Monthly Archives: July 2010

The Daily Feed
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Happy Residence Act Day!

Photo courtesy of
‘The Capitol’
courtesy of ‘Danilo.Lewis|Fotography’

Some may claim that today is DC’s official birthday, but today is really more like the day that Virginia and Maryland got it on, and nine months later, President Washington selected the official boundaries on March 31st, 1791. Think of it like conception day. The Residence Act, voted in by Congress on this day 220 years ago, required that a federal district, no more than ten miles square, be set up along the Potomac. Until such time as the new capital city was ready, Philadelphia was designated the capital-in-fact for a period of no more than ten years. To this day, their sports fans are still a little bit bitter.

The specific part of the act related to the location of the District reads, “Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That a district of territory, not exceeding ten miles square, to be located as here-after directed on the river Potomac, at some place between the mouths of the Eastern Branch and the Connogochegue, be, and the same is hereby accept for the permanent seat of the government of the United States…and be it further enacted, That the President of the United States be authorized to appoint, and by supplying vacancies happening from refusals to act or other causes, to keep in appointment as long as may be necessary, three commissioners, who or any of two of whom, shall, under the direction of the President, survey, and by proper metes and bounds define and limit a district of territory, under the limitations above mentioned; and the district so defined, limited and located, shall be deemed the district accepted by this act, for permanent seat of the government of the United States.”

If that’s not pillow talk, baby, I just don’t know what is.

The Library of Congress has an original sketch of the District done by Thomas Jefferson among its public collection, and a bunch of other sweet documents! Happy Conception Day, DC!

The Daily Feed
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DC Earthquake: Feel the Earth Move Under Your Feet?

Photo courtesy of
‘Earth Day 2010’
courtesy of ‘vpickering’

Feel something shaking this morning? According to the U.S. Geological Survey, a mild earthquake was felt around the Potomac region at roughly 5:04 a.m., measured at a 3.6 magnitude. As the Washington Post noted in its coverage online, this is decently significant for the area. The last measured quake was ten times less severe (a 2.6 magnitude) from 1990. Structural damage is also not likely, given the relative weakness of this morning’s shakes.

As this is D.C., we are always taking suggestions for what nickname this event should earn (a la Snowpocalypse). Clubhouse leader? “The Big Shakedown.” Leave your better ideas in the comments.

Entertainment, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed
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D.C. Shorts Film Festival Tickets On Sale

Photo courtesy of
‘E Street Cinemas’
courtesy of ‘InspirationDC’

Passes for the 2010 DC Shorts Film Festival are now on sale!

There are 3 options being offered this year including:

  • The “Pick 3” – $30, which includes any three events including open parties and the “Best of DC Shorts.”
  • The “Pick 5” – $45, which includes any five events including open parties and the “Best of DC Shorts.”
  • All-Access VIP – $125, which allows you to choose as many screenings and parties (including events for “filmmakers only” plus the “Best of DC Shorts.” They’ll even throw in a T-Shirt as a gift.

Individual screening ticket sales begin August 15 and in-person ticket sales can be made from September 9 – 12 (during the festival) at one of two box offices located at E Street Cinema and the U.S. Navy Memorial.

The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Interview with MIJA

Image Credit: MIJA Jewelry

In less than four years, Michelle Guest has turned her passion for art and jewelry design into a thriving business.  MIJA Jewelry is literally everywhere, and has graced the pages of almost every fashion magazine and tabloid – decorating a truly A-list clientele (Gwenyth Paltrow and Ellen Pompeo are huge fans).  In this We Love DC exclusive interview, the designer and Glover Park resident lets us know a little bit more about what makes her collection special and where she goes to find inspiration in her very own backyard.

We Love DC: What is MIJA?

Michelle Guest: MIJA is a combination of the first two letters of my name (MIchelle) and the first two letters of my sister’s name (JAni). My sister was the one who really inspired me to start the business by creating a collection of children’s jewelry.  The company has since expanded and now also features a huge collection [of] women’s jewelry.  She really encouraged me to jump into a business I initially knew nothing about.  If it was not for her, I’m not sure I would have ever done it!

