Key West has Jimmy Buffett, New Jersey boasts Bruce Springsteen, and now, the Eastern Shore has Steve Lowe.

A fixture in the Annapolis, Eastern Shore, D.C., and Baltimore music scenes for over 30 years, Lowe is set to release his sophomore solo album, “Salted Limes,” on Friday, June 5th. This collection of five original songs is deeply infused with the essence of Eastern Shore living – its unhurried pace, inherent calm, and the expansive beauty of the Bay and its surrounding waters.

“Salted Limes” invites listeners on a journey from its opening notes. The first song, “Reach Toward the Sun,” immediately extends an invitation as Lowe sings, “let me take you for a ride.” He then captures the feel of arriving on the Shore: “Down the shore/ cross the eastbound highway/ ‘long the rivers that stretch toward the sound/ past the orchards and old refineries/ wooden churches that reach toward the sun.”

Similarly, “Feels Like Country” – perhaps the catchiest song on the album — captures a peaceful, water-centric existence: “feels like country/ love and harmony/ life on the river/ just taking it as it comes.”  The album also offers moments of poignant reflection. “Life Along the Way” touches on the quiet passage of time with the line, “Years slip by without a sound.” 

“Face Into the Wind,” is a beautiful, heartfelt song of advice from a father to his son, reminiscent of classics like John Lennon’s “Beautiful Boy” or Jason Isbell’s “Outfit.” Lowe encourages, “Face into the wind/ never let your spirit die/ like a hurricane, let it spin/ like an eagle, let it fly.”

The tracks share a rolling, laid-back sound, with lyrics that vividly evoke the best of Shore life.  Lowe’s distinctive voice drives the album; his singing has never sounded stronger. 

“Salted Limes” is not just inspired by the Eastern Shore; it was born here. Lowe collaborated with music producer and musician Mark Gadson at SoundScape Studio in St. Michaels. The album features a lineup of outstanding local talent, including Gerry Devine (lead guitar and accordion), Joyce Gauthier, Meg Murray, Dave Moore (backup vocals), Chris Levey (bass), and Gadson himself (keys and drums), with Lowe on guitar and lead vocals.  To credit Gauthier, Murray, and Moore with “background vocals” sells their role short – their voices are a key piece of the album’s sound.  Devine’s guitar lifts every song and provides the musical heart of “Salted Limes.”

“Salted Limes” can be previewed and purchased at stevelowe.hearnow.com  and will be available on all major music distribution and streaming platforms.

To learn more about Steve Lowe, his music, and upcoming performance dates, visit www.stevelowemusic.com.

Mark Pelavin is a consultant and freelance music journalist living in St. Michaels.  You can find more of his work on his Substack.

Columnist, author, and educator Laura Oliver will take to the Stoltz stage for a public reading from her collected writings. Since she started to write her Sunday column for the Spy Newspapers, Laura has developed an exceptional following of readers, always eager to read her humorous and sometimes heartbreaking musings on life.

As an award-winning developmental book editor and writing coach, Laura has taught writing at the University of Maryland and St. John’s College. She is the recipient of a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award in Fiction, a winner of an Anne Arundel County Arts Council Literary Arts Award, a two-time Glimmer Train Short Fiction finalist, and her work has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

She is also the author of “The Story Within: New Insights and Inspiration for Writers” (Penguin Random House), selected by “Poets and Writers Magazine” as one of the best writing books ever published.

Andrew C. Oliver will join Laura this evening. Andrew left home at the age of 17 to live on his own in New Zealand for the next decade. Many of his stories have been influenced by that experience as he absorbed the country’s unique beauty while working with international organizations, including Villa Maria Wines, North Sails NZ, and The Tauhara Otago Museum in Dunedin, New Zealand.

We asked Laura to share a preview of the evening reading here.

This video is approximately two minutes in length. For tickets, please go here.

Chesapeake Music is thrilled to welcome the illustrious Juilliard String Quartet during the second week of its June Chamber Music Festival.

