Cover Story
Prostitution, drugs and living life on the Trail
Shalesa has the kind of beauty that comes effortlessly. She’s got long dark hair, big brown eyes and a smile that draws people in. “People tell me all the time that I’m too pretty to be out here doing this,” she says during one of her nights out working Orange Blossom Trail. “But if that…
Confirmed: The Rolling Stones are coming to Orlando
It seems the Rolling Stones’ little billboard trick is a reliable forecaster, because the legendary band confirmed today their Orlando fans will be getting what they want on Friday, June 12, at the Citrus Bowl. Tickets will be available for a limited pre-sale on Wednesday, April 8, and then officially available to the public at…
Too many notables to choose from at this month’s Third Thursday gallery hop
Now that the Weekly offices are downtown, we’re falling back in love with the CBD. Of course, it helps that downtown has gotten really awesome in the past year or so, adding new bars, restaurants and galleries (plus that big new performing arts center) at breakneck pace. One of the things we especially look forward…
Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival takes over Park Avenue this weekend
Winter Park may most recently seem like a hotbed of political drama – see the spat over the utilization of the term “Negro Town” in this month’s mayoral stakes, gasp! – but when the ugly settles down, the glitzy burg is more known for its ladies who lunch and the Park Avenue down which they…
Dustin Diamond takes a stab at comedy in Longwood on Friday
Dustin Diamond – formerly known as Screech from Saved by the Bell, currently known as that guy from Saved by the Bell who stabbed a guy in a bar fight – has been doing stand-up for several years now, and though his material hasn’t moved much past capitalizing on the novelty of seeing Screech talk…
We’re No. 5! Survey says Orlando’s fifth best place for basketball
Source: WalletHub WalletHub, the self-described “social network for your wallet,” has named Orlando the fifth-best city in the United States for basketball fans. Based on what? Well, despite the fact that we have what the survey says is one of the worst performing NBA teams, we apparently have one of the most accessible NBA stadiums…
Bathroom bill that takes aim at transgender Floridians moves forward in the House
A bill that would ban transgender Floridians from using single-sex bathrooms that don’t match the gender of their birth passed a second House committee Tuesday, following hours of debate. The bill (HB 583) would make it a second-degree misdemeanor to “knowingly and willfully” enter a public facility, such as a bathroom or locker room, that…
Orlando gets love, part 4: Mark Gmehling tells Street Art magazine he had “a beautiful time” in Orlando
If you’ve been to Snap! Space, or even just driven west on Colonial toward downtown, you’ve seen Mark Gmehling’s giant “drinsch” mural on the side of the old Cruises Only building. In an interview this week with Street Art United States magazine, Gmehling discusses his many commissions and exhibitions around the world, including the squishy,…
Orlando gets love, part 2: New York Times namedrops Cornell Fine Arts Museum
In the Arts section of yesterday’s New York Times, an article about small museums moving into showing and collecting contemporary art ran: “Cedar Grove, Peabody Essex and Other Niche Museums Foray Into Contemporary Art.” Though it dealt primarily with those New York facilities, Orlandoan NYT readers who skipped over it for that reason missed a…
Orlando gets love, part 3: Jamie Poissant makes longlist for 2015 PEN Literary Award
This one is Orlando giving love as much as getting it – you’re welcome, America, for the awesome fiction coming out of this city. (But also thanks for noticing!) When our own David James Poissant pushed his first book out into the world last year, the New York Times said: “A number of recent scientific studies…
Orlando gets love, part 1: SFGate calls us “no longer a wasteland”
In an article headlined “No longer wasteland, Orlando’s cultural scene grows up,” San Francisco-based SFGate.com, a general-interest website operated by the San Francisco Chronicle daily newspaper, reports cultural doin’s a-poppin down here in the benighted center of Florida. Gee, thanks brah! (Today an Associated Press reporter named Michael Schneider contacted me to let me know that…
Congress revives talks of funding passenger rail from Orlando to New Orleans
According to multiple news sources, there’s a bill being floated in Congress that would revive passenger rail between Orlando, Jacksonville and New Orleans. Before Hurricane Katrina, there was an Amtrak line that shuttled passengers from Orlando to NOLA, but storm damage knocked the service out of commission. According to the Panama City News Herald, the…
Letters to a Satanist: How does your campaign for “discrimination transparency” help defeat discrimination?
