Episode 10- Out of the Watersian Shadows & Into The Light!

As you might have guessed from my last Blog (Episode 9--Springtime in Baltimore, Springtime at Last!), lately I had been feeling that the absurdist, "Watersian" and "Seinfeldian" elements in my life had gotten more than a bit out-of-hand.

When I left town for a very brief overnight visit in NYC two weekends ago, before staying with my folks a few days in Rockland County, NY, I saw this as my big chance to briefly escape such things.

Silly me. I should have recognized that in a place like NYC, avoiding "Seinfeldian" or "Watersian" elements would be a nearly impossible thing for a strange artsy chic like myself to do. Really, how ridiculous--who could escape Seinfeld's spirit in NYC? Plus, what with the two Waters productions running also on Broadway (both "Cry-Baby" and "Hairspray") these days, John Waters' influence is pervasive there too.

Here was my first sign: a block away from a dinner party in the Village for one of my closest friends, I practically stumbled across the set of a new Woody Allen movie-in-the-making starring Larry David (co-creator, head writer & exec producer of Seinfeld, and creator & star of the Seinfeldian HBO show Curb Your Enthusiasm, for those of you who don't know).

If I really wanted to miss the Seinfeldian-inspired absurdities almost sure to follow, that would have been my cue to skip the party and head for my hotel. Or at least, cut out before the start of the comedy show I was to drop in on thereafter, at which a friend was scheduled to perform.

But I have never, in my life, deliberately skipped a friend's party; nor have I ever willingly missed a performer-friend's show. So really, I do not see what I could have done to avoid a sequence of super-"Seinfeldian" strangeness that did, thereafter, unravel before my eyes.

Even so, it has taken me a while to recover from the NYC stuff.

For a while to be honest, since returning to Baltimore, I have been laying low. Meanwhile, people all around me had been reporting "John Waters" sightings for weeks. In the last few days, these have been increasing to a fever pitch. And lately, so many folks I meet, hang out, or work on community projects with seems to be inextricably entwined not merely in my life, but also in JW's.

I have reason to be cautious. One might say that this is a sort of "Witching Hour for Watersian-inspired weirdness." This period, which started I'd say around April 22nd (John Waters' birthday), lasting at least through the end of Maryland Film Fest (which kicks off Thurs, May 1st & ends Sun, May 4th) is surely when JW's weird influence here is strongest - and when Baltimore is sure to be at its most bizarre.

Well, I have decided I must not hide from my strange Blog-life, or JW's legacy, or from "zany" Baltimore's influence generally, anymore. I could try hibernating at home, but I doubt it would do much good. Somehow, I think, Baltimorean, "Watersian"-inspired strangeness would find me, even hiding under the bed.

And no matter what, I would not miss the Maryland Film Fest for anything.

So I have decided: I will throw caution to the wind.

Rather than hiding, I will meet JW on his own turf: when he presides over his favorite film pick at The Charles Theatre on Friday for the FilmFest. It will be, appropriately enough, Story of Women, a "provocative" French film.

To mark the occasion, I will have with me a sort of posse of some of my favorite gal-pals & female Blog-Superstars. And we will meet and talk with JW, I suspect, of this strange legacy he has passed on to us, and also I would guess of many other queer and peculiar 'Watersian' happenings too.

All in all, I am quite sure the experience will be both Super-Blogworthy & Superstrange.

So please buy your tix early and stop by if you can. And definitely, keep "tuning" in for many more strange, weird, & zany 'Watersian' & 'Seinfeldian' adventures in & around 'artsy, grassrootsy, socially oriented Bmore' to come.

Copyright 2008 by Lois

The pic, as I mentioned, is one a friend took on 4/18 in NYC of Woody Allen directing his new (yet unnamed) movie starring Larry David. We celebrated & drank much wine at my friend Kal's birthday at Le Belle Vie (a really nice, & very reasonably-priced restaurant in the Village) while WA continued to direct & shoot the film about a block away.

So much is going on here in Baltimore right now. I will only try to mention a few important things coming up in the next few days.

First & foremost, there is Maryland's FilmFest. It kicks off with an opening shorts program, hosted by Bmore film legend Barry Levinson, tomorrow night (Thursday, May 1st).

Friday, May 2nd, movies run from 11 AM to 10:30 PM in three locations (Charles Theatre, UB Student Center, & MICA Brown Center) in Mt. Vernon, Baltimore. John Waters will be there to present his "film pick" at The Charles, which will be shown starting at 7 PM. I was there last year for his last pick; that film was phenomenal, and John was charming, easy-going, and incredibly funny. So I have high expectations for this Fri. Buy your tix in advance, I would be surprised if they didn't sell out. Ticket cost: $10.

More wonderful films run Sat & Sunday May 3-4th. To check shedule, view film descriptions, and order tix, go to the MD Film Fest main site. For reviews and more info, visit The City Paper's spread here.

