Q&A – Baltimore Magazine

Q&A With Gary Godbey

Emily Delaney — Wed, 03 Dec 2014 16:36:00 +0000

Stylist Gary Godbey shares his inspiration behind the opening page of our Holiday Gift Guide feature.

Q: Explain the process of creating the scene for our Gift Guide opener.

I’m really inspired by vintage things and have been since I was a small child. I’ve always been a collector of things. I like being able to mix simple and vintage with current and modern items. When I talked to Amanda [the art director] about the different gifts that were going to be featured, I immediately knew I pretty much had something vintage that could represent each category.

Q: What is your favorite part of the whole design process?

I think my favorite part of the design process is watching what I see in my mind come to life. It’s like when you picture something in your head and then it actually comes out the way you want it to in person. The satisfaction of being able to express your vision—I think that’s probably my favorite part.

Q: Where did you find the items you used for the shoot?

Some of them were actually mine, from my home. I borrowed [the majority of] pieces from Esther & Harper and Becket Hitch (where I work now).

[See below for credits.]

Q: Was there a funny moment while creating the display?

I borrowed a [real] deer head from a friend and I didn’t want it to get damaged, so I belted it in the front seat of my car—it looked like a passenger. On my way to the studio to unload, it was during the morning rush hour, so everyone was sitting in traffic. It was a very exciting moment for a lot of people going to work—everyone was waving at me. I didn’t realize why until a couple in front of me turned around and gave me the thumbs up, and then I was like, ‘Oh my gosh.’ Definitely a good start to the day for me.

Credits: Vintage wagon and skis courtesy of Becket Hitch. Potted trees and fire wood courtesy of Green Fields Nursery and Landscaping Company. Vintage sled and axe courtesy of Esther & Harper. Vintage snowman and green pine trees gift wrap courtesy of Simply Noted. Holly gift wrap courtesy of Curiosity.

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Q&A with Dontae Winslow

Jess Mayhugh — Wed, 26 Mar 2014 09:00:00 +0000

Living in L.A., what do you miss most about Baltimore?

Of course, I miss the “Baltimore CrabCakes,” and the Crabs from Fells
Point. I also miss my friends, family, and quiet drives through the city—whose
architecture looks like no other—while listening to music.

What Baltimore musicians do you admire?

There are so many great musicians from Baltimore, and I admire many of them
including: Mickey Fields (RIP), Mashica Winslow, Dennis Chambers, Tom Williams,
Whit Williams and his Big Band, Tim Green, Gary Thomas, Gary Bartz, Billie
Holiday (recordings), Cab Calloway (grew up and created his style here),
and Ron Pender.

In what ways has Baltimore and the
essence of the city infused your music?

There is a struggle inherent in the city that I think flows in ALL of the music
that comes from Baltimore—a hardness, passion, and desperation. The rock,
r&b, jazz, house, club and pop have a cathartic sound and an “all
in” emotional intensity that I think is a signature of our Baltimore
culture; there’s an urgency in our music. It’s very real, authentic, and pulls
no punches.

I have benefited from both the tragic sides and the classy
sides of the city, and they are both represented in my music. I’ve rapped in
songs about my mother’s struggle in the inner city, as well as my scholarship
at The Peabody Conservatory of The Johns Hopkins University. My whole life is
wrapped up in this city, and I rep it all over the world, wherever I go, and to
EVERY celebrity I work with—from Justin Timberlake to Jill Scott to Queen to
Jay-Z…they all know I’m from Baltimore.

I have a lot to prove. I’ve bussed tables in the finest
restaurants, been bullied in public schools, and worked for amazing lawyer
Billy Murphy Jr. I’ve played for the opening of the Ravens Stadium, when they
came to Baltimore with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Stevie Wonder. All
of these experiences go into my musical compositions.

Your high school years were personally tumultuous. What effect did School
for the Arts have on you at that time?

I cannot say enough about The Baltimore School For The Arts!
It saved the lives of both me and my wife, Mashica. We met so many talented
people, teachers, and friends. It is a magical environment for a child to grow,
not be judged, and hone a skill that will set them up for the rest of their
lives.

