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El Gleno Grande (Glen Singer) emailed this info to me... Looks like Jerry has gotten some press. --Jim
-----------------------------------------------------------
www.mddailyrecord.com
Volume: 4 Number: 84_wednesday October 8, 2003
Comedian sues city after being barred from Inner Harbor
By EZRA K. FIESER
Daily Record Business Writer
The joke is on the city of Baltimore. It‚s been sued ˜ by a comedian. The
American Civil
Liberties Union has added street performer Jerry Rowan to a lawsuit
claiming the city‚s
rules governing the street performer program at the Inner Harbor violate
the First
Amendment.
- Ezra K. Fieser
www.sunspot.net/maryland
Comedian's wisecracks no cause for censorship
Dan Rodricks
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally published Oct 9, 2003
Dan Rodricks
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I‚M GLAD the American Civil Liberties Union is taking up for the
comic-juggler Jerry
Rowan. Remind me to send these people some money. I want to remain a
card-carrying
member of any organization that stands up for a standup comic's right to
balance a bicycle
on his nose and tell jokes in the town square -- in this case, the Inner
Harbor -- even if
someone in the crowd takes offense.
This is Baltimore, not Beijing.
This is the land of the free, where the first lady of Maryland can
announce she'd like to
shoot Britney Spears -- and not even apologize!
This is a great country!
Rush Limbaugh is an overrated talk-show host because the media in this
country have been
very desirous that a middle-aged white blowhard do well.
There, I said it!
Vive la liberte! (That's French. I used it just then to annoy the
French-haters out there.
Pretty funny, huh?)
But what we have here in Rowan vs. City of Baltimore is a comic being
deprived of a
livelihood -- and a public deprived of his humor -- because of some
arbitrary judgment that
a couple of jokes he delivered during his juggling act a year ago near the
Rouse Co.'s
Harborplace were offensive to persons unknown.
As one of the most popular performers at the Inner Harbor over the past
two decades,
Rowan, a New York wise guy and graduate of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum &
Bailey
Clown College, has told a million jokes while pedaling a unicycle and
juggling flaming
torches in the amphitheater between the Light and Pratt street pavilions.
He has a very
strong act, with lots of clever improv. He is blessed with great timing
and the instincts for
working a crowd into big laughs.
The jokes that got him into trouble with the Rouse Co. last October were
more wisecracks
than anything else -- the kind of thing you might get from sarcastic
deejays on FM rock
stations during morning drive time -- and they had to do with the sniper
shootings in the
Washington suburbs.
Now, a string of random killings might not have been a wise choice as
subject matter for
Rowan, but he has frequently spiced his act with a little edge and some
topical references.
That kind of comedy always generates complaints, and the Rouse Co. got
some. But
Rowan remained in place as the top act in the amphitheater.
Then, last October, he made some cracks about the snipings.
"I was driving downtown this morning," Rowan said, "and on the radio I
heard that they've
finally come out with a composite of the sniper, so there should be an
arrest forthcoming.
Apparently, he's a white guy that speaks Spanish and looks like he's Arab."
He thinks he might have then quipped: "Five thousand cops and they can't
find one guy."
As I said, wisecracks, and not even that funny -- in the world of
contemporary live comedy,
tame stuff. Rowan can't remember the crowd booing or grumbling about these
remarks.
What he heard was laughter.
But apparently some city police officers took offense and complained to
Harborplace
management. A short time later, the Rouse Co. removed Rowan from the list
of approved
street performers. He hasn't worked at Harborplace, his bread-and-butter
venue, since.
Harborplace was built on city parkland. The amphitheater is a public
space. But the Rouse
Co. generally controls what happens there -- as if it's Disney and the
amphitheater Disney
World. In administering the street-performer program, it holds public
auditions -- for
several years with its once-top performer, Jerry Rowan, as emcee -- and
apparently has
considerable authority over who gets to sing for their supper. (The
performers are not paid,
and work for tips.)
Rowan made plenty of tips but, more than that, his performances at
Harborplace generated
other jobs, including many corporate parties, at $1,000 a pop. All that
has dried up in the
year since he was blacklisted.
"I'm sitting here reading Inside Lacrosse magazine," Rowan said yesterday.
Rowan's wife is a physical therapist. He's a stay-at-home dad with two
little kids, and he
doesn't have much time during the week to promote himself or run out for
jobs, even if he
got them. The fabulous, good-weather weekends at Harborplace generated
most of his
annual income as a street performer, $20,000 to $30,000.
The hardship on Rowan might not be our concern.
But every fan of free speech should be outraged that, based on a couple of
complaints,
some fraidy-cat with a degree in marketing can ban the likes of Jerry
Rowan from a public
place.
"By allowing speech to be banned solely because of its content," said
Rajeev Goyle, the
ACLU attorney representing Rowan, "the city of Baltimore has transformed
the Inner
Harbor, a large public gathering place that is Baltimore's main public
square, into an area
where only approved speech is permitted, in direct violation of the First
Amendment."
The "Rousting" of this guy out of Harborplace is an outrage. I'm glad the
ACLU is suing
the city on Rowan's behalf.
But I'm a taxpayer of the old palatinate and I don't want to pay for a big
settlement.
So let's put the man back to work -- in Harborplace, in prime time, on
busy weekend
afternoons -- and let him work for laughs, and for his supper.
