Cover Story
Orlando’s Timucua Arts Foundation celebrates their landmark 1,000th house show
House venues, as a rule, generally don’t last all that long. The ecstatic creative highs often end up outweighed by the organizational, logistical and financial lows. But the Timucua Arts Foundation isn’t just any house, not by a long shot. Timucua, headquartered since 2007 in a custom-built residence-cum-grassroots performance space nestled among suburban homes on…
Half-day theme parks offer a cheaper, more relaxed alternative to packed attractions
Despite billions of dollars being spent on new attractions in marquee parks across Orlando, the future of the amusement industry can be found on a relatively small construction site in Winter Haven, Florida. The Legoland Florida resort is often an afterthought for those visiting Orlando, but parent company Merlin has become a major player in…
Rumors point to Disney giving Splash Mountain overhaul the second-class treatment
When scaffolding began rising around Splash Mountain in recent weeks, it renewed interest in the upcoming reimagining of the classic attraction. Last year’s announcement by Disney that the problematic Song of the South theme would be removed, replaced by the Princess and the Frog, came as a welcome surprise after pushes to see the change…
Legal Public Notices 09/08 issue
Orlando Legals Legal Public Notices ALL ABOARD STORAGE NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE Personal property of the following tenants will be sold at public sale to the highest bidder to satisfy a rental lien in accordance with Florida Statutes, Sections: A83.801 – 83.809. All units are assumed to contain general household goods unless otherwise indicated. Viewing of…
Orange County Public Schools joins challenge against state mask rules
In a new front in the fight about mask mandates, three school boards are challenging a Florida Department of Health rule designed to prevent districts from requiring students to wear masks during the COVID-19 pandemic. Attorneys for the school boards in Alachua, Broward and Orange counties filed the challenge Friday in the state Division of…
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis pushes signing bonuses for cops as state faces nurse, teacher shortage
At a press conference in Lakeland this morning, Gov. Ron DeSantis used a classic right-wing fear tactic to justify a $5,000 sign-on bonus for Florida police officers, among other proposed new benefits. “All the things that we care about, fighting theft, our economy, education, all these things that are so important,” DeSantis, whose approval rating…
Lazy Moon to expand to Maitland
Beloved Orlando pizzeria Lazy Moon is in the process of expanding to Maitland. A third location, to complement the Best of Orlando winner’s downtown and UCF spots, is planned for a building at 441 S. Orlando Ave. The new location is inside the former home of an Einstein Bagels and a lease has not yet…
Portland post-punk overlords Soft Kill announce Orlando return in spring 2022
Portland post-punk band Soft Kill has announced a long-awaited return to Orlando as part of a spring 2022 headlining tour. Soft Kill will be headlining Will’s Pub for the first time since their very well-received 2018 show with Choir Boy on March 26, 2022. This time around Alien Boy and Topographies will be along for the ride.…
Orange County Public Schools offering $3,500 signing bonus for cafeteria workers
Orange County Public Schools is offering a signing bonus for people who wish to work in the district’s cafeterias. The Food and Nutrition Services department of the OCPS school district is seeking new workers and offering up $3,500 as incentive to take on the new gig. The full $3,500 will be available to anyone who…
Dog park-meets-bar concept Pups Pub is looking to open in Orlando
Though we thrilled to the notion of a beagle bartender responding with a world-weary “Ruff!” when asked by barflies how life was treating ’em, instead we have news that a bar with a dog run (not a dog-run bar, sorry) is looking to open in Orlando. Pups Pub, currently the spot for very good boys…
‘Labyrinth’ 35th anniversary screenings planned in Orlando to celebrate Jim Henson’s birthday
How long has it been since you were reminded of the babe? To celebrate Jim Henson’s birthday (and the film’s 35th anniversary) several Orlando theaters are screening Labyrinth this weekend. Two Regal Cinemas and one Watermark theater are taking part in the nationwide event put on by Fathom with nightly showings of the cult classic…
Orlando punks Debt Neglector return to Will’s Pub this week with new songs about dark times
