http://www.citypaper.com/ Recent Baltimore City Paper Content. en-us Copyright 2009 Baltimore City Paper http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18320 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: Today we were delivered a copy of an unfair labor practice complaint, filed by the Baltimore Municipal Employees Union, Local 44, against the Baltimore Convention Center, Mayor and City Council of Baltimore. The complaint, filed June 11, charges Baltimore Convention Center management with failing to recognize the union as an "exclusive representative under the Municipal Employees Relations Ordinance," threatening and coercing union-represented employees, denying union agents access to bargaining-unit employees, denying union representatives access to work stations and break rooms in the convention center, delaying meetings and hearings, refusing to process contract or civil service grievances, and more... Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18319 Noise by Al Shipley: Driving up to Reservoir Hill last Thursday night, I realized that I'd been to my destination before; the John Eager Howard Recreation Center is the practice space for the Dream Nation Marching Band, who I wrote about for a City Paper story last year. Now, however, the occasion was a stop on the Go Green Hip-Hop Tour, an environmentally conscious concert event presented by something called G.A.M.E... Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=18311 Social Studies by Vincent Williams: The real tribute to Michael Jackson's effect on the world over the past few days is not the outpouring of grief so much as it is how surprised people seem to be over how much they're grieving. We forgot how much we love Michael Jackson... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:32:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18310 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: With all the bad news coming out of Detroit of late, it's good to see American cars leading the way in something. Unfortunately they're leading the numbers of abandoned-car calls to 311... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:30:40 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18309 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 5 Murders This Year: 112 Tuesday. June 23 4:52 a.m... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:28:16 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18308 The Mail: Ms. Ditkoff, I caught your insightful review of Frozen recently ("Raising Pain," Stage, June 24)... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:24:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18307 Feature by Edward Ericson Jr.: Mark Adams tilts up the plastic-encased mattress he and his wife sleep on and peels the bed frame's oak slats one by one from their Velcro fasteners. "There's one," he says, holding the slat like a club to reveal a brownish, reddish insect about the size of an apple seed crawling groggily from the black mesh.Adams plugs in the $41 steamer he bought last night, waits a few seconds for it to warm, and then steams the bug, which falls dead on the refinished pine floor."Here's a fucker in here, too--couple of 'em," he says, turning the steam wand to the corner of the bed frame to dispatch another two... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:09:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18305 The Short List by Michael Byrne: WEDNESDAY: Sasquatch and the Sick-a-Billys take their greased-up rockabilly to the Ottobar with the Chop Tops and the Strikers. Screamo-gaze outfit Pianos Become the Teeth lets loose at the Talking Head with Octaves, Werewolves, Age Sixteen, and Ansible. THURSDAY:The Baltimore hip-hop documentary DVD Paused In Timegets released tonight at Sonar with live music from Get 'Em Mamis, Ty Gudda, E Major, Eze Jackson, Jamma-Wun, Bar Cardy, and Profitness... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:00:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18304 Music by Michael Byrne: Paused In Time quite literally starts with nothing, a slate scraped clean. The scene is brief: Niko, a random tough from East Baltimore, is leaning against a porch while a friend shoots a basketball around... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:51:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=18303 Film by Bret McCabe: Editor's Note: A shorter version of this interview appeared in our July 1, 2009 print edition. Filmmaker Robert Kenner is no stranger to controversial subjects. He won an Emmy for his 2005 'Two Days in October," an episode in PBS' long-running The American Experience, which examined the domestic response to the Vietnam War during the turbulent fall of 1967... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:31:35 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18302 Curtain Time: HIGHLY RECOMMENDED City Paper critic John Barry headed down to Washington, D.C. last week to catch the current production at the Shakespeare Theatre Company and fired off an e-mail to us raving: "Shakespeare Theatre's deliriously Balkanized King Lear, starring a riveting Stacy Keach, is, simply stated, one you'll remember for a long time... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:30:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18301 Stage by John Barry: Speaking as a non Jew, I've always assumed that the Seder was meant for the benefit of outside observers. First of all, it's highly annotated... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:18:12 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18300 Books by Van Smith: A year before Barney Hoskyns' Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits (Broadway) hit bookstores in May, "Tom Waits True Confessions" was published online by Waits' record label, Anti (anti.com). Posted by "Gina" and linked on Waits' official web site (tomwaits.com), the over 3,100-word Q&A is heavy with lists of Waits' preferences--what he finds scary, for instance, or which sounds he likes--garnished with aphorisms and one-off stories with morals, in turns humorous and poignant... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:14:57 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18299 Books by John Stoehr: You have seen them on bus stops and on billboards along the interstate--advertisements boasting a pair of beaming newlyweds, rice showering over their heads, teeth radiant, and eyes agleam with the promise of the future. Above their heads is the takeaway: married people earn more money.Funded by a private organization called Campaign for Our Children, the advertisement is one of nearly a dozen launched in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., in 2005 to sell the idea that marriage deters teen pregnancy... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 14:13:51 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18297 : You have seen them on bus stops and on billboards along the interstate--advertisements boasting a pair of beaming newlyweds, rice showering over their heads, teeth radiant, and eyes agleam with the promise of the future. Above their heads is the takeaway: married people earn more money.Funded by a private organization called Campaign for Our Children, the advertisement is one of nearly a dozen launched in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., in 2005 to sell the idea that marriage deters teen pregnancy... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:29:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18296 : You have seen them on bus stops and on billboards along the interstate--advertisements boasting a pair of beaming newlyweds, rice showering over their heads, teeth radiant, and eyes agleam with the promise of the future. Above their heads is the takeaway: married people earn more money.Funded by a private organization called Campaign for Our Children, the advertisement is one of nearly a dozen launched in Baltimore and Washington, D.C., in 2005 to sell the idea that marriage deters teen pregnancy... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:26:58 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14948 Film Clips by Bret McCabe: After fortysomething movies and more than 50 years a comedic writer, Woody Allen may finally be pulling the veil off his attitudes toward women a little too candidly in Whatever Works. Toward the end of this very Woody Allen version of a romantic comedy about the relationship between Boris (Larry David), a cantankerous sexagenarian who came this close to winning a Nobel Prize, and Melodie St... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:27:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14947 Film by Bret McCabe: Ammonia-washed ground beef, ethylene gas-ripened tomatoes, soybean seeds patented and fiercely protected by a multinational biotech company, chickens so unnaturally engineered to make their breasts bigger that they can barely walk by the time they're slaughtered, unhealthy high-fructose corn syrup containing foods being cheaper than fresh fruits and vegetables, leaders of governmental watchdog agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration coming from the corporate, legal team, and lobbying ranks of big agribusiness--the frightening reality depicted in director Robert Kenner's documentary Food, Inc. isn't some cautionary what if scenario but the well-concealed fact of America's industrial food supply right now... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 16:53:26 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14946 Film by Justin Strout: Maybe it's a sign of the post-traumatic American times that distributors are treating the public to nice, temperate, and restrained British costume dramas lately. Earlier this month, Sony Pictures Classics unrolled Easy Virtue, a comedy of manners from that paragon of wartime British poise Noel Coward--something light and fun that seemed to hedge its bets that post-Bush moviegoers' mood was most akin to the escapist niceties of 1950s British theater, a point that's hard to argue in the wake of the massive success of Star Trek and The Hangover... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:21:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14945 Film by Bret McCabe: The scene is a cliché: John Dillinger comes to sweep a coat check girl off her feet and into his freewheeling life of crime. She demurs, claiming she doesn't know enough about him... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:15:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14951 Listening Party by Lee Gardner: Tenor saxophonist Ellery Eskelin grew up in Baltimore and graduated from Towson University before following the jazz-career game-trail north to New York and carving out a distinctive niche on the nearer fringes of avant jazz. In 1994, he formed a trio with keyboardist/accordionist Andrea Parkins and drummer Jim Black that has constituted the core of his performing and recording life ever since, a phenomenal record of stability in a genre known for its creative promiscuity... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:41:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14950 Know Your Product by Al Shipley: Like a growing number of Baltimore rappers, the Boy Blesst has spent much of the last few years in Atlanta, trying to jumpstart his career in the rap industry's southern epicenter rather than merely building a buzz at home. As a consequence, though, shockingly consistent mixtapes such as 2006's Lockdown and last year's Lockdown II: In My Skin never really got the attention they wwdeserved around here... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:36:55 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14949 Know Your Product by Michael Byrne: Between his years in glimmering guitar duo Ecstatic Sunshine and meteoric art-rock band Ponytail, guitarist Dustin Wong has become a very hot commodity. While his work with those groups shone on in the foreground, the radiant sounds of Seasons were coming together slowly, from 2002-'07, on rudimentary recording equipment in Wong's home... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:31:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14952 Cheap Eats by Chris Landers: "It's like gasoline in the sand. It's like a motorcycle at a hot dog stand."--Jonathan Richman... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:50:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14953 Drinks by Erin Sullivan: There's not a whole lot going on in this section of Wilkens Avenue, which is kind of surprising considering St. Agnes Hospital is also located here... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 08:52:15 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18317 CPTV by Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk: ... Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:37:23 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18290 Noise by Al Shipley: For years, Monday nights at the 5 Seasons were a crucial showcase for Baltimore hip-hop, thanks to Mr. Wilson and Sonny Brown's Hip Hop 101... Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18289 Mobtown Beat by Erin Sullivan: On Oct. 1, the only publicly run acute psychiatric inpatient hospital in Baltimore City, the Walter P... Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:10:16 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18288 The News Hole by Van Smith and Edward Ericson Jr.: The local entertainment web site Metromix Baltimore, which is aimed at twenty- and thirtysomethings with plenty of disposable income, will be "integrated" into the entertainment coverage of baltimoresun.com over the next few months, according to Baltimore Sun Media Group spokeswoman Renee Mutchnick. The Metromix concept, rolled out of Chicago after Tribune Co.'s merger with Times Mirror in 2000, was a linchpin of the company's "synergy" strategy-its plan to cross-promote and cross-sell advertisements among its print, web and TV holdings. Metromix was also a key facet in Tribune's plan to become a nation-wide advertising platform (as this too-kind AJR report explains)... Sat, 27 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18285 Noise by Al Shipley: I didn't know much about local DJ and rapper King Illah before attending his "Illahpalooza" event on Saturday-at most, I'd seen his album Pimpin' On My Grind in the racks at Sound Garden, and caught a less than impressive DJ set at the Black Hole Rock Club. Nonetheless, he was able to pull off an all-day event at the Fish Head Cantina in Arbutus with more than a dozen artists... Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18283 Noise by Michael Byrne: Wham City's annual celebration of the underground takes place July 10-12 at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art Studio Center Parking Lot, and Load of Fun. The lineup is less focused on bigger name, out-of-town acts—such as last year's Black Dice, Mae Shi, and Parts and Labor—than quality local and Wham City family and friends... Thu, 25 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14944 Film by Wendy Ward: Based on the so-called "mother in crisis" novel by Jodi Picoult, My Sister's Keeper stars Cameron Diaz as Sara Fitzgerald, a woman fighting to keep her cancer-ridden daughter Kate (Sofia Vassilievaa) alive while her family falls apart. You try not to cry, but this movie is engineered to make that as difficult as possible. Narrative voice-overs offer perspectives from each of the family members, starting with little sister Anna (Abigail Breslin), who was conceived as a spare-parts matching donor, knows it, and is sick of it—having given blood, platelets, and now expected to give a kidney to Kate... Fri, 26 Jun 2009 10:55:08 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18282 Noise by Michael Byrne: In all of our fretting about the future of the DJ Culture Stage, the announcement of this year's Exotic Hypnotic program-put on in cooperation with the High Zero folks-at the University of Baltimore (21 W. Mount Royal Ave., 5th Floor) kinda fell by the wayside... Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18281 Noise by Bret McCabe: "I AM...YOURS": these were the last words to leave the mouth of Beyoncé Knowles Tuesday night at the 1st Mariner Arena, and the final message projected onto the gigantic video screen behind the band. It was both a gracious thank you to her fans, whom she left screaming as if they wanted more following a two-hour-and-change concert spectacle, as it was the young woman's operating mantra for the set... Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18280 Noise by Michael Byrne: This year's Virgin Mobile Festival takes place Aug. 30 at Merriweather Post Pavilion—moved from its previous home at Pimlico race track—and will cost attendees a whopping $0... Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18279 The News Hole by Chris Landers: A fleet of electric cars buzzed their way to the Maryland Science Center this week. Lime green, with zero-emission motors, the cars will be offered for rental and ride share in the coming months... Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=18277 Political Animal by Brian Morton: Ever notice that in some types of modern comedy, the funny part is just saying brutal truths out loud? Chris Rock has made a career of this: Just listen to his riffs about the Million Man March, where the most embarrassing part of the whole spectacle is that there's a crackhead (former D.C. mayor Marion Barry) on stage... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:43:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18276 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 6 Murders this Year: 107 Tuesday, June 16 11:20 p.m. Pierre Alford, a 25-year-old African-American man, was shot in the head inside his home in the 1900 block of Braddish Avenue near Coppin State University... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:41:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18275 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: The recent algae bloom in the Inner Harbor (and the subsequent smell) made us wonder--what else stinks in this city? Turns out that over the past two years there have been almost 4,000 complaints about mysterious and not-so-mysterious odors stinking up our fair city. A lot of the calls were unspecific: Referring to a house in the 4200 block of Frederick Avenue last March, a 311 operator wrote that "the yard was suppose to clean and odor free but owner has completed any of the work by inspector yard has gotten worst." Other times they were a little scary (the same month a caller in the 800 block of Winston Avenue reported an "odor coming from about 20 black barrells may be toxic rear yard")... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:39:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18274 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: There were two City Council meetings on June 15--one held at 3 p.m. and another held at 5 p.m... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:36:15 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18273 The Mail: Referring to the letter of Laurie Bezold in the June 17 issue ("White Empowerment vs. Black Empowerment," The Mail), I would like to respond by saying as a person of darker hue, and a musician and poet who has worked and contributed to the Red Emma's collective, I am offended by the idea of the organization being easily dismissed and labeled as "white" anarchists... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:34:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18272 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: In the end, the mayor's $2.3 billion city budget passed with just one cut--$200,000 from Hilton Green's Office of Inspector General. Green submitted his retirement papers and left his office on Monday morning, June 22, according to a person in his office... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:27:11 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18271 Feature by Lee Gardner: It's difficult to think of a better film released in the last year than Hunger. The directorial debut of video artist Steve McQueen, it traces the events of the 1981 Provisional Irish Republican Army hunger strike in Northern Ireland's Maze Prison in which Bobby Sands (played by Michael Fassbender) starved himself to death, along with nine others, as the world counted the days... