B+ CD Merge As Usual, Oberst Is One of the Few $15.98 Icon

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N6 SOURCE 08-03-08 DC EE N6 CMYK

N6 Sunday, August 3, 2008 x The Washington Post

RoadTrip Pirates Invading a Maryland Fishing Town

WHERE: Rock Hall, Md. or soak up Chesapeake culture in three bay-centric museums. To fit in this weekend, swap your Sperry docksiders for a WHY: Pirate parties, lumpy crab cakes and shore things. peg leg. Costumes are strongly encouraged, and don’t worry about standing out: Pirate reenactors and sea chantey sing- HOW FAR: About three miles from start to finish, and about ers will be appearing around town. The event starts with a 90 miles from Washington. Cast-Off Party at the Harbor Shack Waterfront Bar & Grill, followed by a decorated dinghy flotilla and race. On Sunday, ou don’t need a treasure map to discover Rock Hall families can search for booty in a treasure hunt or collect (it’s on the Chesapeake Bay), but that doesn’t make it some at the pirate pet and children’s costume contest. The any less of a find. Most days, the Maryland fishing same day, the Fearless, a buccaneer-style ship, will take town is a laid-back, natural getaway steeped in bay guests on one-hour sails from Sharp Street Pier. Children are historyY and culture, bird-watching and kayaking. Starting invited onboard, but you might want to leave the parrot at , a colorful Oyster Court Saturday, however, the town will stir up the waters with the home. and museum at Pirates and Wenches Fantasy Weekend. — Ben Chapman Peruse the six shops garden behind Main Street. collection of bungalows around a The two-day party celebrates Rock Hall’s 301st birthday, Rock Hall’s Pirates and Wenches Fantasy Weekend: Saturday, though despite the theme, pirates weren’t active players in noon-midnight; Sunday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Various locations in Rock Hall. For the town’s history. That honor goes to the watermen. In the a schedule and information, call 410-935-3491 or visit www. 20 1700s, Rock Hall established itself as an important tobacco rockhallpirates.com. Admission varies; some events are free. port and by the 1800s was one of the busiest fishing outposts on the bay. Commercial fishing still is done on a smaller scale, The artist-run Rock Hall The whimsical assemblage of photos and artifacts at the but the main business today is tourism. During the summer, Road Trip maps, addresses and hours of operation Gallery Tolchester Beach Revisited are available at www.washingtonpost.com/roadtrip. features an array museum pays tribute to visitors cruise in from land and sea to eat dockside, go fishing of Chesapeake-inspired the long-gone amusement park that opened in 1877. creations, including paintings and poetry.

ST. Driver’s route

NEW ROCK HALL AVENUE Rock your socks off to live music, including jazz, at the Mainstay.

HAWTHORNE AVE. ENUE 20 HALL AV MAN ROAD 445 ROCK HENRY AVENUE 20

COLE MERCER AVENUE Waterman’s Museum LIBERTY ST. BEACH ROAD At the , a Rock Hall Throw together a re-created early-1900s fishing shanty healthy picnic at Bay Leaf Gourmet Find a perch at Blue offers a glimpse of life on the water. Chester River Kayak Adventures Oyster Court , Heron Park which sells such and watch BAY RD. offers rentals and excursions around Rock for herons, bald eagles Hall and to nearby Eastern Neck Island. good eats as fruit BAYSIDE AVENUE smoothies and and ospreys. M A SHARP STREET I veggie sandwiches. N

S SHARP STREET T R E E CHESAPEAKE BAY Waterman’s Crab House’s T

C 30 slips, dockside bar and H ES CATHOLIC AVENUE AP jumbo lump crab cakes draw E EA U K N E guests from on shore and off. E AVE. Start here V StartStart herehere A Y R A Smilin’ Jake’s Casual Appare D N U l Rock Hall O Hawaii bring B an fashion s Harbor to the Chesapeake.

PENNSYLVANIA 445 83 MARYLAND 95 They might look like toys, but Rock Hall 70 70 Museum’s model boats and duck decoys 20 301

E 270

A were essential work tools in earlier times. Rock Hall

S DEL.

E 50 50

R 213 GREEN AVEN N G D.C. 301 N r E ay 66 UE C s K In R n VIRGINIA 301 O Cr Stroll the sm A ee all boardwalk a D k 50 surrounded by expansiv t Rock Hall’s public beach 0 1/4 95 e views of th , ckarita margarita from e Chesapeake. Victoria Stone servesterfront up a Ro Bar & Grill. MILE Harbor Shack Wa

