visit baltimore : Buzz

Didn't make it to the American Visionary Art Museum's 2010 Kinetic Sculpture race? We've found a few videos, so you can see what you missed.

Watch the video:

Wondering where to go for some of Bmore's best fabrics and other home decorating ideas? Join the tour local blogger Meg Fairfax Fielding recently gave two of her readers.

Here's an excerpt:

"I had the chance yesterday to spend the afternoon with one of my readers who is in Baltimore from Australia. Nancy and her friend, Robyn are here with their husbands who are attending a conference, so we took the opportunity to visit some of the places that Nancy had read about on here on Pigtown*Design.

First stop was DeBois Textiles, where the gals were overwhelmed by the selection of fabrics. While Nancy bought one yard of a number of fabrics to use as pillow covers, Robyn bought a five-yard length of a gorgeous silk to use as a tablecloth."

Read the entire post here.

Baltimore is replete with independent theaters that offer theater lovers a wide range of choices from the well-known to the avant garde. The Strand, in the city's Station North neighborhood, recently launched a four-pack of short works written by company members. If you've been wondering what they're all about...take a gander at this brief review.

Here's an excerpt:

"On Saturday evening at the Strand Theater, Playwrights Group of Baltimore presented "Skin in the Game," an anthology of short plays written by members of the Group. Different in style, each play pivots around the phrase "Skin in the Game," apparently coined by Warren Buffet to indicate passionate investment. A packed audience at the Strand witnessed staged readings of plays ranging from the melodramatic to the romantic to the fantasist."

Read the entire post here.

Check out more about Baltimore's arts scene or Station North!

Last week, The Baltimore Sun ran a couple of pieces on the city's proposal to create a so-called arts district in West Baltimore.

Here's an excerpt from articles for and against the project:

"City officials backed by Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake are to be applauded for moving ahead with plans to create a new arts and entertainment district on Baltimore's West Side near downtown. The area has been pegged for redevelopment as a cultural hub for more than a decade, but the pace of change has been disappointing. Anything that helps jump-start the process is all to the good.

One might well ask why the area even needs a formal designation as an arts and entertainment district, given the ambitious renovation of the Hippodrome Theatre (which re-opened on the west side in 2003) and the imminent arrival there of the Everyman Theatre Company. Isn't it already on a path to becoming the cultural magnet its backers originally envisioned?"

Read the entire article here.

"A proposal endorsed by Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake would make the city's west side into an arts district, which the administration hopes will help turn around the ailing neighborhood.

This is not the solution. Why? Baltimore already has two arts districts -- Highlandtown/Patterson Park and Station North. It doesn't need a third.

The city declared Highlandtown/Patterson Park an arts district in 2003. That same year, the Creative Alliance at the Patterson (pictured), a mixed use arts/performance space, opened. Offering art exhibits and cutting edge performances, the Creative Alliance was supposed to be the cultural anchor for an arts renaissance in Highlandtown.

Nearly seven years later, Highlandtown/Patterson Park hasn't seen a sliver of the artistic explosion and revitalization that was supposed to happen. Aside from the Creative Alliance and the Southeast Anchor Library, Highlandtown/Patterson Park doesn't have much more in the way of arts than it did in 2003."

Read the entire post here. And now tell us what you think...

Baltimore's CityLit Project will host its annual literary festival this weekend, bringing joy to all of the area's literary-minded folks, including Age 30+...A Lifetime of Books' Heather J., Ambassador of Books.

Here's an excerpt:

"I'm planning to be there for most of the day. If you are within driving distance I'd love to meet you and hang out for all/part of the day! Let me know in the comments if you're planning to attend and we can coordinate our schedule. I can't wait!!!"

Read the entire post here.
Check out the CityLit site here.

When Woman's Day magazine wanted to know the best places to go on a weekend trip to our fair city, they turned to resident Allison Buchalter to get the inside scoop.

