Pajama Clappin House Party at West Bowie Village Hall

Last July I came across a promotional video for an event to be held at the West Bowie Village Hall. The video advertised an upcoming party called the Pajama Clappin House, and the video featured women performing booty clappin. If you're not familiar with the term, urbandictionary.com defines booty clappin as follows:

When a woman makes a clapping sound with her booty. Shaking her butt and making the cheeks slap together, making a clapping sound.

Women making their ass cheeks move up and down or side to side. Usually preformed by moving only one ass cheek at a time and not moving any other part of the body.

Although the promotional video for the Pajama Clappin House party is no longer available on YouTube, you can click here to see a sample video of booty clappin. Warning: it's not a good idea to watch the video at work or around the kids.

The promotional video also included shots of the following poster:



The promotional video was shared via Facebook and e-mail, and Nick Marfow, owner of West Bowie Village Hall, LLC, was eventually contacted by someone who saw the video. Marfow expressed shock and concern that this type of event was being planned for the hall, and he said that he was going to cancel the event. Within a few hours of Marfow committing to stop the event, the promotional video was removed from YouTube.

I recently learned that the event was not canceled. The party took place on Sunday, July 18th as planned despite Marfow's claim that he was going to cancel the party.

Although Marfow was telling some people that he would never allow such events to take place in the hall, he continued to allow the hall to be used for the parties. After the murder of 26 year-old Kenneth Lamarr Prince occurred outside the hall, Morfaw could no longer hide the fact that these type of parties were taking place. Morfaw then took the position that there was nothing wrong with the parties.

An injunction was issued last Friday temporarily banning the following types of events from West Bowie Village Hall:

"any commercial dance or other commercial event to which tickets are sold or admission charged to the general public"

A court hearing should take place by October 25th to determine whether or not the ban on these types of events should be permanent.


Related Links

• Bowie Patch article: Shooting Prompts Investigation of West Bowie Village Parties
  
• Bowie Patch article: City Takes Action Against West Bowie Village
  

Photo Gallery: Rolling Thunder Skate Competition

The following photos were taken at Bowie Skate Park on Sunday, October 17, 2010 while skateboarders were warming up for the Rolling Thunder Skate Competition.

Martin's Deli in Old Bowie Under New Management - Again

It was only last June that the Bowie Star reviewed Martin's Deli in Old Bowie after it was purchased by Linda and Ray Hayden. The Haydens planned on changing the name of the restaurant, and they solicited input from customers. I heard that they decided to change the name to Ma's Kitchen or Mom's Kitchen. Before they got around to changing the sign, the couple decided to get out of the the restaurant business. A "bad back" was the reason that I heard.

The "Under New Management" sign has been hanging above the entrance of the restaurant since the time the Haydens took over last spring, but now it refers to the new new management, not the old new management.

The restaurant is now being run by a family from Silver Spring. They could not be nicer people, and the service is very fast.

The new owners are soliciting input for a new restaurant name. The top choice appears to be Old Town Deli, which was one of the names under consideration by the Haydens.

The new owners are currently offering most of the items that were on the Hayden's menu, but new daily lunch specials will be added soon including chicken fried rice, shrimp fried rice, chicken teriyaki, curry dishes and dumplings. Daily breakfast specials are being offered starting at 7am on weekdays and Saturdays, and the restaurant is open until 5pm on weekdays and 3pm on Saturdays.

Stop in and say hello to Helen.

Bowie News and Views: Bowie Star Editor Ken Sain

This week's episode of Bowie News and Views is now on YouTube in two parts. John Rouse and Burt Oliver chat with editor Ken Sain who is responsible for the Bowie Star as well as the Landover, Lanham, Largo and New Carrollton Gazettes.

Ken Sain talks about the Washington Post's commitment to community news. Community news is a profitable business, and the Post invested over $20 million in a new headquarters in Laurel, $25 million in a new press and millions of dollars in a new content management software package.

Although Bowie residents receive the print edition of the Bowie Star weekly, Sain considers the paper to be a daily news organization with frequent updates to the Gazette website. The website received 1.8 million page views and 300,000 unique visitors last month that Sain attributes to the paper's election coverage. Despite the importance of the web for up-to-date news, the weekly print edition continues to provide the majority of the revenue for the paper.

