Best of Baltimore
EDITED BY
Lydia Woolever
WRITTEN WITH
RON CASSIE & KERRY FOLAN
PHOTOGRAPHY BY KT KANAZAWICH
CONCERT
Turnstile
The fact is, if you have lingering FOMO for missing the free pop-up concert from Turnstile in the Wyman Park Dell this May, we’re sorry, but you should. For one night only, it was lightning in a bottle, with Baltimore’s biggest band in a decade drawing an estimated 10,000 fans from near and far down the Charles Village hillside for a goosebump-inducing hardcore show that turned out to be one of the most diverse crowds—by age, race, gender, even music taste—we’ve ever seen in this city. On top of all that, it helped raise nearly 50 grand for Health Care for the Homeless, and was the talk of the town for weeks. Through the endless swirl of stage-diving and the unified howls of lyrics—“all the mystery!”—it was clear that the city has merrily mosh-pitted its way into our hardcore era. Long may it reign.
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BOOK
THE TROUBLE OF COLOR BY MARTHA S. JONES
Johns Hopkins University professor Martha S. Jones is a leading historian and public intellectual. Whether uncovering the story of an enslaved American woman’s death in Paris or chronicling the struggle of Black women to win voting rights—that book, Vanguard, earned the 2021 Los Angeles Times’Book Prize for history—her prose is always a pleasure to read. In this recent memoir, Jones navigates five generations of more personal history. With painstaking research, she gracefully documents her family’s legacy of enslavement and relationship to an ever-evolving color line. In the end, it is both a heartbreaking and hopeful journey.
EXHIBITION
SCOUT ART FAIR
By all measures, the biggest exhibition this year didn’t take place in an art museum or gallery space. Instead, inside the historic hall of the War Memorial, during the newly relocated Artscape on Memorial Day Weekend, more than 40 local artists convened for a one-of-a-kind showcase of the city’s creative talent. Curated by acclaimed artist Derrick Adams with Baltimore Beat arts-and-culture editor Teri Henderson (whose Layers exhibit at MICA was also a highlight this spring), it was a multidisciplinary mecca that became the festival’s nexus—and something we hope returns year after year.
1983
8TH ANNUAL
Best of Baltimore:
BEST AND WORST OF BALTIMORE
IT’S A BEST-OF MIRACLE. There is not a sexy lady to be found, but instead a true Baltimore hero—Eddie Murray, sporting spectacular mutton chops and an uncharacteristically wide grin and posing with generic ballpark food (Boog’s Barbecue was not even a glimmer in the retired first baseman’s eye at that point). Inside, there were some real doozies—“Best Hairpieces” went to Gentleman’s Gentleman on Joppa Road and “Best Meaty Threesome” went to the Viande Au Trois (filet mignon, medallions of veal, and baby lamp chops) at Les Survivants in Annapolis, while the “Worst Meaty Threesome” went to the Colts defensive line. (We see what they did there.)
PHOTOGRAPHY
SCENE SEEN BY MICAH E. WOOD
There’s a dream-like quality to the portraits of photographer Micah E. Wood. Be it in a park, on a rowhome stoop, down a back alley, Wood’s work—which has been featured in the likes of The Washington Post, Bmore Art, and Baltimore—not only captures transcendent images of his subjects but also transforms snippets of otherwise ordinary scenes of Baltimore into entire evocative worlds. Wood also moonlights as a beloved singer-songwriter, perfectly blending his two passions in this new photo book, where he photographs an array of musicians across all genres. Rich in light, color, and texture, it’s a time capsule of the local music scene, and a tribute to the city itself.
THEATER
BALTIMORE CENTER STAGE
While some might deem it an institution, this Mount Vernon theater takes risks, both on and off the stage. Under the first full season of artistic director Stevie Walker-Webb, they world-premiered two two new plays (to record-breaking success), while simultaneously doubling down on community programming, like the inaugural Juvenile Justice Drama Club for incarcerated boys. Center Stage was also one of the first institutions to publicly refuse to alter their DEI initiatives in the face of federal budget cuts—a commitment worthy of its own standing ovation.
JAY HOWLEY
EXPERIENCE
Voyages with Dan Deacon
Over the last decade, Dan Deacon has evolved his music practice from DIY dance parties in Station North to symphonic splendor nationwide, composing scores for both the highbrow (New York City ballets) and the popular (Hollywood blockbusters). But last fall, the electronic virtuoso returned home for one of his most mighty opuses yet. For one night only, he enlisted dozens of local musicians to create an otherworldly soundscape as part of the National Aquarium’s immersive, after-hours Voyages series. For one night only, as guests moved through the exhibitions, they stumbled past schools of fish or reefs of sharks, then upon Ami Dang on the sitar or Amy Reid on a synthesizer. It was a multisensory ode to the natural cycles of ecosystems, and also showed off the many wonders of our music scene. Bravo, Maestro Deacon.
