Monthly Archives: July 2010

Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Have Lunch with Stan Kasten at Morton’s

Photo courtesy of
‘PRE_1199’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

Want to have lunch with Washington Nationals President Stan Kasten? Well now you can thanks to the next installment of the “legend” series at Morton’s Steakhouse.

The lunch-in is hosted by Morton’s with a baseball-based conversation with Kasten led by DC’s own ESPN radio hosts Thom Loverro and Kevin Sheehan.

The $40 menu includes a Caesar Salad, choice of Broiled Salmon Fillet/Chicken Christopher/Single Cut Filet Mignon, Mashed Potatoes, Sautéed Garlic Green Beans and New York Cheesecake from Morton’s private boardroom.

Lunch goes from 12-2 with an 11:30 patio reception and includes a cash bar.

Can’t make it? You can listen to the entire talk on ESPN 980 AM.

Call Kate Scafidi at 202-955-5997 to make a reservation or for more information. You can also e-mail any questions to Morton’s directly.

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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What will McEnroe do this time?

Photo courtesy of
‘The Serve’
courtesy of ‘maxedaperture’

Tonight, the Kastles play host to the New York Sportimes in World Team Tennis at the Kastles tennis court over at 11th and H Street. Last time John McEnroe came down to DC, there was a huge kerfuffle between McEnroe and Kastles’ star Leander Paes, focused around an errant tennis ball’s final resting place. The ensuing bench-clearing incident included McEnroe’s teammate Robert Kendrick calling Kastles’ player Olga Puchkova a bitch. Yeah, it’s an intense time at World Team Tennis.

Anyhow, tonight brings the controversial McEnroe back to DC to face the Kastles. The Kastles need every point they can get at this crucial moment in the season. The team is second in the East, just half a match ahead of the third place Boston Lobsters in a fight for the second playoff spot in the division. A victory tonight would put them within a half match of the Sportimes with just two matches to go, nearly assuring them of post-season action. Tickets are available at the door for tonight’s match, which starts at 7pm. Your guess is as good as ours as to what will happen when McEnroe takes the court tonight. What’s the craziest that could happen?

The Daily Feed
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Screen on the Green Has a Rough Night

Photo courtesy of
‘Cartoon <3’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

The overbearing heat and swamp like humidity are expected when hanging out on the Mall in late July. It’s part of DC’s charm. The sudden downpours that send hundreds scrambling for partial cover are also par for the DC weather course. But when you wrangle up your good friends, pack up a little picnic dinner, grab a big blanket to spread out on and bring along your favorite adult beverage hidden in an ambiguous plastic container that could possibly (and hopefully) be mistaken for a water bottle by Park Police, you tend to get your hopes up about a glorious night under the stars watching a classic film from the past on the super-jumbo screen. Unfortunately, last night was not the Screen on the Green’s finest moment.

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: One Man Lord of the Rings

Charles Ross in "one Man Lord of the Rings" Photo credit: Chris Mueller

Take three films totalling 11 hours and 23 minutes with some 42 characters, elaborate sound effects and music. Now compact all those elements into 65 minutes – performed by one man. Yes, One Man Lord of the Rings is exactly as titled. Written and performed by Charles Ross as a homage to the Peter Jackson films, it’s a manic mixture of both geek cred and skillful stage presence.

Ross is a Canadian actor and playwright also responsible for the wildly popular One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, which he first performed in DC as part of the 2006 Capital Fringe Festival. While at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in the winter of 2007 for a return engagement, he mentioned to Managing Director Jeffrey Herrmann that he was working on an adaptation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Herrmann, a fellow Tolkien fan, jumped at the chance to host him when next on tour. One Man Lord of the Rings is at Woolly now through August 1.

Certainly there’s no arguing that this is a riveting display of talent – guided by the direction of longtime collaborator TJ Dawe, Ross goes through a rapid array of transformations both vocal and physical. But is a knowledge of the films necessary to enjoy it? Has too much time passed since the films’ worldwide success? Ross asked those questions himself at the end of the performance I attended, with humble self-deprecation. The response, however, was overwhelmingly positive from both the hardcore LOTR fans and those who had managed to never see them or even read the books. It was a hypnotic and hilarious evening.

