After finishing a sketch backstage at Brian Feldman‘s The Boxer, I fumbled my way through the black curtains and decided to get a sketch out front. I was quickly distracted by some beautiful woman dressed as playing cards. The ace of hearts smiled at me and I felt I needed to get a sketch of her. They quickly left the scene even before I could get my sketch pad out.
Brian’s mother and father were there to show their support for Brian. His mom was dancing, which was great to see. Brian’s dad kept bringing me food. I guess he felt I was a starving artist and he felt the need to keep me nourished while I sketched. There was a cake made in the shape of a Newspaper distribution box. There had been talks of Brian using the cake for his performance but he told the organizers that he wasn’t that kind of performance artist. Anyway Brian’s dad brought me a huge chunk of cake and I later saw that it matched the size of a huge chunk that had been carved out of the cake box sculpture.
The cover band on stage would have been fine for a wedding, but they lacked the energy needed to get the whole crowd on the dance floor. Hannah noted that the white female singer trying to match the energy of Tina Turner missed the mark.
I walked around the venue with Hannah Miller. She convinced me that I had to try hitting a golf ball in one of those virtual projection screen scenarios. I knew I would likely make a fool of myself but decided to give it a try. I had to give away all my personal information on a form before someone asked me which club I would like to used for the 250-yard swing. I had no idea, and just took whatever club I was handed. My first swing was actually impressive, the camera followed my golf ball, and it landed just short of the mark but bounced down into a ravine. I thought I might hit the mark with my second swing. Hannah had her camera out and was shooting footage as my club bounced off the carpet and the ball sputtered along the fake green. If you see any footage of me taking an awful swing at a golf ball, you can ignore it, it is fake news. My first swing was glorious.
After my humiliation, decided to return to the Boxer to sketch. The lights on the arch made the scene look like a vaudeville set. People’s eyes would light up when they saw Brian, and they would quickly approach to take the paper. I thought the fact that the newspaper box was in a back corner of the venue would be a problem, but it wasn’t. People constantly approached and Brian gave away over a skid of papers that night. He certainly gave away more papers than he ever did at the Orlando Events.
At 9:30pm the lights in the venue flickered and the performance was over. Lee started taking down the black curtains and packed them away in a suitcase. Brian’s girlfriend posed for a quick photo in the Box before everything was broken down. Brian suggested we all meet to see a movie called Digger, but the film was starting in 5 minutes. It took me about half an hour circling around the block to find the hotel parking lot, so I never made it to the movie.
I laughed, I cried and newspapers were handed out. It was a good night.