Info for SubGenii traveling to Baltimore for the Nov. 15 Devival.
Baltimor...@gmail.com
I’m not going to bother to list the Inner Harbor tourist shit. If you
want to go to the “Betsy Ross House and Flag Museum” that’s your own
problem. Yes, there’s a Hard Rock Café, a Little Italy, an ESPN zone,
and a frat-boy pub crawl district called “Fells Point”. These need not
concern you.
My goal is to answer this question: “How can SubGenii entertain
themselves in Baltimore?”
First off, a few words about Baltimore: This is John Waters’ town.
Every one of his films was shot in or around the city. If you want to
pay your dues, there’s a great article here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1589/is_2004_August_17/ai_n6175608
Additionally, this city is also a crime-ridden scum hole. Shows like
“The Wire” and “Homicide: Life on the Streets” don’t really exaggerate
too much. This city has a very high murder rate. Fortunately for those
of you who are not buying or selling drugs at three in the morning in
bad neighborhoods, your chances of getting shot are almost
nonexistent.
I will focus on three adjoining neighborhoods: Mount Vernon, Charles
Village and Hamden (and one ancillary area called Federal Hill). These
are conveniently centered around the Devival location
(www.loadoffun.net), and for folks that don’t mind walking they can be
easily navigated on foot (for the most part).
Charles Village:
Just south of Johns Hopkins, this is where our venue - "Load of Fun" -
is located.
Load of Fun, (www.loadoffun.net) is several things, including a
gallery, a theater, a continuous graffiti project, a music venue, a
monthly flea market and an artist’s workshop.
The venue is across the street from Joe2 (http://
baltimore.metromix.com/restaurants/pizza/joe-squared-pizza-and-station-
north/121104/content) the venue where the amino acids played their
post-devival show last year. Joe2 serves food until midnight, or
sometimes later, so you can probably duck across the street to grab a
bite before or after the Devival.
There are also a few other nearby things worth checking out:
“Normal’s” (http://www.normals.com/), is a great little bookstore/
record shop
“The Charles Theater” (http://www.thecharles.com/), is a nice small
independent movie theater that gets a nice mix of indie, foreign, and
major films.
“The Book Thing” (http://www.bookthing.org/), is a small concrete
building full of free books. It’s open Saturdays and Sundays.
“The Paper Moon Café” (http://www.papermoondiner24.com/) is a great
place to go if you’re hung over from the night before, but a terrible
place to go if you’re still tripping…
“The Ottobar” (http://theottobar.com/), a great rock club. Quite
simple.
“The Rendezvous Lounge”. (http://search.cityguide.aol.com/baltimore/
bars/rendezvous-lounge/v-102388840) A shady little dive bar that has
the best jukebox in town.
Penn Station – (http://www.amtrak.com/servlet/ContentServer?
pagename=Amtrak/am2Station/Station_Page&code=BAL) Penn station is the
main Baltimore rail station. It is conveniently located smack-dab in
between Charles Village and Mount Vernon. If you’re flying into BWI
you can catch the train or the light rail to here pretty easily, and
walk or catch a cab from here to most of the places listed.
Mount Vernon:
Just south of Charles village, it’s a somewhat nicer area for the most
part. This is where the Maryland Institute College of Art is located,
and is referred to as “the cultural district”. This is also where the
Baltimore Hostel, the Biltmore Hotel, and Mid-Towne Suites are located
(see “Lodging”).
During the day the Walters art gallery (http://www.thewalters.org/) is
free of charge, and definitely worth a look
RedEmma’s (http://www.redemmas.com/) coffee and bookshop is here too;
fantastic coffee, free wireless.
A little farther down the street is Brewers Art, (http://
www.thebrewersart.com/) where the best (and strongest) beer in
Baltimore is brewed. Ignore the fancy upstairs restaurant, the
downstairs is cave-like, the food is incredible, and the bartenders
have great taste in music.
Across the street is The Belvedere Hotel a 100 year old hotel that is
home to "The Owl Bar" (H.L. Menkin Drank there regularly) and "The
13th Floor" a bar/club that overlooks most of baltimore and has a
great dub reggae house band every friday night.
Also check out the Mt Royal Tavern aka “The Dirt Church” (http://
baltimore.citysearch.com/profile/4981615/baltimore_md/
mount_royal_tavern.html)
And my favorite neighborhood bar - Dyonisus (http://www.myspace.com/
dionysusbar)
Hampden:
Hampden is west of Charles Village, and is a bit too far to be
convenient walking distance. (there are always taxis at the train
station, and on Charles St).
