Cover Story
Sunday Funday: A bunch of boozy brunches for all tastes
Brunch is many things to many people. It can be a sloppy affair, bolted in hopes of forestalling a hangover; it can be a lovely, proper Mother’s Day meal. It can be a chance to fill in the squad on last night’s exploits, or to rehash them if you were all out together. It’s a…
UCF ranked the 15th most polite campus in the nation, according to GrubHub
Homework is piling up. Schedules are falling by the wayside. Exhaustion is no longer an option, but a necessary evil. If you’re in college, you’re probably hungry. There’s three options: make food, get food or delivery. Given the circumstances listed above, it’s easy for the average collegiate to handle deliveries with a scowl, but University of…
PB&J Theatre factory brings essential stagecraft to Artlando, Sept. 26
What’s better than a peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich? Why, the performances of the PB&J Theatre Factory, of course! This theater troupe takes after the food for which it was named: simple, filling and beloved by adults and children alike. Watch them caper onstage at Artlando, Orlando Weekly’s all-day outdoor art and cultural festival at Loch Haven Park on…
33 free concerts this week in Orlando (9/16-9/22)
Wednesday, Sept. 16 Control This! 10 p.m. at Tanqueray’s, 100 S. Orange Ave. Eugene Snowden’s Ten Pints of Truth 10 p.m. at Lil Indies, 1036 N. Mills Ave. The Imperial’s Acoustic Soundcheck with Beemo 9 p.m. at the Imperial at Washburn Imports, 1800 N. Orange Ave. Thursday, Sept. 17 Chelsea Chen 7:30 p.m. at Rollins…
Read the Yelp reviews of Orange County Jail
Yelp: It’s not just for local restaurants, coffee shops and retailers, you know. You can review pretty much anything you want – review your barber, review your bail bondsmen. Or, better yet, review your local jail. Right now, Orange County Jail (2450 W. 33rd St., in case you don’t know where it is) has five…
Health care communications director leaves after questioning governor’s office
The fallout after Florida’s witch hunt against Planned Parenthood continues as Politico is now reporting that the Agency for Health Care Administration’s communications director has left her position. Last week, Politico learned Gov. Rick Scott’s office had scrubbed press releases about AHCA’s investigation of Planned Parenthood in the state of pertinent information, like the fact that…
Outpost Neighborhood Kitchen adds award-winning mac and cheese to fall menu
Last weekend, more than 2,000 people headed to Kissimmee to eat their noodles off at the O-Town MacDown, benefiting Give Kids the World Village, where local restaurants, professional chefs and home cooks competed to win the title of Best Mac ‘N Cheese in Orlando. Outpost Neighborhood Kitchen on Edgewater Drive in College Park took home second…
Conservation group files emergency motion to block Florida’s bear hunt
Florida’s scheduled black bear hunt is a little more than a month away, yet opponents are still fighting the battle in court. Speak Up Wekiva Inc., a conservation group based in Seminole County, has filed an emergency motion to stop the hunt starting on Oct. 24 and accelerate its case against the Florida Fish and…
McDonald’s unveiled a ground chicken burger in Tampa, and they expect you to eat it
We don’t normally use “healthy” as an adjective to describe McDonald’s but the fast-food giant is hoping that will change with the new addition of two low-calorie options to its menu. Enter Tampa Bay’s McDonald’s operators, who came up with the Classic and Signature ground chicken burgers as a better option for more health-conscious customers.…
A Panda Express food truck will be handing out free orange chicken this Thursday
Panda Express, the college student’s preferred purveyor of Americanized hangover food, will be parking a food truck in Orlando this Thursday and handing out free samples of their most popular chicken flavor. From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Panda truck will be parked at Washington Square at Lake Eola Park, and will be handing…
Florida convinces Amazon exec Jeff Bezos to bring his Blue Origin aerospace project to Space Coast
Blue Origin, the aerospace effort of technology entrepreneur Jeff Bezos, will build a $200 million manufacturing facility just south of Kennedy Space Center that will employ about 330 people in exchange for state and local incentives. With Gov. Rick Scott on hand Tuesday, Bezos, who founded the online marketplace Amazon.com and is ranked among the…
We reviewed and ranked those cringeworthy 411-PAIN radio jingles
If you’ve tuned into local Orlando radio, chances are you’ve caught one of the catchy jingles used to promote the legal and medical referral service 411 PAIN. The company has been remixing popular music to advertise its services over the radio waves for several years now, mixing rhymes about auto accidents and medical emergencies to…
