Monthly Archives: November 2010

Sports Fix, The Features
By

Sports Fix: The Fog of November edition

Photo courtesy of
‘00209054’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

Wizards
Record: 4-8
Last Two Weeks: 3-4
Place: Fifth in the Southeast

It’s amazing that the Wizards managed to win three games considering John Wall didn’t play in two of them. The franchise player has been out four straight games with a left foot sprain. Wizards fan can breathe a sigh of relief however, Wall is expected to return to the court for Tuesday’s game against Philadelphia. In Wall’s stead, Gilbert Arenas has retaken the reigns but is still trying to find that 3-point shot that he’s known for. Including last night’s loss to Detroit, he’s 5-21 (23.8%) in 3-point shots in the past three games- a bit off from his career 35.9%.

Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
By

Ingmar Guandique found guilty on all counts for murder of Chandra Levy

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Courthouse’
courtesy of ‘Joe in DC’

Ingmar Guandique has been convicted of two counts of felony first degree murder that carry a life sentence.  TBD TV’s reporter Stephen Tschida on the scene said that Mrs. Levy started at Guandique with a look of anguish and happiness while the verdict was read and the jury was polled.

At last, Chandra Levy’s murder is put to rest.

Sentencing is scheduled for February, and each of the felony murder counts carries a minimum of 30 years.

Sports Fix, The Features
By

Week 10 Recap – Skins vs. Titans

Photo courtesy of
‘39322-14’
courtesy of ‘furcafe’

Everything seemed hopeless after the Redskins’ Monday night debacle against the Eagles. Then, they took their gold pants to Nashville and beat the Titans 19-16 in overtime. I guess this proves that the Eagle game was an anomaly. The Skins were scrappy against the Titans, the defense forced a couple of turnovers, and Donovan McNabb looked great with 376 yards and a touchdown passing. Better yet, McNabb ran the two-minute offense exactly how Mike Shanahan wanted him to run it. Only Graham Gano’s missed 47-yard field goal at the end of regulation prevented total confirmation. Gano did connect on a 48-yarder in overtime, thanks in part to the Titans’ penalties, to seal the victory. The Skins are back at .500 and all five wins have come when they’ve scored less than 20 points. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

DC barely makes least safe cities list

Photo courtesy of
‘Thumbs Up Chuck, Chuck Brown, Godfather of GoGo’
courtesy of ‘Photos by Chip Py’

Two decades ago, DC was the murder capital of the year.  This year? We barely made the violent crime list, and we’re ranked behind St Louis (#1, sorry Chris), Detroit (#3), Oakland (#5), Baltimore (#11), and New Orleans (#13).  DC is currently at less than a quarter of the murders from the peak year in 1991, and will likely finish the year well beneath 2009’s total of 143.  Congrats, DC, this is a milestone I think we can all celebrate.

The Daily Feed
By

HR-57 moving to H Street

Photo courtesy of
‘Music………..’
courtesy of ‘LaTur’

If you love Jazz, you’ve been to HR-57 on 14th street.  It means you probably also heard the news this weekend that they’re moving out of their location on 14th and are headed to greener pastures on H Street NE at 9th Street, according to the City Paper and owner Tony Puesan.  The non-profit focuses on the preservation of Jazz & Blues and takes their name from the House Continuing Resolution 57 that Congress passed to honor the uniquely American musical artforms.  They’ll be in their new home come January.

Weekend Flashback
By

Weekend Flashback: 11/19 – 11/21/10

Photo courtesy of
‘Kodak Bullet Camera 1936’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Short work week for most of us this week! In fact, I’m betting most of us at work are already finding ways to not work just to get through these three days before food, football, and yet more food. So to give you yet more excuses to avoid the workweek, here’s our Monday photo fix.

Next week’s flashback will encompass the four-day weekend, so if you take photos around the area, don’t forget to drop them into our Flickr pool for consideration!

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Redskins Cheat Sheet Week 11: @ Tennessee

Photo courtesy of
‘Donovan McNabb, Washington Redskins’
courtesy of ‘the extinction blues’

Some Redskins fans may still be smarting from last Monday, but the team’s season wasn’t officially over: they still had seven games left. The first of the last seven was yesterday afternoon, and in case you missed it or tuned it out in hopes that the ‘Skins would go away, the Redskins Cheat Sheet is here to be your Monday morning guide to another nailbiting Washington win.

