Baltimore21201.Com - The Blog

Baltimore Friends: Can You Help Me Regain Access to My Facebook Account?

A couple of days ago I tried to post a story from my blog on Facebook. And, I received an error message. I tried to comment on a friend's post, couldn't do it—got an error message—albeit a different one. Here's what I'm seeing:

This one says:

The link you are trying to visit has been reported as abusive by Facebook users. To learn more about staying save on the internet, visit Facebook's Security Page. Please also read the Wikipedia articles on malware and phishing.

And, this one:

The content you're trying to share includes a link that's been blocked for being spammy or unsafe: Body of an error/warning message. Title is: Sorry, this post contains a blocked URL

For more information, visit the Help Center. If you think you're seeing this my mistake, please let us know.

I'd appreciate it greatly if someone coud help me out with this issue. And please, if you know a real Facebook wiz, forward this. 

75 Years Ago Today, Baltimore's News-Post Reported: 'Hindenburg Explodes'

On many fronts, 1937 wasn't altogether a great year. The United States was still attempting to recover from the Great Depression, Amelia Earhart and her navigator Fred Noonan disappeared after taking off from New Guinea, Japan occupied Beijing, the Great Hong Kong Typhoon killed 11,000 people, Italy withdrew from the League of Nations. John D Rockefeller, George Gershwin, and Jean Harlow died. In April of 1937 German warplanes from the Luftwaffe's Condor Legion destroyed the Basque town of Guernica during what was reported as the first air bombardment of an undefended town in history; more than 1,600 civilians were killed.

And, the Baltimore News-Post ran this this headline in May:

 

 

 

 

 

 

1937, Baltimore News-Post Reported: Hindenburg Explodes

Earlier that year WLS, Chicago's powerhouse of a radio station, dispatched announcer Herb Morrison and his engineer, Charlie Nelhsen, to cover the Hindenburg landing in Lakehurst, New Jersey. Morrison's report was to be recorded on a large acetate disk for later broadcast. Recording news and actualities was, in 1937, against all the rules of network radio broadcasting. Morrison's recorded report lead to a change of those rules, which at the time only allowed recordings to be used for sound effects in radio dramas. Morrison's report was so human and so compelling that NBC played the recording on it's network and it became the prototype for news actualities in the post war years.

Morrison was a slender, diminutive man with dark hair, dimples, and a strong chin. On the air, he sounded older than his years. He was dapper, and by all accounts he was exceedingly handsome. Prior to his dispatch to Lakehurst, the majority of his radio work had been as an announcer for live musical programming. For the Hindenburg report from Lakehurst he wore a blue serge suit and a tailored top coat.

Announcer, Herb Morrison

Today most people see, or remember, a newsreel of the Hindenburg disaster with Morrison's account as the voice-over. However, that's a later construction of how the actual reports were filed, seen, and heard.

Even in 1937 newsreels were a low-budget affair. Black and white cameras with no ability to record sound were used. And Morrison and his one-man crew were recording a transcription to a disk with no ability to add visuals. Think of what you remember seeing as one of the earliest audio-visual mashups.

Here is an actual (and yes, silent) newsreel from the time with post production, editing, and a certain amount of 'film touch-up' as performed by the releasing studio.

 

And this, from the Smithsonian, is Herb Morrison's radio report added to actual newsreel film, without any film reconstruction. The difference in film quality is all-telling.

  

According to WLS radio: Listeners in Chicago and across the country didn't hear Morrison's coverage of the disaster until the next day because his report wasn't broadcast live from Lakehurst. He and engineer Charley Nehlsen had been experimenting with field recordings on huge acetate discs. They realized the gravity of their recordings as they found themselves being followed by German SS Officers! After hiding out for a few hours, the two managed to make a clean getaway and get back across the country to WLS. The chilling account aired the next day on the station and was the first recorded radio news report to be broadcast nationally by NBC.

I've been fascinated by lighter-than-air craft, zeppelins, and blimps for as long as I can remember. In Baltimore we all see quite a few small blimps soaring over the city—Dish Network, MetLife, and yes, the Conan craft. I wondered what a zeppelin the size of the Hindenburg would have looked like flying over Baltimore. I wondered if it might have looked this:

Hindenburg Over Baltimore, MD

The Hindenburg explosion killed 35 of the 97 people on board and one person on the ground. A cause of the disaster has been widely speculated about and has created more conspiracy theories than the Kennedy assination, yet the true cause of the Hindenburg's demise has never been discovered.

This Week from the Peabody: Strings, Percussion, Brass, and More! Much More.

On Wednesday, May 2, at 1:00 pm, C Street Brass, a quintet founded by Conservatory students, will perform baroque, tango, and jazz crossover works at a free concert presented by WBJC in the Fine Arts Theater at Baltimore City Community College, 2901 Liberty Heights Avenue.

Faculty artist Joe Burgstaller, trumpet, will present Change Your Mind, Change Your Playing, a performance master class for all instruments, on Thursday, May 3, at 7:00 pm in Room LH414 (Leakin Hall). The class will include mock juries and other jury prep.

Courtney Orlando, violin and voice, who teaches ear training at the Conservatory, will give benefit performances for Mount Vernon Music Space, 1015 North Charles Street, on Friday, May 4, at 7:30 pm and Sunday, May 6, at 3:30 pm. On the program are works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Astor Piazzolla, Caleb Burhans, and Michael Rickelton (MM ’10, Composition). Percussionist Terry Sweeny, a junior, will also perform. For more information, visit mountvernonmusicspace.com.

