SMILE, HON represents at 9th annual CityLit Festival

BALTIMORE, Md. – Count Eight-Stone Press (ESP) among the horde of local imprints represented in the Literary Marketplace at Baltimore’s ninth annual CityLit Festival, held from 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. this Saturday, April 14, 2012, at the Enoch Pratt Free Library’s Central Branch in downtown Baltimore. Stop by the ESP table to meet William P. Tandy, editor and publisher of ESP’s long-running, critically acclaimed Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore! series, and pick up the latest issue, or peruse the back catalogue and a variety of Smile, Hon merchandise.

Hailed as “a can’t-miss event on the city’s cultural scene” by Baltimore Magazine, CityLit Festival is a collaborative effort between CityLit Project and the Pratt Library. This year’s Festival headliners include Kwame Alexander, Edward Hirsch, Thomas Lux and Benjamin Busch. Jennifer Bodine, daughter of legendary Baltimore Sun photographer A. Aubrey Bodine and curator of his work, will deliver a slideshow lecture on her latest book, Bodine’s City: The Photography of A. Aubrey Bodine, highlighting her father’s artistic eye. (Read William P. Tandy’s review of Bodine’s City in Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore! No. 15.)

For more information, visit the official CityLit Festival website.

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SMILE, HON editor on this week's KITCHEN NIGHTMARES

BALTIMORE, Md. – Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore! editor and publisher William P. Tandy joins celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay (above) and a handful of Baltimore luminaries for a forum discussion about last year’s trademark debacle surrounding Hampden’s Café Hon in this week’s episode of Ramsay’s show, Kitchen Nightmares. Also joining the program are WelcometoBaltimoreHon.com proprietor Bruce Goldfarb and Charlene Osborne, author of My Year as Baltimore’s Best Hon. The episode airs this Friday, February 24, 2012, on the Fox Network; check local listings for air time. A preview of the episode is available on the show's website.

Café Hon owner Denise Whiting invited Ramsay to profile her restaurant on the show, which focuses on ailing eateries and Ramsay’s efforts to revitalize them. For more information on the long-running “hontroversy,” pick up a copy of Hon: Past, Present & Future, available from Atomic Books, Cyclops Books & Music, or directly from the publisher.

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Seriously...

I really did staple my fingertips together last night:


And while we're on the subject:

SMILE, HON release party tomorrow night!

Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! No. 15 is back from the printer. It's a big bastard - 72 pages worth. And so long as I don't staple my fingers together again between now and tomorrow night, the show will go on...

SMILE, HON release party this Friday!

At long last, the much-anticipated Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! No. 15 has gone to the printer. You can pre-order the issue on the Eight-Stone Press website. Or, better yet, pick up a copy this Friday night (1/27/12) at Atomic Books, when Smile, Hon teams up with best-selling travel guide The Dark Side of Disney for a joint release party of epically uncomfortable proportions! This free event begins at 7:00 p.m.

Coming soon from Eight-Stone Press!

The cover of Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! No. 15, coming soon from Eight-Stone Press...

"For the love of God, Montresor!"

Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! editor and publisher William P. Tandy drops by Poison Dart Studios for the special Thanksgiving edition of The Inverse Delirium Podcast. Also on tap:

• Learn more about that noble bird, the turkey, with our favorite SuperBirder, Karen Morley (and her trusty jetpack)
• Share a word with WYPR‘s Milton Kent, who tries to explain the pastime known as “FOO-ta-BA-ru“
• Take a brief look at a new crime wave

ATTN: Maryland history/photography enthusiasts!

The following is an urgent plea from Jennifer Bodine, daughter of legendary Baltimore Sun photographer A. Aubrey Bodine and founder and proprietor of AAubreyBodine.com:

The Baltimore Sun is auctioning its library of 7,000 A. Aubrey Bodine pictures at Alex Cooper Auctioneers at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, November 19, 2011. If anyone knows an angel who would buy the collection and donate it to the Maryland Historical Society, UMBC or the Maryland State Archives, please step up. This is important to Maryland history. Bodine's photographs in this auction are a 50-year set of snap shots (artistically created) of Maryland history. They belong in a proper, climate-controlled environment and should be accessible to the people of Maryland.

A. Aubrey Bodine shot for The Baltimore Sun from the 1920s up until his death, in 1970. Regular readers of Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! will no doubt recall his many photos that, thanks to Jennifer, have graced several issues of Smile, Hon. This month marks the release of Bodine's City: The Photography of A. Aubrey Bodine (Schiffer Books).

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SMILE, HON seeking submissions!

