What I remember

 When I moved to Baltimore.

I loaded up Teemu & a couple suitcases in my Mitsubishi Mirage and drove most of the day & into the night,  out of Nashville and past the Smokies into the Virginias and the mid-Atlantic.  Crazy or brave or probably a little bit of both.
I drank a lot of shitty gas station coffee & wound up at a dingy hotel that didn't mind the cat.  Next day I moved to a decent Red Roof Inn near Towson that had a weekly rate (after checking in & out of a 'family hotel' that was swimming in roached).

I was near a bookstore & a weird 60's looking psuedo-Tudor bar with decent food. I had a few friends in Fairfax.  They introduced me to someone to help me apartment hunt & the recommendation was to head down into the city & see what I liked.

So I took a long bus ride that ended at the foot of Broadway in front of the market in Fells Point.  
I always tell people that Richard Belzer was the first person I saw in Baltimore.  Obviously not entirely true because I'd been to hotels & met up with Tom.

But that was like, my 3rd or 4th night.  I meant to wander around and check out apartments but stepped off that bus and around the corner right onto Thames St and the #Homicide crew filming.  There was the City Pier in all it's glory,  used as both the police station and production facility for the series.  Belzer was walking down the steps.  They were on the other side of the street so I watched for a bit, walking towards Ann St past the Daily Grind, the Waterfront,  Cat's Eye....all the spots I knew from the series.
Finally I sat down in Kooper's for a beer and some dinner.  Met their nice Irish bartender. Probably drank a Rolling Rock, though a DeGroen's Marzen was my usual there in all the years to come.
It was my favorite place in Baltimore.  I eventually meet Kooper, the gorgeous namesake and his sweet chocolate Lab sibling, Woody.  Their owners Pat & Katie, who eventually had twins.  Never wound up working there but we talked about it.
But the Admiral Fell Inn was close by & we had a great relationship.  My boss used to give me gift certificates as a bonus when I'd do a project for him.
I took every one who visited me there and folks I knew from Logan's.  Chris has been.  & mom adored it.  she went there for Sunday brunch without me when I went back to Tennessee for all my furniture.  They were great to her & didn't put peas in their chicken pot pie. Her idea of heaven.
I don't recall any bad service experiences, no matter how busy.

If you know me you know I love Homicide:Life On The Street.  I'm not great at 'favorites' but if I'm honest it is my favorite show ever. There's things I've loved before and since but I always come back to it.
It's interesting to rewatch.  Once in awhile I do the whole series. Usually it's a season or one of the specials - the Fire, Hostages, the Kathryn Bigelow 2 part.  So much of it holds us and many of you now know the likes of Andre Braugher and Melissa Leo from other work. Their line up of directors is unparalleled.
I was a well behaved stalker.  I got on with my life.  I was there for the final season filming & when they did the movie.  I didn't seek out watching them film but I used to run into people.  Giancarlo Esposito stayed at our hotel once in awhile.  Toni Lewis grabbing lunch at the bar. 
Turned out Koopers upstairs space is where cast & crew met up to watch on Fridays.
So what I remember is Clark Johnson heading down the stairs in very Meldrick Lewis duster.  Kyle Secor helping the staff carry food upstairs. 
That sort of thing.

Sometimes I wish I'd tried harder - to maybe work on the show in some way.  But I loved my experiences.  Being an #HLOTS fan is how I became friends with Sean Condon.....well, besides adoring his writing.
I've been looking back at it and some 90s shows as research for a documentary.  As with everything, it doesn't all hold up.  It's sure interesting to watch the change in technology in police procedurals (I got my first cell at Radio Shack in Baltimore).  
There's some performers who now seem overdone and some characters who are as timeless as ever.
Any one who's seen him knows Andre Braugher is a once in a life time talent.  Kyle Secor deserved more recognition for how they worked together.  They got raves for the Adena storyline & always should, along with Moses Gunn.
But season 5 deserved more notice.
Erik Todd Dellums as Luther Mahoney remains one of the best villains ever in television.  His final face off with Meldrick Lewis (Clark Johnson) is amazing.  I hear that cackle of a laugh and wish he'd get a shot at playing the Joker.  And few people can change gears like Clark Johnson.  I adore an actor who can speak volumes with their face and body & no words.  He is that but also hilarious & outraged in turns.
Just go look at "Deception" (S5E20).  Reed Diamond is great too but over that whole season - the face offs between Lewis and Mahoney are brilliant.