ALBUM
For the Love of It All by Brandon Woody
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: Few sounds capture the feeling of this city more than the searing trumpet of Brandon Woody. Hear it loud and clear on the Baltimore native’s euphoric debut record, out now via the esteemed Blue Note Records, in which he buoyantly bottles both struggle and celebration with his Upendo band.
MUSICIAN TO WATCH
Bartees Strange
This Oklahoma-raised, now-Baltimore-based indie darling is skyrocketing to stardom, with NPR Tiny Desk concerts, Rolling Stone reviews, and an ambitious new album about facing fears, co-produced by record-maker-to-the-stars Jack Antonoff. The fourth track is a poignant ballad about the potent possibility of this town.
PROMOTER
Dana Murphy
All hail Dana Murphy—the dynamo behind Unregistered Nurse Booking who, over the last 15-plus years, has helped foster the city’s underground scene through DIY events and festivals. That Turnstile show at Wyman Park? Wouldn’t have happened without her. For that we say, thanks.
SONG
“Dandelion Weed” by Cara Beth Satalino
We’re sad to say this longtime local singer-songwriter recently left Baltimore, but the transition resulted in this luminous album, Little Green, mastered by Mobtown Studios, and this lovely, lilting song about hopes and dreams. Consider it your nostalgic track of summer.
VENUE
Current Space Garden Bar
During warm-weather months, this Howard Street gallery’s back lot transforms into a lush venue, with a tented stage, craft-cocktail bar, and plenty of seating to catch both local and touring acts. Extra points for its after-parties during the bi-annual Bromo Art Walk.
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TRADITION
TOM MILLER WEEK
Walking into the Eubie Blake Cultural Center this February, a wave of warm color chased away our cold-weather blues. Curated by Afro Charities archivist Deyane Moses, the Out of the Woodwork! exhibition, part of the fifth annual Tom Miller Week, featured dozens of works by the late namesake artist. This ever-growing celebration honors the prolific Baltimore painter, screen-printer, sculptor, and muralist, best known for his colossal, colorful, “Afro Deco” murals of Black life on buildings across the city. Moses is helping to shed new light on his masterful life and legacy. In turn, she has created a moving tradition to look forward to each winter.
WRITER
LAWRENCE BURNEY
In 2013, Lawrence Burney printed his first zine—a black-and-white Xerox featuring stories and photogrpahy of Baltimore creatives of color like Abdu Ali and TT The Artist. With a loyal following, True Laurels quickly grew into a high-gloss magazine, capturing untold stories of the local art and music scenes. In the years since, Burney has become a vital voice for the city and its DIY culture, spreading the word both near (that epic André De Shields profile in Baltimore last year) and far (a new Turnstile cover story for Pitchfork). And he’s telling even more of his own stories, too, with a debut memoir out now to rave reviews via Simon & Schuster’s Atria Books.
1985
10TH ANNUALL
Best of Baltimore:
BEST AND WORST OF BALTIMORE
IT WAS TOO GOOD TO LAST. After a brief reprieve, sexy ladies are back on the cover. Inside, we were still doing Best and Worst, although clearly our hearts were no longer in Worst, as there were only a smattering of those. Among the best? Lauren Kucner, a 13-year-old from Dulaney High who made custom-fit clothing for Cabbage Patch Kids. (Never has a sentence been more ’80s.) We gave a nod to Jones & Jones in the Village of Cross Keys for “Best Party Clothes” and awarded “Best Honied Delights” to Honeycomb, a bakery in the Light Street Pavilion. “Best Nuts” went to Jeppi Nut and Candy Co. and “Worst Nuts” to prowrestling fans at the Civic Center. We were such kill-joys.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SCHAUN CHAMPION
ARTIST
Phaan Howng
We’ve been fans of Phaan Howng for years now. The MICA grad has been making art in Baltimore for more than a decade—her lush, larger-than-life, LSD-trip paintings and installations addressing the human desire to contain nature with a dose of dark humor and outright fun. In Howng’s “optimistic post-apocalypse,” the plants have taken over, with her works themselves consuming entire rooms at the Baltimore Museum of Art, walls at the Armory Show in New York, and sprouting up throughout the gardens at the Smithsonian in D.C. This year, she herself seems to be everywhere, too, from curating the impressive Exceeds Expectations exhibition for the city’s Asia North festival to installing her new “Big Ass Snake(plant)s on a Plane” across from The Charles Theatre as part of the new Inviting Light public art project in Station North. Pun not intended, we’re rooting for her.
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Explore The Winners
