Monthly Archives: April 2010

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club @ 9:30 Club 4/5/10

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
courtesy of Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club rumbled into town on Monday night to subject a sold-out 9:30 Club to a shock and awesome display of rock-n-roll annihilation. Touring in support of their latest long-player, “Beat the Devil’s Tattoo“, BRMC embraced that album’s raw power style to play a set that was fast, loose, and loud. So loud that it often felt like the band was testing the audience’s commitment to BRMC’s maximum rock approach. The noise assault drove fans out in staggered waves through the set but left behind a sizable core of diehards to truly enjoy the display of sonic audacity and seemingly-effortless talent being unleashed on stage. Being a long-time BRMC fan, I was a bit shocked at the levels with which they could still manage to surprise and impress. After many years of watching Black Rebel Motorcycle Club perform, their Monday night, aural brainwashing made me feel like I was seeing the band for the first time all over again.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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DC Food Blogger Happy Hour Tonight! Art & Soul on the Hill

Following the DC food bloggers around town is never a bad idea. Having worked their way through Commonwealth, Churchkey, Vinoteca, and Black Squirrel, just to name a few, they’re always out and about checking out a great restaurant scene.

Stop by Art and Soul tonight for happy hour with DC’s food bloggers from 6-8 p.m. A quick peak at the menu reveals deviled eggs, pork rinds, and chips and dip. 

Join us by RSVPing on the DC Food Bloggers Facebook Fan Page. These happy hours have created quite the fan following over the past few months, with 52 attendees expected per Facebook. So, if you haven’t stopped by for one yet, come on over tonight!

Thanks to the planning committee – doubling as great, local food bloggers – for putting together another great happy hour: Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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What’s It Mean to be Confederate?

Photo courtesy of
‘The Confederate Memorial in Alexandria, Virginia’
courtesy of ‘DC Public Library Commons’

Almost 150 years ago, our nation was split in two by force. Two sides faced off, and a war was fought. More than half a million Americans died in combat as the Confederate States and the United States fought. At issue was slavery, economics, states rights, and what it means to be a free and sovereign nation. We all know this. It’s part of every American history curriculum in the world. Last Friday, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell declared April Confederate History Month angering a bunch of people who probably have bigger things to be angry about than this.

When I was in elementary school, we did a geneaology project to find out if any of our ancestors fought in the Civil War. Sure enough, I had relatives on both sides. We have letters from that greats-and-a-grandfather Benjamin Franklin Houff (b.1834) who lived out in Staunton who joined the army of the South after Virginia seceded in April of 1861. He wrote in a letter to his family that though he voted against secession, he was a Virginian first, and an American second. He didn’t own any slaves, he was a farmer, but he was also a Confederate.

Isn’t the point of declaring something This Cause Month or That Cause Month to focus on what actually happened, and focus on the history of the people involved? From as many viewpoints as you can lay your hands on? There will always be agendas and politics associated with history, because that’s what human nature does. There are no lenses free from these subjects Think on the people who made those choices 149 years ago. Not all of them can easily be put into the stereotype that those who are quick to anger at certain key words might have you believe.

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The Daily Feed
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Barcodes and “The Trial of A Lifetime”

Who Killed Robert Wone Barcode
Image provided by authors of WhoMurderedRobertWone.com

It looks like a mystery has sprung up over the last few days around the U St. area. Prince of Petworth noted that posters have suddenly appeared in the area featuring the above image and big bold text that declares, “Trial of A Lifetime, May 10, 2010” – and nothing more. If you’ve never seen this type of barcode (called a QR code in the geek world) – you may be even more confused, and PoP asked his readers for some help figuring it out.

To find the answer, you need to have a phone with a camera and a barcode scanner application – available in the app stores for all types of techie devices. After you scan the code, you’ll be taken to…

WhoMurderedRobertWone.com. The authors at the blog have diligently tracked the news, hearings, events and proceedings of one of the District’s most recent homicidal mysteries for some time now. The Trial of a Lifetime to which the posters refer? The trial of three Dupont Circle residents charged in connection with the murder, which starts in just a little more than one month. If you are interested in the topic – or even just a fascinating, real life court drama here in the city – you can’t go wrong by checking out the site.

