Monthly Archives: March 2011

The Daily Feed
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Hot Ticket: Rotting Christ/Melechesh/Hate/Lecherous Nocturne/Abigail Williams @ Jaxx, 3/9/11

Northern Virginia’s Heavy Metal bunker, Jaxx plays host the Black Metal concert of the year on Wednesday night with an international line-up that is as exotic as it is extreme. It isn’t very often that you get titans of the genre from Greece, Israel, and Poland in a room together, but somehow that is what Jaxx has managed to pull off. If that isn’t enough to lure you to the dark side, they’ve tossed in a trio of great American bands to sweeten the deal with the devil.

Hate hail from Warsaw, Poland and have been one of Eastern Europe’s most extreme groups for over a decade. Melechesh, (“fire king” in Hebrew) are a band literal on the run. Outlawed for blasphemey in their hometown of Jerusalem, Melechesh have been developing their own sub-genre of “Mesopotamian metal” in exile in Amsterdam for years. Rotting Christ are the band that brought black metal to Greece and they have been assaulting the senses with their Ancient Greek-refrencing, extreme metal for over twenty years. All three of these bands play with brutal intensity and speed, dark as night theatrics, and old world mythologies that shred the veil of civility to expose the hypocrisies of modern society.

Along for the ride on this black metal rollercoaster, is Ziggurat, Abigail Williams, and Lecherous Nocturne; three up and coming U.S. black metal bands that will have their work cut out for them opening for three of Europe’s heaviest hitters.

Rotting Christ
w/ Melechesh, Hate, Lecherous Nocturne, Abigail Williams, Ziggurat
@Jaxx
3/9/11 – 6pm
$25

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Save the Date for Lamb Jam

Photo courtesy of
‘Lamb at Bibiana’
courtesy of ‘bonappetitfoodie’

It seems these days meat is in the air, everywhere you look around. Cochon 555, charcutepalooza, and now the first annual Lamb Jam are just three of the meat-praising and braising events that come to mind.

Between 16 and 20 restaurants and chefs will serve lamb-centric dishes, and Lamb Jam will feature a chef competition between chefs for “Best in Show,” “People’s Choice,” and “Best Leg, Loin, Shank and Shoulder.” Some of the participating chefs include Ed Witt of 701, Victor Albisu of BLT Steak, Nick Stefanelli of Bibiana and more. For real lamb enthusiasts, there will also be hands-on butchering demos.

Lamb Jam will be at the Ritz Carlton on Sunday, May 22nd from 2-5 PM. Right now you can purchase three tickets for the price of two through the end of March. Tickets are $50 each and can be purchased here.

The Daily Feed
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The Accidental Commissioner: Be careful what you wish for

Photo courtesy of
‘346/365 Be careful what you wish for’
courtesy of ‘Mykl Roventine’

The Post’s Chris Jenkins has the story today of Nicole Pugh, 8E01, as the Accidental Commissioner, who received the Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner office when she was the lone person in her SMD to write in a vote.  So next time you see that ballot line for an ANC Commissioner, and you don’t see any candidates, you can write yourself in, but doing so might have the natural consequence of getting you elected.

Read the profile and get to know Ms. Pugh. I suspect she will not be a one-term ANC.

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘Metro – Red – 3.1.11’
courtesy of ‘rpmaxwell’

I’m very fond of Ryan Maxwell‘s “street” portraits on the Metro. Black and white, almost always taken without the person’s knowledge, and almost always an interesting subject to look at.

This one is particularly good. It gives a glimpse into another subject, unsmiling, riding the Red line (an everyman, really). But it also gives a glimpse into the artist at work. Go look at it larger and you’ll see Mr. Maxwell clicking away.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Petition Challenges Bear Fruit for Biddle

Photo courtesy of
‘Signature’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

Councilman Sekou Biddle (D-At Large) has succeeded in the first part of his challenge to at least one of his challengers’ ballot petitions, and has preliminarily knocked Jacque Patterson off the ballot for the upcoming April election.  Today’s preconference hearings were an “opportunity for the candidate and the challenger to review the staff findings on each challenge and decide whether they want to proceed with a formal request for a public hearing,” according to DCBOEE’s Alysoun McLaughlin.

Preliminary results from DCBOEE showed today that Mara submitted 3,182 valid signatures, Weaver submitted 2,948 and Patterson submitted 2,217.  Each campaign was also furnished with a list of signatures that could be found to be valid, provided DCBOEE receives a change of address form within 10 days of today.  Mara submitted 992 of those, Weaver 261 and Patterson 565. Mara needs none of those potentially valid signatures to qualify, while Weaver would need 52, and Patterson would need a miracle.

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Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Get Ready for ARTINI!

