This piece I needed was gold and made of two different chains, a longer one that carried a locket and a shorter one that held what looked like a stick. The locket I immediately loved because it eerily had a bird on it that matched a tattoo on my wrist. Once I opened it, I also found two adorable sepia pictures, each with a portrait of a young boy, one chubby, one not. “What’s with the stick,” I asked Ansley. I liked the locket enough that it really didn’t matter what the stick was, but still I was curious. “It’s something writer’s wore around their necks in the 1800’s to carry their pen or ink.” She had no idea that I had just published my first book that month. The piece clearly belonged to me. Sold.

The bonus was learning that half of my money was going to charity. That’s how Dora Mae works. So I bought another piece for my best friend, Julia. She always wears jewelry. For her, jewelry is more like art in that it adds and changes her already stylish wardrobe. She’s convinced me that I’d probably own less clothes if I owned more jewelry. And if I’m going to start buying more jewelry, it seems I’m going to be spending much more time following Ansley.

Jana: What have you accomplished this morning?
Ansley: This morning I spent time with my three-year-old little girl, Haven. It’s been one of my goals to not to get up and get running if I don’t have to. We call Fridays “Fun Fridays” at my house because we try not to plan anything. Every other day of the week, I’m either working or the kids have scheduled activities, so Fridays are our day for fun.

This morning Haven and I woke up and had nothing to do. My son Cade spent the night at his cousin’s house last night, so we hung out on the couch, talked, and ate breakfast. It was wonderful.

How long have you lived in Orlando?
Since I was born. I’m a native. I grew up three blocks from where I live now in College Park. [Laughs] I know it’s kinda strange to be a native, but my parents were born here and so were my grandparents. My family’s been here for a long time.

What keeps you in this city?
I think community is the best way to say it, both family and friends. My husband’s family lives here too, and he is one of seven kids. Both my sisters live two blocks away, too.

We’ve considered moving several times because of one, Jake’s job, and two, for a change, or what Jake calls “an adventure.” But when it comes down to it I feel like the most important thing in life is our relationships and community. So we’re sticking around. We love it.

Do you want to talk a little bit about Dora Mae and how it was started?
Sure. When my grandmother was cleaning out her house in order to move to a nursing home, she gave me boxes from her attic. I can picture her on the ladder right now. She just started passing them down, box after box. They were old crusty boxes. [Laughs] My sisters and I laid them all out on the floor and just started going through them. We found amazing things, like jewelry she had had for over sixty years and some other antiques that she collected as a young girl. Some of the pieces you could wear as they were, but most of them were out of date, really pretty, but out of date.

Very slowly over time, I started taking the pieces and redoing them.  There were two bead stores I went to—one in Maitland and the other in College Park—that taught me the basics, like how to crimp and wire wrap. So slowly but surely, I started playing with them and then giving them back to my sisters, my mom and cousins. Then, um … people started liking them and noticing them. [Laughs] And I started getting requests, especially from people who had their grandmother’s pieces and wished they could wear them. That’s really how it started. I started making custom orders with family heirlooms and it grew from there.

Where do you find most of your pieces now?
I find them mainly at antique shows where there are a ton of dealers. Like, there’s one called the Renninger’s Extravaganza up in Mount Dora. It is three times a year with over five hundred dealers. You’re guaranteed to find some really nice pieces from all over the country there. Then there’s great shows in Atlanta, Charlotte, New York and really all over the country.

Wherever I go, I always stop in antique stores.  Small towns are the best. My mom and I have taken a Florida tour, and we’ve gone through Deland, Leesburg, Ocala and all the little, tiny towns in between that have great antique stores, mainly because they have an older population. People tell me all the time, “You can’t find all of these pieces in Florida!” And I don’t. But Florida is a great place to find vintage jewelry.

That’s surprising because we’re much younger than most states. How do you think the vintage jewelry gets here?
I think because a lot of grandmothers live here. [Laughs] There are a lot of estate sales here, too. I try to go to estate sales, but I need such a large quantity of pieces, that sometimes, it’s not worth my time. I wish I could do more of that, cause I do love ‘em.

Roughly, how many hours do you spend combing antique shops?
It’s in chunks, so it’s kinda hard of hard to say. For each collection, I’d say I spend three or four days of concentrated time looking for pieces.

How often do you release a collection?
One for each season, so four times a year.

Where are your local go to antique shops? Unless you don’t want to give away your secrets.
Oh no! No secrets. There is so much vintage jewelry out there, plenty for everybody. I have my own specific style and taste so I don’t ever worry that I won’t find anything.

One of my favorite places, which sadly just closed down, was Two Sisters off of Michigan and Bumby. I loved the owner’s selection. There are many places in New Smryna. There’s the New Smyrna Antique Mall, and Jeff’s Antiques, which I just went to over the 4th of July weekend. There are some great shops in Deland on the main street, but I don’t remember names. Those aren’t hard to get to … and Mount Dora! There are great shops there.

How do you price your jewelry?
I basically double it. So I haven’t yet taken my time into account, which I’d love to do but I’m afraid I’d price people out of being able to buy it. I don’t want to go there.  I want to stay in the hundred range and so I price it based on the piece. I try to stay in the $35-70 range when buying a piece. Then I add the chain, the beads and the clasps and so the price ranges between $100 and $200 for the finished product.

My goal, however, is to have a less expensive line called Mae. My grandmother was a crazy bargain shopper, so I feel like she would love it. If she saw the price of my jewelry now she’d go crazy! So the line Mae would be between $50 and $100. I’d just need to buy less expensive pieces.

What’s the most you’ve ever paid for one piece?
I’ve paid $120-130. It was for a piece I loved. Usually, the older the piece is the more expensive it is. So if I love it, I‘ll splurge on it and hope someone else loves it too. [Laughs]

How do you know ages and styles of vintage pieces?
You know, I didn’t know at first. I’ve been looking at them now for five years, and now I can tell from the sheer amount of jewelry that I’ve looked at. I never took a class. I never read a book. I just talked to dealers. Antique goers love to talk about their pieces, so I try to get as much information from them as possible.

That’s the unique thing about jewelry, the real stuff never dies. It just gets passed on. You never know who may have worn the pieces before you.  Do you think there’s an importance to that?
Absolutely. I want my jewelry to have the look of age. Some pieces look like they’ve never been touched, or they’ve been kept in a box. I usually don’t want those. I want the ones that have been worn.  To me, it makes it so much more fun to wear. I try to include the story of the piece on the back of every price tag. Sometimes I don’t have time to attach them and I often get requests for it if its not there.  It’s a big part of what makes the jewelry so appealing.

Yeah, like my piece and the locket. People ask me if I’m going to trade out the pictures of the two boys in it. And I’m like, “No way! Those boys are staying with me.” I do wonder who they are though.
[Laughs] It’s true. Someone else loved those boys so much that they wore them around their neck. I thought that made it really special. [Laughs] But you’re like me. I rarely change pictures or things like that. Sometimes I’ll but pictures over them, but I like to keep the originals there.

I heard you recently spent time in the New York offices of People magazine, how did that go over?
It was so much fun. I had a blast. A friend works there and thought the people who work with her would love my work, and the show went really well. There was such a great response. It was definitely a confidence booster for me, because I’ve only ever had shows in my neighborhood. I’ve expanded to Winter Park, but that’s it. [Laughs] It was great for me to get outside my own environment. It’s inspired me to keep doing what I’m doing.

Is there ever a challenge to selling your jewelry because it’s something that can’t be massed produced?
Yes, there is. So many times I’ve considered reproducing if I could find a quality manufacturer, but I can’t ever bring myself to do it. It’s part of the charm. I personally love one of a kind jewelry. Anthropologie has great appeal because it has that vintage feel and charm, but there is a hundred of them all over the place. Vintage for the masses is wonderful, but there is something extra special about the real thing.

I don’t think Dora Mae is about becoming a big business and mass producing. To me, Dora Mae is a creative outlet and a way for me to express myself and serve our community. At this point in my life, that’s perfect for me. We’ll see where God leads me in the future.

What made you decide to give half of your proceeds to charity?
Honestly, it was what I felt I wanted to do. When people started responding and Dora Mae started growing, I realized that I wouldn’t stay motivated to do it just to have a bigger amount of money in my bank account. That would not be inspiring or motivating to me. It had always been a hobby up until then, so to turn into this business—well, some of the joy was lost in the idea of that. So I prayed about it. I felt like God wanted me to release the business to him and trust him with it.  He wanted it to be about loving others. And it’s been such a joy. I’m so glad that’s the direction it’s gone.

More than a jewelry maker, you’re a landscape artist, a mother and wife. How else do you define yourself?
You know, this year identity has been a huge part of my life. We spend so much energy trying to define ourselves, but I believe that God, as our creator, is the only true identity giver. I don’t want Dora Mae to just be “Let me make something beautiful and unique so that others can see and appreciate how creative I am.”  That would be all about me and building up of who I am. There’s something empty to that. Actually, it’s not empty, it’s just not ultimately satisfying. You think you’re going to be satisfied from defining yourself by your talents or abilities or by reaching your goals, but it always leaves you wanting more.

It kind of goes along with how I feel God called me to do this for others. More importantly, though, I feel like he called me to do it for him. I’ve created an outlet that I can love both him and others through.  That’s been part of my identity: I am his dearly loved child that enjoys creating in order to love both him and those around me. I love that … and to me it’s way better than defining myself based on what I’m good at or what will give me the greatest sense of accomplishment.

I am also a mother, and a wife and a friend. Relationships are what I prize the most.

And what are your plans for the rest of today?
[Laughs] I don’t know.  When I go home, we’ll have our huddle. I’m gonna leave it up to the kids. Fun Friday is their day.

*Interview Date: July, 9 2010

Check out Ansley’s Dora Mae line at www.doramaejewelry.com. Also, there is a trunk show this weekend, July 17th, 12-4pm, at Sultre Boutique in Winter Park. Come see us!

“You should come into the salon one day and just listen to my clients talk,” Lisa says to me. “You wouldn’t believe the stories you’d hear.” She’s cutting my hair.

“I bet,” I reply.

“No really. We could just sit you in the corner with your recorder, and you’d be able to write a book about it no doubt.”

I laugh.

“I’m serious,” she snaps. In the mirror, I can see her pointing the scissors at me.

“True. I bet someone’s done it before. I can just imagine all the dirty secrets that come out during a hair cut.”

“For real. I think we should set up a web cam over there.” She points to the corner of the salon, above the hair dryers, with her finger, not the scissors.  “That way people could watch from home and be entertained for hours.”

I smile and say, “You may be on to something.” But what I think is this: Hairdressers are the most powerful people in the world.

Hairdressers hold our secrets. They get us to do things we’re not sure of, like cut all of our hair off or dye it red. They give us relationship advice, and also tell us what to do next time we bump into our exes. Like we are children, they ask us to put on a cape, spin us around in a chair, pump us full of air, drop us to the floor again, and all while doing things to us we’ve been told is bad, like whizzing sharp objects close to our eyes and ears.  They control our mirror time. They tell us when we’re using the wrong shampoo. They allow small hairs to spill into our eyes, and then blast us with a big brush full of powder and say, “Better?” More than anyone else in our lives, even our mothers, hairdressers cross into our personal space and we allow it. Actually, we willingly pay for the invasion and we do it for one reason alone: we want to look and feel beautiful.

So I wanted to know what runs through the mind of someone on the other side of the chair. I asked Lisa for this interview.

Jana: I want to know what kind of dirty secrets were exposed in the salon today?
Oh my god! A good one was shouted out on the floor today, but I don’t know if I’m at liberty to talk about it. [Laughs] Let’s skip this question and come back to it later.

What do you think clients expect from you when they sit in your chair?
Magic. Miracles. Reinvention. I don’t think they know what to expect! What they’re not expecting is me to sit down and find out who they are, and create a look based on that. You can’t create a look for somebody if you don’t know who they are. I like to give myself fifteen to twenty minutes to figure that out.

How much money is too much when it comes to hair?
Hair is an outfit that you wear on your head everyday. You can’t take it off.  So think of your favorite pair of jeans. Do you wear those everyday? [Laughs] You would if people didn’t say anything. So why should your hair be regarded any differently? I don’t think you can put a price tag on a great haircut. I always tell people “Never get your hair or your cosmetic procedures on sale!”  You get what you pay for.

What goes into the process of choosing stylists to work in your salon?
In my salon we’re a family. We’re artistic people who work together as a team. Creative people can get very temperamental. You’re familiar with hairdressers … our kind can bite.  For me, it’s about putting together a balance of people that become a family, and not having anyone that has a diva mentality.

It’s chemistry. When I bring in a new Lamb, I basically bring them in on a trial basis to see how they “fit.” If the chemistry is right, then there’s solace in the room. Having that harmony is the most important thing. It helps keep the creative process in balance.

What drew you to having a Thornton Park location?
I’ve been here for thirteen years. As a matter of fact, I got here before the sidewalks did. There wasn’t much of anything on Washington Street at the time except Dexter’s and a really cool shoe store. My first apartment was on Harwood Drive. I had no furniture. I was eighteen years old, and didn’t care. It was more, “What am I going to wear to go out,” my mattress on the floor, my cassette player, my cat, Chester, and Visage.