Seeing your peers perform at such a high level inspires you to achieve great
heights! The school was a mix of all genders, races, ethnicities, social
classes, and backgrounds. This environment proved to be excellent in
stimulating cultural sensitivity and respect for others. Most students left
with a scholarship, some financial assistance, amazing academic scores, and a
90% chance of college attendance…what more could you ask for?

I NEVER got into a fight and this safe-haven allowed me to
focus on my studies despite my tumultuous circumstances of living in a drug
house on North Avenue. I was focused, and the school, through music, gave me
hope. My wife and I started the non-profit Music Motivating Minds Inc. because
of how the school helped us. We created this initiative for the youth of
Baltimore to help them set goals and learn self-esteem and respect for themselves
and others through music.

What are the pros and cons of working
with family on your Winslow Dynasty project?

This is a great question! It always causes me to giggle because anyone that’s
married knows the dynamics of working with a spouse can be particularly
challenging, especially when it comes to criticism. We are very blessed in that
Mashica and I were best friends long before we were married, so the respect and
love was at such a high level before romance entered the picture. We create,
build, and work amazingly well together. We can read each other’s minds, and
finish each other’s sentences—that’s the kind of love God gave us. She’s also
an amazing teacher and mother to my son Jedi. Jedi has such a heart and
compassion for helping others that he’s hard not to want to be around.

For me LOVE is such a necessary and healing component to
life that I could not imagine NOT working with family when it comes to
something as sensitive as music.

Words on the page, and songs, do no justice in describing my deep love for
Mashica and Jedi. We love each other, we love our jobs, and we love to share
our experiences with others through music. I can’t think of any cons—Love,
Life, Family, Health, and Music…I have reached the mountaintop!

It’s refreshing to hear an album that
nods to so many genres/styles. Seems like you’ve always leaned in that
direction (or directions), and, in that respect, someone like Robert Glasper
reminds me of you. Where did you get that sense of musical inclusiveness? Where
is it rooted?

That’s deep! It’s funny you should say that, because as an independent artist
most people would have to be from Baltimore to know that I’ve always recorded
in a synthesis of styles, mixing jazz, r&b, hip-hop, and classical
elements. Glasper is a colleague of mine, but I’d never heard of him when I was
making records in Baltimore, and he’s younger than I am. I grew up listening to
Michael Jackson and early hip-hop artists such as Run DMC, UTFO, and Whodini. I
also loved Chopin, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, Stravinsky, Schubert—the romantic
composers. I just can’t separate beautiful music by category.

When the time came for me to do my own music, I had no
qualms rapping over Shostakovich melodies and then playing a jazz solo over a
rap beat—I just feel limitless in that way, open. Gary Thomas, my mentor and
jazz teacher, has always used a synthesis of styles and incorporated computers,
multi-genre formats, and advanced jazz vocabulary into his work. I’ve inherited
a lot from him.

That musical inclusiveness also comes from living in
Baltimore, where you can experience a plethora of musical experiences and each
has its own subculture of icons and heroes. I lived on North Avenue and you
could hear Rakim blasting down the street from a car, then we’d go ice skating
in Mt. Washington and they’d be playing George Michael’s “Father Figure,”
my all-time favorite teenage tune. On weekends, we’d go skateboarding in
Lansdowne bowls while listening to Suicidal Tendencies, and at night ride by
The Paradox and dance to BMORE club music! The door was always open to
divergent musical styles in my world, and I was always bold enough to include
them all when writing.

I’m happy to see musicians like Robert Glasper win a Grammy
and receive radio airplay, because I have been fighting small-minded consumers
for over 20 years and his commercial success opens doors for all of us. Now,
with the invention of the iPod, Facebook, YouTube, and social media people are
more exposed, open-minded, and educated about the artistic possibilities in
creativity, and expression through music.

What’s most satisfying about working with
folks like Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake?

