Yearly Archives: 2010

We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, October 2-3

Photo courtesy of
‘Golden + Delicious’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

Michael: This weekend I plan on recovering from seven nights in a row of concerts by going to more concerts. On Friday night, I hope to make my way back up to B’More to catch the return of Buzzov*en at Ottobar. On Saturday night I am finally (FINALLY!) going to see Teenage Fanclub in concert at 9:30 Club. And on Sunday I’ll be catching the Amtrak to NYC for the rescheduled Chapterhouse reunion show at Bell House.

Brittany: On Friday, I will be stopping by the first Portraits After 5 at the National Portrait Gallery – maybe I can even get a better author photo at the “pop-up photobooth studio.” This is the first Friday of a new month, which also makes it Think of England time at the Black Cat. Think of England is “a modern ladies’ music happy hour,” and what I am if not a modern lady? For dinner – and to continue the drinking with awesome autumnal/pumpkin/Oktoberfest beers – there will be Autumn Fest at one of the Pizzerias Paradiso. Part of Saturday will be spent in Virginia for the All Access Fashion events – but any actual shopping I do is more likely to happen at Crafty Bastards. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, News, People, The Daily Feed
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Help John Murphy Win Money for the Homeless

Photo courtesy of
‘John Murphy Full Shot’
courtesy of ‘rabid_c’

Hello, DC.  I’m in Africa right now, so I don’t know much of what’s happening in DC.  Still, some news does trickle in to me and I received a particularly disturbing notification, today.  John Murphy, all around cool guy and evening chef at Miriam’s Kitchen (one of WLDC’s favorite charities) needs your help.  John is currently competing in the Sears Chef challenge.  He’s the only non-profit chef in the running and, until last night, he was winning.  But for some reason (nefarious, no doubt) votes poured in for other contestants and now John is 500 back from the leader. What I need you to do go and vote for John.  It doesn’t matter if you don’t know him. I doesn’t matter if you’ve never tried his food.  If he wins this round, Miriam’s Kitchen gets $5,000.  That means 5,000 meals for DC’s homeless.  Plus, if he goes on to win the competition, overall, Miriam’s gets an additional $20,000.  So please, take the time to make a few clicks and feed some homeless people.

The Daily Feed
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RFK Stadium and…The Dodgers?

Photo courtesy of
‘The diamond’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

The 2010 MLB season has ended here in D.C., and even though the first six seasons of the Nationals in town have offered more lowlights than highlights, there is certainly hope that things will improve for the better. While local baseball fans take a moment to reflect on where Adam Dunn lands and how Stephen Strasburg recovers, an interesting story surfaced in this morning’s UniWatch about the Nationals past. This one involves the first home the newly relocated Expos had in the District – RFK Stadium – and Paul Lukas takes on an interesting mystery after the jump. Continue reading →

Eat Like Me, Food and Drink
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Eat Like Me: September’s Best Dishes

Photo courtesy of
‘Al fresco’
courtesy of ‘c00lmarie’
This month was a strange one for me food-wise. I ate out of a food truck the same day I went to a five star wedding at 2941. It also marked my first ever trip to Taco Bell (not the same day). I tried poutine for the first time and introduced people on three separate occasions to the tasty barbecue at Capital Q. I tried to get in my last summery foods, the entree salads and the light meals, and now I’m ready for some stew and things with melted cheese on them. But until the weather officially changes, I’ll remember my September meals quite fondly…

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News, The Daily Feed
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Two Metrobuses Collide in Silver Spring, 23 injured

Photo courtesy of

‘what else is new?’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Two Metrobuses collided at a Silver Spring bus stop at 7:15 this morning, injuring 23 people, many of whom were high school students.  The striking bus was cited for “failing to control vehicle speed” by Montgomery County police.  The bus sustained damage to its windshield and front door in the crash. A WMATA spokesman declined to release the names of the drivers involved in today’s incident. The injuries required that several people be transported to local hospitals, but none were thought to be serious.

