Buzz

The New York Times recently interviewed actress and comedienne Rain Pryor, who has many ties to Charm City.

The 43-year-old daughter of Richard Pryor, she became artistic director of the Strand Theater Co. and moved to Baltimore several years ago.

You can read more of the interview with Pryor and Kelly Carlin, daughter of George Carlin, here. 

Maryland isn't a bad place to start a business if you're a woman, according to a study commissioned by American Express OPEN.

The report puts Maryland No. 7 on its list of states that had the most growth in the number of women-owned firms and their  economic clout between 1997 and 2012. Maryland didn't fare as well as our neighbor Washington, D.C., which came in at No. 1. Nevada, Wyoming, Arizona and North Dakota rounded out the top five. 

In a similar ranking for cities, the report put Baltimore No. 4, after Washington, D.C., San Antonio and Houston.

The study relies on data from the U.S. Census. You can see the entire report here. 

The Green Party nominated its candidate for the 2012 presidential campaign in Baltimore this weekend.

Dr. Jill Stein, a physician from Massachusetts, was formally nominated at the 2012 Green Party convention, which took place at the University of Baltimore and the Holiday Inn on West Lombard Street.
 
While the Green Party's convention was held in Maryland, there is a chance that Stein won’t be on the ballot here this fall. The Greens have until August 6 to present 3,000 valid signatures to the State Board of Elections to put Stein’s name on the ballot.

In any case, the convention's locale got press from a number of national outlets, including the New York Times and Time.
 
Jill Stein picked homeless activist Cheri Honkala as her running mate over actress and comedian Roseanne Barr, who had also been seeking the nomination.
 
The Republicans and Democrats will host their conventions in Tampa Bay and Charlotte, respectively, in August.

Last month the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gave 104 amateur musicians a taste of what it's like to be a part of a professional orchestra. These individuals participated in BSO Academy, a weeklong camp of lessons, rehearsals, master classes and, finally,  a concert at Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.
 
The New York Times profiled many members of the BSO Academy, including a cold-war-era Navy pilot; a judge’s assistant who took up the viola just three and a half years ago; and a French horn player who was able to make it through the vigorous preparation and performance despite a tremor from her Parkinson’s disease.
 
“It was a musically enthusiastic, even obsessive, bunch. Most spend countless hours a week practicing and playing in wind bands or community orchestras or chamber groups, in many cases more than one,” writes the New York Times. “It’s an older group. Many returned to music with fervor in retirement or in homes recently emptied of growing children. For some, music-making is the backbone of their social ties or an escape from the pressures of work.”

You can read the entire story here. 

The Four Seasons Hotel Baltimore continues to get plenty of ink in USA Today. 

In a recent article, the newspaper wrote about Baltimore developer Michael Beatty's decade-long effort to bring the hotel to Charm City. 

"Over the last decade, Beatty's firm has been steadily developing the upscale Harbor East neighborhood along the harbor near trendy Fells Point where the glass-wrapped Four Seasons tower stands," USA Today writes in its story titled "Four Seasons Bets Big on Baltimore."

"The pedestrian-friendly neighborhood contains several towers with pricey corporate offices, apartments and four other hotels including a Hilton Garden Inn and the Baltimore Marriott Waterfront. Harbor East's shopping options include national and local clothing shops (Anthropologie and J. Crew will open locations later this summer), as well as a Whole Foods supermarket."

You can read the rest of the story here.

A Baltimore social media and advertising campaign has caught the attention of Ad Week. 

WTMD and Urbanite magazine have partnered on a Foursquare promotion that involves giving away prizes to folks who have the most check-ins at participating shops and restaurants. 

"This is really the pivot point of where traditional and new media can exist together to enhance a station and magazine's stature in the community, sell more ads and sponsorships," WTMD General Manager Steve Yasko tells Ad Week. The station is preparing to move to a larger space in the winter. 

You can read the entire Ad Week story here. 

The Washington Post has given a shout out to the fast-growing Howard County theater troupe Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. 

The theater made headlines recently when it announced that it is moving from the county to downtown Baltimore's Mercantile Trust Building in 2014. The move will make it the city's third largest theater company, after Center Stage and Everyman Theatre.

The Mercantile building is currently a nightclub, featuring liquor, a disco ball and a basement bar called the Bedroom.  The renovation to turn this nightclub into a theater fit for Shakespeare will take $4 million.
 
"The expansion into Baltimore is a major development for a $540,000-budget troupe that has grown steadily since it opened a decade ago with a Twelfth Night" that drew 100 people, the Post writes. 

You can read the entire story here. 

Next time you pull off to the side of the road for a fire truck, you may just see an advertisement rolling by your window as well.
 
The idea to paint corporate logos on Baltimore City fire engines was proposed to help increase income at a time of dwindling tax revenue. And the move has caught the eye of several national news outlets, including the New York Times.

