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September 23, 2010 | Issue 36
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Photo by Michael Crabb- PMRC hearings, 1985.
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Frank Zappa Day
The main drawback to being a visionary is that revolutionary thinking tends to make people nervous. We often have so much invested in our own particular worldview that we can be hesitant to gamble our perspective on a chance for a little enlightenment. It takes true inspiration to understand that there are an infinite number of possibilities and be comfortable with that. And it’s the visionaries who are either curious or frankly obsessive enough to explore that sentiment.
Contrary to popular belief, the world isn’t lacking intelligent people. What it lacks is more people who are willing to stand out. We often view assimilation as a symptom of gross complacency in our culture and overlook the fact that it’s natural to want to blend in. But while assimilation is necessary for survival in the wild, it can be the downfall of domesticated animals who willingly let themselves be rounded up for slaughter. In this last example, dissent is the only reasonable choice. Either break from the herd or wind up someone’s dinner. It’s that simple.
In our society, the degree to which we assimilate is a direct measure of how much we let others influence our decisions. This could be as painless as having celebrities hold sway over the way we dress or where we shop to allowing politicians to dictate when and where violence is sanctionable. The line between reasonable conformity and willful ignorance isn’t always as clear as we’d like to believe. This is why radical thinking is essential. Though the masses tend to ignore the cries of those shouting criticism from well outside the norm, some take heed and a few will even act on it.
It would be overly idealistic to believe that a society built on the idea of fierce individualism could exist for any length of time. To a certain extent, all societies need followers and leaders but that’s not the issue. What we’re talking about are individuals that refuse to be categorized so easily. They pose a problem for a polite society that’s built on clear definitions. So then the question is, why can’t we forge a culture that embraces its idiosyncrasies instead of fearing them? Wouldn’t it be interesting if we learned to appreciate the great thinkers who are well ahead of their time before they come to the end of theirs?
The Big Photo
Twenty-five years ago a group of protesters gathered outside the PMRC hearings with the misguided notion that somehow their own personal morality held sway over the United States Constitution. I blame the school system for not instilling a strong sense of American values like freedom of speech and religion at an early age. While many people gained notoriety from the hearings, one man in particular emerged as a hero and it wasn’t Al Gore.
7 Profound Contributions To Your Community
1. Buy food from farmers markets, local farms and independent grocers.
2. Buy art and music from local artists; go experience exhibitions and live shows.
3. Shop at and buy services from locally-owned, independent businesses.
4. Clean up your yard or sidewalk (even if you rent).
5. Start a positive conversation with your neighbor (especially if they usually get on your nerves).
6. Start planning a garden for next spring (Think abandoned parking lots or friends’ backyards).
7. Do an ol’ fashioned random good deed.
Building a tribe need not be a major undertaking; it’s already happening. To help speed things up, we’re starting The Good Deed Project.
Each week, we want to highlight the good deeds you’re doing with the hope that your good deed will inspire more good deeds.
Be a part of the Good Deed Project: Submit your good deed story to us and we’ll give you a platform to promote anything you think is worthy.
This isn’t a heaping helping of ‘Titties and Beer,’ people. This is What Weekly.
Promote your event: Email charmcity@whatweekly.com
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Zappa Day
The PMRC in a nutshell: In 1985 a confused group of wives of powerful politicians staged hearings in order to force record companies to label content they deemed inappropriate for children thus lightening the burden of child rearing for many parents. We all know how distracting it can be to actually have to pay attention to your kids or take an interest in what interests them. This is what I believe the hearings were about.
Photo by Michael Crabb.
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www.allianceforpeacebuilding.org
The Alliance for Peacebuilding (AfP) is a coalition of diverse organizations and professionals working together to build sustainable peace and security worldwide.
Help build peace.
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While John Denver was by far the most menacing of those who testified in favor of freedom from censorship, the most eloquent had to be Frank Zappa who stated that “the PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children, and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretation and enforcement problems inherent in the proposal’s design.”
