Soooo I’ve been watching a whole heckload of The Wire lately, and let me tell ya’ll something, Baltimore: Even though your city and mine (St. Louis, MO) have a lot in common (governmental separation between the city and county, decaying inner city neighborhoods and schools, big fans of The Pogues), I’m scared to death of your city. Pop culture, however close The Wire may be to its apex of quality, has viciously skewed my vision of what I’m sure is a fine town.
In order to combat my HBO contracted ignorance, I think I’m just gonna have to shuffle on over to this stupid mad awesome Whartscape Festival, organized and funded entirely by all those fine folks at Wham City. Just check out this lineup: Adventure, Air Waves, AK Slaughter, Alexis Gideon, Allen Cordell, Ami Dang, Andy Abelow, Annex Theater, Art Department, At the End of Infinite Rope, Bad Brilliance, Barky, BDRM PPL, Beast Master, Bedlam Theatre, Big Bear, Bird Names, Black Vatican, Blood Baby, Blue Leader, Booge Border, Butt Stomach, C Spencer Yeh, Cars Will Burn, Celebration, Chandeliers, Charlotte and Joe, Child Bite, Child Bride, Clarissa Gregory, Connor Kizer and Adam Endres, Crazy, Dreams Band, Dan Deacon Ensemble and on and on and on and on!
That’s just the list through the D’s, people! Here’s the rest, and keep in mind even that’s just the people who are listed at the moment! Last year, over 300 bands performed at the three-day extravaganza, so get yourself a ticket quick! And boy oh boy do I mean quick. Only 300 Mega-Passes — that is, passes that’ll get you into every show — are available, and at $45 a pop, I can’t imagine those things will hang out on the shelves too much longer. But don’t fret all that much; individual day passes clock in at $18, still one steal of a deal.
Performances will be held at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Maryland Institute College of Art Studio Center Parking Lot, and Load of Fun. America, this shit looks monster.
Oh, and a shoutout to loyal TMT reader Greg for the tip! You are as beautiful as a lotus on the Nile, young traveler!
