The Signal

Jen Michalski’s sweeping new novel, The Tide King, takes readers from 19th Century Poland through World War II Europe and, from there, across the US.  It’s a tale infused with magical realism:  Stanley Polensky and Calvin Johnson are fellow American soldiers during the war. One will end up near death.  The other will save his life by feeding him a mystical herb.  The soldiers will part ways.  The war will end.  And years later, stateside, one will need to find the other to get answers to a desperate question.  Author Jenn Michalski reads a passage from the book, when the two soldiers are on the march in Italy.

Think your workplace is stressful?  It might be worth remembering that it could be much worse.  Fells Point Corner Theatre is about to open its production of “Glengarry Glen Ross,” David Mamet’s scalding American drama that pits an office full of foul-mouthed, cutthroat real estate salesmen against each other, and things go from tense to cataclysmic.  Producer Aaron Henkin dropped in at a rehearsal, and he brings us a preview.

What if predicting the flu was as common as forecasting the weather? That’s the concept behind Sickweather, a Baltimore start-up that mines public data from Facebook and Twitter for key words and phrases about symptoms of sickness. The Signal’s Lisa Morgan interviews Sickweather’s Graham Dodge.

As David Mamet’s “Glengarry Glen Ross” gets set to open at Fells Point Corner Theatre, we drop in at a rehearsal to meet the cast of scheming, swearing sales sharks who aim, at all costs, to “always be closing.”

Mick Kipp, AKA Mick the Pirate, was a beloved bartender, an unlikely hot sauce entrepreneur, a former stuntman, and a bona fide Baltimore personality.  He passed away this week, and we remember him with a listen back to his 2007 story from The Stoop.

What if predicting the flu was as common as forecasting the weather? We talk to one of the creators of “Sickweather,” a new local start-up that uses social media to predict illnesses around the nation and in our own neighborhoods. 

Plus:  Meaningful words borne of a senseless tragedy.  After the 2010 murder of Stephen Pitcairn, Shirley Brewer wrote a poem and sent it to the victim’s mother.  That gesture has blossomed into a book of poetry, “After Words,” and Brewer joins us to share from its pages.