One of the more prestigious jobs in American journalism – working from the White House, traveling with and writing about the President of the United States – has become a high-stakes, rapid routine of unpredictability, uncertainty about basic facts and, as always, long days and nights in the West Wing and on the road.
Often seen walking in Bolton Hill with his family and with an engaging smile, Dan Deacon is a notable composer and performer of electronic music. With five solo albums and nearly 30 credits for television and film scores, Dan also has collaborated with symphony orchestras and chamber groups, including the Baltimore Symphony and Kronos Quartet. Deacon recently composed the music for New York City Ballet’s Mystic Familiar, choreographed by Justin Peck.
Anthony Duncan has worked for Apple in California and for two big Washington law firms as a patent attorney specializing in technology. Now, working initially from his home near McMechen and Bolton streets, he is running a startup company that will produce YourPatentAI –software for clients, patent law firms and other tech entrepreneurs.
With the fresh memory of the magnolia trees in bloom, and the fountains and parks coming to life, it is a good time to appreciate the art of our Bolton Hill neighbor Jimmy Rouse. The picturesque streets of Bolton Hill and nearby neighborhoods in which he has lived and worked have been the subject of his art since the beginning of his career.
Although part of a family that is clearly on a fast track, Cleo Liu Koppell is decidedly cool and calm – more focused on the muffin and yoghurt before her on a recent morning than any weighty issue of the day. That’s as it should be for a two-year-old with doting parents, two cats to keep at arms-length, and a reliable playmate to hang with just a few doors down Lafayette Avenue.
Passing by the 1400 block of Bolton Hill, you just might catch Leo Wanenchak playing the piano by the front window of his home.
Wanenchak, an accomplished pianist, organist, composer and music teacher, is the Associate Conductor of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Director of the Larks, a women’s vocal group, and Musical Director of the ParkinSonics choral group sponsored by the Johns Hopkins Center for Music and Medicine.
In a recent art show at Memorial Episcopal Church, Coming of the Light II, Sarah Ramirez Cross exhibited her latest block prints. One piece, North American Endangered Species, consists of a series of postcard-size prints on canvas depicting a Black Rail (a marsh bird) and a Gopher Frog. Printed in black ink on beige canvas, the animals are elegantly composed, with curved lines that form patterns suggesting feathers and skin. Multiples of the images are stitched together to create a vibrant homage.
Lottie Shivers turned 100 a few weeks ago and, to celebrate her long life and the contributions she and her late husband have made to the neighborhood, BHCA’s Blue Plaque Committee gave her a surprise gift: a Bolton Hill Blue Plaque honoring her late husband.
In New York every winter there is a festival where David Byrne of the Talking Heads dances with Gogol Bordello members. Former marching band nerds crowd-surf with their horns. Hipsters mingle with gray-haired ladies. And Balkan and Middle Eastern immigrants line dance with everyone. The Golden Festival is a unique celebration of Eastern European music and dance, which incorporates the Romany community influence embedded in those cultures.
The Banner and The Sun both ran warm obituaries for Dr. Jeremy Walston, 64, a Bolton Hill resident and geriatrician who died of cancer during the summer. He was a world-renowned physician who ran the Human Aging Project at Hopkins Bayview Medical Center and worked tirelessly to improve the quality of life for people as they age and better manage the progression of disease in the elderly.