Soprano Jennifer Holbrook (MM ’09, Voice; GPD ’11, Opera), tenor and countertenor Peter Lee (BM ’06, MM ’08, Voice), and baritone Kevin Wetzel (MM ’06, GPD ’08, Voice) will perform with the Peabody Concert Orchestra, Concert Artists of Baltimore Orchestra and Symphonic Chorale, Peabody-Hopkins Chorus, Peabody Singers, and Peabody Children's Chorus at the Patricia and Arthur Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric, 140 West Mount Royal Avenue, on Saturday, May 5, at 8:00 pm. Edward Polochick, artistic director of Concert Artists of Baltimore and a Peabody faculty member, will conduct the collaborative performances of Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. Tickets are $28 and $38 and may be purchased by visiting lyricoperahouse.com or calling 410-900-1150. Student rush tickets may be purchased for $10 each at the Lyric Box Office starting one hour prior to the performance.

                         Brian Ganz, Peabody Faculty Artist

Faculty artist Brian Ganz, piano, will perform Fantaisie for Piano and Orchestra with the National Philharmonic Orchestra as part of an all-Debussy program on Saturday, May 5, at 8:00 pm. The concert will take place at The Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. For tickets, visit nationalphilharmonic.org.

The Peabody Children's Chorus, directed by Doreen Falby, will present The Poet Sings, a program of music set to the words of Shakespeare, Blake, Dickens, Dickinson, and other great poets, on Sunday, May 6, at 3:00 pm in Peabody's Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall. Tickets are $5. To purchase tickets, call the Peabody Box Office at 410-234-4800. Also that day at 3:00 pm, an ensemble from the Peabody Children's Chorus will appear in a performance of Mendelssohn's Elijah by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society in the Kraushaar Auditorium at Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson. For tickets, visit baltimorechoralarts.org.

Free noon recitals
At this week's free Thursday Noon recital in Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall, Brassivity—trumpeters Yanbin Chen and Tristan Clarke, hornist Joel Watts, trombonist Emily Joseph, and tubist Scott Miller—will perform Bach's Fugue in G minor, Michael Kamen's Quintet, and the Allegro Vivo movement from Eugene Bozza's Sonatine for Brass; violinist Szu-Yun Chiu, cellist Young Eun Lee, and pianist Sejoon Park will perform Schubert's Trio No. 1 in B-flat major; and violinist Erica Richardson, cellist Antoinette Gan, and pianist Choo Choo Hu will perform Dvorák's Trio No. 1 in B-flat major.

On Friday, May 4, at noon, there will be a free performance by Conservatory harp students in the Peabody on the Court series at the Walters Art Museum, 600 North Charles Street.

Enjoy!

Oh say! Look, it's a recital with the title, 'Ce Moys de May'

The Peabody Renaissance Ensemble will present two concerts on Thursday and Friday, Apr. 26 and 27, at 7:30 pm, in Leith Symington Griswold Hall.

Directed by Mark Cudek, the group will perform a recital titled Ce Moys de May: Music for Mary, Queen of Scots, which includes music that she would have listened and danced to, verse from her favorite poets, favorite tunes from her youth, French courtly dance to honor Mary, and much more.

Soprano Julie Bosworth and countertenor Daniel Moody are featured soloists and were coached by Adam Pearl. Tickets for the concert are $15 for adults, $10 for seniors, and $5 for students with ID. To purchase tickets, call the Peabody Box Office at 410-234-4800.

ClancyWorks in Concert: 10 Years in the Making | at Baltimore Theatre Project

In Chorus Line it was Dance 10, looks 3. In these performances it's Dance 10, looks 10.

ClancyWorks Dance Company presents an evening of original choreography on Saturday, April 28th at 8:00pm and Sunday, April 29th at 3:00pm at Baltimore Theater Project.

                                           Love Strings

The Washington Post has described Adrienne Clancy, as a “wizard of invention,” and her choreography as “a tour de force of unpredictable partnering.”

This evening-length concert, part of the 10th anniversary season of ClancyWorks, is a clear continuation of the mission of the company. It will feature students from residencies at George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology and Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, a performance by The Collective, a Baltimore-based dance company, and some of Clancy’s original works that span the 10-year existence of the company.

This performance manifests the major role that both physical and metaphorical partnering play in Clancy’s work. Specific to Clancy’s creative process is an exploration of architecturally informed partnering work that uses dance to further pedagogical practices by promoting tolerance, teamwork, community activism, and individual empowerment.

                                         Wall Dance

Partnering is not only the artistic strength of the company, but also the baseline of their organizational work! From the partnering of physical objects, to the partnering of ideas, ClancyWorks: 10 Years in the Making features diverse dance works that embody Clancy’s use of partnering work not only as an aesthetic statement, but also as a symbol of trust and support.

Spinning Webs explores the wondrous, whirling, win some, lose some, web of relationships. The plots of Cupid and Aphrodite are transformed into the mythic Spider Grandmother—who, according to Native American emergence tales, spun the world into creation. Clancy’s choreography builds upon Spider Grandmother emergence tales and asks: how do we maneuver through our own webs of life, and how do we cultivate a web of relationships? Spinning Webs is part four in Clancy’s exploration of the Spider Grandmother dances.

Drift, showcases Adrienne Clancy and Sandra Lacy in a dynamic duet not to be missed! Prior to founding ClancyWorks Dance Company, Clancy was a member of the Bella Lewitzky Dance Company and the Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, where she held leadership roles as Rehearsal Director, Community Arts Project Director and a lead performer. Lacy previously performed with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company. Together, these alpha forces have created a collaboration that examines philosophical questions of pathways and explores who walks with us along these paths.

