BEST OF ORLANDO® NOMINATION BALLOT IS OPEN THROUGH MAY 6!

Jun 10-16, 1998

Jun 10-16, 1998 / Vol. 14 / No. 23

‘A Merry War’ is a well-mannered affair

The seventh annual Florida Film Festival got off to a deceptively mannered start last Friday night, as a crowd of well-heeled patrons and other supporters of the arts braved the sweltering heat to attend an opening-night gala and screening of the film “A Merry War” at Maitland’s Enzian Cinema. Skewing considerably older and more upscale…

Steve Schneider

Summer souvenirs: movie soundtracks that’ll bring you back

Just when it seemed like the soundtrack market was slipping below its surface novelty, plugging artists like cola endorsements into club scenes and car chases of the world’s most bankable movie hits, “Titanic” came along and changed everything. Worldwide, the relatively uneventful, largely instrumental soundtrack did more than serve as an extended CD single of…

Billy Manes

A fudge feast that deserves its fame

The “World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae” really is worthy of the title at Ghirardelli (pronounced gear-ar-delly) Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop at Downtown Disney Marketplace (934-8855). We polished one off with a friend after a brutally hot day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and we can honestly say it was memorably outstanding. The hand-scooped chocolate-chip ice…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Jack Kerouac slept here

Most of Jack Kerouac’s prose is based on warp-speed adventures featuring a wild bunch of free-spirited pals immersed in mad road trips across America. His most famous piece of spontaneous composition is aptly titled “On the Road.” Occasionally, however, even the King of the Beats would need a place to rest, write and repair. For…

Mary Meehan

Dead, but not by natural causes

When a hippo was spotted dead in a wading pool June 2 at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, it became at least the 32nd animal to die at the new theme park. But Disney encountered problems with its new pets long before the park officially opened on April 22. In the following excerpt from “Team Rodent: How…

Carl Hiasson

Dancers protect private parts

Detectives from Seminole County’s vice unit insisted that dancers at Rachel’s World-Class Men’s Club turn over employee registration records that listed the dancers’ home phone numbers, addresses and Social Security numbers. The club’s owners refused, noting that Casselberry’s adult-entertainment ordinance requires only that the records be kept on premises. Still, vice agents insisted on seeing…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Activist drawn to public service

Orange County activist Linda Stewart has decided to jump into the political arena. Most recently Stewart has served as spokeswoman for neighbors trying to preserve the site of Fort Gatlin, probably the area’s first white settlement, from plans to turn it into another condo development. She also has been a key mover behind the push…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Pro-pot party was Chilesâ?? play

The decision to spend $63,200 in state funds preparing drug warriors to fight the statewide initiative proposing the legalization of marijuana as medicine came from the highest reaches of Florida state government. So said Terry Hensley, executive director of the Drug-Free America Foundation, the St. Petersburg-based group that put together the conference in Orlando on…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Customers starved for attention

Cafe Ke’ilu (“Cafe Make Believe”) opened in a trendy section of Tel Aviv, Israel, in April, with tables, chairs, plates, silverware, menus and servers, but no food or drink. Explained manager Nir Caspi (who calls the experience “conceptual dining”), people come to be seen and to meet people but not for the food. The menu,…

Chuck Shepherd

Crash course in TV technology

They say that “necessity is the mother of invention.” I’ve got to ask: Why is this necessary? The “this” is an invention by Jay Schiffman of Farmington Hills, Mich., that allows automobile drivers to watch television as we speed down America’s streets and highways! Apparently it’s not sufficient for drivers to have cell phones in…

Jim Hightower

Festival films thrive on fact and friction

The harsh light of reality shines through some of the most notable entries in this year’s edition of the Florida Film Festival, betraying a marked emphasis on the documentary approach that speaks volumes about what we expect from film and what we think of ourselves. It’s no surprise that the “you are there” doctrine appears…

Steve Schneider

A fudge feast that deserves its fame

The “World Famous Hot Fudge Sundae” really is worthy of the title at Ghirardelli (pronounced gear-ar-delly) Soda Fountain & Chocolate Shop at Downtown Disney Marketplace (934-8855). We polished one off with a friend after a brutally hot day at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and we can honestly say it was memorably outstanding. The hand-scooped chocolate-chip ice…

Colleen Moore

Scofflaws charged with comic sensibilities

New York ska scenesters the Scofflaws are all about a skewed, crude comic sensibility attached to infectious backbeats, crunchy horns and jazzy guitar work. “Our sense of humor makes all the difference,” says trombonist Buford O’Sullivan, one of the octet’s two lead singers. “We choose to smile at things. We don’t really like to make…

Philip Booth

Obliterati’s absurdist vision

Obliterati’s rehearsal space lies 50 yards from the shore of Lake Ivanhoe in the heart of the antique district on Orange Avenue. The district’s collection of progressive-oriented, off-kilter stores and restaurants reflect the diverse backgrounds of the avant-garde ensemble. The seven-piece band has released “Havy Baubaus Inflience,” a sonic manifestation of Obliterati’s forward-thinking philosophy: “Freedom…

Carol Chiodini

Sandy’s big swing

Anaheim, Calif., based Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys have a greater command of classic ’40s and ’50s sounds than any of the current crop of retro-swing and rockabilly bands cruising across the U.S. in Econoline vans. Instead of copping the same sounds and riffs of musicians that defined the Western-swing genre, Big Sandy and…

Alex Oliver

Monkey see, monkey screw

If you don’t remember Ciccolina, it’s because you never saw her. A giantess with ass-length platinum hair, usually adorned with a crown of flowers, Ciccolina was a member of the Italian Parliament who came to politics from a career as a porn actress. She had deeply held political beliefs, such as “War I no like;…

Liz Langley

Operation Retreat

About 8:30 a.m. on the Saturday of the promised protest at Disney World, the three blonde elementary schoolers stand with their sneakers hanging off the curb, just inches from the stream of minivans and rental cars speeding past. Their parents — the anti-abortion, anti-gay Operation Rescue activists who’ve been screaming all week about saving the…

Mary Meehan and Dee Rivers

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