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Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Daily Feed
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Blurt Magazine’s “Best Kept Secret”: D.C.’s The Public Good

Photo courtesy of The Public Good
Photo courtesy of The Public Good.

“One of Rock’s Best Kept Secrets,” according to Blurt Magazine, is D.C.’s very own The Public Good.

The quartet featuring the one-time nucleus of the North Carolina band The Popes rocks hard while writing songs with wit and empathy regarding the highs and lows of everyday life as a big kid aka being an adult.

The Public Good will be gracing D.C. with their stage presence on July 29 for an early 8:30 p.m. show opening for North Carolina’s Saint Solitude with fellow D.C. band Sweet Interference and indie band Spouse rounding out the Thursday night bill at The Velvet Lounge.

Doors open at 7:30. Show starts at 9 and is 21+ with an $8 cover charge.

Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Stand to the Right!

Photo courtesy of
‘Stand on the right?’
courtesy of ‘karthikkito’

It’s probably the number one gripe about tourists: they stand on both sides of the escalators on Metro, blocking the left side that is generally understood to be for walking.  We Washingtonians understand that you stand to the right and walk on the left– there are even Facebook groups and t-shirts supporting the concept— but there are no formal signs on or near the escalators that say so.  Why not?  Rumors range from the theory that having people walk on one side and stand on the other leads to an unequal balance of weight and causes escalators to break down more frequently, or the theory that Metro doesn’t want to formally endorse a ‘stand right/walk left’ policy for liability and safety reasons.  But what’s the real reason there aren’t signs telling tourists to stand to the right?

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The Daily Feed
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Black Box Exhibit Ending

“Block B,” (2008). Chris Chong Chan Fui. Image Courtesy of the Hirshhorn Museum.

The Hirshhorn‘s exhibit Black Box: Chris Chong Chan Fui is closing on August 1st after a three-month run.  As the first Malaysian artist to present work at the Hirshhorn, Chong shows a static work of art that details “night and day dramas unfold on the various floors of a massive apartment complex in Malaysia”. 

“Block B,” (2008) brings architecture and the art of daily life together, while also highlighting issues related to its context. 

You have only a week and half left to head over to the Hirshhorn to see this fascinating exhibit by a truly forward thinking artist! 

Black Box: Chris Chong Chan Fui is on exhibit at the Hirshhorn from April 19th to August 1st.

Adventures, All Politics is Local, Entertainment, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, News, People, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Michelle Obama To Throw Out First Pitch At Tonight’s O’s Game

Photo courtesy of
‘It’s Michelle!’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

If you’ve got tickets to tonight’s Baltimore Orioles game against the Tampa Bay Devil Rays at Camden yards, be sure to get their on time because Michelle Obama will not only be bringing the heat as she fires out the first pitch, but also increased levels of security.

Mrs. Obama will be escorted to the mound by kids from the RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities) program and the Boys and Girls Club. The RBI program started John Young, a former Major League Baseball player and scout, provides disadvantaged youth with the opportunity to learn and enjoy the game of baseball. Originally a local program for boys in South Central Los Angeles, the program, now in its 21st year, has grow to more than 200 cities and as many as 120,000 male and female participants a year.

The Daily Feed
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Virgin Mobile Fest Lineup Announced

virginfest.jpg

Set your calendars, people. July 24th, 10am, tickets become available for this year’s Virgin Mobile Free Fest on September 25th at Merriweather Post Pavilion. The very impressive bill, which you will be able to see for a grand total of $0, is Jimmy Eat World (whose new album is dropping around then), The Temper Trap, DC-based Electronic act Thievery Corporation, rapper Ludacris, indie darlings Pavement, Yeasayer, LCD Soundsystem and Matt & Kim, plus Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros, Joan Jett, and T.I.

These tickets always sell out. Be ready to exercise your clicking finger early on Saturday morning to get these tickets.

The Daily Feed
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DC Among Top Cities For Young Professionals

Photo courtesy of
‘P1000012 [b&w]’
courtesy of ‘digital_don’

Forbes has named our fair city among the country’s top spots for young professionals, second only to Houston, Texas. Rankings were based on affordability, income levels, and the current job market. As our second place finish shows, general awesomeness was not taken into account.