The most satisfying thing for me is the education I receive by being around
such talented artists and such savvy businessmen in Jay-Z and Justin
Timberlake. They are in peak form and at a ripe age, as am I, but they’ve had
more commercial success. I have the unique opportunity of observing the best in
their prime. I benefit from the lessons I see in their work ethic, discipline,
and tireless approach to perfecting their craft.

Two special stories come to mind:

My wife and I always laugh and have a running joke that
“multi-millionaires” don’t get tired! On the set of “Suit & Tie”
video, which I was apart of with Justin and Jay-Z, many of us where cold and
tired from 20-plus hours of over 200 performance takes of the entire song. We
were dressed to the 9’s in Tom Ford attire at the Hollywood Bowl. But I noticed
Jay-Z and Justin were as excited and unaffected by fatigue at 1 pm as they were
at 2 am, and that blew my mind. Jay-Z even said to us…”Y’all tired”?
We said “nawww.” Justin had been dancing the routine for more than 8 hours,
take after take, just nailing the moves. And in dress shoes!

Another magical thing happened backstage when we did the Legends of the Summer
Tour in Baltimore at the M&T Bank Stadium last August 8, 2014. I’d
co-written the song on Jay-Z’s album
Kingdom
Come
with my wife MaShica and Grammy-winning producer DJ Khalil. I told
Jay-Z backstage about how much the song meant to me, my family, and my mom, who
died of AIDS in 2001 after suffering drug addiction. I loved my mom immensely,
and I thought it was serendipitous that he would write a rap about his mom on
top of my music and call it “I Made It.”

Jay said, “WOW, man,” patted me on the back in consolation,
and said “The universe was speaking.” We then went to prayer with the full
band, JT & The Tennessee Kids, and Jay-Z and I initiated the final shout
after prayer. We all joined hands and shouted in unison, “1, 2 , 3, MAMA I MADE
IT!” That was one of the biggest compliments to my mom, to God, and to my
city of Baltimore! I literally burst into tears and had to walk away from the
circle cause I’d never dreamed of making it this far in music from my humble
beginnings at Cross Country Elementary School in Baltimore.

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Q&A with author Carol Berkin

Jess Mayhugh — Wed, 26 Feb 2014 11:00:00 +0000

How did you initially learn about Elizabeth (Betsy)?

I
had just finished appearing in a documentary on Dolley Madison, who, as
you know, was a friend of Betsy’s. I was talking to one of the
producers of the show and mentioned that I hadn’t really found a topic
that appealed to me for a new book project. His face lit up; I have the
perfect topic for you, he said: Betsy Bonaparte! He had done a little
research on her for the show and thought she was fascinating. He was, of
course, correct. As soon as I began to look at her letters I knew I
had to write her biography.

What were your first impressions of her, and how did they change as you researched her life?

At
first, I thought of her as a femme fatale. Then I thought of her as a
woman scorned and believed I was going to write her story as a tragic
love story. But, I soon learned that Betsy was so much more than either
of these stereotypes. She was a complex, brilliant woman and one who
dared to create an independent life for herself in an era when few
American women could even imagine this. The costs of breaking the mold
of domesticity were high but she refused to conform to the gender
demands of her day. I came to admire her greatly for this. At the same
time, I realized that she should not be romanticized or idealized; she
was stubborn, she was elitist, and she was profoundly unable to accept
that her son, and his sons, did not share her obsession with being a
Bonaparte. Most of all, I was fascinated by her contradictions: she
despised American culture and American values yet she embodied them in
many ways. In the end, it was her complexity that stayed with me and
that I tried to convey in the book.

Elizabeth was an
incredibly independent woman for that time. Over the course of the book,
we learn a great deal about her father and her strained relationship
with him. But did she have a female role model, in or out of the family?
If so, it didn’t seem to be her mother.

In a sad way,
Betsy’s mother was her negative role model. Betsy loved her deeply, but
was repelled by how submissive her mother was, how passive she was in
the face of mistreatment by an unfaithful and selfish man—and Betsy
wholeheartedly rejected this feminine role. But Betsy did not have a
positive female role model; in fact, she had very few female friends.
Men—powerful men, brilliant men, successful men—these were her real
reference group and often they men who did great damage to her like her
father and Napoleon.

