August 10, 2021 update to the original September 2020 post – Quibi went belly-up and “Mapleworth Murders” has been MIA on streaming since October 2020. Just this week, The Roku Channel announced “Mapleworth Murders” would join the second wave of Quibi orphans to reappear on the service. I’m curious to see if Roku cuts the short episodes into more conventional sitcom-sized chunks.

I’ve lived and worked in Orlando since late 2000, so it’s always satisfying to see what performers pass through Central Florida on the way to national success. Right now, Paula Pell has a new show on Quibi and just debuted season three of “A.P. Bio” on Peacock. Before that, Paula was a “Saturday Night Live” writer from 1995 to 2013 – including two seasons as co-head writer. All that started with theme park work and commercials in Orlando.

Paula moved to Orlando as a teenager, graduating from Longwood’s Lyman High. After Seminole Community College and the University of Tennessee Knoxville, Paula came back to Orlando for acting work and was active in SAK, the same improv group that helped launch Wayne Brady, Paul Vogt (“Hairspray” on Broadway), and Aaron Shure (writer on “The Office” and “Everybody Loves Raymond”).

Paula created The Bingo Lady for both the Florida and Hoosier lottery TV commercials. Now, you’d think I could find at least one video on YouTube, but this promo pic is all I could scrounge.

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Living in Florida, it can be tricky to find new up-and-coming regional beers. Since most of the state is a peninsula, beer trucks can’t just drop off in Orlando and continue on to Missouri or Virginia without a big u-turn. Don’t get me wrong. Florida is not a beer wasteland, but some smaller distributors just don’t find it cost efficient to drive the same roads in and back out.

Orlando does have at least one advantage for beer fans though – Brew Hub in Lakeland. Brew Hub partners with smaller regional breweries who have more demand than supply – or brands wanting to see if their stuff will sell along the east coast. Canebrake is a good example. It’s a wheat ale, sweetened and flavored with cane syrup, created ten years ago by Parish Brewing in Broussard, LA.  It’s now Parish’s biggest brand, so while bottles are still brewed in Louisiana, the same recipe is canned in Florida.
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Star Wars Weekends was a big thing at Disney’s Hollywood Studios theme park from 1997 until 2015 (with a few skipped years early on). Cast and Crew from the movies would come to the park, sign autographs and participate in talk shows. Dozens of Star Wars characters would roam the park, and park guests would often dress up too. For a few years, I produced and hosted weekly wrap-up videos for the Disney Parks Blog. In 2011, I talked with Matt Lanter who voiced Anakin Skywalker for the “Star Wars: The Clone Wars” animated film.

I also met martial artist and actor Ray Park, who appeared in “The Phantom Menace” as Sith Lord Darth Maul. Ray came to Star Wars Weekends several times and would bring dozens of kids on-stage at a time for an introduction into wushu, aka Chinese kung fu. Ray also showed one goofy guy how to cut down on carbs with a spin kick. You can jump to 2:32 if you must.

Maybe more Star Wars Weekends stories to come. In a drawer somewhere, I still have a harmonica that was played by Kenny Baker (R2-D2).

I’ve been lucky enough to work with a lot of talented people on projects big and small. Today, the story of meeting a band I loved in high school and making an unofficial video for one of their songs.

Senior year of high school, the fall of 1984, must be when I first heard Los Lobos. “Will the Wolf Survive? didn’t hit big on radio, but it got constant MTV play. It’s about trying to preserve Mexican culture while living in mainstream America. It’s also a metaphor for musicians who want to be heard. A white high school kid in Iowa can’t relate directly, but I think everybody knows about feeling like an outsider.

Not long later, Los Lobos’ biggest commercial success was their 1987 cover of “La Bamba,” from the Ritchie Valens biopic starring Lou Diamond Phillips.

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I’ve now lived longer in Orlando than anywhere else, and it’s good to see performers who’ve passed through Central Florida being successful in show business. The theme parks bring in a lot of talented people.

Aasif Mandvi is one of those who worked in Orlando for a bit. He’s currently on the CBS supernatural drama “Evil.” It’s got to be tricky shooting on location in NYC when a bus could drive by at any minute, promoting the show you’re in the middle of making.

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Told you last night’s episode of @evilcbs was going to be bananas 🍌 What’d you think of the show?

A post shared by Aasif Mandvi (@aasif) on Nov 8, 2019 at 7:43am PST

Mandvi is also playing the dad on Disney Junior’s animated “Mira, Royal Detective” and you probably remember him as a correspondent on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” in the Jon Stewart years.

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