The Big Baltimore Kite Festival
March 28. When the teams from Creative Alliance and Friends of Patterson Park came together to plan the 2019 Big Baltimore Kite Fest, they shared a vision for a throwback to the simple spring days of flying kites in the park—no stages, beer gardens, or food trucks needed. The nostalgic concept, combined with the fact that festival happened to fall on the first sunny day in March, brought more than 6,000 people and their high-flying kites to Patterson Park. Heather Keating, one of the festival’s leaders, says the goal for this year’s event is to have as many different colors and types of kites in the sky as possible. “It’s a day to leave the screens at home, bring a picnic to the park, and enjoy a lovely day of running around and trying to get your kite to fly,” Keating says. “It’s one of the best ways to experience Baltimore.”—KP. Patterson Park. Noon-4 p.m.. Free.

---

Annapolis Oyster Roast & Sock Burning
March 21. Yes, this event takes place outside of Baltimore. No, the distance shouldn’t stop you from participating in one of our region’s most beloved spring rituals. For decades, locals and visitors alike have stripped off their winter socks to fuel a beach fire at the Annapolis Maritime Museum, signifying the start of barefoot boating season. While your mid-calf socks scorch on the pile, slurp down all-you-can-eat oysters, dance along to performances by The Eastport Oyster Boys and Naptown Brass Band, and celebrate this time-honored tradition that benefits the museum’s education programs. Annapolis Maritime Museum. Noon-4p.m.. $15-85.

---

SHAN Wallace: 410
To June 28. As part of The Baltimore Museum of Art’s initiative to provide greater recognition for women artists and leaders, the historic museum will roll out nine solo exhibitions by female-identifying creatives this month. One of the featured artists is SHAN Wallace, a Baltimore-born photographer who describes the work in this four-month show as her “love letter to the beauty, complexity, and resilience of her hometown.” After viewing Wallace’s black-and-white shots in the Contemporary Wing galleries, make plans to attend her portrait sessions at Lexington Market, where she will be leading workshops for rising photographers throughout the next few months. The Baltimore Museum of Art. Time varies. Free.

---

Movers and Shakers
March 4. Over the past few years, the Stoop Storytelling Series has teamed up with a bunch of local organizations, including Baltimore, to bring dynamic live storytelling to audiences across the city. This month’s show is no exception, thanks to its partnership with Women in Business at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, which invites brave souls to jump onstage to talk about their personal experience with breaking barriers, fighting oppression, and smashing the status quo. Whether you have your own story to tell or just want to hear tales of people standing up for themselves, this event at the Hopkins business school is sure to leave you feeling inspired. Johns Hopkins Carey School of Business. 5 p.m.. $10-15.

---

Bull & Oyster Roast
March 7. Name two things you can sinfully slurp without shame—oysters and beer, of course! Show your support for the Baltimore Museum of Industry during this annual food-tastic fundraiser, with an open bar, live music, and plenty of freshly shucked oysters and pit beef. After you’re full, enter to win raffle prizes and giveaways from various auctions, play games, and make a donation to benefit the museum’s award-winning educational programs. The Baltimore Museum of Industry. 6 p.m.-10 p.m.. $75-750.

---

Baltimore Old Time Music Festival
March 13-14. Back by popular demand, this music fesitval will take over Creative Alliance for the second time for a weekend full of swingin’ performances by old-time musicians, singers, and dancers. Virtuosos and musical amateurs alike are invited to the Highlandtown arts center to listen to historic harmonies and tunes of times past from musical groups such as The Foghorn Stringband, Bill and The Belles, and Amythyst Kiah. Don’t forget to dust off your boogie shoes so you can show off your square-dancing skills during the final leg of the festival. 3134 Eastern Ave.. Times vary. $13-150.

---

The Band’s Visit
March 17- 22. Treat yourself to a night out at the theater to see this 10-time Tony Award-winning musical about a band of musicians who get stranded in a small Israeli town. As the band brings the boring village to life with its striking sound, audiences will watch in awe at how a brief encounter changes the desert town forever. Snag tickets to see the Hippodrome’s latest show, which is almost guaranteed to charm you with its sultry score and delightful simplicity. The Hippodrome at France-Merrick PAC. Times vary. $51-119.

---

Berta, Berta
March 17-30. Everyman Theatre has never shied away from plays that confront controversial topics, and the latest show to take over its downtown stage is no exception. Berta, Berta examines the problem of mass incarceration in the United States through this 20th-century love story that’s set in Mississippi. After committing a heinous crime, Leroy is given one last chance to reunite with his former lover, Berta. The show, inspired by the prison work song “Berta, Berta,” navigates the limits of love, anger, and forgiveness and will have audiences fascinated until the final scene. 315 W. Fayette St.. Times vary. $25-69.

---

Zoo Bloom
March 21. It’s official: Spring has sprung. Break out of winter hibernation and celebrate the start of a new season with tons of outdoor activities for both visitors and the Maryland Zoo’s furry family. During this one-day-only event, spend the afternoon snacking on sweets from Charm City Cakes, learning more about animals that live on farms and in Maryland, and feeding the animals spring-themed treats. The Maryland Zoo. 10 a.m.-4 p.m.. Free-$21.99.

---

Lower Dens
March 21. Back in September, we reviewed local indie darlings Lower Dens’ latest album, The Competition, and said it might just be their most powerful project yet. Hear what all the fuss is about during the acclaimed group’s one-night stop at the Ottobar, featuring deeply personal songs such as “I Drive” and politically charged anthems like “Young Republicans.” Pack the Remington club to give these local music heroes the hometown show they deserve, and prepare to dance the night away. 2549 N. Howard St.. 8 p.m.. $20.

