Cover Story
Separate, not equal
Orlando’s same-sex couples celebrate the city’s new domestic-partnership registry, but a fumble by Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs dampens the mood
Sunday Film News Roundup — January 15th, 2012
The holiday news lull is officially over, and we’re back into the swing of things with a ton of news and links this week. The biggest film news of the week might be that The White House seems to be siding with the “tech companies” (aka everyone in the world who doesn’t draw an above…
SUNDAY NYT REPORT: Full Sail, Sunk. It’s not an Italian cruise ship, but…
Hey, look! You see that sideways picture of cruise ship on its side up there? Well, that’s probably just about how the folks at Full Sail feel this morning after picking up their Sunday Times. If you look to the left side of the page (or bottom, in this case … or the link we…
Selection Reminder: Southern Fried Sunday Six-Year Anniversary!
Sunday, Jan. 15 – Southern Fried Sunday Six-Year Anniversary with Ben Prestage, Alabama Man Whore, Holy Ghost Tent Revival (above), the Orange Blossom Trails, Hymn For Her With a very public venue change this year (from Copper Rocket Pub to Will’s Pub), block parties and ramped-up scene activism from organizer Jessica Pawli, it’s been a…
Selection Reminder: K.G. Omulo CD release party!
Saturday, Jan. 14 – K.G. Omulo Look who’s emerged from hiding as a big deal! Omulo, the multi-culti singer of local Caribbean-funk act KG & the Band, was a pleasantly surprising arrival to the Orlando scene years ago, back when the idea of African-rooted samba in Central Florida was still met with more head scratching…
Selection Reminder: Central Florida Scottish Highland Games!
Saturday-Sunday, Jan. 14-15 – Central Florida Scottish Highland Games There’s an age-old confusion about the differences between Scottish and Irish cultures: both share a love for whiskey, both dole out badass bagpipe music, and both typically come in clans (with a “c”). But if you were to ask any kilt-clad Scottish lad – or Mike…
Video & Photo Gallery: Ringling Bros. Circus and OSC’s Otronicon Return to Orlando
Two old favorites return to Orlando this weekend for their annual early January appearances. You can read my take on these events in next week’s Live Active Cultures, but in the meantime here is a visual teaser to help you decide whether to see them before they leave town for another year. Earlier in the…
Selection Reminder: Christabel and the Jons tonight at Will’s Pub!
Friday, Jan. 13 – Christabel and the Jons Assuming this crisp weather we’re experiencing at the time of this writing holds up another week, now might be the perfect time to see this fast-rising Tennessee four-piece. Lead singer Christa DeCicco’s torchy lilts provide an atmosphere of coziness so homespun that it puts She & Him’s…
Selection Reminder: Otronicon at Orlando Science Center!
Friday-Monday, Jan. 13-16 – Otronicon Gracing the halls of the Orlando Science Center since 2006, this four-day event allows visitors to explore the ever-changing worlds of video-game development and technological innovation. This year, Otronicon features Rock Band competitions, robotics demonstrations and military flight simulators “not normally seen by the public.” Presentations by local schools specializing…
Selection Reminder: Nao Dance Collective’s Alice Takes Wonderland!
Friday, Jan. 13 – Alice Takes Wonderland The mark of a great work of art is how easily it can be used as a metaphor or adapted into another great work – how many times have we seen the Mona Lisa reinterpreted; how many plays and films borrow/steal the plot of Romeo and Juliet? Nao…
If you hate the new Van Halen single, you’re wrong
You really know the classic Van Halen lineup is back to firing on all cylinders when they’re being pilloried by people who just don’t get it.
Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom Trailer
We’re all a big bunch of unabashed Wes Anderson fanboys in the film department here, so of course this gets its own post. Impressions? Well, first off, it’s definitely a Wes Anderson film. Love it or loathe it, his style is his own and it’s something that none of his would-be imitators have managed to…
Selection Reminder: Akron/Family tonight at Back Booth!
Thursday, Jan. 12 – Akron/Family Putting a pin in what exactly Akron/Family is feels a lot like trying to keep the attention of a 9-year-old off his Ritalin. Just when you think you’ve got the band pegged as a sun-baked, hazy take on West Coast Americana, the good vibes drop out and are replaced by…
Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, tonight on HBO/9pm
Ah, once more to HBO for a West Memphis 3 documentary. Are they guilty? Are they innocent? I have no idea. Either way, the story is such a screwed up miscarriage of justice that it’s kind of beyond belief. If they’re guilty, they’re out now. If they’re innocent, they spent more than a decade in…
Selection Reminder: Playwrights’ Round Table’s Launch 2012!