News, The Daily Feed
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Get Ready For Commuteageddon: Nuclear Edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Washington, D.C. Convention Center’
courtesy of ‘NCinDC’

Getting around downtown can take a good long time. It’s the nature of any downtown, really. But how about when they close a two block radius around the Convention Center, and a Metro stop? That’s what’s happening on Monday and Tuesday next week for the Nuclear Security Summit. Here’s the details:

Thirteen Metrobus routes are expected to be impacted: 42, 63, 64, 70, 71, 79, 80, D4, G8, P6, S2, S4, and X2 will all be detoured around the closures. The Circulator’s Georgetown-Union Station route will be split into two routes around the closures at the Convention Center while the Convention Center/Waterfront route will go no further north than I Street. Mt. Vernon Sq./Convention Center Metro will close on Sunday night and will not reopen until Wednesday morning. Trains will transit the station, but not stop, and no street access to the station will be permitted.

Parking Restrictions will be in effect throughout the area, so don’t expect to park your car on the street anywhere near the Convention Center Monday or Tuesday. In addition, if you work over there, you won’t be able to reach your own garage, most likely. You will have your ID checked entering the zone, which will be available to business owners only. Included in the zone is The Passenger, so expect to find a new place for cocktails for Monday and Tuesday.

Click through for a map of the closed streets. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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St. Albans School in NW On Lockdown

Photo courtesy of
‘Night View’
courtesy of ‘Karon’

Details are still very loose right now, but as an NBC Washington story filed moments ago notes, St. Albans School is currently on lockdown after a report that someone with a gun was spotted near campus. The all-boys  St. Albans has roughly 600 students in grades four through 12 and is located in Northwest on the campus of the National Cathedral. Currently, no injuries have been reported and authorities are looking to confirm the report.

Comedy in DC
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Comedy in DC: Sun? What sun?

Photo courtesy of
‘Family Hemerlein_25Mar10-1887’
courtesy of ‘sparkedheart’

It’s like spring inspires DC’s local comics to tell more jokes. I don’t know why, because the bitterness brought about by winter is better for comedy. But this weekend is kind of crammed full of comedy events. If properly motivated, you can catch four shows between Thursday and Saturday and still have Sunday to let your muscles recover from all the laughing. Screw cherry blossoms and nice weather- go sit in some of DC’s finest basement venues to get your laughter on.

Thursday night: Comedy Showcase at the Eleventh Street Lounge in Clarendon. This will feature some of the higher-quality regulars from Eleventh’s Monday night open mic. Chris Barylick tells me that it’s all-male in response to the Girls Night Out comedy showcase at Eleventh last month, but sausagefests are not at all out of the ordinary in DC comedy, so… whatever. It will feature Hampton Yount, Mike Eltringham, Tim Miller, Tyler Sonnichsen, Courtney Fearrington, Eli Sairs, and Chris Barylick and will be hosted by Lou Giglio. It’s also free. Awesome.   Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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DCPS, WTU to Announce Tentative Contract

Photo courtesy of
‘Turning Around Low-Performing Schools: Local Strategies in Action’
courtesy of ‘Center for American Progress Action Fund’

For the last three years, DC Public School teachers and the school district have operated without a current contract. Rhetoric has waxed and waned on both sides, tensions have run high, and this morning at 11am, along with Mayor Fenty and the AFT’s Randi Weingarten, Michelle Rhee and George Parker will announce the new deal. The City Paper had the story first, and then The Post last night had the highlights of the deal which runs through 2012. Any deal will need to be reviewed and approved by Union members and the City Council. Most interestingly? $65M of the deal is funded through private sources.

The Daily Feed
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If It Fits, You Must Visit

Photo courtesy of
‘Kadri #1’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

In an agreement finalized today, the Newseum acquired the suit, tie and shirt that O.J. Simpson wore on October 3, 1995, the day he was acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman.

The clothing items, which were originally offer to and declined by the Smithsonian Institution, have been at the center of a legal dispute between Mr. Goldman’s father and Mr. Simpson’s former manager.

No word yet on when the items will be on display.

The Daily Feed, We Green DC
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We Love the River!

Rope Swing Over River

Summer Swing

If you love DC, this weekend join us in giving some love to the river!

Saturday marks the 22nd Annual Potomac River Watershed Cleanup, which brings together people from all over the community. Last year, cleanups took place at approximately 500 sites–and hauled out more than 290 tons of trash!