Other big weekend things on my radar:

1) Fri, May 2nd - Sat, May 3rd (11 AM - 8 PM both days) is Flowermart, as usual at Mt. Vernon around the Washington Monument, Baltimore's 91st! For more details see the main site. Stop by & see my GreenCityBaltimore partner Doug Retzler's Paisley Green Roof display at Parks & People's Urban Forest (S of the Washington Monument).

2) Fri, May 2nd (7-10 pm)- "Bicycle/ tricycle art" & live music event at Velocipide Bike Project Opening Reception. "A Study of The Trike" at 4 Lanvale Street, Baltimore. (Exhibit runs May 2-25th.) With performances by Yeveto & Orion Rigel Dommissee. $5 Donation suggested. More info at: http://www.velocipedebikeproject.org/

3) Baltimore's 10th Kinetic Sculpture Race- Sat, May 3rd - race starts with opening ceremonies at the American Visionary Art Museum, on the shore of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in central Maryland. The eight-hour race covers 15 miles—mostly on pavement, but also including a trip into the Chesapeake Bay and through mud and sand.

4) Sat, May 3rd (10 am - 6 pm) & Sun, May 4th (10 am - 2 pm) - Rock Fight Against Lymphoma & Leukemia - 25 bands - music/ charity event at Huckas at 2324 Boston Street, MD. For more info see: http://www.myspace.com/rockfightpattersonpark (note, event venue no longer at Patterson Park anymore). Donations (I think of $10 pp) recommended.

5) Sat, May 3rd (7 pm) - Baltimore Songwriter's Association showcase of recently released juried CD "Songs from a Charmed City" - a Baltimore Live Music Meetup event at the Unitarian Unviersalists of Fallston! For more info or to sign up, click here.

**Check out our Flickr photos of Doug Retzler's "Visions of a Healthy City" Chalk-In project, one of his & GreenCityBaltimore's contributions to Baltimore's Ecofest (soon to be added to our photo sets here).

GreenCityBaltimore sponsored this to publicize Doug's "Art in Common/ Art for GreenSpaces" initiative, to build support for various eco-friendly & sustainable art projects in parks throughout Baltimore City. More info will be available in the future at www.artincommon.org . Upcoming GreenCityBaltimore events & "green" Baltimore info available at http://www.greencitybaltimore.org/ .

Ecofest on Sat, April 26th was HUGE this year BTW, thanks to all of the GreenWeek organizers, volunteers, participants & sponsors for making it such a great success! Baltimore Green Week events continue through Friday, May 2nd. More details at http://www.baltimoregreenweek.org/ .

Episode 9- Springtime in Bmore, Springtime at Last! ;)

If you're one of my five fervid "LoisLife" fans, you may have noticed I've gotten a bit off-track in my Blogging of late.

Won't go into it much. ...Let's just say that a few weeks ago one of my earliest considered LL Blog characters told me something that surprised me, and for a while I was reeling a bit.

Actually the circumstances of my peculiar little melodramatic, romantic detour struck me as being (yup, you guessed it!) of a particularly "Seinfeldian-Meets-John Watersian" sort. Since I value the curiosity of my 5 loyal LL fans above anything, I did try to capture all this in a Blog.

But I'm afraid there are times when even my (seemingly) cleverly crafted LL stories do not quite meet with a potential Blog-character's approval, and this was simply one of those times. So for now we will simply have to call this one of my lost LL episodes--to be released, perhaps, at a later date.

Quite honestly, for the last few weeks, it has been a bit of "touch-and-go" situation for me, a bit "heavy" to tell the truth. Thankfully, though, 2 things have conspired to lighten the load.

The first is my discovery of the wonderful songs of Parkville's (a Bmore suburb) Ellen Cherry. She has this wonderful song called "Superhero" especially which I have quickly grown to love.

Another is the realization that it is Springtime in Baltimore--Springtime, at last!

Always during this time, many "green" and new things spring up which make my eyes water, my nose run, and my throat itch.

Still it is a pleasure to see all of these wonderful things growing and sprouting, even in formerly barren and dark places in Baltimore, & in the too-long abandoned recesses of the heart.

Now I could be cynical and self-mocking, in the grand old Bawlmorean tradition, a tradition I understand.

After too many years of waiting, hard to "buy into" all the city-sponsored promises and sloganeering: at words ("Believe") and phrases suspended in cyberspace, on billboards, on buildings, even the sometimes rickety or collapsing city bench.

Yet for all that we Bawlmoreans (the old residents and the new) may be tempted to view each new promise of improvement with the old accustomed cynicism, I will say this: Baltimore is not merely "green" in experience. She is also, relatively speaking, a very young city yet.

Truly she has had many stumbles and halts. In her recent past--and still today--she has borne, and continues to bear, more than her share of scars and indignities, suffering and wounds.

But always she is brilliantly creative, and above all surprisingly resillient, no matter what.