Founded at The Juilliard School by then-president William Schuman and violin faculty member Robert Mann in 1946, the Juilliard String Quartet has received numerous awards, including four Grammys and membership in the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

From its beginnings, the Quartet has inspired audiences around the world. The ensemble performs riveting classic performances and also embraces the mission of championing new works. The result: each performance is a unique experience, showcasing the interpretation, commitment, and artistry of its four members.

Each year the Juilliard String Quartet continues its decades-old tradition of commissioning and performing world premieres. Recent commissioned premieres have included two works by celebrated German composer Jörg Widmann, inspired by Beethoven string quartets.

This past season, the Quartet went on a repeat tour with violinist Itzhak Perlman and pianists Emanuel Ax and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. It also collaborated with soprano Tony Arnold and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Other season activities included a world premiere of a new work entitled “Birds on the Moon” dedicated to the Quartet’s late former violist Roger Tapping, written by Iraqi-American composer Michelle Barzel Ross. The Quartet has also participated in tours across Europe and the U.S with concerts in London, Berlin, Salzburg, the Ravinia Festival, and New York’s Alice Tully Hall.

A facet of the Quartet’s decades-old legacy is a prolific and celebrated discography, with landmark recordings that continue to be rereleased by Sony Masterworks. The Quartet’s latest album on Sony, featuring works by Beethoven, Bartók, and Dvořák, was released to international acclaim with Strings Magazine calling it “a miracle of contrasting color.” The Quartet’s recordings of the Bartók and Schoenberg Quartets, as well as those of Debussy, Ravel, and Beethoven, have won Grammy Awards. In 2011, the Quartet became the first classical music ensemble to receive a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

At the upcoming Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, the Quartet will play Mendelssohn’s String Quintet No. 1 in A Major and Smetana’s String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor (“From My Life”) on June 12; Widmann’s String Quartet No. 8 (“Study on Beethoven III”) and Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat Major, Op. 130 and 133 on June 13; and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (“Transfigured Night”) on June 14. For some selections, the Quartet will be joined by Chesapeake Music’s co-Artistic Directors—Catherine Cho and Marcy Rosen—and Daniel Phillips.

The Quartet is in residence at The Juilliard School in New York City. Its current members are Areta Zhulla (violin), Ronald Copes (violin), Molly Carr (viola), and Astrid Schween (cello), all of whom are sought-after teachers on the string and chamber music faculties. The Quartet regularly offers classes and open rehearsals while on tour and hosts a five-day internationally recognized Juilliard String Quartet Seminar each May at The Juilliard School.

The members of the Quartet also have a history of supporting marginalized communities. One example is violist Molly Carr, who has been praised for her “intoxicating and ravishing performances.” Carr is Founder and Artistic Director of Project: Music Heals Us, an organization which brings free chamber music and interactive programming to those with limited access to the arts. She has stepped behind prison walls to witness “hardened criminals soften and weep at the sound of Beethoven’s string quartets.” Carr has also visited refugee camps to offer creative spaces for traumatized children to dance, sing, smile, and freely express themselves for the first time in years—an initiative for which she and her Duo partner Anna Petrova have been honored at the United Nations.

Chesapeake Music’s co-Artistic Director Catherine Cho shares, “The Juilliard Quartet is a beloved ensemble worldwide, and we are very grateful to have them share their music-making with us…they are all sincere musicians with a powerful sense of integrity.”

Tickets for the Festival concerts at The Ebenezer Theater in Easton are $70. Chesapeake Music also offers a limited number of free tickets for students, music educators, and Talbot County First Responders, as well as a “buy-one-get-one” option for first-time patrons of Chesapeake Music. Visit ChesapeakeMusic.org for tickets and more information.

Chesapeake Music, a treasured gem for Eastern Shore music lovers, celebrates its 40th anniversary this year with one of the best series of concerts to date—many of which are still to come.

