Johns Hopkins’ controversial former head of pediatric neurosur- gery, Dr. Ben Carson, debuted as a Fox News Channel commen- tator/analyst Wed. on ‘The Kelly File’ (with Megyn Kelly, left).

‘The Kelly File’ premieres on Fox
 
By Alan Z. Forman
 
Highly respected Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Benjamin S. Carson Sr., recently retired and now politically controversial, joined the Fox News Channel Wednesday night as a television commentator, debuting on the network’s “The Kelly File” with Megyn Kelly.

An announcement was made earlier in the day by Fox News Chairman/CEO Roger Ailes that the outspoken Dr. Carson had been hired by the conservative-leaning network to provide analysis and commentary across Fox News’ daytime and primetime programing.

The Kelly File premiered Monday night, the linchpin to the first overhaul of Fox’s prime-time lineup in more than a decade. Kelly’s debut marked the 17th anniversary of the cable news channel that has dominated TV news ratings since the beginning of the new millennium.

Formerly known as Megyn Kendall, Kelly is a lawyer and news anchor who has been with Fox since 2004, following a brief stint as a general assignment reporter for WJLA-TV (Channel 7), the ABC News affiliate in Washington, D.C.

Carson retired from the Hopkins in June after serving as director of pediatric neurosurgery at the hospital’s Children’s Center for 39 years. He suddenly became controversial when he lectured President Obama at a National Prayer Breakfast in Washington last February, followed by remarks that were deemed to be anti-gay as he allegedly compared homosexuals to pedophiles.

Carson’s sudden notoriety caused Hopkins faculty and students to demand he be removed as a scheduled commencement speaker in May, and he voluntarily withdrew in order to avoid what he said would be an unfair and unnecessary overshadowing of graduating students’ big day.

Read more »

Good luck trying to sleep when the workmen at the house next door turn this boombox on full blast.

Outdoor workers  set  standard;
we have no choice but to listen
 
By David Maril
 
To me, it’s astounding how so many people forget that music comes down to personal taste. Too often all of us are forced to hear music others listen to that we detest.

It’s bad enough pulling up at a traffic light in the middle of winter with the car windows closed and you hear harsh sound effects disguised as music blaring from a vehicle 20 feet away.

Or feel your car shake from the vibrations.

Think how much worse this becomes when we are having such a warm, beautiful fall with windows wide open and the music volume up.

The music you like might be something everyone else within hearing distance hates. But as self-centered attitudes become more dominant in our society, being respectful of others grows less important.

The attack of unwanted music is even more aggressive in a number of work areas.

We all experience music invasions in what should be the quietest residential locations. For example, when the owner of the property next door, or across the street from your home, decides to have some construction work done.

It can be repairs or adding something new. Maybe the roof needs replacing or a porch is being enclosed. Perhaps a few overgrown trees are being cut back with power saws.

Whatever the work order, the  trend is, the crews not only bring their tools, they also come equipped with large-speaker radios and boomboxes, also known as “ghetto blasters.”

Read more »

 
Premiere Week of “Need-To-Know News” on Voice of Baltimore
 

NEED-TO-KNOW NEWS — For Friday Oct. 4

[Scroll down for previous days’ compendia]
 

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY — IN BRIEF

A Voice of Baltimore compendium, local and beyond.   Your weekday morning look  (with links)  at late-breaking news, current events, and what will be talked about wherever you may go on Friday:

Havre de Grace theater group marks ‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’’s 40th anniversary.

It’s been four decades since the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” first opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London in 1973, and the Tidewater Players are celebrating the anniversary with a revival set to run Friday and Saturday nights through Oct. 12 in Havre de Grace. Audience participation in the bizarre cult musical will be encouraged.

Read More at:  The Aegis

•  WOMAN WHO RAMMED WHITE HOUSE BARRICADE
SHOT DEAD BY D.C. POLICE

After attempting to ram through a barricade in front of the White House Thursday, a Stamford, Conn. woman driving a black Infiniti with a one-year-old child inside, led Washington, D.C. police on a chase toward the Capitol, where officers shot and killed her. A Secret Service agent and one officer were injured.

Read More at:  WJZ-TV (Ch. 13) | WBAL-TV (Ch. 11) | CNN

•  BELVEDERE SQUARE MERCHANTS EXTEND HOURS FOR SENATOR REOPENING

As the historic Art Deco Senator Theatre plans to reopen on Oct. 10 with a showing of John Waters’ 1988 film “Hairspray’, the merchants at Belvedere Square will begin staying open until 10 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights in hopes the reopening will increase business for the North Baltimore shopping area.

