Monthly Archives: December 2010

News, The Daily Feed
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Harris Teeter opens off North Capitol tonight

Photo courtesy of
‘Tysons Harris Teeter’
courtesy of ‘wfyurasko’

The city’s newest grocery store opens tonight at 5:30.  The Harris Teeter at Constitution Square (1201 First Street NE, near the NY Ave Metro) will throw open its doors for everyone and host a two and a half hour “Taste of the Teeter” event so you can try most of the stuff in the store.  I’m pretty excited about this opening, since it’s right in my backyard, and will probably become my everyday grocery store.

Though the store isn’t a 24-hour grocery, which is a bummer, it’ll be open from 7a to midnight each night, and features a pharmacy department open 7 days a week as well.  See you at the opening!

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘projection-4’
courtesy of ‘dr_kim_veis [”o ]’

December’s increasingly short days and this week’s biting wind have forced many of us into hibernation mode. With the outside world so inhospitable these days, it’s time to look for inside activities to keep from going stir-crazy, and dr_kim_veis has shared his cure for the winter blues with us for today’s featured photo.

The image on the wall is a camera obscura projection, and it’s made using a technique that pre-dates photography. All you need to do it yourself is a window to mount a lens on and a spot for the image to show up. The end result lets you see the scenes and lights and colors of the outside world without ever leaving the comfort of that blanket you’re hiding under. The Internet is full of people who have experimented with techniques, and there’s a Flickr group devoted to sharing images from users’ work.

The projection itself can be a work of art, or, like our photographer, you can turn the camera lens on the scene and create an image like this one. When Samer featured a similar shot back in August, he talked a little bit about the technique needed to capture these images. But, like the camera obscura itself, half the fun is in the experience and experimentation. So take one of these cold dark evenings to see what you can put together. When you’re done, share your images with us in the We Love DC Flickr pool.

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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Caps Blow Lead, Lose to Leafs in Shootout

DSC_9213

It was almost a picture-perfect ending. Call-up Mathieu Perreault was having the game of his relatively short career as a Cap, the team was up 4-1 going into the third, and it looked as if the Caps were about to wipe out the bad taste of losing to the Thrashers and Stars over the last few days.

Then it all fell apart.

A three-goal third shifted the momentum to the Leafs and the pressure built as the clock ticked down. Goals by Tim Brent and Clarke MacArthur came in the last 2:30, dismantling a well-constructed lead by the home team. “Washington got a little sloppy toward the end,” Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson said. “I think they thought the game was over but we kept on playing and took advantage of some of their miscues in their end.”

Goalie Michal Neuvirth staved off the Leafs in overtime and both he and the Leafs’ Jonas Gustavsson stood strong in the shootout, coming down to Toronto’s Mikhail Grabovski, who snapped a backhand shot behind Neuvirth. Last night’s shootout win was the second in a row for the Leafs.

For much of the game, it looked to be the Mathieu Perreault show. Deflecting in a point shot from defenseman Tom Poti, who himself notched three assists on the night, Perreault was a bundle of energy on the ice from end to end. His second goal came as he skated in alone near the left circle and took in a tight Brooks Laich pass, pulled and hesitated just long enough to force Gustavsson to commit, then ripped it past the Leafs’ goalie. Any time Perreault touched the puck in the third period and beyond, the crowd got excited, expecting to celebrate yet another hat trick. Alas, it wasn’t to be.
Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Eleventh Street Lounge comedy and food drive

Photo courtesy of
‘2010:282’
courtesy of ‘::FiZ::’

The venerable Clarendon Eleventh Street Lounge comedy open mic/showcase/nerd paradise has announced their final showcase of the year, and it is worth your time.

The Lounge Lizards showcases are usually well put together, but this Thursday, newly-crowned organizer Chris Barylick seems to have called in pretty much everyone he knows– the lineup features Will Hessler, Pete Bladel, Ahmed Huidobro, among others, and is headlined by Seaton Smith (you may know him from BYT’s Family Hemerlein nights, TEDxPennQuarter, FunnyorDie.com, and about a gajillion other places. He’s like DC’s most famous comic that hasn’t moved to New York).

It’s a good chance to catch Smith in a venue less like a theater or a club and more like your dad’s basement. If it were decorated by Prince.

But that’s not all! What with it being a season of giving and all, the Lounge Lizards have made this show a canned food drive benefiting local food pantries, so bring a canned good to karmically pay for your evening’s entertainment.

