So You're FROM Bmore: A Who's Who of Notable Residents

Life has indeed become incredibly hectic as of late, so I do apologize for my disappearance.  If you are indeed new to Bmore, at the rate I’m updating, you’re likely to learn the majority of this information on your own, and for that I am sorry.

So we’ve accepted that you’re new to Bmore.

Do you know about the awesome people that are from here?

Ira Glass, who accompanies me via podcast every Monday while I prepare dinner, is from outside this fair city.  I tell myself that one day he’ll pop into Paper Moon while I’m there and do a local version of his episode “24 Hours at the Golden Apple” entitled, “24 Trippy Hours at the Paper Moon.”

This picture makes me want to give Ira a big hug and have some coffee with him. Source: http://gothamist.com/attachments/nyc_arts_john/Ira%20Glass.jpg

Phillip Glass, brilliant composer, is also from Baltimore, which makes sense since family stays together and all that jazz.

Michael Phelps, world-record holder for most Olympic medals ever won.  In the history of the Olympics.  That’s a big deal.

Edgar Allen Poe.  Sure, he was born in Boston and lived a good while in Richmond, but he died in our gutters.  We have his grave and the house where he penned so many historical words, so I say it’s fair game to call dibs.

The original Baltimore Hipster, Dan Deacon.
Source: http://exclaim.ca/images/deacon1.jpg

Dan Deacon, kind of a big deal on the electronic music scene, hails from Charm City.  On his new album, America, he has a song entitled, “Guildford Ave Bridge” which makes me smile.  He considers this wonderfully decrepit bridge to be just as worthy of homage as our country’s larger, more well-known landmarks.  

Tori Amos was raised here, Spiro Agnew lived in Baltimore before heading below the beltway to be Nixon’s VP.  David Bryne, who was a songwriter for the Talking Heads, is from Charm City.  Tom Clancy, author extraordinaire, and Brian Dannelly, director of Weeds, both are Baltimoreans at heart.

Wonderful, still notable, fictional characters are from Baltimore.  Dr. Gregory House got his MD from Johns Hopkins, Elaine Bennet from Seinfeld is from Towson and a diehard O’s fan.  

Frederick Douglas, Antonion Freeman, Billie Holiday, Henrietta Lacks. Thurgood Marshall, Bessie Moses, Ogden Nash, Nancy Pelosi. Cal Ripken Jr., Mike Rowe, Babe Ruth, Pat Sajak (!!), Elizabeth Ann Seton, Tupac lived on Greenmont Ave for two years when he went to the Baltimore School of the Arts, where Jada Pinkett Smith is also a notable alum. David Simon, Upton Sinclair, Sisqo (!), Gertrude Stein (! for different reasons!), John Waters, Montel Williams, and Oprah even worked here briefly.  

The list goes on and on, and the details get better and better.  The fact of the matter is Baltimore has bred some awfully talented individuals.  If you’re new, you are now among the rankings!  Congratulations, you now live in the same region that Pat Sajak hails from.  That’s rubbing elbows with some seriously big folks.

Next up: where to camp and how to avoid stepping in horse turds first thing in the morning!