Once I moved to James Street, I’d walk by this place on the way to the Sev [7-Eleven]. It didn’t have the ivy yet, and it was mustard colored. I had never noticed it before and I don’t know why, but it stopped me in my tracks.  I fell in love. It wasn’t available at the time. Still, I walked by it all the time.  I think it was fate, because one day a hairdresser I knew called my roommate to gossip. When she told me that someone was opening a salon downtown, and it just so happened to be in that spot. I flipped out!

I had known the guy that was opening up the place from competitions. I was working in Altamonte back then, and one second away from moving to New York.  There was nothing open downtown … nothing for me, anyways. I had to get out of suburbia—I was dying. Sorry Altamonte Springs. No offense. Loved ya, needed ya at the time. But I really wanted to get into the Thornton Park neighborhood.  I like being down here. It doesn’t make me feel like I’m in Orlando. It’s historic and quaint. People come in here and they go, “Oh, this reminds me of __________.” That’s what I like about it.

So anyway, I pushed my way in. I knew I was going to lose all my clients, and I didn’t care.  I took a big gamble. He hired me, and I don’t know that he had a choice. I knew from that moment that I’d have this place one day. Ten years later, it became true.

What has changed the most in Thornton Park in the past decade?
Holy crap.  It’s amazing. I look around me and I don’t even recognize this neighborhood anymore. It’s changed so much. The change has been mostly good with a few exceptions. For the better, lots of new local businesses have opened up and the city is now coining it the “Thornton Park Shopping District.” I love seeing people and dogs outside, and people gathering for Magic games. It’s way more pedestrian-friendly, and alive!

For the worse, I’ve seen some historic buildings and homes get destroyed in this process. Basically, the city overextended themselves in building down here. High-rise condos—not a fan. Blocking the view of the city—not a big fan of that either. Other than those two things, I think Thornton Park has really grown to be a place that the locals can come and hang out.

Have you always lived in Florida?
Pretty much. My family moved down here in’72 from New York. My dad moved us out of the cold and down here to open up an ice cream and sub shop called Sweet Treat, and we’ve been here ever since.

Where did the name Lambs Eat Ivy come from?
My dad. It’s a song. He used to sing it to me years and years ago when I was little. It goes, “mairzy doats and dozey doats and little lamzy divy.”  I never knew that it was a real song though. My dad was quite the character. He was always singing, and laughing and playing, a real entertainer. He was so funny. I had always thought he had made the song up, just being silly.  Then about five years ago, a friend of mine was filling in at the desk of the salon I worked at and he started singing it! I stopped dead in my tracks, turned around and said, “What are you singing?” He sang me the lyrics and I realized for the first time it was a real song. Don’t laugh. It’s true.

“Lambs Eat Ivy” is my ode to the building. There’s really no ivy on it. It’s creeping fig, but “Lambs Eat Creeping Fig” doesn’t really sound catchy now does it? [Laughs] I really like the name because it makes people scratch their heads when they walk by.  It confuses them. That’s my favorite part. I didn’t want the name to have anything to do with hair. I wanted it to be very playful and nostalgic, like we are.

What celebrity is rockin’ good hair at the moment?
Michelle Williams. Love the crop … ohhh my god, so sexy! I like it when a woman is confident enough to wear a crop and own it. That to me is so much more beautiful than trying to blend in, or become one of the Housewives of Whatever-County-You-Live in at the moment. [Laughs]

Also, I’ll say Rihanna. She’s really rockin’ that ’80′s cut. I love that we’re bringing that back. This is the first time in my career that I’m actually getting to repeat something I’ve done before. I didn’t get to do ‘70’s but I get to relive ’80’s fashion. How fun is that?

What’s going on with men’s hair these days? Some dudes seem to be working harder than the women to have good hair.
That’s a good point, and I’m glad you brought that up.  Men aren’t afraid to spend money on their hair and they also appreciate details. We have a very large male clientele. They’re getting their eyebrows done. They’re getting all “man”icured. It’s great.

I wouldn’t say the men are working harder than we women though. A few do like to bust out the flat iron every now and again, but I think it’s nice to see men having more fun with their hair.

I heard on the Today show the other day that magazines are now putting women with short hair on the cover for the first time. Do you think there’s some kind of taboo placed on women with short hair?
No. Not anymore. There were some pioneers who got it out there, like Twiggy and Mia Farrow. Then came Sharon Stone, Winona Ryder, and Halle Berry. It’s been going on for a long time, so for them to say it’s “the first time” wouldn’t be true. And those are some pretty sexy women, wouldn’t ya say?

I think what happened is we got stuck. I saw it and was bored to tears. Long hair is a safe, pretty place for women. But I think the launch of reality TV has veered women into a new mainstream look. Think about it. People want to look like what they see on Housewives, the Kardashians, The Bachelor. That’s what women are told is pretty. It’s a shame really. At the end of the day, a woman should choose a look that makes her feel amazing. That’s really what it’s all about.

Is there a most requested look at the moment?
Bobs are back. They’ve been back for a while. Jenny McCarthy started it.  People tend to give credit to Posh Spice, Victoria Beckham, but it was actually Jenny McCarthy that brought the bob back in.  We’re adding more texture to it, but women are rocking stronger looks now, which I like.

Do you want to talk about what’s going on in the Gulf of Mexico right now?
Let’s do it! I’ve been known to climb up on a soapbox every once in a while.  My clients know that about me.

Tell me about how hairdressers are contributing to the clean up.
Matteroftrust.org is an organization that’s rallied hair salons—actually anyone can do it whether you have a business or are an individual—to send hair clippings to make booms. The booms are the big things in the ocean that look like giant sausage links. They’re nylons stuffed with hair clippings, with netting around it.  Human hair absorbs oil better than anything. It’s our best natural resource. Cool right?

We’ve been doing our part. At the end of the week, we send our clippings to matteroftrust.org. They have warehouses that have been donated to them all along the Gulf coast. So the people are all banning together, but I feel like we’re stuck waiting on BP.  The Gulf of Mexico doesn’t belong to BP and it doesn’t belong to the United States. It belongs to the planet and the creatures that live in it. I was on Facebook the other day—I’m friends with matteroftrust.org there—and they posted something to BP about having someone call them. No one from BP has reached out to them yet. They are waiting with booms galore. It’s so frustrating and sad.

I know. It’s blowing my mind that we can’t stop this oil leak.
How do you stop the planet from gushing? We pulled the cork on it. So what the power of that means is unknown. How do we stop that? It would have been nice to have a preventative catastrophic protocol. I find it ironic that the one guy that survived the explosion—and those poor guys that died on the rig, by the way, no one is paying them any attention, which is sad—but the one guy that lived is the one that blew the lid on the seal being broken. It’s Karma.

Humans did this. Now, I’m a Pisces so bare with me, but we deserve what we have coming to us. My heart breaks for the creatures that live in that ocean.  That’s their home. Sharks don’t swim into you’re living room and bite you while you’re watching TV, you know? We go into their house everyday, whether we swim or boat. We throw garbage and oil in there. It’s unfortunate. What’s going to happen? We’ll see. The good thing is that nature is containing it, and that’s an odd miracle.

I still say a giant hairball should do it. It stops up my showers. I say throw it in there. If we’re willing to throw golf balls in there, it can’t be too far off.

Tell me about Shampooch, an event that is coming up at the end of June.
Shampooch is a dog washing fundraiser that we host every year here at the Lambs Eat Ivy salon. We are very affectionate towards our four-legged friends, and any animal really. As a group, the hair salon went up to the SPCA to volunteer. I had just reopened the salon and didn’t have the time that the SPCA required—they ask a certain amount of your time, and rightly so. So I figured, what’s the use of having a business if I can’t give back something to the community? I tend to get over-caffeinated and a little crazy when I’m working. And one day, I came up with the idea of a dog wash. I thought, if people can have car washes, why not a dog wash? And it just spiraled from there.

In a short period of time, we put together our first dog wash and raised $1200. We were so proud. We were out of our minds, actually.  With its success, we continued to host one every year and each time have doubled what we made the previous year. Last year we raised over $6,000 for Pet Recue By Judy. This year we hope double or triple that for Harbor House.

Why is the Harbor House important to you?
We choose a different local shelter to raise funds for each year. The Harbor House is trying to build a kennel for pets of abused women. Do you remember Shannon Burke? The deejay that shot his dog and “accidently” hit his wife by ricochet … ahem, likely story. Anyways, it will prevent situations like that. Almost fifty percent of women in abused relationships will not leave if they have a pet and nowhere to go with their animal. Imagine being abused by the person you’re in love with. It’s very confusing and painful. Then to have to make the decision to leave without the one thing that has been in your life unconditionally, your pet! I would never be able to do that.

A lot of people in Orlando don’t know that the Harbor House is trying to build a kennel, so we’re trying to spread the word for them through this event. So bring your dog! We’ll do the rest. There will be dog washing, and professional portraits going on inside the salon. It’ll be fun. This neighborhood is packed with people with dogs.  This year we’re doing a whole giant set-up on Washington Street basically a giant puppy party. All the businesses are getting together and becoming a part of Shampooch. It’s so great to see.

Okay. One last question, and I have to ask: balding men, what should they do?
I’m so glad you asked! There are two things I want to talk to you about, balding men and graying men.  Men, if you’re going gray do not color your hair. Gray is sexy, is it not? Men need to know that. It’s a benefit they get that women don’t. We get spinster they get sexy. Good for you men. Own it!  It makes you look more expensive.

Now for balding men, they should cut it short and own it! Don’t even worry about it. Just don’t leave five strands up on your head. Um … we can see that. [Laughs] Seriously, it’s not about the hair it’s about the man.

And what about that dirty secret you were gonna tell me earlier?
Tricky, Jana … very tricky! [Laughs] We don’t kiss and tell at Lambs Eat Ivy.

*Interview Date: June 3, 2010

To go on and get your hair did at Lambs Eat Ivy, call 497-245-7006.

* He has his own wikipedia page.
* He swam for Eastern Kentucky University (Division 1 NCAA), where he was team captain, school record holder and Kentucky Intercollegiate champion.
* He’s a local dermatologist that has served as Chief of Dermatology of Orlando Regional Medical Center since 2003.
* He wrote a book called Lucky’s Collectors Guide to 20th Century Yo-Yos. A copy of it resides in the Smithsonian Museum.
* He is a Guinness Book of World Record holder for having the largest collection of yo-yos, and his picture is on the cover of the Golden 50th Anniversary book edition. Consequently, a large part of his house is dedicated to housing them and now models like a museum. He also owns the largest all wood yo-yo. It rests in his backyard and is six feet tall and functional by crane.
* He has been featured on the following TV shows or programs: ”The Martha Stewart Show”, Nickelodeon’s “What Would You Do”, “Treasures in your Home”, “Weird Homes”, “The Ultimate Collector”, “Nickelodeon Sports and Games”, 「開運・なんでも鑑定団」(Tokyo Television’s 1# show), Disney Promotional Feeds, WESH News, WKMG News, Orange TV, and CBS Nightly News.
* He has the highest level of coaching certification given by the American Swim Coaches Association at Masters Level 5 and has served as a past president of the Masters Aquatics Coaches Association.
* He has coached the Orange County Special Olympics Swim Team since 1993. It’s one of the largest teams in the world.
* People gather at his house every single morning at 6:30 a.m., Monday thru Saturday, to participate in an event called Lucky’s Lake Swim.
* He was featured in the National Lampoon movie RoboDoc, and oh, he has his own independent film and production company, Lucky-Rose Films.

And that’s not all. Trust me. Lucky for us, he lives in Orlando and allows strangers into his home to interrogate.

Jana: So I’m looking over a brief list of your accomplishments and really don’t know where to start.  What facet of your life do you want to start talking about?
Lucky: I can go any direction. [Laughs] What peeks your interest?

How did you get the name Lucky?
That is an old college swimming team nickname. I wish I could say it had something to do with success with women, but it had to do with a pair of gym shorts. Everyone wrote their name at the bottom of their work out shorts to identify them when they went through the laundry. I don’t remember the reason why now, but they were gonna put “Lucky John” on there because my name is John. However, they ran out of room. So they put “Lucky J” on them. From that point on I was known by nothing else. The “J” got dropped over the years, and now I’m just Lucky.

Where were you born?
I was born over at Patrick Air Force base in Cocoa.

How did you end up in Kentucky for college?
I grew up in Kentucky. My father was a meteorologist. He actually delayed the launch of the first satellite for two days—that’s his claim to fame. He’s in the history books for doing that. [Laughs]

What made you move to Orlando?
I always wanted to come down to Florida. We vacationed here a lot when I was a kid. I thought Florida was The Mecca of the Universe, and I’m also a skin cancer surgeon. You go where the skin cancer is.

The reason I chose Orlando—and I had searched all the coastal towns—is because The Aquatic Center had just been built here a few years before. Sand Lake Hospital had also just been built and they didn’t have a dermatologist. I just thought, “This is a sign from God.”  [Laughs]

Let’s talk dermatology for a bit. As a Central Florida dermatologist, what is your most diagnosed skin issue?
Skin cancer by far. I’d say about eighty percent of my practice is sun-related problems. Even the cosmetic end of our practice is largely due to the sun.

