What Weekly: Baltimore Folk Festival

Read it at What Weekly.

City Paper: Folk Revival

Alex Champagne is the kind of guy you’ll see picking up random jobs wherever he can. He’s always busy—you can find proof in the five W-9s he filed last year. Between his record label, setting up stages at events, working sound at venues, and playing in bands, he’s found himself near the center of Baltimore’s folk scene—though Champagne would argue “scene” isn’t the exact word.

“There’s not necessarily a folk music scene here,” he says, “but there are a number of folk artists that group together in a community.”

Champagne, who also heads up Scenic Route Recordings, hopes to bolster Baltimore’s budding folk community with the first-ever Baltimore Folk Fest, which he likes to refer to as BFF.

“There are a lot of cool festivals in Baltimore,” Champagne says. “But you don’t see these great folk artists” playing those festivals. After noticing the lack of exposure for folk acts, he thought he might address the issue by organizing a dedicated folk festival in Charm City.

What started as an idea to host a gathering of such artists became a reality when Flying Dog Brewery agreed to support the nascent event and suggested timing the event for the second Friday of Baltimore Beer Week, when 12 local and regional folk acts will take over two venues in the Station North Arts District.

Sandy Robson, local singer-songwriter who performs under the name Letitia VanSant, has helped Champagne with promotion of the festival.

“I admire Alex because he has the higher goals of music in mind,” says Robson, who will be playing at the Joe Squared stage.

Robson sees the event as a chance for local musicians to connect, meet each other, and collaborate.

“I’m drawn to folk music because it’s inclusive,” she says. “It can accommodate the widest range of musicians, from someone who only knows a few chords to the most excellent players.”

“In Baltimore, it seems so effortless to meet people,” Champagne says. “Once we got the word out about the festival, 20-25 percent of the bands actually approached me.

Robson feels there’s a need for more good folk venues in the city and hopes BFF is a step toward changing that. “People are psyched to have their own version of a folk fest,” she says. “Instead of saying, ‘Why doesn’t Baltimore have it?’ hopefully this will spur similar events and pull more folk musicians out of the woodwork.”

BFF is made more distinctive by its setting in the city: Live folk isn’t normally associated with urban locations. “With folk music, people want to be out in the country,” she says. Robson sees the festival as an opportunity to show off some of the talented artists here.

“Alex has hit upon something unique,” says Jason Reed of Her Fantastic Cats, a foot-stomping one-man banjo act. (Disclosure: Reed also plays in the Barnyard Sharks with CP senior editor Baynard Woods.)

“This is a similar festival structure to others in Baltimore, but usually folk festivals are geared around a different type of structure—they all happen outside the city on a farm.” He notes that, when we see live folk, it’s usually about escaping our hectic, everyday lives. We drive far from the city, pitch our tents, and drink around a fire. “I really respect that [Champagne] put it right on North Avenue,” says Reed. “It’s city folk.”

Reed hasn’t heard of anything like the festival in Baltimore and feels it’s necessary to expose the folk community to a wider audience. “The benefit that it will have for the Baltimore scene is that it gives it at least some sort of critical mass. Even if some people disagree with it being [called] folk, it’s there,” he says, noting the sometimes divergent definitions of “folk” and the various bands that fall into the genre.

The Alternate Routes, for instance, is an alt-rock group that cites folk as an influence. Tim Warren, the band’s lead vocalist and guitar player, says the band has played dozens of festivals, but especially likes “the local, late-night, start-up feel this one has.”

“I think folk music is a cool combination of personal and historical,” Warren says. “Nowadays it seems like folk musicians are trying to bring their own story into the fray so that they can leave a mark and attempt to be a part of the history themselves.”

Champagne’s own connection to folk music stems from his history. It began in childhood, at massive family reunions in the North Carolina countryside, when his mom’s cousins would pull out guitars around a campfire and his great grandmother would play along on harmonica. “That was my first exposure to folk music,” says Champagne.

