Baltimore21201.Com - The Blog

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr (1929-1968) — I celebrate the man and his life with music.

 

 

 

 

 

You were grace on earth, Dr King, and I will continue to thank you for all of your work for of my days. 

Coming Soon to the Jewish Museum of Maryland — in Baltimore — GefilteFest!

GefilteFest, the poster

The news of this event made smile; I hope it does the same for you.

Something fishy is going on at the Jewish Museum of Maryland!

We’re expanding the Museum’s hours and adding new tours and programs!

Beginning October 21, the Museum will be open from 10am to 5pm, Sunday through Thursday. Tours of the historic Lloyd Street Synagogue, third oldest synagogue building in the US, will now be available five times daily.

To hook you on JMM’s new hours, the Museum is proud to present GefilteFest on October 21, 2012.

Join us for a day of cooking, eating and storytelling for the whole family. Don’t miss the gefilte fish “throw-down,” as teams vie for the honor of being crowned champion of this classic Jewish delicacy. Meet the owners of Gefilteria, a Brooklyn-based startup, making waves in the food world with their boutique gefilte and  other old world Jewish foods.

We’ll be sharing fish tales throughout the day, with recipe swaps, cookbook readings, music and more.

Get in the swim at the JMM (but please note: no crabs allowed).

The Jewish Museum of Maryland
at the Herbert Bearman Campus
15 Lloyd Street
Baltimore, MD 21202

410-732-6400
info@jewishmuseummd.org 

Godly and Spiritual Songs at JHU's Peabody Institute December1st and 2nd, 2011

        Renaissance Ensemble Image courtesy, Peabody Institute

Mark Cudek will direct two performances by the Peabody Renaissance Ensemble of Godly and Spiritual Songs, a program of Christmas music from the British Isles, on Thursday, Dec. 1, and Friday, Dec. 2, in Peabody's Leith Symington Griswold Hall.

Thursday night's concert will begin at approximately 8:00 pm, following the 40th Annual Lighting of the Washington Monument, which will feature a short performance by a Peabody brass group—the Bonehedz Trombone Quartet—around 7:15. Friday night's Renaissance Ensemble concert will begin at 7:30 pm.

Tickets 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.

For Monument Lighting details, visit godowntownbaltimore.com.

About the Early Music Program at the Peabody Institute:
The Peabody Conservatory of Music continues to expand its offerings in the historical performance of music before 1800. The Early Music Program provides instruction and performance opportunities in Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque, and early Classical music.

Students play on period instruments and develop vocal techniques compatible with early performance practices. Our accomplished faculty brings a wealth of performing and teaching experience to developing artists.

Graduates of Peabody's Early Music Program have gone on to win prizes at international competitions, earn Fulbright and Beebe scholarships, and graduate from European conservatories with high honors. Peabody graduates have performed with Apollo's Fire, the Baltimore Consort, Hesperus, Les Arts Florissants, the New York Collegium, and the Waverly Consort. 

Baltimore Casting News! 11/21/11

Just Announced:
Spotlighters Theatre Audition Schedule for Agnes of God 

              Anne Bancroft, Meg Tilly in film Agnes of God

Auditions for Agnes of God at Spotlighters Theatre

To be directed by Allan Herlinger, the audition dates for the production are:

Tuesday, November 29 and Wednesday, November 30th,  7 – 9PM at the Spotlighters Theatre.
[directions, parking, and additional information are all on the website:  www.spotlighters.org]

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script.

Actors auditioning are asked to please bring all conflicts as the rehearsal schedule will be developed around them if you are cast. Ages are not the actors' physical ages - ages only indicate your ability to portray that age range.

CHARACTERS:

Agnes - Sheltered, innocent. Script describes her as being 21. Ability to sing will be a plus but not required. If you can sing, you may be asked to demonstrate your a cappella vocal abilities.

Doctor Livingstone - Educated woman around 40-50 (script describes her as being menopausal). Very strong willed, chain smoker (herbal cigarettes will be used).

Mother Superior - Older Woman 50-60. Very set in her ways. Very motherly to Agnes and protective of her in Dr. Livingstone’s presence. Script describes her as married with two adult children prior to becoming a nun. Limited smoking is required.

PLOT SUMMARY:
Summoned to a convent, Dr. Martha Livingstone, a court-appointed psychiatrist, is charged with assessing the sanity of a young novitiate accused of murdering her newborn.  Miriam Ruth, the Mother Superior, determinedly keeps young Agnes from the doctor, arousing Livingstone's suspicions further. Who killed the infant and who fathered the tiny victim? Livingstone's questions force all three women to re-examine the meaning of faith and the power of love, leading to a dramatic, compelling climax.

