Articles by Van Smith

384 stories found. Showing page 1 of 20.

Feb. 2, 2000

X-Content | 2/2/2010 | By Van Smith

The Block, Baltimore's downtown adult-entertainment district, takes the stage in a two-story feature package by Van Smith: "Around the Block" and "What's Around the Block." Land deals in Washingto...[MORE]

Runaway Trainman: Would-be Cockeysville railroader wins appeals and keeps on dreaming

Mobtown Beat | 2/3/2010 | By Van Smith

James Riffin, who for years has been mounting a one-man campaign to resume freight-train service on the Cockeysville-to-Baltimore light-rail tracks ("Train Wreck," Feature, Oct. 10, 2007), won two si...[MORE]

Baltimore City Councilwomen Middleton and Welch Haven't Filed Campaign-Finance Reports

The News Hole | 2/1/2010 | By Van Smith

The requirements of holding elected office are far from burdensome (and come with many rewards), so one would expect that incumbent officeholders would have the routine down: You raise and spend money...[MORE]

Mount Royal Democratic Club Revival/Wake at Alonso's

The News Hole | 1/27/2010 | By Van Smith

When the storied Mount Royal Democratic Club (MRDC) announced its demise in December, one of its younger leaders, Kim Forsyth, said she planned to see what she could do to keep it alive. Forsyth recen...[MORE]

The Last Dirty Picture Show: The heyday of the Apex Theatre has come and gone. Can it rise again?

Feature | 1/27/2010 | By Van Smith

Tuesdays are Retro Night at Baltimore's 580-seat Apex Theatre, meaning old VHS porn tapes are projected on the big screen instead of the usual DVDs. On a recent Tuesday, the onscreen action featured ...[MORE]

Jan. 26, 2000

X-Content | 1/26/2010 | By Van Smith

Michael Anft, in the Feature entitled "Councilmania," says the Baltimore City Council gets no respect. Sections devoted to the president and the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th districts show why. I...[MORE]

Photos of Outrageous Tidal Action in Fells Point

The News Hole | 1/25/2010 | By Van Smith

These photos were taken today at about 1 p.m., two hours prior to the 3:05 p.m. scheduled high tide for Fells Point. The water taxi stop for the Frederick Douglass Isaac Myers Maritime Park is inacces...[MORE]

Bmore Publisher Pitched Proposal for Taxpayer Funding

The News Hole | 1/19/2010 | By Van Smith

Since Jan. 13, when City Paper mistakenly reported that the City of Baltimore awarded a $10,000, one-year contract to the online publication Bmore, new information has come to light about the deal, wh...[MORE]

Jan. 19, 2000

X-Content | 1/19/2010 | By Van Smith

The feature is Eileen Murphy's celebration of renowned Baltimore artist Joyce J. Scott, to mark Scott's solo exhibit at the Baltimore Museum of Art. City Paper's decision to run Savage Love is debated...[MORE]

Online Pub Bmore Appears on Board of Estimates Agenda

The News Hole | 1/13/2010 | By Van Smith

Correction: According to the Baltimore City Comptroller's Office, the $10,000 one-year city contract with "Issue Media Group - Bmore," which we reported was awarded yesterday by the Board of Estimates...[MORE]

Nearly $4.3 Million Seized by Feds in Maryland from Online Gambling Payment Processors

The News Hole | 1/13/2010 | By Van Smith

On Jan. 11, the last of 10 bank-account seizure warrants filed in connection with the ongoing federal probe of online gambling were returned to U.S. District Court in Maryland. The latest returns̵...[MORE]

Conway and Conaway Jr. Start Annapolis Session With Bills Already Filed

The News Hole | 1/12/2010 | By Van Smith

Only two Baltimore City legislators—state Sen. Joan Carter Conway (D-43rd District) and state Del. Frank Conaway Jr. (D-40th District)—filed bills prior to the opening bell of the new stat...[MORE]

Jan. 12, 2000

X-Content | 1/12/2010 | By Van Smith

Geoffrey Himes, in his feature "From the Hills," explores the musical migration of bluegrass to Baltimore: "Bluegrass might be a recessive gene in Baltimore's DNA, just waiting for the right circumsta...[MORE]

Agency Finds Rosedale Superfund Site Not Safe for Play

The News Hole | 1/6/2010 | By Van Smith

It's official: The 68th Street Dump, a Superfund site in Rosedale that doubles as a woodsy playground for trespassing locals, is definitely not safe for recreation—though moreso because of the r...[MORE]

Jan. 5, 2000

X-Content | 1/5/2010 | By Van Smith

The cover story of City Paper's first issue of the new millennium is Joab Jackson's how-to guide to digitizing music from vinyl, advising that "digital music is still an entirely new way of thinking a...[MORE]

WSOP's Moon Pays Off Debts

The News Hole | 1/4/2010 | By Van Smith

Darvin Moon became a folk hero to many (including yours truly) when he rose from small-time card games in Western Maryland to sit at the table for the World Series of Poker's 2009 main event on Nov. 9...[MORE]

Dec. 29, 1999

X-Content | 12/29/2009 | By Van Smith

In this week's feature, "Charmed Century," Tom Chalkley and Brennen Jensen scroll through the century's Baltimore news, with a time-line accompaniment. In Mobtown Beat, Andrew Reiner profiles the Afr...[MORE]

Fatal Museum Event Held by Controversial Group Exposed in '06 by CP

The News Hole | 12/23/2009 | By Van Smith

The Sun's crime reporter, Justin Fenton, has been on a roll, measured as much by his prodigious output of stories as by the depths to which he's been digging. ' His coverage of the recent stabbing de...[MORE]

Meet the Neighbors: 2000: My first mistake--calling the cops about the shady characters next door

Feature | 12/23/2009 | By Van Smith

At first, in early spring, the business that took over the vacant garage on the alley behind my house seemed like it'd make a good neighbor. Evidently, it required only a blow torch and an air wrench ...[MORE]

Dec. 22, 1999

X-Content | 12/22/2009 | By Van Smith

Michael Anft's feature about the impending demolition of Flag House Courts, the last of the city's public-housing high-rises, examines a city program that critics dubbed "a deliberate effort to reduce...[MORE]

384 stories found. Showing page 1 of 20.

