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Nov 11-17, 1998

Nov 11-17, 1998 / Vol. 14 / No. 45

Micaâ??s millions

John Mica is sitting pretty. Re-elected last week as Florida’s 8th District congressman, Mica had campaign money to burn, no opposition from the Democrats and rides into a fourth term with a reputation — carefully cultivated — as a tough-talking political reformer. He’s a crowd-pleaser on crime, steering federal money toward Central Florida as a…

Ericson, Edward Jr.

Seeking solutions from within?

City Hall is promising big improvements — and holding out the tantalizing possibility of big money — for the Parramore Heritage area just west of downtown. It has reconstituted a 14-member board of volunteers, corralled the nationally respected Enterprise Foundation and promised $3 million in startup funding to revitalize the depressed, mostly African-American neighborhood. The…

Ericson, Edward Jr.

Riding the rail

The much-debated light-rail project stayed on track this week as the Orlando City Council and the Orange County Commission both passed the necessary resolutions to angle for federal funding. The Sierra Club’s Central Florida chapter endorsed the proposed plan — whose first stage would link downtown and International Drive — and urged the County Commission…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Sweet and sour

Four major sugar companies filed a lawsuit last week in Washington, D.C., federal court to stop the government from buying the 50,000 acre Talisman property north of the Everglades. The land is owned by St. Joe Corp. and includes a sugar refinery. Environmentalists fought for the purchase in hope that the land would shield the…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Library seeks union card

Workers at the Orange County Library are trying to organize a union. And some of them plan to tell the library’s governing board this Thursday to stop harassing organizers and follow labor law. “We want to avoid engaging in mudslinging,” says librarian Ralph Illick, who is one of a handful of workers who began the…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Early overtures

July marked the start of a program, “Better Brains for Babies: Maximizing Georgia’s Brain Power,” to provide a classical-music CD to every baby born in Georgia. Gov. Zell Miller was persuaded by research showing that such music energizes parts of the brain that might otherwise fall stagnant. Sony supplied the CDs for free, but the…

Chuck Shepherd

The 1998 election rebellion

Our ballots in the recent national election were barely counted before a chorus of pundits, politicos and pollsters were rushed out to put the official spin on the results for us peasants. The people, we were told, voted for a continuation of the “status quo,” for “centrist” policies, and for a “don’t-rock-the-boat” approach to economics.…

Jim Hightower

Art not suppressed in futuristic vision

What would the future be like without art? That question has been on the mind of filmmaker Daniel Springen for some time. Springen wrote, produced and directed an award-winning short film, “The Reel,” while he was a student in the film program at Valencia Community College. “The Reel” is a futuristic film-noir about a society…

Matt Kelemen

Seeking solutions from within?

City Hall is promising big improvements — and holding out the tantalizing possibility of big money — for the Parramore Heritage area just west of downtown. It has reconstituted a 14-member board of volunteers, corralled the nationally respected Enterprise Foundation and promised $3 million in startup funding to revitalize the depressed, mostly African-American neighborhood. The…

Ericson, Edward Jr.

That Subliminal Kid declares cultural war

On the surface, DJ Spooky That Subliminal Kid is in an enviable position. The New York City-based turntable artist — whose name is derived in part from a character in William Burroughs’ novel Nova Express and in part from a Count Chocula cereal commercial — helped define an amorphous genre of electronic music, dubbed “illbient”…

Matt Kelemen

Queen of the blues holds court

Koko Taylor was barely a teen when she had her first taste of the blues. The former Cora Walton, raised on a Mississippi sharecropper’s farm near the Tennessee border, spent her Sundays singing gospel at a rural Baptist church. But every Monday she celebrated the sound that resonated in her spirit, copying the tunes of…

Philip Booth

Dawning of a new Day

Sunny Day Real Estate set the indie world on fire in 1994 with their debut album for Sub Pop Records, “Diary,” before disbanding in March 1995. But after a three-year hiatus, during which drummer William Goldsmith and bassist Nate Mendel went off to join the Foo Fighters, the band reformed for a new album, “How…

Randy Matin

A slam to the body politic

Everyone knows pro wrestling is the biggest fakeout since Judas told Jesus he was just going out for cigarettes. These guys get slammed about as convincingly as a drunk on a sitcom. It’s like marriage: Only stupid people believe you’re truthful once you’re in the ring. But given a choice between two politicians and a…

Liz Langley

Belly full of Greek

When you think of deep-fried squid, the word “beautiful” doesn’t usually come to mind. But what we saw at Olympia Restaurant changed our minds. Sitting before us was a simple platter of what the Greek refer to as kalamari: a delicate, undulating tangle of generously carved squid steaks. They were lightly fried with a lacy…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Latin lineup

Before you associate the Bumby Cafeteria with meatloaf and chocolate cream pie, we should clarify that Bumby Cafeteria is a full-service Latin restaurant, albeit a hole in the wall. About six months ago, it joined the ranks in downtown’s closest claim to a Latin quarter – the stretch of Bumby Avenue between Colonial Drive and…

Orlando Weekly Staff

Timing is critical at Chiliblast ’98

Lace up your Nikes and get ready to move because timing is everything at the 10th annual Florida State Chili Championship Cook-off Chiliblast ’98, Saturday, Nov. 14, at Lake Lily in Maitland (841-4576). Although the event is from 11 a.m.-4 p.m., the experienced know to be there by 12:30 p.m. — and not one minute…

Colleen Moore

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