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Peter Hook presents “Unknown Pleasures” @ 9:30 Club 12/1/10

Last Wednesday Peter Hook and his nearly anonymous but capable backing band performed a complete set of Joy Division songs (including the full album “Unknown Pleasures”) at the 9:30 Club. This was one of the more unusual concerts of 2010; the music performed is over 30 years old and its original singer Ian Curtis has been dead nearly as long. Peter Hook was a co-founder and the bass player of Joy Division; so he has as much right to perform these songs as the other surviving members do; which they have been doing to a lesser extent in encores with their band Bad Lieutenant. But Hook was proposing an entire set performing basically as Joy Division. Who exactly would be singing these songs? And how the heck would they come close to matching Ian Curtis’ singular voice? Leading up to it, the whole prospect of this Peter Hook show felt audacious and just plain weird.

Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Walmart developer decides to skip own community meeting

Projected Walmart drawings

Foulger-Pratt, the developer behind the complex planned for the intersection of Georgia and Missouri, has now pulled out of a community meeting set for tomorrow night, according to the Brightwoodian.  In addition, it’s likely at this point that the Curtis Chevrolet car barn will not be part of the plan for the new location.

If you’d like to attend the community meeting, it’s tomorrow night at 7pm at the Emory United Methodist Church’s Fellowship Hall at 6100 Georgia Ave NW.  Many upset with this about face from Foulger-Pratt will note that you can email their representative Dick Knapp at dknapp@foulgerpratt.com to voice your displeasure.

Update: We spoke with Walmart this afternoon, and they have confirmed that Foulger-Pratt is once again attending the development meeting tomorrow night, and that they are firmly committed to the Georgia & Missouri location.

The Daily Feed
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Maryland, East Carolina Accept Bids to Play Military Bowl in DC

Photo courtesy of
‘_MG_6811’
courtesy of ‘dbking’

With the regular season of college football concluding over the weekend, everyone finally has their bowl destinations locked down. Right here in town, the Military Bowl (neé Eagle Bank Bowl) will be going up right in the heart of Bowl Week on December 29th, and yesterday both opponents were announced. Maryland will square off with East Carolina University at the bowl hosted at RFK Stadium.

The good news for local Terps fans is that they don’t have to travel anywhere for more Maryland football. The bad news may also be the same thing: the Military Bowl is considered the bottom destination for an ACC team, and teams that the Terps beat and with worse records actually earned more desirable locales. NC State, for example, who lost to the Terps over Thanksgiving weekend and actually finished the year with the exact same record, will go to Orlando to face West Virginia, and a 6-6 Clemson team actually picked up the somewhat more appealing Car Care Bowl bid in Charlotte.

Join us throughout the next few weeks as we preview and have some fun with the teams and schools playing here in DC. First up will be a feature this Friday on “Better Know an Alma Mater,” and you can certainly expect a game preview in the days leading up to the game.

Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: The Cold of Winter edition

Photo courtesy of
‘Washington Capitals Defenseman Mike Green’
courtesy of ‘marc.benton’

Capitals
Record: 18-8-2, 28 points
Last Two Weeks: 4-3
Place: Three-way Tie for the top of the East

The Caps are on top of the East, have just acquired a big piece of what’s missing in their arsenal, and are continuing to dominate many games. So why is this columnist a little bit down on the Caps? It’s hard to put my finger on it, but I think Dan Rowinski had something yesterday when he said that this was an erratic team with equally erratic coaching.

While early in the season, you can cope with some shakedown play, there’s a point at which you have to settle into your rhythms and start to push past the awkward stage. The Caps have yet to do that, and their losses to Dallas and Atlanta this week were indicative of a failure to play rough-and-tumble hockey up in front of the net. Here’s hoping they’ll be able to push past looking for the finesse goals and into the hard-charging hair-on-fire hockey we’re used to seeing. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Hot Ticket: The Sword @ 9:30 Club – TONIGHT!

Heavy Metal will never die. Like John Carpenter’s “The Thing” it will evolve, mutate, shape-shift, and grow until it assimilates and subjugates all other genres to achieve total domination. Of the many forms Metal takes, perhaps the most pure is the fantasy/sci-fi inspired sound of the 70’s. There is no current Metal band revisiting this sound better than The Sword. Like the original Thing that stumbled out of its spacecraft in Antarctica, The Sword are here to conquer with their inhuman speed and power. Their first two albums combine into one epic fantasy tome that would have made Robert E. Howard proud. Their latest release, “Warp Riders”, plays like the soundtrack to a hundred 70’s Science Fiction novel covers come to life.

