Double Secret Island Swans @ The Windup Cat Tonight

Posted on by

Well, isn’t this something. It’s already Earth Day and we still haven’t figured out what we’re doing tonight. There are two shows on the Chop’s radar this evening, and unlike we sometimes do we can’t try being in two places at once tonight. It’s a tough call. We’ll give you the facts and let you sort it out.

Double Dagger/ Future Islands/ Ed Schrader Play the Black Cat tonight. 9pm.

Baltimore is taking over DC tonight when Double Dagger invades the Black Cat back stage with Ed Schrader and the superheated Future Islands who are so hot right now you’d think they were the next Joy Division or something. Seriously, they’ve been setting the internet on fire with that Tin Man Video and when In Evening Air comes out on May 4th it’s going to sell about a million copies and they’ll probably end up on Saturday Night Live. (And remember, you heard that prediction here first. SNL. For real.)

This is clearly a great show, and one of the last opportunities to see both these bands before they both undertake a long touring schedule and get rich and world famous and snort caviar off of Suicide Girls. It’s also a very good chance to go down and thumb our nose at DC a little and remind them that we really are cooler than they are at the end of the day.

There are two very compelling reasons to skip it though, cause who wants to drive to DC anyway? Also: We’re planning on seeing both of these bands at Floristree next week.

Secret Mountains, Soft Cat play the Windup Space tonight. 9 pm.

Our other, equally enticing option for tonight is to keep it local and low-key and check out the Earth Day show at the Windup Space headlined by Secret Mountains. We’ve blogged about SM before, and they’re another Baltimore band that we basically cannot get tired of listening to or seeing live.

They’re supported by fellow locals Soft Cat, who seem to have an awful lot of members for such a pared down sound; New Jersey’s European Swans, who sound pretty good, but who’d definitely fit in over at LATFH, and Shaun David Gould.

Like we said, we’re torn. So in an unprecedented and exclusive first ever world premiere, we’re going to let you, the Reader, decide which show we check out tonight. Don’t steer us wrong.

Five Good Reasons to Wear a Blazer This Weekend

Posted on by

Yeah Baltimore, we know how it is. A lot of you like to drape that jacket over the back of your chair as soon as you get into the office. Still more of you have one old standby jacket (possibly handed down from dear old Dad) that doesn’t fit well and that you only break out for weddings, funerals and court appearances. We know that most of you would rather wear a Yankees jersey than be forced into a sport coat on the weekend, but hear us out on this one.

Done right, a jacket can be paired with a wide array of casual clothing, and the rest of your outfit can determine how ‘dressed-up’ or ‘dressed-down’ you are overall. It should also be comfortable. If it’s not, you’re in the wrong jacket.

Martin Amis elegantly displays casual style on a London rooftop. 1980

Blazers are highly functional. It’s not summer yet. Instead of grabbing an outdoor jacket and then being stuck wearing it in the bar all night or being forced to carry it around and hang it on odd objects (because no one seems to have coat racks anymore) why not don a sport coat instead? It’ll keep the spring chill off your back and take you from a walk in Patterson Park to a table at Annabelle Lee in style. Plus you get half a dozen extra pockets. Who doesn’t want that?

Women will take notice. You’ve been slacking off with the gym routine, but a well cut, properly fitting jacket will keep your secrets. Proper tailoring can give you a little broader shoulder and a little leaner waist. Not really, but it’s all about subtle impressions. The Chop knows from experience that women look long at a guy in a jacket. Who’s more date-able? The boy in his favorite worn out band tee shirt or the man in the casual blazer.

A jacket will open doors for you. Remember the last time you were walking up Charles Street and you really really had to pee and all you heard was “Sorry. The restroom is for customers only.” Well, a blazer might have gotten you in there. It can also result in a round on the house, airline or hotel upgrades, and certain persons keeping mum when liberties are taken. If you want to be money, you’ve got to look money.

Wearing a jacket will keep you out of trouble. Know how you’re prone to yell at people in traffic, commit random larcenies and tell Red Sox fans to go screw? Well, you remember yourself a little better in a blazer. Dressing like a man tends to encourage acting like a man. Funny how that works.

It’s a rule. Of course, we’ll all be a bit rakish from time to time, no matter how finely cut the clothes. As the outstanding blog 1001 Rules For My Unborn Son recently quoted “Dissolute behavior in a coat and tie is always more amply forgiven.” Next time you (un)knowingly make a pass at her while her husband is across the bar, make sure you’re wearing a hell of a nice jacket.

If Charlie Watts can drum in a blazer, you can drink in one.

To clarify: we know the terms ‘sport coat’ and ‘blazer’ are not interchangeable, although for the purposes of this post they are. If you need further guidance Esquire’s fashion editor Nick Sullivan will sort out the issue for you. There are also a wide range of opinions online about what jackets work where and for whom. We’re not even getting into that. Good luck.

Winds and Words of War @ Harford County Public Library

Posted on by

Yes, it is highly unusual for the Chop to blog something outside Baltimore City, but as it happens today is Mama Chop’s birthday, so we’re going to play the role of dutiful son and drive out to the far suburbs, flowers and birthday card in hand, for dinner.

We’re in luck tonight too, because on the way we’re going to stop by the Bel Air branch of the Harford County Public Library to check out the awkwardly named Winds and Words of War poster exhibit.