Now, drinking beer at a bar in Federal Hill, where it took him about 20 minutes to find a parking spot, it seems as though he’s as far away from that rural childhood as possible. Through BFF, though, Champagne has devised a way to recreate that folky feeling. “Music’s really been the only thing I ever cared about.”

Baltimore Folk Festival takes place Friday, Oct. 26, 6 p.m. - 1 a.m., at Joe Squared and the Windup Space. For more information visit baltimorefolkfest.com

Read it at City Paper. 

Baltimore Magazine The Chatter: Make way for Harbor Point

Baltimore’s inner harbor could be looking at a new addition. Plans for the Harbor Point development—to be located between Harbor East and Fells Point, as the name suggests—were approved Thursday by Baltimore’s Urban Design and Architecture Review panel,according to The Baltimore Sun.

Exelon, an energy provider that delivers electricity and natural gas to companies including BGE, plans to make its headquarters at the Harbor Point development, at the former site of the Allied Signal chromium plant.

Designed by Baltimore-based architectural firm Ayers Saint Gross, the proposed 27-acre development includes office and retail space, restaurants, and hotels. Plans show a cultural use building at the entrance to the inner harbor and an eight-acre park marked at its entrance by Thames Street and continuing Harbor East’s existing waterfront promenade.

Designs for a bridge to extend South Central Avenue across the canal that separates Harbor East from Harbor Point are in the works, but plans have yet to be released by the Department of Transportation.

The approval by the Urban Design and Architecture Review panel clears the way for the plan’s consideration by City Council.

While we like this idea—sounds like an extension of Harbor East—we hope the ritzy new development doesn’t overshadow the old-fashioned charm of its neighbor, historic Fells Point. —This post was written by summer editorial intern Rebecca Kirkman

Read it at Baltimore magazine.

Baltimore magazine: The Launch September 2012

Read it at Baltimore magazine.

Baltimore Magazine: Robert McClintock vs. Artscape

[Image courtesy of RobertMcClintock.com]

Baltimore artist Robert McClintock—most famous for his portraits of dogs and local landmarks—won’t be at Artscape this weekend, and he’s encouraging others to skip the event, too. Through Twitter and e-mail blasts, the artist has suggested locals “opt out” of the art and music festival.

McClintock said the idea comes from his inability to pass the event’s juried application process last year, despite his participation from 2001 to 2010.

“Yes, I’m bitter that I didn’t get into Artscape,” said McClintock in a phone interview. “I’m a local artist promoting the city, and people look for me there.”

Artscape’s organizers aren’t worried about McClintock’s suggestion to skip the event. “The point of Artscape is to foster artists, and if that [campaign] helps him as an artist to sell art, then at the end of the day we wish him all the best,” said Tracy Baskerville, communications director at Baltimore Office of Promotion of the Arts.

McClintock didn’t apply this year, instead choosing to opt out of the festival. He feels Artscape is forgetting its roots in an effort to become nationally recognized. “They invite people from around the country to come here when I think it should be a Baltimore-based event supporting Baltimore artists,” he said.

Baskerville attributes the increasing number of regional and national artists to the event’s popularity. “As Artscape’s reputation has grown, more artists from around the nation want to participate,” said Bakersville of the specific markets McClintock’s work falls under. She pointed out that Artscape’s performing arts are still largely local groups.

McClintock’s offering an alternative to the event at his Fells Point gallery, where he’ll be giving away free signed and framed mini-prints (if you spend $45 first, according to the gallery’s Facebook page).

After getting some backlash from a customer, according to The Baltimore Sun, and some not-so-nice comments on Twitter, McClintock has softened his campaign.

“Not everybody in the world goes to Artscape,” he said “If you don’t want to watch the Super Bowl you can watch Gone with the Wind on another channel. It’s something else to do."

—This post was written by editorial summer intern Rebecca Kirkman
 
Read it at Baltimore magazine.

Baltimore Magazine: Can beer tasting at The Wine Market

When we think can beers, we usually think Natty Boh or Miller Lite. But there's more to cans than mass-produced light lagers, and we tried them ourselves last night at Wine Market Bistro's can beer tasting.
In a room nestled off of the Locust Point restaurant's main dining area, 13 canned beers sat in a line along a makeshift bar on one end of the room. With so many choices, we grabbed our tumblers and decided to work our way from left to right.

