Amazing Spiral, formerly Comic Kingdom, has one of the largest collections of graphic novels we’ve ever seen.   Located in the Rotunda directly across from the Rotunda Theater, Amazing Spiral is chock full of new releases, back issues, t-shirts, action figures, and real live books without all them fancy pictures.  In fact, if you’d like you can trade in regular, non-comic books in exchange for store credit.  Check with the store for details, but if you can’t trust the City Paper’s four-time Best Comic Book Store winner, who can you trust?

Graphic Novelty and Alliance Comics are Baltimore’s two newest sources for geekery.  Both opened this past fall, Alliance Comics in Federal Hill (904 Light Street) and Graphic Novelty in Fell’s Point (1712 Thames Street).  Graphic Novelty holds a special place in our heart, name dropping Doctor Who on their webpage (which, if you haven’t seen the new series, OMG!) and Magic the Gathering booster drafts.  Alliance Comics is no joke either; they’re holding a New Year’s Sale and Celebration December 30th with nearly everything 50 percent off.  And while they may be new to Baltimore, they’re familiar with Maryland; their store in Silver Spring has been in business for 13 years.

Atomic Books in Hampden (3620 Falls Avenue) isn’t quite a traditional comic book store, but it isn’t a traditional bookstore either.  If you’ve ever heard of an underground comic that no one else seems to have or heard of, check the shelves here.  It’s not a guarantee, but the odds are decent.  Last time we were there they had complete runs of classic Peanuts, Dennis the Menace and Dick Tracy on the shelves.  All of those were hardcover, gorgeous and lovely, and only managed to hold our attention for three minutes before we discovered something else that we just had to have.

Where’s your favorite spot to buy funny books in Baltimore?

Puffs and Pastries in Hampden (830 W. 36th Street) does not use butter substitutes and good for them.  The demonization of butter is one of the great culinary shames of post-war America; shortening and margarine don’t cook the same and they don’t taste the same.   And butter might be the secret to Puffs and Pastries’ tasty cream puffs, their sweet tarts and their cakes.  Or they might just be delicious, just listen to this description of their pumpkin crème cake, “fresh pumpkin spice cake filled with sultana cream cheese mousse, covered in cinnamon cream.”  Yum, right? We can also vouch for the Earl Grey Tea Cake…

As their pie and crossbones logo would suggest, Dangerously Delicious Pies in Federal Hill (1036 Light Street) is the punk rocker of local bakeries.  But don’t let the rocker aesthetic fool you; with a selection of sweet and savory pies ranging from blueberry to sausage tomato fennel, these guys know their way around a rolling pin.  We’re fans of the quiches too, especially the crab and cheddar.  Most of their daily business is by the slice, so if you’re looking to order a whole pie they recommend doing so in advance.

Lastly, as Marylanders, it is our duty to consume the state dessert, the Smith Island cake.  Consisting of anywhere from six to twelve thin layers of cake, each separated by a thin layer of icing, Smith Island cake is a dense, moist slice of heaven.  Made on Smith Island (imagine!), a tiny community in the Chesapeake, the traditional cake is yellow cake with chocolate frosting, but is now available in any number of styles.  If you’d like to support small island towns while eating delicious baked goods, give either Classic Cakes, the Original Smith Island Cake Company, or the Smith Island Sweet Shoppe a try.  Trust us, they’re amazing.

Donna’s (yes, the Donna’s of Charles Village, Columbia and Cross Village fame) offers cooking classes every Wednesday night at their Columbia location.  Much like Donna’s itself, the classes have an emphasis on Mediterranean food in a thoughtful, considered way.  For example, they teach how to cook without recipes, a skill that some of us (raised hand) are sorely lacking.  Upcoming December courses include the 9th‘s holiday brunches class and the 16th‘s Italian Christmas Eve dinner.  Classes last two hours and are $45.  Call 410-659-5248 ex. 112 for reservations.

If you’re looking for more personal instruction, you might want to consider private lessons with Cook With Ben.  The eponymous Ben is Ben Tehranian, a graduate of the Westminster Culinary College and Baltimore Magazine’s best crabcakes in 2002.  (His resume is much longer than that, we’re just focusing on the highlights.) Classes are either held at Ben’s professional kitchen, or, if you prefer, your own house, using your own kitchen utensils – it’s the man that makes the tools.  Classes are generally three hours, include the cost of groceries and cover a full menu.  Prices depend on class size, but range from $80-$95.

