Having spent last weekend in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, it was great to be back in the happiest place on earth, Orlando, Florida! And instead of wearing a coat and gloves, it was short-sleeve shirt weather! We began our Friday evening at the Great Southern Box food hall on Princeton at OBT.We walked in to find this!In the makeshift booth, DJ Frankmatik (USA).For the most part, House music all night long.There’s a large full-liquor bar in the center of the room surrounded by about a dozen or so food stations featuring burgers, wings, poke, sushi, steaks. A good variety to satisfy even picky-eaters such as myself.And to one side, a huge sports bar. Large free parking garage adjacent so come check it out.We next headed to beautiful downtown Winter Park, home to Morse Code. We walked into this!DJ Scot Marc (USA) was in the booth when we first arrived, playing mostly House.Morse Code is a wine and beer venue with an assortment of seltzers and soft drinks too. A large bar occupies one side of the room.Large crowd on hand on this beautiful Friday evening.We ran into so many people we know from the local music scene.DJ Dave Cannalte (USA) came on next.He continued with that House vibe. Of course we know Dave from his Thursday night Castmember Night sets at Mannequins Dance Palace on Disney‘s Pleasure Island. He had the club bouncing.We next headed to downtown Orlando and this new venue signed outside only as GR.But this sign inside the building lets you know that you’re at new club Anthem.Marketed as Orlando’s newest LGBTQ club, we walked into this!A very animated DJ Blue Star (USA) was in the booth when we first arrived.Her set was mostly EDM bangers including some Old Skool.Located where Saddle Up once operated, there are two rooms including this main room with the DJ booth. It was absolutely packed and thankfully, no Country music.It’s been open for a few weeks now but last night was the official “grand opening”.Our bartender making great drinks at this full-liquor bar.They have not just one but two shiny disco balls above the dance floor so you know they’re legit.The headliner, Grammy Award winning DJ Tracy Young (USA), came on at midnight.She continued with a mostly EDM and House set. The Miami-based DJ won the Grammy in 2020 in the “Best Remixed Recording” category for her remix of Madonna (USA) hit “I Rise“.We ran into so many peeps from the local music scene.Time for one more stop! We next headed to Celine.We knew this would be somewhat different when the ticket booth handed out these “No Phones On The Dance Floor” stickers to put over your cell phone camera lens. But it wasn’t enforced.Heading into the main room, we walked into this!And there they were, DJ duo Tinzo + Jojo (USA). And they weren’t on stage; the DJ booth had been brought down onto the dance floor itself!The “No Phones” requirement was posted here too via Lite-Brite. Thankfully, we don’t use our cell phone for photos, we had a real camera!The NYC-based duo played a lively mostly-House set, with and without vocals. There were a few Latin House songs in there too. From this vantage, they are in the correct order with Tinzo (Christina) on the left and Jojo (Josef) on the right. They are sister and brother.They mentioned Orlando as their only Florida stop on this current “PLUR Tour”. Lots of cheers whenever they began a new song.We first became acquainted with Tinzo + Jojo when they played at The Social in December, 2024 as seen in this Blog archives photo.We had a fifth stop planned too but Tinzo + Jojo were so good, it was impossible to leave. Everywhere we went last night though, a good time was had by all.
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