The Sword (with a new drummer) are hitting the 9:30 Club tonight to make up for their canceled October show. Don’t miss their awesome dime-novel-inspired, retro-Metal onslaught!

The Sword
w/ Karma To Burn & Mount Carmel
@ 9:30 Club
12/6 – $20

NOTE: This is NOT a contest post.

Sports Fix, The Features
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Week 12 Recap – Skins vs. Giants

Photo courtesy of
‘flag’
courtesy of ‘littlerottenrobin’

Everyone knew the Redskins had to play a perfect game in order to beat the Giants. That didn’t happen. The Skins had 6 turnovers in the 31-7 loss. The game may have been over in the 1st quarter much like it was against the Eagles. The Giants scored touchdowns on their first two drives while the Skins offense could not move the ball. Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw scorched the weak Skins run defense for a combined 200 yards and 4 touchdowns. Donovan McNabb struggled, throwing for 2 interceptions and losing a fumble. The loss puts the Skins record at 5-7 and may have ended their playoff hopes. Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Pie for a Cause

Photo courtesy of
‘Dangerously Delicious Blueberry Pie’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

You may have noticed that this morning’s sidebar ad for So What’s the Deal is for Pie, and Dangerously Delicious Pie, at that.  There’s more to the story.  So What’s the Deal is reserving $2 of that purchase price to work with Dangerously Delicious Pies to make sure that area homeless shelters and food banks have pies for Christmas this winter.  So hit that pie & crossbones, and for each of our readers that buy pie today, I’ll match their $2 donation to help bring cheer (and pie) to all this Christmas season.

News, The Daily Feed
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New Executive for Prince George’s County Today

Photo courtesy of
‘Prince George’s County Sheriff’
courtesy of ‘scoutnurse’

This morning’s swearing-in ceremony in Upper Marlboro, Maryland will mark the changing of the guard for Prince George’s County.  Rushern Baker will take the helm of the troubled county just weeks after embattled Exec Jack Johnson and his wife, County Councilmember Leslie Johnson, were arrested on charges of evidence tampering and destruction of evidence.

Citing corruption in the Police Department, Baker will likely first ask for the resignation of Police Chief Roberto Hylton, and remarked on WAMU this morning to reporter Matt Bush that they’ll be seeking new permanent heads in many departments countywide.  There’s no question that this will be a difficult time for the County, but hopefully it will be a chance for the county to turn things around internally in response to the increase scrutiny.  The Post has a series of articles this morning on the Leadership Change that are fairly hopeful.

Good luck, Mr. Baker. You’ve got a long road ahead, and you’re going to need all the allies you can find.

The Daily Feed
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Redskins Cheat Sheet: Week 13 @ New York Giants

Photo courtesy of
‘Randle El’
courtesy of ‘headsoak’

Last week’s Cheat Sheet ended on the note, “The Cheat Sheet will continue until morale improves.” After yesterday’s beatdown in the Meadowlands at the hands of the New York Football Giants, it looks like there is a much clearer end point for this season’s iteration of the Cheat Sheet – Week 17. Still, if your office is talking about the 5-7 Redskins this morning, you may need all the help you can get since that was pretty unwatchable. The Cheat Sheet is here to save you.

I mean, what do you even say about that game other than, “Damn, that sucked.” The 31-7 final looks just as ugly in the box score as it did on TV yesterday afternoon. Since winning in overtime in Nashville back before Thanksgiving, the ‘Skins have now posted two really poor performances en route to dropping both contests. What happened yesterday? Read on to find out your bullet points for conversation around the water cooler.

Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Know Your (Jayson) Werth

Photo courtesy of
‘Jayson Werth’
courtesy of ‘pvsbond’

The word is out this afternoon that just days after the Nationals parted ways with first baseman Adam Dunn, the team has come to terms with former Philadelphia outfielder Jayson Werth.  The team is expected to announce the deal in a 5pm press conference.  While the details of the contract have yet to come to light, beyond it being a 7-year deal, this a huge bombshell to start off the Winter Meetings in Orlando.

