I have always wanted to go to one of The Stoopstorytelling shows and when I heard this month's theme was "high school," I couldn't resist. Debuting in February 2006, The Stoop is a series that features seven story-tellers, who each get seven minutes to tell a true, personal story that revolves around that night's specific theme.

Past speakers have included writers, actors, musicians, teachers, and everyone in between. In addition to the seven stories, there are musical performances, comedic skits, and the entire show is put on for a live audience, as well as broadcast onWYPR. The variety-show style is reminiscent of Garrison Keillor's A Prairie Home Companion.

This past weekend Center Stage hosted three Stoop shows on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening, all revolving around the theme that tempted me so much: high school. I attended Saturday night's show and was blown away by the talent and creativity that took place on stage. Featured musicians included the keyboard-heavy cover band Egg Babies Orchestra, the ukulele-strumming Victoria Vox, and spoken-word/hip-hop duo The 5th L. All three groups provided a captivating soundtrack throughout the night. The show itself was hosted by Aaron Henkin, co-producer of WYPR's "The Signal," as well as The Stoop's two co-creators, Jessica Henkin (Aaron's wife) and Laura Wexler.

The high school theme was played up in every aspect, from the wardrobe (heavily '80s) to the music (Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall" was a highlight). And of course, there were the stories. An English teacher from Friends School talked about polka dancing with a curmudgeonly physics teacher. A former Bryn Mawr School student discussed celebrating the first Earth Day.

A particularly hilarious tale came from a former high school football manager (read: water boy) who decided to stick a bee in his mouth during football practice. An experienced educator talked about his own high school experience of grieving while at boarding school. And a current performing artist talked about figuring out her identity in the school cafeteria. Three members of the audience were also picked at random to share their stories from high school—some scandalous, others profound.

Not only was the entire show entertaining as hell, but it made me, and I suspect the rest of the audience, realize that everybody has a story. And the ones about high school are particularly charming.

If you want to hear these stories for yourselves, the show will be broadcast on WYPR (88.1 FM) on June 11 and 18 at noon and 7 p.m. And you can always tune into Henkin's "Stories From the Stoop" Saturdays at 8 p.m. on WYPR. The next Stoop show will actually be free, as it's a part of Artscape, and will take place July 17, from 4-6 p.m., in MICA's Brown Center.

[Image: courtesy of stoopstorytelling.com]

Today's weather makes you long for refreshing summer drinks. Luckily I can share with you some of the new spring cocktails at B&O American Brasserie. On Wednesday night, I attended a media event at the restaurant, where bar manager Brendan Dorr and staff showcased their newest creations.

Also in attendance were Style magazine's Brian Lawrence, MIX 106.5's Reagan Warfield, Visit Baltimore's Sara Hisamoto,Baltimore Drinks Examiner Mark Burlet, and Baltimore Bars Examiner Cindy Plackmeyer, among others.

Together we sampled a generous menu of nine cocktails, all with creative twists on classic summer drinks. (They also provided us with flatbread pizzas, ensuring that we'd all walk out of there upright). Dorr is known for his creative drink experimentation, and this menu was no exception.

Some highlights for me included the Chamomile Fizz, pictured, with chamomile-infused orange vodka, Domaine Canton, lemon honey syrup, lemon juice, egg white, and soda water ($12). The flavors were very light and airy—barely there—like drinking alcoholic tea. The egg white gave the cocktail its classic foamy head, making it look straight out of a 1950's malt shop.

I also enjoyed Boxcar Beer #2 with Hoegarden, J.K. Skrumpy's cider, and Caribbean liqueur Velvet Falerum ($9). The drink is the sequel to B&O's original Boxcar Beer, which included a much darker ale. This drink hit the same notes as a classic Dark and Stormy, sweet with a spicy kick.

One of the most interesting drinks was the Remedy Cocktail, with vodka, Chartreuse, ginger syrup, orange juice, and orange flower water ($10). For those who haven't had Chartreuse, it's an intensely flavored liqueur made by Carthusian Monks using 132 different herbs and spices. This drink is designed as a cure-all: herbs and spices, ginger, and vitamin C.

Ixia fans will be happy to know that the famous Queen Bee cocktail (which I wrote about here) has made a triumphant return ($13). The menu also includes the peppercorn-flavored Platform ($10), tequila-heavy Santa Fe Railway ($11), basil-infused Modena Market Cocktail ($12), fruity A-Train ($9), and the dessert-like Coconut Milk Punch ($9).

All of these drinks are ideal in the warm weather months. Plus, you'll be hard-pressed to find a place that puts more thought, time, and energy into their drinks than B&O American Brasserie.

[Image: courtesy of Profiles PR]

Pretty much everyone in the Baltimore area knows about a drink called the Southside—a popular country club cocktail commonly made with rum, lemon and lime juice, mint, and crushed ice. But what about the Westside?

Since fresh mint is now in season, Woodberry Kitchen has decided to roll out some summer drinks. On their menu is the ever-popular mint julep (101 proof Kentucky bourbon, mint, crushed iced) available for $12. But they're also introducing the Westside, which I'm assuming is named after the fact that the restaurant is located in Northwest Baltimore.

According to their Facebook page, the drink is Woodberry Kitchen's "version of a Southside. It's basically organic vodka, hand-squeezed lemonade, and mint." They go on to describe it as "pretty darn good." We'll have to try it out and see.

For more information about the Southside (and who makes the best one), check out our story in the upcoming June issue.

[Image: courtesy of nytimes.com]

It doesn't take a baseball insider to know that the Orioles have stunk so far this season. Our 3-16 record is, by far, the worst in the league and our upcoming schedule (Yankees, Red Sox, Yankees) doesn't bode well. But the best thing about us as Orioles fans is that we support our team through good times and bad—or so I thought.

I attended the April 12 game when the Orioles managed to draw the lowest attendance in Camden Yards history. I remember looking around and thinking that the crowd was sparse, but I had no idea it was a mere 9,129. Camden Yards has never had a crowd less than 10,000 in its 18-year history.

Some can blame the owner or the manager or the bullpen (and they have), but when it comes down to record-low attendance, the only people to blame are ourselves. Yes, it's embarrassing to have one of our worst Aprils after 12 losing seasons, but it's even more embarrassing to have out-of-town fans outnumber us in our ballpark.

The Sun's Peter Schmuck had a great column, in which he tried to surmise the reason for such low attendance. It could have been the fact that it was a Monday game following Opening Day on a Friday. Or maybe it's because the Orioles have imposed a $1-5 surcharge on tickets bought day-of.

But Schmuck hinted at something towards the end of his piece. The heart of the matter is that low attendance can be cyclical—the players notice it, it drops morale, the game suffers. When I interviewed pitcher Chris Tillman for our April Orioles feature, he said, "You know, just looking at the Orioles record, I wasn't sure how the fans were going to be. But Baltimore has some of the most loyal and supportive fans in the league."

We should prove him right. Starting tonight, the Orioles are back in town for six games. I encourage everyone to cough up $8 for a ticket, drink a few cheap beers outside of Pickles, and fill out the seats in our gorgeous ballpark.

[Image: courtesy of photo.net]