The Collective, named Baltimore’s Best Dance Company in 2008/2009, will present Sisters choreographed by Adrienne Clancy. As a hub for professional dance in Baltimore, the sixteen-member company will present a dynamic Clancy work based on female relationships.

The concert will also feature students from ClancyWorks’ Arts in Education residencies, where they will be showcased alongside the professional company. These programs include high school students from Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts and George Washington Carver Center for Arts and Technology from Baltimore County. Working together, these students and ClancyWorks Company members have created pieces that demonstrate working as a team yields greater results than an individual could achieve by him or herself.

What:
ClancyWorks Dance Company
When:
Saturday, April 28 at 8:00pm
Sunday, April 29 at 3:00pm
Where:
Baltimore Theater Project
45 West Preston Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

Tickets: $20 General Admission; $15 Seniors, Teachers, Artists; $10 Students
To purchase tickets visit www.theatreproject.org or call (410) 752-8558.

Washington DC's Hirshhorn Museum: The Building is Going to be Transformed!

                 Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC - "Song 1"

Jacob and I have this installation on our must-see list:

Doug Aitken: SONG 1

March 22, 2012 to May 13, 2012

Internationally renowned artist Doug Aitken (b. California, 1968; lives and works in Los Angeles and New York) will transform the Hirshhorn’s iconic circular building into “liquid architecture.”

Using nearly a dozen high-definition projectors, Aitken will seamlessly blend imagery to envelop the entire façade of the Gordon Bunshaft–designed structure with a 360-degree panorama that will make the Museum recede into cinematic space—rotating, rising, and evolving into new forms.

                                      Artist, Doug Aitken

Exploding film conventions, the work cannot be viewed from any single perspective or at any single moment in time. Visitors must walk the perimeter of the building in order to experience the work more fully.

                Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC - "Song 1"

This site-specific commission will remain on view each evening for nearly two months. More than a temporary artwork, this truly original piece will also become part of the Hirshhorn’s permanent collection, enhancing its ever-expanding holdings of cutting-edge time-based media.

Visit the Hirshhorn Museum online to learn more.

It's a Big Package, an Important Package! I Voted YES. Join Me.

             Stephen Brockelman, proud SAG member since 1971

An urgent note to all of my fellow SAG and AFTRA members in Baltimore and Washington, DC:

By now you should have received a hefty, Tiffany blue envelope. If you haven't received it, please call your union local at (301) 657-2560 or (800) 724-0767.

                                SAG - AFTRA Merger Package

The package contains:

• an introductory letter, 10 pages
• a FAQ and Contact document, 8 pages
• a P&H, H&R, Feasibility Report, 32 pages
• the SAG-AFTRA Constitution, Dues Structure, Merger Agreement document, 86 pages
• the Ballot
• the Secret Ballot envelope (with QR codes)
• the return mail envelope (with bar code and QR codes)

                            SAG - AFTRA merger package

It's a formidable package. And, as a SAG or AFTRA member, it is the most important group of documents that you've ever received from your union. The ballot enclosed in your package is—without a doubt—the most important ballot you'll ever receive from your union. After you review the material, I urge you to vote YES for MERGER.

And, when you vote YES, you'll be in good company.

The Amercian Federation of Musicians supports the merger. The entertainment trade magazine, Variety, reports:

The American Federation of Musicians has endorsed the proposed merger between the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, joining Actors' Equity in blessing the union.The exec board of the AFM said it is in "full support" of the merger pact. "When ratified by the group's memberships, the uniting of the two groups will result in a more powerful and united face to represent workers in both film and broadcasting," the AFM said.

Ballots went out this week to 120,000 SAG members and 70,000 AFTRA members, who include actors, broadcasters, DJs, singers and dancers, with a tabulation date of March 30. To be approved, the merger must receive at least 60% of the votes from each union.

"The proposed merger is a historic step and is a symbol of unity for the entertainment sector and for the entire labor movement," said AFM president Ray Hair. "For decades, AFTRA and SAG have stood prominently and proudly for dignity and justice in the entertainment industry workplace. The joining of these two great unions will focus union power toward a better future for the media business, not only here in the United States but throughout the world."

And our brothers and sisters who work on the Great White Way support the SAG-AFTRA merger. The Hollywood Reporter's Jonathan Handel wrote:

The national Council of Actors Equity voted unanimously Tuesday night to endorse the planned merger of SAG and AFTRA. The vote by the nearly century-old union, which represents performers in live stage productions, adds fuel to the movement toward a combined SAG-AFTRA.

The Equity motion was a single sentence: “AEA strongly supports SAG and AFTRA in their proposal to merge their Unions.”

In response, SAG president Ken Howard thanked Equity president Nick Wyman and the Council, and said, “We're honored by their action today and by the support of  Equity members, who are very often members of SAG and AFTRA as well.”

He added, “There¹s a real spirit of unity in our ranks, and it can only serve to make us all stronger.”

Before you vote YES, please read this document so that you may vote YES with confidence:

MYTHS ABOUT THE IMPACT OF the SAG - AFTRA MERGER

MYTH #1:
Merger will jeopardize my pension.
MERGER FACT:  Your accrued pension benefits are protected by federal law. Benefits can only be reduced under certain conditions relating to plans in financial distress. Neither the AFTRA Plan nor the SAG plan is in that situation – both plans are in the “green zone.” As explained in the Feasibility Report, a merger of the plans would make it less likely that that your pension plan reaches the level of financial distress that places your accrued benefits in jeopardy: Multi-employer plan mergers do not pose any increase in the risk of loss of benefits to plan participants according to the government agency in charge of mergers. Indeed, the law requires that if pension plans are merged, the plans’ trustees have a legal obligation to ensure that no participant’s accrued benefits will be less after the merger than it was before.

