Move To Baltimore : Buzz

As cities around the U.S. fight to pull themselves out of ditch dug by the global economic downturn, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and other cities that were built up by a bevy of industrial industries may fare better than those with economies rely heavily on more vulnerable sectors like the housing market.

Here's an excerpt:

"At a recent London School of Economics symposium on U.S. and European cities, Katz said American bubble cities are characterized by "real estate economies built on consumption and excess."

More mature industrial centers, he said, tend to have strong universities and a history of research, innovation and making things. If America is going to "rediscover our innovation mojo," as Katz put it, traditional industrial metros are best equipped to lead the way..."

Read the entire article here.

If you haven't been able to cop a ticket to a Stew dinner, here's a peek at a recent dinner and the trend that is spreading across the country.

"A Stew meal is not elaborate. The main course is soup; tonight it's a choice between vegan spring onion and rabbit with dumplings. Tickets to the event are $10 each. But there's more to this meal than the composition of a plate of radishes, or of the next course: spears of roasted asparagus, pleasantly salted, arranged to form squares that overlap at the corners.

Stew is the brainchild of the Baltimore Development Cooperative (not to be confused with the Baltimore Development Corp.), which was started in 2007 by three recent MICA graduates, all artists now in their late 20s: Scott Berzofsky, Nicholas Wisniewski and Nester. They wanted to use food to foster community and stimulate activism."

Read the entire article here.

The all volunteer organized and operated music festival happens in Baltimore July 22-25. The four-day event, presented by Wham City and devoid of corporate sponsorship, takes place at various locations throughout the city with music, theater, and video performances from hundreds of artists and bands from the Baltimore area and beyond.

Here's an excerpt:

' *Sniffle* Whartscape has really grown up, guys. This year the Baltimore music fest celebrates its fifth birthday with a sprawling lineup of approximately 435 bands over three days. See the almost complete lineup..."

Read the entire post (scroll down to the bottom of the page) here.

Kinetinauts lined up at the American Visionary Art Museum for the annual Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race a few weeks ago. This year's sculptures included a platypus, a sea monster and a gingerbread house among others. The man-powered sculptures make their way through a course consisting of hard surface, knee-deep mud and water. The WSJ ponders the artistic merits of the quirky race.

Here's an excerpt:

"The 45-year-old was getting the platypus ready for 15 miles of concrete, cobblestones, water and mud. The annual Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race matched people-powered creatures made of everything from tulle mesh fabric to recycled trash can lids.

"Some people think it's trash on wheels," says Theresa Segreti of the American Visionary Art Museum, the group that organizes the race. "But it's art."

Read the entire article here.

Check the WSJ slideshow of the race here.

Watch WSJ video of the race here.

Baltimore is replete with independent theaters that offer theater lovers a wide range of choices from the well-known to the avant garde. The Strand, in the city's Station North neighborhood, recently launched a four-pack of short works written by company members. If you've been wondering what they're all about...take a gander at this brief review.

Here's an excerpt:

"On Saturday evening at the Strand Theater, Playwrights Group of Baltimore presented "Skin in the Game," an anthology of short plays written by members of the Group. Different in style, each play pivots around the phrase "Skin in the Game," apparently coined by Warren Buffet to indicate passionate investment. A packed audience at the Strand witnessed staged readings of plays ranging from the melodramatic to the romantic to the fantasist."

Read the entire post here.

Check out more about Baltimore's arts scene or Station North!

Employers in Maryland boosted staff by 35,800 workers last month, those in Virginia added 24,500 and head counts in Pennsylvania climbed by 22,600, the Labor Department reported today in Washington. The states were among the most affected by February blizzards that pushed seasonal snowfall to records.

The number of states showing payroll gains increased from 27 the prior month and was the most since February 2008, a sign that the improvement in the labor market is broadening. Nationally, a report earlier this month showed employment increased by 162,000 last month, the third gain in the past five months and the biggest in three years."

Read the entire article here.

The much anticipated issue featuring Baltimore Magazine's annual list of the city's top 50 restaurants is out. But, while the mag does a good job with its ranking of area restaurants, blogger MinxEats thinks the list has some misses as well.

Here's an excerpt:

"The issue of Baltimore Magazine that features their list of Baltimore's 50 Best Restaurants is usually my favorite issue. It's always interesting to see if any new joints have made it onto the hallowed list of old favorites, and with the closing of Ixia and The Brass Elephant in 2009, there are at least two spots available for some new places to sneak in.

This year, as last, Baltimore Mag ranked the restaurants. Charleston, of course, came in as number one. In fact, Cindy Wolf and husband Tony Foreman have four restaurants in the top 12. Not too shabby, and I will probably have to agree with Pazo and Petit Louis. But my one experience at Charleston left me feeling that the place was highly overrated and I have not been offered any free meals there to make me change my mind. Obviously I am the only one who doesn't think Cindy Wolf is some sort of culinary goddess, huh?

I was happy to see our neighborhood joint, Crush, on the list, but feel it deserves better than #33. I've had more consistently good food there than at the #12-ranked Petit Louis. I also think Della Notte deserves better than the 38th position; everything I have ever eaten there has been excellent. And who can top a giant tree in the center of the restaurant for ambiance?"

Read the entire post here.

Students from Baltimore city schools crushed the competition at the 2010 Maryland Scholastic Chess Championships winning third place or better in all divisions.

Here's an excerpt:

"Over 350 players from across the state traveled to the Hagerstown Convention Center this weekend to compete in the 2010 Maryland Scholastic Chess Championships. Baltimore City Public Schools (City Schools) middle school teams swept to victory in both the varsity and junior varsity divisions. In the junior varsity division, Woodhome Elementary/Middle School took the championship (pictured, below), with Cross Country Elementary/Middle School in second. And in the varsity division, Cross Country Elementary/Middle School (pictured, above) took the state title, with Pimlico Elementary Middle School in second place. This is the first varsity state chess championship title ever for City Schools."

Read the entire article here.

Glitzy Southern California and big oil states are largely absent from the list: 19 of the 25 richest counties in the country are on the East Coast. In part, that's because our list looks at the middle incomes, and counties in the East tend to be smaller, thereby allowing for less of a spread between the richest and poorest workers...The federal government generates a wealth of jobs, keeping unemployment in the D.C. metro area at a low 6.2% (the national average is still near 10%)...

Not far from D.C. lies another cluster of wealthy counties. Howard County, Md., a suburb of Baltimore, has a standout school system with standardized test scores that consistently beat out the national average, and median household incomes of $101,710. In nearby Montgomery County, where 59% of residents over 25 have an advanced degree, households bring in a median $93,999. Historic Calvert County, Md., has profited from its roots as a tobacco-rich farmland as well as its proximity to Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, and claims a median income of $89,049."

Read the entire article here. Or, cut to the chase and check out the stats on No. 13 Calvert County, No. 21 Charles County, No. 3 Howard County, and No. 10 Montgomery County.