Sain acknowledged that the launch of Bowie Patch has created competition for real time Bowie news, but Sain said that he doesn't focus on being the first to publish a story. Sain said that it is important for the Bowie Star to stay true to its mission of providing the best and most comprehensive coverage of Bowie. "Our mission is not to be Bowie Patch and get the first story up," Sain declares. That answer may be technically true, but I have no doubt that Sain wants to provide the best and most comprehensive coverage AND get the scoops. The Gazette was the first of the Bowie media outlets to post a story last Saturday morning about the murder outside West Bowie Village Hall, and I have no doubt that the paper responded more quickly than it would have on a past weekend day before Bowie Patch was launched.

Sain revealed that he has had a discussion with Bowie Communications Coordinator Una Cooper about having the local media organizations coach the city to more efficiently provide information to the local media outlets, and Sain suggested that it would be helpful for the city to create a public information officer position.

Click here to see the entire Bowie News and Views YouTube collection, and click here to see the entire set of Bowie cable television YouTube videos.

Early Morning Shooting Leaves One Dead in Bowie

The Bowie Star is reporting an early morning shooting that left one person dead on Old Annapolis Road in Bowie around 5:30am. There aren't a lot of details available at the moment. According to Bowie activist Sandy Short, Old Annapolis Road is closed in front of the liquor store as of 11:30am.

Click here to read the Bowie Star story. I'm sure that it will be updated as details become available.

Weekly News from the Bowie Star

The transition plans for the new City Hall are starting to take place. Click here for the story.

Delegate Hubbard said that he is giving priority to a second high school in Bowie. Click here for the story.

Bowie Police Chief Kathy Perez and the city's Education Committee will update the City Council during a work session on Monday. Click here for the story.

Read more stories in this week's Bowie Star.

Bowie News and Views: Richard Castaldi, Former County Councilman

This week's episode of Bowie News and Views is now on YouTube in two parts. John Rouse and Burt Oliver chat with former County Councilman Richard Castaldi about the future of Prince George's county.

Castaldi has high hopes for the county, and he described Rushern Baker as a bright light. Castaldi is waiting to see who Baker surrounds himself with, and he admits that Baker has a lot of challenges ahead with the board of education and the state of the schools in the county. Castaldi cites parental involvement and home schooling as two problems in education, and he shows his age by referring to "Atari games."

Click here to see the entire Bowie News and Views YouTube collection, and click here to see the entire set of Bowie cable television YouTube videos.

Collecting Coal Along the Pope's Creek Line in Bowie

During a recent excursion with the kids to hunt for railroad spikes in Bowie, we came across a man collecting coal along the side of the tracks. The coal fell out of rail cars, and the man said that he was collecting it for a "friend" who burns it in a wood stove during the winter for heat. I'm not sure if he was just being frugal or if he fell on hard times.

Picking up coal along railroad tracks was a common practice during the Great Depression. The following is a copy of a public service poster from the 1930s discouraging parents from letting their kids pick coal along the tracks.

Photo from the Black is the New Black blog

Danger!! Parents: See that your children play in a safe place! Do not sent them out on the railroad tracks to pick coal!

Tons of coal are shipped through Bowie each day on the Pope's Creek Rail Line bound for power plants in southern Maryland.

The Pope's Creek line begins in Old Bowie at the Amtrak Northeast Corridor main line near the railroad museum. The northern sections of the track run along Chestnut Avenue and High Bridge Road, and the tracks eventually take a path that parallels Route 301.

View Pope's Creek Rail Line in Bowie, Maryland in a larger map

Coal cars entering the Pope's Creek Rail Line at the intersection with Amtrak's Northeast Corridor main line in Old Bowie near the railroad museum.

Coal cars crossing Chestnut Avenue

Coal found along Pope's Creek Rail Line in Bowie

Coal and Railroad spike found along Pope's Creek Rail Line

Related Links

• Oral History Project: Man Recalls Close Encounter with a Train as a Boy
• Picture of Boys Picking Coal in 1914

Bowie News and Views: Mayor G. Fred Robinson

This week's episode of Bowie News and Views is now on YouTube in two parts. John Rouse and Burt Oliver chat with Bowie Mayor G. Fred Robinson about the potential impact of the new county executive and county council. Mayor Robinson is cautiously optimistic, and he is hoping to see changes in public safety and education. Robinson would also like the City of Bowie to have greater authority in land use decisions. Mayor Robinson also had a lot of positives things to say about presumptive county executive Rushern Baker.