Click: Here's your direct link to the other 39 Merger Myths .

Vote YES.

And finally, my personal thanks to SAG, AFTRA, the labor attorneys, and the AFL-CIO consultants for creating one of the finest collective bargaining agreements ever written. 

Here's a Little Crossword Puzzle that I've Named 'Deception' in Honor of Sam Arora

If you are in the vicinity of Maryland you probably know that Democratic Del. Sam Arora is being ripped to shreds by his constituents, the GLBT community, and liberals around the world.

He's being attacked on his Facebook page and in dozens of other venues. Here are just a couple of the negative, Facebook rants against the Delegate from Montgomery County. There are hundreds of these, if not a few thousand. 

Here's my personal homage to Sammy:

                     [click to enlarge, print, and solve]

Background on this story is so voluminous, that I won't even summarize—Wikipedia alone has more written about Sam Arora's backtracking on gay marriage in Maryland than it has on any other aspect of the Delegate's entire life. Link.

Matt Arnstine is a junior government and politics major at University of Maryland and he has published a nice, current opinion piece on the news site, DiamondBackOnline.Com - Link.

If there is a major media outlet in the United States that hasn't touched on the Sad Sam Arora story, I'm not aware of it.

BTW, when I post a contest on this blog I usually offer a prize to the winner. The prize for winning this crossword is getting the clown, named Sam Arora, out of office.

[UPDATE] Via NPR:

The Maryland Legislature has passed a law to allow gay marriage by a small, but expected margin.

The state Senate voted 25-22 on Thursday to legalize gay marriage, less than a week after the House of Delegates barely passed the measure.

Maryland will become the eighth state to allow gay marriage when Gov. Martin O'Malley, who sponsored the bill, signs the legislation.

Opponents vow to bring the measure to voters with a referendum. Now that the bill has passed the Senate, organizers can begin collecting the more than 55,000 signatures needed to put it on the ballot.

Have You Heard of Ira Aldridge? - Learn About this Actor.

I like to think I'm a darn good navigator of the legitimate theatre scene—current and historical, national and regional. I was surprised, this morning, to discover an important actor named Ira Aldridge. 

I studied theatre in New York for a lot of years, yet I'd never heard the name Ira Aldridge until today. I wondered why? After some searching and reading, I realized why the actor was a mystery to me.

              Actor Ira Aldridge, 1858- via Creative Commons

I received an email alerting me to an event at The Walters Art Gallery. Here's the information:

Join Kwame Kwei-Armah, British playwright, actor, director, and new Artistic Director of Center Stage, Baltimore, in this lively discussion about Ira Aldridge, the first American of African descent to achieve fame in the theater. Kwei-Armah will preview recordings from his recent radio documentary on Aldridge, who spent much of his career on the London stage in Shakespearean roles, especially that of Othello.

                         Portrait of Ira Aldridge, as Othello

I learned from England's BBC Radio 4 that, in a 2009 documentary:

Kwame Kwei-Armah traced the life and work of Ira Aldridge, a black actor who defied racial prejudice to become one of Britain's finest Shakespearean actors.

When Aldridge first appeared on the London stage in 1825, he was enthusiastically received by the public but the critics hated him, The Times going so far as to say that he could not pronounce English properly, 'owing to the shape of his lips'.

Here was a black man daring to break into the heartland of the British 'classics', which had hitherto been the exclusive domain of white actors.

But, undeterred by the racial hostility of the press, Aldridge became a perpetually touring player, an exotic 'star', honing his skills in the provinces and across Europe. In a career spanning 30 years, he became one of Britain's finest Shakespearean players, and had more honours showered upon him than any other actor of his time.

Here's actor Eke Chukwu portraying Ira Aldridge in a short documentary promo:

 

I'm not going to attempt to write a biography of Aldridge. I just met him, after all. There are dozens of resources available online. Here are a couple:

Ira Aldridge at Wikipedia
Ira Aldridge at Cade Library, Southern and A&M
Ira Aldridge Collection at Northwestern University 

Ira Aldridge: African American Theater Pioneer
Presented by Kwame Kwei-Armah
The Walters Art Museum
Date: Sunday, February 26, 2012
Time: 02:00 PM–03:00 PM 

So, why didn't I know about Ira Aldridge? I thought back to school in the 1970s and realized that I wasn't taught anything about Africian-American Actors or their contribution to the world of theatre. And, that is the plain, sad, pitiful truth. Will I see you at the Walters on the 26th?

 

For 1:18, Baltimore's Theatre Project Offering Free Tickets, Passing the Hat

               1:18 (One Hour Eighteen)
                           by Elena Gremina

     The Center for International Theatre Develoment
              Wed February 22 - Sun February 26

Elena Gremina is one of Russia’s most important playwrights. This play has been hailed by many as a unique new direction in Russian playwriting because it takes a difficult ongoing subject and does not disguise the names of real people involved. While pressure was put on the theatre not to stage this play, they didn’t back down - and so far it has run for several months without any negative consequences to those involved.

One Hour Eighteen (1:18) is an important play. It's so important that it is being mounted at Baltimore's Theatre Project and the tickets are free. The theatre will just pass a hat following the performances.

In January 2009, Sergei Magnitsky, a young Russian tax lawyer was arrested and imprisoned without trial on charges of tax fraud - Eleven months later, he was dead.