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Not Your Mother’s Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

Photo courtesy of
‘PGE Park concession stand’
courtesy of ‘halvorsen_brian’


Eat your heart out, Cal Ripken stadium. They may have crabs in the outfield (great name for a movie, but I digress) but Harry Grove Stadium has Bryan Voltaggio. On Tuesday, July 27th, the kinder, gentler Voltaggio brother will be whipping up some concession stand delicacies for fans at the Frederick Keys/Lynchburg Hillcats game. Some of his planned dishes are pretty liberal interpretations of ballpark favs, such as: heirloom tomato gazpacho “Dippin’ Dots,” truffle popcorn, lamb hot dogs, and cheddar bacon burgers. And as an added bonus, the first 1,000 fans in the stadium will receive a Bryan Voltaggio bobblehead. Padma will be so jealous!
A portion of the proceeds from the VOLT Concession Stand will go to the Keys Care Foundation, which helps out non-profits in the Frederick area catering to youth and young adults. Get your tickets while they last.

The Features, We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, July 17-18

Photo courtesy of
‘Cooling off’
courtesy of ‘(afm)’

John: I’ll be playing two shows this weekend. Friday at Ri-Ra in Arlington with my cover band and Saturday at Tarara Winery north of Leesburg with Juniper Lane. Tarara has a “Saturday night summer series” with different bands playing from 6-9pm almost every weekend. Saturday afternoon I’ll be digging in the garden and fighting off groundhogs in a true Caddyshack approach to pest control. If I wasn’t so engaged with nature, I’d spend my afternoon down at Biergarten Haus on H Street enjoying a slice of Bavaria in my own proverbial backyard.

Rachel: I’m headed to Nashville for the weekend to audition for the 10th season of American Idol. Is the show a joke now that Simon and Paula’s gone plus the fact it’s the show’s tenth season? Maybe. Sure. But I’m doing it anyway. If I wasn’t, you better believe I’d spend the whole weekends watching Nats away games on TV or online. Wish me luck? Here’s to hoping I can put DC on the map via a Fox reality television show going into its first decade? Why not? Someone has to, right?
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News, The Daily Feed
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Owe the District? Now’s the time to pay up

Photo courtesy of
‘final days’
courtesy of ‘zenobia_joy’

The District is on the verge of announcing a two-month amnesty for most taxes, including sales and income taxes, according to the Business Journal’s Michael Neibauer.  That means you can pay your back taxes without penalty, but still including the interest owed.  Currently outstanding to the District’s CFO are $200M in unpaid taxes.  Getting the chance to pay them without penalty might get a few of the scofflaws to pony up with the dough necessary to help offset the massive $550M budget deficit that the District is currently facing.

Do tax amnesty programs help?  Well, when Pennsylvania did the same thing last month, they collected $261M in back taxes that they were owed, approximately $70M more than they expected.  New Jersey collected $725M in their tax amnesty last year. While tax cheats in the District owe significantly less than New Jersey or PA, it’d be a surprise to not see the city pickup a good $50-75M on this amnesty, and hopefully more.

The Daily Feed
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DC Full of Rich, Smart Vegetarians?

Photo courtesy of
‘foam finger fan’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

We love rankings that compare DC to other cities, rather than states (which can be very misleading).  So we’re happy that our great city is at the top of three recent city rankings: Washington is America’s highest-earning city, its best-educated city, and its most vegetarian-friendly city.  Here’s the thinking behind these superlatives: District residents earn lots of money because they’re lawyers and lobbyists and politicians, they’re well-educated because the region is home to those high-paying jobs that require advanced degrees, and it’s veg-friendly because vegetarians are supposedly richer and smarter.  So congratulations to all you rich, smart vegetarians pushing us to the top of the pack!

News, The Daily Feed, The District
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DC Court of Appeals rules for District on rejection of gay marriage referendum vote

Photo courtesy of
‘Chris and Hampton’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

The DC Court of Appeals, in a 5-4 verdict (available in PDF), upheld the District’s rejection of a referendum on gay marriage. At stake was the choice of the Board of Elections and Ethics to reject the petitions from Harry Jackson and others to require that gay marriage be put to a vote of the citizens of the District.  The BOEE argued, successfully, that to put this on the ballot would be to potentially authorize discrimination in violation of the Human Rights Act.  Associate Judge Thompson, writing for the majority, said “we therefore affirm the Superior Court’s rulings that the Council acted lawfully in imposing the Human Rights Act safeguard and that the Board correctly determined that the safeguard required it to reject the proposed initiative.”

Most interesting in the 84-page verdict was the item upon which all nine judges agreed: “the Board correctly determined that the proposed initiative would have the effect of authorizing such discrimination.” While the dissenting judges disagreed regarding the authorities involved in the case, they did accept that a voted prohibition against gay marriage was a wholesale violation of the Human Rights Act. Let that sink in a minute. We’ll have some more detail and reaction later today.

