Baltimore magazine - Arts

Fired Up

Baltimore magazine — Wed, 12 Jun 2013 13:05:10 +0000

The second annual Firefly Music Festival brings big names to the Mid-Atlantic.

By Jess Blumberg

Once was, you had to take a pretty grueling road trip for a huge summer festival——like Chicago for Lollapalooza or Tennessee for Bonnaroo. That was until last year’s inaugural Firefly Music Festival near Dover Downs——merely a two-hour drive from Baltimore. “When we were deciding on our next venture, we saw a huge void for a music festival on the East Coast,” says Sarah McGrath, festival director at Red Frog Events.

Q & A: Gary Bartz

Baltimore magazine — Tue, 21 May 2013 14:41:34 +0000

Our full interview with the legendary Baltimore-born saxophonist.

By John Lewis

What inspired you to record a Coltrane tribute at this point in your career?

I have had so many record labels suggesting I do a Coltrane tribute recording. I said, “Everytime I play it is a tribute to John Coltrane, as well as many other of my mentors.” Finally, I thought it was time to do the recording, but on my own label, OYO Recordings. John Coltrane was moving in the direction of ownership for musicians, so it was a tribute in more ways than one—musically and business-wise.

The Family Guide to the City

Derrick — Tue, 28 May 2013 19:54:57 +0000

As more tricycles line the streets of Baltimore, we give you an extensive list of events and activities for the whole family.

Edited by Jess Blumberg. By Jess Blumberg, Janelle Erlichman Diamond, John Lewis, & Amy Mulvihill. Photography by Christopher Myers. Illustrations by Lauren Giordano.

During her inaugural address in 2011, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake pledged to attract 10,000 new families to Baltimore in the next decade. Of course, this is a lofty goal (and one promised by many past mayors), but we think we’re seeing signs of progress—the city is more family-friendly than ever. “Baltimore is experiencing a renaissance, which I don’t think can take place without families,” says Judy Chung O’Brien, founder and president of the Downtown Baltimore Family Alliance and Otterbein mom of three.

Read It: May 2013

Derrick — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:42:20 +0000

Jill Smokler & Joy Peterson Heyrman

By John Lewis

Motherhood Comes Naturally (And Other Vicious Lies)
Jill Smokler (Gallery)

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.