Here are a few of Buchalter's picks:

"1. Best crab house: L.P. Steamers
"It's a fun, casual place with a real neighborhood feel. Sit on the deck, drink a beer and eat delicious crabs. It's hard to get bad crab anywhere in Baltimore."

2. Best park: Linkwood Park
"There's lots of green space and the playground is newly remodeled. Plus you can go 'creek walking.' The Stony Run stream goes through the park�you can either walk on the trail next to it or walk in the stream. My kids stop along the way to make little dams and collect rocks."

3. Best way to see the city: Ed Kane's Water Taxi
"Baltimore is a city defined by its harbor, and the water taxi is a great way to see Inner Harbor and also get to dozens of attractions, like the National Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center. Even the locals take it."

Read the entire article here.

The much anticipated issue featuring Baltimore Magazine's annual list of the city's top 50 restaurants is out. But, while the mag does a good job with its ranking of area restaurants, blogger MinxEats thinks the list has some misses as well.

Here's an excerpt:

"The issue of Baltimore Magazine that features their list of Baltimore's 50 Best Restaurants is usually my favorite issue. It's always interesting to see if any new joints have made it onto the hallowed list of old favorites, and with the closing of Ixia and The Brass Elephant in 2009, there are at least two spots available for some new places to sneak in.

This year, as last, Baltimore Mag ranked the restaurants. Charleston, of course, came in as number one. In fact, Cindy Wolf and husband Tony Foreman have four restaurants in the top 12. Not too shabby, and I will probably have to agree with Pazo and Petit Louis. But my one experience at Charleston left me feeling that the place was highly overrated and I have not been offered any free meals there to make me change my mind. Obviously I am the only one who doesn't think Cindy Wolf is some sort of culinary goddess, huh?

I was happy to see our neighborhood joint, Crush, on the list, but feel it deserves better than #33. I've had more consistently good food there than at the #12-ranked Petit Louis. I also think Della Notte deserves better than the 38th position; everything I have ever eaten there has been excellent. And who can top a giant tree in the center of the restaurant for ambiance?"

Read the entire post here.

It's almost that time of year -- road trip time, that is. Instead of heading out of state, you might want to expore the section of the Historic National Road running through Maryland.

Here's an excerpt:

"As the first federally funded road, this byway blazed a trail for the emerging nation to follow. Maryland's Baltimore to Cumberland section of the Historic National Road was designated the Historic National Pike. Towns and cities along the pike began to spring up to provide comforts for weary travelers heading west. Modern travelers of the Historic National Pike will find communities proud of their vibrant heritage. With Interstate 70 bypassing many of the original Historic National Pike cities, they have developed into artistic communities with a passion for diversity.

From the shores of the Chesapeake Bay to the majestic Negro Mountain, the Historic National Road offers many natural wonders. Many state parks along the byway offer quiet breaks in the long drive. As the byway continues into western Maryland, it passes through many mountain peaks. Before the byway continues into Pennsylvania, it journeys through the city of Cumberland, which is nestled in a small mountain valley. Here, mountains tower 1,000 feet around the city."

Read the entire article here.

In its March 2010 issue, Elle Decor magazine finally catches on to what residents of Baltimore already knew...that Charm City is a really cool place to visit and live.

Here's an excerpt:

"Baltimore, affectionately called "Charm City" by natives, is living up to its nickname. This Mid-Atlantic port is no longer merely a convenient, if undistinguished, stopover for devouring crab cakes and catching a game at Camden Yards en route to Washington, D.C., or New York.

Seafood and sports are still a draw, but today Baltimore hums with energy, boasting downtown towers, a burgeoning harbor, a vibrant cultural scene, and hip restaurants. Empty mills and factories, the run-down remnants of the city's industrial heritage, have been recast as commercial and residential spaces, often with stunning period details restored. A new generation of talented designers and artists, lured by the city's affordability and neighborliness, is beginning to convert ragged areas into artsy pockets with catchy names like Station North and Highlandtown. Even the iconic crab cake has been spiced up by chefs eager to experiment with Chesapeake traditions."

