Tom Kiefaber: “Best Loose Cannon”

Posted on September 26, 2011 by almosthipguy

Tom Kiefaber, City Paper's "Best Loose Cannon" of 2011; photo by John Ellsberry


City Paper “Best of Baltimore,” (September 21, 2011)

The City Paper’s 2011 “Best of Baltimore” issue named Tom Kiefaber “Best Loose Cannon,” to which we can only reply: “Bang, that’s wild!” Here’s the full CP write-up:

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Best Loose Cannon
Tom Kiefaber

Despite Baltimore’s penchant for bombastic public figures, local political stories can be a little humdrum these days. Over the years our elected officials have learned the benefits of hunkering down behind PR people with their wiggle words and sunny press releases, making the whole enterprise less entertaining both for reporters and the public at large. But then along came Tom Kiefaber. The mercurial former owner of the Senator Theatre has never been a retiring fellow, but his entrance onto the local political stage was memorable even by his standards: At a routine June City Council meeting, he dramatically dropped the velvet rope in chambers and made his way to the podium, loudly declared Baltimore “a banana republic,” and then proceeded to sit down on the floor in protest. His gripes had to do with his and the Senator’s treatment at the hands of the city; Kiefaber subsequently channeled that rage into an announced run for City Council President. This despite the fact that he has been ordered by the city solicitor to give 24 hours’ notice before entering City Hall. In an unrelated case, Kiefaber has been charged with second-degree assault stemming from a complaint by the Senator’s new management. (A trial is set for Oct. 21.) As @RealTomKiefaber said in a July 3 tweet, “My passion bucket overflows.” True that.

Posted in 2010s, Baltimorons, Media, Politics, Urban Legends | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Baltimore Unearthed: Shirley Temple Was Here (Sort of)

Posted on September 22, 2011 by atomictv

By Michael Yockel (Baltimore Fishbowl, 9/22/2011)

Only the fetid mind of a Hollywood producer could conceive of casting the perpetually perky Shirley Temple in the role of a proto-feminist. In the 1949 dramedy Adventure in Baltimore, a twilight-of-her-film-career 20-year-old Shirley, a decade and a half removed from her dimply child-star apogee in The Little Colonel and Curly Top, appears as determined, free-thinking artist Dinah Sheldon, whose notions of modernity scandalize proper society in 1905 Baltimore.

Continue reading “Baltimore Unearthed: Shirley Temple Was Here (Sort of)” at Baltimore Fishbowl.

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Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Baltimore could close

Posted on September 20, 2011 by atomictv

(Reuters) – Of all the cities that claim a connection to the troubled author Edgar Allan Poe, Baltimore likes to think its case is strongest.

By Jason Tomassini (Reuters, 9/12/2011)

Poe’s family is from Baltimore, his literary career began in the city, he died a mysterious death at a Baltimore hospital and his body was buried here in 1849.

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.

Cash-strapped Baltimore stopped funding the museum’s $85,000 budget two years ago. It now operates on funds raised privately over recent years.

A feasibility study, to be completed by December, will explore ways to make the museum self-sustaining. More likely than not, the museum will close at the end of June 2012.

Continue reading “Edgar Allan Poe Museum in Baltimore could close” at Reuters.com.

Posted in Baltimorons, Edgar Allan Poe | 1 Comment

Baltimore Integrity Trumps D.C. Importance

Posted on September 9, 2011 by almosthipguy


Leah L. Jones/FOR THE WASHINGTON POST – College students Maya Wells, left and Christina Pinder sit on a bench on Federal Hill Park facing the Inner Harbor.

By Frances Stead Sellers (Washington Post, August 23, 2011)

Forget about Washington. Ask Baltimoreans about the benefits of Baltimore, and many will tell you that it’s the best place to live

in

the

world.

That’s what 27-year-old Ken Wong told me when he was cutting my hair the other morning (and doing so for less than any salon I’ve tried in DC).

Yes, Washington’s got great museums on the mall and a better metro, says Ken, who’s tended to women’s hair in both cities. But Baltimore is the better place to be.

Ken’s got a point. And even though Baltimore is not the Nation’s Capital, it has its share of mall-like landmarks: It has an older and more architecturally interesting Washington Monument than Washington; Francis Scott Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner after witnessing the British bombardment of Fort McHenry; and the Enoch Pratt is one of the country’s oldest free public library systems.

But all in all, Baltimore’s not a Very Important Place — which is just what its residents like about it. People go to Washington for opportunity; when they come to Baltimore they find community. The one’s about work, while the other’s about life. And not la-di-da Georgetown-style life.

Continue reading “Baltimore Trumps D.C.” at www.washingtonpost.com.

Posted in 2010s, Baltimorons, Neighborhoods, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 1 Comment