Bottoms Up Bagels pop-up in Frederick

From left, co-owners Michelle Bond and Joan Kanner.

Nevin Baker

Baltimore-based Bottoms Up Bagels will bring its New Jersey-style boiled bagels to Frederick on Dec. 10 and 11 at a pop-up at the YMCA on North Market Street, in conjunction with the Santa Run.

Visitors can try BUB’s signature spreads, house-cured lox and breakfast sandwiches from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. both days at the Y Teaching Kitchen at 629 N. Market St., Frederick, or until they sell out. Race participants will receive a coupon for a discount on a bagel, but the pop-up shop will be open to everyone.

The women-owned, queerowned business will pop up in Frederick as part of its BUB Roadshow, where the crew brings their concept and Here’s to Everyday spirit on the road to treat folks to old-school bagels made from scratch. For the owners of the seven-year business, it’s also a chance to return to their roots and introduce their team to different regions, histories and communities. Since summer of this year, Bottoms Up Bagels has been soliciting social media followers to nominate their towns for a Roadshow stop, and Frederick soon topped the list.

“Frederick has been on our radar for a

while, and we’re excited to have our first pop-up here,” says owner and cofounder Michelle Bond. “It’s an exciting and growing city with a sense of local pride,” Bond adds, noting time spent there visiting friends and exploring the city. “We’ve regularly visited Frederick over the years and have remarked on its thoughtful growth, safety and cleanliness,” says Joan Kanner, co-owner, chief Courtesy photo vision officer and the creative Bottoms Up Bagels will serve force behind the Roadshow. “Meeting with officials from their their boiled bagels during Mayor’s Office and the DownFrederick’s Santa Run. town Frederick Partnership underlined their commitment to both existing businesses and mindful, out-ofmarket attraction.” Bond and Kanner have always been intentional about building Bottoms Up Bagels, focusing on partnerships. This intention is what inspired them to work with the YMCA of Frederick County, making use of their Teaching Kitchen on Market St. BUB will be producing and selling on-site, while supporting the YMCA’s annual campaign in the process. The YMCA of Frederick County’s annual Santa Run raises funds to support the Y’s programs and services.

Contemporary Conversations

Author Michael W. Twitty will join online series of Montgomery County Public Libraries

Michael W. Twitty, an award-winning culinary historian, food writer, teacher and author, will join the free, online Contemporary Conversations series of Montgomery County Public Libraries at 7 p.m. Dec. 10.

Twitty will discuss the connection between the foods and traditions of the African Atlantic and the global Jewish diaspora.

Although there is no charge to participate, online registration is required.

Twitty has appeared on “Bizarre Foods America” with Andrew Zimmern; “Many Rivers to Cross” with Henry Louis Gates and, most recently, “Taste the Nation” with Padma Lakshmi.

His books “The Cooking Gene” (2017), “Rice: A Savor the South Cookbook” (2021) and “KosherSoul” (2022) have received great acclaim. “The Cooking Gene” was a finalist for The Kirkus Prize and The Art of Eating Prize. It was a thirdplace winner of the Barnes & Noble Discover New Writers Awards in Nonfiction. It also won the 2018 James Beard Award, making Twitty the first Black author to earn that award.

The Contemporary Conversations series is a community forum to discuss cultural and current issues with renowned authors and journalists and to engage in enriching dialogues.

Previous speakers in the series include Kojo Nnamdi, David Ignatius, Charles Lane, Hena Khan, Michelle Singletary, Dinaw Mengestu, Joshua Johnson, Haben Girma and Jarret Krosoczka.

For more information, visit http:// montgomerycountymd.gov/library/programs/ contemporary-conversations.html

Courtesy photo Michael Twitty

Christmas music: yay or nay?

BY COLIN MCGUIRE

Special to The News-Post

I gotta be honest: I don’t care about Christmas music.

Don’t read that incorrectly. I didn’t say I didn’t like Christmas music. I simply said I don’t care about it. And, truth be told, I don’t care about much at my senior age. That sounds melodramatic, I know, but the older you get … eh, whatever.

Something I don’t understand, though, is why people are so passionate about it, one way or the other. Sing that Mariah Carey song in June around the wrong people and cross words will be had. Insist that Elvis’ “Blue Christmas” is a soulless piece of dreck in a mixed crowd sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, and someone’s holiday could be ruined.

These thoughts circled through my head when I recently came upon a guide to this year’s new Christmas music. Buried within the depths of a new Debbie Gibson record and a Backstreet Boys set were efforts from artists I love in both Alicia Keys and Joss Stone. Upon reading a quick review of the records, I thought, “I should buy those. That could be fun, right?”

