Another Short Trip to Baltimore

On Sauturday me and some of my club brothers drove down to Baltimore to attend the annual COMMAND MC's pool party, which was a lot of fun. This past week has been a frustrating one on several levels for me and I really needed this bad; fortunately this lifted up my spirits a lot. About sixty people attended the party. I wound up staying overnight at the house where it was held at, and we drove back home the next day. It was a great oppruntnity to socailize with my club brothers, since at the general club meetings as the club scribe I'm quite busy taking care of the club minutes that I don't socialize as much as I would like to. There are also some other clubs in the near future I will be looking forward to as well.

Baltimore Gay Bookstore closes

Earlier this month I went down to Baltimore to attend the COMMAND MC's 20th anniversary dinner (which was a blast). While I was down there I found out that the Lambda Rising bookstore there was closing its doors (they were having a 30% off sale on their books). I guess that they could no longer take the competition with the big-chain bookstores and the internet. Which is a shame really. (There are no plans to close the Lambda Rising bookstores in DC and Rehoboth Beach fortuneately.)

It seems like a lot of place I like to frequent are now closing or are in danger of closing. If it's not gay bookstores (I hope that Giovanni's Room here in Philly won't close their doors anytime soon), it's record stores (good-bye Tower Records, Spaceboy Music, etc.). And if it's not that, it's gay bars; Last week I heard that the Raven in New Hope have closed up, and just before the summer starts, talk about bad timing. Sometimes it feels the circles I go around in are under siege these days.

Baltimore 2007

This past Saturday night and Sunday morning was basicly a repeat of the trip I took down to Baltimore this time last year--Philadelphians's joint bar night at the Baltimore Eagle with follow club C.O.M.M.A.N.D. MC, and Sunday Brunch at Leon's/Tyson Place. This time I drove into Philly right after I worked Saturday morning, where I was picked theme up by a couple of fellow Philadelphians for the drive down I-95 to Baltimore with lots of music being played on the car stereo. The Eagle wasn't as crowded as the last time I was there, but still had a good time and the two clubs did raise some money. Nice brunch at Tyson's but this time there was no stopping at the nearby Lambda Rising bookstore afterwards (if we had stopped in there I probably would have picked this up--do I sound like a tourist or what?). Then it was time to home again; another too-short visit in Charm City.

A night in Baltimore

This past Saturday a bunch of us Philadelphians went down to Baltimore (which I've haven't been since one of my sisters went to Towson State back in the late late 80s/early 90s), where we had a joint barnight with our sister club to the south, C.O.M.M.A.N.D. MC, at the Baltimore Eagle. This would be my first event attending as a full member of the Philadelphians. A couple of club brothers picked me up that afternoon for the drive down to Charm City. A couple of guys from COMMAND were very nice to let us stay at their place for the night, which was in the northern suburban part of the city. First there was cocktails and dinner at another COMMAND member's place, then it was off to the city's leather bar, the Baltimore Eagle.

First time I've been to the Eagle. It's on the corner of North Charles Street and 21st Street, but you have to enter it through the door on the the 21st side. It's mainly a narrow but very long bar with a somewhat black and metallic decor, with on its side a couple of smaller pool rooms, an outside area to catch a smoke or some fresh air, and a spacious leather and video shop. Everyone there was having a blast with jello shots being bought and consumed like candy, $1 Yuenglings, 50/50 raffles, and a lot of talking, cruising, and shooting pool. At the end of the night over $500 was raised for Brother Help Thyself, a Baltimore/Washington DC non-profit foundation that funds various GLBTQ and HIV/AIDS organizations in the area.

Sunday a bunch of us got together for brunch at Tyson Place on West Chase Street in the Mount Vernon section. There we went to the backroom bar to eat and gab and put some money in the jukebox. After that we went to the Lambda Rising bookstore which was a couple of stores down the block, and looked around the bookshelves for a while. (I got the latest issue of Out magazine, which had Madonna on the cover.) Then it was time to go back home.

BTW there was no sightings of John Waters, but Lambda Rising did have a nice little display of some of his work, with some pink flamingos thrown in as well.