1:18 tells the true story of a senseless tragedy, a series of small steps taken by ordinary people in a corrupt, crumbling justice system.

In 2011, New York Times journalist Ellen Barry won a Pulitzer Prize for her detailed coverage of this case, which exposed the flagrant violations of human rights that continue on in Russia.

1:18 uses court transcripts, interviews, Magnitsky's own letters from prison, and fictional accounts that piece together what might have happened.

"It’s about normal people taking small steps that somehow lead to somebody dying. Each one of us can become the vessel for something really horrible." -- 1:18 director Yury Urnov

1:18 by Elena Gremina
Translated by Yury Urnov and Stephen Nunns
Directed by Yury Urnov

                            Director, Yury Urnov (center)

Performed by: Temple Crocker, Shannon McPhee, Stephen Nunns, and Yury Urnov

Post-show discussion panel following each performance:

   Feb 22:  

David M. White, WordBRIDGE Lab 

Nathan Cooper, Single Carrot Theatre

   Feb 23:  

Yury Urnov, Director, Moscow

Buck Jabaily, Baltimore Open Theatre

   Feb 24:  

Barbara Lanciers, Associate Director Trust for Mutual Understanding, NYC

   Feb 25:  

Bonnie Tamres-Moore, Founding Member, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, 

Suzanne O’Hatnick, Director Washington Region Religious Campaign Against Torture

   Feb 26: 

Maureen Daly, Jack Gohn, Peggy Meyer, Peace and Justice Committee, St. Vincent’s Catholic Church, Baltimore.

 

Tickets are Free! We will be passing the hat.

 

Click here to reserve tickets on-line.

Baltimore Theatre Project

Box Office: 410-752-8558
Administration:410-539-3091
45 West Preston Street
Baltimore, MD 21201

Baltimore Play Readings, Free on Saturday

If you've never been to the reading of a play, you're not alone. The general public is not often invited to this stage of theatrical story development. This Saturday you're invited to readings and participation at Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre. 

                              Script readings at Spotlighters

NEW PLAY READINGS

Get a look at the process that a play goes through from initial script to tenth or twelfth revision to finally a production.

Give your feedback on these new works, and assist a playwright in this process. The Baltimore Playwrights Festival (www.baltplayfest.org) announces a public play-reading marathon to take place on Saturday, February 11th, at The Audrey Herman Spotlighters Theatre (www.spotlighters.org), 817 Saint Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21202.

After each reading there will be a discussion of the script with the playwright, director and actors.

The event is free, and the general public is encouraged to attend.

11:00am Reading - Strangers by Stanley C Gabor

Strangers, by Stanley C. Gabor, tells the story of how after bringing Roy home, Alan, unsure of his sexuality,  invites his close colleague Kate to join them for a night of ribaldry and revelation. In a New York evening these two classics professors have their lives challenged and changed by the young stranger from Oklahoma, who has an uncertain agenda of his own.

Stanley C. Gabor is Dean Emeritus at Johns Hopkins University. He came to Baltimore in 1982 from New York University. He holds degrees in history and law and has taught classes in leadership and classics.

—

1:00pm Reading - Secret Life by Stephen Kilduff

In Secret Life, by Stephen Kilduff, Tara and Bruce are getting married, though neither one knows why. Miles and Rosalie have been married more than thirty years, though neither one knows how. When these two couples get together, everyone starts to question the choices they have made and the stories that hold their lives, and their identities, together.

Stephen Kilduff began writing plays in 2004, and the following year he received an Individual Artist Award in Play-writing from the Maryland State Arts Council. In 2005 he attended the Sewanee Writers Conference as a participant in the play-writing seminar, under the direction of Romulus Linney and Daisy Foote. His play Snow on the Stand was produced in August 2006 at the American Theatre of Actors in New York. The Uncurled Hand was named winner of the 2007 New Play Festival at Centre Stage South Carolina in Greenville, SC and was produced there in July 2008. Another play, Graven Image, was produced in the summer of 2008 by Uncommon Voices as part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival.

—

3:00pm Reading - The Rainbow Plays by Rich Espey

The Rainbow Plays, by Rich Espey, are a collection of seven short plays that focus on what it means to be a gay person in America. In its current version the Rainbow Flag that symbolizes the gay pride and gay rights movementconsists of six horizontal stripes, each of which has a symbolic meaning: red (life), orange (healing), yellow (sunshine), green (nature), blue (harmony) and purple (spirit). The first six plays in this collection each address one of those themes; the seventh play incorporates them all into one.

Rich Espey’s plays have been produced throughout the United States. Recent highlights include Rice Futures at the 2010 Source Festival and Three Andys produced by Single Carrot Theatre at the Baltimore Museum of Art. His award-winning play Hope’s Arbor was produced by Gallery Players in New York City in June, 2008.  Rich is a two time winner of the Carol Weinberg Award for best play at the Baltimore Playwrights Festival. He is a D.C./Baltimore Regional co-representative of the
Dramatists Guild, a member of DC’s Playwrights Gymnasium and the Playwrights Group of Baltimore, has served as Chair of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival and is currently the President of the Board of Single Carrot Theatre. Rich proudly teaches science at The Park School of Baltimore.

The Baltimore Playwrights Festival has presented 273 scripts by 165 playwrights, produced by 25 different companies, over the past 30 Years. Our mission is to provide an environment that nurtures the talents of Maryland and DC playwrights through public readings, discussions, critiques and work-shopping of new plays.Our summer season is devoted to the presentation of these newly developed works to area audiences in cooperation with local area theaters.  Further information can be found at www.baltplayfest.org.

