ALMOST FAMAS
Enticing dishes prove chef a star in the making
THE BALLAD OF PHIL LONGO
Fifteen years ago, Phil Longo joined his first band. Having somehow convinced the members that he could play an instrument (which he could not), Longo, through sheer force of will, began his journey through the Central Florida music scene. That first band didn’t last very long, but the experience soon led Longo to become a member…
SAVAGE LOVE
My boyfriend and I both like porn and toys, and we’re obviously open about everything and often play with them together. But recently he posed an interesting question that left me feeling like a prudish conservative: If virtual-reality technology is developed such that one can have a sexual encounter with a computerized person (insert favorite…
A WORKING MAN
Whether he was a charter member, a temporary fill-in or just a compatriot in some productive jamming, Longo has been deeply involved with some of the area’s most notable bands. “We could go on and on about the ex-bands,” he says. “I’ve gotten better `over the years` at seeing the big picture and micromanaging different…
SNAP INTO… A KABANOS
Forget “Macho Man” Randy Savage. The real Slim Jim is a kabanos, a cured and smoked pork sausage from Poland, and the best place in Orlando to get them is Stanpol Polish Deli in East Orlando. Lying in a deli case next to dozens of other encased meats (polish sausages, kielbasa and thick-sliced Danish bacon,…
THE SWEET AND THE SOUR
Plenty of local musicians are also part-time teachers. Whether to earn extra money or to pass their lessons on to a newer, idealistic generation, Full Sail University and the University of Central Florida are both teeming with weathered veterans of the music scene. But there aren’t many artists who find themselves in a trailer surrounded…
HAPPYTOWN
You know how every time Orlando makes national news, it’s for something embarrassing? Yeah, we did it again. On June 28, somebody tagged 24 cars parked across the street from City Hall, some of them with clever, incorrectly spelled anti-Obama phrases like “Oboma smokes crack.” Then the poet left a business card on the cars’…
OFF THE MARGIN
You could call Orlando psychedelic rock band Strangers lucky. They formed less than a year ago and their first club performance was in February, yet they’re already one of the most wagged-about acts in the city’s indie scene. The band – singer Ates Isildak, bassist Scott Seltzer, guitarists Rick Seltzer and Fred Mullins, Mike Cardone…
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND
America, independence, freedom … woo-hoo! Will’s Pub Another thing worth raising a glass to is the imminent rebirth of Will’s Pub. No, seriously. Because of the uncertainty in dealing with permitting authorities, a hard opening date hasn’t been set, but a concert has already been confirmed for Aug. 1: New West recording artist Tim Easton.…
FIRST SHOT
This is going to be a rough weekend if you love new movies – and we mean really love new movies, in the sense that R. Kelly loves the legal system and his own urine. Having dutifully trudged out to see Hancock when it opened this past Tuesday, you now have not a single new…
POLICE BEAT
p align=”justify” class=”style1″ lang=”en-US” xml:lang=”en-US”> June 20 (2008-268014) 9:43 a.m.: Sometimes I get bored/And think this job is a curse/So now I’ll regale you/With tales told through verse/And should you complain/That my poetry sucks/You are probably correct/But shut the fuck up/Because I’m a bit lazy/And just ’cause I can/I’ve asked some fellows to join me/In…
COMMENTS
No Field of Dreams Interesting reality check `“The fat lady sings?,” June 19`. Strategic planning has not been one of this area’s strong suits. Margot Knight seems right. There are lots of models from other cities to learn from. Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts (opened 2001) is spectacular; the Goodman Theatre move to the Loop…
LIVE ACTIVE CULTURES
Dear Orlando Sentinel, Listen, we have to talk. We’ve had some great times together over the years. I remember how a decade ago, back when I was a recent arrival to town, you were like a lifeline in an unfamiliar land. Sure, you weren’t as mature or sophisticated as others I’d been with. (I’d never…
BLISTER
It all starts with a crack. Just when you think you’re swimming through life without a care in the world, beams of refracted light bathing your very being in an expressionistic blur of slow-motion weightlessness, bam! Everything is a concentrated rush of pain and blood shattering a nerve path straight to the core of your…
FREE WILL ASTROLOGY
ARIES (March 21-April 19) Here’s the first rule of panning for gold: Go to a slow-moving stream where flecks of the precious metal have been found by others in the past. The second rule is this: Although gold is carried along by the current, it’s heavier than water and thus rarely appears right on the…
HALFWAY HOME
It’s hard to believe an entire half of 2008 is behind us, and what a half it’s been. Seems like only yesterday it was January, when a gallon of gas was $3.11, some folks still had jobs and a whole 32 percent of America still liked George Bush. OK, so it’s been a horrific year,…
I-4 FEST
It started as a rescue mission. Back in 2006, local hipster dive Austin’s Coffee was on the verge of clicking off the espresso machines for good. To celebrate its existence and properly say goodbye to a consistent champion of local music, Post Records owner Chris Cucci and some friends hosted a barbecue concert with a…
COUPLE OF CREATIVES
For a local artist, this story is a memorable calling card: When Andrew “Drew” White, a native of Pittsburgh, moved here from the D.C. area in 1990, he had the honor of having one of his creations censored at a show – at the Edge, a former downtown dance club that was the center of…
WHODUNIT
Nearly 27 years ago, Bill Dillon was convicted of a crime he quite possibly didn’t commit. Today, as he has for nearly three decades, he sits in a Florida prison, professing his innocence to anyone who will listen. He’s awaiting the results of a DNA test that Dillon believes could clear him – a process…
ELECTRIC WARRIOR
Twenty-three-year-old Matt Kamm, a scrawny, excitable musician with a long bowl cut and a toothy grin, has all the reason anyone needs to be worn down. Kamm has worked the local music scene since he was 14 years old, and while the band he formed with his friends when he was still prepubescent earned buckets…
