Jim Patton and Sherry Brokus - Harbortowne

1. Harbortowne - (Jim Patton, Independent Alligator Publishing Co., ASCAP)
Refers specifically to Annapolis, but could be Baltimore, definitely a harbor town, or Severna Park, our hometown, built on beaches and docks along two rivers. Kids from the suburbs or smaller towns go to the big city seeking trouble and fun. Annapolis was the nearest city for us to get in trouble in when we were kids. I never carried a gun, and it's really not my friends I'm referring to, but when we were in high school, my friend Gene had a Marvel Comics ID card that identified him as 21, and there was one package goods store in Annapolis that accepted it.
Then years later, Sherry was the head of the Annapolis Youth Services Bureau and her office was on Clay Street. Clay Street has since been cleaned up, but, at the time, when I would pick her up, I would be offered any kind of drugs I wanted. The cops had let Clay St run wild because it concentrated most of the drug activity in one place and made it easier to police. The clientele wasn't black, though the dealers were. They were suburban kids, driving their daddy's SUVs. So those are the 'kids' I'm picturing going to Harbortowne. The same thing happens in Baltimore nightly, as we didn't learn until our late teens, early 20s, since we weren't allowed to go near Baltimore except to see the Orioles, and then with parents, before that.