PERFORMANCE DATES:  
Feb 24 - Mar 18, 2012 to include one Thursday performance on March 14th.

Kate Clinton Coming to Baltimore. She's Funny. (In every good & positive way.)

                                 Comedian, Kate Cllinton

It seems like Baltimore is finally becoming a Mid-Atlantic center of comedy. I seem to be writing about comedians and comedy venues quite a bit lately.

From Baltimore's Creative Alliance:

Kate Clinton brings her Glee Party Tour to the Patterson this Friday November 18th for two shows, 7pm and 9:30pm. Kate has been doing her unique style of comedy blending lesbianism, catholicism, and politics since 1981.

Here's Clinton's invitation to us to join in the fun:

 

Here's what the Creative Alliance says about Kate's upcoming show,

"Comic, writer, emcee and Gay ambassador to the commentariat, LGBT activist Kate Clinton rolls into Charm City with her 2011 Glee Party Tour, a rolling Restore-to-Sanity rally and celebration of the icon’s 30-year career. Problems are solved in less than an hour! Break into flash mobs of song and dance for no apparent reason! Kate preaches way beyond the choir. If the whole world’s going down, we might as well be gleeful and gay!"

 

What? Comedian Kate Clinton at the Creative Alliance

Where? The Patterson, 3134 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21224

When? Friday November 18, 2011, two shows: 7pm & 9:30pm

Cost? $30 for non-members, $25 for members and students. 2 FREE tix w/ArtStar ($125) membership purchase. Recommend calling box office in adv for free tix offer. Valet parking available. 20% discount for members on drinks at Marquee Lounge bar (bring your membership card).

Why?  An icon in LGBT comedy, nuff said.

 

Visit the Creative Alliance website and get your ticket. It's going to be a fun night.

About Kate Clinton:

Kate Clinton is a faith-based, tax-paying, America-loving political humorist and family entertainer. With a career spanning over 25 years, Kate Clinton has worked through economic booms and busts, Disneyfication and Walmartization, gay movements and gay markets, lesbian chic and queer eyes, and ten presidential inaugurals. She still believes that humor gets us through peacetime, wartime and scoundrel time.

Storied Hollywood Hills Home of Ramon Novarro, Silent Screen Lover, is for Sale

        Ramon Novarro and Greta Garbo, 'Mati Hari,' MGM 1931

I first saw the house in 1973 after moving from New York to Hollywood.

The legendary casting director, David Graham, took me on a lay-of-the-land tour of Los Angeles. One of the historic properties that he drove me by was the landmark Samuel-Novarro House in the eastern—and highly tony—area of the Hollywood Hills known as Los Feliz.

David pulled over for a couple of minutes in front of 2255 Verde Oak Drive and shared some stories with me.

As David spoke, it was apparent that regardless of how many stories the house might have, the story of the actor, Ramon Novarro, easily eclipsed them. The story of Novarro's life was bigger than the home's architect and was more interesting than the custom turquoise tile that the structure featured.

Ramon Novorro was born in the Mexican plateau city of Victoria de Durango, in 1899. He was a life-long Roman Catholic and three of his sisters, Guadalupe, Rosa, and Leonor, joined Convents and became nuns.

The conflict between his personal life, his desires, his passion, and his religion—in early twentieth-century Hollywood—were troublesome for Novarro for the duration of his career and for MGM studio head, Louis B. Mayer. Mayer offered, time after time, to set Novarro up in a sham marriage. At the time, those arrangements were called lavender marriages. Time after time, Novarro declined the concept.

                  Ramon Novarro, early publicity photograph

During his MGM career, Novarro had a much greater interest than appearing socially correct in Hollywood. His consuming interest was his personal secretary and intimate companion, Louis Samuel. Ramon Novarro originally built the Los Feliz house for Samuel as a one bedroom cottage on extremely large and very private grounds.

                                  The Samuel-Novarro House

After starring in the MGM silent classic, Ben Hur, Ramon Navarro was at the top of his game. Even by Hollywood standards, he was getting very wealthy. Novarro later learned that his trusted companion, Louis Samuel was embezzling from him.

 

Novarro took over the Samuel-Novarro House. And, in 1932 he moved in.

The house, which was designed by the son of Frank Lloyd Wright, Lloyd Wright, has been lived in by a legion of celebrities. They include Leonard Bernstein, Jerome Robbins, Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and a host of others. The current historical renovation of the property was commissioned by previous owner, Diane Keaton.

On the market now, the 2,690 square-foot home, currently owned by Christina Ricci, has an asking price of just a tad over $4.1 million dollars.

