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Larry Hinshaw, Hammerjacks bikini contest, Summer 1985

By Sue Hodges (ROX Magazine, 6/1988)

PSSSST… You wanna hear some rumors being circulated about one of Baltimore’s hottest rock ‘n’ roll bands?

An exceptionally large crowd gathered at Network on Saturday, June 11 to verify what rumors they had possibly over¬heard over the past month… “Did you hear the Child’s Play has a new line-up?” or “Did you hear the one about the band losing their frontman Larry Hinshaw?” or “Have you heard that Child’s Play MIGHT have a record deal?” You may have heard one of these or a variation, but just what are the facts concerning the band and their future. At Network on the warm summer night, as the stage lights went up and the band broke into the Child’s Play Anthem “Good Ol’ Boys” all in attendance were on-hand to witness a new chapter in the Child’s Play story.

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Child's Play publicity shot

The “story” unfolds in early 1983 when two co-workers, Hinshaw and Brian Giacubeno, decided to set Baltimore and the world on fire with a “kick-ass” rock ‘n’ roll band. Through a series of early personnel changes and the absorption of members of Cry Tuff, the original CP was formed. The band —consisting of lead vocalist Hinshaw, guitarist/backing vocalist Brian Giacubeno, drummer/vocalist John Allen, guitarist Jimmy Schaefer and bassist Phil Wizer — began their quest for recognition and success by rocking local audiences at the Seagull Inn, The Capricorn, the Desert Lounge and other area venues. Approximately one year after the formation of Child’s Play, Schaefer quit and was soon replaced by Nicky K. The line-up remained the same until a year ago when Wizer decided to pursue a career in medicine and Idzi entered the framework as the band’s new bassist.

That was the line-up until about a month ago. Since then, an integral part of Child’s Play has left and some drastic changes have occurred.

The first major change directly affecting the band is the unexpected resignation of the band’s frontman. After devoting five years to the project, writing the majority of the band’s original material, and firmly believing this band was “the best band around,” Hinshaw quit. Rumors have been rampant regarding the unexpected occurrence, but the ex-frontman set the record straight: “I was not pressured by any members of the band to quit. Actually, they wanted me to stay, but I felt like I had to do it.”

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Larry Hinshaw, Baltimore 80s rock icon

What was the cause behind Larry’s decision to leave CP when success was so close at hand? After the band had showcased at the Cat Club in New York earlier this year, major recording labels expressed major interest. According to Hinshaw, “One record label offered the band an impressive deal. The only problem was that they didn’t like my voice. I was confronted by our manager, Jack Dean, and I made a career decision and quit.”

Hinshaw is, however, still writing for the band, starting his own publishing company, Silent Songster Songs, and offering the band his valuable advice. Larry considers, “I still have a future with the band because when they get picked up (by a major label), I get picked up.”

However, to land that record deal, the band needed a stellar new frontman. According to Nicky, the band wanted someone who “was not an outsider so we could keep it in the family.” Brian Giacubeno, with his natural good looks, powerful vocals and dynamic stage presence, was the perfect choice to take Hinshaw’s place. With this change, MCA Records has been negotiating with the band on a contract and the guys are optimistic about their future.

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Fronting Child's Play, Larry Hinshaw played to numerous packed houses at Hammerjacks and rock clubs throughout Baltimore in the 80s

The future of the band, as well as their past, is filled with the challenges of transitions confronting them. Allen admits, “Things are rough right now on the stage show with Brian taking over. It’s hard to redo songs you’ve been playing out for awhile. Brian has to learn Larry’s parts, which are different from what he’s used to.”

Brian agrees, “This is a challenge for me since, now that Larry’s left, it’s kinda taken away from my guitar playing; I can’t concentrate as much on it. I was just starting to get a style and technique that I had been working on, but now I’m not really focusing on that as much as I’m trying to give the whole style of Child’s Play a more powerful and distinct sound.”

So, how about that relentless rumor Child’s Play has signed on the dotted line? More on that later…

By Cale (Brightest Young Things, 2/3/2011)

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Clik here to view. Cale: So give us a brief back story to Heavy Metal Parking Lot? Who are you guys?

Jeff Krulik: We’re Jeff Krulik and John Heyn, long term local residents who were fortunate enough to be toting around a video camera in a Judas Priest concert parking lot in 1986. I ran a public access studio in Southern Prince George’s County, not long after graduating from the University of Maryland. John and I were new friends and aspiring documentary filmmakers stoked to have unlimited access to professional TV gear. John had the original idea to tape metal fans, and after I saw the footage I came up with the title. We paid a few dollars to park at the Capital Centre, and taped an hour’s worth of footage. Then we left. Who’d imagine we’d still be talking about our short documentary 25 years later!

C: No shit! What do you think it is about HMPL that has led to its longevity?

JK: It’s always managed to strike a chord with people, over these many years. I’ve always said that you were either at that concert, or sat next to someone in homeroom who was at that concert. There’s something archetypal and I’m very glad for that. Another reason for the longevity is that Judas Priest’ music holds up, and artists that are mentioned include Madonna and Metallica, both still vital today.

C: Do you think it would have still caught on if it has been unearthed for the first time this year?

JK: If it were discovered today I don’t know about it having the same type of grass roots build up. We live in such a viral instantaneous universe now, things tend to flame out quickly from overexposure.

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C: Was everyone in 1986 ugly, or was it just Judas Priest fans? Or was it just Maryland?

JK: Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. No one is ugly in my opinion. These people on camera are all like family to me.

Continue reading “Heavy Metal Parking Lot: The Interview” at Brightest Young Things.

He Rocked Until Until He Dropped

by Tom Warner (Baltimore or Less)

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Clik here to view.BALTIMORE, MD – On October 2, Baltimore police shot and killed former Vamps and Skin & Bones bassist Steve Mach, 52, in his South Baltimore home after he allegedly pointed a pellet gun at officers responding to a distress call. According to the (pre-paywall online subscription) Baltimore Sun, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi stated that the police received a call shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday evening “from a person inside a house in the 3600 block of St. Victor Street in the Southern District, saying that another person in the house was armed.” That person turned out to be Mach’s roommate, who was concerned for his own safety; when responding patrol officers entered the Brooklyn house, they found Mach sitting on his bed with a weapon they claim he was asked repeatedly to put down. When Mach turned to face them with what turned out to be a pellet gun, he was shot by four-year veteran officer Joseph Schanamann (who was involved in a prior shooting from 2009 when a police dog attacked him). Mach was later pronounced dead after being taken to a local hospial. As per department policy, Schanamann is on routine administrative suspension while detectives investigate the shooting.

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Steve Mach

According the the Sun’s October 5 “Update on fatal police shooting in Brooklyn“:

There’s been an outpouring of grief among friends of victim Steve Mach, stretching from Baltimore to New York City, where he worked for years as a lighting tech at the famed CBGB’s rock club. Before that, he played in a few glam rock bands, including a local group called The Vamps.

“It’s a shock to us all,” said Jackie Luther, who worked with Mach at CBGB. “He was a very gentle person. I can’t see this happening – it’s very out of character.”

