As most of you know, I try to keep a low profile.

I can count on one hand how many Baltimore bar owners know what I look like.

They are: 

Ron Furman of Max's Taphouse, Jim Quigley of Quigley's Half-Irish Pub, Dave Holter of Taps, Kurt Kragunier of the Annabel Lee Tavern and Volker Stewart of The Brewer's Art. and maybe one or two more I can't remember off hand.

That's not bad, considering I'm in my third year as the nightlife columnist.

So if you really want to know what I look like, go ask one of them.

(Photo by Jed Kirschbaum/Sun Photographer)

Posted by Sam Sessa at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)
                    

A couple weeks ago, Soul Cannon gave one of the most energetic performances I've seen on Baltimore Unsigned.

The segment airs at 8 p.m. tonight. 

This is "Still Something to Give" from the new album Kaboom. 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The Gin Mill (2300 Boston St.) has reopened under new ownership.

There is a sign out front advertising renovations, but when I walked by last week, I didn't notice anything drastically different.

I'll get a photo up as soon as I can.

Posted by Sam Sessa at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
                    

Don't know if you saw it or not, but here is a link to a piece I wrote about free/cheap happy hour buffets in and around the city.

It ran in yesterday's paper. 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

Baltimore's soulful songstress Eva Castillo (pictured) plays the 13th Floor in The Belvedere Hotel (1 E. Chase St.) tonight to mark the release of her sophomore CD, 3 Hours Later.

Acoustic pop singer/songwriter Tony Lucca will also perform.

The music starts at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $5 and the show is 21+.

Posted by Sam Sessa at 4:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Posted by Sam Sessa at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Victoria Vox's new album Chameleon is finally out.

To celebrate, she's throwing a CD release party tonight at Bedrock Billiards at 8 p.m. tonight.

Chameleon is a really strong album all around.

It should be a great show.

Word on the street is that her producer is flying out from Los Angeles to play melodica and bang on pots and pans.

Posted by Sam Sessa at 2:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

One of the few things I can't stand about the Dog Pub (20 E. Cross St.) in Federal Hill is the hand dryers in their bathrooms.

There are no hand towels -- just these wimpy automatic hand dryers.

How I hate them.

My hands would dry faster if I held them over the bar while the bartender blew on them through a silly straw.

As frequent MS readers well know by now, I'm a man who needs thick paper hand towels or one of the nuclear-powered XLerator hand driers in Ropewalk Tavern or Stalking Horse.

XLerator hand dryers blow the water off your hands and onto the floor. The water doesn't have time to evaporate.

I looooove them. 

Everything else falls short.

To the owners of the Dog Pub: Before you open another branch in the 'burbs, toss a little money toward the Baltimore bar to upgrade those terrible horrible no good very bad hand dryers.

(Photo by me) 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
                    

From 8 to 11 tonight (march30), the former staff of Baja Beach Club is bringing their (in)famous $.25 bottles special to Club One (pictured, 300 E. Saratoga St).

There is no cover tonight, but there will be a cover in coming weeks.

"It seems like a good fit so far," said Baja's owner Tony Di Fatta.  

Di Fatta said he's still hunting for a new home for Baja.

(Photo by Elizabeth Malby/Sun Photographer) 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 3:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

I hit up Muggsy's Mug House (1236 Light St.) last weekend for a round with some friends.

Ryan Cooper was behind the bar again.

And not only did he remember my name -- he also remembered what beer I ordered when I was there a couple weeks ago.

That's pretty impressive, especially considering the place was comfortably full, upstairs and downstairs.

I never saw it that full when it was Clayton's Tavern, either.

So hopefully good things are in store for Muggsy's. 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
                    

For the record, this is Fab Five Friday: College Throwback Edition.

I seriously haven't played some of these games since college.

I don't miss some of them. But I still play a couple.

1. [Expletive]-hole

A perennial favorite. I love how you constantly have to be on edge -- the game can change in a moment.  

2. Beer pong

Who knew tossing a Ping-Pong ball into a plastic cup could be this awesome?

3. Kings/Circle of Death

It's worth it just to see the face of the person who has to drink the cup. Unless that person is you.

4. Never Have I Ever

Discover all kinds of hilarious dirt on your friends while drinking? I'm in.

5. Quarters

I'm not a huge fan, but I can't deny the popularity of quarters -- especially with the New Jersey crowd. That should say something about the game. Zing! 

