May 23-29, 2001

May 23-29, 2001 / Vol. 17 / No. 21

Out with the old

I’d like to backtrack about something I have said 1,000 times, which is that I’m sick of Oprah. True, she’s harder to escape than a chatty neighbor, but I’d be wrong not to admit that I got sucked back into her hour-long gabfest a few weeks ago when I saw a show about women who…

Liz Langley

Join the Carnival

Towering, Mardi Grasish costumes, the country’s finest steel bands, indefatigable dancing and to-die-for food from the Caribbean archipelago — what could be more festive? On Memorial Day weekend, Orlando Carnival 2001, presented by the area’s West Indian community and arguably Central Florida’s most fantastic ethnic event, will fill west-side streets and the Citrus Bowl’s Thunder…

Dee Rivers

Filk ’em if they can’t take a joke

The passion for out-of-this-world fantasy will again run deep when the Orlando Area Science Fiction Society holds its OASIS 14 convention this Friday-Sunday, May 25-27, at the Radisson Plaza Orlando hotel. Genre authors will discuss their work, fans will show off their home-made costumes, and table-bound competitors will test their mettle in role-playing card games.…

Steve Schneider

It’s not easy being green

In March, a homeowners’ association in Boynton Beach, Fla., summoned six of its 83 members to a disciplinary meeting for violating the association’s green-lawns requirement, even though south Florida is enduring a two-year-long drought (the most severe on record) with no end in sight and tight watering restrictions. According to the association president, the other…

Chuck Shepherd

Inventive spins on summer wines

It used to be that you went into a liquor store, got a bottle of Merlot or Riesling, and that was it. Now, there are enough vineyards and new vintages to make your head spin. Two inventive young vineyards are changing expectations about “red” and “white” wines by blending several grapes in one bottle. Sokol…

Joseph Hayes

Troubadour’s tunes travel the distance

British folk-rocker Richard Thompson has written enough brilliant songs — shot through with wit, bruised with sadness, glimmering with absurdly good musicianship — that he’s been praised by Elvis Costello, Lou Reed and David Byrne, and his work has been covered by R.E.M., Dinosaur Jr., Shawn Colvin and Bob Mould. But ask Thompson about his…

Theresa Everline

Your tax dollars at work

With its stately white columns, a fountained courtyard and bold yellow paint job, the new Echelon at Cheney Place is one of those tony apartment complexes that can turn any city block into instant uptown. Still fresh with the scent of new carpeting, Echelon’s 303 units are outfitted with arched doorways, white-on-white appliances, alarm systems,…

William Dean Hinton

House trap

It’s easy to view Mel Martinez’s appointment to head the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) as a political payback. After all, as Orange County chairman, Martinez had gone out in front on the Elian Gonzales fiasco and had used his office to vigorously campaign for George W. Bush, who later handed him…

Jeffrey C. Billman

Kat attack

Newly elected Orange County school board member Kathleen “Kat” Gordon found herself in the middle of a full-court press last week as she considered whether to grant a new location to the Parramore charter school. Mayor Glenda Hood called her to ask for support. Commissioner Daisy Lynum hugged her even though Lynum supported Gordon’s opponent…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Concrete solution

As Orlando matures from sleepy, semi-rural town to suburban regional center, the changes often pit the desires and lifestyles of the “old guard” against the need to confront concerns that come with living in a modern metropolis. The eruption over the city’s plan to pave a mile or two of sidewalk in Audubon Park is…

Al Krulick

Bob and weave

I’m in no condition for this. Nor is my hair. ; ; “You write for the Weekly, right?” queries mayoral-miss Tom Levine. A cautious nod in reply elicits the expected, “I recognize your hair from the picture. Do you really smoke?” ; ; Oh, do I. Especially when I’m sore-thumbing it at a protest nonevent…

Billy Manes

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