Marcy Rosen, who co-founded Chesapeake Music along with J. Lawrie Bloom and is the current co-Artistic Director, explained that the theme of Reflection and Celebration was inspired by the connection created on the Eastern Shore over the last four decades among the music, artists, and audiences.

J. Lawrie Bloom, Marcy Rosen, and Sahun Sam Hong (left to right) performing at last year’s Festival

When Lawrie’s parents retired to St. Michaels in the late 1980’s, they found the area lacking in classical and chamber music. So, in 1986, Lawrie’s father, Ralph, along with Don Buxton, who would serve as the organization’s founding Executive Director, laid the groundwork for the first festival concert. Marcy had met Lawrie at summer camp and accompanied him at his college graduation recital. After that, Lawrie asked Marcy to join him at the opening Eastern Shore concert. They brought musicians from New York for that concert and almost every year since.

Over the years, the Festival gained notoriety and popularity. The number of artists invited each year has tripled, and the Festival has grown from one to six concerts over two weeks.

Reminiscing over the many wonderful memories Marcy has with Chesapeake Music, she said one of her favorite memories was when she returned to Easton after the pandemic. “Our first rehearsal was a life changing event. The love and respect we all feel for each other, and having not played together for all that time, it made so much sense to be together in Easton, where we have spent so many summers making music together.”

“Thanks to the Prager Family’s generosity, The Ebenezer Theater in the Prager Family Center for the Arts became Chesapeake Music’s performance home in 2021. This fantastic auditorium has focused even more attention on the Festival and has drawn new audience members and given the musicians a sense of belonging and cemented our place in the community,” Marcy proudly stated.

“Every Festival is different,” Marcy noted, “but the musicians’ host families play an enormous role in making our musicians feel comfortable and at home! I have had only three hosts in the 40 years I have been coming to the area, and I am incredibly grateful for the friendships that have formed.”

Marcy Rosen

Chesapeake Music’s educational programming is thriving again under the guidance of Catherine Cho, the other co-Artistic Director of Chesapeake Music. In addition to the Festival, Chesapeake Music now offers a series of Interlude Concerts throughout the year, further enhancing its presence in the community.

Marcy and Catherine both have the opportunity to work with “Rising Stars” in the music world. Catherine explained that “Rising Stars” are young artists who embody a unique voice, a centered and grounded sense of integrity and character, a strong connection to the truth in music, and an urge to communicate.”

When asked what’s in store for the future of the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, Catherine explained that she would “like to broaden the reach of the Festival and draw in audiences from across the entire Eastern Shore and beyond, including an international audience via an online streaming platform.”

When developing the Festival program, Marcy and Catherine strive for a diverse repertoire that reflects many aspects of the human experience and an array of perspectives. “The programs are created with input from our artists,” Marcy explains. “For instance, the Opening Night program began with Robert McDonald, Catherine Cho and me deciding on which Trio we would like to play this summer. It is a long tradition. We chose Brahms Trio No. 2 in C Major—one of the true masterpieces of the repertoire. We also wanted to feature both our new young violist Zhanbo Zheng and festival founder Lawrie Bloom. It was my decision to ask them to play Schumann’s Märchenerzählungen (“Fairy Tales”) for clarinet, viola and piano which also includes our new pianist, Albert Cano Smit.”

This year’s Festival program includes the works of Boccherini, Schumann, Beach, Brahms, Beethoven, Chaminade, Dvorak, Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Farrenc, Smetana, Mozart, Widmann, Bonis, Schoenberg, and Fauré.

Week One artists June 6, 7, and 8, include Catherine Cho, violin and viola; Todd Phillips, violin; Carmit Zori, violin; Zhanbo Zheng, viola; Marcy Rosen, cello; Sterling Elliott, cello; Peggy Pearson, oboe; J. Lawrie Bloom, clarinet; Robert McDonald, piano; and Albert Cano Smit, piano.

Week Two artists June 12, 13, and 14, include Catherine Cho, violin and viola; Daniel Phillips, violin and viola; Marcy Rosen, cello; Tara Helen O’Connor, flute; and Wynona Wang, piano.

Plus, a particularly exciting addition to this year’s program is The Juilliard Quartet, perhaps the most renowned quartet in the world. Its current members are Areta Zhulla, violin; Ronald Copes, violin; Molly Carr, viola; and Astrid Schween, cello.

“I find that The Juilliard Quartet reflects an incredible sense of creative energy in all their endeavors, and I am thrilled that they will share their musicianship with our Eastern Shore audiences,” Catherine explained.

In addition to being co-Artistic Directors of Chesapeake Music, Marcy Rosen is a professor of cello at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College and Catherine Cho is on the faculty of The Juilliard School and serves as Artistic Director of the Starling-DeLay Symposium.

Tickets for the Festival concerts at The Ebenezer Theater in Easton are $70. Chesapeake Music also offers a limited number of free tickets for students, music educators, and Talbot County First Responders, as well as a “buy-one-get-one” option for first-time patrons of Chesapeake Music. Visit ChesapeakeMusic.org for tickets and more information.

CAPTIONS AND CREDITS:

IMAGE 1: Catherine Cho, co-Artistic Director of Chesapeake Music performing at last year’s Festival. Photo by Mark Nelson Photography.

IMAGE 2: Marcy Rosen, co-Artistic Director of Chesapeake Music performing at last year’s Festival. Photo by Mark Nelson Photography.

IMAGE 3: J. Lawrie Bloom, Marcy Rosen, and Sahun Sam Hong (left to right) performing at last year’s Festival. Photo by Cal Jackson Photography.

 Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival Schedule

June 6–14, 2025

June 6 – 7:30 p.m.
Opening Extravaganza!

June 7 – 7:30 p.m.
Hope and Drama

June 8 – 5:00 p.m.
Masters at Work

June 12 – 7:30 p.m.
From My Life

June 13 – 7:30 p.m.
Quartets Old and New

June 14 – 7:30 p.m.
Festival Finale

2 Free and Open Rehearsals: June 4 and June 11 at 10:00 a.m.

(L to R) Dave Hawkins, David Dodd, Sean Schultz

There are lots of great musicians in Talbot County, and plenty of places to hear them play. But until now there has been a real void in the local music scene – there has not been a showcase for original music. I love James Taylor, Dolly Parton, and Chris Stapleton as much as the next guy, but there is something special, sometimes even magical, about hearing songwriters perform songs they have written.

That’s what makes the new Singer/Songwriter Night at Foxy’s Harbor Grille in St. Michaels so welcome. It provides a much-needed opportunity for area musicians to showcase their own songs. 

Singer/Songwriter Night at Foxy’s was the brainchild of David Dodd, who plays with the band Groove Tide and has often played at “Open Mics” in the area. Dodd, whose first love is writing and performing original music, was inspired after playing at a few nights at David Lee’s Original Songwriting Night at the Screaming Goat Yard & Tap in Spring Branch, Texas. He reached out to Foxy’s with the suggestion to do something similar. Dodd serves as the program’s host, and his songs (and guitar playing!) are always a highlight. 

Some of the performers are amateurs, singing their own songs in public for the first time. Others are established artists, already well-known in the area. 

Each of the two nights has had a “featured artist.”  The first week showcased Steve Lowe, who shared a number of songs from his soon-to-be released EP. One highlight was “Feels Like County,” about “life on the river, just taking it as it is.”  Lowe, who often appears with his band (Steve Lowe and Lowe Downs), has a captivating voice and a powerful way of capturing a sense of place – whether that place is his childhood home of Florida (“White Sands/blue skies/everything’s alright/jump right in”) or the Eastern Shore. 