And then I promptly closed out of the Google tab, went back to what I was doing and thought nary a word about either until I started thinking about this column.

Why? Because it’s Christmas music. Best-case scenario, the songs are great, I fall in love with them from front to back … and then put everything away come Jan. 1. Love it or hate it, Christmas music is a niche. Unless you can somehow muster up enough passion for Santa Claus and silver bells in May, what’s the point of listening to the stuff beyond a six-week period each year?

Such a notion led me to this conclusion: The reason people get so riled up about Christmas music and when it’s “allowed” to be played is simple: memories. Nobody is in love with Carey’s voice on “All I Want for Christmas Is You”; they’re in love with the memories they have surrounding hearing the song, be it during a screening of “Love Actually” or on any of the thousands of pop stations that play the track 24 hours a day on terrestrial radio around this time of year.

Loving those memories often means you want to relive them. Reliving them means revisiting specific

songs at a specific time in hopes that they’re possible to relive. Oftentimes, sadly, they’re not. That’s what makes a good memory a good memory — you’ll never get a replica. Maybe you’ll get close, but the point isn’t to Groundhog Day all the wonderful moments you’ve ever lived. Instead, it’s the thrill of the hope that new ones can one day exist. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course. For my money, John Lennon’s “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” is as good as it gets when COLIN McGUIRE it comes to Christmas music. The brilliant way he knew how to meld sadness with hope is unparalleled in the medium, and that very specific talent is amplified when you apply it to the holiday season. Conversely, “Christmas in Tahoe,” the holiday album from the hate-able pop band Train, is very special to me for entirely different reasons. Still, those reasons are mine. And those reasons aren’t enough for me to rally against people loving Christmas music. Nor are they enough for me to rally against people hating Christmas music. The holidays aren’t supposed to be reserved for one only person, one thought, one opinion, one right and one wrong.

They’re supposed to be reserved for an open heart and the potential of being blessed with memories that might just last a lifetime. Whether the backdrop to that is Tom Petty’s “Christmas All Over Again” or Pentatonix’s rendition of “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year” is immaterial to the reality that the love or hate for those songs come from the life that unfolded while they provided a soundtrack, rather than the notes the singers hit when they went for the chorus.

That said, I’m in need of a new memory or two this holiday season. So, on second thought, maybe I’ll revisit my Amazon cart to make sure those latest records from Ms. Keys or Ms. Stone are still in it, even if Jan. 1 isn’t all the far away.

Colin McGuire has been in and out of bands for more than 20 years and also helps produce concerts in and around Frederick. His work has appeared in Alternative Press magazine, PopMatters and 72 Hours, among other outlets. He is convinced that the difference between being in a band and being in a romantic relationship is less than minimal. Contact him at mcguire.colin@gmail. com.

Party like it’s 1959 at Heritage Frederick

In November, the first two floors of the Heritage Frederick Museum were painted and brought back to its grandeur and glory. And, while in transition from former exhibit “We the People” to a new exhibit, “Stitches in Time, Women’s Work from Farm to Fashion,” the galleries are empty.

So, Heritage Frederick invites you to party like it is 1959. The house will be decorated for the holidays, in retro-elegant style, and visitors are invited to dress-up in the same way. Come by for food, fun, music, dancing and plenty of holiday cheer.

The Retro-Elegant Holiday Party will run from 5 to 8 p.m. Dec. 11 at Heritage Frederick, 24 E. Church St., Frederick. RSVP and ticket purchase required for entrance at heritageretro.eventbrite. com. Learn more at frederickhistory.org.

SPEAK STORY SERIES Stina Fagertun

Speak Story Series, part of Speak Storytelling, Inc., presents storyteller Stina Fagertun in an online concert at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 13.

Stina Fagertun of Tromsø, Norway, is a performer and a teacher. She has collected ancient, unique fairytales from the three cultures that are part of her heritage: Sámi, Kven and Arctic Norwegian.

Those stories as well as many she has written herself have been published as books and CDs in Norway and America. Stina is the winner of the 2003 Northern Norway Cultural Award and won best storyteller at the 2011 International Storyteller Festival in Oslo. She frequently tours to all corners of the globe from Canada to Scotland to China.

Tickets may be purchased at speakstoryseries. com. Tickets are $15, free to season ticket holders. Speak is for mature audiences. Mature youth are permitted at guardian’s discretion. More information is available at speakstoryseries. com

Courtesy photo