Read the entire article here. Check out the slideshow here.

At Ignite Baltimore 5, Brian Sacawa, a saxophonist and Peabody graduate, suggested that perhaps it was time for Baltimore to let go of its proudly held titles as a "quirky" and "weird" city.


Here's an excerpt:

"In my Ignite talk last week, I mentioned that I thought it was high time we move on here in Baltimore from defining ourselves to the outside world simply by the quirky and irreverent parts of the city's cultural life. I think those aspects are an important part of Baltimore's artistic identity, but that defining the city's arts scene with a strong and overbearing emphasis on the weird sends a message that we're not to be taken all that seriously.

Then I read Deborah Patterson's post on Open Society Institute-Baltimore's Audacious Ideas blog, in which she expressed indignation at the fact that Austin, with its "Keep Austin WEIRD" slogan-campaign, topped the list of Best Cities for Artists and Designers with Baltimore not even cracking the top 25. Yeah, seriously, like WTF?"


Read the entire post here. And tell us what you think.

Break out the pink and blue balloons! The Aquarium is expecting a visit from the Stork! The lucky mom -- Jade, the dolphin who gave birth just two years ago to a calf named Foster.

Here's an excerpt:

"A baby dolphin is on the way at the National Aquarium in Baltimore.

Aquarium officials said an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Jade is expected to give birth by mid-March.

Aquarium staff and a group of 50 trained volunteers have begun around-the-clock observations for signs of labor so they can provide an ideal setting for Jade and the newborn calf following delivery. Careful preparation is important, they say, because in captivity and in the wild about one-third of all calves do not make it past their first year.

Aquarium officials said labor signs include reduced appetite, back flexing, side-to-side motions, speed swimming and excretion of milk."

Listen to the entire story here.

Canada and Vermont may have tapped into the motherload of sappy harvests, but did you know that Western Maryland boasts its own sweet harvest?

Here's an excerpt:

"In a few days to weeks, the trees in Western Maryland will start blooming . . . buckets.

As maple syrup season nears, producers in Garrett County are readying their tapping equipment for harvesting time, which runs from the end of this month through April. The sap starts to flow during the spring thaw, when the combination of mineral-rich soil and temperate weather yields exceptionally rich and sweet syrup. (Quick dendrology lesson: Sap is the sugary water that circulates in a tree after it wakes up from a cold winter.)"

Read the full article here.

Looking for local taps? Find it them here.

Already pegged as the "Best Bar in America," now Brewer's Art has been highlighted as part of the retro-revival trend sweeping the nation.

"I'll wager you two bits your bartender's wearing muttonchops and a waistcoat. If not you should ask for your money back, order your Sazerac elsewhere.

A decade into the 21st century, much of the populace seems to believe it's the late 19th to mid-20th. Look around: at the schoolhouse lamps and Edison bulbs illuminating so many trendy haunts; at the grandmotherly comfort food we're ordering for dinner; at our unquenchable thirst for arcane cocktails. Some nights it's like the whole nation's been doused in rye whiskey and sepia ink. Bamboo sprouts in Aalto vases give way to daisies in rusted tomato cans; aluminum Navy chairs to scuffed bentwoods. Rough is the new sleek, aged the new new."

Read the entire article here.

Annapolis has more to offer than its rich maritime history. According to the Washington Post Maryland's capitol city is also replete with history about African-Americans during the Colonial era.

Here's an excerpt:

"Annapolis, with its narrow, cobbled streets overlooking the water, its cute boutiques and taverns, and its historic state Capitol and impressive U.S. Naval Academy, provides for a great Washington escape, even in the bleakness of winter. But during Black History Month, Annapolis also provides a great African American history lesson.

Been wondering what to expect with the Charm City Circulator, Baltimore's new free and green shuttle service? Adam Van Bavel, a contender for the 10th district city council seat in Baltimore, went for a ride and took his camera along.