Pete Baker opened the second night, with songs from his four albums as well as a few that are not yet released. Baker is a pro on stage, easily engaging the audience with his crowd-pleasing songs. His style is uncomplicated, in all the best ways, with radio-friendly tunes on the pop side of the spectrum. “Back in the Day,” beautifully captured the feeling of being “blissfully in denial,” as a younger man and of doing everything he could to avoid becoming “one of those who has lost their spark and been beaten down by life.”  Hitting the same theme in another song, Baker sang about the joys of being “happy, poor and free,” and making sure that “I was gong to live before I died.”

In addition to the featured artists, a diverse array of local songwriters, including

• Frank Hogans, whose fingerpicking on the guitar perfectly complimented his stories of love gone wrong (“now we’re on our own, kissing strangers”).
• Oliver Voss (who plays in the area as part of “Oliver and Friends”), who offered a few songs that, he explained, were written that day. This is one of the most exciting aspects of the Singer/Songwriter showcases; inspiring musicians to pen original music. 
• St. Michaels’ favorite Dave Hawkins, who will be the featured artist at the next Singer/Songwriter night (May 19th). 

In addition to serving as host, David Dodd offered some of the best songs of both evenings. A believer in the “write what you know” school, Dodd connected with audience on his songs about traveling to North Carolina and Jamica, about his life on “Gray’s Creek,” and a day spent “Watching the Rain.”

Other performers included Mac Macnamara (of St. Michael’s Junction 33), Suzzane Sanders (“you talk more than any two people I know”), who accompanied herself on the ukulele, and Sean Schultz. Schultz’s “Strange,” a moving song about love and addiction, was a particular highlight

Foxy’s next “Singer/Songwriter” night will be on Monday, May 19, 2025, from 5:00 – 8:00 pm. After a two-week break, it  will return on June 9th, with featured artist Anna Burgess, and continue on Monday nights through the summer.

Mark Pelavin is a consultant and freelance music journalist living in St. Michaels.  You can find more of his work on his Substack.

From June 1-14, Chestertown’s renowned National Music Festival will bring together almost 30 esteemed mentors and 100 promising apprentices, presenting over 30 events, ranging from majestic symphonies to intimate chamber music, pre-concert talks, and master classes, plus dozens of free open rehearsals. Mentors are professional musicians who teach and perform all over the country and the world; apprentices are young professional musicians on the cusp of their careers. Festival musicians come to Chestertown each season from about a dozen countries and 30 US states.

This year’s mentors will include Yoshiaki Horiguchi (bass) and Diana Loomer (percussion), who are both alumni of the Festival, and several mentors who have been with the Festival since its inception in 2011: Dana Goode (violin), Jared Hauser (oboe), Jeff Keesecker (bassoon), Tom Parchman (clarinet), and Jennifer Parker-Harley (flute).

On Friday, June 6, National Music Festival Artistic Director and co-founder Richard Rosenberg conducts the Festival Symphony Orchestra in a program of movie music, starting with Paul Dukas’ The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which was famously used in the Walt Disney movie Fantasia. Violin mentor Emma McGrath, who travels from Hobart, Tasmania for her second season with the National Music Festival, will be the soloist in Korngold’s sumptuous Violin Concerto, which incorporates music from several of his film scores for Errol Flynn “swashbucklers,” including The Prince and the Pauper, Anthony Adverse, and more. The second half of the program features exhilarating music from the Star Wars movies by the legendary John Williams.

Several mentors and two apprentices will be featured as concerto soloists during the Festival. Saxophonist Laura Ramsay, a student at the University of Michigan, was selected through a highly competitive application process to attend the Festival as a saxophone apprentice and will perform on June 7 as the soloist in Jaques Ibert’s jazzy and tuneful 1930s Concertino da Camera.

Also on the June 7 concert is Frank Martin’s Concerto for Seven Wind Instruments. Trumpet apprentice Brandon Hebert of Louisiana has been awarded the opportunity to perform as a soloist alongside mentors Jennifer Parker-Harley (flute), Jared Hauser (oboe), Thomas Parchman (clarinet), Jeffrey Keesecker (bassoon), Michelle Stebleton (horn), and Michael Kris (trombone).