News from Baltimore's Theatre Project

 

Visual theatre returns to Theatre Project for two weeks in March with dynamic performances by Baltimore based Nana Projects and Miwa Matreyek, a multi-media artist from L.A.

In conjunction with QuestFest 2012, Quest Visual Theatre's biennial premier international visual theatre festival, Theatre Project will present Nana Project's Alonzo's Lullaby March 9 - 11, and Miwa Matreyek's Myth and Infrastructure and Dreaming of lucid Living March 16 - 18. Talk-backs with the artists will be held following each performance. 

In Alonzo's Lullaby, gorgeous hand manipulated cut outs tell a tale of madness, passion and intrigue. Inspired by the Hagenback-Wallace Circus train wreck of 1918, this work is performed by three puppeteers (aka lanterneers) who project 2-dimensional images made of plastic and acrylic gels onto a screen with three overhead projectors. Relying on inventive tricks including scrolls of plastic, masking illusions, and faders allow the puppeteers to manipulate the pieces of plastic with a fluidity that is often mistaken for animation.

Alonzo's Lullaby is a luminous, richly-hued, shadow puppet play for adults, with original score performed by singer/songwriter ellen cherry. Funded by the Jim Henson Foundation, Alonzo's Lullaby received the prestigious Union Internationale de la Marionette citation of excellence in puppetry. 

Miwa Matreyek's Myth and Infrastructure and Dreaming of Lucid Living are live performances with projected animation. As the artist walks behind the screen, her shadow becomes an integral part of the animated world - she crosses from domestic/home spaces of kitchens and dining room tables to oceanscapes and cityscapes in a fantastical journey.

Matreyek's performances can be viewed as a cinematic experiences taking place on a screen. What is seen on the screen is a collapsed product of multiple layers of animation, objects and body. Her work exists in a juxtaposition of illusion and non-illusion. 

Showtimes

Alonzo's Lullaby

Friday, March 9 @ 7:00pm
Saturday March 10 @ 3:00pm and 8:00 pm
Sunday, March 11 @ 3:00pm 

Myth and Infrastructure and Dreaming of Lucid Living

Friday, March 16 @ 7:00pm
Saturday March 17 @ 3:00pm and 8:00 pm
Sunday, March 18 @ 3:00pm                            

Tickets for all shows

General Admission ~ $20
Seniors/Artists/Military ~ $15
Students ~ $10 

** ASL sign language interpreters will be provided for the March 9 & 11 performances of Alonzo's Lullaby and the March 16 & 18 performances of Myth and Infrastructure and Dreaming of Lucid Living. **

Tickets are available through Theatre Project's website and Tixato. 

For more information call 410-752-8558. 

Alonzo's Lullaby, Myth and Infrastructure, and Dreaming of Lucid Living are being presented as part of QuestFest, a two-week international visual theatre festival. QuestFest features groundbreaking work from exceptional performers and companies dedicated to the use of movement, gesture, and digital media to tell stories. By stripping away the artifice of language, QuestFest builds bridges between disparate communities and cultures. 

QuestFest is funded in part by the United States Department of Education, the Herbert Bearman Foundation, the John J. Leidy Foundation, VSA/MetLife Foundation, and Target.

Baltimore Gets a Year of Charlie Chaplin

                Charlie Chaplin, photo via Creative Commons

The Charles Theatre in Baltimore is presenting a treasure-trove of Chaplin's films with new 35mm prints.

CHARLIE CHAPLIN SERIES A year-long retrospective of Charlie Chaplin’s films begins this Saturday as part of the Charles Theatre’s Revival Series. Janus Films has produced seventeen new 35mm prints spanning the years 1918-1958. The Revival Series will show one Chaplin program each month through January 2013. Each film will be presented with a musical soundtrack. Kids Welcome.  FIRST PROGRAM: FEBRUARY 11, 13, 16 A DOG’S LIFE (1918) Thanks to a dog he finds, Charlie ends up in possession of some stolen loot. But the wrongdoers want their ill-gotten gains back. 33m. SHOULDER ARMS (1918) Enlisted during the First World War, Charlie discovers the hard life of the trenches and the dangers of combat. 37m.  SUNNYSIDE (1919) Charlie is a farm laborer who’ll try anything to win over his pretty neighbor, but ends up spending a lot of time in dreamland. 30m.•  SHOWTIMES: SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11 NOON; MONDAY, FEBRUARY 13  7PM; THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 16  9PM. UPCOMING: MARCH 10, 12, 15     A DAY’S PLEASURE,     THE KID APRIL     THE IDLE CLASS,     PAYDAY,     THE PILGRIM MAY     A WOMAN OF PARIS                                  A Woman of Paris JUNE     THE CIRCUS JULY     CITY LIGHTS AUGUST     MODERN TIMES SEPTEMBER     THE GREAT DICTATOR OCTOBER     THE GOLD RUSH NOVEMBER     MONSIEUR VERDOUX DECEMBER     LIMELIGHT JANUARY 2013     A KING IN NEW YORK •Synosis WB and MK2

On the Morning of February 7th 1904, a Baltimore Alarm Sounded at 10:48

 
                           It's a Brockelmap! 