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  FORMER HOPKINS SURGEON CARSON CLAIMS IRS HARASSMENT

Former Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon Ben Carson claims he was “targeted” by the Internal Revenue Service because of his outspoken political beliefs. In an interview with the Baltimore Sun’s Carrie Wells, however, Carson acknowledged that “there’s no way to know” if his vocal opposition to the Obama Administration caused the IRS to “harass” him or if his being audited was “a massive coincidence.”

Read More at:  Baltimore Sun

•  OBAMA CHALLENGES BOEHNER TO ‘CALL A VOTE’ TO END SHUTDOWN

Read more »

The Apex, Baltimore’s last X-rated movie theater, will go to auction next week, leav- ing Charm City residents without a public venue to view pornographic films — and making filmmaker John Waters, who called it ‘a wonderful place,’ unhappy. Waters says driving by the East Balto. ‘landmark’ always makes him feel ‘a little bit better.’

Apex on the block
 
What is Baltimore to do?

First “The Block,” which offer- ed every variation of ecdysi- ast-driven entertainment one could possibly imagine, got decimated after the retirement of Blaze Starr — Charm City’s very own entrepreneurial burlesque queen.

Now the city’s last X-rated movie house is going on the block — the auction block — and Baltimore for the first time since de-censorship will have to do without adult-film availability in a public venue, possibly forever.

The Apex Theater is the last of its kind in these parts to go: it will be auctioned off by A.J. Billig & Co. next Friday (a week from tomorrow). Since the Earle and Rex became churches, the Apex has been the city’s only adult-movie location, on South Broadway just above Fells Point, near the corner of East Lombard Street.

This is news you need to know, of course; or, put more succinctly, “Need-To-Know News,” a daily compendium inaugurated this week by Voice of Baltimore as a service to our readers. Each weekday, Monday through Friday, VoB is now running aggregations of the top news stories everyone in Charm City needs to know to start their day.

Each entry concludes with a link to the full news story from whence it came, so you can “Read More” should you choose to do so.

Beginning with Tuesday’s compendium, each aggregation is followed by the previous day’s stories; all you have to do is scroll down.

But to read this week’s compendiums in their entirety you’ll need to scroll UP from where you are on this page. As of 4 a.m. Friday, they’re now above this entry.

Click on “Read More” to see all five days’ compendiums. Then return to the main page (by clicking on “Home,” under “Main Menu” at left) and scroll down to read Columnist David Maril’s latest “Inside Pitch” offering, which runs exclusively on Voice of Baltimore’s pages every weekend.

Read more »

Padonia Ale House in Timonium plans to run a four-hour ‘Pumpkin Palooza’ Sat. Oct. 5 featur- ing 17 varieties of pumpkin-flavored beer & ale.

Parsonsburg brewery schedules Baltimore debut
 
By Alan Z. Forman
 
So you thought pumpkins were only for Halloween and jack-o’-lanterns? plus pie on Christmas and Thanksgiving?  Well, think again.

Seventeen different varieties of pumpkin-flavored beer and ale are set to highlight a Saturday afternoon beerfest next week at Padonia Ale House in Timonium, as the Baltimore County sports bar/restaurant formerly known as Padonia Station inaugurates its first-ever “Pumpkin Palooza.”

For a $10 entry fee, patrons will get three 10-oz. pours from among 20 beers and ales to be offered — the 17 pumpkin flavors along with three Oktoberfest varieties.

Among the featured brews will be Tall Tales Midnight Pumpkin Ale, made by a Parsonsburg, Md. brewery that will be making its Baltimore area debut with the fictional-sounding beer.

Parsonsburg is a census-designated community of 340 in Wicomico County, about 23 miles west of Ocean City on the Eastern Shore, slightly more than a stone’s throw from Salisbury. The Tall Tales Brewing Company offers such other varieties as Paul Bunyan American Pale Ale and Calamity Jane Wild Blonde.

Other notable varieties to be featured on October 5th will include Schlafly Pumpkin Ale, Dogfish Head Punkin [sic] Ale, Cape Ann Fisherman’s Pumpkin Stout, Southern Tier Imperial Pumking — yes, there’s a “G” on the end of “Pumking” and only one “P” — and Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale.

Southern Tier Pumking is truly a Halloween beer, “bewitched & brewed with pagan spirit” according to its label, “in the spirit of All Hallows Eve.” But then as an afterthought the brewer humorously adds that although it’s brewed with pagan spirit it “should be enjoyed with responsibility.”

For University of Maryland fans there’s Terrapin Pumpkinfest, although that beer is brewed in Georgia, not Maryland.

“People go crazy” over these specialty beers, said Karen Jednorski, a craft beer specialist at the Timonium sports club.

“They’re seasonal beers that are really Yum,” she said.

Read more »