How often do you recommend people get their skin checked by a dermatologist?
It depends. If someone’s had a problem with pre-cancerous cells or cancer, or something like that, they need to be checked on a regular basis. If someone has protected themselves from the sun over the years, and they do self-examinations, I’d say come in once every four years for a looksie. If they’ve had skin cancer in the past, I’d say at least come in once a year.

Should people that live in Florida be taught how to look at their skin?
That’s certainly wise depending on your skin type. If you’re African-American you don’t need to worry at all. If you’re blonde haired and blue-eyed and you work as a farmer, well, you’re only gonna have issues. Everyone should be aware of any changes to their moles. If a mole is changing or bleeding, you certainly need to get in to see a dermatologist.

This morning on The Today Show they said that any SPF over 50 is a waste of money. Is that true?
Yeah, the difference between a 30 and a 50 is miniscule. Anything beyond that is minimal, too. I believe they’re going to change the SPF rules so that it only goes up to 50.  I tell my patients if you put on at least a SPF 30 you should be fine.

Tell me about how Lucky’s Lake Swim started.
Very simply, we started swimming the lake. That’s part of why I wanted to move down here to Florida, I wanted to swim on an open lake. I started coaching at The Aquatic Center in ’89. There was interest in doing a morning workout and we couldn’t do it at The Aquatic Center, so we did it here. It started as three days a week, to three days a week plus Saturdays. When it got dark during the winter months, we stopped. Then people wanted to keep going and all of a sudden we were swimming in the dark. Then some guys asked to swim in the cold, and I was like, “Well, are you going to show up? Then yeah!” Now, we swim six days a week year round. It’s not going to advance any more than that. [Laughs] I need a day off, and that’s Sunday.

About how many people show up at your house to swim the lake?
Right now, this year, and now that we’re in the peak season, we average two hundred on Saturday’s. It’s pretty amazing. The whole front yard is packed with cars. They’re lined up and down the road. It’s jaw dropping to see.

What happens if you want to go on vacation?
It’s bigger me. [Laughs] We have a lot of guys that come everyday now. They’re regulars. They’ve swum the lake hundreds, even thousands of times, and they help me. I couldn’t do it by myself. We have so many people that come out on Saturdays that we actually put buoys up on the lake so there are no collisions. They help with signing the “Wall of Fame” and passing out the swag—that sort of thing.

How many people have signed your wall of fame?
You’re welcome to go out and count. [Laughs] It’d take an afternoon. There’s thousands.

And to get your name on the wall, you have to swim across the lake and back?
Yep, you get to sign the wall if you swim it once, and if you do something on a national prominence, or you’re on a college swimming team, or if you’ve done an iron-man distance triathlon, we add that under your name. It’s funny how just signing a wall is such a motivator for people to come out and take a swim.

What do you hope to achieve from this program?
I don’t know that I’m hoping to achieve anything. I’m just having a good time. I do know that it’s evolved into some great benefits. First of all, it’s getting people in the water to swim. And a lot of people have never experienced open-water swimming before. It’s neat to see someone come out who thinks it’s going to be a terrible experience, to then become a regular, like clock work, just because they enjoy it so much. Being a swim coach, I like to see that. Swimming is one of the few sports in life that you can do until the day you die.

One side benefit is that a lake restoration society has developed from this.  We’re raising money to help clean up the lake and keep it Florida pristine, if you will. Even more importantly, we’ve started this “Most Wanted” program, and through my donations and others that have matched my donations, we’ve raised $19,000 dollars for the Aquatic Center scholarship program, which has been great.

I read that Ripley’s Believe It or Not gave you credit for swimming a half-mile backstroke with your toe in your mouth. How did you even know you had a talent like that?
That was one of my first claims to fame. [Laughs] Like most things in life, it was kind of an accidental thing. I’m known for parody and being humorous to my friends. I was standing in the water stretching, and someone said, “Ew. Don’t put your foot in your mouth!” So, of course, I did.  Then someone said, “I bet you can’t swim that way.” I said, “I’m sure I can.” And sure enough, I could. So I had someone take a Polaroid picture.  I put the picture at the bottom of a newsletter, this was back before the Internet, and I put on there that I had set the Guinness World record for swimming with my foot in my mouth. It was a joke.

Well, the guys thought I was serious and were really excited about it. They told me I should really do it, and then I got to thinking. Swimming is not like the highest publicized sport on campus. So I started practicing swimming with my foot in my mouth on my mornings off.  I asked the coach several months in advance if we could set up a time to set this record. When it came time, he had forgotten about it. The guys had gone out and put up fliers everywhere. The story got picked up by news stations. Then somehow the radio stations picked it up. So we go into practice and the stands start filling up. My coach asked, “Does anyone know why the stands are filling up with people?” My teammates were like, “Well coach, don’t you remember? You told Lucky he could swim the half-mile with the foot in his mouth and set a world record.” He said, “Oh my god!” [Laughs]

By the end of it, he was happy. We filled the stands. We had more people there than at any swim meet. It didn’t get picked up by Guinness, but Ripley’s Believe It or Not did pick it up. I also was the funny story at the end of The Paul Harvey radio show, and in Kentucky that was big! [Laughs]

Do you remember the first time you picked up a yo-yo?
I don’t remember. I was a kid. You just grow up with yo-yos around. I remember in seventh grade there was yo-yo craze. I wasn’t the best kid in school but I was one of the better ones because I’m obsessive compulsive and I practiced.

I didn’t think about it much for years. Then what happened was I saw a yo-yo in a trick book. I thought that was cool. In medical school, all of our classes were in the same room, yet they gave us twenty minutes to change classes. So we all just stood out in the hallway and talked, some people drank coffee and whatever. I played the yo-yo. I went through the trick book and got reasonably good at it. Later, when I went on rounds on the pediatric floor I’d entertain the kids.  But still didn’t think too much about it then.

When I came to Orlando, and back then I was still competing in swimming a lot, I had a lot of down time. So I started looking in old antique shops and found yo-yos. I thought, “This is kinda cool.” So I started picking them up. About that time, that was the late 80’s, Tommy Smothers had just come out with this yo-yo man character. There was a newsletter called The Yo-Yo Times, and coincidentally I started getting that. I became fascinated by the yo-yo’s history. I was not of the era of the contest. They had ended before I came into yo-yo’s, and it was this fantastic piece of Americana that everyone was forgetting about.

In the late 20’s through the 60’s, the yo-yo man came to town and they had competitions and gave out patches and prizes. There weren’t any books about it, but the guys who had done all of this were still around. So I started calling them up and asking about the history. Then I had enough information that I started writing a few articles for The Yo-Yo Times, and somewhere a long the way people started referring to me as the expert on the history of the yo-yo, just because I had written some articles and done some research on it. Finally and ultimately, I wrote the book on collecting yo-yos and it ended up in the Smithsonian, which I think is pretty cool, especially since it was the first book I’d ever written.

How long did it take you to write the book?
Four and a half years. Now, there were down times [during that process] but mostly it was a lot of photo shopping. I didn’t have some of the yo-yos featured in the book in mint condition, so I tried to recreate the seals so that they were like the originals. I would spend sometimes three hours on one yo-yo photo just to get the seals right. It was a labor of love. My wife might describe it as something different. [Laughs]

How many yo-yos do you own?
The Guinness Record is 4,500 and something different ones. I actually have more than that. When I first got the record I just quit counting—it was too hard. I probably have in the neighborhood of 10,000 yo-yos but some of them are duplicates and different color variations. I don’t count those. I probably have close to 5,000 different types of yo-yos.

Did you contact Guinness, or did Guinness contact you?
I contacted Guinness first with a picture. They wrote back with specific instructions on how to properly fill out the submissions form. I guess I had done it wrong. They especially put attention to the photograph.

You see, there’s four different levels of Guinness. There’s getting the record and getting the certificate, and you may never get in the book because they only list two to three thousand records there. Then there’s the mention of the record. Then there’s getting a paragraph written about you. And then there’s the photograph.  I managed to get the whole thing the first time.

How did you manage that?
Well, we took a great picture. I took all my yo-yos down and put them in a pile. Then, I buried myself up unto my chest in them. It was a very, very, very cool picture.

In speaking to other people who have tried to get records, Guinness is not very good at getting back people about what to do exactly.  I have a French newspaper that I‘m on the cover of … somebody just happened to see it and bring it to me. They were using my picture to promote the 50th Anniversary Book in France. That was the ultimate coolness.

How much do you think your collection is worth?
I’d say $100,000 or more.  At one time, when yo-yos were really going off, right around the year 2000 or 2001, whatever its worth now was worth four more times then.  There are yo-yos now, matter of fact, I just got a box in yesterday full of six yo-yos, mint condition, and one of those yo-yos might have sold for seven to eight hundred dollars back in the day. I got them for fifty bucks a piece. Yo-yos are like stocks, they go up and down, pardon the pun.

Do you have to take out a special insurance on your house for them?
No, because the reality is, if the house were to burn, the loss is the history. Since I’ve sorta become the keeper of history, the loss would be more tragic than financial.

What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a single yo-yo?
I’m not sure because I think my wife did it. I won’t spend a lot of money on a yo-yo. I might have spent $500 on a yo-yo once, that’ll have been it. It was historically very important and very old. These are historical pieces that museums would love to have because of their history, and I’m bidding against museums for some of these.

Do you have a favorite yo-yo?
Yes! It’s the first Flores yo-yo I found. It’s like the Holy Grail for yo-yo collectors. [Laughs] According to Steven Spielberg the Holy Grail is this big non-descript thing that is not ornate, and that would describe the Flores yo-yo. It’s just a simple yo-yo with a simple stamp that says Flores on it. The historical significance of that is that Pedro Flores brought the name yo-yo to the United States in 1928. They had made yo-yos before then but they were called bandalores. He did two things: he named it yo-yo and he started contests. That started the initial craze. He only made those yo-yos for two years, so if you find one you’re considered a Jedi yo-yo collector. I tell people that to be a true yo-yo collector you must find one out in the field, but most of the times people find them on E-bay.

Why did he name it yo-yo?
That’s what it was called in the Philippines. It’s been referred to as the yo-yo for centuries in the Philippines. It’s just been called something else in other countries.

Have you ever competed in a yo-yo competition?
Yes. In 1993, I competed in the first modern National Championships. In 1992, I was out in California and they had been running a state championship for years there. Essentially, everybody that was a yo-yo player was going to California for the state championship. They had a Duncan collection in the little museum there in Chico, California. I was in San Francisco for a medical thing, but I’d drive all day just to get there so I could go to this deal.

The guy running this thing ran was a super nice guy. We talked yo-yos after the event for a couple of hours, and that’s when I told him he should rename this thing the National Championships. He said, “I don’t have a right to do that.” I was like, “Yeah, you do. You’re it.” We talked about it and the next year he changed the name. I felt obligated to go, so I competed in it, but didn’t make it to the finals. But my wife, she competed in it and I believe, and if I’m not mistaken, she is the first woman to compete in the modern Nationals.

They didn’t have any women in the competition at the time, and they really wanted one. So she did it. She didn’t know the yo-yo at all. We were at lunch and Don Dunkin Jr. of the legendary Dunkin yo-yo family was there. He showed her a few basic tricks, and she was nice enough to get on stage and do them. The rest is history. [Laughs] Now, there are women who are in the Championships that are just phenomenal.

What’s the goal of a yo-yo competition exactly?
To win!

But what do you do?
The rules have changed. Traditionally, and in the first National Championship, you just had to perform some tricks in front of the judges and make them. There might have been a loop off towards the end but that was basically it. In modern competition, and since 1995-1996, yo-yos have changed and now have transaxles, which means they have incredibly long spin times. That changed the style of play. Now you can throw a yo-yo and do multiple tricks on one throw, which led to choreographed routines to music. I remember the first test of that, back in ’95 or ’96, I forget what they called it, but no one thought they would do it for real. They just did it for fun, and it was the most watched event. It became the thing, and now everything else has disappeared. You have to perform standard tricks to get into the finals, but once you get in the finals you do a three-minute choreographed routine.

What kind of music do people choose?
Most of the kids now are younger, so there’s heavy metal or some kind of pounding music, usually. Every now again, someone will throw in a classical piece. There was one song, one year that every kid played. Oh my gosh! It’ll come to me, but you just heard that song over and over … it was the theme to Mortal Kombat. You remember that? Oh my god. We laughed about it for years after that.

What is your favorite competition yo-yo move?
I can’t do it. [Laughs] The athletes that participate now are training five or six hours a day. They can do back flips while throwing two yo-yo’s at the same time. If you ever get a chance to see it, it’s amazing.

What would you like to do that you haven’t done yet?
Well, I just finished my novel. It’s an adventurous science-fiction piece, a fun and easy read.

What?! When do you sleep?
I sleep really well actually. I don’t watch TV. That’s my biggest time saver. Occasionally I’ll sit down with my boys and watch “The Simpsons” or something, but I’m more of a movie guy.

Is that because you’ve been in movies?
[Laughs] No, I’ve liked movies since before I was in them. But sure, I like the ones I’m in too.

