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Photo by Jim Leatherman
Barbarella's John Gardner speaks at the History Center this weekend
The latest sidebar program held in conjunction with the Orange County History Center’s
Figurehead exhibition is a Q&A session with John Gardner titled “Dance Music in Central Florida.”
Gardner is certainly as good a starting place as any on the subject. As the owner and operator of edgy dance destinations in Orlando since the 1980s — including Faith in Physics, the Beach Club, Barbarella and I-Bar — he’s lived through and observed multiple rises and falls of downtown Orlando nightlife.
What makes Gardner’s perspective all the more interesting is that he’s currently rewriting the history of his own Barbarella nightclub, having uprooted it from downtown Orlando last year to move into a warehouse space on OBT. (Back to his roots, as it were.)
Gardner’s a lifer and he’s not slowing down — you’d be well-advised to pick his brain. Next let’s see programs with DJ Magic Mike or Suzy Solar!
2 p.m., Sunday, March 5, Orange County Regional History Center, 65 E. Central Blvd., thehistorycenter.org, free.
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