I read recently that The Satanic Temple is petitioning for an amendment to the proposed Religious Freedom Restoration Act bill in Michigan that would require businesses to publicly post their discrimination policies. Won’t your campaign for “discrimination transparency” serve to make open discrimination more acceptable? The Michigan Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) bill, ostensibly designed…
St. Paddy’s sweet tooth: Boozy desserts for St. Patrick’s Day
In which we go beyond the Shamrock shake to satisfy the sweeties-cravings of any St. Paddy’s day celebrant: two recipes, one based on a classic Irish combo, one on a popular though questionable “Irish” shot. The Irish Car Bomb cupcakes are tasty as hell, but If you’re not a cupcake fan (or not a fan of diminishing…
This Little Underground: Hundred Waters at the Dr. Phillips Center
This may sound cynical but Florida’s Hundred Waters, because of their lack of pop convenience, may be one of the unlikeliest rises in the music world today. I’ve always believed in them, that’s why I wrote a feature story on them back in 2012. But I don’t always believe in the public at large to…
Despite lack of Medicaid expansion in Florida, the Affordable Care Act is working big time
Now that Republicans in state legislatures are reconsidering their inhumane refusal of federal dollars to insure the neediest people as the Affordable Care Act was built to do, today, the Department of Health and Human Services released a report showing that the ACA is indeed working regardless, especially among the young. Youth, as you know,…
Residents begin petition and schedule rally to save Constitution Green Park
Last week, we told you about the fact that the private owners of Constitution Green Park at the corner of South Street and Summerlin Avenue – the one with the giant old oak trees that have limbs that are so long they touch the ground – are considering selling the park to a developer who…
‘LEGO Jurassic World’ roars onto consoles!
If you been playing video games for the last few generations, you’re no stranger to the fact that Lego strangely has the monopoly on franchise adaptations. Some titles are better than others, but there’s no denying the trademark charm exploding from each blocky adventure. Now, with the release of the next installment in the Jurassic…
Rumors abound: Rolling Stones coming to Orlando?
Orlandoans have been reporting sightings of a vague Rolling Stones billboard that could possibly mean the legendary rockers are planning to stop in Orlando as part of what many assume will soon be announced as their 2015 tour plans. According to Orlando Business Journal, the billboards first appeared Friday, March 13, on I-4 Westbound near…
Florida Man now has his own beer (courtesy of Cigar City) because of course he does
As any Google search will prove, our beautiful state’s peculiar inhabitants and their even more outlandish delinquencies have brought the very name of our home an undesirable connotation, one you can’t even attempt to erase from your memory. Well, now you can at least try the old alcoholic brain-erase technique: “Florida Man” has become such a…
Caffe Positano in College Park is the latest victim of the ‘Restaurant: Impossible’ ambush treatment
Establishment renovation television programs have the attention of many American TV watchers. One of the most popular programs of the genre, Food Network’s Restaurant: Impossible, recently made a stop right in our neck of the woods. The show’s host, Robert Irvine, surprised College Park’s Caffé Positano owners Denny and Gina Tornatore with a two-day complete…
This Little Underground: Murder by Death & O’Death (The Social)
The recent Murder by Death/O’Death bill (Mar. 11, The Social) was a double dose of death and not a metal band in sight. Life is weird like that sometimes. In widening their palette, the rootsy rock of headliner Murder by Death has migrated afield from their signature Southern Gothic rumble and the mixed results in…
This Little Underground: Screaming Females & Downtown Boys (The Social)
New Jersey’s Screaming Females are becoming an inspirational tale of DIY success. After 10 years of grind, they finally returned to town as a headliner (Mar. 12, The Social) on the wings of a momentous album for them. Although the freshly released Rose Mountain is the first time the resolutely self-sufficient group has ever surrendered…
A dozen new spots to wet your beak and fill your belly
Downtown Credo, the pay-what-you-will coffeehouse with a social mission, has opened another space next to the Florida Hospital SunRail stop in Health Village. it looks pretty different from their College Park space, but the aim remains the same: good coffee and good community. Read more about their mission here; we gotta love a place that…
Show us your best Orlando vintage and win tickets to the Great Orlando Mixer!
