Baltimorons, Baltimore bars and bumping into big movie stars among us

The mighty Max Weiss makes a holiday visit with Nestor at DiPasquale’s in Canton bringing cinematic throwback celluloid gifts, local tales of street film lore and always a fresh copy of her beloved Baltimore Magazine. From “And Justice For All” to “The Baltimorons,” she gets us ready for a winter where we all need a good movie.

Nestor Aparicio and Max Weiss, Editor-in-Chief of Baltimore Magazine, discuss the city’s cultural and economic changes. Weiss highlights Baltimore’s thriving arts scene, including a Renaissance among black artists and the upcoming “Baltimoreans” film. They reminisce about Baltimore’s film history, noting the decline in local film production due to lack of tax incentives. Weiss also mentions a story on Baltimore’s nightlife shift from traditional bars to early evening activities. Aparicio shares personal anecdotes about meeting celebrities in Baltimore and plans to attend a concert film of The Cure. They both express optimism about Baltimore’s future.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Watch the film Baltimorons.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Discuss the upcoming Baltimore Magazine stories on the “5 to 9” nightlife trend and the black arts community renaissance.
• [ ] Connect Nestor Aparicio with the director of Baltimorons.

Baltimore Magazine and Remote Work

• Speaker 1 introduces the show, mentioning the Maryland lottery and upcoming events.
• Max Weiss, editor in chief of Baltimore Magazine, joins the conversation.
• Max discusses the transition to remote work during COVID-19 and her preference for working from home.
• They talk about the pros and cons of remote work, including missing spontaneous office interactions.

Sports and Baltimore Culture

• Speaker 1 and Max discuss their favorite sports teams, including the Orioles and Ravens.
• They share their opinions on recent sports events and the performance of officials.
• The conversation shifts to the impact of COVID-19 on sports attendance and fan behavior.
• Max mentions an upcoming story in Baltimore Magazine about the changing nightlife habits of young people.

Baltimore’s Changing Landscape

• Speaker 1 and Max discuss the changes in Baltimore’s downtown area, including new construction and development.
• They talk about the impact of Ed Hale’s vision for Canton and the transformation of the area over the past 30 years.
• Max shares her impressions of DiPasquale’s Italian deli and its New York-style ambiance.
• They discuss the rise of local businesses and the vibrancy of Baltimore’s neighborhoods.

Baltimore Magazine’s Focus

• Max explains Baltimore Magazine’s mission to celebrate Baltimore and its positive aspects.
• They discuss the magazine’s coverage of local arts, culture, and community events.
• Max mentions an upcoming story about a Renaissance among black artists in Baltimore.
• They talk about the importance of supporting local artists and cultural institutions.

Movies Filmed in Baltimore

• Max shares her excitement about the recent film “Baltimoreans” and its positive portrayal of the city.
• They discuss the decline of film production in Baltimore due to lack of tax incentives and the impact of COVID-19.
• Max mentions her upcoming story about the history of movies filmed in Baltimore in the 1980s and 1990s.
• They reminisce about famous actors and films shot in Baltimore, including “Avalon” and “Die Hard With a Vengeance.”

Personal Stories and Connections

• Speaker 1 shares a story about meeting Danny DeVito and John Wright at an Eddie Murphy concert.
• They discuss other celebrity encounters, including John Travolta and Bruce Willis.
• Max mentions her connection with John Waters and his contributions to Baltimore Magazine.
• They talk about the importance of storytelling and personal connections in Baltimore’s cultural landscape.

Upcoming Events and Concerts

• Speaker 1 mentions attending a Christmas caroling event with legendary pianist Calvin Statham.
• They discuss the appeal of concert films and the experience of watching Depeche Mode and The Cure in theaters.
• Max shares her thoughts on the small, intimate setting of some concert films and the impact on the audience experience.
• They talk about the upcoming release of The Cure’s concert film and the limited availability of tickets.

Baltimore’s Renaissance and Community Support

• Max discusses the Renaissance among black artists in Baltimore and their efforts to support each other.
• They talk about the importance of community and local investment in the arts.
• Max mentions an upcoming story about the impact of COVID-19 on Baltimore’s nightlife and social activities.
• They discuss the resilience of Baltimore’s cultural scene and the ongoing efforts to promote local talent.

Final Thoughts and Future Plans

• Speaker 1 and Max reflect on the positive changes and developments in Baltimore over the past few years.
• They discuss the importance of local journalism and storytelling in celebrating Baltimore’s diverse communities.
• Max shares her excitement about upcoming stories and features in Baltimore Magazine.
• They conclude the conversation with a commitment to continue supporting and promoting Baltimore’s vibrant cultural scene.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Baltimore Magazine, Max Weiss, COVID impact, remote work, Baltimore Renaissance, black artists, film production, Baltimore ons, John Waters, neighborhood bars, concert films, Depeche Mode, The Cure, sports, city development.

SPEAKERS

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Max Weiss, Speaker 1, Nestor J. Aparicio

Nestor J. Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, half in the sunlight, half in the shade, kind of like the moon, kind of like the Dark Side of the Moon, and Pink Floyd. It is all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. Have a raven scratch offs to give away. This is my final batch of these. We will have the candy cane scratch offs next week, so I will smell like peppermint by the time we arrive at Costas and at gertrudes next week, we’re at DiPasquale’s. We are in beautiful Canton. It is a construction zone. It is a panettone zone. It is a Christmas cookie zone. I have one of these pistachio chewy with some coffee here, some Italian coffee. It’s gotten cold. They’ve given me Limoncello. They’re Italian. They’re feeding me. Imagine that Max Weiss is here. She’s the editor in chief of all things B mag, I like ROFO be mag, yeah, we

Max Weiss  00:47

do call it B mag internally. We call the best of Baltimore Bob internally. So now you know all the secrets, and I don’t know about the best of Baltimore having one reason I do like that. You mentioned that there are very few chiefs in the world, other than like a fire chief or a police chief, and then there’s me toiling over a laptop, and I believe in the editor in chief. You know, I don’t exactly know. No, no, no, I was the managing editor. Note, I was a senior at it, senior editor for a long time, and that’s what Ron is, because now a senior editor. I became the editor in chief, I’m gonna say maybe six years ago. All right, okay, and I wear it well,

Nestor J. Aparicio  01:33

I can see this, that this, the covid has been kind to you. You’re better outside the office. Are you saying that?

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Max Weiss  01:39

Well, we do work remotely, yeah, so that we do have a shared workspace, I’m on

Nestor J. Aparicio  01:43

my own. You get it? You get it? I mean, fiercely independent, yeah?

Max Weiss  01:48

Look, I like working from home. I like being with my dog all day. I like not a kitty cat, not having a commute. It is true that you do miss a little bit of that, sort of like spontaneous brainstorming or spontaneous conversation that happens in an office. But I kind of feel like we’ve idealized those a little bit like, in my mind, we were constantly having spontaneous brainstorms back in the day. And the truth is, mostly we were just like, you know, talking about what we watched on TV. So, so yeah, I do like working from from home, and I actually got out of my house to come join Yeah.

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:25

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I mean, every time I interview, deadline, deadline, deadline. And then Cassie came down, and we hung out, and we did our thing, and we were wondering whether the oral is gonna spend money, and you’re like the Oriole queen, you’re mad at the ravens,

Max Weiss  02:36

you’re mad at the officials this week. Yeah, mad at the officials.

Nestor J. Aparicio  02:39

I’m spank you about that little later on. Okay, fine, because we don’t in the journalism space. We we don’t complain about the officials.

Max Weiss  02:47

Well, we did, at least I did.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  02:49

I saw it. I understand you’re trying to be objective. Disking you is all I’m doing.

Max Weiss  02:54

Yeah, I know. But sometimes the officials need to be whacked, and we don’t talk about that. Now, we can talk about it whenever you want, but we are gonna. We are gonna

Nestor J. Aparicio  03:02

talk about getting whacked in an Italian deli ear. They already had baccala on the on the feast of Seven Fishes. He said, You know what bakala is? Is it? Bobby Bach on The Sopranos? Right? Your Sopranos? Girl, right. Course, right, of course. All right. So you’re the movie queen? Yes. I think if you as a baseball person, I want to talk editing. I want to talk holidays and all of that stuff with you. What’s on your mind, like, in a joke, like you just mentioned, working from home. I went to fadeley’s yesterday. Yeah, I had Matt Gallagher on. We’re talking about the city and different things. Mark Messina did my show this week, and this really dates things, because, you know, Mark spent a lot of time back here in the 90s with his brother. Brother, right, right? Mark and I are still very close. Marks the county commissioner on Pennsylvania, and his brother’s still rich, doing nothing, hanging out, coaching ball. And Mark came on and he talked about attendance in baseball as before Lonzo got signed, we’re talking winter meetings. And like, how baseball’s changed and the city of Baltimore and what the new owners are trying to do, and what the payroll can be, and what the upside of actually getting revenue, because it feels like this corporate cash grab to me from the Orioles, and just in a general sense, fans are really pissed about the Birdland thing, like so I get all of that. But the thing that he pointed out, that I thought was really fundamental, that you would appeal to you and me, and he’s a small town guy in Pennsylvania, just comes in and out. He’s like covid downtown buildings. I live downtown. I’ve left downtown and leave it for any specific reason, other than there’s time for me to go. But I wonder what’s in the sky. Because when I’m down on the ground and I go into fayley’s and I drive, and I park my car at 11 and a cold day, and looking around, it just feels like there’s less people downtown. And that’s a Baltimore thing, that’s an American thing, that’s a city thing, that’s a getting back to work thing, and Trump trying to he’s going to be here this weekend. It makes me sick. But for me, with the city and the vibrancy of it, there is something about like you and I getting a little older and being more like I just want to stay home. You know? I want to stay home. It’s not. Because I’m afraid of this or afraid it’s just like, I like being at home, I like my dog, I like my cat, I like my Zoom I like my Lily, like my AI, like my clone, whatever it is. And I think that that is, yeah, covid did that, and I don’t know if it did it to young people, but I know young people aren’t drinking as much or smoking more weed. They’re there. They don’t go out, they don’t dance, they don’t date, they don’t mate, they don’t it’s,

Max Weiss  05:18

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it’s, no, you’re totally right. During covid, we all kind of nested, and we made our homes even more sanctuaries because we were stuck there. So then we sort of created these really safe cocoons of our home, so it makes it harder for us to go out. And it’s funny, you mentioned this because we have a story coming out in a few months. I think it’s the May or the June issue, and it’s called Baltimore, five to nine. Okay, so not nine to five, five to nine. 5pm the 9pm exactly. And the idea is everybody goes to bed at nine o’clock. The idea is that young people are like, don’t do nightlife anymore the way they used to. They do after work activities, you know, whether it be sports or yoga or there’s even, like early dancing Exactly, exactly.

Nestor J. Aparicio  06:07

So, like, those are social activities for

Max Weiss  06:09

young people. So the nightlife is kind of dying, but this kind of, you know, evening Life is thriving. I’m glad you’re teaching me this, so we’re writing about that at the magazine, but yes, no, I think that downtown, not just Baltimore downtown, all downtown, yeah, right, are suffering to an extent, but it is amazing to see all of the construction.

