Ok, so you just moved to Orlando from New York / Philly / Chicago / San Francisco / et al. You feel lost, uprooted, misplaced -- you're starting to think Orlando might suck. Eager to find some nightlife in this town, you go to Lattitudes on Church Street, Slingapour's on Wall Street and that mega-club on Orange Avenue owned by one of those Backstreet Boys (Orlando's finest celebrities). Maybe you even think International Drive, Citywalk or Downtown Disney is where everyone hangs out in this town. Now you really think Orlando sucks.
Well, you're wrong. There is more to this city than theme park "nightlife" and crappy clubs with guys wearing shiny shirts, but you have to know where to look. Instead of complaining about how lame Orlando is compared to your city of origin, why not get out there and support your new scene -- it's a lot better than you think! After all, you moved here for a reason, right? (I'm guessing to escape the cold weather.) So you can do one of two things: either 1) move back to the city you think is sooooo much more awesome or 2) quit bitchin', check the events below and DON'T SLEEP on the shit that is happening!
I haven’t been here in awhile but this is an excellent weekend to return. Why? Because of these two things:
First up, you may or may not have heard the news about Covert getting robbed while MOT was out of town. Lame. So tonight, in an attempt to bring up his spirits, check out the Music Never Forgets party with Mot, Spear and Ken Sherry at Sky60 (I don’t want to cave to their new branding until I absolutely have to!). And since it’s an offical Surf Expo after party, things are gonna get nuts (read: Jager. And lots of it).
And on Sunday over at the Milk District is the 3rd annual Dirty South BBQ. Etoile, Covert and BETA bring you the dopest potluck party of the year including Dj's, live bands, lola's pizza, dunk tank, bike tune ups, crafts and vegan hotdogs! 12 pm – 8pm, rain or shine (hell yeah, we got down in the rain a few years ago). Donations welcome!
So come out and support your local kids who are doing their best to make it happen in the midst of thieving assholes and a shitty economy!!!!!
Sorry I haven’t been around lately but I’ve had shit to do. Planning a major party in one week has been stressful, but tonight we will reap the benefits! Our man Michael Jackson died one week ago today and we need to pay him respect. There have been a few other tribute parties here and there, but I guarantee this one will be the party of the year. 10 PM, Peacock Room, $5 cover.
We encourage everyone to dress as appropriately as possible!!! Meaning glitter gloves, red leather jackets, high water pants, fedora hats, arm bands, white v-neck tshirts, and fakes noses !!!
So tonight, gotta leave that 9 – 5 upon the shelf, and just enjoy ourselves.
You may or may not have heard by now that you can get your drink on until 3 AM tonight and Thursday due to the Magic playoffs. This is a bittersweet victory for a few reasons: 1) Umm… don’t most people have to be at work early on Wednesday and Friday? and 2) Really, City of Orlando? All it took to extend drinking hours was the economy tanking and the Magic finally making the playoffs? If we ever hope to get back to the days of clubs actually staying open late, maybe we’ll just have to conjure some unicorns or teach pigs to fly. If the Magic can make the playoffs, anything is possible, right? Oh yeah, and fuck you for that parking ticket the other night. I was one minute late and on my way to refill your stupid meter!!!!
Wait, what was I saying? Oh, right… more time to drink tonight! If you want to get all up in the downtown chaos, Crooked Bayou is a great spot to watch the game. Not only do they have awesome food (try the Danimal with honey mustard and a side of tater tots), but they’ve also been featuring Magic-al drink specials throughout the playoffs.
Redlight Redlight will also be showing the game this evening, along with hosting a special beer-tasting event. The Left Hand Brewing Company will be serving up beer flights to try their southpaw-style beer and the first 48 people get to keep their pint glass.
(Note… Not sure if Redlight Redlight gets that extra-hour extension. According to the official press release of the City of Orlando, “alcohol can be sold until 3:00 a.m. (instead of 2:00 a.m.) and that closing of properly licensed establishments (within the City’s corporate limits) will be 4:00 a.m.” This fun little parentheses may very well screw over places like Redlight Redlight, Will's Pub and Peacock Room.)