And just now I see her, as I see myself, emerging as if after a long sleep prepared for a new beginning, and indeed, in the full strength and creative flowering of her youth.

There are two videos I seem unable to stop playing, both because they make me laugh and because they lighten my heart.

...And also because they whisper that so many of us regular Baltimoreans are only just now charting for ourselves--and for our city too--a strange and magical and wonderful new course.

The first video is from John Waters' Hairspray, it kicks off to the tune "Good Morning Baltimore." The one I've linked is from the Hairspray production currently running on Broadway.

You'll find it right now also on my LL MySpace. Come "friend" me if you haven't already! If you visit now, you'll also hear my friend Woody's "Save the World" song there too. ...This is a cool tune which Woody's also started performing recently at his concerts at various locations about town.

The second video is of Sonny and Cher singing their big break-out hit "I Got You Babe" at the start of their career. This pair was, from the start, as unlikely & eccentric as any characters Waters cast in any of his movies. And where their careers went later [Sonny's to big-time national politics shortly before his tragic skiing accident, Cher's to super-stardom on a global scale] neither they, nor Waters himself, could possibly have predicted, much less dreamed up.

And actually, Sonny was cast in Waters' first Hairspray movie. So he can properly be called a 'Watersian' LL Baltimore Blogstar too.

But mostly this second video leads me to think of one or another peculiar Bmore pairing of talented eccentric visionaries, the kinds of strange, fortuitous and friendly partnerships upon which the joy and redemption and hope of a city like ours is built.

Copyright 2008 by Lois

Soon it will be Ecofest, in Druid Hill Park (April 26th) & Baltimore Green Week (April 25th-May 2nd)! To learn about exciting upcoming Ecofest & BGW events go to www.greencitybaltimore.org & www.baltimoregreenweek.org. I will be looking for volunteers for our GreenCityBaltimore table. Email me at Lois@Loislife.com if you'd like to help out!

The photo was taken not in Bmore, but in nearby Washington, DC. The truck-borne quote is by Itzah C. Kret, otherwise known as "The Phantom Planter," a Washington, DC artist, children's poet, environmental activist & dreamer, who has lived a life as varied & fascinating as any of the fantastical visionary artists showcased now or ever at the American Visionary Art Museum ("AVAM").

AVAM is simply my all-time favorite museum in the world. Its next big event is the Kinetic Sculpture Race to be held Sat, 5/3. Volunteers needed now. Contact jamie@avam.org or call 410.244.1900 to sign up.

Plenty of events in Bmore to celebrate April as National Poetry Month. Check out esp the 3rd yr Anniversary Party at Load of Fun on Fri 4/18; Minas Gallery's Poetry Month Celebration Sun, 4/20 at 4 PM; & Zelda's Inferno's next Open Mic night Tues, 4/29 at 2640 St. Paul. For more poetry info, visit the Poetry in Baltimore site, MD Open Mic site, Baltimore Fun Guide, and Baltimore-Localist.

On Sat, April 12th, from approx 8 PM & thereafter I will be at the Women Rock! concert at Load of Fun (this is a LadyFest Baltimore event; see the CityPaper article about LadyFest Baltimore here). Ellen Cherry is one of the wonderful "lady" musicians featured. Same night, same location is the Doll Project Fundraiser for the MD House of Ruth. Stop by on the 1st floor btwn 6-10 pm to catch it.

On Sun, April 13th, I will be at the Women's K.I.S.S. Event at the Creative Alliance at the Patterson (also as a Bmore Live Music Meetup) at 3 PM. Sahffi, whom I've blogged about before, will be among the musicians performing.

If you are a woman looking to fulfill your wildest business dreams in our wonderfully woman-dominated city, join me at the "Today's Business Woman III Conference" on Fri, April 25th at The Radisson Cross Keys. More conference details at the "Bmore4Her Online Resource" site.

Exciting news for Baltimore & for LoisLife: On April 14th, a new Bmore focused publication of the Baltimore Sun Media Group called 'b' and its online counterpart 'bthesite' kicks off! Among other things, the new publications will work with WTMD--and us--to further promote local music. Look to find 'LoisLife' content, photos & links on http://www.bthesite.com/ in the future.

Final plug: WHAM CITY, a Bmore artist, music & production "collective" phenom which started as a bunch of dreamy eyed kids from SUNY-Purchase, recently moved to a new location. Check out their MySpace for upcoming event info. Also see the Baltimore City Paper article & the Wikipedia piece to learn more about what these dreamers have created.

Episode 8- Missing Baltimore, Finding Displaced Souls of NY Friends

On Wed night I dropped in on David Morreale to catch him at the "open mic" he hosts regularly at Ryan's Daughter, a great casual-but-upscale roomy Irish restaurant/bar in Belvedere Square.

David is the musician who plays the third song in my "LoisLife Baltimore Blogshow Playlist" (found to the right of this episode), titled "Missing Baltimore."

