Yearly Archives: 2010

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Sports Fix, The Features
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Season Wrap-Up: The Nationals

Photo courtesy of
‘Friday Night Fireworks’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

The baseball season is over and done with.  Hockey starts Friday, and Basketball in a few weeks. The beginnings of winter are incumbent upon us to respect, and the end of the baseball season is a part of that winterizing process.  This was a season of growth for the Nationals in many ways, and there’s a lot to respect in terms of significant process. There’s also a lot that we’ll have to see changed in order for this to become a contending franchise in the next decade.

This is a turning point for the Nationals, and there’s a real opportunity for this club to take what it’s spent the last five years working on and put it to good use.  The Nationals are not a complete franchise, right now, but in two or three years, they could be a .500+ club with a shot at the Wild Card.  Will they get there? I hope so, but I fear for the worst.  Losing the head of their front office will be a big test for this club that has relied upon his experience so extensively.  There is, as in many cases, both crisis and opportunity in this change.  The Nats finally have a solid GM in place, someone who can handle baseball operations and contract negotiations without giving away the farm, in Mike Rizzo, and the addition of Andrew Feffer as the Nats’ Chief Operating Office this past off-season gives them someone who understands the intricacies of running the ballpark operations side of things for the Nationals.

Stan Kasten is right: DC could be a baseball town. There’s an audience, yes, but they’re going to have to be shown that the product’s worth watching.  This season? It was too volatile to promise to a good audience.  If the Nats want to draw 2-2.5M fans each year, they’re going to have to put out there something that people want to watch.  And generally speaking, those people shouldn’t just be in from out of town.  Let’s take a look at the lineup this season and see how everyone did, shall we?

 

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News, The Daily Feed
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Vince Gray kicks off Town Hall tour in Ward 5

Photo courtesy of
‘258/365 – vince gray, dc’s next mayor (unless adrian fenty runs as a republican?!)’
courtesy of ‘dracisk’

Last night’s nearly full house at the Community Academy Public Charter School on First Street in Bloomingdale was the first of eight Town Hall events put on by the Gray Campaign to help unite the city behind the democratic party candidate for mayor.  Following Gray’s campaign mantra of uniting the city, the event last night was part Q&A, part pep rally, and though it started late, it didn’t underdeliver in terms of access to the candidate.

Questions came from all sides on all issues, running the gamut from school reform to economic issues to social services to budget priorities, and there wasn’t a single question that stumped Gray.  There wasn’t a single number that Gray couldn’t come up with last night, and even if a few of them were suspect (His answer on Hardy Middle School’s AYP figures was incorrect, the school has not met AYP each of its last ten years, it missed in 2003 and 2010 for Reading and 2004, 2007, 2009 and 2010 in Math) the democratic candidate was quick with both statistics and analysis in his responses.  At one point, he quipped, “there are glib answers [to these questions], but I refuse to give them.”

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The Daily Feed
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Taste of Georgetown this Saturday

Photo courtesy of
‘Georgetown’
courtesy of ‘citron_smurf’

This Saturday marks the 17th annual Taste of Georgetown extravaganza. Thirty of Georgetown’s restaurants will have booths at this year’s event, including personal favorites of mine like Bangkok Joe’s, Tackle Box and 1789 and newcomers like Thunder Burger and Crepe Amour. A full list of participating restaurants can be found here. In addition to the restaurant booths, there will be a wine and spirits pavilion serving wine, beer and cocktails mixed by area mixologists.

Taste of Georgetown will take place on Wisconsin Ave. between M & K Streets, on Saturday October 9th from 11am-4pm. Tickets for food are $5 for one tasting, $20 for five tastings, while tickets for drinks are $10 for four tastings.

Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, News, People, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District, The Great Outdoors, We Green DC
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Walk Your Child to School Day

Zozo: International Walk to School Day! from Streetfilms on Vimeo.

Perhaps on your commute today you noticed an increase in the level of munchkins and parents walking around the city. That’s because today is  National & International Walk Your Child to School Day.

Beginning in 1997, the Partnership for a Walkable America sponsored the first National Walk Our Children to School Day in Chicago, modeled after the United Kingdom’s lead. The event’s mission was simply a day to bring community leaders and children together to create awareness of the need for communities to be walkable.

In 2010, the event has gone completely global and it’s goals have slightly expanded: To Create Safe Routes, To Engage Kids of All Abilities, To Enhance the Health of Kids and To Improve The Environment.

Entertainment, Fun & Games, Music, We Love Music
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The Winning Ticket: Built To Spill

As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC will be giving away a pair of tickets to a 9:30 Club concert to one lucky reader each week. Check back here every Wednesday morning at 9am to find out what tickets we’re giving away and leave a comment for your chance to be the lucky winner!

Up for grabs this week, we’ve got two tickets to see legendary indie-rockers Built To Spill perform at 9:30 Club on Friday, October 8th.

Built to Spill were one of the best indie-rock bands of the 90’s and their show on Friday is the latest concert in their mid-00’s reunion tour that never seems to end. Not that anyone could complain about having one of the best guitar bands ever cranking out new albums and playing hundreds of new shows. Led by Doug Martsch’s inventive and expansive guitar melodies, Built To Spill in concert is a guitar lovers dream come true.

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 9am and 4pm today. One entry per email address, please. Tickets for this show are also available through Ticketfly If today doesn’t turn out to be your lucky day, check back here each Wednesday for a chance to win tickets to other great concerts.

