If the past 12 months taught us anything, it’s how much we all literally depend on each other. Mutual aid. Mutual respect. Mutual survival. It was always true, but there’s nothing like a massively contagious respiratory disease to make it painfully obvious — the mask on your face is the heart on your sleeve, and…
From your smartphones to the big screen, Enzian Theater in Maitland is bringing back the CatVideoFest for another year, showing off the best of the worst in domesticated feline follies. Curators for the “world’s #1 cat video festival” have spent countless hours combing the internet and submitted video for the best in cat bloopers, and this…
Orlando Legals Legal Public Notices ALL ABOARD STORAGE NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE Personal property of the following tenants will be sold at public sale to the highest bidder to satisfy a rental lien in accordance with Florida Statutes, Sections: A83.801 – 83.809. All units are assumed to contain general household goods unless otherwise indicated. Viewing of…
A Democratic state lawmaker and a nonprofit group have filed a lawsuit alleging the Florida Department of Health has violated public-records laws by refusing to provide detailed data about the COVID-19 pandemic. Rep. Carlos Guillermo Smith, D-Orlando, and the Florida Center for Government Accountability filed the lawsuit late Monday in Leon County circuit court, after…
Fast-rising hip-hop star JPEGMAFIA rampaged through an unsuspecting Will’s Pub as a support act for Milo back in 2018. And it was one of the most thrilling sets we’d personally witnessed in quite some time, as he stirred up the audience to an absolute frenzy with just a mic and backing tracks. Now the firebrand…
U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz and Florida Rep. Anthony Sabatini will headline the upcoming AmpFest 2021 at Trump National Doral in October. “Pool parties, prayer brunch, golf tournament, book signings, neon night, annual DJT Awards Gala and more!” reads a text message from the event’s organizers, American Priority. “Join hundreds of America First Patriots at this MUST…
Former Creedence Clearwater Revival growler John Fogerty is heading to Orlando this November to play a musical tribute to healthcare workers and first-responders who have lost their lives to COVID-19 dubbed the “Charity Pros for Heroes Tour.” The tribute is being put on by “Charity Pros for Heroes,” a Fort Myers-based nonprofit. Proceeds from the…
The heads of some Florida universities are reminding students and faculty that campus leaders’ “hands are tied” when it comes to taking steps to try to curb the spread of COVID-19 and are trying to work around limitations as the academic year is underway. However, it appears unlikely that university presidents will get increased authority…
Would you like to spend “An Evening With Antoni”? Orlando’s Plaza Live can arrange that for you, along with a few hundred other of his closest friends, come September. The Queer Eye host and author is heading to the Milk District venue on Friday, Sept. 10, to mark the imminent release of his new book…
Prog-rock shredders — and unlikely Christmas enthusiasts — Trans-Siberian Orchestra are returning to Orlando in December to mark the 25th anniversary of heavy holiday chestnut Christmas Eve and Other Stories. TSO will play two sets at the Amway Center as part of this 59-city anniversary tour, both on Saturday, Dec. 18. “After an incredibly trying year for everyone, we…
Enzian Theater in Maitland has revealed the spine-tingling lineup for this year’s 13 Films of Halloween film series, and there’s something for pretty much all scare thresholds. From seminal Troma productions to pulpy grindhouse to something for the kiddies to Vincent Price’s finest and maybe hammiest performance ever, this year’s 13 Film of Halloween kicks…
Because of a court order halting Gov. Ron DeSantis’ order to ban mask mandates, Florida is not currently among the subjects of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education into states that have banned students from being required to wear masks in schools. The federal agency on Monday announced its Office for Civil Rights will…
Soul singer Erykah Badu has announced a date with the City Beautiful this fall. And when you are summoned by royalty of this caliber, you’d best sit up and take notice. Badu plans to grace the City Beautiful’s Addition Financial Arena with her presence on Saturday, Nov. 13. Support for the show comes from fellow Southern…
Parsing sentences might be a lost art, but attorneys in a court battle over a controversial Florida law that targets violent protests might want to brush up on their grammar skills in advance of a hearing next week. Chief U.S. District Judge Mark Walker this week ordered attorneys to diagram wording in part of the…