Nestor J. Aparicio  06:32

I’m from here. Yeah, I drove over and I was here six weeks ago, and I pull in and I’m like, Yeah, I mean, there’s crane literally 50 feet from our head, going up and down with construction workers. And I’m like, I don’t recognize it, but I like it, doesn’t it feel like something’s happening? Yeah, because I was with Matt Gallagher yesterday, and you guys did the Renaissance piece a year and a half ago on Baltimore, right? And Matt’s Mr. Baltimore, we’re talking fishes and mussels in Hollands and great restaurants and new places, and not the restaurants that failed, not the things that aren’t working, not the hole in the ground at the mechanic, not what’s going to be the harbor, but what’s really happening. My wife and I drove past port Covington. I’ll never call it by that other name, but I drove by there, and my wife and I, like, looked up two weeks ago, and we’re like, oh my god, what happened there? I remember when I was that was a Walmart that nobody went to, right? You know? And so, and then over here, we’d say, well, what happened to Canton over here? And I know you overheard me talking about Ed Hale, and I’m not endorsing him, but I’m just simply saying the truth. The truth is that Ed Hale told me this was all gonna happen over here 30 years ago, and it took 30 years and you called him a heretic. 30 years ago, would have said it was silly. 20 years ago, 10 years ago, you would have said, well, there’s something happened, because he built that building over there, and then nothing came for a while.

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Max Weiss  07:43

If somebody makes a prediction, and then it comes true 30 years later, does that count? He didn’t

Nestor J. Aparicio  07:50

have a prediction. He had blueprints, all right, he had he had a treat. He had a what do they call those? The physical models, or, yeah, it’s a ma, a model, I guess. But it was a table top of what Canton, and it had, it had cruise ships here, not on the other side, but on this side, right. And he, but it had a vision. And he had a vision for this. He absolutely showed me he what has become the mall where the target and the Harris Teeter, that was his that was his footprint. Yeah, and that, that was the original footprint. But what it did on this side of Boston Street, no Donald, between here, all of this housing and all of these beautiful people in here eating Italian food today, not to mention in all the rest of the restaurants and everything here, you really you don’t have to go back very far. You’re not from here. When you landed here, it did not look like this. And I don’t know that any of this could have been predicted, but I’m telling you, one guy

Max Weiss  08:47

told me it was going to happen. I moved here in 1988 I think I get to close that’s true. This was this, but this, let me say this, DiPasquale’s I have not been here since they moved here. And I walked in and I was like, Whoa, New York. It’s like Italy in New York. I mean, if you have not been in here, you need to, you can shop. You can eat in they have, you know, I’m just, I’m going to explore when we’re done, Nancy comes here for the pizza. I mean, 100% Yeah. So I cannot wait to explore. I mean, the food has always been amazing here, but this is impressive. And I hate to use this phrase, but it doesn’t seem like the kind of thing we see in Baltimore a lot. It does, like you said, New York, it kind of feels more New York. And so, you know, I hate to say it’s not, doesn’t feel Baltimore, but it doesn’t really feel Baltimore, but it’s good. This should be Baltimore, you know.

Nestor J. Aparicio  09:32

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Well, let me tell you what Joe, who owns the place, told me, and if I could grab my bring him over, yeah, because he told me this was a deli that was designed by the developer, and it had a different, I don’t even know the name, but it had a, it was a deli name that didn’t mean anything to anybody. And it went out, and they brought him in and said, You want to bring your family and your business over here, and your family name means something here? Yeah. And he brought here, and you can see how it’s changed his life, his business, just the. Amount of goods they can have here that they couldn’t have it a little grocery at a corner in Highland town. They’re already complaining about the parking because it’s too popular, right? Yeah. Listen Your Baltimore magazine, you have been as Baltimore positive. You’re probably positive before I dreamed up the, you know, the term of it, yeah. Same with jeppy, same with all of the editors who came before you, and managing editors and publishers and people, your magazine is designed to celebrate the city like literally. I mean, there’s some complaints and there’s some things that are wrong, and you’ll nudge and whatever. I’m a little bit more flippant than you are as a as a voice, as a brand, but Baltimore as a rising place or a failing or a flailing place. It really does depend on who you ask, and it depends your experience. And I told this story to Matt Gallagher, and I’ll tell it to you. I was out in the county four weeks ago. Ivan Bates spoke to I don’t want to call it a room full of Republicans. Was plenty Republicans. I’m in Hunt Valley at the college next to Pappas the room there for a morning event that I go to every month. There’s always a speaker. There’s always, you know, Adam Jones has done it. Katie Griggs is doing it a couple weeks from now, but Ivan Bates was there. And Ivan Bates did his whole speech about the mayor and kids and jail and just all of it. He did his stump speech, and then at the end, Republican stands up question, Ivan, what I live in a county? What can I do to help you? And he said, and I’m going to give him a hard time when I have him on but he said, take a chance on the city again. Come back to the city. And I thought the way he said, He’s literally said, take a chance on the city. And that’s what it is to these Fox viewers, right? It’s like, bang, bang. I’m gonna bad things. It’s all this craziness, crazy talk. When I talk to these people, I live into I live into house, and I come down here for just third day in a row. I’m in a city. I live 1.8 miles in a city line. Let’s not talk about it like it’s Gaza, you know. I mean, come on here, you know. So he said, come back to the city. And these people like, yeah, maybe, maybe that would help. And I’m like, that should be as obvious as the nose on your face. That if you live in Cockeysville, if you want to help the city, come and stop bitching about it, put down your sword and turn off Fox 45 and cancel your subscription to what’s going on is that

Max Weiss  12:22

what you thought Ivan Bates was going to say to this man, stop your whining and get to the city. He said it nicely. He said it nicely the way he said the same home back, but he’s got

Nestor J. Aparicio  12:32

great things. DiPasquale’s is here at Faith, these is here, KOCO, but yeah, places are here, and I that’s just there’s happening in Baltimore. So much you have a whole magazine.

