Baltimore21201.Com

Great Bones Found on Charles Street

If you were walking up Charles Street last weekend to visit Baltimore's 91st annual Flower Mart in Mount Vernon, I hope you took a moment to look in - and visit - Meredith Gallery in the North 800 Block of our favorite street.

Meredith's current - and impressuve - exhibition features the work of Len Dougherty.

Fur-Nature: Art Furniture Inspired by Nature. Check out the bones that I've discovered.

This amazing piece of hand-worked wood is called Jurassic Lounge. It's crafted from ash with a suede pillow. And I love it.

If only I had a roof-top deck. I'd try to commission a set of four - crafted in teak with waterproof microfiber pillows.

Have you ever seen such great lines?

Get on Track, You!

Just when I think that Amtrak may not actually be headed, full speed, toward a solid brick wall... they come up with another very expensive PR move. One that may or may not play to a new, younger rider audience, which is what they need. Especially a younger vacation & excursion rider audience.

The first annual National Train Day is Saturday. Major celebrations in the largest rail stations they service. It celebrates the day the Golden Spike was driven in Utah. Al Roker will be heading up the festivities in Washington, DC.

Their releases do make some good points: "Now, 139 years after the golden spike connected east and west, there’s never been a better time to take the train. Huge crowds and the frustrations that go with them burden our highways and airports. And at a time when we all share the same pressing concerns about ecology and energy conservation, trains are a more energy-efficient mode of travel than either autos or airplanes. Riding the rails is a great way to reduce your carbon footprint. Not to mention meet interesting people and see breathtaking scenery".

Now, that's not bad copy... though, I'm not sure about that 'interesting people' business.

Also, Jacob and I were threatened with expulsion from Baltimore's Penn Station while we were waiting for our train to DC. I was taking photos of the stained glass dome in the ceiling. Apparently that was a security breach. The security guard was large... and armed. I put the lens cap on the camera and sat down.

Don't get me wrong. I love riding the train. I just wish this PR push would let me know why the Amtrak tickets from BWI to NYP are so expensive as I'm reducing my carbon footprint.   

January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968

In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.

                       -- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr

Laura Lippman on Baltimore, Crab Cakes & Her New Book

Baltimore author, resident, and gal-about-town, Laura Lippman loves the Crab Cakes at Faidley's in Lexington Market just like we all do. She writes crime novels like none of us will ever be able to. She's much prettier than most authors that we'll ever know. She holds Baltimore dear, in her heart, like we all seem to. And, she wins awards like the Edgar, the Anthony, the Agatha, the Shamus, the Quill, and more. Her newest book, Another Thing To Fall is receiving rave reviews.

I keep up on her doings and such by way of Author Tracker: a service of Harper Collins, her publisher.

Check out this video from Lippman.

And, visit her personal website: LauraLippman.Com

Let's All Buy a Brick; Support a Home for Our Little, and Not-So-Little Ones.

A big, 24 year-old mother has given birth to a really big, healthy baby in Baltimore. The mother's name is Felix. The father is, for the time-being, unknown. Yep, it seems that Mother Felix was "sleeping around" prior to coming to Baltimore -- her new-born is, for now, unnamed also.

So what to do to support this unwed mother... I have the answer. Buy a brick. Yes, a brick.

...I first worked on a Zoomerang project for the Baltimore Zoo with some folks from Doner Advertising in 1998 (when Doner was on N Charles Street) and I've admired the Baltimore Zoo ever since. International attention to our zoo has been building with the announcement that Mother Felix was with child... er, calf.

Support for our Baltimore zoo is more important now than ever. And, I know that sometimes it's difficult to write a check to a general fund and not see anything you can hold in your hand.

You can't hold these bricks in your hand; you can walk on them, though. And, they will be engraved with your names and message. How's this for a thought: Buy a separate brick for each of your children. Once the bricks are installed take the kids for a grand field trip to find their names.

Let's make good things happen for the Baltimore Zoo. It will happen just one brick at a time.

By the way, do you know that the Baltimore Zoo operates a Penguin Cam?

Check it out during daylight hours. It couldn't be more fun.

You Think You Know Your Dictionary?

OK then... Head up to Baltimore's Calvert School at 4300 N Charles Street on Saturday, April 5th. Select your tiles and play Scrabble for a great cause.

The Greater Homewood Community Corporation is preparing for its 7th Annual Scrabble Fundraiser for Literacy. The annual event helps to fund their program to teach English as a Second Language and their Adult Literacy outreach programs.