Our 5.9% unemployment rate was the lowest of any city on the list, and our sweet starting salaries offset our higher cost of living. Thanks to the government, we also have a steady stream of job opportunities. Finally, lots of smarties from the nation’s top schools choose to settle here, apparently indicating a high degree of talent and ambition. Either that, or a lemming-like tendency of popped collars to follow their brethren. Forbes did not investigate this possibility.

The Daily Feed
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Wait. It’s Still a Felony in Virginia?!

Photo courtesy of
‘Felony Franks (#1)’
courtesy of ‘JOE MARINARO’

I had no idea that this law was still on the books: “If any person carnally knows in any manner any brute animal, or carnally knows any male or female person by the anus or by or with the mouth, or voluntarily submits to such carnal knowledge, he or she shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony, except as provided in subsection B.” Really, you don’t want to read subsection B if you want to keep your breakfast down, but suffice it to say it involves keeping it in the family, if you get my drift. Anyhow, this is still law in Virginia. A Class 6 felony gets you “a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years, or in the discretion of the jury or the court trying the case without a jury, confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.”

Are you as horrified as I am? I had no idea I was such a criminal. I had thought these laws were gone with Lawrence v. Texas a few years back, but there’s a story in today’s post about a Baptist Youth Pastor who was sexually involved with one of his charges, and he’s being held on $3,000 bond, and charged with sodomy.

So, I guess you can what the point of the story is, if you suffer from any law which makes no sense to you, hire the Garde Wilson criminal defence lawyers to lend you a hand at court.

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘Looking Into the Past: Newsie, Willard Hotel, Washington, DC’
courtesy of ‘jasonepowell’

Sometimes, when you hit upon an idea, it just hits all the right buttons.

This photo is one of several that Jason Powell has put together. He takes old pictures, often from the Library of Congress, prints them out and then photographs them lined up with the modern-day location. It’s simple and it’s genius.

For this shot, the famous Willard Hotel serves as the backdrop to what the original picture describes as a “pugnacious little chap” who was selling the paper at the ripe old age of nine. Click through for more details, and make sure to check out the entire set.

The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro releases not-terribly-useful online SmarTrip management

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Today, at long last, you can view your SmarTrip usage history online at wmata.com.

That is, assuming your card is recent enough to have a 9-digit serial number. (Pad the beginning of the number with zeros if not.)

And assuming you remember both the zip code and phone number you used when you ordered it 8 years ago.  If you didn’t buy it from a machine. (How old IS that SmarTrip card, anyway?)

But if you can manage all those things… my friend, you are now able to view, online, all the places you’ve taken Metro to! In case you weren’t paying attention when you took Metro there!

So of course now that you see your card balance, you’ll want to add value. Except that you can’t, because that feature, the extremely advanced and complicated one one where you give them a credit card number to make a purchase, hasn’t been added yet. Let’s try that again:

So, now that you see how low your balance is, you can leave the office a little bit early to accommodate the amount of time you will STILL be spending in line at the one functioning SmarTrip machine at your Metro station of choice, because one isn’t working and the other is occupied by some tourist ignoring all the farecard machines and using the SmarTrip machine to buy precise-value paper farecards for the whole family using the bag of change he was keeping in the minivan. A nickel, a quarter, another nickel, wait, he dropped a dime… Aren’t you glad you left early?

Thanks for the useful information, Metro!

Edited to add: For maximum hilarity, watch your neighbors try and fail to use the new SmarTrip registration via the magic of Twitter Search.

The Daily Feed
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New Ways to Pay for Parking Debut

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘LaTur’

It’s pilot season!  No, that doesn’t mean that we’ll all be drowning in piles of scripts for television programs thrown over our transoms, rather it means that there are four different parking meter programs going on right now in multiple neighborhoods. There’s a new pay-by-phone option available in Dupont, Foggy Bottom and Navy Yard, which allows you to call in with a space number and pay via your cellphone and a credit card. There are new multispace meters on U Street, in Friendship Heights, and on the south side of the Mall. Confused yet? Yeah, me too. But if you see new meters, pay close attention and don’t just not pay. Several of these new zones have “enhanced enforcement,” which I picture is done with RPGs. Be wary.