One of 40 WWI posters on display at HCPL branches through May 31

W&WofW is a traveling exhibit of 40 WWI era posters which are archived at the San Antonio Public Library. Harford is one of only seven national stops on it’s tour. The collection is split between the Bel Air and Jarrettsville branches, and is available to view from now until May 31, Mon, Fri, Sat – 10am – 5pm and
Tue, Wed, Thu 1pm – 8pm.

In our opinion, the WWI & II era was the height of poster design, and each one we see is as fascinating as the last. The Chop once had a chance to view a collection of original War Shipping Administration posters from both world wars similar to this one, and we were absolutely blown over. Looking at these posters is like looking through a window back into history. When we watch Mad Men, this is what really comes to mind. Hell, they almost make us want to go to war today. That’s how powerful they can be.

1942 WWII War Shipping Administration poster from USMMA.

This post is taking forever to write, thanks to google images. If we could spend all day looking at these posters, we certainly would. If you’re not up for a drive to the far suburbs, you can waste your whole day looking at posters online here, here, and here.

We might also pop into Harford County’s best bar Sean Bolan’s for a pint or three after dinner.

Bmore Local Rally, Stoop Storytelling in Baltimore Tonight

Posted on by

What’s that Baltimore? You hate Mondays and you worked really hard all day and those reports are due and that meeting was a snoozer and the intern is incompetent and all you want to do is flop down on the couch and eat chocolate Cheerios for dinner and pass out?

Well, forget it. The Chop has plans for you today.

Bmore Local rallies to stop Wal-Mart at City Hall today. 4 pm.

Today, as soon as you get out of work, you’re heading straight down to City Hall to attend the Bmore Local coming out party/ meeting and rally at City Hall, as mentioned in the Mobtown Shank blog late last week. Today’s rally is a direct response to councilwoman Belinda Conaway’s plan to introduce the PUD for the 25th Street Station project, including a 24 hour Wal-Mart.

We can’t say we know too much about Bmore Local as yet, but the Chop definitely aims to show up and find out what they’re about. We’re really hoping this is the larger citywide Wal-Mart opposition we’ve been waiting for.

For more on the Wal-Mart proposal, be sure to check out the Shank as well as the Baltidome Blog.

Stoop Storytelling weaves a yarn at Centerstage tonight. 7 pm.

The good news is that after you sit through most of a boring council meeting, you get to head up Calvert Street to Centerstage for this month’s installment of the Stoop Storytelling Series. You can even get your tickets now to save time and avoid a sellout. Tonight’s topic is ‘Behind the Muse”, in which artists and creative types give their take on the creative process.

You might be wondering what it takes to create a daily blog, but the answer to that is simple: a liberal amount of Scotch, a Google calendar, a touch of internet porn, and a whole lot of righteous indignation.

__________________________________________________________

Bmore Local rallies on the steps of City Hall, 100 N. Holliday St. at 4 pm. City Council meeting begins at 5 pm.

Stoop Storytelling kicks off with a cocktail reception and live music at 7 pm, show begins at 8 pm. Centerstage is at 700 N. Calvert St. 410-332-0033

The Chop Goes to Pimlico Today

Posted on by

That’s right Baltimore, Old Hilltop is open again. With the Orioles stinking it up halfway through a long west coast road trip and the weather being the very picture of Spring, there’s no better time to for an outing to Pimlico to see the horses run.

The 2010 Spring meet opened yesterday, which means the roaring crowds of about 800 have already lost their purses and we’ve got the track to ourselves today.

IMG_3210

Of course, on any day but Preakness day you can pretty much have the place to yourself. Pimlico has become so piss-poor that in our opinion it’s Baltimore’s best place to fake-it rich. In fact, that might be it’s best attribute; anyone in a jacket or tie can feel like a high roller. Valet parking is like $3, the drinks are cheap, admission is around $2, and you’re free to roam the clubhouse, loges, paddock, and winners circle at your leisure. (It’s true general admission, unlike Oriole Park which is just de facto general admission.) And hey, compared to the rusty old pensioners that populate the grandstand, you are rich. There are few things more satisfying in sports than tearing up betting slips into tiny little pieces and casting them out while cursing a horse’s mother and threatening him with the glue factory. Not as satisfying as winning, but you take what you can get.

If you’ve never been to a live race, we can’t recommend it enough. It’s a wonderfully relaxing way to spend an afternoon, and a field of horses charging down the stretch is one of the most beautiful sights to be seen anywhere. We say see it while you can, because Pimlico’s days are numbered. Slots or no slots, that place is in it’s twilight. Live racing for this meet has already been reduced to Sunday through Thursday, and there are only 5 weeks of racing this time around, to say nothing of the dwindling crowds at Preakness.

It’s no shame if Pimlico closes, but it would be a shame if it closed and you never saw it.

Incidentally, if you’re looking for something to do on Kentucky Derby day (May 1) Pimlico is an ideal place to spend the day. Watch live racing all day (including stakes racing) get the derby program printed in the back of the Pimlico program, bet the race live on the mutuel tellers and watch the derby on the big screen.

Sure beats the local crumb-bum sports bar.

__________________________________________________________

Live racing at Pimlico runs Sunday through Thursday until May 22. Most days’ first post is 1:10 pm. More information at www.pimlico.com