Lifestyle

OCEAN CITY — As it turns out, Worcester G.O.L.D. is a model philanthropic group in more ways than one. At last week’s annual fashion show fundraised, the group was honored with a renewal of their status as a non-profit that meets the Standards of Excellence, a set of guidelines established by Maryland Non-Profits, an independent oversight group Amy Coates Madsen, the program director for Standards of Excellence, said that the guidelines were established as a “Model for how the most effective non-profit organizations are run.” The 55 standards cover everything from how board meetings are conducted to how paid employees of a non-profit should be treated to how the accumulation and distribution of funds should be accounted for. In order to be considered for the certification, Worcester G.O.L.D. must submit an application delineating every detail of their operations. The submitted packet is then reviewed by Maryland Non-Profits staff, a peer review committee and ...

BERLIN — There were no shortage of openings at last week’s 2nd Friday Art  and among them were relative newcomers to the scene as well as places that have been participating regularly for years. j.j. Fish this week featured miniaturist Monica Graham. Miniaturist is kind of an odd description but Graham was pressed for a better one. She joked that the usual description “miniature basket maker” wasn’t appropriate because it made it sound as if she was small, but miniaturist isn’t terribly descriptive. Simply put, Graham weaves very, very small baskets. The baskets are collectable both as art in themselves and as pieces of interest for a larger culture of people who furnish dollhouses with handmade items alone. Although she wears glasses, Ghaham doesn’t use them when she weaved. In fact, all the intricate work she does on the various baskets is mostly by hand. If it gets particularly tricky or the medium is not cooperating she may elect ...

OCEAN CITY — The Brown Box Theatre Project has never been afraid to rely on local audience support for new and sometimes challenging topics and they continue to push the dramatic envelope with their newest production “A Feeble Mind” opening at the Captain's Table restaurant next weekend.  On the surface, the play is about a 1950’s-era eugenics proponent, Paul Grant as he struggles to come to grips with the challenges his domestic life poses to his idealism.  Although the play is a work of fiction, the character is based on real-life eugenics proponent Paul Pompano who wrote extensively in popular magazines about how “undesirable” traits, including race and poverty, could be removed from the human population by selective breeding and sterilization. But the deeper question the play explores is how a person — and in this case a family — can be affected when pure, true and absolute belief in a thing is confronted with facts tha...

BERLIN — There was so much to explain, and so many qualifications to the explanations that Rina Thaler moved into stream of consciousness mode discussing her newest show “Israel - Life in the Holy Land”, which opened at the Globe during 2nd Friday Arts Stroll and will remain open throughout the month. She’d recently returned from a trip to Israel and found that the experience was almost too big for art.  The few photos from which she intended to work were likewise too small so she hit upon a middle ground, combining realism with impressionism for a striking show about a varied and complex region. Moreover, Thaler hasn’t worked much with political themes, restricting herself to tamer topics for her shows. The decision to bring a hot-button topic to the fore in her first big Berlin opening weighed on her a bit. In the end, it was an opportunity as well as a chance that she wanted to take. “I wanted to make a statement,” she said. “...

BERLIN — Having his own workspace isn’t exactly a new experience for Don Grafer, the newest artist in the Chamber Studios, but it is a fresh one. In fact, Grafer took several decades off from painting while he and his wife, Sue raised their family. Grafer painted mostly for his own pleasure during the better part of his young adulthood.  Even after his children were born, he would often find a couple hours here and there to work on his art. As they got older, though, the ability to get away just got too rare and Grafer eventually gave up on the endeavor. It just became something he used to do. But upon his retirement, his children go together and gave him a gift certificate for an art supply store. “They said, ‘Go do something, pop,’” Grafer said. So he picked it up again. It came back gradually at first but by the time he was living in Ocean Pines full time he’d gotten his stroke back, as it were, and was a prolific producer.  ...

WEST OCEAN CITY —  When Baillie and the Boys take the stage at the OC Jamboree next week, it will be the beginning of a new era for a group that has been ahead of its time since the 1970s. In the 70s and 80s there was pop, there was rock and there was R&B and bands were jammed into one of those categories. If they could not be, getting a record deal was a difficult proposition. While there was the occasional crossover hit between genres, it was the exception rather than the norm. Each radio station pretty much stuck to the style of music they believed best represented their demographic. New Jersey had been unexpectedly kind to the trio that eventually became Baillie and the Boys because the diversity of radio gave them particular access to the various genres that they might not have gotten elsewhere. “I’m not saying the Beatles weren’t popular in the south,” Michael Bonagura, one of the Boys, said. “They just weren’t as popular as J...

WEST OCEAN CITY — The art galleries along Route 611 have a vision for eventually turning the strip into a gallery district that encourages the opening an success of other galleries but building a culture is sometimes something of a challenge. Punk Rock Fish, the first of the galleries to see the area’s potential and the jumping off point for many local artists has fallen on difficult times.  But such is the community that has built up around owner Matt Dove’s alt-art gallery that artists have devised a fundraiser to help save the gallery and alto to raise awareness about the various art opportunities along the road. To that end, Little Chico has organized an 8x10 show in support of the Punk Rock Fish Gallery to be held at the Six Eleven Salon and Gallery where he is the resident artist. The 8x10 show concept was originated by Chico and hosted at Punk Rock Fish. The idea was to have as many artists are was reasonable — he decided on 50 — bring ou...

SELBYVILLE — The Freeman Stage at Bayside has, over the last half-decade, established itself as one of the premiere venues supporting the performing arts. From concerts to plays to interactive events, each of the last four summers has brought a new, richer dimension to the entertainment opportunities in the region. So as the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation representatives took the podium last week to announce the highlights of the coming season (See Page 10 of the March 22 issue of the Bayside Gazette), they also took the opportunity to bring a little depth to the wider affects the show has had on the area generally. Michelle Freeman, President and Chair of the Joshua M. Freeman Foundation, put the company’s mission in context, citing both the economic and aesthetic benefits continuing to support the Foundation’s activities has on the surrounding community. “[The Arts] are also an economic engine for the local market place,” she said. Arts are the eighth la...

WHALEYVILLE — As part of their weekly Wine-Down Friday event Jack and Kathryn Danko-Lord have been hosting guest bartenders for the better part of the last year. The idea began as a way to raise money and awareness for local charities in the best way the couple new how — drinking wine. Using a word of mouth campaign, they inaugurated “Pour for a Cause” wherein local charities would provide bartenders during a designated Wine-Down Friday and turn the fundraising event into a party. In addition to receiving a portion of the evening’s sales, the bartenders’ tips all go to the designated charity as well. Janilyn Elias and her husband Jeff Fetterman attended such an event last year in support of Leukemia/Lymphoma research efforts and were impressed, not only by the turnout but also by how much fun they had. So when they began to try and discover a way to support a cause in which they believed the winery seemed as if it would be a great fit. Elias and F...

WEST OCEAN CITY — When owner Gina Servant and teacher Kevin Roberts of Around Sound got together with Jennifer Dawicki at the Globe to begin planning a recital for the students, none of the realized how useful a partnership it would become. But after last weekend’s successful performance by the Around Sound students and in anticipation of the next two weekends of music, it appears as if the short term arrangement could turn into a regular gig for all involved. The Globe is well known as the place to hear now and original music in the area. They are a regular venue for both local acts and national and independent indie acts because both the management and the clientele support music that can’t be heard just anywhere. So when the notion of having local students work out their pieces on stage made itself clear, it was no surprise that the Globe was supportive of the notion. Although at the last show, there were a number of independent acts, this week many of the stu...