And the award for most creative way to rip off the Magic’s logo goes to Covert Skate Shop!
Even though I'm the opposite of a sports fan, I can't help but be stoked for my li'l ol' town of Orlando getting national recognition. Hopefully they won't get their asses handed to them again! Happy hangovers to all planning to celebrate (or drown sorrows) tonight and Thursday!
If you’re feeling political and hip-hop-y, don’t miss Def Jux's golden boy, Mr. Lif at The Social.
If you’re feeling artsy and bugged out, check out Doug Rhodehamel’s latest art installment, Larva (Get it? Bugged out? Larva? Anyways.) over at Will's Pub.
Here are the copy/paste-style details since the flyer is a tad small.
LARVA an installation by Doug Rhodehamel
Will's Worm! Will's Worm! Party Time! Excellent!
On Tuesday May 26th I will create a giant, inflated, larva-like structure in the lovely Orlando Florida cozy spot that is Will's Pub.
This will be my first attempt at something like this. If all goes well, it should look really really cool!
Speaking of really cool, A Scissors, as well as Algarhythm will be making some music!
All for the unbelievable price of FREE!
Recap:
- Big air filled Larva. - Music by: A Scissors. - Free!
See? Not a single hater remark in this post! Aren't you proud of me? It doesn't matter - my opinions are what make this blog worth reading. You know you love it.
Yep – day 5+ of non-stop rain. Should make for nice soggy BBQs this weekend. (Soggy BBQ sounds like a band name, doesn’t it?) In addition to the lame “hip hop artist” with the same name as our state performing at whack attack Tabu tonight (she hit the flo’, next thing you kno’, low, low, low, barf, barf, barf), there is plenty going down in our swampy city this holiday weekend.
Music Never Forgets tonight at Sky60 (weather permitting, of course) with MOT, Spear and Huggy.
I’m guessing this one may be canceled. If so, check out Nigel and Gomez at Crooked Bayou instead.
Tomorrow during the day, there’s a special event that has somehow managed to pair beer tasting with couch racing. Not really sure what that’s all about but it sounds interesting.
If skateboards and artwork are your thing, check out Pushin’ VIII at Bold Hype tomorrow night. Over 30 local artists have decorated – you guessed it – skateboard decks for the show which will all be on display. Afterparty immediately following at Stardust with Mot and Johnny Five Mikes.
Another art party, False Alarm, will be taking place down at the warehouse space on west Central Ave featuring DJs Cub and Mo.
Haven’t really seen anything for Sunday yet except for a drunken crawfish boil which is sure to be full of drunken frat boys. I’m sure you can find a soggy BBQ here or there. Have a nice holiday!
Ok, the plan was to post this waaaaay earlier in the day, but the day job has taken over (as it has a right to, of course). And since time is no longer on my side, here are tonight’s events, summarized in 20 words or less:
Oh, Orlando. It seems as if the feast or famine rule also applies to the weather. A drought for 3 months followed by torrential downpours for 3 days straight (and counting)? Why not spread these things out a bit??? It would make for happier residents.
Anyways, if the rain finally decides to stop, or if you can rock a pair of galoshes like nobody’s business, then wade your way to one of these parties tonight.
And it seems the monthly Good Look party has been moved from beloved Bikkuri Sushi. Why? According to a cryptic Facebook message, it seems Bikkuri has been violating city codes and has been shutdown indefinitely. So much for the secret venue with seizure-inducing disco lights (they were a cool photo backdrop, though). The new home of Good Look is The Beacon, which just doesn’t seem the same. Maybe it’s the frat boy-esque, “see and be seen” vibe that accompanies most of the restaurants in Thorton Park. Can the Good Look kids thrive in this kind of environment? We’ll find out tonight.
