From Karlayne Parker, UniSun Editor:

Baltimore City’s top female politicians are making history, and a Hollywood company is taking notice.

Journey Entertainment is filming a documentary on the lives of Mayor Sheila Dixon, Comptroller Joan M. Pratt, City Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake and State's Attorney Patricia C. Jessamy.

The film is pegged to the fact that few other major metros, if any at all, can claim four black women in their top ranks. Baltimore native and film producer LaVern Whitt previewed seven minutes of Women in Power last week at the Senator Theatre.

Her crew began shooting late last year.

"We have to go down into these women's lives," said Whitt, who is producing the project with another Baltimore native - Penny Johnson Jerald. "We want to show who these women are and how they got there. We want to celebrate the historical impact."

The movie will showcase the women and their lives, not the controversies that arise from being in public office, she said.

The idea for the project came to her last year while talking with a cousin about Baltimore’s unique political dynamics.

Whitt, a former Hollywood stunt woman, said she is currently seeking funding for the project, with the expectation that the film will be complete sometime before the end of the year.

She’s still has some legwork to do, including finding a suitor to air it on the big or small screen.

But when or where ever it hits, there will be a premiere in Baltimore, she said.

To see the clip, which also includes every day people and noted celebrities such as Ravens football player Ray Lewis and activist Jesse Jackson, click above.

To learn more about Whitt and Journey Entertainment, go to www.myspace.com/producerchic1. Email Whitt at lvwhitt@aol.com.

Go to baltimoresun.com/unisun for more headlines.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 12:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Movies Report Card | Opening Today:  

The Other Boleyn Girl [C-] This rendering of the turbulent second marriage of England’s King Henry VIII (Eric Bana) proves too heavy-footed for the old movie two-step of setting up a morality tale, then exploiting it for heat and titillation.

Semi-Pro [B] The pacing and the staging are lackadaisical at best, but the virtue of this film’s looseness it that is has some of the airy unpredictability of the best late-night TV comedy.

Penelope [C] It touches on any number of up-to-date subjects, from tabloid frenzy to the public’s surprising willingness to embrace the new. At its core, though, the movie lacks the sureness and lucidity of even a fractured fairy tale.

Steep [B+] Steep is one of those rare endeavors able to touch on the human condition without neglecting the film’s true star: big-mountain skiing.

Bonneville [C] There is much sisterly hooting and belly laughing on the road, along with sighing at the natural wonders of the great outdoors. Bonneville will make you want to throw your dead husband in the back seat and see America.

City of Men [C+] The protagonists here are jumpy adolescents — not even close to being men — and they learn their lessons in the most obvious and tendentious manner, as if the movie were a bullets-and-blazes version of an after-school special.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures: Natalie Portman and Scarlett in The Other Boleyn Girl.

Posted by Tim Swift at 10:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

One fan of The Wire wrote to thank us for being the first to tell On Demand fans of the show that the series finale would not be available in advance of the cablecast premiere on March 9.

You're welcome, John.

 But then John went on to "call" us out:

"Thanks for the update Sun. However....stiiiiiiiiiiilll waiting for that response piece I asked you all to do on why this season the Wire's caricature of the news industry is wrong. In Omar style, David Simon is calling you out to the streets my friends. He's calling you guys punks. Actually, since most of you writers are probably like Gus, hardworking journalists who don't want to have to do "more with less", he's calling your bosses out."

Please let me refer you to a piece published in the Sun on Dec. 30th.  It describes a number of the problems I have with the newsroom story line -- from one-dimensional characters to a depiction of newsroom that has little to do with newspaper journalism in the age of new media.

And thanks for calling us out. Call back after you've read it -- please.

Above: Clark Johnson, Brandon Young, Michelle Paress, Tom McCarthy in a scene from "The Wire." (Paul Schiraldi, HBO)

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
                    

WBAL, Channel 11, increased its lead in the all-important 11 p.m. news slot during February's sweeps period, according to figures released today by ACNielsen, a national market research firm.

Ratings data showed WBAL with the highest ratings among Baltimore's 11 p.m. weekday newscasts, with a rating of 11.4, compared to 7.7 for WJZ and a 3.3 for WMAR, Channel 2.