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:24:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18270 Curtain Time: BALTIMORE PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL The 28th annual BPF continues its season this week with the Write Here Write Now fundraiser at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson June 27 at 8 p.m. For 7x10, seven 10-minute plays from local playwrights will be given stage readings, including Rosemary Frisino Toohey's "Having Fun," Rich Espey's "Messages Deleted," Mark Scharf's "Off the Grid," Leo Horrigan's "Revovler," Terry Kenney's "Leaping Lizards," Mike Strang's "The Imperfect Hour," and Lindsay Reed's "Gateau." For more information visit baltplayfest.com--and don't forget Dan Baum's Bloodlines, currently in production at the Fells Point Corner Theatre. OUTDOOR SHAKESPEARE Summertime Baltimore means hot, humid days, but it also means fun, outdoor productions of William Shakepeare works by a number of local companies... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:20:58 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18269 Stage by Anna Ditkoff: After watching Spotlighters Theatre's production of Bryony Lavery's Frozen, it's not surprising that the play was nominated for a Tony in 2004. What is surprising, at least to community-theater skeptics, is that this Spotlighters' production lives up to the play's vast potential, creating a night of theater likely to stick with its audience long after the bows have been taken... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:10:59 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18268 The Short List by Michael Byrne: WEDNESDAY: Alt-rock-cum-screamo band A Static Lullaby gets something off its chest at the Ottobar with Vanna, Asking Alexandria, Motionless In White, Tides of Man, and From This Point On. The Bellevederes, a fantastic local soul cover band you should already love, performs at the 8X10 with Basshound and Shook!... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:07:14 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18267 Music by Michael Byrne: This weekend, nearly 70 bands crowd into Sonar, from 1990s pop-punk godheads the Dead Milkmen to queer-punk good time Pansy Division to maybe the band practicing down the block. It's all part of Insubordination Fest--a now-annual celebration spun from Columbia-based Insubordination Records--that celebrates the kind of pop-punk that came before canned crap such as Sum 41 and, like, every band from Florida... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:05:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18266 Music by Neil Ferguson: The covers album is often the last resort of the musical scoundrel, a soul-destroying exercise in treading water, a sure sign that the artist in question is bereft of inspiration. Who could ever forget--and God knows how we've tried--for example, Duran Duran's ludicrous Thank You and its unintentionally hilarious take on Public Enemy's "911 is a Joke"? Evan Dando, the longtime Lemonheads front man--yes, they still exist and, yes, people still care--is, however, refreshingly candid when it comes to justifying the existence of Varshons (The End), his newly released covers album... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 14:01:15 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18265 Quick Sketches: BAKER ARTIST AWARDS The fresh and fun exhibition featuring the finalists for the 2009 Sondheim Award opened last weekend at the Baltimore Museum of Art, and it's very much worth checking out, but only a few days remain to see the 10 artists featured as part of the inaugural Baker Artist Awards. This exhibition--featuring John Ruppert, Hadieh Shafie, Becky Alprin, Milana Braslavsky, Sarah House, Adam Hopkins, Rob Levit, former City Paper staffer Jim Lucio, and Vincent Thomas--ends June 28, although you can still catch award-winner Carl Grubbs July 25 when he performs as part of the Jazz in the Sculpture Garden concert series. THINKING BIG The Creative Alliance at the Patterson's annual Big Show is when the East Baltimore community-arts hub opens its gallery walls to its members to hang whatever they'd like... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:56:12 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18264 Art by Alex Ebstein: A Sculpture Show, C. Grimaldis Gallery's 2009 manifestation of its annual summer sculpture group show, features the small works of big names... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:43:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=18263 Film by Bret McCabe: Sometimes it's the little things that leave a big impression. Over the course of the nearly two hours that make up the fascinating new documentary Poet Pride, which documents nearly 50 years of Paul Laurence Dunbar High School's men's basketball program, the archival footage that director David Manigault obtained recalls some of the most legendary moments in this storied basketball program's history: a 1973 game versus suburban Washington basketball powerhouse DeMatha High School in which Skip Wise scored 39 points--22 in the fourth quarter--en route to a 85-71 victory... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:34:40 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=18262 Television by Anna Ditkoff: The Fox network's realitygame show So You Think You Can Dance wasn't really expected to be a hit; since its summer 2005 debut it has focused on a skill and art that is often taken for granted. Now in its fifth season, with a sixth slated for the fall, the show--in which viewers call in to vote for their favorite dancers--not only puts a spotlight on dancers, who often punish their bodies just as much as professional athletes, it has also introduced viewers to a wide variety of dance styles and choreographers... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:29:29 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18260 Whose Responible? by John Ellsberry: The Fox network's realitygame show So You Think You Can Dance wasn't really expected to be a hit; since its summer 2005 debut it has focused on a skill and art that is often taken for granted. Now in its fifth season, with a sixth slated for the fall, the show--in which viewers call in to vote for their favorite dancers--not only puts a spotlight on dancers, who often punish their bodies just as much as professional athletes, it has also introduced viewers to a wide variety of dance styles and choreographers... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:20:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18256 : The Fox network's realitygame show So You Think You Can Dance wasn't really expected to be a hit; since its summer 2005 debut it has focused on a skill and art that is often taken for granted. Now in its fifth season, with a sixth slated for the fall, the show--in which viewers call in to vote for their favorite dancers--not only puts a spotlight on dancers, who often punish their bodies just as much as professional athletes, it has also introduced viewers to a wide variety of dance styles and choreographers... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:03:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14943 Film by Michael Byrne: BEFORE THE LIGHTS go down for this promotional screening, someone doing promo for Otakon announces to the crowd—with nearly two full theaters, it is a crowd—that Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen apparently used whopping 135 terabytes of computer memory in the creation of its special effects. That's about 60-odd research libraries' worth of information... Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:21:31 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14937 DVD by Bret McCabe: BBC Warner These days, when you absolutely positively need a good melodramatic women's picture--featuring actual grown-up women instead of the relationship pangs of twentysomethings--the BBC is one of the few places to turn. And just as the BBC's Skins does pretty amazing things with a standard American setup--the high-school drama--Mistresses takes the four close friends who like to get together, drink, and gossip idea of Sex and the City/Desperate Housewives and mixes in a liberal amount of soap opera turns such as parental drama, financial anxiety, medical subplots, and extramarital affairs to give the four main characters plenty of reasons to fret and whine over wine... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:50:14 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14936 Film Clips by Luisa F. Ribeiro: Director Brad Bird's animated 1999 sci-fi adventure is nothing special in the digital-animation department but a worthy threat to Disney nevertheless. This sweet tale of a kid in 1957 Maine befriending a giant amnesiac iron man (voiced by Vin Diesel) has great fun lampooning the hysteria of the atomic age.... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:08:47 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14935 Film Clips by Lee Gardner: Writer/director John Waters followed up the original Hairspray with another trip back to the Baltimore of yore. For 1990's Cry-Baby, 1950s clashes between goody-goody middle-class teen "squares" and gritty blue-collar rockabilly "drapes" take the place of '60s racial tensions, with less vital and emotional results... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:09:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14934 Film Clips by Bret McCabe: German director Robert Wiene's silent 1920 Expressionist nightmare is a virtuosic fusion of haunting story and hallucinatory, chiaroscuro visuals. The titular "doctor" (Werner Krauss) is a traveling sideshow hawker whose main attraction is the clairvoyant Somnambulist (the superb Conrad Veidt), who not only answers questions put to him by visitors but, perhaps, carries out Caligari's nefarious bidding... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:00:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14933 Film by Bret McCabe: Michael Keaton's directorial debut The Merry Gentleman is an odd and oddly absorbing drama about two people who value their personal privacy above all else. It opens with two unrelated scenes that convey why that might be: Frank (a taciturn Keaton) looks like a generic reserved older man sitting on a park bench... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:29:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14932 Film by Bret McCabe: "A lot of things will be leaving with me" Hélène (Edith Scob) tells her eldest son, Frédéric (Charles Berling), on her 75th birthday. All three of her children have gathered for the occasion at her country house about a 50-minute train ride from the Gare du Nord: Frédéric and his wife and kids; the New York-based designer Adrienne (Juliette Binoche, smashing as a blonde); and Jérémie (Jérémie Renier), a China-based businessman, with his wife and young kids... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 11:23:34 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14942 Listening Party by Lee Gardner: Farty synth sounds have their charms, but they aren't the answer to everything. Unfortunately, they seem to be to be something of a default mode for Tortoise on its new album, its first in 5 years... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:21:10 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14940 Cheap Eats by Erin Sullivan: Last we wrote about Julianna's, it was in the Drinks column (Drinks, May 13, 2009)--this place has a surprisingly pleasant happy hour vibe, for a Caton Avenue hotel bar--but this time we want to draw your attention to the fact that this place also has a totally worthwhile cheap eats thing going on. During happy hour every day, orders of mussels, wings, or quesadillas are just $5 apiece... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:32:34 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14939 Free Range by Mary K. Zajac: Walking into La Famiglia can confuse the senses. The newest restaurant to inhabit the Broadview looks a lot like its predecessor, Brasserie Tatin... Tue, 23 Jun 2009 12:19:19 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14941 Drinks by Michael Byrne: Dunno why this was such a pleasant surprise, but shame on us for prejudging this downtown watering hole. Maybe it was the battalion of young bankers (or banker impersonators) occupying the outside tables or the poker tables (for charity, it turns out) set up in the alley around the corner, but Peter's Pour House didn't give us the best vibe when we quite literally stumbled upon it in a stressed-out hunt downtown for air conditioning and a pint... Wed, 24 Jun 2009 11:30:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14920 Film Clips by Anna Ditkoff: The bar for romantic comedies has been set so low that if a couple has some chemistry, the plot a degree of internal logic, and the characters are remotely likable it's a victory. The Proposal accomplishes all these things, so while it's not an instant classic, it's something you could watch with enjoyment on a Saturday afternoon... Fri, 19 Jun 2009 14:21:50 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18254 Noise by Al Shipley: The sign in front of Bertha's Restaurant and Bar on Wednesday listed the night's entertainment as a "New Orleans brass band," but that functioned as a description of the act's sound, not its geographic origin. In fact, Mama Digdown's Brass Band comes from about as far from Louisiana as you can get and still be in the same country: Madison, Wis... Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18252 The News Hole by Van Smith: Anthony Dix, the administrative manager of the Baltimore City Circuit Court's clerks office, admitted forging prescriptions to satisfy his painkiller addiction, the Daily Record reported, and received probation before judgment in Baltimore County district court. When City Paper first covered Dix's charges in January, his boss, the elected clerk of the court Frank Conaway Sr., defended the disgraced official. Yesterday, Conaway reiterated his support, despite Dix's forgery admission... Thu, 18 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18251 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: A London Telegraph story reposted to Alternet claims Baltimore is on a list of 50 U.S. cities that may be radically culled through massive demolition of abandoned housing... Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=18246 Mr. Wrong by Joe MacLeod: What's worse is it's my fault, man. That means I can only (mostly) complain about myself, but still: Criminals! They (the Criminals) stole my fucking bike, which a friend of mine gave me, a no-name "beach cruiser" type of bike, a promotional item from a magazine--if you can fucking believe a few years ago magazines had enough dough to hand out whole bicycles, even if they were crappy ones--black, with no gears (or I guess only one gear) and it had Ye Olde coaster brakes where you sorta halfway try and pedal backwards and it slows your shit down, eventually, but it was kinda cool, and I bought one of those special Kryptonite™ locks for it, and I attached the Kryptonite™ lock-holder to my bike so it would conveniently hold my Kryptonite™ lock, and it totally worked, I pedalled my ass around a little bit and learned all about why having more than one gear on a bike is Good, especially if you are not exactly Lance Armstrong and shit, you know? So I would beach-cruise around and find something good to lock my bike to with the Kryptonite™ and I managed to not get it stolen when I was cycling around town, as it were... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:37:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18245 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 4 Murders this Year: 101 Monday, June 8 5:45 p.m. Three African-American men were shot in the 2500 block of East Federal Street in East Baltimore... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:31:52 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18244 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: Council Meeting June 8 09-0347--Floodplain Management--Development Regulations This would apparently exempt the "Gateway South" development south of the M&T Bank Stadium from some environmental laws. The Read: This item, submitted by the Dixon administration, was referred to the City Council's Land Use and Transportation Committee without comment. It would make an exception to the law that otherwise prohibits development in the floodplain, for development that "otherwise meets all of the requirements" of the law and is "located in the Carroll Camden urban renewal project area." The "Gateway South" development, with the Ravens' Ray Lewis as an investor, is projected to be a large mixed-use development housing Lewis' planned "Ray of Light Center" for at-risk youth, plus indoor athletic facilities... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:29:19 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18243 The Mail: Baltimore, like many U.S. cities, faces the daunting challenge of maintaining a sewer system that is more than 100 years old in some parts of town ("The Reek Goes On," Mobtown Beat, June 10)... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:25:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18242 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: There are dozens of lawyers attached to the court case Star Scientific v.. R.J... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:15:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18241 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Wade Coats, a 44-year-old whose East Baltimore business, Keeping It in the Community, Inc., sells phones and pagers, is a Republican Party campaign donor who gave $500 to Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Michael Steele's failed 2006 U.S. Senate campaign and another $800 to the RNC... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:13:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18240 Feature by Anna Ditkoff: On a sunny March afternoon, the Annie E. Casey Foundation is full of teenagers... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:06:45 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18239 The Short List by Michael Byrne: WEDNESDAY: Gem of tumbleweed Americana Calexico dusts off and takes the stage at Sonar with Lo Moda. Connecticut punk-wave outfit Eula tears a hole through the Windup Space with Ten Elevenths... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:02:58 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18237 Culture by Ashley Sarantinos: Pride Parade, Party, and Festie New Hampshire and Maine allied themselves with the gay-marriage movement, while California violated no-take-backs and rescinded gay rights. But sometimes in the face of adversity, the most positive thing you can do is party! This weekend, the gay community and all their friends and families will once more celebrate Baltimore Pride (baltimorepride.org)... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:57:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18236 Curtain Time: BALTIMORE PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL The 28th installment of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival launches this week as Fells Point Corner Theater opens Dan Baum's Bloodlines June 18. It's the first of seven productions in this year's festival, and includes Theatrical Mining Company staging Lisa Hodsoll's Turducken July 16, Fells Point Corner Theater putting on Rosemary Frisino Toohey's G-Man July 23, Catonsville Theatre Company producing Robin Rouse's Dancing Without You Aug... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:44:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18235 Stage by Geoffrey Himes: The Light in the Piazza takes its title from a turn of phrase used by the American tourist Clara Johnson. Head over heels in love with an Italian boy named Fabrizio, she declares that his love surrounds her like the afternoon sun in Florence... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:05:22 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18234 Books by Heather Harris: The romance novel, a static and predictable genre, is undergoing an evolution of sorts: storylines written by straight women for straight women .... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:58:42 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18233 Quick Sketches: CRITIC'S CHOICES Maryland Art Place's 23rd Annual Critics' Residency Program exhibit ends this weekend, June 20, and as always it's an interesting chance to see how critics/arts writers organize their thoughts and respond to work. Critic, curator, and poet Vincent Katz chose the eight artists in the show--Ken Ashton, Jessie Boyko, Dottie Campbell, Bernhard Hildebrandt, Gil Jawetz, Bonnie Crawford Kotula, Kim Manfredi, and Lynn Rybicki--and then worked with the two critics, Dylan Kinnett and City Paper contributor Martin L... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:55:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18232 Art by Bret McCabe: In the early 1960s Crayola changed the name of its "flesh" crayon color to "peach," responding to the changing times, just as Indian Red was renamed Chestnut in the late 1990s. No more would such early childhood implements reinforce negative cultural assumptions about the color of people's skin--but it doesn't make matching skin color any easier, a fact bluntly illustrated in Elena Patino's "Me By Others, Others By Me." In this installation, part of School 33's current Masked exhibition, Patino offers an array of 5-by-7 inch wood panels, on which she and 25 other people tried to approximate each other's skin color in paint... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:37:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18231 Art by Bret McCabe: The image adorning the cover of this issue of City Paper borders on cliché. A young man stands at an open fire hydrant, his arms extended out and over his head, his silhouette but a shadow behind the white gush of water exploring from the spigot... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 12:32:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18227 : The image adorning the cover of this issue of City Paper borders on cliché. A young man stands at an open fire hydrant, his arms extended out and over his head, his silhouette but a shadow behind the white gush of water exploring from the spigot... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:59:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18226 : The image adorning the cover of this issue of City Paper borders on cliché. A young man stands at an open fire hydrant, his arms extended out and over his head, his silhouette but a shadow behind the white gush of water exploring from the spigot... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 11:54:01 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14913 Film by Bret McCabe: Austrian writer/director Götz Spielmann's Revanche is a grippingly nasty plunge into contemporary noir. Ex-con Alex (Johannes Krisch) works for a Vienna hood, Konecny (Hanno Pöschl), who runs prostitutes and who knows what else... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:30:31 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14910 Film by Wendy Ward: Australian writer/director Stephan Elliott received acclaim for his 1994's The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and went on to work on two Hollywood movies--1997's Welcome to the Woop Woop and 1999's Eye of the Beholder--that didn't live up to his potential before his career was as laid up following a life-threatening skiing accident in 2004. His first movie in nine years isn't going to revive his career, though... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:00:01 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14909 Film by Justin Strout: There is a purpose that runs through director Sam Mendes' widely varied screen work, a noble, often quixotic quest on which entire multi-million-dollar endeavors hinge: the moment of perfect honesty. And with Away We Go, Mendes has found a movie in which the couple at its center acts in place of the director... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:54:23 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14907 No Cover by Al Shipley: Sonny Brown is standing on the front steps of the Charles Street headquarters of Street Legal, a Baltimore-based hip-hop label and recording studio, shooting the shit with old friends. And even though the occasion is a relaxed summer cookout, business appears to keep happening out on those steps throughout the night... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:37:03 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14916 Listening Party by Bret McCabe: Add it up: With 15 albums, 8 EPs, 8 SYR Records workouts, and a healthy number of live bootlegs out there spread out over nearly three decades, Sonic Youth has entered its éminence grise era. And over this long/strange trip, Sonic Youth--drum fixture Steve Shelley, guitarist Lee Renaldo (now rocking a touch of gray himself), cool parents vocalist Kim Gordon and guitarist/vocalist Thurston Moore, and new fifth member Mark Ibold, the ex-Pavement bassist who gets to return the patient throb and jittery pulse from his other former act, the definitely SY-ish Dustdevils--has seen no reason to change what isn't broke... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:13:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14914 Know Your Product by Michael Byrne: One of the more untold joys of music, or any art, is the thought that it can just happen, that people can just throw their pieces out into the air and it will come together in a song. That song that comes together might not be a spit-shined product, might not have had a fancy studio, producer, or record label behind it, but actually might just be a song--a passing of the time, a way for people to come together, something that feels good to do and to be around... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:28:19 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14912 Know Your Product: Right now, Darkroom Productions Westport wonder-duo the Get 'Em Mamis have a vague "coming soon" listed as the release debut for what's become a very hotly anticipated album. In the hip-hop world, that's not exactly heartening... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:29:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14919 Cheap Eats by Bret McCabe: 4607 Harford Road, (410) 426-1161, grindoncafe.com This quaint Harford Road coffee shop has emerged as an invaluable Northeast Baltimore stop for early morning bagels and Zeke's coffee, but don't pass on trying out its other fare: the café's chill vibe and cozy dining area make it an ideal stop for a leisurely paced lunch featuring build your own sandwiches ($7.25) from a selection of breads, meats, cheeses, veggies, and condiments. A filling turkey on sourdough with lettuce, tomato, Gouda, and wasabi mayo arrived with tortilla chips, and that piquant mayo was a flavorful way of making a familiar lunch standby--the turkey sandwich--taste fresh and lively... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:18:42 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14917 Free Range by Mary K. Zajac: It's hard to get away from national chain restaurants at the Inner Harbor, and the opening of Sullivan's Steakhouse just makes it a little harder. You don't have to be a self-professed foodie to find this trend and its implications troubling, from the literal loss of regional flavor (do we really need a 1940s Chicago-style steakhouse in downtown Baltimore?) to the creation of a dining monoculture across the country's urban and suburban landscapes... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:32:59 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14918 Drinks by Michael Byrne: 200 W Pratt St., (410) 528-1119, thenest.me Maybe it's a pain in the ass to get a permit for it, but for whatever reason, patio drinking is hard to come by in Baltimore, particularly in areas where you actually want to drink outside. The downtown corner of Pratt and Cathedral has always been an abrupt refuge of sidewalk boozin' with the Wharf Rat-cum-Pratt Street Ale House and its immediate neighbor, the Nest... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 15:15:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18250 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The New York Times reviews a pair of books on the financial crisis today. Judging by the reviews, both (Gillian Tett's Fool's Gold and Daniel Gross's Dumb Money) seem to look back only half as far as necessary-to the mid 1990s... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18249 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Baltimore's city budget passed Monday after two City Council meetings, a meeting of the Board of Estimates, and a committee meeting in a side room. The council voting-contentious and surprising at one key point-was so fast and furious that even with a score card it was hard to tell what had happened... Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18247 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Our friends at Calculated Risk have posted an FDIC chart detailing all the alphabet-soup programs and all the money pledged to prop up the financial Ponzi scheme. The total is just shy of $14 trillion... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18225 Noise by Al Shipley: An die Musik Live is one place in Baltimore that I've always wanted to visit but have never quite found the occasion for, being in general a complete outsider to jazz and classical music. But when the words "Double Bass Extravaganza" popped up on An die Musik's calendar, it seemed like as good a time as any... Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18224 Noise by Michael Byrne: Well, the big outdoor stage is gone, but booker Chris Brooks is making do: July 17 and 18, the Windup Space hosts a not-at-all-shabby lineup of DJs in its stead. While part of the kick of the original DJ Culture stage was exposing all the Artscape families and general random people to music they might not be familiar with, glad something is happening... Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18223 Noise by Al Shipley: I first got in touch with DJ Manny through another Baltimore club producer, DJ B-Eazy. When I interviewed the latter, I found out that the two are cousins... Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18221 Arts and Minds by Bret McCabe: GET REALISM Baltimore's Schuler School of Fine Arts celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding this week. Hans and Ann Schuler started their classical, traditional realist art school in 1959 as a response to the 1950s explosion of abstract expressionism and other emerging forms, and since three generations of the Schuler family have run the school, where 91-year old Ann still teaches... Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18220 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal has a neat little story (subscription required) that illustrates the state of play in the investment banking business. There is an element of David vs... Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18219 Noise by Michael Byrne: .... Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18218 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: The phone rang at 6:59 a.m. on a Friday morning, just as 53-year-old Baltimore City wastewater plant technician Calvin Renard Robinson was heading for the shower, court records show... Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:26:10 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18217 Noise by Raymond Cummings: NYC trio Black Dice doesn't so much make music as it dumpster-dives for sonic refuse, smashes together its findings, and shapes the shards and fragments into disarmingly odd, wobbly sculptures. Listening to albums like Creature Comforts, Beaches and Canyons, or recent dispatch Repo (Paw Tracks) isn't rock-out-with-your-cock-out gratifying or cathartic; it's intriguingly puzzling, mysteriously mesmerizing, perhaps kind of frightening. Impossible questions materialize... Wed, 10 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18216 The Mail: On June 2, the Washington, D.C. City Council approved preliminary legislation on a 5-cent plastic bag tax... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:02:33 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18215 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 3 Murders this Year: 97 Tuesday, June 2 6:20 a.m. Baltimore City Police were called by Anne Arundel County police to the scene of a homicide... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:52:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18214 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: Correction: Due to a fact-checking error, this story initially misreported that Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake (D) was not present for the vote on One on One trash service and that Councilwoman Rochelle "Rikki" Spector (D-5th District) was among the "yes" votes. City Paper regrets the error. Council Meeting June 1 09-0339--General Fund Operating Appropriation Transfer--Department of Public Works (Program 515--Solid Waste Collection) to the Baltimore City Police Department (Program 201--Field Operations Bureau)--$3,546,000 09-0340--Supplementary General Fund Operating Appropriation--Police Department--$2,964,000 Together these move $6.4 million into the police-overtime budget. The read: This is an annual ritual: The city budget is re-balanced at the end of each fiscal year to reflect higher police costs, mostly relating to overtime... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:51:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18213 Mobtown Beat by Chris Landers: The fire department called it the night of May 25, but the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) had been receiving calls about the smell even before the dead fish showed up. The next morning there were an estimated 3,200 of them in the Inner Harbor, mostly menhaden, but with other species mixed in... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:48:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18212 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Nutrients are supposed to be good for you, but in Baltimore's Inner Harbor, they can trigger gag-inducing odors. From Memorial Day weekend into early June, people along the waterfront--and in neighborhoods dozens of blocks away--couldn't escape the stench of rot... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:46:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18211 Feature by Anna Ditkoff: Baltimore City's foster-care system is messed up. That's not exactly news... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:44:26 EST http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=18210 Social Studies by Vincent Williams: I've been having a good summer as far as pop culture events go. Against all odds, Star Trek was amazing... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:39:55 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18209 The Short List by Michael Byrne: WEDNESDAY: Montreal heavy bass champ Ghislain Poirier heads up a midweek Tax Lo party at Sonar with left-field hip-hop producer Daedelus, James Nasty, and Andrew Jaye. Fleetwood Mac plays the hits at 1st Mariner Arena... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:38:10 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18208 Music by Bret McCabe: About one minute into "Blood-Stained Sands," the final track on Sir Richard Bishop's latest, The Freak of Araby (Drag City), a pair of Moroccan chanter horns accelerate from slow drones and begin to thread together as if moving into an frenetic abstract jazz run. In the background, hand drums and other percussion provide a lithe, rustling tempo, less pushing the chanters forward than occupying the space behind them, as if a large expanse over which these two buzzing insects chase each other... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:36:08 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18207 Music by Raymond Cummings: Where youth and musical indoctrination go hand-in-hand--the pressure cooker of hormones and close proximity operating at full intensity--amazing things can happen: think Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Bad Religion, Green Day, or the Libertines. Spill blood relations into that volatile mix, and the results can be even more elemental, more explosive: think the B-52s, Black Dice, Radiohead, the Flaming Lips, Kings of Leon, or No Doubt, each of which featured siblings or cousins at one point or another... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:33:24 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18206 Curtain Time: WILLS AND FATES do so contrary run Playwright David Davalos dreams up a doozy in his Wittenberg: Church reformer Martin Luther (Michael Stebbins) and Dr. Faustus (Seth Reichgott) are professors of theology and philosophy, respectively, at Wittenberg University in Germany, and they both have a forlorn, impressionable young student in their classes--one Hamlet (Michael Feldsher), prince of Denmark... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:27:51 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18205 Stage by John Barry: There was an unintended logic to the choice of John Waters as the keynote speaker for the Theatre Communications Group 2009 national conference, held in Baltimore this past weekend. In the brief question-and-answer session that followed his "My Filthy Life" vaudeville act, an out-of-town audience member asked Waters to recommend a Baltimore theater... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 15:01:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18204 Art by Bret McCabe: Rebecca Nagle is one of the more beguiling provocateurs working in Baltimore right now. The petite 22-year-old MICA graduate and performance artist sits at a table in a Bolton Hill coffee shop dressed in professional black skirt and top--she has to head to her job as a community connections coordinator at the Waverly Elementary/Middle School after the interview--talking about the genesis of her A Dozen Things I Want to Do on Stage cabaret show that she performs for this first time ever in its entirety this Friday, her 23rd birthday... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:56:50 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=18203 Film by Lee Gardner: The only film school the Robinson brothers ever attended lasted all of 10 minutes. While Jonathan, now 28, and Rick, now 24, had always loved watching movies and even fooled around with video cameras, the idea of becoming professional filmmakers seemed too daunting for two guys who grew up in East Baltimore... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:52:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18200 Whose Responible? by John Ellsberry: The only film school the Robinson brothers ever attended lasted all of 10 minutes. While Jonathan, now 28, and Rick, now 24, had always loved watching movies and even fooled around with video cameras, the idea of becoming professional filmmakers seemed too daunting for two guys who grew up in East Baltimore... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:19:03 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18197 : The only film school the Robinson brothers ever attended lasted all of 10 minutes. While Jonathan, now 28, and Rick, now 24, had always loved watching movies and even fooled around with video cameras, the idea of becoming professional filmmakers seemed too daunting for two guys who grew up in East Baltimore... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 14:16:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14888 Film Clips by Bret McCabe: With its then-lurid DIY imagery of vaguely S&M sexuality and torture being deemed "what's next" by a cable television producer and the monologue being deemed a "preferred mode of discourse" (hello, blogs), David Cronenberg's 1983 sci-fi slow burn of a thriller becomes more and more prescient with every passing year. Ratings-hound cable TV producer Max Renn (the incomparable James Woods) stumbles across an underground video feed of unspeakable depravation, and after repeated viewings begins to wonder if television is a passive instrument of mind and behavioral control... