Jason Mraz Endorses Maryland Marriage Equality at HoCo's Merriweather Pavilion // Grammy Winner Urges Vote FOR 6

UPDATE: Matt Johnson, our source for the Jason Mraz story below provides further details on the "Vote for 6" endorsement: 

MATT JOHNSON: I was at the Jason Mraz concert this evening at the Merriweather Post Pavillion in Columbia. After Jason finished his set, he left the stage, then as expected, returned for an encore. He started by telling about his manager (I think it was his manager, anyway), a guy named Jerry, who supported him and believed in him even when he [Jason] didn't believe in himself.

Then Jason said that Jerry was gay, and that if they lived in Maryland, they'd be voting YES on SIX. For which he received applause from the crowd.

It was a very uplifting experience. I'm not even a huge Mraz fan. I just went with my boyfriend, who is. I'm glad that people like Mraz are paying attention to Maryland's fight for equality and encouraging Marylanders to support YES on SIX.

A Maryland Juice reader and Assistant Editor of the Greater Greater Washington blog has tweeted us live from a concert at Howard County's Merriweather Post Pavilion to inform us that Jason Mraz has endorsed marriage equality in the Free State:

SUBVERSIVE ART: "Modern Day Warrior" by the JaH-HaHa Collaborative // Annapolis Flashback to Jimmie's Chicken Shack

#OccupyLife

Maryland Juice recently picked up a piece of art at a fundraiser for a jazz project in my neighborhood. The print below is called "Modern Day Warrior" by the JaH-HaHa art collaborative, and it jumped out at me due to the subversive imagery of Guy Fawkes/Anonymous. What I didn't know when I picked up this piece, is that the JaH-HaHa collaborative is based in Annapolis and comprised of artists Jeff Huntington and Jimi Davies (aka Jimi HaHa). Jimi HaHa happens to also be the singer/guitarist from the band Jimmie's Chicken Shack, who I once booked to play a show at Tufts University (where I did my undergrad work).

In any case, check out the print below, along with a quick flash-back to the Chicken Shack:

SUBVERSIVE ART: A Video Preview of Baltimore Rock Opera Society's VALHELLA // PLUS: Charles Village Street Murals

#occupylife

Maryland Juice spent Saturday night checking out 21st century populist art in Baltimore's Charles Village neighborhood. My friend's brother is part of the Baltimore Rock Opera Society (aka BROS), and he invited me to check out their latest production Valhella (dates: 5/13, 5/18, 5/19, 5/20 - Autograph Playhouse, Baltimore - tickets).

Maryland Juice brought a camera to the show, and so I made a short video to give readers a taste of the rock musical (see below). But first, let me provide you a bit of background about BROS, because I think their creativity and entrepreneurial spirit reflect our generation's ethos. Their website states:

Baltimore Rock Opera Society (BROS) is the next evolutionary leap in Baltimore’s musical theatre scene–a highly energetic troupe of actors, writers, musicians, and artists founded in 2007 with the sole mission of producing original, live rock operas in Baltimore....

Essentially plays interspersed with rock songs, Baltimore Rock Opera Society performances maximize production value within a “do-it-yourself” budget. Homemade set pieces and costumes create an awe-inspiring visual context in which actors and musicians tell the story. Each song in a BROS rock opera drives the plot while drawing viewers in through interaction with performers....

 The Baltimore Brew blog had a preview of the show a few weeks ago:

BALTIMORE BREW: On Friday May 11, the Baltimore Rock Opera Society will premier its latest original production, Valhella: The Ragnarokkoperetta, another of the group’s torrid tales of superhuman heroism and suffering. The show is loosely adapted from Norse mythology and executed in pursuit of what composer Richard Wagner, the misty godfather of the BROS’ artistic vision, called gesamtkunstwerk – that mashup of spectacle, ritual, dance, music, theater and other artsy stuff that is opera at its most extreme....

Earlier this week, a few dozen of BROS’ mostly twenty-something cast and crew gathered at the Autograph Playhouse on west North Avenue, a former 285-seat neighborhood movie house transformed by a new stage and lots of red paint on the walls, for what theater professionals call a “stumble through” of Valhella....

While BROS is still in engaged in its own epic struggle for immortality, it has been producing its stupendous productions on the cheap, budgeted at just $10,000 apiece, which is about what they earn in ticket sales.

VALHELLA VIDEO PREVIEW: If you want to see what the Baltimore Rock Opera Society is able to do with $10,000 and a lot of volunteer effort, check out Maryland Juice's Valhella video preview:

On my way to see Valhella, I stumbled upon a series of street murals in Charles Village, including one work in progress. The artist allowed me to photograph him at work (see below):

CHARLES VILLAGE STREET MURALS - BALTIMORE, MD 5/12/2012

MOVIE: Watch "Life in a Day" Online (Free) // Meet Your Neighbors

 #occupylife

Maryland Juice today decided to provide readers with the opportunity to watch a free 90-minute feature film today. The award-winning documentary "Life in a Day" is available to view online below. Note that I paid money to see this in the theaters, so ya'll are getting off easy!

