Jon's Newswriting

Just last year “bible” of music Rolling Stone magazine named Baltimore "Best Scene" in its April 2008 "Best of Rock" issue. The Baltimore “scene” is a microcosm of artist and groups of all different genres, mediums and experiences all with the common goal of keeping the thriving Baltimore Art Scene thriving. One group that is the pulse of the Baltimore “scene” is Wham City. Wham City is an artist collective with varied members whose members work in various mediums from cartoons to acting to a local underground comedy talk show. Wham City puts on various events throughout the year and city from plays, concerts, art installations, and various lecture series. The lecture series range from heady topics such as about how a person can make a worm harvest to lighter subjects about the world of adult cartoons. Both of the above subjects and many others can be found at the Baltimore collectives biweekly lecture series. The lecture series are organized by Wham City member Connor Kizer, who says the whole point of the lecture like Wham City itself is to “give the city a new voice and spin on issues that are important to us.” With the “us” being the followers of Wham City in the Baltimore Scene.
At Wham City’s performance space the Zodiac (1726 N. Charles, Baltimore) the Wham City Lecture Series was at it again. The small venue was almost to capacity with 30-40 people in attendance. After a round of small talk, Kizer informed everyone to grab and beer or drink and get ready for the lectures. The First speaker of the evening was Cheryl Carmona who discussed a surprisingly interesting subject: Worms as Pets. Carmona said this was an important issue because in the future people will not have soil. He reasoning for not having soil was later clarified by saying soil that is healthy because of pollution. In her speech Carmona gave the steps to making habits for the worms. The advantages given were a cheap soil that is nutrient rich for growing food and it gives an honest look at how much people waste. The point is to take all of the biodegradable trash a person produces and put it into the Worm heap. The worms in turn thrive off of the waste and break it down, leaving with the nutrient rich soil. Carmona also gave advice to some audience members about the right PH and acid balance and offered tips on how to keep the soil moist longer and the like.
The next speaker or better yet presenter was the true highlight of the evening. Dina Kelberman, who is also a founding member of Wham City, presented on Rule 34 of the internet: If it can be thought there is a site for it or soon will be. More specifically Kelberman presented slides with your favorite childhood cartoon characters in some quite compromising positions. Since it was more of a slide show, Kelberman presented some of her favorite drawings that she has amassed in her collection from everything from The Simpsons to Little Mermaid and surprisingly humorous Finding Nemo’s of example of Rule 34. After Kelberman had shared her favorite slides she took request. Audience members shouted out everything from Fraggle Rock to Beauty and the Beast, from G.I. Joe to anything else you may have watched during your childhood.
Connor Kizer ended the evening by thanking everyone for being in attendance and gave notice about the topics for the next series which will be March 25th at zodiac and the topics will be Housing Segregation in Baltimore by Lola Pierson and complaints by Julia Kudravets.

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