Ladies and gentlemen, I give you local Baltimore musician, ellen cherry.

ellen cherry is the stage name of Kristin Putchinski, who I met while teaching at Park School Camps. In passing conversations surrounded by the giggles and screams of excited kids, I discovered she was a musician, that she gigged regularly in the Baltimore area.

"Do you have a CD?" I asked. "Yes!" she said, and promptly told me about her latest, Heart Like a Lion. I'm all for supporting local artists, so I took the plunge, plunked down some change, and gave it a listen. It's good. I like it, LOTS. You can give it a listen yourself too, at her MySpace page.

ellen cherry blogs regularly about her gigs and exploits. Currently she's touring up the northeast coast, so visit her website to see if you can catch her!