Big Big Love Book Event

This Friday, historian and author, Hanne Blank, will be here reading from and discussing the updated edition of her book, Big Big Love, which features new interviews with body-acceptance activists, health coaches, psychologists, and more! Big Big Love’s savvy, sane advice can help you tackle every hot-button issue you may confront in the bedroom and in love.

Join us for cupcakes and adult beverages, 7-9pm!

Hairy Baltimore

This weekend is the Baltimore Book Festival. And there are a lot of very exciting things going on over in Mt. Vernon to celebrate. But one of the projects we're most excited about is a book curated by our friend Alex Fine called Hairy Baltimore.

The limited edition book contains 40 portraits of Baltimore icons with distinctive hairstyles by a bunch of great artists, including: Okan Arabacioglu, Derrick Dent, Donald Ely, Alex Fine, Daniel Fishel, Jimmy Giegerich, Andrea Kalfas, Daniel Krall, Hawk Krall, Jeff Lance, Cameron K. Lewis, John Macnair, Emma Maatman, Noah Patrick Pfarr, Sarah Pfeil, Thomas Pitilli, Jon Sperry, Hanna Viktorsson, Annie Wu.

And while we're excited because it's a great idea for project, we're also excited by this awesome portrait of me that Noah Patrick Pfaff did. (He also did a great portrait of our pal Raygun Robyn).

We can't wait to see the book and who got illustrated and by which artists. 

How To Make A Zine

From the folks at the Salford Zine Library!

Make sure you get the help of an adult!

Books Books Books

 Tons of this season's great books are rolling in!

 

Best of Baltimore 2011

Best Independent Bookstore.

"We know, we know, the internet, the long tail, and all that, but actually being in the store, surrounded by all those weird and wonderful things to read and look at that maybe you didn’t even know existed until you happened to spot them filed next to something else, is an invitation to impulse buying and, well, better than the internet. There, we said it."


Thanks, City Paper! And also City Paper Readers!

Here are some more Hampden Winners!

SPX 2011 Wrap Up

Friday night was our annual pre-SPX party and it was a great time!




We had some of our own beer, brewed by our friends at Burnt Hickory Brewery.



People were just hanging out after the readings. I wish I had taken more photos, as usual.

Daniel Krall and Kate Haberer



Anders Nilsen, Noah Van Sciver and Brian Ralph



Heidi MacDonald and Jessica Abel



Jim Rugg, Dan Zettwoch, Kevin Huizenga, Brian Ralph



The Ignatz Winners were announced Saturday Night.

We were all shocked and saddened to hear that Dylan Williams passed away this weekend.


Sunday we headed to Bethesda.




Here's a batch of what we got.


There's a whole lot more here, which will be updated throughout the week.

Thanks to everyone who came to the event! Hope you had as much fun as we did!

Hampdenfest 2011 Wrap Up

It's been a crazy long weekend. Here's just one of the wrap ups. More to come!



Like any great neighborhood festival you see a lot of your neighbors just hanging out, like the Treksters and Fishboy, and entering Hampden Idol.




Our diligent and friendly judges, Sarah Jennings, reigning Hampden Idol, Lee Gardner, editor of the Baltimore City Paper, and Aaron Henkin, host of WYPR's The Signal.




Like a Prayer by our new Hampden Idol winner - Blessed Tess




Keyboard Man with the finalists.




The first annual The Great Baltimore Mac Off was a huge success, raising money for the Hampden Food Bank and offering an amazing array of mac and cheese creations from amateurs and professionals alike.

photo provided by Genny Dill

The Mac Off judges Mary Smith, of Charm City Cakes, Henry Hong, food writer for the Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore Magazine and chef at Noodle Republic, and Tom Campbell from Patchwork Catering chose Lucia Treasure's Natty Boh Dijon Mac & Cheese as the Best Home Cook winner and Corner BYOB's Lobster & Truffle Oil Mac & Cheese as the Best Professional winner. Corner BYOB won People's Choice as well!


And this is a little video of a bit of the Toilet Bowl Race:



video provided by Momi Antonio-Barnes

Superhero Series

Superhero Series, originally uploaded by sugarfreak.

Our Button-o-matic has arrived with the brand spanking new Superheroes Series!

Buttons by Jeffrey Brown, Laura Park, Shawnimal, Jay Ryan and more!!

SPXplosion 2011

This Friday is our annual pre SPX party! These comic artists will be at Atomic Books presenting and signing their new works:

ANDERS NILSEN
MARC BELL
MELISSA MENDES
NOAH VAN SCIVER
TOM NEELY
BRIAN RALPH
DINA KELBERMAN

And THE NERDLINGER AWARDS!

7-9pm

Sales on tons of books, comics, DVDs and our own Atomic Books beer will be served.

First Friday & Labor Day Weekend

Hey, we have this crazy thing happening in the city this weekend, so here's some helpful tips on avoiding the closed streets.

But it's First Friday in Hampden tonight and Celebrated Summer Records is having a Donut Social and we're having a 25% sale on all CDs and DVDs and 50% off all sale items (off their already lowered prices) as well as refreshing adult beverages.

We'll be open on Labor Day for our regular hours!

Baltozine Roundup - Early September

Keeping track of new magazines (etc.) that we get in which talk about Baltimore stuff. For more on, by, or about Baltimore-area artists, check out the following issues below. 

Mojo Magazine #215
Mojo has a 1 page profile of Future Islands.
"...This conflict between new wave stoicism and uninhibited emotional outpouring is the bloodline of Future Islands. Coming from the same Baltimore art-party scene as previous MOJO Rising star Dan Deacon, their 2008 debut Wave Like Home was a half-hour punch of bold, fraught electronic pop. But following the departure of drummer Erick Murillo, the trio moved away from warehouse wig-outs in favour of something more graceful and moving. The result was 2010's In Evening Air. All melancholy synth drones, New Order beats  and elegant ruminations on personal tragedy.... their upcoming album, On The Water ... finds a greater tenderness than its predecessor. The densely layered songs are given more breathing space, recalling early OMD and Joy Division in their quiet, pregnant intensity and danceability. ..." -Sonny Baker

Beer Magazine #21
In a ranking of Top 51 Beers, Frederick, MD's Flying Dog Coffee Stout Batch 2 came in #3 with an overall rating of 98.
"This beer is dark as night, smells just right, and drinks like a good cup of coffee. It pours into the glass and removes the light from the room. The head is like a nice caramel. The aroma gives you a wonderful biscotti-like profile... the flavor is less coffee than the label suggests, but it's still a treat for your taste buds..."

Maximum Rocknroll #340
A review of Pulling Teeth's Funerary LP.
"...I liked the first handful of songs, that are a nice mix of classic metalcore with a stronger lean towards melodic death metal guitar shredding, but I just don't have the patience for the doom-y stuff." -Justin Briggs

The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis - September Book Pick

This month's Reading Club pick is The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis by Lydia Davis.

See you September 28th for the discussion - 7:30 at Atomic Books! New members are welcome at any time, and you get 15% off all the books for this year's Club titles. Join the Facebook Group for more discussion and updates.