WBAL's late-night news lead over WJZ, 3.7 ratings points, represents the largest disparity between the top-ranked and second-ranked late-night news programs since 1992, when metered ratings (as opposed to log books kept by viewers) were introduced to the Baltimore market.

Each ratings point translates to roughly 11,000 viewers.

WJZ was the early-morning ratings champ, although its lead in the 5 a.m.-7 a.m. slot shrunk to only .2 ratings points, or roughly 2,200 viewers. It also won the noon news slot, with a 7.0, compared to a 4.2 for WBAL.

WBAL also dominated the 6 p.m. news, earning a 9.6 rating, compared to 7.1 for WBAL and 2.8 for WMAR.

Overall, WBAL and WJZ finished in a virtual dead heat for total viewers in a 24-hour period. Measuring weekdays only, WJZ finished slightly ahead, with an average rating of 5.1 every quarter hour, compared to 4.8 for WBAL. Measuring weekdays only, the two stations both finished with a 4.4 rating.

 

 

Posted by Chris Kaltenbach at 12:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Anne Tyler, the novelist who has chronicled Baltimore lovingly in more than a dozen books, has put her longtime home on the market. But never fear -- she'll remain safely in Charm City.

Tyler's handsome, 5-bedroom French Country-style house in Homeland was put up for sale on Feb. 19 for $599,900. That's eight days after she closed on an upscale  condominium located a few miles away.

The 66-year-old novelist grew up in North Carolina, but moved to Baltimore in 1967 as a young wife, mother and up-and-coming writer. She has penned 17 novels for adults, and Baltimore's neighborhoods have become an integral part of her stories, from well-heeled Roland Park to bohemian Charles Village to the marble porch stoops of East Baltimore.

Tyler's obvious affection for her quirky adopted city long has been a bragging point for locals. It's hard to imagine her taking root anywhere else. Luckily, we won't have to.

1999 photo of Anne Tyler by Diana Walker

Posted by Mary McCauley at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

In the perpetual effort to enliven the classical music world, just about anything is fair game. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra music director Marin Alsop (above) figured out a way to combine her interest in CSI TV shows with the BSO's Beethoven-filled season, resulting in a program that fuses medical diagnoses, theatrical impersonation, slide projections and, oh yeah, some music, too.

The idea is to probe into the lingering mysteries of the composer's tragic deafness and questions about the cause or causes of his death, bringing the iconic genius and his longtime suffering closer to home. Part I of CSI: Beethoven, given last night at Meyehoff Symphony Hall (Part II is tonight), certainly revealed plenty of thoughtful planning, not to mention dashes of welcome humor.

And, except, ironically enough, for faulty captioning equipment that was onstage to assist the hearing-impaired, the presentation moved along smoothly. But it seemed rather padded to me, often covering the same ground (several times, the long list of Beethoven's ailments was put up on the screen). And there was no mistaking the effort to hook folks into coming back tonight to get the answers to all the posited theories. I kept thinking it would have been more fun to do a little compression, throw in an intermission (Part I ran about 90 minutes without one), and get it all over with in a single tight night. 

         

Still, a lot of interesting ground was covered, and engagingly (hard to imagine that anyone ever thought that applying almond oil and horseradish would help faulty ears). The medical personnel, Drs. Charles Limb and Philip A. Mackowiak, discussed the evidence, including Beethoven's autopsy report, in straightforward, non-dry fashion.

Beethoven specialist William Meredith added a light touch in his informative remarks. And Alsop served as the protagonist/host with her usual aplomb and wit. Although almost everything was scripted (a lot of off-the-cuffness could have been deadly), writer Didi Balle avoided stiff or forced dialogue, with a few exceptions. Her most colorful lines were for Beethoven himself, on leave from the spirit world and portrayed with terrific flair by Baltimore actor Tony Tsendeas. It was a gimmick that might have backfired into tacky-land, but didn't. (My favorite bit: Alsop telling Beethoven the medical examination would begin as soon he took a seat and filled out some forms.)