What do you think is your greatest accomplishment?
I’m gonna go back to the platitudes that my three boys are my greatest accomplishments. It’s the honest to God truth. I like to incorporate them into what I do so that they can see what they can accomplish. The boys have done their own videos. They have one on YouTube, this Pong video, I think it’s hysterical and they did that when my eldest was just ten-years-old.

All three of them were in that National Lampoon’s movie behind the scenes thing I did. They’re in the Internet credits. They swim and play water polo. John, my oldest, he helps with the Special Olympics. I’m not trying to do all these things by myself. I wanna bring the family in to the whole thing.

What is the one word you want people to think about when they hear your name?
That’s a good question. [Pauses] I know the word people usually say, and that’s eclectic. [Laughs] I’m not sure if that’s the word I want to be known for. I don’t know. If I could think about it for a couple of hours, I’m sure I could come up with a word but for now you’ve stumped with that question.

*Interview Date: May 26, 2010

Want to sign your name on the wall? Go to LuckysLakeSwim.com to find out how.

I don’t know if I was ever formally introduced to Mikey. We just happened to be at the same places, at the same time, enough times, that we became aware of each other. Then one day we were no longer strangers, but hugging friends, and all this happened without any real conversation, just the informal talk that bar flies embrace, the “Hey, what’s up?” and “How’s it going’s?” Of course, Mikey’s always done more than just sit around the bar and make conversation. He plays music for people, like me, that need it.

I had seen DJ Kittybat spin at many places like Bar B Que bar, Firestone, Cleo’s, and a Florida Film Festival after party, but I didn’t realize he was big time until I found him on the stage of House of Blues. It wasn’t that he was performing on a large stage, or the fact that he was sharing the spotlight with bigger names like A-Trak, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Matt & Kim that made me feel this way. He simply filled the room with music and passion and love. He was in his element, and I loved watching that.

Jana: What are three things on your mind at the moment?
Mikey: A broken needle that I need to fix on my turntable. This salad that I’m eating, because it’s my favorite. And, um, I’m happy to have good weather right now. It’s not that Florida shitty weather … not yet.

Why the name Kittybat?
I had a couple of names that I was playing around with, I think one of them was DJ Cassettes and some other stuff I don’t remember.  I came into work at Park Ave Cds and I saw this [CD] cover for Melt Banana. Do you know them? They’re from Japan. They sound like they’re goin’ a million miles an hour, like “Na, na ,na, na na, na,” but it’s controlled chaos. It’s not shitty. The bass player is like three feet tall, and she’s all over the place. She’s amazing. And the guitar player always wears one of those Sars masks and he makes the guitar sound like laser beams. I’ve never heard that before.  There’s a cute girl who sings. She’s real high-pitched like a chipmunk. But they’re awesome, and tight.

So they have this cover, and I forget what the album is, but it has this cat-bat thing on it. I thought it was funny. Of course, whatever I think is funny, no one else usually thinks is funny.  So I just started using that name because I started meeting a lot of other deejays.  I wanted to have fun with it. Everyone else I was meeting sounded like X-Men heroes: DJ  Splice and Dice, Cut You In Half and Wolverine. [Laughs] I was like screw that, I’m just gonna have fun with it.

I’ve stuck with it, and it’s funny. At first, it was like, Who’s Kittybat? People thought I was a girl or some shit. Now, everyone’s like, “Hey, Kittybat, what’s up?” I kinda hate the name now, but I’m stuck with it … and fine with it.  [Laughs] It’s all in good humor, I guess. I’ve always liked the name Lemonade Thunder, but it’s never takin’ off.

Describe your style.
I think I sound old school. What got me into deejaying is watching movies like Breakin’, all that old school stuff. The way deejays play hip hop—and there was hip hop music before there was hip hop records—they were playing it with other music, like Queen’s “We Will Rock You” or some disco or punk song.  They weren’t playing hip hop, but their style was hip hop. That’s what I try to do.  I play a little bit of everything but I’m overall influenced by hip hop. I’ll play rock, but I’m gonna scratch in a NWA song.

Is there a certain person or thing that inspires you?
As far as deejaying goes? One person who’s really inspired me is this guy out of Arizona called Z Trip. He’s pretty big in the deejay circles. He’s opened up for millions of rock shows. The first time I heard one of his mixes it blew my mind. He started off with Oasis’s “Wonderwall” and then he threw in an instrumental of Jurassic 5. To hear someone do that with current music, and new records … it just blew my mind.  If I ever get frustrated or run out of ideas, I go back and listen to one of his mixes, or check out his web site to see what he’s up to.

How did you start deejaying?
It happened way late for me. I didn’t start deejaying until I was twenty-five or twenty-six, now I’m thirty-two. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do, but I was touring with my band [The Attack] for a long time.  At some point, I started borrowing friends turntables. Remember Room 39? Well, we used to deejay there on Tuesday nights. We weren’t doing anything but puttin’ on some records and enjoying a few drinks. Then, I kept practicing and borrowing tables. Eventually people wanted their tables back, so I bought my own.  I caught the bug, and just kept with it.

How did you go about building credibility?
Just going out and doing it, and finding places lucky enough to let me be bad for awhile before I got good. I never gave up.  Eventually, I got good because I had to. I had to hold down a night, no matter what.

What’s happened to your career since music has gone digital?
Just a lot more learning. I used to hate on guys using CD players, and this and that. As soon as I let that go, I embraced the technology that was coming around. It was hard to get used to.  It made me learn, which I appreciate now.

I think that technology is cool. It gives you things to do. You’re no longer limited. I appreciate it. I just hate having to turn around everyday and learn something new. That’s my only gripe.

If you’re a good deejay, technology doesn’t matter as much.  It’s not gonna make a bad deejay good, or even a good deejay bad, well maybe if they rely on it too much. As long as you stay on top of your game, you should be good.

How much money do you think you’ve spent building a library?
Oh man, I don’t even know. We’ll say a zilljillion.

Where do you go to get new music?
Fortunately, I work in a record store so I’m forced to hear new music. That’s a huge plus. A record convention comes into town every three months and those are always nice. Any time I do any sort of traveling, I hit up an independent record store. There are some cool sites online, too. Even on EBay you can find stuff you’re looking for. So as long as I have the time, I look everywhere.

I saw you last year at the HOB Bacardi event with A-Trak, Matt & Kim, and DJ Jazzy Jeff. A-Trek seems to have a huge following.
He’s always been huge. He’s been deejaying ever since he came out of the womb.  Nah, really he started deejaying when he was fifteen. He deejayed for Kanye West, he’s won every competition, and all before he was old enough to drink. He’s awesome.

I like to see where deejays go. A-Trak started doing these hip hop competitions and he’s evolved from a concert dee jay to doing really hard dance stuff. It may be not for everybody, but I like that he’s doing what he wants. He’s not being told what to deejay. He’s trying new things and killing it. He’s a fun one to look out for and watch.

Do you ever become conflicted between playing music you love and playing requests?
No, because it’s usually taken care of a head of time. I never walk up to situations where they tell me to do one thing and I want to do another. If I’m doing a regular night, I always ask, “What kind of music are you looking for?” And then I either answer, “Yes, I can do it,” or “No, I won’t.”

If I’m doing a one time event, or whatever, I go ahead and knock that ball straight out of the park. I’ve had one situation where I was told one thing, and the guy that booked me didn’t show up, and the people were expected another and I bombed for a good two to three hours. I swore I’d never do that again. I still got paid but still … now, I’m like tell me every song you want to hear. I may not play it but I want to know. It just ends up bad when there’s no communication.

What is the number one requested song?
There’s no number one request. People are all over the place.

Phew. I thought you were going to say something like Beyonce’ or something.
You’d be surprised.  I’ll be playing a straight hip hop set with Tribe Called Quest and maybe some new Kanye West, and someone will come up to me and say, “Hey, will you play some hip hop?” You wouldn’t believe it. I don’t know if it’s just this town or what. I’ve been all over and this doesn’t happen anywhere but here.

This town has a lot of weekend warriors. They come into Cleo’s and it’s free, so I get it. But it’s crazy.  Every weekend there’s a whole new set of people, all new requests. I want to be like, “Haven’t you ever been here before? First of all, there’s a sign above the booth that says no requests, and I’ve never played Journey in this place in my entire life.” [Laughs]

[Laughs] I think the weekend warrior’s anthem comes from Journey.
Yeah, I get asked for them a lot. That and whatever new song Lady Gaga has out.

Is there a request you won’t play?
There’s lots of songs I won’t play. I will not play anything by Journey.  [Laughs]

Are you able to survive by deejaying alone?
Close. I still work over at the record store. I like it. I can’t make a living off a deejaying alone, but if I wasn’t deejaying I wouldn’t have a house. I’d be on the streets.

Why do you think it’s important for a city to have an independent record store?
There are so many reasons. I’ve spent my whole youth in record stores. It shaped me into loving music, appreciating music and realizing what music does for people. I hope that there’s still people out there that care and has that same appreciation for independent record stores as I do.

What I like about the record store I work at is that it’s been open for twenty-five years.  That’s a big deal. There are so many reasons why an independent record store is needed to support the community. Imagine this town without it. I think about that sometimes. God forbid, but if anything ever happened to Park Ave Cds and it wasn’t around anymore—I can’t even imagine that. There’d be no communication among artists and venues. Where would our local talent go to promote themselves? The thing about this town, unlike New York or Chicago, is we only have one independent record store. They have five or so. We only have one of everything it seems, one good record store, one good venue, one this or that.  If it shuts down, that’s it.

I know what you’re saying. We just lost our downtown independent bookstore and it’s sad.
It’s very sad. Even on Park Ave there used to be a Walden Books. Okay, so it’s not an independent bookstore but there was something to it.  It’s a place for people to meet and talk and be face-to-face. So many of those little things—and I’m all about the little things—can be huge things at the end of the day. It makes a difference in a town.

What do you like about living in Orlando?
I was born in Monterey, California. My dad was in the military so we moved to Hawaii and then when he retired we moved to Austin. That’s where I grew up as a kid. I was there until about middle school and I’ve been here ever since, besides going back and forth to visit my family in Puerto Rico. Wait. You asked about what I liked about Orlando. [Laughs]

I think Orlando is a really cool town and no one appreciates it. If you’ve lived here you’re whole life, or you haven’t gone out to other cities, you don’t realize how cool this town really is.  I just had a friend move to California, and he was back in a few months. I was like, “What happened?” He said, “Man, I just like it here better.”

What makes this city cool?
There are so many cool things to do, and most of them are for locals only. You have to know where to go, like Red Fox or Enzian.  Now, there’s that Imperial bar that opened up in Washburn [Imports], that furniture store. I was there two weeks ago for a friend’s graduation. You walk in, they have furniture and a really nice bar, and everything is for sale. You can get a glass of wine or a beer, walk around, and if you really get busted you buy $500 spice rack. [Laughs] I wish we sold alcohol at Park Ave Cds.

There’s something to the landscape, too. I-4 is like the divider between tourists and locals.  Tourists just don’t know about the city and things like this, Mills Market. I don’t think we do a good job promoting those kinds of things, but then again I don’t mind it either. Like now, we’re just sitting here chillin’ and hanging out and there are no tourists around. That’s kind of nice too. There are cool things to do here, you just have to look for it. People should stop going to the same bars every night, and see what else is out there.

What do you not like about Orlando?
Besides my friends and the people I hang out with most of the time,  other people get on my nerves. There’s a lot of transients that come and go, they don’t care about the town.

What else? People don’t know how to drive in this town! They’re horrible drivers … and sometimes it gets too damn hot.

If you could perform anywhere in the world, where would you go?
That’s a good question. [Pauses] I guess I’d have to say Amsterdam. I didn’t see enough of it when I was there the last time. I was on tour with my band and we had one day off and one day to play. With the tour, you’re in and out.  So I’d love to go back and explore that place more.

Would you ever want to tour as a deejay? And which profession do you think you’d like more?
Yeah! I’m all for it. When I do the deejay stuff, I want to do the band stuff. And when I do the band stuff, I want to do the deejay stuff. [Laughs]

How does the copyright thing work as deejay?
[Laughs] I have no idea. That’s one of the reasons why mixed tapes are hard to find. They only make limited runs. Like, I may have sold a hundred to two hundred albums. Bigger deejays sell a thousand here, or five hundred there.  Basically enough to stay under the radar or until someone sends you a cease and desist. Then you can’t do anything.

Honestly, I’d like to give the artists money, but at the same time we expose their music to a lot of people that wouldn’t have found it before. So, to me, it falls on both sides. It’s all about your attitude and how you treat it.

So what’s next for you?
I just want to get my ass into recording more.  I’ve been deejaying for how many years and have never had an official mix done? I finally got the one done that I gave you, that was my first album, and there’s one more. I just want to keep releasing stuff, and having something tangible to sell. In the past when I’ve deejayed, people have come up and asked me for a mix, and I was like, “I don’t have one, sorry.” Now, I’m like, “Yes, yes, yes!”

*Interview Date: May 14, 2010

To buy DJ Kittybat’s album Peanut Butter Summer Jams, go to DJKittybat.blogspot.com or Park Ave Cds.

I usually prepare for interviews. Granted it’s not very much work because the people I interview generally aren’t people that are interviewed. Or in other words, they’re not celebrities that have much content on the web but more of what Arrested Development sang about in the nineties. They’re your “everyday people.” Still, I’ll Google a name or find someone who knows this person so that I can probe a bit and come prepared to the interview with a list of questions. However, none of that happened in this case.