Luther said Mach had moved back to Baltimore a few years ago after the death of his mother. He was an animal activist who worked with BARCS, the South Baltimore animal rescue shelter, and owned several cats, she said. He did not have a criminal record here.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said officers were called to Mach’s home in the 3600 block of St. Victor St. after his roommate called police to report that Mach was armed and said he was fearful for his own safety. Officers entered the home and went upstairs, where they found Mach sitting on his bed. The officers demanded that he drop a weapon he was holding – police describe it as a pellet gun that resembled a .45 caliber handgun – and fired at least one shot when he refused to comply.

“You have to follow police commands, especially when you’re holding a weapon in your hands,” Guglielmi said.

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Fans quickly created a R.I.P. Steve Mach Facebook page for the departed Baltimore musician. Friends posted information stating that Steve Mach had no living family and were “asking everyone to please help so that he may have a proper burial.” Until a donation memorial fund website is set up, donations can be made via PayPal using Duchess627@aol.com.

I had never heard of Steve Mach or his bands (Charm School aka Skrap, Pillbox, Skin & Bones – a band he formed in New York in the ’80s with Billy Idol’s former drummer – and local glamrockers The Vamps, aka Vamp City, who played a reunion show last December at the Recher Theater in Towson) until I was clued to his identity by local musician Adolf Kowalski (nee Ross Haupt of Thee Katatonix), who said he was attending his memorial service. But apparently the Vamps – formed in Baltimore in 1982 and later relocating to New York City and morphing into Skin & Bones – were a big deal in the ’80s in their respective glam-metal circuits (Girard’s and Maxwells here; Cat Club, Limelight and The Ritz in NYC). The Vamps/Vamp City line-up was: “Johnny Vamp” (Johnny Vance) on lead vocals and harmonica; “Jimi K. Bones” on lead Guitar, “Pete Pagan” on rhythm guitar; Gregg Gerson on drums; and Steve Mach on Bass.

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Skin & Bones

Guitarist Jimi K. Bones, who played with Mach in both the Vamps and Skin & Bones, talked to Love-It-Loud.com regarding the tragedy and paid tribute to his close friend as follows:

“I met Steve Mach when I was seventeen-years-old. He was standing in his basement covering himself with fog from a dry ice machine he had just made out of an old fifty-five gallon drum and dryer hose. I thought to myself, “I’ve got to be in a band with this guy”.Steve and I worked together over the next twenty years in several successful bands. We first came together in The Vamps, which later morphed into Skin & Bones. We travelled to Europe and all over the States, having one crazy moment after another.

Steve was one of the funniest guys I have ever met. Politically incorrect, outrageous, and was brilliant. He is a light that will truly be missed by many. I am honoured to have had called him a friend. Rest and Rock in Peace!

A memorial benefit show was scheduled for October 23 at the Surf City Bar & Grill in Perry Hall, with support from numerous local bands (including various members of The Ravyns, Face Dancer, The Vamps and, yes, Adolf Kowalski) as well as the NYC Punk Collective.

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Surf City hosts the "We Love Steve" memorial benefit

There are a bunch of videos for Mach’s various bands on YouTube, including one for the Vamps on the Baltimore late-night television dance program Shakedown – a show Kowalski’s Katatonix also appeared on (Shakedown was also one of John Waters’s favorite shows):

Watch the Vamps play “Charm City” on Shakedown (1980s).

Watch the Steve Mach Tribute (photo montage set to Skin & Bones’s “Cover Me with Roses.”

Watch Vamps’ bassist Steve Mach and singer Johnny Vance play “Strangers” at the Recher Theater renion show.

Watch the Vamps play “Fast Dance” at Maxwell’s (1987).

Watch The Vamps play “Straight From You.”

For more Steve Mach videos, see singer Johnny Vance’s YouTube channel.

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Not a Pretty Sight (Equinox, 1990)

Steve Mach was also revered across the Pond, as UK music magazine Black Velvet (www.blackvelvetmagazine.com) published an obit for him, “R.I.P. Steve Mach” (October 5, 2011). Small wonder, as Skin & Bones moved to England in 1990 to record Not A Pretty Sighton Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor’s Equinox label. Released in 1990, the album was engineered by Mike Fraiser (Aerosmith, AC/DC) and co-produced with Taylor (later of Power Station).

Finally, as fans and friends alike shared their shock, outrage, condolences, memories, and love on Facebook and other social network sites, Darlene Harris – manager at BARCS, the South Baltimore animal rescue shelter where animal activist Steve Mach worked – updated supporters about the status of Mach’s only surviving family members: “As far as Steve’s cats they are right outside my office, have been fully vetted and are being given tons and tons of love…I will not let ANYTHING happen to his cats, and am working to get them to good homes where they will be loved as much as Steve loved them.”

Harris added perhaps the perfect coda to the Steve Mach tragedy when she concluded, “In the midst of sadness, I have found beauty in meeting so many wonderful music and animal lovers. Thank you, Steve, for adding these amazing people to my life.”

By Wesley Case (Midnight Sun, 3/26/2012)

More than 25 years ago, the Baltimore hard-rock scene was almost as big as the hair. Bands such as Kix, Mannekin, Child’s Play and DC Star toured the country, signed major-label record deals and sold out hometown shows at legendary clubs such as the Sandbar and Hammerjack’s.

It, of course, did not last forever. Hammerjack’s was torn down in 1997 and replaced with the M&T Bank Stadium parking lot. To some, the loss of the well-known club was the long-overdue final nail in the spandex. To others, such as Mannekin lead singer David VanLanding, Hammerjack’s lives on as a memory for those lucky enough to have been there.

“Hammerjack’s was to rock ‘n’ roll what Studio 54 was to disco,” VanLanding said recently. “It will never, ever be duplicated. I miss it badly. Not in a boo-hoo sense; I’m just thanking God I was able to be apart of it.”

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At its height, the Baltimore hard-rock quintet played 250 dates in a year. The highlight was an opening slot for Night Ranger, another ’80s band best known for its power ballad “Sister Christian.” Touring led to a record deal and a two-month recording stint in Europe. The group ultimately shelved the record because it was unsatisfied with the producer’s work. “We were such a live band, so it would make sense to capture that live feeling on record,” said lead singer David VanLanding. “$250,000 later, we had a bonfire.” After years of touring and “bad decisions,” the band broke up in 1990, even as it was still packing venues. “We thought there wasn’t a future for us,” VanLanding said.

Continue reading and view the photo gallery “Baltimore Hair Bands Then and Now” at Midnight Sun.

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Child’s Play Vocalist Brian Jack Has Passed Away

(By Dana, Eddie Trunk.com)

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(Brian Giacubeno, August 16, 1965 - April 17, 2012)

Reports coming out of Baltimore, Maryland reveal that Child’s Play vocalist Brian Jack has died. No details on the cause of death have been stated as of yet.