First on the list is “Bazaart,” the annual holiday marketplace held by the American Visionary Art Museum (800 Key Highway). Featuring work by 50 regional artists and craftspeople, there’s plenty to behold at Baltimore’s strangest (and quite possibly best) museum. Held on the museum’s 3rd floor, Bazaart opens this Friday, November 27, with a preview party and sale from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m. Tickets are $20, but you get to nibble light fare, enjoy a special beverage, and stroll among Bazaartisans and their wares. If, however, you’d prefer to join the masses, Saturday is the official Bazaart day with painting, sculpture, papercrafts, metalwork, jewelry, textiles, mixed media all open, and all on display. There’s no charge for Saturday, and, as the website kindly notes, “Bazaart shoppers are welcome to tour the entire Jim Rouse Visionary Center for Free! Ongoing exhibitions include the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre automata, Baltimore Screen Painters, Emily Duffy’s Bra Ball and more.” Good times abound.

On December 5th, the Charm City Craft Mafia is hosting their Third Annual Holiday Heap — a DIY art and craft show — from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., at Saint John’s Church in Charles Village (2640 St. Paul Street). Over 40 local craft-ians will be there, selling their handmade wares to you, the holiday shopper. Supporting local artists (what this entire post is secretly about) is a really good thing; it keeps your money in the community and helps create a vibrant cultural scene. Plus drinks and snacks are going to be available from Red Emma’s.

Last on our list — but only because it’s chronological — is the MICA Art Market. Running from December 9th to the 12th, it offers holiday shoppers (and art collectors, we suppose) a chance to buy work from emerging artists as well as collectibles from leading artists in their respective fields. More than 250 vendors will be present, and as might be expected for such a large event, they accept Visa, MasterCard, check and cash. Open from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Leidy Atrium and Falvey Hall lobby of Brown Center in Bolton Hill (1301 W. Mount Royal Avenue).

And if you’re still looking for inspiration, check out the City Paper’s Holiday Guide for a huge list of off the beaten tracks recommendations.

Where are your favorite Baltimore spots to shop for the holidays?

Photo by flickr user Jared Cunha

I kind of like when people are pretentious about coffee. Or, sorry — I tend to use the word “pretentious” gratuitously — I like when people are knowledgeable about coffee, when they have preferences, when they buy vintage coffee grinders on eBay and then actually use them, when they complain that the grinder’s burr speed is imparting too much heat on the bean, when they can provide scientific reasons why you shouldn’t freeze your coffee beans, when they own Bialettis in a dazzling variety of sizes and display them prominently around their apartments. And if you’re going to go to those efforts for good coffee, it makes sense to buy from a local roaster, rather than just to buy whatever’s on sale at Safeway this week.

You’ll always find Zeke’s Coffee on Saturdays at the 32nd Street Waverly Farmers Market and on Sundays at the Baltimore Farmers Market. Their website has a whole list of locations where you can find their coffee, including Ukazoo Books, The Wine Source, Café Hon, and many others. Citypaper has named them Best Cup of Coffee for, what is is, three times now, four? Pretty impressive considering Zeke’s opened in 2005.

Bluebird Artisanal Coffee Roasters, in Greektown (4401 Eastern Avenue), uses “a small 8 pound batch Sivetz fluid bed roaster.” I don’t really know what that is, but I wish I did. They offer a variety of sustainable coffees, have several different blends, and will do custom blending. You can find them every Saturday at the Highlandtown Farmers’ Market between 8:00 a.m. and noon, or at places like Dangerously Delicious Pies, area Whole Foods locations, or Blue Moon Café, and check their website for festival appearances.

If you’re in the Patterson Park area, you should stop by High Grounds Coffee Roasters, right across from the Creative Alliance (3201 Eastern Avenue). They’re open Monday-Friday from 7:00 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 7:00 a.m. to noon, have free WiFi, and their coffeehouse has monthly art exhibits. If you’re in a Baltimorean sort of mood, you could buy the Friends of Patterson Park Blend or the Baltimore Artist Blend, whose labels feature the work of Baltimore artists.
What’s your coffee preference?

