Monthly Archives: October 2010

The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Cheverly

Cheverly - The Cheverly Sign - 11-11-07

Welcome to the last regularly-scheduled Where We Live.  We’ve had a great run over the past year and a half, profiling dozens of neighborhoods in the District, Maryland, and Virginia.  But all good things must come to an end (especially when we’re running out of neighborhoods to profile!).  So while Where We Live won’t disappear, and you can still expect more neighborhood profiles on occasion in the future, this will be the last regularly-scheduled one you’ll see for a little while.

And we’re wrapping things up with the lovely suburb of Cheverly.  Cheverly, known as “the hidden jewel of Prince George’s County”, is an idyllic little town right outside of the District.  It sounds too good to be true– tree lined streets, a small-town atmosphere, and beautiful, affordable housing close to a Metro station.  As it turns out, it’s all true.  So let Where We Live fill you in on one of the Washington region’s best kept secrets: Cheverly.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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It Gets Better

Washingtonians want you to know: it gets better. A few weeks ago, journalist Dan Savage launched the “It Gets Better” campaign, created in the wake of the recent spate of LGBT teen suicides. The campaign features videos made by celebrities and ordinary individuals, who share their painful pasts and encourage LGBT youth not to lose hope during middle and high school. Washingtonians have taken up the call to arms, and are reaching out to bullied teens with messages of their own.

Continue reading →

Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Night Life, Special Events, The District
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Preview: VelocityDC Dance Festival

Alright, so when Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings roll around, maybe going to a dance performance isn’t the first activity that pops into our heads. However, this weekend with the 2nd annual VelocityDC Dance Festival at the Shakespeare Theater, it should be.

The premise of the festival is simple: showcase the amazing, often unknown, talents within the local DC dance community and make the performance accessible to everyone in DC by pricing tickets at an affordable price ($18). Peter DiMuro of Dance/MetroDC and festival organizer credits Fall for Dance as the inspiration for the festival and hopes that “by showing several companies at once, we show the local area community how great the Dance scene in DC is and hopefully get them out to other performances.”

VelocityDC isn’t your typical, Kennedy Center dance performance with two acts, an intermission and a gray haired, crushed velvet clad, dozing off audience. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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I Bless the Rains: Region Drought Concerns Quelled By Recent Storms

Photo courtesy of
‘Umbrella vs. fire truck’
courtesy of ‘theqspeaks’

The smart folks over at the Capital Weather Gang have been reminding us through the week that the recent rains have been much needed. On the year, it’s been abnormally dry (hard to believe, given the thunder shows and thunder snows of the last nine or so months). Thanks to to the ridiculous amounts of rain over the last 10 days – well clear of five inches of precipitation – things have gotten a little bit closer to where they should be in terms of the annual rainfall.

Check the image after the jump to see just how much better things look in a rainy week’s time (embedded in the original CWG post and from the U.S. Drought Monitor): Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Construction to Cause Rosslyn Traffic Changes Starting this Weekend

Photo courtesy of
‘Rosslyn sunset’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

If you travel through Rosslyn, via the station, one of the many busses that come through or may be even use it as a pick-up point outside the city, be prepared for a few traffic changes that will begin this weekend:

Starting Saturday, North Moore Street will become a one-way street heading south toward Wilson Boulevard. As a result, taxi stands and bus stops will be relocated to other parts of North Moore Street. Also, passenger pickup and drop-off will be prohibited on North Moore Street — it will only be allowed on the Fort Myer Drive side of the station.

The modified traffic pattern is to account for construction on the new Metro entrance and is likely to take a few years.

We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, October 9-10

Photo courtesy of
‘Rabbit in a hat’
courtesy of ‘martha_jean’

Dave: While Friday night is dedicated to a brief happy hour out in Columbia Heights with a few others of the media world at Meridian Pint, I’m probably most excited for another weekend gig down at The Rookery with my band, The Greensides. In addition to the normal level of acoustic rocking you can expect, we’re also really please to have an outstanding opener: comedian Christian Hunt. And if you’ve never seen the Capital City Showcase host perform, this is as much a treat as anything. Once all of that winds down, Sunday is about recovery, but at least it’ll be during a field trip for tacos in Virginia to recognize the birthday of one of WLDC’s own, the great Tom Bridge.