Though Zappa proved to be particularly adept at making bureaucrats appear foolish on their own turf, it wasn’t his public speaking for which he’s most remembered. It’s his place as one of the most prolific song writers and composers of the twentieth century and his genius that will always be remembered.
Photo by Michael Crabb.
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On December 21 1940, Frank Vincent Zappa was born right here in Baltimore, Maryland. Over the next fifty two years he would establish himself as one of the greatest musicians of the twentieth century but, like so many other great thinkers ahead of their time, many accolades didn’t come until after he was gone. Stephanie Rawlings Blake, the mayor of Baltimore declared September 19, 2010 Frank Zappa Day on what was the 25th anniversary of his historic testimony at the PMRC hearings.
Photo by Theresa Keil.
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www.lot201.com
Original apparel designs by Julie Bent.
Call Julie for an appointment: 410.929.1183.
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On September 19, 2010, a bust of Frank Zappa was presented to the City of Baltimore by the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania. Many notable speakers shared the stage with members of the Zappa family for the unveiling including the director of the Peabody Institute, Jeffery Sharkey. Peabody actually turned down a request by Zappa to collaborate in his later years. For this, Sharkey expressed his regret.
The Good Deed Project
How about some free promotion to go along with that warm, fuzzy feeling?
Each week, What Weekly wants to highlight the good deeds you’re doing with the hope that your good deed will inspire more good deeds. We want to promote you and your stuff too.
Be a part of the Good Deed Project: Submit your good deed story to us. Each week we’ll give one of you a platform to promote anything you think is important.
1. Do a good deed (or nominate someone else’s good deed)
2. Write a quick note about it and send it to charmcity@whatweekly.com
3. Our favorite good deed story will win a free Spotlight Feature in What Weekly
4. The Gift: Spotlight Feature includes photo, paragraph and link to the cause, topic, business or art of your choice
The What Weekly Spotlight Feature will help drive awareness about your cause and drive traffic to your website, plus you get the warm fuzzy feeling of knowing you did something good.
Email submissions to charmcity@whatweekly.com or post them on our Facebook page. We encourage humor and boldness.
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Dramaticus Excessivus
Part 2 of 2
Screenwriting Expo 2010 is coming up in Los Angels, October 7-10. The hundreds of attendees will spend a lot of money there on books, DVDs, seminars, and software, and the organizers will make a tidy profit. Fair enough. Consultants, Script Doctors, and Coaches of various stripes will also be present or advertising at the convention. They range from companies like “The Script Department,” which offers coverage, feedback, and mentoring, and “industry connections,” to individuals, like me, who offer personalized story and screenplay analysis.
I attended the Expo in 09 – I’m staying here this year, opting to offer a one-day workshop at Creative Alliance (Saturday, October 16, 10am to 4pm – www.creativealliance.org). If you’re seriously planning or working on a movie script, or any kind of story, you should check it out.
Perhaps you have considered working with a consultant. I think it can be good, if you have the money and it feels right for you. The last one I used cost the same as a shrink, per hour! (My one-day intensive at Creative Alliance is a bargain). Quality Story consultation is a classic case of “you get what you pay for.” Just do the math – If you are really going to understand someone’s script or book, you’ll probably have to read it twice or thrice, and to write up a thoughtful, useful analysis, and page notes that delve into Story, as well as format, style, dialogue, marketing issues and so on, it’s going to take 8 to 12 hours or more. A wise, experienced, reliable consultant is not going to work for 10 or 20 bucks an hour. So, if a consultant is offering “script notes” or “coverage” or “script analysis” and they are going to charge you a hundred bucks, what amount of effort could they really be putting into it? The answer is “almost none,” for consultants that farm out the work to starving students, or throw boilerplate remedies at their naïve clients…… keep going.