The Daily Feed
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September Showers: Prep Your Umbrellas and Canoes

Photo courtesy of
‘raindrops’
courtesy of ‘sally henny penny’

So, it’s raining, and not a little bit either. There may be as much as 2-4 inches accumulating just within this 24 hour period. Because of the volume, many different warnings have been released for the region, so make sure you keep safe, dry and updated on what to expect today.

  • A flash flood watch has been in effect since last night, and it will be hanging around until 9 p.m. tonight. A warning is actually in place until 10:45 a.m.
  • A tornado watch (yes, tornado) has just been issued for areas of the region. This one is set through 1 p.m., according to the National Weather Service.
  • Coastal flood watches are also currently on the books.

We’ve been through earthquakes, blizzards, thundersnow, lightning shows and record setting heat. What’s a little rain?

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: James @ 9:30 Club 9/27/10

IMG_0411.jpg
all photos by Andrew Markowitz.

As a music writer, I love using the pandora premium free membership to keep up with the latest songs which are being released. I carry an arsenal of rubrics with me with which to measure the success or failure of a show. How did the crowd respond? How did the performance measure up against other bands in the genre? And so and so on. For the most part, the biggest gun I’ve got is my music nirvana test; close my eyes, let the club lights dance on the insides of my eyelids, and see if the music can or can’t take me to another place. These are all conscious thoughts I have at a show; when a band can get me truly experiencing their music rather than thinking about it, they are passing my ultimate test. It is rare when a band can meet and then blow past that high standard, but James at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday night did just that.

There are very few concerts that have brought tears to my eyes. When James came out for their second glorious encore to answer the emotional, joyous demands of the crowd-that-would-not-leave and launched into ‘Tomorrow’, I was shocked to discover that tears of joy and empathy were streaming down my cheeks. Great live music is as close to having religion as I get and concerts like this are what make me a believer. This concert was a transcendent good time and easily one of the very best of 2010.

Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Nats drop home closer to Phillies

Photo courtesy of
‘Roger Bernadina is Safe!’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

Ross Detwiler was read like a book on Wednesday night’s home closer at Nationals Park, and the crowd of just over 20,000 watched four home run balls sail out of the yard to propel the Phillies to a 7-1 victory.  It was a cool evening at Nationals Park, but that didn’t bother the Philly bats, as Mike Sweeney, John Mayberry Jr and Ben Francisco (twice!) sent balls out of Nationals Park.

Sadly, the Nationals couldn’t muster much offense against Joe Blanton and the Phillies.  The Nats would eke out one unearned run in the fourth when Nyjer Morgan would get to third on a single, a ground out and a throwing error, and score on a ground out.  Twice the Nats would leave runners on 1st and 2nd despite getting them there early in the inning, but conversions were sorely lacking.

Adam Dunn would disappoint the fans cheering for a re-up in his contract with four strikeouts against Phillies pitching, including a bizarre situation in the first where Ed Hickox had to explain to Dunn that he’d struck out. Despite that, the crowd gave Dunn a standing ovation for his service in Washington, and a proper hope-to-see-you-this-Spring.  Dunn’s re-up is a little contentious with the front office, and negotiations are likely not to pan out.

There’s much to discuss regarding the Nationals’ future, but there are still three games left to play in New York.  We’ll have some season-wrap-up features here in the next week or so.  The Nats have shown immense potential this season. At some point, the team will have to step forward toward greatness, or resign itself to mediocrity. Mediocrity can still draw 1.8M fans a season, and at $40 per seat, on average, that’s a good sum of money just on ticket sales.  DC deserves more. Here’s hoping they can get it.

We had a unique opportunity to be some of the first bloggers in the press box in any major league baseball environment this season.  I just want to say thank you to Mike Gazda, John Dever, Bill Gluvna, Kyle Brostotowitz and Lisa Pagano for working with us to make this happen.  It’s been an incredible experience, and I hope we get to repeat it for you next season.

