Curtain

O nly in hindsight did it strike anyone as odd: Carrie John never seemed to invite friends and neighbors into her Ridgely's Delight rowhouse. Instead, she would meet friends out, or people would watch from the corner to make sure she got in after a night at the bar. "None of us ever went inside," said a friend, Julie Della-Maria. The reason might have been the "huge gardens" of marijuana and assorted pills that police found on the day John, a 29-year-old drug abuse researcher, died after injecting what she thought was a narcotic.

From the moment you get engaged, immediately after showering you with excitement and congratulations, everyone wants to know where and when the wedding will be. The dust hasn't even settled in your brain but you quickly realize that this wedding isn't going to plan itself. Before you can even consider the pretty little details, you must settle on a date. And you certainly can't set a date until you know where this massive event is going to take place. Fortunately, being as familiar with our fair city as we are, my fiancé I had a pretty short list of potential wedding venues.

UPDATE (3/15): Video Americain tell Insider that the sale originally planned for tomorrow (3/16) has been postponed until further notice. They're hoping to sell the collection as a whole instead of piecemeal. -- JR Everyone's favorite quirky Baltimore video chain will soon shrink by half. The Charles Village outlet of Video Americain is closing. Monday will be the last day the shop will be open for rentals. It will then close for a few days and when it re-opens on Friday, March 16, people will have a chance to get their hands on all of the store's merchandise.

UPDATE (3/15): Video Americain tell Insider that the sale originally planned for tomorrow (3/16) has been postponed until further notice. They're hoping to sell the collection as a whole instead of piecemeal. -- JR Everyone's favorite quirky Baltimore video chain will soon shrink by half. The Charles Village outlet of Video Americain is closing. Monday will be the last day the shop will be open for rentals. It will then close for a few days and when it re-opens on Friday, March 16, people will have a chance to get their hands on all of the store's merchandise.

Q: I have a large family, and someone always seems to be opening the refrigerator. I imagine it wastes a lot of electricity. What can I do to cut the cost?A: A refrigerator, especially a large older one, is one of the primary electricity consumers in your home. It can easily add more than $100 to your annual electric bills. Fortunately, there are many no- and low-cost methods to significantly cut its operating costs.For about $20, you can install an energy-saving clear refrigerator curtain across the door opening.

The condition of Ben McDonald's right elbow was the Orioles' main concern coming into last night's game against Kansas City.Coming out of it, the Orioles might have considered icing Rafael Palmeiro's left elbow. At the rate he has been making curtain calls, he is bound to develop a sore arm tipping his cap.Backed by the power hitting of Palmeiro and Harold Baines, McDonald pitched into the seventh and earned the win as the Orioles completed a two-game sweep of the Royals, 4-2, in front of 44,778 human loudspeakers at Camden Yards.

R/C's Eastpoint Movies 10 is lifting the curtain on the first of its 10 screens today with the thriller "Crimson Tide," starring Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman.The movie complex, touted as the largest in Maryland with 52,000 square feet, will open two additional screens on Friday and six more staggered through June 7, the official grand opening. The 10th -- and largest screen -- will open in August with step-graded stadium seating."As far as being the largest theater in the state, if you don't have people buying seats, it doesn't mean anything," said J. Wayne Anderson, chief operating officer of Reisterstown-based R/C Theatres Management Corp.

If some members of No. 15 Long Reach did indeed look past unranked Hammond yesterday, as some may argue, they missed a pretty impressive performance by Golden Bears fullback Randy Curtain.Curtain slashed, bulled and lunged his way to 131 yards and a touchdown on 23 carries as visiting Hammond shocked the Lightning, 21-7, on "Senior Day.""We've had some hard losses this year but we still think we're a pretty good football team," said Bears coach Joe Russo, whose team must now get set to face Wilde Lake (7-0)

For all the wondrous places television has taken us over the years, one of the few places it doesn't let us visit is within its own halls.Why? Who knows? Maybe the fear in letting us peek is that if viewers see just how and why things get done behind the camera, they'll come away looking at the business the same way Dorothy came to see the Wizard of Oz once the curtain flew open: a lot of smoke and flash, but no substance.The latest installment of HBO's now monthly "Real Sports" magazine, premiering Monday at 10: 30 p.m., with re-airs next Thursday at 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., pulls open the curtain on one of the best television brawls going, the fight between Fox and ESPN for cable sports television supremacy.

