Monthly Archives: June 2010

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
By

Nats With Bats Revive Stats

A humid Washington evening in the early days of summer is a bit of a difficult environment for baseball.  You never know when a storm will break out.  Tonight, the Royals were the recipients of a pair of storms: one from the Nationals’ bats, and the other from Mother Nature herself.  A 49-minute rain delay couldn’t shake Luis Atilano, who picked up his sixth win of the season in 5 1/3 innings.  Tyler Clippard and Matt Capps would do their eponymous routine on Clipp & Save T-shirt night here at Nats Park.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Explosion at Farragut West


(DC DDOT webcam capture from nearby 18th and I Streets NW)

Getting some buzz about a possible explosion at Farragut West. Latest from DC Fire EMS Twitter:

manhole fire – heavy smoke – 18th & I St NW -PEPCO needed – expect some traffic issues

Manhole explosions are not an unknown phenomenon for summer time in DC.

Latest update from DC Fire EMS:

update- elec feeder line (underground on fire and smoking ) Metro NOT affected, but near a Metro station I st closed btwn 17th & 18th St NW

Traffic is pretty bad around the affected area so if you’re driving, plan accordingly. Or take a break and wait it out.

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: Courage

The cast of "Courage," a dog and pony dc production. Photo credit: C. Stanley Photography

The cast of "Courage," a dog & pony dc production. Photo credit: C. Stanley Photography

Entering the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop black box theater for a performance of Courage: A Political Theatre Revival is a bit like crashing your neighbor’s weekend-long house party. The place is a mess, you don’t know anyone, but everyone seems to be having crazy fun so you jump right in, why not? If you aren’t the sort who likes the fourth wall being broken repeatedly as actors address you directly and encourage you to participate, this isn’t the production for you. But if you love party-crashing, you’ll get along.

Maybe you shouldn’t trust my opinion, after all, I was handed a beer shortly upon arrival. It’s a new strategy, getting your reviewer tipsy, but everyone else was doing it too (so yes, I caved to peer pressure). In addition to free beer, you’ll be recruited into the army with a hilarious questionnaire. This raucous atmosphere before the show even begins puts you both at ease and on edge at the same time – the perfect mood for a work that’s actually based on Bertolt Brecht’s classic anti-war play Mother Courage and Her Children.

This production by dog & pony dc uses the very colloquial David Hare version as a starting point, accented by a live band with original music by John Milosich and directed (or rather, “radically re-imagined”) by Rachel Grossman, who describes the action as “NASCAR punk political theatre mosh-pit.” Apt. It closes June 26, so race on over – performances are Wednesday through Saturday at 7:30pm.

Now that you’re prepared for the preamble, what about the production itself? Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

DC Crafts: Find Of The Day

courtesy of etsy user PinkyCrafts

Get pumped DC!!! The US Men’s Soccer Team takes on Algeria tomorrow morning needs our good karma and mojo. For the Wednesday 10am game bring your camera to the pub, snap some pictures and capture some memories, of what will hopefully (please God!) be a epic win, in this awesomely cute and patriotic Red, White and Blue America Scrapbook page.  The creative, hard-stock based page can be used in either scrapbooks, photo albums or as a background to a photo frame.  Perhaps throw in a cutout soccer ball and you’re all set.

The Daily Feed
By

Madeleine Albright’s Jewelry

 Photo courtesy of
‘Smithsonian Castle 2’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

When I heard about the new exhibit at the Smithsonian Castle I wasn’t quite sure what to think.  A collection entirely dedicated to Madeleine Albright’s personal jewelry? Really? 

Anyway, boy was I wrong.  Based on this behind-the-scenes video where the former U.S. Secretary of State talks candidly about five of her featured pins, I have decided that this may actually be some pretty interesting stuff.  What do you think?

YouTube Preview Image

Read My Pins: The Madeleine Albright Collection will be on view through October 11th at the Smithsonian Castle. 

Smithsonian Castle is located at 1000 Jefferson Drive SW.