The Redskins are up to 5-5 after the win over a now seemingly dysfunctional Tennessee Titans, and the story of not only yesterday’s game, but most of the season, is all in the numbers. As a walkthrough guide to yesterday’s game, we are going to arm you with the stats you need to get through the holiday week’s office banter about the ‘Skins. I warn you now, if offensive futility makes you squeamish, you best look away. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Trans-Siberian Orchestra – Winter Tour 2010


Photo by Rachel Levitin

The Washington Post once compared watching Trans-Siberian Orchestra to watching the spacecraft at the end of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” touchdown for 2.5 hours.

The Independent of London pointed out that TSO concerts unleash enough pyrotechnics to barbecue an entire school of blue whales.

The Chicago Tribune, then, gracefully reminded us that deep down inside the hard rocking, laser-light extravaganza of a show TSO performs during their annual Winter Tour is to celebrate the holiday season – and more specifically Christmas.

“Why a Christmas concert that revels in the excess of the ’90s and sports the hair of the ’80s while overdosing on the musical pretensions of the ’70s?,” the Tribune asked TSO creator and composer Paul O’Neill.

“Because the rest of the year, there’s blood in the streets,” O’Neill said, “and Christmas is the one time when you pick up a phone and call someone who hasn’t seen you in years and even if that person has caller ID, they will pick up.”

All Christmas sentiments aside, TSO is one of those bands that is good any time of year due to the fact that they are – in a word – awesome.

Why are they awesome? Three reasons: production quality, fan base, and musicianship. Continue reading →

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
By

Flyers Edge Caps in Shootout

Photo courtesy of
‘Green Gets Powed #1’
courtesy of ‘clydeorama’

For only the second time this season, the Capitals lost their second straight game with a 5-4 shootout loss to the visiting Philadelphia Flyers. The loss was a tough one, though the Caps fought hard in the third to send the game into overtime.

Rookie Marcus Johnasson opened the scoring in the first period, notching his second of the season. The goal came after the Caps had put their first three shots off the crossbar and goal posts. The theme of the first half of the game was missed chances by the Caps, including a couple of failed breakaways by Alexander Ovechkin. “I thought all game we had good chances,” coach Bruce Boudreau said. “I was worried after the first period when it was only 1-0 because we didn’t get rewarded for having three 2-on-1s, two breakaways – those are the kind of times that you put teams away and when you let them hang around something usually happens.” Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
By

MPD Suspends Assistant Chief over testing misconduct issue

Photo courtesy of
‘Taking a Test.’
courtesy of ‘peruisay’

Assistant Police Chief Diane Groomes was placed on administrative leave late yesterday over allegations of corruption related to promotion tests. Asst. Chief Alfred Durham will take over her duties until the investigation is complete.  Groomes is alleged to have helped commanders who did not take their National Incident Management System test, which is required for all top-level MPD staff to be cognizant of national situations.

Asst. Chief Groomes said in a statement to FOX 5: “I am sorry for my actions and bad judgment…and bringing discredit to the best chief…police department and city.”

There has been significant outpouring of support on community listserves for Chief Groomes from citizens and community leaders alike, with many calling her a “dedicated law enforcement officer” and citing a record of strong service to the department.

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
By

Atlanta Strikes Early, Stones Caps

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_2665.jpg’
courtesy of ‘bridgetds’

The Washington Capitals suffered their first regulation loss in ten games last night, dropping a 5-0 decision to their division opponents in Atlanta. The Thrashers have handed the Caps two of their five regulation losses this season.

Atlanta led 3-0 after the first, with Ben Eager opening the scoring less than three minutes in. Two quick strikes around the 9 minute mark by Nik Antropov and Evander Kane was enough to send Braden Holtby off the ice for the evening. It was only the rookie’s fourth career start.

Dustin Byfuglien and Alexander Burmistrov rounded out Atlanta’s scoring. It was the Caps first shutout loss since Dec. 9, 2009 against Buffalo. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Last Chance: Monday brings the Aquabats and RBF

Photo courtesy of
‘Aquabat Sticker’
courtesy of ‘bernard.rodriguez’

It’s Friday, and all you can think about is the weekend, and frankly, after this week, who can blame you? I mean, DC’s been obsessing about Wal-Mart, the TSA, and the leadership of the House all week long.  Who doesn’t want to stop for a few days, drink some Four Loko with some college students, and spend the weekend engaged in Harry Potter-related activities.  I mean, that’s what I’m dreaming of.

But, before we go and let the weekend subsume our very being, I’ve got a quick PSA about a concert that’s happening Monday night at 9:30 Club.  It’s hard to believe that this year represents fifteen years since probably my favorite record of the 1990s, Reel Big Fish’s Turn the Radio Off, with their single Sell Out.  I think that’s the only of my CDs from that decade that I actually wore out entirely. Anyhow, they’re playing with other ska great The Aquabats.  Tickets are still available, and you can totally wear a big suit and skank it on out on the floor of the 9:30. Me? I wish I could be there, but I’ve got a prior engagement.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to go cope with the fact that I am really old.