I was sitting in Chick-fil-a minding my own business and enjoying a number one combo with no pickles and a sweet tea when Lisa interrupted me.

“Hi, excuse me,” she began. “Do you remember me?”

She did look familiar. Turns out she’s worked at the Pier 1 Imports I frequent for the past three years.  As she told me this, it all started coming together.

“Anyhow, I went to your book signing. It was absolutely amazing,” she continued. Of course, now she had my full attention. “Mind if I join you?”

Quickly, Lisa jumped into conversation about how she’s been told she should write books, too. She wanted to know how I was published, and was impressed to learn I started my own independent publishing company. My knee jerk reaction to her inquiries were more like, “Oh brother, here we go,” although, I didn’t say that out loud.

“So why do you think you should write books?” I asked her.

“People have told me I should tell my story,” she answered.

“What’s your story?”

“Well,” she said, and then she paused for a brief moment, staring me right in the eye. “My daughter was murdered three years ago.”

I nearly dropped my sandwich.

Before she was too much further into her story, I cut her off. “Look, you obviously are familiar with what I do.  Would you like to tell your story to me? I mean, will you please let me interview you?”

And that’s how this interview happened. There was no set-up date, or any time to do research. I simply pulled out my recorder and said, “Um, okay. So this is the first time I’m completely unprepared for an interview … bare with me. “ And she did.

Jana: What did you have planned today?
Lisa: Well, today I was off work. So I’m trying to sell some of my mini-paintings—praying and hoping something will come along to get me a little further in the art world.

How do you normally go about selling your art?
I don’t have a car so I’ve been walking around to places and selling to people I know. I have some of my big pieces hangin’ downtown in City Arts Factory. I’m gettin’ ready for the library.

What’s happening at the library?
I’m the featured artist there for May and June. I get to hang my work on the first floor, and sell it too. To me it’s pretty special because it’s the first place that’s asked me to hang my work. It’s also a huge place that’s all about learning.

What do you hope to achieve by hanging your art in the library?
I hope to get recognition and get my name out there a little bit more. Hopefully, I’ll make some money from it. For me, I think that my art is a lot more than just art. There is a whole lot attached to it, as far as things I want to do with my life, like helping other people. I feel art is going to be the way for me to own those things.

What inspires your paintings?
Well, I want to do something different, something from my heart, something of my own. I want it to be inspirational. I want my art to give someone something if they need it, or keep them going. I did a series of butterflies once, and I did it because butterflies symbolize transformation. I did that so the person that bought the paintings could relate to whatever transformations they were going through.

What type of paintings do you lean towards?
I don’t know the terminology for it because I didn’t ever take classes for any of it. But I can tell you that I draw lines, and I tell stories with those lines.

How did you know that you were an artist?
Well, my daughter kept giving me that title. I’ve always liked art. I’ve always appreciated beauty in odd things, I guess. It something I’ve always wanted to be. I just never have had the guts to do it. Fear has kept me from doing anything.

What’s been the motivating factor for your recent work?
My daughter was murdered three years ago when she was just fifteen. It’s forced me to become a new person. I want that new person to be the best she can be. I want to use my gifts, and help other people. Do a lot of good. I feel I’ve been given some talent, and I need to use it, not let it just sit there. I have the understanding that all the suffering I’ve been through is actually going to empower me.

Do you mind if we talk about your daughter for a bit?
No! I don’t mind talking about her. It hurts, but I like talking about her. I’m very proud of her.

A picture Lisa carries with her always.

How was she murdered?
It was an older boyfriend that I didn’t know about and two other people.  She was the girl that was found in the retention pound on Lake Underhill and Goldenrod.

It was her older boyfriend?
Yeah. I didn’t know about him. There was a rumor going around that Jackie was pregnant, which she wasn’t. He had already had a girlfriend that was his age. He didn’t want her to find out about my daughter. So his bright idea was to kill her. I guess he thought he wouldn’t have to worry about it. And so, yeah, all three of them, him and his two friends, murdered her.

Do you know what they did to her?
Actually, the story was spared from the media. I asked and prayed for that to happen. I didn’t want it to be this media circus.  I wanted whatever message to be told from my daughter’s story to be a positive one. You know what I mean?

If it would’ve blown up like other stories had at the time, the focus would have been off of the good that could have come from it. I’m thankful. Even the trial was pretty private. People were everywhere but no one talked to us. A lady from The Sentinel told me the person covering the story had had an emergency, and then another person forgot about it. There were all these odd things that prevented the media from having too much access. Still, we do know what happened.

After nine months, the girl that helped [murder Jackie] up and confessed. She said Jackie had been haunting her in her dreams for those nine months, and she couldn’t take it anymore. That’s how we finally got to know what happened.

Apparently, the guy wanted her to stab my daughter. They had Jackie meet them somewhere. I guess Jackie kept trying to leave and saying things like, “I gotta leave. I gotta go home and see my Mom.” She knew something was up, and even called someone to come get her. Anyhow, they kept her there and the girl tried to stab her. Jackie took the knife from her and broke it in half. She was very strong, a Navy ROTC, skilled in martial arts, but I also know she loved them. The girl said that Jackie kept saying, “I love you. Please don’t hurt me.” So when the girl couldn’t stab her, I guess they started wrestling around or whatever and somehow Jackie slipped.  Now, I haven’t listened to the confession myself. I heard this part of it in court. There are some parts that I don’t exactly know about yet, you know? I just haven’t been able to be at that place yet, to listen to it all.

When Jackie slid, I guess one of the guys got a hold of her arms and held her down.  The girl started choking her.  Only she couldn’t finish it. She felt that Jackie still had a pulse. So the guy, her boyfriend, stomped on her throat and dragged her into the water. Until this day, I still don’t know the exact cause of death. During the trial, I made me and my family leave the court room. We didn’t need to see those pictures. It was too much on top of everything else that was going on.

What happened to those three involved in the murder?
Well, after she confessed, the [boyfriend] was already in jail for something else, but he was charged with murder in the first degree and received life. The girl that confessed got thirty years, and when she gets out of jail she will be transferred to Bosnia. Actually, you know in the Casey Anthony thing? She is one of those girls Casey has been writing letters too. Then the other guy got manslaughter, which I wasn’t happy about. He helped. He knew what he was doing. So I think he deserved more than that. I think the jury had some sympathy for him because he had just started hanging out with these people, and at some point he did say to stop.  He still continued to help though.

The way I see it is … I have to be satisfied with that.  It didn’t come out by the police. It came out by more miraculous things. At the trial, it was that girl’s word that held up in court. The police didn’t do the DNA evidence like they were supposed to. They waited eleven months to test under Jackie’s fingernails. They found forty-one hairs on her and didn’t test a single one of them. So they kind of dropped the ball on that. What made the final conviction was the girlfriend that he was trying keep, well, she called him while they were trying to kill my daughter. He answered the phone and she heard Jackie screaming, “Why are you doing this to me? I love you. Please don’t hurt me,” and she testified against him. So the girlfriend he was trying to keep was the one who ultimately testified against him, and the one who had him locked up for life. This came by God, and so I have to be satisfied with it. You know what I mean? They are going to have their own private hell that they have to go through. I have to be at peace with that.

Do you feel that there is such a thing as justice being served?
I feel that if we were a higher social status, and I wasn’t a single mom, things might have been different. I think [the case] would have been more of a priority. A lot of times, when it comes to teenagers, the sheriff’s department blows things off.

How does a mother pick-up and keep going after something like this happens?
It’s definitely not an easy thing to do. Unless you have a strong foundation, it’s hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel. It just doesn’t make sense. It robs you of your identity.  When you’re a parent, especially to someone like Jackie who was such an accomplished child, I wanted her to flourish and do all the good things she was suppose to do. My life became about her. So I think I had to make a lot of conscious choices. Like, for example, with her not being here, I have to live for both of us now.  And if I can’t carry on, then what was it all for?

She wanted to be a motivational speaker when she was eleven, when most kids that age don’t care. I understand that I have to be the voice for her now. For me personally, I have a lot of faith in God.  So I turned everything over to him. It’s amazing how when something so significant is taken away, your eyes see things for what it is, and everything becomes more precious. That was part of the perspective I took. We don’t know when things can be taken away from us. Praying about things and trusting God was a huge part of recovery.  I feel that, for me, painting is not just about painting, it’s about faith, vision and perseverance

When you find out something like this … how … where … um … I’m sorry. I’m just trying to wrap my head around all this.
Like, what was my thought process? That’s a horrible story, too.  I was at my job. The police called and asked me, “When was the last time you saw your sister?” I said, “What do you mean? She only works a couple of doors down.” That’s when they told me that they were trying to identify a body, and that they had found my business card in this person’s pocket. Jackie was six-foot-one, so they probably didn’t think of her as a child at first. I told them about some tattoos she wasn’t supposed to get, one for her grandfather and brother.**  They put me on hold. I told the people at my job, “Um, look, they’re trying to identify a body here. If I hit the floor, you know why.” I was on hold for-ever. Sure enough, they came back and I hit the floor.

What they told me was to go home and wait for the police. I went home and the news people were the first to knock on my door.  I didn’t know why they were knocking on my door exactly. I called the police to ask why and they said they didn’t know either. Then I turned on the TV and I seen it—that’s how I found out. I heard, saw, “The girl found in the retention pond is Harriet Jacqueline Curtis.” Before anyone had told me what was going on, I saw it on the news. Do you know I couldn’t watch the news for a year-and-a-half after that? I just couldn’t. That really traumatized me. That wasn’t how I was supposed to find out. No one from the Sheriff’s office even came to see me for three weeks.

So what did you do then? Lock yourself up in the house?
To process information like that [pauses]  … I’ve never been asked this question, sorry … but I want to answer it the right way. [pauses] Okay. Because of my faith, I knew if I was given this it was for a reason.  Of course I was devastated. I loved my daughter, and that wasn’t something I ever saw happening. [pauses] I didn’t really do the whole “Why?” thing because I felt it was silly. There was no way I was going to understand it in that moment anyway. I’m a thinker. I guess at that moment, I was probably stepping towards accepting it. Know what I mean? I couldn’t try to figure it all out, yet. I wasn’t ready.

I don’t know. My whole life I’ve always had it rough. I’ve always had to roll with punches and make adjustments accordingly, adapt. I guess maybe I’m programmed to adapt to things. I don’t know. At that moment, I know I had peace and understanding that came from God and that trumped any other kinds of attempts of understanding.

Not too long after it happened, I asked God, “Help me understand this.” I was reading my Bible a lot back then, and I opened it up right to the crucifix, the part where God willingly gives his son for all of us. I felt he took my daughter for a higher purpose and who am I to argue with that?

Do you have any advice or words of encouragement to any other families that may go through something similar?
Yeah. Eventually, I’d like to start a program to help people go through that process. And to the ones that already have a foundation, to encourage them and let them know other people will see them. Because I’ve been through it, I understand it. Yes, it hurts. Yes, it’s devastating. But being bitter and angry is only going to hurt you.

What do you think about when you think about Jackie?
It varies. Sometimes I see families and I think, “Man, I wish I had that kind of life again.”  Sometimes I see other kids and I smile. It reminds of youthfulness. When I do good things, like paint, I think of how proud of me she is. I see this as a responsibility. I’m supposed to do something with this. I take it seriously. Thinking about it all and what it means. What I’m suppose to give to other people and so on.

And that’s why you’ve turned to painting?
I’ve always wanted to do something creative. Painting is a release. It’s a way to tell myself messages, like when I’m working on a piece that has to do with perseverance, in that same message I’m thinking about what it’s going to take for me to keep going on and how it will translate for someone else. I can paint pretty things, but I want to paint pieces that change people.

What do you think Jackie would tell you if she was here right now?
She’d say, “Stop crying Mom!” She always told me that I was a survivor. The weirdest thing was that she was singing karaoke at this place, and I came in the door and she made me sit down in the front, in front of everyone. She said, “I’m gonna sing ‘I’m a Survivor’ for my Mom because that’s what she is,” and she sang the song. I never forgot that.  I had no idea what that was really going to me for me in the future. I think she did. She informed of a lot of things that I needed to know. I don’t give myself enough credit sometimes. I see me how I see me.

And how is that?
I see myself as … well, here’s a good way of looking at it. My friend asked me a few years back, “If you could be any fish, which fish would you be?” I thought it was a stupid question. But instantly I knew my answer. I said, “I am one of those fish that live way deep in the bottom of the ocean.” Have you ever seem them? It’s pitch black and you can’t see any light down there. Those are the most odd fish because they’re totally transparent, but it’s okay that they’re transparent because they’re insides are bright reds, yellows and blues. That’s the kind of fish that I am.

People that know me can see that I’m a good person. The thing is nobody sees me because I’m at the bottom of the ocean and there’s no light there. This man told me one time, he said, “Lisa, think about it. When man discovered that those fish were down there. What did they do? They spent billions of dollars on equipment to get down there and see those fish.”  So I guess that’s where I feel I am. I feel that I’m beautiful. I’m smart. I have a big heart, and a lot to give.  But no body ever sees me because I’m at the bottom. But I’m ready to be seen. I’m ready for some light.

