April 8-14, 2026
The Electronic Frontier Foundation highlights the year’s worst failures of government transparency! Plus Redd Kross, GoodWay Café, Norwegian Cruise Line’s Luna, Florida Film Festival and more.
Cover Story
The Foilies: Recognizing the worst failures of government transparency
For the last six years, a class of journalism students at the University of Nevada, Reno, has kicked off each semester by filing their first Freedom of Information Act requests. The assignment: Request copies of complaints sent to the Federal Communications Commission about their favorite TV show, a local radio station, or a major broadcast…
East End Market gets a Venetian snack bar; there’s another Johnny’s Diner, and more Orlando food news
Orlando restaurant openings & closings: Creo will be the newest stall to open inside East End Market. The concept by Hannah Stoddart and Asher Loy will feature Italian small bites, cicchetti (Venetian bar snacks) and rotating entrées inspired by the flavors they’ve gathered from their travels and experiences. Look for it to open later this…
Surging neo-shoegazers Trauma Ray and Glixen bring co-headlining tour to Orlando
This show will be an early stop on the big co-headlining North American tour for Trauma Ray and Glixen, a mighty summit of two young novas of the surging neo-shoegaze class. Texas’ Trauma Ray have risen on the star of their moody audio-emotional duality of ether and grunge. Arizona’s Glixen, too, have rocketed to prominence…
Orlando bands pay tribute to MTV’s Headbangers Ball with rifftastic cover show
Between intense post-hardcore extremists Gillian Carter covering Danzig, heavy fuzz-rock dealers Hutch taking on Slayer and melodic emo rockers Like Father interpreting Tool, the prospect of these intriguingly unlikely pairings is, at least for any true fan of Orlando music, arguably more exciting than seeing the source acts themselves.
Demi Lovato kicks off her U.S. arena tour in Orlando
If your car has ever doubled as a concert venue for belting breakup anthems at full volume, burn rubber to the Kia Center for the kickoff show of Demi Lovato’s U.S. tour. Rising to fame through shows Sonny With a Chance, Camp Rock and Princess Protection Program before becoming one of pop music’s most dynamic…
GoodWay Cafe in Longwood works French flavors into plant-based fare
The vicinity surrounding the intersection of Ronald Reagan Boulevard and State Road 434 in Longwood is quickly becoming one of Central Florida’s most diverse culinary pockets. In addition to Guntur Kitchen (subject of last week’s review), there’s Summer Breeze Roti Shop and its Trini fare, the soon-to-open Holy City Zoo BBQ, Cali hot dog joint…
New on Netflix: Dan Levy makes ‘Big Mistakes,’ another season of ‘At Home With the Furys’ and Noah Kahan goes ‘Out of Body’
Premieres Wednesday, April 8: The Boys — Homelander is in the White House and his enemies have been shipped off to the camps as the fifth and final season commences. Remember back in Season 3, when the review bombers started complaining this show was too on the nose? These days, it’s practically a true-crime documentary.…
The Florida Groves Festival is back in Orlando for a long weekend of blazin’ art and music
The Florida Groves Festival is back for a long weekend of blazin’ art and music. This year’s lineup boasts headliner Daily Bread, an Atlanta-based DJ and producer, on Saturday along with Hippie Sabotage, Big Something, Canabliss, Motifv, Sunsquabi and many more. Sunday’s roster features Goose, a foursome of genre-bending jam rockers, with support from Dirtwire,…
Brunch in the Park gathers all manner of brunchy delights at Lake Eola this weekend
This year’s installment brings back local favorite eateries while welcoming new additions. Returning spots include the Drake Kitchen + Bar and the Hangry Bison. Among the newcomers are the Stubborn Mule, Debonair Supper Club and RusTeak. The afternoon also includes vendors, DJs spinning to soundtrack your munching, and more.
Orlando experimental duo TTN are back with new album ‘Illumination’
After its heyday in the 1990s, industrial music lost its way en masse. Trends shifted away and the incumbent artists ran dry of ideas. The class that replaced them were, by and large, a generation of Hot Topic cheeseballs who turned the scene into a cosplay goth rave. Orlando duo TTN, however, are not Funker…
Fast food-obsessed metallers Mac Sabbath are back in Orlando this week
There are concerts, and then there are shows. As prominent disciples in the Gwar school of spectacle, comedy rock band Mac Sabbath are a superlative example of the latter. They sound like a fast food-obsessed Black Sabbath and look like Ronald McDonald and friends in a heavy-metal LSD dream.
Suwannee Hulaween music fest announces 2026 lineup
This year’s stacked Phase One lineup is led by Pretty Lights, My Morning Jacket, Excision, Geese, The String Cheese Incident and more.
‘First They Came for My College’ unravels the conservative coup of New College
“First They Came for My College” film follows the school’s political overturn, via the students, educators and alumni who fought to save it.
Steven and Jeff McDonald bring their legendary L.A. punk band Redd Kross to town
“When you come from a punk rock background, earnestness — I think that’s the word — can be one of the most embarrassingly corny things on earth,” says McDonald. “So it’s very hard to say something sentimental and feel like you’re not going to regret it, you know, like, ‘Oh man, it’s a Hallmark card.’…
Philly shoegazers They Are Gutting a Body of Water get up close and personal with Orlando this week
Philadelphia shoegaze band They Are Gutting a Body of Water heads to Orlando as part of their North American tour for fourth album Lotto. This formerly solo project of guitarist and producer Douglas Dulgarian has bloomed into a modern and collective resurgence of the shoegaze genre. Influenced by the Philly underground scene,
Psych-lords Dead Meadow voyage back to Will’s Pub this week
D.C. psych titans Dead Meadow return to Florida after a lengthy absence, though the reasons for this lull are, like the band, heavy. First, the band needed time to complete newest album Voyager to Voyager, a fine return to sundazed form. Second, they were mourning the passing of bassist Steve Kille from cancer. Singer and…
Swedish dance-pop auteur Zara Larsson is coming to move Orlando
Swedish dance-pop purveyor Zara Larsson brings her Midnight Sun tour to Orlando, and fittingly for the high drama of her songs, the show is divided into four acts, theater-style. Fans should expect to hear plenty of songs from her latest and Grammy-nominated album Midnight Sun, but fear not, 2010s hits like “Symphony” and “Lush Life”…