What happened to Ramon Novarro, you ask?

He moved out of the house in 1938. From the money he'd earned during his film career he lived well at his new home in Laurel Canyon. There were rumors that Novarro kept large sums of money in his new home because of the earlier embezzlement.

In 1968 Ramon Navarro, hired two men—a 22 year old and a 17 year old—through a California prostitution agency to have sex with him at his home. The two were brothers, Paul and Tom Ferguson.

The Ferguson brothers murdered Navarro in his home on October 22 while torturing him for hours. They were seeking the location of the hidden stash of Novarro cash. There was none.

According to Los Angeles Police reports, the brothers left the house with $20 taken from Ramon Navarro's bathrobe pocket.

Baltimore 21201. The Blog, The Swan Song

That's it for this blog. To quote my favorite broadcast journalist, Edward R Murrow, "Good night and good luck.

To my friends, Keep On Truckin'.

The Jews of Baltimore - 1910. Download Your Free Copy.

Last Monday I put a digital copy of Groeninger's New Baltimore online as a free download and happily a whole lot of people were interested. Over the week it's been downloaded hundreds of times. I say happily because I enjoy knowing how many people are interested in history, Baltimore history in particular.

Today I'm sharing, in two volumes, The Jews of Baltimore. Written and compiled by Isador Blum, the 532-page book was published in 1910 by The Historical Review Publishing Company of Baltimore and Washington, DC. 

The photography in this book is an extraordinary historical record of Baltimore architecture, buildings, and the businesses and the people they housed.

Two specialty photographers contributed their talents: N. Shulman did the portrait work and Jos C Christhilf was the commercial photographer in charge of buildings, interiors, exteriors, and products. N. Shulman's studio was at 924 E Baltimore Street, Christhilf worked from 201 Park Avenue.

                    N Shulman, Photographer - Baltimore, MD

The biographical profiles of businessmen are informative and sometimes humorous. Among the hundreds of bios, which are called 'representations' in the book, you'll find Dr. Salzman, the Painless Dentist and L. Rubenstein, the Different Ladies' Tailor.

Among the businesses, you'll find Cronhardt, Dumler & Co., the Flower and Feather House at 5 - 7 South Hanover Street and Guth Roman Cafe, a Luncheon and Bonbon establishment catering to the elite exclusively at 320 - 324 North Charles Street.

There's also an interesting introductory letter from then Mayor, J. Barry Mahool.

Issuu has a limit of 500 pages per pdf document, so I've split the book into two volumes. Read online or download your own copy. This is the link to Volume I and here is the link to Volume II. Enjoy! 

A Jewish Museum of Maryland Screening: "Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Gray"

Jewish Soldiers in Blue and Grey
Film Screening
At the Myerberg Center
August 23, 2011 / 7-9pm / FREE

Part of the SALON Series at the Edward A. Myerberg Center

In commemoration of the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, this first-of-its-kind film reveals the little-known struggle facing Jewish Americans both in battle and on the home front during the nation's darkest hour.  The War split the Jewish community, with some prominent Jewish voices citing Torah to justify slavery, and others leading the abolitionist movement.  The film presents a splendid collection of photographic and lithographic stills, fascinating anecdotes, interviews with noted historians, and dramatic readings of letters and historical speeches.

 

From the National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University:

Brother against brother, Jew against Jew, 10,000 Jewish soldiers fought in the nation’s deadliest war, in numbers proportionally higher then other American groups.

Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray explores  the  little known history of the Civil War Jews who fought on both sides of the  battlefield—7,000 for the Union and 3,000 for the Confederacy. Allegiances during the War Between the States split the Jewish community as deeply as it did the nation at large: some prominent Jews, including Jewish slave owners, cited the Torah to justify slavery, while others  were leaders in the abolitionist movement or established their synagogues as stops on the Underground Railroad.

Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray  unreels  remarkable  history, including Ulysses S. Grant’s infamous "General Order No. 11" expelling Jews from Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi; the rise of Sephardic Jew Judah P. Benjamin to Secretary of State of the Confederacy; the imprisonment of Confederate spy Eugenia Levy Phillips; and the unlikely story of Abraham Lincoln’s Jewish doctor who moved through the South as a Union spy.

A dramatic and visually rich film, Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray, is narrated by Oscar-nominated screenwriter John Milius  (Apocalypse Now)  with  Sam  Waterson (Law & Order) voicing Abraham Lincoln.