The big kahuna of Baltimore ISP’s (internet service providers) is Comcast. A national cable and internet company, Comcast is available throughout the city. Major competition however comes from Verizon DSL, another large national corporation; cell phones are their other primary business (although their customer service occasionally leaves much to be desired).

If, however, you’d like to go local — which would give people in Maryland jobs and help Baltimore regain its economic footing in a small, but pleasant way and be totally awesome of you — Believe Wireless is a full service, locally owned ISP that caters to both residential and business consumers.

Laptops, though, are made to travel, and if you find yourself using the internet away from home more than the average bear, you may want to take a closer look at Clear (formerly Xohm), a mobile internet provider. The simplest way to describe Clear may be to call it cellular broadband. Much like a cellular phone, Clear’s broadband signal is broadcast from transmitter towers (often sharing the towers with Sprint, Clear’s parent company) to individual subscribers; the major difference being that the signal is directed to portable modems about the size of a flash drive, that are plugged into your laptop. Running at 4G speeds, Clear is not available nationwide yet (soon, they promise!), but is available in Baltimore, D.C., and Philadelphia.

And if you’re one of those hippie, beatnik poet types who hangs out in coffee shops, typing your precious, perfect words onto a laptop and can’t afford internet, but can afford a venti nonfat chai, well, there are always places for you. In Charles Village, there’s Carma’s Café or Donna’s. When in Mt. Vernon try Red Emma’s or the City Café. If you’re in Washington Village, Evelyn’s Cafe should have what you’re looking for. And if you prefer tea to coffee, try Teavolve in Fell’s Point.

Any favorite spots to get coffee and internet that we missed?

The Baltimore Free School in Mt. Vernon (1323 N. Calvert Street) was started by those lovable anarchists at Red Emma’s, who seem to believe that education should be a “grassroots, volunteer-run and community-funded project.” In other words, an education for the people, by the people. What total commies. (We kid.) Classes, though, are varied in scope and topic; everything from “Introduction to Music Theory” to “Man, The Universe, and an End to Poverty: Why and How Natural Law Fixes Everything” to something called simply “Clown.” Stop by and learn something.

The Village Learning Place in South Charles Village (2521 Saint Paul Street), a nonprofit neighborhood library, learning center, computer lab, and community garden, formed in 1997 after the Pratt Library closed their Charles Village branch. Neighborhood residents banded together, restoring the building with volunteer hours and reopening it to fill the community’s need for accessible resources of all kinds. Awesome. Now, the VLP offers a wide range of events and programs; for example the Village U adult enrichment program or the upcoming Holiday Artisan Market.

Of course, where would any intellectual city be without a free public library? The Enoch Pratt Free Library is, as every good library should be, replete with good books and a wide array of community events. With 23 branch locations throughout the city there’s almost certainly one close to you, no matter where you are. And if you’re definition of “borrowing” gets a little stretched from time to time, there’s always the Book Thing to keep you ankle deep in words.

What piques your intellectual curiosity in Baltimore?

Photo by flickr user nickhall

The list of things you should pay for on-line is shorter than you think. Included are fines, items not sold in the United States, and stuff you’re ashamed to be seen buying. Music is not among these. As convenient as it is simply to click, debit, and download, this maneuver misses the point of having music at all. (Casual thieves, this applies to you, too.) Music is, as Aristotle noted, the closest thing outside the heart to pure emotion. Drooling before a dusty screen in a Hot Pocket-stained armchair, one has little real context for, say, Debussy’s Clair de Lune. Forget about “Bad Moon Rising” or “The Killing Moon.” To get music, one must get out of one’s room. Places in Baltimore where you can do both:

1. Soundgarden in Fell’s Point (1616 Thames Street) is big, noisy, and loaded with people to talk to, whether they work there or not. There are worse places to pick up strangers; at least you’ll know you both love/despise Elvis Costello. Sunday through Thursday 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Friday and Saturday 10:00 a.m. to midnight.