WASHINGTON - A federal auto safety agency will propose new requirements today to give drivers and passengers more protection against devastating head injuries in side-impact crashes, government and industry officials said. The regulations would, in effect, require automakers to phase in side curtain air bags as standard equipment in new vehicles by mandating tougher crash tests and new injury limits for test dummies, industry and safety groups said. The new safety measures would save 700 to 1,000 lives a year when fully phased in, according to an analysis by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is proposing the changes.

This time of year, cast members and organizers of the September Song community theater group are usually bustling about, getting ready for the opening of the troupe's annual musical theater production. This year, that familiar cast of characters is bustling again. But this time, they're working on a one-night only fundraising performance aimed at keeping the lights from being dimmed on Carroll County's own touch of Broadway. "There's No Business Like Show Business," a musical revue highlighting songs from past September Song productions and popular Broadway shows, will be presented on Saturday, Sept.

Erin McMunn and Cody Harman both attended Westminster East Middle School. When it came time for high school, their paths diverged — McMunn went to Winters Mill and Harman headed for Westminster. Yet, as high school seniors, they essentially ended up in the same place: Both student-athletes led their respective schools to state championships. McMunn added a critical leadership element to a young Winters Mill girls lacrosse team that wasn't expected to contend for another state title — but did. Harman's all-around offensive excellence and solid handling of the county's best pitching staff enabled Westminster's baseball team to complete an undefeated, championship season.

Happy days are here again. The new slots facility on the highway will provide jobs for all, money for the children, and a chicken in every oven. Don't worry; be happy. And pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. Jim Tabeling, Baltimore

O nly in hindsight did it strike anyone as odd: Carrie John never seemed to invite friends and neighbors into her Ridgely's Delight rowhouse. Instead, she would meet friends out, or people would watch from the corner to make sure she got in after a night at the bar. "None of us ever went inside," said a friend, Julie Della-Maria. The reason might have been the "huge gardens" of marijuana and assorted pills that police found on the day John, a 29-year-old drug abuse researcher, died after injecting what she thought was a narcotic.

It's curtains for Mount Washington Elementary School. Also for Lombard Middle School, the Johns Hopkins University and the Bethesda Naval Hospital. Really. In the case of Mount Washington Elementary, the draperies in question are new, permanently flame-retardant and the most gorgeous shade of royal blue. They adorn a heavily used stage where pupils perform plays and concerts before captive parents, and where community groups gather. These curtains - along with sets for the other institutions mentioned above - were recently or soon will be handmade and personally installed by Baron Stage Curtains/Karma Corp.

A former Baltimore Police Department official who is being blamed for the dismissal of at least 50 police misconduct cases hit back Friday, saying all of her decisions were closely monitored by top police leaders and promising to outline "incredibly horrendous acts of crime and malfeasance" within the department. In a statement released through her attorney, Warren A. Brown, JoAnn C. Woodson-Branche said she is "prepared to pull back the curtain on the cesspool that exists within the Police Department's disciplinary oversight unit."

NEW YORK -- Even before the curtain rises, it's obvious that Broadway audiences won't be seeing the same "Triumph of Love" enjoyed by Baltimore at Center Stage last year.For one thing, the curtain itself is an addition. It's hilariously huge, spilling onto the stage floor and threatening to spill into the laps of front-row patrons. Like the complex 18th-century Marivaux comedy upon which this musical is based, the curtain gives you a lot of material to contemplate.Moving uptown in more ways than just the transfer from Baltimore to the Big Apple, this glitzier "Triumph" is a comfortable fit in the Royale Theatre, whose plush red upholstery and gilded decor make the French comedy seem at home.

Model Heidi Klum (above) opens the curtain on another season of last year's surprise hit Project Runway (10 p.m.-11 p.m., Bravo).

Instead of "bravo," the final sendoff for the Baltimore Opera Company will be an auctioneer shouting "sold." The giant Sphinx-head that once stared down on the glittery Triumphal March in Aida, the carefully detailed cathedral where Tosca sang a love duet with her painter boyfriend, the scaffold that awaited Mary, Queen of Scots - all sit wrapped up in a warehouse. They, along with hundreds of vivid costumes, props and other remnants of the company, will soon go to the highest bidder. It's a far-from-grand finale for one of the city's oldest cultural treasures.

The Senator Theatre stopped selling tickets Sunday night, as owner Tom Kiefaber unexpectedly closed the financially troubled movie house. Kiefaber said a plan to preserve the building's interior, however well-intentioned, contributed to his decision to stop showing first-run films. The proposal, by the city's Commission for Historic and Architectural Preservation, would severely restrict any structural changes that could be made to the Senator's interior. In the long term, Kiefaber said yesterday, that would affect the building's value by limiting a prospective buyer's options.