"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

Pennies for Poe!

Every burg from Richmond to Beantown has some nondescript dwelling in a shitty part of town that can boast "Edgar Allan Poe slept here." But for all his mad vision, the drinking and drugs, only one of those cities can justifiably claim that it killed this master of the macabre, the godfather of the detective story, an all-American original.

Today, its subsidies slashed by a cash-strapped city, Baltimore's historic Edgar Allan Poe House is in very real danger of closing its doors. Consequently, writer Rafael Alvarez has taken up the task of resurrecting a fabled fund-raiser to benefit the Poe House with the hope of ensuring that this literary landmark remains accessible to residents and visitors alike....

In the meantime, don't miss Alvarez's hometown homage "Ain't Nothin' Like the Real Thing" in Hon: Past, Present & Future, the latest theme issue in the award-winning Smile, Hon, You're in Baltimore! series from Eight-Stone Press!

So, I left town for a week's vacation...

And completely forgot I was supposed to pick up flowers and booze for my friend Edgar!

"Edgar Allan Tow"

Around 3:55 p.m. every week day, the tow trucks begin circling the cars unwittingly parked in the "NO PARKING 4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m." zone in the vicinity surrounding Poe's grave, in Westminster Burying Ground, on Baltimore's west side. Sometimes, when the clock strikes four, they'll follow behind the meter-maid, tag-teaming the sorry bastards and hauling them away two at a time until such time as their cash-only ransom is paid in full. My coworkers, accordingly, have dubbed them "Edgar Allan Tow."

They don't fuck around here, on the west side. I once saw them haul away a DHL van parked along the curb at 4:02, hazards flashing, while the driver was inside an office building making a pick-up.