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The Dead Weather @ 9:30 Club 7/13/10

The Dead Weather @ 9:30 Club 7/13/10
Andrew Markowitz photography.

Last Tuesday, The Dead Weather hit the 9:30 Club stage like a sonic hurricane. It is almost a week later and I am still completely, utterly, hopelessly gobsmacked by their incredible concert. I have been trying to process their over-the-top, in-your-face stage presence and pitch-perfect, rock-n-roll transcendence for days now; my entire music-loving spirit is still humming from witnessing this resonant performance. It was a performance that tapped into that deep-down love of rock-n-roll; that passion that dwells in the chest of every red-blooded music fan whose pulse beats to the rhythm. The Dead Weather put on a show that was a colossal celebration of the leather-clad, hair-in-eyes rock image and jaw-drop inducing, instrument-torture creativity. Their whole live presentation combined music and image so perfectly that it is impossible to imagine one without the other. Together these elements combined on-stage to create a brilliant set of music that I will remember for a very long time.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Check Out Your Dinner Spot

Photo courtesy of
‘health code violation’
courtesy of ‘Terwilliger911’

What’s the grotiest place you’ve ever had a meal in DC? I asked on Twitter this afternoon and heard “Full Kee” over and over, I figured I’d use the Chinese place on H Street as a test of the new Health Regulation & Licensing Agency Search Engine. It was better than I expected. They had five violations in their latest inspection, but three were corrected on site, and the other two, well, it’s a Chinese restaurant in Chinatown, containers are going to be labeled in Mandarin and Cantonese. But check out your favorite groty place in DC and tell us the results in the comments!

The Daily Feed
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Top Secret America: Washington Post’s Intelligence Investigation Goes Live

Photo courtesy of
‘Census #4’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Late last week, we had heard that the Washington Post would be planning a series on the intelligence contracting industry. As expected, the first articles of the feature launched this morning on WashingtonPost.com, and the biggest component is an interactive feature detailing just how broad a base of companies have a hand in the national security of the United States. The tool highlights some of the best results from its investigation into “Top Secret America” as it discussed the world behind the thousands of organizations involved in the field.

Spend some time with the feature if it interests you, but for a Cliff Notes version, Yahoo!’s new political and news blog, Upshot, has highlighted what it feels are the five biggest revelations (and be sure to click through so you can see Upshot’s justifications for the points):

  1. The U.S. intelligence system has exploded in size since the Sept. 11 attacks.
  2. Only a few officials in the Department of Defense have access to all of the top-secret activities and information.
  3. Agencies are collecting so much data that they don’t have enough translators or researchers to analyze it.
  4. Turf wars among agencies can prevent the sharing of information.
  5. This confusion has had real consequences.

Beyond these revelations, there are many reasons to take a look at everything compiled by the Washington Post team, which included more than a dozen different journalists. The innovative presentation of the data, taking full advantage of the interactive nature of the Web and allowing readers to search through it all, is very encouraging to see at a time that many print organizations are running the other direction from their consumers by putting up paywalls. If this is the future of journalism, I no longer fear for traditional media organizations like the Post.

The Daily Feed
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Drink Away Rob Dibble’s Remarks

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_0598’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

As Tom so observantly pointed out in today’s Sports Fix, Nationals MASN color commentator Rob Dibble is back in the booth tonight when the Nats take on the Cincinnati Reds in Ohio to continue their stretch of this road trip.

You either like Dibble’s comments or you don’t, but it’s safe to say the vast majority of verbalized opinions lean toward the “can’t stand to hear him say another word about an umpire calling an inconsistent strike zone.” All opinions aside though, the brothers Mottram over at Mister Irrelevant have devised a plan for making Nationals games on T.V. and Rob Dibble far more bearable than ever before. They’ve created “The Bob & Rob Drinking Game” in honor of MASN broadcast personalities Bob Carpenter and Mr. Dibble. Hooray!

We Love DC might be a little late to the party since the game itself was announced last week, but this might just be the opportune moment to jump right in and have some fun. Heck, it’ll make sitting on your couch watching the game feel even more like being at the ballpark with a beer in hand sans the humidity and packed post-game Metro ride. So why not, right?

A few stand-out “moments to drink” include: Continue reading →