The Timucua Arts Foundation, known colloquially to local music heads as the “White House” (for it is indeed a home, Benoit Glazer and Elaine Corriveau and family live there), is celebrating a major milestone this Saturday: their 1,000th show. They’ve got a heavyweight performer lined up — Toronto-based experimental percussionist Britton-René Collins — to really mark the occasion in…
Orlando icon Ginger Minj is in the top four of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars. Ginger will face off against Kylie Sonique Love, Ra’Jah O’Hara and Trinity K. Bonet Eureka O’Hara to close out the sixth season of All-Stars in the upcoming finale. Given that boy bands no longer come from the City Beautiful, it’s likely…
We know you don’t need a reason to hit Mills 50 on a Friday night. You’re cool, you’re hip, you’re with it. But just in case you needed a little push to get out and enjoy some nightlife in the great asphalted outdoors, the disrict is hosting a party in the parking lot behind Conrad’s…
In a closely watched ruling on Friday, Leon County Circuit Judge John C. Cooper blocked the executive order of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis that barred public schools from instituting mask mandates. Ironically, it was the much-touted law passed by DeSantis and Florida Republicans creating a “parents’ bill of rights” that poked holes in their authority…
Central Florida hospital group AdventHealth says their morgues are at capacity due to the overwhelming amount of deaths due to COVID-19 in the area. According to an email shared with Fox 35, the hospital group has rented cooling units to supplement its own morgues at 10 area hospitals, as their operations have been forced to…
Florida accounted for nearly 17 percent of the 101,050 COVID-19 patients hospitalized nationwide Thursday, according to data posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Florida hospitals reported 16,833 patients with COVID-19, a figure driven by the rapidly spreading delta variant of the coronavirus and the state’s large number of unvaccinated residents. Also,…
Rollins College’s plucky college radio station WPRK bring back their long-running (seriously, we’re talking decades here) event series WPRK Comes Alive next month, with in-person concerts promised every two weeks. The ambitious programming schedule kicks off on Wednesday, Sept. 1 with a show at “Dave’s Boathouse” eatery on the Rollins College campus with a double-bill…
With a Leon County circuit judge expected to rule Friday, attorneys made closing arguments Thursday in a legal battle over Gov. Ron DeSantis’ executive order that sought to block school districts from requiring students to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Circuit Judge John Cooper said he was “still wrestling” with the “sophisticated legal issues”…
AdventHealth offered a rare bit of good news this morning. The Central Florida hospital group said that the Delta surge of coronavirus may be waning in the area. The number of hospitalizations at AdventHealth has dropped by 300 over the last several days, though it remains over 1,300. Dr. Neil Finkler, the hospital’s public face…
After Orange County opted to become one of ten school districts in the state of Florida that are defying the governor’s order and imposing mask mandates, Gov. Ron DeSantis threatened there would be “consequences.” “Those school districts are violating state law and they are overriding parents’ judgment on this,” DeSantis said at a press conference…
Krispy Kreme is offering quite a deal to vaccinated guests. From Monday, Aug. 30, to Sunday, Sept. 5, the donut chain will offer two free donuts to any guest who can provide proof of vaccination. “As the U.S. continues to scale COVID-19 vaccinations, Krispy Kreme wanted to find a way to show our support for…
This holiday season will see the return of the popular ‘Asian Lantern Festival: Into the Wild’ to the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Sanford. From Nov. 19-Jan. 16, 2022, the Zoo’s environs will be illuminated by 30 massive, handcrafted lanterns, powered by thousands of LED lights. The Asian Lantern Festival premiered in 2019, but…
For fans of Poison frontman and Rock of Love rocker Bret Michaels, ‘the tour ends starts here’ in Orlando. Well, more of a one-night stand, actually, as Michaels comes to town for a one-off show as headliner of the Velvet Sessions. Hard Rock Hotel at Universal is resurrecting their intimate Velvet Sessions show series with…