[ 10-19-2003: Message edited by: Jim ]</p>
-----------------------------------------------------------
www.mddailyrecord.com
Volume: 4 Number: 84_wednesday October 8, 2003
Comedian sues city after being barred from Inner Harbor
By EZRA K. FIESER
Daily Record Business Writer
The joke is on the city of Baltimore. It‚s been sued ˜ by a comedian. The
American Civil
Liberties Union has added street performer Jerry Rowan to a lawsuit
claiming the city‚s
rules governing the street performer program at the Inner Harbor violate
the First
Amendment.
- Ezra K. Fieser
www.sunspot.net/maryland
Comedian's wisecracks no cause for censorship
Dan Rodricks
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Originally published Oct 9, 2003
Dan Rodricks
------------------------------------------------------------------------
I‚M GLAD the American Civil Liberties Union is taking up for the
comic-juggler Jerry
Rowan. Remind me to send these people some money. I want to remain a
card-carrying
member of any organization that stands up for a standup comic's right to
balance a bicycle
on his nose and tell jokes in the town square -- in this case, the Inner
Harbor -- even if
someone in the crowd takes offense.
This is Baltimore, not Beijing.
This is the land of the free, where the first lady of Maryland can
announce she'd like to
shoot Britney Spears -- and not even apologize!
This is a great country!
Rush Limbaugh is an overrated talk-show host because the media in this
country have been
very desirous that a middle-aged white blowhard do well.
There, I said it!
Vive la liberte! (That's French. I used it just then to annoy the
French-haters out there.
Pretty funny, huh?)
But what we have here in Rowan vs. City of Baltimore is a comic being
deprived of a
livelihood -- and a public deprived of his humor -- because of some
arbitrary judgment that
a couple of jokes he delivered during his juggling act a year ago near the
Rouse Co.'s
Harborplace were offensive to persons unknown.
As one of the most popular performers at the Inner Harbor over the past
two decades,
Rowan, a New York wise guy and graduate of the Ringling Bros. and Barnum &
Bailey
Clown College, has told a million jokes while pedaling a unicycle and
juggling flaming
torches in the amphitheater between the Light and Pratt street pavilions.
He has a very
strong act, with lots of clever improv. He is blessed with great timing
and the instincts for
working a crowd into big laughs.
The jokes that got him into trouble with the Rouse Co. last October were
more wisecracks
than anything else -- the kind of thing you might get from sarcastic
deejays on FM rock
stations during morning drive time -- and they had to do with the sniper
shootings in the
Washington suburbs.
Now, a string of random killings might not have been a wise choice as
subject matter for
Rowan, but he has frequently spiced his act with a little edge and some
topical references.
That kind of comedy always generates complaints, and the Rouse Co. got
some. But
Rowan remained in place as the top act in the amphitheater.
Then, last October, he made some cracks about the snipings.
"I was driving downtown this morning," Rowan said, "and on the radio I
heard that they've
finally come out with a composite of the sniper, so there should be an
arrest forthcoming.
Apparently, he's a white guy that speaks Spanish and looks like he's Arab."
He thinks he might have then quipped: "Five thousand cops and they can't
find one guy."
As I said, wisecracks, and not even that funny -- in the world of
contemporary live comedy,
tame stuff. Rowan can't remember the crowd booing or grumbling about these
remarks.
What he heard was laughter.
But apparently some city police officers took offense and complained to
Harborplace
management. A short time later, the Rouse Co. removed Rowan from the list
of approved
street performers. He hasn't worked at Harborplace, his bread-and-butter
venue, since.
Harborplace was built on city parkland. The amphitheater is a public
space. But the Rouse
Co. generally controls what happens there -- as if it's Disney and the
amphitheater Disney
World. In administering the street-performer program, it holds public
auditions -- for
several years with its once-top performer, Jerry Rowan, as emcee -- and
apparently has
considerable authority over who gets to sing for their supper. (The
performers are not paid,
and work for tips.)
Rowan made plenty of tips but, more than that, his performances at
Harborplace generated
other jobs, including many corporate parties, at $1,000 a pop. All that
has dried up in the
year since he was blacklisted.
"I'm sitting here reading Inside Lacrosse magazine," Rowan said yesterday.
Rowan's wife is a physical therapist. He's a stay-at-home dad with two
little kids, and he
doesn't have much time during the week to promote himself or run out for
jobs, even if he
got them. The fabulous, good-weather weekends at Harborplace generated
most of his
annual income as a street performer, $20,000 to $30,000.
The hardship on Rowan might not be our concern.
But every fan of free speech should be outraged that, based on a couple of
complaints,
some fraidy-cat with a degree in marketing can ban the likes of Jerry
Rowan from a public
place.
"By allowing speech to be banned solely because of its content," said
Rajeev Goyle, the
ACLU attorney representing Rowan, "the city of Baltimore has transformed
the Inner
Harbor, a large public gathering place that is Baltimore's main public
square, into an area
where only approved speech is permitted, in direct violation of the First
Amendment."
The "Rousting" of this guy out of Harborplace is an outrage. I'm glad the
ACLU is suing
the city on Rowan's behalf.
But I'm a taxpayer of the old palatinate and I don't want to pay for a big
settlement.
So let's put the man back to work -- in Harborplace, in prime time, on
busy weekend
afternoons -- and let him work for laughs, and for his supper.
[ 10-19-2003: Message edited by: Jim ]</p>
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