Of all her acquaintances/family
in the U.S. and Europe (from Dolley Madison and Vice President Elbridge
Gerry to the Bonapartes), what relationship of hers did you find the
most fascinating (in that you wish you could have written more about
it)?

Oh, definitely her relationship with
Gorchakoff. I think she truly loved him (and he loved her). She let her
emotional guard down with him. He was her match in terms of looks,
brains, and wit. But there were so few sources available– only one
exchange of letters and a few comments by friends and acquaintances—and
so I could not develop their story fully.

I don’t think
I’ve ever heard someone so dismissive of her hometown. At one point, I
gave up counting the number of negative comments about Baltimore. Did
Betsy ever say anything positive about the city?

Although
Betsy talked so negatively about Baltimore, she was really rejecting
American society, culture, and gender ideology in general not just her
hometown. Remember, despite her attacks on the city, she always returned
to it and she spent her last years in Baltimore even though she could
have settled anywhere—NYC or Washington, for example. In the end, it was
“home.” I suspect that, if she and her father had ever been able to
reconcile, her hostility to Baltimore would have diminished. But the
truth was, she was meant for the glittering salons of Paris and the
sophisticated gatherings of the Russian aristocrats in Geneva. As a
female, was too large a personality for America.

With that in mind, what were your feelings about Baltimore after you visited?

I
grew up in the South—in Mobile, Alabama—and, although I have lived most
of my life in NYC, I still appreciate the appeal of a southern town.
Baltimore radiates the same pride in its past as my hometown and it
clearly has a respect for old buildings and their history. Obviously
this matters to someone who has spent decades as an historian. I spent
most of my time in the lovely neighborhood of the Maryland Historical
Society but I did venture down to the water to sample the crab cakes.
How could I resist?

Source

Q&A with Cris Jacobs from The Bridge

Jess Mayhugh — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 14:00:00 +0000

After 10 years of being a staple in the Baltimore rock and funk scene, The Bridge is breaking up. The band is playing its final show tomorrow night at Rams Head Live! and I talked to lead vocalist and guitarist Cris Jacobs about playing their last show, future projects, and reflecting on the past decade.

What made you guys decide to split up?
At this point in our career and in our lives, things didn’t seem to add up to justify keeping it going. We had a great run that we’re really proud of, but, at the end of the day, we couldn’t sustain ourselves as a band. After 10 years, we didn’t think that rolling the dice again and again was the right way to go. I still want to play music all the time, but priorities in life tend to dictate what you need to do to get by and live the life you want. We would still be doing it if we could make a living off of it. Even after a decade, if we were outside of Baltimore, we were hit or miss, as far as drawing a crowd and making money.

What future projects are you branching out towards?
Well I’m still playing in a lot of different kinds of configurations, like solo stuff and duo stuff. I play with a great bluegrass band, Smooth Kentucky. I also have the Cris Jacobs Band with some great, great musicians. We’ll all be out there playing. I know the other guys are playing with other groups. The drummer Mike is playing in my new band. At this point, we all still want to play, but also make a living. I’d love to play with any one of those guys, any time.

What special things do you have planned for tomorrow night’s show?
We’re playing three sets, with no opening band. So that will be close to four hours of music. We’re going to play as much as we can of our catalog—take you through a loosely chronological evolution of the band. We’ll have former members of the band come out and play. It’s going to be a lot of fun. We’ll be throwing some covers in there, but mostly original stuff since it might be the last time a lot of these songs will get played. Plus, Thanksgiving Eve will be our 10-year anniversary. It’s always a good night for people to go out and see each other and that was the inception of the band in 2001. We kind of made the decision we were going hang it up and end it in style.

What have been some of your favorite memories?
Obviously traveling the world and playing music has been amazing. We’ve also had some good times playing a private festival called Black Sheep Family Reunion in Oregon. And then there’s just times hanging in the van, pulling off to the side of the road, and going on hikes. That’s going to be the kind of thing I miss the most.

