Disclaimer: I am a huge Drake enthusiast and still recovering from the fact that he was down the street from our office and I did not get to meet him. Consider this a part of my recovery process. 

Mythical wingless angel Drake was spotted enjoying sushi and drinks at Azumi in Harbor East last night. While we are unsure as to why he is in town, the luckiest people in the universe received the dinner surprise of their lives. 

Candice Law was downtown celebrating a family member’s birthday, she said on Twitter, when she received the news that the Canadian rapper himself was at the sushi restaurant with some friends. 

The group went to Azumi in Harbor East around 11:55 p.m., requesting to sit outside on the patio, Joe Sweeney, spokesman for Atlas Restaurant Group, told The Sun. 

The 6 God requested to listen to Jay-Z’s brand new “4:44” album and we’re assuming that Azumi didn’t have Tidal (because who does?), which is the only streaming service it’s available on. So, Sweeney said, they “were able to accommodate him.”

Once Law arrived at the restaurant with her cousin, she was understandably hesitant to approach Champagne Papi, who was surrounded by a tight security team. But she got up the courage, shaky hands and all, to walk out to the patio to “give the speech” of her life.

Law, who described the former Degrassi star as “delicious,” said she is a huge fan and that she drove 10 hours up to Toronto for his annual OVO Fest. 

They also discussed venues that Drake could play in Baltimore, and he pointed across the water to Pier Six and said he’d want to play there. (“He’s too adorable, so I don’t think to tell him that he’s too big to play there,” she wrote.)

From Law’s account, Drake was nothing but the king we all already knew he was, offering to connect her with tickets to an upcoming show and not batting an eye when getting a picture with her. Though, she did admit that she was so flustered she forgot her phone passcode a couple of times. She is all of us. 

“I said thank you more times than I can count,” Law wrote. “The rest is history. Most epic moment of my life.”

While we don’t know if Drake is still in the area, I plan on starting my weekend off staring listlessly at the Four Seasons, contemplating picking up a shift at Azumi just in case he returns. 

So where are you from?

I am from Baltimore City, on the Westside of the city, Edmondson Village.

And the fact that you are from Baltimore is unusual, right?
There’s never been a Miss Maryland from Baltimore City. They’re always from PG County and Montgomery County. They’re never from the inner city. So I’m really excited about that.

Whooo! Baltimore pride!
Yeah, exactly.

Is there anything about your talent or platform that relates to Baltimore?
Kinda, sorta. We don’t have a talent in my system but we do have a platform. Each of us has to pick a platform that’s special to us, and we have to promote it throughout the year. My platform is youth mentoring with a focus on inner-city youth. And the reason that I chose that is because I am a product of the inner city myself, and I understand how easy it is to fall victim to the negative situations around us. So, what I’m trying to do is make the young people aware of that and try to avoid it be all means.

So how did you avoid that growing up?
I pretty much had good people in my life to keep my on the right path. I went to a really great high school [City College] and the faculty really cared about us. And even when I went up to college, I was able to be around different people. Marymount [University in Arlington, VA] is so diverse, therefore I learned so many different things from all those different people, and that’s pretty much how I got into pageantry. I was volunteering and I saw one of the titleholders and what she was doing it . . . it meant something to me. I thought, ‘This is something I want to do.’ And I know how the people in my city have never seen it. We don’t see too many Miss Marylands in Baltimore City doing anything in our community but this is something I could do to help them. So that’s pretty much what I’m trying to do.

You were crowned in February. When’s the Miss United States Pageant?
It’s July 4-7 in Washington, D.C.

How are you prepping?
My main focus is a lot of physical training. You have to be really physically fit when you’re on stage considering we compete in interview, swimsuit, evening gown, and on stage questions. So my biggest thing right now is being physically fit so I’ll look my best on stage in swimsuit, as well as evening gown. So, basically, I’m in the gym everyday. I changed my eating habits completely—and that’s one thing I love about pageantry—it really taught me to have a healthy lifestyle as far as my eating habits. I’m completely healthy now instead of just eating burgers every single day. And then I’m doing a lot of training with my on stage question and interviewing skills. That’s a really big thing because if you make Top 5 then you have to compete in on stage question, you never know what they’re going to ask you, so it’s good to always be on your toes.

How similar is backstage pageant life to Miss Congeniality?
The crazy thing is, the Miss United States system is the same pageant that was in Miss Congeniality, the movie. So that’s a really cool question. It’s pretty much the same. I mean, some of the girls can get pretty catty and stuff like that, but those are the types of girls who tend to not do so well in the pageant because, honestly, we all become friends. Some of my really good friends who I talk to every single day are girls that I met when I started competing. You have your sour apples in the bunch but they tend to not do as well. We get a lot of good friendships out of it. It’s fun. A lot of stuff can go wrong the day of the pageant but you just gotta keep it moving. It’s a lot fun.

But you aren’t, like, investigating crime backstage or anything?
[Laughs] No! That would be cool, but no.

So if you win the Miss United States title, what happens then?
Then I would be Miss United States for a whole year from this July to next July. I’ll be working with Relay for Life in conjunction with the American Cancer Society and going around the country to different states raising funds, raising awareness for the organization, and promoting my platform which is youth mentoring. My focus will be the inner city because it’s tough in the city. People in the inner city get ignored. I definitely don’t want to do that. I want to put my focus on that.

So what are you going to do once the pageant is over and you can relax?
Oh my god, I want to go to Dominos or Pizza Hut and I’m gonna get me a large pepperoni pizza, and I’m not going to share with anyone. I miss pizza so much! That’s one of the things that I had to give up that, whenever I see it, it like hurts my heart. [Laughs]

Your family is still in Baltimore. Are they supportive of your pageantry?
The funny thing is my family wasn’t the most supportive when it came to pageantry. I first started competing when I had just turned 21. I did Miss Maryland USA in 2011 and it was new to them. They just saw the girls on TV but they never really knew anyone from Baltimore City who would do it and do well. So, you know, they weren’t the most supportive. I had to do everything on my own. I didn’t really do that well that year. I only got best interview. I didn’t place at all. So then, considering I went to school out in Arlington and lived in D.C., I competed for Miss District of Columbia USA this past December and I actually got second runner up. So that kind of turned them around a little bit. They said, ‘Oh! She’s actually doing pretty well. Maybe this is her calling. Maybe this is something for her.’ It got a little bit better, as far as support level. And then when I got out of college and came back home with my mom, that’s when I did Miss Maryland United States in February and I won. So now that I won, they’re like, ‘Oh yeah, this is awesome! She’s competing in a national beauty pageant’ My mom, she tells everyone immediately. So it’s really cool. They pretty much brag about it now, but it took me to do some convincing to them to really get them on the bandwagon and to show them it is something that I definitely can be successful in, and it’s very attainable. That’s pretty much what got them to start supporting me.

Were they just skeptical about the whole world of it?
Well, my mom and my aunt, they thought it was a waste of money. My aunt is always the one saying, ‘You shouldn’t just be judged on your outer beauty.’ And I had to keep telling her you’re not just judging on outer beauty. I mean, yeah, it’s a beauty pageant but honestly, your job starts the day after your crowned. We are out in the community do things. We’re not just taking pictures and waving all the time. You’re actually serving your community, which she didn’t really understand. Now that my aunt sees that, she’s super like, ‘I’m so proud of you, you’re doing the right thing.’

On December 2, 2009, and after 21 years as anchor at WMAR-TV, Mary Beth Marsden signed off for one final time at the end of the 6 p.m. newscast.

It was a bittersweet moment for the Emmy Award-winning broadcaster, who, after months of stressful negotiations, had taken a buyout from the ABC affiliate.

While her three children (Jack, now 14, George, now 12, and Tess, now 10) and her husband, Mark McGrath, watched from the wings, she intoned, “Twenty-one years. Fifteen hairstyles—one for every news director,” during a three-minute montage that began with her first story at the station on changes at the Towson Library and ended with her final farewell.

Nearly two years to that day, Marsden sits on a brown velvet sofa in the living room of her storybook Cape Cod-style home in Ruxton and reflects on the end of an era.

“It was a great run,” she says, “but I think you can be someplace too long, and you need to have a change for yourself. I didn’t seek it—it just came down the pike, but it was the right time for me. After the newscast, we all went out to dinner, and I was free as a bird.”

But she was hardly retired. With her newfound freedom, Marsden developed a renewed passion for painting, exhibiting her work at art shows held at L’Hirondelle and Elkridge Country Clubs and even winning an award for her flower paintings at the Maryland State Fair. And in September of 2011, she was hired by WBAL radio to host the Maryland’s News Now With Mary Beth Marsden.

But one mission has been particularly near and dear to Marsden’s heart: In 2002, her daughter, Tess, was diagnosed with PDD-NOS (pervasive developmental delay, not otherwise specified)—a type of autism-spectrum disorder.

“I really didn’t fully accept the name of the diagnosis for years,” says Marsden.

Now, with her time away from the daily grind—and the unyielding spotlight of TV—Marsden was finally determined to do something proactive for her daughter and other kids like her.

When Tess was first diagnosed, Marsden knew very little about autism.

“We knew something was off,” she explains. “At two, she didn’t have two-word sentences, and she would sometimes act out, but autism was way off my chart.”

Marsden and McGrath took Tess for testing at Kennedy Krieger Institute. She remembers observing Tess’s session through a window with Rebecca Landa, the director for the Center of Autism and Related Disorders.

“She said, ‘I believe that Tess is unequivocally on the autism spectrum,'” Marsden says. “And then she went, ‘Blah, blah, blah,’ because I didn’t hear anything else she said. I was reeling. It was one of those moments where the whole world spins off its axis.”

Once she accepted the diagnosis—and she admits it took a long time—she set out to become something of an autism expert. Using the same kind of doggedness that made her a successful journalist, she voraciously read about the condition and consulted with educators, other parents, and experts in the field.

About a year and a half into Marsden’s “retirement,” she came up with an idea for a possible television show. “I knew I wanted to do something with autism,” she says. “My idea was doing a reality show called On the Spec, as in spectrum. I wove in aspects of [Dr. Seuss’s] Horton Hears a Who—it was all the people on the spec in Horton who were all screaming to be heard—so it was a play on that. I had envisioned a whole SuperNanny type of thing for autism. We would take a situation such as a parent trying to potty train his autistic 8-year-old, and try to solve it.”

While the powers that be at a national cable network showed some interest, ultimately autism was deemed a downer as far as programming was concerned.

“It got as far as a producers meeting [at the network], but they said it was ‘too depressing,'” says Marsden. “They love hoarders,” she cracks, demonstrating her trademark humor. “I was like, ‘What if I find an autistic hoarder?'”

And she bristles at the idea that her pitch was depressing.

“‘Really?'” she recalls saying. “‘Yes, there are moments that are depressing, but, by and large, the people I know in this world are the funniest, most creative, empathetic, warm, and loving people; I find it uplifting. If you are seeing it as depressing, the world is seeing it as depressing, and we need to break out of that.'”

So Marsden decided to take matters into her own hands, forging ahead and using her own funds (to date, approximately $15,000) to produce a library of video vignettes for her website, Real Look Autism, (reallookautism.com), a resource for anyone touched by or interested in autism.

Her goal? To focus on concrete strategies and pragmatic solutions—from dealing with messy table manners to awkward social skills and compulsive behaviors—that have worked with children who have autism spectrum disorders.

“Research is great,” says Marsden. “But we need to help people who are in it now.”

Though Marsden had misgivings about the idea of putting Tess—now a fourth grader in a special-education program at The Chatsworth School in Reisterstown—and her anxiety about school in the spotlight, she ultimately felt it was an important thing to do.

“I realized that if I was going to ask other people to tell their stories, I would have to tell mine, too,” she says.

In Tess’s video, she is shown with helpful teachers who offer strategies—reinforcing positive behavior and giving Tess “preferred breaks” like video-game time—that help her deal with her anxiety about school.

“People have told me they have shown the video of Tess as part of an IEP [individualized education plan] meeting at school. I’m like, ‘Wow. We helped someone.’ That makes me feel so good,” Marsden says.

All of the videos on the Real Look Autism site (eight to date), feature Baltimore-area families and are filmed and edited by Marsden’s former WMAR co-worker, videographer John Anglim.

“I thought it was a fantastic idea,” says Anglim, “and it was filling such a need that no one else was. It fit like a key in a lock. And from personal experience, there are members of my family on the spectrum, so it hit home.”

The videos have been a huge hit not only in America, but also in Australia and the UK.

“She throws herself at it,” marvels Marsden’s husband, Mark McGrath, a financial adviser for Stifel Nicolaus. “I thought this might be just a ‘Mary Beth project.’ I had no idea it would reach a global audience.”

Almost obsessively, Marsden tracks how many people have viewed her videos both on the Real Look Autism website and on YouTube.

“Fifty-thousand,” she says, scanning her website on the laptop in her kitchen. “That’s not enough. I want to get to one million. I could talk about autism forever,” she adds with emphasis. “You either find your thing, or it finds you. And this is my thing.”

As a child, Marsden, the oldest of three, was never afraid to go after what she wanted. And what she wanted in her teen years was to leave the family fold and get out and explore the world on her own.

“I was bossy and driven and independent,” says the Washington, D.C., native. “I couldn’t wait to get out of the house to work in Ocean City in the summers at the Longhorn Steakhouse. I wore a tight polyester uniform and spent the tips as fast as we made them.”

In 1979, Marsden headed off to Towson University to major in fine art. In drama class one day, the assignment was to perform one’s own obituary. Marsden performed hers as a newscaster.

“My friends told me I was a natural, so I think I had the bug at that point,” recalls Marsden.

By 1981, Marsden, then an education major, transferred to University of Maryland, College Park, to pursue journalism. Once there, she landed an internship at D.C.’s WJLA, writing news copy for anchor Rene Poussaint. (“If she stumbled on a word during a broadcast, you figured you’d written something wrong,” she laughs, “but she was really encouraging—in a standoffish way.”)

At that point, Marsden felt she had found her calling. “I knew that’s what I wanted to do. Period.”

Her rise was fairly rapid, though there were some dues to pay. After graduating in 1983 with a B.A. in radio, television, and film, Marsden joined the news team at WHSV-TV in Harrisonburg, VA.

“In the TV world, you have maybe 220 markets,” she says. “This was about 187.”

Within eight months, Marsden made the leap to a much larger market in Scranton, PA, at WNEP-TV.

“I shot and edited my own video while driving around in my Ford Bronco,” Marsden recalls. “I anchored and produced the show and ran my own prompter.”

It was during this initiation by fire in Scranton, while covering everything from township meetings to strip mining, that Marsden really hit her stride.

By 1988, Marsden’s former WNEP news director, Paul Steuber, hired her for a second time to work with him at his new station, WMAR-TV in Baltimore.

“I loved it,” says Marsden, “because I am a questioner, and I am curious. It also satisfied a creative side of me—you are putting together a story with video and audio and you are piecing it together in an entertaining fashion.”

And obviously Marsden and WMAR were a good match. She stayed at the job for more than 20 years.

On a sunny winter afternoon, Marsden sits at her desk on the third floor of WBAL-AM and gets ready to host Maryland’s News Now With Mary Beth Marsden.

Dressed casually in a Relentless 7 concert T-shirt and a pair of corduroy jeans, she’s got an hour or so to prepare before she goes on the air at 2 p.m. Of course, she’s already put in a full-day’s work on the domestic front: waking up at 6:30 a.m., riding the exercise bike for 30 minutes, getting three kids ready for school, driving Tess half-way across town to Chatsworth in Reisterstown, speaking at length with her children’s pediatrician, and checking comments from fans of the Real Look Autism Facebook page.

When Marsden was offered the job of weekday afternoon drive-time host, she was initially hesitant. “I had two days where I was in a deep depression,” she says. “But once I did two shows, I was like, ‘Okay, I can do this.'”

Her WBAL colleagues had no such reservations.

“She is a great addition to our team,” says sportscaster Brett Hollander. “She has always been incredibly well respected as a broadcaster and a journalist. Good broadcasters, I have always felt, can be chameleons in this field and can adapt to anything and move from TV to radio. Mary Beth has been able to do that with total ease.”

As she reads the show’s rundown, edits copy, talks to producer Jared Ruderman, and takes occasional sips of water out of Tess’s SpongeBob Squarepants water bottle, the pixie-sized powerhouse is the picture of cool and collected.

As for her laid-back duds? She went casual from day one. “I didn’t want to set the bar too high,” she cracks.

During the show, Marsden is a total pro, juggling everything from breaking news to live interviews, and incorporating up-to-the-minute information into her script with mere minutes to broadcast. On today’s docket, an interview with WBAL-TV reporter Jayne Miller about former Governor Robert Ehrlich campaign manager Paul E. Schurick’s “Robo-calls” trial.

“Listen to this,” she says to no one in particular in the studio as she scans an article from
The Baltimore Sun about the charges of election fraud meant to suppress the African-American voter turnout during the 2010 Gubernatorial election. [“Schurick’s attorney Dwight Pettit] called the whole thing a ‘faux pas.'”

She scribbles a few notes, and minutes later, she goes live with Miller. “Do you want to talk about what the defense said first?'” she asks Miller. “I love that Dwight Pettit called it a ‘faux pas.'”

So far, Marsden says she’s loving the gig. She really appreciates the fact that “WBAL has a lot of connections,” she says. “So you get to talk to Raven’s coach John Harbaugh or a Supreme Court Justice or Cal Ripken comes in. I almost have this little kid excitement about it. I get jazzed. I am never bored, and I don’t have to put my energies into making sure I covered a zit up!”

That being said, Marsden does have some designs on getting back on TV—just not how you might think.

“My parents had a big antenna put on the roof of their house in Montgomery County so they could get Baltimore stations, and now that I’m not on TV, my mother will say, ‘Do you think [WBAL-TV] will call you to ask you to fill in?'” she chuckles.

But Marsden has other ideas for sister station WBAL-TV.

“I want to mainstream the Real Look Autism videos,” she says with a glimmer in her eye, “and I am going to be pushing WBAL-TV in April during Autism Awareness Month to be running them. I have no hesitation about [a conflict of interest]. I’m like, ‘Screw it.’ If you have a venue, who is going to fault you? Journalism feeds my mind and keeps me sharp, but this feeds my soul.”

Baltimore isn’t like New York City for a lot of reasons (we’re okay with that), like when we see movie trailers on the side of the road, we’re taken aback and we usually ask someone on set, “What’s going on?”

The answer to that question recently has been Veep, an HBO series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays a Maryland Senator turned U.S. Vice President. The eight-episode season was shot locally and filming wrapped in December.

“Everyone who’s been working on this show said how great the set is, how nice the people are,” says casting director Pat Moran. “This can hopefully give Baltimore a chance to compete in the industry again.”

While Baltimore is acting as a stand in for D.C. (à la Live Free or Die Hard and Enemy of the State), natives will surely recognize Veep’s filming locations when it premieres on HBO in the spring.

A scene in the pilot episode was filmed outside of MICA’s main building. The grand, white-marble stairs were able to mimic D.C.’s architecture. The crew even put a fake metal detector in the entranceway to add to that government feel.

There was also a scene at The Ottobar with about 200 people. Moran couldn’t reveal much, though she said that Veep is a comedy and this was a “big, funny scene.”

Another filming location that got attention (especially as many thought Mad Men was in town) was the Belvedere, which was the backdrop for a law enforcement retirement party.

“The Belvedere is a grand dame,” Moran says. “I don’t care about any standards of any city. It was a perfect place for this over-the-top event. We used many local retired law-enforcement folks for that scene.”

Other locations included Donna’s in Charles Village, a Dillon Street row home in Canton, the offices of DLA Piper, and the show’s soundstage in Columbia.

But Moran stresses that this show means much more to Baltimore than just glitz and glamour.

“In a city like ours, we need the revenue,” she says. “We were once top five in the nation in the film industry. Now people move to New York, New Orleans. Hopefully, this will help bring our crew base back.”

With its wicker baskets, comfy couches, and piles of pine cones, Donna Hamilton’s Dickeysville home is warm, homey, and casual—a real reflection of the WBAL-TV anchor herself. “I can’t afford ostentatious,” she says with a laugh.

In December 2010, when Hamilton got ready to renovate her 1954 kitchen (think faux brick linoleum, Formica cabinets, floral wallpaper), she wanted to modernize, but she also tried to stay true to the legacy of the cottage-style house. “I wanted the kitchen to feel calm and contemporary,” says Hamilton. “Something soothing—just a pleasant place to spend time.”

Mission accomplished. The new space is a study in contrasts: Warm maple cabinetry is a counterpoint to cool surfaces (granite countertops and white subway tiles); vintage accessories (a corner cabinet, a collection of antique print pattern blocks) offset state-of–the-art, stainless-steel appliances (Bosch dishwasher, Jenn-Air oven); and country-inspired kitchenware keeps company with minimalist modern lighting. “This is not a showcase kitchen,” says Hamilton. “It’s a pretty kitchen, but it doesn’t have the best of everything, and I didn’t need anyone to design it. I’d been thinking about it for 30 freakin’ years!”

Even before the picture-perfect renovation, Hamilton’s kitchen has always been the heart of the home she shares with her husband, David, and where her children, Cada and Jesse—now grown and gone—stop by for home-cooked meals. “I love cooking because it’s a very sane and necessary activity,” says Hamilton, whose specialties include paella and shrimp and grits. “There’s a reason you cook. There are a lot of things we do in our job or the world that are not all that necessary, and they are not all that sane, but cooking is a thing with a purpose.”

Growing up in Birmingham, AL, Hamilton soon found herself in the family kitchen. “I really started to cook when my mom went back to work as my older sister went to college,” explains Hamilton, the middle child of three girls. “As the next oldest child, it was my responsibility to get dinner started.” Her mother, Mary Grace, was a simple Southern cook, whose specialties included fried okra, squash casserole, and cornbread. “My mother wasn’t a fancy cook,” says Hamilton. “But she was a good cook who never followed a recipe—and I’m a little like that. I like to cook in a more freewheeling way.”