Erik Holzherr's Absolution cocktail from ARTINI 2010. Photo credit: T. Silva.

Though the actual gala event is a month away, the Corcoran Gallery of Art’s annual mix of cocktails and art kicks-off this week. Yes, it’s time to get ready for ARTINI 2011, which combines two of my absolute favorite things in one glamorous night – Saturday, April 2 – when twelve of the top mixologists in the city will showcase their talents by crafting cocktails inspired by works of art in the Corcoran collection. I’m extremely honored to be one of the judges on the Critics Choice panel that night. Actually, honored is an understatement – I’m ridiculously excited, and can’t wait to share my wrap-up with you afterwards.

But you don’t have to wait until then to enjoy some beautiful works of liquid art! The entire month of March is dedicated to sampling these drinks, with weekly Feature Nights starting this week. Every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday the participating restaurants and bars will showcase their entries with 20% of the proceeds supporting the Corcoran’s exhibitions.

Our crack team of WLDC lushes – Bill, Brittany and Fedward – will attempt to report on as many of these drinks as possible throughout the month. Look for them at our weekly Friday Happy Hour! And join along in the voting sponsored by the Washingtonian.

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Smith Westerns @ Rock & Roll Hotel, 3/4/11


courtesy of Smith Westerns.

It was another sold out show at Rock & Roll Hotel on Friday night as the club continued its recent run of strong indie buzz-band bookings with Chicago’s Smith Westerns. Between the sold-out show downstairs and the mega-popular DJ night upstairs, there was actually quite a long line to gain entry to the club. As I stood in the pleasant evening air, waiting to get inside, I could not help but overhear the chorus of whining from the privileged and entitled who felt put-out by having to wait in a line for 10-15 minutes. I didn’t hear a single person talking about the band most of us were there to see.* This was a bad sign that foretold of an audience more interested in talking rather than in actually listening to the music we had paid to see.

Once inside, the audience did indeed talk through most of the opening set by O.M.U., which is a shame because they are a fun band with some pretty great guitar playing. Duing Smith Westerns’ set, the drunken crowd switched from talking to sloppily singing along. This was a welcome change in audience behavior and indicated Smith Westerns’ surprising mainstream appeal. Their set was a mix of inventive indie-rock and platitude-filled, teen romance anthems. While I enjoyed the majority of their set, I was left with the distinct impression that Smith Westerns are a band at a crossroads.

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News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Kastles relocate to Waterfront for 2011-12 Seasons

Photo courtesy of
‘Kastles Tennis’
courtesy of ‘tbridge’

For each of the last three years, the Washington Kastles (The District’s World Team Tennis franchise) has played on a bespoke temporary court at the corner of 11th and H Street NW across from the Grand Hyatt.  This season, with construction slated to begin at the city center site in April, the team has had to put together other plans.

The Kastles will play in a temporary stadium on the new site at 800 Water St SW on the Waterfront, between Zanzibar and Phillips, for the next two years.  The temporary stadium will closely resemble the temporary stadium built at 11th & H, but will remain up year-round and be programmed by the Kastles and their partner PN Hoffman.

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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: TR3 @ State Theater, 3/3/11

Reynolds brandishing his double neck guitar
all photos by Andrew Markowitz.

I first heard Tim Reynolds on the double CD “Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds Live at Luther College” back in 1999. Being a big Dave Matthews fan at the time, I was constantly on the lookout for anything and everything related to DMB, so I’ll never forget the day of my senior year in high school when I saw that bright blue CD cover staring at me from the rack at Best Buy.

I haven’t listened to that album in years, but the one track that always immediately comes to mind is “Stream”, a 5 minute acoustic guitar performance that blew my mind. Who was Tim Reynolds? How the hell did he play this? It was one of those moments that many music fans know, when you hear something that’s so unbelievable you play it again and again and again…and even rewind it to hear your favorite 10-15 second snippet again and again and again…and that’s the only track I really care about on that album. I’m not as much of a Dave Matthews fan as I used to be and I don’t know where that double disc album is but I still pull up that performance from time to time just to marvel at the skill Reynolds displays in that song.

I’ve been able to photograph Reynolds three times in the last year, twice in acoustic performances with Dave Matthews and once with the full Dave Matthews Band. The first performance I saw with Reynolds and Matthews last year was at Constitution Hall and it was nothing short of incredible, one of my favorite shows of 2010. So when the opportunity arose to photograph the Tim Reynolds 3 (TR3) at State Theatre in Falls Church I jumped all over it.

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The Daily Feed
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FREE FOOD ALERT: Lattes at Pound the Hill

Photo courtesy of
‘Pound the Hill’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

In celebration of their new store opening on Capitol Hill, Pound Coffee will be giving away 1,000 Nutella Lattes as part of an opening-month promotion. For each of the first ten days they are open, patrons can claim one of 100 free Nutella Lattes by mentioning a daily promotion code that can be found on Facebook or Twitter.

