Rob Lee: Welcome to The Truth In This Art, your source for conversations connecting arts, culture, and community. These are stories that matter, and I am your host, Rob Lee. Today I'm excited to be running it back and catching up with one of my favorite guests. He's an award-winning documentary filmmaker, public historian, and now serves as the curator at the mayor's office at Baltimore City Hall. My guest has over 20 years of experience in film, photography, and oral history. We first spoke back in 2022 and have collaborated on numerous video podcasts since. So I'm excited to catch up and welcome back to the program Joe Tropea. Welcome back to the podcast.
Joe Tropea: Yeah, well, thank you for having me back, Rob. Yeah, I'm Joe Tropea. I'm a public historian, filmmaker, educator, curator. I think that's everything I do. And I'm a native Baltimorean. And yeah, thanks for having me back.
Rob Lee: Yeah, absolutely. Like, when I saw that in your bio, I don't know why I keep forgetting you're a native Baltimorean because with that mix, as far as the people I've had on, it's like, who's really a Baltimorean? We're starting to become that. Who's really from here? Right, right.
Joe Tropea: There's no reason for that, maybe.
Rob Lee: Is it true? People don't think I'm from here. And it's like, yo, Lafayette Projects. You know, Wes Baltimore, what do you say? And so let's talk a bit about, like, you know, film documentaries. So from, you know, co-directing an award-winning film, Hit and Stay, to directing Sicki's Making Films, and your more recent work of Gaze's Barber, what initially attracted you to any of these projects? Like, what's that initial hook for you to say, I want to work on this? And how has that maybe evolved over time? Is this story, is it sort of, this is going to be technically challenging? Talk a bit about that.
Joe Tropea: Yeah. Well, I, you know, I try to go for stories that I have some connection to, right? So like with Hit and Stay is a story about priests and nuns who broke in the draft boards. I grew up being indoctrinated into Catholicism for like nine years. Went to an early school with nuns that terrified me. But I also grew up, you know, during the era of the Vietnam War movie. So I was obsessed with Vietnam movies. And I was like, as a teenager, like worried I was going to get drafted into the war. And so, you know, doing a story about priests and nuns that broke into draft boards to protest the war is just something that was a natural fit.
And I'd say the same thing about Sicki's Making Films, which is a documentary about the history of the movies told through the parts of the movies that censors cut out of movies. That, you know, was right in my wheelhouse, too. I worked for a video store rental chain for a decade.
And that was really my film school. So I felt somewhat qualified, like to tackle the subject. But, you know, I try to also just go where the universe takes me, which is kind of a hippie-dippy thing to say.
And I don't think I'm very hippie or dippy, but that story fell in my lap where I met the drummer from Fugazi, who told me the story of the movie, of the short documentary that I was later to make. And it involved a barber. And, you know, my dad was a barber, and I kind of grew up spending time in barber shops after school.
So another, you know, natural fit. So and as far as evolution, I hope I've evolved. I hope I've become a better filmmaker. My goal is always for the next project to not take as long as the last project, because I am self-funded. I don't, you know, I never aspired to be Ken Burns, you know, where I've got like my next five projects lined up and GM or the Koch brothers are going to be paying for it for me.
I'm not interested in that. So, yeah, that's as far as evolution goes, I have noticed that I tend to be drawn to complicated stories, which is a double edged sword. I like complicated stories. I hate watching movies where everything is like clean and tidy and spelled out for you. Like I like to do a little work when I watch a movie to follow along. And I like to make work that I hope makes people like ask questions along the way. And so, so yeah, that's that's what I'm drawn to. And that's what I've done. Yeah. Wow.
Rob Lee: Thank you. There are two comments I want to make. One is kind of ridiculous, but, you know, dad was a barber, right? So, you know, this kind of explains the strong, consistent hair that you have going on. Because I'm looking at it and I was just like, all right, I'm bald. My beard is a little patchy. Yours is like you got like the monochromatic thing going and then it's a strong head of hair.
Joe Tropea: Thank you. Yeah. I genetics is all I can say. My mother's side of the family went bald. I'm lucky that my Italian side apparently did not. So, so yeah, thanks. Yeah.