The Daily Feed
By

Obama Takes Stand Against Wave By Sitting


Image originally appeared at Power Line

I hate the wave. I’m going to come right out and say it. I may or may not have yelled at the section next to me during Strasmas 1 when they attempted to start it. I was quite lucky that my section approved of my view against the monotony of this Hokey Pokey, Stand-Up-Sit-Down version of crowd participation.

I do not stand (sit?) alone. Last Friday, while taking in the opening game between the Nationals and his hometown team, the Chicago White Sox, an opportunistic photographer caught President Obama passing as the wave passed right on by. Did he really refuse to participate? I’d like to think so.

via Deadspin

Mythbusting DC, The Features
By

DC Mythbusting: Highway to Heaven

Photo courtesy of
‘Three Churches, One Corner, Columbia Heights, Washington, D.C.’
courtesy of ‘adcristal’

I love that after several years of living here, I keep finding out new things about the District. Just last week while on a run with a friend along 16th Street, she told me that she had heard that 16th Street was known as the Highway to Heaven because of the concentration of churches, synagogues, and mosques along it. I had never heard of that, but it sounded like an interesting myth to investigate. Does 16th Street really have more religious institutions than any other corridor in the city? And is it called the Highway to Heaven?

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Parenting.com Gives DC the Shaft

Photo courtesy of
‘3/365: The Sky is Falling 1/3/10’
courtesy of ‘@heylovedc’

I can’t explain this one.  Parenting Magazine put Arlington at #1, while dropping the District to #71. For Arlington, they cited the prevalence of local historic markers, sprawling parklands, and many diverse activities, as well as low crime and “very few registered sex offenders.”   For the District, they cited…local historic markers, sprawling parklands and many diverse activities.

P.J. Orvetti tackled it yesterday, Sara Libby tackled it today, and looking at the incredible similarity of the raw data for Arlington and the District, I can’t quite wrap my heads around why they might put Arlington at the top of the list, and DC down in the bottom quartile.  Libby thinks it might be latent racism on the part of Parenting Magazine, while I tend to ascribe this more with an image problem that DC Schools has.  Arlington was praised for its 14.9 student to teacher ratio, but DC got no credit for its 13.2 student to teacher ratio. DC has a higher per-capita number of Blue Ribbon schools, and seven times the number of pre-schools on per-capita basis.

DC gets slammed for its lack of open spaces, which means I guess they missed the Mall, Rock Creek Park, the parks along both our rivers, Hains Point, the National Arboretum, Fort Dupont Park and all of the little parks that dot our squares and circles.  In the meanwhile, Arlington likely gets credit for the wealth of museums and art installations, and I’m fairly sure they don’t mean the Navy League’s paltry gallery in their new building.  They mean the Smithsonian collected museums and the Newseum and the Spy Museum.

I don’t mean to bag on Arlington here, it’s definitely a great place to live, but it’s a great place to live because of its proximity to DC.  I’d say having now lived in both DC and Arlington, there’s no way at all that Arlington is #1 while DC is #70.  Something’s deeply broken here, and I’d love to know what.  I won’t come out and accuse Parenting of anything short of faulty math and bad writing.  At least, not until they return my email.

The Daily Feed
By

NORAD Air Exercises Today

Photo courtesy of
‘deadly Raptor’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be conducting exercise flights over the region’s skies this afternoon. Flights are expected to range as far north as Baltimore and as far south as Richmond. The flights are being conducted to test air threat response times and situations.

There will be multiple exercise flights throughout the afternoon today and will include fighter aircraft and general aviation aircraft under contract by the Department of Defense. If you manage to get some photos of the event in progress, why not drop them into our Flickr pool?

The Daily Feed
By

Tangysweet Says: Free Yogurt!

Photo courtesy of
‘tangysweet frozen yogurt’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

The news comes via Twitter today that Tangysweet is giving away free small yogurts from 4-6pm today at both their locations, with free unlimited toppings. It’s supposed to be hotter than Hades today, and that means you know you want some free yogurts. Go early, go often.

