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According to Juan Donovan Bell from Darkroom Productions, the Get 'Em Mamis will be in US Weekly this Friday.
I have to say, this is the first time I've heard of any Baltimore rap group in a gossip mag since Sisqo.
After hearing "Cold Summer" and "Joc'n," it's clear any attention they get is long overdue.
I also hear Darkroom is thinking of taking GEM to Alaska to shoot the video for "Cold Summer" because it's actually cold in the summer up there.
(Photo by J.M. Giordano)
I did it.
I drank ... drum roll please ... bacon vodka. At Capt. Larry's.
Oh yes.
You: So, stop stalling and tell us how it tasted, Sessa!
Me: OK.
Do you know those dog treats Beggin Strips? That's what it reminded me of.
Not to say I've eaten Beggin Strips. But I've smelled them.
And, oddly enough, they were the first thing to come to mind when I did the shot.
If I were reviewing bacon vodka for the New York Times, I would describe it thusly:
"The drink had a robust, meaty aroma that pleased the palette, grounded by a sharp undercurrent of liquor. It will surely stimulate the senses of breakfast aficionados."
(Photo of a Capt. Larry's pre-smoking ban by Kenneth K. Lam)
I was skimming Mobtown Shank yesterday and started thinking.
What if I could make up an Overheard that would sum up a neighborhood?
So I came up with faux, snarky Overheards for a few Baltimore neighborhoods.
If you have any you'd like to contribute, please feel free.
Here are mine ...
In Hampden, where even short people look down on you:
"Have you heard the new Steve and Estelle?"
In Fells Point, where bums outnumber bars:
"Hey bud, you got a dollar?"
In Federal Hill, where two brain cells is too many:
"Here, bra, lemme pop that collar for ya."
In Canton, where 30 is the new 20:
"Are seven pairs of flip flops too many for one dude?"
In the Inner Harbor, where chain stores and restaurants are the only option:
"OMG! The dolphin totally just splashed me! LOL!"
In Harbor East, where Whole Foods is the place to see and be seen:
"I totally can't tell you had work done."
It's been a big month for Floristree.
The DIY art space was name-checked in Rolling Stone and Blender for contributing to the awesomeness of Baltimore's scene.
So I called Floristree member Jason Urick, who also plays in WZT Hearts, to find out what he thought of the props.
"It definitely caught us off guard a bit," he said. "I think it's more humorous to us than anything else at this point."
Urick hopes both pieces will help people associate Baltimore with positives like arts and music as opposed to drugs, crime and the Inner Harbor.
"I glad people think we've contributed something. we've definitely tried to contribute something to the scene. In the end, we're just doing what we're doing. The last thing we're after is attention."
When I was a freshman in college, I drank a lot of Magic Hat #9.
Expensive tastes for a broke college kid, right?
Well, my buddy Scotty had money and he usually got good beer for all of us.
Last Saturday I went down to James Madison University to visit one of my little sisters.
For some reason, I thought it would be fun to get a six-pack of Magic Hat -- just like back in the day.
When I used to drink Magic Hat (back in the day), you needed a bottle opener to pop the top.
But when I started drinking this six-pack, I realized the beers were screw-off.
I was 83 percent right. It turns out, only five out of the six bottles had screw-off caps ...
The last one didn't.
I didn't realize it until after I'd cut my finger struggling to twist the cap off.
Then things got interesting. See, I was sitting at a table with two other dudes.
And according to Dude Code, when a man can't twist the top off a bottle of anything, every other dude in the room has to try it for themselves.
Dude Code is unavoidable. Even though I said it wasn't a twist-off cap.
One of the dudes cut his hand worse than mine.
The other tried to open it by twisting the bottle on his forearm, and wound up with a cap-sized bruise.
But the question stands: What kind of sick joke was Magic Hat trying to play on us?
Five out of six beers with screw-off caps and one you need a bottle opener for?
Painfully ridiculous!
And I'll bet somewhere up in New England where this stuff is bottled, some crazy looking dude like the one in this photo is laughing his butt off at my expense.
(AP Photo)
Last week's warm weather FFF got me thinking about mojitos.
I wrote about mojitos once before on MS, but I've never ranked them.
They're minty. They're sweet. They're cold. They're a treat.
It's time for FFF: Mojitos.
Who do you think has Baltimore's best mojito?
(Photograph of a mojito from Little Havana from Sun archives)
Evan emailed me this image this morning, with this caption:
I just had remembered commenter Don saying how Leadbetter's had been carrying the 'out for a smoke' cards for a while...