How has the music scene in Baltimore evolved since you started?
I think it’s evolved in a really positive direction, and I think we might have contributed to that. In our little world, I think we brought a lot of people together to go out and see us and, in turn, to see other local bands. I think maybe we’ve helped stir the scene a little bit. There are a lot of local bands who’ve said they’ve looked up to us, but we were never really the darlings of the Baltimore music media. We were always kind of that hippie jam band playing down at the 8×10. There’s certainly a lot of pace in Baltimore, but we might have been on the outside of that. I’ve come to the conclusion that we were a damn good rock and roll band with no weird factor, so we just couldn’t capture attention. We did it our way, we were always ourselves, and I’m extremely proud of that.

[Image of The Bridge (Cris in brown): courtesy of Alicia Rose]

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Get to know…Damn Right!

Jess Mayhugh — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:00:00 +0000

This year’s Artscape, starting Friday and running through Sunday, is sure to be another great event filled with local artisans and crafters selling their labors of love, as well as some big-name musicians taking the stage. This year’s festival features artists like Gov’t Mule, Cold War Kids, Jackie Greene, and Wale.

But, a lot of times, the beauty is in the lesser-known local acts. Damn Right! is an electronica three-piece with members hailing from Baltimore (keyboardist Blake Mobley), Annapolis (drummer Tommy Bradel), and Philadelphia (bassist Johnny Fissinger). The band’s been on the scene for the past three years and I got a chance to chat with Fissinger about what it will be like to play the main stage at this year’s Artscape.

Can you describe the sound of Damn Right! to our readers?
We started out as an improv band. I actually met Tommy on stage at our first show and I went to college with Blake at St. Mary’s. We just started playing songs on the spot. That got a little bit boring, and I’m a producer so I would send out email tracks that I produced. We would load them onto a drum machine and sample stuff and play on top of stuff live. We’re refining this live electronic production performance, so you get kind of a studio performance with more live elements.

It seems like you guys kind of blew up in the past year or so. How does a band today do a lot of its marketing?
I think we mainly rely on our keyboardist, Blake, who’s worked for various production companies in Baltimore, likeWalther Productions. He’s booked a lot of gigs and then the rest is really word-of-mouth. We have a lot of musician friends and they offer us a lot of high-profile gigs. It’s been kind of an organic process, we don’t market ourselves—we don’t have an album out yet. It’s more about playing gigs that are highly publicized through different promoters. This is the first time I’ve ever been able to have that with a band.

You guys must be psyched be playing the main stage at Artscape.
We’re really happy to be a part of the biggest free arts and culture festival in the country. The fact that we’re playing just a few hours before Gov’t Mule is crazy. I saw them when I was a teenager in high school. And I’ve been following the Cold War Kids for years. Shook from Baltimore is, I think, a great young band coming up. Other than that, I’m just excited to be hanging out and listening to new bands out there.

Do you take a different approach to your set list when you’re playing on a big stage?
Our approach is mainly to create a set that’s a little more crowd-friendly at first. We’ll probably start a little more accessible, just bass, piano, and drums. And then we’ll work our way into more progressive stuff using synthesizers and sampling. We’re used to playing hour-long sets, which we like because we can put our best stuff out there.

How do you like the Baltimore arts scene compared to your hometown of Philadelphia?
I think the scene in Baltimore is really communal. There’s the whole Wham City production with Dan Deacon and they have a really tight group. I think the fans really support the artists in Baltimore. And they’re willing to go see a band on Tuesday night. In Philly and New York, it’s tougher to get people to come out. Baltimore seems to have people who really like music and really let loose after a hard day’s work. We always want to thank all of our fans who have supported us in the Baltimore area. I consider it to be my second home because of Damn Right! I love everyone in Baltimore.

What’s next for the band?
That is an interesting question because Blake, our piano player, is moving to Denver in September. So we might be moving to Denver. Tommy and I are definitely going to be working on some sort of project in my studio in Philadelphia. We’re going to come out with some kind of release—whether it’s under Damn Right! or not—hopefully by the end of the year.

