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Every Sunday in this new column, I’ll be running through some arts- and culture-related things throughout the Baltimore/DMV area and, when it makes sense, some broader, non-local topics, too. Plus, every now and then I’ll provide some of my favorite tunes.
This week, Ellicott City-raised indie rockstar Snail Mail announces a festival she’s curating and bringing back home to Baltimore, the old Landmark Theatres in Harbor East are back under a new name and the locally adored New Balance 990 releases its latest edition.
Movie nights in Harbor East are back
March 2020 and the precautions taken around COVID-19 closed a number of beloved businesses across the nation, and Baltimore was no different. One of the bigger blows the city took that year was the shuttering of Harbor East’s Landmark Theatres, the only place in one of Baltimore’s most-trafficked areas to catch a film. The seven-screen theater had been around since 2007 and was a prime date destination in the neighborhood. In March 2021, an announcement was made that the space would be taken over by Flagship Cinemas — a group that operates in Maryland, Maine, New York and Pennsylvania — but a date hadn’t been specified.
But this week the Waterfront Partnership revealed that the theater would be back operating under a new, straightforward name: Harbor East Cinemas. The new theater is completely renovated, with reclining seats throughout and updated concessions. And it’s perfect timing, considering that Marvel’s sequel to “Black Panther” released this weekend.
A Baltimore/DMV favorite shoe gets a new look
For what feels like a point of contention since the beginning of time, there’s been a debate on social media between sneaker lovers from both the Baltimore and Washington, D.C., areas about which side of the Baltimore-Washington Parkway was the first to popularize select New Balance models for the wider urban market. The brand’s 990 series debuted in 1982, and its $100 price point (the first sneaker to do so) attracted young hustlers in the area to wear them as a status symbol of their deep pockets. Forty years later, the brand has achieved global popularity — especially over the past five years due to a slew of forward-thinking collaborations with fashion brands around the world. But the brand still makes sure to show love to the region that helped it gain cool points (even if we still enjoy bickering back and forth).
In 2019, the fifth edition of the 990 was released a month early in the Baltimore/DC region — a sure sign that New Balance is aware of the love they receive here. But in the three years since, the brand has exploded and is making better sneakers than anyone else, without much contest. So when the sixth edition dropped last week on Nov. 4, that same exclusivity wasn’t there, but thanks to local apparel shop DTLR, a release party for the shoe was thrown in Northeast D.C. in which select influencers were gifted pairs a day before they hit shelves.
The 990V6 feels like a clear sign that the model isn’t just a DMV thing anymore. The design is cleaner and sleeker, giving it more worldly appeal. You can get them just about everywhere that sells sneakers. But just a heads-up, be prepared to drop $200.
Snail Mail is returning home for a Valentine’s week festival
The 23-year-old guitarist and singer Lindsey Jordan, better known by the stage name for her project, Snail Mail, has been a rising superstar on the national indie rock circuit since she was a high schooler in Ellicott City. Her songwriting, impressively thorough in its depictions of young love, has propelled her to grace stages all around the world. Her career reached new levels last year with her sophomore album, “Valentine,” in which Jordan sought to detail love from all angles. So it feels appropriate (and pleasantly surprising) that she announced a festival that she’s curating next year called Valentine Fest, which will take place Feb. 10-14 at the Ottobar. It’s a full-circle moment, considering that the Howard Steet venue is the first place she performed under the Snail Mail moniker as a 16-year-old in 2015. It’s also the first time in four years that she’ll perform in Baltimore.
“The idea was to have a new band that we are friends with and admire as the first opener, a legend as the second and then Snail Mail. So the lineup would be the future, the past and the present,” she told Variety. This would be a good time to hop on Ottobar’s limited 2023 season pass, which is only $175.
lawrence.burney@thebaltimorebanner.com
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Lawrence Burney was The Baltimore Banner’s arts & culture reporter. He was formerly a columnist at The Washington Post, senior editor at The FADER, and staff writer at VICE music vertical Noisey.
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