Tangysweet – Dupont
2029 P St NW
Washington DC 20036

Tangysweet – Penn Quarter
675 E St NW
Washington DC 20004

The Daily Feed, WMATA
By

Region remembers last year’s deadly Metro crash

Photo courtesy of
‘metro’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

One year ago, two Red Line trains collided near the Fort Totten station, killing nine and injuring dozens. In the months that followed, serious questions were raised about safety within Metro. While the National Transportation Safety Board has yet to issue a final report on the crash, the safety agency has indicated there are significant deficiencies with Metro’s culture of safety. Presently there are four open NTSB investigations regarding Metro. In today’s Washington Post, Ann Scott Tyson gives a review of the fallout from the accident.

In the year since the crash, Metro has been plagued with further safety lapses. A spat of track worker deaths and collisions in rail yards further tarnished Metro’s reputation. In January, John Catoe announced his resignation from the transit agency, noting the public’s loss in faith in Metro’s management was becoming too much of a distraction. In April, former NJ PATH manager Richard Sarles took over as Metro’s interim General Manager. This spring Metro also announced a leadership change in the safety department. Continue reading →

Featured Photo
By

Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘a summer romance’ by ‘Blinkofanaye’

At 5:00 on any given Friday afternoon in the summer, Jazz in the  Garden is just getting started, and space quickly becomes scarce as hundreds of worker bees flock for a little wine, maybe a pitcher of (surprisingly potent for what you pay) sangria, a picnic and some tunes. It’s a grand way to spend an evening, even if by hour two you’re hot, sticky and a little closer than you’d like to be to the sweaty stranger who drank too much of that sangria.

Or you could do what this couple did: carve out a nice, cool space for themselves where the crowd couldn’t get to them. Sure, the police will come along eventually and escort you away (to the boos of the crowd), but in this moment, for these two people, none of that matters. All they feel is that cool, forbidden water on their feet, and all they see is each other. It takes a certain kind of guts to walk into a fountain and, ahem, dance like nobody’s watching. That’s the kind of guts we could all use more of.

We’re lucky Flickr user Blinkofaneye caught the moment so perfectly, with the fountain water glistening and half the crowd in the background oblivious to the scene unfolding right in front of them. He also caught the pair a moment later, hands entwined, proud smiles on their faces, and really, can you blame them? (Hat tip to Tracy Clayton, who tweeted the incident as it happened and also captured it and posted a play-by-play of their dance.)

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
By

Nationals Stop Skid at Six, Squeak Out Win over Royals

avilescs.jpg
Photo by Ian Koski / Nationals Daily News

The Nationals’ losing streak stopped at six games tonight, as Livo outpitched Bruce Chen, and Mike Morse and Cristian Guzman each struck for solo homers in the 2-1 victory. Matt Capps, after surrendering two hits in the 9th, retired the side on three brutal called strikeouts to pick up his 21st save and cement Livo’s sixth win.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
By

Nats Demote Lannan

Photo courtesy of
‘Lannan about to release’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

A day after manager Jim Riggleman said that struggling hurler John Lannan had “long leash” and would make his next start in Baltimore this weekend, the team sent him to AA Harrisburg. Lannan was sent down, and reliever Joel Peralta was retrieved from AAA Syracuse. The team will run with 4 starters for the next week or so, due to a Thursday off-day before the Baltimore series that allows for a bit more flexibility in the schedule.

The move comes as a bit of a shock, given Riggleman’s assurances yesterday that Lannan was a fixture of the club, and they’d stand by him through a rough spot. The team is hoping that Lannan can fix his mechanical issues with the pitching coach there, Randy Tomlin, that has helped John in the past.

This the first time that the team has been without Lannan for more than a day or two since he was called up in 2007.

