Poe Bus Tour with David Keltz

Annabel Lee Tavern
Saturday, October 6, 2012
www.davidkeltz.com

You're either on the bus or off the bus. And, if you're an Edgar Allan Poe fan, you had to be on the bus that left the Annabel Lee Tavern at 2 p.m. last Saturday for a two-hour tour of the important sites in EAP's life, from the Poe-themed tavern named after one of his most famous poems to his last resting place across town at the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground. The tour was organized and led - on a Guardian Angel-guided motorcycle, no less! -  by Baltimore actor David Keltz, who for more than 20 years has performed  in character as the Master of the Macabre and Father of the Modern Detective Story. While Keltz led the way on his cycle, on-the-bus Poe scholar John Dausch narrated the day's itinerary and highlights of Poe's life and literary career.





A Guardian Angel led the way for the David Keltz/Poe motorcade

Poe died in Fells Point on October 7, 1849, at what was then called Washington College Hospital on Broadway and Fayette Street (ah, the Lord giveth and he taketh away, for this locale, now called Church Home, was not only the site of Poe's death but of a miraculous birth - that of one Amy Linthicum, admittedly a century and some change after Poe's ill-fated demise. Coincidence? I think not!). Poe passed away four days after being admitted to the hospital, where he was taken after being found on the streets of Baltimore "delirious" and "in great distress" by Joseph W. Walker. His cause of death, penniless and aged 40, remains a mystery to this day.

The bus tour's itinerary included stops at Poe's house (circa 1831) in Harbor East on Eastern (called Wilkes Street in Poe's day) and Exeter/High Streets; the Poe House (circa 1832) at 203 N. Amity Street;  the Latrobe House at 11 W. Mulberry Street across the street from the Enoch Pratt Central Library (noteworthy for being associated with the Baltimore Saturday Visiter literary contest that launched Poe's career during his first stay in Baltimore 1831-1835; in October of 1833, judges John Latrobe, John Kennedy and Dr. James Miller awarded Poe $50 for his short story "MS Found in a Bottle"); Sir Moses Ezekial's Statue of Edgar Allan Poe (1916) on the University of Baltimore campus at the corner of Maryland and Mt. Royal Avenues; the East Lombard Street location (formerly Ryan's "4th Ward Polls" Tavern) where a delirious Poe was found on the night of October 3, 1849; and Poe's famous grave site at the Westminster Hall and Burying Ground on Fayette and Greene Streets.

David Keltz recites "The Raven" at U of B

During the tour, David Keltz periodically hopped off the Harley cycle driven by Poe "Guardian Angel" Anita Russum to point out famous landmarks and to recite, in character, two of Poe's most famous works. Keltz/Poe recited "The Raven" in front of the Sir Moses Ezekial's Statue of Edgar Allan Poe at the University of Baltimore...



...and later recited "The Cask of Amontillado" at Poe's grave site, bidding the crowd adieu with an apropos recitation from Poe's poem "Eldorado," whose gallant knight narrator's quest comes to an end in the "Valley of Shadow." (The poem also reflected the day's weather, for we had collectively "journeyed long" in both "sunshine and shadow.")

David Keltz recites "The Cask of Amontillado" at Poe's grave at Westminster Hall

All things considered - lunch at Annabel Lee Tavern, the smooth driving of our Superior Tours bus driver Andre, John Dausche's informative tour narration (from a script written by Teresa Herold), the good cheer of our riding companions, and David Keltz's amazingly believable recreation of the character and spirit of Poe - it was a great day to celebrate the life of Poe on the (almost) anniversary of his death.

It was a great day to take Poe's advice for curing what ales you!

It was even better than the competing Hustler Honeys Bus Tour going on in Fells Point that day! (Wonder if they even knew that Poe frequented a brothel near today's Hustler Club on The Block, where, according to David Keltz, he was fond of a young lady working there?)

Poe vs. Toe: The Poe Bus Tour easily trumped the Hustler Honeys Tour

If you like Poe but missed this event, you can catch another Poe performance by David Keltz at 8 p.m. this Friday, October 12, at the Theosophical Society in Maryland, 523 N. Charles Street. In addition to "The Raven" and "Eldorado," Keltz will perform "The Tell-Tale Heart" and, for the first time, "The Pit and the Pendulum," guaranteeing that his Halloween-themed event is a definite treat.

Get tickets at www.brownpapertickets.com

Poe Bus Tour with David Keltz

Poe Bus Tour
Saturday, October 6 @ 2 p.m.
Annabel Lee Tavern
601 S. Clinton Street

I know it's still a ways off, but wanted to spread the word that my Poe-tastic friend David Keltz will be presenting a Poe Bus Tour as Edgar Allan Poe (and no one does Poe better!) on Saturday, October 6, 2012. The bus leaves the Annabel Lee Tavern (how perfect is that?) at 2 p.m. and returns at 4 p.m. During the tour, David/EAP will lead the way on a motorcycle as the bus circles the important sites in Poe's life and passes the very streets where he walked. As Ken Kesey said, you're either on the bus or you're not - so hop on and enjoy the ride!

You can get tickets at Brown Paper Tickets.