Unlike many of the sadly-themed or even poorly-crafted songs with "Baltimore" in their title highlighted in a recent article by Sam Sessa of the Baltimore Sun, and discussed by local HFS DJs Kirk and Mark next day, David's is a lovely song which focuses not on various of Baltimore's too-obvious problems, but on his vast love for Baltimore and his longing to return during much-regretted absences, to which sentiments I strongly relate.

In meeting David I found, to my surprise, that he quite vividly resembled--both in looks and in personality--one of my oldest, and closest friends from New York, a very talented musician and all-around "renaissance man" Kal.

This was so startling and unexpected that I had to remind myself not to stare. Before he performed, we hung out some and talked and I noticed so many eerie similarities not only in his mannerisms but the kinds of stories he told and the jokes he made, right down to the occasional whimsically-crafted fib. Really these things put me so much in mind of my friend Kal, I would have found his presence positively unnerving were he not so funny and 'Kal-lishly' easy-going, too.

Then he sang and strummed some tunes including the 'Missing Baltimore' one, alternating both humorous and romantic themes and tales along with the songs, and this was also so very 'Kal-like' at times I wondered if this were not all a dream, and I were not somehow magically transported North to a small coffeeshop in Allendale, NJ (Beantown, where Kal regularly plays) rather than a largish Baltimorean Irish brew pub.

Now this would all have seemed strange enough, even without any premonition that I would experience something strangely similar two nights later, at Tony Calato's "Tony Unplugged" show at Tyson's Tavern. I came out to the show that night with my cousin Lori and friends and new acquaintances from the recently-formed 'Charm City Social Club' Meetup group, which had gathered quite a large mass of people actually to see and hear Tony perform.

I had met Tony at least twice before and recognized something warmly-familiar in him, but it was only while hearing him sing and strum his guitar for the first time that I realized, quite suddenly, just what it was.

The thing of it was, Tony reminded me of another of my very close, musical friends from New York--actually, a close friend of Kal's and mine both--Brian, who is also a comedian often enough (and sometimes a trickster, and a skilled impressionist too), though at other times, I have often thought, the far dreamier, more contemplative one.

The longer I watched and observed Tony, both during his performance and during the ride back in one of the organizer's cars (he treated us to many colorful expressions of his appreciation for an unfortunate towing incident involving his car, which forced him to 'hitch' a ride along with us too)--the more I felt, however unlikely, that I was in the company somehow of one of my oldest and most fiercely loyal childhood friends.

Now this is just one of those 'Seinfeldian' and also 'Watersian' circumstances that I really could not--and still can not--for the life of me, explain. That is, how it should fall out that I would meet up with two very new Baltimorean musician-acquaintances, in the space of a week, seemingly possessed with the spirits and essences of two of my closest, long-time New York friends.

For Kal and Brian have, for the longest time, been the 'Jerry' and 'George' to my 'Elaine,' and though I have been many places and met many people in the years since high school, this sort of thing has really never happened before.

In the sobering light of a Monday morning, I am not quite sure what it all means. Except I think that it may have something to do with the strange vortex I have opened as I burrow more deeply into the crevices of this very peculiar town and its local music-and-arts scene.

Copyright 2008 by Lois

The pic is of some folks I snapped at yesterday's Baltimore St. Paddy's Day Parade as I headed across Mt. Vernon Square to drag my poor exercise-deprived body to the gym.

More Bmore St. Paddy's Day Parade pics, and also some I took of historic and picturesque buildings on my south-bound walk to my gym on Cathedral Street Sunday (to avoid the crowds), can be viewed at the Lois.Life Flickr account or by clicking here. You can also see the photos I uploaded from the City Paper's Cosmic Cocktail Party March 6th (that incredible orgy of fun, food, drink & dance for only $30-what an incredibly smashing deal!), link to this set is here.

Tonight (Mon, March 17th) I will be at my friend Woody Lissauer's St. Paddy's Day concert at Tyson's Tavern, 2112 Fleet Street. I will be there as the Assistant Organizer for the Baltimore Live Music Meetup btwn 8:30 pm- 12 am, if you come by please be sure to stop by and say 'hi!'

Guess what?! LoisLife is now on MySpace! Find many of your favorite local Baltimore musicians, performers, and other favorite "LoisLife" characters right here! Check out pics, profiles, music, videos, concert dates & more. Don't forget to "friend" us, say "hi," & send us more cool, fun, creative ideas! ;)

Episode 7- Rollin' in to Work with Dirty Marty

On my ride in to work via MARC train Tues morning, I met the Charm City Roller Girls' announcer, 'Dirty Marty.'

This is the name with which he introduced himself, without a touch of irony. He was easy to spot, in his 'Roller Girls' jacket actually.

He seemed genuinely puzzled when I asked for a name that was a bit less 'stagey.' Only with some reluctance did he allow that I might call him 'just Marty.'

