BALTIMORE, Md. — Last Saturday night, Erica, Fritz and I ventured up to Locust Point, Baltimore to see our friend Sean, the husband of my old neighbor (and former babysitter) Allison play with his band, Maggie’s Leap at J. Patrick’s. A great time was had by all.

I went in thinking J. Patrick’s was going to be a a little rough, given the part of town it is located in. Despite having to cross nine railroad tracks to get there from I-95, Locust Point is well on the way to gentrification, so it lacked the surly longshoremen I had been led to believe spent their evenings there. The entire block featured well-maintained brownstones which we probably could not afford at this point. The bar itself was the kind of neighborhood bar that few neighborhoods have anymore. Sure, there was also plastic hanging from the ceiling, but that did not bother me or the others. It gave the place character. Also, as Sean was happy to point out, there are no TVs there. “Why go to a pub to watch TV.” Hard to argue with that logic. There are no windows either.

Anyhow, Maggie’s Leap took the stage around nine and would play on well past midnight. The first set was mostly traditional Irish songs that I was not terribly familiar with — they were not rowdy drinking songs. In the second set the picked up with some more familiar audience participate songs like Whiskey in the Jar. Overall exhaustion prevented us from staying as long as we would have liked, but we had a great time.

Food wise, the wings were quite tasty and quickly devoured. A pitcher of Smithwicks did not last long either. Their Irish coffee with several kinds of liquor, including but limited to: Jameson, Kahlua, Triple Sec, was also enjoyed by the person who got it. The regular coffee was apparently quite good as well.

I don’t know when Maggie’s Leap is playing there again, but we are planning on making a return trip. I will let you all know about it right here.