Lower Dens

The Competition

For nearly a decade, Lower Dens have been making some of the city’s most acclaimed, accomplished albums, joining the ranks of Future Islands and Beach House as Baltimore-based artists with indie-darling status on the national stage. And all the while, lead singer Jana Hunter has forged his own path, taking the dream-pop genre to a new level with music so steeped in 1980s synth and nostalgia that it almost unfurls like an art-house take on a John Hughes soundtrack. This new album, the band’s first in four years, might be their most powerful yet, reckoning with modern society through deeply personal (“I Drive”) and political (“Young Republicans”) songwriting. Even in these dark times, these big, bold, Wall-of-Sound melodies could inspire you to dream or dance.

Eze Jackson

Fool

It’s hard to envision the Baltimore music scene without Eze Jackson. From fronting beloved hip-hop collective Soul Cannon to emceeing the Bmore BeatClub rap showcase to collaborating with myriad artists across all pockets of the city, Jackson has been one of its most hardworking musicians and vital creative forces over the last decade-plus—a steadfast champion of this city, breathing its stories, streets, and soul into every verse. That legacy is bottled in this latest solo record, featuring a dynamic mix of hard-hitting rhymes, funky and fiery beats, club bangers, and even smooth-crooning love songs. Pay particular attention to his powerful anthem, “Unapologetically Black,” his poignant ballad, “Be Great,” and the a capella ode, “Thank You.”

EAT

Aug. 30-Sept. 2: Maryland State Fair

Maryland State Fair and Timonium Fairgrounds, 2200 York Rd., Lutherville-Timonium. 9 a.m.-10 p.m. Prices vary.

For the past 137 years, the Maryland State Fair has been summer’s last hurrah before the leaves begin to change. While fairgoers look forward to the Midway rides and thoroughbred races, the fair’s wide array of eats—from farmers’ market finds to deep-fried delicacies—are just as much of a draw. During its final weekend, indulge in tons of nostalgic carnival treats like cotton candy, deep-fried Oreos, and funnel cake, as well as riffs on Old Line State favorites like the Crabby Patty sandwich and the Maryland pulled pork sundae at the Maryland Foods Pavilion.

DRINK

Aug. 30: My Thai Mai Tai

El Tigre Tiki Bar, 1640 Aliceanna St. 4-11 p.m. Free.

Seventy-five years ago, the owner of a California tiki restaurant mixed the very first Mai Thai, and the world of tropical drinks hasn’t been the same since. To celebrate the anniversary of this beach-party staple, Broadway Market’s outdoor tiki bar will be serving up variations of the classic drink and pairing each cocktail with a recommended dish from fellow tenant Thai Street. We highly recommend chowing down on crab fried rice or drunken noodles in between mai tais to offset a sugar-induced hangover.

SEE

Aug. 23: Baltimore Comedy Festival

Locations, times, and prices vary.

Laugh your way through Labor Day weekend with Baltimore Comedy Festival’s killer lineup of more than 20 events scattered throughout the city’s top stand up venues. This third-annual festival boasts everything from panel discussions and podcast recordings with rising comedians to stand-up showcases at spots like Motor House and Zissimos. Whether you stop in to catch a set or make a full weekend out of it, don’t miss this opportunity to enjoy some of Baltimore’s best comedians.

HEAR

Aug. 31-Sept. 1: Lower Dens

Rituals, 12 W. North Ave. 8 p.m. $15.

This veteran indie-pop duo is celebrating the final days before the official release of their new album, The Competition, with two nights of hometown shows in Station North. Pack the Rituals (formerly the Windup Space) dance floor to hear standout singles like “I Drive” and “Young Republicans” come alive with Jana Hunter and Nate Nelson’s synth-laced beats and unmistakable energy and send the band off on their month-long tour with an encore or two.

DO

Aug. 31-Oct. 20: Maryland Renaissance Festival

1821 Crownsville Rd. 10 a.m.-7 p.m. $8-20.

Let’s face it: We could all use a break from modern political chaos and the impending climate crisis, and what could be a better distraction than entering a world of medieval make-believe? This Sunday, embrace ye inner lord or lady and experience this weird and wonderful Maryland tradition among thousands of other mead-swilling attendees. Spend the day chomping on turkey legs, cheering on your favorite knight in the jousting competition, and watching zany takes on The Bard’s greatest plays. If you can’t make it this weekend, don’t worry, the Crownsville festival runs through mid-October.

Visual Art

Time and Place

In this second exhibition at the reopened 1 West Mount Vernon Place, contemplate the bridges between past and present through Jay Gould’s evocative portraits and Antonio McAfee’s haunting composite images from W.E.B. DuBois’ Exhibit of American Negroes. The combination of the two artists work offers a contemporary perspective on 19th-century imagery. Through March 1, 2020. The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St.

Music

Lower Dens Album Release

Join Jana Hunter and Nate Nelson as they celebrate the release of The Competition and kick off a month-long tour with two nights of shows at Rituals in the former home of The Windup Space in Station North. Soak up their synth-laced beats and dance like the lead in your favorite ‘80s heartbreaker before these local legends head out of town for September. 8 p.m. to 1 a.m., Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. Rituals, 12 W. North Ave.

Literature

Jessica Gregg: News From This Lonesome City

Jessica Gregg has spent the past decade living in and writing about the city her family has called home for five generations. This new collection of poems from the editor of Baltimore’s Child and Baltimore’s Style explores the experiences gathered by living and working in Baltimore and the loneliness, fear, and ultimate hope that they inspire. Join Gregg at Bird in Hand for a discussion of these new verses and the stories that inspired them. 7-9 p.m., Bird in Hand Charles Village, 11 E. 33rd St.