This is something I rather love about Baltimore actually. Here it is nothing unsual for our performers and 'non-performing civilians' alike, to identify themselves both 'on' and 'off set' with names such as 'Trixie' and 'Sahffi' and 'JAR Horseman' and 'Teporah/ 'Tepi' and 'Woody' and, yes, 'Dirty Marty.'

These are not necessarily all names given at birth, but they are not quite 'stage names' either.... They are names worn as comfortably about Btown by their owners as a favorite pair of jeans, and every bit as casually.

Actually I pondered this interesting & peculiar 'Baltimorean naming' custom while at the Roller Derby two Sundays ago, at the 5th Regiment Armory with my cousin Lori. I was watching the Roller Derby gals skimming across the rink, when I felt a touch of jealousy.

Who could blame me for envying them? They were so visibly enthusiastic and carefree--plus so wonderfully absorbed in their 'body-slamming' activities.

And those names, printed in the Roller Girls' brochure and announced by 'Dirty Marty,' struck me particularly: 'Rosie the Rioter' and 'Pixie Rocket;' 'Cheeta Torpeda' and 'Harly Go Hardly.' The names said it all, they so vividly & perfectly announced the Roller Girls' identities.

"Can't I have an alter-ego?" I complained to my cousin. "Why shouldn't I have my own cool, body-slamming name, and identity?"

True to form, Lori just laughed, and rolled her eyes at me. "You don't need an alter-ego," she said. "You're already a character. There's only one Lois. ...Thank goodness."

I tried to hold on to my delusions a while longer, but it was no good. Had to admit, there's really no point--my character, I guess, is pretty well-formed already, and my name kind of 'fused' onto it too. Trying to separate them at this point would seem a rather fruitless endeavor.

I suppose, all is not lost--I do feel, these days, that special 'Bawlmorean' magic clinging to my name, as it seems to be also infecting my life and, indeed, my Blog-life-stories.

So maybe I really have no need for a more quirky, Bawlmorean-sounding moniker. Perhaps there is enough of the 'quirky Baltimorean' in me, without it--so adding on would be simply even more silly.

The woman in the pic is "Linda" in real life, "Virtual Linda" in her website & Blog. I just met her Wed but can tell she must be as fun, creative & colorful as her glasses. Linda is the 3rd person I've blogged about who has seen or met John Waters recently as he strolled through Hampden.

The pic was taken in Ryan's Daughter, this wonderful Irish restaurant/ pub which is a great live music/ performance venue. Every Wed night it has an open mic at which performers of all stripes--musicians, comedians, poets--can come. It is mc'd by a musician named David Morreale, whose 'Missing Baltimore' song can be found in my 'LoisLife Baltimore Blogshow Player' at the top-right of this Blog (being one of my favorites).

Another of my favorite Blogshow musicians, Bobby Smith, is having a CD release party Thurs March 13th, 7-11 PM at Club 347. I call him my Blogshow 'theme song' musician actually, since his 'Full Moon in Baltimore song'--a very wacky, unique song--is first in my "LoisLife player," and meant to be listened to while reading my Blog.

My friend Woody's song 'Roses' is sandwiched between David's 'Missing Baltimore' and Bobby's 'Full Moon in Baltimore' in my LL Blog Player. 'Roses' will air tomorrow, March 1st, btwn 4-5 PM on WLOY (1620 AM or TV channel 50). You can stream the radio broadcast by clicking here.

The Charm City Roller Girls will be back at the 5th Regiment Armory on March 15th. Details can be found here. To see a recent WBAL TV spot on the CCRGs, go to the YouTube feature on the right-side of my Blog or click here. 'Blow-by-blow' Charm City Roller Girl action reports can be found at their Blog here.

Not sure who to "roll in" to the event with? The Charm City Social Club, a very new (and very cool) Baltimore social networking group (for singles & couples both) has organized a Meetup around it. Lots of great people in this group with lots of great events planned already. To sign up for the event & "roll in" with the CCSC, click here.

Copyright 2008 by Lois

Episode 6- Baltimore Barbies, Alcohol, & MLA Launch Parties Don't Mix!

Woke up exhausted this morning after the big (and very well-attended) "Maryland Lawyers for the Arts"- Arts Brief Launch party at Lemongrass and Tsunami (hosted by Smalltimore Events) last night.

Not that I'd had all that much to drink really, but I'd been running myself ragged for 2 weeks straight so I guess 2 'orange crushes' on too little sleep was just enough to do the trick.

I was feeling just a wee bit 'off' when I first arrived at the party actually. Under most circumstances I am really not shy, but occasionally I feel a bit lost when surrounded by too many 'towering' fashionably-dressed people in strange settings (it can be easy to see people as 'towering' when you yourself are not quite 5 feet).

This effect tends to be heightened by sleep deprivation and hunger, so it took me a while to get my bearings last night. Then I found the free buffet, and this helped to improve my mood to a wonderful extent.