Max Weiss  12:43

I have a whole magazine. Well, we do the county as well. But yes, Baltimore City, it’s thriving. You just have to sort of know where to look. You have to want to look. You have to care. It’s incredibly it’s a great city because you can sort of at a grasp on it. If you’re interested in art, you can sort of follow all the museums and all the galleries and really get invested in the arts community, same with the theater, same with the sports. So it’s sort of an accessible city, but there’s all these sort of interesting pockets of things happening. We have another story coming out next month about a sort of Renaissance among black artists in Baltimore, how they have sort of found communities where they work together and support each other and prop themselves up. They’re not waiting for outside investors. They don’t want to move out of Baltimore and go to other cities to achieve great success. Gotta go to New York, if you’re Nars, right, right? That’s what happened with Amy Sherrod, right? And if you have not seen her exhibit at the BMA, it is,

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Nestor J. Aparicio  13:41

I’m at the PMA next Friday, I invited you to Gertrude, but you had a deadline.

Max Weiss  13:45

Well, I do have the deadline. It comes up every month this, this happens every newspaper you know, you know, so. But anyway, Christmas, the Amy sherald exhibit is amazing. So she is a Baltimore artist. She went to Micah, and I think she is the great American artist right now, and she is from Baltimore.

Nestor J. Aparicio  14:07

So not just from Baltimore, when Micah, she’s really school,

Max Weiss  14:13

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right So, but So these, these artists, this, it’s a community of black artists. They’re trying to create that Renaissance. You know, we were talking about the Baltimore Renaissance. And even within the Renaissance, there are pockets of other kinds of Renaissance is happening, and then also next month or next month. So excited about her magazine, I have a story, a cover story, called when it’s called Once Upon a Time in Baltimore, and what it’s about is back when there were all these movies made in Baltimore, you know what? I’ll come back

Nestor J. Aparicio  14:43

You saw my 1080s and 90s. That is that the Renaissance,

Max Weiss  14:46

exactly in the 90s. That’s you’ve got it exactly Major League Two, enemy of the state, the John Waters films, the Barry Levinson films that were here. Avalon. Avalon, I remember he hiding

Nestor J. Aparicio  14:59

over here in can’t. And and in Fells Point chasing girls, whatever I was doing, and I looked at the harbor, and there were just random fireworks going off at one o’clock in the morning on, like a Wednesday night. I think it was leaving Max’s on broad Max. Weiss, Max is no relation. I was at a concert at Max’s on Broadway, covering it for the paper. Yeah, you know. And, yeah. And whenever that movie was made, 687, 88 whenever it was in 89 and I saw Avalon the week after my father died at the senator, and I sat in there alone, and I cried so hard I couldn’t even drive home. Is that what the fireworks were from? The fireworks were Avalon. It was the fireworks scene that he had, but he shot those off at one in the and there was a thing in the paper and on Bal at the time, hey, there’s gonna be random fireworks going off in the middle of the night. Don’t mind them. There it is. You know, there’s Barry’s making a movie. He’s making a film, I suppose. Avalon, I spoke to Barry for I haven’t seen that movie since that night. It’s a beautiful movie. Just Oh yeah, gets me crazy 40 years later thinking about how hard I cried that night.

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Max Weiss  16:00

So anyway, look for that story in the John

Nestor J. Aparicio  16:03

movie came out. I promise you that, because my dad died. Okay, 9091, that. But so, um, there was a thing in the news last week about movies here. And look, all the movies went to Australia and to Vancouver because they were making things cheaper. So come on, talking to you. You You know more about movies than anybody I know. So explain that part of it, because it’s your lane. Well, it’s

Max Weiss  16:24

like a bunch of things that happen. First of all, they don’t make as many movies as they used to write the budgets they had, and they go and a lot of them go straight to streaming. And so this idea of like the studios making films right now, the studios just make these tentpole projects, these Marvel films and these DC comic films, and it’s very rare that we get a film that is, you know, like a big studio film that is not one of these kinds of tent poles. So that’s one thing that happened. But then, as you say, other cities have better incentives for films, tax breaks, and the like other countries are even less expensive. So what little film production there is. It goes overseas. It goes to Canada, it goes to New Zealand, and then in America they stop coming to Baltimore because we don’t give them the tax breaks that say Georgia. Made in Georgia. Remember that? I don’t remember that one. Oh, okay, so made in Georgia. If you watch an you watch enough TV, you will hear that little jingle made in Georgia because they make a ton of television, because they have better incentives. So basically, the money kind of dried up in Baltimore, coupled with, you know, the strike, the writers strike, coupled with covid, a bunch of things that have conspired to keep movie making out of Baltimore. But now maybe there’s a little glimmer. I mean, did you see Baltimore ons?

Nestor J. Aparicio  17:51

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We have not talked about this yet, and it was on my topicality. I should see Baltimore ons or not. I’ve tried to get the fellow who made the movie on the show to the movie. Yeah, I tried. You couldn’t get I haven’t been able to find him. I’ve been able to find the BSO director either.

Max Weiss  18:06

Heyward, okay, well, we’ll talk. So I gotta hook you up.

Nestor J. Aparicio  18:10

I um, who is Keith Urban’s soon to be ex wife. What’s her name? Blonde, Australian, pretty, oh, Nicole Kidman, yeah. She was in my building making a movie 15 years ago she made a movie in Baltimore. Yes, she was in my building. Yeah, I know, because they shut my building and I couldn’t walk in the front door. Al, the doorman was all freaked out about it, but I lived at Harbor court, and I’ve also forget, I forget why we walked out of harbor court one day and ran into Bruce Willis, right? This is the shooting Die Hard With a Vengeance here. I believe it was right. No, no, someone after that. No, he was shooting the,

Max Weiss  18:46

what was the film with Brad Pitt, gosh, like something monkeys. Anyway, whatever

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Nestor J. Aparicio  18:52

it was, I ran into Bruce Willis at the harbor court. You know, my wife also ran into Bill Cosby. Wasn’t that kind people