Former Child’s Play bandmate and drummer John Allen posted the following on Facebook, “I am completely shocked and saddened by the death of Brian Jack. He was one of the most gifted, charismatic artists I have ever had the pleasure of sharing the stage with. He along with the rest of the guys were the brothers I never had. I will miss him incredibly.”

Currently playing with the Charm City Devils, Allen will dedicate their April 21st show in Towson, Maryland to Brian Jack. “He was loved by many and it would be nice for everyone to be together again”, says Allen. “So come out to Recher with your love and memories of one of the greatest frontmen/singer/artist that Baltimore has ever seen.”

Mickey Cucchiella, co-host of the Mickey, Amelia & Spiegel morning show on Baltimore’s 98Rock, corroborated the news by saying, “It is with a very heavy heart that I can confirm this tragic loss. Brian Jack was one of the greatest and most talented singers this town ever produced. I will miss you my friend.”

Continue reading at Eddie Trunk.

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 Related

• Brian Giacubeno Obituary and Video Tribute — Connelly Funeral Home
• Child’s Play’s “Rat Race” CD Review — Sleaze Roxx
• Former Child’s Play Frontman Brian Jack Passes Away — Metal Insider
• Child’s Play Facebook Fan Page
• R.I.P. Brian Jack – Child’s Play Facebook Page

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Brian Jack’s grave. Photo by Michael Hicks.

Child’s Play “Rat Race” Video

“S’More of My Back Pages
Or: One Man’s Clippings Are Another Man’s Kindling”

By Tom Warner (Accelerated Decrepitude, 4/25/2012)

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Artist's Representation. Actual Product May Vary.

“I opened the Pandora’s Box that is the bottom drawer of my bedroom dresser and – buried beneath the whip, handcuffs and nude Polaroids of all my ex-GFs (just kidding!)(they’re all clothed!) – ran across more yellowing clips from my days in the late ’70s as a writer-editor at Towson State’s student newspaper, The Towerlight (or The Towerblight, as we called it). Looking through the assorted cognitive clutter, I recalled I was somewhat of an ass, routinely making up news stories (for instance, I wrote that Elton John was assassinated by a bazooka-toting circus clown at his Capital Centre show – and later had to write a retraction!) and offending more people than I entertained..”

Continue reading “S’More of My Back Pages” at Tom Warner’s Accelerated Decrepitude.

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View more of these gems at at Tom Warner’s Accelerated Decrepitude!

An oldie but goodie from the Baltimore Or Less Christmas archives. Happy Holidays!

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AC/DC performed their classic “T.N.T.” live with a Christmas twist when they played the Capital Centre in Largo, Maryland on December 21st, 1981. Their album “For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” was at the top of the charts. Watch the video after Scott’s long-winded recollection.

An anecdote from Scott “Unpainted” Huffines:

“I was working at Friendly Ice Cream back in ’81 and my drinking buddy Tim R. scored four tickets to see the sold-out AC/DC show at the Cap Centre. He invited a biker waitress named Donna who was somewhat on the matronly side and she was bringing a friend. Donna offered to drive us in her Nova so we knew we could get good and drunk.

I figured we would be hanging with another rough biker chick and I was cool with that, I wanted to party and rock out to AC/DC. But lo and behold her friend was a vision of Essex beauty, a high-schooler with feathered brunette hair, freckles, fringed leather jacket, skin-tight Levi’s and even a roach clip in her hair. She was straight out a Rick Altergott comic (though I didn’t realize that til almost 30 years later.)

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Rick Altergott art from “Raisin Pie”

We picked up fifths of Jack Daniels (liquor is quicker – you don’t bother with beer on your way to a concert!) and while Donna drove with Tim chugging Jack shotgun I sat in the back with the hot metal biker chick, another fifth of J.D. and a pinner joint. We left Essex and started really hitting the Jack.

We were barely on the Capital Beltway when her hand purposely brushed against my leg and stayed there — before I knew it we were making out! Donna and Tim were up front getting angry drunk but I was in the back seat sucking face with a hot chick I just met.

Traffic slowed to a crawl as we approached the Cap Centre — cars were bumper to bumper — we were going to be late for the show.

I decided to make my move — I moved my hand under her jacket, inside her Western-style shirt and on top of her Danskin-covered left boob. I was about to get some titty action!

But then out of the blue Tim went into a J.D.-fueled angry drunken freak-out. He started yelling at Donna, then jumped out of the car, slammed the door, ran across the traffic jam, climbed over a fence and ran off into a field! That ended my makeout session and clumsy pass.

The chicks lit up cigarettes and started chain smoking as we pulled over and waited for Tim to climb back over the fence. But he was gone and not coming back and we realized that we had missed the opening act and probably half of the AC/DC show. We drove and parked and went into the concert hall.

We made it to our seats barely in time for AC/DC’s encore: “You Shook Me All Night Long,” “For Those About to Rock” and “T.N.T.” During ”T.N.T.” a roadie came out dressed as Santa Claus and danced around the stage, two roadies stumbled around in a reindeer costume and roadies with Santa hats in the lighting rigs tossed confetti down on the band.

Suddenly Tim appeared in his seat — it was a Christmas miracle! We shook our metal fists in the air and screamed through the marijuana haze while Tim enjoyed exactly one half of an AC/DC song.

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Afterwards it was a sullen drive back to Essex.

I never saw the sexy biker chick again. I’m sure she had a biker boyfriend, probably a meth-making “Pagan,” one of the worst biker gangs in Essex.

Tim was never able to explain how he made it to the concert after he ran off and climbed the fence.

The AC/DC encore was one of the best endings to a rock concert I’ve ever seen in my life.

And finding the video online was a true Christmas miracle.”

Related:

• AC/DC’s Bon Scott Gets Pissed at Towson State Security Goons, 1979

An oldie but goodie from the Baltimore Or Less Christmas archives. Happy Holidays!

The Ghost of Christmas Past: Mark Harp (1957-2004)

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Like Santa Claus, Mark was a Big Man

Lest we forget, legendary Baltimore musician Mark Linthicum – better known to friends and local music lovers as Mark Harp or “Harpo” (for his resemblance to the similarly curly-haired Harpo Marx) – passed away on Christmas Eve, 2004. God rest ye merry rockin’ man – and thanks for the music, mirth and memories.

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He’s making a set list, he’s playing it twice…

Some remembrances follow…

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Mark Harp (1957-2004)
(Baltimore City Paper, 1/5/2005)

It can be difficult to put your finger on who, exactly, Mark Harp was. That’s because, in some respects, he was many people. He was, as his web site www.markharp.com describes in the fine print on the front page, a “guitarist – web geek – theater sound designer – sampler musician – songwriter and composer – nutbar – website and graphic designer – bass guitarist – producer – director – arranger – bon vivant – unemployable dirt eater – Clark Bar enthusiast – ex-IMAX projectionist – actor – retired paperboy – SubGenius Pope – AND The King Of Peru.”

