Monday, Sept. 21: Mommy Knows Best
T Madan-Felten, member of Dyke Nite events collective and a bartender at Outpost, is the brains behind this quirky monthly pop-up. It’s intended partly as a tribute to a long-gone Orlando bar.
“I love dive bars. When I first moved to Orlando, my absolute favorite bar was St. Matt’s. I just loved it there. Rest in peace for real,” Madan-Felten tells Orlando Weekly. “Obviously, there’s a lot of really cool queer events, and I love them. I help organize them. I go to them. But there’s just something about going somewhere and having just a jukebox and the connections that you make.”
Mommy Knows Best takes place the second Monday of every month at Conduit.
7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 21, Conduit, 6700 Aloma Ave., Winter Park, conduitfl.com, free.
Tuesday, Sept. 22: Wu-Tang Clan
More than 30 years after turning Staten Island into their own “Land of Shaolin,” the Clan takes one last swing with Wu-Tang Forever: The Final Chamber.
RZA, the group’s founding member, once described their sound as a “home-cooked meal of hip-hop.” It’s a recipe built from neighborhood rappers and the martial-arts films that helped shape the group’s mythology and sonics. Alongside RZA were GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa and the late Ol’ Dirty Bastard.
7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 22; Kia Center, 400 W. Church St., kiacenter.com; $35-$1,150.
Friday, Sept. 18: Modest Mouse
Modest Mouse returns to Orlando on Friday with latest record An Eraser and a Maze. And the show comes just over a year after their last performance at House of Blues.
For vocalist and longtime core member Isaac Brock, part of the reward of still being on the road after three decades leading Modest Mouse is looking out at his audience and seeing more than one generation staring back.
“Once you go out there and see that everyone is the same age as you, you’re done! You know, when I was younger, this concept didn’t matter to me at all. But now it matters to me a whole lot to think, ‘Oh, OK, we still mean a lot to people who weren’t born in 1975.’”
7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, House of Blues, Disney Springs, Lake Buena Vista, orlando.houseofblues.com, $63
Saturday, Sept. 19: The Commission Beer Chamber Block Party
To mark six years in culture-keeping business, the Commission is throwing a block party that celebrates its foundational principles: hip-hop and community. Performers include DJ Spree, Throwback Champ, My Good Phelo, DJ Jaymob, Kaotic Blaze, DJ Razor Cut, Sucio Boys and more star cameos. It’ll be a full day of live art, food, vendors and, of course, hip-hop nonstop.
2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, The Commission Beer Chamber, instagram.com/the_commission_beer_chamber, free.
Saturday, Sept. 19: Orlando Mural Festival
This year’s slate of muralists includes Boy Kong, Christian Stanley, Andrew Spear, Delia Miller and Rebekah Unsworth, among many others. The festivities kick off Thursday at CityArts with a Third Thursday reception featuring art from previous years’ muralists before the paint spills into the streets over the weekend and a massive street party ensues. The party features food and art vendors and a crew of DJs soundtracking the artists doing their beautification thing. Is this the glow-up downtown has been searching for?
2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, CityArts, 39 S. Magnolia Ave., downtownartsdistrict.com/omf, free.
Tuesday, Sept. 22: Cappadonna meet-and-greet
In what is truly a hip-hop meeting of the minds, Wu-Tang Clan member Cappadonna is set to do an exclusive meet-and-greet at Orlando boom-bap haven and neighborhood gathering spot the Commission Beer Chamber.
A day before Wu-Tang Clan’s big show at the Kia Center on Tuesday, Sept. 22, Cappadonna will meet fans for photos and autographs at the Curry Ford bar on Monday, Sept. 21 from 8-9 p.m.
A mere $40 gets you some face-time with a legend of NYC hip-hop. Limited spots are available.
Friday, Sept. 18: Nitzer Ebb
One of the great sympatico duos in electronic music history — up their with Soft Cell, Suicide, Pet Shop Boys and Erasure — was Douglas McCarthy and Bon Harris of Nitzer Ebb. Their creative chemistry was one of total frisson and push/pull, encouraging one another to harsher beats, more over-the-top dancing, louder shouts, more undeniable chants. But now two have become on with McCarthy’s untimely passing a couple years back, but Harris still curries the pop-EBM flame.
7 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, The Abbey, 100 S. Eola Drive, abbeyorlando.com, $45.
Saturday, Sept. 19: Vibrant Things
When an event is named after a Q-Tip solo sizzler, you know you’re in for a good time, and when the extremely well-curated shelves of Uncle Tony’s Donut Shoppe are the setting for said event … so much the better. This weekend’s Vibrant Things gathering invites women who love vinyl to gather at this cozy shop for an afternoon of socializing, crate-digging and jumping behind the shop’s decks to spin the music you love on wax.
7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 19, Uncle Tony’s Donut Shoppe, 703 N. Orange Ave., instagram.com/donutshoppe, free.
Friday-Sunday, Sept. 18-20: Groundhog Day: The Musical
This musical, with a book by original screenwriter Danny Rubin and music and lyrics by Tim Minchin, has become a hit on Broadway and the West End, even nominated for a Tony along the way. And what it lacks in Bill Murray’s world-weary thousand-yard stare as he stumbles through small-town life in repeat, it makes up for with great songs, impeccable comic timing and a willingness to go even darker(!) than the film.
Various times Friday-Sunday, Sept. 18-20, Alexis & Jim Pugh Theater, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave., drphillipscenter.org, $29-$70.