Check out Damn Right! at Artscape on the Wachovia Stage at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Source

Get to know…Kurt

Jess Mayhugh — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 16:30:00 +0000

This past Monday, Annabel Lee Tavern in Canton celebrated its second anniversary. It seems like just yesterday I walked into the week-old bar on a brisk December night. And owner Kurt X. Bragunier couldn’t agree more, saying that the past two years have absolutely flown by. The 44-year-old owner was the general manager at Brewer’s Art for seven years before fulfilling his life-long dream of owning his own bar.

Always a fan of Edgar Allan Poe, Bragunier dedicated his bar to the prolific gothic writer. Poe’s dark romanticism is echoed throughout the space, from the lines of poetry scrawled on the walls to the Poe-themed cocktail menu. The bar/restaurant is known not only for its incredible food, but also its inventive drinks and local beer selection. I got a chance to chat with Bragunier in order to commemorate the bar’s second anniversary.

How did you get the inspiration for Annabel Lee?
It was my life’s dream to own my own bar and I am a big Edgar Allan Poe fan. “Annabel Lee” is my favorite poem. I feel like Baltimore has got “The Raven” down, but his other work is so amazing and “Annabel Lee” is particularly beautiful. To me, it’s both romantic and really dark, so it speaks to me and captures Poe. He wrote that right before he died, so it’s sort of the poem he went out on. Also, the popular consensus is that “Annabel Lee” is about Virginia Clemm, from Baltimore. She was the love of his life.

What have the first two years been like?
Very, very fast. It feels like just one year. I couldn’t have imagined this place turning out any better. We’re geared towards comfort, so I want it to feel like your grandmother’s living room. But, at the same time, it has a little bit of a creepy vibe in here. People have told me that it almost has a Shining-feel in here. It’s both comforting and creepy. Food critic Richard Gorelick said it feels like a really nice coffin. And I took that as a compliment.

Has it been challenging maintaining Annabel Lee in the recession?
Two things have happened since I opened. The recession really hit, which was bad. But also the City proclaimed it the year of Poe, which was amazing. This renaissance of Poe hit, and we really benefitted from that. I think what’s also helped us is our prices. You can get a chicken salad sandwich and a Natty Boh for $10. I have customers that eat here three times a week. I’m not chichi, I’m not pretentious, and our prices reflect that.

How do out-of-towners perceive Baltimore because of your establishment?
Because of all the Poe events, we’ve gotten people from all over the country. Also, we were on Ace of Cakes for our one-year anniversary, so that’s gotten people from all over, too. People have said that this is the best part of their trip. They just fall in love with the place. We’re really warm and friendly and people respond to that. We don’t try to be anything but what we are. We’re not trying to be D.C., we’re not cosmopolitan. We’re a Baltimore place and proud of it.

What is it about Poe that fascinates you?
Well I’m a tortured artist, so I can relate to torturned artists. I’m also a romantic and all the artwork in the place is mine. He wrote really beautiful love poems, but he also wrote dark, twisted stories. And I can relate to both sides of that.

What can we expect next at Annabel Lee?
In the next week or so, I’m changing over to a winter food and cocktail menu. One drink we’ll feature is called The Gold Bug, named after a Poe short-story. I mix brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon with hot cider, Captain Morgan’s, and Myer’s rum. It’s delicious. But, really, after two years I feel like I’m still getting started.

Source

Get to know…Tony

Jess Mayhugh — Wed, 06 May 2009 11:00:00 +0000

This is the first in an occasional series of Q&A’s with local bar owners, tenders, musicians, bouncers and anyone else apart of Baltimore nightlife.

Tony Cushing Jr. is the 25-year-old owner of Cat’s Eye Pub in Fells Point. In his 25 years, Cushing has seen a lot of hardship, with his father passing away from a heart attack a year-and-a-half ago, leaving him to run the bar. Tragically on Sunday, Cushing’s right-hand man, and good friend of his father’s, Timmy Wright (or “Indian Timmy”) also suffered a fatal heart attack.