After a decent period of scavenging I felt much less cranky & started talking to people, and then I found a few I recognized and some who, for that matter, recognized me.

Among these were Annette, an artist, wife, and publicity agent of one of the Bobwhites (a cool 'art rock' & swing Baltimore band); Jonathan, a MICA student who dreamed up and is directing this fabulous 'Baltimore Sweep Action Parade' March 29th, as well as his Assistant Director, Anna Page; and Natalya, a law student I met at City Paper's 2007 Valentine's masqueRED Ball at Sonar, a cool party with lots of great people, fun music & many interesting 'party favors' of the 'public health' variety (it was to benefit Chase Brexton Health).

Then I met up with Alex, this really positive, energetic & wonderfully imaginative psychotherapist/ teacher/ actress, and we got to talking for a while till we both decided it was time to leave.

When I got home I jumped into bed almost immediately looking forward to a good night's sleep.

I guess all this running around must have affected me strangely, for I had these very peculiar, 'larger-than-life Barbie-filled' dreams. I can't relate too much about these noctural wanderings other than that they were filled with many statuesque, impressively-clad, adult human-size yet also doll-like Barbies, clinking glasses of what I presumed to be alcohol in darkly green-filtered surroundings, speaking to one another in high flute-like voices throughout the night.

When morning broke I struggled but was unable to remember much else, though the source of such dreams is really not hard to place.

When I first saw Alex she was playing the role of a Barbie doll-come-to-life in this truly bizarre, but very emotionally-engaging play at the Fells Point Corner Theatre as part of last year's Baltimore Playwrights Festival. In it Alex, one of two featured 'Barbies,' narrated tales of many child-inflicted tortures suffered, alongside her male counterpart (the similarly-abused 'Ken'), over the years in a really compelling and rather gut-wrenching way. YouTube video of Alex in her 'Barbie' role can be viewed here & on the right side of this Blog.

As a child I never subjected my own 'Barbies' to such abuses. I bought many of them after all with my own money, and treasured them very much in my way. Still I admit that I cast them, at least mentally, in some rather sketchy adult-type 'creative fantasy role-play' scenarios of which Mattell would simply never have approved.

I will say that my Barbies seem to have survived it all in relatively healthy good spirits, as you can see from the photo of one I've included with this Episode.

Normally I don't keep my Barbies in my apartment--not that I don't have my eccentricities, but my apartment is already cluttered enough with miscellaneous 'artsy' ecclectic stuff. For the last 3 decades or so they lived in my parents' basement in Rockland County, NY but lately they (my parents, not the Barbies) have talked of moving so they insisted I keep the Barbies here, in my own storage space.

But as you might observe, 'Golden Dream Barbie' (my childhood favorite) seems to have found a comfortable niche by my window just now hanging out with my jade plant (which is not at all menacing or even fashion-threatening like the ficus I wrote about in Episode 1--the Man Eating Plant, or commented on in Episode 4--Lois Finds Love at The Ottobar with Trixie Little, The Evil Hate Monkey and Scotty The Blue Bunny). She is also hanging out near the 'green Lois' bottle which my cousin Lori found for me a few weeks back. So I might just let her hang out here a while longer, so long as she doesn't see fit to keep 'haunting' my mental meanderings at night.

The 'Bobwhites' will be performing, and some of the band will also be reading poetry (along with some other well-known poets) at a spoken-word CD release event called 'Words on War' Friday, March 7th from 7 pm- 12 am at the Load of Fun Studio (120 W. North Ave). More details at Load of Fun's event calendar here.

Other events of note to take place March 7th include a 'Girls' Night Out' concert, sponsored by the recently-turned-two years' old Maryland indie music community networking organization Static Chain, featuring wonderful Baltimore-based female folk artists (Sahffi, Teporah, Clarissa and Toni Sicola) at Tyson's Tavern from 8 pm- 12 am. For more info, click here.

And two of my condo building-mates are putting on a Choreographer's Showcase event that same night (March 7th) from 8-10 pm at the Constance R. Caplan Dance Studio, Room 163, Mattin Cultural Arts Center at Johns Hopkins (North Charles Street at 33rd Street), it is completely free and all are invited.

More details about the Baltimore Sweep Action Parade to take place March 29th (4 teams 'sweeping' debris from 4 separate Bmore neighborhoods to converge on Mount Vernon Place 3/29, resulting in a public sculpture display to remain in Mt. Vernon Park until 5/20 as part of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance's Festival of Maps exhibition) will be found at http://www.baltimoresweepaction.org/ and will soon be posted to GreenCityBaltimore's Blogsite (http://www.greencitybaltimore.org/) and yahoo group space ( http://groups.yahoo.com/group/greencitybaltimore/ ).

Copyright 2008 by Lois

Episode 5--Hangin' with the Artrats in Hampden

Now of course it will soon be Valentine's Day and for many people this means exchanging with their beloveds a lot of sweet and gooey and quite frankly crassly commercial things, all in the name of romance and that unassailable brand of American consumerism of which we're all so fond.