Rob Lee: And one of the other things that that comes to mind, I think when it comes to sort of story and this next question kind of relates to it, I try not to do, I try to do some work, you know, in doing this.
I don't want the perfect clean thing. And, you know, we've worked together on a few things and my approach is get the, have the conversation be the driver, be the lead. Where's the story at within that conversation? All of the sort of polishing that people do to make it look really glamorous. Sure, it's going to be technically on point, but keep the ums in keep these things that are the imperfections because I think those imperfections, those pauses that give so much context and texture to a story versus all right, let's just trim that out.
The AI style of things. Let's just trim that out. And I think, you know, in the times that we work together, you really got that through, like what I'll be even saying, it's, you know, it's just like we were on this page, I think, you know, just seeing eye to eye, me going into trying to do video in addition to the audio. Like I know the audio piece.
Joe Tropea: Yeah, I mean, I don't want to work with people that I don't have that connection with. There you go. I said, I hope you're right about that man because when I listen to myself and I hear all the ums, I want to go pencil and jam it in my ear and then you think about it and then is all you can say. Yeah, so I like what you're saying. Yeah, thank you.
Rob Lee: So the sort of next question, this relates to the documentary side of things, right, where, you know, this this year, and I was telling me a little bit about this, I went to OneAirFest earlier this year, and I heard this compelling idea. I think it was from Catherine St. Louis about the commitment to finding the definitive story for a project. You know, she does a true crime podcast and it requires reaching out to folks who are connected to a particular story.
And, you know, the sort of point that she was making with her colleague in this panel was getting the definitive story and making those sort of choices, right? Like, let's say they have a really interesting story and it's like, well, I can't find this person or this person and it's like integral people that are in the story. And it's like, we may not be the people to do this because we can't serve in a way that we like to tell a story.
So have you ever had an experience where you may have to give up on a project or maybe table a project because, you know, maybe you either don't have that funding or you can't find the folks in it that's going to really do justice for it. And is there a story behind any of those instances?
Joe Tropea: Yeah, wow. What a great question. I have probably way too many examples. I'll give you two because they're somewhat fresh. I was working on a documentary with my partner wife. It was going to be about the State Department. It is really, it's her story.
We were going to call it the State of the Department. And, you know, she had some experience with this. She kind of had an insider's view somewhat, I should say. And we started doing, we started filming interviews and we were cooking. And, you know, we got some high-profile-ish people to come on camera. And then what we needed were like, you know, worker aunts of the State Department to talk to us and what we consistently found out through ask letters and emails and phone calls was that people were afraid to talk to us.
They did not want to jeopardize either their retirement or their job. And eventually it was just like, well, wow, we have all these components lined up. But without this, you, without people willing to like tell their story, we can't really tell this story. And so we had to kind of abandon it.
And then like backing up bigger picture, you know, with all this going on right now, the last thing I want to do is pick at a part of the government that's probably already got enough shit going on, like, you know, with Trump and Phelan Musk just attacking and firing, you know, I'm not interested in this climate of doing that. So that's one story that we kind of had to let go. There's another one. There was another thing where it was a friend's idea. And he came with this, the story of a man named Donald Lambrite who went haywire on a turnpike and shot and killed a bunch of people. And he was the son of the vaudeville comedian actor, Steppen Fetcher.
Oh, wow. And it was like a story that was, you know, kind of incredible in so many ways. Like there's the crime part, but then there's like the, you know, this guy grew up, presumably under really tough circumstances, having like a legendary father.
And, you know, he grew up in that milieu of fame. But when it came down to it, my friend who came to me with the story is a fellow white guy. And I am white and it felt like, you know what, the two of us can't tell, like, I don't know that we should be telling this story.
So we thought about like, well, you know, let's try to figure out who we could ask to join us and, you know, be an equal partner collaborator in this. And it just, it never went anywhere. And then I think like I maybe had my fill of true crime stories because it's kind of blown up a little bit in the last decade or so. But, you know, it was compelling beyond that. But, you know, again, it's just we had to believe it and not do anything with it. So there's two examples, but I have so many more.