But business must go on, and despite all of the loss in Cushing’s life, he keeps Cat’s Eye going strong. Walking in on a weekend night, there’s always a raucous band (of pretty much any genre) on stage, as well as a crowd that’s all over the board as far as age, race, and background. But there’s one thing they all have in common: They love Cat’s Eye and keep coming back because it feels just like home. I sat down with Cushing Tuesday afternoon and discussed how he runs such an awesome place.

Can you give me a little history of the Cat’s Eye Pub?
My father Anthony Cushing started the bar with Kenny Orey in 1975. Kenny passed away 11 years after the bar started and my father passed away a year-and-a-half ago, February 5. My mom, Ana Marie, is the treasurer; she re-books all of the bands and does all the accounting. About five-and-a-half years ago, my dad called me up and was getting a little overwhelmed with the bar. He called me and didn’t ask me to do anything, he was just telling me his situation. He never wanted to force me and I made my own choice. I was at the University of South Florida for business management. I had finished three-and-a-half years there and cut it short to come down here. He gave me three months to help him out and try to learn everything. I’ve been here ever since.

It seems like you’ve made a lot of improvements, despite some terrible circumstances.
Yeah, the first thing that I did when I got here was I tore up the old keg room (it was 25 years old), so I tripled the size of the room. I refinished the bar, sanded it down, and replaced the rotten wood. We went from 28 to 32 beers on draft, and have 41 total in the whole building. I reinforced the floors. A week from now we’ll be repainting all the windows outside. I just wanted to bring the bar back to its heyday.

Can you describe its heyday a little bit?
When the bar first opened, they couldn’t afford to order actual booze, so they used to sell illegal hooch out of here and it came from a distillery in Southern Pennsylvania called the Cat’s Eye. That’s where we got the name from. One of our patrons drew up the logo and then it all fell into place. We’ve always had a good relationship with the sailors and, once we could afford it, the distributors too.

What makes Cat’s Eye unique among the strip of bars on Thames Street?
We have live music 365 days of the year. The days that people aren’t open, we have music, like Christmas and New Year’s Day. We have music twice on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays in the afternoons and evenings. We’re eclectic. We do blues, classic rock, funk, zydeco, jazz, bluegrass, Irish, and rockabilly.

You talked earlier about the things you’ve changed. What would you never change?
I’m never going to repaint the bathroom walls because of all the “drunk knowledge” written on them. There are proverbs, like “the man from Nantucket, with a [expletive] so big you could…” You can probably figure out the rest. I would never change the flags on the ceiling. I would never change the music. Steve Kraemer [and the Bluesicians] is my Sunday afternoon band and has been playing here for 29 years. I’m never going to be a Greene Turtle. And I’m never going to make chains, people keep asking me that. I have enough work here, number one. Once you start making chains it becomes unoriginal. I’d rather have one great place than a bunch of okay places.

Can you talk about your clientele?
Here’s an example of somebody not used to our clientele. This one guy came in from New York and comes up to me and says, “Hey” and he has a problem. He tells me that somebody tried to buy him a beer. So he was like, “What is this guy, hitting on me or something?” And I said, “No he’s trying to make you feel at home.” And it blew his mind. He just couldn’t imagine that someone was trying to buy a drink for him to be nice. I guess they don’t do that in New York. The reason that I love Baltimore is because it’s filled with honest, genuine people.

To you, what makes a perfect bar?
Staff. No one here is above anyone else. There are no managers, but we all help out together. I have three employees here right now who aren’t working, just here to help me out. We all chip in together and that way there’s no hierarchy. We have Terry who’s been here for 27 years and she is very in your face. Then we have Rob who’s my doorman and always shakes everybody’s hand. One thing I always do is I introduce myself when people start a tab. If you’re going to come here and spend your money, I want you to feel at home.

What do you think your dad would say about the bar today?
I think he would love the keg room, since the draft beer actually tastes good now. I hope that he would be proud because I plan on being here as long as he was. I figure this is still his bar and as long as this place is here, he’ll live on.

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