He was also Corky Neidermayer, bowler and musician who wrote the underground bowling hit “Bowling With You.” He was a member of too many local bands to name here, but the list includes the Motor Morons, Chelsea Graveyard, Glasphalt, Kunigunda, and 700 Lb. Boyfriend. He was a card-carrying pope in the Church of the Subgenius. He was the guy who put Hampden’s Miracle on 34th Street Christmas display. on the web

“He was a freak,” longtime friend Brandon Welch says. “But when I say ‘a freak,’ I mean it in a positive way. He was a smart, talented man with a strange sense of humor who enjoyed making people laugh and entertaining himself.”

At 5:48 a.m. on Christmas Eve, that smart, talented man’s heart stopped and Mark Harp died.

Continue reading “Mark Harp (1957-2004)” at Baltimore City Paper.

***

Set List: Remembering Mark Harp
by Pamela Purdy (Baltimore City Paper, 1/5/2005)

I can’t say I knew Mark Harp that well. For a brief time though, from September 1981 to December 1982, I’d push up close to the bandstand at venues like Girard’s and Coast to Coast and dance until my calves ached to the music of Null Set—Mark on guitar, Billy on vocals, John on bass, and Louis on drums. So when I heard last week that Harpo’s heart had failed him after a serious operation, all I could do was picture myself dancing with Amy, Bernie, Genie, Ira, Katie, Leigh, Lumpy, Mindy, Randy, Steevee, Tommy, and the rest of the Null Set camp followers.

According to my diary, first time I ever clapped eyes on Mark Harp was in a Battle of the Bands at the Marble Bar on Sept. 6, 1981. I’d come straight from the hospital where my father was all wired up and fighting for his life. I’d held his hand for almost an hour, until the radio at the nurses’ station played “Can’t live if living is without you.” Then I joined a teeny-weeny audience to hear the Screamers battle Null Set and St. Vitus’ Dance. I told my diary I was probably the one person who voted for Null Set who wasn’t dating a member of the band.

Continue reading “Set List: Remembering Mark Harp” at Baltimore City Paper.

***

Our Friend, Mark Harp, Dies
by Benn Ray (The Mobtown Shank, 12/24/2004)

Some of you may have heard that Mark Harp, friend, resident of Hampden’s Miracle on 34th St., vertible music factory, and Baltimore fixture, was seriously ill. We did not post anything about it in the Shank due to the serious condition he was in. He was in no position to receive visitors, and we didn’t want to do anything that would contribute to chaos while Mark was trying to recover. This week we had intended to post an address where friends could send cards.

Tragically, Mark didn’t recover.

The following is a message posted to ArtMobile.
Mark passed away last night. His heart stopped in the middle of the night and they were unable to start it again. I had just seen him hours earlier and he was happy. He had regained the ability to talk. He was telling jokes to me and his friend Brandon and my wife and the nurses. We were making plans to talk to him again “tomorrow” when he would have more time to talk. Well for Mark there was no “tomorrow”. He was so glad that so many people were concerned about him. He will be sorely missed. Details to follow when I know more. -Dave Z.

The lights on Hampden’s Christmas St. will not shine as bright.

I’m so sorry to have to post this.

***

MARK HARP’s BIG THING: INSANE!
by Tom Warner (Accelerated Decrepitude, 4/12/2008)

I love Mark Harp. Along with Mark O’Connor, Randy Peck and the boys in Berserk, he is one of the few local musical geniuses I’ve met in my life. By pure serendipity I happen to be dating his ex-wife and by pure happenstance she just happened to come across this old CD by him while we were shopping at Normal Books & Records.

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Insane? Believe the hype!

It comes from Mark’s casio cowboy days as a heavy, heavy sampler of sound bites. Some of these Amy recognized, most she didn’t, coming as they did after she and “Harpo” split up in the mid-’90s. I recognized a kindred spirit for, just like me with Atomic TV, Mark loved finding obscure sound bites and looping them ad infinitum. Marshall McLuhan would be proud.

Who would get rid of this CD? Their loss. As it is the world’s loss since Mark Harp passed away Christmas Eve of 2004. But fear not, the whole album is available for download from Mark Harp’s website (www.markharp.com). Click to download: Insane!

Anyway, herein is a track by track review of this mostly all-found-sounds record (with additional real human voices courtesy of bassist Dave Zidik, Mike Dejong and even Mark himself intoning “Grey Peach Cobbler” in the song of that name).

Continue reading “Mark Harp’s Big Thing: Insane!” at Accelerated Decrepitude.

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Kix, pictured in 1991, had one of the top-five metal albums of all time, according to Chuck Eddy.

By Al Shipley (Baltimore City Paper, 12/26/2012)

In 1995, Kix decided they’d had a good run. After forming as the Shooze in Frederick, Md., in the late ’70s, ruling Baltimore’s hard-rock scene throughout the ’80s, and eventually scoring Top 40 hit “Don’t Close Your Eyes,” frontman Steve Whiteman recalls thinking that the band had simply run its course.

“When we decided that it was time to call it quits, the music business had just changed drastically,” he says. “We went from playing large clubs in front of thousands of people to small clubs—we called them ‘french-fry stands’—and our money was dropping terribly. So we just looked at each other one day and said, ‘It’s time, it’s done.’”

But as many 20th century hitmakers have discovered in the 21st century, a band’s history can become more valuable with time, and fickle audiences age and become nostalgic for the good old days. After dipping their toe in the water with a 2003 reunion show and a few biannual hometown gigs, Kix has finally become, once again, a touring band.

Continue reading “Pumped-Up Kix” at Baltimore City Paper.

Kix “The Itch” live on the USA Network show “Hot Spots,” 1983.
(The Seagull Inn is now the River Watch Restaurant & Marina.)

Kix “Yeah, Yeah, Yeah” live on the USA Network show “Hot Spots,” 1983.  

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Mark Harp returns in spirit to SoWeBo Fest

I’m really looking forward to this year’s Memorial Weekend highlight, the 30th annual SoWeBohemian Arts & Music Festival (aka the SoWeBo Arts & Music Festival or, simply, The SoWeBo Fest) on Sunday May 26. Mainly because not only will the “Marble Bar Redux” stage at the corner of Arlington and Lombard once again feature musical blasts from the past that I actually remember (The Beatoes, The Motor Morons, Thee Katatonix), but this year will also feature The Mark Harp All-Stars paying homage (which sounds way too serious!) to – and having fun with (that sounds much better!) – the music of The Big Man himself, our dearly departed friend and musical-genius-mentor Mark Linthicum (aka “Mark Harp,” “Harpo,” “Corky Neidermayer” and “The King of Peru”), who left this mortal coil well before his time on Christmas Eve of 2004. Geesh, former Null Set/Cabal and Black Pete frontman – and longtime Harp collaborator – Bill Dawson (aka “Bil Dawson” back in the day) is coming all the way up from Jacksonville, Florida for this shindig, so that tells you something about what a big deal the Big Man was, and continues to be to those discerning music lovers in B-more who “get it.”

Listen to Null Set (Bill Dawson, Mark Harp, John Chreist, Lou Frisino) play their theme song.

Beatoes fans should get there early, as the Too-Ugly-for-MTV boys will take the stage at High Noon.

