Interview at Maxine’s

Posted on by Thor

JB Webb and the Reverend produce a podcast about the Orlando Arts and Culture scene called The JB Rev Show. I recently did some art work for this show which depicted this dynamic duo as if on the cover of a comic book. It was fun working with JB to make that happen.

I was called in to Maxine’s on Shine for an interview on the show. The production was staged in the red room in the back corner of the restaurant. Before the place became the restaurant it is today this room was used to stage weddings. Now it’s walls are blood red and it has plenty of romantic and erotic art.

The JB REV Show is quirky and fast paced. I put on the headphones and joined in for the ride and it was over before I knew what hit me. Honestly I am not sure if I got a word into the mix. I was so mesmerized by the quirky hosts. I then settled in to sketch the production as they interviewed their next guest, Tony Mauss who was the husband of Billy Maines.

My life is measured by the pages in my sketchbooks. Just 15 pages prior to this sketch, I had sketched Billy Maines as he talked about his experiences after the Pulse Nightclub Massacre. Shortly after doing that sketch I found out that Billy had been let go from Watermark where he was the editor and chief, and shortly after, he died on Friday, July 21, 2017 at the age of 45. It was a real shock since he seemed in good health the day we spoke with him. He did joke about a persistent cough.

In a statement to the Orlando Weekly, Tony said, “My husband, Billy Manes, passed away peacefully on Friday afternoon
surrounded by his family of friends. He had been ill for a couple of
weeks with what turned out to be pneumonia, and by the time we sought
medical attention, it was too far advanced. He died due to complications
of his condition leading to organ failure.”

Mauss continued, “Billy Manes was a walking fucking miracle, a man who
fought ferociously to create a world where justice, equality and respect
were the cornerstones of his community. He loved Orlando. He knew what
was possible here in this sprawling mass of ex-pats, misfits,
introverts, seekers, party people, bookworms, performers, makers,
artists and friends. His driving force was love. He loved you, Orlando,
and he knew of your love for him. He fed off it; it sustained him. He
would have fought proudly for each and every one of you forever.
Unfortunately, his body had other plans.

“So … grieve, Orlando, grieve, but don’t forget to laugh, create joy, and love each other wildly. That would honor him.”

Though the JB Rev Show makes a point of being irreverent, they toned down the jokes a notch to pay tribute to a man who had spent his life reporting about local politics in the Orlando Weekly and Watermark, making the seemingly boring inner workings of local government entertaining and relevant.

An Interview with Billy Manes at Watermark.

Posted on by Thor

On June 30th Pam Schwartz, Dan Bradfield and I entered the Watermark offices to conduct an oral history with editor-in-chief Billy Manes about the events following the Pulse Nightclub massacre. Billy grew up in Florida and was a bit of a club kid.  He suffered much adversity and sexual abuse in his childhood. At the time, he felt that Florida is a place without history, so you have to make your own history.  In 2005 he ran for mayor, being the first openly gay candidate to do so. He felt he was the best choice to replace the then suspended Mayor
Buddy Dyer specifically because he’s not a politician.

He met Alan Jordan who was very different than himself and they had a long relationship. “We were very Burt and Taylor in our relationship.” said Billy. On Easter Sunday of 2012 Alan shot himself in front of Billy. Alan had HIV but didn’t want to admit he was positive. Billy watched his love die in front of him. Alan’s family took everything a redneck could need, despite the long relationship, even threatening to take the ring off of Billy’s finger. Billy fought them in court and won back some of his possessions. He decided to become more purposeful about these issues. “Trying to save someone else saved me.” said Billy. There is a documentary that was filmed entitled ” Billy and Alan“.

As a senior writer at the Orlando Weekly, Billy found his voice as he made jokes about Tallahassee government policy which is often, “so fucking boring”. Billy Manes was hired by the Watermark in 2015. As I sketched, I found the black blinds strangely ominous. He coughed once, and Pam commiserated since she had a cough for 6 months after cleaning up dead flowers and collecting items at the Pulse Memorial sites for the One Orlando Collection.