We Love DC, Trail Voice, Friends of Rock Creek’s Environment, the DC Trash Runners and more are partnering to clean up Rock Creek Park.

To sweeten the pot, we’ve teamed with local vendors to offer things like a morning yoga stretch and fresh baked goods, plus an option to clean up while taking a morning run.

Meet us at 9 a.m. at the P Street bridge over Rock Creek Park, about 4 blocks west of Dupont Circle. Sign up on the Trail Voice site! Can’t make ours? Join another of the hundreds of sites closer to your home.

Clean-up site is just west of Dupont Circle in Rock Creek Park from 9:00 a.m. – 12 noon on Saturday, April 10. There is no cost for you to participate. It is recommended that you bring your own work gloves, although some will be available on-site.

The Daily Feed
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My Third Place Returns: Northside Social Opens



Originally uploaded by Atomic Overmind

Since the closing of Arlington’s Murky Coffee, I’ve found myself without a true third place. I bounced around to Chinatown Coffee Co, to Buzz Bakery, even Greenberries once in a blue moon. None have captured me the way that Murky did. When I found out that the minds behind Liberty Tavern were taking over the space to open a coffee/wine bar, I was skeptical. The building was in a pretty bad state of neglect, and I wondered how they could construct a new shop without tearing the whole place down to the foundation. Color me pleasantly surprised. Continue reading →

Dupont Circle, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: In Darfur

Erika Rose in Theater J's "In Darfur," photo credit: Stan Barouh.

“Plays like this make me so grateful I was born at the time and place I was,” my friend says as we exit Theater J Saturday night. We’d just seen In Darfur by Winter Miller, and as a Western woman who’d spent the day shopping for frivolities, I felt the cold twist of shame in my stomach. But this isn’t a preachy production. Its simplicity provides the horror, and it’s truthful. These things happen. We ignore them. Then we see a simulation of a woman’s legs being cracked apart like a wishbone, and our silence feels culpable.

This is a hard sell, no denying it, but I urge you to go see In Darfur, playing now through April 18. The play is inspired by Miller’s own trip to refugee camps along the Chad-Sudan border, in the company of Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times. Strangely, its flaws have to do with that prism of experience, as the two Westerners who serve as our entre to this world – an American journalist and an Argentinian aid worker – are simply not as compelling as the Africans they encounter. But I still urge you to see it, for Erika Rose’s central performance as Darfuri refugee Hawa is absolutely riveting.

The action unfolds in 2004, the aftermath of the initial atrocities committed during the conflict between the Darfur rebel groups, the Sudanese government, and the government-armed militias known as Janjaweed. Hawa, a Darfuri Muslim, has lost her entire family and been brutally raped – she is then further brutalized for being raped. Pregnant and wounded, she becomes the central pawn in hardened journalist Maryka’s (Rahaleh Nassri) quest to get Darfur on the front page, blocked by aid worker Carlos (Lucas Beck) in an ethical battle over whether endangering Hawa’s life to get the story out is worth the price she’ll pay. Continue reading →

Adventures, Entertainment, Fun & Games, History, Technology, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors, The Hill, The Mall
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DC Podcast Tours Led By Middle Schoolers

Photo courtesy of
‘Ksenya 06’
courtesy of ‘yospyn’

WOW!  Alexandria’s Sandburg Middle School has developed ten awesome DC podcast tours that offer fabulous insights into our city’s neighborhoods, monuments, museums and local shops/restaurants.  Each podcast is accompanied by a informational guide that includes the closest metro stop, address, entrance fees and relevant website. How useful! The tours and voice overs are all performed by Sandburg students, and can be easily downloaded to your ipod or mp3 player. What a stellar find and what a stellar way for students and DCers to learn about our nation’s capital.

The Daily Feed
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When Arena comes home, Synetic takes over Crystal City


Synetic performing at a CCBID event last year

Well, not all of Crystal City. Though that would be cool – imagine walking down a street where everyone is dressed cool, well-lit, and dancing to intense music.

No, they’ll be taking over the space that Arena was using while the Mead Center was being built in their proper home in SW. When they move back home this Fall it’ll become Synetic Theater’s full-time location.

That’s great news for them, the Crystal City business improvement district who wants to keep things popping in that area, and for all the rest of us. Jenn told us about how great their Anthony and Cleopatra was. We can also take something from the fact that the presenter at the Helen Hayes last night was shocked – gasped after opening the envelope, actually – that, for a change, someone other than Synetic’s Irina Tsikurishvili took home the choreography award.