I was over there Saturday and theirs even has a little punchout so you can put the card around the neck of your bottle of beer! (although I usually order from their selection of drafts)
Pretty great idea.
As someone who stands for anything free and also anything funny, I endorse this video.
Be warned though, there is some profanity and violence.
But there are also some lessons to be learned.
This weekend, a friend and coworker decided to head to the Hard Rock Cafe in the Inner Harbor for what he thought would be a fairly cheap meal with his fiancee.
Now, I think it's a little naive to expect cheap or even reasonably priced food and drink in the city's biggest tourist zone.
But I didn't think one Heineken served in a commemorative Hard Rock Cafe glass and one refill would cost almost $20.
You can go out all night in South Baltimore and not spend $20.
That's six carbombs at Crazy Lil's.
Or 20 glasses of wine at Charlotte's on Wednesdays.
Wow.
(Photo by Christopher T. Assaf/Sun Photographer)
I'm toying with the idea of doing a weekly feature where everybody talks about their weekends on Monday mornings.
What do you guys think of it?
Lame? Potentially interesting?
More than anything else, I love to see a good conversation going on MS.
And I usually talk to friends and coworkers about their weekends on Monday mornings anyway.
So, why not talk to you guys about it too?
Let's try it. What did you guys do this weekend?
(AP Photo)
From the start, Midnight Sun has been all about balancing local music coverage with news and discussions about bars and clubs.
It's more of a struggle than I thought it would be. ...
See, MS readers care waaaay more about bars than local music.
So I know that if I do a post on Jumbo Slice, it's going to get tons more hits and comments than a post about All Time Low.
I've had people outright tell me, "Nobody cares about local music."
But I still think local music is incredibly important, and want to write about it.
One of my editors at the college paper always used to use the broccoli vs. ice cream comparison, and I think it fits here.
Local bands are the broccoli -- the stuff people don't want to digest but should.
And ice cream is what everybody wants.
With MS, it's a little bit of broccoli and a lot of ice cream.
(Photo of local beatboxer Shodekeh by Christopher T. Assaf/Sun Photographer)
This year, it's less top-heavy, with A-list acts spread out over both days.
Here's 95 percent of the lineup ...
Main Stage acts on Saturday, Aug. 9 are, in alphabetical order:
Bloc Party, Cat Power, Chuck Berry and The Silver Beats, Citizen Cope,
Duffy, Foo Fighters, Gogol Bordello, Jack Johnson, KT Tunstall, Lupe
Fiasco, The Offspring, Paramore, Rodrigo y Gabriela, Sharon Jones and
the Dap Kings, The Swell Season and Wilco.
On Sunday, Aug. 10, the Main Stage acts will include:
The Black Keys, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Bob Dylan, The Go! Team, Iggy & The Stooges, Kanye West, Lil Wayne, Nine Inch Nails, She and Him, Stone Temple Pilots and Taking
Back Sunday.
Dance Tent acts on Saturday, Aug. 9 include, in alphabetic order, DJ
Dan & Donald Glaude Erol Alkan, Ferry Corsten, Soul Wax, Steve Lawler
and Underworld.
On Sunday, Aug. 10, the Dance Tent will feature Armin
van Buuren, Chromeo, Deadmau5, Pendulum, Moby (DJ Set) and Richie
Hawtin.
Local indie rock duo Wye Oak recently shot a music video for their song "Please Concrete."
Americana musician Caleb Stine shot the video, which, as you can see, features at least one shot involving a toddler walking on a sidewalk.
I like it!
I'll post the video when it's finished.
I've had a couple of people ask me why, all of the sudden, Baltimore is getting props in Rolling Stone and Blender.
Well, there's more than one reason.
But I think the best way I can explain it is to break it into chunks and then tie the chunks together.
Here goes ...
A few years ago, most of the arts and music students behind Wham City moved down here from Suny Purchase College because Baltimore was cheap, unpretentious and weird.At the same time, the Darkroom Productions duo was making the first Hamsterdam album, which would spawn two more and a soundtrack to The Wire.
Meanwhile, the rock group Cinder Road, pop rockers All Time Low and the jam band The Bridge were (separately) recording and touring their butts off across the country.
And, Beach House and Wye Oak were making moody, hypnotic music that local artists and hipsters latched onto.
Each of these musical groups made one important decision:
Instead of moving to other cities where they might find better connections and bigger audiences, they opted to stay here in Baltimore.