Florida is the 3rd most Instagrammed state, says study
“Hashtag” isn’t a word that would’ve meant much five years ago, but nowadays it’s determining what’s being talked about the most on social media and it’s seems quite a few people being are tagging the state of Florida. In a recent “study” by Pixable, which broke down the most hashtags associated with each state, the Sunshine…
Marco Rubio disses Florida State University in radio interview
Presidential candidate Marco Rubio is currently traveling across the country shaking hands, kissing babies and generally trying to not alienate anyone. But one group this University of Florida graduate couldn’t care less about are Seminoles fans. On a radio interview with Iowa station KNXO 1460 AM last week, Rubio read Florida State University to filth,…
5 things you need to know about Wednesday’s Drink Around The Hood
Drink Around The Hood is this Wednesday and we have few exciting tidbits we’d love to share with you about Orlando Weekly’s monthly party in the “Ivanhood” district. 1. First off, we’re switching it up and serving suds from our heavy-handed friends over at Shipyard Brewing Co. and Sea Dog Brewing Company. Hood drinkers can expect brews…
Disney World is about to end one of their most popular Christmas traditions
Disney’s Hollywood Studios is in the middle of the biggest change since the park first opened in 1989. With Star Wars and Toy Story now confirmed and numerous loud rumors of other major additions coming to the struggling theme park, many of the cherished and not so cherished (I’m looking at you Pizza Planet) are…
Central Florida’s giant land crabs are now emerging from the Earth
It’s breeding season for giant land crabs, which means for the next couple weeks, crabs the size Nerf footballs will rise from their burrows and lurk in the forests of Central Florida. “They’re very active in the late summer and early fall,” said Nichole Perna of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service” to WESH. “This…
Florida man tries to buy weed, accidentally texts narcotics captain
A 29-year-old Florida man looking to score some weed was arrested after he accidentally dialed the captain of the Martin County Sheriff’s Narcotics Unit. According to the Washington Post, William Lamberson, a Port St. Lucie, Florida, resident and guy who just really wanted to mellow out, thought he was chatting with friends for a “hook-up”…
Valencia College asks judge to dismiss transvaginal probe lawsuit
Valencia College is now asking a judge in the U.S. District Court to throw out a lawsuit against transvaginal probes filed by students earlier this year and award them legal costs. The original lawsuit alleged that students in the “highly competitive” sonography program were forced to volunteer for routine transvaginal ultrasounds, a procedure which entails…
Disneyland now has a $300 Jungle Cruise breakfast
You have plenty of crazy ways to waste your money here at Walt Disney World (most seem to include desserts for you to distract yourself from the crazy amounts of money you spent), but Disneyland might have just beat Orlando with the ‘wildest’ way to spend your money. A new $300 breakfast will allow guests…
7 fun shops that are worth the trip to Sanford
For those of us living closer to Orlando’s urban core, we typically don’t find ourselves taking excursions to some of the less hustling-and-bustling outlying areas of Central Florida. Unbeknownst to some, historic downtown Sanford continues to expand and add some beloved businesses, making city slickers think twice about ignoring our 1-4 corridor neighbors. Here are…
Outsider artist David Liebe Hart brings a mind-bending multimedia show to Will’s Pub on Monday
David Liebe Hart is known popularly for his roles on Adult Swim (Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!) and in underground music circles as one of the more illustrious outsider artists alongside luminaries like Wesley Willis. The noted eccentric came through back in 2012 with a punk rock band to open for Black Moth…
This Dennis the Menace statue, stolen from California in 2006, turned up in Orlando
This statue of Dennis the Menace turned up at Brothers Scrap Metals in Orlando recently. Not really that surprising, because who wants to keep an old statue of Dennis the Menace around, anyway? California, that’s who. From 1988 until 2006, this hunk of metal fashioned in the likeness of Sunday comics character Dennis the Menace…
This is the last weekend to see “Painted Black” at Museum of Art DeLand
On Wednesday we published our review of two shows currently on display at the Museum of Art DeLand. Today we heard from the museum that, due to circumstances beyond their control, the Surovek exhibition will close earlier than expected. From the museum’s press release: There is only one week left to view the incredible works…