For the rules of this giveaway…
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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Can The 2K11 Version Of John Wall Do This?

Happy NBA 2K11 day basketball fans! While you maybe lining up to get the latest 2K b-ball title, excited to play as Michael Jordan (before he joined the Wizards,) let’s not forget that the real-life Washington Wizards can still be as electric as any video game franchise.

Thanks to John Wall.

Just take a look at this clip of John Wall from the Fan Fest scrimmage:

YouTube Preview Image

Can the 2K11 version of Wall do this? Maybe, but it’s way more fun to see it in real life.

[h/t Wizards Extreme]

The Daily Feed
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Free HIV Testing Begins at DMV

Photo courtesy of
‘Morgan Fairchild to Speak at DAP on World AIDS Day’
courtesy of ‘Jayel Aheram’

Free HIV testing rolled out today at an unlikely location: the Department of Motor Vehicles. For the next year, the DMV’s Penn Branch office will offer free oral swab HIV tests, as well as $15 off DMV services for all individuals who opt to test. The program, which The Washington Post reports is the “first of its kind,” will be managed by Family Medical and Counseling, Inc., a non-profit based in Southeast.

It is estimated that up to 3,000 people will take advantage of testing before the year is through. Will this make a dent in DC’s own AIDS epidemic? Well, it certainly can’t hurt. According to the Whitman-Walker Clinic, DC has the highest rate of new AIDS cases per 100,000 population— that’s 12 times the national average. More than 15,000 individuals in the area are infected, and thousands more are estimated to unknowingly carry the virus.

The Daily Feed
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More DC-themed art for your dwelling’s beautification

As you may have guessed from our many posts on the topic, we’re suckers for DC-themed art around here. So when the submit-a-story email came through about Big Nickel Graphics’ DC Metro posters printed on metallic paper, I bought two, before even sharing the info with you, our readers. How’s that for selfish?

Kyle Smallegan, CEO of Big Nickel Graphics, attended George Washington University and took the Metro everywhere he went while living here (9 years, including the time at GW). He says, “Waiting for the trains…as you always have to do… gave me plenty of time to stare at the Metro map and I always thought it would make a really cool poster that I could sell (and a better piece of modern art) if you took all of the “crap” off it and just had the colored lines.”

Big Nickel had some success on Etsy, but now they’re trying to make it successful enough to quit their day jobs. To that end, they’ll be introducing some new lines in the coming months, including a series which will feature a city’s flag design, formed out of various nicknames for that city. Which means in a couple of months I will be sending Smallegan and his partner, graphic designer Justin Duimstra, yet more money.

The posters come in a variety of color schemes and city maps. In addition to the standard colors used on the city’s actual transit map on a pearlescent white paper, more abstract designs featuring single color map markings on a vibrant color of paper are available as well. You can get them as regular posters, mounted on café board, or on gallery-wrapped canvas.

The Daily Feed
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Octoberfest at Blue Ridge

Photo courtesy of
‘159/365’
courtesy of ‘Danilo.Lewis|Fotography’
Just back from Munich? Well not to worry because the party continues in Glover Park. With Blue Ridge’s new interest in the sudsier side of alcohol, they are putting together their first Octoberfest celebration this year. Running next week from October 12th-18th, they will be running nightly events to celebrate the oh-so Bavarian holiday with some good ol’ fashioned American craft beers.

Each night’s events are highlighted on their site, but Glover Park locals should look no further than Tuesday, October 12th when the restaurant will host their neighbors from 6-7:30pm for free food and beer (all Glover Park and Georgetown zip codes get you free stuff). Even if you aren’t part of the chosen Wisconsin Ave. residents, you can get free stuff in the form of glasses and tastings the rest of the week. A breakdown of all the week’s events can be found here.

Entertainment, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown

With an original debut in 1967, You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown wowed audiences long before it became fashionable to bring successful franchises of any kind onto the stage (Harry Potter: The Musical anyone?) Ever since it’s original production, Charlie Brown has become one of the great classic musicals that have been put up time and time again with numerous revivals, regional productions, and tours under it’s belt. The District now can get a taste of CB, Snoopy, Lucy, and the gang over at H-Street Playhouse where the show opens the second season of the No Rules Theatre Company.

The Peanuts franchise has become an American institution thanks to comic series with over 17,000 strips and a series of television specials that still run every holiday season. In fact any minute now we should be expecting It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown to fill the airwaves on ABC.

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The Daily Feed
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Public Access at the White House Lawn Next Weekend

Photo courtesy of
‘Summer Event on the South Lawn – White House’
courtesy of ‘R2DC’

As has gone in the fall and spring in the past, garden tours of the White House will be held next weekend, October 16-17. Sure, it’s a little touristy, but it could be a fun way to spend a weekend afternoon if the weather stays in control. It is the White House, though, and FishbowlDC was kind enough to pass on the reminder on banned items on the grounds (emphasis theirs to make sure you leave all balloons at home):

The List of Forbidden Objects

Aerosols of any kind
Animals (except guide dogs)
Backpacks (oversized)
Balloons
Beverages of any kind
Chewing gum
Duffle bags/suitcases
Any pointed object
Electric stun guns
Fireworks/firecrackers
Food of any kind
Guns/ammunition
Knives of any kind
Mace
Smoking

If you leave all those things at home and want to check it out, be sure to get to the Visitor Pavillion at 15th and E early next weekend. NPS will hand out tickets for free starting at 8 a.m. – one per person and first come first serve.