Next week, we’re running a feature that explores the best of Orlando vintage, and since our Great Orlando Mixer with its decadent ’20s theme aligns with it, we thought it made total sense to mix the two together and shake things up. So we’re offering a pair of tickets to the Great Orlando Mixer to…
Death of a downtown Orlando park?
We heard this rumor that this might be happening, but today Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor 4 Eric Rollings says it’s true: the private owners of Constitution Green Park want to develop the little plot of land with the massive old oak trees at the corner of Summerlin Avenue and South Street. One of the…
Artegon Marketplace announces openings for newest tenants
The former ghost town that was Festival Bay mall is showing signs of life. Inspired by similar attractions like New York’s Chelsea Market, Seattle’s Pike Place, and London’s Flower Market, Artegon Marketplace is on the right track to re-inventing the traditional Orlando shopping experience. Although centered in the heart of the tourism district (North I-Drive),…
Walker Stalker Con coming to Orlando in June
Get ready, fans of The Walking Dead: There’s a new convention geared toward you, and it’s coming to Orlando this summer. The Walker Stalkers Con, a two-day event for fans of sci fi, horror and zombies, will bring characters from The Walking Dead, Gotham, Lost and more to the Orange County Convention Center. Fans can…
State legislators trying to revive state’s depleted film and TV incentive program
A group of lawmakers wants to remake the state’s film and television incentive program so that the industry hires and builds more in Florida. Just don’t call the sequel to the state’s depleted film, television and video-game incentive program an incentive program. “It’s really the wrong word,” Sen. Nancy Detert, a Venice Republican who is…
Did you know there’s a plan to build a secret monkey-breeding facility in Florida?
Florida is at the center of a controversy making international headlines, which is not all that unusual. What is unusual, however, is that this one involves a secret monkey-breeding facility that’s been proposed for Hendry County. In case you’re not sure where that is (we weren’t until we looked it up), here’s a map: In…
Nostalgia trip: The 5 extinct Walt Disney World attractions I miss the most
Nostalgia. What a mixed-up bag of emotions. I would venture to guess that it’s the reason most of us Disney freaks cling to this multinational conglomerate-slash-happy place. That’s the rub: the reality that “Disney” isn’t a memory, it’s a business, and sometimes the bitter truth is that your favorite part of a dynamic puzzle can…
If at first you don’t succeed? Or second?: Charlie Crist is eyeing a U.S. Senate seat.
Not sure yet what to think about this, except, well, it’s exactly what we would expect. Today, the buzz is that former Republican and Independent and now Democrat Charlie Crist might make a move for Marco Rubio’s Senate seat (because we all know Rubio is running for President). Crist isn’t alone, though. Congressman Alan Grayson…
Florida Film Festival announces outdoor flicks and parties
The Florida Film Festival, now in its 24th year, has just announced its first group of films, the popular outdoor “Pitcher Shows” and “Popcorn Flicks in Central Park.” The full schedule for the festival, which will run April 10-19, will be released March 18 at the Film Lineup Luau at Enzian Theater. The first outdoor…
“Size doesn’t matter”: New Uber legislation clears a hurdle
We’ve been monitoring AT LENGTH the evolution of Uber (and Lyft) ride-sharing services in Orlando, with a special focus on whether these services are in the same boat with a sort-of Mears monopoly on public/private car services. Uber is relatively new to Orlando, but it’s raised enough of a stink to require the sniffs and…
Theater review: ‘Motown: The Musical’ at Dr. Phillips Center
“Jukebox” musicals (as shows assembled from previously published songs are known) don’t have the most consistent critical reputation, but Motown: The Musical comes to Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center from Broadway with two advantages to set it apart from the pack. First, rather than relying on the output of a single artist or songwriter, Motown draws…
Senate moves forward on health expansion
image via PBS Trying to build momentum amid continued opposition from House leaders, a Senate panel Tuesday approved a plan that would expand health coverage to an estimated 800,000 low-income Floridians. The Senate Health Policy Committee unanimously backed a bill (SPB 7044) that would use billions of dollars in federal money to provide private health…
