Baltimore at Bergdorf's?

Walking up 5th Avenue on my way to Central Park last Friday, a certain bosomy drag queen in a voluptuous red dress caught my eye...

...in the window of Bergdorf Goodman?Wait a minute. Divine? Is that you?

And hold up, Bergdorf...I recognize that robot family...

...and those creepy cocoon yarn things...And that GIANT PINK POODLE!

Last year, it was the New Yorker that commented on New York's love for the weird, wonderful world of Baltimore musicals. This year, it seems that one of the city's schmanciest window trend setters is using the vibrant creepiness of the amazing American Visionary Art Museum to showcase summer collections the likes of Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, and Michael Kors.

Even The Economist has something to say:Next stop, London? Oh Bmore, you make me proud. Here are ze rest of ze vonderful vindows:

Simon, Martin and Wood?

Judge for yourself...

[Bassman Chris Wood and Keystraordinaire John Medeski...or is it?]

...but it looks to me like our favorite self-aggrandizing TV visionary and defender of the good old days of journalism is moonlighting as the fingers leg of the avant garde jazz trio Medeski Martin and Wood.

[The receded hairline, those grand ears, the dark, sunken eyes and that huge forehead scrunched in intense, creative thought...]

Just look at those profiles. David Simon, I'm on to you.

Medeski Martin and Wood played in Bmore back on June 5th, and though my Friday night sun salutationfest overlapped with opener Wood Brothers, a favorite (must be my thing for ruggedly melty voices and upright bassmen), the show kept me rapt with its mixture of infectious funk licks and tight improvisation. Not to mention its Baltimore-themed doppelgangers.

Soul singin'

Raphael Saadiq at Ram's Head--Monday, March 23, 2009

What's the deal with all this neo soul all of a sudden? Where'd that neo come from?

Forget the unstable remixed divas... close your eyes on this one and you're like, "is that Stevie?"

Smart marigold suit, skinny tie, thick black glasses. Mmm, mmm. Songs almost exclusively about love or lovin', sweet little choreographed shimmies, and finger-snapping backup singers.

Raphael Saadiq is straight soul.

Listen here.

[Thanks to my fly roommate, whose sweet article got him free tix and me the chance to be his plus 1]

Art Urbain de Montréal

Somehow I knew this city would have its fill of illegally painted exteriors.

Per Wooster Collective, web mecca for urban artists (or urban artphiles, comme moi), the best time to graf in Montreal is at night, in the middle of winter.

"Sure it is -30 [Celsius, mind you] outside but all the snow lowers visibility and creates large snow dunes near walls. Bring big coats, hats and shoes. One of the best features of this city is the lack of buffing. You put up something in Montreal, it is likely to be there for the next decade.... " [2003]

The city's also been known to host street art treasure hunts, and produce illicit art that proactively works towards urban renewal--like when Roadsworth painted bike lanes in the streets after 9/11 in an attempt to illuminate, and therefore lessen, the city's dependence on oil.

And now, a scrollshow of works.

It's Fat Tuesday!

Go, be gluttonous and unruly.

Pretend you're in N'Awlins with Baltimore's most raucous Dixieland horn-blowers, Sac Au Lait, tonight at the Windup Space. 9 pm!

C'est free!

Happy Thought Chocolate

Hershey's got you bogged down by negative corporate consumer energy? Lindt infusing your subconscious with airs of snobbery and greed?

This Valentines Day, let your chocolate bring you closer to enlightenment.

You need chocolate that's been blessed by monks!

Calling themselves "a leader in the revolutionary field of intention-enhanced food," Intentional Chocolate offers such chocolate products as truffles, bars, and hot cocoa--every bit of which has been infused with the prayers of Tibetan monks.

All chocolate products at Intentional Chocolate is embedded with this intention:

“Whoever consumes this chocolate will manifest optimal health and functioning at physical, emotional and mental levels, and in particular will enjoy an increased sense of energy, vigor and well-being for the benefit of all beings.”

No word on whether "optimal health and functioning" means avoidance of weight gain when consumed in excess. I'll keep you posted.

Thursday Things

Tonight's looking interesting.

7:00 at the Windup Space is Ignite Baltimore, an urban forum of sorts that gives 16 Bmore influencers 5 minutes and 20 power point slides each to speak about a topic that's meant to "ignite Baltimore." Looks like it's sold out, but they're inviting people to show up at 6:00 to try and reserve a spot. I also heard a rumor that Joe Squared will have free pizza (which very well may be too good to be true).


And then,

Heard from a friend that Ben Frock and the Subatomic Particles, the avant gardeiest of jazz quartets (who recently released a new EP), will be playing tonight at Hon Bar--my favorite neighborhood bar that serves Resurrection on tap. This will likely happen laterish, probably after 10:00.

