"Good morning Baltimore! Every day's like an open door."

"My ma tells me no 
   but my feet tell me go!"

-from "Hairspray"'s opening song "Good Morning Baltimore!"


Tickets are still available for "Hairspray in Concert" narrated by Mr. John Waters with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra in Meyerhoff Hall, Baltimore, tonight and tomorrow night, plus Saturday and Sunday matinees. Saw the world premier last night at Strathmore; laughed so hard I cried. And how often does that happen at the symphony?


From the BSO website:

Jack Everly, conductor
John Waters, narrator (BSO debut)
Micky Dolenz, Wilbur Turnblad
Beth Leavel, Velma von Tussle
Paul Vogt, Edna Turnblad
Featuring:
Marissa Perry as "Tracy Turnblad"
Julie Kavanagh as "Penny Pingleton"
Nick Adams as "Link Larkin"
Rhiannon Hansen as "Amber von Tussle"
NaTasha Williams as "Motormouth Maybelle"
Marcus Terell as "Seaweed J. Stubbs"
Bret Shuford as "Corny Collins"
Alix Korey as "Female Authority Figure"
Chris Briante as "Male Authority Figure"
Also with: The Divas of Song (Natalie Renee, Nikki Stephenson, and Melissa VanPelt) as "The Dynamites."

Want to pay to ...?

Want to pay to sit around and watch other people drive fast through downtown Baltimore next Labor Day? Tickets for the 2011 Baltimore Grand Prix are now on sale.

Hooray for the Harbor Tunnel!

Did we mention the major downtown tie-ups caused by road-work in preparation for next year's Baltimore Grand Prix?

One day last week, a colleague said that, coming in, he takes Russell Street to avoid I-395 congestion.

That same day I got an email about a new website with suggestions for dealing with the roadwork. So I checked it out. And the first recommendation I found was to take I-395 to avoid Russell Street congestion.

[Note: NeuroCooking recommends the Harbor Tunnel!]

Baltimore Grand Prix 2011!

With Labor Day 2010 freshly behind us, let us look ahead to Labor Day 2011,

which will feature the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix,

which will feature cars racing at extreme speeds on the streets of central Baltimore!

Yes, those are the same streets of central Baltimore used daily by many commuters, especially those trying to get from the South to an esteemed hospital complex on the Eastside. And yes, as you might imaging, some renovations are required to get those funky old downtown streets in shape for race cars. So... Guess when the renovations start? A month before the race? Three months before? Six months before?

Actually, the renovations, with plentiful lane closures along major routes, started months ago.

Yup. Tens of thousands of people – make that hundreds of thousands of people – will be inconvenienced for more than year, in order that, during a few hours of racing over two days of the Labor Day 2011 weekend, a few dozen people can drive real fast.

Makes sense to me!

[Note: NeuroCooking recommends the Harbor Tunnel as an alternative!]

Up to 200 MPH, in the middle of downtown!

There are two signs that the IndyCar racing series will include the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix over Labor Day 2011: The roads of central Baltimore are all torn up, and you can already buy hats: