Poe’s Memorial at the 200th Birthday Event in 2009.

It’s been a tradition in our house for several years: we head to Baltimore, usually in January, for the annual Poe Birthday Celebration at Westminster Hall. We started going in 2004, and truth be told, we haven’t been every year, but we’ve been at least five times since then.

Me, the Saturday afternoon of the 2004 event.

This year, the celebration is being held this weekend, Saturday, March 3, at 7 p.m….and we’re there. The program will feature John Astin reading Poe, greetings from the usual gang of baddies (the drunken Fortunado, freaky Madeline Usher and a few more, I’m sure), performances by the Baltimore Men’s Chorus, and of course by a few others familiar to the Poe Celebration-goers, John Spitzer, Tony Tsendeas, and Mark Redfield. All kinds of great Poe stuff, including Gaia’s Raven prints, will be available for sale, and a display of rare Poe artifacts – including Poe and Virginia’s locks of hair – will be on display (I’ve seen them, wow, they’re creepy in a great way). And even though the Poe Toaster didn’t show up…there will be a toast. There always is!

Me and Mark Redfield, Producer/Director/Writer of the film The Death of Poe, at the 2007 event.

Poe’s birthday cake at the 2007 event.

Originally, the program was a séance, and since we purchased our tickets the day they went on sale, we were guaranteed seats despite the program change. Tickets are now only available at the door beginning at 6 p.m. March 3 (the day of the performance) and are $30.

We also plan to visit the Poe House, which will be open from noon to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 3, and hit the awesome Annabel Lee Tavern for dinner before the show. That’ll be special for me, because a pivotal scene in my short story “Skeletons in the Swimmin’ Hole”—yes, the book’s title piece—takes place in the tarvern, and it was my meal there in 2009 which inspired that whole story.

We’re very excited!

Me and John Astin at the 2009 event.

If you’re in the Baltimore area this weekend, please consider joining us. I’ve had many a magical weekend in my life, and all of the ones I’ve spent at the Baltimore Poe Celebration rank high. There’s just nothing like being in a concert hall full of Poe fans when you’re one yourself. It’s like…well, it’s like being in a very special club.

For complete details on the event, visit here: http://www.poebicentennial.com/events.html

I’ll be posting plenty of photos when I return. We are not allowed to flash photograph or videotape the performance, but as always, there are many interesting things to see before and after the show.

Annabel Lee Tavern owner Kurt Bragunier, left, me, and Nathan at the tavern in 2009.

The following videos (thirty-five seconds each; they were on a very old digital camera and that was its limit) were shot at the Annabel Lee Tavern in 2009 – it was a treat to find these; I’d forgotten they even existed, because I’m pretty sure I filmed them and then never watched them. They’re not the greatest visually, but you can get a sense of the vibrancy of the place and the energy we had the night we ate there. The owner, Kurt Bragunier, and patrons at other tables all joined in some great Poe-related conversation. We already can’t wait for dinner Saturday night!