Christian's List of 10 People You May (Or May Not) Know Are From Baltimore

We here in Fatally Yours are all about some hometown pride.  From Boh's and O's to crab cakes and Ravens football - THAT'S WHAT WE DO!!!  With that in mind, I decided to do a little bit of research to find out what other notable people call Bawlmer their hometown.   What I ended up with was a huuuge list that I've painstakingly narrowed down to just 10.  10 is a nice, round number that people seem to like.  So without further ado, and in no particular order, here goes...

Frank Zappa

Frank Zappa was born on December 21, 1940 in Baltimore.  He was a musician, songwriter, composer, producer, and director.  

Something I found interesting was that his dad was a chemist and mathematician who worked at the Edgewood Arsenal area of Aberdeen Proving Ground (a U.S. Army post), and his family lived in such close proximity to the post, they had to keep gas masks in their home!  This had such a profound effect on Frank, that references to germs, germ warfare, and the defense industry were a recurring theme in his work.

Zappa was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. 

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Mike Rowe

You might remember him from the Discovery Channel show, Dirty Jobs.  I used to love watching that show, and it always cracked me up seeing him neck-deep in shit or up to his shoulders (literally) in cow vagina.  

Mike was born on March 18, 1962, and attended Overlea High School (literally right down the street from my house) and Essex Community College (Keith and I have both taken classes there!!).  He later went on to graduate from Towson University with a degree in Communication Studies, and -- get this -- he sang professionally with the Baltimore Opera!

Mike still works with the Discovery Channel, narrating shows such as Airplane Repo, Deadliest Catch,  and American Chopper.

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Babe Ruth

That's right.  Babe fucking Ruth.  The Great Bambino.  The Sultan of Swat.  He was born
George Herman Ruth, Jr., right here in B-more on February 6, 1895, in a house that stood about a fly-ball away from Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Not much is known about Bambino's childhood; even the date his parents were married remains a mystery.  But we do know this: after he was sold by the Boston Red Sox to the New York Yankees, he was one of the heaviest hitters of his generation.  He set records for home runs (714, since broken) and RBI (2,213, since broken), and quite a few others.  He was the first person ever to hit 60 home runs in a single season (1927), a record which stood for 34 years, until Roger Maris hit 61 in 1961.  

Ruth is considered by many to be the greatest baseball player and hitter of all time.  Not too shabby for a Bawlmoron.

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Robin Quivers

Anybody who's ever turned on a TV or radio knows Robin Quivers as Howard Stern's longtime sidekick.  But did you know she is a native of Baltimore suburb, Pikesville, MD?  

Robin was born on August 8, 1962, to Louise Quivers and Charles Quivers, Sr. - both of whom only made it to the 7th Grade.  Despite this, and the fact that she was abused by her parents, Robin went on to do great things.  

She graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in nursing, and her first job was at Shock Trauma as an intensive care nurse.  She then joined the U.S. Air Force in July 1975, and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.  After only 6 months of service, she earned the rank of First Lieutenant, and by June 1978, she made Captain.  Robin was discharged in July 1978, but remained in the Air Force Reserves until 1990.

After her discharge from the service, she returned to Baltimore in 1979 and attended the Broadcast Institute of Maryland, and worked as a nurse while she attended school.    In March 1981, Howard Stern started his new morning show in Washington, DC, and was looking for someone to come in and shoot the shit with him on the air.  The rest is history.

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Ric Ocasek

Remember that one band, The Cars?  Ric Ocasek was their lead singer.  Ric was born on March 23, 1949, and grew up right here in Baltimore.  To be honest, I don't really know a whole lot about him, except that he was the principle songwriter of the band, and wrote nearly all of The Cars' material.  They had a bunch of hit songs from 1978 to 1988.

Ric has recently reunited with the surviving original members of The Cars, and released a record called Move Like This in May 2011.

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John Waters

What blog about people from Baltimore would be complete without mentioning John Waters?  Most everyone from Baltimore knows the scoop, but for everyone else, here's (a small part of) the story:

John Waters was born on April 22, 1946, and grew up in Lutherville (a suburb of Baltimore).  He is a director, screenwriter, actor, stand-up comedian, and journalist.  One of his most popular film's was 1988's Hairspray, which among other things, introduced the world to
Ricki Lake.  The film was later adapted into a Broadway musical, which itself  was adapted into a musical film, which grossed over $200 million worldwide.  After Hairspray  blew up, Waters' films began featuring more familiar faces, such as Johnny Depp, Johnny Knoxville, Edward Furlong, and Christina Ricci.  

John still  mainly resides here in the Hampden (hon) neighborhood of Baltimore, the city where ALL of his films are set.

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David Hasselhoff

Yup.  That guy.  You might remember him from TV classics like Knight Rider, Baywatch, and also that hilarious fart scene in the Adam Sandler flick, Click.  

David was born in Baltimore on July 17, 1952, and went on to appear in many, many TV shows and films.  Christ, he was even a singer, but I don't think he ever charted in the US.

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John Christ

No, not the guy from A7X.  The original John Christ, and original guitar player of DANZIG!

John Wolfgang Knoll was born on
February 19, 1965, as the youngest of five children.  He started playing the acoustic guitar in grade school, and picked up the electric guitar around the age of 13 (kinda like me).  He went to Catonsville High School, and went on to study classical guitar at The Peabody Institute and Jazz theory and composition at Towson University.

In 1987, he dropped out of college to move to New Jersey in order to audition for Samhain (which became Danzig later that same year).  I found it kind of funny that although he nailed his audition, he wasn't actually invited to join the band until sometime he after he left countless guitar solos on
Glenn Danzig's answering machine.  

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Tom Clancy

Tom Clancy was born on April 12, 1947 at Franklin Square Hospital in Baltimore - the exact same hospital I was born in!

He graduated from Loyola in 1969 with a degree in English literature.  While there, he was president of the chess club.  He tried to join the Army ROTC, but was rejected due to his nearsightedness.  

In 1973, he began working for the O. F. Bowen Agency, a small insurance agency in Owings Mills, MD, which was founded by his wife's grandfather.  He purchased the agency in 1980, and began writing novels in his free time.  It was while working for this agency he wrote one of my personal favorites,
The Hunt For The Red October.

Some of the books he's written, such as Patriot Games,
Clear and Present Danger, The Hunt For The Red October, and The Sum of All Fears, may ring a bell to you, because they were adapted into successful films.

Sadly, Tom passed away on October 1, 2013, of undisclosed illness at
Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.

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Adam Duritz

One of my favorite songwriters, Adam Duritz, was born in Baltimore on August 1, 1964.  

Adam is the lead singer, founding member, and principle composer of the band,
Counting Crows.  He has collaborated with bands such as The Wallflowers, Live, and Dashboard Confessional, just to name a few.  

One really cool thing about Adam is that he maintains a very close relationship with his fans.  He always reads and responds to his fans via Twitter and posts on his band's message board.

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Now, it's your turn

Thanks for reading my blog!!  I'd love to hear back from you!!  Who are some cool people from your town?  What have they accomplished?  Let's keep the conversation going in the comment thread below :)

​Christian