Move Along, Not Much to See

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Website updated for first time since February.

It wasn’t worth waiting for, but so it goes. (Link at the top of the page.)

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32 thoughts on “Move Along, Not Much to See”

  1. brain,

    i can’[t speak for baltimore, but as a dc resident, i can tell you that the earlier you visit, the better time you will [collectively] have. this season we have been, well, unseasonably cool–but normally we are in full summer swelter in june, and may can be pushing it. guranteed abysmally swampy humidity from father’s day to about sept. since you live in so cal, the humidity and [potential] rain may form some of your vivid memories. i would definitely keep the weather in mind for your planning purposes.

    traffic here is pretty much on par with home. there’s plenty to do in dc, but we’ll happily lend you out to blt. for a day or two.

  2. re: comment on the website update–

    joke on conan o’brien this week: “in the year 3,000, YouTube,Twitter, and Facebook will unite to form YouTwitFace.”

    unfortunately, this was the funniest thing said all night.

    i would enjoy hearing about your fave books. also interviews with author buds. frankly, i am now curious about what is on your damn ipod. figured out how to put boooks on there, and while vast swaths of books are not good candidates to be read aloud, some are perfectly fine that way, particularly some that i would probably not spend my ‘eye time’ actually reading. for me, authors whose names rhyme with ‘shmatterson’ and ‘shmisham’ come to mind.

    i don’t have a dvr, and i do not have cable, so i am accustomed to commercials, also known as ‘laundry folding time,’ ‘dish washing time,’ and ‘take out the rubbish time.’ it is refreshing to watch shows on dvd without them, but then i know that those other chores must be done beforehand, since there will be no breaks.

    the only thing wrong with seeing a movie in the theatre is that there are other people there. people who kick your chair, wear ginormous hats, crack their gum, or talk on the mobile the whole time. my ability to tolerate other people’s seepage into my space has been vastly reduced.

    //k

  3. I always take Baltimore visitors to Fell’s Point because they enjoy trolling the little shops and having their picture taken in front of the main set of that other tv show that we love. And from there you can take the water taxi to Fort McHenry. Also, though I admit it sounds like a joke, I really like the Great Blacks in Wax museum.

  4. to go back to the posts the other day about misogyny etc.–
    okay, maybe not new, but new to me.

    did you hear anything this week about the blogger and staff writer who got fired by aol because he stood up to the article in playboy about the ten social conservative women who men want to “hate f*ck”?

    http://bit.ly/z6KMA

  5. Marjorie, where is it written that we should experience television show complete with commercials? That’s why they invented public radio/tv, premium channels, and DVR.

  6. June,

    I think you are thinking that I wrote the line where I was just quoting from Laura’s new website entry?

    Personally, I love television with or without commercials. I watch way too much of it. But I do understand that Laura is saying that when you watch a DVD set of a television show, the flow of it is different from the watching it on (non-PBS) commercial television. I don’t know if it is better or worse, but it is different.

  7. I have a dvr but have no clue how to use it. I think that when my 8 year old niece is here in July I’ll have her do it. Otherwise, it’s taping things on vhs and fast forwarding or watching real time with commercials.

  8. Fort McHenry…of course!! American Visionary Art Museum – noted down.

    And Barbara the Poet – Fells Point sounds great! Last time we were at Gettysburg, the young folks LOVED the Boyd’s Bears (if I’m remembering that correctly) barn – just a mile or two from the National Battle Field Park. Very off-beat and pleasant – and air conditioned!

    Oh – and I need one signature place to eat. At Sharpsburg, it was The South Mountain Inn; at the Wisconsin Dells, it was Paul Bunyon’s, and in Baltimore, such a place would be…where?

  10. If you are here Monday through Saturday, during the day, AND you like crabcakes, then Faidley’s at Lexington Market is the place to go. Get the all-lump.

    I have become a recent convert to Iggie’s Pizza. My only excuse for being late to them is that they opened in the 700 block of Calvert Street after I stopped working in the 500 block of Calvert Street. But how can I not love a pizza place that a) is a BYOB with communal tables and b) is named for a greyhound. (If you live in Baltimore, try the Take-and-Bake, the best of both worlds: hot carry-out pizza at home.)

    The Owl Bar in the Belvedere Hotel isn’t anything out of the ordinary, food-wise, but it’s a beautiful room and you can contemplate the mystery of the missing window/line. (There’s a triptych of stained glass windows featuring an owl, with a verse that is clearly incomplete.)

    The Club 4100 isn’t what it used to be, alas — but then, it’s very Baltimore to lament what used to be. As my colleague Linell Smith (granddaughter of Ogden Nash, not that she would ever mention that) used to say: Baltimore is a place where we give directions according to what’s not there, anymore.

  11. This is why I still like to listen to the radio, even if I have to suffer with songs I don’t love. A DJ who can still surpise you is pretty special, but unfortunately, a dying breed.