The Daily Feed
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I-270 closed due to tour bus crash

All lanes in both directions on I-270 have been closed for the rescue operation of a tour bus that drove off the side of the HOV sky ramp from 495. It landed on the 270 spur, just below the split. One person has been confirmed dead

The bus had been chartered for a school trip from Carlisle, PA, and according to TBD’s twitter, was carrying 8 and 9 year olds. I’m also hearing reports that the reason for the accident was the driver’s medical emergency, and that the driver is the one confirmed death. View the traffic camera.

The Daily Feed
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Turkish Festival This Weekend

Photo courtesy of
‘Whirling’
courtesy of ‘quinn.anya’
Having just gotten back from a trip to Turkey, I’m still pining for the kebabs and whirling dervishes (and less so for the raki). Lucky for me, the annual D.C. Turkish Festival is this weekend. On Sunday from 11am-7pm, you’ll be able to wander Pennsylvania Ave. in front of Freedom Plaza and take in the sights, sounds and smells of Turkey.

Expect a Turkish bazaar with over twenty-five booths, live folk music, a coffee house with traditional Turkish coffee and tea, fortune-telling, artistic demonstrations, and an attempt to build the Guinness Book of World Record recognized “World’s Longest Shish Kebab”. Speaking of food, the food court will feature dishes from some of D.C.’s Turkish restaurants such as Cafe Divan, Meze Restaurant, Atilla’s Restaurant and many more. I’ve got my sights set on that giant shish kebab though.

History, Scribblings, Special Events, The Features
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Scribblings: Emil Draitser

Photo courtesy of
‘The Leica M9 with the KMZ Jupiter-8 50mm f/2’
courtesy of ‘Ð�лекÑ�андÑ�’

At noon on Thursday Sept 30, Emil Draitser will be discussing his latest book, Stalin’s Romeo Spy, at the International Spy Museum. The discussion and book signing is free.

In the 1930s, Dmitri Bystrolyotov was handsome, fluent in several languages, a sailor, doctor, lawyer, and artist. He was also a spy for Josef Stalin and the Soviet Union. A charmer, he seduced many women in Europe – including a French diplomat, the wife of a British official, and a Gestapo officer – to discover their countries’ secrets for the Soviets. Caught up in Stalin’s purges in 1938, he then spent twenty years in the Gulag and came face-to-face with the true regime for which he had once spied.

Author Emil Draitser was a former journalist in the Soviet Union and now a professor at Hunter College in New York. He shared a little about Bystrolyotov and some of the more fascinating facts of Stalin’s “Romeo Spy.”

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Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, History, Life in the Capital, Technology, The Daily Feed, The District
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Tour Embassy Row on your Cell Phone

Photo courtesy of
‘How Smart is that phone’
courtesy of ‘Photos by Chip Py’

The Woodrow Wilson House has put together a cell phone audio tour of historic Embassy Row. Narrated by Cokie Roberts, the tour gives listeners an inside look at the history and cultural of this fabulous stretch of Northwest DC, where diplomats, historic figures, residents, and most likely many, many spies live and work.

Highlighted sites include: the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, the Residence of the Ambassador of Turkey, The Islamic Center, Charles C. Glover Memorial Bridge and more.

To take the tour, stop by the Woodrow Wilson House to pick up the pocket guide and don’t forget to bring your cell phone! You can also download a free podcast version of the audio tour at www.embassyrowtour.org.

The Daily Feed
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Muncheez Mania Opening in Georgetown

Photo Courtesy of Muncheez Mania

If there’s one thing I want before a night of drinking, it’s a crepe. No seriously, it is. Melty and wonderful? Sign me up. Good news for you Georgetowners, Muncheez Mania will have fresh, quick food available for the post-dinner crowd as well as the daytimers. They will serve sandwiches, wraps, salads and crepes in their funky dining room while crepes will be available at their Wisconsin Ave. curbside window. For now the restaurant will be open until 10pm, but has plans to stay open until 4am in the future. Menu highlights include the “Muncheez” sandwiches, served on their homemade saj, a “thinner-than-pita but thicker-than-a-crepe” bread.

