BMA Violet Hour: Lawrence Burney and Ellis Marsalis III (t.p. Luce), Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Drive, October 29, 6:30 p.m.
From the groundbreaking zine True Laurels to the era-defining Kahlon parties; and from his music writing at City Paper and numerous national music mags to his essay collection, “No Sense in Wishing,” the 2026 selection for One Maryland One Book, Lawrence Burnie’s work is both wildly innovative and also deeply steeped in the traditions of Baltimore. So, we’re especially psyched for this screening of his in-progress documentary, “Revisiting Ramona,” which the BMA is screening as part of the huge exhibition “Flashback: Two Centuries of Baltimore Photography.”
Burney’s doc is based on the work of one of his neighbors, the photographer Ellis Marsalis, who published “Tha Bloc: Words, Photographs and Baltimore City in Black White and Gray” in 2004 under the pen name t.p. Luce.
“In it are beautifully-shot black and white photos (captured between 1995 and 2003) of people living their everyday lives: getting ready for church, loving on each other, shooting dice on the porch, playing video games with extension cords coming from inside the house,” Burney wrote when he placed one of the images on the cover of an issue of True Laurels. “There’s poetry inspired by the community which serves as social commentary on what you’re seeing.”
The images, shot around Ramona Avenue, in Belair-Edison, are particularly important and personal to Burney. “My family lived on this block from the time I was 9 until about 15,” he wrote. “A lot of the people photographed are people I saw everyday. I’ve known some since elementary school and some I still rock with today. And to make it even crazier, t.p. Luce is the father of one of my closest friends.”
It will be fascinating to see how Burney incorporates Tha Block archive to bring his own distinctive vision into the documentary medium.
Election Day, your polling place, November 3, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Listen, you might think that we don’t have a lot that’s really at stake in Baltimore or in Maryland this time around. But the fact is, even if there was nothing on the ballot, we should all go and vote. It’s a year in which the leading oligarchical party and its Supreme Court has done its damndest to disenfranchise Black people and to eliminate Black districts.
Baltimore is a “fuck you” kind of town, and we should have 100% turnout, even if just as a “fuck you” to everyone who is trying to take away voting rights. If you think every candidate sucks and you don’t want to vote for anyone, write in yourself. Or write in “nobody,” but vote for the possibility of voting.
And even if you don’t believe in gerrymandering and want to vote against Question 3, which would allow for new election maps in Maryland (and potentially get rid of Trump bootlicker and longtime fascist Andy Harris in future elections), we should vote in historic numbers.
“Folks at Intimate Play” and “Katey and Jessie,” closing talks, Current Space, 421 N. Howard Street, November 7, 4 p.m.
“Folks at Intimate Play,” the solo show by SHAN Wallace, multihyphenate, multimedia artist, archivist, and occasional Beat contributor, creates a fascinating tension between the local and the exotic, between humans and the objects that become a part of us in our homes, and between bodies and the desires that animate them. “Through collage, video, sculpture, and printmaking practices including; intaglio, monotype, and lithography, I engage and memorialize inherited Black traditions: vernacular language and forms, duplicity and contradiction, conundrums and curses, eroticism, magic, and local lore,” Wallace writes in the show’s description.
In Current’s neighboring gallery, “Katey and Jessie” by Jessie and Katey features collaborative abstract work by longtime collaborators Jessie Unterhalter and Katey Truhn. Probably best known for their large public works, the artists present a more intimate view of their work with this show that moves between deeply textured sculptures and bright geometric wall pieces. “Rooted in a shared passion for bringing art into everyday life, Jessie and Katey’s practice balances precision with play, often drawing inspiration from math, color theory, and the built landscape,” they write in the show’s program.
The shows are open through November 7, when there will be a reception with short talks by Wallace, Unterhalter, and Truhn. But you could also check them out on October 30 for the final night of Current’s gorgeous garden bar, with Halloween ATP, which features one-time only, 10-minute coverband sets by some of Baltimore’s best musicians.
“Frankenstein,” Chesapeake Shakespeare, 7 S. Calvert Street, through November 8.
We all know the story of Frankenstein — or at least we think we do. If you haven’t read Mary Shelley’s novel upon which all the movies have been based recently — or ever — it is far stranger than you think, with a series of stories framing the story of the monster with whom we’re most familiar. Such source material may seem a strange choice for Chesapeake Shakespeare, but Shelley had Shakespeare on her desk as she wrote it. In fact, the revival of Shakespeare prompted in part by her parents’ friend William Blake did a lot to spawn the Romantic movement of which Shelley’s “Modern Prometheus” is a prime example.
Whether they’re doing Shakespeare or not, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company is always inventive, irreverent, and moving.
“Caught Out There: A Black Sci-Fi Comedy,” with Q&A and panel discussion. SNF Parkway, 5 W. North Avenue, November 12, 7 p.m.
If aliens came to Earth, would you date one? That’s the premise of Tahira Mahdi and Christopher A. Brown’s new film, except “notofearth” is the preferred term for these extraterrestrials. And there are Black notofearths. Heartly and Malik meet at a bar as they try to wash away the memories of comically bad relationships and become fast friends, urging each other to join a Zodiac-based matchmaking service, only to discover that it’s not just based on the stars but out there in them. As the great Sun Ra said, “space is the place.”
After the screening, Mahdi and Brown are joined by “Black Butterfly” author Lawrence Brown, Shawntay Stocks, and Sherella Cupid for a discussion of Afrofuturism, art, and revolution.
Jury Nullification Workshop with BAM and BALT, Red Emma’s, 3128 Greenmount Avenue, November 17, 7 p.m.
For some reason, people with vaguely abolitionist, or at least leftist, politics like to tell me how they got out of jury duty, and at every voir dire there are people saying that they can’t believe anything a cop says. Well, the racist guy who spends all day watching Fox 45 and filling up comment sections across the internet doesn’t try to disqualify himself for his racist views. He tries to convict people.
So, instead of trying to get out of jury duty, come to this workshop, where some of the city’s finest legal minds will explain how you can be a force for liberation through jury nullification, a process where a jury can find someone not guilty — even if the facts show they committed the crime — because of the racist application of the law or exceedingly harsh penalties or one of the countless other things than can make the justice system unjust.