Arts and Culture : Buzz

If you happen to be old enough, you might remember a time when the 443 area code was a brand new thing in Maryland. Now, 667 is coming as well.

From the source:

Maryland is getting a new 667 area code.

The Public Service Commission says the remaining numbers in the 410 and 443 area codes are expected to be exhausted by early next year and the new 667 area code will begin in March.

More here.

A host of events are on tap for the 2011 edition of Baltimore Beer Week, which begins October 6.

A sample:

So what’s in store this year? When queried, founder Joe Gold said many of the events are still evolving. However, plans are underway to have the first "Star Spangled Banger" parade of sorts starting at noon on October 6th at Baltimore’s historic Fort McHenry whereupon the fabled mallet will weave its way through some of Baltimore’s storied neighborhoods, visit various landmarks and taverns and ultimately end at Rams Head Live which will be the host venue for this year’s expanded Opening Tap Celebration. The hand-crafted mallet, used to tap the ceremonial first firkin, was crafted by wood expert John Gasparine and actually uses wood from Maryland’s famous fallen Wye Oak tree.

In addition to the Opening Tap Celebration, this year promises some great events like the 10th Anniversary of the Maryland Oktoberfest at Timonium Fairgrounds on October 8th, The Chesapeake Real Ale Festival featuring over 40 one of a kind firkins on October 15th and a Women-Centric event at Max’s Taphouse on October 13th. October 9th will feature a Historic Walking Pub Tour called a “Bar on Every Corner”.

A full schedule, along with more information about the event, can be found at the Baltimore Beer Week website.

Periodically Duff Goldman's name pops back up in the news and -- surprise! -- it's never for a story on how he's slowing down.

From the source:

Duff Goldman is sitting in a corner of the semi-secret Melrose Avenue location of his Charm City Cakes West bakery, checking the calendar on his iPhone. On the September schedule are meetings with his agent, magazine publisher Conde Nast and craft store Michael's; appearances and demos in Toronto, Buffalo, N.Y., Napa, Calif., and Beverly Hills; then it's back to New York to present a scholarship at the Culinary Institute of America. In between he's touring with his band to the National Buffalo Wing Festival, traveling to Le Mars, Iowa, to taste flavors for his namesake line of Blue Bunny Ice Cream and working on a giant cake in the shape of a sandwich for the opening of a Chick-fil-A.

"I can't believe I'm one of those people," Goldman says, "someone who flies in and then turns around the same day and flies out." He's like the James Brown of bakers - the hardest-working man in the cake business.

Read the whole story.

In a bold bet on its future, the Baltimore Sun will soon put up a paywall and begin offering digital subscriptions.

From the source:

The Sun tells readers that the paywall goes up October 10. “To encourage readers to sign up at launch, we will offer a special introductory rate of 99 cents for the first 4 weeks,” says publisher Tim Ryan. “After that, digital-only subscribers will have a cost of $2.49 a week or $49.99 for 26 weeks. Print subscribers will receive a special reduced rate of 75 cents a week or $29.99 a year. Non-subscribers will have free access to 15 web pages a month. The Sun is the first Tribune paper to announce digital subscriptions.

Read the whole story here.

Barry Levinson's Baltimore-based 'Diner' will soon be headed to Broadway courtesy of Levinson and Sheryl Crow.

From the source:

A singing, dancing version of “Diner,” Barry Levinson’s 1982 coming-of-age comedy about a group of friends growing up in Baltimore in 1959, is headed to Broadway next year, its press representatives said on Tuesday. Mr. Levinson, who directed the original film and earned an Academy Award nomination for its screenplay, will write the book of the “Diner” musical, and Sheryl Crow will write the music and lyrics; Kathleen Marshall, a recent Tony Award-winner for her choreography of “Anything Goes,” will direct and choreograph this production.

Read the full story here.

Baltimore's Edgar Allan Poe House remains in danger of closing.

From the source:

But the city that named its NFL team after his poem "The Raven" may soon lose a key physical connection to Poe. The Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum, where the writer lived for four years in the early 1800s, is in danger of closing next year, due to budget cutbacks by the city.

"Everyone is tightening their belt," said Jeff Jerome, the museum's curator and only employee, who also works for the city's planning department.

Read the whole story.

It's official: the National Pinball Museum -- previously located in DC -- will open in Baltimore.

From the source:

The National Pinball Museum, forced out of Washington after losing its lease earlier this year, will be moving into the Power Plant Live complex.