A Leon County circuit judge Wednesday waded into a lawsuit about whether Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration violated state law when it cut off federal unemployment money in June for tens of thousands of jobless Floridians. Judge Layne Smith heard testimony from plaintiffs who said the decision to stop the $300 a week in federal benefits…
Florida reported 26,203 new COVID-19 infections and nine deaths Tuesday, according to data posted Wednesday by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s the single highest daily total in the state since the pandemic began. A seven-day “moving” average for infections was 21,604 cases as of Tuesday. Cumulatively, Florida has had 3,130,144 cases…
Mayor Jerry Demings at his coronavirus briefings
Great jazz music is built on a solid foundation of collaboration and communication between musicians and, for our money, there’s no one locally taking this tenet to such radical extremes as bassist and composer Thomas Milovac. Since venues started reopening their doors to live music over the last few months, Milovac has been a ubiquitous…
Bao Le-Huu has been prowling the Orlando music scene since he was a skater kid at all-ages concerts and club nights. For the past 18 years, he’s been covering local music and touring acts officially as a columnist, 15 of them for Orlando Weekly. In 2020, we remarked on how upside-down that year was. This…
Defunding the police and investing in poor communities of color
Katie Johnston is the director of Pulptown, a hyperlocal newsletter and podcast covering everything sweet and juicy in Orlando. She moved to Orlando after graduating from the University of Alabama in 2006 for a change of scenery and hasn’t been able to leave since. She enjoys long walks with her pup, the casual over-consumption of…
Robert Rivers takes first place
Faiyaz Kara has served as Orlando Weekly’s restaurant critic since June 2006. He’s one of the last local food critics to stay incognito (or at least he tries to), reflecting our mission of giving readers reviews that closely reflect the experience they might have, as opposed to a recognizable “foodie” celebrity. That said, no average…
COVID couldn’t stifle Orlando’s artistic impulses — neither to create nor to spectate. After a lot of Zoom experiments (some truly impressive), when it became clear that this was going to be the new normal for far longer than we had all expected, our arts presenters did what they do best: They started solving the…
Those who spent the long months of 2020/2021 locked down alone will forever be marked by it. Never before (or god willing, again) have we spent so much time in sheer, total solitude. It’s no wonder pet adoptions went through the roof. And if you couldn’t get a pet — forbidden by the landlord, allergies,…
First: Gatorland, gatorland.com Second: Wekiwa Springs State Park, floridastateparks.org Third: Harry P. Leu Gardens, leugardens.org
Most of Orlando learned what a bialy is last year, when Hannah Jaffe and Nathan Sloan schooled us deliciously. This non-boiled, malt-free cousin of the bagel has a dimple, not a hole, and Jaffe and Sloan fill theirs with either caramelized onions or a smoked jalapeño-and-Muenster mix. They also deal in — and we do…
The overall forecast for the movie theater sector is one of unrelenting grimness, but Maitland indie cinema Enzian is swimming defiantly against the tide of prevailing wisdom and maybe even flourishing. And you noticed, voting it as your fave spot to catch a flick locally — even over the big cineplexes. Orlando’s mainstay arthouse proves…
As your grandma may have said to you, it’s an ill wind that blows no good at all. And while a global pandemic may be the illest wind of any of our lives, it has led to a few small adjustments to the norm that are welcome. For instance, the widespread necessity of working from…
As the days turned into weeks turned into months of working from home, some went quietly stir-crazy. Others, denied the gym time they counted on in the before times, were aching to stretch and sweat. Whatever the reasons, somehow skating — roller-, not -board, and on four (not inline) wheels — blew up from a…
They say you can only have two of the three attributes everyone wants, but Lazy Moon is the exception: It’s fast, cheap, and good. But most of all, it’s huuuuuge, in a way that people struggle to express — in the past, we’ve said holding one of their slices will make you feel like a…
Mary McGinn has been working to promote local beer in Orlando for over a decade. After a seven-year career at Orlando’s first brewery, Orlando Brewing, she became taproom manager and co-owner of the Nook on Robinson, a beer bar in the Milk District that specializes in Florida local beverages. My love affair with local beer…