Out of the kitchen, Hamilton has been equally unpredictable. “Everything that has happened to me has just come to me. None of it was planned,” she says. On a lark, after a brief modeling stint, Hamilton auditioned for a long-running Birmingham TV program, The Tom York Morning Show, in the late ’70s. “I don’t even know where I got the courage,” she says. “When I was growing up, it was pretty is as pretty does.”

Initially, Hamilton didn’t get the job, but went to work for the show’s programming director, eventually becoming York’s co-host. She moved to Baltimore in 1981 to host Evening Magazine, a local news and entertainment show. When the program ended in 1990, she appeared on The Learning Channel’s Great Country Inns. “I was looking for other ways to make money,” says Hamilton, “and decided to do a cookbook—Donna Hamilton’s Gracious Country Inns and Favorite Recipes—in conjunction with the show.”

Both in the kitchen and behind the anchor desk, Hamilton has found her calling. “I love what I do,” she says, “and I guess journalism is a lot like cooking. A little bit of this and a little bit of that goes for both. When you put together a story, you have all these pictures and all these sound bites, and you have to make it into a recipe or a story. You have to start and finish it. It’s making something from nothing.”

In 1976, when Baltimore’s WJZ-TV decided to expand its six o’clock news format to an hour, the station couldn’t have possibly known that it was about to make history.

At the time, the news was anchored by Jerry Turner, arguably the most beloved broadcaster in Baltimore. But the one-hour format was deemed too long for a single person to handle, so then-news director Gary Elion conducted an exhaustive nationwide search for a co-anchor.

After watching more than 100 audition tapes over the course of many months, Elion still hadn’t found anyone he wanted to hire.

“I was getting the usual boring tapes,” he recalls.

But one of the tapes caught his eye: It featured an ingénue from WTVF-TV in Nashville, TN. Her name was Oprah Winfrey.

“She was relating a story about something that had happened at City Council,” Elion says. “And she explained it so well. Knowing nothing about the politics of the place, I understood exactly what had happened and the significance. It made her hugely different from anyone else I had seen.”

So Elion hired her. It was a bold move for the station to pair a rookie with an eminent anchor, but he was confident.

“I never had any doubt she was right for the job,” says Elion, now a practicing attorney in Sante Fe, NM. “But I felt she could acquire the experience. What she had was this incredible ability to communicate—that was apparent even then.”

The station promoted her with the tagline, “What’s an Oprah?” and Baltimore was about to find out, as Winfrey (age 22 and making $22,000 a year) debuted on August 16, 1976.

Working in a bustling metropolis was an adjustment for the girl born in rural Mississippi.

“I was assigned to learn every neighborhood in Baltimore,” says Winfrey, speaking to us from California. “I ended up doing neighborhood festivals every weekend. I never learned any of the streets. I was always lost and had to look for the TV tower to know where to go.”

It was no-frills for the talk titan back then. “No one did my hair and makeup,” she says, laughing at the memory. “I would be driving my Chevy from Columbia with my hair just washed and leaving the windows down for it to dry. I would be taking the rollers out as I was coming up TV Hill!”

The job itself also presented a challenge. Winfrey—always a sympathetic soul—took the stories to heart, which made her ill-suited to the bad news business of anchoring.

“I didn’t like every day having to think of the worst thing that was going to happen that day,” says Winfrey. “I never felt great doing it. I remember being at a funeral and not asking the family of the [deceased] child to comment and getting in trouble for it. The assistant news director was like, ‘You get back out there and ask,’ [but] I couldn’t do it. I was too emotional—I felt things so deeply it was hard for me to let things go. I was worried about the family. It helped lay the groundwork for knowing what I didn’t want to do.”

Station stalwart Turner was equally unhappy with the hire.

“He had an old-fashioned sense of men and women,” explains WJZ anchor Denise Koch. “He was from the South.”

Furthermore, it was difficult for Turner to fully embrace his fledgling co-anchor, given the fact that he assumed his friend, veteran WJZ reporter Al Sanders, would fill the spot. The combination was ill-fated from the start.

“She was teamed with the dean of Baltimore newscasting,” says WJZ weatherman Bob Turk, “and she was completely out of her league. She didn’t read well, she didn’t know news, geography, history, politics, or names. She was just very much in the wrong place and too young and inexperienced to be an anchor.”

Winfrey is the first to say the pairing was disastrous. “I remember being like a fish out of water with Jerry Turner,” says Winfrey. “I walked into a cesspool there. It was Harry Reasoner and Barbara Walters all over again. He didn’t want me there. I was young. I wasn’t just green behind the ears—I had cornstalks growing back there.”

Less than eight months after she was hired, Winfrey was unceremoniously dumped from the evening news just hours before she was about to go on air.

“I shall never forget April 1, 1977,” says Winfrey. “I got called out of the newsroom to meet with the general manager. He said, ‘We think you are so talented, we want you to have your own spot. We are going to move you to morning cut-ins.'” (Cut-ins are local announcements inserted into the network broadcast.)

“I was devastated,” Winfrey says. “I knew it was a horrible demotion, and Jerry Turner was saying, ‘I didn’t know anything about it, babe,’ when, in fact, they had been planning for weeks to replace me [with Al Sanders].”

Later that spring, Bill Baker, who had created Cleveland’s Morning Exchange, the highest-rated local program in the country, was hired as general manager of WJZ, and given the task of reinvigorating the ailing station.

“WJZ had slipped from number one to number three,” Baker says. “I was supposed to get things going again. I started looking at the news, and I also thought maybe it would be a good idea to do a local talk show.”

Baker met Winfrey for the first time at a cocktail party, though he was already familiar with her hiring history. Intriguingly, it was his wife, Jeannemarie, who identified Winfrey’s true potential.

“Jeannemarie was a housewife at the time and watched daytime TV,” Baker says. “And she said, ‘You know, if you are going to do a local talk show, that Oprah would be a great host. There is something magical about her—she wears her heart on her sleeve, and she is not at all pretentious.’ I agreed. She had all the right attributes to be a successful talk show host.”

As Baker developed his newly named show, People are Talking, he was convinced that Winfrey was the perfect person to cohost along with veteran newsman Richard Sher. Winfrey, on the other hand, felt she wouldn’t be taken seriously as a journalist.

“It was the last thing in the world she wanted to do,” Baker says. “She said, ‘Bill, I don’t want to do a talk show.’ She had tears in her eyes when she said it. I said, ‘If you are successful, you can have more power to do good and make more of an impact on the community than you would have in TV news.'”

But from the very first show on August 14, 1978, it was clear that Winfrey—with her warmth, natural presence, and ability to extensively ad-lib—had found her calling.

“From that first day, I knew instantly this is what I was supposed to do,” she says. “I felt like I had come home to myself.”

The New York Times TV critic Bill Carter, then at The Sun, remembers watching the show’s debut, which featured Tom Carvel, founder of Carvel ice cream, and two actors from All My Children.

“I watched the first show with my wife, and she said to me, ‘Wow, Oprah is good at this—every question she asked is the question I was thinking in my head,'” he says. “She connected with the female audience instantly. She was very in tune with the way people thought and was extremely comfortable and appealing when she stepped into this format. Oprah was genuine.”

Before long, the question, “What’s an Oprah?” was a rhetorical one, as the duo beat national talk-show behemoth Phil Donahue in the local ratings and was syndicated on 17 stations from Bangor, ME, to Honolulu.

“Making the transition to the talk show was the golden moment in her life,” says Koch. “News anchoring just wasn’t her thing.”

Where Winfrey’s partnership with Turner was toxic, her pairing with cohost Sher was a match made in ratings heaven. The chemistry between the cohosts was palpable, due mostly to a mutual respect for one another.

“We had fun all the time,” Sher says. “We never had an argument and we supported each other.”

Says former People Are Talking executive producer, Arleen Weiner: “She was very comfortable sitting in that chair next to Richard. She had a great respect for him and really cared about him as a person and colleague.”

And though things didn’t always go smoothly on air—an audience member’s hair once caught on fire from a light bulb, a show on orgasms inadvertently was conducted in front of an audience of church members—the two shared a lot of laughs and made compelling television together.

“Richard and I had a very different relationship,” says Winfrey. “He was not resentful of me. He was willing to try to teach me what he knew. Every day he taught me about timing and rhythm and pacing and how to inject the funny. He saw this as an opportunity for himself, and he recognized he couldn’t do it by himself. I had the best time with him.”

Off camera, Winfrey remains close to this day with both Sher and Weiner (mother of WBAL anchor Deborah Weiner), who introduced her to the city’s movers and shakers and gave her entree to Baltimore’s all-important Jewish society.

“At that time, Baltimore was an insular city,” says WJZ weatherman Marty Bass. “And Richard was a major player. To be put on that show with Richard meant Oprah was thrust into a Baltimore society that doesn’t like outsiders and will chew you up and spit you out. This is a town where people still go to their kindergarten reunions. Oprah was able to handle it all like Ripken at shortstop.”

While Winfrey came to Baltimore with undeniable talent, Baltimore itself was her ad hoc journalism school as she learned the tricks of the talk trade. Among them: a real willingness to show her vulnerable side as she revealed parts of herself, from her struggles with weight to her less-than-storybook upbringing.

“Baltimore is a warm, giving community,” says Baker. “It’s the kind of place that opened its arms. Once they saw how real she was, they allowed her to mature and grow. In its collective emotional heart, Baltimore said, ‘We want this woman to succeed. We are going to keep watching and be there for her.’ It was the unique crucible that helped gestate this wonderful, magical talent. There’s no question the place helped her.”

Winfrey says that her experiences were invaluable.

“My goal at that particular phase in my life was to learn as much as I could,” she says. “I looked at Baltimore as a learning opportunity, as a ‘teach me’ school for life. I learned the absolute most about myself there. It was my first time away from home starting out as my own true self—not with any family member—and learning how to negotiate in the corporate world. I look at those years as how they made me into the woman I am now.”

In addition to cohosting People are Talking (and eventually co-anchoring the noon news with Sher), Winfrey explored her love of acting, whether performing a one-woman show at Goucher College or a poetry reading at her church, Bethel A.M.E.

“That’s the first time I realized she was much more than a talk-show host,” says her former coworker and roommate Sandra Pinckney, who is still a close friend. “She starred in To Make a Poet Black and Beautiful and Bid Her Sing and was reading Langston Hughes poetry. I was sitting in the audience, and here comes this booming voice in the back of the church. I said to myself, ‘My God, this is Oprah.’ She was so much bigger than I imagined as she recited these poems in this beautiful, deep voice. The show went from Baltimore to Lincoln Center!”

Says Bass, “When I heard that Oprah was doing a one-woman show at Goucher, I remember thinking, ‘She is incredibly motivated. She is seeing a bigger picture here—in color and 3-D.'”

Even in those years, colleagues recall that Winfrey exuded uncommon confidence with her big personality, boundless energy, and ability to tackle anything.

“She was the most confident person I’ve ever met,” says Koch. “I’ve never met anyone who had such a strong sense of self and what they were going to do in the world.”

Koch, a prominent actress at the time herself, remembers when Oprah auditioned for the lead in a play at CentreStage.

“I remember thinking, ‘Why would they cast her when she’s not an actress?’ But she was sure she was going to get it. She didn’t do it in a bragging way—she just thought she knew her destiny.”

When the part went to a classical Shakespearean actress instead, Winfrey was reportedly livid. “Oprah was furious,” says Koch. “She was like, ‘How could they not cast me?’ She was stunned. I remember her saying to me, ‘What are we doing here, Denise? We should be on Broadway.’ I remember thinking to myself, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing here, but I’m here paying the mortgage!'”

Winfrey took the town by storm, but her colleagues secretly harbored the fear that the rising star wasn’t long for Baltimore.

“It was like, ‘We’d love to keep you here, but you’re not staying,'” Bass says.

Indeed, in January 1984, Winfrey was hired to host A.M. Chicago, a faltering half-hour morning show in the Windy City.

Ironically, according to Sher, the show first saw Winfrey when she appeared on an audition tape when producer Debra Di Maio was applying for a job. A.M. Chicago was immediately impressed with Winfrey (and also ended up hiring Di Maio).

Though the station threw a going away party for her at Café Des Artistes, some hard feelings were apparent.

“At the going away party, Paul Yates, the general manager, announced that he was going to give her a big color TV, but she never got that,” laughs Sher, who gave her an attaché case engraved with the word “Ope,” his nickname for her.

Says Pinckney, “I remember her looking so regal and so triumphant at her party. They were going to match her salary to keep her, but they could have offered her a million dollars, she was ready to go. She was ready for bigger and better things.”

Winfrey never questioned her decision to leave Charm City.

“Just like no part of me feels like ending [The Oprah Winfrey Show] at this point is a mistake, no part of me felt like leaving Baltimore at that time was a mistake. I had grown as much as I felt I could grow in that position. I didn’t want to become an ‘anchor institution.’ I didn’t want to be 25 years at an anchor desk reading news. I just wanted a different kind of challenge. I didn’t think I could be fulfilled if I stayed in Baltimore—it would have caused me to settle into a conditioned life. I wanted to be more than comfortable.”

Weeks later, Weiner drove Winfrey to the American Airlines terminal at BWI and put her on the plane.

“We cried at that point,” says Weiner. “She would come to our house for Passover. She would come for Thanksgiving. There were people who told her that there were landmines in Chicago, but I thought she could be much more successful there. Six weeks later, I went out to see her and we couldn’t walk down the street without everyone knowing who she was. I knew her star was ascending, but I didn’t know how far she would go.”

Despite the ups and downs, Winfrey is grateful for her Baltimore years. “‘I wouldn’t take nothing from my journey,'” Winfrey says, quoting from a traditional Negro spiritual. “Every single bit of it, every layer of my Baltimore experience, contributed to me being able to stand where I am today.”

---

Oprah’s Favorite Things (in Baltimore)

The Hippo
“One time, a bunch of us all went to the Hippo to get in some good dancing,” says former consumer reporter Maria Broom. “The music and DJ at that time was really good.”

Cross Keys Deli
“Cross Keys fries were number one,” says Oprah Winfrey, “and Maryland jumbo lump crabmeat. I remember it was $8 a pound back then. My favorite things, bar none.”

Ruth Shaw
“She laughed at herself if something didn’t fit,” says owner Ray Mitchener.

Tio Pepe
“She used to come in here for dinner on a regular basis,” says former TÍo Pepe maitre d’ Francisco “Paco” Lobo. “And now I watch her show every day.”

Her Apartment (8 Cross Keys Road)
“After a peeping Tom was at my window, Oprah took her key off her key ring and insisted I move in with her,” says Sandra Pinckney. “It was the finest three months of my life.” Says Winfrey, “I loved that place.”

Linen Outfits and Scarves From The Bead Experience
“I showed her how to wear a scarf over her shoulder and how it cut her in half,” says co-owner Idy Harris. “It became her look.”

Louie’s Bookstore Cafe
A popular hangout in the ’80s.

The Pimlico Hotel
“My first experience with a finger bowl was at The Pimlico Hotel,” says Winfrey. “I was like, ‘Okay, there’s lemon in it.’ I was two seconds away from drinking it.”

Bethel A.M.E. Church
“I’d give 10 percent of my [weekly] salary to Bethel A.M.E. Church every Sunday, $22.70,” says Winfrey. “I keep old checks. I think checks are the best indication of how a person has lived their life.”

The Cross Keys Inn
“We hung out there so much that people thought we were too close,” says Richard Sher. “When she left Baltimore, it was rumored that we were having a baby.”

The Prime Rib
“She dined here often,” says The Prime Rib’s general manager David Derewicz. “She usually ate with Richard Sher and sat in our ‘outside’ dining room [which was a porch 40 years ago before being converted to an indoor space].”

Edited by Max Weiss. Written by Jess Blumberg, Ken Iglehart, Suzanne Loudermilk, John Lewis, Amy Mulvihill, Evan Serpick, and Max Weiss

Delegate Keiffer Mitchell Jr. is at a cafe, being interviewed for this story, when his cell phone rings. “Hang on a sec, I’ve got to take this,” he says. He leans away and answers the phone. He’s discussing the Baltimore Grand Prix —the upcoming Indy car race that Mitchell was a key player in bringing to Baltimore. All of downtown will be affected by the race, and whomever Mitchell is talking to is clearly concerned about logistics.

The delegate’s omelet arrives and sits untouched as Mitchell continues to talk in a cheerful and reassuring manner. More than 10 minutes later, he’s off the phone. He looks up sheepishly. “Sorry, that was Brian Rogers,” he says, referring to the chairman of T. Rowe Price, who is on our list (under Finance Power). “Speaking of power. . . .”

Mitchell digs into his (now cold) omelet and resumes the interview.

The moment was not staged for the benefit of this story, but it very well could’ve been. Rogers has access (he was calling Mitchell’s cell) and influence (Mitchell was bending over backwards to accommodate him) and probably could’ve interrupted the breakfast (or lunch or family dinner) of just about any politician in town.

This story is our attempt to explore Baltimore power and the various ways it manifests itself in the region. Political power and financial power are perhaps the most obvious kinds, but there are other, less conspicuous types of power at play in such arenas as culture, health care, sports, and technology. What follows is our examination of power in all of its incarnations—from the boardrooms to the chatrooms and beyond.

Politics

The position comes with power. But it’s how you wield it that really counts.

Governor Martin O’Malley
He spends a lot of time in Annapolis, but Governor O’Malley is still a Baltimore guy, and he wields an enormous amount of power here. For one thing, the former Baltimore mayor was a mentor to Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and the two frequently acknowledge their close working relationship. Further, the road-tested, iron-tough Democratic political machine that O’Malley built (or rebuilt) endures. And every time he has an important moment, whether launching a reelection campaign or declaring victory, O’Malley is in Baltimore, flanked by the city’s political elite, including Rawlings-Blake and Rep. Elijah Cummings. O’Malley is still captain of Baltimore’s Democratic ship.

Stephanie Rawlings-Blake
When fiery Sheila Dixon resigned last year, Rawlings-Blake’s low-key technocratic style was a welcome change. Now, the quiet machinations of her power are bearing fruit. After capably managing the biggest back-to-back blizzards in local history, she balanced an out-of-control budget, overhauling the police and fire department pension systems, making huge spending cuts, and passing a bottle tax—all without raising public ire too broadly. She announced ambitious new projects, like the 2011 Grand Prix race, and moved to renovate vast swaths of vacant housing. With all due to respect to Dixon, Rawlings-Blake demonstrates that one doesn’t have to wave a shoe to demonstrate power.

Rep. Elijah Cummings
Like all of Maryland’s U.S. Senators and Representatives, Cummings spends a lot of time in D.C. But more than any of the others, Cummings is a fixture in Baltimore. He fights for local interests, defending the fishing industry (maritimeprofessional.com calls him “the domestic maritime industry’s biggest advocate in Congress”) and proposing $2.25 billion in federal funds to clean up the bay. He sits on the board of trustees for the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore and the National Aquarium, and generally weighs in thoughtfully and impactfully on every issue of consequence, from slots to education funding.

And don’t count out:

• New Baltimore State’s Attorney Gregg Bernstein upset incumbent Pat Jessamy with support from police commissioner Frederick Bealefeld and a tough-on-crime approach that resonated with voters and could elevate him to higher office.
• Otis Rolley, Frank Conaway Sr., Councilman Carl Stokes, and Council President Jack Young have all been mentioned as potential 2011 mayoral candidates, but for our money, former Congressman and NAACP President Kweisi Mfume seems ripe for a return to prominence.
• As deputy mayor for Economic and Neighborhood Development, Kaliope Parthemos oversees the Baltimore Development Corporation, Board of Estimates, and Board of Municipal and Zoning Appeals. More importantly, she’s the Mayor’s most trusted consigliere.

Religion

For the faithful of all stripes, these men of the cloth carry the most clout.

Frank M. Reid III
Rev. Frank Reid, 59, is senior pastor and CEO of northwest Baltimore’s Bethel AME Church, the largest congregation in the city at over 10,000 worshippers and the choice for a number of politicians and other movers and shakers in the African-American community like Sheila Dixon.

Archbishop Edwin Frederick O’Brien
As if being the spiritual leader of half a million Catholics in central Maryland wasn’t enough, the O’Brien-led Archdiocese of Baltimore oversees five hospitals, 70 schools, two seminaries, a food kitchen that serves 250,000 meals a year, plus countless other social service programs. O’Brien’s military background—he was an army chaplain with the rank of captain who served in Vietnam—has undoubtedly served him well in dealing with the challenges of leading his flock in what have been difficult times for the Catholic Church.

Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg
For 32 years, Rabbi Wohlberg has been the guiding light of 1,400-member Beth Tfiloh, the largest modern orthodox synagogue in the United States, serving both as rabbi of the congregation and as dean of Beth Tfiloh’s 1,000-student, K-12 school. Dubbed “the master of the sermon” by the Baltimore Jewish Times, he is an author and regular panelist on WMAR-TV’s Square Off.

And don’t count out:

• Bishop Walter S. Thomas Sr., 60, is longtime pastor of the 7,000-strong New Psalmist Baptist Church in northwest Baltimore. Like Bethel AME, New Psalmist claims its own VIP members (like Rep. Elijah Cummings), and Rev. Thomas’s live Internet broadcasts and regular radio services are followed by thousands.
• Rabbi Daniel Cotzin Burg, 34, the charismatic new rabbi at Beth Am synagogue, is packing the pews.
  “He is already the talk of the town,” says one member of the congregation.

Development

They’ve built this town, and, very often, they call the shots (and slots).

John Paterakis Sr.
Paterakis, 81, made his money as president of the family-owned H&S Bakery, the largest privately owned bakery in the U.S. H&S and its sister companies supply McDonald’s, as well as house brands for Giant Foods, SuperFresh, and others. But he’s as well known now for his H&S Properties, which has developed the $600 million waterfront Harbor East district, which includes high-end condos, office towers, restaurants, hotels, and retail space. Financing, schminancing: In the early years, his Harbor East vision was largely kept alive by Paterakis’s own checkbook, which also has bankrolled numerous political campaigns. And now he’s developing Harbor Point, a former industrial site just to the east that will be an $800 million complex of homes, offices, hotels and shops.