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The Beatoes kick-start Marble Bar Redux at Noon

Watch The Beatoes guest appearance on The Scott & Gary Show.

Thee Katatonix will bring their Beltway Beat to Shake Shake the masses at 5 p.m., followed by Mongolian Glow at 6 p.m.,  The Motor Morons at 6:30 p.m., and The Mark Harp All-Stars (with a Cecil B. DeMille-worthy “cast of thousands”) at 7 p.m.

This incarnation of the All-Stars playing the Mark Harp back catalog will include Ben Watson (lead guitar), David Zidek (bass), Chris “Batworth” Ciattei (drums), Beefalo Bob Friedman (keyboards), Robyn Webb (rhythm guitar), Ceil Strakna (vocals), Cindy Borchardt (vocals), Valerie Favazza (vocals) and special guest appearances by Chris Dennestaedt (The Beatoes, Casio Cats, Poverty & Spit), David Wilcox (Chelsea Graveyard, Pooba, The Alcoholics) and, of course, the aforementioned Bil(l) Dawson.

Big thanks to Robyn Webb for orchestrating the Mark Harp All-Stars project; Robyn also MC’ed the Marble Bar Redux stage line-up last year. Returning to manage the line-up this year is none other than iconic Motor Moron and Pleasant Liver singer Fred Collins, who co-managed Marble Bar Redux 2012 with fellow Motor Moron Sam Fitzsimmons. (As they say in horse breeding parlance, those are studs with really good bloodlines for this racing card.) Like just about everybody associated with the Marble Bar line-up, Robyn and Fred once played with Mark Harp.

Watch a clip of Fred manically performing “Big Headed Baby” with the Pleasant Livers at the 2012 SoWeBo Festival, below:

I would be remiss if I did not post Scott Kecken’s short film “SoWeBohemian,” a video time capsule of the sights and sounds of SoWeBo festivals past – including cameos of a young, svelte Scott Huffines…

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Svelte Scott says, “SoWeBo is an excuse to drink!”

…and the non-facial parts of Tom Warner‘s body that won’t break a camera lens (look for a below-the-neck shot of him holding a Zim Zowie flyer in his Robin the Boy Wonder t-shirt!).

And finally, as we count down the days to the “Marble Bar Redux Redux,” enjoy this field report from last year’s festivities,  “Marble Bar Redux,” posted by yours truly.  Hope to see you all out there Sunday! – Tom Warner

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Marble Bar Redux @ SoWeBo Festival

by Tom Warner (Accelerated Decrepitude, May 29, 2012)

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“I had a great time at the Sowebo festival yesterday! The Redux stage proved that it doesn’t matter how old you are, you can still rock out! I got there just in time for the Pleasant Livers, and then watched Thee Katatonix, Motor Morons and Ben Watson’s World Media War and everyone was fantastic. So good to see so many of you there!”
- Amy Linthicum, Girl Reporter (via Facebook post)

As usual, Amy Linthicum says best what I can only flail at with my forked tongue. But my tongue must flail, so here goes…Yes, SoWeBohemian Festival 2012 was a blast – and a true blast from the past for those 80′s Punk/New Wave relics like us who still fondly remember the Marble Bar (which closed its doors in 1985), the Galaxy Ballroom and its associated renegade musical spirit. The Marble/Galaxy contingent were treated to their own “old timey sounds” area, the “Marble Bar Retrospective” on the Redux Stage – where co-stage managers Sam Fitzsimmons (Motor Morons) and Fred Collins (Motor Morons, Pleasant Livers) oversaw the day’s entertainment. They were ably assisted by emcee Robyn Webb, who introduced the day’s numerous acts and kept the rock rolling smoothly.

Continue reading “Marble Bar Redux” at Accelerated Decrepitude.

Related Links:
Mark Harp’s All-Stars (Facebook event post)
SoWeBohemian (Baltimore Or Less)
Scott Kecken’s “SoWeBohemian” film short (YouTube)
Marble Bar Redux @ SoWeBo Festival 2012 (Accelerated Decrepitude)

Redux Stage celebrates music long gone but far from forgotten

by Tom Warner (Accelerated Decrepitude)

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Keith Worz (far right) implores The Mark Harp All-Stars to pull his finger at 2013 SoWeBo Festival.

It was the best of times, it was the Worz of times (yes, perpetually frenetic scenester Keith Worz was there!) at the 30th annual SoWeBohemian Arts & Music Festival held this past Memorial Weekend Sunday in  Baltimore’s failed experiment in neighborhood gentrification, SoWeBo (which I guess stands for SouthWest Baltimore, but was originally coined by the early bohemian settlers to show their solidarity with South Africa’s Soweto townships).

Though there’s a lot to see and do down at SoWeBo – like all the art and crafts on display (though most people seem to just eat, drink, get sunburn, and listen to the free music) – Amy “I have enough t-shirts & jewelry” Linthicum and I set out to hang at the Marble Bar Time Capsule Stage (officially known as The Redux Stage, on the corner of Arlington and Lombard) as our prime objective, because this was Festival Ground Zero for seeing all the old people (Marble Bar Baby Boomers like us) and hearing all the old music (late ’70s & 1980s Punk-New Wave-Postpunk) that we like…

…Once again the usual musical suspects – The Motor Morons (unofficial “house band” of SoWeBo), Thee Katatonix, The Beatoes, Mongoloidian Glow – were on stage to perform, but this year’s highlight was easily the much-anticipated performance of The Mark Harp All-Stars – plus a surprise mini-set (courtesy of the Kats’ Adolf Kowalski) by Washington D.C.’s ’80s pop-punk wonders, Tru Fax & The Insaniacs.

The Mark Harp All-Stars idea was the brainchild of long-time Harp collaborator Robyn Webb (following a suggestion by Fred Collins), who posted on her Facebook page the following thank-you to all who participated in the day’s festivities:

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Still in recovery, but want to offer major thanks to everyone, Chris Dennstaedt, Chris Ciattei, Cecilia Strakna, Robert J. Friedman, David Zidek, David Wilcox, Bill Dawson, Cindy Borchardt, Craig Considine and Ben Watson for making Mark Harp’s All-Stars a reality one more time….Despite scheduling snafus, equipment failures and general chaos, they said it couldn’t be done, but we pulled it off…Thanks also to Fred Collins, the SoWeBo Festival committee, Joe Berky, Thee Katatonix, Motor Morons, Mongoloidian Glow, Trufax & The Insaniacs, David Wright, Tom Warner and to all of you that stuck around until the bitter end to share Mark Harp’s music with us. Great to see so many old friends together in one place. – Robyn Webb

Well said, Robyn. My only regret was that the star-studded set started so late, at Twilight’s last gleaming after a long day’s journey into (SoWeBo) blight. But as Larry Vega would say, “What the hell ya gonna do?”

Continue reading “SoWeBo Fest 2013” at Accelerated Decrepitude.