  12. I wrote a similar piece for the website a few years back on the joys of randomness. Right now, as I write this, my favorite coffeehouse is listening to my iPod; the satellite radio is out and no one on staff has a working iPod with them. This is an iPod used largely for the gym and runs to cheesy playlists and podcasts, but it has a relatively robust list of jazz standards. So what’s random to everyone around me is only semi-random to me.

    I confess; I’m disappointed that more people aren’t gasping in glee that Chet Baker is on.

  13. “…we should experience things as they were meant to be experienced � a television show in its scheduled time slot, complete with commercials, a movie in a theater, a book in hand.”

    May I add to that list the seeing of a play or musical in an actual theatre with live actors and a just as live audience? “Hairspray” on Broadway, for instance, was a joyful, never to be duplicated experience. Seeing the DVD of the movie is a very pale imitation.

    And how about standing in front of a great piece of art (like a Van Gogh painting at the Met) and not just looking at the reproduced image in a book or on a screen. A singular experience that can not be duplicated!

  14. Funny that you should mention Kindle, Laura. I was reading an article about it in an airline magazine today and immediately thought about LS. When you were in Boston, you opened with the Page 69 Test. I’m sure I’ll get the lingo wrong since I don’t have a Kindle, but I wonder how LS fares at Marker 69?

  15. Marjorie,

    My household is weird, in that we go to the theater more often that we go the movies. We have seasons tickets to the Shakespeare Theater and 2009 is, IIRC, the first year in recent memory that I haven’t splurged on a New York theater weekend. (In recent years, I’ve seen THE COUNTRY GIRL, BOEING, BOEING, COMPANY, A CHORUS LINE, PACIFIC OVERTURES — you get my drift.)

    And we’re pretty regular museum-goers, too, thanks to the riches nearby.

  17. I’ve grew up watching Wizard of Oz on TV with commercials; I’d guess I watched it in that way at least a dozen times.

    It’s a marvelous movie in any case – but then, a few years ago I watched it in a theater, and the experience was singular.

    Anyway – speaking of museums and riches – if a vacationing family stopped in Baltimore for a day, what two or three things would be the most striking and/or evocative to experience? (leaving aside the Orioles)

    Not this summer, but probably next, we’re thinking the young folks will collectively be old enough to better appreciate a week in DC, and this would surely include a day or two in Charm City.

    I suppose we’d see a Poe-related site or two, and a Lincoln-rleated site or two (Booth is buried there, yes?)

  18. Booth is buried here in an unmarked grave in Green Mount Cemetery.

    I’d recommend the Baltimore Museum of Art, assuming the Cone Collection is open; I love the American Visionary Art Museum, but it’s not for everyone. Fort McHenry is nice on a pretty day.

    The American Visionary Art Museum is great if one likes outsider art; if not, it’s not going to impress.

  19. Speaking of theatre (and things to see, at least this summer), we finally have dates for our DC shows.

    “The Rough Guide to the Underworld” will be at the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop for three weekends from June 26 through July 11. I’ll actually be in town for the June 26 and 27 shows. That show has a special website all to itself, http://www.rg2underworld.com.

    And “A.D.,” a one-woman show, will be at the Capital Fringe Festival from July 22 through July 26. I’ll be there for the whole run–I’m not just the playwright, I’m also the entire crew for that one.

    So if anyone from the general DC/Baltimore area can make it, let me know. I’ll be the one standing in the back, looking shell-shocked.

  20. David,

    As a former stage manager, I am going to make a unasked for suggestion. Find a volunteer to do the crew work for “A.D.” so that you can watch every performance from the front of house. As a playwright, you need to see the show with the audience to see how things are working and, in the future, what might need to be edited. I am sure that a call to a place like the Arena or the Shakespeare Theatre could find you a willing intern. They get a new credit for their resume. You can to be a full-time playwright!

    (Have I ever asked you if we have Henry Woronicz or Fontaine Syer in common?)

    What is “A.D.” about? I sometimes get to visit my sister in MD outside DC and I if the timing works out….

  21. “We have seasons tickets to the Shakespeare Theater”

    In DC? Or is there something in Baltimore now? Anyway, aw crap, you have reminded me of yet something else to miss about Baltimore. We used to have season tickets to the Shakespeare Theater in DC.

    And on my recent very quick trip back I missed the Visionary Arts Musuem (which I used to love) and Faidley’s (I have never had a Faidley’s crab cake)–both of which were on my way too long list of things I absolutely must do while there!

  22. Thanks for the shout-out about the Dagger, Marjorie. I particularly like how the story is described:

    “A serrated knife in the gut of gender politics by an expert practitioner of the genre.”

    Makes me feel very bad-ass. But just to keep on an even keel, I will report that a local priest saw my stepson and me en route to the gym and said cheerily: “Hello, boys!”

  23. By the way, congratulations to Laura for her nomination for best short story from the UK’s Crime Writer’s Association.