Games will be available at the Social and the Competetive levels.

Entry is $30 ($20 for students with ID and seniors 62 and older). Great prizes from area retailers and restaurants. Food, refreshments, and free parking for all participants.

Call 410-261-3520 for more information. Meantime try joining the debate on the validity of Sesquioxidizing, if you dare. You'll either get 1674 points if played correctly or a serious poke in the eye!

Get LIT in Baltimore! - Part 2

I posted a note on Sunday about getting LIT in Baltimore by way of an email from Carole Evitts. Here's the follow-up...

Spring 2008 brings a lot of good things to the mid-Atlantic. One of the best promises to be this year's 5th Annual CityLit Festival. Rub elbows with, and learn from, some of the best in the literature scene on April 19th at the Enoch Pratt Free Library (downtown on Cathedral Street). 10AM - 5PM. Think: Laura Lippman, Manil Suri, Dan Fesperman, Carole Boston Weatherford, Michael Olesker, and dozens of others. This event is free to attendees and free to exhibitors. Put on your thinking caps, you Lit-Types!

President and CEO of the CityLIt Project, Gregg A. Wilhelm, wants us to know that: CityLit Project nurtures the culture of literature in Baltimore and throughout Maryland. Programs include free public events, registration-based writers' workshops and conferences, a rock-n-read concert that targets the 18-34 crowd (which represents the steepest rate of decline in reading), and efforts to get youth to dig reading and writing as creative, expressive arts.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE! (OK, too much late night TV. Way too much.) Gregg Wilhelm is too modest. Here are just a couple of quotes from those in the know:

“CityLit Festival is one of my favorite events of the year. The energy and creativity that CityLit Project brings to it--and to each of its programs--is worthy of the library’s support, and the entire community’s support.”
Dr. Carla Hayden
Executive Director
Enoch Pratt Free Library

“We value the content CityLit Project has provided the Baltimore Book Festival over the years. In a city rich with a variety of creative arts, Baltimore is fortunate to have CityLit as a champion of the literary arts.”
Bill Gilmore
Executive Director
Baltimore Office of Promotion and The Arts

“After searching for a way to become involved with the local literary community, I found exactly what I was looking for— it’s the nonprofit CityLit Project. At the happy hour, it was apparent that CityLit and JMWW are achieving their mission to nurture the culture of literature.”
Corinne Levinstein
Writer

Baltimore! Get Lit! REALLY, Get LIT!

A couple of days ago I wrote about the sad state of the iffy, dicey, and generally lame media releases that arrive on my desk after January and continue to arrive until the sun warms us up a bit and Baltimore's collective community spirit brightens. I was a tad-bit blue as I wrote that last post because we haven't had a decent snow storm this winter -- and, nothing makes me happier (and nothing warms ME up) more than a Baltimore snow-day.

Just then, I received a wonderful email notice from Carole Evitts. I read it, and I smiled, and I felt much warmer and a whole lot more positive. I felt the sunshine. (But, still no decent snow for 2008 was in the forecast. Rats...)

Here's the sidebar: I consider the Evitts' family one of the smartest and most productive and giving literary families in current-day Baltimore. Here's a very condensed Evitts' snapshot: Carole's husband, author, professor, and truly nice guy, William J Evitts PhD, has been a fixture at Johns Hopkins University for a long, long time. Evitts' son, Michael, is the amazingly knowledgeable voice of Baltimore's Downtown Partnership. Their daughter, the award winning writer Elizabeth Evitts, was editor of Baltimore's slick, glossy -- and intelligently written magazine -- Urbanite. The magazine for Baltimore's Curious. I hear that Elizabeth is now setting up her own shop as most high-level, creative Baltimorians tend to do.

Oh yes, and then there's Carole A Evitts. When I was introduced to her a couple of years ago by way of a project for the Historic Charles Street Association, I knew that we'd met a decade or so before. We worked it out and sure enough... Carole and I were working on Zoomerang together way back in the late 1980s. We decided that, yes, Baltimore will always be a small town where friends live, leave, return, and reunite.

Stay tuned for the announcement from Carole that turns smart Baltimore smarter and more positive each year... and GET LIT!

Oh and by the way, if you want to learn about the Civil Rights Movement (and the Baltimore riots) in our city from folks who lived here and lived those events, click here for a PDF: Baltimore Riots. It is a must read.

