Episode 12-- 'LoisLife' Blog-Blues, in Bawlmore & Beyond...

...I just got back to B-town last Wed after being away on a biz trip to Toledo, OH for over a month.

'Sitcom-style' bloggers aren't supposed to succumb to the blues, I know. Fact is, though, I really HATED being so long away from home & the city I love.

When I got back, I spent 3 days just running to music events, and visiting with friends. Then on Mon I sort of collapsed for a while and cried...After all that time away, I guess I was feeling a bit displaced, dispirited, and generally run-down.

But this very 'musically-inspired,' California-based artist/ writer friend of mine, Wayne Wolfson, just made me this lovely 'LoisBlueCity' pastel (featured above left), and it really has helped cheer me up. The city is supposed to be Seattle, not Bmore, according to Wayne, but the green 'L' on the door really does stand for 'Lois' (or so he claims)...

....It also cheers me to think that though I have been away a while from both Bmore & blogging, this Blog, and some of my Blogstars, are starting to become better known...In July, for example, this Blog and one of its 'LL Blogstars,' Alex, were featured on a pretty noteworthy--and wickedly funny--celebrity gossip blog out of the UK ("Madame Arcati").

So while my Blogstars may not yet be cultural icons of 'Michael Phelpsian' proportions quite, we are starting to get some out-of-town (and even international) press...

I did catch a couple of super-cool, super-artsy 'Bawlmorean' events right before I left town BTW, at the very end of July.

At Artscape, several good friends & I enjoyed Joan Jett's live Saturn Stage concert, and also the Paul Taylor Dance Company's performance, immensely. Check out this really great up-close shot of Joan I found on Flickr (my own camera doesn't zoom like this!), and the cool YouTube vid someone uploaded of her singing "Crimson & Clover."

I especially loved the Cab Calloway / Billie Holiday Vocal Competition, at which the lovely Tia Dae (1st place winner- B.H. Competition) and my friend, Baltimore's own Sujay Pathak, truly stole the show (I thought so, anyway, though Sujay placed 2nd in the C.C. competition for the 2nd yr in a row). If you're a Bmore local, Sujay performs live regularly Sat nights at Joe Squared Pizza (7-9 PM) in its Station North District, check his schedule out here.

Most of my Artscape pics sucked, but this very talented artist/ photographer I met, Dorret Oosterhoff, took some really great ones, esp of a few of the Cab Calloway & Billie Holiday vocalists. (Dorret's also a pretty accomplished quiltmaker & teacher...you can learn some more about Dorret & visit her wonderful quilts here.)

Just before I left for Ohio, I ALSO caught the live WTMD taping of Caleb Stine's (country/ folk artist) and Salim's (hip hop artist) awesome collaborative performance at the 8 x 10 on 7/26. The show was part of WTMD's "Baltimore Music Project," the remarkable brainchild of Baltimore Unsigned's host Sam Sessa...visit these links to learn more.

From that time on (7/28-just recently) I was mostly away in Toledo, OH, getting by as well as I could...I don't want to be too "down" on Toledo: the city really has the most beautiful "riverfront view" (some Bmore architects were hired to help create this), and it retains many cool features of the magnificent, artsy city it once was (& hopefully will soon be again).

Still, its downtown can feel pretty deserted & dreary often enough, esp to an exiled, homesick Bawlmorean...so I could kinda relate to this dreary downtown-Toledo inspired tune which John Denver penned & recorded some time ago.

I did return briefly over 8/23-8/24 wkend, long enough to mellow out at the Baltimore Songwriters Association's summer showcase at the beautiful Lurman Woodland Theatre in Catonsville, hearing some of my favorite local musicians, Kate Maguire, Sahffi, Sarah Pinsker & The Stalking Horses sing as evening settled in among the trees...

And I arrived home for good mid-last week, just in time for my friend Ed Neenan's ("e.joseph" of the "e.joseph and the Phantom Heart" band) fabulous "All The Medicine in the World" CD release party at Sonar last Fri (8/29), and the awesome line-up of bands he put together too...David Daniel, FFHH, & Red This Ever.

Visit these bands' sites & check 'em out, they're all quite cool...I'm givin' out free "LoisLife" points too if you can guess which band's lead singer incorporates balloon tricks (helium sucking included) into the show. Redeemable of course at a "LoisLife" rest stop near you... ;)

Copyright 2008 by Lois

Actually I'm super-excited about some pretty huge local music events coming up in the next few days/ wks:

This Fri night (9/5) at 7 PM at the 8 x 10, is a benefit concert for Susie Mudd (much-beloved editor of the 20-yr old publication 'Music Monthly', and a great supporter of local music)...Susie recently weathered a triple-bypass and is recovering well. A couple of local bands/musicians, incl a friend of mine, Clarissa, will be performing. Tix $15.

Also upcoming is Fools & Horses' "I Am the Ghost" CD release party, 9/13 at the Recher Theatre, in Towson (a Bmore 'burb)...F & H is a really phenomenal band, a National Starbucks CD Winner, winner of 3 WAMMIES, a regular on WTMD and a really good "LoisLife" friend...Tix $10 pp can be purchased here.