Synopsis: On July 24th, 2010, thousands of people around the world uploaded videos of their day to YouTube to take part in Life in a Day, a historic cinematic experiment to create a documentary film about a single day on earth.

Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald whittled down over 4500 hours of footage into a 90-minute film that wowed audiences at the Sundance Berlin and SXSW Film Festivals earlier this year.

Now, after releasing in theaters around the globe, the film has returned to where it all began. Watch it for free, and be sure to explore the channel to learn more about this amazing piece of cinema history.

Preview the Movie Trailer (full film below)

Full Length Film (Watch FREE Below)

The Truth About Triple-A Bond Ratings, Immigration, Women's Rights & More // EVOLVE: Subversive Art in Germany

UPDATE: Here we go again. Republicans are proposing cutting government workers so that we can prop up defense spending.

Maryland Juice in Dusseldorf, Germany

BACKGROUND: In case you couldn't tell, this week activists on both sides of the marriage equality debate started to throwdown for a showdown on the issue. Sorry for the erratic posting schedule this past week -- Maryland Juice has been lobbing bombs from across the Atlantic Ocean. The conservative bloggers at Red Maryland, for what it's worth, are now trying to make a punching bag out of me for calling out hypocrisy from public figures. Gee thanks.

ANYWAY -- now I'm back in the U.S. of A, and I have a lot to report back from my trip to Germany and the Netherlands -- starting with another meditation on subversive art. My second to last entry on subversive art was a dispatch from Seattle's EMP museum, which was designed by iconic architecht Frank Gehry.

This week, I stumbled upon yet another set of Frank Gehry-designed buildings -- but this time in Dusseldorf, Germany. My visit to Dusseldorf was completely by accident -- but as luck would have it, the experience provided me with multiple new insights about Maryland politics and the DC metro economy that I will share below.

Three new Frank Gehry designed buildings are revitalizing Dusseldorf, Germany

After submersing myself in EU news and policy perspectives again, I have two main points:

1. By looking at the policy contrasts with European economies, it continues to appear that U.S. policymakers have been brainwashed by the Chambers of Commerce, and
2. I continue to believe that subversive art can have a huge role in priming the public consciousness in positive ways.

Subversive Art: 30 Years Later V for Vendetta Fuels Activism // #Occupy and #Anonymous Channel Guy Fawkes

Source: TIME Magazine 12/12/11

Maryland Juice caught an interesting blip of subversive art news in last week's newsstand copy of TIME. The magazine featured the following quote from Alan Moore, author of the iconic, subversive comic book V for Vendetta. He noted the recent appearance of his character "V" in protest imagery (see image at right):

It feels like a character I created 30 years ago has somehow escaped the realm of fiction.

This was preceded by an article on Wired quoting Moore and asking readers the following question:

Some activists 'folded like bitches' last century, according to Alan Moore. Will this century be different?

For those who are unaware, Mr. Moore is British and his V for Vendetta comics were created during the authoritarian era of Margaret Thatcher. As the U.K. newspaper The Telegraph wrote during the release of a 2006 V for Vendetta film:

He began writing V for Vendetta in 1981 to express his alarm at Britain's hard turn towards the Right under Thatcher.

Notably, the film adaptation of the graphic novel was released 25 years later, during the rise of another authoritarian era: the reign of Dick Cheney in the post-9/11 U.S.

Like Moore, I too have noted that the iconic V mask is now being worn by #occupy protestors and used heavily in communications from the global hacktivists who participate in #anonymous. It is worth noting that Moore himself drew inspiration for the V character from the lore of Guy Fawkes, a man who participated in an attempt to blow up the U.K. Parliament in 1605. The Wired article explained some of Moore's ideological underpinnings:

More Subversive Art: 90's Punk Bank Nirvana & FairVote's Board Chair Krist Novoselic

Maryland Juice is currently in Seattle, Washington and decided to check out more subversive art -- but this time it is a flashback to my teenage years. The city's Experience Music Project museum is currently hosting an exhibit titled Nirvana: Taking Punk to the Masses.

Notably, Nirvana's bassist Krist Novoselic is Chairman of the Board at my former employer, Takoma Park-based Fairvote. Before I discuss the Nirvana exhibit, I encourage you to check out this quick video statement from Mr. Novoselic on the motivations for his recent political activism. The video was taped shortly after Barack Obama won the 2008 Presidential Election:




In any case, as a result of my past work with this pioneering musician, I was intrigued to discover the deep political roots of Nirvana, stretching back to the band members' high school years. The exhibit included this high school art piece from the late Kurt Cobain, which appears to depict President Reagan making a fascist salute: