Genres
Push and slay: Abdu Ali finds his voice
DOWNLOAD: Abdu Ali, "Push + Slay"
Sitting outside a Mid-Town Belvedere coffee shop on a warm October afternoon, Abdu Ali Eaton was dressed a lot like his music sounds. He wore beat-to-hell pink-and-yellow Adidas high-tops, black sweatpants that scrunch at the bottom and a vintage Cosby sweater that peaked through a buttoned-up oversize camouflage jacket.
It's a messy, couldn't-care-less-what-anyone-thinks collage that defies categorization, yet somehow works in the 23-year-old's hands.
When talking with Ali, who records simply as Abdu Ali, it...
Related "Genres" Articles
Push and slay: Abdu Ali finds his voice
DOWNLOAD: Abdu Ali, "Push + Slay"
Sitting outside a Mid-Town Belvedere coffee shop on a warm October afternoon, Abdu Ali Eaton was dressed a lot like his music sounds. He wore beat-to-hell pink-and-yellow Adidas high-tops, black sweatpants that scrunch...
Clancy invented 'techno-thriller,' reflected Cold War fears
Tom Clancy didn't realize he was forever changing the spy novel back in 1982, while working in obscurity on his first book, a Cold War thriller centering on the defection of a Soviet naval captain and the technologically advanced submarine he includes...
BSO to perform Bernstein's 'Age of Anxiety'
Marin Alsop's tenure as music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra has been notable for several things, prominent among them the programming of compositions by Leonard Bernstein, her childhood idol and mentor when she was starting her conducting...
Into It. Over It. leads an emo revival
It's a simple narrative that never seems to fail: A music genre gets hot, wears out its welcome, gets banished to un-hip purgatory for a period of time and then, inexplicably, comes back cooler than before.It's happening right now to the punk subgenre...
Washed Out: Chillwave's posterboy expands his sound
A few years ago, Ernest Greene received an email from Fred Armisen, then on the cast of “Saturday Night Live.” They had never communicated before, but Armisen had a question: Could he use one of Greene's songs as the theme song to his new show?“Without...
Alan Jackson still loves the craft
Alan Jackson can't help but wonder: Where did the "real" country music go?
"Right now, it seems like it's gone," said Jackson, who headlines Merriweather Post Pavilion on Friday. "It's not that I'm against all that's out there. There's some good music,...
Scapescape '13 continues to bring the city's disparate genres together
Most music festivals aim to wow potential attendees with top-bill talent, but Scapescape, now in its third year, is not most festivals.
"It sounds weird to say, but we want quantity over quality. We're looking for consistency throughout the day," said...
Like/Dislike with Dean Storm, 29 Days Later Film Project co-founder
As a kid, Dean Storm would create stop motion animation featuring G.I. Joe characters and make animated action flip movies on bus pass booklets.
"I wanted to be like Dawson on 'Dawson's Creek,'" he said. Storm, who lived in Canton for seven years prior...
Virgin Mobile FreeFest has another solid lineup, but where's the rap?
A quick scan of this year's Virgin Mobile FreeFest reveals the type of lineup we've come to expect from the annual concert at Merriweather Post Pavilion: Smart, on-the-nose and balanced -- as long as you're the type of music fan who takes pride in genre...
After two decades on the road, art cars still rev up the imagination at Artscape
At first glance — best shielded, given the sun's fierce glare reflected from all the chrome — the 7,500-pound, 29-feet-long "Finnjet" suggests transport for intergalactic travelers with a pronounced sense of humor.
More than 80 lights and three dozen...
Rhythmic Circus brings amazing feet and feats to Columbia Festival
If performers generally need to be quick on their feet, that's especially the case for Rhythmic Circus. Its energetic show "Feet Don't Fail Me Now!" — part of the Columbia Festival of the Arts that runs through June 29 — is likely to get the audience's...
'Great Day': New life for old music of black churches
As afternoon light tried to filter through the thick, stained-glass windows of Sharp Street United Methodist Church last weekend, Marco K. Merrick pounded out the bass line of a spiritual on a raw-sounding piano, singing along in a raspy voice: "Great...
Booker Prize-winning author James Kelman visits Baltimore
Plunging into a novel by James Kelman is like diving head-first into a chilly lake.
It's a shock to your system at first, and a bit disorienting, but the trick is to keep moving. Once your muscles get warmed up and you get your bearings, the experience...
Boston coverage by CNN, King and Fox lead us into more confusion
Just when it was starting to look like cable news might have actually learned something from its rush-to-judgment sins in covering the Newtown massacre, John King, CNN and Fox News showed Wednesday how shaky and journalistically confused even the...
Walters explores work of Caton heir who lived fast, died young
The handsome young man sitting in the pink parlor chair radiates restlessness, a disdain for social conventions and undeniable self-satisfaction.
The impatience in Richard Caton Woodville's "Self-Portrait with Flowered Wallpaper" can be detected in the...
Getting published an open book for Maryland Romance Writers
Every day, they sit alone in their offices, writing about love, passion, romance. They bring to life muscled heroes, dangerous vixens, strong heroines — lovers all — then put enormous obstacles in the way of the would-be lovers so they must struggle for...
DIY spaces are fertile grounds for Baltimore's arts, music scenes
Part of the charm of Baltimore's arts scene is that someone is always hitting the "refresh" button.
An art gallery or music club shuts down on one block, only to have another pop up a few streets over. Abandoned or underused venues might suddenly...
The value of arts in education
One dreary spring morning, I entered Robert Moton Elementary as opera resounded through its halls, stirring my soul like never before. As a school psychologist with limited exposure to classical genres, I was startled but tremendously invigorated by...
Planes Mistaken for Stars reunion show in D.C. proves band has plenty to still offer
Recently reunited band Planes Mistaken for Stars played Red Palace in Washignton on Saturday night. Intern Jake Fewster had this report:For some, the idea of a reunion show conjures up images of a geriatric, arena rock band way past their prime.This was...
Maryland's small but growing connection to 'K-pop'
Last winter, Leann Kwak put her senior year at Arundel High School on hold to pursue her dreams as a chart-topping pop singer. For nearly three months, thousands of TV viewers determined whether or not she'd move on to the next round of the...