Mixolo (noun): mix + solo. A social networking company that helps those on their own find like-minded strangers to hang with.
Carolyn Walton Lynch was dying to see The Ring Cycle at the Kennedy Center. But she was having trouble finding a friend interested in the arduous – and pricey – undertaking, and didn’t want to go alone.
It was 2006. Ed Schrader had just moved to Baltimore from a town in Upstate New York that didn’t exactly have a booming arts scene. He was standing in an elevator, holding a metal CD rack with a contact mic connected to it. Although he had no specific plans for this pairing of random objects, besides to annoy his roommates, a local artist who shared the elevator with him saw something endearing in this strange, scrawny kid. The artist asked him if he wanted to play at The Copy Cat that Friday.
A decade later, Schrader is best known as the musician and namesake behind the two-piece rock duo Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, but did you know he’s also a talk-show host? In February, he recorded the first episode of his rebooted The Ed Schrader Show; a monthly event at The Metro Gallery that playfully mocks late night TV programs while allowing Schrader to interview some of the best creative types around town. To begin that night, he recounted an apt microcosmic vignette of the Baltimore art scene, which has a “’let’s see what you got’ kind of attitude,” he says.
Besides the nationally touted music scene, Baltimore’s visual art, film, and poetry scenes are also on the rise. Schrader is one of many who are hopping on the city’s newest, but fledgling creative endeavors: the podcast.
Developers continue to look east as they search for more harbor-side space to build offices, shops and other stuff that was originally found downtown. The Baltimore Business Journal reports a local firm is proposing to build four office towers in Canton. Don’t worry, fun-lovers. There will be shopping and entertainment, too.
“He blew my mind!” That’s a quote from acclaimed film director Quentin Tarantino about entertainer and mentalist Joe Riggs. For someone like Tarantino (who himself makes a living blowing minds) to offer such an endorsement has to mean something. And if you’ve ever been to see a mentalist (or deductionist or psychological entertainer, as they’re sometimes called) you know how truly astounding it can be. But Joe Riggs is at the top of his game. Raised by psychic readers (how many of us can say that?), Joe quickly saw through their methods and grew into a riveting and intense Mental Specialist. Attendees will be able to interact with Joe one-on-one in a very special appearance Thursday, Sept 4th at Johnny’s Downstairs.
One devoted reader emailed me over the weekend to tell me how much he and his family enjoyed the Grand Prix. I invited him to share his experience with you. His enthusiastic first-person account of a day at the races will have you marking your calendar for 2014!
It also gives me the opportunity to introduce a reader-driven column that I have wanted to publish on the Baltimore Fishbowl for some time. It is called “Rant or Rave” and it will give our readers the chance to let the Baltimore Fishbowl audience know about a local place or thing that is spectacularly wonderful or awful. Please don’t abuse the opportunity with shameless plugs or angry diatribes. (Not that anyone in the Baltimore Fishbowl would ever resort to such behavior!) If you have a rant or rave you care to share, email me at [email protected]m. -SD
On Saturday our little family (my wife, our two daughters, a friend and I) went downtown to check out the American LeMans Series portion of the Baltimore Grand Prix. Race organizers had been promising a lot: a full day of auto racing through the streets of downtown, a festival of entertainment in the race village, and a rock concert by the band “Live” to top it off at the end of the day. And they did not disappoint. (Full disclosure: fast cars and loud music are two of my great passions!) We all agreed the day’s events were extremely well-organized and well worth the nearly $90 price of admission.
The “ALMS” races, as they are called, promise to be among the most frenetic in all of automobile racing: three different classes of cars race each other on the same track at the same time. It is literally three races in one. The “slower” class of cars are stock BMW’s and Porsches, plenty loud and fast enough to stand alone as an enjoyable car race to see in person. But, then, pile on a second class of Ferraris and Saleen style cars, together with a third class of rocket-fast LeMans style cars, and you have a schmorgasbord of high octane racing to please even the most discerning of race fans. With so many different types of racers sharing the track, it was no surprise that a multi-car crash delayed the race for a half hour on the race’s very first lap!
Courtesy Bmore Media – Liam Flynn’s Ale House in the Station North Arts and Entertainment District is expanding with additional seating and a new kitchen, featuring Scottish and Irish favorites to go with their popular beers and ales.
The expansion will increase the Ale House’s footprint within the North Avenue Market building where it’s located from 2,200 square feet to 3,000 square feet, says Liam Flynn, who co-owns the bar with wife Jessica. The Ale House currently seats about 64 and after the renovation, it will increase its capacity to about 100 with new outdoor tables and more seats at the bar. The new kitchen should be ready by August.
