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!
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.)
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.
Amy and I went to this at the Baltimore Museum of Art on Friday, December 4, and while I am usually wary of these quick film projects, I gotta admit it was great (the rest of Baltimore thought so, too, because there was nary an empty seat to be found). Of the 11 short films inspired by the writings of Edgar Allan Poe and the BMA’s current exhibition, "Edgar Allan Poe: A Baltimore Icon," only two were flat-out stinkers - though two films did manage to egregiously misspell Poe's name (it's Allan folks, not Allen; filmmakers, please use spellcheck before rendering your films!). In fact, the quality of the films was so professional that I was relieved to hear afterwards in the Q&A that these films took longer than the usual 48 Hour Film Projects; even with today's digital technology (all were shot with digital video cameras and edited on Macs/PCs) that would be too far a leap in turnaround time for the kind of slick production values in terms of sound, cinematography and set design on display here. The event was a collaboration between 48 Hour Film Project curator/producer Rob Hatch and BMA Director of Public Programming Preston Bautista - the latter of whom, in addition to hosting imaginative events like this, is a pretty good tennis player who can hit winners off his two-handed backhand (I always seem to find myself playing next to him on Baltimore's public tennis courts!).
Anyway, following are some quick observations about the films screened...quick, because I'm tired of blogging and need to get on with living my so-called life.
Nick Prevas drinks to the gal who got away - down the rabbit hole
First up was this impressively professional short directed by and starring Nick Prevas that looked like something that would air on the Sundance Channel's "In Short" series, yet amazingly was filmed in the course of just four days. Taking its inspiration from both "Alice In Wonderland" and Poe's "The Raven," it featured the most imaginative script, beautiful sets, stylish camerawork, a perfect soundtrack and a wonderful sense of humor. Fantastic. (You can watch more Nick Prevas videos on Vimeo.)
If you are lucky enough to own a gorilla costume (no home should be without one!), you just have to tackle Poe's "Murders in the Rue Morgue." At least, that's what filmmaker (as well as photographer, graphic designer, event promoter, and producer) Jim Lucio thinks. On his Mondo Defeckto web site, Lucio says "I had never really read much Poe, but after reading a good dozen stories, I made the quick decision that I had to do my version of Murders in the Rue Morgue...mostly because there is a killer ape in the story and I happen to have a gorilla suit. My version is as loose as a zoot suit and we took the concept of guerilla filmmaking to the extreme. I've decided to call the short Ape."
Lucio's killer ape is called Wigfoot and seeing him romp around Mt. Vernon landmarks was as much fun to watch as I'm sure it was to film and participate in. There is no narration, just spinning tabloid headlines to advance the narrative, all set against a rousingly raucous Las Vegas Grind garage soundtrack.
The camera work was handled by local videographer Bardot (aka Billy McConnell - but not to be confused with Keith Richards, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop, Al Pacino, or The Fonz), which makes sense because this is his sort of thing - clever, hip, and funny. Oh, and my friend Renee Reabe makes a cameo as Wigfoot's first victim; gotta admit, she looks great dead!
Ben Winter may be an electrical engineer undergrad at University of Maryland, College Park, but I think he should switch his major to film because this was great. Every aspect of this adaptation the Poe tale "Ligeia" was professional, from the casting to the sound, lighting and camera angles (I loved the looking up from a coffin's POV shot!). Plus, the titular Lady Rowena was played by Rachel Cora Wood, who is a total babe - even as ash-white food for worms. Look for her in the upcoming TV series Past Life, the pilot of which was shot down at the Enoch Pratt Central Library earlier this year under the working title "Reincarnationist."
The funniest film of the night and my personal favorite. What a delightful discovery: I subsequently learned that Chris LaMartina makes live-action horror films and has garnered a bunch of awards, including "Best Local Filmmaker" (Baltimore City Paper, 2006) and "Best B-Movie" (2009 Shockfest International Film Festival). This adaptation of "The Black Cat" was made using what LaMartino describes self-deprecatingly as his "crude animation," but it was really no cruder than that seen on South Park. And bonus points for turning his narrative into a rhyming poem!
I honest to God can't remember a thing about this title. Wait, was this the one where the wife hears something go bump in the night and sends her husband downstairs to investigate? And it turns into a lesbian-tinged love triangle double-cross con job with a nod toward Bound? If so, very good and well-shot. And downright scary before the clever denouement!