Film

2019 Black Femme Supremacy Film Fest

Back for its second year at the SNF Parkway, this weekend-long film festival celebrating and connecting black femme filmmakers will feature dozens of films, from music videos to documentaries. This year’s theme is “Access,” and the idea will guide programming throughout the festival. Be sure to catch screenings of Baltimore-made docs such as B. Monet’s Ballet After Dark and Antonio Hernadez’s Indelible: Abdu Ali, both about local artists changing this city for the better. Aug. 30 to Sept. 1. The SNF Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Ave.

News

Home Sweet Home for Current Space

If you haven’t been by 421 North Howard Street recently, we have good news for you. After three long years of red tape and renovation, Current Space finally has the forever home they’ve been after. Owners Julianne Hamilton and Michael Benevento had been working to acquire the building since 2015 and announced the purchase in late July. Next steps include updates to the roof and HVAC system, among other improvements. Stop by Aug. 31 to pass along your congratulations to Hamilton and Benevento and jam to Horse Lords, Wume, Smoke Bellow, and DJ/MC Lexie Mountain in the backyard.

New Digs for The Ivy Bookshop

The Ivy is already a book-lover’s dream, but take a moment to imagine perusing one of its tomes while rocking back and forth on a peaceful front porch, or maybe even moving into the shop itself. Those dreams will soon be a reality, as The Ivy plans to move into a 19th century home at 5928 Falls Road this spring. New additions will include more space for books, an upstairs workshop, and a writer’s residency apartment, all inside a charming former church near the Jones Falls.

It’s a Woman’s World at the BMA

The Baltimore Museum of Art has announced on Aug. 1 that, starting this fall, the museum will play host to 20 exhibitions celebrating women and female-identifying artists over the course of a year. The program, called 2020 Vision, recognizes the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment and will kick off this fall with By Their Creative Force: American Women Modernists, which will feature 20th-century painters, followed by an installation of Mickalene Thomas’ living rooms in the museum’s east lobby in November. Vision 2020 begins in September and will stretch through Summer 2020.

In the latest iteration of The Big Baltimore Playlist, we found five local songs ranging from joyous hip-hop to nostalgic synthpop to otherworldly instrumentals. 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.

---

“Raiments” by Ami Dang

In a city of idiosyncratic artists, few Baltimore musicians make more of an original mark than Ami Dang. Using sitar, voice, and electronics, she creates a transporting sound experience that weaves together the North Indian classical music of her heritage and the ambient DIY sounds of her home, Baltimore City. Get lost in this dreamy east-meets-west fusion in this early single off her upcoming album, Parted Plains, which draws inspiration from the epic folktales of South Asia and the Middle East, such as One Thousand and One Nights, letting your imagination tell a mythical tale of its own.

“Hooray” by DDm

This bright, bouncy sparkle of a first song off of DDm’s new album, Beautiful Gowns, very well might be our favorite song of the year. It’s the song we need in the world right now—a positive proclamation for finding some joy in these strange, turbulent times. It captures the affirmative approach that this Baltimore born rapper has decided to take in his music making, forging his own path and finding his own infectious beat, haters be damned, along the way. Give it a listen, add it to all of your playlists, and follow the chorus mantra: “Don’t stop, keep on dancing.”

“Be Great” by Eze Jackson

It’s hard to envision the Baltimore music scene without prolific rap artist Eze Jackson. From fronting alt-hip-hop collective Soul Cannon to emceeing the Bmore Beat Club rap showcase to collaborating with myriad artists, Jackson has been a potent and vital creative force for this city, a legacy that’s bottled in his latest solo record, Fool. Debuted last weekend during Artscape, it’s a dynamic mix of feel-good beats, hard-hitting verses, club bangers, smooth love songs, and poignant ballads, like this first track. Sparse and soaring, it’s an inspirational piece of poetry, on survival, on success, on self, and always, Baltimore. Call it an unofficial anthem, only solidifying that Jackson will go down as one of our city’s own greats.

“Not A Riddle” by Hunter Hooligan

Last month, on the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, Baltimore singer-songwriter Hunter Hooligan released this celebratory piece of house music to mark the historic anniversary of Pride. Its message is one to consider any day of the year, that love is love is love, with its funky, buoyant melody and Hooligan’s mellifluous vocals tipping a hat to 1969 as much as they are looking ahead to the future. “What divides us? Inside us, we’re one and the same,” he sings. Whoever you happen to love, this feel-good dance number is an instant summer jam.

“I Drive” by Lower Dens

This veteran indie-pop band has written and released some of the city’s most acclaimed and accomplished albums over the course of its nearly 10-year run in Baltimore. But their upcoming album and first in four years, The Competition, is shaping up to be their most powerful yet. This second single reveals an intimate look at family through the LGBTQ lens. “Like a lot of queer and trans people, I’ve learned that real family is made, and it isn’t necessarily blood,” wrote singer Jana Hunter, who identifies as he/him, on Facebook. “This song is about leaving behind obligations to people who don’t love or care about you, being with and about people who do.” That is the driving force behind the title, and its urgency is heard in this gorgeous, nostalgically 1980s synthpop song, backed by the ethereal vocals of Baltimore R&B singer :3ION.

It’s not every day that a brand-new band so quickly captures the sound of its home city, but in the case of Chaunter, you could say these songs have been nearly a decade in the making.

Founded by Station North stalwarts Brooks Kossover, on vocals and flute, and Jenghis Pettit, on guitar, the duo’s debut record, Dream Dynamics, is a celebration of the DIY scene in a Baltimore, and its idiosyncratic spirit is fleshed out by guest appearances from a league of local musical legends. Think electronic artist Dan Deacon, Future Islands’ Samuel T. Herring, Lower Dens’ Jana Hunter, guitar-pop group Super City, and rapper 83 Cutlass, to name a few.

Swirling in synth and smoldering with live-wire guitar, the songs harken back to the days when Rolling Stone named Baltimore’s music scene the very best in the country, but the bandmates follow the sound of their own woodwind into a sort of deep, dark, mythical dream world.