The Great Baltimore Fire of 1904:

• Began at the John E. Hurst Building off Liberty Street
• Burned for 30 hours
• Destroyed 1,545 buildings
• Reached 2,500-degrees at the hot spot, Calvert and Baltimore Streets
• Tons of dynamite did not stop the fire
• Over 2,500 businesses lost
• Left 35,000 unemployed
• Burned over 70 city blocks covering 140 acres
• Baltimore smoldered for weeks
• Caused $150,000,000 damage in 1904 dollars

From the song, Baltimore Fire:

Fire fire I heard the cry
From every breeze that passes by
All the world was one sad cry of pity
Strong men in anguish prayed
Calling out to the heavens for aid
While the fire in ruins was laid
Fair Baltimore the beautiful city

 

           Aftermath, Looking west from Pratt and Gay Streets

In 1906, after two years of intense rebuilding, Jones & Groeninger published Groeninger's New Baltimore to celebrate Baltimore's rebirth. You may download a free copy here.

News: Heads-up, Pay Attention Baltimore-Washington SAG-AFTRA Members

             IMPORTANT SPECIAL MEETING NOTICE

Shape the Future of Your Union: Learn More about the Proposed Merger of SAG and AFTRAFeaturing Special Guests

SAG Secretary-Treasurer and G-1 Member Amy Aquino
and
AFTRA National Second Vice President and G-1 Member Gabrielle Carteris

All paid-up SAG and AFTRA members in good standing are urged to attend an important educational/informational meeting to learn the facts and impact of the merger. 

On January 27 and 28, the national boards of SAG and AFTRA overwhelmingly approved the merger agreement to form one union. Now the decision is in your hands. Ballots will be mailed on February 27 to all eligible AFTRA and SAG members to vote on this historic change for your union. Learn the facts, so that you can cast an informed vote. Please note that members of both unions will have two votes. Informational materials contained in the referendum packet are also available on the SAG and AFTRA websites. 

What: SAG and AFTRA informational meeting to discuss the terms of the proposed SAG-AFTRA new union.* There will also be a SAG and AFTRA Background Actors Registration.** 

When: 7-9 p.m., Monday, February 13, 2012 

Where: The Hilton Hotel in Rockville
            1750 Rockville Pike
            Rockville, Maryland 20852

(Adjacent to the Twin Brook Metro Station on the Red Line)

The meeting is only open to paid-up SAG and AFTRA members in good standing. Unfortunately, no guests allowed. Parents/guardians of younger performers under 18 years old are welcome. SAG AND AFTRA MEMBERS, PLEASE BRING YOUR MEMBERSHIP CARD (paid thru April 30, 2012) FOR ADMITTANCE.

*Broadcast Staff: Please note there will be Individual Broadcast Shop meetings about the proposed merger. Dates and times to be announced. 

**The Background Actors Registration is a way for the AFTRA-SAG office to provide casting directors with current photos and contact information of members who are interested in working as background actors. The Netflix original series “House of Cards” is scheduled to shoot in the Baltimore area this spring and we want to be ready! And given the request from so many casting directors for current photos, even snapshots vs. headshots, we are trying something new - we will be taking digital pictures and collecting information cards during the membership meeting. So, to all members of AFTRA and/or SAG in good standing who want to be considered for background work on this upcoming AFTRA TV series, please come out to the meeting, bring your membership card(s), two resumes, a completed information card (which will soon be available at aftrasagdcbalt.com) and be ready to have your pictures taken! Extra information cards will be available at the meeting.

We will be holding additional photo sessions at the AFTRA–SAG office in Bethesda for those members who cannot attend the meeting, and we will make arrangements for those members of our Local/Branch who reside outside of our studio zone (for example, Hagerstown, Richmond, Virginia Beach) to participate as well.

What's All the Big Fuss About Marketing Automation?

Marketing automation, marketing automation, marketing automation. You can’t go five minutes in an accredited marketing class without someone mentioning this ‘phenomenon’. Everyone is discussing the concept using ten-syllable words.

Marketing automation is certainly effective when done right, but it's not brain surgery. I learned all about it when I was a kid.

What do Cutty Sark, Santa Claus, Kentucky Bourbon, Stag Beer, and Hammond Organs all have in common? Marketing automation, of course.

And, it all begins with a little puppy just like this:

        Hankscraft Motor - The Answer to Marketing Automation

This little video is your single source for everything you need to know about marketing automation.

[By the way, I shared this video with Tom Rowe at Visit Baltimore last week and he said, "I feel like I'm watching the future."]

 

So there you go, now you have it.

You now know all you need to know about marketing automation. Feel free to pass this information along to the less informed. And when you do, be certain to have your tongue firmly implanted in your cheek.

Streaming Live, 1/16 - A 'Moneyball' Conversation with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill

Back Stage and SAG Foundation Conversations present
A LIVE STREAMED Q&A

MONEYBALL
Q&A with Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill

TODAY, Monday, January 16th at 1:15pm (Pacific)
To watch the Q&A go to:
http://www.sagfoundation.org/videogallery/livestream

Q&A will be streamed live from Los Angeles after a screening of the film.

Email questions for Brad Pitt or Jonah Hill to LiveStream@sagfoundation.org or tweet to #SAGF.

Stars Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill have both received SAG Award nominations for their work in MONEYBALL.

Columbia Pictures’ Moneyball is based on the true story of Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) – once a would-be baseball superstar who, stung by the failure to live up to expectations on the field, turned his fiercely competitive nature to management. Heading into the 2002 season, Billy faces a dismal situation: his small-market Oakland A’s have lost their star players (again) to big market clubs (and their enormous salaries) and he is left to rebuild his team and compete with a third of their payroll.

Driven to win, Billy takes on the system by challenging the fundamental tenets of the game. He looks outside of baseball, to the dismissed theories of Bill James, and hires Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a brainy, number-crunching, Yale-educated economist.