The main drag is called “The Avenue” and is the location of Atomic
books (http://atomicbooks.com/), where we held a reading/book signing
last year.
The Avenue (technically West 36th St.) is chock-full of other assorted
weirdness.
Bars like “Frasiers” and “The Nutty Bar” are full of whack-jobs,
“Rocket to Venus” is great, but has a tendency to be overrun by
attractive tattooed rock hipsters (male and female).
Holy Frijoles (http://www.yelp.com/biz/lQmmV0rSkQp24kPyG4S5Zg)
deserves a visit, as do the assorted kitch/junk/antique shops that
litter the avenue.
Also, there is “The True Vine” (http://
www.thetruevinerecordshop.com/), a very unusual record shop that you
MUST visit.
Basically, you can easily wander around Hampden for several hours just
looking at stuff, eating and drinking.
Federal Hill:
Federal hill is closer to the Inner Harbor than the other areas are,
but it does have a few worthwhile attractions. Most notable is the
American Visionary Art Museum (http://www.avam.org/) home to art that
is much too odd to be anything other than a novelty for most
galleries, and museums. This museum is awesome…
There is also a somewhat notable place called “Illusion’s Magic
Bar” (http://www.illusionsmagicbar.com/) that deserves mention due to
the fact that the owner’s son does a nifty hanging straightjacket
escape several times a night on Fridays and Saturdays.
Elsewhere:
Other things to check out are the various local venues that feature a
nice range of local and national bands, most notably The 8x10 (http://
www.the8x10.com/index_content.html) and Club Sonar (http://
www.sonarbaltimore.com/)
Weather:
Baltimore in November is chilly. Bring a jacket and an extra layer or
two of clothing, just in case we get a bit of early winter.
Lodging:
There are several small homeless encampments where most subgenii could
pass their evenings. Other reasonably priced accommodations include:
The Baltimore Hostel (http://www.baltimorehostel.org/)
The Biltmore Hotel (http://www.biltmoresuites.com/)
Mid-Towne Suites (410-244-6630) This is a very cool, and fairly cheap
place, but it’s pretty small, so reserve your rooms ASAP.
Also, for the desperate and the impoverished, there is a super-sleazy
motel less than a block away from the venue. North Avenue Motel
(http://maps.google.com/maps?client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-
US:official&channel=s&hl=en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=north+avenue+motel
+baltimore&fb=1&view=text&latlng=12618048278038607103)
You cannot stay with the event organizers.
Email me if you have questions.
-Rev Carter LeBlanc
Baltimor...@gmail.com
window.
http://i36.tinypic.com/16219p3.jpg
-RevCarter
Sourpuss
I can vouch for Brewer's art. Resurrection is the best beer in the
state, hands down.
Rev. Ivan Stang
<0579e471-c409-4456...@m74g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>,
<Baltimor...@gmail.com> wrote:
Very nice!!
--
The SubGenius Foundation, Inc.
(4th Stangian Orthodox MegaFisTemple Lodge of the Wrath of Dobbs Yeti,
Resurrected, Rev. Ivan Stang, prop.)
P.O. Box 181417, Cleveland, OH 44118 (fax 216-320-9528)
Dobbs-Approved Authorized Commercial Outreach of The Church of the SubGenius
SubSITE: http://www.subgenius.com PRABOB
Baltimor...@gmail.com
wrote:
> In article
> <0579e471-c409-4456-97a0-24a74efb5...@m74g2000hsh.googlegroups.com>,
>
> <BaltimoreDevi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Just a bump and a nighttime photo of the dobbshead in the venue
> > window.
>
> >http://i36.tinypic.com/16219p3.jpg
>
> > -RevCarter
>
> Very nice!!
>
> --
> The SubGenius Foundation, Inc.
> (4th Stangian Orthodox MegaFisTemple Lodge of the Wrath of Dobbs Yeti,
> Resurrected, Rev. Ivan Stang, prop.)
> P.O. Box 181417, Cleveland, OH 44118 (fax 216-320-9528)
> Dobbs-Approved Authorized Commercial Outreach of The Church of the SubGenius
> SubSITE:http://www.subgenius.com PRABOB
Another bump.
Plus - Baltimore Hostel is only $25 a night!!!
http://www.baltimorehostel.org/
-Rev Carter LeBlanc
Baltimor...@gmail.com
Bump zig
For great justice
-Rev Carter