The counter service restaurant is slated to open by the end of October, but if you can’t wait that long, Muncheez will be serving both sweet and savory crepes out of their curbside window starting this Saturday. Muncheez Mania is located at 1071 Wisconsin Ave. NW.

The Daily Feed
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They Might Be Giants, Free at the Millenium Stage

Photo courtesy of
‘they might be giants at lupo’s heartbreak hotel september 24, 2010 more’
courtesy of ‘bellemarematt’

Saturday night at the Kennedy Center’s Millenium Stage will be the nerdrock stylings of They Might Be Giants, whose work is as quirky as their longstanding history of awesomeness.  They’re performing in the Grand Foyer, with room for up to 4,000 folks, at 6pm FOR FREE.

Do yourself a favor and head on over to the Kennedy Center on Saturday night. It’ll be the best free nerdrock show you’ll ever see.

Talkin' Transit
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Talkin’ Transit: Future

Photo courtesy of
’31/395 – Daunting Entrance’
courtesy of ‘andrew.cohen’

In the mass transit world it always seems like it’s “us vs. them”. The drivers, with their greedy, self-centered, insistence that they have to drive everywhere vs. the saintly public transit lovers who are sure that you’ll love it if you tried it. Or, another way, the drivers, with their need to drive into their jobs from far away vs. the hippies who have no idea what it takes to get into work in the morning.

Yes, those are slightly exaggerated caricatures. And, yes, there haven’t been any pitched battles (yet). But the reality is that each side in the transit game is deeply entrenched. Car owners are loathto give them up, even when they have a transit option; transit lovers want, through increasing expense, to drive more people to public transportation. For many, it’s a binary situation, good vs. evil, black and white, ones and zeros.

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. There’s no sane way to remove all (most, or even a sizable small fraction) of the cars from the road. For one thing, the infrastructure isn’t there: Metro and all of the regional transit agencies together couldn’t handle the load. Metrorail is averaging about 735,000 rides a day on weekdays (over the last 14 weekdays), and system capacity is roughly a million rides. And that capacity is only when the system is running 8-car trains in automatic mode.
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The Daily Feed
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O.J. Simpson’s Suit Comes to the Newseum

O.J. Simpton's suit

Photo by Sarah Mercier/Newseum

Remember when O.J. Simpson used to dominate the news? Now all he gets is a little mention on We Love DC. My how the mighty have fallen. If you’ve missed the man, the Newseum is taking you back to O.J.’s media frenzy days with several new artifacts from the sensational 1995 murder trial. Highlights include the tan suit, white shirt and gold tie that O.J. wore the day he was acquitted, which have been in storage for the past 15 years. The artifacts go on display Oct. 1  in the museum’s News History Gallery.

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Atari Teenage Riot @ Sonar 9/24/10

Last Friday, Atari Teenage Riot performed on the Club Stage at SONAR in Baltimore. It was their only DC-area concert and one of their first shows in the United States since 1999. The world has changed quite a bit since this digital-hardcore terror cell was originally active and their reformation and reactivation in 2010 is as random and surprising as their debut was so many years ago. Their Baltimore show was a chance to see what Alec Empire and his crew have in store for audiences in 2010 and an opportunity to answer the obvious question surrounding ATR’s return. Why reactivate now?

The performance Atari Teenage Riot delivered on Friday night was an inspired evening of sonic brutality that was less about breaking new musical ground or politics and more about celebrating ATR’s and Alec Empire’s legacy in music. It was a blistering ear assault that revisited ATR’s original 1990’s noise-campaign and showed that even after eleven years the music world has still not completely caught up to their intensity or creativity.

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