In the previous post, Daniel Smith cited Paradise Gardens as the piece of art that changed his life. Here are some more photos of Paradise Gardens that I took around the time of Smith's visit.

What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?

I know immediately what that would be. In college, in '92, a friend and I took a pilgrimage to Howard Finster's Paradise Gardens, and it completely changed my life. The drive down [to Summerville, Georgia] was amazing. Personally, I was in a very selfish place at the time, but going to Paradise Gardens knocked all that out of me. There, I found a true and original artist who was speaking things about a spirit that I have known.

Daniel Smith's band, Danielson, plays the Ottobar Wednesday night with Ben & Vesper and Ortolan. Doors open at 8 pm, and it's an all ages show. It figures to be a lot of fun, and you can expect to smile a lot. If you aren't familiar with the group, check out Danielson: a Family Movie, which can be watched instantly on Netflix. You'll thank me later.

[Paradise Gardens Bottle House photo by John Lewis]

When I called Michael Beresh, he was sitting at the kitchen table working out harmonies with his wife. It seemed appropriate, because family plays such a large part in Beresh’s latest musical project, which he’ll unveil tomorrow night at the Creative Alliance. Letters to Baltimore from War was gleaned largely from his great-uncles’ WWII-era correspondence.

Henry and Walter Beresh were printers by trade, working at Bethlehem Steel and living in Highlandtown. Michael says Henry was a married man, more settled than Walter, who was known to hit the corner bars and shoot craps in the alley. They both shipped out during the War and wrote home regularly. “Their letters were amazing,” says Michael Beresh, who came across them last fall. “It was the stories that really grabbed me. They were in the Battle of the Bulge and writing about missing the Preakness. Walter even wrote poetry from a foxhole in Italy. And it’s good stuff, too.”

It was so good that Beresh was inspired to write 30 songs, using the letters for lyrics, in just two weeks. Looking back on it, he downplays that whirlwind of activity: “It’s not so hard,” he says, “when the lyrics have basically been written for you.”

He whittled the material down to 15 songs, which chronologically document the brothers’ war experiences. Walter practically served for the duration of the war, from 1941 to 1945. “His letters are hopeful and gung-ho, at first,” says Michael. “At the end, they’re much different, and he’s writing, `I just want to get out of here so bad.’”

Neither brother made it back to Highlandtown, but their stories did.

Saturday night, Beresh and his band—which includes guitar, upright bass, pedal steel, and a trio of back-up singers—will bring them to life at the Patterson, a fitting venue for the show. “It’s the old neighborhood,” says Beresh. “In the letters, they were longing for Highlandtown.”

The show, which also features a jazz quartet playing songs from the 1940s and a Q&A with Beresh, starts at 8 pm. Tickets are $15.

[illustration by Andy Friedman]

The winners of the 2010 Baker Artist Awards have been announced. Visual artists Karen Yasinsky and Richard Cleaver and musician Peter Minkler won the Mary Sawyers Baker Prize—you can check out their work here. The Baltimore's Choice Prize went to Kelly Walker, Shodekeh Talifero, Amanda Fair, Steve Parke, and Kaveh Haerian.

Talifero also won the Nancy Haragan Award, which is given to the Baltimore's Choice recipient "who best exemplifies the creative vitality of Baltimore's artists and the spirit of the Baker Artist Awards." Check out that spirit here.

Baltimore was well represented at last night's 24th annual Washington Area Music Association Awards. Rumba Club won "Best Latin Group," Jah Works took the "Best Reggae Group" prize, and Junkyard Saints tied (with the Patty Reese Band) for "Best Roots Rock Group."

Man-about-town Brian Simms—who plays with the Saints, Milkshake, Reese, and others—was named "Musician of the Year."

Congrats.

Tony Award winning actress Trezana Beverley returns to Baltimore for a production at Coppin State this week. Beverley—who graduated from Western and went on to win a Tony for her performance in the Broadway production of for colored girls who have considered suicide... when the rainbow is enuf —will direct five performances of Constant Star, a musical about Ida B. Wells, the legendary African-American journalist and civil rights figure.

Beverley, who was in the original production of Constant Star, says it's a timely play to stage. "Ida Wells spoke up for folks who were disenfranchised and put her life on the line," she says. "These days, there are so many people who need a break and could use someone up there speaking for them. Folks could use a good dose of Ida Wells."