David S. Cordish
The 70-year-old president of The Cordish Companies is from a family that’s been doing urban redevelopment for more than a century (his sons are now VPs). He’s been behind Harborplace-esque urban renewal projects all over the U.S. that include entertainment venues, retailing, restaurants, gaming, residences, and hotels. His big new roll of the dice? The gaming casino at Arundel Mills shopping mall that voters signed off on in a November referendum. Cordish went door to door to make his case. Was there ever any doubt that he’d hit the jackpot?

Edward Miller
What’s the top guy at arguably the best hospital in the world doing under “developers”? Because Johns Hopkins Medicine Dean and CEO Edward Miller is the man behind the curtain for entire medical mini-cities, including the massive renovation projects that have transformed East Baltimore. The two new state-of-the-art hospitals for adult and pediatric patients represent one of the largest hospital construction projects in the nation. In his 13-year tenure as dean, he’s been the driving force for dozens of other Hopkins projects, too, and was a key mover in the Baltimore City-initiated biotech park north of the campus on a once-blighted 80-acre tract. We’re guessing Miller isn’t anywhere near done with his ceremonial hardhat and gold shovel.

And don’t count out:

• Michael S. Beatty, president of H&S Properties Development, is the guy who’s made John Paterakis’s ambitious and complex projects look like a cake walk.
• Edward St. John‘s company, St. John Properties, has built more than 13 million square feet of apartments, offices, retail, and warehouses worth over $1 billion. But St. John, 72, is also known for his generosity—he’s given more than $43 million to various causes through personal, corporate, and foundation donations.

Finance

Money is power and these financiers manage it, spend it, and control it.

Mark R. Fetting
Fetting, 56, the president and CEO of Legg Mason, was the board’s choice three years ago to fill the shoes of retiring founder Raymond A. “Chip” Mason, who in 40 years grew the global firm to nearly $700 billion in assets under management. Fetting was an executive senior VP at Legg for seven years prior to his appointment. He serves on several community boards, including Mercy Hospital and Gilman School.

James A. C. Kennedy and Brian Rogers
T. Rowe Price Group CEO/president Kennedy and chairman Rogers oversee a global investment firm that manages $440 billion in assets. Besides employing 5,000 people, the most noticeable impact that the duo has on the region is the culture they promote of community involvement by T. Rowe staffers, who contribute heavily to local education, arts, and social causes.

Charles Newhall
Got a great business idea? Wouldn’t you love to bend the ear of venture-capital giant Charles “Chuck” Newhall, cofounder (with Dick Kramlich and the storied Frank Bonsal Jr.) of New Enterprise Associates (NEA)? In the past 30 years, NEA has committed more than $11 billion to bankroll some 650 new information-technology, health care, and energy-technology companies here and abroad, of which more than 165 have gone public and more than 265 have been acquired.

And don’t count out:

• Since relocating to Baltimore from New York in 2002 to oversee the takeover of the former Allfirst Financial, Atwood “Woody” Collins III, the M&T Bank Mid-Atlantic Region president, has gotten involved in everything from mayoral task forces and the Greater Baltimore Committee to the city’s economic development board and the Babe Ruth Museum.

Media

Traditional media may not be as omnipotent as it once was, but it still has plenty of juice in this town.

Mary Corey
Corey has been at The Baltimore Sun for more than 23 years, starting as an intern. Over that time, she’s risen up the paper’s masthead, earning allies and kudos. In May, she took over as director of content, the first woman in the paper’s 173-year history to lead the newsroom, replacing Monty Cook, an out-of-towner brought in by the paper’s owners at The Tribune Company who oversaw massive layoffs and downsizing. Under Corey’s leadership, the paper has stepped up coverage of breaking news—evident in its coverage of the September shooting at The Johns Hopkins Hospital—and added new sections, including The Sun Magazine.

Jayne Miller
There is one journalist in Baltimore that virtually every public figure is afraid of: WBAL-TV reporter Jayne Miller. Her investigative reports have exposed corruption in public officials and failures of the criminal justice system. Her 2003 coverage of irregularities at mortgage servicing company Fairbanks Capital was picked up nationally, as one of the first stories to expose problems in the subprime lending industry. These days, whenever there is an important story in Baltimore—from Sheila Dixon’s trial in January to the November elections—everyone looks to Miller for the most decisive analysis, which impacts how everyone else reports the story.

Bob Philips
Philips, the market manager for all CBS radio stations in Baltimore, including The Fan, WLIF, and WWMX, plays a subtle but powerful role in determining the stories, events, and topics that become major in the area. By directing the news departments that Marylanders listen to in drive time, even on a non-news station like WLIF (which is often the number-one rated station), Philips helps to set the agenda for other outlets in town and directs the conversations at water coolers throughout the region.

Mark Miller
Miller has long led the WBAL-AM’s comprehensive news operation, and when longtime program director Jeff Beauchamp left the station last year, the unassuming Miller took on that role, too, playing a quiet but powerful role in the way Baltimore gets news. Over the last year, Miller has made WBAL more news-oriented—launching anchored news programs during morning and afternoon drive times—while still leaving it opinionated, installing right-leaning talk-show host Shari Elliker as anchor for the afternoon program and keeping former First Lady of Maryland Kendall Ehrlich on the air through the elections. It’s the kind of formula that has worked on national outlets like Fox News, and time will tell if it works locally and affects the way other stations in town operate.

And don’t count out:

• Larry Young’s talk show on WOLB (1010-AM) is a powerful voice on national and local affairs, particularly in the African-American community.
• Local NPR affiliate WYPR, led by president and general manager Tony Brandon, has probably the second biggest radio news operation in town, after WBAL (with more in-depth features), and an audience of affluent movers and shakers.
• Dogged Sun reporter Justin Fenton has been behind some of the biggest stories in town, scrambling to get to the bottom of the Hopkins shooting and breaking the news that Ehrlich operative Julius Henson was behind election-day robocalls.

Culture

The ever-strengthening arts community has some of its most high-profile leadership ever.

Fred Lazarus
Lazarus, the president of Maryland Institute College of Art, could vie for the top spot in the education category—MICA is, after all, one of the best art schools in the country—but that designation is too narrow for such a visionary leader. Lazarus has fostered strong ties with the business and nonprofit communities and gracefully shepherded an expansion of the school’s footprint that’s utterly transformed the Station North Arts District and enhanced the city’s cultural riches.

Marin Alsop
Alsop, the music director of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, has set the bar high for leaders of the city’s major arts organizations. Not content with being a programming genius and a captivating presence on the podium, Alsop isn’t shy about flexing some marketing muscle—putting the BSO in front of new audiences, whenever possible—partnering with non-classical artists, and reaching out to the community at large.

David Simon
Simon’s work (The Corner, Homicide, The Wire, and Treme) has resonated far beyond Baltimore to shape an ongoing dialogue about urban America. Its been the subject of college courses and even won him a MacArthur grant last year. As if that weren’t enough, he’s also married to author Laura Lippman, no minor powerhouse herself.  

John Waters
Baltimore’s bonafide cultural icon continues to evolve beyond film, with art exhibits at A-list venues like the Gagosian Gallery in L.A., a witty memoir (Role Models), and speaking gigs around the world. Whether trading quips with Letterman or hobnobbing at an Oscars party, Waters is our most enduring and effective ambassador.

Doreen Bolger
Under Bolger’s leadership, The Baltimore Museum of Art has shed its old image as an insular organization and forged stronger relationships with other arts institutions and community groups. While spearheading ambitious capitol campaigns and renovation projects, The BMA director is just as liable to turn up at a warehouse gallery opening as she is a corporate boardroom.

And don’t count out:

• Bill Gilmore, executive director of Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts, oversees a $6.4 million budget and local events such as Artscape, the Baltimore Book Festival, and the Preakness Parade.
• Carla Hayden, executive director, Enoch Pratt Free Library, has reinvigorated the Pratt as a vital cultural center and been named by President Obama to the National Museum and Library Services Board and the National Foundation on the Arts and Humanities.
• Jed Dietz, director of the Maryland Film Festival, also serves on the board of Centerstage, where he’s heading the search for Irene Lewis’s replacement.

Education

They’re the toughest——and most important——jobs in Baltimore. These leaders are making a difference.

Andrés Alonso
Since coming to the Baltimore as CEO of public schools in 2007, Alonso has turned the system upside down, decentralizing power from North Avenue, closing failing schools, and opening more than a dozen new ones, with the intention of giving parents more choices. In the process, test scores and graduation rates have gone up, drop-out rates have declined, and many families who had previously fled public schools are taking a second look. With this year’s new contract between the city and the Baltimore Teachers Union, Alonso took on an even more prominent role as a reformer on the national stage.

Nancy Grasmick
As Maryland’s Superintendent of Schools, Grasmick led the charge to win some of the $4.3 billion in federal “Race to the Top” funds. With 19 years in the position, Grasmick was able to quickly mobilize the legislature and education officials across the state to overhaul tenure and evaluation systems, set new curriculum standards, and design a new way to collect student data. As a result, Maryland was one of nine states (along with D.C.) to win funding, earning $250 million that will go toward implementing reforms and creating new schools.

Ron Goldblatt
Tough economic times have meant that many private schools have struggled to maintain enrollment, but the Association of Independent Maryland Schools (AIMS) and executive director Goldblatt have provided a steely backbone for its 115 members. This year, the organization flexed its muscle to help shoot down new legislation that would have required greater state regulation of independent schools and held a steady stream of workshops to help increase enrollment.

Marietta English
The Baltimore Teachers Union took a bold step this year, approving a new contract that includes pay increases, but also ties salary to student performance, making it one of the most reform-minded contracts in the country. After the membership initially voted down the deal, union president English worked with schools administrators to nail down more specifics and held information sessions in every school in the city, which resulted in an overwhelming 1,902-1,045 vote.

And don’t count out:

• Alonso’s hand-picked Baltimore City Public Schools’ new chief academic officer Sonja Brookins Santelises is already getting attention for talk of increasing standards in city schools and raising elite schools to the level of the top public schools in the country.
• Cheryl Bost, president of the Teachers Association of Baltimore County (TABCO), led the fight against a cumbersome new student evaluation tool, the Articulated Instruction Module (AIM), delaying its implementation and putting county superintendent Joe Hairston on the hot seat for granting the program’s copyright to an employee.

Legal

These are the 800-pound gorillas of Baltimore’s law scene, and their firms have the revenue to prove it.

Peter G. Angelos
A honcho among honchos, Angelos, 81, could obviously fit into a number of our categories, including sports (as CEO and chairman of the board of the Orioles) and philanthropy. He’s made his millions representing the victims of faulty products, medical malpractice, and personal injury, but is best known for class-action suits against manufacturers of asbestos and tobacco.

Francis B. Burch Jr.
Frank Burch helped turn the regional law firm Piper & Marbury, with its 250 lawyers, into DLA Piper, an international practice with more than 3,500 lawyers and revenue of $2 billion. And he’s a trustee of The Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Medicine, and the Carey Business School of Johns Hopkins University, as well as past board chairman of the Greater Baltimore Committee and the University of Maryland School of Law.

James L. Shea
Shea, 58, is chairman of the board of law firm Venable LLP, with 600 lawyers based mostly in Baltimore, Washington, D.C., and New York. He’s also on the boards of the Greater Baltimore Committee and the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore.

And don’t count out:

• Senior Venable partner Benjamin Richard Civiletti, probably the best-known name in American law, was U.S. Attorney General during the Carter administration, and recently became the first U.S. lawyer to charge $1,000 an hour.

Underground

Baltimore has become a national center for underground culture. Below, the leaders of the artists, hipsters, and tastemakers who make the scene.

Dan Deacon
In 2004, musician Deacon moved to Baltimore with a mantra: “The future surrounds us. Let us begin.” Setting up camp in the Copycat building on Guilford Ave., he and some friends founded Wham City, an arts collective bursting with creativity. Wham City threw massive dance parties in industrial spaces, drawing artists, musicians, and patrons from local colleges, especially MICA, and beyond. In 2006, they founded Whartscape—a more D.I.Y. answer to Artscape—giving a platform to local bands like Beach House and Ponytail, who would go on to gain national followings. They staged theatrical programs like Shoot Her! Jurassic Park: The Play. The excitement around the scene helped spur an arts renaissance in Station North. After a successful Whartscape in July, he announced that it would be no more. “Part of the fun was making it grow,” he said. “But we’d like to move on and try something new.” At the photo shoot for the cover of this magazine, Deacon huddled with BSO maestra Marin Alsop about a potential collaboration. Later that day, a BSO rep called the office looking for Deacon’s contact number. We can only imagine what he has in store for Baltimore next.

Matt Porterfield
Porterfield has a legit shot at being mentioned in the same breath as Levinson and Waters as one of the city’s finest filmmakers. Porterfield’s latest movie, Putty Hill, has been a hit on the festival circuit—screening in Berlin, Lisbon, Copenhagen, and Austin’s SXSW—and elicited raves from The New Yorker’s Richard Brody, who opined that “if there’s an independent cinema, [Putty Hill] is it, and if there’s a new director, here he is.” Porterfield gets extra credit for crafting music videos for local bands such as Double Dagger and teaching film at Hopkins.

Scott Berzofsky, Dane Nester, and Nicholas Wisniewski
These three MICA grads formed the arts collective Baltimore Development Cooperative (BDC), which addresses urban issues with a powerful mix of creative moxie and grassroots organizing. Their recent The Food Network exhibit at the Creative Alliance included installations by community groups such as Hamilton Crop Circle and info-sharing forays into city neighborhoods. The BDC also cosponsors STEW, a dinner (held three or four times a year) that raises money for various social justice projects.

And don’t count out:

• The folks at Red Emma’s present talks and performances at their Mt. Vernon bookstore/coffeehouse and at 2640 in Charles Village, and they operate The Baltimore Free School.
• Program director Megan Hamilton books a wide range of events at the Creative Alliance—a recent run of shows included Ethel Ennis, the Baltimore Men’s Chorus, Mink Stole, Maria Broom, a klezmer band, and a burlesque performance—and is a tireless advocate for the local arts scene.

Business

These impresarios of commerce provide the tax base that is the lifeblood the city.

Jack B. Dunn
The man behind the success of the $1 billion-a-year FTI Consulting has been CEO and president Dunn, a lawyer and former officer at Legg Mason (and current Orioles partner). Besides its corporate consulting services, FTI has some unusual skill areas, especially “forensic accounting,” or the science of finding out where the money went. (Investors hire FTI when a company fails——so that part of the business had been booming.) He’s also a board member at several major corporations.

Fred Festa
Yes, Festa, the chairman, president, and CEO of W.R. Grace, heads a company that went Chapter 11 after facing millions of dollars worth of awards in asbestos suits filed by the likes of Peter Angelos. But the Columbia-based Grace is back, selling close to $3 billion in specialty chemicals, catalysts, sealants, and construction materials worldwide. Better yet, both the company and its thousands of employees donate significantly every year to education, health, and human services causes.

Kevin A. Plank
Under Armour President and CEO Kevin Plank’s big idea (to create a synthetic, moisture-wicking fabric) sells close to $1 billion a year and has gone public. Now Plank is going after the industry giant Nike, with a foray into athletic footwear. (Don’t be too surprised if Nike tries to buy them.) Plank sits on the UM’s board of trustees, as well as serving on the board of directors for the Baltimore City Fire Foundation, the Greater Baltimore Committee, and Living Classrooms Foundation.

And don’t count out:

• Allegis, founded 27 years ago (as Aerotek) by Steve Bisciotti and James Davis, and now controlled by Davis, is a mammoth staffing company with more than $4 billion in revenues in 2005.
• Willard Hackerman, president and CEO of construction giant Whiting-Turner, may be 92 now, but he shows up at the office every day and still wields considerable influence in commerce, philanthropy, and politics.
• Mayo Shattuck, president and CEO of Constellation Energy, took his shareholders for a queasy ride after the market collapse in late 2008, but he’s stayed on the job because he’s making money again and even growing the $16 billion energy giant.

Green

Meet the eco-warriors who are fighting the good fight——and winning.

Malcolm Woolf
Anyone who doesn’t think finding sustainable ways to meet our society’s energy needs is the challenge of the 21st century hasn’t been paying attention. In Maryland, the man with the plan is Malcolm Woolf, head of the Maryland Energy Administration. He’s been instrumental in toughening up the state’s Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard, which requires reducing statewide energy consumption by 15 percent by the year 2015 and generating 20 percent of energy from renewable sources (including two percent from solar) by 2022. “He knows how and when to push and when to ‘play ball’ in crafting legislation,” praises Jim Pierobon, the communications director with the Maryland Clean Energy Center.

Michael D. Smith
Giving a Constellation Energy executive props for green power seems counterintuitive, to put it mildly. But who’s better poised to transform the energy industry than someone on the inside? Enter Michael D. Smith who, two years ago, became the chief sustainability officer for retail energy at Constellation NewEnergy, a subsidiary of the Fortune 500 company/utility that handles development and installation of sustainable product offerings, including its burgeoning solar business. If you want to go green, save money, or both in the future, chances are you’ll be buying what he’s selling.

William C. Baker
William C. Baker is the president of the 200,000-member-strong nonprofit Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which boasts a $22 million annual operating budget, 160 full-time employees, and offices in three states plus D.C. Because of these resources, the CBF is a player on both the state and federal level. They deal with “the big picture,” acknowledges Jana Davis, associate director of The Chesapeake Bay Trust, which contributes funding to some of CBF’s programs. Baker is “organizing their priorities the right way, and he’s getting a lot of big wins for the bay,” she adds, citing CBF’s role in strengthening storm water runoff regulations and Maryland’s new environmental literacy high school graduation requirement.

Beth Strommen
As manager of the Baltimore City Office of Sustainability, Beth Strommen is the city’s green guru, heavily involved in drafting and editing many of our metro’s most important environmental and land use regulations, including the Forest Conservation Program, the Baltimore Bicycle Master Plan, and the Maritime Master Plan. Says Prescott Gaylord, the owner of Baltimore Green Construction, “Beth is highly effective and may be the most well-known face of green in the city.”

And don’t count out:

• David Borinsky, CEO of nonprofit One Green Home at A Time, oversees green rehabs in some of Baltimore’s most blighted neighborhoods.
• Thanks to president and CEO Chickie Grayson’s leadership, Enterprise Homes has already built 1,275 green, affordable homes in the area and is committed to creating or preserving 5,000 more by 2013.
• As chair of the House of Delegates’ Environmental Matters Committee, Del. Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City), holds sway over a matrix of issues ranging from agriculture to motor vehicles.

Technology

These tech titans heard the 21st-century bell——and answered it.

Dave Troy
Even those not too involved in tech circles know about Bmore Fiber, last year’s initiative to bring Google’s ultra-high-speed broadband network to Baltimore. Troy was one of the leaders of the movement, not to mention he has 25 years of experience in technology and design. “Dave is hugely influential in the startup scene,” says programmer Mike Subelsky. “He is definitely the man for our times.”

Sid Meier
Sid Meier has been called “the godfather of computer gaming”—and rightfully so. He’s had 26 years of experience and has helped create the popular simulation game genre. As current director of creative development for Firaxis Games, Meier established Hunt Valley as the gaming capital of Maryland when he started in the early 1980s.

Heather Sarkissian
Heather Sarkissian is somewhat of a tech renaissance woman. She was the CEO of mp3car.com, a local company that builds sophisticated mobile computers for corporate and government clients. She helped found Betascape, which is the tech version of Artscape. She also heads BmoreSmart, a group of social entrepreneurs in Baltimore aiming to make the city a better place. “Heather really knows how to get things done,” says programmer Mike Subelsky.

Jay Steinmetz
Steinmetz is CEO of Barcoding, a company that sells and programs inventory-tracking systems and has been included on several of Inc. magazine’s coveted top business lists. As chair of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation, which provides funding for local programs, Steinmetz is also helping the next generation of techies.

And don’t count out:

• Mike Subelsky is cofounder of Ignite Baltimore and web startup OtherInbox.com.
• Brian Reynolds was mentored by Sid Meier, and is now chief designer at Zynga East (creator of the infamous Farmville).
• Jennifer Gunner, the interim executive director of the Greater Baltimore Tech Council, is known for bridging “old” and “new” tech circles.

Philanthropy

Where government and the corporate world fall short, these captains of charity fill the gap.

William J. McCarthy Jr.
There are foundations and charitable organizations with more money and equally worthy causes, but few are more visible to average Baltimoreans than Catholic Charities, headed by executive director McCarthy. With 2,000 employees and 15,000 volunteers, Maryland’s largest private provider of human services, with an annual budget of $127 million, answered more than 600,000 requests for food and emergency services last year and served 350,000 meals to the hungry, as well as operating 80 other programs.

Marc B. Terrill
Since 2003, Marc B. Terrill has been the face of THE ASSOCIATED: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore, a 90-year-old foundation whose charitable reach extends far beyond the Jewish community through partnered initiatives in the region with Catholic Charities of Baltimore, the Harry and Jeannette Weinberg Foundation, and other groups.
As president, Terrill, who is also on the Baltimore Community Foundation board, oversees 20 agencies that meet educational, religious, humanitarian, health, and social service needs locally, nationally, in Israel, and throughout the world. And The Associated has financial clout: It raised $31 million last year and has a $500 million trust. (Among other Jewish Federations across North America, Baltimore’s boasts the highest per-capita giving.)

Deborah Flateman
Deborah Flateman oversees 80 employees, two warehouses, and $32 million a year at the Maryland Food Bank, all resources that are focused on gathering food donations from manufacturers, growers, retailers, and individuals and getting it to the needy through 600 soup kitchens, shelters, and other providers in central Maryland and the Eastern Shore. Economic times have increased the need for food assistance by more than a third.

Donn Weinberg
With total assets of $2 billion, the Weinberg Foundation is one of the largest private charitable foundations in the United States, funding nonprofits that provide services to economically disadvantaged people, primarily in the U.S. and Israel. Under the chairmanship of former trial lawyer Donn Weinberg, the foundation’s roughly $100 million annual grantmaking goes to programs to help seniors, the disabled, education, children, and basic human needs and health. And he can sing and dance, too: As a hobby, Weinberg is a volunteer singer-entertainer at older-adult facilities in the Baltimore area and for nonprofit fundraisers.