After January Each Year: The Ho-Hum Press Releases Hit Baltimore

Odd, but true... Take this urgent message from the Live Baltimore Home Center:

Need a makeover? Want to be on national TV? Then head down to the Harborplace Amphitheater on Monday, February 18, where one lucky person will be "glambushed" live on TV during the CBS Early Show. [Say now, that sounds like a good time to be had by all.]

The Early Show's Dave Price will be LIVE in Baltimore on Monday morning. All Baltimoreans are invited to show their support by joining him as part of the show's audience from 5:30 - 9:00 a.m. One lucky audience member will be selected for a makeover by designer to the stars, Bradley Bayou - author of "The Science of Sexy." WJZ-TV's Ron Matz will also be broadcasting live. We want to show support for the CBS Early Show and proudly represent the city of Baltimore, so come out and don't miss your chance to be on national television. 

[They've got to be kidding, right?]

And, this just in from "The Insiders Club" at 1st Mariner Arena:

WWE PRESENTS BACKLASH - Sunday , April 27^th AT 7:45 PM

As a member of the 1st Mariner Arena Insiders Club [I'm on their mailing list, yes. But, I had no idea that I was a member of anything so very special...] you are invited to take part in an exclusive presale for WWE Presents Backlash, at 1st Mariner Arena on Sunday. Attendees must be 14 years of age.

[Oh swell, let's round up all of our young teens and head out to see this smart little package. Oh and yes, the best tickets are $175 each...]

He doesn't look like another Hanna Montana so I think I'll hold-off on this one and not stand in line.

If you've ever read this blog before, you know that I'm a rah-rah, full-on supporter of Baltimore and 21201. It just gets creepy on the PR front around this time of year. Stay tuned for some of the truly worthwhile notices of late winter.

And, if you see huge guys walking around downtown Baltimore in tights... well, consider yourself warned. It's not altogether pretty.

Would You Party With This Man?

Tomorrow is the birthday of that Baltimore son and rascal, Edgar Allen Poe. The 199th to be exact. I've never really thought about his birthday until I read the MetroMix suggestions on how to observe Poe's special day.

Metromix says, "We at MetroMix think this calls for a celebration. You could pay homage by killing your loved one and stashing her dismembered limbs in walls and under floorboards, but the police (dare we say the Poe-Poe?) wouldn't be too fond of that. Instead, pay your respects at the Poe house and his grave at Westminster Hall, then do as he did and go on a Baltimorean bender. We've staked out the spots—all you need is a glass and a penchant for thinking in rhymed couplets."

NOTE: I'm not advocating here, I'm just reporting.

MetroMix also provides a couple of pick-up lines. They begin this way:

"Let's drink a whole Cask of Amontillado and put my Pendulum in your..."

You get the idea. One final thought... Don't Try Any of This at Home.

Centerpoint to Get WOW Factor

The WOW is World Of Wings. Coming this spring to Baltimore's westside Centerpoint complex: WOW Cafe & Wingery. Based in Covington, LA the WOW chain offers up wings in dozens of flavors.

What's looking good to me are their Texas Toast Burgers. The Philly, for example, is 1/2 pound of beef on buttered Texas Toast dressed with Monerey Jack, lettuce, tomato, grilled onions, peppers, mushrooms, and spicy mayo.

What really brings the WOW factor (and seperates this from your average hot wing and burger joint) is its full bar with some signature drinks that might just set you on fire even without the wings. Check out their Chamation: This 32-ounce cocktail is filled with Smirnoff Vodka, Captain Morgan's Parrot Bay Coconut Rum, pineapple juice, orange juice and grenadine. (I'll stick with Johnny Walker on the rocks with a twist, thanks.)

Male Midwives? I Had No Clue!

I wasn't around Baltimore in the 1800s. Still, I had no idea. Apparently I need to head up Charles Street tomorrow for some continuing education from the folks at JHU's Homewood Museum.

They say, "The early 19th century was a pivotal time in maternal care as female midwives gave way to male midwives and obstetrics emerged as a major medical specialty. Cribs, cradles, silver baby bottle nipples, forceps, early medical books, and other period items on display offer a look at practices, traditions, and politics concerning childbirth and childrearing in early Maryland, particularly those of Baltimore families like the Carrolls of Homewood."

The event was organized by students in the Introduction to Material Culture course taught fall 2007 at Homewood as part of the JHU Krieger School’s Museums & Society Program. The course and focus show were made possible by the late Anne Merrick Pinkard.