Before their release show at the Metro Gallery on March 29, we talked with the duo about friendship, freakwave, and finding inspiration in Baltimore.

---

How did Chaunter come to be?

Brooks Kossover: Jenghis and I have been friends for a long time, but we really bonded over music. We hit it off over this shared love of prog-rock and you almost never meet anyone, especially our age, who is into, like, Jethro Tull. I specifically remember seeing him in a Rush t-shirt and being like who is this kid? From there, he introduced me to visual kei, this Japanese form of rock from the 1990s that really influenced Chaunter. The music is very thematic and dramatic and not just one particular sound. When you see us live, you know what I mean. We wrote this album and rehearsed it for half a year before ever playing a show.

Anyone from outside of Baltimore might wonder how this brand-new band got all these legendary local musicians on their debut record. But as regulars in the local arts scene, they just so happen to be your friends. How did the album come to be?

BK: It kind of all started with my paintings. In making these large portraits, I met all of these different artists and musicians and ended up collaborating, and even living, with some of them. Putting out music together just felt like the natural next step. . . . I wanted this first album to be a testament to the Baltimore arts scene. We wanted to come out strong like this is who we are, these are our friends, this is Baltimore music, and make as big of an impact as possible. Our first album is a concept album in a weird way. I wanted it to be like waking up in a dream, and in the end, you fall back into reality.

Jenghis Pettit: No matter what the genre is, a lot of the different sounds out that come out of Baltimore have this dreamlike quality to them.

BK: Moving forward, our music will be much more band-driven—Jenghis and me—and later in the year, we’ll be putting out an EP that will have a finer scope that truly defines us. We just want to put out cool songs and hopefully put Baltimore and freakwave on the map.

Ah, freakwave—the new Baltimore genre. Also used by local quintet Super City.

JP: It’s his favorite word. [Laughs.]

BK: Hey, I’ve only said it once this whole interview! [Laughs.] It’s a very performative, melody-driven form of music. Just one of those things you need to see live to really feel the energy of it. I just love the idea of another genre being born out of Baltimore. I know I’m not from here, but I’ve lived here for about eight years now, and it’s changed me so much.

Jenghis, you grew up in West Baltimore. How did you got involved in the DIY music scene?

JP: My freshman year of high school, one of my friends gave me a guitar. I taught myself how to play by sitting and playing along with the radio. I went straight into metal and prog rock. Later on, I was living at Bell Foundry with Qué [Pequeño] and we started the band Melanin Free, which took on a life of its own. Melanin Free is a form of activism for me. After 2015, the Uprising was something I felt I needed to bring into my music. Even in certain places with Chaunter, it comes out in certain ways and I’m not going to try to hide it. It feels good to be able to show my Baltimore and put my two cents in. For me, this first album revolves around old memories from when I first started doing the whole art thing.

Are there any songs that are particularly meaningful to you?

BK: For me, it’s “The Copycat.” Jenghis lives there now, I lived there for a long time, we started [the art gallery] Terrault there. All the time spent in that building, what that building has meant to the city, the music that’s come out of it. I wanted this song, and the first album, to be an ode. I wanted them to be reminiscent of all those different sounds and people and memories and experiences coming together into one place.

JP: It has a lot of backstory. Frank, the superintendent of The Copycat, who is my landlord right now, is featured on the intro as well. It’s just a really good song.

In celebrating the past, where do you find inspiration in this city today?

JP: A few years back, there was a lot of hype, and then it kind of disappeared. But everyone just decided to focus on making good work, and through that, we’re starting to get real, genuine recognition that I think is a lot more sustainable. Looking at friends like Butch [Dawson], Joy [Postell], and Al [Rogers Jr.] putting out these insane projects—it’s just like, alright, I have to really go hard to try to keep up with them. I think if we can all stay together and continue to collaborate, we can make something for ourselves here that can’t disappear.

Two years ago, a rustic summer camp in Darlington transformed into a millennial hippie’s daydream. For one weekend, Fields Festival parked its metaphorical RV and threw a celebration of local DIY—an umbrella term for Baltimore’s vibrant arts scene that dances across genre, medium, and style. Hundreds of art students, music lovers, and merry pranksters flocked to the rustic grounds of Camp Ramblewood to see scores of area artists, musicians, and performers. Tents were pitched. Art was hung. Donut rafts filled the pool, Dan Deacon started dance parties, and cans of Natty Boh were crushed beside campfires. It was messy, magical, and uniquely Baltimore, and this month, it returns Aug. 19-21, bigger and better than ever. With everything from sets by Future Islands and TT The Artist to camping and lakeside yoga, here’s what you need to know for this Bonnaroo-meets-Burning Man-meets-Wet Hot American Summer weekend.

1. Relive your summer camp glory days by renting an old-school cabin.

2. Or get in touch with nature by glamping in your very own tent.

3. Required attire is up to interpretation. Sundresses, bathing suits, boas, bro tanks, jorts, hula hoops, face paint, glow sticks, bare feet—you name it, it’s all welcome.

4. Be sure to BYO: Natty Boh, grills, guitars, firewood, fanny packs, sunscreen, snacks, and campsite decorations.

5. Across 200 acres of campground, there are plenty of grassy knolls to lounge upon.

6. Sing “Kumbaya” around the campfire pit.

7. Take a dip in the pool with rafts all day and concerts at sunset.

8. Center your chakra with lakeside yoga and a wellness area for all the massage, acupuncture, and astrology your heart desires.

9. With six stages, don’t miss big names and up-and-comers like Future Islands, Dan Deacon, Lower Dens, TT The Artist, Abdu Ali, Flock of Dimes, Ed Schrader’s Music Beat, Chiffon, Horse Lords, Wume, Nudie Suits, etc. Plus, the eclectic costumes and cosmic jazz of the iconic Sun Ra Arkestra.