Max Weiss  18:58

at home are screaming right now because I can’t think of the Nestor. Anyway, no, but this is exactly what my story is about. It’s like, you know, you would go into into Hampton, and you would see Richard Gere and Julia Roberts, or you would at least see the trailers and the names, and there was this kind of excitement and this possibility, and it did kind of dry up, but hopefully it’s coming back and again, it’s the same thing as what I was saying about the black arts community. Sometimes it’s like we have to make it ourselves. We can’t keep relying on outsiders to come in and make the films. We have to build the film community and make the films ourselves. And that’s what we’re seeing more and more doing. And by the way, Baltimoreans was like a, you know, absolute, you know, very inexpensive to make. It was a shoestring budget, just a couple million dollars. A cute film, right? Oh, it’s a lovable film you have to watch, yeah, very lovable. It was it the senator, like, you know, I want to, I want to have an experience. I’m gonna watch it. I’m gonna watch it. No, you’re good. And then, and then I want to have him on the show. Touching is. That they they got a shot of the Key Bridge, and this was two months before work on that. Thank you. This was two months before the Key Bridge, you know, went down. And it’s a film that has a lot of kind of love and nostalgia for Baltimore. So to see the Key Bridge, gonna love it the most. I think you’re gonna really love it. You and strassner, the lead guy, who’s, you know, very charismatic. He sort of has that kind of like, you could see that he would have been like a not ready for primetime player, right? You could see him like hanging out with Bill Murray and John Belushi.

Nestor J. Aparicio  20:32

So I could do some pub with him, as you think 100% Yeah. So what do you think of that

Max Weiss  20:36

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title, Baltimoreans, Dundalk, getting together. Let’s do it. Do you think it’s offensive or no, the title Baltimore? Oh, I’m a Baltimore on, yeah, you’re not.

Nestor J. Aparicio  20:44

You’re adopted to Baltimore. I read I am Max Weiss here. She’s Editor in Chief, with accent on Chief of Baltimore magazine. They got best bars. We’re in the sun, and there’s not a damn thing we could do about it. There’s construction going on. So you mentioned movie people, and I got to tell a story. I love the storytelling. That’s what AI says. I do best in the world.

Max Weiss  21:03

We have to talk about AI man into AI stop.

Nestor J. Aparicio  21:07

You don’t know what you’re talking about. So anyway, I was at an Eddie Murphy concert reviewing it. Okay, the evening sun. Okay. So this was the Eddie Murphy raw tour that that you would remember in the greens, not the first, not delirious, but this was the one where he was a really big star, Madison Square Garden. It’s a, it’s an actual video red leather jacket, correct? That’s right, that exact show was taped. The one you you’re familiar with, Madison Square Garden was taped two nights after he did that act. Here you can look at look at that. There’s like August 8, he was here. August 10, he was in New York, the night he did Baltimore. I was on the scene as the with my notebook, and I had review tickets from Edie Brown, who we love you, Edie, both of us. I might love you more. We’re gonna fist fight. Who loves brown more? How dare you? Yeah, we love Ed. So I’m in the review seats, which are now in the arena, like the first section over in the in the front rows that were the review seats, and I’m sitting there, and Danny DeVito sits down next to me, and we’re in the front row where the floor is, and people are noticing him, you know, because the lights are on and Eddie Murphy’s not on stage yet. It’s probably eight o’clock, but Eddie’s not really going on till 830 or 840 there probably was a warm up act that nobody cared about. And people, you know, yeah, Louie, Louie, he’s shooting

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Speaker 1  22:34

10 men here, right, right.

Nestor J. Aparicio  22:36

So he’s getting harangued. And I saw John Wright. Did you know John? Tall Man looked like James Brolin, who ran the arena for years and years?

Max Weiss  22:43

Well, I’m good friends with his nephew. I believe Travis. Yeah.

Nestor J. Aparicio  22:47

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Jason’s one of my best friends in the world. He runs Live Nation Chicago to this I love you, Jay. I love John. John was running the arena at the time, and John went pro image. She’s the one that did the exploding soccer ball for the blast. Did all of the problems that they ran through and all and all that. John’s just a wonderful man. I love you, John. But John came by and saw me with Louis de Palma and and he and saw that Danny was getting, you know, and he’s a little guy. He didn’t have real with him is, this is 1988 he’s a friggin huge star, and he’s there in the middle of the arena, and John’s like, come with me and Edie. And John took me and Danny DeVito to Edie’s office, which you remember, was in the back of the arena on the left, past the glass doors where the little Hall of Fame was in there, Edie had all of her backstage pass and stuff, and I sat in Edie’s office with John Wright and Danny DeVito for a half an hour to keep him away from people because movie stars were just

Max Weiss  23:48

hanging out. That is, I know that is what I’m saying. Yeah, and everybody has a story like that. You know

Nestor J. Aparicio  23:56

my Steve Hennessy, my first sale. You knew Steve 30 years ago, Steve was my Steve worked out at the DAC. So Steve is working for me. We’re making money. We’re loving life. I think we just got the radio station. You have to give me the year. He goes into the Steam Room at the DAC, and there’s another man in there, and they’re in towels, and it’s steamy like a movie scene. And he starts talking to the guy, yeah, and the guy’s talking to him, he’s like, Yeah, I’m from out of town. I’m in town. I’m making a movie. Oh, really, what’s your name? My name is John, John. John Travolta. Nice to meet you. Oh, my goodness, he met John Travolta in the Steam Room at the DAC. Travolta was in shooting back draft, maybe, right? Ron Howard was interact, yeah. I mean, you’re I’m not a movie guy, but I’m pretty good movie stories. These are people I know, not just randomly, not they stood in line to get an autograph, or whatever. The era of homicide.