*Interview date: April, 13, 2010

** Jackie’s brother was born with both physical and mental disabilities. Upon learning the quality of her son’s care would increase under different circumstances, Lisa agreed to doing an open adoption with a wealthier family in St. Cloud. Her son lived thirteen years longer than expected, and passed away just last year. “At least I know Jackie was there to welcome him with open arms,” said Lisa, after I had turned the recorder off.

My friend Aimee owns a boutique in Winter Park called Ginger. One day while I was visiting her, I noticed this rack of mismatched clothes in the back. Naturally, I gravitated towards it. There, I found dresses made of old concert T-shirts, men’s clothing and vintage-looking materials.

“Oh my gosh. I love this stuff. Who makes it?” I asked Aimee. I was expecting her to say a name I didn’t know, thinking it was a designer from some place far away. Fashion designers seem so out of reach to me.

“That’s Melissa from Raw Materials,” Aimee answered.  ”Aren’t those dresses cute? She takes old clothes and turns them into something new. You’d really like her.”

I wanted to buy everything off the rack, except for I was unsure of how the dresses would fit. I never try on clothes before I buy them, but Casey does. She can try any outfit on and within seconds tell me if I’d like it or not.  So I made her try on every dress for me as I tried to think of a way to justify such purchases. Then Aimee told me what I needed to hear.

“You know she’s local, right? She could do a fitting for you, or even make you your own dress.” And that’s when it clicked for me.

“Really? Do you think she’d make me a dress for my book signing,” I asked. Every woman will find a way to justify any purchase if you give her enough time.

“She totally would!”

And that’s how I came to know Melissa. Aimee set us up one night before her store closed. We began exchanging our life stories right upon meeting. And based on that conversation, she designed me a dress that I love.

That’s why I had to do this interview. I can’t help but want to share her story with the world.

Jana: How did you get into fashion?
Melissa: I’ve always had an interest in fashion. I’ve always mixed up my clothes and tried new styles, but I was a graphic designer when I realized that I wanted to do something totally different. It was after my second child. I was a stay at home mom before that. I had an interest in taking things that nobody wanted and making them into something new. And I wanted something socially conscious and environmentally friendly. So I took all those things and mixed them together—and that’s how I got into fashion.

How old were you at that time?
I was thirty-seven, thirty-eight?

Oh, wow. So it’s something that came to you a little bit later in life?
Yep. Absolutely.

You never thought about it while you were younger?
No. It came completely out of the blue. I also paint. And I had thought to myself that I wanted to be a painter. So I had a hunch about painting later in life.  The clothing thing came as a total surprise to me.

Really?
Yeah. It’s not something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s not something that I even dreamed of doing because I never went to school for it.

So what happened? One day you picked up some clothes and had a moment?
Yeah. One day, I took some clothes a part. Then I started piecing them back together and making new designs out of it.  And that was it.

Where do you turn for inspiration?
Fabrics inspire me a lot. I also think all women are beautiful in their own unique way. When I look at someone, I see a canvas. I try to design for that person by how they inspire me. So everyone is different.

When someone comes to me with a challenge, or something they don’t like, or something they love, I can tailor it to that person.  I try to find out what the person likes, what her favorite colors are, what kind of hobbies they have and incorporate all that into the design. It’s kind of like what I did with graphic design and ads. People are like walking ads, or walking pieces of art.

Who discovered you? And who encouraged you to try out for Project Runway?
First, I started putting clothes together. Then I got to wondering what people thought. So I got a little focus group together over some wine. It was everyone from a twenty-five year old L.A. stylist to a fifty-something Winter Park socialite, and everybody in between.  I asked, “What do you think?” All of sudden, people started taking off their clothes in my dining room and trying on all the stuff.  They shoved money at me and walked out with over half of my closet. I hadn’t intended for anyone to buy anything, but they loved it so much that they did.

From then, a good girlfriend of mine, said, “I saw this contest and you have to enter!” I was really shy about it and unsure of myself. It was also in five days. I was like, “No way.” First of all, I needed to design a collection in five days to take to Miami. Then, I was going to be up against people that went to school for this. So I was against it. She was persistent. She was very persistent. She drove me down there. I got to the semi-finals.

There were 300-400 people applying that had gone to school and had their own lines and shops, or whatever. The editors of Elle saw my stuff and liked it. They helped push me past the other people all the way up to the semi-finals. Three people were actually picked from my group to be on the show, the very first show.

People ask me if I’ll ever try out again. You know, I don’t think so. It served its purpose. I was so unsure of myself back then. And when I heard that the editors of Elle loved my stuff, it was enough inspiration for me to come back and pursue it.

Do you think making it onto Project Runway would have changed your career?
It may have. I like growing at the pace that I’m growing at because I do a lot of other things, like painting and graphic design and raising my two children. I’ve been approached many times about growing and mass-producing. I’ve thought about it. But every time I pursued it, it took the love of it away from me and it became a business, a chore. I do plan to put together a plan and market it to investors, but I need to stay true to me and true to my own heart.

The unique thing about your clothing is each piece is hand sewn and different from another. Do you think this helps or hurts your business?
It probably does hurt my business in a way, but it helps me. I may not be a millionaire any time soon, but right now I’m really happy doing it. I tried it the other way. I tried to have tons of boutiques and do tons of appearances—I tend to do what people like. When you mass-produce the goal is to make your business money instead of being true to what the piece is.

Do you ever make replicas?
Yeah. It’s never exact, but I’ll go back to my old designs. I have a couple signature things I do that no one else has, like different sleeve treatments and different backs. I think you can tell when it’s a Raw Materials piece.

Do you watch Project Runway now?
Oh yeah.

Who are you rooting for this season?
I don’t think I have a favorite this season. I just enjoy watching them all.  The quality of designers gets so much better every season.

Why is it important for you to incorporate vintage clothes into your design?
It’s a socially conscious and environmentally friendly attitude. I love an underdog. I like to take something that nobody wants, the ugliest piece of clothing I can find, and turn it into something beautiful. It makes me smile when I think about a cocktail dress, worn to a gala where there are 2000-dollar dresses present, made from a pair of office pants from the ‘70’s, and it looks fantastic. It’s taking that forgotten piece, like a men’s pant or office shirt, a piece that’s lost its soul, and giving it a new life. It really appeals to me. It cracks me up, too. [Laughs]

What thrift stores do you frequent?
There is one on Edgewater Drive—I think it’s called Family Thrift—but they have a Wednesday special that if you buy one piece you get two pieces free. So not only is it inexpensive, it’s a super-sale on Wednesdays! You get great deals shopping in a thrift store. I know about every thrift store in the Orlando area.

Roughly, how much do you spend on materials during on of those shopping sprees?
Let’s see … I try to keep it to a minimum. I shop by project now. I have oodles of material.  I probably have every fabric in every color I’d ever need.  But, like, for your piece, I went out and bought some special pieces.  I could spend a lot of money in a thrift store and get my self in deep, deep trouble.

What’s a lot in a thrift store? Fifty dollars?
Yeah. [Laughs.] Fifty dollars is a lot to spend in a thrift store.

What’s your favorite city to shop in?
It’s Orlando, of course. I’ve shopped in many cities, and abroad, but I’m comfortable here. Probably because I’ve shopped these thrift stores for so long that I know them like the back of my hand. There’s just comfort here. A lot of times now, I’m given clothing. People aren’t throwing away their old clothes. They’re giving them to me.

How does Orlando influence your style?
I think there is such a great mixture of people here. I’m from up north. When I first moved here, I was like, Orlando? But now with the arts, the culture, the activity—everyone has their own little, cool sense of style. People who put their own stuff together, and have a sense of style, really inspire me. I think Orlando has characters, literally characters. You can tell this by the way they dress. I mean, no one looks like New Yorkers. In Orlando, there is one from every bunch.

That’s true. [Laughs] Because you’re in the fashion industry, do you feel like you have to be dressed to the nines all the time?
Yes! I swear every time I throw on sweat pants and go somewhere I run into one of my clients.  I’m so mortified that I’m not wearing my stuff. When I go out of town, like to visit a friend, I love taking all my Target specials with me.  It’s so relaxing to just throw them in the suitcase. [Laughs] So yeah, I do feel the pressure.

How do you know what’s trendy?
I don’t follow the trends. One of the greatest things about my cliental is that it’s all ages. I think once you become a woman of a certain age, you have an innate sense of style that you can’t get when you’re young because you’re just too busy following the trends. Women that have been through the years and that have learned her life lessons, knows what looks good on her body, knows what her colors, and knows what she’s comfortable with. I’ve watched many people become “hipper” since I’ve started dressing them.

What designers are killing it right now?
I think any designer that has his/her line in Target right now are the ones that are killing it. They have recognized the idea that people want affordable fashion. So anyone who can get off their high-horse and create an affordable line will continue to do well in the future.

Are you a rule follower or rule breaker?
A rule … breaker. And unfortunately I’m raising two other rule breakers. [Laughs] Or should I say respectful rule breakers that question authority.

What kind of models do you prefer for your runway shows?
I had the privileged of having everyday women in my last fashion show, and it was phenomenal. I had a choreographer and all the women danced, based on the emotions of women. People said it was like a New York show.  It had women of all different sizes and all different ages that are comfortable with who they are.

What are you trying to express on the runway?
I’m trying to express that every woman is like a work of art. We are all different. That’s why I like to make such different pieces. I think every woman deserves a piece that is unique, just like her.

Who’s been your most famous client?
My most famous client? I don’t know that I have a famous client. [Thinks] Somebody sent one of my pieces to Jada Pinkett Smith. I don’t know if she’s ever worn it. But somebody bought somebody a piece for Jada Pinkett Smith, supposedly.

How does someone become a client of yours?
Call me, or email me. Anyone can be a client!

What’s the average turn around for a piece?
Right now, three to four weeks. But I can step it up if I need to, like if there’s an event or something Generally, I like to take my time.

What’s next? Do you have any upcoming shows?
I have an upcoming trunk show at Ginger’s. Something I’ve wanted to do is start a line called, Mama Mia, which is my little girl’s name. It’d be a mother daughter line, not too matchy-matchy, but a Raw Material-ized type of thing. I might roll that out this spring or summer.

You’re like Orlando’s best-kept secret. Why haven’t you blown up yet?
I’m a mystery. Still a best-kept secret. I’ve had to take care of some personal things and get my family unit in order. I feel now I’m ready and open for it when I was not before. I’ll be ready very soon. I’m glad that I’ve had the journey that I’ve had because I would have missed some very important things if I would have blown up any sooner, then what’s been given to me. So I look forward to blowing up …  and I hope I do. [Laughs]

* Interview date: 3/2/2010

Email Melissa at mrajsky@cfl.rr.com or keep up with her work by visiting her website www.rawmaterialsbymelissa.com.

“How did you hear about me?” I asked. He didn’t remember exactly. This interview was unique in that Dan sought me out for the opportunity.

“I think that I was googling creative projects in Orlando,” he answered, hesitantly. “But I’m not sure.”

I was intrigued by this statement. Is it possible  this little blog is gaining a voice in this city? Do I know longer need to pay my friends to keep reading? Who else is reading this thing? Kelly Ripa? Ellen? Oprah?

“I’ve been following you for some time now,” said the Nils Schweizer Community Service award winner. “I like what you have going on there.”

Little did I know then, that later I’d be returning to him the same compliment about his involvement in the AIA.

Dan is a man of many titles, and also a member of many boards and services. He has an incredible passion for our city, especially when it comes to Orlando’s future. His latest achievement, and also what he is most excited to talk about, is winning the location for the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Convention that will be held in 2019. The convention will not only bring 20,000 visiting architects and their spending money to Orlando, it’s going to give Kirby the chance to show off his city, our city, and not just the parts that are related to fantasy. In less than ten years, he believes Orlando will transform into THE place to be. That’s good news for us that live and thrive here.

Dan: Architecture was hit really hard by the economy. There are a lot of young people, and very creative people, that are out of work right now. That comes as no surprise but it’s important to us, those a part of the AIA, to support the profession. I think what gets lost by some people is what someone with an architectural education can do, which is a lot. We, architects, learn a process that we can apply to any problem. There are theorists out there right now—there is a thing called design activism where people are getting engaged and learning how to solve problems through design—and these theorists say that every problem is a design problem. So if you could figure out a way to design something the right way, you can fix a problem whether it be a planning issue or issue like not having enough drinking water. I understand that design can have a great impact, and that’s kind of what we’re trying to do here.
Jana: Tell me more about the art of architecture?
Dan: It’s a lot of things. It’s a feeling felt by all your senses. It’s, of course, visual. It’s light. It’s sound. It’s a way of life. It’s how you feel. Emotion. It’s all those things that you experience. Architecture is also a tangible thing. There are walls, there are doorways, there are columns, and there are things that take up space. But a lot of architecture is intangible in terms of it’s about the experience, how you feel and how you react. There are a lot of things that are inertly experienced as well.

Do you think architecture is something that is under-appreciated?
[Pauses] I think people like things about architecture and they like things about buildings—and when I say people I mean lay people—but they don’t understand why. Why some spaces appeal much more to us than others is the experience of place.