The event was casual, with no formal introduction of the beers, but we got a chance to chat with The Wine Market's owner, Chris Spann, and beer manager, Brendan Kirlin, with each refill.

We were first offered a generous three-ounce pour of Blanche de Bruxelles, a coriander and orange peel infused witbier from Belgium. The only imported beer, it gave a special authority to the idea of canned beer—if a Belgian brewery established in 1876 cans its beer, why not everyone?

One thing to note: Many craft beer enthusiasts dislike cans because of the aluminum taste drinking from the can adds to the beer's flavor. This was thoughtfully avoided because our samples were poured into glasses. And that’s what you should do anyway with a good beer—pour it into a glass.

We overheard a lot of home-brewing conversation from the crowd of about 50 people standing around tables, but not everyone is a beer expert, and the hosts were happy to explain the types of beers available. Small menus listing the cans, and tasting notes for each, were scattered on the tables with pens included so we could keep track of the beers.

There were a wide range of styles, from 21st Amendment's light and fruity wheat beer Hell or High Watermelon to Oskar Blues’s dark and chocolaty Scottish strong ale Old Chub. Of course, Resurrection, the local favorite from Brewer's Art, made the list as well.

The best part—because The Wine Market is part-bistro and part-shop—was grabbing a six-pack of our favorites to take home on the way out.

—Rebecca Kirkman, Baltimore magazine intern 
[Image by Rebecca Kirkman]

See the story in Baltimore magazine.

Baltimore Magazine: Bachelor and Bachelorette casting comes to Locust Point

Last night, the ABC reality shows The Bachelor and The Bacheloretteheld an open casting call at The Greene Turtle in Locust Point. We sent one of our intrepid summer interns, Rebecca Kirkman, to cover the proceedings. This is her report: 

“I want to go all the way—his last rose,” says Jennifer Barnes, a young woman with tattoos and scarlet lipstick in a white bodycon dress. We’re standing about halfway up a winding line of glossy-lipped, shiny-haired girls which twists and turns through The Greene Turtle at McHenry Row in Locust Point, all vying for a spot on ABC’s reality dating juggernaut The Bachelor. Barnes fidgets a little with her purse and tells me how nervous she is. “I want to get a drink but I don’t want to lose my place in line,” she says. 

Overwhelmed waiters and bewildered patrons squeeze through a gap in the line, past a tan girl clutching a Bach-tini (cherry vodka, lemon-lime soda and a splash of grenadine) in one hand and a casting application in the other. It’s the first Baltimore casting call in The Bachelor history, and hundreds of Charm City singles showed up in everything from sexy cocktail dresses to jeans and T-shirts. After waiting for almost two hours, the love-seekers disappear in groups to be questioned on-camera about their hobbies and dating history. “I’m a huge Bachelor fan, like, obsessed” says Lisa Dannenberg, a blonde in a sundress, after her interview.

Outside girls sit and stand in clusters, checking their makeup and fanning themselves in the sticky 93-degree heat as they anxiously await their turns. Friends take shots at the bar to calm their nerves. Desperate not to seem desperate, everyone I talk to tries to downplay their presence—writing it off to nagging coworkers, living nearby, and even stumbling across the casting call on the way to get frozen yogurt. I overhear a young woman point to her friends and mischeviously say, “I tricked them into coming.”

The few guys in the crowd seem to be here more for the single girls than to find true love. One, with slickly parted hair and a pinstriped suit, yells to the bubbly, blonde bartender “I lied on my application!” Holding it up he reads “Do you drink alcoholic beverages? No!” And chuckles, “I hope I don’t get disqualified.”

No one has mentioned looking for love─It’s not even a question on the application. As she heads to her interview, a brunette teetering in sky-high heels dramatically flips her hair over her shoulder and proclaims to anyone listening,  “It’s time for my close up!”

Read it at Baltimore Magazine.