Trucks began moving owner David Silverman's vast collection of flipper-type pinball machines into a building at 608 Water St. Wednesday. Silverman, a Silver Spring-based landscape designer who has been collecting the machines for some 40 years, said he hopes to open for business by the end of November.

"We're moving in now," he said early Thursday morning as he drove into Baltimore.

Read the whole story.

Fresh on the heels of the conclusion of the NewsTrust project, the Baltimore City Paper has published an in-depth feature surveying Baltimore's online news landscape.

From the source:

Right now, Baltimore has around eight steady sources of online news, far more than that depending on how you broaden the definition. Some are corporately fed, such as North Baltimore Patch, Charm City Current, Bmore Media, or Baltimore Examiner, and some are independent, such as the Baltimore Brew and Investigative Voice.

For six months, Baltimore was fortunate enough to have an organization here dedicated solely to analyzing the city's journalistic output, NewsTrust Baltimore (the local pilot project of the larger NewsTrust organization). It was a bit like Yelp crossed with the Columbia Journalism Review. The project ceased operations on July 31 (it was always intended as a six-month pilot), leaving behind a collection of reports, one of which is a final comprehensive analysis of sorts. It eventually concludes, "The local news scene is in a state of flux with more than a little creative chaos. But patterns are emerging. As news startups and impassioned individuals become more rigorous and as traditional news organizations become more open and responsive to the public, there is a growing opportunity for collaboration across the local journalistic community."

Read the whole feature here.

Further reading: Bmore's February, 2011 feature on emerging news sites.

Stan Lee -- creator of renowned comics characters such as Spider Man and Thor (among others) -- will be the Guest of Honor at the Baltimore Comic-Con in August.

From the source:

"Stan Lee, the Guest of Honor at this year's Baltimore Comic-Con, will be on hand Saturday and Sunday signing autographs and posing for photographs with guests in attendance of the show. The 12th Annual show will be taking place August 20-21, 2011 at the Baltimore Convention Center."

More info here.

Baltimore County's library system is $475k to the positive thanks to a surprise gift from a former librarian.

From the source:

"The foundation received a bequest this week of $475,000 from the estate of Margaret "Peggy" Peterson, a former BCPL librarian, who demonstrated her commitment to libraries in death as she did in life. Peterson, who died in 2006, was a BCPL employee from 1963 until her retirement in 1986, and was known for her love of books."

Read the full story here.

X Games icon and local hero Travis Pastrana is coming back to Baltimore -- in a monster truck.

From the source:

"Pastrana will be driving the Nitro Circus truck named after his MTV reality show. His good friend, Cam McQueen usually drives the truck, but Pastrana takes over for McQueen several times a year.

"Honestly, though, I just want to get as much experience as I can and try to do my best every time I am in the truck," Pastrana said.

Pastrana finished fifth in freestyle at the 2009 Monster Jam World Finals. Sixteen trucks will compete in the event at M&T Bank Stadium."

Read the full story here.

Popular Baltimore Sun blog Dining@Large -- first helmed by Elizabeth Large and now the domain of Richard Gorelick -- is rebranding as "Baltimore Diner".

Read the full story.

Fans of The Wire, David Simon's Baltimore-based HBO series, can count among their ranks US Attorney General Eric Holder, who recently said that he'd like to see the show continue.

From the source:

"...the series, which was lauded for its accurate portrayal of the war on drugs and poverty in inner-city Baltimore, is still a favorite around the Justice Department. National Drug Control Policy czar Gil Kerlikowske said that episodes of the show are used to educate people about the plight of children caught up in the drug trade, the Washington Examiner reported.

President Obama has also previously said that he's a fan of the show."

Read the full story at the New York Daily News.

Baltimore's beloved Bromo Seltzer Tower is turning 100.

From Jacques Kelly at the Sun:

"Like Baltimore, it's quirky," said artist Greg Otto, who has painted the tower numerous times and reproduced it on postcards. "The clock face is gorgeous, an extravagancy we don't see anymore. The tower itself is not particularly beautiful � an unadorned shaft with a wonderful crown. And yet, everybody knows that damn building."

Read the full story here.

The prestigious Sophie Kerr Prize, a literary recognition worth more than $60 thousand, has been awarded to Maryland resident Lisa Beth Jones.

From the source:

"Lisa Beth Jones of Fork, Md., has been named the winner of the 2011 Sophie Kerr Prize.

The winner of the award, worth $61,062, was announced Tuesday night at the Poets House in New York.

Jones was on the dean's list every semester at Washington College. She finished college in December and works at the International Youth Foundation in Baltimore and as a travel writer for Examiner.com."

Read the whole story.