To give you Werth’s details at Nats Park, in 2010, Werth hit .419 at Nats Park, and slugged .806 for a monstrous OPS of 1.306, the best of any ballpark not named Coors Field.  Now, granted, some of that has to be given to our terrible pitching, but it’s still impressive to see someone take to a place like that.

Asking around this morning, everyone I talked with seemed to like Jayson, and one of my fellow fans went as far as to say that if you don’t like Jayson Werth, chances are you probably just don’t like people.  Looks like Ryan Zimmerman has an upgrade behind him in the lineup!

Update: According to sources, the deal is worth $126M over 7 years, or approximately, the gross domestic product of Kiribati.

The Daily Feed
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Biscuits of Columbia

Photo courtesy of
‘Biscuits of Columbia’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

You may be looking for that perfect gift for your culinary-minded friend, and your thoughts are turning to the artifact instead of the experience.  My favorite culinary artifact of late is the DC-shaped cookie cutter.  It’s available at Hill’s Kitchen, and this morning I used it to craft up these lovely Biscuits of Columbia (which I covered in sausage gravy and served with pork in a bizarre political statement). They also offer other states, if you’d prefer a California shaped cookie, or a Pennsylvania shaped cake.

Sports Fix, The Features
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Capitals snooze and lose in Hannan’s first game at Verizon

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_7599a’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

Perhaps this is not what Scott Hannan had in mind for his first couple games in as a Capital.

Get traded to a first place powerhouse, an offensive juggernaut that could deeply use another top-four defenseman and … lose. That has been the case so far in the Hannan-era. The Capitals have scored two goals in his two games and have lost to Dallas and Atlanta, showing little spark in the process.

On Saturday Washington was dropped 3-1 by Atlanta, the second straight time (after a 5-0 embarrassment in Atlanta Nov. 19) they have lost to their division rival and third time of the season. Hannan was not around for the first four meetings against the Atlanta yet the Capitals’ shiny new defenseman (at least to them) had little to say about the outcome. Hannan played 17 shifts for 14:33 of ice time registering one hit and one blocked shot while posting a plus/minus ratio of -1.

“We had some energy there in the first but it just didn’t seem like we could bury our chances and they buried theirs when they got they got the chance,” Hannan said. Continue reading →

Getaways, The Features
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Getaways: The Amtrak Adventure


All Photos by Rachel Levitin

I have a confession to make. I have always wanted to pull a Jack Keroac and hit the open road and take an adventure in homage of the classic American novel “On The Road” published in 1957. Feel free to blame this on the Literary junkie inside me but it just always seemed like a good idea. You know, the whole getting caught up in the amber of the moment thing (Kurt Vonnegut pun intended)? I always liked the sound of that. The way I figure it, each and every day is a good excuse for an adventure.

This past Thanksgiving I had to make a decision — spend Thanksgiving with a friend in Philadelphia or chock up the dough to spend Thanksgiving at home with my family in Chicago. Suffice it to say, I would have been perfectly fine with an impromptu trip to Philly. The only other time I’ve ever been there was last summer for one hour while my friends and I ate some hoagies and then turned the car back around toward D.C. The reality of the situation is that my heart wanted to spend some time in the Windy City, so it was an easy choice.

My final decision led me to book a 23-hour Amtrak train ride from Union Station in Washington, D.C. to Union Station in Chicago, Ill. Why? It was double the price to fly so I decided to pass on getting close and personal with TSA. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The TFDI Tour featuring Tony Lucca, Jay Nash, and Matt Duke


Photo by Rachel Levitin

Wednesday night’s performance by Tony Lucca, Jay Nash, and Matt Duke on the Virginia stop of their TFDI Tour at Jammin’ Java was an example of the theory that less is more. The stage was set with three microphones, three guitars, and three of the most talented one-man bands I’ve ever seen live.

When combined, the TFDI (aka “Totally F*ckin’ Doin’ It) Team of Lucca, Nash, and Duke produce a sound comparable to Crosby, Stills, and Nash with a touch of The Band on guitar and some Motown soul in their vocals. The harmonies produced by both their instruments and their vocal chords were enough to pique any music theory majors’ interest and leave an Average Joe listener’s jaw dropped all at the same time.

And to think – this musical tour de force started out as a side project for a trio of guys looking for something creative to dabble with in their spare time.

Continue reading →