BtheSite.com Launches SMILE, HON Contributor's New Weekly Strip

Be sure to check out regular Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! contributor Benn Ray's new strip, "Said What?: Overheards", every Thursday at bthesite.com...

Baltimore Insider's Guide: Question #6

Following the success of Criminally Yours, a collection of entertaining Baltimore-area crime experiences, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore is once again collaborating with The Mobtown Shank, this time in putting together a Baltimore Insider's Guide. Over the next few weeks, we'll be asking various questions and compiling the results. (The more the merrier, so please tell your friends to answer, too!)

Today's question:

What is your top source (blog, paper, radio station, magazine) for Baltimore-related news? Why?

Please provide 2-3 sentences regarding why/what makes this place so special. Submit your answers to wpt@eightstonepress.com. If we use your answers/submissions, you'll receive a free copy when the issue is published.

Baltimore Insider's Guide: Question #5

Following the success of Criminally Yours, a collection of entertaining Baltimore-area crime experiences, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore is once again collaborating with The Mobtown Shank, this time in putting together a Baltimore Insider's Guide. Over the next few weeks, we'll be asking various questions and compiling the results. (The more the merrier, so please tell your friends to answer, too!)

Today's question:

Where in Baltimore do you go to check out art? Why there?

Please provide 2-3 sentences regarding why/what makes this place so special. Submit your answers to wpt@eightstonepress.com. If we use your answers/submissions, you'll receive a free copy when the issue is published.

Baltimore Insider's Guide: Question #4

Following the success of Criminally Yours, a collection of entertaining Baltimore-area crime experiences, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore is once again collaborating with The Mobtown Shank, this time in putting together a Baltimore Insider's Guide. Over the next few weeks, we'll be asking various questions and compiling the results. (The more the merrier, so please tell your friends to answer, too!)

Today's question:

You find a scratch-off on the ground. You scratch it off and discover you've just won $500. What Baltimore store is the first place you go shopping, and why?

Please provide 2-3 sentences regarding why/what makes this place so special. Submit your answers to wpt@eightstonepress.com. If we use your answers/submissions, you'll receive a free copy when the issue is published.

Baltimore Insider's Guide: Question #3

Following the success of Criminally Yours, a collection of entertaining Baltimore-area crime experiences, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore is once again collaborating with The Mobtown Shank, this time in putting together a Baltimore Insider's Guide. Over the next few weeks, we'll be asking various questions and compiling the results. (The more the merrier, so please tell your friends to answer, too!)

Today's question:

Say you're moving to Baltimore anew. What neighborhood do you move to, and why?

Please provide 2-3 sentences regarding why/what makes this place so special. Submit your answers to wpt@eightstonepress.com. If we use your answers/submissions, you'll receive a free copy when the issue is published.

Baltimore Insider's Guide: Question #2

Following the success of Criminally Yours, a collection of entertaining Baltimore-area crime experiences, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore is once again collaborating with The Mobtown Shank, this time in putting together a Baltimore Insider's Guide. Over the next few weeks, we'll be asking various questions and compiling the results. (The more the merrier, so please tell your friends to answer, too!)

Today's question:

Where's the best place in Baltimore to buy music? Why?

Please provide 2-3 sentences regarding why/what makes this place so special. Submit your answers to wpt@eightstonepress.com. If we use your answers/submissions, you'll receive a free copy when the issue is published.

SMILE, HON Again Partners with MOBTOWN SHANK

Following the success of Criminally Yours, a collection of entertaining Baltimore-area crime experiences, Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore is once again collaborating with The Mobtown Shank, this time in putting together a Baltimore Insider's Directory. Over the next few weeks, we'll be asking various questions and compiling the results. (The more the merrier, so please tell your friends to answer, too!)

Today's question:

Where is your favorite place in Baltimore to get coffee?

Please provide 2-3 sentences regarding why/what makes this place so special. Submit your answers to wpt@eightstonepress.com. If we use your answers/submissions, you'll receive a free copy when the issue is published.

New LOST PATROL Shirts Now Available

I first discovered The Lost Patrol (TLP) in summer 2007, while undergoing treatment for cancer; somehow, for me, their music provided the perfect soundtrack for chemotherapy (which I mean in the best possible way). It was thus with great excitement that I met the fall 2008 release of their seventh studio album, MIDNIGHT MATINEE, which, when The Mobtown Shank's Benn Ray invited me to compile a year-end favorites list, easily made my Top Five:

Were David Lynch to direct a spaghetti western featuring a climactic showdown between Carl Sagan and Carlos Castaneda, The Lost Patrol might provide the perfect soundtrack. Hailing from the greater New York City area, the band’s unique sound reflects a seemingly bottomless well of influences ranging from Morricone to Dick Dale to Joy Division. Guitarist Stephen Masucci’s reverb-drenched Mosrite along with the boundless desert skies of Michael Williams’ 12-string guitar provide a most complimentary backdrop for the otherwordly vocals of Mollie Israel (who replaces the band’s longtime lead singer, Danielle Kimak Stauss). While Israel’s voice occasionally belies her youth, her impressively solid debut nonetheless suggests the promise of even better things to come. Choice tracks: “On the Run”; “Homecoming”; “Colors Turn Grey”; “Jukebox on the Moon”.

Now, TLP have introduced a brand-new band t-shirt, available through their website. Also, look for them July 25, 2009, when they play the New Deal Cafe in Greenbelt, Maryland.