Cyclosa Confusa

Cyclosa Confusa starting Andrew Conner was certainly the strangest and most entertaining show I have seen at the Fringe so far. The show started with the theater in total darkness. A creature enters the theater which has mini LED flashlights on it’s head and hands. It is very tall judging from the lights it projects around the audience. Rushing around, I could hear its joints squeaking. It wondered up and down the isles searching. Mark Baratelli had just entered the theater and ended up sitting alone at a theater left seat.

The tall green creature was on stage and disappeared behind a small white curtain. He pulled out some binoculars and started scanning the audience. He looked right at Mark and lingered. He rushed back out into the audience where Mark was seated and began massaging Marks head. He sprinkled salt on Marks scalp and then put a hard hat on with a rubber hose sticking out of the top. He pulled out a mini hand held drill and pretended to drill into Marks head. The rubber hose acted as a straw with which he sucked marks brains with delight. Even in his embarrassment Mark had the forethought to hand off his camera so Sultana Ali could take some pictures.

Mark was pulled on stage and seated in a metal folding chair with his back to the audience. The Cyclosa, now in a lab coat started running a series of obtuse and humerus tests. If Mark answered correctly he got a happy face mark, if he answered incorrectly the sad face would be checked. Many of the questions were obvious like, 2 + 2 = _____. Then came a difficult question, 3 triangles a circle and another triangle = _____. Mark thought for a moment and said, “4 kisses and a cookie.” That deserved a huge smile face check and the audience roared.

The creature looked through the bag of a woman in the front row and he pulled out an address book. On stage he offered it to Mark as a reward. Mark looked over his shoulder and held up the book smiling with a page open full of contact information. Tisse Mallon took his photo. Mark kept getting a barge of gifts and romantic advances from the Cyclosa.

Mark and a girl picked from the audience then had to perform an operation on a human heart which the Cyclosa had extricated from his tail or butt. As they worked on the heart with their utensils the Cyclosa used a spray bottle to moisten the heart and plate. He was spritzing so much that the two were lost in a cloud of wet mist.

With a series of play cards the Cyclose quickly outlined his back story. His civilization in the center of the Earth had been lost because of a rouge lave flow. He had been spared since he was surfing the lava at the time. He wanted to take Mark to his home. The Cyclosa was in love and I think so was Mark.

In the end the Cyclose offered its heart by unzipping it’s fly and attaching what looked like a clothes line to Marks helmet. The heart was strung on the line with a carabiner and then the line was pulled sending the heart over to Marks face. When the Cyclose wrote on a large card, “Will you come with me?” The audience was shouting at Mark to accept the creatures loving advances. Smitten, Mark accepted.

So much fun! Don’t miss it!

Thursday, May 27th 7:10 PM

Friday, May 28th 11:05 PM

Happiness Hurts

Performance artist Brian Feldman put out a call on Facebook for anyone with a video camera to record his performance of Happiness Hurts at the Orlando Museum of Art. I happen to have a video camera, so I sent him a message and he made arrangements to get me into the event. He created this performance for 1st Thursdays at the Museum. 1st Thursdays is a monthly event where artists are asked to exhibit work along a similar theme. I couldn’t make out the theme by looking at the art hanging on the walls. Then Tisse Mallon finally realized that they must all relate to happiness. Brian’s performance piece was the key to the puzzle. I spent some time getting the camera ready and there was some panic that the cord to the projector might not be long enough. At the last minute a longer cord was found.

Brian began to smile and the museum slowly filled up. Some people got the idea of the performance right away. I overheard one woman saying, “Smiling that long must hurt.” I was the sketch artist and cameraman. I turned the LCD display so Brian could see his closely cropped face in the viewfinder. This allowed him to focus and remain perfectly still. I set my watch timer to go off in an hour and at that time I would have to replace the tape.

While I was working Sultana Fatima Ali introduced herself to me. She had helped organize a bicycle giveaway program called “Wheels for Kids” that I had sketched. On that day, she had seen me working and she asked a policeman who I was. He told her about my blog and she started reading. She has started following Brian’s performances so she has started to appear in my sketches. As I sketched, I kept meeting people I know. I don’t disappear into the woodwork the way I used to. I am slowly learning to balance the work with the socializing.