Entertainment, Life in the Capital, Music, The Daily Feed
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D.C. Gets Shafted On Paste Magazine’s 50 New State Songs List

Photo courtesy of
‘Memorial, reflected’
courtesy of ‘(afm)’

I realize D.C. is not a state, but it would’ve been nice for Paste Magazine to at least mention D.C. in their list of suggested state songs for the 21st century. A simple line stating “We would designate a song for D.C. but it is not a state,” would suffice. But no mention? Uncool, Paste Magazine. Uncool.

The list has some winners including a nice spread from Ryan Adams, M. Ward, Sufjan Stevens, and Ben Folds — but D.C. doesn’t even get mentioned as being in existence.

So let’s play a game in the comments: What would YOU pick as D.C.’s “state” song of today?

My vote goes to the DC remix of the Jay-Z/Alicia Keyes “Empire State of Mind” WLDC author Rebecca found online earlier this year by Eezy Money entitled “Capital Conscience.”

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The Smashing Pumpkins @ Ram’s Head Live 7/12/10

SP @ Ram's Head Live #3 photo by Michael Darpino.

The Smashing Pumpkins (2010 edition) performed at Ram’s Head Live in Baltimore on Monday night. The show was part of the current ‘small venue’ tour to promote Billy Corgan’s latest free-on-the-internet Smashing Pumpkins’ project/album, “Teargarden by Kaleidyscope”. The small venue tour also seems designed to generate the buzz of exclusivity for shows that are meant to erase the memory of the 2008 anniversary tour that swayed in quality from disappointment to fiasco. As both a promotional tour for the new album (it got me downloading it*) and a do-over for the infamous 2008 “shitshow“, Monday night’s concert was a success. The show was less a nostalgia trip (although some classics were performed) than it was an introduction to the new line-up, an exploration of the band’s more recent output, and an ego-stroke for The Smashing Pumpkins’ perpetually wounded band-leader Billy Corgan.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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We Love DC Does Top Chef DC: Episode 5

Photo courtesy of
‘claw’
courtesy of ‘volcanojw’

I can’t believe we are only five episodes in- it’s already felt like I’ve been watching this show FOREVER. Mostly because it’s been a couple of episodes since there’s been anything to be put the DC into Top Chef DC but hey I don’t want to disappoint those looking for my cutting-edge analysis so as long as they show airs, we’ll be here watching it- so you don’t have to!

The show opens with a scene setting up two “couples” within the group: Tamesha and Angelo along with Ed and Tiffany.

Tamesha is enjoying getting “mentor” help from one of the show’s strongest contestants and Angelo is attracted to Tamesha because he sees himself in her.

Excuse me for the sexual innuendo, I don’t honest think Angelo is attracted to Tamesha (who works in DC’s Oval Room,) in a sexual way- I think he used the word attracted because he’s so full of himself he’d be attracted with a self-reflection off a spoon.

Anyways it all results in a really awkward lean over to whisper some sweet nothings that he hopes isn’t picked up by the enormous boom mic above him.

Guys it’s reality TV- they are going to hear it.

Ed and Tiffany on the other hand are something else. When Ed says he enjoys Tiffany’s company I get that high school crush/reality showmance feeling. Nothing like having a conservation on the foot of her bed- it makes me wish Ed would just make a move so there’d be something interesting going on here besides cooking.

For the Quickfire challenge we are introduced to the episode’s guest judge: Patrick O’Connell, a James Beard (OMG that name again!) award winning  chef and founder of The Inn at Little Washington. We are also introduced to the challenge: CRABS!

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Special Events, The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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Fringe 2010: Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

I’m reviewing eight plays over eight days for the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival, in collaboration with DC Theatre Scene. Get your button and join me!

Actor Ben Egerman is the last human on earth. You the audience member are part of a horde of killer robots who’ve decimated the populace and are now clamouring for his blood, but you won’t kill him as long as he keeps you entertained.

That’s basically the premise of Egerman’s one-man show, Do Not Kill Me, Killer Robots – a quirky piece that reminded me of the elaborate pranks shy dorky boys used to pull to get your attention. That’s intentional on Egerman’s part. There’s not much substance here, just a string of vignettes ranging from truly funny to awkward. When he’s on and the delivery is strong, it’s hysterical. When the energy falls flat, it’s painful.

