Baltimore's Key Brewery Celebration of Jimmy Brink

I'm not sure what the gist was for this huge Bunny of Liberty
inside at Key Brewery but it was sweet. 

I don't know why I didn't get a photo of Jimmy Brink, the drummer in lots of bands in the Maryland area that we have loved for years.  We'd lost touch while on the road for several years but now we are firmly linked back into the Baltimore area music scene, reconnected with old friends who are music lovers and musicians.  Jimmy is a former Marine - I know, they say there is no such thing as a former Marine, but you know what I mean.  He's not active duty now.  He has a large extended family, many of which are also musicians.  All really nice folks.  

The day was really hot and the bands set up on a stage in back of Key Brewery in an asphalt parking lot so there was no shade and the parking lot reflected up the heat.  But I'm not complaining.  Not really.  We sat out there all day enjoying the live music as different bands traded out with the common denominator being Jimmy on drums.  He was loving it.  So were we.  

It's so good to be home. 

The only negative thing seems to be the fear mongering going on about Baltimore crime.  We have heard about how bad it is.  It seems to me, and this is not scientific, but it seems to me that a lot of the fear mongering started among white people during and after the Freddie Gray murder in 2015 by Baltimore police. The riots and continued animosity, brought out front and center, seemed to really scare some of our white friends and acquaintances though I do note that none of those complaining of fearing for their lives actually live in the city.  These are the kind of people who are always somewhat fearful of big cities though Baltimore is the somewhat big city we who love it always call a small city of wonderful neighborhoods.  

So on this note, Dave and I looked up the murder rate in Baltimore going back 15 years or so.  It goes up and it goes down and back up again.  It varies.  Again, I'm not a social scientist or a criminologist.  I'm just a lover of Baltimore who lived in the city for almost ten years.  And I remember when we lived there people who didn't live there ranted and raved about the crime.  But we kind of thought that as long as you aren't involved in buying or selling drugs or living on the same street you were pretty much OK.  You do have to be street smart.  You can't go walking around with your head up your ass or in the cloud or on your phone.  And you walk like you have a purpose and the right to be there but without antagonizing or being aggressive.  And you don't leave shit, even loose change, in your car exposed to anyone wanting a few bucks to buy a hit or whatever.   You check the street before you exit your home.  You check the block for people who don't belong.  You look out for each other.  You get involved to make the city a better place.  

Another thing we heard that was disturbing was that the squeegee boys who often stand at the corner of East Lombard and President's street (or in this case, Light Street and Conway) trying to wash windshields for cash and annoying (or scaring) the drivers who get stuck at the light there, was that a squeegee boy shot someone.  The tone of the announcement to us was that the world was caving in and the squeegee boys were taking over the city, taking it away from law abiding white folks. And actually, this story was later relayed to me from Dave.  I didn't hear it first hand or maybe I'd have commented that it had to have been provoked.   So as Dave later relayed the story about this incident, I responded that there had to be more to it.  Sure enough, when we looked it up, a white guy apparently got annoyed and pulled his car over, got out with a baseball bat, and got shot.  Hmmmm.  I'm sorry he got shot.  I'd be sorry to if he'd brained a kid with that bat. But is this a case of a white guy feeling confident enough that he can whip ass on a group of young black kids trying to eke out of few bucks from "the man"?  A baseball bat is a lethal weapon in this case.  Am I right? But a gun trumps the bat.  And oh my gosh, the Supreme Court is OK with people's right to bear arms.  In public.  And they don't seem too worried that young people are getting access to guns and shooting up schools and parades.  Many Americans are OK with not having gun laws to control who gets easy peazy access to guns.  I guess white folks don't like black folks having guns.  Personally, I think this all goes back to our country's original sin: racism.  

Rant over.