[As Halloween fast approaches, Frederick N. Rasmussen has written an excellent capsule history of this mythical local monster that appears in today's Baltimore Sun: "Spinning the tale of the Snallygaster." Check it out - and cautiously look to the skies if you're anywhere near South Mountain in Western Maryland!]

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Beware the Snallygaster! (Illustration by R.M. Hanson)

“Better run and hide…the Snallygaster’s comin’ to get ya!”

by Tom Warner (Baltimore Or Less)

I had never heard of Western Maryland’s long-standing “rural legend” of the Snallygaster – a dragon-like creature described as being half-bird, half-reptile and with a screech like a “locomotive whistle” – until I bought a record called The Legend of the Snallygaster by Frederick, Md., indie garage rock band The Skeptics.

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The Skeptics’ “Legend of the Snallygaster” LP (Bona Fide, 1986)

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Clik here to view.This band – formed in the ’80s and originally comprised of guitarist Andy McCutcheon (whose name should be familiar to anyone who has purchased his family’s fine line of apple products and preserves), bassist Dennis Crolley, and drummer Stephen Blickenstaff (a talented “monster-art” illustrator best known for drawing the Lux Interior caricature appearing on the cover of The Cramps’ 1984 LP Bad Music for Bad People) – released their lone LP in 1986, taking its title from the mythical monster that, according to local lore dating back as far as the 1700s, sweeps down in the dark of night to snatch away small game, farm animals, and even young children. The album – whose art features a razor-beaked, one-eyed Snallygaster designed by Blickenstaff – is best known for the Presidents Day-friendly holiday song “The Ghost of Abraham Lincoln;” local filmmaker and horror-fan Chris LaMartina (President’s Day, WNUF Halloween Special) later directed a stylish music video for the song.

In Snallygaster: The Lost Legend of Frederick County (2011), author Patrick Boyton writes that the Snallygaster has sometimes transcended regional lore to infiltrate pop culture, citing the 1972 children’s book title Fred Flintstone and the Snallygaster Show (albeit as a backwards-flying lion) and Mountain Dew’s 1960s vanilla ice cream soda float the Snallygaster (aka the “Snow White” if made with 7 Up or Sprite).

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Fred Flintstone and the Snallygaster Show (Durabook, 1972).

Interestingly, in the Flintstones book, Fred describes Snallygasters thusly: “…it flies like a bird, only backwards.It has a nose like an airplane propeller and a head like a lion. And it has very sharp claws, lives in old bowling alleys, and nobody’s ever seen one.”

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Fred describes the Snallygaster to an incredulous Wilma.

Boynton also wrote a Halloween-themed children’s book called Beware the Snallygaster (2011), featuring the artwork of Meghan Boehman.

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“Beware the Snallygaster” by Patrick Boynton.

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Snallygaster: The Lost legend of Frederick County” by Patrick Boyton.

There’s even an artisinal beer festival named Snallygaster held annually at Washington, DC’s Union Market. The Snallygaster is also described in detail in Ed Okonowicz’s book Monsters of Maryland (Stackpole Books, 2012), as well as other books (a list appears at the end of this post).

The word Snallygaster traces its origin to the German phrase “schneller geist,” meaning quick spirit or ghost, and was probably first used by the German immigrants who settled in the Western Maryland and Southern Pennsylvania regions. And though associated with Frederick County, sightings have also been reported in neighboring Cecil and Washington Counties, Baltimore and Cecil County, and even similar activity in West Virginia and Ohio.

According to Mary K. Mannix (Maryland Room Memories, Gazette.net), the Snallygaster is a Maryland cryptid, a creature that falls “outside of taxonomic records.” Other well-known cryptids include Bigfoot, Sasquatch, the Yeti, the Chupacabra (which must  be real because The X-Files did an episode on one!), and the Loch Ness Monster. (Not all cryptids are so far-fetched; the Kangaroo was once considered one. See also: “Top 10 Cryptids That Turned Out to be Real.”)  In addition to its wings and claws and affinity for snatching things, its defining characteristic may be it’s lone cyclops eye. Mannix likens it to a flying octopus, an image I rather like (hmmm, I wonder if someone will create a Snallygaster sushi roll?).

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The Middletown Valley Register perpetuated the myth of the winged monster in 1909.

But the aspect of this Blue Mountain monster legend that intrigues me most is learning that in 1909, then-President Teddy Roosevelt allegedly almost cancelled an African safari to instead hunt for this big-beaked game in the wilds of Western Maryland. He must have been reading the sensational headlines in the Middletown Valley Register, where a February 1909 article claimed that a winged creature snatched a man, sank its teeth into his jugular and dropped the drained body off a hillside. The story opened the floodgates to a series of subsequent reported encounters with the creature, which the paper christened the Snallygaster.

Some of those encounters were quite “colorful,” as Susan Fair reported for Blue Ridge Mountain (“Mountain Monster: The Snallygaster“). They included such adventures as  “…laying an egg the size of a barrel, picking a railway worker up by his suspenders, and even speaking to one man, mysteriously declaring, ‘My I’m dry, I haven’t had a good drink since I was killed in the battle of Chickamauga!’” (The Battle of Chicamauga! If only Civil War reenactors added the Snallygaster to spice up their battles, I might follow their activities with more interest!)

There was a lull in snallygaster sightings until 1932, when one reportedly crashed into a Middletown moonshiner’s mash barrel. Then, in 1948, a another one was spotted in Westminster. But it wasn’t until the 1970s that there was a true resurgence of sightings. The Baltimore Sun reported that in 1973 Maryland State Police began searching Sykesville for “a huge, hairy monster” standing six- to seven-feet tall with a “bushy tail and black hair” that allegedly killed a cow and some dogs and left behind footprints measuring 13 1/2 inches long and six inches wide. Residents described the beast as a cross between a “dwayyo” (a human-like creature that local folklore claims is hatched from a snallgyaster egg) and a snallygaster. The Sun reported several years later that a man claimed he was chased by a dwayyo along the banks of the Severn River.

Alas, despite its local ties and fearsome characteristics, no one yet has created a Halloween costume of the Snallygaster. Nor has the American Visionary Art Museum’s Kinetic Sculpture Race featured a cryptid critter-themed amphibian vehicle to date. Maybe next year?

Related Links:

Mysteries & Lore of Western Maryland: Snallygasters, Dogmen, and Other Mountain Tales (Susan Fair, History Press, 2013)

Snallygaster: The Lost Legend of Frederick County (Patrick Boyton, 2011)

Beware the Snalylgaster (Patrick Boyton & Meghan Boehman, 2011)

Ghosts and Legends of Frederick County (Timothy Cannon & Nancy Whitmore, 1979)

Beware the Snallygaster (Pulse of the Paranormal site)

Beware the Snallygaster (Gazette.net)

He Rocked Until Until He Dropped

by Tom Warner (Baltimore or Less)

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Clik here to view.BALTIMORE, MD – On October 2, Baltimore police shot and killed former Vamps and Skin & Bones bassist Steve Mach, 52, in his South Baltimore home after he allegedly pointed a pellet gun at officers responding to a distress call. According to the (pre-paywall online subscription) Baltimore Sun, police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi stated that the police received a call shortly before 9 p.m. Sunday evening “from a person inside a house in the 3600 block of St. Victor Street in the Southern District, saying that another person in the house was armed.” That person turned out to be Mach’s roommate, who was concerned for his own safety; when responding patrol officers entered the Brooklyn house, they found Mach sitting on his bed with a weapon they claim he was asked repeatedly to put down. When Mach turned to face them with what turned out to be a pellet gun, he was shot by four-year veteran officer Joseph Schanamann (who was involved in a prior shooting from 2009 when a police dog attacked him). Mach was later pronounced dead after being taken to a local hospial. As per department policy, Schanamann is on routine administrative suspension while detectives investigate the shooting.