Toasting Poe's (203rd) Birthday

Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849)


David Keltz as Edgar Allan Poe

A Poe Birthday Celebration Performance with David Keltz
The Theosophical Society
523 N. Charles Street , Baltimore, Maryland
Friday January 20: 8 pm ; Saturday January 21: 2 pm & 8 pm

The Poe Toaster may no longer raise a glass of cognac in salute and place three roses on his Westminster Church gravesite, but Edgar Allan Poe's birthday is still remembered and honored by countless fans and admirers in the city where Poe lived, courted his future wife, and found his final resting place (alongside his aunt, Maria Clemm, and wife, Virginia). Indeed, the Edgar Allan Poe Birthday Celebration has been a perennial tradition in Baltimore since 1980. So, on Saturday, January 21, Poe groupie Amy Linthicum (wearing her stylish Edgar Allan Poe necklace) and I paid our belated best wishes to EAP by attending David Keltz's incredible one-man show (in costume and character, edited from Poe's very own words) at the Baltimore Theosophical Society. (A portion of the proceeds from his three performances were donated to the fiscally challenged Poe House and Museum to help keep it open.)

BTS is an institution that I know little about, but their mission statement says it is dedicated to investigating "the nature of the universe and humanity's place in it," promoting understanding of other cultures, and being "a nucleus of universal brotherhood among all human beings" (a designation that I suppose includes even Republicans and telemarketers), so it sounds like an entirely reasonable and admirable group to me.

By contrast, I know a lot about David Keltz. The Baltimore actor gave his first performance as Edgar Allan Poe on Halloween night 1991 at Poe's grave and has honed his craft in countless performances over the years (in addition to one-man shows celebrating D. H. Lawrence, H. L. Mencken, Captain John Smith and others), even essaying Poe as a bingo card player in Jane King and Jeff Alphin's charmingly clever 16mm film short The Bingo Caller (as pictured above left). And while I've seen many excellent Poe performances over the years by a who's who of outstanding local actors - from Tony Tsendeas and Mark Redfield to Mark S. Sanders (star of the one-man play "A Portrait of Poe") and John "Gomez" Astin's remarkable performance in Paul Day Clemens and Ron Magid's play "Once Upon a Midnight Dreary" - none tops that of David Keltz. His is the face and his is the voice I associate with Poe, as if it's indelibly stamped in my mind. That's why, when I see him around town in his street clothes shopping at Eddie's or milling about the American Visionary Art Museum's gift shop, it always throws me for a loop (you just don't expect to see Poe shopping for groceries or knick-knacks!).

Over the course of the next hour, David Keltz brought Edgar Allan Poe to life in stirring performances of "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "To Helen," "Annabel Lee" and, fittingly - since the Baltimore Ravens football team was playing the Boston Patriots for the AFC Championship the next day - "The Raven." (Though given their subsequent heart-breaking loss, the Raven's "Nevermore" quip may be the final word on Ray Lewis's quest for a second Super Bowl ring.)

Watch David Keltz perform "The Raven."


Though Saturday's matinee ran roughly 60 minutes, Keltz can do up to five hours reciting and reenacting Poe's canon of poems, short stories, essays, literary criticism, letters, and reported conversations.

Immediately after Keltz's performance and a brief Q& A, a guitarist named Larry Schlecter played a song about Poe. Amy liked him right away because, like her, he was a lefty. Larry's song, which he stayed up composing just the night before, took the point of view of Poe's last day in Baltimore, wandering the streets and taverns of Fell's Point; he later apologized to Keltz if his verses about Poe imbibing various alcoholic beverages made him sound like an alcoholic. (No worries, didn't the bard himself once quip "Who cares how time advances? I am drinking ale today!"?)

After the show, the audience was invited to mingle with the performers to share light refreshments and this delicious cake from Herman's Bakery (a Dundalk culinary landmark according to Dundalk-native Amy):


Quoth the Raven: "Eat me, forevermore!"

Quoth the Raven, "Smalltimore": Guitarist Larry looked familiar to me; at first, I thought it was just his uncanny resemblance to British actor Bill Nighy, but then I realized I had talked to him before at my workplace across the street, the Enoch Pratt Central Library. Larry was a Jeff Beck fan, and before the show we had talked about Beck's tenure with The Yardbirds; Larry even played some Beck riffs on his acoustic guitar (though he admitted Beck sounded much better on his Stratocaster). And, this being Smalltimore, it turned out Amy had a connection to Larry as well. Larry was friends with her former Crabtree & Evelyn co-worker Lucy (a fact I learned two days later when both Lucy and Larry visited the library!).


Lefty Larry sang and played his toast to Poe

The cake was yummy, but we limited ourselves to small portions, as we planned to continue our tribute to Poe by having dinner later at Canton's Poe-themed restaurant The Annabel Lee Tavern, home of the famous duck-fat fries - not to mention David Keltz's favorite drink, the bourbon, ginger and bitters-laced "Spectacle". Keltz commented that the drink referred to one of Poe's lesser known humorous works, his 1850 story ("The Spectacles") about a myopic who's too vain to wear his glasses - and as a result ends up marrying his grandmother! (After quaffing a few Spectacles, I'm sure the mistake could be made again at the Annabel Lee Tavern - good thing it's not located near a nursing home!)


Annabel Lee Tavern

So, our appetites whetted, we bid our fellow Poe Toasters adieu - but not before Amy's requisite photo op with the day's star!


David Keltz and "Poe Groupie" Amy Linthicum

For more information about David Keltz, visit the links below or call 410-669-6582.

David Keltz Links:

David Keltz as Poe (official site)
Study Guide for David Keltz's Poe Performance (.pdf)
David Keltz on Facebook
Watch "The Bingo Caller" (Jane King & Jeff Alphin)