And don’t count out:

• James Piper Bond is president of the $16 million-a-year, 300-employee Living Classrooms Foundation, which uses boats and the bay to educate inner-city youth, and also provides job training, neighborhood rehab, and management of once-failing charter schools.
• Tim Kelly is director of Fells Point’s Esperanza Center, funded by Catholic Charities of Baltimore, which provides legal and social services to the city’s growing Hispanic population.
• Terry M. Rubenstein is executive vice president of the Joseph and Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds, a $100 million group of family funds that doles out roughly $5 million a year to cultural causes here and in Israel, as well as meeting middle-class needs with library and school computers, city parks improvements, and scholarships for families with average incomes.
• He didn’t want to be on this list because he’s fairly new at the job, but we can’t totally ignore Annie E. Casey Foundation president and CEO Patrick McCarthy, whose Baltimore-based foundation, with its roughly $2.6 billion in assets, gives away close to $150 million nationally every year.

Sports

It’s not just our favorite pastime (and obsession), it’s one of the driving forces of the local economy.

Steve Bisciotti
There’s really no disputing it anymore: Baltimore is a football town. Last year, Forbes magazine estimated the Ravens’ worth as $1.1 billion (as compared to the Orioles’ $376 million). And owner Bisciotti has a low-key, hands-off leadership style that appeals to the local fan base. Pressbox’s Stan “The Fan” Charles praises Bisciotti for “being smart enough to know what he doesn’t know.” Says WNST’s Nasty Nestor Aparicio: “The Ravens have become the most important binding element in our local society—across race, color, creed, gender, age. When they do well, the city feels good. That’s a lot of power.”

Ozzie Newsome
Ravens’ GM Newsome’s ability to “gauge talent” is unsurpassed, says Pressbox’s Stan “The Fan” Charles, but he also knows when to give up draft picks and pull the trigger on a great trade. “He’s the prime [force] in making the Ravens great,” says WNST’s Nasty Aparicio. And since much of the Ravens’ enormous value stems from its on-field success, it’s no surprise that Steve Bisciotti told The Baltimore Sun last year: “We want Oz to be here as long as Ozzie wants to be here.” Looks like the owner can evaluate talent almost as well as his GM.

Andy MacPhail/Buck Showalter
Both these men represent a sea change in the Orioles organization: President Andy MacPhail was the first person under Peter Angelos to be given some measure of control. “Though he’ll always answer to Peter, there’s no question that Andy has been given total leeway to do his job as he sees fit,” says WJZ sports director Mark Viviano. As for Showalter? “Buck brought credibility to the position that it hadn’t had in 10 years,” Viviano says. “And it was immediately reflected in how the players responded.”

Cal Ripken Jr.
From introducing baseball in China to building little league stadiums, Cal Ripken Jr. is using his power as an ex-Oriole for good. “One of the greatest reflections of Cal’s power is that the mere mention of his involvement in something uplifts its potential,” WJZ’s Marc Viviano says. “He’s one of those personalities you just trust and believe.”

And don’t count out:

• Linebacker Ray Lewis “ultimately has the most power to change our city over the next 20 years,” says WNST’s Aparicio, “with his brand, star, and transcendence.”
• Jay Davidson, the president of Baltimore Racing Development, leads the team that took the exciting gamble of bringing Grand Prix racing to Baltimore.
• Terrance Hasseltine, the director of the Maryland Office of Sports Marketing, was responsible for bringing the 2009 World Football Challenge to M&T Bank Stadium.
• The Sun’s Mike Preston is the most influential sports columnist in Baltimore. Many believe that Preston’s relentless criticism led to the firing of Ravens coach Brian Billick.

Health

If there is a single dominant field in the Greater Metropolitan area, it’s health care. These are the scions of the industry.

Robert Chrencik
Chrencik served as the financial officer at the University of Maryland Medical System for more than 20 years before being named UMMS president and CEO in 2008. He serves on the board of each of the 12 UMMS hospitals (which have 15,000 employees), and gets out of the office, too: He’s on the board of the Greater Baltimore Committee, The Center Club, and is a past president of the Maryland Chapter of the Health Care Financial Management Association.

Ronald R. Peterson
As president of The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, Peterson oversees Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Howard County General Hospital, Suburban Hospital, and Sibley Memorial Hospital, as well as The Johns Hopkins Hospital. How big a job is that? Hopkins hospital, consistently ranked America’s best, includes more than 2,200 beds, employs 22,000 people, treats more than 800,000 patients from all over the world, and brings in $1.3 billion in revenue (plus the value of $161 million in uncompensated care).

Robert Murray
Every spring, hospital administrators, doctors, and insurance companies around the state wait with bated breath to hear what Murray will say. As executive director of the Health Services Cost Review Commission, Murray leads a process that determines how much health care providers can charge for services. The Commission’s decisions directly affect virtually every doctor and patient in the state, and, in a state where health care is the largest industry, that makes Murray our local equivalent of Fed chairman Ben Bernanke.

And don’t count out:

• As president and CEO of Sinai Hospital and, after the 1998 merger with Northwest Hospital, of Lifebridge Health, Warren Green has been a leader in the world of community hospitals for 19 years, providing a perspective to balance the big university institutions downtown.
• Chester “Chet” Burrell is president and CEO of CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, the top medical insurer in the state. The company’s decisions—such as recent ones to include nurse practitioners in its network as primary care providers or to maintain child-only plans—have a huge impact.

Nightlife

Here are the forces behind everything that goes bump (and grind) in the night.

Heidi Klotzman
Klotzman owns special event firm HeidnSeek Entertainment, which specializes in event coordination, marketing, and runs an online entertainment guide with more than 30,000 subscribers. Beyond promoting parties at Red Maple and Milan, Klotzman advertises charity events and hosts networking functions. “She’s a promoter with a conscience,” says Sam Sessa, The Sun’s entertainment editor.

Cullen Stalin
Long before Baltimore’s nightlife scene was on the map, Cullen Stalin was drawing a crowd. He and Simon Phoenix are resident DJs of TaxLo, the city’s biggest dance party for nearly a decade (attracting such famous acts as M.I.A). Last year, he helped start “No Rule”—a hugely popular dance party at the Metro Gallery—that bridges the hipster and hip-hop scenes. Cullen has helped developed TaxLo into “one of the most powerful nightlife brands in the city,” says City Paper’s music editor Michael Byrne.

Bill Muehlhauser
As the owner of the Rams Head Group, Muehlhauser owns five spaces in Stevensville, Annapolis, and Baltimore—including Rams Head Live! and Pier Six. He was smart enough to partner with promoter Seth Hurwitz of I.M.P. to bring big-time national acts to Rams Head Live! (like the Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins), and is currently working with David Cordish to plan a new live music venue in the Arundel Mills slots parlor.

And don’t count out:

• Casey Hard, beer manager at Max’s Taphouse, helps organize beer festivals and built the bar into what it is today.
• Marc McFaul is growing a little bar empire with two Ropewalk Taverns (in Federal Hill and Bel Air), The Stalking Horse, and McFaul’s.
• Frank Remesch, general manager of 1st Mariner Arena, has brought huge names to Baltimore, like Bruce Springsteen and Jay-Z.

Dining

These restaurant royals are at the top of the Charm City food chain.

Tony Foreman and Cindy Wolf
The formidable restaurant team—Foreman’s a restaurant visionary; Wolf’s a world-class chef—came to the forefront of the city’s dining scene in 1995 and haven’t stopped since. The business partners have since formed the Foreman Wolf group to oversee their four restaurants: Charleston, Cinghiale, Petite Louis, and Pazo (they also have two wine stores). It’s no surprise that this duo is planning another business venture this year. Their empire grows.

Eddie Dopkin
Dopkin is probably best known for transforming a stretch of W. Cold Spring Lane into a mini restaurant row with Miss Shirley’s Cafe, S’ghetti Eddie’s, and Roland Park Bagel Co. (He also owned Loco Hombre and Alonso’s until selling them about a year ago.) His Crazy Man Restaurant Group now has another Miss Shirley’s at the Inner Harbor, and Dopkin is grooming his son David in the business. Dopkin is also exploring locations for one, possibly two, Miss Shirley’s in the next year.

Vasilios Keramidas
Keramidas, who heads up Kali’s Restaurant Group, has carved out a dining stronghold in Fells Point. The elegant Kali’s Court started the buzz, followed by Mezze, Meli American Bistro, and Tapas Adela. Now, he and his partners—Karen Patten, Eric Losin, and Theodore Losin—are gutting and renovating the old Admiral’s Cup Cafe.

Qayum and Pat Karzai
The Karzais, along with son Helmand, didn’t stop with their success at The Helmand, Baltimore’s go-to place for delicious, authentic Afghan food. The couple added Tapas Teatro and b bistro to their restaurant roster and are planning to open a tapas place at the reinvigorated Senator Theatre. They’re also eyeing the long-shuttered and once esteemed Chesapeake Restaurant on North Charles Street as a location for a seafood venue.

Patrick Russell
When Russell opened Kooper¹s Tavern in Fells Point, naming it after his yellow Lab, he had no idea he was embarking on a mini restaurant conglomerate. Now, he and his wife, Katie, operate Sláinte Irish Pub and Restaurant, Woody¹s Rum Bar and Island Grill, and Kooper¹s Chowhound Burger Wagon. Patrick Russell has also joined forces with Bill Irvin, the restaurants¹ director of operations, to form the Fells Point Hospitality Management group. So far, they have acquired Celie¹s Waterfront Inn in Fells Point and plan to open a wine bar in Fells Point and another restaurant in Baltimore County in the future. They also brought in a top-notch chef, Bill Crouse, to deliver the best possible cuisine at the current restaurants.

And don’t count out:

• Although the Food Network has announced that this will be Ace of Cake’s final season, they’re already looking to develop new shows for Duff Goldman, who has brought national attention to our fair city.
• Spike Gjerde‘s three-year-old Woodberry Kitchen has raised the bar for everyone else in the field.
• The Vitales—Aldo and Regina and sons Sergio and Alessandro—exert their influence at Aldo’s Ristorante Italiano in Little Italy by entertaining local bigwigs and hosting political fundraisers. The younger Vitales plan to open an upscale pizzeria in Harbor East.

Society

Two couples rule the gala scene with their philanthropy——and their rolodexes.

Eddie C. and C. Sylvia Brown
The generous Browns could neatly fit into several of the power categories on this list, but they most conspicuously wield their power in the social arena. They were feted at galas at MICA and The Reginald F. Lewis Museum and have been coveted guests and honorees at nearly every big society event in town, including the Arthritis Foundation and the Living Classrooms Foundation.
“They’re the most influential African American couple in the state of Maryland,” says talk show host Anthony McCarthy. “Everyone is knocking on their door. White, black, and in between.”
And when the Browns chair a party—or, even more often, are honored guests at one—the A-list of Baltimore is at their beck and call.
“They go to the right parties, they chair the right galas, they show up at the right dinner parties,” says McCarthy.
“They are the quintessential power couple,” agrees Del. Keiffer Mitchell Jr.
Says McCarthy: “Their legend continues to grow.”

Art and Pat Modell
The Modells are the 3 Rs: Rich, retired, and revered. In a relatively short period of time (by Baltimore standards at least), they have become significant patrons of both the arts and local charities.
“They have given so many wonderful philanthropic gifts to so many institutions around town,” says Sandy Richmond, the executive director of the newly renamed The Patricia and Arthur Modell Performing Arts Center at The Lyric. “There’s no way to say thanks.”
And when the Modells chair a party, “people show up,” says one high-ranking society observer.
“Art and Pat Modell do not take their commitments lightly,” says Lori D. Mulligan, director of development and marketing for Gilchrist Hospice Care. (The Modells recently chaired its
Holly Ball.) “Their name alone is associated with good judgment and impeccable taste.”

And don’t count out:

• Look out for David and Michel Modell. After chairing parties for Pam Shriver and MAP, the couple are clearly following in Art and Pat’s (gilded) footsteps.
• Rising stars Jennifer and George Reynolds recently chaired the Walters Gala and are big contributors to St. Joseph Medical Center. She’s also the next National Aquarium board chair. “They cut a wide swath among all sectors,” says one insider.
• Aris Melissaratos, the former DBED secretary (now at Hopkins), has become a serious player on the social scene, chairing galas for Cystic Fibrosis and the American Heart Association.

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The Power Vacuum

How Baltimore’s power has shifted—and why that may not be such a bad thing.

By Max Weiss

Once was, it was easy to identify the powerful people. They were the CEOs of local firms like Alex. Brown, the Maryland Jockey Club, and Mercantile Safe Deposit. They were the political apparatchiks of William Donald Schaefer and later, Kurt Schmoke. They were graduates of the big urban public schools—like City or Poly—or the big private ones, like Gilman, Boys’ Latin, and Calvert School.

But now, as more local headquarters are closing (or being bought out), and as the old guard is retiring (or dead), there’s a bit of confusion in this town.

Who’s running Baltimore?

John Willis, the former Secretary of State of Maryland under Parris Glendening, now the director of the government and public policy program at the University of Baltimore, puts it like this: “No one knows who to call anymore.”

The Irv Kovens of this world—he was famously the kingmaker behind Schaefer—are gone, as are likes of H. Furlong Baldwin (the former Mercantile chief), Joe DeFrancis (from the Maryland Jockey Club), and Buzzy Krongard (of Alex. Brown). And while H&S’s John Paterakis and Orioles owner/superlawyer Peter Angelos are still enormously powerful, they have become less hands-on with time.

“We’ve run out of the kind of people who used to sit on the board of the GBC [Greater Baltimore Committee],” says Aris Melissaratos, the former head of the Department of Business and Economic Development (DBED) and now an adviser to the president of Hopkins.

And while Larry Gibson, the political adviser who helped put Kurt Schmoke in office, still has some measure of power, he wasn’t able to mobilize the vote behind the candidate he most recently supported, Pat Jessamy. (She lost her city State’s Attorney seat to newcomer Gregg Bernstein, largely because voter turnout was historically low.)

“Large groups of people just aren’t being controlled like they used to,” says WEAA talk show host Anthony McCarthy, the former spokesperson for Mayor Sheila Dixon. “It used to be easier to turn out voters.”

And that’s at least partly because of the waning influence of The Baltimore Sun.

“The media market is fractured,” notes Willis. “Makes it that much more difficult to reach large numbers of people.”

Of course, there are people who have power—the mayor, the governor, the county executives—just by virtue of their postions. But elected power isn’t the same as personal power. And everyone agrees that the personal power in this town has become splintered. But here’s the rub: Most feel that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

“There’s been a generational shift,” says Del. Keiffer Mitchell Jr., who himself hails from a long-serving political family. “Power these days can be influenced by the number of friends you have on Facebook.”

Adds Kathy Sher, the deputy director for external affairs at the National Aquarium, “It feels like the thirtysomething and fortysomethings have as much cachet as the old guard. And that seems like a very healthy and positive dynamic.”

As for the notion that you had to have been born and raised in this town to rise to power? Not necessarily true, our observers say, but Baltimoreans are still wary of outsiders.

“You can’t just fly in and have a Tea Party member [as CEO] and expect it to work,” chuckles Willis. “There has to be a certain amount of awareness.”

“You have to get involved with your community,” adds Mitchell. He points to Atwood “Woody” Collins, the high-ranking M&T Bank exec, who has become a local leader. “He doesn’t drive around in a limo. He walks to M&T. People like that.”

Worshipping at the right churches is still a factor, as is knowing the right opinion makers, what Mitchell calls the “chattering class.” But Melissaratos points out that even those folks are less easy to identify. “Who’s calling the shots right now?” he muses.

All agree that the best part of this power shortage is that it gives an opportunity for new leadership to emerge in rising populations, like the Latino community, the green community, and both the new technology and health care sectors. And power is also materializing from increasingly diverse pockets (which is why we broke up our larger feature into categories).

“Now it seems like there are different segments of power and they’re all very unique,” says Kathy Sher. “And they reflect the business and social complexities that are going on in Baltimore.”

For now, we have shifted from what Willis calls an “elite” power structure to a “pluralistic” one. But he’s not sure it’s going to last.

“Politics abhors a vacuum,” he says. “The question is, who’s going to emerge?”

When police arrived at the Fell Street apartment building early in the morning on October 1, they found Shawntia Hardaway sitting on a chair in the opulent lobby, sobbing.

According to a police report, Hardaway was extremely upset that her son, Mario Dewar Barrett, had destroyed things in the apartment the two shared. She was in pain and discomfort, Hardaway told police, because Barrett had shoved her in the chest, using his hands and forearms. Just three days earlier, Hardaway claimed, she struck her head after Barrett pushed her into a wall. She could still feel the pain.

Within minutes, Barrett—the pop-R&B singer and actor, one of Billboard’s “Artists of the Decade” for the 2000s, known to fans simply as “Mario”—was arrested, charged, and headed for a long night in Baltimore’s Central Booking and Intake Center, accused of assaulting his own mother.

Fans interviewed on local television news shows expressed shock and astonishment. Some wondered if the young megastar could really be guilty of attacking his mother. Those who have known Barrett the longest were among the most incredulous.

“I was very sad and hurt to hear the news reports because I knew they couldn’t be accurate,” said Thaddeus L. Price Jr., the choir director at Baltimore County’s Milford Mill Academy High School, where Mario was a standout singer. “I felt bad for him and for what I knew he would have to experience because of this negative press.”

On November 3, Mario appeared with his lawyers at the Eastside District Court Building in the 1400 block of E. North Avenue and took the stand. Within minutes, the charges against him disappeared.

“Shawntia Hardaway, the state’s only witness and the defendant’s mother, recanted,” said Joseph Sviatko, a spokesman for the Baltimore State’s Attorney’s Office. “She stated that she was severely under the influence of drugs and alcohol when she called the police, and Mario Barrett never placed his hands on her.”

Thus ended the latest chapter in a mother-son relationship that the singer describes, perhaps with considerable understatement, as “strained.”

“I would never assault my mother or any other woman,” Mario says, weeks after the incident. “I wasn’t raised that way. To be falsely accused of something by my own mother is a devastating blow.”

Throughout Mario’s life, his mother has struggled with addiction, and he was alternately raised by her and his maternal grandmother, Alternease Hardaway. Still, Hardaway always took Mario’s musical ambitions seriously, buying him a karaoke machine at a young age and later trotting him around town to talent shows.

In 2007, after the release of his third album, Go, Mario appeared in an MTV special, I Won’t Love You to Death: The Story of Mario and His Mom, which detailed the singer’s attempts to help Hardaway recover from her addictions. Several months after the show aired, Mario dedicated a song, “Do Right,” to her. “Through you I discovered,” he sang, “there’s only one way to go through life and that’s, ‘Be right.'”

A year later, he co-founded The Mario Do Right Foundation, an organization committed to helping children whose parents are addicted to drugs and alcohol.

But on the night of October 1, Hardaway apparently fell off the wagon, sparking the confrontation that led to Mario’s arrest. The mug shots made national news and dinged the singer’s good-guy reputation. But more important to Mario, it threatened to forever ruin his lifelong bond with his mom.

Mario was born August 27, 1986, to Hardaway and Derryl Barrett Sr., a singer in a gospel group called Reformation. Mario’s half-brother Derryl “D.J.” Barrett Jr., a professional drummer, says he and Mario learned early on that they inherited musical gifts from their father, who wasn’t otherwise very involved in their lives.

“I started playing drums when I was 3,” says D.J. “Mario started singing at about the same age.”

When Mario was 4, his mother heard someone singing and thought it was a song on the radio. She entered the room and found her son crooning. She entered him in talent shows after that, and Mario also started singing in churches, barber shops, and just about anywhere else. D.J. recalls adolescent jam sessions, where he would play the drums and Mario used a light bulb as a microphone.

When Mario was a toddler, his mother was in a serious car accident and fractured her neck. She was given morphine to treat severe pain. After she recovered, she became addicted to heroin, a fact the young boy only vaguely understood.

“My mother has had a substance abuse problem as far back as I can remember,” says Mario, who has hazy memories of seeing his mother shooting up when he was about 5 years old. “As a child, I always knew something was wrong, but I wasn’t sure what it was until I got older and could understand.”

As a result of his troubled home life, Mario couldn’t focus on school. “I really struggled,” he recalls. “That was when I actually looked at music as a way to escape.”

When Mario was 11, his mother took him to audition for a talent show held in Coppin State University’s James Weldon Johnson Auditorium. Wearing blue jeans, a brown shirt and Timberland boots, Mario stepped onto the stage of the packed room, facing off against mostly older competitors.

Despite his age, the budding crooner tackled Boyz II Men’s bedroom ballad, “I’ll Make Love To You,” filling the room with his booming tenor. The audience—along with the five judges—were blown away. Mario won.

Troy Patterson, owner and chief executive officer of the Third Street Music Group production in Teaneck, NJ, who was in attendance, was impressed. After the show, Patterson introduced himself to the winner and his mother.

“You are one of the most talented young people I’ve ever seen,” Patterson told Barrett. “Would you like to meet Dru Hill?”

Barrett just laughed, perhaps not realizing that in just a few years, he would outpace the renowned Baltimore singing group in record sales. Hardaway would ultimately sign a contract with Patterson on behalf of her son, helping to get his singing career off the ground, but it would be several years before Mario hit it big.

In the meantime, the aspiring singer attended Milford Mill Academy, where, as a freshman in 2000, he was a founding member of the Concert Chorale.

“Mario was always a very talented young man and a truly gifted singer,” says Price, who is still chair of the Fine Arts program at Milford Mill. “I told Mario that if he remained focused and remembered what I call ‘the three Ds,’ he would be a star one day.”

Price’s three Ds are discipline, determination, and dedication. As Price recollects, Barrett readily applied the three Ds to his favorite subject, music—but not so much to his other subjects.

“Mario loved his music class,” Price recalls. “When it came to his other classes, let’s just say he wasn’t as focused. He would often get put out of classes and his teachers would send him to my class. He was your typical high school boy: a class clown one second and a shining star the next. But coming to choir class was his passion.”