On the wall, Brian’s smile was quivering; he was having trouble keeping his smile consistent. He had to keep smiling for three straight hours. With my sketch complete, I wandered around a bit and looked at some of the art. I had to leave early to go sketch another event, so I asked Tisse if she would pack up my camera and tripod and she agreed.

FRESH – The Coffee Mound

In the final hours before the opening night performance, Jessica Mariko had the dancers do a full run-through of the whole show. I had spent most of the day setting up my art installation of the 2009 Sketchbooks in the entry room. I had fun using a whole lot of junk found in my garage to create my odd, somewhat alienish installation. In the main room I leaned up against a wall and started to sketch. Everyone was rushing around to clean up before the first audience arrived. Bob Kodzis asked Christie Miga where a garbage can was. She pointed towards me and said “Over there next to the artist sketching.” It is humbling being a landmark for garbage. When Ashley Kroft and Tin Tin started to explore the coffee mound which is the stage for one of the dance routines, they discovered rocks and glass in the dirt. Ashley, and several other volunteers, had to sift through and remove as much glass and rock as possible. They can never be sure they sifted every inch. Lighting was being installed and aimed right up until the last second. There are no dressing rooms in the Cameo theater so for the rehearsals the dancers changed in the man’s room and the women’s room became the bathroom. I only discovered this when I had to actually use the bathroom and I almost walked in on a costume change. Right before the performance Jessica poored a whole bag of raw coffee grounds on the mound which filled the room with the distinctive pleasing aroma of coffee.
There was a rumor that someone was going to propose marriage to his girlfriend this night so I had my eyes on the lookout for who that couple might be. For an additional fee some couples were allowed to wander through the Willy Wonka like edible environment on their own before the main crowd arrived. The more daring also had their bodies painted and got Henna Tattoos. This was a small group of couples and I figured the marriage proposal would be among them. Tisse and I debated on which couple it might be and we agreed on a slender young woman who was getting a Henna Tattoo. Her boyfriend however was in his iPhone not really paying attention to her. I wrote this behavior down to nerves and figured he was texting a friend to try and decide when he should pop the question. I kept my eyes on this couple for some time but then out of the corner of my eyes I saw a glint of gold and a woman hugged her fiance and kissed him. I had missed the main event! Bob, who was acting as the MC, announced the proposal and acceptance, and everyone in the room applauded.
If you want a unique sensual and pleasurable evening with your true love, then FRESH is without a doubt the hottest ticket in town!

Fresh Rehearsal


Jessica Mariko invited me to sit in on rehearsals for Fresh which is starting February fourth at the Cameo Theater (1013 East C0lonial Drive). Rehearsals were held at the new Drip Warehouse on Old Winter Garden Road. I got hopelessly lost the first time I tried to find the place but Christie Miga, one of the amazing Drip Art Directors finally gave me some landmarks to help me find the place.
Fresh promises to offer a Willy Wonka like edible environment where guests get to experience culinary performances all revolving around the theme of love. There will be an art and candy market in which you will be able to see my work as well as photos from Tisse Mallon. This is an amazing event that will appeal to all of your senses. Everyone at the event will be dressed in their bohemian best along with colorful hippie accents and beatnik flair.
At this rehearsal Tin Tin was leading the dancers as they rehearsed a piece around a new hand made silk screen printing press. In previous performances they had rented a printing press but for this show a hand crafted press was created using PVC, wood, and lots of creativity. Now the press looks like a glorious lotus flower. The music for this piece is driving and rhythmic. At first he dancers move like zombies who are discovering their body movements for the first time. They stretched and reached out in staccato violent moves. They shivered and shook until they discovered the press and through it they developed a sensuality and vitality to their movements. As they created, every movement became more vibrant.
The warehouse where the rehearsal was taking place was littered with all of the creative elements that are being assembled for the set. Christie asked me for any junk I might have lying around my garage, and I bought in an old Computer monitor, a VCR and a broken down air conditioner. There were disassembled and incorporated into organic creations. I saw VCR wires hanging from a flower made from plastic bottles and the computer monitor was painted white. I joked that if these set designers had been given the task of fixing the Lake Eola Fountain they could recreate and get it working it with found objects, old PVC, duck tape and a whole lot of creativity.