Max Weiss  24:54

You hooked me up with Tom Davis, and he’s featured in my I can’t wait to hear about. Did that? You did that? Yes, homicide was in Fells Point. They used to come into the daily grind. I used to hang out there. We had this column in the magazine called The Belzer watch, where we like tracked, where Richard Belzer was around.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  25:13

I was driving down St Paul Street, yeah, past the prime rib. And there was an old beat up hotel on the corner that had an old beat up hotel sign. Okay, it became a little bit of a wayward joint, I think, at one point, but it was being used as an it was a very throwback hotel on the left side, on the corner, I don’t know, Chase one of those streets. It’s on the it’s on the southeast side. If you’re going southbound on St Paul City hotel. It had a, it was a very tawdry looking outside that looked like it was there from the 50s. Yeah, and I’m driving by and I’m at a red light during that era, window down, I’d left the sun. I was nasty Nestor at that. But it’s probably 9697 whatever it was, Homicide. Error, and Belzer. Belzer is out smoking a heater out in front of this hotel in the summer, and I’m at the red light and in the light change, and I’m going southbound toward mercy. And I yelled, we love Richard Bowser. He’s like, Hey, dude, yeah,

Max Weiss  26:22

I love having you that is that’s Belzer in his purest form, right, like, outside in front of a CD hotel chain smoking. I mean, that is the quintessential Belzer sighting moment with Richard Bell. Ah, that’s beautiful.

Nestor J. Aparicio  26:35

Late night talk TV. Max Weis is here. She’s the editor. Steve, So what’s on the covers? And like, Oh, you did best bars here.

Max Weiss  26:40

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This is this month best bars, yeah, and this is like, about neighborhood bars, you know, like Koco’s Last night. Yeah, right. Love Koco’s. But this is, like, basically about, like, how Baltimore really loves its neighborhood bars, and how, you know, because of what you were saying before, about, you know, people have been cocooning in their home. Let’s get them out, and they’re not going out as much royal blue. That’s the place that John Waters hangs. Right? Does he hang out there? He used to hang out at the pub, Charles. Maybe he’s, maybe he’s moved over onto the royal player.

Nestor J. Aparicio  27:09

Met John Waters, but he’s been on my show. You’ve never met, never been in a room with John. He’s He zoomed in with me two years ago, Christmas. Yeah, and he was quick to get on. He knows who I am. Like, whatever. He came on, and I said, I don’t know why. You’ve never been on the show. He’s like you’ve never asked. Wow, let me tell you, I feel awful like I love John.

Max Weiss  27:30

I’ll tell you about John Waters. John Waters, and this, any journalist in town will attest to this. He is the greatest interview you can possibly have, no matter what you need, if you need a pithy, clever sound bite, he will provide it for you. And one thing that I tell my staff is, let’s not take advantage, because, in a way, you kind of want John Waters to weigh in on everything, right? So we could call him for every single story, and he would give us this perfect bomb. Mo, this like absolute perfect sound bite, just the most insightful, clever, witty thing. So we try not to take advantage of it too much. You know, like, it’s kind of like once every few issues, we’re allowed to call him and get and he’s so accessible. He’s just a really generous guy. And like you said, I’m not surprised that he knows you, because he really knows Baltimore. He loves Baltimore. He loves Baltimore. He’s in New York too. He’s in Provincetown. But he really loves his Baltimore. So he loves the PMA. He is the huge I mean, he’s got the bathroom, the the non binary bathroom named in his honor, which is, you know, chef’s kiss. But there might be a story about John coming up in the in the coming months.

Nestor J. Aparicio  28:39

He did my show two years ago, because he was doing his Christmas Special, right? Yeah, he came on my show, and he did 20 minutes on when you go home to your parents for Christmas, can you have sex in their house? I mean, there you go. That’s all you need to know. That’s all. And there you go. And that’s what I want. A king of trash comes on. That’s what I want. The queen of Baltimore magazine. She’s Max wise. Talking movies. Alright? So give me a couple of movies, and then I’ll take a break and I’ll come back. We’re gonna argue

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Max Weiss  29:03

about sports. Nice. Okay, well, I did love the Baltimore ons. And, you know, I loved one battle after another, the Leonardo DiCaprio movie by Paul Thomas Anderson, with budget big that was something nice to see. It was a studio film with a big budget, but it was made by an auteur, Paul Thomas Anderson, and he’s basically like a reluctant revolutionary. He was in love with a woman who was like a serious revolutionary, and he gets sort of wrapped up in it, and then his daughter gets taken and he has to sort of get back in the game, but it’s a black comedy. It almost has a little bit of like that, sort of Coen Brothers feel, just on a bigger scale, where it’s like a very dark comedy. DiCaprio is so good, like, I really think this guy is right now. He’s the De Niro of our generation. He’s just the great actor. So I love him. I loved a. I loved sinners, which came out earlier this year with Michael Jordan about the sort of juke joint that gets haunted by these like zombies, basically. So it’s, it’s sort of a musical history, a history of the black south, and then it’s also a zombie film. So just absolute kicks butt. I loved a film called sent a wide palette Max. I sure do. I really do you. Yeah. And then a film that I really, really loved called sentimental value, which is about this filmmaker who sort of abandoned his daughters to become a famous filmmaker, and he’s estranged from them, and now he wants to come back into their lives and and this is a Norwegian film, but it also has American l Fanning is in it, Stellan Sarsgaard, who I want to thank for producing all the Sarsgaard sons. He’s just a family of tall, strapping, hot sons, and he himself is an amazing actor. I’m not related to them So, and there’s a film that I’m I didn’t really love, but I think is sort of interesting and worth seeing, and I feel like you might like it, which is on Netflix. It’s either Netflix or HBO. Jay Kelly with with George Clooney. Okay, do you know about this film? No, I do not. Okay, so I didn’t love it because it’s about this, like it’s very similar to sentimental value, which I mentioned in my in my review, where it’s like he’s this famous movie star, Allah, George Clooney, maybe a little Tom Cruise thrown in, and he’s reassessing his life because he’s 60 years old, and he feels like he has no meaningful relationships. Everybody thinks they know him, basically, but he doesn’t really know himself, and he’s basically like having an existential crisis. And George Clooney is very good in it. Adam Sandler plays his long suffering manager, who basically is, like, almost the only friend that he has, but he’s on the payroll and it he too, has two daughters that he’s trying to Sandler’s

Nestor J. Aparicio  31:59

in this all right, I might go see this Sandler.