They bet that they were good enough to bring attention here instead of looking for attention by leaving Baltimore.
And, just as importantly, venues like Floristree, the Lo-Fi Social Club, The 8x10, The Talking Head, G-Spot and Metro Gallery were there to help introduce these groups to larger audiences.
Their gamble paid off.
Baltimore artists from a bunch of different genres are getting recognition for the music they're making.
If you don't live here and just picked up a copy of Rolling Stone, it looks like all of the sudden, Baltimore has a scene.
But if live here, you know we've had one growing for a while now and it's finally starting to blossom.
Homer! Can you hear me?
I haven't forgotten about you, buddy.
I'm going to be back on the trail as soon as possible.
Where were we?
Oh, right, I'm supposed to drop off $10 in small unmarked bills at the coffee joint across the street.
Well, Bad Guyz, if you're reading, the money will be there tomorrow.
Signed,
Trembling Sam Sessa
Hey gang,
Stay tuned for an advance of this year's Virgin Fest lineup first thing Monday morning.
The Windup Space, a new bar/live music venue, is coming to Station North next month.
Owner Russell deOcampo (also a member of the band Yeveto) is shooting for a soft opening two weeks from now.
Here's the skinny ...
The Windup Space is going to have live music regularly, as well as screenings of movies by local filmmakers.
"Basically, I want to have all the different arts under one roof with a large bar," deOcampo said.
Sounds good to me.
At about 3,000 square feet, The Wind-Up won't be cramped, either.
The address is 10-12 W. North Ave. -- near the intersection of North Charles Street and North Avenue. The building was previously a Muslim clothing store.
I'll let you know when the space opens.
Every once in a while, MySpace does these "secret" shows where MySpace members get first dibs on seeing a band play for free.
Tokyo Police Club is playing one Sunday at the Talking Head (203 Davis St.).
First off, it's not exactly a "secret" if you send out a press release about it and let the venue put it on their Web site.
So City Paper's music editor Michael Byrne put it on their blog.
I love it!
Somebody needed to call out MySpace about how silly this whole concept is, and I'm glad he did.
With warmer weather finally here, we can take advantage of all the bars with ouside seating.
Here are my five favorite places for outdoor swilling.
1. Woody's Rum Bar and Island Grill, 821 S. Broadway
It can be tricky to find this third-story deck the first time, but once you do, you won't want to leave. It has the best view of the Fells Point waterfront and $2 Coronas from 5 p.m. 'till close Thursdays.
2. Little Havana, 1325 Key Highway
With or without the steel ship, and as Greg S said, the fenced in back patio has a "prison-by-the-harbor feel." But the mojitos are some of the city's best, and there is no better summer drink than an ice cold, minty mojito.
3. Nick's Fish House, 2600 Insulator Drive
Yes, the crowd here can get a little frat-tastic on Friday and Saturday nights, but the live music is usually good and the wooden deck is pretty big. It's usually one big throwdown, and I like that.
4. MEX, Power Plant Live
MEX has the biggest wooden deck downtown, and some pretty solid drink specials too.
5. Bay Cafe, 2809 Boston St.
A taste of Ocean City right here in Baltimore! Seriously though, the Cafe is a mecca for the college and post-college crowd. And it does have one of the best outdoor drinking/carousing areas in town, as well as decent deals on rum drinks.
Earlier today, MS reader j posted this comment under the Don't Know Tavern entry:
Heavy sigh. Get out of your comfort Zone and find a new place to review. And I want pictures! No more Mosaic. No more I don't know tavern. Broaden your horizon's Mr. Sessa!
J, did you read today's nightlife column?
It's on Schaefer's, an under-the-radar corner bar in South Baltimore.
I'd say I get out to a new bar once every week or so. And MS covers a pretty wide range of Baltimore bars.
Like everybody else, there are some bars I like I go to more than others.
With my job, the line between blogging and my personal life is really blurry.
If I go out just for fun and spot something interesting, I'm probably going to blog about it.
So that's why you see a fair number of random blogs about Federal Hill bars -- that's where I live and where I go out the most.
But when it comes to reviewing bars for The Sun or MS, I'm pretty good at broadening my horizons.
All Time Low, the pop punk band from Baltimore County, will be interviewed on TRL at 3:30 p.m. today.
Apparently they have some sort of promotion going with MTV, and a few 15-foot promotional posters are hanging in Times Square for a week.
And, they have more than 14 million plays on MySpace.
Wow.
Congrats, guys.
