BEST OF ORLANDO® NOMINATION BALLOT IS OPEN THROUGH MAY 6!

Dec 16-22, 1998

Dec 16-22, 1998 / Vol. 14 / No. 50

Fluid politics

Clearwater has no Sam Donaldson in the media, so when Mayor Rita Garvey wrote in a public statement on Dec. 18 that she “never intended to raise any technical defenses” to her DUI charge (to which she that day pled guilty), no one threw her Dec. 15 interview with the St. Petersburg Times back in…

Chuck Shepherd

You dropped the Bombs on me

The season of joy is upon us, but last Saturday belonged to hate. The Hate Bombs, that is, who treated not one but two area venues to open-air rave-ups that placed a higher priority on goodwill toward men than peace on Earth. The Bombs’ presence was a shot in the arm to the “Bohemia” block…

Steve Schneider

Growing pains

In an unusual rebuke to Seminole County’s growth-at-any-cost policy, the Florida Department of Community Affairs on Dec. 9 rejected two major developments near the Wekiva River, saying the plans violated state law. The county vowed to fight. Seminole County has for decades based its economy on sprawl, keeping taxes low by charging impact fees for…

Orlando Weekly Staff

ABCs of organizing

With huge New Year’s Eve celebrations and college football bowl games only days away, the U.S. government last month dispatched scores of casually dressed nuclear scientists with sophisticated radiation detection equipment hidden in briefcases and golf bags to scour five major U.S. cities for radiological, or “dirty,” bombs, according to officials involved in the emergency…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Wise beyond their leers

In November, Ten’s World Class Cabaret (a strip joint) asked New York Supreme Court justice Stephen Crane to be exempt from New York City’s anti-nudity rules because it had begun to admit children to the premises and thus was no longer an “adult” establishment that the rules applied to. Crane ruled in favor of Ten’s,…

Chuck Shepherd

Selling out the postal service

Several years ago, the U.S. Postal Service shifted from being a public agency to a quasi-governmental corporation — and ever since, its honchos have bragged that they now run the Post Office like a private business. Do they ever! Today’s postal corporation treats employees like disposable commodities, even while it lavishes high pay and special…

Jim Hightower

CDs by the tens — top-tens

It’s the end of the music industry as we know it as we head toward the millennium. Sales continue to slump while MTV broadcasts played-out, reality-based programs and Jennifer Love Hewitt specials — with few members of the rock-critic cognoscenti noticing the connection. While Internet technology and recordable CDs are making it increasingly possible to…

Orlando Weekly Staff

An alternative view on the year

This is Mrs. Patton. My mother worked at Rollins College, also as a maid, and Mrs. Patton was the housemother. Mrs. Patton was very kind to my mom, one of the few people that were. She was really kind, and she treated all of us Ã? gave all us gifts every Christmas. She was very…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Catalysts for change: people who made a difference

Al French Boyish, optimistic, backed by millions of out-of-town dollars, Alain French thrilled Orlando for nearly two years as the potential redeveloper of Parramore, the city’s most troubled neighborhood. Although his plans were as vague as his past (French made a lot of money as an indoor-flea-market operator in Tampa/St. Pete and lost it all…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Counting the days … highs and lows of 1998

January 5 First day with all courts up and running at the new Orange County Courthouse. 5 Orlando City Council awards architect Moshe Safdie estimated $100,000 contract to devise plan for a performing-arts complex on nine acres across from City Hall. 6 University of North Florida President Adam Herbert, appointed chancellor to oversee Florida’s 10…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Tomato-based tug-of-war

It kills everything it comes into contact with. It destroys the Earth’s ozone layer. But Florida tomato farmers inject more than 5 million pounds of it into the ground every year. It is methyl bromide, an odorless gas used since the 1950s as a soil fumigant to kill weeds, fungi and pests. Farmworkers’ advocates, environmentalists…

Ericson, Edward Jr.

The sale of the Planet

Does this sound like a company in trouble? “We are a creator and worldwide developer of consumer brands that … capitalize on the universal appeal of movies, sports and other entertainment-based themes. Since we commenced operations in October 1991, the Planet Hollywood name and distinctive logo design have become among the most widely-recognized trademarks in…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Spirits in the, oh, so material world

If you were dead and could come back, you might go somewhere interesting like Polynesia, New York or Italy. Or maybe you’d end up in a place likely to draw spirits, such as Salem or Sedona or even our own belovedly weird Cassadaga. You would never think of Bithlo. Even living people, who seldom demonstrate…

Liz Langley

Curiously catching on

Steve Gawron was looking for more than a band when he formed the first version of Precious three years ago. The noise-rock trio’s performances were less about music than about experimenting with sound, vocal inflection and impromptu theater. This is still the case, as patrons of the 1998 Orlando Music Awards found out in October…

Sara Nichols

Curiously catching on

Steve Gawron was looking for more than a band when he formed the first version of Precious three years ago. The noise-rock trio’s performances were less about music than about experimenting with sound, vocal inflection and impromptu theater. This is still the case, as patrons of the 1998 Orlando Music Awards found out in October…

Sara Nichols

Tribal style

If the theory of evolution were applied to Central Florida’s live acts, it would have a special set of rules for the ever-changing lineup of Umöja. The multicultural, multi-ethnic and multitalented percussion ensemble has been in a constant state of flux since their origin in the mid-’90s. Every year, for some reason around the holiday…

Matt Kelemen

Medley of hits

There are always trends at play on the dining scene, and of late, it seems to be Thai restaurants that are popping up around town. An otherwise unassuming new entry in Winter Park, the neat and low-key Siam Garden jumps out from the competition with its distinctive fusion cuisine, which successfully combines Indian, Burmese, Laotian,…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Free museum lights up season

Ten years ago, the late Hugh F. McKean observed how hard it was for people to slow down during the holidays. The longtime director of the Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art felt that the museum’s collection of windows, jewelry, paintings and pottery by Louis Comfort Tiffany created a contemplative, reflective atmosphere, so he…

Matt Kelemen

Medieval brews for merry-making

Did you know that the first Christmas carols were actually Anglo-Saxon drinking songs? That’s the legend surrounding “wassail,” a sweet, spicy winter brew that takes its name from the Old English toast “waes hael,” or “be whole.” The recipe has many varieties, but here’s one from the archives of House and Garden magazine. Simmer a…

Colleen Moore

Recent

See all

Gift this article