The guest conductor for the June 7 orchestra program will Matthew Kraemer, who serves as Music Director of the Louisiana Philharmonic in New Orleans, as well as the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra.

Concert schedules, tickets, and Festival Passes are available on the Festival’s website, nationalmusic.us.

Highlights of the much-anticipated 13th season include:

• Music from the cinema, including John William’s riveting score from three Star Wars flicks, as well as a short, long-lost 1907 Pathé film about a jilted pig in a tuxedo;
• Monumental symphonic works, including Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Brahms’ Symphony 1, and Hindemith’s Symphonie: Mathis der Maler;
• Concerto performances featuring mentors and apprentices; in addition to those mentioned above, on June 13, mentors Elizabeth Adams (violin), Joseph Gotoff (cello), and Minji Nam (piano) will be the soloists for Beethoven’s lighthearted Triple Concerto on June 13;
• Chamber music by Haydn, Korngold, Milhaud, and Stravinsky (his 1920 “Ragtime”), among others;
• A free Family Concert featuring woodwind instruments and followed by an Instrument Petting Zoo;
• Forest Music, a unique performance art event in collaboration with Adkins Arboretum (tickets available at adkinsarboretum.org).

“Whatever your musical palate, we have events you will love,” said Festival Artistic Director Richard Rosenberg. “In addition to our huge flagship orchestra concerts, try our free ‘Lunchtime Chamber Bites,’ our special Family Concert, or our Market Music in Fountain Park and enjoy!”

Lunchtime Chamber Bites are short, free concerts featuring performances and discussion with the artists. The Family Concert and Market Music concerts are also free, as are several other events. All rehearsals are free and open to the public; families with children are especially welcome at rehearsals! Attending open rehearsals is a wonderful way to introduce young children, (and even their grandparents) to concert music.

Venues for concerts and rehearsals range from local churches to Washington College to the Kent Cultural Alliance’s Raimond Cultural Center, and more. Concert and rehearsal schedules are available on the Festival’s website, nationalmusic.us.

For our talented, competitively selected apprentices, the National Music Festival advances the lives and careers of these promising musicians by providing access to world-class mentors and performance opportunities. Apprentices attend the Festival on scholarship, completely free of charge. The Festival is truly a community effort: Chestertown area residents open their homes as host families for apprentices and mentors, Emmanuel Church in downtown Chestertown provides free lunches for the musicians each weekday, and many local restaurants offer discounts to musicians. A few more host families are still needed; please email info@na’onalmusic.us for more information.

Visit the Festival’s website for the complete 2025 Festival concert schedule and repertoire and to purchase tickets or Festival Passes: nationalmusic.us. A number of concerts are free, as are all rehearsals.

The National Music Festival is supported in part by the Maryland State Arts Council (msac.org), Kent Cultural Alliance (kentculture.org), Mid-Shore Community Foundation (mscf.org), The Peoples Bank (pbkc.com), and by tax-deductible contributions from music lovers. For more information about the Festival, visit the website at nationalmusic.us or contact  (443)480-0221.

Filmmaker, author, artist, and cultural icon John Waters has spent more than five decades daring people to look at what they usually turn away from. Known for cult classics like Pink Flamingos, Polyester, and Hairspray, Waters made a career out of unsettling, challenging, and, ultimately, delighting audiences. On May 9, he brings his latest one-man show, The Naked Truth, to the Avalon Theatre in Easton.

As Waters describes it, the show is part stand-up, part cultural commentary, part confessional — and entirely new. “I rewrite it completely once every year,” he said. “It’s about everything — politics, fashion, movies, music, how to get on your parents’ nerves. All sorts of things.”

This year’s version salutes the “gender guerrilla generation” and the rapidly changing landscape of identity and sexuality. “It’s amazing how things have changed so quickly; it even startles me,” he said. “There is a whole new world out there. At the end of a date, you used to ask for a good night kiss. Now I read the young people strangle each other.”

