Wham City
Wham City is an art and performance collective based in Baltimore, Maryland. Members of Wham City include musicians Dan Deacon and Ed Schrader, visual artists Jimmy Joe Roche, Peter Ryan O'Connell, Mason Ross, Adam Endres, Dina Kelberman, April Camlin, Connor M. Kizer, Robby Rackleff, Cricket Arrison, Alan Resnick and Ben O'Brien.
Events
From 2005–2010, Wham City organized Whartscape, an annual experimental music and arts festival in Baltimore as an alternative to the city's Artscape festival.[1] The festivals included performances by Matmos, Beach House, Double Dagger, Ian MacKaye, Lil B, and Dan Deacon. In its 2010 article about the festival, The Washington Post called Whartscape, "the premier DIY music event in the country".[2]
Wham City member Connor Kizer organizes a bi-monthly lecture series in Baltimore, MD in which local and visiting artists speak on a diverse range of topics.[3] In 2009, The Wham City Lecture Series won "Best Non-Music Bar Act" in the Baltimore City Paper.[4]
Wham City members Ben O'Brien and Alan Resnick organize an annual east coast skit comedy and stand up tour entitled, "The Wham City Comedy Tour".[5] The tour was founded in 2010 by Dan Deacon and Ben O'Brien. Under the banner "AB Video Solutions", Wham City created several short films for Adult Swim, including the satirical infomercial Live Forever as You Are Now with Alan Resnick, which aired on December 2013.
History
Wham City began as a popular underground show space in The Copycat Building in Baltimore, MD in the mid-2000s. Many of the group's principal members met while attending State University of New York at Purchase in the early 2000s before moving to Baltimore City. The song "Wham City" on Dan Deacon's Spiderman of the Rings album was written, according to the musician and co-founder, as a "national anthem" for the collective.[6]
As of February 21, 2022 the group is on indefinite hiatus.[7]
References
- Sessa, Sam. "Whartscape’s last hurrah", The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, July 22, 2010, Retrieved on July 22, 2014.
- Malitz, David. "In Baltimore, Whartscape goes out on a high note", The Washington Post, Washington D.C., July 26, 2010, Retrieved on July 22, 2014.
- Johnson, Martin L. "Out of Speech", The Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore, September 16, 2009, Retrieved on July 22, 2014.
- "Best Non-Music Bar Act", The Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore, September 16, 2009, Retrieved on July 22, 2014.
- Case, Wesley. "More focused Wham City Comedy Tour gets seriously funny", The Baltimore Sun, Baltimore, April 19, 2013, Retrieved on July 22, 2014.
- Harvell, Jess. "Crazy Diamonds", The Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore, May 16, 2007, Retrieved on July 22, 2014.
- @WhamCityComedy (February 21, 2022). "Wham City Comedy is going on indefinite hiatus..." (Tweet). Retrieved March 15, 2023 – via Twitter.