3 local fall beers to drink this weekend, plus a French Bulldog dressed as a pumpkin to get your weekend started right
Since it’s the first weekend of autumn (and also still as hot as summer), you’ll probably want to cool down with a cold one while feeling fall-festive. Here are three local seasonal brews you’ll want to crack open while you sit around the pool, swelter and pray to the humidity gods for some relief this…
Orlando Speaks hosting second event at Edgewater High in October
The second installment of Orlando Speaks, an “interactive workshop designed to strengthen relationships and trust between officers and residents,” is scheduled for Oct. 13 at Edgewater High School, according to a city press release. As we reported in August, the first Orlando Speaks event, run by the Valencia College Peace and Justice Institute, had some…
1 out of 17 Orlando children were homeless in 2014
A troubling report released by the Central Florida Regional Commission on Homelessness found that in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties last year, 26,000 children spent part of 2014 homeless, the Orlando Sentinel reports. That’s one out of every 17 kids in the Central Florida area, beating the national average from the U.S. Department of Education…
Pumpkin Everything, Part 2: Bagels, Biscuits & Greek Yogurt
Good news! According to Weather.com, today is the last 90-degree day we’ll have for the foreseeable future! Huzzah! Bad news! The day after Labor Day is now officially the start of All-Things-Fall season (bye bye, white pants), including the rollout of every kind of pumpkin-spice-flavored thing ever. For this edition of our recurring “Pumpkin Everything”…
Florida man puts faces to the names of every 9/11 victim
In a massive memorial undertaking, Leesburg resident Michael DeMinico is painting a portrait of every single person who died in the 9/11 attacks. He’s been working on the project for more than 10 years, and so far he’s painted 1,300 oil portraits on 9-inch by 12-inch canvases. Crystal Chavez interviewed DelMinico today on WMFE: The idea…
A Florida Internet troll was arrested for plotting to bomb a 9/11 memorial event
Joshua Ryne Goldberg, a 20-year-old resident of Orange Park, Florida, and described “Internet troll,” is currently in custody for telling an FBI agent to place a pressure cooker bomb at a 9/11 memorial event in Kansas City, Missouri. According to a press release from the Department of Justice, Goldberg was making contact with a person…
ATTN: Record collectors, fall date set for Orlando Record and CD Show this October
Last weekend, I made it by the all-vinyl garage sale of “Dan the Record Man” over on Edgewater, and many friends were bristled that I did not share this intel before it was too late. The truth is, I didn’t find out about the sale until the morning of, when a friend who is Much…
Composer Keith Lay debuts a new work for brass and mimes at Timucua this weekend
Keith Lay is proving to be our area’s most inventive composer. Last year, he put on one of the most interesting public pieces of symphonic art to hit Lake Eola Park with “Distance Music,” a suite that had the audience walk around the lake to experience how notes blasted from brass ensembles and train horns…
Controversial artist John Sims holds a listening party for his new ‘AfroDixieRemixes’ album at Rollins
You may remember an article we ran in June detailing the local performance of a 13-state art project called “13 Flag Funerals,” in which Sarasota artist John Sims organized a burning and/or burial of the Confederate Flag in all 13 of the Confederate states. It ruffled a few feathers, to say the least, but with…
AG Pam Bondi says she wants rape kits cleared, as a New York politician announces he’s sending money our way to do it
The fact that a rape kit could ever sit untested is almost unbelievable – when a woman is raped, and she agrees to undergo an invasive medical exam to obtain enough evidence that could help track down her attacker, the last thing she expects is that her rape kit will sit untested for weeks, months,…
Disney will begin construction for Star Wars Land in 2016
In an investors conference Thursday afternoon, Walt Disney Co. Chief Operating Officer Tom Staggs announced that construction for the highly anticipated Star Wars Lands will begin next year at Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland Anaheim. “This will be I think perhaps the most immersive land we’ve ever built,” said Staggs about the purposed 14 acre…
Florida Supreme Court rules that judges can’t wear colorful robes
The Florida Supreme Court says the issue comes down to public trust and confidence. And from now on, that means judges can only don solid black robes when they head into court. Despite arguments that it doesn’t need to act as the fashion police, the Supreme Court on Thursday approved a rule that will prevent…
Local success story Christopher Paul Stelling returns to scene reunion (Will’s Pub)