Price recalls a day when he lectured Mario about his academic performance—a scene eerily like one Mario would portray years later in 2007’s Freedom Writers, opposite Oscar-winner Hilary Swank.

“There is a powerful scene in the movie where Mario’s teacher takes him into the hallway for a tough one-on-one talk,” Price said. “This scene was very real because it happened. Mario was getting into trouble in some of his classes. He was losing focus; his grades were slipping; he was being pressured by the wrong crowd to do the wrong things. I yanked him into my office and gave him a very, very tough-love, heart-to-heart talk, one that ended in tears. From that day forward, I saw a tremendous change in him, and, shortly thereafter, things began to take off with his career. When I saw the film, it freaked me out a bit.”

As he got older, Mario began to understand his mother’s addiction. In 1999, when the future star was 13, his grandmother died, and he went to live with Hardaway full time.

“I began to see things lying around the house that probably shouldn’t have been there,” he recalls. “At some point, we had a conversation about her problem. I still didn’t understand the situation well, and all I wanted was my mother back like all the other kids in the neighborhood.”

In 2001, while Mario was still a freshman at Milford Mill, Hardaway agreed to let Troy Patterson be his legal guardian. Patterson had the aspiring singer move in with him in Teaneck, New Jersey, and began working on a demo. At the age of 14, Mario was signed to J Records, the label founded by music legend Clive Davis and home to Alicia Keys.

Mario’s first single was “Tameeka,” a collaboration with the rapper Fabolous for the Dr. Dolittle 2 soundtrack. A year later, Mario, who cites Stevie Wonder and Marvin Gaye as his primary inspirations, upped his profile when he sang a killer rendition of Wonder’s classic “You and I” before an audience of music industry bigwigs—including Wonder himself—at Davis’s annual Grammy party.

In 2002, he released his first official single, “Just a Friend,” which quickly climbed to number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The video for the song, which featured Mario in a Ravens jersey, dancing in the Senator Theatre, became an MTV staple. Later that year, the singer released his first full album, Mario, which sold over a million copies worldwide.

Even then, as Mario was fast becoming a global celebrity, he displayed a somewhat uncommon loyalty to his mother and yearned to find the normal family life he never had. In a 2003 Baltimore Sun profile, Mario, then 16, said, “The goal is definitely to be at the point where I can buy my mom a house and me and my mom can have our own crib.”

Mario’s star got even brighter in 2004, with his second album, Turning Point. The single “Let Me Love You” hit number one on the Hot 100 and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks, becoming one of the year’s biggest singles. The album sold over 2 million copies. Suddenly, Mario was a bona fide star, headlining national tours, performing on talk shows, and appearing both in tabloids and pinup posters.

By 2006, the singer’s relationship with Patterson had soured. In February of that year, Mario sued Patterson to void what the singer called an “oppressive contract,” alleging that he’d received only $50,000 for the three million-plus sales of his records. Patterson countersued, charging Mario with a breach of contract. The suit was settled in 2007, with the stipulation that the terms would be confidential. In the aftermath, Mario signed with a new manager, J. Erving, who had once managed P. Diddy.

Throughout 2006 and much of 2007, the singer’s follow-up to Turning Point was delayed, something he attributed to record label disputes. In the meantime, the star launched an acting career, debuting in the Baltimore-set teen dance movie Step Up and following up that performance with one in the more serious-minded Freedom Writers.

In December 2007, Mario finally released Go, intended to be a more mature album, which the singer dedicated to his mother. It peaked at number 21 on the charts. A few months after the release, Mario appeared on season six of Dancing With the Stars, making it to week nine and finishing in fifth place overall.

At this point, Mario had achieved his goal of buying a house for he and his mom to live in together—a condo in Fells Point. Mario was spending a lot of time on the road but, as documented in the MTV special, he was paying for his mother to live a lavish lifestyle, spending thousands of dollars on shopping sprees. And, though he tried to ignore it, Mario knew she was still using heroin. He blamed himself for enabling her.

“I think a lot of it is my fault because I haven’t said ‘You gotta leave’ or ‘Give me the keys,'” he said in the documentary. “When I’m away, I put it all out of my mind.”

As documented on the show, Mario coordinated with his mother’s boyfriend and best friend to stage an intervention and convince her to go to a treatment facility in Los Angeles. “I have to be a son to my mom,” he said. “I need to make sure she’s okay.”

Several months later, when he released the single “Do Right” from Go, he dedicated the video to her, and, at the end, congratulated her on three months of sobriety. In addition, Mario founded the Mario Do Right Foundation (MDRF), dedicated to helping children whose parents are addicted to drugs or alcohol.

“I was inspired to found the Do Right Foundation by the pain I endured growing up and watching my mother battle the disease of addiction,” he says. “I want to support other children who are going through the same situations with their parents or family members. I had this vision of helping all children so they won’t have to fight this battle alone, because it can be overwhelming for a child.”

Mario named childhood friend Kevin Shird, who witnessed what Hardaway’s family endured, executive director of the MDRF.

“The last thing Mario wanted was another celebrity foundation that didn’t have any teeth,” Shird said. “He didn’t want to show up once a year to take pictures with the kids and leave. He wanted more than that, and so did I.”

Shird set up meetings with experts from Johns Hopkins Center for Learning and Health and the University of Maryland to talk about developing “real programs for children with real proven results” and signed up powerful locals, including developer Pat Turner, to serve on the Board of Directors.

One of MDRF’s core programs involves placing mental health professionals in schools to help identify, counsel and support children adversely impacted by their parents’ addiction to drugs and/or alcohol. They’ve implemented a pilot program at Westport Academy, a public elementary-middle school located in the tough, working-class South Baltimore neighborhood of the same name.

“The kids there have been really great, and the principal, Mrs. [Felecia] Irick has been very supportive,” says Mario, who makes regular trips to the school to speak to students and give away prizes.

Pat Turner, who is involved in some of the most high-profile development projects in Baltimore, including the Silo Point condos on Locust Point, said he had “absolutely no” reservations about continuing to be involved in the Do Right Foundation, even after Mario’s arrest. “I know Mario well, and I know he wouldn’t do a thing like that,” says Turner. “Mario’s a good guy.”

In October of last year, Mario released a fourth album, D.N.A., which debuted at number nine on the album charts. It included the single “Break Up,” which hit number fourteen on the Hot 100, his biggest hit since “Let Me Love You.”

Unfortunately for the singer, his arrest in October of last year—which was covered extensively by Internet gossip site TMZ—got more attention than his music has in years. Mario says the experience has been among the lowest points in his life. “I’ve been in the music business for 10 years and I’ve prided myself on the fact that I’ve never been in any trouble before now,” says Mario, who continues to deny laying a hand on his mother. “I feel like I let some of my fans down.”

But the singer is determined to recover from the incident—and to help his mother recover, too.

“This is my mother, and this will always be my mother,” says Mario, adding that he and Hardaway are speaking regularly, but no longer living together. “I’m not at all happy with what happened, but I have to move on.”

To that end, the singer is working on a new album, which he has said will have a more European, club-oriented sound. He says the bitterness over the arrest and negative publicity will fade in time.

“Imagine being accused of something you didn’t do like this—it’s a hard pill to swallow,” he says. “But over time, I think it will work itself out. It won’t be overnight. It’ll probably be a long process.”

It’s been 20 years since William Burroughs dubbed John Waters “the Pope of Trash.” And it wasn’t long before it spawned other similarly spirited, press-ready titles: “the Sultan of Sleaze,” “the Prince of Puke,” and “the Duke of Dirt” among them. They were certainly well deserved, as anyone who’s seen Pink Flamingoscan attest, but those oft-repeated phrases no longer seem applicable. If they do, you haven’t been paying close attention to Waters’s career.

Waters has become something of a ubiquitous—and welcome—presence on the cultural landscape. On any given day, he might be speaking at Oxford, exhibiting his artwork at The Andy Warhol Museum, kibitzing with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, starring in his own TV series, releasing a CD, taking the Tony Awards by storm, writing a piece for The New York Times book review, or recording a DVD commentary for The Little Mermaid. He may even be working on a new film project of his own.

“I’ve always wanted to sell out,” Waters wrote in his 1986 book Crackpot, “but no one wanted to buy me.”

That’s no longer true, as Waters has reinvented himself and diversified in ways that broadened his mainstream appeal and won him new fans in niche markets other than indie cinema. As Middle America sings along to Hairspray, the Musical, the contemporary art world embraces Waters as a fine artist. As a result, the trashy sobriquets no longer fit and come across as simplistic, even quaint.

Waters has turned himself into something much more sophisticated and engaging.

And Baltimore’s bad seed has morphed into a bankable brand name around the world.

How did that happen? And what future business prospects does Waters have in mind? Getting into opera, or opening a reform school, perhaps? Don’t laugh. Stranger things have already happened.

Doesn’t it feel fabulous to be home again?

—Divine, Flamingos Forever screenplay

Waters works in the upstairs office of his North Baltimore home. Books are everywhere—mostly art and culture, fiction, true crime, and biographies—on shelves and stacked in neat piles. A magazine rack in the corner holds many of the 160 publications he receives in the mail: Entertainment Weekly, Variety, Jet, Cooking Light, Metropolitan Home, Artforum, Butt, and a host of others.

Items from Waters’s extensive collection of fake food have been placed discreetly around the room. On a low shelf, for instance, a dish of plastic chocolates sits beside a framed photo of Edith Massey, the actress who won cult fame appearing in Waters’s early movies.

A corkboard displays an assortment of eye-catching ephemera and photos. Amidst snapshots of Waters with various celebrities—including Leonardo DiCaprio, Björk, and Henry Kissinger—there’s an ID badge from the Cannes Film Festival, an autographed picture of Don Knotts, and a “BE EVIL” Believe-style bumper sticker.

Waters sits at a desk with a laptop computer, telephone, legal pads, pens and pencils, toothpick dispenser, adding machine, and a fake cup of coffee (complete with red plastic stirrer). Dressed in a black-and-white striped pullover shirt and gray pants, Waters looks like a stylish convict. Known for being fashion-forward, he has a penchant for striped socks, flashy footwear, and sports jackets that are, as he says, “ripped, but ripped well, by Japanese designers.”

Although Waters keeps an apartment in Greenwich Village and practically lives in airports, Baltimore remains the center of his universe, which he makes instantly clear. “This is my main place,” he says, tucking one leg under the other. “It’s certainly my home. Whenever I have to think of an idea, I come here.”

Up at 6:15 each morning, he gets an early start. “In the morning, I write or think up something every day—from eight o’clock to noon,” he says. “I sell it in the afternoon.”

A productive day might also include learning lines for a guest spot on a TV show, doing press interviews, preparing for a lecture, and fielding numerous phone calls. “I have business appointments just like everyone else,” he says.

Waters will be the first person to tell you that, for years, he’s been “selling Baltimore.” In fact, there are few artists more closely associated with a single locale, and Waters’s relationship to his hometown invites highfalutin comparisons to Faulkner’s Mississippi or Dickens’s London. And no film director has endorsed or validated a city as Waters has with Baltimore. Even Woody Allen eventually made films outside New York, though that city, like London, hardly lacked for artistic validation.

That’s why the Faulkner comparison may be most apt. Like Mississippi, Baltimore is considered something of a cultural backwater that mostly gets ignored by tastemakers and trendsetters. So when Waters descends on a neighborhood like Highlandtown and points his camera at the Formstone façades and beehive hairdos and captures the local dialect, it comes across as exotic in other parts of the country. And as the nation becomes increasingly homogenized, such hyper-regionalism (especially in Waters’s early films) seems all the more distinctive and real.

Critic Gary Indiana has written that “[Waters’s depiction of Baltimore] may now be more authentic than the ‘big’ cultures of New York or Los Angeles, where fewer and fewer genuine local identities survive the many cycles of gentrification.”

When Waters took an A&E film crew to one of his favorite blocks in Hampden a few years ago, one of the locals came out of his house dressed in leopard print pajamas to see what the fuss was about. Because the guy looked like he’d stepped out of Pat Moran’s casting office and was, as Waters recalls, “playing with himself the whole time,” the crew thought the director had put him up to it. He hadn’t. “It was so amazing,” says Waters. “It showed that you can come to Baltimore and see that my films are really true—they’re part documentary of how I see Baltimore.” But the city is changing. “The Baltimore I make films about is vanishing,” says Waters. “But that’s not so surprising.”

The recent demise of a favorite movie theater is a case in point. “I’m really upset The Earle [an adult theater on Belair Road] closed,” he says, with a sly smile. “All this stuff about The Senator possibly closing—how come nobody was out there when The Earle closed? I was out of town when it happened, but I went and took pictures of it. It’s a church already.

“And I saw what went on there—talk about sacraments. I saw a lot of things turned into a lot of things in there.”

He shakes his head. Other favorites are gone, as well: the Wee Wee Hours, an after hours bar in Fells Point; Hutzler’s department store, downtown; The Atlantis, a male strip club near Central Booking; Cap’n Jack’s, a thrift shop at Charles Street and North Avenue; the Timonium Drive-In, and numerous others.

Still, he doesn’t seem particularly resentful of the changes and development around town. “What is called the Yuppification of Baltimore is good for the city,” he says. “Otherwise, it would just be empty. I’m not against any of that, but fancy Baltimore offends me a little bit. Pretentious Baltimore really gets on my nerves. I think, ‘Oh, please.’ Hipster Baltimore, I’m all for. I think Hampden is becoming what Fells Point should have become. There’s still an uneasy mix there.

“But I love that people in Baltimore have a sense of humor about the city, and they don’t want to leave. They don’t understand why anyone would leave. That is heartwarming to me. I’m not saying it has to stay poor, or it has to stay redneck, but it has to have a sense of humor about itself to be appealing to me.”

But if Waters’s Baltimore is fading, he has no intention of vanishing along with it. While remaining fiercely loyal to his hometown, he’s been branching out into other careers that are less about Baltimore and more about an ever-evolving artistic persona.

It is a very minor cult right now, but one that is growing and growing.

—Divine, Pink Flamingos

This summer, Waters seems to be popping up everywhere. His Court TV series, Til Death Do Us Part, continues with new episodes; the film of his stand-up show, This Filthy World, comes out on DVD this month; “John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You,” a series he put together for here!, a gay and lesbian cable channel, will be rebroadcast throughout the summer; and “Eliminate,” an art show he curated for Provincetown’s Albert Merola Gallery opens June 15.

“John never stops creating,” says Christine Vachon, the producer of Waters’s latest film, A Dirty Shame. “He goes where the ideas are, and what he does doesn’t feel false or opportunistic in any way.”

“He is a real student of culture,” notes Marianne Boesky, who shows Waters’s artwork at her New York gallery. “Because of that, he’s able to communicate with many different kinds of people.”

“John is always doing something different,” says publicist Steven Trachtenbroit, who worked on the promotion of last winter’s A Date With John Waters CD. “Plus, he really likes his work and that shows in everything he does.”

Waters will also be in the new Hairspray movie—based on the musical inspired by his 1988 film—that opens nationwide next month. Although Waters didn’t direct the new film—which was shot in Toronto instead of Baltimore and stars John Travolta and Queen Latifah—he makes a cameo as “the flasher.”

“It was weird going to Canada and seeing a $75 million version of my movie,” says Waters, who spent just $2.7 million making the original film. “It was weird seeing Highlandtown built in Canada. Seeing the fake Baltimore always makes me laugh. It looks like Essex, in a way. And that’s all right, because Essex and Highlandtown are the same world. It looked pretty good to me.”

Advance screenings have already created a buzz, making Hairspray one of the most anticipated movies of the summer. “Everyone in Hollywood is talking about it right now,” says Vachon, who is currently shopping Waters’s next project, which the director describes as “a terribly wonderful children’s Christmas adventure called Fruitcake.”

“We don’t have the money yet, but we’re working on it,” says Waters. “The budget is $7-9 million, which is a lot for an independent film. But if the new Hairspray is a hit—who knows—maybe we’ll get this new movie financed easier. Not everything goes smoothly, and luckily, I have a lot of other things I do.”

From experience, he knows the value of having a second (or third) job. In the early 1980’s, Waters’s film career was stalled. He was hoping to make a sequel to Pink Flamingos, called Flamingos Forever, and wasn’t getting any takers. In fact, between 1981 and 1988, he didn’t make a movie.

“So I tried to use what I had,” he says. “I turned myself into a marketable product, and then I had fun with it, and it became a business.”

Waters stepped from behind the camera and presented a fuller, more nuanced version of himself to the world. He wasn’t selling a twisted vision of Baltimore so much as he was selling himself as a humorist and pop culture personality. At a time when he was unable to make a film, he actually widened his audience by expanding into other fields.

He’d been doing a stand-up act at colleges across the country, but its reach was somewhat limited. “So I wrote books,” says Waters, noting that the two volumes he produced during this period, Crackpot and Shock Value, have never gone out of print. “I also worked as a journalist when I couldn’t get the movies made. In fact, I still have my Rolling Stone press card.”

He wrote for a variety of publications about subjects that both expanded and deepened the public’s perception of him. He gave a personalized tour of Los Angeles to Rolling Stone readers, named 101 things he hated (the list included Amish people, apples, and The Hobbit) in National Lampoon, advised Newsweek readers on how to be juvenile delinquents, profiled Pia Zadora for American Film, and professed his love for “The Buddy Deane Show” in Baltimore.

These pieces were bundled with a few previously unpublished essays in Crackpot, which earned rave reviews for its author: “a very funny commentator” (Playboy), “a uniquely observant humorist” (Chicago Tribune), and “a cross between Evelyn Waugh and Miss Manners” (Los Angeles Times).

Shock Value, an offbeat memoir, was similarly lauded. Like the essays, it had a distinct edge—one chapter was titled “Why I Love Violence”—but its overall tone was affable, its wit droll, and Waters came across as immensely likeable. Writer Fran Lebowitz, like many others, was impressed and found the book “funny, informative, and suffused with boyish charm.”

A new John Waters was emerging, one that could simultaneously appeal to cult film buffs and play well on David Letterman.

Boise, Idaho, here we come!

—Divine, Pink Flamingos

When Waters finally got financing for his next film, it wasn’t for a Pink Flamingos sequel or some other midnight-movie fare. The only time he attempted to repeat himself, he was stymied, and the project never got off the ground. So he refined and reinvented himself again, and the next movie was “shocking” in an entirely different way—it was a family film, with a PG rating.

“When I wrote Hairspray, I certainly never thought I was trying to be mainstream,” recalls Waters. “It just happened accidentally.”

Hairspray was both a departure and a surprise hit, though it was hardly a blockbuster by Hollywood standards. About a perky and plump teenager pining for integration in the early-1960’s, it grossed close to $10 million (says Variety), launched Ricki Lake’s career, and showcased Divine as an actor with legitimate commercial appeal. It was subversive enough that it didn’t completely alienate Waters’s core audience, but it was commercial enough to play at the local mall.

The ascendance of indie film didn’t hurt, either. With directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley, and Gus Van Sant citing Waters as an inspiration, the one-time Pope became something of a patron saint.

A more lenient culture and the proliferation of cable TV and video rentals also conspired to make Waters more palatable and accessible in the long term. Early in his career, Waters focused on celebrity worship, sexuality, and sleaze, topics that eventually migrated from the tabloids to the mainstream media. Waters, and his trademark pencil-thin mustache went with them.

“So many kids tell me, ‘My parents showed me your movies,'” he says. “It’s the exact opposite of when I was younger when parents called the police about my movies. Times have really changed, but I don’t know if I’ve changed all that much. I’ve had to change to keep going, but if you look at my last film, A Dirty Shame, it’s not that astoundingly different from the early films.

“Pink Flamingos was shown recently on the Sundance Channel, uncut. I don’t even know how that could be. Someone called and wanted to know if they could blur the blowjob scene. I said, ‘Yes, fine. You can do that.’ They didn’t! They forgot or something, and it was shown uncut.

“I look in the cable guide and sometimes five or six of my movies are playing on TV that month. That’s amazing to me. Female Trouble plays on the Independent Film Channel all the time. That surprises me. Pecker regularly plays on television and actually found its audience through TV. Serial Mom has played on Lifetime on Mother’s Day.”

Flipping through the cable stations, viewers might also catch Waters appearing in films such as Jonathan Demme’s Something Wild or Woody Allen’s Sweet and Lowdown, or maybe on a rerun of The Simpsons.

Waters appeared in a 1997 Simpsons episode, “Homer’s Phobia,” as John, the owner of a pop culture memorabilia shop. In the episode, Homer learns something about John that changes his perception of the shop owner.

Homer: That John is the greatest guy in the world. We’ve gotta have him and his wife over for drinks sometime.
Marge: Hmm, I don’t think he’s married, Homer.
Homer: Oh, a swinging bachelor, eh? Well, there’s lots of foxy ladies out there.
Marge: Homer, didn’t John seem a little . . . festive to you?
Homer: Couldn’t agree more, happy as a clam.
Marge: He prefers the company of men.
Homer: Who doesn’t?
Marge: Homer, listen carefully. John is a ho . . . mo . . .
Homer: Right
Marge: . . . sexual.
Homer: AAAAHHHHH!

Homer then fears that John might be influencing his son. He asks Bart, “He didn’t give you gay, did he?” To counter any such influence, he takes Bart to a steel mill—where all the steel workers turn out to be gay.

Such unabashed, over-the-top discussions and depictions of sexuality could have been straight out of a Waters film. In the not-so-distant past, they would have been midnight movie material, but here it was on prime time TV. The episode even won an Emmy Award.

“More people have seen that than all my movies put together,” says Waters. “And there are people who only know me from seeing me on The Simpsons.”

Waters later landed in an even more unlikely venue, Broadway, with similar, award-winning results. The musical version of Hairspray, with Waters on-board as a consultant, opened at the Neil Simon Theatre in August 2002 and quickly became a favorite of audiences and critics alike. It won eight Tony Awards, seven Drama Desk Awards, and a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for “Best Musical.” It also won a Grammy Award for “Best Musical Show Album.”

A touring version of the show has been criss-crossing the country, taking Waters’s brand of subversive humor and offbeat worldview deep into the Heartland.