John: This Friday, come check out my band Juniper Lane, headline IOTA Club and Cafe in Arlington. We’ll be playing with No Second Troy and it’ll be a fun night of rock and roll. We’ll be playing almost all of the material from our new record. Saturday I’m going out to Bull Run Farm to do a cider pressing as part of my Community Supported Agriculture program. Then I’ll be finishing up some raised beds and doing the fall clean up and winterizing and hanging out with my lady. Ahh fall! Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Rally to Restore Sanity Location Announced

Last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart announced that the location for the Rally to Restore Sanity will be between 3rd and 7th Streets NW, so across the street from the Capitol Reflecting Pool, essentially.

Stewart also asked viewers to donate to the Trust for the National Mall because it’s “the people’s space,” which we wholeheartedly support, and he made one other suggestion about how to respect the Mall, but I’ll let you watch the video for that. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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A little holiday irony

James Luna, from the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian website

Native American performance artist James Luna will be outside Union Station on Monday – Columbus Day – taking pictures with passers-by in an art project called “Take a Picture with a real Indian.” Past press releases about the presentation indicate that Luna interacts with the audience, asking them to choose what cardboard cutout portrays the “real” Indian. He’ll be near the statue of Christopher Columbus with his presentation for about 90 minutes starting at 4:15p.

I’m a little disappointed they’re shooting outside; I’d have been amused to see two of our local institutions butt heads as the notoriously openness-averse Smithsonian knocks heads with the photo-phobic Union Station management.

Alexandria, Entertainment, Interviews, People, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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Dance Preview: Bellydance Superstars

The Bellydance Superstars in Bombay Bellywood. Photo courtesy of Bellydance Superstars.

The Bellydance Superstars will be at The Birchmere this month for two shows – October 27 and 28 – with a new production called Bombay Bellywood. I last saw BDSS perform at the Lisner in March 2009, and it was an infectiously fun performance that had the audience shimmying in their seats. For those of us studying dance, it’s always fascinating to watch and learn from professional touring companies. I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve come up with this time around, in a production that’s mixing Bollywood and Bhangra into the usual line-up of Egyptian Cabaret and Tribal Fusion styles.

One of the highlights for me last year was the whirling veil work of Petite Jamilla, and I was thrilled to get a chance to talk with her about the new production and what DC area audiences can expect later this month.

“We are really leaving our hearts on the stage,” she said. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, News, The Daily Feed
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Track the Curbside Cookoff Voting!

Curbside Cookoff!

Today starts the Curbside Cookoff, a fiesta of food trucks down at the site of the old Convention Center at 11th & H Street NW, which means two things:

1) Our Food Truck Tracker is taking today & tomorrow off, because all of the trucks are in one place at the Cookoff

2) Voting!

There’s going to be SMS voting for your favorite food truck starting today after the cookoff gets going.  Check out the Live Vote Tallies thanks to DCRA, who’s cohosting the event.  Look for live dispatches from Katie and Ashley on our new Live Events Twitter Account, @welovedclive.

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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Varlamov on Injured Reserve

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_4847’
courtesy of ‘photopete’

Just to update a note we had in yesterday’s preview – the Capitals have placed goalie Semyon Varlamov on injured reserve for an undisclosed injury. Speculation is that he’s being hindered by a nagging groin pull, but nothing has been confirmed. Varlamov can be recalled from IR at any time and is expected to travel with the team to Atlanta for the season opener tomorrow.

The move, coincidentally, drops the Capitals’ roster to the league-mandated 23 man limit. Rookie Michal Neuvirth is expected to start tomorrow and will most likely dress for Saturday’s home opener against New Jersey. Recently signed Dany Sabourin will be Neuvirth’s backup.

Varlamov hasn’t played since the Sept 22 preseason game, though he did participate in skating practice yesterday.

The Daily Feed
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Underheard in DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Cheverly – Rabbit – 7-31-08’
courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’

A clever McSweeneys article this morning about underheard phrases in New York got the We Love DC Authors thinking: What are some quips that you just don’t hear enough in DC?

I proudly present, our attempts at #UnderheardInDC:

“You know, Chinatown really captures the spirit and history of a cultural neighborhood like any other city.”

“My cabbie tonight was so awesome! He spoke perfect English and I didn’t have to give him directions!”

“Getting tickets to tonight’s Wizards game was so hard.”

“All the parking meters are reasonably priced and in working order the majority of the time!”

“The HHS building fits so perfectly with the architectural character of downtown DC!”

“Waiting in line to get into a club is so worth it!” Continue reading →

Adams Morgan, Arlington, Dupont Circle, Food and Drink, Penn Quarter
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Hibernation Schedule for D.C. Area Farmers Markets

Photo courtesy of
‘Late Season Harvest.’
courtesy of ‘leedav’

Now is that time of year when you wake up a little late Saturday morning and have that mental debate with yourself over whether to get up or roll over and sleep until it’s sunny again. Last year around this time I was having that very same fight, when I bribed myself to get out of bed by heading to the local farmers market…just to find out it had closed the weekend before. It’s tough to keep all the closing dates straight, so read on and find your local market and its closing date, or check out the ones that stay open even when it’s frigid outside. Everyone loves shivering in front of their veggie purveyor.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Police seek owner of lost baseball card collection


image of found baseball cards courtesy of MPD

So… did you lose/throw away a big box of baseball cards recently? According to an alert MPD is circulating around its various mailing lists, these cards were found in East Potomac Park near the tennis area and were turned in as found property of potential value.

MPD has made some photos available to help the owner identify his or her property, but the alert also specifies that the owner will need to provide additional information about the contents of the collection beyond what’s visible in the photos in order to claim the box.

The former baseball card collectors among the WLDC authors insist that the collection is worthless, but it may have some sentimental value for someone. Or they could have been trying to pitch it and it just ended up in the wrong place.

Are they yours?

capitals hockey, Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Extra: Capitals Hockey 2010-11 Season Preview

Photo courtesy of
‘All alone in the net’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

Tomorrow is the start of the 2010-11 NHL regular season, pretty much the only sport that matters in my household. Around the DC area, the Washington Capitals are becoming – if not already – the number two sports franchise, and with good reason: unlike many of the other pro teams in the area, the Caps have been consistent winners the last several years.

Today’s date, actually, should probably be declared a local holiday. Why? Well, five years ago on October 5, some rookie with the number 8 on his sweater hit the Verizon Center ice in the season opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Forty seconds into the game, Alexander Ovechkin – the rookie in question – hit defenseman Radoslav Suchy so hard against the glass that one of the supports broke loose and hit the ice. A portent of things to come? If so, Ovechkin had two more signs to stamp his arrival to the NHL that night – his first two goals of his career, one of them a great one-timer from Jeff Halpern. At the end of that game, there was no doubt: Ovechkin – and the Capitals – had arrived at the next level.

It’s been an Ovechkin-fueled rocket ship ride for the Capitals since, with no sign of stopping.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Make Obama Your New Best Friend

Photo Courtesy of ObamaAndMe.Com

Have you ever wanted to go on a road trip with President Obama? Or maybe take him to the grocery store? Or perhaps all you want is a quiet afternoon with POTUS, where you can set him on your knee and tell him hilarious stories about your childhood.

If any of the above scenarios sound desirable, then good news: you can now take Obama with you wherever you go — AND have photographic evidence of your adventures. There’s a new iPhone app called ObamaAndMe, which allows users to drag, shrink and enlarge an icon of the President across photos taken with their iPhones. This could potentially make for endless hours of hilarity, particularly at parties where alcohol is involved. It also seems like a powerful tool for Facebook profile pics.

The app is $1.99 and is currently available for iPhones only. A version for Droid should go on sale within the next few weeks. Not a Democrat? Not to worry — the brains behind the app have plans to introduce other politicians into the mix as well.

