Always a Contradiction.

Bernard Livingston recalls, "The Block of the 1930's was a strange contradiction. Top show business talent appeared in traveling road shows...But alongside the theatres which attracted top talent were also the honky tonks which attracted the devotees of bump and grind, the soldiers and sailors seeking diversion...It was a very puritanical era. The Block was the only little island where a man could go and get a glimpse of a nude female body and hear a sexy, smutty joke."

    Earl Arnett. "Burlesque House Box Office Once Served as Home," Baltimore Sun. 16 April 1971.     Pratt VF

Livingston wrote the most comprehensive book on The Block that exists today. He was there in the '30's and his family owned a theatre. The book covers an incredible 18 or so years of his experiences with the dancers, the cops, his family and the kids at school. Papa's Burlesque is out of print and hard to find but Amazon always manages to have at least one used copy for cheap. My copy just happens to be autographed to a 16 year old boy for his birthday from Livingston. I sleep with it under my pillow.

Red Light Culture

Here it is again!! February 10th at 6:30 pm tucked into the Village Learning Place, Sin In Mobtown will be presented LIVE. Hear stories of Baltimore's red light culture as it developed amidst scandal, sex and violence on East Baltimore Street. It's FREE wine and cheese, FREE scandal and mayhem even catch a glimpse of a trained baboon juggling a kitten while balancing on a bouncing ball!!

History rocks!!           Just get there.

Starr Power.

As reported in Esquire July, 1964....

"Blaze tripped to the microphone. Looking down at her exposed breast, she said, "What are you doing out there, you gorgeous thing?" Then she covered herself. "You got to tell them they're pretty," she said; "it makes them grow" . . . Then she flung herself on the couch and quickly stripped down to a transparent bra and black garter pants. She produced a power puff and asked rhetorically, "Who's going to powder my butt?"

Thanks, John Kenrick

See the Sin in Person!

Sin In Mobtown is making an appearance at The Village Learning Place on St. Paul St. in beautiful downtown Baltimore Friday, December 4th @ 6:30pm. The event is BYOB.

The night will involve twisted and hilarious stories that surround the underground world of Baltimore's notorious red-light district, The Block. A camera man will be on site to capture the event and record personal memories of The Block to later be displayed on Sin In Mobtown's blog.

See some titties on a scintillating Power Point presentation, learn the definition of a "scratch house" and drink some beer to the tunes of 1950's erotica. When Sin is in the house Mobtown never knows what to expect...

For more information please email: sininmobtown@gmail.com

Baltimore! I DARE you.

In the 1920's Baltimore had it's own dance. Today Baltimore has its own genre of music. Can they go together? Are Dj Blaqstarr and Rye Rye too advanced for top hats and swingin' gowns.

Sin in Mobtown doesn't think so. Look at these two pieces of Baltimore "hip"-story and put em' together.

"The Baltimore" would have broken the law in Prohibition night clubs up and down The Block. Bourgeois men and women trotted cheek to sweaty cheek with prostitutes and sailors. Baltimore blatantly defied the laws of Prohibition and dancing "The Baltimore" helped them get close to their working girl or slip a hand down the backside of their innocent date's satin flapper gown. The Block was Baltimore's street for underground sin.

Baltimore Club music's fascinating underground history comes 70 years after Prohibition. The musical vibe is fast, staccato and often contains repeated call and response lines to get the crowd hyped to a ferocious peak. Far from the shuffling "Baltimore", the song, "Shake it to the Ground," brings a sweaty, scantily clad crowd of many ages into waves of "stanky legs," "the Spongebob dance," or "walking it out." This musical history comes with a full set of vocabulary and culture to imbibe before successfully making a break into it.

"The Baltimore" and Dj Blaqstarr's song featuring Baltimore break out emcee Rye Rye, both represent periods of fame and fortune in the Baltimore underground entertainment scenes. This unseemly threesome should strip off their sweaty fronts and grab a piece of Baltimore history as one.

Put these videos together, create your own or use them for inspiration to create a new underground music scene. Just Do Something and send it to me for posting!

The Baltimore



Dj Blaqstarr and Rye Rye - "Shake it to the Ground"

Still Underground.

School still has me tied in knots of frustration and useless readings....But I've not forgotten my subterranean roots! My Baltimore research keeps getting better and better thanks to the help of my regular partner in crime and best friend Norah. I can guarantee that some juicy interviews and never before seen pictures are on their way. In fact, I have a talk in the works at a local joint on St. Paul St. I'll post all the details as soon as they're final. You won't want to miss my overview of The Block. It's a comprehensive, multimedia extravaganza filled with stories and rare media on display.

As Baltimore's only Blockologist I am available to speak at weddings, funerals and bar mitzvahs as well as other special events. Contact me via email for more information:  sininmobtown@gmail.com

The best is yet to come so stay underground!

Remembering a Giant..

Today I discovered Lenny Bruce. He is part of my introduction to essential comedians. I've also made it through Richard Pryor and Sam Kinison. Lenny Bruce sent the whole comedy genre in a direction far from the family fresh content of Johnny Carson or Frank Sinatra in the 50's and 60's. He used forbidden words like "Fuck" and "Goddamned" while ranting on stage about the injustice in Vietnam or getting rid of hard drugs with the reintroduction of pot. Bruce made good points to a generation sheltered and unwilling to take the rapid introduction to change. He spent most of his career in litigation, banned from England and Australia and blackballed from leading U.S. clubs. Bruce never agreed to edit his material to save his career. He fought valiantly in courts even as his money dwindled to mere pennies.

Lenny Bruce had exciting beginnings to this not so funny life of comedy. He gained popularity in New York City performing at nightclubs before taking the trip to none other than Baltimore. He performed at The Charles theater, now lost and forgotten. This club was an upscale supper club on Charles St. where couples went in expensive clothes and ate expensive food. The clientel had seen Dean Martin and Jackie Gleason as well as big bands from all over. I only imagine the Lenny Bruce, not yet notorious for his law breaking obsenities, but having performed shows in nothing but shoes and black socks and hanging signs from his penis enter the smokey supper club filled with Baltimore's upper crust. I'm still working out the historical detais, but we can pretty much assume that I would have come across that story by now had it been true.

What is a great claim you can now make is that Lenny hooked up with his wife downtown at the all night Mayflower Cafe. You can rest assured I will have more information regarding this hook up and the cafe in due time. BUT while my husband sighs at my nostalgia I find this whole situation exciting because I strongly believe that Baltimore is a city of understatements. We don't need to bring in the big acts that everyone has covered. Instead the city brings in world famous burlesk stars and Lenny Bruce the obscene comic genius that forever influenced the face of comedy. I've said it before but sometimes it needs reminding, it's the little things that really count so eat it up!

When you watch this Lenny Bruce clip please remember this is him 50 pounds heavier than when he started. This is also after many many years of arrests and litigation. It is still a good example of his style, but his younger stuff is also fascinating!