Last month, it even played for two nights at the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts in Boise, Idaho.

Is that all you want, money?

—Divine, Flamingos Forever screenplay

Hairspray, the Musical provides Waters with what he jokingly refers to as “the only passive income I’ve ever received. I’ve been very nicely paid for that.”

Otherwise, he says, “Everything in my career has been incredibly gradual. Nothing has happened overnight. I never made that much money on the early movies. And with both Female Trouble and Pink Flamingos, there were music rights issues. When they were re-released, fees had to be paid for all the music. For Pink Flamingos, it was approximately $500,000, so I doubt I’ll ever see another penny from that movie—but at least it can be released.

“I wasn’t able to buy a house until I made Cry-Baby, which is a Hollywood movie. On the Hollywood movies, I make a good salary, but I never see anything after that. I get residuals from the writers and directors guilds, but you can’t live on that. Basically, the early films paid my rent, and the Hollywood films allowed me to buy my house. And I paid a mortgage just like everybody else.”

He politely demurs when asked about income figures. “That’s between me and the IRS,” he says, “but I’ve made less from the movies than you probably think. Still, I’m not complaining.”

But Waters doesn’t hesitate to say what he spends his money on: books and contemporary art. A quick tour of the house confirms this. In just about every room, books are stacked in neat piles and lined on shelves. Many of them, especially in the living room, are art books—coffee table books on the work of Larry Clark, Andy Warhol, Richard Prince, Carl Andre, Cy Twombly, and many others. Original art by Fischli/Weiss, Mike Kelley, Roy Lichtenstein, Christopher Wool, and Peter Hujar are hung in the living room.

Much of the art is provocative. “The art I like best makes me mad first,” says Waters. “All contemporary art should make you mad. Otherwise, what’s the point? I like things that are original, and original is usually never easy to like. It’s not about decoration. It’s not about pretty. Most people should hate contemporary art. It hates you.”

He points out a small Jess von der Ahe painting in the hallway. An abstract piece comprised mostly of gold and red flecked spirals and circles, it would hardly seem to qualify as outrageous—that is, until you learn that the artist paints with her own menstrual blood.

In the office upstairs, there’s a small jewelry box holding three clear capsules filled with gold filings. It’s a conceptual piece by O. Tobias Wong. Waters explains: “You’re supposed to take the pills, and your turds will have glitter in them—they’ll be sparkling. I love it. I think of it as being for the really rich.”

When asked if you’re supposed to photograph the results as documentation, Waters shakes his head. “No, I think it’s more of a private moment,” he says. “The artist told me that most people who take the pills actually forget to look. Talk about disposable income! Ah, the sins of capitalism.”

The most shocking piece in the house is hidden away, where most folks will never see it. In the third floor guest room, he swings open the door to what looks like a walk-in closet. Inside, it looks like a mad bomber’s lair; it’s actually an installation by Gregory Green. “It’s the only piece the artist has ever done in a private home in the United States,” Waters notes, obviously pleased with the results. “It took him a week to do it. Isn’t it great?”

I think if I concentrated, I might be able to work up some sort of minor miracle.

—Divine, Flamingos Forever screenplay

Waters’s passion for contemporary art extends beyond collecting. In fact, for the past ten years, he’s been creating and exhibiting fine art of his own and circulating in the upper echelon of that world. None of his own work hangs in his house.

But Waters’s art has been shown in galleries throughout the U.S.—including the C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore—and across Europe. Much of his work is comprised of film stills he creates by photographing images off a TV screen, though he also does collage, sculpture, and mixed-media installations.

A one-man show, “Change of Life,” opened at New York’s New Museum of Contemporary Art in 2004 and traveled to the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the Orange County Museum of Art in California, and Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland. The Village Voicecalled it “the work of a true American original.”

One of his pieces—a print he designed at Baltimore’s Globe Poster—even made the cover of Artforummagazine.

According to Marianne Boesky, his limited edition prints sell for $3,500, while one-of-a-kind pieces fetch as much as $35,000. “We’ve had great success with John,” says Boesky. “He has a cult following of people who are fans of his film work, but, more impressively, he has a strong collector following as a conceptual artist. He is not just a famous filmmaker trying to make art, because, as he knows, his celebrity won’t get him anything in the art world.”

Boesky and Waters both credit his previous dealer, Colin DeLand, with helping him overcome that celebrity. When in New York, it’s not uncommon for Waters to visit dozens of art galleries in a single day. Back in the 1990’s, DeLand’s American Fine Arts gallery in SoHo was a particular favorite, and during one visit, DeLand, who was highly regarded in contemporary art circles for his discerning taste, asked Waters if he created artwork of his own. As it turned out, Waters had been doing the photo work—or “little movies,” as he calls them—and had a body of work finished.

Not long after, DeLand became Waters’s dealer. “Colin was so respected as being the real thing as an art dealer,” says Waters, “that he neutralized most of those fears that I was a celebrity coming into the art world, because that is the worst possible thing you can be. That’s why I’ve kept my art career completely separate. It’s been very important for me to do that.”

When he wants to work on art, Waters gets in his gray Buick LeSabre and drives to an art studio he keeps in Hampden. Housed in a nondescript brick building off the beaten path, it’s a tidy, sprawling space with wall-to-wall carpeting, a few Persian rugs, long wooden tables on which he can work, and eye-catching items scattered around the room—including stacks of Nest and Parkett magazines, a Girls of Dundalk calendar, a box of Farrah Fawcett doll heads, the “Gertie” painting (which was pictured in Shock Value), a photo of James Brown, and a Campbell’s soup can print.

Waters has just started working on a Fall 2008 show at the Boesky Gallery. “I just started making a list of ideas for it,” he says. “It really does take that long to get together a whole new show.”

Far from being daunted, he seems strangely unencumbered by the whole thing. It might be tempting to chalk it up to the fact that he’s just cool, but it’s obviously more than that. There’s something peculiarly liberating about his art career. “It’s a relief to not have to pretend that I’m appealing to everybody,” notes Waters. “In the movie business, you have to do that no matter what. When you go to sell a movie, you basically say it’s going to cross over and everyone’s going to love it. In the art world, you can be subtle, impenetrable, and harder to get—that’s actually considered a good thing.

“Art isn’t for everybody, whereas when you do a movie you’re trying to get everybody to buy a ticket. In the art world, you aren’t trying to get everybody to buy a ticket. As a matter of fact, if everyone bought a ticket, it would be terrible.”

In my maturity, in my autumn years, if you will, I have decided to . . . live like all world leaders: financially secure, surrounded by zombie worship, and bathed in the constant glare of publicity.

—Divine, Flamingos Forever screenplay

At 61, Waters shows no signs of slowing down. “I don’t feel that different than 30,” he says.

And he’s hardly lacking for future projects. Cry-Baby follows Hairspray to Broadway next year, and Pink Flamingos is being optioned as an opera. Waters mentions possibly writing a follow-up to Shock Value, or putting together another themed CD collection like the Christmas and Valentine’s Day compilations he’s already done. He could organize his papers, which are housed at Wesleyan University’s Cinema Archive (along with the archives of Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini, and Frank Capra). And there’s the new film, of course.

This summer, he also plans to write an entirely new stand-up show. “If I do, I can take it to the colleges, and I’ve visited hundreds of them,” he says. “But do I really want to visit all those colleges again? But that’s the thing—I can always do it. I have contingency plans. If I have the new act ready, I can do that, which is nice to know.

“Or maybe I’ll retire and open a reform school. I taught in prison in the 1980’s, so I know people in corrections. I was approached to start a private reform school for rich delinquents in the corrections system. I want to do it, but I said, ‘When will I have the time?’ They said I’d only have to do a master class and talk other people into coming there. We were talking about taking fire-starters because no one else will. No child left behind. This is in the talking stages—the John Waters reform school. I could be good at it.”

When asked if he ever worries about money, Waters gasps. “Oh my God, yes,” he says. “I think anyone in show business is lying to you—even people who are incredibly wealthy—if they say they don’t think it could be over in one day. This business is built on insecurity. As far as the banks are concerned, I don’t have a job. I don’t have a guaranteed weekly paycheck. You always think it could stop.

“But I’m always optimistic. I don’t believe in higher powers, but I do believe in the basic goodness of people. That’s about as spiritual as I get. As far as my enthusiasm and my excitement for being interested in things and caring about life, I still feel like I’m Gabby Hayes shot out of a cannon.”

It’s been 20 years since William Burroughs dubbed John Waters “the Pope of Trash.” And it wasn’t long before it spawned other similarly spirited, press-ready titles: “the Sultan of Sleaze,” “the Prince of Puke,” and “the Duke of Dirt” among them. They were certainly well deserved, as anyone who’s seen
Pink Flamingoscan attest, but those oft-repeated phrases no longer seem applicable. If they do, you haven’t been paying close attention to Waters’s career.
Waters has become something of a ubiquitous—and welcome—presence on the cultural landscape. On any given day, he might be speaking at Oxford, exhibiting his artwork at The Andy Warhol Museum, kibitzing with Jon Stewart on
The Daily Show, starring in his own TV series, releasing a CD, taking the Tony Awards by storm, writing a piece forThe New York Timesbook review, or recording a DVD commentary forThe Little Mermaid. He may even be working on a new film project of his own.
“I’ve always wanted to sell out,” Waters wrote in his 1986 book
Crackpot, “but no one wanted to buy me.”
That’s no longer true, as Waters has reinvented himself and diversified in ways that broadened his mainstream appeal and won him new fans in niche markets other than indie cinema. As Middle America sings along to
Hairspray, the Musical, the contemporary art world embraces Waters as a fine artist. As a result, the trashy sobriquets no longer fit and come across as simplistic, even quaint.
Waters has turned himself into something much more sophisticated and engaging.

And Baltimore’s bad seed has morphed into a bankable brand name around the world.

How did that happen? And what future business prospects does Waters have in mind? Getting into opera, or opening a reform school, perhaps? Don’t laugh. Stranger things have already happened.

Doesn’t it feel fabulous to be home again?
—Divine,
Flamingos Foreverscreenplay

Waters works in the upstairs office of his North Baltimore home. Books are everywhere—mostly art and culture, fiction, true crime, and biographies—on shelves and stacked in neat piles. A magazine rack in the corner holds many of the 160 publications he receives in the mail:
Entertainment Weekly,Variety,Jet,Cooking Light,Metropolitan Home,Artforum,Butt, and a host of others.
Items from Waters’s extensive collection of fake food have been placed discreetly around the room. On a low shelf, for instance, a dish of plastic chocolates sits beside a framed photo of Edith Massey, the actress who won cult fame appearing in Waters’s early movies.

A corkboard displays an assortment of eye-catching ephemera and photos. Amidst snapshots of Waters with various celebrities—including Leonardo DiCaprio, Björk, and Henry Kissinger—there’s an ID badge from the Cannes Film Festival, an autographed picture of Don Knotts, and a “BE EVIL” Believe-style bumper sticker.

Waters sits at a desk with a laptop computer, telephone, legal pads, pens and pencils, toothpick dispenser, adding machine, and a fake cup of coffee (complete with red plastic stirrer). Dressed in a black-and-white striped pullover shirt and gray pants, Waters looks like a stylish convict. Known for being fashion-forward, he has a penchant for striped socks, flashy footwear, and sports jackets that are, as he says, “ripped, but ripped well, by Japanese designers.”

Although Waters keeps an apartment in Greenwich Village and practically lives in airports, Baltimore remains the center of his universe, which he makes instantly clear. “This is my main place,” he says, tucking one leg under the other. “It’s certainly my home. Whenever I have to think of an idea, I come here.”

Up at 6:15 each morning, he gets an early start. “In the morning, I write or think up something every day—from eight o’clock to noon,” he says. “I sell it in the afternoon.”

A productive day might also include learning lines for a guest spot on a TV show, doing press interviews, preparing for a lecture, and fielding numerous phone calls. “I have business appointments just like everyone else,” he says.

Waters will be the first person to tell you that, for years, he’s been “selling Baltimore.” In fact, there are few artists more closely associated with a single locale, and Waters’s relationship to his hometown invites highfalutin comparisons to Faulkner’s Mississippi or Dickens’s London. And no film director has endorsed or validated a city as Waters has with Baltimore. Even Woody Allen eventually made films outside New York, though that city, like London, hardly lacked for artistic validation.

That’s why the Faulkner comparison may be most apt. Like Mississippi, Baltimore is considered something of a cultural backwater that mostly gets ignored by tastemakers and trendsetters. So when Waters descends on a neighborhood like Highlandtown and points his camera at the Formstone façades and beehive hairdos and captures the local dialect, it comes across as exotic in other parts of the country. And as the nation becomes increasingly homogenized, such hyper-regionalism (especially in Waters’s early films) seems all the more distinctive and real.

Critic Gary Indiana has written that “[Waters’s depiction of Baltimore] may now be more authentic than the ‘big’ cultures of New York or Los Angeles, where fewer and fewer genuine local identities survive the many cycles of gentrification.”

When Waters took an A&E film crew to one of his favorite blocks in Hampden a few years ago, one of the locals came out of his house dressed in leopard print pajamas to see what the fuss was about. Because the guy looked like he’d stepped out of Pat Moran’s casting office and was, as Waters recalls, “playing with himself the whole time,” the crew thought the director had put him up to it. He hadn’t. “It was so amazing,” says Waters. “It showed that you can come to Baltimore and see that my films are really true—they’re part documentary of how I see Baltimore.” But the city is changing. “The Baltimore I make films about is vanishing,” says Waters. “But that’s not so surprising.”

The recent demise of a favorite movie theater is a case in point. “I’m really upset The Earle [an adult theater on Belair Road] closed,” he says, with a sly smile. “All this stuff about The Senator possibly closing—how come nobody was out there when The Earle closed? I was out of town when it happened, but I went and took pictures of it. It’s a church already.

“And I saw what went on there—talk about sacraments. I saw a lot of things turned into a lot of things in there.”

He shakes his head. Other favorites are gone, as well: the Wee Wee Hours, an after hours bar in Fells Point; Hutzler’s department store, downtown; The Atlantis, a male strip club near Central Booking; Cap’n Jack’s, a thrift shop at Charles Street and North Avenue; the Timonium Drive-In, and numerous others.

Still, he doesn’t seem particularly resentful of the changes and development around town. “What is called the Yuppification of Baltimore is good for the city,” he says. “Otherwise, it would just be empty. I’m not against any of that, but fancy Baltimore offends me a little bit. Pretentious Baltimore really gets on my nerves. I think, ‘Oh, please.’ Hipster Baltimore, I’m all for. I think Hampden is becoming what Fells Point should have become. There’s still an uneasy mix there.

“But I love that people in Baltimore have a sense of humor about the city, and they don’t want to leave. They don’t understand why anyone would leave. That is heartwarming to me. I’m not saying it has to stay poor, or it has to stay redneck, but it has to have a sense of humor about itself to be appealing to me.”

But if Waters’s Baltimore is fading, he has no intention of vanishing along with it. While remaining fiercely loyal to his hometown, he’s been branching out into other careers that are less about Baltimore and more about an ever-evolving artistic persona.

It is a very minor cult right now, but one that is growing and growing.
—Divine,
Pink Flamingos

This summer, Waters seems to be popping up everywhere. His Court TV series,
Til Death Do Us Part, continues with new episodes; the film of his stand-up show,This Filthy World, comes out on DVD this month; “John Waters Presents Movies That Will Corrupt You,” a series he put together for here!, a gay and lesbian cable channel, will be rebroadcast throughout the summer; and “Eliminate,” an art show he curated for Provincetown’s Albert Merola Gallery opens June 15.
“John never stops creating,” says Christine Vachon, the producer of Waters’s latest film,
A Dirty Shame. “He goes where the ideas are, and what he does doesn’t feel false or opportunistic in any way.”
“He is a real student of culture,” notes Marianne Boesky, who shows Waters’s artwork at her New York gallery. “Because of that, he’s able to communicate with many different kinds of people.”

“John is always doing something different,” says publicist Steven Trachtenbroit, who worked on the promotion of last winter’s
A Date With John WatersCD. “Plus, he really likes his work and that shows in everything he does.”
Waters will also be in the new
Hairspraymovie—based on the musical inspired by his 1988 film—that opens nationwide next month. Although Waters didn’t direct the new film—which was shot in Toronto instead of Baltimore and stars John Travolta and Queen Latifah—he makes a cameo as “the flasher.”
“It was weird going to Canada and seeing a $75 million version of my movie,” says Waters, who spent just $2.7 million making the original film. “It was weird seeing Highlandtown built in Canada. Seeing the fake Baltimore always makes me laugh. It looks like Essex, in a way. And that’s all right, because Essex and Highlandtown are the same world. It looked pretty good to me.”

Advance screenings have already created a buzz, making
Hairsprayone of the most anticipated movies of the summer. “Everyone in Hollywood is talking about it right now,” says Vachon, who is currently shopping Waters’s next project, which the director describes as “a terribly wonderful children’s Christmas adventure calledFruitcake.”
“We don’t have the money yet, but we’re working on it,” says Waters. “The budget is $7-9 million, which is a lot for an independent film. But if the new
Hairsprayis a hit—who knows—maybe we’ll get this new movie financed easier. Not everything goes smoothly, and luckily, I have a lot of other things I do.”
From experience, he knows the value of having a second (or third) job. In the early 1980’s, Waters’s film career was stalled. He was hoping to make a sequel to
Pink Flamingos, calledFlamingos Forever, and wasn’t getting any takers. In fact, between 1981 and 1988, he didn’t make a movie.
“So I tried to use what I had,” he says. “I turned myself into a marketable product, and then I had fun with it, and it became a business.”

Waters stepped from behind the camera and presented a fuller, more nuanced version of himself to the world. He wasn’t selling a twisted vision of Baltimore so much as he was selling himself as a humorist and pop culture personality. At a time when he was unable to make a film, he actually widened his audience by expanding into other fields.

He’d been doing a stand-up act at colleges across the country, but its reach was somewhat limited. “So I wrote books,” says Waters, noting that the two volumes he produced during this period,
CrackpotandShock Value, have never gone out of print. “I also worked as a journalist when I couldn’t get the movies made. In fact, I still have myRolling Stonepress card.”
He wrote for a variety of publications about subjects that both expanded and deepened the public’s perception of him. He gave a personalized tour of Los Angeles to
Rolling Stonereaders, named 101 things he hated (the list included Amish people, apples, andThe Hobbit) inNational Lampoon, advisedNewsweekreaders on how to be juvenile delinquents, profiled Pia Zadora forAmerican Film, and professed his love for “The Buddy Deane Show” inBaltimore.
These pieces were bundled with a few previously unpublished essays in
Crackpot, which earned rave reviews for its author: “a very funny commentator” (Playboy), “a uniquely observant humorist” (Chicago Tribune), and “a cross between Evelyn Waugh and Miss Manners” (Los Angeles Times).
ShockValue, an offbeat memoir, was similarly lauded. Like the essays, it had a distinct edge—one chapter was titled “Why I Love Violence”—but its overall tone was affable, its wit droll, and Waters came across as immensely likeable. Writer Fran Lebowitz, like many others, was impressed and found the book “funny, informative, and suffused with boyish charm.”
A new John Waters was emerging, one that could simultaneously appeal to cult film buffs
andplay well on David Letterman.

Boise, Idaho, here we come!

—Divine,
Pink Flamingos

When Waters finally got financing for his next film, it wasn’t for a
Pink Flamingossequel or some other midnight-movie fare. The only time he attempted to repeat himself, he was stymied, and the project never got off the ground. So he refined and reinvented himself again, and the next movie was “shocking” in an entirely different way—it was a family film, with a PG rating.
“When I wrote
Hairspray, I certainly never thought I was trying to be mainstream,” recalls Waters. “It just happened accidentally.”
Hairspraywas both a departure and a surprise hit, though it was hardly a blockbuster by Hollywood standards. About a perky and plump teenager pining for integration in the early-1960’s, it grossed close to $10 million (saysVariety), launched Ricki Lake’s career, and showcased Divine as an actor with legitimate commercial appeal. It was subversive enough that it didn’t completely alienate Waters’s core audience, but it was commercial enough to play at the local mall.
The ascendance of indie film didn’t hurt, either. With directors such as Jim Jarmusch, Hal Hartley, and Gus Van Sant citing Waters as an inspiration, the one-time Pope became something of a patron saint.

A more lenient culture and the proliferation of cable TV and video rentals also conspired to make Waters more palatable and accessible in the long term. Early in his career, Waters focused on celebrity worship, sexuality, and sleaze, topics that eventually migrated from the tabloids to the mainstream media. Waters, and his trademark pencil-thin mustache went with them.

“So many kids tell me, ‘My parents showed me your movies,'” he says. “It’s the exact opposite of when I was younger when parents called the police about my movies. Times have really changed, but I don’t know if I’ve changed all that much. I’ve had to change to keep going, but if you look at my last film,
A Dirty Shame, it’s not that astoundingly different from the early films.
”
Pink Flamingoswas shown recently on the Sundance Channel, uncut. I don’t even know how that could be. Someone called and wanted to know if they could blur the blowjob scene. I said, ‘Yes, fine. You can do that.’ They didn’t! They forgot or something, and it was shown uncut.
“I look in the cable guide and sometimes five or six of my movies are playing on TV that month. That’s amazing to me.
Female Troubleplays on the Independent Film Channel all the time. That surprises me.Peckerregularly plays on television and actually found its audience through TV.Serial Momhas played on Lifetime on Mother’s Day.”
Flipping through the cable stations, viewers might also catch Waters appearing in films such as Jonathan Demme’s
Something Wildor Woody Allen’sSweet and Lowdown, or maybe on a rerun ofThe Simpsons.
Waters appeared in a 1997
Simpsonsepisode, “Homer’s Phobia,” as John, the owner of a pop culture memorabilia shop. In the episode, Homer learns something about John that changes his perception of the shop owner.

Homer:That John is the greatest guy in the world. We’ve gotta have him and his
wife over for drinks sometime.

Marge:Hmm, I don’t think he’s married, Homer.

Homer:Oh, a swinging bachelor, eh? Well, there’s lots of foxy ladies out there.

