Like sushi? Want to learn how to make it? Well, Ichiban in downtown Orlando is holding Sushi 101 classes. Learn to roll your own sushi and then enjoy a dinner that includes your choice of beer, wine or saketini; ginger salad, soup, gyoza and edamame; a Calfornia or Spicy Tuna roll (which I’m guessing is what you created that evening); and a dessert of green tea ice cream or chocolate cake. Cost is $40 per person and the next one is March 2, 2009. Call 407.423.2688 to reserve a spot. Ichiban is located at 19 S. Orange Ave.

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Winter Garden is hosting a chili cook-off January 30th to benefit the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. The event is being held at the Winter Garden City Hall, starting at 6pm, and features unlimited tastings, live music and prizes for the best chili. Tickets are $5 for adults and $2.50 for children. For more info, call 407.656.4111, ext. 2266.

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Kelly Fitzpatrick of the Orlando Sentinel reports that Wall Street Plaza has closed the kitchen at The Globe and cut back hours of operation there to only Friday and Saturdays from 8pm to 2am. Plans are to renovate the space into something else, but nothing is set in stone yet. Got any suggestions?

In the meantime, WSP has instituted a new menu across the plaza at Waitiki, including the addition of The Globe’s popular sweet potato fries.

BTW, congrats to Kelly on getting her column back at OS!

Blue Martini at Millenia Mall will be hosting a birthday party for C.J. Brown of Baboom Entertainment LLC tonight (Jan 26). The open to the public shindig will feature DJ Jazzy Jeff (of the “& Fresh Prince” fame) and DJ Rob Lo spinning. Cover is $20 for general admission of $125 for the Ketel One special. For VIP reservations or more info, call 407.716.2682.

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The Central Florida Gator Club is holding their “2009 Gator Get-Down in O-Town” next weekend on January 31st.

The crawl starts at Finn Henry’s at 6:30pm, heads to Cheyenne Saloon at 8pm and winds up at Latitudes/Big Bellies at 9pm in time to watch the UF vs UT basketball game. Your $15 ticket gains you admission and at least 1 free drink at each venue. Plus the first 200 to sign up will be entered into a drawing to win Gator merchandise.

Register online at centralfloridagatorclub.com.

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Can’t make it to the Gator event? The Orlando Pub Crawl will host the 2009 Orlando Winter Beerlympics the next weekend on February 7th.

The event takes place at the venues of Wall Street Plaza and consists of various drinking teams taking on each other in rounds of Flip Cup, Beer Pong and Quarters for prizes and medals. A $500 grand prize will go to the top winners.

Entry fee is $100 for each team of four and includes bottomless Miller Lite drafts and entry into all WSP venues all night.

If you just want to watch, normal WSP cover applies. Find out all the details on registering your team at orlandopubcrawl.com.

Got an email from Wall Street Plaza that this Friday, January 16th, they’re holding a special 2-hour open bar with free drinks from 6pm until 8pm. Yes, I said FREE DRINKS.

But to get in, you must have an invite.

No worries, though…it’s super easy to snag one. Simply go to the Wall Street Plaza website and sign up for their email list by this Thursday, January 15, 2009. As a member of their list, I can tell you they don’t send more than one or two emails a month. But one of these emails will be sent out at noon on Friday with the actual invite to this open bar party. Then all you have to do is print it out, show up with ID proving you’re 21 or over and you can drink free from 6-8pm.

Unfortunately, I work until 9:30pm, but I hope you all can take advantage of this. WSP is one of my fave places to go downtown and I’m bummed to miss out on the free drinks. Hey guys–maybe you can do this again on a Thurs next time? LOL

Whether you enjoy great classic dance music (I’m talking swing, jazz and jump blues) or just like supporting locally-based charities, you’ll want to mark your calendars for December 21st, 2008.

That’s when the stage at the House of Blues will be taken over by Michael Andrew and Swingerhead for a night of great music to benefit Give Kids The World.

For only $17.50 a person, you can groove to Andrew & co. performing tributes to Bobby Darrin and Frank Sinatra and a healthy dose of their own originals, including tunes off their Christmas cd.

Each ticket purchased also enters you into a drawing to win to win a great door prize: a one-night stay in a harbor-view room at Disney’s Yacht & Beach Club and EIGHT one-day Park Hopper Passes.

100% of the proceeds from ticket sales goes to Give Kids The World, a 70-acre, non-profit resort in Central Florida that creates magical memories for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families. You can pick up yours at the House of Blues box office, or online at www.hob.com/orlando. Doors open at 6pm and the show starts at 7pm.

Most people know radio DJ Mel Taylor as one of the voices on WJRR, but she also spears a charitable organization called Mel’s Bad Girls Club (MBGC), that aims to raise money for other charities by having fun events and fundraising activities.

This Friday, December 5th, MBGC is holding an event called The Frosty Ball, which is being billed as a sort of Christmas prom. Originally, tickets were $25 a piece, with proceeds going to B.A.S.E. Camp Children’s Cancer Foundation. But in hopes of drawing a bigger audience and more money for the charity, Mel is now offering tickets to the event in exchange for any kind of donation. A portion of the bar sales will also benefit Base Camp.

The event is being held at the City Arts Factory (located at 29 S. Orange Ave; corner of Orange and Pine downtown), and in addition to partying with Mel and her gang, you can enjoy a silent auction, a raffle with some great prizes, a dj spinning some great tunes all night and take in an art show also put on by MBGC until 11pm, featuring over 29 different female artists and Base Camp patients.

Since this is a prom, they do request you wear some kind of semi-formal/business/cocktail attire (in other words, please make an effort and don’t just slip on a t-shirt and ripped jeans). Doors open at 8:30pm and the party will go on until they kick y’all out.

For more information, visit MBGC’s official website or MySpace page.