While I'm considering about all of this, I'm kind of creeped-out thinking of the silver baby bottle nipples. That, somehow, just seems so wrong. It's not like they were serving up mint juleps or anything.

These Architecture-Types Know How to Party

And suddenly Groundhog Day is something to look forward to. Get your tickets today.

BAF's Executive Director, Adam Blumenthal will answer any questions. Give him a call at 410-539-7772. The theme is Light and Shadow so get your black and white cocktail attire to the cleaners and prepare to party.

Catering is by the new Woodberry Kitchen so we're sure to be in for some special treats.
I'm sort of hoping for Woodberry's little lamb meatballs with red pepper sauce and fried sage! And maybe their brick oven clams. Or griddled scallops...

The Walters Art Museum Director, Gary Vikan, Tells Stories

And, what entertaining and extraordinary stories they are. Vikan joined forces with Baltimore's NPR station, WYPR, a few months back and is hosting a weekly feature, Postcards from The Walters. It's broadcast Monday mornings at 9:35. However, you don't have to be tuned-in to listen.

The Walters website has a link to WYPR where the previous months audio postcards are archived.

I first learned of Vikan's natural story-telling ability when he made a presentation on branding Baltimore at one of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation's lunchtime forums.

I wrote him a note to thank him for his funny, clever, and informative talk. (It takes some on-stage savvy and bravado to get a room full of architecture enthusiasts laughing out loud. He has that savvy and more.) A few weeks later he invited me to lunch. That's when I truly learned what a story-teller he is. Just click here - Postcards from The Walters - and you'll be hooked. You'll also find out why the first Walters in Baltimore wasn't a museum at all. It was a bath house! Yep, a bath house.

I Love Kraut

And most of all, I love it on a Sabrett hot dog from any street vendor in New York. A Sabrett with natural casing, covered with kraut and mustard in a steamed bun is the perfect food.

So I may have to check out Gertrude's Fifth Annual Kraut Festival. At first blush John Shield's menu seemed a tad kraut-excessive... a day later, not so much.

Gertrude's at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Friday, January 11th. 6 to 11 PM with Polka Music. And these fine eats:

Kraut & Roasted Beet Borscht
Kraut Stroganoff
Braised Pulled Pork with Kraut and Apples
Stuffed "Kraut" Cabbage Rolls - meat and veggie
Ziti with Kielbasa & Sauerkraut
Kraut, Tofu and Braised Mean Greens Fettuccini
Charcuterie Platter - Binkert's Bavarian Brautwurst, Knackwurst, Weisswurst, and Bauernwurst and Ostrowski's Kielbasa and Veggie Wursts
Kraut Braised Red Potatoes and Carrots
Pumpernickel rolls and German rye
Desserts
Grandma Wissman's Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake
Sauerkraut & Apple Flan
Double Chocolate Tart with Caramel Kraut

And yes, the cash bar will have a Krautini along with some "specality" vodkas. $22 in advance, $25 at the door. Reservations: 410-889-3399.

Finally. After months, NEW SPIRITS in downtown Baltimore. And at great prices, too.

After months of anticipation and waiting - on my part - Jim Amato's Urban Cellars is finally open next door to the Peanut Shoppe's new location and just a few steps away from 21201's new SuperFresh grocery store at 222 N Charles Street, Baltimore.

I've written before about the oddness of having to go to RiteAid for a bottle of wine or scotch when friends were coming over.

No longer do we, as residents of downtown Baltimore's City Center, have to buy our Band-Aids and Brandy and Benedryl in the same store. That change is a wonderful, wonderful thing!

Here's the very best news: Jacob and I were at Urban Cellars last week shopping for our Friday cocktail party and for our private New Year's Eve celebration. Jacob had been to Urban Cellars before. I hadn't. He asked me to check the shelf prices and I expected them to be high due to the store's location.

THEY WERE NOT!

Every bottle of wine (Urban Cellars has an International Collection), every six-pack of beer (Urban Cellars offers the finest and coldest and some of the most unusual), and every bottle of liquor (their selection blew my socks off) was priced equal to or less than what you'd pay at any Maryland liquor store. And, certainly less than you'd pay at the drug store.

Stay tuned. Amato tells me that Urban Cellars is planning some extradorinary tastings and events.

Avenue Q - Quintessentially Quotable

After over twenty years of being a regular theatre-goer, something strange and wonderful happened Saturday night.