Through Jan. 22 – Launch 2012 Anyone involved in the writing business knows: Writing is hard, but finding an audience for your work is even harder. Which is why Launch 2012, an annual mini-fest of new short works for the stage, is such an important incubator. Every year the Playwrights Round Table, which exists to…
Happytown
Happy days aren’t here again! Sure, we’re all basking in the afterglow of a better-than-expected jobs report – whatever that means, guy who just gave up. And we’re swimming in the yellow diamonds filling our platinum swimming pools over the Jan. 3 SurePayroll report that placed Central Florida at number two in the country for…
Cold comfort
New WPV eatery serves so-so food in a pretty room
Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs defends against criticism of her stance on domestic-parnership registry
At about 8:30 p.m., Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs issued a statement via email regarding the recent controversy over her stance on a domestic-partnership registry for the county. See our story here for more info. In the meantime, here’s her statement in full: Dear Friends and Supporters, I am writing to you directly rather than…
Free Will Astrology
ARIES (March 21-April 19) The Sanskrit word tapasya is translated as “heat,” but in the yogic tradition it means “essential energy.” It refers to the practice of managing your life force so that it can be directed to the highest possible purposes, thereby furthering your evolution as a spiritual being. Do you have any techniques…
Rotation: What local artists are listening to
This week: Drew Yardis
Council Watch
Billy Manes paying attention to local government so you don’t have to
Glee club
The buoyant Givers bask in sonic sunshine
The long view
Barbara Sorenson casts a net for memories with her large-scale installations
The Are We Sunk? Index
How quickly is Florida sinking into the ocean this week?
Savage Love
>I am writing to thank you. I remember reading your definition of santorum
The Iron Lady
Biopic of Margaret Thatcher refuses to say anything of merit about its subject
Live Active Cultures
By a week past New Year’s, it’s time to strike the twinkle lights and pack the plastic tree back into the attic. For most North Americans, it certainly isn’t time to start opening presents. But if you are familiar with Latin American culture, you know that the Christmas season isn’t complete until Three Kings Day…
Carnage
Roman Polanski’s living-room drama is a study in nothing much
This Little Underground
Bao Le-Huu checks in on heaviness at Sip, including Dissident Aggressor and They Eat Their Own God, and stumbles onto good news at Uncle Lou’s
Motel chronicles
Bryce Hammond’s paintings expose the vacancy at the heart of a Florida beach town
DVDs Nuts!
Lesser-seen OW approved titles
Selection Reminder: Stoner metal act ASG tonight at Will’s Pub!
Wednesday, Jan. 11 – ASG Although that new album never materialized last year, North Carolina stoner metal act ASG have been awfully busy, not only writing new material but signing with Relapse Records, the home of the Dillinger Escape Plan, Mastodon and Black Tusk, among others. Here’s the kicker: They actually deserve to be there.…
Selection Reminder: Hedwig and the Angry Inch at the Abbey!
Through Jan. 20 – Hedwig and the Angry Inch Returning to Orlando’s stages after nearly six years away, John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask’s acclaimed play-turned-film about an East German transgender rock star, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, will be staged this month at the Abbey. In the Wings, a not-for-profit local production company whose…
Awake the State welcomes the legislative session with a dissonant chorus of gripes
Oh, hey! So we just got back from a little bit of raucous community organizing in the name of every progressive cause possible, and let’s just say it was LOUD. Just like they did last year, the folks at Florida Watch Action (the same collective responsible for Pink Slip Rick) and Organize Now! called on…
Orlando Ballet lays off marketing staff
C2G confirmed today that Scottie Campbell and Anna McCambridge Thomas, the marketing team tasked with bringing a fresh audience to the Orlando Ballet, were laid off yesterday afternoon. The pair were told that their performance was not an issue, but that the Ballet’s executive board had “made the determination to restructure the marketing department.” Since that…
Video: Disney’s Dumbo Departs as Ringling Elephants Arrive
Let January 9th, 2012, forever be known in the annals of Orlando history as “The Day of the Passing Pachyderms.” (Or not.) Our story starts at Walt Disney World, where what was arguably the most iconic original attraction at the Magic Kingdom has closed forever in its current form. On Sunday night, Fantasyland’s Dumbo attraction…