Rob Lee: No, no, and thank you for that because I, you know, I think we, we had this sense, like, you know, again, as I think of Ornera Fest and any of these opportunities to be someone who's been around, like I've been podcasting for almost two decades now, which I feel really weird saying that. But listening to folks who are in this position where they've already kind of not made it, but they're in a spot that's a little different and they leave out sort of the record scratches and the skips and the misfires and things of that nature. But when you get something that actually speaks to what the criteria and what is the sort of failings or what are the sort of like pump fakes, if you will, the failure to the launch, those are the things that I'm really interested in because that gives me sort of direction as to what I may want to do, you know, in doing this podcast. Like I never framed this to be the definitive interview that I'm going to do with Joe Tropea or the definitive interview that, because this is why we're doing the second one, or the definitive interview that I'm going to do with anyone. It's sort of, this is a part of the larger story and that's the way that I look at it. That's the way I frame it. And I think it takes pressure like off of me, but there are instances where I'll have guests reach out and I try not to turn down referrals too often. And I was like, I don't know if this person fits almost to the example you were talking about with your collaborators. Like, we're too white guys.
I don't know. And it's just like, I don't know if I'm the person for this interview. Like my style is very much conversational and I aim to be authentic. But if it feels like this is just a marketing thing and throw up these softballs, I don't really talk to politicians, you know, because a lot of times it's, it's that sort of vibe.
And if there is one that I talk to, the story I'm looking for something that kind of transcends just the, hey, you know, here's some sort of softball-ish questions for you to passively promote whatever it is your, your inclination is or your initiative is. Yeah. Yeah. And I think that's really important because, you know, as you're, you touched on, you know, self-funded, I'm self-funded.
And these are really considerations, even outside of the money time is a thing like I, you know, and having worked with you, you're very meticulous in your editing, which I appreciate. I am not, I handed off to someone else. I'm like, man, you got it. I'll be over here. That's up this edit because I said that, by the way.
Joe Tropea: I also serve time as a copy editor. So like being meticulous is just kind of something like, you know, that's like just in me. I try to fight it sometimes, but often lose. Yeah. Yeah.
Rob Lee: So we tease this a moment ago and even earlier in this conversation, you know, so having collaborated with you, like you, you have a specific energy of how you go about things. And as you talked about, there's alignment, you know, we, we're going about our stuff in a very similar fashion. In your experience, what are some of the most important dynamics in a successful collaboration, like excluding, you know, sort of our collaboration, but just generally, like, what are you looking for in a successful collaboration? What do you actively like seek from a collaborator? Like, when do you know, like, this person is going to be great to work with?
Joe Tropea: Yeah, that's, that's a really great question. I mean, I think on some level, it comes down to attraction. Like, is there something about this person that gets me excited about doing this with them? And, you know, that can be in so many different forms. It can be like, you know, you, I think you're such a great guitarist. I just want to, I just want to stand next to you and I'll just bang a tambourine because, you know, and that'll be enough for me. In other cases, you know, maybe, and I've not been in this situation, but I imagine, you know, money, money could help motivate a collaboration. Like, if you pay me right, I will show up and give you 110%.
Yeah, I've no experience with that one. But like, yeah, just being attracted to somebody for whatever reason it is, their talent, their, their way of looking at the world. Yeah, you know, stuff like that. And then other things like, can you, can you, can you have a positive disagreement and still like each other at the end of it? Like, and, you know, feel like you, yeah, we've fought over that issue. But like, I still, I still want to work with this person. I still like them. And, you know, either, damn, they were right.
And they helped me see that I was wrong or, oh, they were human enough to admit that I was right and they were wrong. So yeah, I think it, for me, it comes down to attraction and, and just the ability to want to spend time together and, and constructively. Yeah.
