AltWeeklies Wire
Satanic Temple to Rally in Floridanew

Followers of Satan want to thank Gov. Rick Scott for supporting bill that would allow prayers – even Satanic ones – in schools.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes and Erin Sullivan |
01-29-2013 |
Comedy
DPAC's dramatic pausenew

Performing arts center's public rift with local theater producer calls its mission into question.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
01-24-2013 |
Art
Return of the Son of the Bride of Halloween Masks IInew

Our annual Halloween mask tribute to the scary monsters and super creeps that color our dreams. Now with more shady trial lawyers, angry old conservatives and frustrated young liberals!
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
10-27-2011 |
Commentary
Blister: Orlando's Big Bang Turns 20new
Big Bang is presently slurring its way through the nostalgic echo chamber of its 20th anniversary party at the Independent Bar downtown. It's an odd bit of nostalgia, because although we are both old bitter record collections, gathering dust in our synth-laden grooves, it is not our nostalgia.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
07-30-2009 |
Commentary
Happytown: The World's Best Bodypaintersnew
Yes, indeedy, we are the champions -- or more accurately, we are the home of the champions, twin brothers Brian and Nick Wolfe, who just won a gold medal in the "brush/sponge" division at the World Bodypainting Festival in Seeboden, Austria. The brothers Wolfe beat teams from 38 other countries to claim the trophy and the 2,000-euro cash prize that came with it.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes, Lindy T. Shepherd and Bob Whitby |
07-30-2009 |
Commentary
Blister: Such is Our Horrible, Delicate Balancenew
The world is a bitter, deep-fried cocktail onion layered in pathos and prejudice; it just spins and it stinks and it spins again while we all have sex with gravity in hopes that it will keep us around, keep us down on the pickled, pungent surface of it all just long enough to be thrown up in ashes or pushed under, ever deeper into the skin.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
07-24-2009 |
Commentary
Happytown: The Sad Hobo Dance of Baked Beansnew
In an email issued on July 16, the Orlando Police Department has some tips for making sure that you do not become a victim of poor people's sticky fingers. Best among them is that you should call 911 if anybody is acting suspiciously in your line of vision, because "you, the resident, know what activity is normal for your area." There are people outside! And they are dancing!
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffrey C. Billman and Billy Manes |
07-24-2009 |
Commentary
Blister: So This is the 70s?new
"I can't fit into any of my bell-bottoms anymore," Taylor wafts into the room, lighting up the floor panels with each weary step. He's wearing giant Playboy circle sunglasses and moping like a Klute-era prostitute. I'm a vision in head-to-toe white polyester leisure, all tightly suited and barely able to zip up. Oh, who the fuck are we kidding?
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
07-02-2009 |
Commentary
Tags: Equality Florida, Anita Bryant
Blisternew
Regular commentary on Orlando culture.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
06-25-2009 |
Commentary
Orlando Opera Fans Get the Shaft, While the Former CEO Gets a Cruisenew
The Orlando Opera recently suspended its operations and filed for bankruptcy. Meanwhile, the opera board paid off contracts, gave its employees severance pay and, in a particularly stunning display of tone-deafness, now wants to send the CEO who oversaw the opera's collapse on a Caribbean cruise as a birthday surprise.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
06-25-2009 |
Theater
Blister: Truth or Dare at the Peacock Room in Orlandonew
Truth or dare, as we all know, is the more blow job–friendly version of Spin the Bottle, but still retains that odd smell of menstruation and sweaty freckles so important to growing up. Hmmm, what's that smell right now?
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
06-19-2009 |
Commentary
Commentary: Happytownnew
A popular weekly commentary on happenings in Orlando, Florida.
Orlando Weekly |
Jeffery C. Billman and Billy Manes |
06-04-2009 |
Commentary
Tags: crime and justice, Bill Dillon
A Week's Worth of Orlando Queer in 24 Hoursnew
You don't have to drop your Tinker Bell wad in the dark corners of Cinderella's castle in order to appreciate Orlando's Big Gay Fantastic. Orlando is gay all the time.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
06-04-2009 |
Commentary
Tags: Orlando, recreation
Team-Building Bowling Leads to Plastic Heels and Smoke Machinesnew
Seemingly tame bowling shenanigans involving two hours of light ribaldry, the greased-up wings of dead chickens and innumerable buckets of beer are usually a gateway to somebody sexually falling into somebody else in the bushes outside a karaoke bar, and, with any luck, some inappropriate behavior featuring nudity and very blue language. Let the games begin.
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
05-21-2009 |
Comedy
Tags: humor
The Decline and Fall of Orlando's Arts Worldnew
United Arts of Central Florida is charged with mitigating adverse circumstances, but have the circumstances reached a crisis point? Not according to executive director Margot Knight, who tries to keep her head above the treacherous arts-world waters by "following one number and being chased by another."
Orlando Weekly |
Billy Manes |
05-21-2009 |
Performance