The excerpts from Beethoven's symphonies, a movement from each of the first four and a portion of the fifth, weren't as neatly and meaningfully integrated into the package as I had expected. And there wasn't much distinction in Alsop's approaches to those segments (the first movements of Symphony No. 1 and No. 3, in particular, needed more punch and drive), or in the orchestra's playing of them (brass and woodwinds encountered several bumps). Then again, this wasn't meant to be a concert, and, as entertainment, it measured up. The responsive audience (nearly filling the main floor seating -- the balconies were closed off) seemed to be quite pleased.

Part II of CSI: Beethoven, which promises lots of answers to the questions raised last night, is at 7:30 p.m. today at Meyerhoff Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. Tickets are $20. Call 410-783-8000 or go to bsomusic.org.

Posted by Tim Smith at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Marin Alsop will pay tribute to her mentor, Leonard Bernstein (right), and his hero, Gustav Mahler, during the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s 2008-2009 season, Alsop’s second as music director. Works by both men will feature prominently in the programming, along with new pieces by Christopher Rouse and Jennifer Higdon, continuing Alsop’s commitment to contemporary American music.

The season promises such notable guests as cellist Yo-Yo Ma and conductor Leonard Slatkin, lots of favorite repertoire by Mozart, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, and such off-beat fare as a gospel version of Handel’s Messiah.

After last season’s successful pricing of subscriptions at $25 per ticket, which resulted in four times the number of new subscribers for 2007-2008 over the previous season, the BSO will again offer a $25 deal. This time, it won’t include all locations at Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, but more than 70 percent of the seats will be eligible for $25-per-concert subscription packages. (It will be $50-per-concert for premium orchestra and box seat subscriptions.) In addition to the previously announced production of Bernstein’s Mass, the controversial "theater piece" for singers, players and dancers" that opened the Kennedy Center in 1971, Alsop will conduct the composer’s Symphony No. 1, subtitled Jeremiah, and Opening Prayer for voice and orchestra, one of his last works.

The Bernstein salute, keyed to the 90th anniversary of his birth, is of particular significance to Alsop, who studied with the celebrated conductor/composer.

Topping the guest artist roster next season will be cellist Yo-Yo Ma, appearing at the annual BSO gala to perform Tchaikovsky’s Rococo Variations and Bernstein’s Three Meditations from ‘Mass’ (originally written for Mstislav Rostropovich).

Other notable soloists include violinists Hilary Hahn and Vadim Repin; and pianists Yefim Bronfman, Nelson Freire and Stephen Hough.

BSO music director emeritus Yuri Temirkanov is slated to return to the podium for a program of Brahms (the Violin Concerto with Repin) and Prokofiev. Leonard Slatkin will conduct the BSO for the first time in 15 years in program that includes one of his own compositions, based on Edgar Allan Poe’s "The Raven." And, after an absence of several years, Mario Venzago, former artistic director of the BSO’s summer season, will be back to conduct music by Beethoven (Piano Concerto No. 4 with Freire) and Bruckner.

The subscription season opens in September with Alsop conducting a program with an outer space theme: Gustav Holsts' popular The Planets and Michael Daugherty's UFO (with percussion soloist Evelyn Glennie). Music from the end of Wagner's Ring Cycle will complete this program; more music from the Ring will end the season in an Alsop-led program that also offers Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 (with Bronfman).

More details in tomorrow's Sun.

Posted by Tim Smith at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

 

We might have suspected that the School 33 Art Center exhibition Boundary Crossings, with its elaborately punctuated subtitle — (social) identity/ (physical) body /(virtual) landscape — was not quite what it seemed.

After all, the show was curated by Christine Bailey, who last month caused a stir when she exhibited paintings in a downtown office building that more or less mimicked exactly the style of fellow artist Cara Ober.

When Ober condemned Bailey’s imitations as artistic plagiarism, Bailey told The Sun her show was basically an experiment in appropriated identities, a theme she also had explored in previous exhibitions.

So we weren’t totally surprised to discover that the three artists in Boundary Crossings — Ariana Wol, Nadine Freund and the “international digital collective” A.N.N.A. — are actually all creatures of Bailey’s own mischievous invention.

She pulled them out of a hat, so to speak, complete with respectable curricula vitae. Then she made artworks for them to display and “curated” their efforts in this brainy “group” show.

What’s surprising is how well the whole thing works. The illusion is seamless, though in Baltimore’s small, close-knit art community you might well wonder why you never heard of these artists before.

