Brian Lawrence Live
Week of June 22-28
Lots of stuff going on around town as people scurry to cram things in before it seems everyone leaves during the months of July and August. I started the week by meeting my pal Sloane Brown for dinner on Monday night at Talara. As two folks who make it to a lot of parties around Baltimore, we hadn’t had a chance to catch up on local news (and gossip) in a while. We enjoyed some excellent food (Slone’s big on the seviche; I went with the empanadas) and I made several mojitos dissappear. Asst. GM Ari Cohen stopped by to make sure we were being taken care of, and we were. Bonus: Sloane gave me a two-block ride in her new “Smart Car,” which draws stares everywhere it goes.
On Wed. evening, I met some friends up in Towson for the Charles Village Pub’s anniversary party happy hour. Among those enjoying the festivities on the back patio were Lisa Poland, Robyn Chesley, Hope Schab, Michelle Mutert, Tracy Kwiatkowski and Karen Mysel. From there, it was downtown to Little Havana the “Green Drinks” happy hour, where the crowd spilled out onto the deck overlooking the harbor. I rounded out the evening by joining a few friends in the back room at Corks.
Thursday evening was our latest event at the STYLE Lounge at Silo Point, the Skyline Cookout. It was a gorgeous evening, particularly out on the terrace that overlooks the Inner Harbor from the 19th floor. Fifty guests, including DJ Lamdin & Bruce Alderman, Johnathan Wilkin, Tiffany Zappulla and Dorothy Fuchs mingled, sipping sangria, wines and brews from Dogfish Head. The Wine Market provided summer-perfect wines and tasty bites like green chile burgers, barbecued salmon, summer slaw and fruit salad. Our new Style wine guru, Laurie Forster, picked the wines and offered wine tips. Other than the perfect weather, the main topic of conversation was the day’s events: the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and the then just-breaking news about Michael Jackson.
I made a last-minute decision to go to Dewey Beach for the weekend, so I had to forgo the VIP party at Silo Point and Jim Burger‘s Double-wide party on Friday night, and Jim Halle‘s Southside party and the IXIA private farewell party on Sat. night. But it was a perfect weekend to be at the beach, great weather and small crowds (I think most people avoid going the weekend before a major holiday). Saw lots of old beach buddies at Taco Toss, and joined Stacy Swann and Jim White on Saturday aboard Steve Storrie‘s boat for an afternoon booze cruise out onto Rehoboth Bay. After Jam Session (Burnt Sienna) and dinner at Chicken Ed’s, we wound up at the Starboard, where Federal Hill was well-represented: Linda McFaul, Darrin McShane and Hollin Hinkle all turned up— and there was actually room to move around at the Starboard on a Sat. night— most unusual!
Drove back to Baltimore on Sunday in time to spend the afternoon at the Federal Hill Jazz & Blues Festival. After stopping by Tom Brinkley‘s Seagram’s Sweet Tea Vodka stand, being ably managed by Victor Acosta, we stopped to chat with Ed Brinkley, Chuck Gardner, Myron Coplin and Scooter Holt. A stop at Cork’s yielded some of Jerry Pellegrino‘s white wine sangria. We then made our way up the street to Corvino and proceeded to claim a table on the front deck. In our comings and goings, ran into Willis Macgill, Teddy Imbach, Jim Halle, Ben Greenwald, Tiffany Zappulla, Michael & Diana Fishman, Lou Licata, Chris Whisted & Melissa Lembo (just back from their pre-cana weekend). As they began to dismantle the booths along S. Charles Street, I took that as a signal to call it a day.
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