How can you educate people about this art form?
The number one thing is awareness and exposure. You can’t have any appreciation for the opera if you’ve never been.  I can be a casual observer and I get it. But to go is to know something about the story that goes into that place—the stories of people.

The connection of architecture is this connection of history of a place and of experience. So if you know something about the story of the family that lived in your house before you did, you know that there is a history there. When I mark the doorway of my daughters height every year, that’s a permanent imposition of our experience of that place. That makes the experience of place much more rich.

One advantage I imagine architects have is that design is everywhere. Not everyone may go to an opera, but everyone, for the most part, has experienced being in a city.
You can’t escape the experience of architecture. But how well do you make that connection? My wife is an assistant principal of a high school. I’ll get into these discussions with her about education. It’s one thing for me to talk as someone that has went to school, but she’s the real educator. She has insight because of her training, things that I don’t get right away. I might react to a situation, say that its right or wrong, but I won’t understand the complexity of the situation until I talk it through with her. It gets back to why people like the things they like, without knowing exactly why they like them. The danger of that is not having good counsel for the people like us that are put in position to make decisions. There are examples of that all around us.

Another thing we’re trying to do (through AIA Orlando) is to reach kids early … there was this project up in Jacksonville called Box City.  In Box City, middle school kids come in and create buildings out of boxes. It’s an effort to explain to kids the planning process of how buildings all relate to each other. That’s hands on.  We want to encourage that sort of thing.

Why is it important to you, that you be involved in our urban planning?
I’ve been a student of cities all my life. What draws me is being able to create places that have engagement. I also feel a sense of responsibility because I have this training and understanding.  I ought to be engaged. That’s a big part of what the organization is trying to do, engage architects and decision-making.

Unfortunately, for a lot of decisions that architects should be involved in, we’re not present at the table. AIS is a program called the sense of architect program, where they encourage people to be involved and on community boards. It’s important to be in the room when decisions are being made.

What cities are your favorite models?
[Pauses] I’m searching my memory bank because there are a lot of different cities that I think are key role models. Overall, places like Chicago are extraordinarily good and dynamic in some senses. A lot of people in Chicago get it in terms of urban thought. It’s not to say all architecture in Chicago is good because it certainly isn’t. But there is a value placed certainly within the architectural community on trying to good work, and also this history of the Chicago plan, something celebrated in its significance.

I like parts of so many cities—Savannah, Philadelphia, Boston, parts of New Orleans. There are parts of Orlando that I think are absolutely wonderful.

Do you consider Orlando still a blank canvas?
No. There’s more history here than people think. Our problem is Orlando is known for—and not very good at—celebrating other places, places that are fantasy. We’re real good at re-creating parts of other places. Look at Epcot center. Let’s take people deep into a childhood fantasy. Let’s give the people this amazing immersive experience so that they forget their everyday problems. We’ve gotten really good at that.

In fact, so good at it that we run the risk of overshadowing the history that is here. There was a lot going on in the Florida peninsula before Disney was here. Certainly, Disney transformed Central Florida—that goes without saying—but it’s not the only thing going on here.  From my experience, which I think is the same for many central Floridians, is that when people come here to visit—they may have been to the theme parks already maybe eight or nine times—you say, “Why don’t you just come to my home to visit me. I live in a historic neighborhood where there are bookstores and shops and cafes.” They look at me like, “Are you pulling my leg?” We need to shed some of that image.

Did you watch American Idol when it came to Orlando? I don’t think the city was presented well.  If you watch that episode, and I did because my wife watches American Idol …

[Laughs] Whatever, you know you love it too.
Alright. That’s right. [Laughs] If you look at the cities before they came here, they sat the judges in windows that showcased an urban scene. The window here looked out over a golf course. I thought, “What a completely missed opportunity.” At least if they had done it at one of the theme parks, or they had done at City Walk, there would have been activity behind it. There was one shot of Cinderella’s castle, the parking garage of the new Amway Arena, but for the most part all the shots on camera were of a resort.

People are looking more and more for authentic experiences. It’s not to say that the fantasy is bad. The fantasy stuff is good. People should come here, enjoy that and leave with great experiences. But when people come back, they come back for the people. We have that to offer.

But do these people that go straight to theme parks even know that a downtown Orlando exists?
I’ll tell you one of my concerns, and I hope we get it right because I’ve supported it, but it’s getting high-speed rails here. We as a state need it. If it’s built though, it needs a connection to Orlando’s urban core.  The danger is if it becomes more convenient for someone to hop on it and go to downtown Lakeland, or downtown Tampa, then it is to get to downtown Orlando.

How do you think having public transportation is going to impact downtown Orlando?
Public transportation is often presented as “we can choose not to do this so that we can save money.” That’s a false introduction of the issue. It’s kind of like healthcare; we have to think of the cost of maintaining the status quo as compared to providing additional options for people. In an economic sense, the pay back for the added mobility makes it worth it. Roads are subsidized. So why would someone think there wouldn’t be subsidized public transportation?

What kind of buildings and structures do you foresee our city building?
[Pauses] I hope we continue to value, and I believe we will, but continue to value our historic resources. I served on the Historic Preservation Board for the city and the Urban Design Commission for Orange County and I think that there is importance to having historic buildings be a part of the fabric. But I do hope we do have buildings downtown that are appropriate for the current time and place, and that we aren’t trying to mock or re-create historic models. We need to do things that relate to our human scale. I hope we do some more exciting things. I think that when the performing arts center went out to get a world class architect, it was good because it placed importance on the fact that the facility deserved a world-class design, however, there is a ton of talent right here in Orlando. We don’t need to go half way around the world chasing talent. There’s remarkable talent here.

One of things that is neat about Orlando is what’s going on with the simulation and technology. We couldn’t be in a better place for architect’s realizing that technology is going to change our profession. We will correct a building virtually before we do in a real sense. Those virtual creations are getting more and more complex to where that now we can do virtual walk throughs and immersive experiences and know what someone’s experience will be. Technology has everything to do with being able to convey that message to a client effectively. So that puts us at the vanguard of our profession because all of these things are happening here.

In the initiative you sent me, Forbes named Orlando a best city for “technology jobs.” Now how do you suppose we get those technology job seekers here? There are a lot of empty condo buildings out there.
We got slammed as a region, obviously, whether housing is desirable or undesirable. Prices went down so much that even if you wanted to invest in living in the urban core, you’d be getting so much more of a deal seeking shelter elsewhere. It drove the whole market down, but I see that coming back.

How do we get people here? Well, one, we need to grow people and keep them here. UCF alone, a huge institution in terms of its size, is attracting people here. If we could get those people to stay here, gosh that’d be a tremendous effect. In generations past, we’ve lost people. People are also attracted to where other people like them are. So growing and keeping people will attract more people.

What we know about the economy is that people aren’t moving to the jobs, jobs are moving to where the people are. So …

We need more companies to move here? Outside of our theme parks that pull specialized talent, where else are people to go?
Part of that is a perception issue. In the report I gave you, there is not much difference in the numbers of tourism employees and those employed in the technology field. In fact, there are more people employed in those high-tech, creative, health and life sciences jobs, and that was according to the numbers I got from the Orlando Regional Chamber.

The perception problem is that people think nothing is going on here. Again, it’s what we want to address. We want people to think of more than one thing when they think of Orlando.  It’s okay if they’re first thought is …

Mickey mouse?
Yeah. Like, “Gosh, Orlando, they have great theme parks there.” But we want the second thought to be, “By the way, when you’re in Orlando go checkout the architecture, “ “Orlando has a great art scene,” and “Don’t forget to check out some live music while you’re there.” We want those thoughts to be there as well.

Orlando was awarded the AIA Convention for 2019. What does this mean for our city?
First of all, in terms of having over 20,000 participants, it’s a huge win for us in terms of the size of this convention. We have people here, staying in hotel rooms, and spending money. Our goal is to use the time we have in front of us to create more of an impact. We want to expose all the architects and people related to architecture to the other parts of Orlando, and to experience something different, whether it be a great restaurant, play or experience. But also, we want to expose the citizens of Orlando, to world class architects and architecture because we see virtual connections in terms of meeting. We can take this to a global phase.

Globally, we seem to already have a great draw of tourism. However, the people seem to never make it downtown because their busy in the outskirts of our city. Do you think the urban sprawl of our city is a great disadvantage?
Yes. It is a disadvantage. It’s unfortunately one that we can’t change. The physical spaces are where they are. We’re not going to relocate the convention district, but we have to make it more pedestrian friendly and more compact. So that if someone wants to have a pedestrian experience, they can.  A lot of our visitors are used to that.

As a planner, this is what I think about. I worked for a firm that was involved in the design and citing of the original phase one of the Orange County Convention center. It also happens to be the building where my high school graduation was held. In going through their archives, after grad school and eight years later when I worked for that firm again in working on the convention center expansion, I studied everything that went on. When they citied the convention center, there was a debate about where to site it, downtown or on I-drive.  The thought was that there was nothing really downtown for visitors and so why not a place in between here and the theme parks. In those thoughts back then, that probably made sense, but not so much now.
Imagine if you will, that convention center straddling one end of downtown. Or what if part of the UCF campus had been located downtown?  People would have to experience downtown. Suddenly, all the activity you’d see on the streets—well, there’d be even more of that.

One thing I think our downtown needs is a shopping district. There’s barely any retail here. Do you agree?
It certainly would be good to have more retail experiences. I wouldn’t go as far to say that we need a stand alone shopping district. There’s entertainment, and coffee shops. We need more of those things, but I don’t think we need to be known only for retail. It just needs to be a part of the mix.

What else is going to drive people downtown in the daytime?
[Sits back and thinks]

If people are here in the day, chances are they’ll stay until night, go to dinner, catch a show, and so on. Don’t you think?
We do need more authentic experiences like the stuff in Loch Haven Park and Antique Row of Ivanhoe. I think the Downtown Arts District will help with that as well.  Hang on a second, I need to take this call. [He takes the call and leaves for a few minutes.] Sorry, about that. I’m going to have to travel, probably leaving tomorrow.

No problem. Let me ask you this: Are you a straight-line kind of guy, or do you like arcs and curves?
I’m absolutely not a straight-line kind of guy. All of those things have to be purposeful. I’m also not one for ornamentation for ornamentation sake. I’m very big on light and texture and proper use of materials, and scale—those are things that are important to me.

Is it an urban legend that we can’t build tall buildings due to sand?
We can certainly build tall buildings in Central Florida, though the soil is different. The way that you have to support these buildings is different than other locales, but there is structural technology to do it. Look what they’re doing in Abu Dhabi. [Laughs] None of those structures are going down over there.

There are so many titles that follow your name. Which one are you most proud of?
You see, this is a bad question because I run the danger of upsetting half of my colleagues. It’s like trying to pick between two of your own children. Let me answer it this way, I am proud to be an architect and a planner.  That was intentional. Together, those two professions are greater than the sum of their parts.

Is that how you got the title of Orlando Business Journal’s top 40 under 40?
[Laughs] I’ll leave that to the people that were doing the nominating and choosing.  I can’t answer that … [Laughs]

Describe our future city in ten words.
Creative. Dynamic. Cosmopolitan. Leading Edge. [Pauses] Wired. Healthy. Complex.  Loved. Diverse.

And where will you be?
I hope to be right here in Orlando, right in the middle of all of it.

*Interview Date: January 26, 2010

To learn more about the American Institute of Architects, go to aia.org.

Dr. J and I met at the downtown Marriot for this interview, just a few buildings down the street from Nap Ford. After the interview, on our walk back to the school, a former student’s dad started waving at us ferociously.

“Hey! How you doin’?” Dr. J asked. She walked over and gave the man a hug.

“I’m good. I’m good. You’re never gonna believe how my son is doing. He scored a 1410 on the SAT as a seventh grader. The UCF student average is 1328. Can you believe that? That boy is so smart!” the man said, beaming.

“I always knew he would become something great. He excelled at math—always problem solving and playing with numbers,” Dr. J responded. She, too, was beaming.

As I watched the exchange, I became overwhelmed with joy. I had asked Dr. J to give me a success story, and now, there on Livingston Street, one was unveiling itself in front of my eyes. To see this parent invested in his child and rattling off school statistics was just as thrilling as hearing about the student’s great accomplishments. It was evident that the bond formed between school and family on the grounds of Nap Ford was responsible for the child’s success.

As someone who has spent a fair amount of time volunteering with the school’s gifted and talented classes, I can’t help but be an advocate for Nap Ford Community School. I’ve worked with these children, including those who are from the homeless coalition, and they are a unique, loving bunch.  Their life experience, even at such a young age, is beyond what the rest of us will ever endure—which is why I feel it important to take the extra time and find ways to help these kids—and every kid—articulate their thoughts. It’s their knowledge that we will be dependent upon in the near future.

*Below are a few excerpts found in Jana Waring’s Who’s That? Discovering Orlando One Interview at a Time. To read more about Dr. J’s thoughts on the future of education in Central Florida buy the book now!

Looking back, do you feel you received the best education available?
To be honest with you, I don’t even remember my education. [Laughs] So I don’t think I received the best education possible. I think that the teachers did the best that they could and the best that they knew how to do, but education in Florida has historically been underfunded.

