Party

On my second week in Baltimore, I went to my first local underground party. And it got busted by the cops. It was early September, and I had come to the Annex Theater for a party called Burning Mom, named after the tired hippie extravaganza Burning Man. At 2 a.m., the party was my penultimate stop of the night. When I got there, the somewhat dilapidated building was flanked by no less than five police cars, with cops completing reports on the party they had just broken up. Upstairs, the sprawling loft looked as if it'd been devastated by a Sparks-guzzling Tasmanian devil.

Family and friends celebrated the 95th birthday of Ralph Pitt at a surprise party in his honor Saturday, Jan. 7. The party was given at Beechtree at Waters Edge on Stepney Road. The party was arranged by his family. The birthday boy, who blew out his own candles, was genuinely surprised. Attending were 14 of his children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

This looks like a fun little party trick. Or maybe it just caught my eye because I went to an awesome black light party a few weeks ago. Either way for $12 it's worth a look.

Republican politician and activist Audrey Scott emerged this week as the front-runner for chairman of the Maryland GOP when the party's first vice chairman dropped out of the running. The beleaguered party plans to select a new chairman at its convention next month. Scott had been in a close race against Chris Cavey, a state party officer and chairman of the Baltimore County central committee. Cavey said he withdrew to preserve party cohesiveness. "It was very noble of him because our party needs unity," Scott said, noting she was not involved in recent party turmoil.

If ever there were a compelling justification for term limits, the ongoing partisan stalemate in the current Congress is it. This privileged class would have us believe that only professional politicians with vast tenure can enact legislation that deals responsibly with complex national problems. Actually, most of the heavy lifting in the legislature is done by congressional staffers and special-interest group lobbyists. The guys (and gals) in Congress have only one driving interest - maintaining their own incumbency.

Just because a party is black tie doesn't mean it's stuffy. The crowd that gathered for the Caritas: Saint Agnes Spring Gala in the ballroom at the Hyatt Regency may have been wearing gowns and tuxedos, but as soon as the band started up, the dance floor filled. Saint Agnes Cancer Center director Dr. Carole Miller boogied with her colleagues, before pulling Saint Agnes Foundation president Sherry Welch out of her seat to join them. "This is a bunch of doctors who never get a chance to party together, so we love throwing this for them.

Baltimore County police have two youths in custody in a stabbing early yesterday in Dundalk. David Jacob-Lindsay Cenidoza, 19, of the 5100 block of Clifford Road in Nottingham was at a party in the 2800 block of Eighth St. when he learned that two teens, with whom he had had a dispute, were headed to the party, police said. Police said Cenidoza left the party and found the teens at Millers Island and Cuckold roads. Cenidoza later told police that he and the pair argued and fought, investigators said.

One can only imagine how bad an idea ("The problem with wind," May 6) was Governor Martin O'Malley's signature piece of legislation promoting off-shore wind turbines when he couldn't get it past a one-party (his own) legislature, in a one-party (again, his own) state filled with left-leaning, liberal loonies. Dave Reich, Perry Hall

President Barack Obama plans to extend a hand to his political antagonists at a House Republican retreat today in Baltimore. But the exchange - part of his election-year attempt to generate more bipartisanship in Washington - is unlikely to alter Republican behavior, say strategists and former members of Congress from both parties. " Republicans are emboldened. They think Obama has overshot the runway, and they're going to stick with their strategy," said Scott Reed, a Republican consultant.

It's really hard to understand why the president doesn't call the Republicans the party protecting the rich and trashing the middle class and the poor. It is the party that doesn't care about Social Security and Medicare because they can afford to pay. The one that doesn't care about polluted air or fracked water because they vacation in Europe. The party that has been bought by giant corporations and their operators and only cares about staying rich and getting richer. Why can't he say that in plain words?