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 little else but salt water and desert sand over the last six months as we have, just sitting on a patch of grass and staring at a tree constitutes a full day’s entertainment.
But fortunately for us we live in a place like Baltimore, a city that gives us what we need, and so much more on top of it. Tomorrow we’re not going to sit under just any tree, but a tree in the BMA’s sculpture garden, where we can enjoy not just all-day shade, but a view of some of the finest modern statuary. (And a view of Hopkins women in sundresses.)
Once we’re done doing our best Joyce Kilmer impression, we might just slide into Gertrude’s and match their premium whiskey flight with one of their house-made chipotle veggie burgers.
After we’re sated, we plan to take a spin through the current exhibition, Max Weber: Bringing Paris to New York which explores how two distinct art scenes communicated with one another when Modernism was actually modern, well before the Twitter and Tumblr era.
And finally, once we’re done staring at a bunch of dusty old paintings, we’re going to turn our attention to something brand new: Baltimore’s Peals.
Peals is Bruce Willen (of Double Dagger) and William Cashion’s (of Future Islands) new project, whose debut LP Walking Field is available this week from Thrill Jockey Records. A Closer Listen described Walking Field as ‘a warm and enveloping album… less immediate than their previous work but just as engaging.’
Speaking of engaging, we highly recommend a click over to Peals’ website where in addition to tour dates and contact info you’ll find players for 16 different .ogg files. William and Bruce invite you to play them à la carte, mixing and matching them, starting and stopping at will and playing as many simultaneously as you wish. Yes Choppers, thanks to the magic of the Internet, now you too can be an ambient music producer with just a few clicks of the mouse. It’s fun and surprisingly intriguing. Give it a try yourself, or leave it to the professionals this weekend at their free record release show with fellow Baltimoreans Romantic States.