The Orlando Utilities Commission has been fielding offers for its power plant in Titusville from out-of-state electric companies looking for a way into the Florida market. In the coming era of electric deregulation, small utilities, such as OUC, could lose big industrial customers to other companies unless they forge alliances with these power giants. “We’ve…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Playing the naughty name game

After 11 years under the same name, the Erotic Emporium will soon become the Exotic Emporium. No, it isn’t a marketing decision based on some consultant’s study. The adult merchandise store at 1520 S. Highway 17-92 in Seminole County is making the change to satisfy county authorities. Adult businesses in unincorporated Seminole must comply with…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Flamboyant boxer gets his kicks

In March, Thailand kick boxer Parinya Kiatbusaba, 16, ran his won-lost record to 20-2 (18 knockouts) and garnered much world press coverage because out of the ring, he is a flamboyant transvestite. “It is hard to fight beautiful men,” he said. “I can easily knock them out. On the other hand, I want to hug…

Chuck Shepherd

Exposing the sunscreen coverup

Summertime! Time to hit the beach, soak up some rays, and get a nice tan. Yeah, yeah — there’s that little skin-cancer issue, but, hey, that’s what sunscreen lotions are for, right? Just glop on the sunscreen, lay back, and;let the lotion protect you from cancer. Well, not exactly. Mother Jones magazine reports that a…

Jim Hightower

Shell games worth a crack

People in silly positions screaming things they normally wouldn’t — this is not new to you. You’re pretty worldly. But usually the position isn’t in public, and no matter how low you’ve sunk, you don’t involve live hermit crabs in your fun. But then, you probably don’t make it to Daytona that often, either. Most…

Liz Langley

The Weir world

During the making of “The Truman Show,” director Peter Weir spent a great deal of time thinking about two boxes — the television set and personal computer — that serve as our technological umbilical cords and feed our insatiable desire to know, or at least to see. This flow of information and images, says Weir,…

Serena Donadoni

Blue Flame Combo fans the rockabilly fire

Starting in the early ’90s a small but intense cadre of rockabilly fans with slicked-back hair and big-ass cars roamed Orlando, hoping and praying that the music they enjoyed so much — pure, simple rock & roll — would make a comeback. They wore the clothes, they made the scene, and they had a local…

Charles Martin

Bardo Pond’s altered state of sound

Sapphire Supper Club, June 8, 1998 Philadelphia-based purveyors of noise rock, Bardo Pond take their use of the distortion pedal to a near spiritual level. While some bands use noise as an afterthought, Bardo Pond (a name inspired by “The Tibetan Book of the Dead”) uses it to produce mind-bending states of consciousness accessible with…

Daniel Fuller

Eccentrics brew in Fingerbowl stew

Sapphire Supper Club, June 11, 1998 In April 1995, Alex McMurray conned the owner of the Dragon’s Den, a small, intimate club in the French Quarter of New Orleans, into booking the first Royal Fingerbowl gig. McMurray, veteran guitarist of at least a dozen local bands, at last found himself able to perform songs he’d…

Alex Oliver

Out at the Mouse

For many workers at Disney World, every day is Gay Day He doesn’t want his name used, but it’s not because he doesn’t want his co-workers to know he’s gay; they’ve known that since he started working at Walt Disney World in the mid-1980s. But he’s risen far enough in management to know that he’s…

Jeff Truesdell

Weeding out the propaganda

The pot summit was a free, invitation-only call-to-arms to 400 drug warriors — at state expense Betty Sembler shook her head in dismay. A giant screen above her head projected a political advertisement featuring a woman explaining that she supported the Arizona initiative to legalize marijuana used as medicine, because she believed it would reduce…

Lawrence Budd

Flags fly, but it’s no banner decision

Like the day-after calm on an abandoned battlefield, the brightly colored rainbow flags that suddenly graced downtown on Tuesday morning gave no hint of the angry confrontation that preceded their hanging in darkness the night before. A symbol of gay pride, the banners became a lightning rod for three hours of arguments waged in front…

Jeff Truesdell

Out and about on Washington

Given the angry tenor of the current local debate on homosexuality — first with Operation Rescue’s attacks on Disney, then the Orlando City Council’s split over rainbow flags downtown — the city’s invitation to the opening of the East Washington Street Beautification Project seemed just a bit ill-timed. Said the invite targeting the gay-friendly residents…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Jun 3-9, 1998

Recent