    Info on her category:

    The CWA Short Story Dagger
    Any crime short story first published in the UK in English in return for payment. Prize money �1500:

    Lawrence Block: Speaking of Lust from Crime Express series (Five Leaves Publications)

    Sean Chercover: One Serving of Bad Luck from Killer Year (Mira)

    Laura Lippman: Cougar from Two of the Deadliest (Hodder & Stoughton)

    Peter Robinson: The Price of Love from The Blue Religion (Quercus)

    Zo� Sharp: Served Cold from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime (Constable & Robinson)

    Chris Simms: Mother�s Milk from The Mammoth Book of Best British Crime (Constable & Robinson)

    http://www.thecwa.co.uk/

  25. I attended the Daggers last year where I (happily) went 0-for-2 in novel and short story. But these awards will be announced on July 15th and I’ve already planned to go to London, then Harrogate on July 22, so there’s just no way. As history shows, I’ll go pretty much anywhere to lose an award, but ’09 is my year of staying close to home. Well, the second part is.

    The story appeared in TWO OF THE DEADLIEST, edited by Elizabeth George. It was not in HARDLY KNEW HER because rights did not revert to me in time.

  26. and for those of you wondering how you might find this for yourselves, or pondering how on earth you could have missed an LL story or something new with George’s hand in it:

    This title will be released on July 21, 2009.
    Pre-order now!
    Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

  27. perhaps a call to cua will be helpful. they have an mfa program for playwrighting now, along with a lot of other dramatic arts programs with close ties to our local theatres, in the event that arena or stc or rorschach or taffety punk or fill-in-the-blank-one-of-fifty-others can’t cough up any warm bodies.

    //karen

  28. Marjorie and Karen–

    Thanks for the advice. Fortunately, we’ve workshopped this one pretty thoroughly, and the space is so small (60 seats, in the round) that I’m going to be right on top of the audience as it is. The booth is essentially the last row, and I could hit the stage with a badly-thrown paper airplane. We were at the Capital Fringe last year, and the venues are pretty tight. Better to fit one more paying customer in if we can…

    We’re working with Taffety Punk on the “Rough Guide” show already. The cast and crew for that are entirely D.C.-based, with actors who regularly appear at Shakespeare Theatre, Folger, Taffety Punk, Woolly Mammoth, etc. I’m the only element of the show that’s coming from out of town. That’s the one where I want to just be the playwright–lots of lights, sounds, video projections. I’ve done it before with that show, which might explain some grey hair… I’ve also revised it from top to bottom since then–it’s been a couple of years–so I do want to be more aware of what works with that show.

    “A.D.” is about a lot of things. (It’s about 55 minutes. Rimshot, thank you.) It’s a series of monologues, each with a title like “artistic differences,” “active duty,” “attention deficit,” etc. Part of the fun is that the title of each is buried in the text. If there’s a theme to the show, it’s about paying attention, the difficulty of doing so with so much noise around us, that kind of thing. Our actress gets to play an army wife, an artists’ model, a torch singer, an astronomer and more. If I had to compare it to anything, I’d say it’s similar in spirit to “Wake Up and Smell the Coffee,” by Eric Bogosian. This version is short because of the festival’s schedule, but we do have a full-length version of it. We’ve also developed enough monologues to change it up, do a one-man show instead, or a two-person show with alternating pieces and some dialogue pieces, all depending on the how a given theatre company might want to produce it, sort of a Rubik’s cube of a script.

    I’m familiar with the names from paying attention to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, but that’s all I’ve got…

  29. david-

    i have not been to capital fringe in years, largely a function of timing & travel. if i am in town, will try to take it in. i rarely miss ‘page to stage’ at the kennedy center though (i actually like to be in town at that holiday because it is virtually deserted and actually enjoyable, weather notwithstanding). a friend of mine, a local playwright who was a helen hayes finalist a few years back, and has had a number of things at that venue, got me started on it. one of the many wonderful ‘free’ things in this town.

    brian, be sure to add the kennedy center to your list. they have free shows daily, and ‘tourist apparel’ and children are ubiquitous, if you don’t have theatre attire at hand. they also have free tours, and i have loved to hear the stories of the chandeliers and so on. in that area by the watergate they used to have free concerts, with full orchestras and so on on barges moored just off the banks, and folks would picnic there and listen.
    //karen

  30. “…we should experience things as they were meant to be experienced � a television show in its scheduled time slot, complete with commercials, a movie in a theater, a book in hand.”

    Speaking of experiencing things the way they oughta’ be experienced – this article immediately reminded me of Tess out on the (Patapsco?) river; at least the part about expressing embarrassment. (Ms Monoghan would’ve known how to right herself, though, unlike the overpaid athlete in this story)

    http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/31189701/

  31. Laura,
    If you want to try and meet up with LMW’s son David while you are in England, let me know. I’ll get your email address to him.
    Zelda

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