Rob Lee: You know, it's, it is a thing like, you know, in doing this, this is a version of collaboration. It's very temporary in that it could be longer, but a lot of times it's very temporary contained to sort of, Hey, here's some questions, take a look at them or send me the information I need to build out questions, do the interview, help with some promotion, see you down the road. That's kind of what that, what that is is very temporary. But collaboration is the point of it where if you have someone who, and you probably noticed, like I talk a little bit before we even get to the recording, because, you know, you don't want someone to go into something just not feeling as comfortable when, even when I do those interviews in person, I'm like, no, brush yourself, put your, you know, put your wings down a little bit, you know, chill out.
You gotta stretch, man. You gotta like, and, and part of that comes from wanting it to be a really good, it's not, but really good, but short, maybe collaborative experience that we're dancing partners in this sort of conversation. And I think in doing that, and being really committed to that, because folks leave, feeling like they've had a good time versus, Hey, you rushed me through this thing to talk about my stuff. And, you know, I find that some people are like, Hey, we got an hour, I'm jammed for studio time or whatever the thing is. And it just leads to, they may not be invested in the conversation afterwards, they may not want to even work with you.
Or just kind of really flat about how you go about your work, because at the root of it, it is collaborative. Right, right. Yeah. So this, this piece right here is still kind of in that vein, and it kind of connects back to the collaboration piece, but also the, the, the person who's kind of made it speaking on their experience. And I, and I had this conversation this past weekend, actually, I was talking with my partner about sort of when folks give out credit, you know what I mean? Like that collaborative credit. So like, I'm all about crediting people. And I know that as far as creatives, especially with AI and all of these different things, folks aren't getting their due credit for their creative contribution and their work, frankly.
And, you know, there are some times I'll get pictures from guests of like headshots. And it's not credited. I'm like, Oh, you got to credit this. I don't want to get yelled at by the photo folks, and, but I find like, we have this inclination, like if I were to be asked, you know, tell me about the story, I'm going to try to be as honest as possible about how I go about it. And this part of it, the sort of podcast story, if you will, is 16 years old, but the last five to six of it has been very collaborative. So if I'm actually speaking on sort of the success of the truth in this art or whatever, I'm going to speak to the importance of community.
And I just going to make it seem like one day I just decided this and my individual greatness is how I got here. It's like, no, it's the dance partners as I was touching on. So, so what do you think about sort of that crediting piece of really, you know, maybe stepping back and thinking about like people who've helped you long along the way, people that you collaborate with bounce ideas off of what does that look like? And maybe how crucial important is like giving credit?
Joe Tropea: I mean, I think giving credit is hugely important. And okay, so I'm a filmmaker and a historian. I'm lucky in a sense that both of those formats films have credits. You get to pick a great song and put it at the end and roll the damn credits, right? And there's no excuse for leaving people out. Every project I have, I start either an email folder in my Gmail or a Google Docs, like people I better not forget to thank on this project.
And as I go along and people help me, their names get entered into it. But it's same with history. You have footnotes when you write a historical essay, and you don't take credit for ideas that aren't yours. You, you know, you credit them in the footnotes. And I happen to love footnotes. Like my dream is to make historical documentaries where I somehow put footnotes in the film. Like, but yeah, I think, I think it's hugely important.
And I realize there are other art forms like paintings, maybe, you know, it's harder. And, you know, in podcasts or radio, or, you know, you hear people talk really fast and they list all the names of people they have to thank, you've got that. But yeah, it's hugely important. If I do work on something, I want to be credited for it. And if, yeah, and it just, it goes both ways. So I, but, you know, maybe, maybe for me, it's training. It's just something I I learned early and always leaned on.
Rob Lee: As far as this season, I have some music that leads into the rapid fire portion that I do on the edit. And it's a family member who did the music for me, and I'm like, how do you want to be credited? He's like, no, I don't have to credit me. I'm going to credit you because this is part of this sort of thing. And it's chiefly important.
And it is this thing where we have this notion of this, I guess, rugged individualism and the bootstrap thing or whatever it is. And it's like, you've got help. It's fine. Just cop to it. You weren't a gaffer. Like, what are you? You didn't gas the movie or whatever that is. Right.
Joe Tropea: Well, I have to ask Rob, who's your family member that does that music? Because I heard it and I like it.