Orlando’s Debt Neglector are headlining a punk extravaganza at Will’s Pub Friday night. The lineup is a one-stop-shop for some of the best Floridian punk and alternative sounds, featuring hometown grungers Yeah, Sure and Daytona’s emo-rockers Virginity, along with some special guests west of I-4 — Rutterkin and Secret World. Though living in dark times, this…
Affordable housing proposal nets 62,000 petition signatures
Backers of a proposed constitutional amendment aimed at ensuring money for affordable housing continue adding petition signatures as they try to get on the November 2022 ballot. The Florida Division of Elections as of late Friday afternoon had received 62,552 valid petition signatures for the initiative spearheaded by the political committee Floridians for Housing. Related…
Florida’s COVID-19 death toll passes 46,000
The death toll in Florida from COVID-19 passed an ugly benchmark over the long weekend: More than 46,000 Floridians have died from the virus since the start of the pandemic in 2020. The CDC shared on Monday that the death toll had risen by 1,064 over the weekend. That followed a correction in the numbers…
Dexter’s New Standard is being evicted from Winter Park’s Ravaudage complex
Updated | This article has been updated to reflect Nathan Landwer as the owner of Dexter’s New Standard. Less than two years after Dexter’s New Standard opened in the Ravaudage complex in Winter Park, the restaurant and music venue has apparently shuttered. A sign on on the door says they’re temporarily closed for cleaning and…
The most radical Supreme Court in American history just announced its intentions to kill Roe v. Wade
In May, when the Supreme Court agreed to hear Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, it was clear Roe v. Wade’s days were numbered. Mississippi had banned most abortions after 15 weeks of gestation. Its law was obviously unconstitutional, at least insofar as the court has interpreted the Constitution since 1973. But the state asked…
Appeal from Ron DeSantis sets up new round of fights over Florida’s public school mask mandates
An appeal filed Thursday by Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration put on hold a Leon County circuit judge’s ruling against the state in a battle over school mask mandates — but attorneys for a group of parents quickly requested that the ruling be allowed to take effect. The legal moves came hours after Circuit Judge John…
Ziggie’s Pizza opens in former Ivanhoe Village home of Perla’s
A rare bright spot of the pandemic came with the opening of Perla’s Pizza in partnership with Thirsty Topher. Many readers (and several here at Orlando Weekly) were shocked to learn of the pizza place’s sudden closing last month. Now, the future of the Perla’s pizza fam is a bit more clear. Ziggie’s Pizza from…
Family of late Daytona Beach police officer files $5 million lawsuit against accused killer
The family of Jason Raynor is suing his accused killer for $5 million. The Daytona Beach police officer died last month after being shot in the head in July. Bodycam footage shared by the police department showed Raynor approaching a man seated in a parked car. The two men argued before getting into a scuffle…
Walt Disney World 50th anniversary license plates now available in Florida
As part of its upcoming 50th anniversary celebration, Disney put in for a special commemorative license plate for Florida drivers. That plate absolutely shattered the required pre-sale threshold of 3,000 orders to go into production. The plate is now available to order anywhere in the state. Over 10,000 people ordered the 50th anniversary plate, putting…
Central Florida chiropractor offering medical exemptions for $50 a pop as schools mandate masking
As schools across Florida impose mask mandates to keep children safe from coronavirus, local assholes and their goober children are seeking any way around doing the bare minimum to keep their community safe. WESH found that a chiropractor’s chain of clinics in Central Florida was offering medical exemptions to school district mandates for as little…
Judge releases written ruling halting mask mandate ban
Leon County Circuit Judge John Cooper on Thursday released a written ruling that said Gov. Ron DeSantis overstepped his constitutional authority in a July 30 executive order that sought to prevent school districts from requiring students to wear masks. The final judgment expounded on a verbal ruling that Cooper announced during a hearing last Friday…
Hospitalization of children with COVID-19 increases more than tenfold after Florida schools open without mask mandates
As Florida schools opened their doors to students —- some maskless —- the number of children hospitalized with COVID-19 has increased more than tenfold. At a news conference Thursday with U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., University of South Florida College of Public Health professor Jason Salemi said an average of six children were hospitalized each…
