It is not only Fathers Day. Today is also Bloomsday, June 16, the day in 1904 on which James Joyce’s epic novel Ulysses takes place. There is something fitting about the coincidence of the day with the more generally recognized American holiday celebrating paternity, because it is, in many ways, a book about fatherhood and the...
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When I talked to Darryl Jenifer of the Bad Brains last fall, he mentioned a rap project that he was involved in. That project, the White Mandingos, dropped its first record this week, and all I can say is: “fuuuuck,” sort of like Jeff Spicoli hitting his Vans shoe against his skull in Fast...
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Very Semi-Serious, a new documentary about the New Yorker‘s cartoonists is currently in production and raising money through Kickstarter. The film takes a, well, very semi-serious look at the people and culture behind the magazine’s iconic cartoons, including Lulu Eightball author and occasional CP illustrator Emily Flake. “When I first started, the New Yorker...
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We came across the Wire-inspired website shiiiit.com today. It has a “Shiiiit Button” beside a picture of Clay Davis, the fictional and corrupt state senator on David Simon’s show. Below it is the “patented shiiiit counter.” When you push the botton with your cursor, Davis says “shiiiit.” The Wire continues to inspire.
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When he joined the Drive-By Truckers, Jason Isbell seemed like the new hero of Americana songwriting, besting even old heavyweights like Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood with songs like “Outfit,” which was probably one of the best songs of the decade. By the time he left the band, he seemed like his career would...
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To celebrate the paperback release of her latest novel And When She Was Good, Laura Lippman will be speaking at the Ivy Bookshop tonight with Sujata Massey, the author of the Rei Shimura mystery series. Though best known for her Tess Monaghan mysteries, And When She Was Good is a stand-alone book about a...
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Dan Perkins, better known as Tom Tomorrow, the author and artist behind the “This Modern World” strip that you read every week in City Paper, was awarded the prestigious Herblock Prize, named after the seminal cartoonist Herb Block (commonly called Herblock). “Now, winning a prize named after Herblock is a bit like winning a...
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In a post about the Maryland Film Festival called “Weird and Wonderful,” Artforum magazine all but swooned over Baltimore’s weirdness. The author, Nick Pinkerton, noted that “Baltimore’s fest is as welcoming as its slate is challenging, and its motto, ‘Film for everyone,’ is no put-on. Screenings were almost uniformly well-attended by Baltimoreans from all...
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Though everybody is talking about Bob Dylan’s birthday, Joseph Mitchell, the great writer of New Yorker profiles, who died 17 years ago today, is far more important to me (no offense, Bobby). We may think of the New Yorker as high-brow, but Mitchell is the father of us all at alt-weeklies. The voice he...
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The legendary folk singer and songwriter Pete Seeger is in town to speak at Peabody’s graduation ceremony, where he will receive the Peabody Medal for his outstanding contributions to music. We were delighted to meet Seeger over lunch, where our conversation ranged widely, as he often broke into song, singing “Anacreon in Heaven,” from...
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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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Real-Life Embarassing Sex Stories Feature: Submitted by City Paper readers 2/13/2013
Eat Pussy Like a Porn Star Charm City Porn Star: After performing in nearly 1,500 scenes with over 1,400 women and having won three AVN Awards I am more-than-qualified to speak on this matter. By Kurt Lockwood 5/29/2013
Murder Ink Murder Ink: Murders this Week: 5; Murders this Year: 95 By Edward Ericson Jr. 6/12/2013
You May Now Kiss the Brides Feature: Even as other battles loom, the LGBT community stops to celebrate marriage equality at Pride 2013 By Kate Drabinski 6/12/2013
Good Cop, Bad Cop Mobtown Beat: Accused officer allegedly facilitated drug dealing on same days she busted people with drugs By Van Smith 6/12/2013
The Multiple Personalities of Baltimore Fashion Feature: Fashion galleries from Towson Town Center, Harbor East, Current Space, around Mount Vernon, and the Skatepark. 6/19/2013