Max Weiss  32:01

It’s, you can watch it on TV, okay? Adam Sandler is a serious, seriously good actor. Like, yes, he can do comedy. What’s High School? My wife, you know, New Hampshire. I did not know that. Yeah. I mean, he can do, like, the really funny, goofy stuff. But when you call upon this guy to, like, act, really act. He’s kind of amazing. You know, punch truck. Love it’s come a long way from Billy Madison. He’s, I mean, and the water boy, and he can still do that, and he likes it, and he

Nestor J. Aparicio  32:31

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likes to still come into stand up conduct, you know, you could do the Hanu.

Max Weiss  32:36

Very funny, yeah, but, but, you know, a lot of great comedians are also great actors. I mean, look at Robin Williams, look at Bill Murray, who, I think

Nestor J. Aparicio  32:45

is, that’s the basis of it, right? Yeah, they, you know. But then once you’re funny, you want to prove that you can do more than that. Eddie Murphy, you know, took it.

Max Weiss  32:51

Eddie Murphy is right, exactly. I mean, it’s interesting because it’s like, I guess laughter and and tears are almost like two sides of the same thing. It’s a matter of, sort of getting in touch with your emotions. And there’s an expressiveness there. So if you

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Nestor J. Aparicio  33:06

don’t feel that, you’re not at a movie, right? In some way, yeah, you go to the movie to escape, to feel whatever that feeling is, like, I’m sobbing in the senator at Avalon, right? Or, you know, like, whatever that emotion is. A lot of people love Hamnet. I’m going to the movie theater tonight, so go ahead, wait. What do you see? Yeah, go. Just keep, keep talking. I’ll tell you what I’m going

Max Weiss  33:25

to see. A lot of people loved Hamnet. A lot of men in particular said that it made them weep. I was left a little cold by it, but you you might want to see it, you know, because it’s probably going to get an Oscar nomination for the film, for sure, for Jesse Buckley, who plays Shakespeare’s wife Agnes, maybe for Paul mescale, who played Shakespeare, anything

Nestor J. Aparicio  33:44

Shakespeare always feels thick to me. Maybe I’m getting older. Maybe it would be more accessible to me as I get older.

Max Weiss  33:49

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Not Shakespeare. It’s here’s what it’s about. It’s about the making of Hamlet, Shakespeare’s son. This is true. Hamnet died, and Hamnet and Hamlet are basically the same name, and so after the death of his son, he writes this play as a kind of catharsis, okay? And so it’s really about his life and the making of this, of this play, but it’s gotten really great reviews, and I went in fully expecting to love it. It’s directed by a woman named Chloe Zhao, who I really love. Didn’t totally love it, okay, but a lot of people have. So I’m not recommending it, but I’m just saying, like, if it seems interesting, you might want to check it

Nestor J. Aparicio  34:33

out. All right? So Well, I’m

Max Weiss  34:34

gonna do seeing

Nestor J. Aparicio  34:36

tonight two things I want to sail off before we get to sports and take a break. I’ve been going to concerts in theaters, so when the time I text you about the talking heads thing, which is still my one of the most mind blowing things I’ve ever done, which was that D box chair that moved with the music of the talking heads and stopped making sense. I went to see the Depeche Mode movie about a month ago. Depeche Mode was a really bizarre concert film. It had this Spanish language subtitling about death and Huerta, and it was just really weird.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  35:17

But I love Depeche Mode. My wife doesn’t love them, but like them. And when they toured two years ago, I had every intention of going to see them five times, and never went because it just I didn’t. I just didn’t make it. But I love Depeche Mode, so I’m like, it was 15 bucks. 20 bucks. It was a White Marsh. I said, Look, we didn’t go to the concert. We don’t have to drive to DC, Philly enough to spend money do all that. It’s 20 bucks. Go sit in the theater. You’ll be in and out an hour and a half. Either love it or you don’t. I don’t I don’t even know what it is. She’s like, well, just get me a ticket. It was 18 bucks or whatever. You bought it a month ahead of time, because there’s a one night, one show. Come if you want to. There were only 50 people in a 300 seat theater that night when I went in. And it was good in a way that like I pulled into White Marsh in my pajamas, like sweatpants, went in, had a concert, walked out, was home in five minutes, and Jen and I are both, like, that was really great. Like, I had a good time. Was like, being at the concert. It was cool. And it was a mini concert, because the pest man was in a three hour set, and this was got done in an hour and 45 minutes, and we got to people, love people, you know, we had our fun, you know, yeah, but you need a bigger audience when my crime, so tonight, yeah, if you look this up and I go my app, the cure, okay, their newest album, at a club in Spain in 4k the dip in they made a film, a pub, a pub, and it’s, it’s the cure, it’s the whole concert. It’s 31 songs. It’s the new album, and they didn’t tour on the album. They just played it for a week and put it away. And they haven’t toured on it. They shot it, and I bought a ticket. And here’s the weird thing, when I went to sign up, it’s an Arundel Mills. Sure.

Max Weiss  36:52

Jen is relieved she’s out of town. I love the cure, so I do too. But yeah, so new album, so are you not gonna know any of the

Nestor J. Aparicio  36:58

song? I’m just going to vibe, right?

