LETTERS

Tryin' to get with Manes

Billy "my man," I just wanted to remind you that if I were not a happily married man, if I were not a self-assured male, if I were not confident in my own straight sexual orientation, you would be my toy `Happytown™, Feb. 8`. Thanks for all the press/publicity and nice things to say over the years.

Jim Philips, Orlando

Preds foul too

Jeffrey C. Billman: You are so right, someone should have called foul `"Foul," Feb. 1`. However, there is something not mentioned in your article — in fact the TV stations and the Orlando Sentinel did not mention it either — that needs to be addressed: the Orlando Predators arena football team. A lot of people seem to forget that Orlando has two pro teams (the Magic and the Predators) and the Preds would also play in the new arena because the Amway Arena would be torn down after this new one is built. So, my question to you is: How much will the Predators contribute? Should someone call foul on them as well?

Tracy Flood, Orlando

Dept. of bar land security

Last Thursday night (Feb. 1), I went to the Social to see my friend's band, the Country Slashers. I arrived at 9:55 p.m. and saw the sign by the sidewalk. It said the show started at 7 p.m. So, thinking I had missed the show, I walked across the street. I happened to see Jason of the Country Slashers sitting outside Lizzy McCormack's drinking a Guinness. He asked, "You coming to the show?" Completely confused, I told him about the sign and he said the time posted was wrong. They would be playing at 10:30 p.m. So I walked across the street to go inside the Social and something strange happened.

When I got to the front door of the Social I was greeted by security! Not only did the guy at the front door stare at my Florida drivers license for minutes, but after he gave it back to me, he demanded that I empty my pockets, place everything on a table and get wanded. I thought I was going to the Social and instead was met with the House of Blues security!

I was stunned at such a humiliating request and said the "F" word to the security guy and left. I never went inside the Social, and have no intentions of ever returning to the Social as long as the new management wants to treat its returning clientele worse than the contents of an overflowed toilet. I thought that behavior was weird until the following Sunday night.

I was getting a drink at a Chevron station on Mills Avenue when Benny from the Hex Tremors asked me if I was going to the Floridas Dying party at the Social. I told him no, because I was going to watch the Super Bowl, and that the Social has weird security at the front door now. After the game, I walked past the Social on my way to the Bar-BQ-Bar. I noticed a lot of Orlando police officers inside and outside the Social and a lot of band members carrying their instruments outside the Social. I went inside the Bar-BQ-Bar, where a lot of the bands from Floridas Dying were. Friends of mine explained that the management/security freaked when someone allegedly exposed his male member onstage. The police were called, the show was cancelled, and three people had to spend the night in jail.

I do not think the Social wants to be a venue for local bands anymore. The new management is looking for any excuse to end their performances. If a local band does get to perform, the new management will use any excuse to ban them. As a longtime customer of both the Sapphire and the Social, I will not attend any function, nor encourage anyone else to, at that venue until the new management gets rid of the negative attitude among its security staff.

Robert Y. Patterson III, Orlando