Click here to see the entire Bowie News and Views YouTube collection, and click here to see the entire set of Bowie cable television YouTube videos.

Where in Bowie? #6 - Answer revealed

In a previous blog post, I asked if anyone knew the Bowie location depicted in a set of photographs taken by Arnie Miles for the Bowie Blade in 1975. The dog rabies vaccination clinic featured in the photos was held on the grass along Route 450 near the front of Bowie High School and the Library in May, 1975. The location where some of the people are standing in 1975 is now part of the roadway for Route 450. The road was only two lanes wide in 1975.

Jennifer Raymond posted the correct answer on Facebook, and fellow Bowie blogger Bill posted the correct answer in the Bowie Living blog comments. Bill has a blog called Precipitative Ponderings that includes his thoughts on weather, climate and general science. Click here to see a video that Bill made of last Wednesday's thunderstorm in Bowie.

I recently visited the site where the rabies vaccination clinic was held to take a few pictures. Below I have a set of before and after pictures for comparison.

In the following set, the Levitt colonial can barely be seen in 2010 because of the large pine trees. You can see how small those same trees were in 1975. In both pictures, you can see the chimney on the only Country Clubber style house on Sussex Lane. Click on each picture to see an enlarged version. I also included a close-up shot of the colonial and the Country Clubber chimney.

1975

2010

2010 Close-Up

The "after" picture in the following set wasn't taken from exactly the same spot as the "before" picture, but it's close. The pine trees are visible in the background of both pictures. The top of one of the Cape style houses on Sussex Lane is also visible in both pictures.

1975

2010

And here is my favorite set of "before and after" pictures. The grass looks much better in the second photo!

1975

2010

Photos of Bowie Maryland 1973 through 1975 by Arnie Miles is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
License

Other "Where in Bowie" Posts:

• Where in Bowie #1
• Where in Bowie #2
• Where in Bowie #3
• Where in Bowie #4
• Where in Bowie #5

Other Bowie Blade Pic Project Posts

• Next: Teenager Crashes Stolen Plane at Freeway Airport
• Previous: Where in Bowie #6: Rabies Vaccination Clinic
• All

Where in Bowie #6: Rabies Vaccination Clinic

The following photos were taken by Arnie Miles when he worked for the Bowie Blade in the 1970s. I have been posting some of Arnie's photos on Bowie Living as part of the Bowie Blade Pic Project.

These photos capture an outdoor rabies vaccination clinic held in May, 1975.

Can you identify where in Bowie these photos were taken? Do you recognize anyone in the pictures? Click on the photos to see larger images.

Click here for the answer.

Photos of Bowie Maryland 1973 through 1975 by Arnie Miles is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
License

Other "Where in Bowie" Posts:

• Where in Bowie #1
• Where in Bowie #2
• Where in Bowie #3
• Where in Bowie #4
• Where in Bowie #5

Other Bowie Blade Pic Project Posts

• Next: Where in Bowie? #6 - Answer revealed
• Previous: Bowie Fires: Then and Now
• All

Bowie Fires: Then and Now

Wednesday night's fire on Kembridge Drive (click here to read details) inspired me to search through some of the negatives from photos that Arnie Miles shot for the Bowie Blade back in the 1970s. The negatives for these photos are on loan from Arnie Miles, and I have been posting them on Bowie Living as part of the Bowie Blade Pic Project.

Member of Bowie Volunteer Fire Department Company 39 were present at both fires. I was able to make out the names "Silvers" and "Lawson" from the helmets in the 1975 photos.

May or June, 1975

Photos of Bowie Maryland 1973 through 1975 by Arnie Miles is licensed under a Creative
Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States
License

September 22, 2010

The 12300 block of Kembridge Drive

Other Bowie Blade Pic Project Posts

• Next: Where in Bowie #6: Rabies Vaccination Clinic
• Previous: Bowie Swim Teams: Then and Now
• All