Marge:Homer, didn’t John seem a little . . . festive to you?

Homer:Couldn’t agree more, happy as a clam.

Marge:He prefers the company of men.

Homer:Who doesn’t?

Marge:Homer, listen carefully. John is a ho . . . mo . . .

Homer:Right

Marge:. . . sexual.

Homer:AAAAHHHHH!

Homer then fears that John might be influencing his son. He asks Bart, “He didn’t give you gay, did he?” To counter any such influence, he takes Bart to a steel mill—where all the steel workers turn out to be gay.

Such unabashed, over-the-top discussions and depictions of sexuality could have been straight out of a Waters film. In the not-so-distant past, they would have been midnight movie material, but here it was on prime time TV. The episode even won an Emmy Award.

“More people have seen that than all my movies put together,” says Waters. “And there are people who
onlyknow me from seeing me onThe Simpsons.”
Waters later landed in an even more unlikely venue, Broadway, with similar, award-winning results. The musical version of
Hairspray, with Waters on-board as a consultant, opened at the Neil Simon Theatre in August 2002 and quickly became a favorite of audiences and critics alike. It won eight Tony Awards, seven Drama Desk Awards, and a New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for “Best Musical.” It also won a Grammy Award for “Best Musical Show Album.”
A touring version of the show has been criss-crossing the country, taking Waters’s brand of subversive humor and offbeat worldview deep into the Heartland.

Last month, it even played for two nights at the Morrison Center for the Performing Arts in Boise, Idaho.

Is that all you want, money?

—Divine,
Flamingos Foreverscreenplay

Hairspray, the Musicalprovides Waters with what he jokingly refers to as “the only passive income I’ve ever received. I’ve been very nicely paid for that.”
Otherwise, he says, “Everything in my career has been incredibly gradual. Nothing has happened overnight. I never made that much money on the early movies. And with both
Female TroubleandPink Flamingos, there were music rights issues. When they were re-released, fees had to be paid for all the music. ForPink Flamingos, it was approximately $500,000, so I doubt I’ll ever see another penny from that movie—but at least it can be released.
“I wasn’t able to buy a house until I made
Cry-Baby, which is a Hollywood movie. On the Hollywood movies, I make a good salary, but I never see anything after that. I get residuals from the writers and directors guilds, but you can’t live on that. Basically, the early films paid my rent, and the Hollywood films allowed me to buy my house. And I paid a mortgage just like everybody else.”
He politely demurs when asked about income figures. “That’s between me and the IRS,” he says, “but I’ve made less from the movies than you probably think. Still, I’m not complaining.”

But Waters doesn’t hesitate to say what he spends his money on: books and contemporary art. A quick tour of the house confirms this. In just about every room, books are stacked in neat piles and lined on shelves. Many of them, especially in the living room, are art books—coffee table books on the work of Larry Clark, Andy Warhol, Richard Prince, Carl Andre, Cy Twombly, and many others. Original art by Fischli/Weiss, Mike Kelley, Roy Lichtenstein, Christopher Wool, and Peter Hujar are hung in the living room.

Much of the art is provocative. “The art I like best makes me mad first,” says Waters. “All contemporary art should make you mad. Otherwise, what’s the point? I like things that are original, and original is usually never easy to like. It’s not about decoration. It’s not about pretty. Most people
shouldhate contemporary art. It hates you.”
He points out a small Jess von der Ahe painting in the hallway. An abstract piece comprised mostly of gold and red flecked spirals and circles, it would hardly seem to qualify as outrageous—that is, until you learn that the artist paints with her own menstrual blood.

In the office upstairs, there’s a small jewelry box holding three clear capsules filled with gold filings. It’s a conceptual piece by O. Tobias Wong. Waters explains: “You’re supposed to take the pills, and your turds will have glitter in them—they’ll be sparkling. I love it. I think of it as being for the really rich.”

When asked if you’re supposed to photograph the results as documentation, Waters shakes his head. “No, I think it’s more of a private moment,” he says. “The artist told me that most people who take the pills actually forget to look. Talk about disposable income! Ah, the sins of capitalism.”

The most shocking piece in the house is hidden away, where most folks will never see it. In the third floor guest room, he swings open the door to what looks like a walk-in closet. Inside, it looks like a mad bomber’s lair; it’s actually an installation by Gregory Green. “It’s the only piece the artist has ever done in a private home in the United States,” Waters notes, obviously pleased with the results. “It took him a week to do it. Isn’t it great?”

I think if I concentrated, I might be able to work up some sort of minor miracle.

—Divine,
Flamingos Foreverscreenplay

Waters’s passion for contemporary art extends beyond collecting. In fact, for the past ten years, he’s been creating and exhibiting fine art of his own and circulating in the upper echelon of that world. None of his own work hangs in his house.

But Waters’s art has been shown in galleries throughout the U.S.—including the C. Grimaldis Gallery in Baltimore—and across Europe. Much of his work is comprised of film stills he creates by photographing images off a TV screen, though he also does collage, sculpture, and mixed-media installations.

A one-man show, “Change of Life,” opened at New York’s New Museum of Contemporary Art in 2004 and traveled to the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, the Orange County Museum of Art in California, and Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland.
The Village Voicecalled it “the work of a true American original.”
One of his pieces—a print he designed at Baltimore’s Globe Poster—even made the cover of
Artforummagazine.
According to Marianne Boesky, his limited edition prints sell for $3,500, while one-of-a-kind pieces fetch as much as $35,000. “We’ve had great success with John,” says Boesky. “He has a cult following of people who are fans of his film work, but, more impressively, he has a strong collector following as a conceptual artist. He is not just a famous filmmaker trying to make art, because, as he knows, his celebrity won’t get him anything in the art world.”

Boesky and Waters both credit his previous dealer, Colin DeLand, with helping him overcome that celebrity. When in New York, it’s not uncommon for Waters to visit dozens of art galleries in a single day. Back in the 1990’s, DeLand’s American Fine Arts gallery in SoHo was a particular favorite, and during one visit, DeLand, who was highly regarded in contemporary art circles for his discerning taste, asked Waters if he created artwork of his own. As it turned out, Waters had been doing the photo work—or “little movies,” as he calls them—and had a body of work finished.

Not long after, DeLand became Waters’s dealer. “Colin was so respected as being the real thing as an art dealer,” says Waters, “that he neutralized most of those fears that I was a celebrity coming into the art world, because that is the worst possible thing you can be. That’s why I’ve kept my art career
completelyseparate. It’s been very important for me to do that.”
When he wants to work on art, Waters gets in his gray Buick LeSabre and drives to an art studio he keeps in Hampden. Housed in a nondescript brick building off the beaten path, it’s a tidy, sprawling space with wall-to-wall carpeting, a few Persian rugs, long wooden tables on which he can work, and eye-catching items scattered around the room—including stacks of
NestandParkettmagazines, a Girls of Dundalk calendar, a box of Farrah Fawcett doll heads, the “Gertie” painting (which was pictured inShock Value), a photo of James Brown, and a Campbell’s soup can print.
Waters has just started working on a Fall 2008 show at the Boesky Gallery. “I just started making a list of ideas for it,” he says. “It really does take that long to get together a whole new show.”

Far from being daunted, he seems strangely unencumbered by the whole thing. It might be tempting to chalk it up to the fact that he’s just cool, but it’s obviously more than that. There’s something peculiarly liberating about his art career. “It’s a relief to not have to pretend that I’m appealing to everybody,” notes Waters. “In the movie business, you have to do that no matter what. When you go to sell a movie, you basically say it’s going to cross over and everyone’s going to love it. In the art world, you can be subtle, impenetrable, and harder to get—that’s actually considered a good thing.

“Art isn’t for everybody, whereas when you do a movie you’re trying to get everybody to buy a ticket. In the art world, you aren’t trying to get everybody to buy a ticket. As a matter of fact, if everyone bought a ticket, it would be terrible.”

In my maturity, in my autumn years, if you will, I have decided to . . . live like all
world leaders: financially secure, surrounded by zombie worship, and bathed in

the constant glare of publicity.

—Divine,
Flamingos Foreverscreenplay

At 61, Waters shows no signs of slowing down. “I don’t feel that different than 30,” he says.

And he’s hardly lacking for future projects.
Cry-BabyfollowsHairsprayto Broadway next year, andPink Flamingosis being optioned as an opera. Waters mentions possibly writing a follow-up toShock Value, or putting together another themed CD collection like the Christmas and Valentine’s Day compilations he’s already done. He could organize his papers, which are housed at Wesleyan University’s Cinema Archive (along with the archives of Martin Scorsese, Federico Fellini, and Frank Capra). And there’s the new film, of course.
This summer, he also plans to write an entirely new stand-up show. “If I do, I can take it to the colleges, and I’ve visited hundreds of them,” he says. “But do I really want to visit all those colleges again? But that’s the thing—I
canalways do it. I have contingency plans. If I have the new act ready, I can do that, which is nice to know.
“Or maybe I’ll retire and open a reform school. I taught in prison in the 1980’s, so I know people in corrections. I was approached to start a private reform school for rich delinquents in the corrections system. I want to do it, but I said, ‘When will I have the time?’ They said I’d only have to do a master class and talk other people into coming there. We were talking about taking fire-starters because no one else will. No child left behind. This is in the talking stages—the John Waters reform school. I could be good at it.”

When asked if he ever worries about money, Waters gasps. “Oh my God, yes,” he says. “I think anyone in show business is lying to you—even people who are incredibly wealthy—if they say they don’t think it could be over in one day. This business is built on insecurity. As far as the banks are concerned, I don’t have a job. I don’t have a guaranteed weekly paycheck. You always think it could stop.

“But I’m always optimistic. I don’t believe in higher powers, but I do believe in the basic goodness of people. That’s about as spiritual as I get. As far as my enthusiasm and my excitement for being interested in things and caring about life, I still feel like I’m Gabby Hayes shot out of a cannon.”

To define power is a tricky thing. To us, power is that elusive combination of elements that allows an individual to get his or her way, no matter the obstacles. It’s an elixir of strength, leadership, vision, wherewithal, means, moxie, and desire. Power is not influence, but the two are related—while not everyone with influence has power, anyone with power certainly has influence. And power is definitely not a popularity contest; many of the people on our list will never be accused of being “all warm and fuzzy.”

This ranking of the 50 most powerful people in the Baltimore area is not a scientific list, but it is based on hard numbers and achievements and records. Power isn’t something you can measure, like an election; it’s rooted in perception and experience and gut reaction. Our 2007 Power 50 list is a snapshot of an extraordinary and unique time in Baltimore (we last tackled the list shortly after Bob Ehrlich took office, in 2003). Annapolis is once again controlled by a single party, and the state is governed by an ex-Baltimore mayor; our interim mayor heads a city (and a government) with both promise and problems; and the Baltimore Old Guard is being gradually replaced by a new power elite. But come September—and the city’s Democratic primary—this list could look considerably different. For now, though, this ranking is the way we see power being put into action in Baltimore.

But we know what you’re really asking: Who’s number one? Look below to find out.

1. William R. Brody

Age: 63 Title: President, Johns Hopkins University 2003 Rank: 15 Nickname: Big Boss Power Play: Hopkins’s East Baltimore urban redevelopment—including biotech labs being built in (and on) adjoining neighborhoods—rolls on without a hitch, thanks to Brody’s (and Hopkins’s) clout. Power Source: Oversees an economic (more than $7 billion of business generated statewide) and scientific juggernaut. Is the head of Hopkins’s power troika (along with Hopkins medical school CEO Ed Miller and Health System prez Ron Peterson) and serves as the living embodiment of Hopkins’s institutions and brand, both locally and across the globe. Hopkins has the nation’s highest-rated hospital and is the largest private employer (some 46,000 people) in the state. A recent endowment-building drive blew past the $2 billion goal a year early; the new mark is $3.2 billion. Bottom Line:Politicians and developers come and go; Hopkins is eternal.

2. John Paterakis

Age: 77 Title: President and CEO, H&S Bakery and H&S Properties Development Corporation 2003 Rank: 2 Nickname: Bread Man Power Play: With private investment in Harbor East now surpassing $1 billion, and state political contributions from Paterakis entities on the rise, Paterakis officially sheds his baker’s hat and becomes a mega developer and fixer. Power Source: Throughout four mayoral administrations, Paterakis has built up the Inner Harbor’s east end into a shiny cluster of high-rise hotels and posh condos, shops and offices. Close ties to other well-placed folks—an expanding partnership with fellow developer Bill Struever (#11), for one—make for some hefty collateral clout. Bottom Line: No other local developer has managed to pull off such downtown development density, or laid such undisputed claim to a coveted corner of the city.

3. Peter G. Angelos

Age: 77 Title: President and Managing Principal, Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos 2003 Rank: 1 Nickname:Greek Tycoon Power Play: His profile has dropped (as has the Orioles’), but he has by far the deepest political pockets in town. Power Source: Since making it rich off asbestos litigation in the 80’s and 90’s, Angelos has been a go-to guy for politicians, a downtown development force, chief target of O’s fan angst, and philanthropist. His political largesse—$2.9 million to national campaigns since 1999—puts him at number 18 (behind George Soros and John Kerry) among the country’s largest donors. Bottom Line: Angelos has the obvious power ingredients: money, ubiquity, pull. What makes him uniquely powerful is his sway across Baltimore’s diverse communities.

4. M.J. “Jay” Brodie

Age: 70 Title: President, Baltimore Development Corporation 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Land Baron Power Play: Got the mayor to bless Baltimore’s biggest ever municipally financed public-works project while O’Malley was in the throes of a gubernatorial bid. Power Source: Over the years Brodie has deftly—if not entirely deliberately—molded his role into that of primary driver behind the look and feel of downtown. He’s overhauled BDC, expanded its role as real estate buyer and developer, and won the confidence of four mayors. The culmination of those efforts: last year’s ground-breaking on a $305 million convention center hotel—built and paid for by the city. Bottom Line: When all is said and done, Brodie will have left a lasting mark on Baltimore, one way or another.

5. Robert C. Embry Jr.

Age: 69 Title: President, The Abell Foundation 2003 Rank: 36 Nickname: Wise Man Power Play: Embry has woven himself into the tapestry of Baltimore’s power elite by leveraging his brains, his connections, his wisdom, and his influence into a role as a kingmaker. Power Source: During his two-decade-plus tenure as head of the powerful Abell Foundation (with assets of more than $203 million), Embry has spoken plainly about the city’s ills—and used those millions to try to correct them. Bottom Line: If you want anything done in this town, you’d better have a sit-down with Bob Embry.

6. Eddie C. Brown

Age: 66 Title: President and CEO, Brown Capital Management Inc. 2003 Rank: 18 Nickname: Mr. Generosity Power Play: Being Eddie Brown. Power Source: Built a respected asset management firm, amassed a vast personal fortune, and scored a spot on some of Baltimore’s most prestigious boards. But it’s in his use of that personal fortune that Brown’s real power lays. He and his wife are stand-out philanthropists with a passion for education and the arts; their generosity ranks them among the nation’s top African-American charitable donors. But given their low profile—and that’s how they like it—most wouldn’t know it. Bottom Line: He’s sharp, rich, and every corporation or institution’s dream board member.

7. Barbara Mikulski

Age: 70 Title: U.S. Senator 2003 Rank: 7 Nickname: Pint-sized Powerhouse Power Play: Has a senior membership on the powerful Senate Appropriations committee. Teaming with Governor O’Malley to make Maryland a homeland security hub—plus, there’s the national BRAC (Base Realignment And Closure) which stands to bring tens of thousands of military jobs to Baltimore. (Babs also sits on the Homeland Security and Defense subcommittees.) Power Source: With a Democratic majority in Congress (including a certain hometown girl who is Speaker of the House) and a Democratic governor in office, the chair of Maryland’s Congressional delegation is uniquely poised to steer federal funds into the Old Line State. Bottom Line: The longtime senator couldn’t have picked a better time to become Maryland’s highest-ranking statesperson.

8. Raymond “Chip” Mason

Age: 70 Title: CEO, Legg Mason 2003 Rank: 4 Nickname: Mr. Baltimore Power Play: Successfully set up his company—one of Baltimore’s most venerable—for a future without him, while hanging on to fabulous wealth and the most prestigious chairmanship in town. Power Source: Mason built Legg Mason into one of the world’s largest money management firms over 40-plus years before ceding the president’s title last April, just weeks after Forbes ranked him number 88 among the country’s 500 highest-paid CEOs. Bottom Line: As Legg chairman, vice-chair of the Downtown Partnership, and chair of the Board of Trustees of Johns Hopkins University, Mason remains one of the biggest wheels in town even as he begins to step back from the table.

9. George L. Russell Jr.

Age: 77 Title: Of Counsel, Law Offices of Peter G. Angelos 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Judge Power Play: Got both his son and daughter-in-law on court benches in the same year. Power Source: In February 2006, Russell’s daughter-in-law, Devy Russell, was appointed to the District Court of Maryland for Baltimore City. When George L. Russell III landed on the Baltimore City Circuit Court 11 months later, any doubts about the lingering power of Maryland’s first African-American Circuit Court judge and Baltimore’s first black city solicitor were dashed. Reginald F. Lewis Museum chair and member of two prominent commissions under Ehrlich, “Judge Russell” still commands deference and wields clout—see his behind-the-scenes counselor role this past election. Bottom Line:When it comes to say-so, there’s no substitute for experience and achievement.

10. Ed Hale Sr.

Age: 60 Title: Chairman and CEO, 1st Mariner Bancorp 2003 Rank: 31 Nickname: Blue-Collar Banker Power Play: Despite—or because of—his working-class Highlandtown roots, he’s challenged Maryland’s blue-blood financial circles with his success in banking and been a driving force in the remaking of Canton. Power Source: His small but fast-growing 1st Mariner Bank now has about $1.3 billion in assets, though it’s taken a beating in recent months from bad mortgage loans. Hale Properties has invested heavily in Canton redevelopment and land ventures across the U.S., he’s owner of the Baltimore Blast soccer team, and he’s the chairman of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association. He also plays a Donald Trump-esque role in Towson University’s Associate program. Bottom Line: Hale got in on the ground floor of Baltimore’s resurgence with his vast Canton holdings.

11. C. William “Bill” Struever

Age: 55 Title: CEO and President, Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse 2003 Rank: 12 Nickname: Re-Animator Power Play: From Brewer’s Hill to Tide Point to Harbor East, SBER has been one of the major movers in Baltimore’s recent Renaissance. Power Source: As Baltimore City began to show signs of life, Struever was ready to rehab and renovate old properties into hip, popular offices and residences. SBER is now a regional name in urban rehabs; the Struever brand-name is synonymous with community-conscious development. Bottom Line:Though some wonks feel SBER is a bit overextended, Struever’s name and rep are still money.

12. Martin O’Malley

Age: 44 Title: Governor 2003 Rank: 5 Nickname: Chosen One Power Play: Despite concerns that he would use thegovernor’s seat as a temporary resting spot (en route to a presidential bid), he still won tight race against a popular incumbent. Has already raised $1.7 million since becoming governor, this after the nearly $15 million he raised during the campaign. Forced PSC chair to resign, effectively gaining control of the utility regulation in Maryland. Brings praised cost-monitoring program StateStat with him to Annapolis. Homeland security mayor now able to put federal muscle and money behind that agenda. Power Source: A Democratic governor leads a Democratic General Assembly and works alongside a Democrat majority Congress—we don’t see much resistance to his agenda. Bottom Line:Former golden boy has regained his luster.

13. David Cordish

Age: 67 Title: Chairman, Cordish Company 2003 Rank:3 Nickname: Master of Ceremonies Power Play: Cordish (the man) makes deals happen; with cities (like Atlantic City, where the Walk project is that city’s hottest new destination) and with people (like Rev. Frank Reid, #28, with whose church Cordish partnered for the Pier Six rehab). Power Source: Cordish (the company) has made a name locally and nationally as a builder of entertainment centers (like downtown’s Power Plant Live). Bottom Line: Despite the risks of urban commercial redevelopment (and icky dueling lawsuits with the Florida Seminole tribe over a Hard Rock project), Cordish remains plugged in, canny, and successful.

14. James Shea

Age: 54 Title: Chair, Venable LLP 2003 Rank: 24 Nickname: PAC Man Power Play:The big hand in O’Malley’s gubernatorial fundraising, with some serious muscle in national politics too. Power Source: Since 1994, Shea has run Venable LLP; first as managing partner, then as firm-wide chair when he inherited the top post last spring. He now counts celebrity lawyers and former politicos among his employees, and the Venable political action committee (Ven-PAC), among his power tools. Shea was also O’Malley’s fundraising chief for the 2006 election and gets credit for his well-financed sprint to the finish line. Bottom Line: With his Washington ties and fundraising prowess, Shea is a key O’Malley ally. It isn’t difficult to imagine what the two might collaborate on next. . . .

15. Sheila Dixon

Age: 53 Title: Mayor, Baltimore City 2003 Rank: n/aNickname: The Understudy Power Play: Scored city’s most powerful political post without having to run for it. Power Source: O’Malley’s sights reached well beyond City Hall when he jumped into the mayor’s race in 1999, and nobody knew it better than City Council president candidate Dixon. She won her race, waited patiently as heir apparent for seven years and landed the top job when O’Malley became governor this year. But because she’s serving out his term, the true test of her clout comes September 11, when Democratic primary voters decide if she’s worthy of the mayoral nomination. Bottom Line: Dixon gets credit for being Baltimore’s first female mayor. We’ll see whether that translates into getting electedto the post this fall.

16. Ronald Lipscomb

Age: 60 Title: President, Doracon Contracting Inc. 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Independent Contractor Power Play: His profile as a developer and politico have catapulted Lipscomb into the big leagues. Power Source: Lipscomb’s been growing his company and getting a toe in, or bid on, some of downtown’s biggest projects. A minority equity position in Harbor East and his partnership with a New York investor to buy and develop the old News American site have solidified that his status. As a trustee and major fundraiser for the state Democratic Party, he was one of Maryland’s African-American business and political elite to endorse Michael Steele in 2006 for U.S. Senate—a nose-thumbing gesture to Dems for not taking the black vote more seriously. Bottom Line: Look for Lipscomb to have a hand in more broadly distributing Maryland’s traditionally white political and economic wealth.

