Out Of The Blocks

We take the show to Charleston West Virginia’s West Side neighborhood to visit a family barbecue joint, a country music jamboree, a faith-based after-school program, a women’s drug recovery house, and a bustling Goodwill headquarters. Plus, conversations with an activist preacher, a vacant-home rehabber, an open-eared neighborhood planner, and a retired theater technician who’s projected more than 50 years of movie history. Special thanks this episode to Maryland State Folklorist Emily Hilliard, The West Virginia Folklife Program at the West Virginia Humanities Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Every scar comes with a story. And if you’re telling the story, it means you survived whatever gave you that scar.In this episode, stories about things that left a mark.

Tales of camaraderie, mentorship, second chances, prosperity, and style, from barbershops in Baltimore and beyond.  Have a seat, grab a newspaper, and make yourself comfortable… the next available barber will take you shortly.

A game hunter consults his conscience, a Native Rights advocate remembers being separated from her heritage, a local chef plays host to TV personality Gordon Ramsay, a widow remembers her late husband’s grace and humor, a Native Youth Olympics coach connects kids to culture through athletics, plus an artist, a musician, a cross-country bicyclist, two roller-derby girls, and a family in a half-built cabin on an island in the wilderness Special thanks this episode to Juneau field producer MK MacNaughton and the National Endowment for the Arts.

A visit with a Chilkat Ravenstail weaver, a rain-forest hike in search of Devil’s Club, the tale of a rudely awakened Black Bear, an afternoon with a fishing boat captain, a mountain jog with a champion ultra-runner, hair and make-up tips with a renowned drag queen, a sound-check at the home-studio of a Juneau-based hip hop musician, and a window into the life of a local poet and her 10-year-old son. Special thanks this episode to Juneau field producer MK MacNaughton and the National Endowment for the Arts.

A therapist plumbs his own psychology by creating artistic collages, a Central American kitchen staff cooks the menu at a Peruvian chicken restaurant, a general store sells everything from microwaves to original artwork, a neighborhood handyman makes his living out of a Radio Flyer wagon, a marketing firm gets caffeinated, and high school sweethearts get married, open up a wine shop, and stay in love.

In this episode: The perfectly nice lady behind one of the most menacing overdubs in television history, the tireless purveyor of Baltimore’s most famous pizza, two barbers who’ve paid their dues to learn their trade, the operators of a make-it-from-scratch ice cream shop, and a tenacious entrepreneur for whom failure is not an option.

Stories from a Dominican barbershop, a tattoo parlor, a lawyer’s office, a coffee counter, and a collaborative arts hub, all neighbors in the melting pot that is Eastern Avenue in Baltimore’s Highlandtown neighborhood. 

We visit Baltimore Clayworks, where artist Sam Wallace teaches a pottery technique he learned as a kid in Jamaica. We talk with the crew at The Mount Washington Tavern about romance, oyster shucking, and a major fire that put the place out of business for a year. And we drop in at The Village Vet, where the staff cares for ailing animals and the worried humans that come along with them.

This North Baltimore neighborhood is just inside the city line, but it’s got the cloistered feel of an affluent suburban hamlet. High-end consignment boutiques, beauty salons, and restaurants bring well-heeled locals to Sulgrave Avenue in Mount Washington Village, a quiet world away from the traffic and sirens of downtown.

Our listening tour of West Oakland’s Lower Bottoms continues as we meet the volunteers at a local food pantry, a street ball legend known as ‘the greatest player never to make the NBA,’ a transplant from Compton who’s become a wilderness survival instructor, a former Tesla engineer who’s developing an affordable co-housing living space, a US Army veteran determined to help others get their military benefits, and a pastor who relies on the power of prayer to effect social change. Special thanks this episode to field producer Ariana Proehl, KQED, and The National Endowment for the Arts.

West Oakland’s Lower Bottoms neighborhood is home to the historical headquarters of the Black Panther party. It’s also one train stop away from San Francisco, and escalating real-estate prices are quickly changing the character of the neighborhood.  This episode, we meet locals who find themselves living at the intersection of heritage and gentrification. Special thanks this episode to field producer Ariana Proehl, KQED, and The National Endowment for the Arts.

One of the great bonuses of documenting Baltimore is that we happen across lots of incredible kitchens. This episode is our love letter to all the hard-working cooks behind the pots and pans and fryers and grills in those kitchens, to the food they make, and to the personality they put into every dish.

An older couple inherits two unexpected sons, an ex-offender regains custody of his daughter, an entrepreneurial mom teaches business smarts to her child, recovering addicts try to stay clean for their kids, and a son takes over for his father at the family restaurant.  

Do you have any privacy when you live on a sailboat with another couple? What happens when you try to raise kids on a motor yacht? How does it test a marriage when you share a small space? What do you sacrifice to live on a boat? What do you gain? And is worth the trade-off? Field producer Melissa Gerr brings us more stories from the eccentric live-aboards of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

From minimalist millennials to well-off retirees, some 300 people live year-round on floating homes in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. Their vessels range from small sailboats to luxury motor yachts, and their offbeat stories are captured beautifully in this episode by Out of the Blocks field producer Melissa Gerr.

Locals call Hollins Market ‘The Gem of Baltimore,’ and while the lines of customers used to wind around the block, more than half the stalls are now empty.  Hollins Market vendors talk about the past and present of Baltimore’s oldest city market. Plus, a hip hop artist remembers working in a horse stable, an astrophysics major survives a natural disaster, and a muralist explores the metaphor of a butterfly’s metamorphosis.

Out of the Blocks teamed up with the education activists at Inspire Citizens to spend a week at Seoul Foreign School, working with students on empathy and active listening. The week culminated in a global youth media conference, when 150 middle & high school kids from international schools in Korea, China, Shanghai, and Abu Dhabi headed out into the streets of Seoul to interview strangers. Check out this special audio postcard, and hear what the students learned about others and about themselves.

In Southwest Baltimore’s Hollins Market neighborhood, a barber survives a shooting and goes back to work the next day; two young artists support each other in life, love, and business; a clothing entrepreneur talks about the power of style; a puppeteer ponders his relationship to his audience; and a CPR instructor recalls the first time she needed to use her life-saving skills.

Neighborhood elders take it upon themselves to step between warring gang members, a mother-daughter duo produces a DIY feature film about gun violence, a restorative justice mediator helps lawbreakers to repair the harm they’ve caused, and a bee-keeper goes from homelessness to running his own business. Plus, conversations with local politicians past and present, an activist science teacher, and a young motivational speaker with an inspiring voice.