About halfway through summer, many of us, especially with temperatures steadily in the nineties for a few weeks now, are readily looking toward fall. And with that, this week, comes the announcement of the hottest Halloween party in Baltimore, when Believe in Music teams up with the Maryland Science Center for its annual October bash.

For one evening, the exhibits—kid-friendly learning experiences on the likes of dinosaurs, space, and physics—transform into a full-on music festival on the Inner Harbor, featuring more than a dozen bands, a wild costume contest, and overflowing craft beer, all to benefit the educational center and local arts nonprofit.

The event, now in its eighth year, has just announced its 2019 lineup, featuring familiar faces who have performed at past parties, as well as exciting new acts. On Saturday October 26, some two dozen Baltimore artists will perform across multiples stages, from the planetarium to the rooftop to beneath a gigantic Tyrannosaurus Rex.

The main stage will feature big-name headliners: head-banging rock band J. Roddy Walston and The Business, beloved rap star DDm, and Talking Heads tribute group, Psycho Killers. Meanwhile, the Friends of Friends [Records] Stage will highlight rising DIY acts—post-punk duo Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, alt-hip-hop collective Soul Cannon, indie-pop singer Eyas, and electro-femme pair HexGirlfriends—while the planetarium will host a handful of techno and house, and dance music artists. As in years past, the Charm City Bluegrass Stage will be dedicated to Americana musicians, such as bluegrass rebels The Dirty Grass Players and folk-pop septet Haint Blue. And both DJs Rob Macy of Save Your Soul and James Nasty will be back on the ones and twos into the wee hours of the nights.

Exhibits will be open throughout the evening, as will the IMAX theater, where Future Islands bassist William Cashion and psychedelic electronic artist DeltaNine will curate immersive experiences.
Tickets usually sell out and are now on sale for general admission ($42) and VIP ($80).

Between the parades, restaurant specials, and pub crawls in our St. Patrick’s Day Roundup, it might be hard to come out the other end of this weekend without feeling a bit green. If you want to avoid the shamrock-clad crowds, check out these alternative events happening around town.

EAT

March 16: Drag Me To Brunch

El Bufalo Tequila Bar & Kitchen, 2921 O’Donnell St. 11 a.m.-3 p.m. $20

We can’t think of a better way to start the St. Patrick’s Day weekend shenanigans than with a good ol’ fashioned drag brunch. After noshing on Tex-Mex brunch dishes like spicy chorizo omelets and breakfast tacos, dance along with local queens like Sarah ‘Nade, Virya Shavasana, and Victoria Bohmore as they sashay around El Bufalo Tequila Bar & Kitchen. With bottomless mimosas, tequila sunrises, and Bloody Marys flowing throughout the show, you’re guaranteed to be dragging your feet once it’s time to go back out to the Canton Square.

DRINK

March 16: Unicorn Farts Release Party

DuClaw Brewing Company, 8901 Yellow Bright Rd. 2-3 p.m. Free.

This weekend marks the release of DuClaw Brewing’s unicorn-themed beer in support of the city’s LGBTQ community, and their team of brewers is kicking off the celebration (literally) with an ode to Baltimore Pride’s annual high-heel race. Venture out to Rosedale to participate in a one-of-a-kind 20-meter dash to honor the brand-new glittery ale, Sour Me Unicorn Farts, and then spend the rest afternoon enjoying live music and eats from local food trucks. Show the crowd of onlookers what stilettos are made for and trade in your sweat for 16 ounces of shimmer at the finish line.

SEE

March 16-April 13: Louie’s Cafe Bookstore Exhibition

Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. 6-8 p.m. Free.

Before Station North’s worker-owned Red Emma’s Bookstore Coffeehouse, there was Louie’s, a beloved bookstore cafe which was the first of its kind when it opened in 1981. This Charles Street staple served as a hub for Baltimore’s artist community, and now, 20 years after its closing, 25 of Louie’s previously featured artists are hanging their masterpieces on the walls of the Creative Alliance to revive the glory of this cultural epicenter. Whether you’re a former patron or just want to revel in this piece of local history, experience its opening on Saturday night and stick around for eats by James Beard Award-winning chef Spike Gjerde and tunes by Ava Oelke with Swing Theory.

HEAR

March 15: Haint Blue

Metro Gallery, 1700 N. Charles St. 8 p.m. $10.

Heavy thunderstorms are in Friday’s forecast, but don’t let that stop you from jamming out with this righteous Baltimore-based septet during the release party for their first full-length album, Overgrown. Pack the Metro Gallery to hear bold anthems and vulnerable ballads from this rising Americana-folk group as well as sets by local artists Caleb Stine and Cora Sone that will have you rockin’ no matter how loudly the thunder rolls.

DO

March 8: Baltimore Oyster Gardening

Downtown Sailing Center, 1425 Key Hwy. 9-11 a.m. Free.

Who knew mollusks needed gardening? This Saturday, head down to Lighthouse Point to help ensure that the 250,000 oysters planted around the Inner Harbor are living their best lives. Show your appreciation for these Chesapeake Bay VIPs by cleaning out their cages and learning about how important they are to the ecosystem. And though you’re bound to get dirty (RIP to your T-shirt), the day’s work will leave you feeling happy as a clam.