10. Get to know local creatives through art installations, theater, film, and poetry, including the likes of Wham City Comedy, street artist Reed Bmore, and members of Le Mondo, EMP Collective, and Best of Baltimore-winning Balti Gurls, to name a few.

11. Stop and smell the roses with décor at the entranceway and throughout the festival by local artists Beth Hoeckel and Becca Morrin.

12. Food Avenue will include tacos from Clavel, Vietnamese spring rolls by chef Stefano Porcile of Colette, Thread Coffee from Red Emma’s, plus falafel, pizza, and farm-to-table fare.

13. Show your skills with tennis and basketball courts open game for festival-goers.

14. Sorry: No children or fireworks allowed. Things might get a little wild as is.

PRATT CONTEMPORARIES BLACK & WHITE PARTY
Jan. 30. Enoch Pratt Free Library, 400 Cathedral St. 8 p.m. $100. 410-396-5430. Don’t miss the party of all parties when the Pratt Contemporaries annual Black & White Party returns to the local library this month. This year, at the central Mt. Vernon location, guests will head out of the winter cold and into the warm forest of William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Dress up in your finest fairy-queen garb, mingle with Chesapeake Shakespeare Company performers, and sip on beer from The Brewer’s Art. Like Puck’s love potion, this soirée will surely leave you enchanted by the end of the night.

---

TEDXBALTIMORE
Jan. 14. Morgan State University. 2201 Argonne Dr. 8 a.m.-7 p.m. $60. 410-982-0799.
The annual TEDxBaltimore event will provide the perfect opportunity to clear out the cobwebs that may have gathered in your brain during the holidays. Modeled after the popular TED talks, the symposium will see 18 movers, shakers, and thinkers distill their messages into 18-minute multimedia presentations around this year’s theme of “Outliers.” In addition, speakers will address hot-button issues such as mental illness, the future of higher education, prison reform, reproductive rights, and African-American-led social justice movements. In between the talks, there will be time for refreshments and networking. We’re sure attendees will have no shortage of conversation material. —AM

---

AS YOU LIKE IT
Jan. 15-Feb. 14. Towson University, Mainstage Theatre, 1 Fine Arts Dr., Towson. Times vary. $10-69. 410-332-0033. On the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death, Center Stage kicks off the new year with a classic Bard comedy. Traditionally performed by an all-male cast, this new production lends the spotlight to the ladies with an all-female troupe. While its Mt. Vernon digs undergo renovations, the theater company sets up shop at Towson University to perform this entangled tale about love, politics, and gender roles.

---

LOWER DENS
Jan. 15-16. Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St. 9 p.m. $13. 410-662-0069. It’s been a big year for Lower Dens. The local indie-pop quartet dropped a heavily heralded album, Escape From Evil, embarked on a European tour, and made national news with frontwoman Jana Hunter discussing topics like politics, race, and gender with big-name outlets like CNN, BBC, Pitchfork, and Cosmopolitan. As the band embarks on a new North American tour, hear its ambient, ’80s-tinged rock for two nights in Remington this month, with fellow locals like Abdu Ali, Microkingdom, and Chiffon.

---

DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. PARADE
Jan. 18. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. and Eutaw St. 12 p.m. Free. 410-752-8632. It was more than 50 years ago that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. took the national stage to champion racial equality, nonviolence, freedom, and peace. Today, his words are more relevant than ever, and in light of recent social unrest and urgent calls for justice around the country, there’s no better time to honor his important civil rights legacy at this 15th annual parade featuring dance squads, school bands, handmade floats, and community organizations.

---

UNDER THE SKIN
Jan. 20-Feb. 21. Everyman Theatre, 315 W. Fayette St. Times vary. $10-60. 410-752-2208. After a sold-out world premiere in Philadelphia, this new play makes its way to Everyman to join the local theater’s already-stellar season. The funny, moving, yet somewhat dark work by Michael Hollinger (also of award-winning drama Opus and spy spoof Red Herring) examines family dynamics, complicated relationships, and unexpected love. Follow a sick father, his estranged daughter, and a kidney-donating stranger in this tangled love story that explores what it means to give part of yourself to someone else.

---

GARTH BROOKS
Jan. 22-23 & 29-30. Royal Farms Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. Times vary. Sold out. 410-347-2020. Since 1989, Garth Brooks has won multiple Grammys, dozens of CMAs, and sold more than 100 million records, making him the best-selling solo artist of all time (outdoing even Mr. Presley himself). The Oklahoman country legend cemented himself in music history with top 10 hits like “The Dance,” “The Thunder Rolls,” and the ultimate drunken bar song, “Friends in Low Places.” This month, he comes to the RoFo Arena for five sold-out performances with his wife of 10 years and a superstar in her own right, the one-and-only Trisha Yearwood.

---

THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA
Jan. 27-Feb. 7. Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. Times vary. $27.25-147. 41å0-837-7400. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s dark romantic masterpiece has been a Broadway bastion for nearly 30 years, with its timeless story, iconic half-mask, and organ-riddled theme song haunting us long after the curtain falls. Now helmed by musical producer Cameron Mackintosh (also of Cats, Les Misérables, and Mary Poppins fame), the smash-hit show comes to Baltimore bigger and better than ever, with an all-new production featuring fresh sets, choreography, costumes, special effects, and a 52-member cast and orchestra.

---

FETTY WAP
Jan. 28. Towson University, SECU Arena, 8000 York Rd., Towson. 8 p.m. $20-30. 855-888-4437. This young rapper skyrocketed to stardom last year after his breakout hit “Trap Queen” met the masses and went viral. Within no time, the debut single became the hands-down song of summer 2015, racing up the Billboard Hot 100, racking up 300 million views on YouTube alone, and inspiring every mom to awkwardly ask her kids, “What’s a trap queen?” It solidified itself in pop and sports culture, too, as a trivia answer on Jeopardy! and a post-game prank, when the Kansas City Royals confused reporters by repeatedly slipping its lyrics into interviews during their World Series run this past fall. That kind of fame might be hard to follow up, but with his wobbly verses, infectious beats, and subsequent singles featuring the likes of meme-dream Drake, it’s safe to say the 2015 VMA Artist to Watch will have our attention for some time to come.