32 reviews found. Showing page 1 of 2.

Yellow Bricks and Emerald Cities

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 11/11/2009

It's Tuesday, and Geppi's Entertainment Museum needs you. Though the Maryland Stadium Authority slashed GEM's rent by a third early this year, it still has money troubles, as evidenced by lawsuits bro...[MORE]

Sam Christian Holmes

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 9/16/2009

"We're all screwed," is artist Sam Christian Holmes personal motto. While that may be a safe bet for the future, it doesn't stop Holmes' artistry--sculpture, print-making, and multi-media works--from ...[MORE]

Tooth-rific Tales

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 8/12/2009

Maybe they'll tell the one about Hermey the dentist, who made friends when he pulled out the Bumble's teeth. Or the one about how girls go to the dentist more than boys--so, boys, you better catch up....[MORE]

With an Artistic Eye

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 7/1/2009

Think of what you may find in your grandmother's attic: quilts, toys, knick-knacks, paintings, purses, figurines, all of them unique "folk art," since someone made them. Now think of myriad Maryland g...[MORE]

Michael Pollan

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 5/13/2009

Today, you can go to the Preakness and stuff your pie hole with mystery meats, high-fructose corn syrup, and processed grains. Or you can go to the library, where writer Michael Pollan will talk about...[MORE]

Zift

Movie review: by Van Smith | 3/31/2009

Perhaps the only thing worse than entering a pre-Communist Bulgarian prison to serve a long sentence for a murder you didn’t commit is getting released in the 1960s, with the Soviets firmly in place. ...[MORE]

Stay Quit Mondays

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 1/7/2009

Mondays suck already, but smokers can make them even worse by following the health-conscious advice of the Healthy Monday campaign, which promotes Monday as a good day to start quitting smoking. The g...[MORE]

Malbec Wine Tasting

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 10/29/2008

Gotta love those marinated, grilled lamb chops. Mmm. Yes, chili is delicious, too--especially using beef and pork, plus a little cinnamon mixed in with all the normal spices. Mmm. Who doesn't like bou...[MORE]

Go Green for the Runway

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 9/17/2008

Nero fiddled as Rome burned, but in Baltimore we throw a fashion show. The Original Paper Dolls Fashion Co. says there's an environmental crisis going on, threatening all of society, and that raising ...[MORE]

Foodscape

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 7/23/2008

The annual Foodscape exhibition at the Mount Royal Tavern embodies that dive's slogan that art is bullshit and good bullshit is art. Staged as a critique of the abundance of food and lack of art at Ar...[MORE]

A. Aubrey Bodine

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 8/29/2007

Arguably the best permanent public exhibit of A. Aubrey Bodine photographs is on the walls at Chewy's on Charles, the barbeque joint in the 1200 block of North Charles Street. That said, the Bodine pr...[MORE]

Stoop Storytelling: My Nemesis

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 4/4/2007

Magician Mike Hughes is a Block veteran. Green Day saved Niki Lee from a dangerously drab Catonsville existence. Enigmatic Shelly Blake has mastered time travel, but he's not saying how. A lady astron...[MORE]

Amplify: Megaphone Project Documentary Series

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 2/21/2007

In the 1980s and '90s, the bucket boys were out in force in American cities, gathering together on street corners to bang rhythmically on upside-down plastic buckets. The impromptu phenomenon reflecte...[MORE]

Sahaja Yoga Meditation

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 1/17/2007

Enlightenment comes free every day at Enoch Pratt Free Library, but today's hour-and-a-half introductory session to Suhaja yoga (translation: "spontaneous union with the self") is especially free and ...[MORE]

Real City, Dream City

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 10/4/2006

People see things that they're used to seeing differently than things they're seeing for the first time. That's why when cameras are put in the hands of nonphotographers with deep roots in their immed...[MORE]

Maryland's Tax Free Week

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 8/23/2006

Through Aug. 27, Maryland, tax-free sales on clothing and footwear priced at less than $100 per item. Politicians and retailers love Maryland's five-day holiday from the 5 percent sales tax for back-...[MORE]

Promise Keepers Unleashed

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 6/7/2006

"The man-friendly environment of our conferences recharges men," promises Tom Fortson, president and CEO of Promise Keepers, the hug-and-weep movement that seeks to enhance Christian male power. "Imag...[MORE]

Sowebohemian Arts Festival

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 5/24/2006

The 21st annual Sowebohemian Arts Festival promises to be much like the 18th, or the 16th, or the 11th. The Motor Morons are playing. T.T. Tucker, too, and Mongoloidian Glow, and dozens of other bands...[MORE]

7th Annual Buddha Day

Event Preview review: by Van Smith | 5/3/2006

Siddhartha Guatama, the prince who stopped living large and founded Buddhism, knows everything, a helpful trait. Miss Norway, for instance, probably got to be Miss Norway because of all he knows, so s...[MORE]

Baltimore Noir

Book review: by Van Smith | 5/3/2006

The cover photo of Baltimore Noir, a new crime-fiction collection of Baltimore stories written by local writers, is of boarded-up rowhouses. “Reverse-gentrification of the literary world” is the motto...[MORE]