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND In case you missed my feature story last week, the latest local-boy-makes-good story is Christopher Paul Stelling, a Daytona Beach native whose first launchpad was the Orlando indie scene and who now tours as a signed man to heavyweight label Anti Records. As good as he is on record, live is where…
Top 10 bands to catch at 20 Years of Will’s Pub on Sunday – plus full schedule announced
Will’s Pub booked more than 20 (mostly) Florida bands to play their big finale (Sunday, Sept. 13) to their 20th anniversary weekend extravaganza (which also features shows by My Hotel Year and Bughead) and a few days ago, they posted a schedule to help you plan your day out right. See the full schedule above and…
Orange-Osceola Public Defender calls attention to the arrest of children
Beatrice Brown remembers defending an 8-year-old boy in court many years ago for a minor offense. Police officers brought him out in shackles and a large jumpsuit that piled around his legs. The boy was so small he barely reached her chest. “I had so many similar cases, I don’t know what ended up happening…
Black Diamond Heavies’ James Leg returns solo to fry up the blues again (Will’s Pub)
THIS LITTLE UNDERGROUND The name James Leg (Sep. 7, Will’s Pub) may not be too familiar on its own quite yet but his background should be if you’re into blues punk. He was part of the final, expanded lineup of the Immortal Lee County Killers. Even though they were one of the all-time best bands…
Florida’s panther problems get a writeup in the New Yorker
We’ve written recently about the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission’s attempt to quietly cut back on its efforts to expand the state’s panther population. The argument for doing so, put forth in a draft memo posted to the agency’s website with little fanfare or attention, was that the 180 or so breeding panthers that live in Southwest…
An inside look at what to expect from Halloween Horror Nights 25
Last night, in a tucked-away soundstage of Universal Studios, Universal director of entertainment Michael Aiello took the floor to reveal a few additional details about this year’s 25th anniversary celebration of Halloween Horror Nights. Costumes and props from the various houses were scattered playfully around the room, makeup stations brought a nymphish scareactor to life,…
A massive snake tried to escape its owner’s truck on Colonial Drive
It’s been a bad week for Orlando snake enthusiasts. Amidst a citywide snake hunt for an 8 foot king cobra, another huge serpent tried to escape its owner– this time in the middle of traffic on Colonial Drive. Sunday evening at 6:13 p.m., William Moxey caught this video of what appears to be a python,…
Disney announces opening date for Morimoto Asia
Walt Disney World has finally announced the opening date of one of the most anticipated new restaurants coming to Downtown Disney (soon to be known as Disney Springs, some time in 2016 when renovations are supposed to be complete): Morimoto Asia will open on Sept. 30, and if the restaurant’s posts to its Facebook page and…
Sanford man’s ‘Slow Jams from the Kitchen’ promises to spice things up
One of Orlando’s favorite musicians, Chandler Strang, has many things to put under his resume: frontman of Saskatchewan and CASE WORK, beat master behind Dromes and manufacturer of “I am Florida Man” shirts. But his most indulgent project yet? “Slow Jams from the Kitchen.” The series began as a short clip that was posted to…
Six Florida schools make it onto GrubHub’s list of the 50 Most Caffeinated Colleges
What is it about Florida that makes us so sleepy? Or, more specifically, Floridian college students? Snack enablers GrubHub did a study of more than 100 colleges in 47 states in order to find out who’s consuming the most coffee. They combed through their order histories to find caffeinated beverages (coffee and energy drinks) ordered…
6 new restaurant openings, a 5-course dinner at Emeril’s, 95-cent sangria and more in foodie news
The formidable trio of James and Julie Petrakis and Clayton Miller (he of Thomas Keller’s French Laundry and Michael Mina’s Wit & Wisdom) will be chef-partners at the DoveCote, a modern brasserie to be located on the ground floor of the postmodern eyesore we call the Bank of America building. The Orange Avenue space, which…
An interview with Kyla Swanberg, the designer behind the eye-catching costumes of ‘Heathers: The Musical’
It’s been a month since Gen Y’s production of Heathers: The Musical graced the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, and while I had some qualms with the script, there was nothing but applause for costumer Kyla Swanberg’s eye-catching creations. Here’s that interview I promised in my review with one of Orlando’s hottest young…
Things aren’t all smiley at these two shows of paintings by and of black Americans