Late this spring, Kenny Liner had an idea. Baltimore was still reeling from the uproar after the death of Freddie Gray, and he knew students at his after-school music program near the Perkins Homes neighborhood were struggling to process the violence they’d witnessed. He also knew the city’s creative community was searching for ways to give back.

So Liner told one of his classes—which he teaches as part of his program, Believe in Music, a part of the Living Classrooms Foundation—to write lyrics about the unrest. Out came words brimming with hope and resiliency.

“At first, I didn’t know what to write,” says 11-year-old Caprice, also known as “Preecie.” “But then, when I was concentrating real hard and thought about what had happened, I just started writing what was on my mind.” The refrain of the resulting song, “Believe in Baltimore,” begins, “This city is where we live, this city is where we come from. We won’t let it crumble into mass destruction.”

“I wanted it to change how people saw the city,” says 13-year-old Taniyah, a vocalist on the track. “And they would get a kid’s perspective.”

Lyrics penned, Liner contacted Baltimore-based band Future Islands, which had just performed on the Late Show with David Letterman. He then reached out to WTMD’s Baltimore music coordinator Sam Sessa, who enlisted singer Cara Satalino to combine the students’ lyrics. Future Islands’ bassist William Cashion and drummer Mike Lowry arranged the music. Jana Hunter of the band Lower Dens coached the singers.

It culminated with a May recording session at WTMD, at which the students were backed by music-scene elites, all of which you can watch in the video below.

Hearing the recording brought back mixed memories for the students. For Taniyah, the anxiety she felt during the rioting flooded back. Others felt the process was healing.

“It was white people singing with us, and it felt like unification,” says 15-year-old vocalist Yamaudi. “I felt like I was doing something good. We all felt like we were helping.”

Lower Dens
Escape from Evil (Ribbon Music)

The very first chord: That’s where this album hits you. It opens with a hard strum of guitar that quivers, fades, and repeats before Jana Hunter’s voice jumps in clear and strong, more confident and, paradoxically, vulnerable than ever before. Beneath it, a steady, new wave beat keeps time, then in come the haunting backup vocals, which warmly permeate a number of tracks. This first one, “Sucker’s Shangri-La,” sets the tone for the rest of the album, which retains the band’s dark, trademark ambiance and moody atmospheres but tempers them with a newfound energy and brightness to create a sort of shadowy synth-pop. The sound is amped up—in volume, speed, and dimension—building on the expansion of their last record with added emotion, detail, and texture. The guitars sear and clash as strongly as ever, but now they meet Hunter’s androgynous vocals in the middle, and even let them shine. At times, she comes in high and light, while at others, she falls away in abandon or howls out in despair. The fluctuations are fitting for songs about hope and heartbreak, highs and lows. On either end of the spectrum, they are robust and undeniable. Sometimes, somewhat surprisingly, you find yourself dancing along.

Read our Q&A with lead singer Jana Hunter.

---

Victoria Vox
When the Night Unravels (self-released)

Victoria Vox is a young woman of many talents: singer, songwriter, ukulele player, mouth trumpeter. The latter is a vocal technique from the Jazz Age and one Vox has come to master, using her mouth to mimic the sound of brass instruments. The Baltimore artist has recently garnered some attention for this skill, including the front page of The Wall Street Journal, but this album is her ninth. She’s no ingénue. She’s a pro. A smooth, easy fusion of jazz, pop, and soul, Vox combines sweet lyrics, soft melodies, and four-string strumming with electronic loops and a few friends on the likes of accordion, drums, and sax. Together, they create a full-band sound that harkens back to another era. Vox is an old soul, moving effortlessly between sultry, sexy jazz numbers; sunny, upbeat ditties; and honest R&B ballads, seamlessly weaving her candy-coated vocals through each. At its essence, it’s a classic volume of love songs—for broken hearts and open ones—and through it all, her yesteryear style shines.

---

Peals
Seltzer (Thrill Jockey)

It’s tempting to listen to this cassette and try to break down all of its elements—try to figure out what’s it all about? A side project by Baltimore’s William Cashion of Future Islands and Bruce Willen of Double Dagger, it arrives on the scene laden with expectations. Instead, put on the two half-hour tracks and just let them lilt about you. Before long, you’ll be transported—relaxed—like listening to wind chimes in a soft, summer breeze. You drift off in the deep blue tones before new sounds purl in and others taper out. The static buzz, the ringing bells, the undulating bass all build but never climax, playing light and pretty and nostalgic, like old memories on a reel-to-reel. The ambient sounds and seamless dissonance create a peaceful space, and when each song ends, you feel as if you’ve just woken from a deep slumber. That is the greatest achievement of this album: Sometimes it feels good to get lost in a song.

With the upcoming release of a brazen third album (out March 31 via Ribbon Music), Jana Hunter of Lower Dens talks about finding her voice, having some fun, and fighting the winter blues. The band will be playing at the Strathmore in Bethesda on March 12 and at Floristree on April 1.

I read in an interview that this album came out of this moment where you and the band were tired of making music about “being miserable while being miserable.”

[Laughs.] That is true but there was a little bit of context missing. Throughout our history as a band, we’ve had a number of run-of-the-mill difficulties, but specifically with this record, we were working in a very cold, dark space.

Literally or figuratively?

Well, we had been touring for a couple of years for our last two records, Nootropics and Twin-Hand Movements, and we were playing so much better than we ever had together. We had become a real ensemble. We were able to communicate musically and understand each other in a new way, so we really wanted to write collaboratively.

