City Paper Best of Baltimore Films

By Drury Bynum

Bynum directed these short films for City Paper's annual Best of Baltimore party. Visit his website to view these, plus three more for 2006 and ten short films he shot for our 2005 party. The Quicktime plug-in is required.

Best of Baltimore	Holiday Guide	Queer Issue
Sizzlin' Summer & Eat	Top Ten	Big Books

Watch a brief Mooney Suzuki interview. Movies are in quicktime format. High bandwidth [9.6 mb] Low bandwidth [2.4 mb]

Mooney Suzuki

By Charles Cohen and Paul Sulsky

The Mooney Suzuki played the Ottobar July 17, test driving their soon-to-be-released CD Alive and Amplified. When they played their ghost-written tune featured in Jack Black's movie School of Rock, the kids took over the stage, giving Mooney Suzuki the perfect exit--leaving the crowd awash in feedback.

You might notice that the band has abandoned their all-black duds for ascots, vests and cords, mainly because they were tired of people copying their look.

We caught up with The Mooney Suzuki just before the show. Here's a little taste of what went down that night.

Watch Quicktime videos of Paul Darmafall, the Baltimore Glassman. Clip 1, 1.5mb Clip 2, 1.5mb Clip 3, 1.5mb Clip 4, 1.5mb

Signs - and - Wonders

By Ned Oldham

Paul Darmafall is not doing so well. Coming up on 77 years old, he has lost weight, keeps to his room, sleeps a lot. He is suffering from congestive heart failure.

He had his first serious bout with the condition in November, says his wife, Bonnie Darmafall. A short, lively woman who turns 80 in August, she speaks with an accent that sounds like the missing link between Appalachian and Baltimorean: "We don't know yet for sure if he has cancer--he had a biopsy. He's on a lot of medication."

His family's assertions that illness has wasted his body notwithstanding, Paul Darmafall looks large for the living room of his modest East Baltimore home, large for his T-shirt, large for the Herculon-upholstered love seat on which he sits. His neck looks strong, the creased tan skin like old leather. The lines in his face make him look sturdy. He shifts positions solidly, working a sag into the Lilliputian seat. His forearms are beefy, and his hands look blunt and tough.

As for his art, his wife says, "he doesn't seem to want to be bothered with it.". . .

Read the rest of the article.

Watch a Quicktime video of the Baltimore Westsiders. Fast connection: 5.2mb Slow connection: 3.4mb

The Baltimore Westsiders

By Charles Cohen and Joseph Mathew

In the final few seconds before unleashing the Baltimore Westsiders on the crowd, Corlis Greene looks around, taking in the more than 150 wiggling, talking, snickering kids in red-and-white band uniforms standing before her. And that's when she goes to work.

"Group, attention!" she commands.

Out of this one moment of silence--the only one that Greene, the Westsiders' 44-year-old executive director, can count on--comes an explosion. She triggers it by throwing three fingers in the air. Dozens of white boots clack the pavement in a cool, swinging, jazzy beat. . .

Read the rest of the article.

Click a connection to see a Quicktime video.

Part One: Slow connection/1.6mb Fast connection/3.2mb

Part Two: Fast connection/2.5mb

Memorial Stadium: A Documentary in Progress

by Charles Cohen and Joseph Mathew

When we first went to Memorial Stadium in October with the hopes of capturing the final gathering of a generation of characters who made this place roar without a scoreboard prompt, it was a given that the one-time home to the Classic Colts and the Powerhouse Orioles was doomed. The only debate was whether the stadium would endure the indignity of the common wrecking ball or the spectacle of implosion.

Even under such a dismal cloud, the mood among those who lined up around the stadium to buy a seat for a hundred bucks or a brick for $25 wasn't grim. In fact, the sense of elation, and even privilege, among those who rummaged through the dusty bowl of stacked seats and weeds became more of a last rites ritual. A grandfather and grandson knelt to dig up a piece of the end zone. An expecting father left his wife at the hospital to pick up an old stadium seat.

No one knew that Baltimore was about to embark on a wild political ride that pitted do-gooders against nostalgic preservationists; old guard politicians like ex-Governor William Donald Schaefer against the brash new Mayor Martin O'Malley. Do neighborhood associations backed by a church group looking to build senior housing and a YMCA have more clout than a gumshoe community activist with 1,200 signatures on a petition hoping to save the stadium? Apparently so.

More than 50 hours of footage later, we believe we have an unique cross cut view of a city wrestling with its identity. Hopefully with some luck and funding this mix of characters, sports, social phenomena and politics will make it to a movie screen nearest you.

Those interested in the Memorial Stadium Project can contact Urban Eye Productions, 410-325-2551. or go to the Memorial Stadium website.

Special thanks to the Babe Ruth Museum

Click an image to see a Quicktime video.

We've Got You Covered

Get It Wednesday

The Heist

City Paper Commercials

by Drury Bynum

"When approached by City Paper to create a series of commercials to air on the Public Access program, Atomic TV, I saw a unique challenge - to create 30 second short films that were thematically unusual but had a comic punch. The spots were all shot in black and white digital video and edited on an iMac. They became such a hit that City Paper decided to air them on Baltimore's Fox 45.

"What was most encouraging about this project was producing commercials with a very limited budget, yet which were as effective as the million-dollar-produced spots that followed them. It was proof-positive of how new digital technology has given power to those who previously had no access to the tools nor the trade of film or video production."