Fast-approaching is the Baltimore Music Conference (9/17-9/20), Bmore's huge music event at which over 100 bands and DJs will be showcased at venues across the city. All-access badges, passes & showcase tix can be purchased in advance here...

The BMC includes many"LoisLife"-friendly musicians & bands (Artherius Johnson, e.joseph and the Phantom Heart, Ellen Cherry, Gary B & the Notions, Michele McTierney, The Bad Influence Band, to name a few), & many more who will become such, I daresay. For full line-up, visit here, & visit their MySpace for more info & updates.

Episode 11--Summer-Hons, Film Stars & Artists Attack!!!

Summer's rolled around, and again I've gotten really behind in blogging (2 months behind, I'm ashamed to say).

Aaargh....Sorry. Wish I were better at keeping up. Like everyone else here in Bmore, I'm constantly juggling. ...Not half as successfully as many of the local artists, musicians, leaders & activists I admire, unfortunately.

I've had some cool experiences in 'indie, artsy Bmore,' though I don't know I'd call them 'sitcom-inspired adventures' per se.

Met John Waters briefly at the MD Film Fest in early May, and "snapped" him with one of my Blogstars, Alex (Episode 6). Hung out at Honfest with a couple of friends recently, though Waters himself was boycotting.

And I dropped in on a couple of local poetry and music events, and met some new poets and musicians along the way. ...All in all, I'd describe this time as pretty peaceful. A little break from all the weird drama I've faced earlier this year which, no doubt, will do me a world of good.

Still, this is Bmore--the place where mischief and strange occurrences reign supreme--so I will not get too used to the lull.

They just started filming the big Zellwegger movie, "My One and Only," here in Btown two weeks ago. While I haven't yet run into the film's cast [Sex & the City's heart-throb "Mr. Big" (Chris Noth) among them, and I heard Kevin Bacon just signed up too] or crew, filming runs through July so there's still plenty of time for that.

Plus, there's bound to be tons of locals and out-of-towners, far more intriguing and strangely seductive than any Hollywood filmstars or crew, showing up at our world-renowned summer arts events, of that I'm sure.

Artscape, "America's largest free public arts festival," fast approaching on July 18-20th, is sure to draw plenty; and the "Baltimore Erotic Arts Festival" (July 1-31st) at The Load of Fun Gallerie is sure to attract more such folk, too.

I'll keep my eyes and ears open, and report back more frequently, now that summer's on. If you're a veteran of Bawlmorean artsy-inspired summer strangeness, you'll stay wary & alert, too!

Copyright 2008 by Lois

The lovely "Hons" in this episode's pic (exhibiting their won'erful sense of kitchy "Hon-style" on the Avenue June 15th during Honfest, of course) are Jeannie, Kathy, and Cheryl (clockwise from left).

To view more cool pics incl the one I snapped of John Waters and my friend and Blogstar Alex (Episode 6) at the May 2nd airing of his FilmFest pick at The Charles, visit my LoisLife photosets on Flickr.

Alex, a wonderful local actress, performs next in Nonstop Realism. The play, part of the Baltimore Playwrights Festival & billed as "an evening on nonsense no-nonsense humor," shows at the Strand Theatre, 1823 N. Charles Street, from July 17th-Aug 3rd. The BPF runs now through Aug 31 at various local theatres. It showcases plays by Maryland and Washington, DC playwrights (NR is by Bmore playwright Tim Paggi).

This wkend Bmore hosts the African American Heritage Festival, and about a zillion other things. To keep up with it all this summer, follow the LL Fun Tips on the right side of my blog. Check the "Favorite Bmore Social, Networking, & Event-Planning Groups/ websites" links a bit farther down, too.

Tomorrow night (Fri, June 27th) at 9 PM, I'll be at El Rancho Grande, a coffeehouse in Hampden (3608 Falls Road, Baltimore), for a live music event with wonderfully gifted Bmore musician (and LL friend/ Blogstar) Ellen Cherry. Ellen will be performing with two terrific out-of-town musicians she discovered at a songwriting event in Wisconsin, Chris Simmons (UK) and Danielle Gasparro (NYC). To learn more, go to the Baltimore Live Music Meetup site.

On Sunday, June 29th, from 4-6 pm, I'll be at Joe Squared Pizza and Bar, 133 W. North Avenue (across from The Load of Fun) for a musical tribute to Jonathan Gorrie. He was the Bobwhites' guitarist, and only 38 when he died recently and quite unexpectedly of what appears to have been a heart attack.

Jonathan was much loved, and will be deeply missed. To learn more about Jon, view the Friends of Jonathan Gorrie Blog set up in his memory; his bio; and the obit in the Baltimore Sun.

Sadly, John Waters (Jr.)'s father passed away recently, too. John Waters, Sr. was 91 when he died.

"He made us always feel safe," John Waters, Jr., said of his Dad, who founded a commercial fire-extinguisher business, and won a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Fire Equipment Distributors, a group he helped found. "Is that not the most important thing a parent could do for his children?" To view the full obit, click here.