Lisa Morgan

For many Charm City locals, there’s a seedy stretch of Baltimore Street that might as well not exist, but this week guest producer Baynard Woods gives us a look at what life really is like for the people who make their living in the city’s red-light district, The Block.

Dan Isaacson, Mathew Olwell, and Kelly Smits join us for a live in-studio performance of traditional Irish music

***THE SIGNAL AIRS FRIDAYS AT 7 PM AND SATURDAYS AT 1 PM***

This week (April 29 & 30, 2011) on The Signal…

• US Navy veteran Jeremy Johnson made the tough decision to come out to his commanding officer after a ten-year military career under the ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy.

• Three local art-makers are each 25 thousand dollars richer, thanks to the 2011 Baker Artist Awards, and we catch up with the newly announced winners – vocal percussionist Shodekeh, experimental musician Audrey Chen, and visual artist Gary Kachadourian.
• The Baltimore-based poetry journal, Smartish Pace, has an uncanny knack for publishing Pulitzer-Prize winning poets, and we talk with Editor Stephen Reichert about how he manages to calculate poetic genius.
• Plus:  A late great Maryland statesman is remembered lovingly by the political cartoonist who made him lo

• We pay a visit to the Maryland Historical Society for a preview of “Divided Voices: Maryland in the Civil War.” The show is the largest exhibition of Civil War artifacts in the society’s 167 year history.
• We visit with the young musicians of “OrchKids,” a group of West Baltimore elementary school students who are learning from the pros at the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra.
• Plus:  From the Stoop storytelling series, documentary filmmaker Richard Chisolm tells what he witnessed when he got assigned to film a family confronting a loved one’s death, and he remembe

• New Logic for Old Saxophones is the title of a new CD from experimental musician John Berndt.  We give it a test spin and talk with John about the reasoning behind his abstract sounds.
• We talk with Madison Smartt Bell about his new novel, The Color of Night.

• We revisit the controversial trademarking of the word “hon,” with William P. Tandy, editor of Smile Hon, You’re in Baltimore.
• Ron Tanner talks about his new illustrated novel, Kiss Me, Stranger. The book tells the story of a dystopian future plagued by civil war and environmental degradation… and believe it or not, it manages to be hopeful, tender, and downright funny.
• We talk to John Heyn, who co-directed the seminal rock-n-roll documentary Heavy Metal Parking Lot.

There’s practice, and then there’s practice…  For much of her childhood, South Indian Carnatic singer K S Resmi woke up every day before dawn to begin singing – and she’d keep singing, until after dark.  Resmi joins us to share her incredible story, and her equally incredible voice.

We hear a Stoop story from Scott Dance, who tells the tale of a house that was his family home for generations, until it was time to close the door for the last time.

Plus:  A profile of singer / songwriter Bob Keal, whose Baltimore indie band, Small Sur, captures big emotions in spa

Ginny Gong was six years old when she came to the US from China with her family in 1954.  She always struggled for balance between her dual roles as an American kid and a Chinese daughter growing up under the roof of her parents’ hand laundry business.  Ginny joins us to share her unique experience as a “one-point-five generation” immigrant.

We visit a sustainable farm in Reisterstown, a place called Kayam Farm, where Jewish agriculturalists are connecting with their ancient roots.

We meet Z. Smith and Anna Fitzgerald, who’ve been sharpening their clowning skills at San Francisco’s renowned Clown Conservatory.  They’ll be performing in “Pepito’s Clowndemonium Revue” at the Creative Alliance.

Comedian Jim Meyer brings us a tale of endurance in the face of absurdity – he recently helped put Maryland in the Guinness Book of World Records for the “longest continuous stand-up comedy show.”