‘Joe’s NYC Bar’ brings St. Matthew’s Tavern a whole new cast of characters to drink with
First thing you need to know: Joe ain’t some sweaty tattooed barkeep. The original Joe was Josephine, matriarch of the fictional Lower East Side bar in the 1920s – a lineage that was explored in the 2004 Fringe Festival run of Joe’s NYC Bar. That was the 10th “episode” of the interactive play, which launched…
Retrospective skateboard exhibit returns to Lil Indies
Lil Indies has developed a reputation for having interesting art exhibits to browse while you sip on that $10 cocktail. From Pulp Fiction and Prince-inspired collections to complement shows next door at Will’s Pub to ex-Precious frontman Steve Garron’s paintings of his cat, the space is known as a place to see art you probably…
Nerd Nite celebrates Pi Day with learning, beer and pie
Dying to rant about something that you’ve been wanting to for awhile? Wait no more. Nerd Nite is hosting its second annual Pi Day Celebration, at which nerds will present for up to 20 minutes on a subject of their choice – the more idiosyncratic, the better. These fellows are hunkering down with Canvs to…
Get hip to the Beats at the Imperial for Kerouac’s birthday
If Jack Kerouac had lived to see his birthday this year, he’d be 93 – and he’d likely despise your iPhone. After all, he was the man who wrote, “Don’t use the phone. People are never ready to answer it. Use poetry.” Tonight, put your phone away for a while and rather than bask in the…
Sumukh Torgalkar brings Columbus comedy to Spacebar
Spacebar’s Wednesday comedy night has been a linchpin of the Orlando comedy scene for the past two years. Though they had their second anniversary last week, tonight they’re bringing in a comic who has a lot of experience with bolstering an independent comic scene in his own city. Sumukh Torgalkar, from Columbus, Ohio, has seen…
Bask in the legacy of the unmistakably talented Elvis Costello at Dr. Phillips Center
Cantankerous curmudgeon of musical and lyrical genius Elvis Costello has been troubling our headphones and speakers since time immemorial, weaving his way into the global social fabric in manners new wave, orchestral, power pop and beardy dad-rock, along with every string in between. Every intellectual music fan has a skinny-tied, bespectacled Costello thread within them,…
Sound the alarm: Moonmen From Mars invade Will’s Pub for EP release party
“We know now that in the early years of the 20th century, this world was being watched closely by intelligences greater than man.” Orson Welles scarred listeners with his radio broadcast of “War of the Worlds” in 1928. In the same fantastically mutilated vein, the new EP from Moonmen From Mars, Fear & Terror, starts…
Prepare not to be rocked but changed by Screaming Females at the Social
It’s been five long years since Screaming Females have been to town and, at last, they’re getting their due at the top of the marquee. Over the last decade, the Jersey band has been shredding their way up the ranks to become perhaps the rock underground’s most efficiently stunning power trio. Returning on the fresh…
Opening in Orlando: ‘Frozen Fever,’ ‘Run All Night’
Frozen Fever: It’s an old axiom of children’s entertainment: “If one princess is good, three are better.” (It’s also the reason Lindsay Graham never goes on a foreign fact-finding trip without John McCain and Joe Lieberman!) Thus, it was not enough for Disney to monopolize this week’s cinematic calendar with the studio’s new Cinderella: They…
Understatement of the Year: HBO’s ‘Togetherness’
Sometimes, you just want to shove popcorn in your face and cheesy-grin or weepy-reach for tissues while watching easily digestible Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise type vehicles. But if you’re looking to identify with characters beyond a superficial “that’s what I wish would happen in my life” and instead gulp a dose of reality, mumblecore…
Disney’s ‘Cinderella’ is worth the $10, despite its nauseating cutesiness
Disney’s latest iteration of Cinderella is so lovey-dovey wholesome it’s nauseating. It’s a live-action, non-musical interpretation of the classic fairy tale that sorely needs a little more edge. Here’s the problem: Cinderella is boring. She’s a victim, a bystander, an innocent waif uninterested in evolving past naiveté. Everything happens to her; she’s never a doer…
Pedestrian brekkie joint the Egg and I draws in the pedestrians
Before proceeding, I need to state, yet again, how much it pains me when breakfast joints don’t serve, or make available as an upcharge, real maple syrup. Instead, we’re handed a sticky dispenser filled with a sugary simulacrum that has no business existing. I understand that many grew up pouring this cloying swill onto their…
Another Broken Egg’s morning menu thrives on Cajun-Creole charm
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but if you’re dragging ass on Saturday a.m. and don’t show up for your mid-morning meal until, well, mid-morning, you’re gonna wait. Probably for a while. Brunch has gotten big – really big – and Another Broken Egg, a daytime café in Winter Park Village, is another place where…
Epcot Flower and Garden Festival expands its kitchen offerings, Chef Eddie’s moves to Church Street, plus more in our weekly food roundup
The Outdoor Kitchens at this year’s Epcot Flower & Garden Festival, running through May 17, feature the old standbys (America, China, France, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Morocco) as well as some new ones – namely, Botanas Botánico (focusing on Venezuelan fare), Urban Farm Eats, Pineapple Promenade and Florida Fresh. Chef Eddie’s Restaurant will move into the…
The Amazing Acro-Cats and the Winter Park Playhouse will make you feel like a happy little old lady
Since an early age, I’ve been a neophile: a follower of the latest trends in technology and an early adopter of bleeding-edge toys. On the other hand, I’m fascinated with the decades before my birth, from vintage movie musicals to midcentury modern furniture. Until recently, I kept these opposing interests in balance, but two shows…
Picks This Week: Murder by Death, Pile and more
Murder by Death Touring on new album Big Dark Love, Murder by Death delivers their dusky, charging, mood-rich folk alongside complex shivering preach-it-punks O’Death, who serve as indispensable openers. 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 11, at the Social, $15-$17 Screaming Females If you’ve never been in the same room with frontwoman Marissa Paternoster, then prepare to…
Post-Super Bowl ad and ‘Letterman’ performance, Hundred Waters ride high on high standards
Considering what Hundred Waters has achieved so far in 2015, it boggles the mind that this quartet is barely three years old. But forget the fact that “Show Me Love” soundtracked Coca-Cola’s multi-million-dollar Super Bowl commercial. Or that, the following week, Nicole Miglis, Trayer Tryon, Paul Giese and Zach Tetreault gave a stunning performance of…
Savage Love (3/11/15)
When I was 15, I had a three-month-long sexual relationship with a 32-year-old woman. She was a friend of the family, and my parents were going through a divorce. I stayed with her for the summer, and she initiated a sexual relationship. Looking back, I can see that she had been grooming me. We used…
This Little Underground: Beach Slang poised to break out
Show up for the opening acts. That’s the lesson and reminder of deep weeks like this. Loaded with potential names of tomorrow, they’re windows into the future. The Beat Cursive’s knotty conceit has, by now, etched this Saddle Creek pillar permanently into the indie-rock pantheon. But look out for Philadelphia’s Beach Slang, who opened Cursive’s…
Gov. Scott suddenly not happy about the possibility of not receiving federal funds
Quote of the Week: “As far as I’m aware, the governor doesn’t have a contingency plan, and that’s really not surprising considering Republicans have really had their head in the sand on this issue for so long. People are dying as a result of our inaction.” – Democratic House minority leader Mark Pafford, D-West Palm…
Transgender discrimination bill passes committee
All of the symbolic caveats keep rolling in – that this is the next battle in the march toward LGBT equality, that the Florida Legislature surely has more to worry about than where people relieve themselves physically, that we’ve already achieved (as LGBT individuals) everything we need to with the advent of marriage equality –…
The run-up to the Orlando International Fringe Festival heats up
The run-up to May’s Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival ramped up with Fringe’s annual fundraiser March 1 at Hard Rock Live. This year’s “Dancing With the Fringe Stars” theme paired trained local dancers with Fringe “celebrities” like “Kim Jong Un” (a hilariously stone-faced Terrence Yip) and Mark Baratelli’s “Judy Garland.” Yow Dance’s Christin Caviness and…
Lulu Eightball (3/11/15)
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