Marty Bass Recounts The Loss Of His Toupee

Posted on January 27, 2011 by atomictv

(Stoop Storytelling Series, 2/9/2006)

WJZ-TV morning host Marty Bass recounts his story of failure: the loss of his toupee.

Listen to “Legends of the Fall” at Baltimore’s Stoop Storytelling Series.

Posted in 2000s, Baltimorons, Marty Bass | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Burke’s — RIP

Posted on January 27, 2011 by atomictv

Photo by Leslie F. Miller / North Baltimore Patch

Convenience trumps comfort as the legendary downtown restaurant closes up and a Royal Farms store moves in

By Rafael Alvarez (North Baltimore Patch, 1/27/2011)

“I remember going there with my father … a darkened place where Dad could feel the comfort of the familiar … ” — William “Billy D” Driscoll, man of downtown

If a convenience store is a text message, then Burke’s Café—serving locals and tourists at the corner of Light and Lombard streets since 1934—was a handwritten letter. One with postscripts by generations of Baltimore newspaper reporters and an au jus stain smearing the page.

“Last time I was in Burke’s, I was picking up some baseball tickets from a sportswriter on the old News American, had to be around ’57 or ’58,” said Pete Genovese, a Highlandtown boy living in St. Louis. “Fellow named Frank Ptaszynski, they called him ‘Pinky,’ used to work the docks and got tickets from the reporters all the time. Sweetheart of a guy! Died way too young.”

And now Burke’s—which outlived the News American, Connelly’s, the McCormick spice factory and the days when working ships and the rough mugs who manned them put in at Pratt and Light Streets—has joined Pinky Ptaszynski on the other side of the Patapsco.

Said owner William Beery III—son of founder William A. Beery, Jr., who died in 2008: “It’s time to move on.”

Continue reading “Burke’s — RIP” at North Baltimore Patch.

Posted in 2010s, Dining | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Snow Day in Baltimore

Posted on January 27, 2011 by atomictv

This photo made the Baltimore Facebook rounds during Snowpocalypse 2010. That’s a Maryland license plate on the van.

Posted in 2010s, Baltimorons, Weather | 1 Comment

It’s a Long Way to the Top

Posted on January 27, 2011 by atomictv

Child's Play lead singer Larry Hinshaw and bassist Phil Wiser, Crumpton, Maryland, 1985.

Phil Wiser’s dramatic and unlikely ascent has taken him from Hammerjacks to Silicon Valley

By John Lewis (Baltimore Magazine, 12/2010)

Photo by Samantha Jones, Midmountain Photography

Phil Wiser was a senior at Eastern Vo-Tech and something of a science geek in 1984. But Wiser wasn’t your typical nerd, with his long hair and confident swagger. In fact, he was class president and bassist in Child’s Play, a popular metal band that played local clubs. It’s a rare trait, being the nerd and the cool kid, but it’s a combination that’s served Wiser well and distinguished him from his peers.

98 Rock’s Bob Lopez picked up on that one night at the Seagull Inn in Essex. Lopez came out to a Child’s Play show to promote the station and got into a lengthy conversation with Wiser. Unlike some of his peers, the budding metal god didn’t focus exclusively on his favorite Zeppelin songs or the merits of Bud vs. Michelob. “Actually, we spent quite a bit of time discussing technology,” recalls Wiser. “We talked a lot about this crazy thing called the personal computer that Apple was putting out.”

Phil Wiser in Child's Play

The next morning, Lopez raved to his listeners about the band and its whipsmart bass player. “It was great walking into school after he had talked about me and Child’s Play on the radio,” says Wiser. “Everyone heard it as they were driving to school, so I was king of the hill that day.”

It turns out that Lopez, who passed away in 2005, was somewhat prescient with regards to Wiser. The head-banging, spandex-wearing, sweat-soaked rocker traded hard rock rhythms for algorithms and ascended to far greater heights as a techie than as a musician. Instead of eking out a living in the hardscrabble record biz, he revolutionized the entire music business.

Wiser created what his website calls “the core technologies that now form the basis for all online music” and worked as Chief Technology Officer at Sony, where he brokered landmark deals with the likes of Apple. Now, Wiser—the suit wearing, plane flying, Silicon Valley entrepreneur—has set his sights on the television industry.

And to think it all started with AC/DC.

Continue reading “It’s a Long Way to the Top” at Baltimore Magazine.

Posted in 80s Rock, Essex / Middle River, Hammerjacks, Music | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment