Twisted Tuesday at the Red Lion Pub.

Posted on by Thor

Twisted Tuesday is a weekly event every Tuesday held at the Red Lion Pub (3784 Howell Branch Rd, Winter Park, Florida). It features a free home-cooked meal every Tuesday but of course donations are greatly appreciated. Rahoe Productions and Representation provides Live Music from 7:30pm-10:30pm every Tuesday and the Red Lion Pub provides a DJ thereafter alongside a friendly environment to showcase talents such as hula-hooping, fire-arts, LED-arts, juggling, stilt-walking and much more.

I went to the Red Lion Pub in December to meet Andy Matchett who wanted to buy a print for the holidays. He was at the end of the bar when I arrived. He had pulled together a successful Kickstarter to create vinyl albums of the soundtrack to his very successful Fringe play, The Key of E. He wrote all the music for this apocalyptic rock musical. All though there was enough money raised to cut the albums, he still needs more money for the packaging.

When Andy left, I took his bar stool and sketched down the length of the bar. There was free food by the front windows, but unfortunately I had already eaten. I ordered a beer from the tap that looked like a fish. Rosmarie Ryan the pub’s owner looked over my shoulder and rather liked the sketch. She offered me another beer which I gladly accepted from her daughter, Mikayla, working the taps. The place gradually got more crowded as the evening progressed.

Outside, someone was playing an old upright piano with its innards exposed. Vendors had blankets set up to sell crystals and some local art. I chatted with a fellow that called himself, Dali Lama, about art for a while. I want to return here some Twisted Tuesday to sketch the fire spinners and hula hoopers in the parking lot. I need to arrive later which is when these activities heat up. There is a warm inviting atmosphere to the pub, like these people get to reunite every Tuesday.

When I got home, Terry told me to take off my clothes and take a shower. I’m lucky in that I have a weak sense of smell, but apparently I reeked of cigarette smoke. Even my skin sponged up the smell.  Next time I sketch at Twisted Tuesdays, I’ll spend far more time outside where there is plenty of vibrant local culture and a breeze.

Key of E – The Full Cast Recording of the End of the World!

Posted on by Thor

The Key of E took the 2013 International Fringe Festival
by an apocalyptic storm. Help this award-winning apocalyptic rock musical record soundtrack come to life! You know you want it. The completely new and original apocalyptic rock musical by Andy Matchett won 11 Audience Choice Awards,
the most of any show in the history of the awards, including Best
Musical and Best of Fringe. A Kickstarter has been created to help
produce the soundtrack to the show on CD and Vinyl! The goal of the kickstarter is to raise $3,000 before August 21st at 5PM. To date, $280 have been pledged. Donate to the Kickstarter to guarantee you get your copy of the music.
For and donation of $250 or more you can get a signed archival print of the Key
of E Monster as seen on this site.

Mark your Calendar, The Key of E will be returning to the stage starting August 23rd to August 31st at The Venue (511 Virginia Drive Orlando FL). Tickets to the show are just $10. Show times are at 8PM. Seriously, this show will rock your face off!

Violin(ce)

Posted on by Thor

Empty Spaces Theater Company’s director John DiDonna has collaborated with fight choreographer Bill Warriner to bring an experimental show to the stage where “fighting is the story.” Any writer knows that a good story must have a conflict. In this show, the dozen or so actors and dancers are waged in an eternal battle. Some of the fights are staged as a lone violin player is projected on the screen at the back of the stage, thus the title, “Violin(ce)“.

The first scenes revolved around silent film era comic violence.  Then actors recounted school yard brawls. The violence grew personal as a loving couple had their first arguments that progressed to slammed doors and ultimately domestic violence. The line between the erotic and violent was blurred. Actors came at each other with knives, sabers maces and sticks. Blades missed by inches in the type of fights you might have seen in a swashbuckler starring Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone.

McClaine Timmerman performed an incredibly limber and tortured routine, stretching her limbs beyond what should be humanly possible. Dion Smith moved  with a ballerina’s grace around the stage like a hungry lioness as she spared with DiDonna. Of course Cory Violence was in the show. His amazing performance in “The Key of E” and his last name alone guaranteed him a role. In one incredible fight, the entire cast was on stage fighting with weapons. Blades flashes inches from fresh. It is amazing no one was injured. Truth be told, many actors were bruised and battered. Though safely was the rule, adrenalin kicked in. The bruises, abrasions and emotional scars are real.

Each scene in this show is a self contained vignette with each scene building on the last as a sort of history of violence. The action is constant and progressively more intense. The show runs through July 22nd at the Lowndes Shakespeare Center (812 East Rollins Street Orlando FL).
The Saturday, Sunday and Monday shows are at 7:30pm.
Additional Sat/Sun twilight shows are at 4:30pm. Tickets are $20. For reservations please call 407.328.9005 – cash only at door. For credit card pre-orders please use www.redchairproject.com