Even for someone who made a name by pushing boundaries, the pace of social change today can feel dizzying. “There’s a whole new set of rules — and no trigger warnings anymore, because who are you going complain to?” he said.

But Waters made clear that The Naked Truth isn’t about shock for shock’s sake. “It’s easy to shock,” he said. “It’s much harder to surprise people and make them laugh. That’s what I do. All comedy is political. It’s protection. It’s how you fight back. It’s how you position yourself. Even fashion is political.” He added, “I’m not self-righteous. I make fun of the rules I live by.”

For some ticket holders at the Avalon show, there will also be a special stick-around for a post-show opportunity to take a selfie with the star and a “group therapy” session. As Waters explains, the therapy will be precisely what you might expect — and nothing like the real thing. “We have no shame here. We share different things,” he said. “Things they might not have been able to say in a regular Q&A. There are different neuroses and attractions, but they figure if anybody can understand, it’s me. And they’re generally right.”

When asked, Waters admitted he’s never attended real group therapy. “I always thought they’d tell others what I told them,” he said. “At my show’s group therapy, nothing is off limits. We say things you’re not supposed to say.” He added, “I’m the psychiatrist. I’m the defense lawyer. They’re the patients. They’re the filthiest people alive, not me.”

That perspective fits Waters’ lifelong fascination with outsiders — although, he said, even that definition has shifted. “I’m through with being an outsider. I want to be an insider now,” he said. “Everybody wants to be an outsider today. Instead, I want to screw things up from the inside — in a positive way.”

It’s an unexpected, if fitting, turn for someone whose early work was once banned, condemned, and reviled. Today, Waters is celebrated by some institutions that once shunned him. “I’m so respectable, I could puke,” he said. “Who would have ever thought the Academy Award museum would give me a 12-room show? Not to mention all these awards I’m getting — the Writers Guild Award, an editing award. It’s amazing to me.” 

It’s so amazing that Waters said he’s now addicted to receiving awards. “I miss the day when I was condemned by the Catholic Church, and they gave me all the bad reviews that I used in the ads,” he said. “Same movies, but people just take them a different way.”

Through all the shifts in reputation and audience, Waters said the core of his creative life remains the same. “I’ve written all my movies. I write my stand-up shows. I write books. I photograph,” he said. “Basically, though, I’m a writer. So, every day, Monday to Friday, I get up, think up weird things, and write between 8 am and noon. In the afternoon, I sell it. That’s what I do for a living.”

His latest novel, Liarmouth, came out of that same discipline. “I’m always in airports because I tour all the time,” he said. “So I wrote about a woman who steals suitcases. No, I never saw it happen — but it’s easy to do. And if you get caught, you pretend you picked up the wrong one.”

As for new undertakings, Waters says he constantly collects new material, jotting down ideas and observations in what he calls different “cubby holes” for future projects. “I’m never bored. I don’t understand how anybody can be bored. Just go watch people. There’s no reason to be bored. You only get one life. Pay attention.”

That attitude extends to how he stays plugged into contemporary culture. “I have youth spies that tell me new stuff that’s going on,” he said. “I hate people my age who say, ‘It was much better back in the day.’ No — it wasn’t. You’re just an old fart. They’re having just as much fun now. You’ve got to figure out what that fun is.”

Waters speaks about aging with the same defiance he once reserved for battling censors and critics. “Old chickens make good soup,” he said. (I had to remove the comment that followed this, but in true Waters fashion, you can probably guess it wasn’t Hallmark card material.)

Then again, if material ever runs short, Waters joked, there’s always hospice humor.
“Old queens, wrinkle queens — we’re all still telling stories.”

Asked if Baltimore continues to be a muse even though his fame has grown beyond his native home, Waters said. “Baltimore’s still my favorite city. It’s still the coolest city because it’s cheap — you can still have Bohemia there,” he said. “I think I give Baltimore pride. We humanize the city. We make it popular, he said, crediting other Baltimore storytellers, from Barry Levinson to The Wire creators, with continuing to frame the city through the lives of its citizens. “We all made it about the peculiar people,” he said. “That’s why people connect to it.”