Rob Lee: It's my son-in-law, which is a very weird thing to say. He does it. And he's a really good producer, talented producer. And I hit him up one day during the holidays.
He actually did my photos to his photographer as well. And I was like, do you have some beats? And he's like, I do.
And he just got a hard drive. And I was like, how many beats do you have? He's like thousands.
I think he's all of them. That's great. And so before I move into this next question, it's going to shift gears a little bit. I got to say, like you touched on sort of your dream around the giving credit piece.
My dream is to give myself various edits and aliases so I can have as many possible instances of giving myself credit. Rob L. Oh, why? Rob Lee with an I. Rob Lee, gay. Nice. Nice. So switching gears to touch. You're in a curator role with the mayor's office. One, congratulations.
Joe Tropea: Thank you. Thanks. Yeah. Thanks. Yeah, it's a relatively new job. I've been there less than a year. I'm back in the curator seat. I spent some time teaching, which was, which was a lot of fun. I almost said hugely rewarding.
Haha. I was an ad junk. So not the case at all, but it was, it was a lot of fun doing that. It's fun being a curator again. It's weird in the sense that I have a tendency to describe things as weird, but here's why it's weird because I'm a curator at a place that's not a museum. It's Baltimore City Hall. So it is kind of like being a curator at a historic site because it very much is a historic site.
The building is going to turn 150 this year. Wow. And I get to do a lot more than, than curate. I, I'm kind of a resident historian. I give tours, but we do have galleries. So I curate galleries. And there are lots of cool side projects I find myself involved in.
Although it's just a really interesting place to work. I'm the kind of citizen that knows who my council person is and have been. But it's kind of cool seeing your council person. Not every day, but you know, a lot of days of the week and it's cool seeing people who were your council person in the last neighborhood you lived in. So, so yeah, it's a neat job. And I, I'm happy to be doing it at a time when I really like our mayor.
So, and I'm not just saying that because I don't think that's going to get me a raise. But yeah, I, I'm down with, with, with the whole, with the whole program and, and it's a, it's a cool, weird job.
Rob Lee: That's great. And, you know, you kind of touched on one of the things I had for later. So thank you for, for making me seem like I'm smoother than I am. Like you come back, but going back a little bit, like, so stepping into the position, like what was one of the like the first things that you were really, it says keen on here, but I don't say the word keen. I must have been on when I was writing it, but really excited to explore or maybe shine a brighter light on in terms of Baltimore history and culture. Like now that you're in that sort of spot where their history is at, you know, you're saying like 150 years this year. So if these walls could talk, you know, so, you know, stepping into the position, what were you really interested in and excited about and, you know, in terms of exploring or increasing your own knowledge based on? Yeah.
Joe Tropea: One of the very first things was, you know, I was told you, we haven't had a curator in a while and there hasn't been a set person to do tours and that's what you're going to do. And I was like, well, okay, I'm a storyteller. I'll give a tour and if I don't know, I'll make shit up. So really what I had to do was bone up on the history of the building. I mean, I, as a Baltimore historian, I kind of know Baltimore's history pretty well, politically speaking, I don't know architectural history and I've learned a good amount of that working there and learning about the history of the building. But yeah, like one of the first things to do was I got the, there were two people sort of filling in and giving tours before I was hired and I sought them out and I was like, hey, will you give me your tour just so that I can, you know, I want to see you do your thing as an example of how I might do my thing.
And so that was great because I got to meet two very nice co-workers and hear their version of it. And then I just like sat down and just did some research and read some stuff and decided like, you know, what can I talk about credibly? Like I'm really, I can talk a little bit about architecture, but not very much before I start sounding like I'm making stuff up. So yeah, that was a very cool first thing to dive into.
Rob Lee: I mean, half of what I do is making stuff up, you know, so it's an awful lot. And I've been on some tours, like I've talked with docents when I went to Austin for the Truth and the Spirit and the Truth and the Sorrow Beyond at that first foray outside of Baltimore. And the first interview I had was with a docent who gave me all of this details about the history of Austin. He was like, we got our first TV this year, you know, the TV station. I was like, he's like, yeah, I was born.