Five actresses will portray Wells—including Coppin student Christian Harris and Coppin alum Nickole Scroggins—and perform various spirituals in five-part harmony. Beverley has been impressed with their vocals, especially Harris's lyric soprano, but adds that she's been challenging the cast and crew to step up to the task at hand. "The students here are wonderful," she says. "They are my crew, so, except for the designers, we don't have a professional crew. That means the young people need to make good choices and work hard."

Still, she realizes that resources are thin, and this isn't Broadway. She also realizes that Coppin is trying to take its theater department to the next level. "Coppin has provided me with as much as they can," says Beverley. "We've had to make a few compromises, but we're doing this with as much artistic integrity as possible. Doing this is very, very important, because these professors are very eager. We're all pulling the wagon."

She praises Dr. Garey Hyatt, the chair of Coppin's Visual and Performing Arts Department. "He has tremendous vision," says Beverley. "He is moving this program forward, and I am happy to share my talents with this group."

Beverley, who taught for awhile at Baltimore School for the Arts, notes that she didn't have these type of opportunities growing up in Baltimore. "I got all my theatrical training at the church and at the YMCA," she recalls. "My first acting class was at the Y across the street from the Enoch Pratt Library. I loved it! There might not have been a School for the Arts at that time, but I found that necessity is the mother of invention. Opportunities were rare, but they were there."

She also credits her mother, who got her Masters at Coppin and won the school's Fannie Jackson Coppin Award. Beverley says her mom will be in the audience on opening night.

Constant Star runs from March 3-7 at Coppin's James Weldon Johnson Auditorium. The show starts at 8 pm, except on Sunday, when the curtain goes up at 3 pm. Tickets are $15.

[photo courtesy Coppin State]

What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?

My favorite book is [William Golding's] Lord of the Flies. It introduced me to the darker side of human nature—something I explore in my music, but try to keep at bay in my real life.

Mayer Hawthorne hails from Ann Arbor, Michigan, not far from Detroit, and Motor City soul permeates his blissfully retro tunes. His Stones Throw debut, A Strange Arrangement, sounds like long-lost Motown from Barry Gordy's secret stash. Hawthorne plays the Ottobar on March 6.

The Maryland Humanities Council has selected Warren St. John's Outcasts United: An American Town, A Refugee Team, and One Woman’s Quest to Make a Difference for this year's One Maryland One Book program. A statewide reading project, the program attempts to connect diverse groups through a common reading experience and related programming.

According to press materials, the Council's selection committee "overwhelmingly supported this choice," because the book "is a story of determination, kindness, caring, and overcoming obstacles. It is the story of hope and the quest for freedom and economic survival—that is why people come to America."

Outcasts United is about a small town soccer team comprised of refugees from various war zones around the globe. The players are from such far-flung spots as Sudan, Liberia, and Afghanistan, and their presence in Clarkson, Georgia brings up challenging issues for the locals.

"It's a book that I hope will inspire debate and conversation about how to grapple with cultural changes that are occurring in communities across the country, including in Maryland," said St. John. "I look forward to being part of that conversation."

A state-wide author tour is planned for the fall. I'll keep you posted on that.

In the meantime, get reading.

Tomorrow night, Howard Markman previews songs from his upcoming Welcome to Smalltimore disc at Common Ground. Part of Roots Cafe's songwriters series—put together by "your singing host" and Baltimore contributor Geoff Himes—the evening also includes Mary "Little Pink" Battiata, who was a highlight of last year's Dylan tribute at the Creative Alliance.

Baltimore readers should be familiar with Markman, a vet on the local scene who often plays with disappear fear. Two years ago, he won "Best Song" in our Best of Baltimore issue for "Almost Home," a tune off his Half Smiles Blue Skies CD. That song was also featured prominently in Carrier, a PBS documentary series produced by Mel Gibson. If you holler real loud, maybe Markman, who'll be accompanied by Crack the Sky's Glenn Workman on keys, will squeeze it into his set.

The show starts at 7 pm.

What piece of art changed your life? How did it affect you?

Virginia Woolf's book The Waves and Wim Wenders's film Wings of Desire convinced me of the eternal.

Dave Wakeling will be eternally remembered as The English Beat's sweet-sounding vocalist. Although less frenetic than much of the band's ska punk output, E.B.'s "I Confess" and "Save It for Later" made the 1980s a tad more tolerable. And Pete Townshend did an amazing cover of the latter tune! Wakeling and company team up with Fishbone for what's sure to be a high energy show at Rams Head Live on February 24.