In the latest iteration of The Big Baltimore Playlist, we found five local songs ranging from dance-ready folk-pop and punkish hip-hop to an adrenaline-pumping electronic score. Check back each month for new top songs of the moment, and follow our Spotify playlist as we continue to build a soundtrack for our city.

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“The Breakway” by Dan Deacon

Maybe you caught the premiere of Time Trial during last year’s Maryland Film Festival. If you did, and you’re anything like us, you found yourself undeniably drawn not just to the documentary film’s visceral story of resurrection and redemption for Tour de France cyclist David Millar, but also its captivating score, released late last year. Baltimore electronic artist Dan Deacon has been flexing his composer skills over the last few years, with this being his second via Domino Records. (See also 2016’s Rat Film.) This pump of adrenaline is Deacon’s digital mastery at its finest, building in small, pulsing tones before bursting into a sparkling dreamscape. It draws the listener inward while creating a vast, vivid portrait of the physical endurance required by this limit-pushing ride. We’re equally and anxiously awaiting both Deacon’s upcoming electro-pop record and his next score.

“Hustle” by F City

A great under-the-radar record from last year was the dual personality of Agenda/World of Good by local supergroup F City. Founded by singer Lala Anderson, drummer Landis Expandis, and drummer Paul Joyce, the genre-busting trio puts 12 tracks divided between a punkish A-side and an electronic B-side. Whichever side you land on, you’ll appreciate the songs’ raw energy and no holds-barred funk. This particular track, situated in the latter, is a throwback to early hip-hop rhythms and rhymes that’s all about hard work, featuring one of the city’s most dogged rappers, Eze Jackson. Follow him and the trio as they wander the city streets of Baltimore in the song’s old-school video, released last month.

“Bear The Burden” by Haint Blue

There’s folk music, and then there’s Haint Blue. The local sextet’s bold take on the Americana genre lands somewhere in the eye of the storm—between calm and chaos—a lilting chamber orchestra meets a holy roller gospel choir. This first single off the upcoming Overgrownembodies that ethos. It’s a tight tour de force with valleys and peaks as frontman Mike Cohn bares his soul. Each song on this new record is a reckoning with the singer’s flight from a fundamentalist upbringing and his fight through serious drug addiction, and that sort of internal digging gives these melodies a deep and hearty authenticity. In the three years since the band’s debut EP, their chemistry has coalesced into a crescendo of emotion and talent. You feel their rich harmonies, of voice and instrument, in your bones.

“Past Life” by Maggie Rogers

Maggie Rogers might not be from Baltimore, but we’ll continue to root for this Eastern Shore singer-songwriter as our own. Her debut record, Heard It In A Past Life, out now via Capitol Records, is an emotional catharsis, reckoning with the earth-shaking transformation she’s experienced over the last two years while becoming a bona fide folk-pop star. It’s an outright fun, fiery, dance-ready feat—listen to “Retrograde” and “Burning” to see what we mean—but we personally love the quiet moments that remind us of the Maggie we fell for before her face was sprawled across billboards and bright-light marquees. This title track was reason enough for an entire record. She bares it all and stands stronger than ever before.

“Money Don’t Grow On Trees” by Sneaks

Keep this MICA alum and now D.C.-based singer-songwriter on your radar. Eva Moolchan’s (aka Sneaks’) third album, Highway Hypnosis, now streaming via NPR First Listen and out soon via Merge Recrds, is garnering a bunch of hype for its singular sound—a feminist fusion of hip-hop and post-punk that’s as much M.I.A. as it is Priests, though completely all her own. It’s easy to get hooked on her hushed vocals and repetitive spoken-word lyrics that create a sort of mantra for each track, such as this song’s title chorus. With bare-bones instrumentation and a staccato, bass-forward beat, she creates a soundscape that immerses you and, in its mere two minutes, leaves you wanting more. See also “Beliefs” and “Hong Kong to Amsterdam.”

Joy Postell

Diaspora

Before she’d ever released an album, Joy Postell had become a seminal artist in the local music scene thanks to her clarion calls for justice and equality. And now we have her first record, a dynamic feat that announces the singer-songwriter as a mighty voice for her city—and the country. Across 10 tracks, from social commentaries (“Consciousness”) to intimate love stories (“Signs”), Postell draws from the historic sounds of the African-American experience—haunting spirituals, jazzy neo-soul, funk-infused R&B—and adds her own flair and fire. Whatever the subject, she speaks from the soul, bares her own truth, and searches for means of growth, both personally and as a society at large. Pay attention to her words. They pack a powerful message.

Haint Blue

Overgrown

Boy, is this one holy roller of a record. Haint Blue has gained a loyal local following over the years, but the septet is ready to soar with this first full-length record—a powerful reckoning with faith, family, addiction, and acceptance by way of righteous indie-Americana music that both smooths and shakes your soul. Through big, bold anthems and bare-it-all ballads, these 12 tracks explore the real-life experiences of frontman Mike Cohn, from fleeing a religious upbringing and battling a dark period of drugs to losing loved ones along the way. Whatever your own story may be, the band’s hearty arrangements, founded in traditional acoustic instruments, Cohn’s textured vocals, and tight, golden harmonies, strike a deeply human chord. The record comes out next month, but listen to the first single, “Bear The Burden,” now.