With a body of work that has been dissected by critics, celebrated by institutions, and embraced by younger generations, I asked if he ever felt misunderstood. “No,” he said. I’ve been understood right from the beginning,” And as for misgivings, he said there was only one. “The only regret I have is smoking. I haven’t had a cigarette in 8,149 days. I write it down every day.”

This ability to track regrets while continuing to push limits is at the core of who Waters is. Asked if there was anything he turns away from, he didn’t hesitate. “Sure — racism, stupidity, homophobia, transphobia,” he said. “But at the same time, I try to figure out what causes that and make that person laugh so they’ll listen and maybe change their mind.”

For first-timers attending The Naked Truth, Waters offered a simple piece of advice:
“Don’t call the police,” he said. Still, he said most audiences know exactly what they’re getting into. “I do ask, ‘Are you on a first date? Good luck.’ It will either resolve in marriage, or it will be the worst date ever.” For me 45 years ago, it resolved in marriage. Thanks, John.

John Waters brings The Naked Truth to the Avalon Theatre on May 9. Tickets are available at avalonfoundation.org. And for those attending the post-show group therapy passes, bring your camera– and maybe an issue or two.

There is no need to travel far for Places We Inhabit at the Zach Gallery in Easton, MD. The gallery held an artist talk on Saturday, April 26. Gallery Manager Aynsley Schopper had curated an excellent, invitational exhibition in this new white space of the Zach Gallery in Easton, a refreshing new asset to our Eastern Shore community.  

Cid Collins Walker

Schopper had organized a mini-symposium with the four women artists in the exhibition Places We Inhabit. The title of the exhibition was inspired by the artist Elizabeth Casqueiro’s artist’s statement. She is a visual artist who lives in Washington DC and in Easton, who is always fascinated by the complex interplay between nature – frequently referencing her mother’s “overgrown” flower garden in Portugal – and the built environment, and the meanings inherent in this connection.  Her artwork explores, through an expanded definition of painting, the ways in which these two environments intersect, shaping the places we inhabit, the experiences we have within them, and the people we become. 

Elizabeth Casqueiro

Also in the exhibition is Amy Wickersham, born in Chicago. She received her BFA from Denver University and studied painting and drawing at the Spannocchia Foundation in delicious Tuscany. Both the sunlight and warm colors of Italy are certainly noticed in her work. After New York city, she moved full time to Sag Harbor in 2010.  

Cid Collins Walker is not only an excellent visual artist but also the founder, executive producer and director of Black Opal Productions LLC.  In addition to documentary filmmaking, she is an awarded expert in television and film production, creative direction, animation, print design and brand management. She earned a B.A. in painting from Scripps College in Claremont, CA, followed by Whitney Fellowship in New York. She serves as Artistic Director at Chesapeake Film Festival which takes place annually in Easton.

Amy Wickersham, Spring Rumba, dyed silk on canvas, 40” x 40

Erica-Lunn Huberty did not attend the artist talk, but her work can be admired. She uses embroidery to create artwork that is replete with intricate detail, often incorporating textiles, trim, and lace. Her use of diverse materials links her practice to collage, although Huberty considers her work to be more indebted to the Dutch and Flemish Old Masters., music to Dutch art-historical ears.  

With some 15 people attending the prosecco event on a Saturday afternoon, the three artists present shared their work and their inspirations. Amy discussed her dyed-silk two-dimensional “paintings,” Cid described here “risks and joy, representational combined with abstract works and Elizabeth her background as an architect and interactions with nature. The overall theme seemed to be their artwork as “containers for their respective narratives.”  

The exhibition is on view from March 8 – May 10, 2025. See https://www.zachgalleryeaston.com/

Anke Van Wagenberg, PhD, is Senior Curator & Head of International Collaborations at the American Federation of Arts in New York and lives in Talbot County, MD.