I think Ricky Johnson is the same Towson University film grad who did the "Prince of Poop" short about Chris Jensen (CEO of Jensen "Your Poop Is My Bread & Butter" Plumbing Company and former "Baltimore Turd Tsar" under the O'Malley adminstration). This trailer, clocking in at a minute and a half, was short and sweet and - more importantly - funny!
LIFE IN DEATH by Franciska Farkas, Diana Gross, Amy Genevieve Kozak
Wow! Technically the most jaw-dropping production of the night and a crowd favorite. If it was a picture instead of a film, it would hang in the Louvre. Franciska Farkas (Work In Progress Productions) is a motion graphics specialist for Johns Hopkins Medicine - and that background certainly shows in this slick adaptation of Poe's short story "The Oval Portrait" in which a picture seems to come alive only to reveal that its subject has actually died. Poe's influencial tale inspired elements of Oscar Wilde's The Portrait of Dorian Gray, as well as Nathaniel Hawthorne's short story "The Birth-Mark," and is even cited in Jean-Luc Godard's Vivre Sa Vie. Farkas' collaborators include include documentarian/digital media teacher Diana Gross and Amy Genevieve Kozak, who is engaged in a campaign to "promote greater understanding, empathy, and love in the world" (a rather tall order by anyone's standards - good luck with that!).
THE PURLOINED LETTER by Many Americans Productions LLC
You can tell this was conceived and shot by actors because it's all headshot close-ups and self-indulgent yapping, as if the thesps thought the audience would be captivated by their acting chops. As some pompous arse swills cognac and chomps on a cigar (I guess he was trying to convey the suaveness of Arsene Dupin) in a claustrophobic headshot, the camera cuts to a doe-eyed blond's claustrophobic reaction headshot, and back and forth until I found myself dying for a medium or long shot just to relieve the video-vertigo. The sound levels and light exposure were inconsistent and the whole production had the feel of amateur home movies. Let actors write food orders at the restaurants where they work during the day and leave the directing to directors.
RECESS by Bryan "Grasshoper" Robinson I still don't see the Poe connection, but it was interesting and the filmmaker was funny in the Q&A afterwards. I usually hate Q&As because most of the time it's just spotlight time for film geek wannabes in the audience to show off and talk about themselves, but when one "I'm a filmmaker myself" nerd asked techie questions about what kind of camera each filmmaker used, Grasshopper replied, "A video camera." Ha! Short and to the point.
THE TELL-TALE HEART by Stephanie Barber
Excruciatingly lame, but blissfully short.
The film opens with close-up of an ear. Then we hear the sound of a human heartbeat. Then there's a long, long, long shot of wooden floorboards. The shot is held until you can sense the audience's communal response of "Is that it?" Slow fade to credits. We get it, and we are underwhelmed. I later read somewhere that the filmmaker "redistributed" found footage from some 1941 black-and-white German short by blah-blah-blah - which I don't understand because it's not that hard to film a close-up of an ear of wood floorboards (so why bother?). But then, I'm not an experimental filmmaker, so what do I know? If it didn't need to be explained to mere mortals, it wouldn't be experimental, I guess.
SIMOOM by Rahne Alexander Official site: www.rahne.com
This is what experimental filmmaking's all about. Mondo montage mania that's ab-so-f**king-lutely awesome! Renaissance Woman Rahne (music-film-literature, etc.) takes found nautical footage from silents, Hollywood features, and Gilligan's Island to reference Poe's "MS. Found In a Bottle" and then dissects, distorts, and manipulates it to death, all set against an insane barrage of spoken/musical sound that replicates what it must be like to be schizophrenic. Loved it. Just about everything Rahne is involved in is interesting and worth checking out.
OK, technically this may have been the most professional production with its overlapping "fine arts" triptych of ballerina, classical orchestration, and an austere/gray-haired/bespectacled orator reading Poe's poem - but it also went on way too long, resulting in it being kinda boring. I felt like I was watching one of those "Live from the Lincoln Center" specials they run during fundraising drives on MPT. The technical pedigree-in-the-C.V. is certainly there - Aaron Shipley has a BFA in Art and Design and Thomas Fant is an AV techie for Baltimore City...but ultimately the execution is a little dry: a good idea stretched perhaps 5 minutes too long..
They didn't show this, which disappointed me because 2007 and 2009 Janet & Walter Sondheim Artscape Prize finalist Karen Yasinsky's films rock and she's a sweetie to boot!