2. Normals in Waverly (425 E. 31st Street) is slightly more of a bookstore than a record store, but it qualifies bravely for this post by being without question a real place in the real, filthy world. Quiet, variegated, and lovingly festooned, Normals can give you hours of actual experience in the company of fellow mortals, living and dead. Daily 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

3. The True Vine Record Shop in Hampden (544 Hickory Avenue) may be the Platonic form of the independent music store. Their stock is rich but small. The owner will personally turn you on to bands you’ve never heard of. They carry everything put out by two Baltimore labels: Ehse and Megaphone. They double as a venue. Tuesday through Saturday noon to 9:00 p.m. Sunday and Monday noon to 6:00 p.m.

There are several other dependable record stores in Baltimore, though maybe not for much longer. Which is your favorite?

Photo by flickr user romana klee

Ever since our two species learned they could mooch off one another––the one for tenderness and the other for regular poop collection––humans and dogs have been fast allies. And in a city that’s never too busy to get lonely, there are worse ways to dally than in the company of a wagging tail. And Baltimore’s more than glad to chaperone:

1. Baltimore Dog is a real magazine. If you think it may be relevant to you, then you likely live in Baltimore and own a dog. Alternately, you are confused. The business is full-color and quarterly. $16.95 for a year’s subscription.

2. Howl in Hampden (3531 Chestnut Avenue) used to be called Chow, Baby, back when it was illegal, but though the name and location have changed, the extravagant, natural pet goods have not. Stop by the next time you need a dog seatbelt.

3. Lucky Lucy’s Canine Café in Federal Hill (1126 S. Charles Street) makes gourmet baked treats for dogs. Those of you excited by this idea should not require further encouragement. There if you want it.

4. Latrobe Park in Locust Point (1599 Latrobe Park Terrace) now hosts the city’s second dog park. This one, unlike its cousin in Canton, is full of fancy amenities provided by a partnership between the city and the Locust Point Dog Park Supporters, who turned out, predictably, to be in favor of the development. The park features specially designed false turf, a water feature, custom drainage, and a big stump for scrabbling over. Take your dog there and mingle with the city’s dog-owning finest.

How do you show your dog sufficient love?

Photo by flickr user sarah sosiak

The Japanese are givers. That’s right, givers. They gave America sushi, samurai movies and ninja jokes. It’s because of them that our geeky teenage boys are able to move past comic books and onto anime. Where would the modern whaling industry be without the Japanese (and the Norwegians) propping it up with millions of dollars in government subsidies? And where would you go to badly sing bad pop songs in front of strangers without karaoke? Yeah, that’s what we thought. Thank you, Japan. Here are three places around Baltimore that you can indulge in Kelly Clarkson and world culture without being judged.

Walt’s Inn (3201 O’Donnell Street) (Get it? Waltz In? Never mind.) out in Canton has karaoke every single night of the week from 9:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. Let’s just say that they take it seriously. They’ve got suggested etiquette posted on their website along with helpful tips such as “Wait until no one is around and practice singing in a mirror, watching your face and posture you can tell how comfortable you are with the song and how well you are projecting emotion.” And their entire 20,000 song catalog is searchable on their website, so you won’t waste time practicing a song that they don’t have. Though, c’mon, they probably have it.

We’re fond of Dimitri’s Tavern (3820 Falls Road) in Hampden if only because it feels so honest. People come here once a week to sing, man, and they really mean it. What’s wrong with letting a little bit of your soul out while singing “I Dreamed a Dream” or “Jingle Bell Rock?” Nothing. Nothing at all. Karaoke starts Friday nights at 9:00 p.m.

Looking for something a bit more private? Nam Kang is a Koreatown restaurant staple by day, norabang hotspot by night. If you saw Lost in Translation, you know how it works: you and a few (or a dozen) of your best friends crowd into a private room with karaoke equipment, and you can sing to your heart’s content. Even better: both the kitchen and the karaoke stay open until 4:00 a.m.

Maybe our favorite place to sing karaoke in Baltimore is way out at the Poncabird Pub (1719 Poncabird Pass) in Southeast Baltimore. It’s a neighborhood place; it’s got an outdoor deck and tiki bar and the beer comes in plastic cups. Not that we care. No, what we care about is that the karaoke on Friday nights at 9:00 is virtually deserted, leaving our group of friends free to sing as loudly and as off-key as they want. Considering how large the Poncabird Pub is that can be a large, large group of friends. Sing with your souls, boys.