Congrats, Synetic. From everything I hear it’s well-deserved and I look forward to finding out for myself soon – Metamorphosis opens in 3 days.

The Daily Feed
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Opening Day Is Over, Forgedddabout It

Marquis and McCatty
Photo by Rachel Levitin

Let’s not allow for another rousing bout of Nationals Park turning into Citizen’s Bank Park South. Opening Day is now behind us, there are many more games to be played, and plenty of beer to drown the woes of an embarrassing loss should it be necessary.

Nationals fans, transplanted baseball enthusiasts, and D.C. residents — this is the time to wear your city pride on your sleeve. Head to the ball park tomorrow night. There’s a 7:05 game against the Phillies. It’s Jason Marquis’ debut with the Nationals against Cole Hamels. Tickets are available.

Shake off yesterday. It’s over now.

Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed
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A Streetcar Named “Why All The Wires?”

Photo courtesy of
‘HOVMHTM810550a’
courtesy of ‘Charles HTM’

“Why are the tourists entitled to a better view than we are?” Monte Edwards of the Capitol Hill Restoration Society told the Washington Post. “I like to look up and see the sky and trees. They’re as important to me as a resident as the tourist’s views of our monuments.”

Edwards is one of many who are tangled “in the wires” when it comes to the reemergence of streetcars in the District.

Streetcars ran on the streets of Washington from 1862 until 1962 and was a backbone of the District’s transportation until Congress called for a bus replacement when the auto industry took off in the 1950s. Now, city planners awaiting the realization of their $1.5 billion vision will have to fight the battle guardians of the federal city before connecting the city’s widespread neighborhoods.

What are they fighting about? The proposed overhead electrical wires taking up valuable DC airspace and hindering the illustrious, open sky view we’ve been able to maintain during the city’s 200(plus) year history.

According to The National Park Service’s spokesman Bill Line, the Service “does not want and does not approve of” overhead wires in the city. No matter which side of the tracks you find yourself on in this debate, I suggest becoming vocal … and soon. That’s the only way to either put a halt to the project or get the those wires hung.

The Daily Feed
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Win Antiques Roadshow Tickets From WETA

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC04727’
courtesy of ‘Matt Lancashire’

Antiques Roadshow is a guilty pleasure of mine. People unearth their random junk, take it on down and hope to God it turns out to be a missing Picasso, or a rare piece of Revere silver or something along those lines. Get out your junk, folks, because they’re coming to the Convention Center this summer. You can register to win tickets from WETA now, and hope that you’ve got some sweet antiques. We’ll see you there.

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo


Woman Watching PDA by Matt.Dunn

When the drab days of winter finally yield to the refreshing days of spring, we see a transformation in our fine city.  The gray skies turn blue, the barren trees sprout leaves and flowers, and people swap their grumpy attitudes with feelings of love.  It makes you wonder, why is spring such a catalyst for love?  Does warmer weather encourage the production of hormones?  Is it because members of the opposite sex are wearing less clothing?  Or is there just something in the air?  Whatever the answer, there seems to be an awful lot of love going on in our Flickr pool.  We have people loving their cameras behind the bushes, gorillas spooning at the zoo, people loving their pooches, couples getting it on under the cherry blossoms, people hooking up on the ice, and even people making out where they’re supposed to, in a Make Out Room.  The couple above, clearly victims of love, just can’t get enough of each other.  But if Cupid’s springtime arrow hasn’t pierced your heart just yet, as may be the case for their onlooker, I have but one piece of advice for you: find a mate, don’t hate.

The Daily Feed
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Late April Fools From Washington Post?

Washington Post Time WarpYesterday afternoon, visitors to washingtonpost.com got a little surprise: the homepage and all articles were from December 31, 2009.  There were holiday shopping tips, a decade in review feature, and a couple newsworthy articles on ‘current’ events.  The technical snafu lasted a half hour or so before the Post fixed the glitch, bringing back news of the Nats huge loss and Tiger’s press conference.

Maybe the Post forgot that April Fools Day is April 1 rather than April 5?  Or maybe the warm weather caused some sort of ‘Lost’ alternate universe set in a different time.  After the jump, see a full size screenshot of yesterday’s page. Continue reading →