17. Richard O. Berndt

Age: 64 Title: Managing partner, Gallagher Evelius & Jones 2003 Rank: 14 Nickname: Political Pope of Baltimore Power Play: Rallying support for O’Malley among business and community leaders from the very start of his political career. Power Source: Strong Baltimore Catholic roots mean Berndt has been a close legal advisor to Cardinal William Keeler (#39) and the Archdiocese of Baltimore. But he’s flexed his muscle publicly by being a longtime supporter and advisor to O’Malley, as well as other Democratic Party luminaries (Sarbanes, Mikulski, Cardin, et al). He’s been the legal mind behind major development in town, including the projects of John Paterakis. Bottom Line: If you want to know what makes Maryland’s political machine tick, this legal eagle is one place to start.

18. Elijah E. Cummings

Age: 56 Title: U.S. Representative, 7th District 2003 Rank: 11 Nickname: The Negotiator Power Play: Outspoken critic of President Bush and the Iraq war recently tapped to sit on the powerful House Armed Services Committee. Power Source: Seven term congressman has a lot of accumulated power, both at home and in the Capitol; the Maryland-connected Dems now running the House will help Cummings maintain stature and pull. Bottom Line: He takes care of his district and Maryland; the resurgence of Democratic power can only help his causes.

19. Patricia C. Jessamy

Age: 58 Title: Baltimore City State’s Attorney 2003 Rank: 43 Nickname: The Survivor Power Play: Her six-year tiff with former mayor O’Malley and recent re-election to a fourth term has a lot of folks eyeing a mayoral run for her. Power Source: While a recent 58 percent holiday pay hike from her political nemesis (O’Malley) made her Baltimore’s highest paid city official, it’s Jessamy’s proven ability to undercut the police department on crime reduction that gives her such political muscle. It has also engendered widespread disdain, as Baltimore’s crime figures—especially its homicide rate—remain stubbornly high. Bottom Line: With O’Malley now out of the picture, she could move past the crime rate flak—or become its primary target.

20. Cal Ripken Jr.

Age: 46 Title: President and CEO, Ripken Baseball Group 2003 Rank: 17 Nickname: Living Legend Power Play: Making headlines again, thanks to Hall of Fame election and Cooperstown induction in July. Recently made bid to buy a Double-A team (his group already owns and operates two Single-A squads). Name repeatedly comes up as potential buyer/savior of the Orioles. Power Source: Rock solid citizen, ubiquitous pitchman (Comcast, Esskay, Chevy, etc.), Sun youth sports advice columnist, and one of the most beloved, trusted, and recognizable figures in America. “You’d die to have him on your board!” confirms one insider. Bottom Line: Cal frenzy is at a fevered pitch. But will he step up to the plate and take full advantage of his clout?

21. Joseph Haskins Jr.

Age: 58 Title: President, Chairman, and CEO, Harbor Bank of Maryland 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Smart Money Power Play: While the bank has grown slowly but steadily, his political and development profile has risen more precipitously—most recently with a lead role on O’Malley’s transition team. Power Source: His bank—with its modest 1.3 percent share of the city’s market—and his role on the President’s Roundtable have made Haskins a household name. More recently, as chair of East Baltimore Development Inc., the engine behind the Hopkins biotech park; a member of the team developing the “Cityscape” block at Calvert and Lombard streets; and Business and Economic Development co-chair for the O’Malley-Brown transition team, Haskins has become a player. Bottom Line: Don’t look for a Harbor Bank Arena yet, but Haskins is broadening his reach.

22. Ben Cardin

Age: 63 Title: Senator 2003 Rank: 22 Nickname: The Mensch Power Play: Winning the 2006 election to succeed Paul S. Sarbanes in the U.S. Senate. Power Source: An effective legislator, willing to cross party and issue lines to make things happen. Grasp of critical but dense issues (healthcare, pension reform, taxes and trade policy) and his refusal to engage in partisan bickering set him apart from—and above—his colleagues. With a new but fragile Democratic majority in both chambers, growing disenchantment with the current administration, and a presidential race a year away, his focus on principle and policy could be more important than ever. Bottom Line: Cardin’s poised to lead like never before.

23. Michael S. Beatty

Age: 41 Title: President, H&S Properties Development Corp. 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Dough Boy Power Play: As John Paterakis’s longtime real estate and development guy, he’s the one responsible for executing—and pulling off thus far—H&S’s huge Harbor East explosion. Power Source: The money behind Harbor East may not be Beatty’s (though he’s doing fine, given his $1.7 million Ruxton address and his six-figure contributions—atop three tuitions—to Gilman School). But the development effort and public face of all things Harbor East is his, and that makes Beatty a very big deal. Bottom Line: He’s young and sitting high atop what is arguably Baltimore’s most successful development of the last decade.

24. James T. Smith Jr.

Age: 65 Title: Baltimore County Executive 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Late Bloomer Power Play: Publicly aligned himself with O’Malley in the 2006 governor’s race, despite Ehrlich’s popularity in Baltimore County (Ehrlich won the county by some 8,000 votes). Power Source: The one-time judge has begun to find his political footing; the new, more dynamic Jim Smith is being noticed by power players across the state. Leads one of Maryland’s most prosperous and populous counties. Bottom Line: Residents and developers love the county; the governor owes him a favor; he won his own re-election in a landslide.

25. Michael E. Busch

Age: 60 Title: Speaker of the House of Delegates 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Loud Speaker Power Play: Annapolis’s most powerful player during the Ehrlich years, as consensus builder (think BGE rate hikes and slots) and thorn in Ehrlich’s side. Power Source: As a Democrat he battled a Republican governor on the big issues. But as he enters his 21st year in the House of Delegates and fifth year as its speaker, he’ll likely remain a force. He’s a big-picture, issue-driven politician, and in a town that loves to hate Baltimore, he has consistently taken positions that have benefited our city and region. Bottom Line: As O’Malley settles into his new gig and works to solidify statewide support, Busch may be the surer bet to look out for Baltimore’s interests.

26. David J. Ramsay

Age: 67 Title: President, University of Maryland, Baltimore 2003 Rank: 26 Nickname: Dean of the West Side Power Play: As Hopkins rules East Baltimore, Ramsay’s UM graduate schools and medical center dominate the resurgent West Side. Power Source: With a medical school, law school, and dental school among seven grad programs, UMB consists of some 58 buildings (many brand-new, like the $142-million dental school) and gives its neighborhood a wealthy, city-committed cornerstone. The Oxford-educated Ramsay leaves a lot of decision-making to the school’s deans. Bottom Line: Ramsay oversees the city’s other major academic powerhouse—and has kept up nicely with the Joneses.

27. Mayo A. Shattuck III

Age: 52 Title: Chairman of the Board, President, CEO, Constellation Energy Group 2003 Rank: 6 Nickname:Power Broker Power Play: Trying to merge Constellation with FPL of Florida; both companies underestimated the negative public and political reaction. The merger was abandoned last fall. Power Source: In five years, the former Alex. Brown IPO wonder boy—who comes from a privileged New England family that included a number of Harvard-educated investment bankers (his idea of rebelling was going to Williams College)—turned the once-struggling energy firm into the country’s largest competitive supplier of electricity to large commercial and industrial customers and the nation’s largest wholesale power seller. Bottom Line: How will Shattuck react to one of the first setbacks in an otherwise glittering career?

28. Frank M. Reid III

Age: 55 Title: Senior Pastor, Bethel A.M.E. Church 2003 Rank: 23 Nickname: Power Preacher Power Play: A major force in the 1999 mayoral contest, he’ll again carry weight this year, with two leading mayoral contenders amid his congregation. Power Source: It’s shaping up to be a banner year at Bethel A.M.E.: the church’s membership continues to grow, it’s breaking ground on a building in Baltimore County and it has negotiated a cut of the Cordish Co.’s Pier Six profits. It will likely draw additional attention in the months ahead as the home parish of both Comptroller Joan Pratt and interim Mayor Sheila Dixon. Bottom Line: Given the weight his pick carried in 1999 when he endorsed O’Malley for mayor, political observers are watching Reid closely.

29. Freeman Hrabowski

Age: 56 Title: President, UMBC 2003 Rank: 16 Nickname: Mega Nerd Power Play: Oversees unusually powerful independent UM-system school, with particularly strong ties to Baltimore’s business and philanthropic community. Leader of task force on higher education in O’Malley’s transition team. Over $300 million in new construction in the last decade alone. In May ’06, UMBC was cited by The New York Times as one of America’s leading universities for science, particularly with respect to minority students. Power Source:Hrabowski sits on several corporate and civic boards, including the Constellation Energy Group, McCormick & Company Inc., and Mercantile Bankshares. Bottom Line: Nationally recognized educational innovator is feather in the cap of the University of Maryland system—and Baltimore.

30. Charles W. Newhall III

Age: 62 Title: Co-Founder and General Partner, New Enterprise Associates 2003 Rank: 45 Nickname: Adventure Capitalist Power Play:Harvard-educated financial power and decorated Vietnam vet co-founded New Enterprise Associates in 1978 with legendary Frank Bonsal. Power Source: NEA is one of the largest U.S. venture capital firms; over $8.5 billion is invested in tech and healthcare companies worldwide. Has served on numerous big boards. Bottom Line: Newhall’s’s NEA is a venture cap force with which to be reckoned.

31. Joan M. Pratt

Age: 55 Title: Baltimore City Comptroller 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Spoiler Power Play: Of the Board of Estimates’ five members, she’s the only one who isn’t decidedly in Mayor Dixon’s camp; her voice of opposition could resonate loudly this election year—whether she decides to challenge Dixon for her job or not. Power Source: Pratt’s lone vote is hardly enough to mess with the mayor’s lock on a majority, but she’s in a strong and public position to pick fights with the mayor, all the while claiming she’s acting in the best fiscal interests of the city. Bottom Line: Quiet till now, look for Pratt to turn spunky in the months ahead.

32. Otis Rolley III

Age: 32 Title: Chief of Staff, Mayor Sheila Dixon 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Rising Star Power Play: It’s pretty simple: he’s young, a leader, and on the rise. Power Source: He was a deputy housing commissioner before 30, city planning director soon thereafter, and now he’s chief of staff to the mayor. Nothing short of a meteoric rise for Rolley, whose name has been on people’s lips as the one to watch in this season of political transition. He’s someone whose opinion even Baltimore’s old-timers value. Bottom Line: Rolley didn’t follow fellow O’Malley wunderkinds to Annapolis. But don’t think it’s because he plans on staying in local government—he’s got much bigger plans.

33. Atwood “Woody” Collins III

Age: 60 Title: Executive Vice President, M&T Bank Corporation; President and COO of M&T Bank’s Mid-Atlantic Division 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Instant Insider Power Play: Used stadium naming rights and high profile board memberships to dramatically raise profile of the bank (and himself) since arriving in Baltimore in 2002—but the bank has increasingly lost market share to Bank of America. Power Source: Co-chair of Mayor Sheila Dixon’s transition team; serves as vice chair of the Greater Baltimore Committee; also serves on the boards of the BDC, UM Medical System, Kennedy Krieger Institute, et al. Bottom Line: With only five years in Baltimore, he’s already rubbing shoulders with this town’s power elite.

34. Jayne Miller

Age: 52 Title: WBAL-TV I-Team Chief Investigative Reporter 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Baltimore’s Mike Wallace Power Play: Last year, combed through hospital records to expose padded violent crime reduction statistics put out by the O’Malley administration—even going so far as to track down former police commissioner Kevin Clark in New York to get his take on the inflated stats. Power Source: Reputation as a tenacious, tireless reporter. “She’s one phone call you don’t want to receive,” notes one former political candidate. “She will go after you,” adds another source. Bottom Line: If you’ve got something to hide, don’t keep a high profile on Miller’s watch.

35. Thomas V. “Mike” Miller

Age: 64 Title: President, Maryland Senate 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Insider’s Insider Power Play: With retirement on the horizon, Miller’s pull in Annapolis is as strong as ever—especially as the jockeying to succeed him sets in. Power Source: He’s led the Senate for so long—20 years—the Senate building bears his name. But Miller’s passion and pragmatism can be at odds—Exhibit A: slot machines—and he hasn’t racked up such success without bullying and bluster. Now, he has no re-election worries, zero compunction about disparaging his colleagues, Republican or Democrat (he was on O’Malley’s case before he was even inaugurated), and a legacy to finish crafting. Bottom Line: Look to Miller to keep things lively in Annapolis, despite the Democratic love-in.

36. Edward St. John

Age: 68 Title: President and CEO, St. John Properties. 2003 Rank: 20 Nickname: Prince of Property Power Play: His industrial parks have transformed the landscape all over the metro area, especially in Baltimore County and around BWI. Power Source: St. John Properties owns, manages, or has developed nearly 12 million square feet of commercial real estate throughout the country. Sits on numerous boards, including Harbor Bank and the Maryland Science Center (he donated the Dinosaur Hall and the Imax theater). Bottom Line: Real estate heavy hitter gets name out there with philanthropy (more than $40 million).

37. Maggie L. McIntosh

Age: 59 Title: State Delegate, 43rd District, Baltimore City 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Operator Power Play: Worked to deliver lots of votes for O’Malley in 2006. Power Source: Fifteen years in Annapolis have earned her plenty of power; takes care of her constituents; produces good, solid, legislation. Her aid to O’Malley gained her a seat at his table in Annapolis, and she’s had a voice in his administration’s creation. Bottom Line: Dyed-in-the-wool Democrat who helped O’Malley get to Annapolis should have a bright 2007—and beyond.

38. Keiffer Mitchell Jr.

Age: 39 Title: Baltimore City Councilman 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Challenger Power Play: Took on the city-state partnership running Baltimore’s schools and the city-financed convention center hotel; now he’s taking on his former City Council boss to become Baltimore’s next mayor. Power Source: With a prominent civil-rights legacy as his foundation, Mitchell has built a reputation for being generally independent without being anti-establishment—somewhat tricky, since the downtown and business communities are his constituents. It has made him an effective member of a largely ineffective body. Bottom Line:Mitchell’s independence could quickly catapult him up this list—if he can convince voters he’s truly hungry for the mayor’s job.

39. William H. Cardinal Keeler

Age: 76 Title: Archbishop of Baltimore 2003 Rank: 32Nickname: The Peacemaker Power Play: Renovated Basilica draws praise; demolished Rochambeau apartments despite public outcry to build a prayer garden; remains untarnished by sexual abuse scandals. Power Source: The nation’s first Catholic diocese remains one of the most devoted and wealthy. Keeler is masterful at building relationships across ideological gaps and insulating himself from criticism—and always getting his way. Bottom Line: Having a Governor O’Malley won’t hurt the state’s chief Catholic.

40. Nathaniel McFadden

Age: 60 Title: President Pro Tem, Maryland State Senate 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: All Pro Power Play: The state’s highest ranking elected black legislator ever, he represents an important shift away from business-as-usual within the state’s majority-white political leadership. Power Source: Successfully led an emotionally charged blitz in the session’s final days to save 11 of the city’s failing schools from state takeover, and spotlighted the stateside politics that have long driven Baltimore City education reform in the process. His colleagues, in turn, unanimously elected him to the Senate’s number two slot, behind Senate President Mike Miller. Bottom Line: The state is nearly one-third black. McFadden’s appointment, and that of numerous other African Americans in the legislature and administration, underscores a true move toward more representative government.

41. Fred Lazarus IV

Age: 65 Title: President, Maryland Institute College of Art 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Old Master Power Play: Lazarus has doubled MICA’s student body, got Eddie Brown (#6) to help build one of Baltimore’s great new buildings, and is transforming North Avenue into a vibrant arts district. Power Source: He’s helmed one of the world’s great art schools for nearly three decades; The Gateway project (at the corner of Mount Royal and North avenues) is going to give the Brown Center a run for its money as the city’s most exciting new architecture. Bottom Line: Lazarus is fascinating, bright, diplomatic, and committed to making MICA and Baltimore better.

42. Nancy S. Grasmick

Age: 67 Title: State Superintendent of Schools 2003 Rank: 10 Nickname: Head Mistress Power Play: She may not have bent Baltimore’s last mayor to her will, but she made him, and other city officials, grimace and sweat. Power Source: It’s never been clear who’s officially in charge since the city-state partnership was formed to run Baltimore’s schools, but Grasmick, as enforcer of Maryland’s compliance with federal education requirements, has been wielding the stick. While O’Malley and city legislators stood up to her—averting the takeover of 11 city schools last spring—in Baltimore, she remains something of a feared elder. Bottom Line: Grasmick isn’t likely to go anywhere soon: She answers to the State Board of Education, and only four of its 12 Ehrlich appointees have terms expiring this year.

43. Robert L. Bogomolny

Age: 68 Title: President, University of Baltimore 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Head of the Class Power Play: As city ethics chair, he exonerated Sheila Dixon of ethical wrongdoing days before becoming mayor. Power Source: Since 2002, the former corporate litigator has toiled to raise the profile of UB, with bold new architecture and expanded academics, anchored by UB’s conversion to a four-year school this fall. While his predecessors amassed property, he’s all about developing it into an institutional cash cow. Hopes to create momentum for a broad revival of the Midtown area. Bottom Line: He’s transforming UB, he may help transform downtown’s northern end, and he may have already had a hand in determining Baltimore’s next mayor. Conventional wisdom says Dixon owes him big time.

44. Kweisi Mfume

Age: 58 Title: Baltimore’s Dream Mayor 2003 Rank: 9 Nickname: The X Factor Power Play: He may have lost his U.S. Senate bid, but as of mid-winter he still had Baltimore’s mayoral election on hold. Power Source: Mere mention of Mfume and Baltimore’s mayoralty in the same breath generates unparalleled buzz. Baltimore’s former congressman dominated the 2007 mayoral election into February—without so much as suggesting he wanted to run. Bottom Line: Mfume’s grip on this town is in many ways intangible—he hasn’t represented Baltimore politically in years—but the city’s affection for him is enduring across constituencies.

45. William C. Baker

Age: 53 Title: President, Chesapeake Bay Foundation 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Baywatcher Power Play: As the environment becomes more of a front-burner issue, he has built enormous public and private support for his cause. Power Source: While garnering “green” support can be tricky—it’s deemed a mite lefty by most—saving the Bay is a cause most can comfortably espouse (check out those “Bay” license plates). Baker sits alongside the region’s powerbrokers on prestigious boards: Johns Hopkins Medicine (he’s vice chair), Baltimore Community Foundation, Living Classrooms Foundation, Brown Advisory. Bottom Line: We can’t turn a blind eye to the abysmal state of our water and air—Baker’s organization gave Bay health a “D” last year—and nobody’s better poised to elevate environmental issues now than he.

46. Andrew Frank

Age: 40 Title: Deputy Mayor for Neighborhood and Economic Development 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Deputy Power Play: He traded in the #2 spot at BDC for a more prestigious #2 gig: helping Sheila Dixon run city government. Power Source: Frank has toiled in Baltimore’s housing and development public sector since the early 1980’s, and now he’s running the show. Fresh off 10 years as executive VP at the “quasi-public” BDC where he, among other tasks, oversaw Inner Harbor activity and development, he’s one of two Dixon deputies tasked with aligning all government agencies with the city’s neighborhood and economic-development priorities. Bottom Line: Frank’s broader authority as deputy mayor paves the way for his continued upward climb.

47. Stephen J. Bisciotti

Age: 46 Title: Founder, Allegis Group 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: The Stealthy Supermogul Power Play: Buying the Ravens—then letting the professionals run the day-to-day operations. Power Source: At age 23, Bisciotti co-founded a business in his basement, which became the nation’s third largest worldwide technical staffing firm. Despite being ranked among the Forbes 500 at about $1 billion in personal worth, the reclusive Bisciotti successfully stayed out of the local limelight—that is, until he bought a minority stake in the Ravens in 2000, then the rest of it four years later. Bottom Line: He’s a private and very rich man; and he’s now a public figure by virtue of owning a very public football franchise.

48. Stephen A. Geppi

Age: 57 Title: Founder and president, Diamond Comic Distributors; publisher, Baltimore magazine 2003 Rank: 42 Nickname: Captain Comic Power Play: Opened an eponymous downtown museum; waiting in the wings to form ownership group (possibly with Cal Ripken Jr.) to purchase Orioles, when Angelos is ready to sell. Power Source: $300-million-plus a year comic distribution business lets him do things like open a pop culture museum at Camden Station. Down to earth tycoon sits on several local boards. Bottom Line: Baltimore’s hometown hero has fun with his fortune.

49. Shale D. Stiller

Age: 72 Title: Chairman and CEO of the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname:Block Captain Power Play: Determining the pace of the West Side redevelopment project. Power Source: Tax and real estate law expert Shiller remains counsel to the mega law firm DLA Piper USA and is a Johns Hopkins Hospital and University trustee. But his greatest influence comes via the Weinberg Foundation, which owns much of the property the city wants to develop on the West Side’s superblock. Fought city efforts for condemnation in order to leave Weinberg the option to develop its land itself, and is working with the Cordish Co. to do just that. Bottom Line: Unless the city can make peace with Stiller’s foundation, the much touted redevelopment of the West Side could languish for years. But an agreement between the two may be very close.

50. Ray Lewis

Age: 31 Title: Linebacker, The Baltimore Ravens 2003 Rank: n/a Nickname: Ray Ray Power Play: Dubbed “God’s Linebacker” by Sports Illustrated; preaches to packed pews when he freelances as guest preacher at the potent Empowerment Temple. Through star power and on behalf of events sponsored by the Ray Lewis Foundation, brings A-list sports and entertainment luminaries (Patti LaBelle, Tracy McGrady, Carmelo Anthony, et al) to town to raise money for disadvantaged youth. Power Source: Overwhelming popularity and name recognition in town helps trump any lingering taint of 2000 murder arrest—pitchman for K Bank, Eastern Motors, Madden Football, and more. Bottom Line: Lewis remains one of the most powerful and popular sports figures this town has ever seen—and his ambitions run well beyond the gridiron.