This year, the Love Groove Festival was held on September 16 at Robert C. Marshall Park. The event was founded in 2017 by artist John Tyler. It is intended as a showcase for local artists, with a special focus on young artists. Tyler says that, over the years, over 350 local artists have participated in the festival. This year’s event featured artists Mighty Mark and Deetranada. (Lisa Snowden)

The post Photostory: Love Groove Festival  appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Located on Read Street, near the heart of Mount Vernon, Mount Vernon Records is more than just a record store. 

Mount Vernon Records was founded in 2022 by Aaron “Doc Diggle” Spence and William “Cheeky Willie” Hicks, two artists with over 20 years of experience in DJing, record collecting, producing music, and planning events. 

It’s a hub created by artists where people from all walks of life can come and feel welcome, seen, and appreciated while learning something new about music and possibly even themselves. Whether through an enriching conversation about music history with the owners, discovering a unique sound you wouldn’t have expected, or just looking to step into an unfamiliar world and try something new, Mount Vernon Records is a perfect place to be. 

The post Read Street: On The Record appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

The post Photostory: Photos from the 2023 CIAA Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Valentine’s Day is more than just romantic exercises and gestures. It can also be a day for self-reflection and self-love. This is a time when you can celebrate being in love with someone else, or simply cultivate a more profound love for yourself. Ulysses offers a new opportunity for Baltimoreans to immerse themselves in luxury without traveling outside the city. The hotel opened on September 21 in Mount Vernon, in the former Latrobe building, and is the fourth property designed by ASH NYC.

We invite you to imagine yourself in this photo essay by Cameron Snell. Start with dinner at Ash Bar, and try one or a few cocktails at Bloom’s. Ulysses is beginning to roll out creative programming in Bloom’s. Brandon Woody and Troy Long will play jazz on Tuesday nights from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Make a reservation to avoid long wait times. 

If these images inspire you, and you’d like to stay at the hotel, Ulysses has offered a 20 percent discount to our readers. On Valentine’s Day, Pomona Floral will have bouquets for sale at the front desk. Stop at Bloom’s for their new romantic cocktails, ask for a calling card to write a message to someone, and maybe you won’t end the night alone. If you’d like to make these cocktails at home, the recipes are below. Ulysses staff created these two drinks especially for this photo essay. 

Thank you to Jessi Rutherford of Thrill Joy PR, Pomona Floral, Hugo Vicente, Ulysses, and the ASH NYC Staff.   

Ulysses, 2 E Read St, Baltimore, MD 21202

RECIPES: 

These two cocktails complement each other and are meant to be shared. When you visit Ulysses, the drinks are made and then topped with Bugey-Cerdon sparkling rosé in front of you and your guest. The cocktails taste their best when they’re topped with sparkling rosé. Like lovers, they are two things that are better when paired together. 

Molly Bloom

1/2 oz Meletti 1870 Aperitivo

3/4 oz lemon juice

3/4 oz simple syrup

7 drops rose water

5 dashes Angostura bitters

Instructions: Shake with ice, strain into a chilled coupe, top with Bugey-Cerdon.

Blaze Boylan

1 1/2 oz Suntory Whisky Toki

1 1/2 oz Cocchi Americano Aperitivo

1/2 oz green tea syrup

Instructions: Stir all ingredients over ice, strain into a Collins glass with fresh ice, add approximately two ounces of club soda, and top with Bugey-Cerdon.

To make the green tea honey syrup, brew a cup of your favorite jasmine green tea, pour a measured amount (say a 1/2 cup) into a small bowl, and stir in an equal amount of honey until dissolved.

The post Date Night at Hotel Ulysses appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

So much of what I love about Christmas is the spectacle, tradition, and ritual. As an adult, my love for the holiday has grown. I’m especially fond of Black Christmas movies and the Yuletide escapism they offer. In case you were unaware, a place exists to vacate your everyday life and fully immerse yourself in the fantasy of Christmas. Christmas Village in Baltimore is an indoor and outdoor holiday market modeled after traditional markets in Germany. 

Baltimore’s Christmas Village is located at West Shore Park at the Inner Harbor. The street address is 501 Light Street, Baltimore, MD, 21230. The Christmas Village will run from November 24 through December 24, 2022. It is open Sunday through Monday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. 