And then tomorrow's Friday!

I LEGO N.Y.

Chirstoph Niemann's Abstract City blog for the NY Times was my favorite thing about today.

http://niemann.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/i-lego-ny/

Urbanizing Amish Country

Back in December, an Urbanite article took me out to the quaint and colorful Lancaster, PA to dispel the popular myth that it's a tired town with nothing but women in bonnets selling shoofly pies (mmm). In fact, it's a city with galleries showing hot pictures of Debbie Harry, whose mayor drops the F-bomb!

Read the article in the actual magazine--it's free!--or online HERE.

Below are photos.

[Lancaster Market--Romanesque revivalized]

[Where the art is]

[At one stall, Dan Stoltzfus stood behind his baked goods. Tall, dressed in a blue collared shirt and black pants, he toted a straw hat and wore a long gray beard, sans moustache—a married Amish man’s tag. He tensed a bit when he saw my camera and notebook—many members of the Amish community are wary of camera-toting tourists and reporters looking for colorful features—then pointed to a large jar full of pickled vegetables. “Chow-chow,” he said. “It’s our best seller, won a blue ribbon. Take a picture of it,” he added. “Just leave me out of it.]

[Pretzels, apples, Things in Jars]

[Facades, facades, facades]


[Green and crafty]


[Post industry]

George Bush hates cheese, French people

Foodies and extravagants across America best stock up on their delicacies, fast. George Bush, in one of his last acts as President, raised tariffs on such imported fine goods as chocolate, truffles, foie gras (what Washington trade bureaucrats call "fatty livers of ducks and geese," says the Washington Post).

The biggest hit came on Roquefort cheese--the infamously stinky marbled and crumbly blue cheese crafted and cultivated in the 600-person town of Roquefort, France. Bush imposed a 300% tarriff on the cheese, for reasons not many seem to understand. The act not only will make Roquefort too expensive for most (me) to be able to enjoy, it was a major statement (if symbolic) to France as a whole. The 600-person town of Roquefort, which sustains itself almost wholly on the production of this cheese, is expected to feel the harshest effects of this decision.

These tariffs go into effect in March, and will likely raise prices significantly on these imported fine foods.

As the Economist's Free Exchange blog reports:

Yes, while Europeans will be relishing delicious bleu cheese, Americans can eat hormone-injected beef with a side of stale freedom fries.

Below you'll find my premature homage to the soon-to-be extinguished odor of this sublime piece of bovine mastery: The Christmas dinner I prepared this year. Three quarters of the dishes featured Roquefort in some way. Maybe it was a premonition?

[Brussels sprouts with Roquefort, glazed pecans and a balsalmic reduction.]

[L: Mixed greens with candied walnuts, blood oranges and pomegranates.
R: Butternut squash/apple soup with Roquefort garnish.]


[Oh, a time of such innocent indulgence.]

Steamed Veggies

"Vegetarians have better sex," reads the tagline for PETA's commercial that was recently rejected for air during the Super Bowl by NBC.

Here's what the Washington Post has to say. Lisa de Moraes makes it seem the whole thing was an overblown stunt to avoid paying the exorbitant Super Bowl TV ad spot fees (get your commercial banned, get a whole bunch of press about it, and people will youtube the shit out of it). First naked women on billboards, now sexy vegetables? PETA! Get ahold of yourself.

See for yourself. I, for one, think they could have gone way further with this one. The carrot scene in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, anyone?

INAUGURATION POMP REPORT - Obamatown!

Georgetown, Monday, January 19, 2009.

On Monday, my options were Miley Cyrus or figure out your own damn Inauguration Pomp for the day. I decided to take advantage of the absence of programming and head over to the Manifest Hope: DC gallery on 33rd and M in Georgetown to see Shepard Fairey's big and famous Obama painting.

The walk over the bridge to Geor--ahem, if I may--Obamatown was cold and blustery, my lips were chapped, my toes aching and senseless. I was about to say "This sucks, I'm going in a Starbucks where it's warm," until...

TOM HANKS!

Standing all casual and jolly cheeked on the corner of 31st and M, wearing jeans, a long wool coat and these sweet Wayfarers, stopping politely to take a picture with an excited fan. And so yes, his movie star smile warmed me up, and I continued on my trek.

On the way to the gallery, I took in other such Inauguration Pomp sights as:

A Logan Tavern too crowded with yuppietypes to eat lunch in. : (

More yogis for Obama! (Ombama. That's a good one.)


A motorcade! Obama?


An absurd line outside another stupid cupcake place. Inauguration Pompsters love cupcakes. Especially if the cupcakes are featured on the Today show.