With the aid of hilariously drawn cardboard cut-outs, Egerman takes the audience (remember, you are killer robots!) through the events leading to (your) world domination, musing on (your) origins along the way. There’s a prolonged pitstop at space camp where Egerman does dead-on impressions of all the kooky characters you remember from any geek camp. Maybe too prolonged. Continue reading →

The Features
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Trending in DC: Today on Twitter

Photo courtesy of
‘tiny dice’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

One of the things I’ve always been amused to note on Twitter is the difference between DC’s local trending topics and the trends for all Twitter users generally. The greater DC area has a pretty educated population, so frequently while the rest of the country is talking about Justin Bieber, the trending topics in DC are a little more erudite. This fuels my personal sense of smug superiority, so I embrace it. But apparently that is not the case today, y’all.

What’s DC talking about today? According to Twitter, today DC is talking about: Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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DC One Step Closer To A Place In National Statuary Hall

Photo courtesy of
‘Statuary Hall’
courtesy of ‘MichaelTRuhl’

So we might not have voting rights, but we might be getting statues. That’s almost the same as government representation, right? The House Administration Committee approved a bill this afternoon that would grant DC the right to install two statues in the Capitol’s famed National Statuary Hall Collection, a privilege every state has enjoyed since 1864. The bill’s final passage would be a symbolic victory during a dismal year for the District’s fight for equality, and one that Del. Eleanor Norton Holmes has fought for years to achieve. No word yet on when the bill will reach the full House floor, or whether it would survive a Senate vote.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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The Gift That Keeps On Giving

Photo courtesy of
‘Dupont Celebrates Spain’s World Cup’
courtesy of ‘borderstan’

Did you hear? Jose Andres was really psyched about Spain winning the World Cup. Whether it’s jet lag or that he’s lost his mind completely, he’s going to show you how excited he is with cold, hard cash. As part of the “All the Way for Spain” promotion, Andres will reimburse you (in the form of a Jaleo gift card) for the full value of your food and drinks purchased while watching a World Cup game at Jaleo.

Good deal, no? You’ll need to be organized to reap the benefits though. You must have your itemized receipt with total excluding tax and tip from any of the three Jaleo locations, and the date and time stamped on the receipt must be from a game day prior to 5pm. Bring your receipt to any Jaleo location before August 31st to claim your prize. More information and a World Cup schedule (in case you were in a sangria fog at the time) can be found here.

Business and Money, Entertainment, Essential DC, Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, People, Special Events, The Features
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Reality TV: “DC Cupcakes” Premiere

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

Last night’s preview party for “DC Cupcakes” was filled with pink boxes, votive candles, delicious mini cupcakes, champagne and a fantastic look out at the trials, tribulations and success of locally owned and operated Georgetown Cupcake.

The first episode of the six-part series premieres this Friday at 10pm on TLC and opens on Valentine’s Day, the busiest day of the year, where the cupcakery must meet a demand increase of 500% (the shop usually sells 5,000 cupcakes a day, so we’re talking 25,000 cupcakes here,) AND tackle a last minute challenge for a good cause. Like every small business, and reality TV show, there are bumps in the road, conflicts, mishaps, lovable characters (look for comic relief from head baker Andrew and shop staffer Yasmin) and late nights. Also, be prepared for a blast from the past, as the episode contains Snopocalyspe covered streetscapes. SnOMG!

While some might argued that the cupcake craze has jumped the shark, there’s something sweet (pun intended,) charming and inspirational about two sisters quitting their finance and fashion industry jobs to join forces and simply bake cupcakes. According to co-owner Sophie LaMontagne, the two sisters originally defined success as “making the rent and baking with their mom at their side.” LaMontagne exuberantly added “I get to come to work in sweatpants and make cupcakes!” Got to admit that sure beats pantyhose. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Montgomery County Dog Parks To Begin Charging

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

So much for the dog days of summer. As of August 1, Montgomery County will require a permit for the use of its five dog parks. Permits will cost an annual $40 for the first dog and $5 for each subsequent dog. Any dog found romping without a permit will incur a fine for its owner by the park police.

The permit fees are designed to generate funds for the county’s beleaguered Department of Parks, which is facing a proposed 17.5% cut in their requested budget for FY 2011. The new permits are expected to generate roughly $40,000 for the department each year.

Need a permit for your pooch? You can download a form at the Montgomery Parks dog parks page.