But I live in Baltimore now and these days run with an "artsier" crowd, and so going to a "love/ relationship-themed" art reception like the one I went to this past Saturday at the Art Under Ground studio in Hampden was a bit more my speed. The reception promoted a new exhibit there called "Friends with Benefits, or How 143 Means I Love You."

My friend Renee Tantillo, whose art in the "If It's Yellow" exhibit at the Load of Fun Studio I never did get over to see (see Episode 3, "Sweatin' Over My Choices at The Charles"), had invited me and was showing some pieces. You can see one in this episode's photo, it is the "thorny" metal heart which Renee has titled "Miss You/ Love Hurts/ Fetish 1."

Another metal heart Renee created is called "Gearheart," it has been sodered as if re-sewn clumsily after breaking, and features also an exposed place through which its insides are gaping through.

Now admittedly I've never been all that "crafty" at the art of love really. If pressed to describe my 'romantic skills,' I suppose I could cite my wonderful ability to botch things up always in fresh, creative and interesting ways; or to 'artfully' squander perhaps the most potentially promising romantic opportunities. So it should come as no surprise that I've surely had my share of fun heartbreak opportunities as Renee's work expresses (indeed who has not, really?), and greatly look forward to many more exciting ones in the future. Though at the moment I am (thankfully) feeling generally quite mellow and happy, and more than content to re-live such "thorny" feelings mostly in the past tense.

Actually I spent a good part of my uniquely 'artsy Hampdenish pre-Valentine's' Sat night in the quite tranquil and really pleasurable company of not just Renee and my good friend Kirsten, but also my physicist-cum-artist friend Ramesh and a number of his and Renee's art-world friends.

After the reception Ramesh and friends Matt (an artist), Robin (a poet) and Gavin (an artist and playwright) and I strolled along Chestnut Ave. heading for something to eat. During this stroll, Matt mentioned coming across John Waters in Hampden just the week before. For many Baltimoreans the mere mention of 'Hampden' quite logically conjures up thoughts of John Waters anyway, it was after all the neighborhood in which he lived for many years and which he loved to film.

But Ramesh and I have both gotten pretty deep in the 'quirky artsy eccentric world' of Bmore in a relatively short space of time and have formed certain associations of our own. And so as Ramesh and I hung out and snacked on tofu burgers and fried pickles at Rocket to Venus we talked and speculated not so much about John Waters but our friend Woody Lissauer.

Woody is this really wonderfully talented and gifted songwriter/ musician who lives in Hampden and has for several years now and who in fact composed and performs a rather quirky song about his 'hood called 'Hampden in the Rain.' In this song Woody details some of Hampden's less desirable qualities, including the 'streetrats' that come out after barflies and partiers and 'artrats' (my word, not Woody's) have left and gone home, often leaving lots of nice trash and detritus behind in their wake. (YouTube video of Woody's 'Hampden' is viewable a bit lower down on the right side of this Blog or by clicking here.)

Really my friends and I find Woody to be every bit as unique, colorful and startlingly extraordinary as any of the characters John Waters created or at least 'projected' in his films, and also as Hampden or John Waters or for that matter Baltimore itself. So it has become a great pastime of ours after our latest 'Woody-encounter' to get together and recount the always-memorable, and quite frequently wholly unexpected, things that Woody has lately done and said.

So of course Ramesh and I spoke about Woody for some time, and also about my New Year's Day party where for Ramesh he last appeared, and at which certain other very strange and mostly inexplicable things happened too. Then we moved on to other subjects and I got very tired suddenly, and asked Ramesh if he could drop me home before taking his friends out on the next leg of their 'art-show-hopping' escapades.

On the way to Ramesh's car, I stopped in the street for a moment, lost in my thoughts and the pulsing red glow of a rather 'typical-for-Hampden' Christmas-style Valentine's electric-light display of a house across the way. To me it seemed that the light was symbolic, warning but also beckoning of many more inexplicable, eccentric, but always uniquely 'Bawlmorean' adventures to come.

Woody will perform live w/ full band along w/ a number of other great local Bmore & Maryland bands at a Static Chain concert at Sonar, 401 E. Saratoga St., on Fri, Feb 22nd (tix $12, doors open 7:30 pm, concert at 8). He also performs regularly wkends at Harvest Table, & at various venues in MD & beyond throughout the year. For more on Woody's music, concerts & videos see http://www.woodylissauer.com/ .

Matt's art and Robin's poetry will both be featured in a show called Sensarium to be held Sat Feb 23rd from 8 pm- 1 am at the Whole Gallery at 405 W. Franklin Street (3rd Floor). The cost is $7 but only $5 if you bring art materials for the collaborative project on the agenda, or if you wear red. More details are at http://MayhemOnward.com/RED.

