Baltimore magazine - Arts

Fight Club

Derrick — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:32:43 +0000

Towson residents react to Recher Theatre becoming a nightclub.

By Samantha Iacia

Seeing a show at the Recher Theatre has been somewhat of a rite of passage for teenagers growing up in Towson for the past 16 years. The venue has hosted a plethora of acts, from legend Iggy Pop to local band All Time Low. But in mid-February, the Recher family revealed that the theater would close and reopen as a nightclub.

Blast From The Past

Baltimore magazine — Tue, 14 May 2013 20:28:52 +0000

An arts festival in Druid Hill Park harkens to days gone by.

By Jess Blumberg

When Roslyn Zinner was 15 years old, she remembers her father taking her to an arts festival in Druid Hill Park. “It was like going to a candy shop for me,” says the Columbia artist, now 61. “I can still picture the artists around the lake. You could talk to them about their work. I was entranced.” Those arts festivals lasted in the park from 1953 to 1968 and were a part of the fabric of many Baltimoreans’ childhood memories. That’s why, on May 19, as the Druid Hill Park Reservoir celebrates 150 years, local art collector Barbara Shapiro is bringing the festival back.

Drama King

Derrick — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:29:29 +0000

Actor John Astin enjoys a second act, playing professor at The Johns Hopkins University.

Jane Marion

Wearing a gray newsboy cap and carrying a leather organizer, John Astin looks like the very model of a Johns Hopkins professor as he strides across the Homewood campus en route to lunch at the Brody Learning Commons cafe. And yet, this esteemed college campus—rife with Nobel Prize winners and eminent scholars—seems like an unlikely place for a star sighting of the actor who played Gomez, the loveably madcap father figure from the ABC hit series, The Addams Family.

Dream Team

Derrick — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 16:19:02 +0000

Our own Beach House performs with Yo La Tengo at The Lyric.

By Jess Blumberg

Who says you can’t go home again? While in the midst of a world tour, dream-pop duo Beach House, pictured, stops by its native Baltimore to play the Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric on April 26 with

Play It: April 2013

Derrick — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:57:06 +0000

Mikel Gehl, Lisa Mathew & Rainer Friends

By John Lewis

Milkshake

Got a Minute? (self-released)

Read It: April 2013

Derrick — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 14:15:58 +0000

Daniel W. Webster & Jon S. Vernick, Laura Castellani & Alessandra Catalioti and Justin Sirois

By John Lewis

Reducing Gun Violence in America: Informing Policy with Evidence and Analysis
(The Johns Hopkins University Press)

Getting Lit

Derrick — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:32:13 +0000

CityLit Festival has been bringing literary stars to Baltimore for 10 years.

By Michael Yockel

During its first two incarnations, CityLit Festival conferred a curious Midas touch: Book a writer as headliner, and, whammo, he or she wins the Pulitzer Prize. Ten days prior to the 2004 inaugural festival, the Pulitzer board announced the event’s main attraction, Edward P. Jones, as its fiction winner; ditto the next year when Steve Coll copped a Pulitzer for nonfiction just before his festival appearance. Subsequent editions have featured luminaries such as poet Mark Doty, fiction writer Junot Díaz, and Baltimore-based mystery writer Laura Lippman.

The Girl's On Fire

Derrick — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 13:12:41 +0000

Jen Michalski burns up the local lit scene with three new books.

By Michael Yockel

Upstairs at Minás Gallery in Hampden, dozens of friends and well-wishers throng Jen Michalski after she reads an excerpt from “May/September”—the affecting, bittersweet story of a tentative younger woman/older woman romance that appears in her just published two-novella collection Could You Be With Her Now. The reading is part of the monthly 510 Readings series at the gallery.

Cameo: Melinda O'Neal

Baltimore magazine — Sun, 17 Mar 2013 15:01:50 +0000

Our full interview with the outgoing artistic director and conductor for Handel Choir of Baltimore.

By Amy Mulvihill

You've been the Choir’s artistic director and conductor since 2004, what made you decide to leave now?

You know, I love Handel Choir and what a community chorus represents to its singers, instrumentalists, and audiences. It was a very hard decision, but I just knew. Time to trim my responsibilities and time for fresh vision and energy to take the organization to the next level. I invite everyone to meet the new conductor at our Spring Gala [May 4] where I’ll hand over the baton! It will be bittersweet for me!

Read It: March 2013

Derrick — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 16:07:42 +0000

Stephen Hunter, Stephanie Barber & Brian Norman

By John Lewis

The Third Bullet
(Simon & Schuster)

Portrait of the Artist

Baltimore magazine — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:55:06 +0000

A new exhibition highlights the work of a Baltimore painter.

By Jess Blumberg

Sometimes you don’t have to look very far to find iconic artists. Such is the case for Richard Caton Woodville, who was born and raised in Mt. Vernon and created some of the most well-known paintings of the antebellum era. An exhibition of his work begins at The Walters Art Museum on March 10. “This is the most important Baltimore-born artist of the 19th century,” says Joy Peterson Heyrman, exhibition curator and deputy director of development.

Muse of Her People

Baltimore magazine — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 14:42:03 +0000

100 years after her death, Harriet Tubman continues to inspire artists.

By John Lewis

Harriet Tubman left Dorchester County without a trace, covertly returning again and again to shepherd away slaves, so maybe it’s appropriate that such an underground legend still casts something of a fleeting image in her native region. There are, in fact, no elaborate memorials to Tubman in Dorchester, just a storefront museum in downtown Cambridge, a mural off Route 50 near the Food Lion, and a historic marker outside of town.

Playlist: Inspired by Harriet Tubman

Baltimore magazine — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 15:45:42 +0000

By John Lewis

100 years after her death, Harriet Tubman continues to inspire artists. Baltimore Arts & Culture editor, John Lewis, assembled this playlist of music inspired by Harriet Tubman. Listen below:

John Coltrane: Song of the Underground Railroad

Wynton Marsalis: Harriet Tubman

Harriet Tubman: Ascension

Woody Guthrie: Harriet Tubman’s Ballad

Marcus Shelby: Ashanti Stomp

Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer: Harriet Tubman

The Diva Next Door

Baltimore magazine — Thu, 14 Feb 2013 15:02:30 +0000

Don’t look now, but a world-class opera singer is living in Baltimore.

By John Lewis

The sounds of tuning violins, deliberate piano notes, and operatic singing bounce through the corridors of Peabody’s Leakin Hall on a Monday afternoon. The singing comes from a spacious, high-ceilinged studio—outfitted with a Persian rug, a pair of sofas, and a grand piano—where voice major Tia Price practices an aria by Italian composer Francesco Cilea. As Price repeats passages, her teacher, perched beside her on a high stool, offers clipped suggestions and encouragement. “Stretch the vowel.” “Don’t back away from that.” “Take a breath there. Take your time.”

Read It: February 2013

Derrick — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 16:11:53 +0000

Manil Suri, Taylor Branch & Larry S. Gibson

By Jonn Lewis

Manil Suri
(W.W. Norton & Company)