News, The Daily Feed
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Norton calls for Foreclosure pause

Photo courtesy of
‘Blizzard of Foreclosures’
courtesy of ‘Photos by Chip Py’

Eleanor Holmes Norton today called for a moratorium on foreclosures due to malfeasance at national banks concerning the documentation surrounding many mortgages.  Citing specifically J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Ally Financial, the District’s delegate to Congress requested a moratorium “until they can assure residents here that they have systems in place to prevent improper foreclosures.”

The issue here is that in many circumstances, legal documents required by banks as part of foreclosure proceedings have been improperly certified by staff at these lenders.  Planet Money has been running some excellent stories on the issues that are surrounding these documents, and they’re worth a read.

DC is a special case because there is a non-judicial foreclosure process, whereby the courts are avoided entirely, and the process is handled through the contract that you sign when you take out the loan on your house.  Norton’s call for a moratorium could likely buy families time to avoid these processes, but given the rate at which banks are not modifying loans, I’d say a moratorium isn’t going to save too many homes.

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: King Arthur

Ben Cunis as King Arthur, Vato Tsikurishvili as Lancelot, and Ensemble in Synetic Theater's "King Arthur." Photo credit: Graeme B. Shaw

I’m fast running out of superlatives to describe Synetic Theater productions. They operate in a riveting crossfire where power meets grace, muscle meets sinew. And this time, for King Arthur, they do it all in ankle-deep water.

That’s right, the brutally complex swordplay, the exquisite dancing, the emotional physicality – all take place on a stage filled with water. Sometimes it even rains.

Superb.

Synetic is often described as presenting “physical theater” – to denote its wordless style. But I like to think of it more as “psychological theater.” Director Paata Tsikurishvili and choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili tease out character’s deep motivations into the physical realm, like taking micro-expressions and elongating them. As their brilliant foray into the shattered psyche of a triple-headed Iago in Othello showed, they are masters of the psychological nuance. One might not immediately think the King Arthur legend lends itself to that approach (isn’t it just a love triangle? you might initially think) but they mine the depths of betrayal to make what could be cardboard characters truly live.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Something Eating Gilbert? Arenas and His Future With the Wizards

Photo courtesy of
‘Gilbert Arenas’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

A few years ago, Gilbert Arenas was the prince of the Verizon Center. After joining the Wiz from the University of Arizona, Gil was an all-league all-star who was contributing night in and night out for the Wizards. The playoff runs and the birth of the rivalry with LeBron’s Cleveland teams in the middle of the decade may really be the only bright spot of the history of the “Wizards” era of the Bullets franchise.

Injuries and controversy in the last years brought Arenas down from All-NBA to “Are you kidding me?” The bottom of the valley was last season’s bizarre gun situation, leading to a season down the tubes via suspension. If not for the luck of the draft lottery and the arrival of John Wall, it isn’t entirely clear whether or not the new ownership would keep Arenas around even for the start of the season, even though his contract runs through 2014. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Four Area Foodies are Great, Young

Photo courtesy of
‘young griller’
courtesy of ‘woodleywonderworks’
Food & Wine has their “40 Big Thinkers 40 and Under” in November’s issue, and four of D.C.’s finest have made the cut. Coming in strong at number three on the list is 31-year-old White House chef Sam Kass, who is recognized for his “unprecedented” role as chef and policy adviser. With the White House influence on public school lunches and the eradication of childhood obesity, he has obviously got a lot on his plate (ha!).

You have to venture a little further down the list to find the rest of the D.C. representation, but in the grand scheme of things, coming in at number 34, 35 and 36 in the country is pretty respectable. Georgetown grads Nicholas Jammet, Nathaniel Ru and Jonathan Neman (you know them as the Sweetgreen guys) are called out for having investors with an environmentally friendly tilt, such as Gary Hirshberg, founder of Stoneyfield Farms. Eater has the entire list here, in case you want to check and see if you made it for your ground-breaking Wheat Thin nachos.