Texas abortion law gives Florida Republicans green light for similar restrictions
While Gov. Ron DeSantis said people shouldn’t “read too much into” the U.S. Supreme Court’s refusal to block a Texas law that bans almost all abortions, Republican legislative leaders indicated Thursday they will determine if Florida can enact similar restrictions. Senate President Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, called the Texas law “a new approach,” with the Supreme…
Tickets to Orlando Ballet’s December performances of ‘The Nutcracker’ go on sale Friday
The time is almost upon us for the return of Orlando Ballet’s fan-favorite production of holiday chestnut The Nutcracker. And even though Halloween decorations only just hit store shelves, you’d better grab your ticket now if you want to have a happy holiday. This year’s performances will feature over 125 of Orlando Ballet’s young students. “The…
Orange County schools threatened by Florida Department of Education following mask mandate
Florida’s Commissioner of Education Richard Corcoran sent a letter to Orange County Public Schools announcing an investigation into the district after the OCPS School Board voted to adopt a mask mandate in county-run schools. In the letter, Corcoran accuses the school district of violating a rule put in place by the Florida Department of Health…
Little Greek to open new location along Dr. Phillips Boulevard
Little Greek Fresh Grill continues to grow in Central Florida. The Best of Orlando 2021 winner will open a new location along Dr. Phillips Boulevard. The new location will sit at 5154 Dr. Phillips, just down the road from Le Cafe de Paris and Burntwood Tavern. The new restaurant is the 13th Little Greek to…
Orlando musician Aisha Badru preps new album on Nettwerk Records
Orlando indie-folk musician Aisha Badru is set to release her newest mini-album through storied record label Nettwerk — once home to Skinny Puppy and Sarah McLachlan — at the end of the year. Badru’s six-song EP, The Way Back Home, drops on Dec. 3. Her songs meld lush electronic ambience with fragile, folky intimacy to a very immediate effect. Badru…
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is cooking the books on our COVID numbers
A little over a year ago, at a White House press conference, President Trump said a really amazing thing about COVID-19. “Think of this,” he said. “If we did half the testing, we would have half the cases.” This statement so stupendously contradicts mathematics and reality, it’s almost difficult to comprehend. OK, the ex-president was…
Epcot’s Space 220 restaurant sets opening date
Walt Disney World and Epcot shared the opening date for their new outer space-themed restaurant, Space 220. In a post to Instagram, the theme park shared that Space 220 would open its airlock doors Sept. 20. The restaurant takes a page from the nearby Mission: Space ride, fully theming its interior after a working space…
Joe Rogan announces he has COVID-19 after Orlando show
View this post on Instagram A post shared by Joe Rogan (@joerogan) The last show Joe Rogan played before announcing that he had contracted COVID-19 was in Orlando. The comedian and podcaster played shows in Fort Lauderdale and Tampa before closing out a Florida run of his “Sacred Clown” tour in Orlando. In a post…
Watch: Seminole County School Board debates mask mandates
The school board of Seminole County began a meeting on Thursday at 8:30 a.m. to a packed house. The emergency meeting was called to discuss enacting a mask mandate as COVID-19 numbers have climbed throughout Central Florida schools. The requirement to allow public comment led to a swamped parking lot outside the chamber and a…
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis takes credit for dip in COVID-19 hospitalizations
Gov. Ron DeSantis said Wednesday that his promotion of monoclonal antibody treatment has played a role in an apparent dip in Floridians being hospitalized for COVID-19. Appearing at a news conference in Fort Myers, DeSantis said the “vast majority” of people who have received the treatment at state-supported centers would not have known about its…
Orlando punks Wet Nurse, the Fatties and the Palmettes play Mills 50 this weekend
Orlando punk royalty Wet Nurse return to live action this weekend with some other locals on the louder side. So if you’ve been meaning to check in with the storied local trio, you’d best do so Saturday night at Uncle Lou’s — their shows are spontaneous and somewhat rare these days. Wet Nurse will be joined by…