I was like, how old are you? And then really just getting, you know, information through that person's like lens. And, you know, we were able to get a really good podcast out of that too, an interview out of that. So from your perspective, as I would imagine a person who's been on a tour, you know, not only a historian, but also a person that gives tours, what do you like look for as, you know, in your taking a tour and what do you look for that you want the, I guess, people receiving the tour to get from your, your sort of way of going about it? Yeah.
Joe Tropea: I mean, when I take a tour, I mean, this may be a little harsh, but like I want to see like, you know, is this person, is this a good docent? Are they a good tour giver?
And if not, why? Like, what is going wrong? And how can I learn from like, from their mistakes? But also if they're given a great tour, like, wow, how do I like capture some of that energy and do the same thing?
The challenging. So I have a little bit of training, a very minimal training as a docent, but it's something new experience in public history. So it's not like I'm not familiar with it. And my natural way to tell stories is not to stand up and talk to a group. I'm comfortable doing that because I'm a filmmaker and an extrovert, but I'd rather, you know, film it and tell you the story that way or write it on paper and have you read it and tell you the story that way.
But the cool challenging thing about doing this at City Hall and learning and knowing the story is that I have to do it for fifth graders and retirees and coworkers. So, you know, just the entire gamut and you can't tell it the same way for all those groups. Like, if I start telling you about how the dome is made and you're in fifth grade, like you're jumping up and down and running and, you know, bouncing off the walls because I'm being boring as shit. So learning how to tell it different ways for different audiences is kind of a cool challenge. And it will probably help me as a filmmaker because, like, if you apply for a grant or just talk to anyone about your film, especially like the wrong people about your film, they'll be like, who's your audience? And the inclination is like, I want everyone to watch my thing.
I want all audience. That's who. You know, maybe not, you know, children under 12. I'm not making it for that. But there is something to it, you know, you got to know your audience and which details to leave in and which details to leave out for different versions of the same story. Yeah.
Rob Lee: And that's a really good point. Like, you know, it's almost, you have that inclination of, hey, chat GPT, explain this to like a 10-year-old, you know, better than a context. But yeah, it's really knowing that and, you know, trying to apply what one is doing. You know, I'm always tweaking and tinkering with my approach and your point earlier on, you know, sort of maybe a bad docent, maybe a good docent.
What can you glean from either of them? I, because I'm teaching again this year, I was actually at, you know, the site where my class will be at. And I strolled in there like I was running late for class and I was like, oh, that's a ghost situation. I was there for a panel. I was there to observe a panel and it had some students in the class and they'd ask, he's like, so what do you plan to get out of it? Because it was someone from the arts administration lane who was like, oh, snap, Truth in His Art is here.
Because that's my name, apparently. And they were like, man, this guy has a great podcast. And I was like, I am an introvert and I could put this down. And, you know, and kind of doing a little bit of the storytelling thing. I find like that's how I talk now, you know, and trying not to be long-winded.
But that's how I talk now. Everything is kind of story oriented. But ultimately that question that the student asked me, what do you hope to get out of this? I was just like, I don't know, hope to learn something. And so I was observing through that lens and I had a notepad with me.
I was taking copious notes, getting all of this stuff down because I was coming there to learn, shut my brain off and really learn and absorb. Yeah. Yeah. So I got one last real question. All right.
That's some rapid fire questions for you. So the last real one, sort of closing out, pinning everything together as far as the curator role. And any other thing that you really want to cover in here, but what are some projects that are coming up that you're really excited for, sort of in the remainder of, you know, 2025, we're in the beginning of what, Q2 2025? So what are you looking for the remainder of this year? I was almost putting in fiscal terms for this year.
Joe Tropea: Yes. Well, for the remainder of this fiscal year, Rob, but I'm now seriously, yeah, I kind of stepped, I took the role as curator at a point where there was a really cool project already underway. And that project is this, the last four mayors before Mayor Scott never had a chance to have their portraits painted for whatever reason. City Hall has a mayoral portrait gallery.