BALTIMORE, Md. - Long-running lit zine Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! is accepting submissions of your Mobtown-related/inspired stories, essays, poetry, photography and other artwork for the forthcoming Smile, Hon No. 15 through Thursday, December 1, 2011. Creative non-fiction is preferred, though all submissions will be considered. Articles (100 – 2,000 words) should be submitted via e-mail (wpt@eightstonepress.com) as attached Word documents. Image files should be approximately 5" x 7", 300+ dpi (.JPG or .TIF format). All contributors will receive a byline/artist credit for their work as well as two (2) complimentary copies of the issue.

From the harbor to the hills, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! collects the tales of those on whom Mobtown has left her indelible mark. Polished, professional essays; barroom sermons delivered from the sanctity of a favorite stool; the poet's fleeting sentiment, captured in both word and snapshot – Smile, Hon offers a slice of Baltimore as told by Baltimore, presented with the time-honored DIY accessibility of a limited-run, handcrafted zine. A two-time Utne Independent Press Award Nominee, Smile, Hon has also been dubbed "Best Zine" by Baltimore Magazine (2008) and Baltimore City Paper (2004). Special theme issues have tackled such subjects as sex, rats, tattoos and waste.

An Eight-Stone Press production, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! is available locally for purchase at Atomic Books (Baltimore, MD); City Lights Books (San Francisco, CA) Cyclops Books & Music (Baltimore, MD); Microcosm Publishing (Bloomington, IN, and Portland, OR); Quimby's (Chicago, IL); Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse (Baltimore, MD) and Ukazoo Books (Towson, MD).

For more information, contact:

William P. Tandy, Editor
Eight-Stone Press
P.O. Box 11064
Baltimore, Maryland 21212
E-mail: Wpt@eightstonepress.com
Website: http://www.eightstonepress.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wptandy
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/eightstonepress

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SMILE, HON receives shout-out in THE URBANITE

Cara Ober praises Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! No. 14 in the latest issue of The Urbanite:

"[L]ocal authors, familiar settings, and wildly different perspectives...Learn Baltimore's secrets right from the source."

Read the complete post here.

SMILE, HON: Tony Pann is a fan!

During the cutaway from my segment discussing Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! on this morning's WBAL-TV broadcast, meteorologist Tony Pann had this to say of the zine:

"I've read [Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore!], and you get a flavor of what Maryland is all about. It's really cool...I highly recommend that you check it out."

But don't just take his word for it - find out for yourself at the Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! No. 14 release party beginning at 6:00 p.m. this Friday, September 23, under the CityLit tent at the 2011 Baltimore Book Festival!

SMILE, HON editor to make TV appearance

BALTIMORE, Md. - Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! editor, publisher and contributing writer William P. Tandy will appear on WBAL-TV (NBC) Thursday, September 22, as part of a live segment promoting the 2011 Baltimore Book Festival (September 23-25). The segment is slated to air at 6:12 a.m.

In related news, Tandy hosts a release party for the latest issue of the long-running zine from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday, September 23, under the CityLit tent at the Book Festival. This free event will include contributor readings, live music by Rahne Alexander (The Degenerettes, The Oops) and free beer courtesy of the Brewer's Art. Tandy returns to the Book Fest on Sunday, September 25, where he will join Davida Gypsy Breier (Xerography Debt, Rigor Mortis) from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. under the Visual Voices tent to discuss the world of independent publishing with Festival-goers. For more information, e-mail wpt@eightstonepress.com.

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Bodine to promote new book at Baltimore Book Festival

BALTIMORE, Md. - Jennifer Bodine - daughter of legendary Baltimore Sun photographer A. Aubrey Bodine and proprietor of www.AAubreyBodine.com - will be on hand to promote the October 2011 release of her latest book, Bodine's City: The Photography of A. Aubrey Bodine (ISBN: 9780764338441), September 23-25 at the 2011 Baltimore Book Festival. Bodine will be in the Schiffer Books booth all day, for all three days of the Festival.

"Most of these 154 images were shot on assignment and within a four-mile radius of where he lived or worked," says Bodine, who previously published another collection of her father's work, Bodine's Chesapeake Bay Country (ISBN: 9780870335624). But while "the subject of these pictures is exclusively Baltimore," Bodine notes that Bodine's City - which includes "award-winning pictures, popular images and ones that have not been seen since the one day they ran in the newspaper" - is "not a Baltimore picture book."

"The reason these photos transcend their geographical bounds is that Bodine’s subject matter varied wildly, demonstrating the versatility of Bodine as an artist," she explains. Though generally defined as a Pictorialist, her father was "much more than one defining label. He photographed people, animals, buildings, harsh weather conditions, textures, geometric patterns, maritime images and city scapes."