EDOBOY, a standing sushi bar, will open behind Tori Tori in Mills 50 this winter
Sonny Nguyen, the man behind such popular Japanese concepts as Domu and Tori Tori, is bringing Orlando’s very first “standing sushi bar” to Mills 50. EDOBOY, so named for the Edo Period, when sushi was eaten standing up, will act as an extension to Tori Tori, Nguyen’s popular yakitori/kushiyaki house, and will be situated behind…
North Florida communities plead with state leaders to reopen temporarily closed prisons
Officials in rural areas of North Florida where two prisons have been temporarily shuttered are pleading with state leaders to ensure that the closures aren’t permanent, arguing that the institutions are a vital part of the local economy. The Department of Corrections on Friday issued a news release announcing temporary closures of Baker Correctional Institution…
Over one out of every three patients hospitalized in Florida has COVID-19
Florida reported 18,608 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, according to data updated Tuesday on the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Florida now has had more than 3.25 million cases of COVID-19 among residents since the pandemic started in early 2020. Meanwhile, more than one out of every three patients hospitalized in Florida…
As Disney gets more expensive and Universal caters more to adults, Legoland’s Peppa Pig Theme Park will offer a charming new family option
Last month, Disney celebrated my birthday by lobbing a magic lamp-shaped grenade called Genie+ into the theme park industry, and instantly provoked an explosive reaction from both fans and the mainstream media with the announcement of an extra-cost replacement for their formerly free FastPass service. The Mouse’s latest money-making scheme replaces the advance ride reservations…
Things to do in Orlando, Sept. 1-7: The Struts, Zoe, Pepe the Frog’s creator and the return of Loose Lips
Our selections of the best stuff to do this week. Friday, Sept. 3The StrutsYoung classic-rockers (seems like a paradox, we know, but just listen to the songs) the Struts are kicking off a comeback North American trek right here in Florida with the Beacham as the third stop. The Brit quartet will be showing off…
Orlando live music picks, Sept. 4-8: Jack Harlow, Inhuman Condition, Leonard Jacome
With the Delta raging across an already dicey vaccination landscape, protect yourself if you go out. An added bonus, completely free of charge or extra exertion, is that you’ll also be helping protect everyone around you. And now you know how this all works. Inhuman Condition, Crusadist, Destructonomicon, Withering Earth: With heavy pedigree earned from…
New Orlando releases: Fresh stuff from local cassette-only label Popnihil and Marc With a C
The latest release on dark local label Popnihil (full disclosure: Popnihil is run by OW editor Matthew Moyer) is the consummation of a cross-border union born right here in Orlando just before the pandemic came down. Homegrown weirdo polymath Joshua Rogers and experimental Canadian artist bBomit crossed paths in 2020 as performers at a post-International…
EA Sports’ new Madden NFL 22 features music from Orlando rappers on the rise
A lot of people thought the Madden videogame franchise had gone stale. Maybe it had, but the 2022 version of the game was hotly anticipated by friends and foes alike. Keep in mind that careers have been made off Madden NFL trolling. When the game finally dropped on Aug. 20, people were delighted by the…
Savage Love: ‘My wife came out as a lesbian after 30 years of marriage, but we’re not divorcing’
Hello Dan! I am a heterosexual man! My wife came out as a lesbian after 30 years of marriage. We have children together and we love each other. Therefore, we’ve decided not to divorce. We visited some therapists and they all coerced us to divorce, even though we really do not want that. We believe…
Julie Delpy’s ‘On the Verge,’ debuting on Netflix Tuesday, is the anti-SATC
Premieres Wednesday: Dug Days — OK, I know my standard operating procedure for this column is to sort of crap aspersions on everything. But seriously — the delightful Dug the dog from Pixar’s Up is starring in his very own animated series? And he’s joined by an entire litter of adorable puppies? As God is…
Neither of Biden’s Afghanistan options were good: either make good on Trump’s deal or recommit to a quagmire
For all the talk of Saigon, I think the Bay of Pigs serves as a better political analogy for what’s happening in Afghanistan. Like John F. Kennedy, Joe Biden inherited a half-cocked plan whose aim he committed to during the presidential campaign, then shouldered the blame when it went sideways. The parallels aren’t perfect, of…