Jewish Museum of Maryland
         at the Herbert Bearman Campus
410-732-6400
info@jewishmuseummd.org
15 Lloyd Street, Baltimore, MD 21202

My Letter to the Oh-So Anti-Gay Chick-Fil-A [Updated]

                                The Anti-Gay Chick-Fil-A

Why would Chick-Fil-A sponsor a Golf Tournament for an organization that, on its website, states:

“We believe that homosexual behavior is unhealthy and destructive to the individual, to families, and thus to communities and to society as a whole,” and calls on members to “join us in resisting, on every front, the organized effort to normalize homosexual behavior in our society.”

Oh yes, silly me. The folks at Chick-Fil-A have long been out-of-step, out-of-touch, and have pulled anti-tolerance stunts like this before.

I hope you'll read this story: On Top Magazine has the information on its website. 

Here's my open letter addressed to the Chick-Fil-A's powers-that-be:

Dan T. Cathy
     President and COO
Chick-Fil-A, Incorporated

and

S. Truett Cathy
     Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
 Donald M. "Bubba" Cathy
     Senior Vice President and Dwarf House President
James "Buck" McCabe
     Senior Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer
Steve Robinson
     Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
Perry Ragsdale
     Senior Vice President, Real Estate, Design, and Construction
Timothy Tassopoulos
     Senior Vice President, Operations 

Chick-Fil-A People,
Greetings to All of You:

As an American corporation and a national franchiser, you and your franchisees have the absolute right to support any cause you like, admire, believe in, and respect. I recognize that.

You and your franchisees have the absolute right to monetarily support groups such as Citizens for Community Values and CCV's intolerance of gay Americans, their right to marry, and CCV's lack of tolerance of any number of other groups. I recognize that, also.

And, as a corporation you may--in your press releases--blame an individual franchisee for supporting lack of tolerance and lack of understanding. However, I don't believe that a handful of franchisees are to blame. Intolerance is systemic and inbred in your corporate culture.

It's difficult for the public to believe that Chick-Fil-A is as progressive on the Human Rights front as you'd like your customers, the public, and your investors to believe.

When a Chick-Fil-A family member like Bubba Cathy is vested with the position of Senior Vice-President and President of Dwarf House, your customers wonder how that contributes to equality. When Bubba Cathy is interviewed in Philanthropy magazine and is quoted like this, it also makes people wonder about many things:

"We need to win back our culture's vision for marriage and family. Changing public sentiment and attitudes towards marriage and family is essential. Our philanthropy needs to stir up the desire for lifelong healthy marriage and catalyze the efforts to help people strengthen their marriage and their family. Private dollars and the influential relational networks that go with those dollars are essential for the marriage movement to succeed."

There's not a person alive who can't decipher what Bubba and ya' all mean by "marriage movement." Especially when headlines like the following have been written about Chick-Fil-A over the past few years.

1. Winshape: Over $1.1M Given To Anti-Gay Groups
2. Chick-Fil-A Reportedly Favors Married Employees, Investigates Their Personal Lives
3. Chick-Fil-A's Partnership With Focus On The Family
4. Sponsorship Of Anti-Gay Hate Group Affiliate
5. WinShape's "Traditional Marriage" Activities

Even Wikipedia is compelled to report on Chick-Fil-A's "religious connections."

And, Chick-Fil-A, please don't take this letter as the rabid vamping of a heathen. I grew up in a religious, multi-faith family in Kansas. I didn't miss one day of Sunday School for 5 years. I still have the lapel pin to prove it.

This letter is just to say to you, Chick-Fil-A, that as a gay man who is in a loving, long-term, family relationship, I take exception with your positioning of the facts to meet your agenda. Equality isn't about exclusion. Equality is about parity in paritys most fundamental human form.

I hope that you and your franchisees recognize that I can shop for a chicken sandwich anywhere. (Hey, I'm gay, I can even make my own. And with a superior aioli sauce.)

The GLBT comunity is large, and strong, and like every Jew who has placed a stone on a grave or a monument, we will never forget.

Thanks for reading. I won't be having one of your Fruit Salads anytime soon. Just so you know.

Stephen Brockelman
Baltimore, Maryland

[UPDATE - July, 26]

I received an email this afternoon from a gal who thought that I wasn't being fair to her favorite fast-food-sanctuary. So, in order to right any wrong--and to correct any indiscretion on my part--I offer this olive leaf: The Chick-Fil-A Song. The song was performed at the Bent Tree Bible Fellowship, Carrollton, Texas.

 

The singer is Tim Hawkins and if that little ditty doesn't do it for you, well then, you're just not a red-blooded American. 

The Jewish Museum of Maryland is Asking for Your Memories

Calling All Things Jewish Food-ish!