Max Weiss  37:03

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So, Robert Smith, by the way, looking a little rough. I love Robert. So do I genius? Absolutely love one of the great look. I love the Smiths. Morrissey has turned into a real jerk. He’s an idiot. Yeah, it’s very frustrating, because I I love the cure, but I love the Smith

Nestor J. Aparicio  37:21

Morris ticket, you know, if he’s gonna show up in for our Gen X, but

Max Weiss  37:25

I’m just saying Robert Smith. What the reason I’m saying he looks rough is because he’s still wearing that sort of Goth makeup and dyeing his hair black, and, you know, he’s got to be 65 and it’s just, it doesn’t, it doesn’t look good, like he needs to find a way to sort of still look cool without imitating the look that he was. Robert Smith, he’s cool with whatever he can do it everyone. I think, you know, I thought kiss was cool too. They showed up the White House last week. Now don’t like him anymore. So for me with this, this cure thing tonight, when I went to buy the tickets, it looked like the theater was like five rows. And I don’t know, I don’t that’s really weird. Looks like there’s only 100 tickets for this thing. So I feel like I’m going to a boutique theater. Is that possible? Yeah, there’s some small, smaller theaters at a runtime. You do a lot more artsy kind of movies that would be in a

Nestor J. Aparicio  38:14

smaller well, but those

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Max Weiss  38:16

are usually at the Charles theater, and there are some small screening rooms. They call them. In the Charles theater, there might be some screening rooms that are running.

Nestor J. Aparicio  38:23

I heard they have one at the senator that’s smaller. Yeah. I didn’t even know that such a thing existed, yeah. So I’m seeing the cure movie tonight in a really small I don’t know why. It just looks like there’s gonna be 80 people,

Max Weiss  38:33

but see, here’s my thing. I’m all for seeing a concert film. I mean, there’s some amazing concert films, but don’t you want, like, a big audience so you can sort of replicate the energy loud enough in there

Nestor J. Aparicio  38:47

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feels immersive, right? Like the stones would always do the thing at the max. They’re doing that this week again. They brought that back effort so I can go to white Mars tonight, see for 20 bucks. Yeah? And I’m thinking, I want to do it, but I want to be in there when it’s like, yeah.

Max Weiss  39:00

I mean, yeah, it’s a small little, you know, screening room doesn’t seem the right vibe. Yeah, that’s why I was weird at by the house. Maybe you’re sort of duplicating an intimate club. Like the an intimate club experience was the

Nestor J. Aparicio  39:13

cookies here. We’re DiPasquale’s Max Weiser, yeah, I’m having cookies tonight with my 89 year olds. Those are, yeah, they’re gonna be, I love, I love a pin y’all are gonna be pinio in my belly. Yeah, I’m having Christmas caroling up with Calvin Statham, legendary pianist from the state of singers. He was my middle school music teacher. Taught half of Pikesville and all of Dundalk, 57 years Baltimore county educator as a music he’s doing Christmas caroling Koco and cookies tonight. He’s 89 at the church down at Sparrows Point. So I’m doing that. I’m doing a cure tonight. I want to talk to you about Tom Davis before we break and do a little sports. Yeah, because Tom and I share a relationship with Leonard Raskin. I was at an event about four weeks ago, Leonard’s birthday, he has an event. Tom’s there every year you would put a thing up about and justice for. All correct might be, it’s a top five favorite movie of mine. Wow. All right, okay, Fast Times at Ridgemont highs in the top five. Love that movie, of course. The thing is,

Max Weiss  40:09

you haven’t seen a movie since the year 2000 right? All your references 20th century. But yes, well, Fast Times at Ridgemont High is great. And Justice For All, very good movie.

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Nestor J. Aparicio  40:23

So, and justice for all was shot in Baltimore before the movie thing kind of happened. It was like,

Max Weiss  40:27

sort of it kicked it off, or late 7070 7979 Yeah, okay.

Nestor J. Aparicio  40:32

If you have not seen and justice for all, you should. I mean, it’s just especially given where we are in the state of America right now, you’re out of order. You’re all out like Pacino Jack Ward

Max Weiss  40:46

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giving the full Pacino. Did you see Tom Davis in the film?

Nestor J. Aparicio  40:50

Tom Davis is smiling in a courtroom. Very cherubic.

Max Weiss  40:54

No, no. He said he was at a party scene. He said it’s a part.

Nestor J. Aparicio  40:57

It was a party. Okay? So you were looking for anybody associated with and justice for all. Yeah. My late friend Frank Slivka, whose son, Joe owned the barn, was was a bailiff in it. He was so Okay, so I he passed away. Okay, so I am my neighbor. Mr. Frank bolt was a cop in it as an extra. He was in it on a stairwell. He passed a man walking up, and it was Mr. Frank, and he’s my neighbor, so they’re dead. So you’re like, find me somebody who knows anything about and justice for all. And I, because I love you, I text you right away. I’m like, you know Tom Davis was in it. You’re like, my Tom day, our Tom Davis. I’m like, that Tom Davis. So he was trying to tell me the story that night when I ran into him, and I didn’t want him to tell me. I’m like, No, no no. Tell Max. Yeah, tell Max. Tell max. And I gave him your number, and you his number. So I don’t, I don’t even know what happened

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Max Weiss  41:53

January issue of Baltimore magazine. You will find out. I’m gonna take a break.

Nestor J. Aparicio  41:56

We’ll come back. I’m gonna learn about Tom Davis. Max is here. She is the editor in chief of Baltimore magazine. We’re gonna come back, and when we come back, we’re gonna do food and Sports. Is that okay? Love it. Can we do that always? We’re deepestqualities. It’s all brought to you by friends at Maryland lottery and GBMC, who helped saved my life two weeks ago. I’m very appreciative. If you’re a male or female and you need to get something checked, if you need to get boobies, you need colonoscopy, you need the number. If you haven’t been to a doctor, please, please, please do this because I had pre cancerous polyps and I didn’t know it, and, like, two weeks ago, and it’s like, so it’s a public service announcement. Good. All right. People are coming up to all sorts of dudes. You come up be like, you scared me into going. I’m like, good. GBMC, thank you our friends at the Maryland lottery. I’m scared for the Ravens right now. Back for more. We’re on the Maryland crab cake tour. Stay with us.