If you ever wanted to spend a nice, pleasant, relaxing day in Baltimore, tomorrow is it. For one thing, it’s Spring! The weather right now is glorious. It’s cool and warm all at once and everywhere there are trees and leaves and flowers and birds. For someone who’s seen...

When we bought the Chophouse a few years ago, we had a pretty good idea exactly what we were looking for. Living close to downtown was a must for us, but alas… a four story brownstone next door to the Engineers Club was a bit beyond our means. We could afford a pretty nice house in a...

One of the best things about living in Baltimore, and perhaps the major reason we love it so dearly, is the ability to go from something very highbrow and sophisticated to something decidedly lowbrow with absolutely no transition in between. That’s exactly how our night looks to be...

So we’re going to see Strike Anywhere at the Ottobar tonight. Sounds pretty normal, except that we’re not actually going to see Strike Anywhere. Oh we’ll stand there and watch them. We’ll probably even sing along a little. What we mean to say is that even though...

…And now for something completely different. The Chop is on our way to the Red Emma’s Queer Music Explosion! at the 2640 Space tonight. That might surprise some regular readers of this blog, who are more used to us talking about pretty straightforward punk and post-punk bands....

You read that headline right, Choppers. The Dating Game is at the Ottobar tonight. Not some obscure touring indie rock band called the Dating Game, but, you know, a homegrown version of the old seventies TV show. Their website is short on specifics, but presumably a handful of moderately...

If you ask any punk in town, ‘What’s going on at the Ottobar tonight?’ they’d tell you ‘Reagan Youth, Duh.’ That’s not the right answer though. Well, It’s technically the right answer, but it’s not the best show going on in that particular...

It’s Super Art Fight night again at the Ottobar. Once again, there’s nothing we can tell you here that hasn’t already been said over on their very thorough and entertaining blog. They’ve got more inside baseball stuff over there than the actual Inside Baseball. Check it...

Well, lucky Chop. We’ve got another night with too damn many interesting things going on. We already told you yesterday about the Found Footage Festival at the Creative Alliance tonight, and we can scarcely find room to mention that Madison Smartt Bell is also reading from his new novel...

The Charles Village Pub has always had an outstanding business model: put a bar where a bar needs to be. Be a bar. Have beer and liquor, some background music, a few TV’s, and let the people come. All the basics are there, right on Saint Paul Street, and no frills at all. It’s a...

There’s no Sunday Night Football tonight. There’s no Sunday baseball game of the week either. Hell, there’s not even any new episodes of Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire, the Walking Dead, or any of the other premium TV fare the networks have started to crowd up Sunday Nights...

There’s no doubt about it, Baltimore- America is officially in decline. The Republicans are stealing and pillaging as fast as they can. Nobody has a job to go to, and it doesn’t matter because gas is $4 a gallon and the kids are more interested in cocaine and shitty dance music...

We haven’t made it out to a Super Art Fight yet. We’re overdue. Way overdue. It’s been our understanding that it gets bigger, better, and badass-er with each installment, so with the approach of their 9th battle, it’s safe to say that it’s going to be the best one...

Well, we’ve got company this weekend. One thing to be said for the holidays is that they’re good for bringing people back to home and hearth and all that. People who used to live in Maryland come back to Maryland, and we’re glad to have them as ever. So it is entirely...

So there’s this guy. Brian Posehn. He’s pretty famous. At least, we think he’s pretty famous, since he’s been all over TV for like 10 years now. He was on that show Just Shoot Me on the regular, which was a terrible show, but he was also on Seinfeld and News Radio a few...

So, Halloween is pretty much here. Like today. Like right now. You may think that Halloween falls on Sunday, and that that’s totally lame, but for all intents and purposes, it’s really a blessing in disguise for fans of the holiday. A blessing from the Devil maybe. A super secret...

Well, if tonight’s show is anything, it’s proof that we’re out of touch. Almost cool. You might think we have our finger on the pulse of the scene, but we do not. We have it up our nose. We went ahead and bought a ticket for tonight’s Greg Dulli show in advance since we...

Could it be true? Could it possibly, actually have happened? Have we finally found a place to go on Sundays where no one is wearing purple, drinking Miller Lite and yelling ‘Caw Caw’? Yes, it’s true. While the rest of Baltimore is watching the Ravens and Patriots (and no...

