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Feb 16-22, 2000

Feb 16-22, 2000 / Vol. 16 / No. 7

Raise a glass to Big Apple art

New York City is the epicenter of modern art, but it also is fertile ground for epicurean adventurers. So it’s fitting that art, libations and hors d’oeuvres converge in an evening series, “Appetite for Art: New York, New York,” at Orlando Museum of Art (2416 N. Mills Ave.). The series, which began in February with…

Colleen Moore

Carnival cruising

Orlando isn’t a great town for institutionalized debauchery. Our civic leaders can fill any opening for a raucous public gathering with an innocuous yawn-fest. It’s “Mardi Gras on a Barney level,” as a wise, fun-loving lady friend of mine unerringly evaluates. Barney Gras be damned, Universal Studios Florida is once again doing its best to…

Steve Schneider

Reality check for McCain infatuation

All over the country, Democrats, liberals, progressive reformers and political independents are gearing up to vote in their states’ primary elections for president of the United States. Florida’s March 14 “presidential preference primary” is fast approaching, and here, as in the rest of the nation, forward-thinking citizens are preparing to select the candidate whose vision…

Al Krulick

The white ceiling

The word on the street was that Merita Bakery was the place to apply if you wanted the best pay and best benefits. Darrell Whitley took that advice to heart. He traveled back and forth from his Apopka home to Merita’s Division Street office south of downtown Orlando many times, filing applications even when the…

William Dean Hinton

Levine’s in, but tattoos are out

Glenda Hood and Bruce Gordy came dangerously close last week to providing the defining image of their mayoral campaign — and it would have tarnished them both deservedly. Ditto, for that matter, any of the business and political elite who gathered for what otherwise had promised to be just another stop in the snipefest that…

Jeffrey C. Billman and Jeff Truesdell

The cost of celling out

By Feb. 15, America’s prison population should have reached 2 million for the first time in history. The U.S. now has the world’s highest incarceration rate and the most prisoners of any nation on earth. Despite having only 5 percent of the world’s population, 25 percent of the world’s 8 million prisoners are stuck behind…

Tate Hausman

Clearing the smoke

Perhaps you’ve recently had this happen: At a bar, somebody sitting next to you taking a drag from a cigarette has said ruefully, “You know, they’re going to ban smoking in bars soon.” The real story isn’t quite that extreme. A bill introduced in the state House by a Gainesville Republican will gradually increase the…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Hospital zoned

All joking about hospital food aside, the Florida Hospital’s cafeteria offers an unexpected treat. “Most of us are vegetarian or vegan,” says Chris Vasquez of his circle of friends and acquaintances, “and the hospital is open till 2 a.m., and they only serve vegetarian food, and it’s cheap. How perfect is that?” Absolutely perfect –…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Who’s the marrying kind?

I know this is going to appeal to all the wrong guys, but I can imagine myself far more easily in one of those two-person pantomime horse outfits than in a wedding dress. The horse outfit looks more comfortable. Maybe it’s the fault of wedding photographers, but people in wedding dresses always look like they…

Liz Langley

Dead line

USA Today reported in November that a funeral in western Poland was disrupted when a cell phone started ringing from inside a grave; attendants had failed to notice it in the deceased’s suit before burial. And a 51-year-old seamstress in the town of Stawold Wola, Poland, who reported for a routine mammogram in October was…

Chuck Shepherd

Head west for Eastern Europe

A taste of Eastern Europe recently cropped up at West Colonial Drive and Kirkman Road at a place called Warszawa. This family-run eatery is part takeout counter and part sit-down cafe. A small market stocks imported condiments and sandwich toppings. Frequented by Czech, German, Hungarian and Polish expatriates, Warszawa offers some of the most substantial…

Colleen Moore

The dark night of the Souls

“I want to make myself go somewhere better and more aspiring. Or inspiring,” reflects David Shouse, ringleader of Those Bastard Souls, who expertly pull off both lush folk-rock and glammy rave-ups. Shouse’s mission takes him (and us) on a trek through lyrics that crack open along deep emotional fault lines — baffled, yearning, brushing up…

Theresa Everline

Street festival fired by Latin supertalent

Adalberto Bravo claims he has no career highlights to reflect on. That’s because his time is now. “I am at my peak. I can compose original music. I can arrange what I write. I can project my feelings, emotions and play the way I want,” says the 34-year-old local Latin supertalent. Although Bravo’s demeanor is…

Sonja S. Mongar

Twirly, madly, deeply

Look back on your school days, and you’ll remember that twirlers occupied a distinct middle ground in the social order: above the marching band in importance, but still well below the cheerleaders and football players. They were popular, but not outstandingly so. And no one, but no one, ever referred to them as athletes. Joyce…

Steve Schneider

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