MAP BY JEROME COOKSON FOR THE WASHINGTON POST; PHOTOS BY BEN CHAPMAN FOR THE WASHINGTON POST

MediaMix A Quick Take on New Releases

TITLE BASIC STORY SAMPLE GRAB WHAT YOU’LL LOVE WHAT YOU WON’T GRADE

The esteemed author delves The introductory novella feels tossed-off and into the past for a two-part “If I could meet Alfred Taylor and Emily McVeagh disengaged, while the nonﬁ ctional half is patchy Alfred & Emily exploration that presents now, as I have written them, as they might have Lessing gets points for her innovative take on and difﬁ cult to follow. It’s hard to believe either is By Doris Lessing the true story of her parents’ been had the Great War not happened, I hope the family-memoir form, which speaks volumes the work of last year’s winner of the Nobel Prize D+ Harper battle-scarred relationship and they would approve the lives I have given them.” about her considerable insights into relationships BOOK in Literature. $25.95 » an alternative history of their — The author introduces her binary work and aging. lives had they never married. — Reviewed by Sara Cardace In this collection of Deadpan doesn’t come much Ask for a seamlessly interwoven “But life in America, she quickly realized, wasn’t better than this. Brown’s A quibble, but Osnat’s parents’ neverending Convertible stories about Israelis in all that different from life in Israel, except that the outsider-looking-in observa- argument about their move from Israel to

By Danit Brown America and vice versa, two winters were colder, and instead of terror, you tions kill, while her characters’ Michigan might grate on readers as much A-

Pantheon decades in the life of Osnat had to worry about nuclear war.” emotional rootlessness infuses as it does on our acerbic heroine. BOOK $22.95 Greenberg (from teen to 30-something) serve as — Osnat enters adolescence in the Reagan era even dryly delivered punch lines » — Adriana Leshko the connective tissue. with poignancy.

It’s a vaguely swinging, upbeat Conor Oberst Recorded in Mexico with his Mystic Valley Band “If you love me / folk disc with a ramshackle, The disc’s sparser trappings lay bare Conor Oberst as backup, this is Oberst’s fourth solo disc but Then that’s your fault” we’re-not-trying-too-hard feel. all of Oberst’s idiosyncrasies as a his ﬁ rst since Bright Eyes made him an unlikely — “Lenders in songwriter, including an over-reliance on biblical B+ CD Merge As usual, Oberst is one of the few $15.98 icon. It feels like a continuation of the rest of the the Temple” contemporary songwriters taking on political metaphors and a serious case of Dylan-itis. Bright Eyes canon. » themes and consistently getting it right. — Allison Stewart

When he isn’t sidelined by Harps soundtrack work, New- It’s a bristling mix of ballads, Dixieland jazz and Remember that episode of “Family Guy” that “It stinks here high and low / The rich are and Angels man is one of the sharpest light opera that only Newman could pull off. parodied Newman’s occasionally grating musical getting richer / I should know” Randy chroniclers of contemporary Who else would write a song (“A Few Words in eccentricities? Until ﬁ nally someone hit him B CD — “A Piece of the Pie” Newman absurdity. Incredibly, this is Defense of Our Country”) that also ran as a New on the head? Around track eight, you begin to Nonesuch » his ﬁ rst disc of (mostly) new York Times op-ed piece? understand the urge. $18.98 material in nine years. — A.S.

“You can’t lose respect. The ﬁ lm’s depiction of concentration As sad as it might be, some of the dour material The You have to have some This Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language camp morality is chilling, and the disc seems overly familiar from watching other ﬁ lms, Counterfeiters kind of moral values.” » Film features a Jewish document-forger who is packed with extras, including an and the melodrama is often wielded with a Rated R — Master counterfeiter B DVD is pressed into making bogus currency for the interview with a real-life counterfeiter sledgehammer. Sony Sally (Karl Markovics) Nazis. and Holocaust survivor. — Greg Zinman $28.96 stands up for himself

“Be the hero of your own life story.” The mixture of mush and After a scientist (Gerard Butler) leaves his Nim’s Island “Don’t hand me that line. I wrote If you love jokes about contrivance is volcanic. daughter (Abigail Breslin, right) alone on their Rated PG that line!” porpoise fl atulence, this is the Breslin is too cute, Foster is Fox Walden secret island, she e-mails an agoraphobic author — Alex (Foster) has an argument » C- DVD fi lm you’ve been waiting for. hardly funny and Butler should (Jodie Foster) for help. $29.99 with her heroic literary creation stick to loincloths. (also played by Butler) — G.Z. Soulcalibur IV retains the The inclusion of the Star Wars Soulcalibur IV In the latest installment of the New to this iteration are the Critical franchise’s sharp, responsive characters (Yoda for the Xbox PlayStation 3, popular fi ghting franchise, warriors Finishes, theatrical knockout blows feel and adds such improved 360 version, Darth Vader for Xbox 360 from all over the world once again that you can execute after destroying mechanics as breakable the PS3) might make you Rated Teen battle to control a good-and-evil pair B a piece of armor on a foe who’s on his armor, online matches think the Soul series has

GAME Namco Bandai of mystical blades, joined this time by last legs. and robust character jumped the shark. $59.99 Yoda and Darth Vader. customization. — Evan Narcisse

Wii-owning golf Ultra-simple controls (you Shoot over par and your We Love Golf! lovers ﬁ nally get a don’t need to do anything character won’t stop Wii The title says it all. This is a plain-and-simple chance to challenge more than swing your whining: “Ugh, that was Rated Everyone 10+ virtual representation of the sport. opponents online with remote) truly make this awful! I’ve got to start doing C+ Capcom GAME their custom-designed a trip to the links that better!” Oh, shut up and get over it. $49.99 Mii avatars. anyone can join in on. — Christopher Healy

ABIGAIL BRESLIN FROM FOX WALDEN

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