I expect to walk home, after seeing a musical, humming the two or three most memorable tunes. And as an utterly and completly tone-deaf singer, it's a torment - if not a true torture - for my friends.

Saturday Jacob and I saw Avenue Q at Baltimore's Hippodrome and we walked home reciting the hysterically funny, rude, politically incorrect, and downright nasty lines. We were laughing like the show was still going on. For us, it was. We both agreed that you haven't really lived until you've been given the finger by a puppet. Or, watched puppets DOING IT complete with dramatic lighting and sound effects and well placed gasps.

You haven't lived until you've watched a gay puppet come out of the closet to his friends and immediately go back in his apartment for a three-way. Avenue Q is heady stuff. (I'm not giving anything away here. The plot is not complex.)

So, what exactly were we and most of the audience laughing at that evening? Here are a couple of G-Rated samples (for the really good quotes - R-Rated and X, get tickets):

[On a Missed Teaching Assignment]
Kate Monster: Hello?
Mrs. Thistletwat: Good afternoon, Katherine. If you may recall, you were supposed to teach my class this morning while I got my heart replaced. You left the children unattended for three hours! They created their own tribal society and were about to sacrifice poor little Brittany! Where were you?
Kate Monster: I overslept! I'm so sorry!
Mrs. Thistletwat: I should never have hired a monster.
Kate Monster: What?
Mrs. Thistletwat: Your race is notoriously lazy!
Kate Monster: Well, better a monster than a crabby old bitch!
Mrs. Thistletwat: Crabby old bitches are the backbone of this nation!

[On Schadenfreude]
Nicky: How 'bout straight A students getting B's?
Gary: Exes getting STDs!
Nicky: Waking doormen from their naps!
Gary: Watching tourists reading maps!
Nicky: Football players getting tackled!
Gary: CEOs getting shackled!
Nicky: Watching actors never reach
Both: The ending of their Oscar speech!

[On Gift-giving & Investments]
Trekkie Monster: Me give you ten million dollars!
Princeton: Trekkie! Where did you get all that money?!?
Trekkie Monster: In volatile market, only stable investment is porn!

NOTICE: As advertised, the Tony award winning, Avenue Q is "Not Fur the Kiddies"... It's apparently not FUR most grandparents either. The ladies on either side of us looked Queasier and Queasier with each drop of the F-Bomb. But hey, they should have known that they - for about two fun hours - were going to live on Avenue Q!

Belly of the Beast? Nope. Today, I Was in the Brain of the Beast!

If you enjoy Baltimore 21201... If you've lived in Baltimore for any period of time... If you love our city and its landmarks... and, if you've ever dreamed about being in a seemingly impossible place to visit... then you must have thought about being in the clock room of the Bromo Seltzer Tower. I was there today. It was a dream fulfilled. I was INSIDE the clocks.

I'm a fairly new member of the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and while I attend their Forum Series, I didn't know how wonderful these tours could be. Adam Blumenthal, BAF's executive director, served as tour guide and was a wealth of information. (He also drives an old, cranky, brass-cage elevator like a veteran.)

Adam found me -- and my blog -- by way of looking for information on Baltimore's BG&E building conversion to luxury apartments. It seems that if you Google "BG&E Building" this blog hits the top of the charts. Odd, but true.


Adam began the tour on the ground floor by way of explaining the footprint of the building. As we arrived on the third floor, we saw drawings of the entire building -- inside and out -- including the Bromo Seltzer bottle that was on top decades ago. We learned about the wind sheer that probably caused the steel and glass advertising fixture to be removed.

Here's the deal: If you want an opportunity like the one I had today, join the Baltimore Architecture Foundation and every group like it.

And on some of these tours be prepared to climb some radical stairs. It's all worth it.

21201 Snow Later in the Day

Earlier today I mentioned the new lights in the trees at Charles Center. Here are a couple of photos taken just a short while ago.

Our 7.5 million-dollar front yard is special. Who could ask for anything more? And, we don't have to mow the grass, water the trees or clean the snow on the walk ways.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, etc.

If you visited this blog last winter, then you know that we love the snow. And, this year we need it more than ever. On a practical level, with the ground water shortage on the eastern seaboard so very low, I'd be happy to see it snow all winter. On a personal level... It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas! I'll let a couple of photos say the rest.

Beautiful from inside our house.

The new Charles Center park could not look more set for the holidays.

There are tiny Christmas lights in all of the trees. Come to City Center and visit our front yard!