I'm passing this request along from my friends at The Jewish Museum of Maryland:

Calling for all things "Jewish food-ish"! Chosen Food is an exhibition in which everyone can participate! We want your photos-recent or generations old: family at holiday dinners, cooking in the kitchen, food sizzling away on the stove, platters ready for the table, eating in restaurants, the dessert table or shmorg at your wedding, and more.

The humblest food moment is of interest: have you ever taken a picture of someone in your family checking out at the supermarket or unpacking the groceries at home? We'd love to see it!

Or take some photos for us: we'd especially love to see the inside of your refrigerator (for an explanation, see the recent post on our Chosen Food blog at chosenfood.wordpress.com), and if you keep kosher, send us a photo of your dairy dishes and one of your meat dishes (Passover dishes also welcome). And everyone sets up their kitchen differently-show us what yours looks like!

We want your home movies and videos, especially of simcha receptions. Jewish (and other) holiday celebrations also welcome.

We want your cookware: special implements you use to prepare some Jewish dish or family recipe, cooking items brought to this country by the immigrants in your family, unusual things passed down the generations, etc.

We want your food memorabilia: do you have kosher food packages, particularly of traditional favorites saved from years gone by? Jewish organization cookbooks from anywhere in the United States? Recipes handed down from generation to generation? Instructions from your Weight Watchers program, back before they went corporate in 1978? The caterer's menu from your wedding reception? Have something cool but don't see it on this list? Call Karen Falk at 410-732-6400, ext. 227. 

It's a wonderful project and I'm sure lots of you can help. However, please be aware that anything you submit to this exhibition at The Jewish Museum of Maryland -- according to their blog -- will be considered public property. If you are comfortable giving up all rights to your photos, films, and artifacts please consider contributing to this exhibit.

Jewish Museum of Maryland
at the Herbert Bearman Campus
15 Lloyd Street
Baltimore, MD 21202
410-732-6400 

Jews Rock - From Tin Pan Alley to Woodstock

                     Chaim Witz aka Gene Simmons of Kiss

Tomorrow at Baltimore's Jewish Museum of Maryland, Brews & Schmooze.

Rabbi Brian Leiken will present an in-depth presentation and lecture exploring the continuing story of the Jewish role in the rock and roll industry.

Rabbi Leiken explores rock music as a medium to explore Jewish themes, ideas and values. He is a scholar and pulpit rabbi who serves Temple Shalom of Norwalk, CT.

In 2007, Rabbi Leiken and Janet Macoska, the photographer for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum began collaboration on a project that explored the role of immigrant Jews in the creation of Rock and Roll, the history of Jewish Rock and Roll performers and the ways in which the

Jewish tradition shares much in common with the birth of Rock and Roll. Their work led to the creation of a Jews Rock photograph exhibit, a lecture series and a coffee table book of Macoska’s photos.

Rabbi Leiken, along with his wife Shara Abraham and children Kaleb and Ari, enjoy spending time on the beach, listening to a variety of different music and enjoying life.

$10.00 per person, 6 - 8PM, Wednesday July 28, 2010

Please RSVP to Ilene Dackman-Alon at 410.732.6400 x214 or email idackmanalon@jewishmuseummd.org

Jewish Museum of Maryland
15 Lloyd Street - Baltimore, Maryland 21202

Vintage Easter Cards. Eggstraordinary!

The New York Public Library has posted a treasure trove of Vintage Easter Cards online. Think Easter Eggs, Easter Bunnies, Easter Baskets, Pussywillows, Ribbons, and Little Chicks... they have them all.

Victorian, embossed, hand-embellished, their collection of nearly 300 cards is a wonder. They are all printable and downloadable.

So there you have it. About 300 more reasons to Love our Libraries.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

Go March. In Baltimore's Dr Martin Luther King, Jr Parade.

 
From Live Baltimore, the folks who bring you "I (heart) City Life:

CALLING ALL BALTIMORE CITY RESIDENTS! Live Baltimore, its members and Ambassadors will participate in the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parade on Monday, January 18, 2010. We want YOU to march with us! The parade will step off at 12 noon at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Eutaw Street, and travel south on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. We’re marching to promote the Census in an effort to make sure all Baltimoreans are counted, a cause for which Dr. King would be proud.

Interested in joining us? Please send an email to tstephens@livebaltimore.com and we’ll send more details. Free parking is available to all parade participants. Each participant will receive a free t-shirt from Live Baltimore (long-sleeved and large to wear over your winter coats). It’s in our hands, Baltimore!

I write about the importance of Baltimore's King Parade every year. This year is more important than most.

Get out there. March. Let's give the Census a true count of the people that make Baltimore Baltimore. 

Keith Olbermann on CA's Prop 8

Invest just six minutes. Watch, think about, and share this powerful voice.

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