"Baltimore is joining dozens of other financially struggling cities, transit systems and school districts around the country that are trying to weather the economic downturn by selling advertisements, naming rights and sponsorships to raise money," the New York Times writes.

Three Baltimore fire companies are set to close later this summer and selling ads on fire trucks could help more companies avoid the same fate.
 
It is unclear whether the legislation will pass any time soon as Baltimore City officials “have expressed doubts about whether the proposal would generate enough money to keep even one fire company open," the Times writes. 
 
Read more about the proposed advertising scheme here. 

Baltimore may have shed its image as the gritty, crime-infested city depicted in the The Wire. That's according to USA Today, which credits the Four Seasons Baltimore as the watershed development that has helped Baltimore's image. It features a 44-image slideshow of the property. 

"The Four Seasons Baltimore hotel tower is the newest tower on Baltimore's skyline in the upscale Harbor East neighborhood, which contains retail shops, restaurants, galleries, apartments and office space," USA Today writes. "The hip retail shop Anthropologie will open a location in the hotel complex in late summer."

Check out the slideshow here. 

Top Haunts, which bills itself as a "magazine for haunt industry professionals," has recognized Jessup's Bennett's Curse as one of the top attractions for people who like to be spooked. 

The Howard County attraction is one of 23 scary spots featured in its haunted attractions' poll. Bennett's Curse shares the honor with The Bates Motel & Haunted Hayride in Glen Mills, Pa., and Disturbia Haunted House in Huntsville, Ala. 

You can check out the magazine and poll here. 

Baltimore came out on top in more than one Battle of the Beltways. 

Not only did the Baltimore Orioles beat the Washington Nationals but the city bested its rival at A Taste of Two Cities, a food truck competition held Saturday at the Westport Waterfront. It was organized by food truck owner Damian Bohager. 
 
First place went to Baltimore’s Gypsy Queen food truck, followed by the Red Hook Lobster truck of D.C. in second and Baltimore’s Miss Shirley’s truck in third.
 
A panel of six judges, three from each city, determined the winner. Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, a big supporter of Baltimore’s food trucks, presented the Mayor’s Cup to Gypsy Queen.
 
The People’s Choice awards, which were decided by competition visitors via text, went to D.C.’s the Cajunator and Baltimore’s Souper Freak. 

Read more about it in the Baltimore Sun and the Washington Post. 

Maryland is sitting on ancient water.  

Some of the groundwater in the upper Patapsco aquifer is more than a million years old, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. 

"Groundwater age indicates the length of time that a sample of water has been in the ground since infiltrating from the land surface," the U.S. Geological Survey says in a news release. "This study reveals that modern pumping in southern Maryland west of the Chesapeake Bay and on the Eastern Shore is tapping groundwater resources that have accumulated in the aquifer over multiple cycles of climate change and are not quickly recharging." 

There are few aquifers in the world containing million-year-old groundwater, according to the USGS. They include the Nubian aquifer in the Sahara Desert, Canada's Alberta Basin and the Great Artesian Basin in Australia. 

The Maryland Racing Commission has decided that thoroughbred racehorse Secretariat holds the all-time record race time for the Triple Crown.

This was after looking at new evidence presented that showed the horse ran the Preakness Stakes on May 19, 1973 in 1:53.

"The evidence was 'totally convincing,' said one commissioner, John McDaniel," the New York Times writes. “ 'Injustice was done, and we needed to correct it.' Secretariat finally holds the record for all three Triple Crown races."

You can read the entire story here. 

Did you ever watch an episode of Ace of Cakes and think "hey, I could do that?"

Well it's now time to put your hubris to the test. 

The so-called bad boy of baking Duff Goldman is opening Cakemix in Los Angeles. It's DIY for the bakers, the Los Angeles Times reports. 

"Cakemix is for anyone off the street who wants to go wild with a tube of buttercream. By decorating a cake, that is," the Times writes. 

You get to choose between a 6-inch or 9-inch cake and then get fondant, buttercream, edible spray paint and the help of an on-staff decorator. 

Cakemix is opening this month next to Charm City Cakes West, his L.A. outpost of the Remington bakery featured in the Food Network show.  

You can read the entire story here. 

Andrew Zimmern spent three days eating through Baltimore’s finest fare for his Travel Channel show Bizarre Foods America this week.  Baltimore will be a part of the show’s seventh season, which begins airing sometime this fall.
 
Zimmern’s Baltimore stops included Chap’s Pit Beef, Hollins Market, Lexington Market, the Arabbers' Carlton Street Stables, and Woodberry Kitchen. He also spent time on the Eastern Shore and in Baltimore County, where he tweeted that Ellicott City restaurant Shin Chon “is one of top ten Korean BBQ experiences in America. A must for anyone who loves food. Major discovery.”
 
Read more about Zimmern’s in the Baltimore Sun story.