(Photo by Kim Hairston/Sun Photographer) 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 8:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)
                    

Last year when indie rock duo Wye Oak (then known as Monarch) came to record a Baltimore Unsigned session, drummer Andy Stack was leery of me talking about his talents.

Since singer/guitarist Jenn Wasner is Wye Oak's only other member, Stack pulls double duty live.

He covers the drums with one hand and two feet while playing bass on a small keyboard to his left.

Stack didn't want me discussing this on air because he thought it took away from their music.

He thought it felt too gimmicky.

I disagree. I think someone like Stack can be recognized for his talents without it becoming a gimmick.

But it raises a good point. Where do you draw the line?

Here's a video of Stack playing the drum/bass parts to the song "Warning."

Posted by Sam Sessa at 2:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
                    

I keep forgetting to mention that last month I went to Suite, the fairly new nightclub in the basement of The Belvedere in Mount Vernon (1 E. Chase St.)

You get there by taking the lobby elevator down one floor. 

On Wednesdays, Charm City Improv hosts an R&B open mike night.

Most of the performers were OK, but one or two -- such as Kia Calloway -- were really impressive.  

And I loved how the live band could pick out pretty much any song the performer wanted to sing off the cuff -- no matter what key it was in. 

I just thought the $10 cover was too much for an open mike night on a weekday.

Here's a link to the venue's incredibly annoying MySpace site. 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 12:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
                    

Sale negotiations are moving along for The Garden Restaurant and Lounge in South Baltimore, according to owner Judy Melton.

The interested party and Melton go to the liquor board April 8. Then comes the settlement, she said. 

Melton, who has run the place for 40 years, said the prospective new owners plan to keep it the same for the time being, but they may change it in the months to come.

Posted by Sam Sessa at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

The expansion of Mothers Federal Hill Grille (1113 S. Charles St.) is almost complete, owner Dave Rather reports.

The restaurant/bar will double in size when the new back sections open in mid- or late April.

The new space features new bathrooms (thank God) a 60 foot six inch bar (the distance from the pitcher's mound to home plate), a roll-down garage door, a bigger kitchen, curbside carryout and about 20 new flat screen plasma TVs.

Its nickname will be Mothers in the Alley. The goal is to better separate the dining area from the bar space, Rather said.

"It's a big deal," he said. "We've been working on it for many years."

(Photo by Andre F. Chung/Sun Photographer)

Posted by Sam Sessa at 2:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

A week or two ago, Bowing Ben asked for a reprint of my very first nightlife column, about how to dodge meatheads in Federal Hill.

I re-read it a couple days ago and chuckled at some of the stuff I wrote in it.

I had just moved to Baltimore a couple months before, and was still getting to know the city.

Keep in mind: This was before Ryleigh's became the now uber-popular Ryleigh's Oyster.  

Here's the piece ... 

A bar night in Federal Hill can sometimes turn into a claustrophobic shovefest, with you versus a bumbling pack of loud, drunken meatheads.

To avoid this, you have to turn your night into a slow-moving game of tag: You hide in one bar until the zombies flood it and you scamper to another bar a couple of blocks over.

If you play well, your eyes won't water with smoke trails from a thousand cigarettes.

You won't have to cup your hand to your mouth and scream:WHAT'S YOUR NAME!?!?!

or

GIMME ANOTHER GIN AND TONIC!!

Here's one man's guide to a (mostly) fathead-free night out in Federal Hill.

Start early at a popular joint before it gets packed. We went to Mother's Federal Hill Grille (pictured, top) for some food about 9:30 p.m. one Saturday, in that nice little post-dinner crowd/pre-bar crowd window.

All-American fare was in order: a few of Brother Don's Big Phat Old Bay Hot Wings and a Big Buh Burger, washed down with a couple Mother's Brews. A medium-bodied beer with good flavor, draft Mother's Brews cost the same ($4.50) as draft Yeunglings and taste better.

After about an hour, the music started getting louder, and the bar area started filling up. We didn't have to deal with this up close (we were in the dining area), but hearing some dumb mid-'90s pop song (Montell Jordan's "This Is How We Do It") finally broke us.

This might be how we do it, but it's not Friday night, and we're not in middle school anymore. Time for us to move on.