– David Warfield
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David Warfield, Confessions of a Mad Filmmaker
A What Weekly Column
“And so here we have a unique opportunity to track the production of a truly independent film from the moment of conception (the script is not yet completed) to the first public screening, and beyond. ”
We’re not talking about EPK filler here, we’re talking about life, and it’s bound to get messy.”
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Baltimore Tattoo Arts Convention
Chris Bauman
A thousand words anyone?
Photo by James Hodges.
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Tattoo artist Christian Perez and Ashley Huber.
Earlier in the month Villain Arts hosted over 200 artists at the Baltimore Tattoo Arts Convention. James Hodges and Theresa Keil had the unique experience of documenting the event for your viewing pleasure.
Photo by James Hodges.
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Books, Live Music, Art Gallery and more!
Same block as Windup Space, across from Joe Squared. Plenty of room inside for your bike; FREE street parking for your car (we’ll plug your meter before 6, after that it’s free anyway) – come on over…
30 West North Ave.
Baltimore, MD, 21201
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Miss Key preparing for a burlesque performance.
Photo by Theresa Keil.
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It appears as though Edward Scissorhands really let himself go.
Photo by Theresa Keil.
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Child Ballads
Art Rosenbaum.
Originally conceived as only an exhibition of paintings, the idea for The Child’s Ballads Show organically grew to include musicians that played traditional folk music and different versions of the songs that inspired the art. The G Spot has a cavernous dance hall in the back that’s perfectly suited for a music event.
Curator Teddy Johnson was introduced to traditional American folk music by his painting professor Art Rosenbaum. While working on his masters in drawing and painting at the University of Georgia he sang with Art and other students in a group called the ‘Around The Globe Sea Shanty Singers.’ It was here where he was initially inspired by Art’s passion and dedication to music.
Photo and story by Philip Laubner.
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Teddy Johnson.
Seeing narrative as an essential part of his own painting, Teddy was drawn to the colorful tales of traditional folk music; the intrigue, romance, betrayal and the violence or what Pete Seeger
called “the blood on the castle walls.” For Johnson, the most compelling of these stories were
the ballads compiled in the nineteenth century by the scholar Francis James Child.
“I started to notice a little number next to the title on the Child songs.” Teddy said. Intrigued, he investigated further and discovered that there was 305 ballads in the collection, and that the ballads covered an exhaustive range of human experience. “The songs are about every day people, the sort of darker side of what’s going on with everyday people and it’s really alluring subject matter,” remarked Teddy.
Photo and story by Philip Laubner.
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Art of Field Recording: Volume 1: “50 year’s of Traditional American Music Documented by Art Rosenbaum,” won a Grammy for Best Historical Recording in 2008, and was nominated for two others. He’s played with some of the great traditional folk artists like Alan Lomax and The Skillet Lickers and was the featured banjo player on Lalo Schiffrin’s score for the movie, Cool Hand Luke.
At one point Art invited The ‘Around The Glode Sea Shanty Singers’ to join him on stage for a boisterous set. We were told that the songs were originally work songs and it was easy to see how they’d have bolstered men while working. Joining Art on Stage were Bart McKee, Ty Lytton, Jeremy Hughes, Teddy Johnson and Shaun Preston.
Photo and story by Philip Laubner.
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Panda Bear and Deakin at The Ottobar
It was hardly surprising to find the Ottobar sold out and already stuffed for Sunday’s quixotic, but nonetheless entertaining openers DJ Dog Dick and Prince Rama. Not more than twenty-four hours earlier, Panda Bear had played Governor’s Island while just across the bay in front of him, the Manhattan skyline was all aglow thanks to Mayor Bloomberg’s 9/11 memorial. In Baltimore however, the fireworks were at the rear, care of ODDSAC director Danny Perez and his appropriately psychedelic projections.
Photo by Theresa Keil. Story by Logan Young.
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A curious timbre that’s both siren and clarion, Panda Bear’s voice could rightfully stand on its own. Perch it atop an intricate nest of guitar, synth and sample, and it sounds even more right. But be careful. Should he give it just the right amount of broken earnestness – as he so delicately did with “Ponytail” – Panda Bear’s voice might just render your own mute.