Tonight at the Peacock Room) don't miss the opening reception for "Girls of Color" presented by local artist Charles Marklin. There may even be free wine. :)
And yet another music festival began last night – The Florida Music Festival. Two festivals in one weekend??? Seriously? We couldn’t have, like, spread it out between two weekends or something? It’s a good thing for Orlando but geez… what about those weekends where I don’t have a lot to write about? Anyways, enough about me. Check the FMF schedules by day:
Also, don’t miss the Rock Walk, an art show in conjunction with the FMF at the City Arts Factory. I can’t find a lot of information about the show, but I do know that Andrew Spear has painted two dope murals on the wall, which are probably both worth seeing in person. This is one of them:
Finally, if music festivals aren't your thing, but overdramatic theater people are, then you won't want to miss Orlando Fringe Festival, which also kicks off tonight. This cover of Watermark pretty much sums it up:
Yesterday, after infiltrating the swimming pool at a Disney resort that shall remain nameless, we took a 192 road trip. Water Mania and Xanadu are closed, but Gatorland, Shell World and the gift shop with a wizard on the roof are still in full effect.
In other news, come to this tonight at Peacock to cure your case of the Mondays.
My apologies to all of you faithful DSO readers (hopefully there are some of you left) for slacking on updates. Last week I was in Fiji for work (aka relaxing in a villa with a private pool on a gorgeous private island resort) so I have been especially out of the loop. Did I mention I have the best job ever? I did? Okay... so yeah, the best job ever is taking up a lot of time and energy, which doesn’t leave much for this blog.
Anyhooooo... Here are some events going on this weekend:
Tonight at Peacock, you should check out Silver Streak. No, not the Gene Wilder / Richard Pryor movie, but rather a DJ trio consisting of Nigel, spaNk and Rhett Elliot. Peep their promotional video below.
Saturday night the most awesome local art gallery ever, Bold Hype, is having their first solo show featuring Dolla. Seen those smiling Buddhas around town, the ones that say Dolla Lama? Yeah, that’s him. He also has a promotional video – check it (promotional videos are the new black).
I never could figure out why Christians call this day "Good Friday" when their favorite dude was crucified. I would think "Black Friday" would be more appropriate, but I guess that name was already taken by the post-Thanksgiving retail store hell. Anyways, here’s what’s going down this weekend:
Mr. Religulous himself, Bill Maher, is spitting his brand of religiously-offensively-awesome humor tonight at Hard Rock Live. I wonder what he has to say about Good Friday and Easter. If you want to find out, tickets start are a mere $55 + Ticketmaster fees. Ouch. Here he is with a penguin.
I have said before that Kittybat is the best DJ in Orlando, no question, hands down. I’m pretty sure it’s because he’s so damn versatile musically – in fact, he plays bass in a rock band called The Attack. They are playing the early show at The Social this evening along with Fake Problems and the River Boat Gamblers. Show starts at 5PM (yikes) and costs $12.
For a cheaper road, check out the Disco Disco party at Peacock Room with Latenight Society, Tard and Nigel. Don’t let the name fool you – not a drop of disco music will actually be played. I scoured the interwebs for a flyer, but all I could find was this video:
Or, if tasty kid snacks and punk rock is your thing, check out the awesome all-girl band The Little Debbies over at Crooked Bayou. I was always a fan of the oatmeal creme pies.
And on to Saturday. Hipster favorite, Ratatat, will be playing at House of Blues. I don’t really have an opinion on them either way, but I do dig these Bjork and Kanye West Remixes.
There’s also a Ratatat afterparty going down at The Social. This is the part where I would tell you who’s playing (I believe the aforementioned Kittybat is in the mix) but the social’s website is down at the moment, so I cannot fact check. Hopefully by the time you read this, it will be back up and you can get all the info for yourself.
And last, but certainly not least, we have The Empyres a band formed from ex-members of The Hatebombs, Fantasie and View-finder (and also Swami and the Salamis, if you remember them). They’ll be playing over at Peacock with Vanda.
If you believe in the Easter fairy tale, then have a nice one. If you don’t, have a kick-ass weekend anyway.