We hunkered down, formed a line behind RJ (the big guy of the group), and elbowed our way through the sea of flesh and smoke.

We walked up East Cross Street looking for another half-full hangout when Robert Plant's high-pitched scream stopped us cold. It was Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love Medley" from BBC Sessions, blasting from No Way Jose Cafe's jukebox, and we were hooked.

While Jose's downstairs area is a little narrow, if you're there before it fills up, it's actually quite cozy. We snagged a few stools near the jukebox and started feeding it.

We ordered a few cool ones, and I looked for some salsa tunes on the jukebox to match the decor. After five minutes, I gave up and settled for the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar," because it reminds me of the South, which is as close as I could get to Mexico, musically.

Next came Ryleigh's (pictured, lower right), a clean and classy pub with lots of stained wood and exposed brick. An empty table on the upstairs balcony called to us.

It was well past midnight at this point, and while people still hung out downstairs, the upstairs area where we sat was nearly empty.

We were at a table, so we thought we should wait for a server to take our drink orders. We kept glancing over at the bartender and she kept glancing back at us. Stalemate.

Finally we broke down and ambled over to the bar.

The longer we sat and talked, the more people slowly sifted out the door, making it easier by the moment for us to hear ourselves. By 1 a.m., we couldn't believe our luck - we were almost alone upstairs. I chuckled at the thought of the sardines down the street stuffed into MaGerk's. Not us!

Tonight, at least, I would walk home with my vocal cords and my sanity intact. All in all, I was pleased with the way we dodged the goonies, and dubbed the night a success.

(Photo of Mother's from Sun archives; photo of Ryleigh's by Elizabeth Malby/Sun Photographer)

Posted by Sam Sessa at 11:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
                    

Ron Furman, the owner of Max's Taphouse in Fells Point, has reopened Max's Tobacco Company in the building next to the South Broadway bar.

Furman said he closed it years ago because he was stretched thin running Max's at Camden Yards.

When Max's at Camden Yards closed in the fall of 2005, that freed up some of Furman's time.

And the tobacco company has one extra perk for Furman, who loves his stogies:

"It gives me a place to smoke," he said.

Posted by Sam Sessa at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
                    

No, not for good.

But I'm taking a brief respite* for a trip down to the dirty south.

Well, technically just North Carolina.

So maybe it's more like the scruffy South.

Anyhow, my fantastic editor Sarah Kelber (the voice and face of Reality Check) will be posting your comments in my stead.

Don't worry -- I have plenty of posts prepared in advance.

And I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail, aka Saturday.

*Note to self: Careful with those big words, Sessa.

(Photo by Bloomberg News) 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 4:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
                    

Chug! Chug! Chug!

This week, let's rank the five most awesome drinking games.

It can be trickier than you think.

Example: Which is better -- beer pong, flip cup, quarters, Edward 40-hands or beer scavenger hunts?

I'm sure there are more that aren't coming to mind right away either.

Hit me! 

(Photo by Kim Hairston/Sun Photographer) 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 1:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)
                    

When the smoking ban started Feb. 1, some local bar owners bought big ornate ashtrays like this one.

Since all the smokers are forced to stand on the sidewalk for their fix, these ashtrays are filling up faster than ever.

Bar owners in Fells Point actually have a nickname for them: bum buffets.

Why?

Because on Saturday and Sunday mornings, a bunch of homeless people pick through the ashtrays for half-smoked cigarettes.

(Photo by me) 

Posted by Sam Sessa at 10:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
                    

Baltimore-based singer/songwriter Abby Mott taped a live session on Baltimore Unsigned a few months ago.

I made Mott the guinea pig for my first Sun/WTMD video.

Side note: You can listen to the audio session here.

Here's the vid:

Posted by Sam Sessa at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
                    

Columbia-based hip-hop producer SoulStice sent out an email this morning about how people keep telling him he looks like presidential candidate Barack Obama.

I kind of see it.

What do you think?

Posted by Sam Sessa at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (13)
                    

Did anybody see the movie Disturbia?

It came out last year, kind of a spin-off of Rear Window: Kid (Shia LaBasdasdff) is on house arrest for three months and starts spying on his neighbors -- with scary results!!

Anyhow, I noticed this poster in his bedroom.

Problem: It's cut off, so I couldn't read the whole thing.

All I got is "Charm City Dr----"

What could that be?

(Photo courtesy of DreamWorks