Best Live Music Club, Best Pub, Best Dive Bar, Best Bar Overall: Will’s Pub It’s been a hell of a year for the Mills 50 nightlife staple, but the results are in and you, the readers, have nothing but love for Will’s Pub. Despite a multitude of pandemic-caused (doors closed, shows off the table) and…
Patrick and Holly Kahn founded Snap! Orlando in 2010, sparking a cultural movement in the region and helping rebrand Orlando as an international arts destination. In 2018 Snap! Orlando launched “CITY UNSEEN,” the first citywide Augmented Reality site-specific public art project, in Orlando. Prior to launching Snap! Orlando, Patrick was publisher and editor in chief…
“If you build it, they will come.” OK, maybe no ghostly baseball players gave spectral pep-talks to the planners behind the Frontyard Festival, but the end result is pretty damn close to an ongoing Field of Dreams scenario. Launched late last year amid a pandemic that’s still far from over, the Frontyard Festival was the…
In “Big Yellow Taxi,” Joni Mitchell sang caustically that “they paved paradise and put up a parking lot,” and for a time it seemed like a version of that scenario was in the cards for Winter Park bohemian hub Austin’s Coffee. The effort failed, or at least, it’s stalled for now, and that’s good news…
Seth Kubersky has been covering Orlando theater and theme parks for Orlando Weekly for over 15 years. He has worked as an event producer, theatrical director, stage technician, and performer in Orlando, as well as writing top-selling attractions guidebooks including The Unofficial Guide to Universal Orlando, The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World and After…
Defunding the police and investing in poor communities of color
The revolving door that is the Orlando Magic head coach position finally came to what we hope is a firm halt with the hiring of Jamahl Mosley in July. Mosley was lured away from the Dallas Mavericks, where he had served seven seasons as assistant coach, with the lure of running his own basketball program…
Orlando area wrestler Sawyer Wreck’s Twitter bio lists her occupations as both “professional wrestler” and “feminist kill joy,” and while we’d agree with most of that readily — we don’t dare disagree with anything she says, TBF — the killjoy descriptor may be false. There was something distinctly gratifying about watching her inflict punishment with…
No need for a hashtag; if you know, you know. There’s a third mayor in this town. And his name is Lulu. (Yes, his.) He doesn’t swing left, nor does he swing right (though his tail often does); politics aren’t his concern. A Thornton Park resident, he’s out daily mixing with his constituents, shaking hands…
Although it’s new to Orlando, Out of the Closet is a well-established thrift store chain, founded 30 years ago in Los Angeles. But you all showed big love to the store, even though the Orlando outpost has only been open since February — barely enough time to make it into the first round of write-in…
Because home is the only place throughout this pandemic that feels safe to take off our hazmat suits, we’ve spent an inordinate amount of time this past year in stores to improve it, dropping the cash we’d normally be spending on bar tabs and merch. And one thing that’s repeatedly made us do double takes…
Hagrid’s Magical Creature Motorbike Adventure
If you didn’t know that feel-good painting icon Bob Ross began and ended his too-brief time on this Earth in Central Florida, don’t beat yourself up too badly. Yes, Ross was born in Daytona Beach and passed away right here in Orlando some 26 years ago, at the age of 52. But many of the…
On Nov. 2, 2001, the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, one of the world’s most influential columnists, wrote, “A month into the war in Afghanistan, the hand-wringing has already begun over how long this might last. Let’s all take a deep breath and repeat after me: Give war a chance.” We gave war a chance…
Our editors’ selections of the best stuff to do this week. Wednesday, Aug. 25 Kesha Pop firebrand and paranormal podcaster Kesha (née Ke$ha) has thrown caution to the wind, not letting her Orlando fans down and keeping this Orlando date on her “Kesha Live” full-band tour. It’s the only Florida date on the whole journey,…
Premieres Wednesday: Open Your Eyes — Your week’s bingeing begins with a six-episode series about a teenager who’s committed to a mysterious asylum after an accident kills her entire family. The show is supposedly targeted at the younger set, which raises an important question: How out of touch does a programmer have to be to…
Dear Dan: I’m a woman who recently went out on a third date with a man. I invited him back to my place and we started making out, which led to him going down on me. Moments later he took off his pants and to my surprise he had a micro-penis. I was shocked and…