Our last record is almost strictly intellectual and very challenging to play, so we were excited to start something else. We started writing the new album in this industrial space and we went to great pains to make it something we could work in. We draped cloth around and set up lamps and tried to create this good environment.

At first, it was fine, but this was February 2013. It was cold. It was dark. We could never heat the space up. And then, it was really strange—we’d been playing together for such a long time, but one of our members [guitarist Will Adams] just quit one day and never came back and never spoke to us again.

That’s a really rough winter.

It was early in the writing session and it kind of deflated us. It was a very challenging situation, because we were trying to create music and improvise, which requires a certain environment of liberation and inspiration, but it’s hard to summon those things in that kind of space.

Did making the album help you get out of that?

Writing, for me, is a form of self-care. Especially when I was younger. As a teenager, I hated traditional therapy so I wouldn’t let my parents take me to see a therapist, but writing really helped. Music really helped. It’s something I know how to do and I recognized we needed that. We talked it over and decided to take the music in a direction that was as emotional and personal and fun as possible, as a way to be really honest about the subject matter but also to induce healing, I guess.

And isn’t honesty, in a way, one of the record’s themes?

A lot of the songs are about really personal, specific things for me. I was thinking a lot about our overcomplicated modern lives, our inability to recognize what we need, our distractions—specifically from consumer-based society and our innate need to survive and prosper—and how to deal with it all.

How do you tap into those personal, specific experiences? What’s your process?

I’m very bad at setting my sights on something in my personal life and then trying to write a song about it. I can do that with heavier, more intellectual topics, but when it’s personal, I really have to feel compelled—an insistent compulsion to work out feelings and thoughts about a subject, like, you know, guilt about a way I’ve treated someone. The ways to deal with that are not always available, either because you can’t make your way through it, or, say, the person you need to reconcile with is no longer alive. For me, music is the remaining option, or if I’m just not strong enough at that time, music is the first step.

How did you start tackling it?

The way I tend to do it, and the way I did with this record, is to isolate myself. I moved out of Baltimore and was living in the suburbs with a friend who was letting me use a shack behind his house. I would go there everyday all by myself and spend the night there and just spend time with the guitars and computers.

You delved so deep. Was it a long process or did it flow?

It’s weird. Sometimes I’m really lucky and the song will happen all at once. It’s very rare, but when it does, it comes very quickly and you have to catch it while it’s happening. You’ll have been thinking about something for a long time and then, all of a sudden, it crystallizes as a thought or a feeling or both at the same time. When I’ve gotten myself really exhausted or distracted from what’s bothering me, it finally just rushes to the surface. It comes up all at once and the essence of a song—a little eight-bar melody or the lyric that reveals the rest of them—will happen suddenly.

Besides the personal subject matter, was there anything else you can point to as inspiration? I was thinking about the ’80s and this particular sound from that era: This very bright, radio-ready, kind of delusional music. Not to say anything bad about it—I love it—but like, early U2 records: they’re more guitar-based. It’s very clean and warm and huge-sounding, and I wanted to be able to do that. It’s fun to think about music in a certain way and try to write it that way. It’s like an exercise or a game for me.

You definitely hear that: It feels brighter, even poppy, which is interesting, because with such personal, emotional writing, you’d expect a heavier sound. It was never a conscious decision amongst the band or myself for the album to be cathartic. The only conscious decision was—because we were in a difficult place individually and as a group—that the album should be fun. We needed that. I associate pop music with a kind of freedom and carefreeness, you know?

The band released “To Die in L.A.” first. Is that the song that best embodies the album for you?

It makes a good mascot for the record. It’s not the star player, but I really liked it. I’m still kind of surprised by it—it’s so different for us—but it was just such a release to write something fun like that. If I had to pick songs that were more indicative of the record as a whole, there are two that come to mind. First, “Your Heart Still Beating,” which is not fun and bright and poppy and dancey like “To Die In L.A.,” but it’s a very fast-flying beat that I can get into all day long.

Super percussive.

Exactly. Musically, I can’t wait to play it with the band, and emotionally, it couldn’t be more crystal to me. It’s the most blatant in its subject matter: about dealing with someone passing away and how difficult that is.

Then the other song is the first on the record: “Sucker’s Shangri-La.” God, it feels so good. Strong. Everybody works hard together. I think it might be my favorite. I f*cking love that song.

It was a great call to open with that one. It charges right in and hooks you instantly, especially the new emphasis on vocals. Your voice is clearer and louder than ever before.

I wanted to take some risk with where I situate myself in a song. It’s a lot easier for me to be a guitarist than a singer, so I wanted it to be more forward. But of course, I always do this: I go through the entire process and I’m chain-smoking and barely sleeping and, by the time we get to recording vocals, I’m basically whispering them into a microphone because I’m so tired and my voice is in terrible shape. That happened here, too, but right before we started mixing, one of my band members was like, ‘Um, you can really do better than that…’ So I rested, relaxed, went on a short tour where I sang those songs every night, and then rerecorded all of them. I’m so grateful to him for pushing that.

Speaking of touring, you recorded this in multiple cities: Dallas, Baltimore, New York, Los Angeles. They’re all such different places. Do you feel like each seeped into the album in its own, little way?

Everything seeps into the work. Everything you’re talking about, and reading about, and listening to, and being around at the time. But in Baltimore, we were back at the same recording studio, Beat Babies, where we did our first record, with the same engineer, Chris Freeland, in the same basement with the same cat wandering around.

Besides writing in Baltimore, what do you do for fun?

