orlando Story Club Concluded Its Season With “Best Of 2017.”

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Orlando Story Club is held quarterly at The Abbey, 100 South Eola Drive, Orlando, FL 32801. The December 2017 edition of Orlando Story Club featured the  2017 winners who shared their best personal narratives in hopes of being crowned the
best storyteller of the year. All qualifying storytellers are given the
opportunity to put their name in a hat, and chosen individuals are
selected randomly to share their stories for the enjoyment of the local
community. The December event theme was “Best Day Ever” and the
benefiting organization was ArtReach Orlando.

All
storytellers who placed in the top three during one of the 2017 events were invited to compete in the finale. Three randomly selected judges
scored the storytellers. First, Second, and Third place winners
received a prize. Drinks, refreshments
and laughter were available in abundance. Each event throughout the year had
a different theme and all proceeds raised support different Orlando
philanthropic causes.

Jack Graham told a story of a road trip to see the total eclipse of the sun. The eclipse totality could be seen in a 500 mile wide stripe that ran cross the united states. It crossed over Charleston South Carolina which is where I went to see the once in a lifetime event. Jacks road trip was filled with laugh out loud suspense and a rouge police radar tracking device. Clouds threatened to hid the sun but at the last moment the clouds parted to allow for a clear view. The world grew dark and the birds became silent and creatures of the night began their songs. The real magic of it all however was sharing the experience with friends.

Jesse James story of “The Impossible Dream” garnered a higher score from the judges. He spoke of his longing to start a family but realizing that he could not father a child. He met a woman who shared his dream and together they started the long arduous process of adopting a child. When he spoke of his trip to Korea to finally pick up the child his voice choked up as he recalled the incredible moment when he saw his daughter for the first time. Hearing such inspiring stories is what Story Club is all about.

Janessa Gursky explained the focus of the December charity partner which was ArtReach Orlando, which promotes
creativity and art projects that in return develop a positive platform
and chance for self-expression for children in underprivileged areas of
Orange County. The grant program, ArtReach Orlando Artist-in-Residence,
supplies teachers with additional content and learning material that
fosters comprehension among children, while encouraging and supporting the
teachers and students involved. The organization aims to empower its
participants and children as it maintains a focus of improving youth’s
self-esteem, self of being and belonging in the community. These lofty goals are the reason I tend to sketch each and every day.

Here is the schedule for 2018:
January 17: This is Orlando – benefiting Zebra Coalition
April 4: Make My Day – benefiting Summer of Dreams
May: Fringe TBD
July 18: What a Mess! – benefiting Pet Alliance
Oct 10: Down to the Wire – benefiting Homeless Coalition
2018 Championship Dec 12: My Favorite Things – benefiting ArtReach Orlando

The Collective presented the Opera Del Sol launch party.

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The Collective presented Orlando’s most exciting new performing arts concept, Opera del Sol at the Citrus Club
(255 S Orange Ave, Ste 1800, Orlando, Florida 32801) on August 7, 2017. The evening was hosted by Andrae Bailey and Jon Busdeker of The Collective. That night also happened to be the birthday of  Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. At the party, I focused my attention on sketching the string quartet.

The
mission of Opera del Sol, in partnership with the
Space Coast Symphony Orchestra, is to change the way audiences experience opera and
performance art by creating curated, conceptual productions in
unexpected places. They are creating new ways to experience
opera, musical theatre, and visual arts, opting out of traditional
venues, and instead creating alluring productions in unique and intimate
settings. They will combine the visual and performance arts with cleverly
curated foods and beverages to provide those
unexpected thrills.

Founder Nichole Dupre was there to introduce the inaugural season. With venues in both Orlando and Brevard
County, Opera del Sol will open this Fall with
Opera Wars, an original production set in outer space, and close with
the thrilling musical theatre classic, Sweeney Todd.

Keeping with their cross-arts mission, the company will also feature a curated art
show with local artist Peterson Guerrier, and will also perform
Bon Appetit, a one woman opera based on a well known Julia Child
broadcast, accompanied with a five-course dinner presented by Publix.