The elder Bodine shot feature photography for the Baltimore Sunday Sun from 1927 until his death in 1970. Throughout his career, Bodine published books, wrote articles, judged salon competitions, won awards from all over the world, corresponded with other photographers around the globe and lectured along the Eastern Seaboard, all while holding down a full-time job for a major city newspaper. His work continues to appear regularly in a variety of publications, including the award-winning zine, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore!.

Offering reprints, gift cards and more, AAubreyBodine.com allows visitors to peruse the site's nearly 4,000 photographs individually or by selecting from 250 distinct categories.

For more information regarding review copies, personal appearances and other inquiries, e-mail Jennifer Bodine at jbb@aaubreybodine.com, or call 1-800-556-7226.

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SMILE, HON kicks off Baltimore Book Festival

BALTIMORE, Md. – Kick off the 2011 Baltimore Book Festival in true “Bawlmer” style with a release party marking the publication of Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore! No. 14, beginning at 6:00 p.m., Friday, September 23, 2011, under the CityLit Tent, by the Washington Monument in Mt. Vernon (come early for the 5:30 p.m. CityLit Literary Happy Hour). This free event will include a coterie of contributors reading their work, including:

- Rahne Alexander

- Rafael Alvarez

- Ian Hochberg

- Earl Crown

- E. Doyle-Gillespie

- JD Buckner

- Dean Bartoli Smith

- Susan Beverly

- Leonard Kinsey

- Davida Gypsy Breier

Smile, Hon Editor William P. Tandy hosts the event. Plus, enjoy live music from Rahne Alexander (The Degenerettes, The Oops)! And be sure to stop by the merch table for copies of Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore! No. 14, back issues and more.

For more information about this and other CityLit events, visit here; or, go here for a complete guide to the 2011 Baltimore Book Festival.

***

From the harbor to the hills, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! collects the tales of those on whom Mobtown has left her indelible mark. Polished, professional essays; barroom sermons delivered from the sanctity of a favorite stool; the poet’s fleeting sentiment, captured in both word and snapshot – Smile, Hon offers a slice of Baltimore as told by Baltimore, presented with the time-honored DIY accessibility of a limited-run, handcrafted zine. A two-time Utne Reader Independent Press Award nominee, Smile, Hon has also been dubbed “Best Zine” by Baltimore Magazine (2008) and Baltimore City Paper (2004). In spring 2011, Eight-Stone Press published a special “hon” edition, exploring the term’s significance in Baltimore’s identity, past and present; other theme issues have tackled such topics as waste, rats, scars, tattoos, crime and transit.

Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! is an Eight-Stone Press production and is distributed by Atomic Books (Baltimore, MD); City Lights Books (San Francisco, CA); Cyclops Books (Baltimore, MD); Microcosm Publishing (Bloomington, IN, and Portland, OR); Quimby's (Chicago, IL); Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse (Baltimore, MD); and Ukazoo Books (Towson, MD). For more information, contact:

William P. Tandy, Editor

Eight-Stone Press

P.O. Box 11064

Baltimore, MD 21212

E-mail: wpt@eightstonepress.com

Website: http://www.eightstonepress.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wptandy

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/eightstonepress

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Eight-Stone Press publishes SMILE, HON, YOU'RE IN BALTIMORE! No. 14

BALTIMORE, Md. – Painted screens, Winter dreams and death in Little Italy ink the pages of Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore! No. 14, the latest installment in the award-winning series published by Eight-Stone Press.

In this expanded, 68-page issue, Rahne Alexander leads “a horticulture;” Earl Crown gets caught with his hand in the piranha tank; Fernando Quijano III prays in the temple of the moon; Lisa Wiseman takes it off; and Dan Reed recalls his first murder, plus a whole lot more. Contributors include:

- Rahne Alexander

- Rafael Alvarez

- Susan Beverly

- Davida Gypsy Breier

- JD Buckner

- Jenny Campbell

- Caryn Coyle

- Earl Crown

- E. Doyle-Gillespie

- Matthew Falk

- S.J. Ferrandi

- Julie Fisher

- Martha Gatewood

- Sharon Goldner

- Heck

- Alex Hewett

- Ian Hochberg

- Bill Hughes

- Alex Koplow

- Sommer Marsden

- Fernando Quijano III

- Benn Ray

- Dan Reed

- Timmy Reed

- Steve Roberts

- Rosalia Scalia

- Jena Shlock

- Stacy Spaulding

- Honora Sully

- William P. Tandy

- Matthew C. Terzi

- Lisa Wiseman

From the harbor to the hills, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! collects the tales of those on whom Mobtown has left her indelible mark. Polished, professional essays; barroom sermons delivered from the sanctity of a favorite stool; the poet's fleeting sentiment, captured in both word and snapshot – Smile, Hon offers a slice of Baltimore as told by Baltimore, presented with the time-honored DIY accessibility of a limited-run, handcrafted zine. A two-time Utne Reader Independent Press Award nominee, Smile, Hon has also been dubbed "Best Zine" by Baltimore Magazine (2008) and Baltimore City Paper (2004). In spring 2011, Eight-Stone Press published a special “hon” edition, exploring the term’s significance in Baltimore’s identity, past and present; other theme issues have tackled such topics as waste, rats, scars, tattoos, crime and transit.

Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! is an Eight-Stone Press production and is distributed by Atomic Books (Baltimore, MD); City Lights Books (San Francisco, CA); Cyclops Books (Baltimore, MD); Microcosm Publishing (Bloomington, IN, and Portland, OR); Quimby's (Chicago, IL); Red Emma's Bookstore Coffeehouse (Baltimore, MD); and Ukazoo Books (Towson, MD). For more information, contact:

William P. Tandy, Editor

Eight-Stone Press

P.O. Box 11064

Baltimore, MD 21212

E-mail: wpt@eightstonepress.com

Website: http://www.eightstonepress.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/wptandy

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/eightstonepress

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UPDATE: Smile, Hon No. 14 is printed...

Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! No. 14 - the latest issue in the long-running series from Eight-Stone Press - has just returned from the printer. Contributor / distro / press copies will go out in the mail within the next few days...

SMILE, HON editor at Preston Gardens!

BALTIMORE, Md. - Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! editor William P. Tandy will regale lunching office workers, street people and sundry ne’er-do-wells with his own strange blend of humor and misanthropy as part of the ongoing summer series “Poets in Preston,” Tuesday, August 9, in Preston Gardens, St. Paul and Pleasant Streets, in downtown Baltimore. This free event begins at noon. And Hell will surely follow. Poets in Preston is a presentation of the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, Inc; read more about it here.

In related news, Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore! No. 14 (pictured) is coming soon from Eight-Stone Press. Pre-order your copy and read samples from the new issue here. For more information about Smile, Hon, You’re in Baltimore!, contact wpt@eightstonepress.com.

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Coming soon from Eight-Stone Press!

Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! No. 14...

S.S. John W. Brown, one of America's last Liberty ships

Should you find yourself near Baltimore's Inner Harbor any time between now and July 31, take a moment to check out the S.S. John W. Brown, one of the country's last two Liberty ships.

Built in a similar fashion to modular homes (with different yards each cranking out a different portion of the ship, which were then all assembled prior to launch), these WWII-era cargo ships could be built with amazing speed; at one point, an average of three were launched every day. Indeed, American shipyards eventually spit them out faster than Hitler's wolf packs could sink them. (Yes, there was a time the United States was capable of such things.)

Of the more than 2,700 Liberty ships built, only two survive - the Baltimore-built John Brown, and the S.S. Jeremiah O'Brien (in San Francisco). For more information on the Brown, and Liberty ships in general, visit http://www.liberty-ship.com.

Attn: Baltimore-area poets!

Alright, Baltimore poets - listen up, because Christophe Casamassima (Furniture Press Books) is about to throw down...

From: Christophe Casamassima, Furniture Press Books

To: The People of Baltimore

400 Events in 340 Cities Representing 70 Countries Make “100 Thousand Poets for Change” Truly Historic

Poets around the world are currently organizing and planning nearly 400 individual events to take place simultaneously on September 24, 2011, in a demonstration/celebration of poetry and the spoken word to promote environmental, social and political change.

In Baltimore City, I am organizing a massive recording session of area poets, writers and readers, and then creating a free online anthology to which anyone in the world can listen. The purpose is to support the notion that “The City that Reads” reflects the manifest interests and poetics of its citizenry, and that creative literacy can be sustained in Charm City.

From now until September 24, I’ll be reaching out to individuals to read their favorite poems in front of a microphone. It can be one poem or a series of poems. The object is to show the world that poetry is thriving in our fair city and that it’s not just practicing or well-known poets and writers who are engaged in the craft.

Immediately following September 24, all documentation on the 100TPC.org weblog will be preserved by Stanford University in California, which has recognized 100 Thousand Poets for Change as an historical event, the largest poetry reading in history. They will archive the complete contents of the weblog, 100TPC.org, as part of their digital archiving program LOCKSS.

So, want your 15 minutes of fame? Let’s meet! You can find my contact info below. Please write or call me to set up a time where we can meet. All you have to do is pick your favorite poems and tell us a little about yourself.

Thank you,

Christophe Casamassima

furniture.press.books@gmail.com

(410) 718-6574

Earlier this year, Christophe did me the honor of recording some of my own work; listen here, if you're so inclined.