“Dressed to Kill” New Years Eve at the Enzian

This is officially my first sketch of 2010. I had four other parties I was considering for New Year’s Eve, but Brian Feldman and Tisse Mallon told me about this $5 James Bond themed party at the Enzian Theater. At $5 admission, it may have been the best deal in town. Approaching the theater, I could feel the electric excitement of the crowd. Terry and I had to park several blocks away because the lot was overflowing. At the Eden Bar outside, people were packed shoulder to shoulder. One man in a black jacket had a huge scar down the side of his face and he was petting a white rabbit. This villain explained that the rabbit was much more sinister than the cat used in the Bond movie, From Russia with Love. Beautiful women were everywhere, dressed in gorgeous gowns. Groups were voguing for the cameras. There was a red carpet to the theater entrance. A movie screen was set up outside and crowds were seated at the tables watching. Gunfire ricochets could be heard from every angle.
I found Brian, Tisse and Mark Baratelli almost immediately. It turns out Mark had scored a table thanks to his Blog, The Daily City.com, so we tried to get in. Everybody but Mark was turned away at the door since we did not have wristbands. So we stood in the line for wristbands. The line never seemed to move. Terry proactively sought out the General Manager of the Enzian and got us wristbands.
We squeezed past the bouncer and found Mark’s table. There were only two chairs at the table and four of us, so I hiked back to my truck and got my portable chair. Once seated, I scanned the crowd and started sketching. Faces were lit everywhere by the warm loving glow of iPhones and other portable devices. The music was so loud that you really could’t talk, so I imagine people might have been texting one another even as they were seated at the same table.
After the ball dropped, Terry and I got on the dance floor. We got caught up in a line dance to a song I had never heard before. The music roared “To the left, to the left, to the right, to the right, turn yourself around, turn yourself around!” It involved a few chorus line kicks and shuffling left and right. We caught on pretty quick, although the crowd itself was never very organized. The smooth slippery beat was addictive. Dancers batted blue and white balloons around the dance floor. The strobe lights tended to blind me so I usually danced with my back to the stage.
We left the Enzian and then headed over to Matt McGrath’s house. His place had a group of actors and actresses all shoulder to shoulder at the backyard bar. Leander Suleiman, an actress I had sketched before, was there and I introduced her to Terry. We all toasted with champagne when New Year’s came around for Chicago.
Matt and I chatted for a while and I found out he is going to be a producer for a possible Orlando Fringe show called “Project F.” The show is fourth on the waiting list to get into the Fringe, but he’s excited about the project, and we discussed it for quite a while. Other than talking to Matt and Leander, I didn’t socialize much. I was winding down. Matt claimed that his party would be going strong till 11:45 AM, but I didn’t have the ambition to keep partying. We returned home happy and pleasantly exhausted.

The Citrus Bowl Parade


When we got to the starting point for the parade, the horses became a bit agitated. They kept turning around and around. I got out of the truck to sketch them several times. Then before you knew it, we were sent to the front of the line to head up the parade route. The pooper scooppers got their bucket and shovel out and followed behind. Immediately, a horse let loose a pile. As the scoopers shoveled, a bicyclist got too close and got hit with some flying poo. She laughed though and the scoopers shouted out an apology.
The parade route was really crowded. The officer’s children sitting in the police pickup truck bed with me started throwing candy out to the crowd. Adults and children alike were shouting, “Over here! Throw some over here! The kids were only five or six and didn’t have great throwing arms. The candy would land maybe a foot from the truck, and then the spectators would run into the street to retrieve it. I worked on finishing up this sketch for the duration of the parade. The horses and Citrus float were both sketched at the very beginning of the parade. Every inch of the float was covered with orange and yellow citrus. Once we were moving, the float fell far behind. When we turned the corner onto South Street, we lost sight of the floats behind us for good. I just kept picking out individuals in the crown and adding them to my sketch one at a time.
I was surprised when I heard my name being called out. I looked up from my sketchbook and saw Tisse Mallon and Jeff Wirth in the crowd. I gave them my best Cinderella wave and they laughed. Later, when we were rolling past the grand stands where the TV cameras were, I again heard my name and I picked out Mark Baratelli and Brian Feldman who were up high in an overlooking apartment courtyard. As I was waving to them, I saw a huge camera boom that was swinging over the street. I suddenly realized I might be on TV when the parade is aired nationally on New Year’s day. Being in a parade is like experiencing eleven seconds worth of fame. Then almost immediately, the parade was over.
As we drove back to the barn, we passed a pristine lake with beautiful white ibis and ducks. I could smell the water and warm air. A cormorant was drying his dark wings. It was a beautiful day for a parade.