When Tim Barry played with Drag the River at Fletcher’s on Memorial Day Weekend of 2008, it was easily the best show in the history of that venue, and one of the best Baltimore shows of the decade. This is no hyperbole. The crowd consisted entirely of a who’s-who of local record...

If you know the Chop at all, you know that we’re the type to take our drinking very, very seriously. Of course, we strongly believe in drinking responsibly, but to us ‘drinking responsibly’ doesn’t just mean taking a cab or laying off the Jaeger shots… it means...

We probably shouldn’t tell you about iBar. We should probably keep our big mouth shut for once and leave well enough alone. Or maybe we should use some reverse psychology. Don’t go to iBar. It’s not very cool. There. That ought to insure that iBar remains one of the best kept...

What’s important to you Baltimore? Is watching the World Cup really very important? Is it of grave urgency that you wear funny wigs and feather boas and drink in the street this weekend? How about stealing back the foursquare mayorship of some bar? Is that crucial? Tonight something...

You’re going to this show tonight Baltimore. Of course you are. It’s a no-brainer. It’s more than a no-brainer, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity. Seriously. Maybe the Chop’s not as cool as we used to be, but it seems like Surfer Blood came out of nowhere and...

The Baltimore Chop was none too thrilled on Wednesday when we read on the Midnight Sun that the New York Times is looking down its nose at us again. They seem to see Baltimore as little more than a source for so-so regional cuisine, a great inspiration for campy Broadway musicals, and a crummy...

If there’s one thing we can’t stand, its getting all geared up to go somewhere, do something, or get something, only to get there and find the doors locked and lights out because its Sunday. In a town like this with so many small businesses, it can be twice as bad, because whoever...

We were very, very looking forward to seeing Leatherface at the Ottobar tonight (scroll down), but late breaking word on the street is that their visas were denied by the US customs and border protections. Long story short, they’re not playing tonight and shit’s fucked up. (For the...

With the British parliamentary elections taking up headlines the past few days, you’ve probably heard a lot about the special relationship enjoyed between our two countries. Aside from sounding slightly suggestive and covering intelligence, economics, and military power, the special...

Malcolm X was once asked what he thought of Socialism. His response; “Is it good for black people?” It’s a simple, yet very profound sentiment. The Buzzcocks are playing the Ottobar this Wednesday. The Chop will not be in attendance. We’ve already been very clear about...

There are scores of reasons to boycott Wal-Mart. Listing them all here would be very near impossible. But if you care at all for human rights, make no mistake, Wal-Mart treats it’s employees like slaves; Literally locking them in the store overnight, collecting on ‘dead...

It’s a big old Saturday night in Baltimore, and the Chop in on the scene-uh, like a sex machine-uh. Much as we regret it, we can’t make it down to the Roller Derby tonight, but instead we’re going to stay uptown and make appearances at two other events. First we’re...

It’s always been true of the Chop that we’re either late to the party or a very early adopter. In the case of the Thermals, it was the latter. Your Chop got the inside word on the Thermals back in 2002 because of our pre-existing love affair with Kind of Like Spitting. We were...

Yes Baltimore, you read that headline correctly. It’s one of those ideas that’s so simple, and so simply brilliant, that we don’t really need to explain it in much detail. You know what the Ottobar is, and you know what Chatroulette is. One sets up a ginormous 80 inch screen...

Yep. We did crap out yesterday. Watched cartoons and did laundry and built bookshelves. A typical Sunday, we suppose. And its a good thing too, cause now we’re all rested up and ready to have our ears exploded. That’s right kids… back to the Ottobar tonight for Darkest Hour...

The Chop will admit it. We were late to the party this time. We remember hearing that they were getting up a roller derby league at the Fullerton Skateland and thinking That’s fucking awesome! It’s like a punk rock show on wheels! Unfortunately, that was around the same time we...

Here it is… We’re disappointed that there still seems to be no on-the-ground citywide organizing effort to stop the WalMart PUD, even though it’s already been shown that there is citywide interest in such organizing, as demonstrated on Facebook. After the somewhat embarassing...

Well Baltimore, you finally came through for us on a Sunday. The Chop was content to spend Sundays at home, waxing philosophical and drinking wine on the balcony, but yeah, we’d rather go out. And we wouldn’t miss this one. Pedro the Lion is playing the Ottobar tonight. Okay,...