Photo by Theresa Keil. Story by Logan Young.
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The Baltimore Love Project is a city wide mural project initiated by the Baltimore muralist Michael Owen. Our mission is to express love by connecting people and communities across Baltimore city with love themed murals. BLP will be painting the same image of four silhouetted hands spelling out the word love on 20 walls across Baltimore.
www.baltimoreloveproject.com
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Deakin proved to be a most excellent sous-chef for his headlining friend. Lennox and Dibb have been pals ever since a second grade Baltimore County classroom, and in the end, this pairing ultimately proved a better, more complementary choice than any Avey Tare or Geologist coupling.
Photo by Theresa Keil. Story by Logan Young.
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Nuclear Power Pants: “Got Soul”
“GOT SOUL” music video by Alan Resnick and Keith Lea.
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Height With Friends: “Mike Stone”
Director: Justin Barnes
Producer: Jett Steiger
DP: Kevin Phillips
Editor: Ed Yonaitis
Production Designer: Jessica Leavitt
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Jay Dreams is a short film based on a series of haikus written by writer and poet Jai Brooks. The film is produced and directed by Catherine Pancake. Catherine and Jai met through their work on the LGBT cabaret the Charm City Kitty Club. Jai did a live reading of his humorous haikus at the Charm City Kitty Club, which inspired Catherine to create the film.
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Friday, Sept 24
Zine Bazaar at the Baltimore Radical Bookfair Pavilion 12 pm
Come check out, buy, hawk, browse, and make zines at the 5th Radical Bookfair Pavilion! We’ll have speakers from 12-4pm and radical storytime with Kidz City from 4-6pm followed by the 5th anniversary celebration of the Radical Bookfair Pavilion and the 20th anniversary of AK Press with Cindy Milstein. A full list of speakers will be out real soon! For now, here are some of the confirmed ones:
* China Martens of Catbird, Future Generation
* Jackie Wang of Loneberry, Memoirs of a Queer Hapa, On Being Hard Femme
* Rachel and Sari of Hoax Zine.
Xiu Xiu and INEVERYROOM at Metro Gallery 8 pm
Xiu Xiu has long been known among the music bloggers as prolific, bordering on crazed, but with this new 14-song album, each song so different from the next and so fully realized, their creative ferocity is simply astonishing and rapidly taking on new dimensions.
Tighten Up! at The Lithuanian Hall 10 pm
Original Soul Nite- Tighten Up! at the Lithuanian Hall in SoWeBo, 851 Hollins. Featuring Pablo Fiasco with special guests John Rouse as DJ Max Cady..
For more details, directions and events click here.
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Saturday, Sept 25
PATHS TO THE WIRE: DAVID SIMON PRESENTS STANLEY KUBRICK’s PATHS OF GLORY pm
Maryland Film Festival is thrilled to announce that on Saturday, September 25, David Simon (creator of HBO’s acclaimed series “The Wire,” and “Treme”) will host a screening of one of his favorite films, Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 classic film Paths of Glory. This unforgettable anti-war film was adapted from Humphrey Cobb’s 1935 novel Paths of Glory, just reissued by Penguin Classics with a brand-new introduction by Simon; Simon will also sign copies of the book after the film screening.
Caleb Stine: CD Release Concert at The Creative Alliance 8 pm
Emerging from the widely-divergent Baltimore music scene is singer/ songwriter Caleb Stine who is the soul of that scene, and the best representation of a city he calls, “vibrant, troubled and passionate.” His straightforward, honest, music is what Baltimore is at its core – hardworking, genuine and unafraid to tell it like it is. Armed with a storyteller’s eye and a restless independent spirit, Stine is set to deliver his latest album, ‘I Wasn’t Built for a Life Like This’, on September 25, 2010.
Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band, Yeveto and The Water at The Metro Gallery 8 pm
Mt St Helen’s Vietnam Band, Yeveto, The Water Tickets: $8 ::: 21 and Up Saturday, September 25, 2010 – 8 p.m.
For more details, directions and events click here.
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Wed, Sept 28
Documentary Film + Discussion – Fierce Light: Spiritual Activism at Cyclops 7 pm
What do the American Civil Rights movement, an exiled monk’s return to Vietnam, and a community trying to save an urban farm in L.A. have in common? According to Canadian documentary film-maker Velcrow Ripper, they are all examples of spiritual activism, and they are just a few of the inspiring stories featured in his latest film, Fierce Light.
FIERCE LIGHT continues the quest for a fusion between spirituality and activism previously explored in Velcrow Ripper’s award-winning feature documentary ScaredSacred (Special Jury Prize, Toronto International FIlm Festival). It was executive produced by Mark Achbar, (The Corporation -Audience Award, Sundance).
Maryland Morning Screen Test with Skizz Cyzyk at The Windup Space 7 pm
Maryland Morning is excited to welcome the mind-bogglingly prolific Skizz Cyzyk to the fourth in our monthly Screen Test film series. This month’s Screen Test will be on Wednesday, September 29 at 7p.m. at The Windup Space in Baltimore’s Station North neighborhood.
For more details, directions and events click here.
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Ongoing
David Page & Elizabeth Brady at Jordan Faye Contemporary
Elizabeth Brady’s work is an observation and documentation from her environment. In discussing her work, Ms. Brady has said, “My new pieces are evolving to be less a direct representation and more of a reflection on Baltimore and the realities of those living here. The new series is directly influenced and informed by my experiences working with student artists and community members in Baltimore City.”
David Page creates seamlessly crafted sculptures constructed primarily from leather, wood, canvas and found objects. His sculptures juxtapose figurative forms with machine like structures and elements. His work is included in The Teaching collection at St. Mary’s College, the permanent collection at the Baltimore Museum of Art and the collection of Nelson Mandela. He has received two Individual Artist Awards in sculpture from the Maryland State Arts Council in 2007 and 2009.
The Child Ballads at The G Spot
A group exhibition featuring painting interpretations of Francis J Child’s English and Scottish Popular Ballads, by 13 artists from around the country:
Eberhard Froehlich, Jovan Erfan, Annie Ewaskio, Bart Lynch, Jeremy Hughes, Ryan Jedlicka, Teddy Johnson, Tyrus Lytton, Ben Mckee, Shaun Preston, Art Rosenbaum, Rachel Wolfson.
Liberty B at Open Space
Aleksandra Domanovic
Claude Closky,
Damon Zucconi,
Guthrie Longergan,
Jacob Kirkegaard and
Phillipe Van Wolputte.
Curated by Hayley A. Silverman. Ends Oct. 18.
Kim Manfredi & Jane Manus at C. Grimaldis Gallery
Jane Manus is an accomplished sculptor with a modernist foundation. Her polished, welded, and brightly painted asymmetrical forms have a lyrical presence that expands them from their minimalist origins into a contemporary dialogue.
Kim Manfredi’s work offers a satisfying pairing of medium plus chance. Her saturated canvases embody fragility in flux as thoughtfully rendered images of genesis navigate in quasi-cosmic spaces. The exhibition ends October 2.
Simultaneous Presence at Evergreen Museum and Library
Sculpture at Evergreen 6: Simultaneous Presence is co-curated by Ronit Eisenbach, an artist and architect, and Jennie Fleming, an artist and cultural historian, whose dialogue and simultaneous presence along with the works by the invited visual thinkers contribute to an embedded conversation on the intertwining of moment, meanings, and place. Ends Sept. 26.
Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos And Toys In The Attic at The Walters Art Museum
The Walters Art Museum will host the playful and interactive world of best-selling author and photographic illustrator Walter Wick in the exhibition Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos and Toys in the Attic on view Sept. 19, 2010–Jan. 2, 2011. Wick is the creator of the Can You See What I See? series and co-creator, with writer Jean Marzollo, of the I Spy books for children. Wick’s books challenge readers to solve visual riddles or puzzles created from the thousands of props he has collected in his renovated firehouse studio. His photographic style, one of precision and detail, will alter the viewer’s sense of visual perception. September 19, 2010 – January 02, 2011
Upcoming: Andy Warhol: The Last Decade at The BMA
Andy Warhol: The Last Decade is the first Museum
exhibition in the country to explore the Pop icon’s late
works. Featuring more than 50 paintings created between
1976 and 1986—the most prolific era in Warhol’s 40-
year career, the exhibition illustrates the artist’s energetic
return to painting (after his foray into filmmaking and
screenprinting) and the physical act of art-making through
hand painting, folding, and staining. Paintings of epic proportions—
stretching up to 35 feet wide—envelop viewers
in dramatic fields of color, painterly gestures, and symbols
of American culture.
Upcoming: What Makes Us Smile? at AVAM
In celebration of its 15th Anniversary, AVAM will mount its most delight-filled exhibition to date, exploring just “What Makes Us Smile?” It will be curated by master humorist and creator of The Simpsons Matt Groening, artist Gary Panter, and AVAM Founder Rebecca Hoffberger. This mega exhibition on the timeless and global phenomena of smiling, laughter and humor will include contributions by dozens of artists, including comedian Michael Baldwin’s spectacular vintage toy assemblages created from toys collected from five decades of his dedicated dumpster diving, and a seven-thousand toothbrush welcome mat that uses bristles and color to invite a “SMILE” from all who enter. The triumvirate of curators will take a look at both historic and modern employ of humor to speak truth to power – think court jester/fool’s ability to say things to the king that no one else could get away with to today’s Tina Fey, Jon Stewart, and Stephen Colbert and their sardonic take on today’s news and leadership.
For more details, directions and events click here.
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What is What Weekly?
What Weekly is a multimedia magazine chronicling the real Baltimore movers and shakers- not the corporations, not the politics, What Weekly spotlights the people. We’re paying attention to the good things happening in Baltimore and sharing it all with you.
Why online? Disposable print media is wasteful and, with the advent and proliferation of the Internet, it is more difficult to justify. Technology is a gift and a tool- use it to evolve and build things together.
If you want to be a part of the movement, you can send us your photos to publish, your events to promote and your ideas to talk about. Forward the email, share a link, start a movement. Your audience is the world, pass it on.
What’s the Goal?
One day soon you will hear a bit of news like this, “Multimedia Magazine Reaches One Million People.” If we don’t do it, someone else will. We want to build a large independent distribution channel and we’ll use it to tell the world what you’re doing. We want as many people as possible clicking on the links to your websites and ultimately taking an interest in the Baltimore Renaissance and its artists.
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What’s the point?
This is a movement dedicated to uniting the creative community in and around Baltimore City and then sharing it throughout the world for the benefit of Baltimore and its people. The movement has already begun; we just gave it a name.
Using a multi-media platform, we want to put Baltimore on the map so it’s recognized globally for the artistic and intellectual hub that it is. We start by chronicling your amazing work.
We understand that the distribution of ideas is no longer bound by geography. This paradigm shift allows for cultural movements to exist locally and globally simultaneously. We can share everything, we can create anything and we can reach everyone. It’s time to do something with that power.
What Weekly does not exist without you. You are the soul of this movement.
Submit Your Idea.
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What’s the Mission?
1. Document the Baltimore Renaissance
2. Make Baltimore a better place to live and highlight good news
3. Help support Baltimore’s artists and independent businesses
4. Build a tribe, start a movement
5. Encourage more face-to-face interaction within the community
6. Drive awareness of excellent events
7. Put Baltimore on the (global) map
Read more about the mission.
What’s the Good Word?
We believe in spreading the good news, which also means spotlighting organizations that do good things.
Submit Your Good Deeds.
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