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:09:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14887 Film by Lee Gardner: The theme song to this Israeli movie is, yes, "Lemon Tree," the folk-pop number made popular in the 1960s by Peter, Paul and Mary, and as the opening credits roll, the nostalgic overtones of such a lilting chestnut hint at heartwarming adult drama to come. By the end credits, the bitterness in the song's bittersweet melody comes to the fore and the lyric that jumps out is the refrain "the fruit of the poor lemon is impossible to eat." What transpires in between features plenty of heartwarming adult-drama hallmarks, to be sure-a mature attraction, middle-aged dissatisfaction, mild courtroom drama-but Lemon Tree's setting on the border between Israel proper and the Palestinian West Bank removes director/co-writer Eran Riklis' movie from any rote category... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:02:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14886 Film by Bret McCabe: Seventy-year-old William (Red West), whose hard life is carved into his lined face and look-right-through-you eyes, wants to die. And he offers cab driver Solo (Souléymane Sy Savené), an upbeat Senegalese immigrant to Winston-Salem, N.C., $1,000 to drive him one-way to the Blowing Rock Park at a imminent future date where that ends can be achieved... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:52:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14885 Film by Bret McCabe: Another big-budget Tony Scott action flick, another opportunity to slam his directorial flourishes: clumsy plots, spastic camera movements, and a nearly childish disregard for plausibility. And, boy oh boy, are all three on display in this adaptation of crime writer John Godey's 1973 novel about a subway car hijacking, which director Joseph Sargent and screenwriter Peter Stone winningly adapted in 1974... Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:34:57 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14889 Listening Party by Michael Byrne: Deer Tick seems to get lumped into the young, urban "new folk" movement, and if the buzzed-about band's sophomore album, following a 2007 disc released on Jana Hunter's label, is an indication, it's an awkward categorization. Deer Tick's primary member, John McCauley, is indeed young and comes from Providence's gallery scene, but McCauley's music takes a rollicking twist, channeling Richie Valens proto-roadhouse rockabilly rather than John Fahey or other soft voices... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:19:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14891 Cheap Eats by Michael Byrne: To quote my girlfriend, the old Howard's Delly was "a place for squares and bozos, and the very old." It felt like a diner in the truest sense, and that's why we liked it. The Delly closed down some time ago, future uncertain, only to reopen this spring sans the "delly" with new ownership and a fresh Central Perk-ish sign out front... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:40:16 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14890 Free Range by Mary K. Zajac: "That dosa is the size of Texas," observed one of my dining companions at Spicy Garden. A split second later, he quickly amended his geography-"I mean, the size of India!" Geographic comparisons aside, it was a helluva big crepe, deep brown and loosely rolled like a jellyroll, its crispy ends jutting over the edge of the red plastic tray, that we watched emerge through the kitchen window of this bare-bones storefront... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:32:39 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14892 Drinks by Erin Sullivan: You know that "authentic" blue-collar Baltimore that people like to talk about and occasionally recreate in some of the city's hipper neighborhoods? Well everything's authentic and nothing is recreated here in this Morrell Park corner bar. We went in recently because we had planned to get a beer at Bud and Pat's Fillin' Station, across the street... Tue, 09 Jun 2009 12:48:51 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18192 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal's Damian Paletta, citing "people familiar with the matter," writes of a showdown between FDIC Chief Sheila Bair and CitiGroup CEO Vikram Pandit. Basically, if the story is to be believed, Bair is the only federal regulator who is pushing to rein in the giant bank—and to ditch its CEO. It may not be coincidental that Bair's agency has the most exposure to Citi losses, having agreed to an unprecedented $300 billion "loss sharing" deal. The story has its juicy bits, including the claim that, after Bair backed a surprise takeover of Wachovia by Wells Fargo over Citi's bid, Pandit unleashed obscenities about her during a 2 a.m... Fri, 05 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18191 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Wednesday postponed indefinitely its "Legacy Loan Program" to back the sale of banks' bad assets to private investors. (This was to be a gift to private investors and banks—the banks would be able to get top dollar for toxic waste assets; the private investors would get virtually guaranteed profits—all on account of backing by regular taxpayers)... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18190 Noise by Michael Byrne: Cass McCombs didn't play an encore Tuesday night. The boyishly handsome songwriter, clad in work boots, jeans, and a baggy tucked-in flannel, closed with "Your Mothers and Fathers"—from his 2002 Baltimore-gestated debut EP—a song that smothers itself so abruptly at the end of its four minutes that it feels like it's sucking all of the oxygen, electricity, and light from the room with it... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18189 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: ... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18187 Noise by Michael Byrne: ...there's no DJ Culture Stage this year. Booker Chris Brooks has basically half an hour on the main stage Sunday afternoon for downtempo/pan-global producer Nickodemus to perform a set with jazzy house producer Quantic and the band Sun People... Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18186 Books by Bret McCabe: Performance artist, writer, painter, poet, filmmaker, and general Lower East Side force of nature Reverend Jen has spent nearly 20 years cranking out a lovingly and welcomingly outlandish swath of creative work, from creating and curating the Troll Museum to hosting and organizing Anti-Slams to coining the blithely irreverent term "art star" and launching Art Star Scene-aka, ASS magazine. Its editorial mission mirrored Reverend Jen's own: to promote non-boring existence through art... Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18185 Arts and Minds by Chris Landers: As far as I (and a search of the Pratt's online catalog) know, a trip to the Enoch Pratt's Maryland room was previously the easiest way for Baltimore history geeks to look at a copy of J. Thomas Scharf's exhaustive—and, OK, at around 1,000 pages, depending on whether you count illustrations and appendices, slightly exhausting—1881 book History of Baltimore City and County, from the Earliest Period to the Present Day: Including Biographical Sketches of Their Representative Men... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18184 The News Hole by Van Smith: The only sign that ownership of the Baltimore Guide recently changed is subtle: On its web site, the name of its publisher changed from long-time owner Richard Sandza to recent buyer Darwin Oordt. "It happened a couple of weeks ago," editor Jacqueline Watts explains in a brief phone chat today... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18183 The News Hole by Van Smith: On June 1, the Maine coast on-line news site Village Soup, which publishes the Camden Herald Gazette, reported that Steven Geppi and a partner were sued in federal court over $600,000 in bad debt owed Camden National Bank. Their properties on the Maine coast, purchased in 2005, are already in federal receivership due to $14.7 million in unpaid principal on a mortgage owed PNC Bank, according to April coverage in the Bangor Daily News... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18182 The News Hole by Lee Gardner: Journalists love a good story, especially about journalism. A significant fraction of the audience that filed into the University of Maryland's Westminster Hall in downtown Baltimore Tuesday evening for a symposium titled "The End of Local News? If Communities Lose Newspapers, Who Will Fill the Void?" pulled out pens and notebooks or circled the rows of chairs with cameras, clicking away... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18181 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Newsweek has an excellent, readable story about the guts of our financial crisis and a school for the quants who would fix it. I recommend it, even though its brilliant lede is built upon a false metaphor: Imagine an aeronautics engineer designing a state-of-the-art jumbo jet... Wed, 03 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18178 CPTV by Ed Ericson Jr. and Joseph Tropea: ... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:49:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18177 CPTV by Wendy Ward: ... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 16:40:11 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18173 : ... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 15:55:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18171 The Mail: It's too bad that two years ago you had not learned about the Baltimore Lyceum, which was offering free community classes in Baltimore and had an eight-year history first in North Carolina and then in New Orleans. We could have used an article like this ('Working Class," Arts & Entertainment, May 27) to stimulate interest... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:12:28 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18170 Murder Ink: Murders this Week: 8 Murders this Year: 94 Due to the Memorial Day holiday, this week's column covers homicides from May 23 to May 31. This year's homicide toll continues to climb with 13 more people killed this year than at the same time last year. Saturday, May 23 3:10 a.m. Keon Cameron, an 18-year-old African-American man, was in the 1800 block of East 28th Street when he got into an argument with Christopher Briggs, a 15-year-old African-American male... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 14:02:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18169 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: Back in April, the city announced that the 311 call system would go from being open 24 hours a day to accepting only emergency calls from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., citing the low volume of calls that come in during the nighttime hours... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:46:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18168 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Baltimore City Department of Housing quietly reorganized its building-inspections division last year, firing two inspectors who were caught not doing their jobs. Meanwhile, two employees of the Department of General Services were fired for stealing scrap copper from city buildings, and a high level transportation official resigned after an ill-gotten boat was discovered in his back yard... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:45:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18167 Feature by Edward Ericson Jr.: The bounty fenced in on the south side of Hampstead Hill Academy has surpassed Matt Hornbeck's expectations. "We had so much rosemary we've been selling it to local restaurants," says the charter school's principal, showing off the chain-link-fenced rectangle of raised beds with a bamboo trellis... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:43:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=18166 Political Animal by Brian Morton: I can't help but smile. Sure, we're nowhere out of the weeds yet... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:41:52 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=18164 Film by Wendy Ward: It was a bright, warm Friday afternoon in early May when a bleached-blond Matthew Modine was sighted in the lobby of the Ritz Carlton in Georgetown. "I took the train with him and he had a seersucker suit on," Bradley Cooper leans over and whispers... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:36:59 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18163 Curtain Time: BALTIMORE EROTIC ARTS FESTIVAL The Baltimore Erotic Arts Festival is seeking contributing artists in the form of performance, installation, general visual arts, and film for its second annual installment scheduled for October. The 2008 BEAF included people such as Annie Sprinkle, Maria Beatty, Julie Simone, Lee Harrington, Laure Drogul, and more, and this year's theme is "Professional Sex: Sex at Work and Sex as Work." Contact BaltimoreEroticFestival@gmail.com... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:36:12 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18162 Stage by Bret McCabe: Saul Kaufman believes he's got a problem. An older talent agent with an outer-borough New York accent, he know he's to supposed to meet "Frank" in Las Vegas, but he can't seem to get his wife on the phone back at their apartment... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:29:15 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18161 Books by Bret McCabe: With a man of science as its renegade bad ass, a Treblinka subplot, and a Bushwick-based Russian exterminator named Vasiliy Fet going for it, Mexican writer/director Guillermo del Toro and crime-fiction scribe Chuck Hogan's The Strain--the first installment in a planned trilogy--is the most entertaining vampire novel I've ever read. That it's the only vampire novel I've ever read shouldn't qualify that statement too much, as I'm not entirely convinced it's a vampire novel--but more on that in a bit... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:27:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18160 Art by Bret McCabe: In one of the many puerile but hilarious bits in the 1983 PBS special The Andy Kaufman Show, the late comic mocks Johnny Carsonesque talk-show hosts' egos by appearing behind a gratuitously large desk. It's merely a sight gag, but it's also an economically effective use of exaggeration, altering and heightening affect merely by overindulging its dimensions... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:25:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18159 The Short List by Michael Byrne: Robyn Hitchcock WEDNESDAY: Gregory Isaacs makes a lover out of you at Rams Head Live with the Easy Star All-Stars. Haunted and haunting experimental folkstress Eskimeaux charms the Hexagon with Mr... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:20:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18158 Music by Judy Berman: It isn't always fair to judge people by the company they keep. But for Dirty Projectors songwriter David Longstreth, comparisons to recent collaborators Björk and David Byrne are unusually apt... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:19:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18157 Music by Geoffrey Himes: The first time Hilary Hahn performed in public with a non-classical musician, she more or less stumbled into it. In 2005, she was in Canada to play a violin concerto with the Montreal Symphony and her pal, alt-pop singer/songwriter Josh Ritter, was in town for a club gig... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:18:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14857 Film Clips by Robert Ignazio: Sam Raimi, who made the Evil Dead series before moving on to mainstream success with movies like Spider-Man, effortlessly blends scares, laughs, and thrills in Drag Me to Hell. It's a movie that should satisfy fans waiting for Evil Dead 4, as well as general audiences looking for a summer roller-coaster ride... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:30:39 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14856 Film Clips by Bret McCabe: Dan Brown's pre-Da Vinci Code novel gets turned into director Ron Howard's hectic movie sequel as Tom Hanks returns as Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, this time asked by the Vatican to help foil a plot to blow up St. Peter's shortly after the passing of the sitting pope, when the College of Cardinals is sequestered in the Sistine Chapel... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:26:30 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14855 Film Clips by Sono Motoyama: There was so much hype about Trainspotting's alleged glamorization of drug use that it's tempting to dislike it purely on that basis. But the movie, about residents of a housing project outside Edinburgh, at least tries to tell its story honestly from the inside out--from the perspective of one charming waster, Mark Renton (Ewan McGregor)... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:21:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14854 Film Clips: Danny Boyle's 1994 feature debut is an entertainingly devious crime yarn about a trio of Glasgow roommates--Juliet (Kerry Fox), David (Christoper Eccleston), and Alex (Ewan McGregor)--who acquire a fourth flatmate, who moves in and promptly overdoses, leaving behind a corpse and a suitcase full of cash. What follows is a mutual decision to dispose of the body and keep the money--and then contend with the paranoia and greed that besieges them all... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:14:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14853 Film Clips by Bret McCabe: Leave it to Wes Craven to find the horror movie in the work of an anthropologist. Bill Pullman plays Dennis Alan, just such an ethnographic researcher, who investigates zombie-like symptoms in humans among a religious sect in Haiti... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:07:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14852 Film by Bret McCabe: Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience ends with a scene of such raw intimacy that it's difficult to endure: In a back room of a store, an orthodox Jewish diamond vendor disrobes down to his undergarments, embraces high-priced escort Chelsea (adult-film star Sasha Grey), and, while doing little save hugging her, experiences something akin to a sexual climax or emotional breakdown. It's uncomfortable and sad and weird and intense--and it's also the lone time human emotions are displayed so nakedly onscreen... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:02:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14851 Film by Wendy Ward: Uptight bride-to-be Tracy (Sasha Barrese) kisses her groom-to-be Doug (Justin Bartha) as he heads for a night in Las Vegas with his boys before the wedding. Tracy's trusting father Sid (Jeffrey Tambor) lends the boys his cherry vintage Mercedes convertible and off they drive down the California highway blaring T.I.'s Rhianna-powered "Live Your Life." "To a night we'll never forget," the four friends toast from the roof of the Caesar's Palace later that night... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:25:22 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14850 Film by Bret McCabe: And your career will be, too, after being associated with this dismal excuse for mindless entertainment. This new romantic-comedy vehicle for Nia Vardalos is so insultingly execrable not even lonely, single, fortysomething spinsters who cling to dreams of Mr... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:41:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14849 Film by Anna Ditkoff: You know a dance movie is good when you find yourself fidgeting in your seat: You watch the onscreen people move and you want to join them. Well, you won't be able to sit still during Every Little Step, even if its concept is super-meta: A Chorus Line is a musical about dancers auditioning for a musical, and this movie is about dancers auditioning for the revival of that musical about dancers auditioning for a musical... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 11:34:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14861 Know Your Product by Michael Byrne: It feels like every city has somebody like this: the shadow producer/artist, immensely successful and renowned elsewhere in the world, but relatively unknown in his own backyard. In Baltimore, this character is Skiz Fernando, aka Spectre the Ill Saint... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:57:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14860 Know Your Product by Michael Byrne: OK, something needs to be done about the water-thin Castlevania keyboard sound that has snuck into Baltimore's musical palette and spread outward like some kind of zombie disease. It might be the only time ever I'm likely to side with chiptuners, but low-bit sounds are best handled by the pros... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:52:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14859 Know Your Product by Bret McCabe: A better title would be Yeah, I Remember My First Bong Hit, Too. Not to imply that the Afternoon Computer Umbrage was recorded under an intoxicating haze, but merely observing that with this album Needle Gun--the local quartet of Mike Allison, Max Eilbacher, Gram Hummell, and Jack Patterson that has explored feedbacking exothermic free-noise wail and pummel since 2006--discovers inner space... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:47:37 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14858 Listening Party by Lee Gardner: From Earth tribute band to Earth tribute band with black-metal overtones to Earth tribute band with strings. That was the pre-release buzz surrounding Monoliths and Dimensions, anyway, as fanboys pondered the foretold presence of violinist/arranger Eyvind Kang and various horn players and choruses augmenting the usual amp-worshipping duo of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 12:41:35 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14863 Cheap Eats by Tim Hill: One of the three or four eateries that serve the sprawling medical/retail/professional campus of Greenspring Station, the Wine Merchant does a brisk lunchtime business. Fortunately, you never have to wait long for a sandwich--there are at least a half dozen guys working behind the counter during lunch rush... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:07:33 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14862 Drinks by Michael Byrne: I'm fully aware these bar write-ups should be mostly about the booze and food should come second, but this place put effing sliced American cheese on my already weak-ass $9 nachos. C'mon... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 13:05:47 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18172 Noise by Al Shipley: The Deleted Scenes are a quartet based in Washington, D.C., but they've played shows in Baltimore so often over the past few years that I've seen them almost as often as any local band. And it was gratifying to see the hard-working band's recent full-length debut, Birdseed Shirt, greeted with a surprising amount of press, including an 8.0 rating from Pitchfork... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18155 The News Hole by Lee Gardner: OK, that's not the title of this afternoon's Abell Symposium at the University of Maryland's Baltimore campus. The actual title is "The End of Local News? If Communities Lose Newspapers, Who Will Fill the Void?", so close enough, especially since the panelists include current Sun editor Monty Cook and former Sun editor Tim Franklin, now on the faculty of Indiana University's School of Journalism... Tue, 02 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18154 Noise by Michael Byrne: Watch this. It's beautiful, like watching a crocus field bloom in time-lapse... Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18151 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Oops. A few readers have kindly informed us that the city's new "One Plus One" trash law is scheduled for final passage tonight, not next Monday as we reported. Not sure what happened; we checked the council schedule on-line before posting the piece & saw June 8 as the next meeting... Mon, 01 Jun 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14835 Film by Wendy Ward: Although comparisons to Wes Anderson's weird worlds are inevitable, the old-fashioned yet modern universe in which the grifters Bloom (Adrien Brody) and Stephen (Mark Ruffalo) inhabit in The Brothers Bloom booms and swells around them—they are influenced by it, they affect it. After growing up orphans and taking advantage of easy victims and those who pose a challenge their whole life —from fellow children to scoundrel peers—Bloom grows exhausted of living disingenuously while Stephen could continue swindling people out of their money for the rest of his days. So they settle on a compromise before they go their separate ways: one last confidence game—deceiving the heiress Penelope (the gorgeous Rachel Weisz), who grew up alone in a New Jersey castle—a job that requires the skills of a Bang Bang (the stunning Rinko Kikuchi), a passionate passionate pyrotechnic with little to say... Mon, 01 Jun 2009 18:03:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18150 The News Hole by Erin Sullivan: According to Yardbird Books, owned by author William Keisling, who has tirelessly theorized and researched the mysterious 2003 death of federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna, a Right to Know Law request he filed in April confirms that there's a federal grand jury investigation into the case.Luna, who worked in Baltimore, disappeared in December 2003; his body was discovered in a Lancaster, Pa., stream with multiple stab wounds. The Lancaster County coroner's office deemed Luna's death a homicide, but federal agents would not rule whether his death was being considered a murder or a suicide... Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18149 Noise by Al Shipley: It's only been a year since Baltimore shoegaze trio Kadman released its debut album, Sing to Me Slower, but the band has been quickly developing and changing since then. The only member left from that album's lineup is founding singer/guitarist David Manchester, and the material being worked on for the follow-up shows the benefits of a new rhythm section... Fri, 29 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18145 The Mail: It was enlightening to read "Newsgate" (Mobtown Beat, May 13) by Edward Ericson Jr. about the latest bloodletting at The Baltimore Sun... Tue, 26 May 2009 10:00:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18144 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 2 Murders this Year: 83 Due to the Memorial Day holiday, this week's Murder Ink only covers homicides from May 18-22. Two deaths stemming from shootings that happened years ago were added to the homicide total this week. On April 12, 2005, Tavon Crawford, a 22-year-old African-American man, was shot in the neck in the 2700 block of St. Lo Drive near Clifton Park... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:57:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18143 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: A lot of people call 311 to complain to the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) about maintenance issues involving HCD-owned properties. Their houses are falling down, there's no water, sewage is backing up, and they've got rats... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:56:40 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18142 Councilmania by Ed Ericson Jr.: Change is coming to Baltimore's trash pick-up, and some City Council members are not happy about it. Despite rare opposition to a bill, the council advanced the measure without amendment, and will take it up for final passage at the next council meeting on June 8. Called "One Plus One," the new system will reduce the number of garbage pickups to once weekly, down from twice per week, while increasing the number of recycling pickups from twice a month to once a week... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:55:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18141 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: An overarching presence in the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) prison-gang conspiracies indicted in April by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Maryland is not a person, but a book. Entitled The Black Book: Empowering Black Families and Communities, the 122-page softbound publication is a revolutionary call for economic and political liberation for blacks... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:51:08 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18140 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Among the 25 inmates, ex-offenders, prison employees, and others indicted by a federal grand jury in Maryland in April as part of the Black Guerilla Family (BGF) prison-gang conspiracies ("Guerrilla Warfare," Mobtown Beat, April 22, 2009), Deitra Davenport stands out. She has no criminal history. She has worked at the same association-management firm for the past 20 years... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:47:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18139 Feature by Erin Sullivan: Darren has a problem. He's in middle school--a tough time for a lot of kids to begin with--and due to some family problems, he recently found himself living in a group home in Baltimore City... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:39:23 EST http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=18138 Mr. Wrong by Joe MacLeod: I don't know about you, but this fucking Recession is hitting me hard, man. First of all, here in the pages and pixels of Baltimore's Most Weekly Newspaper and Web Site, my column got demoted from once every other week to once every other-other week, which is to say once every three fucking weeks, so what that means is I don't Get Paid in the manner to which I am accustomed, and that is beyond Recession, man, it is Depressing, seriously... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:38:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18137 The Short List by Michael Byrne: WEDNESDAY: Bird Names, an excellent fun-kind-of-arty pop band from Chicago, play the Zodiac. THURSDAY: Folkscaper Bethany Dinsick gives a somewhat rare show at the Hexagon with Paul Masson, MacGregor Burns, and Benjamin Pranger... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:37:42 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18136 Music by Geoffrey Himes: Bruce Springsteen's new album, Working on a Dream (Columbia), is the weakest he's ever released--weaker even than the twin disappointments of 1992, Human Touch and Lucky Town. And yet his show at Washington's Verizon Center last week was an utter triumph--and not, as you might think, just because of the older songs sprinkled throughout the set list... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:36:50 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18135 Whose Responible? by John Ellsberry: Bruce Springsteen's new album, Working on a Dream (Columbia), is the weakest he's ever released--weaker even than the twin disappointments of 1992, Human Touch and Lucky Town. And yet his show at Washington's Verizon Center last week was an utter triumph--and not, as you might think, just because of the older songs sprinkled throughout the set list... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:31:34 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18131 : Bruce Springsteen's new album, Working on a Dream (Columbia), is the weakest he's ever released--weaker even than the twin disappointments of 1992, Human Touch and Lucky Town. And yet his show at Washington's Verizon Center last week was an utter triumph--and not, as you might think, just because of the older songs sprinkled throughout the set list... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:29:04 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18130 : Bruce Springsteen's new album, Working on a Dream (Columbia), is the weakest he's ever released--weaker even than the twin disappointments of 1992, Human Touch and Lucky Town. And yet his show at Washington's Verizon Center last week was an utter triumph--and not, as you might think, just because of the older songs sprinkled throughout the set list... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:28:31 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18129 Curtain Time: GYPSY GALA The Strand Theater Company celebrates its first year of dedicating itself to promoting women playwrights, performers, and artists with this Sunday afternoon open house. Between 4-9 p.m... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:13:47 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18128 Stage by John Barry: Imagine a one-horse town on the Santa Fe trail. A couple of cowpokes sit around a table drinking shots of hooch... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:04:03 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18127 Quick Sketches: OPENINGS AND RECEPTIONS Matt Muirhead's E(n)tymology opens May 29 at the Antreasian Gallery with a reception from 7-10 p.m. The Baltimore Museum of Art's annual Art Is for Everyone exhibition--featuring the artwork of Baltimore County public school students, kindergarten-12th grade--opens May 27 and runs through 31, with a Baltimore County student reception 1-4 p.m... Tue, 26 May 2009 09:02:03 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18126 Art by Alex Ebstein: Decoy, the exhibition currently on view at the Creative Alliance, makes you look twice and question what you see. Each of the art works in this show, curated by Erin Cluley, causes you to waver between its surface attraction and a deeper message, which you reconsider upon each viewing... Tue, 26 May 2009 08:50:52 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18125 The Arts by Bret McCabe: "Everybody has something to teach," says Kate Khatib, a member of the Red Emma's collective and co-organizer of the Mount Vernon bookstore/activist hive's latest endeavor, the Red Emma's Free School Project. "And the idea behind this thing would be that it would be open for all those people to come in and share the knowledge that they have, be it something very broad or something very small and very artsy, a real range of stuff." "We've always been really interested in doing educational stuff here," adds co-organizer and fellow Red Emma's collective member John Duda... Tue, 26 May 2009 08:46:18 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14826 DVD by Bret McCabe: Aka yet another reason why Joss Whedon should be given carte blanche to do whatever the hell he wants. For non-Whedonists--or, like myself, fans who simply were too lazy to tune in during its original July 2008 online run--Dr... Tue, 26 May 2009 16:01:30 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14825 Film by Lee Gardner: Beto (Diego Luna) and Tato (Gael Garcia Bernal) are brothers, and so, of course, they are rivals. They are also both soccer prodigies, and when high-rolling talent scout Batuta (scene stealer Guillermo Francella) has a flat tire in their provincial Mexican banana burg, as will happen in movies, he sees peso signs and offers a ticket to the big leagues... Tue, 26 May 2009 15:55:12 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14824 Film by Bret McCabe: Life for Matty (Barbara Sarafian) has seen better days. Her art professor husband Werner (Johan Heldenbergh) ran off with a 22-year-old former student almost six months back, and while he hasn't decided if he wants a divorce or not, he has the gall to complain to Matty that his mid-life crisis fling is "adventurous" when he picks up the younger kids, Fien (Sofia Ferri) and Peter (Julian Borsani), for the weekend... Tue, 26 May 2009 15:52:29 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14823 Film by Steve Erickson: The Limits of Control is a paradoxical movie. It glamorizes handsome, taciturn men in suits while deconstructing their aura of cool... Tue, 26 May 2009 15:48:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14831 Know Your Product by Michael Byrne: Maybe it's not enough to write bared-soul lyrics--sometimes you've gotta go full bore and write bared-soul music. Don't blunt it with polish and pose, let it be as ragged and pocked as it feels... Tue, 26 May 2009 16:25:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14830 Know Your Product by Michael Byrne: Thrust Lab is Baltimore's electronic-rock house band (house band as in the Roots, not the oonse kind)--a dance-party opening staple that never seems to get much of a spotlight. Cursed with the 10 p.m... Tue, 26 May 2009 16:19:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14829 Know Your Product by Michael Byrne: Made up of four 10-minute-plus songs that linger more than lash, Oak's debut full-length album is for the patient metal fan. Imagine death metal re-imagined in the band Earth's audio tar pit or classic Maryland doom pumped full of negative space, feedback, and hellbound forest creatures... Tue, 26 May 2009 16:16:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14828 Listening Party by Michael Byrne: This doesn't sound like something quite real: Sparklehorse, Danger Mouse, and David Lynch in collaboration on a record/picture book. It's more a dream team that a gathering of culture nerds might come up with huddled around a bar... Wed, 27 May 2009 13:40:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14832 Cheap Eats by Anna Ditkoff: Baltimore isn't on the cutting edge of trends, so it seems appropriate that the city just recently got a trendy frozen yogurt shop. Mr... Tue, 26 May 2009 16:30:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14827 Free Range by Mary K. Zajac: And then there was Alizée (4 W. University Pkwy., [443] 449-6200)... Tue, 26 May 2009 16:08:10 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14833 Drinks by Erin Sullivan: This place has been through a lot of name changes over the past few years--it used to be the Purple Goose Saloon, then it became Y Not Bar and Grill, and on a recent visit, we learned that it's been renamed "Club Reality." In any event, it hasn't changed a whole lot--it's still got a reasonably priced bar menu featuring burgers, fries, wings, steamed shrimp, and chili. It still has a pretty intense pool-playing scene--judging by the relative quiet of the spectators, we gather some pretty serious games go on here... Tue, 26 May 2009 16:41:42 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18124 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: (ht CJR) Following New York Times financial reporter Edmund Andrews' confession last week that he was nearing foreclosure. The Atlantic Monthly did some digging. Turns out Andrews left out a couple of salient facts from his story of mad mortgage-his wife's two bankruptcies: Andrews' desire to shield his wife is understandable-hell, laudable... Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18123 Noise by Al Shipley: When a band plays behind a neon jesus saves sign in a punk-rock dive like the Sidebar, odds are it's not going to sing any sincere odes to our lord and savior. So when local threesome the Matrimonials displayed their propensity for potty mouth lyrics with goofy tunes such as "My Baby's Got Scabies," it wasn't exactly a shock... Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18122 Noise by Michael Byrne: This month Baltimore punk staple Double Dagger releases its formidable Thrill Jockey debut, More. Well known as an unstoppable, confrontational live band, the album ups every ante on record, sharpening lyrical ideas, experimenting with quieter musical modes, melodies, and just how much you can do with a bass guitar... Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14805 Film Clips by Joe MacLeod: This is a movie that features Robots From the Future. It is also a franchise-sequel of a sciencer series started by James Cameron, and we never thought we would say something like this, but we totally miss the James Cameron wit in our Robots From the Future movies, seriously and no kidding... Fri, 22 May 2009 14:52:25 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18120 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: ... Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18119 Arts and Minds by Bret McCabe: Remember when we wondered just how bad Maryland and Baltimore's arts funding crisis could get? This afternoon the Baltimore Sun's Chris Kaltenbach reported on imminent employee furloughs and other cost-cutting plans at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Kaltenbach writes: The furloughs and other measures, including leaving six vacant positions unfilled and cutting back on some smaller exhibitions, will trim the BMA's budget by 6.5 percent, or just under $900,000... Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18118 Noise by Bret McCabe: Early deadlines for this week's Sizzlin' Summer issue meant that info e-mailed to us early this week didn't make the print edition—such as this bill of spoken word and hip-hop. Hard-working spoken-word poet Talaam Acey comes to town, sharing a bill with Indelible's David James, Carolyn Malachi, Labtekwon, Channel Live's Hakim Green, and host Carlos Muhammad. It all takes place at the Nest (note: its web site is remarkably uninformative), 200 W... Thu, 21 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18116 The News Hole by Lee Gardner: The nominees for the 2009 Association of Alternative Newsweeklies AAN Awards have been announced, and City Paper is nominated in three categories among member alt-weeklies with circulations larger than 50,000: INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING: the "Shadow Economy series" by Jeffrey Anderson, Edward Ericson Jr., Chris Landers, and Van Smith ILLUSTRATION: "Sizzlin' Summer" by freelancer Paige Shuttleworth PHOTOGRAPHY: a selection of photographs by City Paper freelancers John Ellsberry, Frank Hamilton, Frank Klein, Michael Northrup, Ryan "Rarah" Stevenson, and Jefferson Jackson Steele The winners will be announced at the annual AAN Convention in Tuscon, Az., on June 26... Fri, 22 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18113 CPTV by Joe MacLeod: ... Tue, 19 May 2009 23:23:25 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18112 Sizzlin Calendar: Assateague Island National Seashore, 7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin, (410) 641-1441, nps.gov/asis. It's Ocean City--the same water, sand, wind, and surf--but with wild ponies and campgrounds instead of the boardwalk, hermit crab vendors, and outlet malls... Tue, 19 May 2009 15:10:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18111 Sizzlin Calendar: Maryland Maryland Office of Tourism Development, visitmaryland.org Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, choosemaryland.org Portal to Maryland, portaltomaryland.com Baltimore City African-American Heritage and Cultural Guide, baltimore.org/africanamerican/tours.htm Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association, baltimore.org Baltimore City Paper, citypaper.com Baltimore City Paper Weekly events, citypaper.com/calendar Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, promotionandarts.org Baltimore County baltimorecounty.com, baltimorecountymd.com Baltimore County Conference and Visitors Bureau, visitbacomd.com Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks, baltimorecountymd.gov Allegany County alleganyco.com Allegany County Department of Tourism, mdmountainside.com Anne Arundel County Anne Arundel Citizen Information Center, aacounty.org Annapolis and Anne Arundel County Conference and Visitors Bureau, visitannapolis.org Calvert County co.cal.md.us Caroline County Caroline County Office of Tourism, tourcaroline.com Carroll County Carroll County Tourism, carrollcountytourism.org Cecil County Cecil County Tourism, ccgov.org/tourism Charles County Charles County Office of Tourism, visitcharlescounty.com Dorchester County Dorchester County Tourism, tourdorchester.org Frederick County Tourism Council of Frederick County, fredericktourism.org Harford County Harford County Tourism Council, harfordmd.com Howard County Howard County Tourism, visithowardcountymd.gov Kent County Kent County Tourism, kentcounty.com Montgomery County Montgomery County Visitors Guide, cvbmontco.com Prince George's County Prince George's County Home Page, goprincegeorgescountymd.gov Queen Anne's County Queen Anne's County Department of Business and Tourism, qac.org St. Mary's County St... Tue, 19 May 2009 15:02:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18110 Sizzlin Calendar: Basignani Winery, 15722 Falls Road, Sparks, (410) 472-0703, basignani.com. Black Ankle Vineyards, 14463 Black Ankle Road, Mt. Airy, (240) 464-3280, blackankle.com. Boordy Vineyard, 12820 Long Green Pike, Hydes, (410) 592-5015, boordy.com. Bordeleau Vineyards and Winery, 3155 Noble Farm Road, Eden, (410) 677-3334, bordeleauwine.com. Cassinelli Winery and Vineyards, 3830 Church Hill Road, Church Hill, (410) 556-6825, cassinelliwinery.com. Cove Point Winery, 755 Cove Point Road, Lusby, (410) 326-0949, covepointwinery.com. Cygnus Wine Cellars, 3130 Long Lane, Manchester, (410) 374-6395, cygnuswinecellars.com. Deep Creek Cellars, 177 Frazee Ridge Road, Friendsville, (301) 746-4349, deepcreekcellars.com. Dove Valley Vineyard and Winery, 645 Harrington Road, Rising Sun, (410) 658-8388, dovevalleywine.com. Elk Run Vineyards, 15113 Liberty Road, Mt... Tue, 19 May 2009 15:00:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18109 Sizzlin Calendar: BALTIMORE CITY Baltimore Farmers' Market, 8 a.m.-noon Sundays May 3-Dec. 20, Holliday and Saratoga streets, (410) 752-8632, bop.org. Harbor East Freshfarm Market, 8 a.m.-noon Saturdays June 6-Nov... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:58:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18108 Sizzlin Calendar: Summer is really about taking our favorite activities al fresco, and there are few things Baltimoreans--or, you know, human beings--like more than eating and drinking. Below is a list of food and drink festivals around Maryland... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:56:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18107 Sizzlin Calendar: Plenty of restaurants have a few table set up outside in warm weather, but here are some of the sweetest spots to dine in the open air. Arcos, 129 S. Broadway, (410) 522-4777, arcosrestaurante.com... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:45:47 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18106 Sizzlin Calendar: May 21: Trey Anastasio with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (Meyerhoff) Coldplay (Nissan Pavilion) May 22: Summer Sounds at the Square (Belvedere Square, 6-9 p.m. Fridays through Aug... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:42:47 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18105 Sizzlin Calendar: Pillow Talk, through May 24, comedy, Laurel Mill Playhouse, 508 Main St., Laurel, (301) 617-9906, laurelmillplayhouse.org. Souvenir, through May 24, comedy, Centerstage, 700 N. Calvert St., (410) 332-0033, centerstage.org. The Wild Duck, through May 24, drama, Single Carrot Theatre, 120 W... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:39:01 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18104 Sizzlin Calendar: Midnight in a Haunted House, 10:45 p.m. through Nov... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:35:11 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18103 Sizzlin Calendar: Accident's Fourth of July Homecoming, 9 a.m.-10 p.m., South Street Complex, Accident, (301) 746-6346. Alexandria Fireworks, 4 p.m., Oronoco Bay Park, 100 Madison St., Alexandria, Va., (703) 838-4844, alexandria.gov. American Celebration at Mount Vernon, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Hwy., Mount Vernon, Va., (703) 780-2000, visitmountvernon.org. Annual Rock Hall July 4th Parade, 10 a.m., Rock Hall Community Center, Rock Hall, (410) 639-7611, rockhallmd.com. Baltimore's Fourth of July Celebration, 9:30 p.m., Inner Harbor, (410) 752-8632, harborplace.com. Baltimore Inner Harbor Fireworks Dinner Cruise, 7-11 p.m., Spirit Cruises, Inner Harbor, (866) 312-2469, spiritcruises.com. Catonsville's July 4th Celebration, 9:30 a.m.-10:30 p.m., Catonsville, Frederick Road, Catonsville, (410) 744-9655, catonsvillecelebration.org. Chestertown's July 4th Fireworks, dusk, Chester River, Chestertown, (410) 778-0500, chestertown.com. Concert and Fireworks Uptown and Downtown, 8 p.m., Northside Park, 127th Street, the Bay and North Division Street, the Beach, Ocean City, ococean.com. Dundalk Heritage Association Independence Parade, 8:15 a.m., Logan Village Shopping Center, 3400 Dundalk Ave., Dundalk, (410) 466-3526. Fire on the Mountain, sundown, Deep Creek Lake, 898 State Park Road, Swanton, (301) 387-4386, visitdeepcreek.com. Fireworks at Fairgrounds Park, 6 p.m., Fairgrounds Park, 351 N. Cleveland Ave., Hagerstown, (301) 739-8577. Fourth of July Celebration, 3 p.m., Allen Pond Park, 3330 Northview Drive, Bowie, (301) 809-3011, cityofbowie.org. Fourth of July Celebration and Fireworks, fireworks begin at dark, Route 116 West, Fairfield, Va., (717) 642-7007, carrollvalley.com. Fourth of July Fireworks, 9:20 p.m., Washington Monument grounds, 15th Street and Constitution Avenue, Washington, (202) 426-6841, washington.org. Fourth of July Parade, noon, Constitution Avenue, Washington, washington.org. Frederick's 4th, noon-9 p.m., Baker Park, 121 N... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:32:55 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18102 Sizzlin Calendar: Adventure Aquarium, 1 Riverside Drive, Camden, NJ, (856) 365-3300, adventureaquarium.com. Just across the river from Philly sits a worthy rival for our own harborside fishtank... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:19:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18101 Sizzlin Calendar: Stuff to See Clark's Elioak Farm, 10500 Clarksville Pike, Ellicott City, (410) 730-4049, clarklandfarm.com. This place might be as much for the grown-ups as the kids, 'cause Clark's is where the outsized mushrooms, Cinderella pumpkin coach, and other fantasy fixtures of long-defunct local amusement park the Enchanted Forest ended up... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:13:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18100 Sizzlin Calendar: Sowebo Arts Festival, May 24, around Hollins Market, soweboarts.org. With three stages of live music, a salon art show, non-profits representing, arts and crafts, food, and drink, the Sowebo neighborhood invites you to its early summer street fair during which it almost always rains and, frankly, nobody cares because it's just soooo nice to be outside, running into friends and neighbors in one of Baltimore's most character-driven hoods. Hare Krishna Rathayatra Chariot Festival and Festival of India, May 30, parade starts at the Baltimore of Industry on Key Highway and Light Street, festival on the corner of Pratt and Light streets, baltimorekrishna.com... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:09:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18099 Sizzlin Calendar: AIA Baltimore Bookstore and Gallery, 11 1/2 W. Chase St., (410) 625-2585, aiabalt.com, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:03:36 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18098 Sizzlin Calendar: Orioles Promotional Nights, through Oct. 3, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, theorioles.com... Tue, 19 May 2009 14:00:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18097 Sizzlin Calendar: Baltimore City's Department of Parks and Recreation operates wading pools, indoor swimming pools, and full-size outdoor pools for city residents to use all summer long. Admission is a bargain: $1 per visit for indoor pools and pools at various recreation centers around the city (for $10 you can buy a season pass), $1.50 per visit for park pools ($25 for a season pass), kids under 3 are always admitted free... Tue, 19 May 2009 13:58:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18096 Sizzlin Calendar: When you're looking for an escape from the hot, hot heat of Baltimore in the summer, sometimes an air-conditioned bar or movie theater just doesn't cut it. You want some fresh air, damn it, even if it is thick, humid air you can practically choke on... Tue, 19 May 2009 13:56:58 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18094 Sizzlin Calendar: Stuff to See Art League of Ocean City, 502 94th St., (410) 524-9433, artleagueofoceancity.com. Family friendly, non-profit art center hosts events, workshops, and exhibits year-round... Tue, 19 May 2009 13:40:05 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18093 Sizzlin Calendar: Brookside Gardens, 1800 Glenallan Ave., Wheaton, (301) 962-1400, brooksidegardens.org. Free is a very good price for access to 50 acres of gorgeous gardens, although the butterfly exhibit costs a minimal fee... Tue, 19 May 2009 13:36:14 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18092 Sizzlin Calendar: We may live in a concrete jungle, but Baltimoreans are lucky to have such a wide range of options for outdoor adventuring so close to home. Below is a list of some of our favorite places to spend the day on the trail... Tue, 19 May 2009 13:33:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18091 The Mail: Thank you for your article about the proposed expansion of St. Vincent de Paul's Beans and Bread, a facility in Fells Point that provides meals, day shelter, and transitional housing for men with drug and alcohol problems ("Beans and Bread and Circuses," Mobtown Beat, April 29)... Tue, 19 May 2009 10:03:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18090 The Short List by Michael Byrne: WEDNESDAY: Indieground rap all-star Mr. Lif takes the mic at the Ottobar with DJ Statik, Willie Evans Jr., Grieves, and Lost Art... Tue, 19 May 2009 10:00:41 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18089 Sizzlin Calendar: Spending your summer vacation entertaining folks who are actually on VACATION could bite the big one if we lived in a boring state out in the middle of landlocked nowhere (nothing personal, Nebraska!). But we live in Maryland, a gorgeous state with a multitude of cared-for state parks and well-tended cultural institutions, plenty of entertainments and interesting people, a long history, diverse waterways, and an amazing coastline... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:59:14 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18088 Feature: In these uncertain economic times, many of us here at Baltimore's Thirstiest Alternative Weekly are facing the reality of a week or two of summer vacation--"stay-cation," if you must--spent on the stoop or back porch, depending on time of day and position of the sun, and since we figure it will be hotter than a steamed crab inside the home we can no longer afford to air condition, the most alco-centric of us will seek the soothing shade of one of the many fine (or not so fine) taverns found here in The City That Belches, where we intend to numb the pain of a stalled economy, furloughs, and shattered vacation dreams with the cold comfort of cheap, frosty, beautiful, nutritious, educational, and habit-forming beer. To that end, after a year of inactivity, the City Paper I-Team™ has reconstituted itself and once again put our livers on the line in search of Baltimore's coldest beer on tap, "draft beer," if you will, and this year we invite you, Gentle Drinker, to head out and do some Cold Case investigating of your own (obeying all local laws and ordinances, of course), and report your findings on our exciting, interactive, brand-new and high-tech City Paper Cold as Ice Beer Map, found at citypaper.com/go/beertemps, and this time next year after we do some, ah, official verification of your findings, you may one day take pride in the knowledge you have helped contribute to whatever the hell it is we have accomplished here... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:44:24 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18087 Feature by Henry Hong: When Smith Island cake was named Maryland's official state dessert last year, a few of us considered protesting, but fearing reprisal from the seemingly powerful Smith Island Cake lobby, we declined. Our beef? With all due respect, how many people know what Smith Island cake even is? A more appropriate (though admittedly Baltimore-centric) choice would've been sno-balls... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:30:41 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18086 Feature by Erin Sullivan: A few years ago, when I first bought my rowhouse in Southwest Baltimore, I had lofty plans: the house was small, maybe 1,100 square feet, so I figured it would be within my reach to think about eco-friendly renovations--solar panels on the roof, maybe concrete countertops in the kitchen, a tankless hot-water system. I had saved some money for renovation, but when I started pricing out some of the items that seemed like they should be within reach for the average homeowner, it quickly became clear that even just doing the basics--some solar, tankless hot water, energy-star appliances, bamboo cabinets in the kitchen--would set me back significantly. In a neighborhood where rehabbed houses routinely sell for $150,000 or so, it's just not cost-effective to invest $50,000-plus in solar panels and thousands more for more efficient heating and cooling systems, high-end appliances, bamboo flooring, and the like. Thus, for a lot of people like me, the dream of converting an older 1950s rowhouse into a sustainable, eco-friendly home of the future goes right out the drafty window, along with the warmth in the wintertime and cool air in the summer. But just because big-ticket items and major renos were too pricey for my house, I was not going to be deterred... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:27:47 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18085 Feature by Michelle Gienow: My mental images of the greater York metropolitan region have always been sort of dull and diffuse--generic just-off-I-83 bedroom communities, discount liquor stores, and acre after acre of Amish-made-shed dealerships. But as it turns out, there is far, far more: Who knew York County's secret pride, that it is actually and officially the factory tour capital of the world? That title is self-imposed, but it's hard to imagine any other county in any other state seriously vying for it--York County has organized 14 different local manufacturers to open their doors to the public on an ongoing basis, while four more join in once a year during the Made in America Event in June... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:24:25 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18084 Feature by Edward Ericson Jr.: Getting a cheap boat has been my life's ambition, one I expected to fulfill long before 2009. My father and five of my seven uncles had or have boats... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:21:12 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18083 Feature by Bret McCabe: I didn't go on a real, grown-up vacation until I was well into my 30s. Not saying that I never went anywhere growing up, but the entire family (and sometimes two dogs) piling into the 1974 Chevrolet Malibu Classic station wagon at 6 a.m... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:19:08 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18082 Feature by Michael Byrne: Know your city. Know it beyond maps and neighborhoods and good restaurants, your favorite bar, blue lights, your kid's school, the good and bad parts of town... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:17:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18081 Feature by Emily Flake: ... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:16:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18080 Feature by Lee Gardner: The June rain showed no signs of letting up, but Larriland Farm is almost an hour's drive out I-70 from Baltimore, and there are only so many weekends in strawberry season. So we parked the car along the muddy farm road, cinched the hoods on our raincoats, and grabbed waxed cardboard flats from the teenage farm workers sheltering in a covered cart at the edge of the field... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:15:40 EST http://www.citypaper.com/special/story.asp?id=18079 Feature: This summer feels different. We've complained about being broke in the past, but it was like when we say we're starving an hour before dinner--sure, we'd like to eat, but malnutrition is a long way off... Tue, 19 May 2009 09:14:48 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18073 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 1 Murders This Year: 81 From May 10 to May 16, Baltimore City went seven consecutive days without a homicide. Despite the reprieve, there have been five more homicides this year than at this time last year... Mon, 18 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14802 DVD by Bret McCabe: THE MOVIE Danish writer/director Ole Bornedal isn't much of a household name here, as he doesn't make the sort of high-wire act movies that have made some of his countrymen--Lars von Trier, Thomas Vinterberg, Susanne Bier--art-house favorites, even attracting some Hollywood attention. Bornedal, instead, makes slightly updated genre movies--his 1994 Nattevagten earned him the chance to remake it as 1997's Nightwatch, but ever since he's been plugging away in Denmark helming a fairly conventional lavish period piece (2002's I am Dina) and a comedic curveball of a sci-fi flick (2007's Vikaren) that didn't receive U.S... Tue, 19 May 2009 12:16:31 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14801 Film Clips by Pamela Zolov: This crime action-comedy directed by Benny Boom comes across like an African-American version of a Guy Ritchie caper (comically inept criminals, menacing masterminds, stylish cinematography and editing) crossed with Pineapple Express (criminal mix-up fueled by incessant pot smoking). While the level of violence--much of it implied and offscreen--might be aversive to some, the movie is a model of low-key humor and tense, economical storytelling... Tue, 19 May 2009 12:13:06 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14800 Film Clips by Pamela Zolov: This diverting bit of nonsense blends romantic comedy with A Christmas Carol in a blatant ploy for feminine hearts: the lead is swoon bait Matthew McConaughey, and the story is a sharp rebuke against womanizing. McConaughey plays Connor Mead, a successful magazine photographer who uses and discards women like Kleenex, even breaking up with three on a conference call... Tue, 19 May 2009 12:11:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14799 Film Clips by Robert Ignizio: A cross between Rocky and Midnight Cowboy watered down for easy consumption: Shawn (Channing Tatum), a naïve country boy trying to make it in the Big Apple, gets introduced to the world of underground fighting by self-proclaimed two-bit hustler Harvey (Terrence Howard). Rival fighter Evan (Brian White) has a past with Shawn and, as the title implies, they brawl like brothers... Tue, 19 May 2009 12:09:11 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14798 Film Clips by Jeff Niesel: Things go from bad to worse for a sad sack named Pigoil (Gérard Jugnot) in this period piece that uses a vaudeville theater as a microcosm for life in Paris in 1936. When the theater closes, Pigoil's wife leaves him, and he subsequently loses custody of his accordion-playing child JoJo (Maxence Perrin), whom he adores... Tue, 19 May 2009 12:06:35 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14797 Film Clips by Lee Gardner: You can't talk about Anvil! The Story of Anvil and not talk about This Is Spinal Tap. As rookie director Sacha Gervasi's camera rolls, old-school Canadian metal band Anvil embarks on a European tour booked, and then mismanaged, by a band member's mysteriously accented blonde girlfriend... Thu, 21 May 2009 17:01:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14803 Drinks by Erin Sullivan: We'd driven past this place many times, but never stopped--it's kind of in an odd location on Washington Boulevard, just past the confusing intersection where it intersect with Patapsco Avenue and Hammonds Ferry Road. But someone mentioned to us that even though it looks like a sketchy place to put a bar, it's not a bad place to have a drink (despite the warning that you're on "candid camera" and the little security cams posted in every corner)... Tue, 19 May 2009 12:40:43 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18074 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: (hat tip Ryan Chittum at CJR) Fortune magazine has a look at the TALF—that's Term Asset Loan Fund—and finds that the federal government's $1 trillion deal for investors who want to help bail out credit card companies, holders of auto and student loans, and other lenders is "shockingly good." As with the PPIP program (which I considered here), the key is the leverage. Fortune uses the analogy of a home buyer... Tue, 19 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18070 Arts and Minds by Bret McCabe: The films series at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center started May 9, but I didn't happen across it until this week. And, in all honesty, what really grabbed my attention was its inclusion of La ragazza con la valigia, director Valerio Zurlini's 1961 picture about a teenaged boy infatuated with the woman his older brother recently dumped... Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18069 Arts and Minds by Bret McCabe: First off: To the entire 2009 graduating class of MICA, across all departments —animation, art education, art history, ceramics, drawing, environmental design, fiber, general fine arts, graphic design, illustration, interaction design and art, interdisciplinary sculpture, painting, photography, post-baccalaureate certificate in fine arts, printmaking, video and film—please note that four hours of standing on your feet next to your work while wearing a little yellow nametag as wave after wave of people come by to look, with interest or without, at what you've done with your education, and keep on moving by sounds like a form of cruel and unusual punishment. I'd rather eat glass than stand there while somebody read something I wrote and then wordlessly continue on... Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18068 Arts and Minds by Bret McCabe: Yesterday afternoon an e-mail went out to local entertainment media announcing the reopening of Hampden's Rotunda movie theater today, with Angels and Demons and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past, as reported in the Baltimore Sun and Baltimore Business Journal today. The new owner is the New Jersey-based Horizon Cinemas, which the Baltimore-based managing partner Ira Miller says acquired the theater May 1. Miller has been involved with the Rotunda before... Fri, 15 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18067 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Edmund L. Andrews is living mortgage-free, and he's written a book about it... Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18066 Noise by Michael Byrne: Not having grown up around these parts, it might be easy to look at a local favorite like Frodus—safe to say the core of Frodus affection is in the mid-Atlantic, no?—and wonder what exactly the big deal is. People love to soak in nostalgia, but why should us newcomers care? Well, a pretty easy shortcut is a Frodus live show... Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18065 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Yesterday, just about 15 years after the General Accounting Office warned it was necessary, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner sent a letter to regulators expressing President Obama's interest in regulating the market in Over the Counter Derivatives. The news spent a few hours on the front of New York Times' web page before being relegated to the nation and the business sections, but it was arguably bigger news than the death of William Seidman, the long time Republican financial and political operative who, as head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., created and ran the Resolution Trust Corporation to clean up the Savings and Loan scandal in the early 1990s. Seidman's RTC-which Seidman (along with other worthies such as Paul Krugman) advocated as a model solution to our present troubles-is now regarded as a triumph. The government unsentimentally nationalized the failed thrifts and banks, closing many of them despite their claims of profitability ("we knew they were lying," says the chief investigator from that simpler time)... Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18064 Noise by Raymond Cummings: If a pop-techno album ever warranted its own Surgeon General's warning, Super Animal Brothers III is it. Something along the lines of: "This disc contains high does of sacharrine and obnoxious cuteness, which may trigger diabetic comas in some listeners... Thu, 14 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18062 The News Hole by Michael Byrne: This Friday is the Baltimore Metropolitan Council's annual Bike To Work day, kicking off with a handful of rallies around town and the surrounding burbs. Expect speakers, prizes, and the various kinds of sleepy giddiness that come with crowds of bikers congregating too early in the morning... Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=18059 Social Studies by Vincent Williams: It looks like Wanda Sykes' act got most of the coverage of this past weekend's White House Correspondent's Dinner, but I was more interested in President Obama's comments. As HIS presidency goes on and he gets cooler and more distant, Obama fascinates me when he jokes or goes off script, because those moments represent rare times when we get to see the man underneath, and, boy, did he come through... Tue, 12 May 2009 16:25:31 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18058 Feature by Michael Byrne: You can't imagine an actual human being making sounds like this. Or, you don't want to-not a human living free in the world, anyhow... Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18055 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders this Week: 4 Murders this Year: 80 Tuesday, May 5 12:23 a.m. Police found Anthony Eggers, a 48-year-old Caucasian man, lying in his own backyard in the 600 block of Parkwyrth Avenue in Waverly... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:59:32 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18054 The Mail: I watched the entire series of The Wire on DVDs and was wrapped up in it, since my daughter and her husband, who are doctors, have moved to the Baltimore area from California in the not too distant past. Your article on Legends of the Unwired ("Last Word," Feature, April 29) was a great insight on a contrary (and possibly self-serving) view of the possible (probable) role models of the protagonists in The Wire... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:49:59 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18053 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: On the agenda for May 4 Bill 09-0328--Operating Budget for the Baltimore City Board of School Commissioners for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2010. The Read: The $589 million budget was referred to the Budget and Appropriations/Committee of the Whole without comment... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:45:21 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18052 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: A scientist at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Goddard Space Flight Center pleaded guilty May 6 to a federal crime involving the use of a government computer to access child pornography in Maryland. The plea comes just three months after another NASA/Goddard scientist pleaded guilty to a similar charge... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:43:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18051 Mobtown Beat by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Baltimore Sun's abrupt firing of 61 editors, reporters, columnists, and other "content providers" on April 28 and 29 appears to be linked to a restructuring of the newsroom that had been set in motion by the Chicago-based Tribune Co., which owns The Sun, many months ago. The effort appears to be part of Tribune's plan to reduce editing and homogenize national and international news at The Sun and other news outlets owned by the company... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:42:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=18050 Film by Bret McCabe: On Saturday, June 8, 1968, a train bearing the body of assassinated New York senator and Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy traveled from New York to Washington, D.C., for his final resting place at Arlington National Cemetery... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:29:34 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18049 Books by Makkada B. Selah: African-Americans have been called many things: slaves, colored, black. There's always been a contingent of them eager to reclaim their Africanness, though, because they never felt completely accepted in America, so they've been trying to get back to their way of being before they were brought here unwillingly... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:23:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18048 Quick Sketches: MAGIC EYE Back in January, the Magic Eye film series brought Boston-based experimental filmmaker Robert Todd to Baltimore with his works, inaugurating this series designed to expose experimental and avant-garde filmmakers and their work to the local art community. This week, Magic Eye holds its second event, now located in the LOF/T, with Brooklyn artist Bruce McClure... Tue, 12 May 2009 15:20:37 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18047 Art by Bret McCabe: Alzaruba's "Within" takes up an entire corner of the Whole Gallery's front big-room exhibition space, and it is impossible to ignore. For one, it's huge: An ungodly amount of colored plastic is knotted, piled into hanging bundles, distressed and suspended, and otherwise hoarded into a foreboding façade that appears to hide some dark, chthonic force inside... Tue, 12 May 2009 14:33:50 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18046 The Short List by Michael Byrne: WEDNESDAY: The Matrimonials bring their bouncy sing-alongs to the Ottobar with Magick Bullet Theory, the Love Bug Junkies, and T-Shirt! T-Shirt! Avant/improv electronics heads Peter Rehberg and Marcus Schmickler get together at the Hexagon for something that should be memorable; slippery electronics outfit Matmos also delivers one of its only U.S. shows of the summer... Tue, 12 May 2009 14:31:06 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18045 Music by Michaelangelo Matos: The wonder of Bob Dylan's last three non-vault albums--1997's Time Out of Mind, 2001's Love and Theft, and 2006's Modern Times--is that on them, he took a lot of ready-made ideas and made something that was both familiar and utterly his own. This in itself was nothing new--it's what he'd built a career upon back in the 1960s... Tue, 12 May 2009 14:30:12 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18044 Music by Al Shipley: "I grew up five blocks up the street," says R&B singer Lynee' Michelle one afternoon in the Mount Clare house that she shares with her 7-year-old son. And though she's not far at all from where she was raised, she credits much of her outlook on life and music to time she's spent in the world outside West Baltimore, whether in the city's suburbs or on another coast... Tue, 12 May 2009 14:28:19 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18043 Whose Responible? by John Ellsberry: "I grew up five blocks up the street," says R&B singer Lynee' Michelle one afternoon in the Mount Clare house that she shares with her 7-year-old son. And though she's not far at all from where she was raised, she credits much of her outlook on life and music to time she's spent in the world outside West Baltimore, whether in the city's suburbs or on another coast... Tue, 12 May 2009 14:25:15 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18039 : "I grew up five blocks up the street," says R&B singer Lynee' Michelle one afternoon in the Mount Clare house that she shares with her 7-year-old son. And though she's not far at all from where she was raised, she credits much of her outlook on life and music to time she's spent in the world outside West Baltimore, whether in the city's suburbs or on another coast... Tue, 12 May 2009 14:19:16 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18038 : "I grew up five blocks up the street," says R&B singer Lynee' Michelle one afternoon in the Mount Clare house that she shares with her 7-year-old son. And though she's not far at all from where she was raised, she credits much of her outlook on life and music to time she's spent in the world outside West Baltimore, whether in the city's suburbs or on another coast... Tue, 12 May 2009 14:14:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14774 Film Clips by Jeff Niesel: James Toback's new documentary Tyson is a fascinating look at the former heavyweight champ who has had one of the most notoriously controversial careers of anyone who's ever entered the ring. Essentially an extended interview with the man, the movie pulls no punches in recounting his life, starting with his troubled youth that found him going in and out of juvenile detention centers, and ending with his evolution into the proud father who maintains he's a new man now that he leads a quiet life in Las Vegas' suburbs... Tue, 12 May 2009 09:49:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14773 Film Clips by Bret McCabe: Robert Altman's ode to his hometown in 1934 was a little slept on when it came out in 1996--some critics sneered it didn't quite match his early '90s triumphs, The Player and Short Cuts--but its got three indisputably solid things going for it. 1) Jennifer Jason Leigh does a great Jean Harlow as a moll getting tangled up in a kidnapping plot she thinks will free her husband (Dermot Mulroney)... Tue, 12 May 2009 09:48:51 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14772 Film by Justin Strout: Miguel Santos, a laid-back, competitive, and potentially great Dominican pitcher, appears to like his sport well enough. Played by Algenis Perez Soto, a first-time actor who doesn't command the screen so much as lounge inside of it, Santos--nicknamed "Sugar" by his friends--is recruited by an American minor-league team along with some of his hometown friends, sends money home to mother, and keeps his nose clean for the most part... Tue, 12 May 2009 09:43:27 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14771 Film by Justin Strout: Lyme disease--that wretched attack on the bloodstream carried by ticks--is one of the more annoying afflictions. Tests to confirm the disease are unreliable and produce some of the highest numbers of false positives and negatives in medicine... Tue, 12 May 2009 09:38:28 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14768 DVD by Bret McCabe: THE MOVIE Last year's Wanted announced the Hollywood arrival of Russian-Kazakh director Timur Bekmambetov, whose accessible Night Watch/Day Watch series popularized him back home. It's hard to think Hollywood will come calling anytime soon for Aleksei Balabanov, whose 2007 Cargo 200, which had a brief theatrical run earlier this year and is now out on DVD, is one of the bleakest black comedies these eyes have ever seen... Tue, 12 May 2009 09:24:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14781 Know Your Product by Lee Gardner: This disc has been floating around the City Paper offices for a while now, but few things are as durable and evergreen-appealing as gauzy, female-fronted guitar pop, so perhaps it's not too late to sing the modest praises of this modest thrill. Hearts by Darts is the latest project from guitarist Sei Petersen and drummer Michael Evitts, most recently of Sharky, but both sporting local-band resumes that stretch back into the '90s... Tue, 12 May 2009 14:04:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14780 Know Your Product by Bret McCabe: Double Dagger's righteous pith and vigorously vented spleen has always been above par. The trio--drummer Denny Bowen, vocalist Nolen Strals, and bassist Bruce Willen (the last two sometimes City Paper contributors as the design duo Post Typography)--has always emitted a hammering, thunderous jolt... Tue, 12 May 2009 13:56:37 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14779 Listening Party by Lee Gardner: When not serving as the de facto human voice of stellar improvising group Supersilent, adding falsetto coos and breathy, attenuated trumpet murmurs to its electro-acoustic Nordic doom jazz, Norway's Arve Henriksen has also released a series of solo albums whose contemplative hush and soothing day-spa vibe brought to mind some lost project for pristine jazz label ECM. It's only fitting, then, that Henriksen's latest solo release arrives via Manfred Eichler's Euro-austere art imprint, where it sounds utterly at home... Tue, 12 May 2009 13:27:19 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14778 Free Range by Mary K. Zajac: When is a restaurant really open? When the sign goes up and the doors open for business? Or weeks, or even months later, as the restaurant solidifies its menu and finds its feet? Anyone watching the Taverna Corvino space in Federal Hill knows that this restaurant has been taking its time, morphing from Junior's to an experimental "test kitchen" run by former Vin chef Christopher Paternotte, before assuming the Taverna Corvino name in late February. That the restaurant hosted its "grand opening" on April 23 seems belated; yet you can appreciate a restaurant wanting to get things right, especially in this economy, before inviting publicity... Tue, 12 May 2009 13:24:09 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14769 Cheap Eats by Lee Gardner: Walk into this new basement spot on the corner of Charles and Preston and a waft of South Asian spices greets you at the threshold. The interior is spartan, but pleasant, done in glowing earth tones with shimmering table tops--what few tables there are so far... Tue, 12 May 2009 09:28:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14770 Drinks by Erin Sullivan: I've always had a thing for hotel bars--I find them intriguing, particularly when the hotel is in a rather odd location that doesn't seem to cater to either tourism or business travel. So when Juliana's Bar and Grill opened next to the Quality Inn "Harbor South" hotel off Caton Avenue in Southwest Baltimore (aka Halethorpe), I was intrigued... Tue, 12 May 2009 09:35:38 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18060 The News Hole by Chris Landers: The Sun and the Wall Street Journal ran stories today about patient identity theft at Johns Hopkins that prompted the hospital to issue a warning letter to patients. The letter, available from WSJ's health blog, went out to 46 victims, 526 possible victims who will receive credit monitoring at Hopkins' expense, and 10,200 patients whose information was accessed by the unnamed employee of the hospital's patient-services department. The story sounded an awful lot like one I wrote last February, when Michelle Courtney Johnson, a patient-services employee at Hopkins, was charged with stealing patient identities... Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18056 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: Predatory lending was made possible by the big banks' love of mortgage-backed securities, those big pools of mortgages that were sliced up and sold to gullible investors looking for higher returns on their investments. But was it all on the square? Of course not, and Massachusetts just extracted a $60 million* settlement from Goldman Sachs for its role in bundling these rotten mortgages. As Ryan Chittum at the Columbia Journalism Review notes, the story has not gotten the attention it deserves... Wed, 13 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18037 Noise by Al Shipley: The Gaslight Anthem has been one of rock's best Cinderella stories in recent memory: a Springsteen-worshiping Jersey band goes from tiny punk shows to getting drafted to open for the boss himself within two years of its debut album's release. The Gaslight Anthem's sophomore album, The '59 Sound, placed on numerous critics' lists in 2008, and the title track made an unlikely run at Billboard's Modern Rock chart... Tue, 12 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18034 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal (pay site) posted a story on its web site last Friday, May 8, after the markets closed. The headline was "Banks Won Concessions on Tests," with the subhed, "Fed Cut Billions Off Some Initial Capital-Shortfall Estimates; Tempers Flare at Wells." That being Wells Fargo... Mon, 11 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18033 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The Wall Street Journal (pay site) published a great story today explaining the power of the New York Federal Reserve Bank and its coziness with the very intelligent, extremely rich people who, despite their extraordinary powers of financial intelligence, essentially bankrupted our economy. Stephen Friedman, chairman of the New York Fed, resigned Thursday, saying that questions about the conflict between that job and his position on the board of Goldman Sachs--and the $3 million he has made so far on Goldman stock he purchased in December--had become "a distraction." The story did not make the front page of the New York Times or the Washington Post's web sites... Sat, 09 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18032 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Tribune Co.'s bankruptcy and mass layoffs at the Baltimore Sun have obscured another troubling incident at the media giant: a market-test of stories that have not yet been published. Editor & Publisher carried an item about this on April 30, the day after 55 Chicago Tribune reporters signed an e-mail to their editors protesting the practice. That was the same day The Sun laid off 40 union members, and the day after 21 manager-level folks were let go. Someone sent the reporters' e-mail to the Associated Press, and a reporter there asked some questions of Tribune management, and they basically fessed-up. Chicago Tribune editor Gerould Kern, who was to meet with the news staff Thursday afternoon, issued a statement late in the day saying the newspaper had discontinued "a brief market research project that tested reader reaction to working story ideas that have not yet been published." It should not need to be said, but for those who don't know, newspaper reporters and editors take pains to keep their work product under wraps until it's ready to publish... Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18031 Arts and Minds by Bret McCabe: The Maryland Film Festival (click for CP's coverage) isn't the only film/video festival starting up today. The Metro Gallery's Videopolis—which the gallery calls a showcase of "local fringe film and video work"--kicks off tonight at 8 p.m... Fri, 08 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18029 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: Like other Maryland prison inmates indicted in the Black Guerilla Family prison-gang conspiracy, Eric Marcell Brown hasn't yet had his first court appearance on the charges, so he remains an unseen player in the case. But the wire-tap investigation of his activities from prison, which resulted in the Apr... Thu, 07 May 2009 17:37:11 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18028 Noise by Al Shipley: When Jeff Mewbourn puts together a bill, odds are good that it's gonna be worth a look. Aka the "Baltimore Taper", few people spend more time in local clubs finding good bands to spread the word about... Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18026 Arts and Minds: City Paper's first-ever short-film contest culminated last night at the Windup Space with a screening of the 10 finalists to an appreciative group of film junkies. The pieces were a diverse and interesting lot--check them out on our Shoot... Thu, 07 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18024 The News Hole by Edward Ericson Jr.: Huffington Post has this dispatch on Sen. John Kerry (D-Ma.)'s Senate hearing on the future of newspapers, scheduled for 2:30 p.m... Wed, 06 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=18022 Frenzy Schedule: Individual tickets for regular festival screenings and events cost $10 ($8 for seniors and students with valid ID); individual tickets for screenings of any three films are $20. Tickets for the opening- and closing-night events are $65 and $25, respectively... Tue, 05 May 2009 17:24:15 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/story.asp?id=18020 Frenzy Reviews: Have you seen the Wolverine movie yet? If you have, did you see it in the theater this past weekend, or did you download the leaked-to-the-web version a few weeks ago? If you're in the latter group, you don't need City Paper to tell you that the viewing and distribution of films--legal or otherwise--is increasingly migrating to the web alongside other forms of traditional media consumption and distribution. But there's still a lot to be said for the unique in-the-flesh opportunities that an event like the 11th annual Maryland Film Festival provides. This weekend (Thursday through Sunday, to be precise) MFF XI presents screenings of dozens of often excellent films from around the country and the world (see below), a sampling of myriad creative worlds that any weekend of web surfing would have trouble equaling, all projected on the big silver at the Charles Theatre and other midtown venues--an experience no laptop screen can match... Tue, 05 May 2009 15:55:07 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18018 Murder Ink by Anna Ditkoff: Murders This Week: 4 Murders This Year: 76 The murder of a 53-year-old Caucasian man was ruled a homicide this week. The man was involved in a fight on April 25... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:57:52 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18017 What's the 311? by Chris Landers: Rats in the high grass, dumpsters overflowing .... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:53:53 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18016 Councilmania by Edward Ericson Jr.: Bill 09-0325--Ord-inance of Estimates for the Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 2010. Sort of a Readers' Digest condensed version of the city budget... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:51:46 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18015 The Mail: I very much enjoyed your story about Bodie Barksdale, Kenneth Jackson, and their Unwired project ("Last Word," Feature, April 29). Still, I'd like to say that these two guys are full of you-know-what... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:43:17 EST http://www.citypaper.com/columns/story.asp?id=18014 Political Animal by Brian Morton: So, in the course of one week, Sen. Arlen Specter bolts the Republican Party and David Souter lets it be known that he's retiring from the Supreme Court at the end of the current term... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:31:51 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18013 Curtain Time: ADAPTATIONS Novels and movies rarely get translated to the stage, but this week features two productions doing just that. The Strand Theatre presents a stage adaptation of D.H... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:29:42 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18012 Stage by John Barry: Mennonites don't touch unless it's purposeful. Elizabeth Hess tells you that in "Birth Rite," the first portion of her three part memoir/monologue, Living Openly and Notoriously... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:24:08 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18011 Stage by Bret McCabe: Anybody can sing poorly; absolutely, positively murdering a piece of music takes visionary verve. Well-to-do socialite Florence Foster Jenkins possessed that very gift... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:22:19 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18010 The Short List by Michael Byrne: WEDNESDAY: Pwrfl Power--a disarming, soft-spoken singer/songwriter out of Seattle--plays the Talking Head with Cap Lori and Mother Nature's Son. Sludge duo Big Business lays it on the Ottobar with Tweek Bird and Vincent Black Shadow... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:19:44 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18009 Music by Michael Byrne: Frodus was cut off at its prime. After a successful 1999 tour with Refused and recording arguably its best album, And We Washed Our Weapons in the Sea, the Washington, D.C... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:17:56 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/story.asp?id=18008 Music by Raymond Cummings: The prevailing mood on the mountaintop is one of righteousness, most awesome and triumphant. Rarified air crackles with expectant electricity as a storm gathers out of the ether: a tauntingly addictive guitar riff erupts like a headwind, keyboard motifs gust in twitchy neon time, an ax-wielding sideman-to-the-stars breaks his silence... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:08:02 EST http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=18007 The Arts by Martin L. Johnson: As an admonition, "do it yourself" doesn't raise much of a ruckus, unless the words are spoken in anger after a poorly planned project goes awry. But as a movement, DIY culture has a deep history, connecting everything from Ralph Waldo Emerson's celebration of American independence in the 1840s to the gutter punks of the 1980s. "I like learning and doing whatever I can," says Tess Oby, one of three organizers of this year's DIY Fest, held at the 2640 Space May 9... Tue, 05 May 2009 14:01:14 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18003 : As an admonition, "do it yourself" doesn't raise much of a ruckus, unless the words are spoken in anger after a poorly planned project goes awry. But as a movement, DIY culture has a deep history, connecting everything from Ralph Waldo Emerson's celebration of American independence in the 1840s to the gutter punks of the 1980s. "I like learning and doing whatever I can," says Tess Oby, one of three organizers of this year's DIY Fest, held at the 2640 Space May 9... Tue, 05 May 2009 13:12:54 EST http://www.citypaper.com//story.asp?id=18002 : As an admonition, "do it yourself" doesn't raise much of a ruckus, unless the words are spoken in anger after a poorly planned project goes awry. But as a movement, DIY culture has a deep history, connecting everything from Ralph Waldo Emerson's celebration of American independence in the 1840s to the gutter punks of the 1980s. "I like learning and doing whatever I can," says Tess Oby, one of three organizers of this year's DIY Fest, held at the 2640 Space May 9... Tue, 05 May 2009 13:11:16 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14745 Film Clips by Bret McCabe: Chris Campbell was born Catholic in suburban Philadelphia in 1963. And since he was Catholic enough to realize he was going to hell, he switched religions... Tue, 05 May 2009 22:55:59 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14744 Film Clips by Bret McCabe: This entertainingly risible comic-book back story totally jettisons the quasi-philosophical conceit of the human-mutant divide of Bryan Singer's first two installments in this franchise for something far more reliably middlebrow: hot mutant-on-mutant action. The boys-II-mutants brothers, born in the early 19th century, who eventually mature into Wolverine and Sabretooth fight their way through more than a century of America's wars only to end up in a top-secret mutant special-ops unit during 'Nam, at which point they go their separate ways over how to regard themselves: as people with ethics and moral codes or pure animalistic monsters who fuck shit up... Tue, 05 May 2009 09:28:20 EST http://www.citypaper.com/film/review.asp?rid=14743 Film by Vincent Williams: Star Trek fandom has good reason to be concerned about J.J. Abrams' upcoming movie revamping of the classic series... Tue, 05 May 2009 09:25:11 EST http://www.citypaper.com/music/review.asp?rid=14746 Listening Party by Lee Gardner: How is it that a grind act that uses a drum machine boasts more deadly rhythmic slew and inescapable traction than any human-powered metal in recent memory? Oh yes, there are plenty of the sort of rote Earache-style blastbeats that have fueled past Agoraphobic Nosebleed records detonating all over Agorapocalypse--check out, say, "Hung From the Rising Sun"--but one listen to the lurching "White on White Crime" or "Question of Integrity" (drum solo!) and it's clear that guitarist/programmer Scott Hull understands that "rocking" is only another word for "swinging," and that, like whips, necks only snap when you exploit their give. Hull is on leave here from his steady gig in Pig Destroyer, a band that certainly knows a thing or two about making metal move, and Agorapocalypse is the most de facto PD-sounding ANb release to date... Tue, 05 May 2009 09:39:26 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14748 Cheap Eats by Edward Ericson Jr.: Leon Hines took over Y Not Chicken about two months ago and is trying to make a go of it with sliders, chicken, quesadillas, and a taco salad and soon a new name: Leon's. The taco salad ($5.75) in a deep fried tortilla bowl is pretty heavy on the chicken breast meat, which is a good thing... Tue, 05 May 2009 09:48:23 EST http://www.citypaper.com/eat/review.asp?rid=14747 Free Range by Mary K. Zajac: To call an establishment a mom-and-pop restaurant invokes a slew of adjectives: homey, bustling, simple, affordable. It connotes comfort food and a comfortable atmosphere, the kind of place where tables are close together, inviting you to rub elbows and share conversations with a full spectrum of Baltimoreans, the kind of place where children of both the guests and the proprietors are welcome... Tue, 05 May 2009 09:45:16 EST http://www.citypaper.com/clubs/review.asp?rid=14749 Drinks by Michael Byrne: Sitting across the road from the convention center and right in the thick of the downtown hotel district, the Wharf Rat couldn't help feeling like a tourist bar. But it felt like a tourist bar with soul, a little dingy, a little sassy... Tue, 05 May 2009 09:53:24 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18021 Arts and Minds by Bret McCabe: HISTORIC PRESERVATION MONTH The theme for the National Trust for Historic Preservation May 2009 Historic Preservation Month is "This Place Matters!," which its web site says is meant to "raise awareness about the power historic preservation has to protect and enhance our homes, neighborhoods and communities." Check out the current list of list of endangered local buildings in the Preservation Watch List--which includes the Clifton Park Valve House, the Sellers mansion, and the Scottish Rite Temple, among others--maintained by the nonprofit preservation watchdog the Baltimore Heritage, Inc. That organization awards the annual Baltimore Heritage Historic Preservation Awards that will be awarded June 18 at the Garret-Jacobs Mansion, and also sponsors walking tours through various historical Baltimore neighborhoods, such as the upcoming May 9 walk through Guilford and May 16 tour of Locust Point... Sat, 09 May 2009 00:00:00 EST http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=18019 Mobtown Beat by Van Smith: With the slow gait of the aged, 51-year-old Randolph "Uncle Rudy" Edison shuffles into a federal courtroom in Baltimore on April 22 to face charges that he helped commit violent crimes for the Black Guerilla Family prison gang in Maryland. The wear and tear of a lengthy prison stint he served in the 1990s and early 2000s (with an extra year tacked on in 2000 for assaulting a Department of Corrections employee), appears to have taken its toll on him. In 2007, Edison was out of jail and back on the streets, and he racked up new charges--loitering, drug possession (including a state case brought in January)--that show him residing in Dundalk, where he'd been living before his 1993 murder sentence was imposed... Tue, 05 May 2009 15:12:13 EST http://www.citypaper.com/digest.asp?id=18001 Crash Course by Edward Ericson Jr.: The New York Times has a lovely little feature in its cars section today about an old inventor and his 1971 Mustang. Richard Fuchs Mustang has 600,000-plus miles on it, and he's kept track of the gas mileage (about 19 per gallon, overall) ever since he bought it new. Given all the trouble Detroit's auto makers are having these days, I thought it'd be interesting to examine the issue from the perspective of the Mustang's first and truest fan: the 16-year-old boy... Mon, 04 May 2009 00:00:00 EST