I like to go out and see performances and be with various communities here. Art communities. Music communities. Baltimore is such a community-oriented town and that has always been its strongest point to me. People get together and do things and influence each other. I just went to a community discussion called Art-Part’heid [at 2640 Space in Charles Village]. It was really, really cool. And there are a lot of places that I want to check out but haven’t yet, like this group show at the Visionary Museum that a friend of mine is in. He goes by the name Astral Eyes and does these pretty incredible collage pieces.

What’s your favorite spot to see shows?

I go to The Crown a lot, and tonight, there’s one at a DIY house. Other times, I’ll just go meet people and have quasi-business meetings at Canteen. I also really like to run. I’m terrible at it in the cold. Just seriously kind of hilariously terrified of it. But I’m looking forward to it warming up a bit so I can run along Falls Road. Also once it gets a warmer, Dominion Ice Cream has a lot of influence on me.

Ah, Valentine’s Day­. The Hallmark holiday we both love and loathe is once again upon us. Maybe you have a hot date—with a lover, a friend, or your Netflix account—but whatever your plans, you can forget the pressure and feel the love with one of these sweet events.

FEB. 12: THE WALTERS’ SUPER THURSDAY PARTY
The Walters Art Museum, 600 N. Charles St. 5-9 p.m. Free. 410-547-9000. Join the Walters Art Museum for an early Valentine’s celebration, with art, cocktails, and old-school soul and funk by DJ Paul Lebelle.

FEB. 13: WINE & CHOCOLATE TASTING
Hard Rock Café, 601 E. Pratt St. 7-9 p.m. $25. At this pre-Valentine’s pairing, sample a sweet medley of Maryland wines alongside local gourmet chocolates from Parfections.

FEB. 14: KACEY MUSGRAVES
Rams Head Live, 20 Market Pl. 7 p.m. $25. 410-244-1131. ramsheadlive.com. This rebellious, rising country starlet brings her musical moxie to Rams Head for a special show, performing hits like “Follow Your Arrow” and “Blowin’ Smoke.”

FEB. 14: VALENTINE’S DATE NIGHT
National Aquarium, 501 E. Pratt St. 8-11 p.m. $80-100. 410-576-3800. aqua.org. Take your date on a romantic trip under the sea at this private, nighttime aquarium tour set to live music with cocktails and dessert.

FEB. 14: SEX AT THE ZOO
The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore, 1876 Mansion House Dr. 6-9 p.m. $80. 410-396-7102. marylandzoo.org. They say romance is for the birds, so learn all about love in the animal kingdom at this annual affair at the zoo, with an open bar, hors d’oeuvres, and live jazz.

FEB. 14: OTTOBAR VALENTINE’S DAY DANCE PARTY
The Ottobar, 2549 N. Howard St. 8 p.m. $5-10 suggest donation. 410-662-0069. Feel the local love at this dance party-cum-benefit with Baltimore musicians like Jana Hunter of Lower Dens, Williams Cashion of Future Islands, Lesser Gonzales, and Dianamatic, plus DJ sets by James Nasty and Young Coconut, with donations benefitting Moveable Feast.

FEB. 14: TASSELS & CHAMPAGNE
Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. 7:30 & 10 p.m. $20-125. 410-276-1651. creative alliance.org. Nothing says passion like a little bit of skin, so swing by the Patterson to see Baltimore’s premier burlesque troupe, Gilded Lily, and their Roman-themed Palazzo Decadente performance.

FEB. 14: TALKING HEADS AND LOVE SONGS
The 8×10, 10 E. Cross St. 8 p.m. $15. 41-625-2000. Boogie down to the Psycho Killers this Saturday as the Talking Heads cover band presents an evening of the group’s greatest hits—like “Once in a Lifetime” and “This Must Be The Place”—as well as a set of assorted love songs.

FEB. 14: KATT WILLIAMS
Royal Farms Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. 8 p.m. $45-125. 410-347-2020. royalfarmsarena.com. Take your date out for some hearty laughs as this outlandish comedian performs his animated standup.

FEB. 14: OFF THE CUFF: THE BACH FAMILY
Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, 1212 Cathedral St. 7 p.m. $29-84. 410-783-8000. bsomusic.org. Enjoy a romantic night of Baroque music, Bach family compositions, and insight from conductor Nicholas McGegan.

FEB. 14: CUPID’S UNDIE RUN
Luckie’s Tavern, 10 Market Pl. 12 p.m. $55. 410-223-1105. Don your lucky underwear and brave the cold for this mile-long charity run, benefitting the Children’s Tumor Foundation, followed by an after-party until 4 p.m.

FEB. 14: BALTIMORE IMPROV GROUP’S VALENTINE’S EXTRAVAGANZA
The Mercury Theater, 1823 N. Charles St. 8-10 p.m. $8-10. 888-745-8393. The Baltimore Improv Group presents a Cupid-themed comedy night in two acts, with multiple performers, music, and standup.

FEB. 14: ENCHANTMENT UNDER THE SEA VALENTINE’S DANCE
Baltimore Soundstage, 124 Market Pl. 7:30 p.m. $20-30. 410-244-0057. With the dance floor decked out like Back to the Future’s Hill Valley High, this ’50s and ’60s-themed mixer is a music-filled night for singles and couples alike, with DJs, a live band, Hawaiian fusion food, drinks, dating games, and more.

FEB. 14: BEER & DESSERTS
Phoenix Emporium, 8049 Main St., Ellicott City. 7-10 p.m. 301-694-7899. This craft beer and dessert tasting pairs a series of sweets with three Flying Dog brews, including the Kujo Imperial Coffee Stout, Bloodline Blood Orange Ale, and the just-released Mexican Hot Chocolate Stout.

TO FEB. 15: ICE SKATING
Inner Harbor Ice Rink, McKeldin Plaza, 101 Pratt St. Times vary. $3-9. 443-890-6158. This weekend is your last chance to ice skate in the Inner Harbor, so grab a sweater and take your Valentine out for a spin.