“I only remember 5AM on June 12th.” Billy said. He used to work there, when it was Dante’s. He was friends with the owners and staff. It wasn’t “divey” at all. It was a good place to come together. At 5 AM his husband Anthony Mauss woke up. He told Billy not to look at his phone. Billy of course looked at his phone and was immediately pulled on for an MSNBC interview. Unshaven and uncombed he spoke with Tamron Hall. As he spoke, he realized that he didn’t know if his friends were alive who worked at Pulse.

This was a hate crime and Billy was annoyed at any news organization that would white-wash this fact by playing up the terrorist theories. On that first morning, a mother drove by and she asked if her son was alive. Billy said he would try and find out.

After Pulse, the whole tone, everything changed. Billy suddenly found
himself in a whirlwind of interviews by over 7 networks in the days
following. Watermark approached the following weeks with a three step
program. They did a glossy cover, a story about the psychology behind
the attack and stories about the need for gun control. In the barrage of
activity, he stopped caring about himself. Watermark was at every
event. Billy reflected, “It is still amazing to me. You can say 49, but
imagine the moms and families having to deal with probate, the law.”

Our oral history interview was just an hour long. We wanted to get together for a second interview to grapple with the intricacies of the weeks following Pulse in more depth. Shortly after this interview Billy Manes said he was “let go” from Watermark on Friday, July 14th. In a Facebook post on the following Sunday Billy shared, “I was effectively let go on Friday and it wasn’t easy and it wasn’t psychologically easy. I wanted to give Watermark the chance to break the news. Not sure why, but it was fair enough. Best to the future editor and please keep up…the work. I’ll figure something new. I always do.”

Billy died just after 4 p.m. on Friday, July 21, at the age of 45,
surrounded by his husband Anthony Mauss, friends and family at Orlando
Regional Medical Center.

The loss is a shock to me. Billy and I were both born on May 22 and he playfully reminded me of this each year via Facebook.  Having lived through so much tragedy, Billy always injected humor into every exchange. He will be deeply missed. He helped to write Orlando’s history while joking about the political forces that stifle Orlando’s future.

Wave Awards

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Terry found out about the Wave Awards ceremony happening at Mr. Sisters (5310 East Colonial Drive). I had never heard of the Wave Awards so when my class was over at 9pm I drove down to Colonial. Terry sent me a text saying parking was tight. I lucked out and found a parking spot right under the giant LED Mr. Sisters billboard. As I walked towards the club I saw Billy Manes, a journalist for the Orlando Weekly. He was carrying a plaque and he nodded to me. I seem to keep bumping into him at events around town lately. I later found out he had won an award as the favorite local writer/journalist. Inside, I said hello to Mack Dixon. He had been voted the greatest straight ally to the local LGBT community along with his wife Margo. Since I knew nothing about the awards ceremony, I asked him a few questions. The Wave Awards were awarded by Watermark, a local LGBT newspaper. There was a copy of the paper on each of the tables. I thumbed through one and it looked like a great resource for finding fun local events.

Terry and Amanda Chadwick were seated at a table out on the patio overlooking the lake. Every table had a black and white painting of a celebrity on it. I could see a large eyeball staring up at me, but I couldn’t make out the face hidden behind the ketchup, plates and glasses. Airport lights flickered on the horizon. A beautiful spot, but removed from the bustle and activity inside the club. Actually the place wasn’t that crowded. People were starting to leave. I grabbed a plate of crackers and cheese before it was put away. Mark Baratelli joined us. He was holding his award as the favorite local LGBT blog. His blog, thedailycity.com, also won third place as the favorite LGBT website.

Rather than focusing on the event as a whole, I decided to sketch Terry and Amanda as they had dinner in the gay club. Amanda shouted, “You’re not drawing me eating chicken wings, are you!?” I erased her arms. My sketching habit seems to be a burr in the saddle, an annoyance that people tolerate. Billy Sisco arrived and hugged Mark from behind. He showed Amanda his new Windows phone and started hammering it’s screen with a knife handle. As hard as he hit it, the darn thing didn’t break. I snagged a few of Terry’s fries but was happy enough with my root beer.

When it was time to go, Mark asked us all to pose for a celebratory photo in front of a green screen. Mark and Billy stayed behind wanting to celebrate much later into the night.