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Steve Mach

According the the Sun’s October 5 “Update on fatal police shooting in Brooklyn“:

There’s been an outpouring of grief among friends of victim Steve Mach, stretching from Baltimore to New York City, where he worked for years as a lighting tech at the famed CBGB’s rock club. Before that, he played in a few glam rock bands, including a local group called The Vamps.

“It’s a shock to us all,” said Jackie Luther, who worked with Mach at CBGB. “He was a very gentle person. I can’t see this happening – it’s very out of character.”

Luther said Mach had moved back to Baltimore a few years ago after the death of his mother. He was an animal activist who worked with BARCS, the South Baltimore animal rescue shelter, and owned several cats, she said. He did not have a criminal record here.

Police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said officers were called to Mach’s home in the 3600 block of St. Victor St. after his roommate called police to report that Mach was armed and said he was fearful for his own safety. Officers entered the home and went upstairs, where they found Mach sitting on his bed. The officers demanded that he drop a weapon he was holding – police describe it as a pellet gun that resembled a .45 caliber handgun – and fired at least one shot when he refused to comply.

“You have to follow police commands, especially when you’re holding a weapon in your hands,” Guglielmi said.

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Fans quickly created a R.I.P. Steve Mach Facebook page for the departed Baltimore musician. Friends posted information stating that Steve Mach had no living family and were “asking everyone to please help so that he may have a proper burial.” Until a donation memorial fund website is set up, donations can be made via PayPal using Duchess627@aol.com.

I had never heard of Steve Mach or his bands (Charm School aka Skrap, Pillbox, Skin & Bones – a band he formed in New York in the ’80s with Billy Idol’s former drummer – and local glamrockers The Vamps, aka Vamp City, who played a reunion show last December at the Recher Theater in Towson) until I was clued to his identity by local musician Adolf Kowalski (nee Ross Haupt of Thee Katatonix), who said he was attending his memorial service. But apparently the Vamps – formed in Baltimore in 1982 and later relocating to New York City and morphing into Skin & Bones – were a big deal in the ’80s in their respective glam-metal circuits (Girard’s and Maxwells here; Cat Club, Limelight and The Ritz in NYC). The Vamps/Vamp City line-up was: “Johnny Vamp” (Johnny Vance) on lead vocals and harmonica; “Jimi K. Bones” on lead Guitar, “Pete Pagan” on rhythm guitar; Gregg Gerson on drums; and Steve Mach on Bass.

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Skin & Bones

Guitarist Jimi K. Bones, who played with Mach in both the Vamps and Skin & Bones, talked to Love-It-Loud.com regarding the tragedy and paid tribute to his close friend as follows:

“I met Steve Mach when I was seventeen-years-old. He was standing in his basement covering himself with fog from a dry ice machine he had just made out of an old fifty-five gallon drum and dryer hose. I thought to myself, “I’ve got to be in a band with this guy”.Steve and I worked together over the next twenty years in several successful bands. We first came together in The Vamps, which later morphed into Skin & Bones. We travelled to Europe and all over the States, having one crazy moment after another.

Steve was one of the funniest guys I have ever met. Politically incorrect, outrageous, and was brilliant. He is a light that will truly be missed by many. I am honoured to have had called him a friend. Rest and Rock in Peace!

A memorial benefit show was scheduled for October 23 at the Surf City Bar & Grill in Perry Hall, with support from numerous local bands (including various members of The Ravyns, Face Dancer, The Vamps and, yes, Adolf Kowalski) as well as the NYC Punk Collective.

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Surf City hosts the "We Love Steve" memorial benefit

There are a bunch of videos for Mach’s various bands on YouTube, including one for the Vamps on the Baltimore late-night television dance program Shakedown – a show Kowalski’s Katatonix also appeared on (Shakedown was also one of John Waters’s favorite shows):

Watch the Vamps play “Charm City” on Shakedown (1980s).

Watch the Steve Mach Tribute (photo montage set to Skin & Bones’s “Cover Me with Roses.”

Watch Vamps’ bassist Steve Mach and singer Johnny Vance play “Strangers” at the Recher Theater renion show.

Watch the Vamps play “Fast Dance” at Maxwell’s (1987).

Watch The Vamps play “Straight From You.”

For more Steve Mach videos, see singer Johnny Vance’s YouTube channel.

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Not a Pretty Sight (Equinox, 1990)

Steve Mach was also revered across the Pond, as UK music magazine Black Velvet (www.blackvelvetmagazine.com) published an obit for him, “R.I.P. Steve Mach” (October 5, 2011). Small wonder, as Skin & Bones moved to England in 1990 to record Not A Pretty Sighton Duran Duran guitarist Andy Taylor’s Equinox label. Released in 1990, the album was engineered by Mike Fraiser (Aerosmith, AC/DC) and co-produced with Taylor (later of Power Station).

Finally, as fans and friends alike shared their shock, outrage, condolences, memories, and love on Facebook and other social network sites, Darlene Harris – manager at BARCS, the South Baltimore animal rescue shelter where animal activist Steve Mach worked – updated supporters about the status of Mach’s only surviving family members: “As far as Steve’s cats they are right outside my office, have been fully vetted and are being given tons and tons of love…I will not let ANYTHING happen to his cats, and am working to get them to good homes where they will be loved as much as Steve loved them.”

Harris added perhaps the perfect coda to the Steve Mach tragedy when she concluded, “In the midst of sadness, I have found beauty in meeting so many wonderful music and animal lovers. Thank you, Steve, for adding these amazing people to my life.”

The Ghost of Christmas Past: Mark Harp (1957-2004)

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Like Santa Claus, Mark was a Big Man

Lest we forget, legendary Baltimore musician Mark Linthicum – better known to friends and local music lovers as Mark Harp or “Harpo” (for his resemblance to the similarly curly-haired Harpo Marx) – passed away on Christmas Eve, 2004. God rest ye merry rockin’ man – and thanks for the music, mirth and memories.

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He’s making a set list, he’s playing it twice…

Some remembrances follow…

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Mark Harp (1957-2004)
(Baltimore City Paper, 1/5/2005)

It can be difficult to put your finger on who, exactly, Mark Harp was. That’s because, in some respects, he was many people. He was, as his web site www.markharp.com describes in the fine print on the front page, a “guitarist – web geek – theater sound designer – sampler musician – songwriter and composer – nutbar – website and graphic designer – bass guitarist – producer – director – arranger – bon vivant – unemployable dirt eater – Clark Bar enthusiast – ex-IMAX projectionist – actor – retired paperboy – SubGenius Pope – AND The King Of Peru.”