The Daily Feed
By

DC Crafts: Find Of The Day

Vintage Washington DC Tall Drinking Glasses Circa 1950 Set of 2

Today’s Find Of The Day celebrates many of our city’s finest monuments and buildings, and one of my summer favorites, iced cold beverages. These vintage drinking glasses feature black and gold images of The White House, The Capital Building, Iwo Jima Memorial, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Lincoln Memorial arranged around the seal of the POTUS.  The unique and quite handsome set were made around 1950.

On a Monday afternoon, all I can do is imagine both glasses filled with either some Jack Daniels and Ginger Ale, or perhaps a Gin Rickey. Heaven.

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: The Golden Filter @ DC9 6/19/10

Photo courtesy of
‘The Golden Filter’
courtesy of ‘yousayyeah’

On Friday night, DC9 mainstay, Liberation Dance Party brought in New York’s The Golden Filter for a special appearance to amp up the already crazy dance party LDP hosts week after week. Unsurprisingly, the result was an even crazier dance party. The Golden Filter delivered a killer set of sexy electro-pop to a packed house eager to dance, dance, dance! And dance they did, taking to the riser boxes, standing on the booths, shaking and grinding while the band delivered on the promise of their amazing debut album, Voluspa, with a live performance that was a delight to watch through the filter of moving bodies.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Special Events, The Daily Feed
By

Get Ready to Fringe

Photo courtesy of
‘Frankie Goes to Washington…………’
courtesy of ‘LaTur’

The 2010 Capital Fringe Festival schedule is live, and as always it’s jam-packed with a rich mix of the serious and the seriously messed-up. Now in its fifth year, the festival is an incredible opportunity for artists to present work not normally seen on DC mainstream stages, and a chance for you to indulge in watching (and sometimes participating in!) some crazy theatrical risk-taking.

Tickets are on sale starting today, and the festival itself runs July 8-25 with about 130 different performances to choose from. Payment options range from tickets to individual shows ($15 each) or packages to multiple shows ($50 for four tickets, $75 for six, $110 for ten and $300 for all) – note you will also need the $5 Fringe Button to enter any Fringe venue. Show venues are mainly in the Mount Vernon Square area, with Fort Fringe & The Baldacchino Gypsy Tent Bar set up at 607 New York Avenue NW.

I’ve only ever made it to a show or two in Fringes past, but this year I’m intending to be more ambitious and see as many shows as I can for you! Watch for timely (within 24 hours of first night, yikes) reviews here as part of our collaboration with DC Theatre Scene.

So get ready for some fast furious theatrical fun!

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
By

Capitals Preseason Schedule Out

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_6274’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

Ready for Caps hockey yet?

Well, when you are, know that the first preseason game for the team is on Sept 22 in Columbus against the Blue Jackets. The first home preseason game is at the Verizon Center on Sept 28 against the Boston Chokes Bruins. The other two home games are Oct 1 and Oct 3, against Columbus and Nashville, respectively. There are six games in total on the preseason schedule; last year, the Caps went 4-2-0.

This weekend is the NHL Draft; I’ll have a rundown on how the Caps fared and their prospects next week. Only three more months before the puck drops…

The Daily Feed
By

Want to See Ted’s Band? We’ve Got Tickets To Give away

In case you missed last Friday’s interview with Sam Lloyd of Scrubs and the acapella band, The Blanks, check it out and get excited for the fact that the quartet will be performing two shows in the DC area later this week at the Arlington Drafthouse.

Excited yet? How about the chance to go for free? We have four pairs of tickets to give away (two for each night), and we’ll have two contests this week to find our winners. To enter, all you need to do is leave a comment on this post – but I’ll only count it if you leave a link or the lyrics to your favorite, classic TV theme song. The Blanks are probably most known to Scrubs fans for their covers of a few sitcom and cartoon openings, so this seems like an appropriate challenge. I’ll even get it going with my personal favorite that happens to double as my phone ring:

YouTube Preview Image

We’ll select two winners at random from all eligible comments who leave their favorite theme by 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The first two winners will get to pick which night they want to see the band (either Friday’s 10 p.m. show or Saturday’s 7 p.m.), and we’ll have another contest later this week for the other two sets.