This fall, exhibits at the Museum of Art – DeLand are putting black lives front and center. A drive to DeLand is rewarded with two rich exhibits in the Museum’s main facility – Purvis Young: Art of Street, and an ethnographic collection of West African tribal art that has enormous spiritual power – and viewers…
Opening in Orlando: The Visit, Wolf Totem, 90 Minutes in Heaven and more
90 Minutes in Heaven If you’ve ever wondered if God punishes people who help ruin popular genre franchises, just look what’s happened to Hayden “poor man’s Anakin” Christensen and Kate “nobody’s Lois Lane” Bosworth. They’ve been reduced to providing the “name” talent in the faith-based drama 90 Minutes in Heaven, which has Christensen playing a…
This Little Underground: Earth’s sole Florida date bends reality
I talk a lot about focus here. It’s one of the criteria I respect most in not just art, but in all human endeavor. By that metric alone, Earth should probably be in the hall of fame because likely no other band’s mapped the depth and nuance of the riff as creatively and comprehensively as…
Selections (9/9-9/16)
Wednesday, Sept. 9: Spamalot If you’re the kind of person who likes to put on your best bad British accent and throw one-liners into conversations, or you’re the kind of person who makes eyes roll at parties by reciting lengthy passages from Monty Python and the Holy Grail (or even if you just like that one gimmick where…
Savage Love (9/9/15)
Is it legal for a man to procure the services of a dominatrix? In the kind of session I have in mind, there’s no nudity or sexual activity or contact involved. There’s not even any whipping or flogging or caning or hardcore BDSM stuff. I just want to see what it would be like to…
Free Will Astrology (9/9/15)
ARIES (March 21-April 19) “More and more I have come to admire resilience,” writes Jane Hirshfield in her poem “Optimism.” “Not the simple resistance of a pillow,” she adds, “whose foam returns over and over to the same shape, but the sinuous tenacity of a tree: Finding the light newly blocked on one side, it…
Gimme Shelter (9/9/15)
Orange County Animal Services has a unique tale in Cinnamon (Animal ID# A314054). This 2-year-old friendly feline first arrived at the shelter six months ago. Shelter staff are shocked she has not yet been adopted. She spent two stints in foster care temporarily recovering from minor illnesses. She now has a clean bill of health…
Lulu Eightball (9/9/15)
Related Stories
Florida’s battle for solar power heats up
Every election season, a funny thing happens – people come out of the woodwork to initiate the process of getting constitutional amendments on the ballot to address issues the Legislature hasn’t touched. Last year, voters overwhelmingly approved, for instance, a measure to dedicate a certain amount of funding to land and water conservation measures. In previous…
A local co-op is getting the ball rolling on affordable solar power
A group of local residents has decided not to wait for the state to make it easier or cheaper for homeowners to convert to solar. According to Mary Dipboye, founder of Central Florida Solar Advocates, the region’s (and perhaps the state’s) first formal solar co-op is now up and running. The Orlando-Winter Park Solar Co-op,…
A week at Will’s Pub
People don’t always have it easy. Sometimes you leave home before you’re ready. Sometimes you can’t reach your goals. Sometimes you see no future. While it may be more constructive to start jogging or something when this is your mental state, sometimes the right kind of place can substitute these strangling inadequacies for loose-fitting diversions.…
California duo Best Coast proves there’s more to life than just sunshine
From the outside, Bethany Cosentino’s life looks pretty perfect. There’s the hopelessly romantic name of her band, Best Coast. Her effortless collaborative relationship with righthand man Bobb Bruno. Their sun-dappled California-centric guitar rock. Their meteoric rise to indie success after the release of 2010 album Crazy for You, which Cosentino described as being “about weed…
Picks This Week: My Hotel Year, ZZ Ward and more
ZZ Ward Bluesy songstress ZZ Ward released an EP, Love and War, to tide fans over until her new album comes out next spring. 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 9, at the Beacham, $20 In Sonitus Lux We’d say In Sonitus Lux pivots around avant-garde artist Serson Brannen (the Subliminator), but the word “pivot” suggests there’s…
Chico’s serves up cheap, casual drinks and tacos without the fake ID crowd
Chico’s Tequila Bar 50 E. Central Blvd., 407-422-6299, acebook.com/chicostequilabar After work or after hours? Both. All day long, if you’d like, since house margaritas are just $3 all day, every day. Beer/wine or liquor too? All of the above Check all that apply: ☐ fancy cocktails ☒ make ’em strong and keep ’em coming ☐…