Wol is a performance artist who documents her activities in short films and still photographs. The “collective” A.N.N.A. appropriates images of IKEA’s bland, online customer service rep and has her brush off pesky callers in eight languages.

The most arresting piece in the show is Freund’s 20-minute animated video of a pine tree set against a constantly changing landscape. It’s a deceptively simple but hypnotic image that just keeps drawing you in.

Bailey is a clever and versatile artist whose true subject is the mutability of identity and the artificiality of art. The show’s main draw is its invitation to willing suspension of disbelief, along with a good-humored submission to the multilayered illusion spun by Bailey’s invented cast of characters.

The exhibit runs through March 8 at School 33 Art Center, 1427 Light St. Call 410-396-4641 or go to school33.org.

(Above: Still from projection work by Nadine Freund) 

Posted by Glenn McNatt at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The 90-minute finale of HBO's The Wire won't be available in advance of the March 9 cable channel premiere date, a spokesman for HBO said.

Unlike the way in which the previous nine episodes this season could be seen On Demand starting the Monday before each Sunday airdate, viewers will have to wait to until 9 p.m. March 9 to see how it all ends with the Baltimore-based drama after five seasons.

HBO says the move is being made so that On Demand viewers don't "spoil" the pleasure of those fans who plan to wait until the Sunday-night HBO cablecast.

And you have to admit there was no shortage of On Demand fans -- folks who are quick to pledge their undying love of the series and sense of community with other viewers -- who went online after the death of a certain larger than life villain in episode 8 and blabbed it all over the place.

 

 

 

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
                    

Blessed with one of the richest, most powerful voices in modern R&B, Jill Scott kept it real at the Lyric Opera House last night. She's on a national tour through mid April in support of her latest album, The Real Thing: Words & Sounds Vol. 3. The album, released in September, is largely underwhelming with one-dimensional production and lyrics that too often slip into banality.

But onstage, Scott and her 11-piece band added more zest to the new songs, which were loosely inspired by the Grammy winner's recent divorce. Noticeably slimmer these days, Scott looked regal in a downhome way. She wore a simple, floorlength black gown; the make-up was minimal. And her honey-brown natural hair looked freshly cropped.

Her nearly two-hour set stuck mostly to  the new album, which meant that there were too many midtempo cuts in the middle. But Scott's stellar vocals, illuminating stage presence and humorously profane stage patter were treats.

If you didn't catch her packed show last night, the Philly neo-soul queen will be performing at the Lyric tonight and in Washington at Dar Constitution Hall March 9 -15.

Associated Press photo of Jill Scott from a November show in Philadelphia

Posted by Rashod Ollison at 9:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Science, symphonies mix with Alsop’s CSI: An investigation will be carried out in CSI: Beethoven, a Baltimore Symphony Orchestra presentation tonight and tomorrow that promises an unusual mix of forensics and music. It’s the brainchild of BSO music director Marin Alsop, who describes the venture as "pop culture meets a slice of history." A longtime fan of CSI programs on TV, the conductor wanted to come up with a fresh way to focus on the composer who is at the heart of her inaugural BSO season — all nine Beethoven symphonies will have been performed by the time the season ends in June.

Art Column / Hard truths of monuments’ resilience: The Austrian writer Robert Musil remarked that "there is nothing in the world so invisible as a monument." It’s apt that this line appears at the entrance to the Baltimore Museum of Art exhibition Front Room: Notes on Monumentality, which opens today. Curator Mark Alice Durant has brought together two dozen works that illuminate the role monuments have played in history, as well as their meaning for us today.

Meyerhoff collection could be open to public on his farm: Philanthropist Robert E. Meyerhoff built seven galleries in a house with windows overlooking grazing horses on his northern Baltimore County farm to display a postmodern art collection that experts call one of the world’s finest. Now he wants to give the public a chance to see the works by artists such as Roy Lichtenstein and Jasper Johns by opening a museum in the rural setting.

Above: "Spring" by Jasper Johns is among the works in the Meyerhoffs' collection.

