20th Anniversary

Mission: To educate promising and talented artists and designers and to serve as a cultural resource to the community. The institute's artists-in-residence program, public lectures and extensive exhibition schedule are important components of Baltimore's arts landscape. Exhibition spaces include the Decker Gallery, Mount Royal Station; the Meyerhoff Gallery, Fox Building; and the new Pinkard Gallery, Bunting Center. All exhibitions are open to the public free of charge.Latest accomplishment: All major galleries are currently dedicated to "20/XX," an invitational exhibition of works by alumni from the last 20 years, which honors Fred Lazarus' 20th anniversary as president of the Maryland Institute.

Black storytellers from all over the globe are planning an outspoken gathering in Baltimore next week, hoping to keep the telling of tales from becoming a lost art. The National Association of Black Storytellers, which held its first-ever convention here in 1982, chose to return to Baltimore to celebrate its 20th anniversary, in part because its co-founder - 83-year-old Mary Carter Smith, known informally as "Mother Griot"- is a longtime city resident....

* The 20th anniversary of the Watergate break-in has not driven former President Richard Nixon underground. On the day after the All-Star Game, he will unveil his personal list of all-time baseball greats during a fund-raiser at the Richard Nixon Birthplace and Museum in Yorba Linda, Calif. Tickets are $200 and $500.* There have been rumors that the Toronto Blue Jays are trying to make a big play for Angels left-hander Jim Abbott, but don't expect the Angels to break up the nucleus of their starting rotation unless the Jays do something equally dramatic.

Adventure Medical Kits makes a wide variety of first-aid bags for the angler, paddler, cyclist, traveler and boater that include not only items geared to the activity and its accompanying mishap, but also the directions on how to use them. The S.O.L., or Survive Outdoors Longer, pack takes critical items and squeezes them into a snug 5.4-ounce, waterproof drybag. The pack includes a compass, mini-signaling mirror, rescue whistle, waterproof and windproof matches, a survival blanket, a survival fishing kit and duct tape.

WHEN BARRY Hansen moved into a new house in the Los Angeles area about 18 months ago, it took three 18-wheelers to finish the job, which seems excessive even by conspicuously acquisitive California standards. So what, exactly, was being transported?"I'm a mild-mannered record collector who kind of lives with 200,000 records," says Hansen, explaining that the triple trailer load included all his precious 78 rpms, long-play albums, audio tapes, CDs and videocassettes.For the surprisingly subdued voice over the telephone is also unmistakably that of Hansen's airwave alter ego, Dr. Demento.

SUPERUNKNOWNSoundgarden (A&M 31454 0198)Forget those arguments over whether Nirvana or Pearl Jam rules the Seattle rock world. Frankly, no band better typifies the adventurous aggression of that scene better than Soundgarden, and if you need proof, look no further than "Superunknown." Like the band's previous work, this album has more than its share of sonic crunch, from the hypnotic riffage of "Let Me Drown" to the full-throttle roar of "Kickstand." But that's hardly the limit of this band's imagination.

On The Weekend Watch:THE MEMORIES LINGER ON -- Elvis Presley may have died in 1977 (or maybe not, depending on your conspiracy leanings), but this week's nightly Elvis salute on Channel 54 is showing his memory is certainly alive and well. The station says Monday's screening of Presley's 1968 "Comeback Special" generated more than a 50 percent increase in the usual ratings. Still to come are "Aloha From Hawaii," at 8 tonight, an internationally telecast special which may have been seen by a billion people in 1973, and Friday's film, "Fun In Acapulco," from 1963.

It is difficult to fathom that 20 years ago the crown jewel of Major League Baseball opened its gates to the eager crowds of Baltimore. Camden Yards is the gold standard when it comes to baseball stadiums, offering the look and feel of days gone by while providing an up-to-date experience for today's fans. It is equally difficult to fathom that the Baltimore Orioles have been perennial losers for nearly as long. As a lifelong baseball and Orioles fan, I am continually amazed, sickened and depressed by the path the organization has taken.

Augustus F. "Gus" Brown, principal in the law firm of Brown, Brown & Young, P.A., in Bel Air, was a featured professor recently in a combined University of Maryland Carey School of Law and University of Baltimore School of Law third-year law student Litigation Skills Program. This program, a combined full-semester course coordinated by the American College of Trial Lawyers, invites experienced practitioners to address the law students, all under the supervision of faculty advisors, Judge J. Frederick Motz of the U.S. District Court for Maryland and Professor Jerome Deise of the University of Maryland Carey School of Law. With Brown on Jan. 9 were Kathleen Meredith and Paul Mark Sandler, two Baltimore area litigation experts, and the sessions were moderated by James R. Chason of the American College of Trial Lawyers, who complimented Brown by saying this his presentations, "Really got the program off to a great start!"

The folks who brought us Reaganomics are giving a new definition to the term chutzpah -- the Yiddish word for unmitigated effrontery -- as they celebrate the 10th anniversary this week of the economic policy which promised us lower taxes, higher military spending and balanced budgets all in one beautiful package.Among those throwing a big birthday party was the Heritage Foundation, which was a sort of intellectual fountainhead of supply-side economics policies. Judging from news accounts of the bash, however, no one pointed out that the price of the tax cut was a tripling of the national debt, or the point that today 27 cents out of every dollar in revenue taken in by the U.S. government, excluding Social Security taxes, now goes for interest on debt.