He was also Corky Neidermayer, bowler and musician who wrote the underground bowling hit “Bowling With You.” He was a member of too many local bands to name here, but the list includes the Motor Morons, Chelsea Graveyard, Glasphalt, Kunigunda, and 700 Lb. Boyfriend. He was a card-carrying pope in the Church of the Subgenius. He was the guy who put Hampden’s Miracle on 34th Street Christmas display. on the web

“He was a freak,” longtime friend Brandon Welch says. “But when I say ‘a freak,’ I mean it in a positive way. He was a smart, talented man with a strange sense of humor who enjoyed making people laugh and entertaining himself.”

At 5:48 a.m. on Christmas Eve, that smart, talented man’s heart stopped and Mark Harp died.

Continue reading “Mark Harp (1957-2004)” at Baltimore City Paper.

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Set List: Remembering Mark Harp
by Pamela Purdy (Baltimore City Paper, 1/5/2005)

I can’t say I knew Mark Harp that well. For a brief time though, from September 1981 to December 1982, I’d push up close to the bandstand at venues like Girard’s and Coast to Coast and dance until my calves ached to the music of Null Set—Mark on guitar, Billy on vocals, John on bass, and Louis on drums. So when I heard last week that Harpo’s heart had failed him after a serious operation, all I could do was picture myself dancing with Amy, Bernie, Genie, Ira, Katie, Leigh, Lumpy, Mindy, Randy, Steevee, Tommy, and the rest of the Null Set camp followers.

According to my diary, first time I ever clapped eyes on Mark Harp was in a Battle of the Bands at the Marble Bar on Sept. 6, 1981. I’d come straight from the hospital where my father was all wired up and fighting for his life. I’d held his hand for almost an hour, until the radio at the nurses’ station played “Can’t live if living is without you.” Then I joined a teeny-weeny audience to hear the Screamers battle Null Set and St. Vitus’ Dance. I told my diary I was probably the one person who voted for Null Set who wasn’t dating a member of the band.

Continue reading “Set List: Remembering Mark Harp” at Baltimore City Paper.

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Our Friend, Mark Harp, Dies
by Benn Ray (The Mobtown Shank, 12/24/2004)

Some of you may have heard that Mark Harp, friend, resident of Hampden’s Miracle on 34th St., vertible music factory, and Baltimore fixture, was seriously ill. We did not post anything about it in the Shank due to the serious condition he was in. He was in no position to receive visitors, and we didn’t want to do anything that would contribute to chaos while Mark was trying to recover. This week we had intended to post an address where friends could send cards.

Tragically, Mark didn’t recover.

The following is a message posted to ArtMobile.
Mark passed away last night. His heart stopped in the middle of the night and they were unable to start it again. I had just seen him hours earlier and he was happy. He had regained the ability to talk. He was telling jokes to me and his friend Brandon and my wife and the nurses. We were making plans to talk to him again “tomorrow” when he would have more time to talk. Well for Mark there was no “tomorrow”. He was so glad that so many people were concerned about him. He will be sorely missed. Details to follow when I know more. -Dave Z.

The lights on Hampden’s Christmas St. will not shine as bright.

I’m so sorry to have to post this.

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MARK HARP’s BIG THING: INSANE!
by Tom Warner (Accelerated Decrepitude, 4/12/2008)

I love Mark Harp. Along with Mark O’Connor, Randy Peck and the boys in Berserk, he is one of the few local musical geniuses I’ve met in my life. By pure serendipity I happen to be dating his ex-wife and by pure happenstance she just happened to come across this old CD by him while we were shopping at Normals Books & Records.

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Insane? Believe the hype!

It comes from Mark’s casio cowboy days as a heavy, heavy sampler of sound bites. Some of these Amy recognized, most she didn’t, coming as they did after she and “Harpo” split up in the mid-’90s. I recognized a kindred spirit for, just like me with Atomic TV, Mark loved finding obscure sound bites and looping them ad infinitum. Marshall McLuhan would be proud.

Who would get rid of this CD? Their loss. As it is the world’s loss since Mark Harp passed away Christmas Eve of 2004. But fear not, the whole album is available for download from Mark Harp’s website (www.markharp.com). Click to download: Insane!

Anyway, herein is a track by track review of this mostly all-found-sounds record (with additional real human voices courtesy of bassist Dave Zidik, Mike Dejong and even Mark himself intoning “Grey Peach Cobbler” in the song of that name).

Continue reading “Mark Harp’s Big Thing: Insane!” at Accelerated Decrepitude.

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Dreamlander Pat Moran strikes a caped pose on West Read in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon neighborhood.
Taken next The Leather Underground shop sometime in the 1970s.

More about Pat Moran on Baltimoreless Or Less.

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“On my tombstone just write, The sorest loser that ever lived.” –  Earl Weaver

Related:

• Earl Weaver: “Manager’s Corner” — Baltimore Orioles manager Earl Weaver colorfully answers questions from baseball fans. Film by Skizz Cyzyk.
• Expletive Earl: Weaver’s prank tape is still ripe, decades after leaving tomato patch — Baltimore Sun

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The Orioles recently unveiled Hall-of-Fame manager Earl Weaver’s statue at Camden Yards, but for many his greatest legacy (including 4 AL pennants and a 1970 World Series championship) was his feisty attitude and potty-mouth. Skizz Cyzyk captured Earl’s spirit best in his animated blooper reel, “Manager’s Corner.”

Related Links

• Baltimore Or Less posts tagged “Earl Weaver”
• Expletive Earl: Weaver’s prank tape is still ripe, decades after leaving tomato patch
• Weaver Says Statue Dedication Ranks With Being In Hall of Fame (Matt Palmer, PressBox)
• Orioles will win again, but there will never be another Earl of Baltimore — Baltimore Sun

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Kevin McDonough: “Ms. Nickel taught me to fight for what I believe in.”

As the nation honored courageous civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  this past Monday, we recall another, local, “champion of courage,” Jackie Nickel (1942-2007), whose legacy lives on in her East Baltimore community and the heart of a young boy named Kevin McDonough. Back in 2010, the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel student cited both Dr. King and Nickel – an Essex Times and Avenue News reporter, local historian, and community activist – as role models who taught him to fight for what he believes in.

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Kevin McDonough: “Ms. Nickel taught me to fight for what I believe in.”

As the nation honored courageous civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  this past Monday, we recall another, local, “champion of courage,” Jackie Nickel (1942-2007), whose legacy lives on in her East Baltimore community and the heart of a young boy named Kevin McDonough. Back in 2010, the Our Lady of Mt. Carmel student cited both Dr. King and Nickel – an Essex Times and Avenue News reporter, local historian, and community activist – as role models who taught him to fight for what he believes in.

Following is Kevin’s video tribute to Jackie Nickel.