So that's what I remember.  I remember drinking Marzen & eating crab dip & walking around the Harbor & having good work mates at the hotel.  And I remember loving dialogue and discovering new actors and new music.  Chris Tergesen provided genius choices to soundtrack that show.

I don't think I'll ever move back but it's a city I love so very much.  One of my favorite places I've lived.

But I'll sit here drinking my Baltimore Blonde and thinking about a visit.  Soon.  The City Pier building is a hotel now so I can so soak in some of those vibes and remember....

Sid

It's been firmly established I'm a dork.  I hold no truck with the expression 'guilty pleasure',  as that's just you having different taste than me.
Sometimes when we dorks are forced to spend lots of time indoors (#GlobalPandemic) we go looking for different entertainment options.


A million years ago in the early 90's, at my first hotel gig, I occasionally worked overnights.  I did the audit the 2 nights the regular guy had off.  It was a small operation.  We had just over 100 rooms. No cash register - just a money drawer & adding machine.  When it wasn't busy, you could still be done in a couple hours but hotel desks operate 24/7 & it was a matter of entertaining yourself without falling asleep from 11p.m. to 7a.m. 
Over time we developed a little library.  Trashy magazines, novels we cared to share.  One of the day girls started bringing in mysteries.  While I like to watch a thriller, I'm not much of a detective novel reader but desperate times......
She had a copy of Dick Francis' "Hot Money".  It's now what I can refer to as a gateway drug.  She thought I might like it because of loving British films, etc.  She was soooooo right.  It wasn't what I expected at all.  It's a good starter for his work.  Not as dark as some. The huge family provides a variety of characters.  I think it would make a terrific short series.
Since then, I've read them all.  I have probably 15 of them in hardcover, one or two first editions.  Lots with the matching covers they ran with in the States.
I love them.  There's 3 or 4 I'm dying to film.  Yes, there's always a male lead but plenty of strong female characters on offer.  On the whole, while being a bit of the product of their time, they hold up & progress. The females aren't just decoration.
I think they're a great balance of mystery & entertainment. 
I do know full well that the tv adaptations are a mixed bag.  There's no denying Ian McShane's talent but he's an odd fit. & the trying to mush in bits of different characters just makes it a mess for their target audience- those who've read the books.

So I was pottering away on #HalfPriceBooks (mostly to see if any copies of #GBBO on dvd had popped up), when lo & behold I spied "The Racing Game".  Confident it was a mistake & would be the book or not available or cost a mint, I cautiously clicked.  And there, for a perfectly reasonable under $20 price, was the2 dvd series.  An honestly to goodness gem.
And if you're like me, the fun of some of these things is to pick apart what's right & what's wrong.
Haven't watched a minute of it yet but so very excited.  Sid Halley was always an obvious choice, as he's one of the only repeat characters Francis wrote & therefore more material potential.
Thanks, #HPB.  I'd rather give you my money than amazon. I appreciate the hand written note.  Hope to see you on the other side.

Now.....if anyone can point me to a copy of #DeadCert with Judi Dench in it.

#LoM10

From the first moment Philip Glenister strode on screen in all his Gene Hunt glory, grabbed Sam Tyler (John Simm) by the collar & tossed him at a filing cabinet, I was hooked.
It's rare to see an actor own a character so thoroughly, particularly on to a 2nd series (follow up Ashes to Ashes). He was so terrific that infamously when Harvey Keitel was cast in US remake, he called Phil himself to say he knew he wouldn't be as good.

Ok, face it, I was on board with all the use of  Bowie too. I first stumbled upon "LoM" via PBS in Chicago where it aired along with Masterpiece & Doctor Who. Helluva Sunday night, that.
It debuted on BBC 10 years ago today. & the creative team has been tweeting fab behind the scenes stories & set photos with #LifeOnMars10 tagged.
I was before & remain a huge Glenister fan. He's terrifically underrated & underused. Have been lucky enough to work/chat with a couple of the cast & crew via my #shorts program. Lots of them do great work.
It's an all time favorite for me. Probably #2 after, Homicide: Life on the Street.
So yeah, I'll be rewatching ep. 1 today. & our #shortfilmsunday selection with be associated with them and Mr. Bowie.
If you've not seen it, have a peek on hulu or netflix. There's only 16 eps (& then 24 of A2A). well worth your time.