Roofs/Cranes

After arriving back in Baltimore at 12am, after a 5 or so hour drive from Ohio/Pittsburgh. i was feeling oddly energetic for having such a demanding weekend and being tired for most of it. I guess all i needed was the little power nap i got in the car.

I got started on editing some of the 800 some photos i took that weekend until i checked Facebook to learn that a far away friend was in town from Canada for Maryland Death Fest X.

She invited me down to hang out with her at her hotel room with her friends before she left the next morning but it was really late and all modes of public transportation were done running for the night. So after a few “I’d love to buts” and “I wish i coulds”, I finally said to “Fuck it, I’m gonna walk be there in a bit” and stormed out my house with my camera equipment.

I was not tired and had no reason to stay inside except for maybe the potential mugging that is always present in Harm City. But her informing me of metal heads partying on the roof was reason enough to walk my ass down there. As if my Urbex quench wasn’t satisfied enough, my road trip did not include any decent rooftops which had me itching. Especially since i previously tried to access this roof once before and was not successful. Plus, i knew my way around living here my whole life and knew the safest routes were through the hipster districts and the uppity areas.

About 45 minutes later i was downtown. Sometimes i forget how close things are when i take public transit or ride in a car most the time. And the walk was mostly downhill and quite relaxing.

I got to the building and must have called this girl about 10 times in a row but her phone was off. i was worried i would wind up not meeting  up with her at all. So i sat outside and lit up a cigarette and waited a few for a call back since i knew she was expecting me. Luckily, this time of year the whole city is swarmed with vagrant crust punks, train hoppers and metal heads from all over the world who gathered in this city for the festival, and there were crowds of them outside, so i did not stand out at all being dirty and sweaty from the previous weekend trip with a Baltimore Punx Picnic shirt on and camouflage shorts.

As soon as i was starting to get sad, I happened to stumble upon 3 bucks on the ground and i knew it was my lucky night. I walked inside past the lobby to the elevator with no questioning since being filthy was actually blending in for once.

After getting of at an upper floor i finally got a call from her. But the part of the building i was in oddly had no service. So with her being tipsy (using the word liberally) and hearing nothing more but half sentences and choppy words i managed to tell her i was in the building but couldn’t communicate the part where i asked what room/floor she was on. so i stood discreetly in a corner with a vending machine with my newly acquired dollar bills in hand and waited for a call. i got too anxious and heard a loud room down the hallway. with all the empty beer cans and bottles outside the door i thought nothing of just knocking and asking if she was there. some older metalhead guy with a large beard cracked the door and peeked at me. “What do you want?!” he said. “Uhh. sorry to bother you. But is a girl named (insert friend’s name here) there? i forgot which room she said she was in.” He then yelled to the other partying people “IS THERE A (insert friend’s name here) in here?” he told me i had the wrong room and shut the door, but not fast enough in time for me to hear a girl shout “Not unless you have any cocaine!”

I finally said fuck it all and went on the roof solo. after taking a few shots i thought i’d try again and call her and got through this time. i told her to meet me there.

We finally met and gave each other a big hug and she immediately apologized for not answering her phone earlier. she was getting fucked by roaming fees since she’s from Canada. She even brought along a bunch of loud drunk crusties  with her who yelled and one even somehow accidentally broke a bottle against his own head when he fell into a wall. Luckily didn’t seem cut. but they all were sitting in broken glass now and two of the guys had no shoes on.

I wanted to get on the highest tier and my friend agree’d so we went off to reach the apex.

I saw a cool photo op as she stood with buildings in the background and asked for a photo. she sat down already in a perfect position and i snapped this shot. Actually about 10 shots since she wouldn’t stay still after asking her multiple times. but she was a bit wet brained so i didn’t mind. this one is the only non blurry one even thought you can tell her head was sorta in motion.

After wandering the building next door which you could access through a tiny bridge connecting them and passing an open fan room door with lights on, we made it to the top of there and caught the early signs that the sun was about to rise and snapped some shots.

After that some they decided they had to go to bed in order to get up to drive back to canada the next day. So they all kept trying to get one of the guys up who passed out “Dude you can’t sleep up here man, you’ll wake up in jail. we gotta go, can you stand up.” followed by the him mumbling “…yeah man… uhhhh. sure…” i wished her good luck and gave her a goodbye hug since i was gonna stick around for a few more shots. i looked her straight in her drunken eyes and told her multiple times “MAKE SURE YOU DO NOT LOCK ME UP HERE. PROP THE DOORS OPEN AND MAKE SURE YOU ARE LAST IN THE LINE. CAN YOU REPEAT THAT TO ME?!” She laughed and said “yeah, i promise!”. Luckily i was not locked on on the roof and made my way out. tThe busses were still not running until 6:30am so i walked my way back uptown and enjoyed the morning light.. all in all an epic end to an epic weekend.