It's not complete, not every mayor, but it does span from like 1797 to, you know, the 1900s or however long O'Malley was in office because he's the most recent mayor in there. But so last year Mayor Scott started this project where they put out a call for artists and five artists were chosen to do portraits of Mayor Scott and Mayor Dixon and Mayor Rollins Blake and Mayor Pugh and Mayor Young. And so they were already chosen when I came on.
But really the project had, I think they were announced the week that I started. So what I got to do is sort of act as liaison between artist and mayor. And I put together like a luncheon for the artists and mayors and it was cool. And I've gotten to know, you know, I've gotten to know like four or five artists, not super well, but I've gotten to sort of watch their process and talk to them frequently and same with the mayors. I met Mayor Young before and I'd seen Mayor Dixon around town on her bike back when I was on my bike.
But, you know, never really got to talk much. So that's been really cool to sort of try to help connect artists with their mayor. And I'm going to be really excited to unveil them later this year in one of the galleries and show them off because it's going to be pretty cool. One of the stories in the news at the time I came on was the new King Charles painting, which some people described as a blood bath, like, hit a face amidst the blood bath. But apparently, you know, the artist, I'm blanking on that artist's name and I feel terrible.
Apparently the artist liked it and King Charles liked it. So who gives a shit? What's it to you? Like, if artists and subjects are happy, it worked.
It's good. So there are no blood baths forthcoming for Baltimore mayors. But in comparison to the sort of very traditional portraits, which most of the mayoral portraits are, this is going to be very cool. So I'm really excited about it and I can't wait to show them off. That's really great. And it's Jonathan Yeo. Thank you.
Rob Lee: I have to look it up. I was like, that was, you know, it's a great portrait. And thank you for that context. I'm looking forward to seeing what this local talent comes up with and sort of combining the world of politics and the world of sort of art together. Often they seem to be separate, but people are very curious as to when there's like, here's the portrait. I know in the day job, we look at the portrait of our dignitaries and the history of the place I work. And there's one person that the place I work is named after. And that named after the light is always shining on him. No one else's portrait has a shine. I was like, this dude is 5'7".
Why is this portrait? All right, you got it. Cool.
Participation. It's fine. But yeah, it's really great. And that's cool. I think that really adds to it, especially covering sort of the history component.
You know, just as you touched on, it's been years and sort of we've had a number of mayors since the last one. So being able to ensure that that history is captured through art is important.
Joe Tropea: Yeah, I should probably shout out the artists if it's okay. So Gaia is doing the portrait of Mayor Dixon. Megan Lewis is doing Stephanie Rawlings Blake. Kennedy Ringgold is doing Mayor Catherine Pugh. And Karen Warshall is doing the portrait of Mayor Jack Young.
So, and it's been great. Oh, and you're not going to see this one this year, but Ernest Shaw is doing Mayor Scott. And Mayor Scott is not going to show that until after his term because it is bad luck to unveil your portrait while you're still in office. And he does have three years and change to go. So we'll have to wait for that one, but you're going to see four later this year.
Rob Lee: That's really dope. I know all of those artists know of their work. And so that's really cool. A really nice assortment of talent. Yeah, it's been so much fun. And I just learned something. I need to not have my portrait commissioned. That's probably why that one season went really left because I didn't have a portrait done. So, actually, it's my original portrait right now of me. Moving on. Hey.
So that's sort of the main pod. And if you will indulge me, I have four rapid fire question for you. You don't want to overthink these as you know, but I'm an overthinker.
Joe Tropea: Let's do it.
Rob Lee: So here's the first one. I got to go back as my dad's a my dad's a veteran. So I had to watch some Vietnam movies myself over the years. Platoon, I just remembered that being blazed into my head. Do you have one that you really like? One that you watched the line in terms of the Vietnam subject matter?
Joe Tropea: I have watched so many of them so many times, but my go to is going to be full metal jacket by Stanley Kubrick. You know, it's just his stuff is all amazing, but that's I'm not sure there's better better one than that.