Mark Your Calendar. Opera del Sol is hosting a Happy Hour fundraiser and Opera Wars
Cast Meet and Greet on Tuesday November 7, 2017, from 5:30pm-7:30pm at Ace Cafe (100 W Livingston St, Orlando, Florida 32801).

 The countdown for Opera del Sol presents Opera Wars in Orlando
begins. Join the cast at The Abbey Friday November 24th and Saturday
November 25th. Show times are at 7pm, with a matinee on Saturday. Tickets
available at: operadelsol.ticketleap.com

Story Club at the Abbey.

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Orlando Story Club gatherings are every other month at The Abbey (100 S Eola Dr, Orlando, Florida 32801) in
downtown Orlando. Anyone with a story can put their name in the hat for a chance to
share. Ten names are drawn at random. Judges
are picked at random in the audience, preferably those people who are
new to story club. Judges are given a chalk board and piece of chalk to rate each story from 1 to 10. First, Second, and Third place winners
receive a prize!

The theme for the March event was “Bodies”. Like it or lump it we are all born with our bodies. It seems much of our life is spent just taking care of them. Storytellers explored our topsy-turvey relationship with them. Every body part was explored. Mike Scottie‘s story, was about trying to gain 40 pounds. He was a thin rail as a child with stork like legs. He pushed the notion that you are what you eat. When he discovered that all his pants no longer fit He decided to slim down, but then realized it is even harder to loose weight than to gain weight.

The evening was moderated by special guest story teller, host television personality and stroke survivor Mark McEwen. Orlando Story Club gives anyone the chance to showcase their story
telling for the enrichment of the local community. The benefiting charity was The Assistance Fund. Every day, The Assistance Fund walks alongside thousands of patients and helps break down
their financial barriers to medical treatment by providing direct
financial assistance

Mark Your Calendar, the next Orlando Story Club with the theme, “A Promise” will be on Wednesday, November 1 at 7 PM – 9:30 PM at The Abbey. Tales will relate a time when you were trusted with A PROMISE.

All proceeds will support Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida
Admission: $5 (additional donations encouraged)
Doors open @ 6:30pm. Show starts @ 7pm.

Laugh, listen, drink, and help build our community!

Story Club at the Abbey.

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I went to The Abbey, (100 S Eola Dr #100, Orlando, FL 32801) to sketch Orlando Story Club which is an evening of stories based on the theme of “Can You Keep A Secret?” At this unique story telling series everyone can share their stories. Participants drop their names in a hat. The host pulls names from the hat to see who tells their story next. Three judges are picked from the audience. The only requirement to be a judge is that the person is new to Story Club.  The judges award prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners.  A guest story teller headlines every show with its own theme, food, drinks and laughter are available in abundance.

Orlando Story Club was founded by storyteller and film maker Robin
Cowie (“The Blair Witch Project”).  After participating in the national
storytelling series The Moth, Central Florida based Cowie sought out to
produce the same event here and so Orlando Story Club was born.

 The most memorable story for me was told by Banks Helfrich, a local filmmaker. He told a story about meeting a woman and really connecting with her. He described the warmth of her hugs when they parted. Each encounter seemed more intimate. One day she explained that she needed to tell him something. It turned out that she had a long term boyfriend. This bit of news came as a complete shock.

The May charity partner was Victim Service Center of Central Florida.  Since 1999, the Victim Service of Central Florida has been aiding victims of sexual assault, violent crime and traumatic circumstances.  The center is designed to provide 24 hours a day, 7 days a week support to victims.  They are the only certified rape crisis center for both Orange and Osceola County.  Their vision is to continue to transform victims’ lives and stop violence in the community.  Through their vision and mission, the Victim Service Center of Central Florida strives to keep assisting victims of these circumstances and provide a safe outlet for them to seek counseling and support.

Orlando Story Club will continue on the first Wednesday of every other
month this year (November 1, 2017 and “Best Of” December
13, 2017).