I understand that Gavin also has an upcoming play through Theatre Project, but I don't have details on that yet. I have learned however that Cosmic Cocktail tix (the upcoming March 6th City Paper-sponsored party at The Belvedere) are now available for purchase, you can get them in person at The 8 x 10 Club and also online through Mission Tix here.

The final "shameless plug" I will give is for an upcoming party (open to the public) to be hosted by Smalltimore Events on behalf of Maryland Lawyers for the Arts on Thursday, February 21st, between 6-9 pm. The MLA is really a terrific nonprofit organization which helps income-eligible artists and art organizations with legal issues, and it is celebrating the launch of its new "MLA Arts Brief" publication. The party is free ($10 donation suggested for non-VIPs), it is being sponsored by two great chic restaurants (Tsunami and Lemongrass), and all for a really great cause.

Also there is space in one room for local artists to exhibit their work for the party. If you are interested in going please RSVP to smalltimoreevents@gmail.com, and also please contact this same address if you an artist interested in exhibiting opportunities for the event.

Copyright 2008 by Lois

Episode 4- Lois Finds Love at The Ottobar with Trixie Little, The Evil Hate Monkey, & Scotty The Blue Bunny

On Sat night I brought a few friends and my cousin Lori to the Ottobar to see Trixie Little and The Evil Hate Monkey, Baltimore's long-time "beloved acrobatic burlesque superduo" of whom I had heard so much. The show was called "High Brow" - "A Night Of Intellectually Sophisticated Low Brow Entertainment."

Indeed Trixie, Monkey, and several other performers delivered all and more that was promised. While I have no true acting ability, I have a deep love for actors and for performers of all sorts, as well as the many quirky, funky art students who fill the city (no shortage of which were also there last night) and among whom I rather like to mingle and emulate and disguise.

Like Trixie, I am also on the "vertically-challenged" side of things (clocking in under five feet tall), my last name begins with "T," I tend gravitate to the vivid, the sparkly, and the outrageous, and I also enjoy (when they allow me) to vent my occasional frustrations with men in the tried-and-true "Elaine of Seinfeld" way--that is, to "whack" male friends every now & again--playfully, of course, it is I suppose a sort of special license of women who call themselves spunky and small. And so my reasons for feeling a special bond with Trixie, "the sassy burlesque superstar" known also as "Tiny T," embued not only with "super-human spanking powers" but also a special brand of Bawlmorean quirkiness to call her own, are various.

During the show, I found myself riveted, like everyone else in the crowd, also by the show's MC ("Scotty the Blue Bunny")--so named for his blue latex-clad and bunny-eared attire, whose charm, sense of humor, and taller-than-7-foot-height-in-heels impressed everyone. By the end of the night, indeed, I found myself relating ever more to Scotty, whose jokes and stories about his own Jewish Mom from New York and her angst about his chosen career and life path rather echoed my own.

Really the show was extremely witty and fun and entertaining. Although, as I stood in the crowd of overwhelmingly "goth"-inspired folk (my friends and I had really, by & large, not worn the properly dark or outrageously coordinated attire worn by the typical "Ottobarian" participant), the emotion I found myself nearly overcome by was love.

It struck me while watching Trixie and Monkey perform their final rites of acrobatics and intimacy on the swing (see pic above, more in the Flickr slideshow display on the right side), that really only in such settings as this, and those mostly in Baltimore, have I felt truly thrilled and fulfilled. While I have experienced pleasure and even wonder at times in various places in which I have lived, it is really only in Baltimore where I have felt deeply and soul-drenchingly happy, truly at home in my own skin, and comfortable and accepted by a populace which by and large not only accepts difference & individuality & full-fledged creativity but treasures these commodities far above money or material things.

And so all at once I felt all the doubts and fears and anxieties of last week dissolve (see last week's Episode 3--"Sweatin' Over My Choices at The Charles"). I understood, quite clearly then, that I have given my whole heart and soul now to Baltimore, and since that is done really my choices have been made already.

For better or worse, the only dreams possible to me now are those of a particularly Baltimorean sort, and further committing myself to Baltimore--and to the romantic notion I have of it--is the only path I can and must traverse. And so even if (as I worried last week) all I can succeed at in the end in making with my life is "cannabilistic meat pies," then so be it, I swear I will make the most delectable, most savory and most spectacular "cannibalistic meat pies" in town.

If you also love burlesque but missed Trixie last Saturday, you can take in some tonight at The Sex Workers Art Show, to be held at 7 pm at The Creative Alliance at The Patterson--more details here and in the "LoisLife Calendar" of events found at the bottom left of my Blog. Trixie and Monkey themselves will be back performing live also at The Creative Alliance on Thurs-Fri, March 28 and 29th at 8 pm.

Can't get enough Trixie? Check out her Blog, "The Adventures of Trixie Little." You'll find many stories and pics of Trixie and her friends working seriously at circus school, as well as partying it up equally hard.

Copyright 2008 by Lois