Rob Lee: Yes, that is that makes a lot of sense. The Arleigh Emory of it all as a six foot four kind of doughy dude. Young young guanafrio. Oh my God.
Joe Tropea: Yeah. Private pile.
Rob Lee: What is a unique perk of being the curator at City Hall now? Like just something that pops up. It's just like, you know, they have this really special coffee that nobody else in the city has.
Joe Tropea: Oh, Lord Rob, the coffee situation is awful downtown. Don't even get me started. I'm going to say the perk is a nerd answer. I work in a 150 year old building and as a historian, you know, like you can't help but think about like all the weird crazy stuff that went on in this building and how it's changed over time. I mean, I could just entertain myself to no end thinking about stuff like that. So that's that's my answer.
Rob Lee: We like we like nerd answers here. That's great. So two more, two more. What is your one word description of curation?
Joe Tropea: Wow, you've really stumped me here. One word summation of curation.
Rob Lee: Storytelling. You see you right there. You think you've seen like it was going to be hard. You got it. I don't know where that came from. Like you said, you make sometimes it makes stuff up.
Channel that. All right, here's the last one. What is sort of one unexpected might be sort of the word I want to go here but what is one unexpected thing that you've learned about Baltimore within the last five years like just something that pops up. You know, like that was very interesting. I did had I had no idea. Wow.
Joe Tropea: This is a tour spoiler, I suppose for city hall, but I had no idea that a city council person was shot and killed in 1976 during the renovation of that building. And that it totally changed the security situation of the building and which is to say, and this is the great. This is the part that really I think is just absolute crazy. There really wasn't much security prior to this incident, which if you think about the history of our country, everything that happened in the late 1960s. People didn't take security like Mayor Schaefer is when this happened like didn't think to take security seriously until 1976. And it took, you know, a really tragic event to happen.
But yeah, I had no idea. And and if you come on the tour, I'll give you the full story of it. But yeah, just crazy to think that that and just anyone I mean, it's very it's very good thing that we have access to our politicians. And that would be if you let me say two things I loved about the job beyond the building, like just getting to see like the people who run our city on a daily basis.
This is kind of cool. But yeah, the fact that prior to this event, access to to local politicians was all too easy. Yeah. Wow. That is a terrible note to go out on. I'm sorry.
Rob Lee: I mean, but it's it's it's real. And wow, that is, you know, it's not really that long. I mean, it predates me, but it's really not that long ago to just think about sort of going into a building going into I remember going into maybe a state building in D.C. It was for like an art thing. And I was having a meeting with like, I think the commission of arts in D.C. And as you remember, I don't I don't like like TSA or any of that sort of vibe. So it felt just like a TSA thing. Yeah. Just like, come on, what are we doing? I say, I could just leave the bag here.
I'm already late. I'm just trying to but then thinking about us like not kind of rather that be the case that I have these other things because you don't know what could happen in a place like that. And that sort of detail about what transpired here with almost 50 years ago. Right.
Joe Tropea: Right. And it's not always the target who's the only person hurt. And that's the case for this story. Other people were shot. So yeah, I mean, we it's just the reality of the world we live in. Yeah.
Rob Lee: So that is where we'll kind of wrap for now. I almost like to look at these are like continued conversations for the part of the, you know, now three year conversation. But there's two things I'd like to do as you close out here. One, I want to thank you for coming back onto the podcast and spending some time with me and catching up. And two, I want to invite and encourage you to share with the listeners where they can follow you check out to work, social media, all that good stuff. The floor is yours.
Joe Tropea: Yeah. So I have a website. It's haricoverefilms.com and that's spelled haricottvertfilms.com. It's French for green bean. That's my filmmaking website. And you can find me on the arts and cultures page of the mayor's office, which is where you can sign up to take a tour of city hall. So I've kind of laying low on the social media these days because it's just so soul crushing.
Rob Lee: Yeah. There you have it folks. I want to again thank Joe Tropea for coming back onto the podcast and filling us in on some recent details, recent work and the new digs in city hall. And for Joe, I am Rob Lee saying that there's art, culture and community in and around your neck of the woods. You just have to look for it. .