As a child, what dreams did you strive for?
I drew all day and all night and I would write stories. Growing up I was bright, so everyone said that I should be a doctor or a lawyer—those were the careers that everyone knew about. I didn’t have a lot of exposure to the world and the different options out there.

As a parent, or principal, what advice do you offer other parents?
I’d say that as Americans we’re very volume driven.  A lot of times when our children come home we want to see pieces of paper, the things they’re bringing home. I’d love to see parents sit down and devote undivided attention to their children. Talk to them about the world and what their children feel they’re good at doing. I’d like parents to reinforce and give honor to that. The art of conversation—just sitting and listening to one another—has been lost.

*Visit napford.org to learn more about the school and how you can help.

On my way from the parking lot to the office one day—one of the many cubicles found on the second floor of the Winter Park Village shopping center—I spotted a patch of large mushrooms emerging from the grass. As I got closer and examined further, I discovered they weren’t live mushrooms at all, but instead someone had squished small brown paper bags into mushroom-like shapes and then stuck them neatly into the ground.  “Strange,” I thought. “Who has the time and effort to do that?”

“Doug did it,” said a co-worker. I don’t remember who it was that confessed, but it doesn’t matter. It was five years ago, back when Doug, this other person and I all worked for the same publishing company. What I do remember thinking is, “Why would a grown man plant fake mushrooms in patches of grass?” Little did I know that he was on to something big—even world wide.

I was driving down Mills Ave. when I encountered my second planting. This time I smiled when I saw the faux fungi. I couldn’t help it. I imagined Doug, in the middle of the night, scurrying to arrange all the mushrooms into a bouquet. And then after he’d plant the last one, he’d stand back with his hands on his hips and admire his good work, knowing all the while that someone would react like I had. Brilliant.

Soon, I caught myself searching, wishing for a new planting. I had a new appreciation for the Spore Project because I considered myself in on the secret—even though I had never talked to Doug.

Doug and I worked on opposite sides of the building, so we never had the opportunity to get to know one another. So I had pegged him as “that mushroom guy” until one day in our office, there was a huge mobile occupying a former giant space. “That’s cool,” I said. “Who made that?”

“Doug,” said the secretary.

“Doug,” said my friend Zach the following week.

“Doug,” said my friend Ryan the week after that.

Now that I had a reference, I began noticing Doug’s mobiles everywhere, even in businesses. No one else makes paper mushrooms or mobiles so it’s easy to tag. It impresses me how heavily this artist has left his mark on our city. Orlando’s impressionable canvas needs more of his kind of forward-thinking.

What do you think you’re most known for among the Orlando community?
My good looks for one. [Laughs] Or my mushrooms. I’ve been doing that thing for ten years, so a lot of people have seen them. When people find out that I’m the one that makes them, they scream, “Oh my God! You’re THAT mushroom guy!”

Tell me more about the Spore Project.
In high school, I brown-bagged my lunch. I made this mushroom shape out of my leftover bag because I was bored. It was just a thing I started doing. I kept making them and giving them to my friend every day. She kept them in her locker. When it came time to clean out her locker, out spilled all my mushrooms–it looked pretty cool.

Years later, when I moved to Orlando, I found a way to stick them in people’s yards. At first, it sorta was just something funny I was doing—but everybody liked it so much. I started doing festivals and then people started paying me to make them. Then it got to the point where I was like, “Wow. What else can I do with them?” Since then, some schools have asked me to come in and teach the kids how to make the mushrooms and I created an awareness program to support and promote art in schools. It’s something that I feel is often overlooked.

Do you plot the way you’re going to layout the mushrooms?
No. It’s just kind of controlled randomness, I guess. There’s always a cluster with a few smaller clusters that branch out.

Has a mushroom planting ever backfired?
The only time was when I did Winter Park Village. The manager asked me not to do it anymore via e-mail. I guess the maintenance people had to pick them up. But that’s been it.

Do you take pictures of your work?
Yeah. I used to document every single one of plantings but that got to be too much.

Another art form you’re known for in the community is mobiles. How did you start making those?
I had a friend who had a really large atrium, or lobby, in her house. She wanted a big piece of art.  I kept trying to come up with hanging structures and it evolved into this mobile shape. It was really simple, just a three piece hanging on one line. Then I built another one for a place I worked at the time; they also had a really big lobby. Then it just started. People really liked them and I really enjoyed making them at the time. It became a lot of extra money, but for me it was just a really fun thing to explore. There aren’t many books out there about how to make mobiles. It’s a lot of trial and error and a lot of kicking and screaming.

Do mobiles symbolize anything to you?
Not really. I really like the fact that there is so much going on with them, yet they’re simple and made of basic shapes. You can stare at them for hours and they always change. They react with the environment, like when someone walks by they are light enough to catch the breeze.

Had you seen a mobile anywhere else before?
There was a really big mobile in Washington done by Alexander Calder. I went there with my class in eighth grade. I mean, that thing was massive. It had such a delicate movement, but the pieces were huge. You couldn’t help but wonder how the thing was moving. It was just amazing to look at. I think it inspired me, even though I didn’t even think to start making a mobile until twenty years later.

Where do you come up with your ideas?
They just come. My brain doesn’t stop. I get bombarded by thoughts all the time.

What are the tools and resources you like to use?
For most of my life, it’s just been using stuff I find. I’ve never really had any money to spend on what I want, so it’s always been garbage turned into artwork.

If you had access to any resource, what kind of project would you work on?
I would love to be able to work with a fabricator and create large indoor and outdoor sculptures. I’d like to design the mini version and let somebody else figure out how to build and install it. It’d be so fun to create on a large scale like that.

What else is fun for you?
Making things and creating experiences. I’ve always been a real big fan of immersive environments, places that when you go into them you forget where you are. That’s the feeling I try to evoke with my installations anyway. They’re dark, there’s sound effects and incense so that you might think you’re out in the desert or underwater, rather than in a studio or gallery.

What is the goal of your art?
To create an experience for people, something they can tell their friends about and remember for years to come.

Like your Migration installation? I remember that vividly. How many matchbooks did it take to make that?
4,011

How long did it take you to make?
About a year.

Where did that idea come from?
I was sitting at a bar and playing with a matchbook and it just turned into a camel—it’s like everything I do, an oops! I thought the camel was cute, so I made another one. I don’t know why but I just decided to keep making them.  4,000 seemed like an impressive number so I went for it.

Is making art your full time job?
I do side jobs. Right now, I’m doing some gardening on the side. But yeah, it’s my full time job that I don’t make much money at. It’s what I put my full energy into. I just scrape by doing the other stuff. I want to give art my full attention. It’s something I can’t just half-ass do. I have to keep at it so it will grow exponentially. I’ll eventually get money from it through grants, sponsorships and private donations. I might be sixty-something but … you know.

Do you think Orlando is a good breeding ground for your type of art?
I like it here because you can kind of do anything you want to. I can set up a show in a field, or whatever, and I usually get a good response as long as I’m not doing anything that effects the flow of traffic or damages property. That’s the challenge too, finding places that you’ll make an impact without causing damage. Orlando is still very young which means we have a batter chance of impacting what happens later. We are the pioneers.

Have you ever wanted a normal job?
I graduated with a degree in Industrial Design. So I’ve always wanted to be a designer. I tried to do that, but I couldn’t find anything that I was passionate about. I can dump all my effort into any of my art shows. All my other jobs seem to level out on me very quickly.

What is the hardest part of your day?
I don’t know if I have hard part of my day. I mean, I work a lot but … what do I do? I’ve actually been on a four-month hiatus, just giving myself a break because I’ve been going non-stop for three years. So I guess the hardest part will be trying to stay focused. When I have shows that require thousands of pieces, I just need to think of the big picture. Fatigue can be difficult and fighting loneliness as well. I’m by myself a lot when I work and that gets to be bard. But I have lots of friends–they keep me from going crazy.

Why do you feel it important to educate kids about the arts?
When I was little, I was very shy. Making things was such an outlet for me. I have no idea what would happen to me if I didn’t have art—I don’t sit still very well.  Art gave me a since of pride, even if I didn’t show it to anyone. It teaches kids different perspectives and ways of looking at things that can be applied later in life.

Who are the people that inspired you?
My parents really inspired me. Growing up we always built stuff. My dad was into carpentry and word working. My Mom was into crafts. In the early 70’s everyone was doing that—leather working and macramé. It got me really into building stuff and it helped that my Mom always had materials around for me to use. I also owe a lot to my middle school and high school art teachers–they were extremely encouraging and influential.

Name five artist must haves.
Patience. Drive. Dedication. Humility. And HAVE respect.

I’m intrigued by the fact you didn’t name any materials.
You don’t really need anything. If you have all those virtues, you can do anything. And did I say adaptability? If I didn’t, let’s put that one in there.  There are so many changes in life, and you have to be willing to adapt to those changes.  I think that’s really important. If you are stuck in your ways, you’re going to drive yourself crazy. Things happen in your life that you have no control over. Like, if I went blind, would I still be an artist? Yeah.  I would just do things differently. I’d become more of a sculptor or something, but I wouldn’t just stop being an artist.

What is your biggest secret?
I can’t tell you that.

Okay then. What installation project are you working on now?
Right now I’m working on a few different things, my third U.F.O. project and Migration 5 & 6.  I always work in multiple projects.  Oh, and in May I want to do world-wide mushrooming.  I’m hoping people around the world will set out their mushrooms during that month and send me pictures. Already, I’ve had schools in Finland and Taiwan send me pictures of the kids and their mushrooms.

Do you mind being “that mushroom guy”?
Sure. I can be mushroom guy. My goal is to put one on the moon within twenty years.

*Interview Date: 10/30/09
Learn more about the Spore Project and how to make your own mushrooms at www.dougrhodehamel.com.

Each night as a twenty-something, I couldn’t wait to hit up the bars that lined Orange Avenue, Wall Street and Central. Me and my pals would start at The Globe for Happy Hour, then make our way to Waitiki and One Eye’d Jack’s until the block party started, and then as the people started shoveling themselves in, we’d head out and over to Casey’s, The Echo Chamber, Room 3-9 and The Lodge. Since we were so close, we’d have to hop across the street, drop in Bar-B-Que and I-Spy, dance, and then head back down to Wall St. for last minute shots. If we timed it correctly, we’d arrive just in time to sing that song, “Closing Time” by Semisonic.  Next, it was time to say good-bye—which included telling each person within range things like, “You’re so awesome!” and “I’m so happy to meet/know/make-out with you.” Finally, there’d be one last stop for street meat. Eventually we’d make it home by 3-4am, with a wrist full of drinking bracelet’s that would serve as tomorrow’s reminders of where we had been the night before. Those were some good times—I have albums of ridiculous photos to prove it.

Now that I live in Thorton Park, I find it difficult to make it anywhere but my neighborhood bar, Burton’s, and the restaurants that surround it.  I’m also thirty and no longer bar hop—I bar park, which means I pick one place and stay there until I’m kicked out. Hopefully, it’s no later than 11:30pm. Photos are no longer taken, developed and stored in albums either. Instead, they’re taken with cell phones and immediately uploaded to social networking sites. The times have changed. I have changed. The bar scene, however, hasn’t changed as much.

Every now and again, I get the urge to make the great trek west and head just four blocks away to my old stomping grounds. There, I’m greeted by the same bartenders, bouncers and bar owners that have served me for the past decade, except those people are no longer strangers but friends. Consequently, I am treated like a celebrity when I arrive on the scene. I move to the front of lines. I am served first. I do not need to show ID. My bar tabs are generally a fraction of what is owed. I AM somebody when I go downtown, at least in the eyes of the new generation of bar-hoppers … bless their shot-taking hearts.

Enter Caitlin. I’ve known her since she worked at Wall St. Plaza, back when she directed most of the entertainment for the plaza and before she gave birth to her own bar, Finnhenry’s (and her two sons, Finn and Henry). She let me write for the Wall St. Journal, the menu/newspaper that sat on every Wall St. Plaza restaurant table. It gave me the opportunity to interview Michael Glibicki, lead singer/noise maker of Rusted Root, among many others in bands. I’m forever grateful for that.

*Below are excerpts found in Jana Waring’s Who’s That? Discovering Orlando One Interview at a Time. Read the entire interview about Caitlin and find out the stories that only a bar owner can tell by buying the book now!

Is your staff what separates your bar from the others?
I hope so. There are some other bars in town that I think do a really good job of that, too. And then, I’ve been to many bars that I should love, but the people behind the bar or the ownership—you can feel it—they’re detached.

What are some of the changes that you’ve noticed in the downtown bar scene?
Ten years ago, before Thorton Park was what it is now, and before Winter Park Village, Park Ave., Mall of Millennia and Restaurant Row, you pretty much went to happy hour here. Now, there are so many options. I mean, I live in College Park. On the way home I could stop in at Jax, or wherever, and that’s great but it’s diluted the critical masses for being in any one place.

What is the cut-off line for your bartenders?
We want people to have fun. I always have this conversation with my bartenders: they can’t get annoyed—especially when we’re super busy—when someone is being loud, or annoying, or trying to tickle you while you’re holding a tray full of drinks.  We want people to come here and have fun. The consequence is sometimes they become an asshole. Everyone has become the asshole before. Trust me.

*Interview Date: August 31, 2009