The Daily Feed
By

More Wal-Mart details emerging

Photo courtesy of
‘Maholo for choosing you Honolulu Wal-Mart’
courtesy of ‘mathrock’

The three new Wal-marts planned for the District made news early in the week, and additional details have started to flow from the press as we’ve gotten more information.  This afternoon I talked with Steve Restivo at Wal-mart about the proposed stores.

Each of the stores will closely resemble the newly opened Alexandria Wal-mart which is approximately the same size and footprint intended for the new DC stores.  The Alexandria store brought 275 jobs, and if that were the case for each of the new DC stores, we’re still not quite adding up to the 1,200 jobs that were mentioned in their early press.

Wal-mart associates working these positions full-time will be averaging salaries of $12.49/hr, and full-time positions will be about 60% of the jobs associated with each of the sites.  The four locations are intended to be 58th & East Capitol Street SE, Georgia Ave NW & Missouri Ave NW, 801 New Jersey Ave NW, and New York Ave & Bladensburg Ave NE.  All associates will have access to Wal-mart’s healthcare benefits and 401k matching plan.

The Daily Feed
By

Transit enthusiasts, fire up your RSS readers

Photo courtesy of
’10 October 2010 – No 085′
courtesy of ‘B Jones Jr’

A friend casually mentioned last night that it looks like Metro’s planning office seemed to have a blog, but he wasn’t sure if it was real. DCist reminded me to check it out today, and it’s clearly far too straitlaced to be a hoax.

PlanItMetro.com is from WMATA’s Office of Long Range Planning and has been updated sporadically since early October. (If only there were some kind of Metro social media channel they could have used to publicize it…) Lots of interesting things to be found on it, including information about serving casual riders with “12 minute maps” that show coordinated service along low-frequency lines.

It’s a big step for an agency not at all known for being communicative, especially through less traditional media. So poke around a bit and leave a comment- it’s a lot easier to be motivated to write when you know you’re writing for an audience.

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, We Love Music
By

Q&A with Paul Oakenfold

Paul Oakenfold
photo courtesy of MSOPR.

Paul Oakenfold is arguably the biggest dance music DJ and producer in the world. The closest thing to a household name that the hardcore dance world is likely to ever produce, Oakenfold has been a major force in electronic dance music for twenty years. Rising from a basement bar in Covent Garden at the end of the 80’s with an arsenal of Acid House and cross-genre Ibiza DJ stylings he went on to conquer the London nightclub scene and then the world. They simply do not make DJs bigger than Paul Oakenfold.

Oakenfold is bringing his Facelift Tour to the 9:30 Club on Tuesday November 23. He took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with me about his career and the current landscape of dance music.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Simian Mobile Disco @ U Street Music Hall 11/17/10

Simian Mobile Disco
Photo courtesy of Motormouthmedia.

I love U Street Music Hall.

and

I love Simian Mobile Disco.

The two combined for one of the most fun nights of electronic dance music that I have had in Washington DC since the heydey of 90’s techno at Trax or Capital Ballroom/Nation. It was so much fun, I can hardly believe that it took place in our city. No offense DC, but on the pure electronic party front you’ve been lacking for years.* Simian Mobile Disco’s ‘Delicatessen’ party at U Street Music Hall rivaled some of the best European dance parties and Sahara Tent raves I have experienced. I imagine that bringing real ‘experience’ dance parties like this one to DC is exactly why Jesse Tittsworth and Will Eastman built their electronic music mecca in the first place.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Rocket Scientist student at AU tells press he’s stockpiling, selling Four Loko

Photo courtesy of
‘four loko’
courtesy of ‘ghostdad’

One has to admire how a student living in “dry” campus housing at American University would brag to the Washington Post about stockpiling the soon-to-be-banned Four Loko beverage and use his actual name and major.  That’s Greg Gerlach (see below, the Post’s identification may be incorrect), according to the article, a sophomore econ major from the class of 2013 (on the five year plan? That’s a surprise.) who’s stockpiling the beverage in advance of the ban.  What’s more fun is that from a little research, it appears that Gerlach (see below, the Post’s identification may be incorrect) has yet to reach the age where purchasing liquor is legal, as his birthday on social networking site Facebook is listed as 1990.

We asked if any of our authors had tried the controversial beverage, and one review was granted on the condition of anonymity:

Continue reading →