Noise: Author Archive

Baltimore’s Publishing Genius press just announced the creation of a poetry award in honor of  poet Chris Toll, who died in September of last year. The Chris Toll Memorial Writing Prize is intended to honor “one poet each year whose work indicates the belief that poetry is the best of all callings, who carries...
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The Station North Arts and Entertainment District, Inc. was granted a “Certificate of Occupancy” by the City of Baltimore for the 1 W. North Avenue location, informally called the “Station North Chicken Box,”  that will house their offices and the Annex Theatre Company. The certificate says that the organization is permitted to “use potion...
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A couple weeks ago, I reviewed Caitlin Cunningham’s solo show at sophiajacob. The show is an extended attack on Gauguin, and in my analysis, I played Cunningham off against the street artist Gaia, who was at the time showing Gauguin-inspired work at the BMA. I argued that Cunningham’s show worked better as a critique...
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After the jam-packed, sold-out local premiere of I Used to Be Darker, Matt Porterfield also sold out an after-party show at Metro Gallery. The film centers on the divorce of a musical couple played by Ned Oldham and Kim Taylor (in a sort of reverse Kim Gordson/ Thurston Moore split). Porterfield and co-writer Amy...
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MICA announced today that Italian artist Luca Buvoli will take over leadership of its multidisciplinary MFA program at the Mt. Royal School in August when Frances Barth, the program’s current director, retires. “The unique vision of this program offers an incredible opportunity to foster the students’ practice and development,” Buvoli said in a statement....
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You know that Maryland Film Festival is really on when you spot Matthew Porterfield, the director of I Used to Be Darker,  the fest’s most anticipated fiction flick, talking with Lotfy Nathan, the director of 12 O’Clock Boys, the controversial documentary about Baltimore’s urban dirt-bike riders, at the Mount Royal Tavern. Both directors said...
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The three winners of the $25,000  Mary Sawyers Baker Prize were announced last week, raising questions about the nature and the purpose of the prize. “As a self-taught artist without affiliations and few resources, Baker has provided me with exposure and encouragement that I would have been hard pressed to find elsewhere,” Lynn Parks,...
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On May 11, the Evergreen Museum and Library of Johns Hopkins University was supposed to host an exhibition of the work of Loring Cornish (see our 2005 profile) to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1963 March on Washington, but a disagreement between Cornish and James Abbott, the museum’s curator, has led to the show...
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We don’t have to win the Super Bowl to have a great parade. The Love Parade, put on by Fluid Movement as part of the Transmodern Festival on Sunday should be the city’s biggest parade. It is the parade to celebrate Baltimore’s defining weirdness. Marching this year from the back lot of the Current...
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Erstwhile City Paper contributor and Wham City Renaissance man Ed Schrader contributed the already classic-sounding “Radio Eyes” to Sub Pop’s anniversary compilation of up-and-coming bands. The video is reminiscent of the golden-age of ’80s MTV. Ed Schrader’s Music Beat will play along with Dan Deacon and a slew of others Saturday May 4 at...
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On Sunday, April 21 Dangerously Delicious Pies will host a concert in Canton Square to raise money for charities helping those affected by the bombing of the Boston Marathon. The line-up of country, alt-country, honky tonk, and rockabilly bands includes the Highballers (pictured), Carrie and The Dirty Pillows, Danny Kay, Robert Fireball Mitchell, and...
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Almost immediately after Secret Mountains released Rainer, the band’s first full-length album, singer Kelly Laughlin told The Sun that she was leaving the band, which she and songwriter/guitarist Jeffrey Silverstein founded as a folky duo in 2008. The band quickly evolved into a six-piece psych-rock band fueled by Laughlin’s powerful voice. But with Silverstein...
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In the introduction to his new video “Post-Skatepunk/Ghettoclectic” the brilliant and eccentric rapper Labtekwon (Back to the Lab, Feature, Aug. 29, 2012) says “I love my black skin and natty hair. I like cereal” over an image of him eating what I guess is cereal. He goes on to say that he is a...
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Eze Jackson, of the hip hop/jazz/experimental band Soul Cannon, just released “Hand Out My Pocket” a new single of solo material. Jackson says that the song, produced by BLKVIITH, is about the “woes of being black, working class, and viewed as a target for the rich to get richer.” You can listen here.
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As The Sun reported earlier this week, J. Roddy Walston and the Business have joined the Drive By Truckers, Alabama Shakes, and others on the roster of ATO record label. City Paper got in touch with Walston to see what the change means. “We’d actually jumped ship with Vagrant six months or a...
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A couple weeks ago, The New York Times Magazine wondered if David Lynch had given up film-making for Transcendental Meditation. He made his own music video recently, but local indie due Beach House–along with director Eric Wareheim–out-Lynch Lynch with their new video for “Wishes,” in which Ray Wise, who plays Leland Palmer (Laura Palmer’s...
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Monday afternoon, Dan Deacon put a mashup mixtape Wishbook Vol. 1 on his Soundcloud page. He mixes a dizzying number of artists together, as documented in something like a bibliographic algorithm: “Wish Book Volume 1 was made with music made by (in order of appearance): grimes+psy+beach house+skrillex+diplo+nicky da b+dirty projectors+lil wayne+nicki minaj+oneohtrix point never+tune...
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Wendel Patrick, one half of Boom Bap Society (Best New Hip-Hop Night) and “Out of the Blocks” (Best Radio Project), has just put out a cool new video detailing his his work as a producer. Check it out here.
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 As has been widely reported by now, Chinese artist and dissident Ai Weiwei (who has a show at the Hirshorn in Washington D.C. Oct. 7-Feb. 24) put out a cover version of South Korean artist PSY’s ubiquitous pop song “Gangnam Style.” The New York Times says “the artist, who mimics the mock horse-riding dance...
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Two of Baltimore’s best, formerly-defunct musical ventures come back to life as McCarthyism Records (run by frequent CP photographer Josh Sisk) releases Sick Weapons’ long-awaited debut album Birthday Gift. Sick Weapons are finally releasing Birthday Gift in conjunction with their first show since they called it quits a couple years ago. They’ll be playing...
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