Together they take on conventional wisdom with a willingness to reexamine everything and armed with computer driven statistical analysis long ignored by the baseball establishment.  They reach imagination-defying conclusions and go after players overlooked and dismissed by the rest of baseball for being too odd, too old, too injured or too much trouble, but who all have key skills that are universally undervalued. Ultimately this experiment will lead not only to a change in the way the game is played, but to an outcome that would leave Billy with a new understanding that transcends the game and delivers him to a new place.

Moneyball, starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman, is directed by Bennett Miller. The screenplay is by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin. The story is written by Stan Chervin. Based on the book by Michael Lewis. The producers are Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt.

Awards Season 2012: So Many Movies. So Little Time. So Many Great Cocktails!

I love January.

I'm in the thick of the 2012 entertainment awards season and the screening copies of DVDs have been arriving from Screen Actors Guild in big, padded envelopes. And, I love it.

Here's my blog post on the awards season from last year, 2011.

This year's motion picture award line-up is wonderfully diverse in terms of story-line, era, location, costume...

Because there is such an interesting mix of movies to view, I'm thinking that making a different cocktail for each movie screening would enhance the experience just a tad. Here's what I'm planning.

My Week with Marilyn - I can't find—nor could I ever afford—Monroe's favorite libation: Dom Pérignon 1953. So, a French 75 seems appropriate.

• 2 ounces London dry gin
• 1 teaspoon superfine sugar
• 1/2 ounce lemon juice
• 5 ounces Brut champagne

J Edgar - What could be better than a Pink Lady? Not only delicious, but outrageous, pink, smooth, and creamy.

• 1 1/2 oz gin
• 3/4 oz applejack
• 1/4 oz lemon juice
• 1-2 dashes grenadine
• 1 egg white
• maraschino cherry for garnish
• Pour the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice cubes. Shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with the cherry.

The Artist - Perfect for this film would be one of my favorites. The classic Sidecar.

• Shake well with cracked ice:
• 1 1/4 oz cognac
• 1/2 oz Cointreau
• 3/4 oz fresh-squeezed lemon juice
• Strain into chilled, sugar-rimmed cocktail glass  

The Descendants - No question, Piña Coladas.

• 4 oz. fresh pineapple juice
• 3 oz. rum
• 2 oz. coconut cream
• 2 cups crushed ice
• Pour all of the ingredients into a blender. Blend briefly at high speed. Strain into a glass and serve. Garnish with a slice of fresh pineapple and a cherry.

Iron Lady - Pimms Cup No. 1

• with soda and a big squeeze of lime in a tall glass filled with ice. I learned about Pimms Cup at Joe Allen restaurant in Los Angeles in the 1970s. (Gary was one hell of a bartender.)

Midnight in Paris - Absinthe.

• I have it, I have the slotted spoons, I have the sugar cubes. Enough said.

The Help - A Highball.

• Any highball made with bourbon or corn whisky.

Moneyball - Beer.

• Any cheap beer.

A Better Life - Tequila.

• Una botella grande de Tequila por favor.

You can take it from there, film fans. Let me know what you'd mix-up for the movie, Bridesmaids. I just cannot go there. (Ok, ok, I can. Fuzzy Navels all around.)

Here's cheers to the nominees and the future winners. Clink, clink. I'm having a Manhattan.

Gov O'Malley Talks About Raising Taxes

Hear all about it.

Maryland State Senate President Mike Miller and House Speaker Michael Busch weigh in on this and other important issues, on tonight's 2-hour special taped edition of today's Annapolis Summit!

Tune in from 5:00 to 7:00 to hear what's in store for the 2012 Maryland Legislative Session! Click here to read an Associated Press article about today's event!

Email or post on the The Marc Steiner Show Facebook page with your questions and comments!

Listen from 5-7 pm on WEAA 88.9-FM or online at www.weaa.org. All shows are also available as podcasts at www.steinershow.org. Join the conversation by calling 410-319-8888 or emailing steinershow@gmail.com.

Zuill Bailey to Perform Bach at Bethesda's Music Center at Strathmore

                                            Zuill Bailey

Zuill Bailey (BM ’94, Violoncello) will perform all 36 movements of Bach's unaccompanied cello suites this Saturday, Jan. 7, at 3:30 pm. That evening, at 8:00 pm, he will return to the stage to play Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 1 in C major with the National Philharmonic.

Both concerts will take place at the Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md. For tickets, visit nationalphilharmonic.org.

 

Zuill Bailey is widely considered one of the premiere cellists in the world. His rare combination of celebrated artistry, technical wizardry and engaging personality have secured his place as one of the most sought after and active cellists today.

From ZuillBailey.Com — Bailey grew up in Northern Virginia, where he was influenced and inspired by Rostropovich, who was then Director of the National Symphony. His parents are musicians. His mother is a pianist and his father has a Doctorate in both music and education. His sister is a violinist.

As an energetic four year old, while running furiously down a back hallway following a concert, Zuill Bailey had his first "run- in " with a cello. The instrument was broken following the encounter but not Bailey's spirit. He announced then that the cello would be his instrument of choice. The rest is history.

Mr. Bailey's performance instrument is made by the great Venetian cello maker, Matteo Gofriller in 1693. The instrument was used for 30 years by Mischa Schneider of the Budapest String Quartet. "Cello Bailey" accompanies Zuill Bailey on airlines throughout his world travels.

Zuill Bailey insures involvement in every community he visits by participating in outreach programs. He works diligently to make classical music accessible to all, primarily children everywhere.