Posted by Tim Swift at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Every Erykah Badu album release feels like an event to me. I was in my sophomore year of college when her Grammy-winning 1997 debut, Baduizm, dropped and changed the modern R&B game for the better. Subsequent Badu albums -- Live (1997) Mama's Gun (2000) Worldwide Underground (2003) -- sparkled with gems. And, for me, each set deepened with repeated spins.

Now the Dallas-born, neo-soul sorceress returns with a new CD, New Amerykah, in stores today. I've only it spun twice since I got it this morning, and each time my reaction has been the same: "Uh, what is this?"

But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The album is just not as musically accessible as Badu's previous platinum-selling releases. (Well, come to think of it, Badu has always been an acquired taste.)

But New Amerykah especially begs for your patience. It's a dark, politcally charged album. Lyrically, Badu is cryptic and elliptical as the music, which is bottom-heavy and mostly programmed this time, throbs and meanders. The album has the feel of an underground mixtape with beats courtesy of hip-hop producers Madlib, Shafiq Husayn of the Sa-Ra Creative Partners and others.

The songs boast the loose jam feel of Worldwide Underground. But the organic instrumentation that warmed Badu's previous releases is largely absent. (The singer-songwriter's homeboy and former classmate Roy Hargrove plays multi-tracked trumpet on the hypnotic "Me.")

New Amerykah, the first in a thematic series of two or three albums Badu plans to release this year, doesn't go down easily. But it has enough musical wierdness to keep you coming back. It will probably be a while before I listen to this record and a light bulb pops on: "Oh, yeah, I get it."

 

Posted by Rashod Ollison at 2:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

From Sun reporter Jill Rosen ...

WYPR officials issued a memo this morning postponing the station's coming board meeting for a month.

Listeners and members upset with the recent firing of longtime talk show host Marc Steiner were expected to protest the meeting, hoping the board would rehire Steiner or take some other action regarding the firing at the March 12 meeting - which is now scheduled for April 15.

Station officials gave no reason for the postponement. The Sun emailed WYPR President Anthony A. Brandon  to ask about the change but has not yet heard back.

WYPR, 88.1 FM, abruptly canceled The Marc Steiner Show on  Feb. 1, noting declining ratings and the focus of Steiner, who hosted the program for 15 years, on Baltimore despite the station's reach to all corners of Maryland.

Last week more than 300 people packed the Baltimore Museum of Art auditorium to tell the station's community advisory board how upset the were over the firing. The advisory board told the crowd it would pass those comments and concerns on to the board of directors in March.

Posted by Tim Swift at 1:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (16)
                    

 

A few readers have written or called to express their displeasure with my review of High School Musical. In particular, they objected to my lead paragraph, in which I stated that HMS was in desperate need of a life-giving infusion of bad taste, and added: "Paging John Waters."

One woman wrote:

"Would you have 80% of the audience be embarrassed in front of their children if the play became High School Druggie Pregnant Dropout Musical? Does a play have to offend someone to be relevant or successful?"

Along a similar vein, a man from Odenton commented: "I read your review of High School Musical. today, February 22. Six of us are season tickets holders.  I was surprised that your review complained that was not filthy enough for you.  I assume you loved Avenue Q because of its filth. We walked out of Avenue Q.  In the future, if you love a play, I will stay away.  You should run future columns under the heading of Filthy Mary McCauley Reviews."

A woman caller said that she didn't see the show because it sounded too light and fluffy. (My point exactly.) But she nonetheless found my review to be offensive and immature.

Interestingly, several writers contrasted HSM favorable to Avenue Q which ran previously at the Hippodrome Theatre, and which I liked.

I truly appreciate everyone who took the time to write to me. Now, let me clarify my position:

The point I was trying to make in the review is that art should be provocative, should challenge the status quo. Art should make the audience (including me) a little but uncomfortable, because discomfort makes us examine our own values and responses.

That, in my opinion, is what HSM lacks, and where, in its finest moments, Avenue Q succeeds.

Nor do I champion smut for the sake of smut. The use of a four-letter word is no guarantee of artistic integrity. But, neither is it the opposite.

Occasionally, John Waters goes too far for even my tastes. But, he is smart, talented and very funny. I included him in my review because he is a local artist whose offbeat sensibility would be familiar to every reader. But, to each his or her own.

 

Posted by Mary McCauley at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)