There’s also an ice rink at the Inner Harbor Amphitheater at Harbor Place. Tickets for adults are $10, children and seniors $9, and military $9; you can rent skates for $4. 

I hope you enjoy this photo essay by Cameron Snell. The photos were taken during the special preview weekend on November 19. The Christmas Village is an opportunity for wonder, nostalgia, and memory-making, and to do some shopping for ornaments, jewelry, food, and other handmade wares.

The post Photos from a walk through Baltimore’s Christmas Village appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

Bill Pickett, born in 1870 in Travis County, Texas, is perhaps the most famous Black cowboy and was one of the first Black cowhands in rodeo. He was the inventor of “bulldogging.” This technique of rodeo steer wrestling — grabbing a steer by the horns and twisting its neck — became popular, and a central part of rodeos around the country. Pickett’s legacy lives on in the rodeo that carries his name. 

On September 14, The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo (BPIR) came to Prince George’s County, Maryland. Black cowboys and cowgirls, dressed in their finest, competed for prizes and gathered to maintain, honor, and reclaim Black western culture. Although the rodeo didn’t take place in Baltimore City, it is relevant to this Black Baltimore paper because it was an event by and for Black folks, and Baltimore is a city with a legacy of Black western culture — specifically, Black equestrians.

Black folks are entrenched in rodeo culture both historically and presently. Think of Texan archivist Bri Malandro’s coining of the phrase “the black yee-haw agenda“; Beyonce’s Ivy Park Rodeo campaign, which featured Black cowboys and cowgirls and pays homage to her upbringing in Houston; even the family of stunt horse trainers in Jordan Peele’s “Nope.” I was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, the place with the motto “Where the West Begins.” In elementary school, we had a day off for Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo Day, encouraging us to visit the rodeo. In high school, I had classmates who competed in cattle raising and horse riding. 

Despite my upbringing in a very western and southern place,  seeing Black cowboys and Black cowgirls was less than familiar to me. The BPIR addresses what happens historically through art and culture — the contributions of Black artists are ignored and erased by the white majority. I didn’t learn about Bill Pickett until I was in college, but through my upbringing I was flooded with images of John Wayne and other white cowboys of popular culture and lore. Black cowboys and cowgirls have always existed, and still exist and thrive today. When I moved to Baltimore in 2016, I found familiarity in this city situated in the Upper South. Baltimore’s Southern roots are present in the arabbers tradition. The clomp and cadence of the horses’ hooves on the road, the jingling of the bell attached to their cart as the driver calls out the offerings of the day. Witnessing the arabbers here always reminds me of visiting the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo back home. 

The Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo recently celebrated its 35th anniversary. Founded by Lu Vason in 1984, by and for Black western folks, the BPIR’s mission was to make a place to maintain the history and contemporary tradition of Black cowboys and cowgirls. The BPIR is the only touring Black rodeo in the world and is currently led by a Black woman, Lu Vason’s widow, Valeria Howard Cunningham, who is the rodeo president and owner. 

Visibility and representation in popular culture should not be a luxury. Black cowboys like Bill Pickett are legendary, and Black cowboys are also everyday people who live, and work, and hustle, and laugh, and make a living. In this photo essay shot by Cameron Snell, you will see Black cowboys and cowgirls of all ages who look like you and like me. 

The post Black Cowboys Bring Western Styles To Maryland appeared first on Baltimore Beat.

The Collective Minds Festival is a celebration of house music. In Baltimore, where dance music and Black club culture are so important, events like Collective Minds are a chance to celebrate. It’s always free and open to dancers of all ages. This year it was held on September 3 at Pearlstone Retreat Center. This year’s event included performances by Ultra Nate, DJ Biskit, Uzoma, and Dawn Tallman. 

This celebration marked Collective Minds’ nineteenth anniversary, and was the first in-person version of the festival since COVID-19 shut everything down more than two years ago. In the past, it’s been held at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Druid Hill Park.

Collective Minds Festival is Baltimore house music’s family reunion, a chance to see people who look, dance, and think like you. That is especially important because dance venues where house music used to thrive, like the Paradox, are gone. 

Photos by Schaun Champion and Cameron Snell.

The post Scenes from this year’s Collective Minds festival appeared first on Baltimore Beat.