But before we bid summer adieu (it’s Maryland, after all…it could hit 100 any number of times between now and the REAL Fall), tell everybody how freakin’ hot YOU got this summer. Stranded in downtown Baltimore traffic with a broken air conditioner (we TOLD you to take mass transit)? Stood in an unshaded line waiting to buy concert tickets? Suffered through an O’s shutout in the cheap seats (with warm beer, to boot)? Had to play host to out-of-towners, escorting them around Fells Point and Harbor East?

Tell us how hot you got this summer, and we all promise to feel really sorry for you. Then, tell us what you did about it. No, not the earth-friendly commitment you made to your nieces and nephews to be a better global steward; tell us how you cooled off. There’s a free, coveted Eden “Suburbs, schmuburbs” t-shirt waiting for the best submission (voted on by a secret council of not-to-be-named Edenites).

Stay cool.

Some of this free-dom takes the form of free concerts in that most auspicious of venues, the venerable Inner Harbor Ampitheater: the bastion of concrete enclosures where many world-famous fire-jugglers have doubtless gotten their starts. Where one can hear renditions of Jim Croce and Gladys Knight and Jimmy Buffet and John Denver songs.

But this particular free series is a bit better than the lunchtime fare you’ve strolled past and wondered how tired tourists have to be to sit and endure that audible onslaught. Thing is, it ends when August draws to a close (okay, there are two more shows in early September). But, back to August. On Saturday, the 28th,  get your free funk on with Funk Daddy G. On Sunday the 29th, you can transport yourself back through the last few decades and be serenaded by Captain Fantastic, doing the magic of Elton John (maybe he juggles with the magic), and 52nd Street, playing the music of Billy Joel.

It’s free. It’s a short walk from Harbor East or Federal Hill or Fells Point or wherever it is you live. And if the cool breeze happens to be coming in off of the harbor, it could be magic that transcends Elton John. Unfortunately, unlike Pier Six or other venues, you can’t take a nice bottle of chilled Grüner or Sauvignon Blanc with you – lest you fall prey to the city’s scheming yet again, and fill their coffers with the fine you’ll pay for consuming alcohol in public. So, just consume the free music, will ya?

Put it in your little phone’s cute little electronic calendar; then set a reminder to, well, remind you, say, at 3 or 4 on Tuesday afternoons that you’ve a date in The Garden (and happy hour can wait till Wednesday). There’ll be a sign-up sheet in the lobby (note, there won’t be a class on the 17th, but will resume the 24th – the instructor’s in court facing assault and battery charges – c’mon! we’re kidding…get it, yoga instructors, the very epitome of serene and calm, assaulting someone…phew! that’s funny stuff – about like the vegetarian that choked on a big-old piece of filet mignon…but, alas, that’s another blog…).

See you in The Garden (under the Tree of Knowledge).

So, sound off here. What do you think of wind turbines? Some people see them as a blight. Some feel a pride in American, human ingenuity in harnessing the irrepressible wind for energy. They actually LIKE the sight of them atop distant mountains. And then others want to sue the companies behind these projects… for endangering bats and other winged animals. Do you feel, like some, that if bats are so smart, if they really DO use SONAR to navigate, that they should be easily capable of finding their way through the wop-wop-wopping of a slowing churning wind turbine? What do these activists think? Do they actually LIKE the thought of more oil spills in the Gulf, or in our Great Lakes. Do they like the thought of shipping crude oil half way around the world to fuel our SUVs and Sunday drives? They file suit to protect some endangered bat, then traipse home to a dinner of broiled salmon (or tuna or Chilean Sea Bass)…ALL of which are being overfished, and who many believe will be non-existent within 20 or so
years? Do you feel the hypocrisy? Or is the ire just?  And how do you feel about renewable energy, while we’re at it? What do you do to live green? Do you walk to work? What’s the shortest car ride you took this week? Did you really need to drive? (Are you over-weight? Did you not get back on that bike when you fell off as a kid? Why the apathy about the environment? Shouldn’t you be chained to a tree or a bat or something in western Maryland? Should you chain yourself to a car- carrying ocean liner coming into the Port of Baltimore, and tell them to take ‘em back, that we’re going to drive American and stop using fossil fuels and save the freakin’ bats…all at the same time?).

Okay…this has been a test. We know we have lots of cognizant, caring, aware individuals who populate downtown Baltimore. And we know you watch the news (besides checking for Orioles’ scores). But, do chime in on issues like these and let us keep our finger on the pulse of younger America. You’re the future, so, we want to know. So, c’mon, speak up!

A few Tuesdays forward, September 7th, you can leave your cozy, convenient waterfront confines and head to the world’s most important city and take in what promises to be a spectacle at Lady Gaga’s gig. While there won’t be any seaside breezes, and you can’t walk to it like you can Pier Six, it’ll be one of the most talked about tours of the summer (and, heck, if you’re in L.A. and have $5,000, you might want to see her there, too). These are only two of the many, many shows you have at your beck and call here in the downtown Baltimore area. Keep abreast of all that’s going on, and you could script yourself a magical summer evening…with a soundtrack by one of your favorite artists. Rock on.

And, it seems, we’ve (over) delivered. And we’re already gunning to do it again next year. So pass this along to your friends and those you care about who live in less-than-exceptional surroundings. Get ‘em down to Harbor East for a leer at your rooftop pool and sweeping water views. And, of course, the exceptional treatment you receive at every turn. Thanks to those of you who voiced your high regard for us.

Now I’m not being smug about it. Just saying that, when you plan, and do your research and play your cards right, and you end up in a sweet suite like The Eden, well, you get certain benefits…like rooftop pools. And sushi joints and tearooms on the ground floor.

Okay, maybe I am being just a TAD smug. But, at least I’m not sweating on anybody.

Stay cool, my babies, stay cool.

Not that you want to leave the watery seaport of downtown Baltimore, BUT, at least you don’t have to buy a minivan to traipse out to the suburbs for some co-worker’s cookout…show up in a Toyota Prius hybrid, to show your green streak; a Tacoma pick-up, if your co-worker is giving you his father’s old console record player; a Smart Fortwos, if you’re into VERY small things; or a Mini convertible, if you fancy bolting around topless. AND, when you travel to Washington, D.C., New York, Seattle, Atlanta, Philadelphia, Toronto, Boston, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, Chicago, London, San Francisco, or at every stop along the East Coast Amtrak line, you’ll have wheels at the ready. Set? GO!

Just another Saturday, right? Congrats Melissa. Congrats National Kidney Foundation of Maryland. And thanks to everyone who contributed!

Zoinks!

Who in the – !
What the – !
Yep. Come Saturday, June 19th, people are VOLUNTARILY going to hurl themselves off of the Legg Mason Tower! And you know one of them! Eden’s own concierge, Melissa! (oh, Melissa, we hardly knew ye!), is going to rappel off the 19th story in fundraising latest scheme – urban rappelling. So, grab your camera and come on out and live vicariously through Melissa. If you want to help Melissa raise money for the good folks at the National Kidney Foundation, I’m sure she’d be happy to take your moolah!

There’s never a dull moment when you live in the center of it all, now is there! Good luck Melissa (and those holding your ropes!).