Pound has developed a devoted following for their Nutella Latte – an espresso beverage prepared with a specially-crafted syrup they make from the popular Italian spread using a secret process. This syrup is mixed with espresso and milk to create a sweet beverage that tastes exactly like, well, Nutella.

Pound the Hill is located at 621 Pennsylvania Avenue, SE.

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Friday Happy Hour: Eve’s Pear

It’s time for Friday Happy Hour, highlighting a drink we’ve recently enjoyed, every Friday at 4pm! Please share your favorites as well.

Sunday afternoon, I found myself fairly aimlessly going about town with someone when I happened to look at Twitter on my phone. A terrible habit, I know, but a habit nonetheless. I saw an update from The Passenger with a photo of their special cocktails for the day – and I instantly had a mission for us to accomplish. I texted one of my favorite friends, a known lover of Sunday excursions to the Passenger, to see if he wanted to join us. He replied that he was already there. I should have guessed.
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The Daily Feed
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Will the Redskins Play in 2011? Still To Be Determined

Photo courtesy of
‘chain lock’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

It’s been top of mind (or at least Sportscenter) since Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers hoisted the Lombardi Trophy in the first week of February, the impending sense of doom that a lockout between the NFL players union and the owners could prevent the 2011 NFL season. Will there be any football in Landover this September? Well, no news isn’t necessarily good news, so here’s an update.

The owners and players agreed to a 24-hour extension yesterday to allow further discussion on the collective bargaining agreement that was set to expire at midnight this morning. Since then, they have been hunkered down and the word is coming out of several sources that more deals are likely to be made to extend the negotiating or even get a new CBA in place. This afternoon, the sides agreed to extend for another week of discussion, moving the deadline for agreement to the 11th at 5 pm. Compromise may be coming, but what that will be – and when – is still unclear.

As a reminder, Redskins season ticket holders, prices were kept at the same level as last year because of the threat of a lockout. In the event a lockout still happens, they will be refunded. Otherwise, you can look forward to at least eight regular season games at FedEx this fall. We’ll do our best to keep you posted.

We Love Music
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We Love Music: Middle Brother @ 9:30 Club, 3/2/11

Middle Brother-21

All photos by Erin McCann

Wednesday night’s show at the 9:30 Club was the start of a high-profile tour for Middle Brother. It’s a side-project for its members, all of whom have highly respected bands on the cusp of greatness of their own to tend to. For less-talented musicians, gambling time away from their primary projects might kill the hard-won momentum they’d built up. For the members of Middle Brother—Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, Deer Tick’s John McCaulay and Delta Spirit’s Matt Vasquez, all of them darlings of the indie music culture—the side project turned out to be a shot of adrenaline for a bunch of guys already riding pretty high on their own. Wednesday’s show took some seriously high-energy bands, tumbled their members together in a free-for-all of booze, musicianship and friendship, and spit out a rocket fuel concoction that propelled its members even higher. It ranked among the best I’ve seen on the 9:30 Club stage. So, first things first: Thank you, guys. That was a hell of a night.

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Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Food Tweet of the Week: Bourbon Steak

Photo courtesy of
‘Venison, Bourbon Steak’
courtesy of ‘bonappetitfoodie’

Let me just start this by saying that if you haven’t tried Bourbon Steak’s fries yet, please do…but that’s a totally different story.

The restaurant, located in Georgetown’s Four Seasons, hasn’t stopped tweeting since it first logged on back in December 2009. @BourbonSteakDC currently has more than 2,100 followers and tweets about five times a day. The polite restaurant will always thank you on Twitter for coming in to dine, and recently it got be excited about an event I had somehow forgotten about. 

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Food and Drink, Penn Quarter, The Daily Feed
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Café Atlántico Celebrates Carnaval

The Caipirinha
The Caipirinha
by Samer Farha

Although chef José Andrés has yet to respond to my offer to judge a Gin and Tonic showdown (which still stands) it’s worth noting that tonight from 4-6, there’s a free cachaça tasting at Café Atlántico. It’s the first event in the restaurant’s Brazilian Carnaval, which culminates next Tuesday with a three-course, prix fixe dinner, samba performance, and dance party. If you’re looking for a different sort of Mardi Gras experience, you could do worse than Carnaval.

If you’re not familiar with it, cachaça, a spirit distilled from raw sugarcane, can be considered a cousin of Rhum Agricole, which itself is not to be confused with other types of rum distilled from molasses. Like rum, it can be light or dark depending on the process and aging. Unlike rum, cachaça has up to six grams per liter of added sugar. Confused? Afraid? Don’t be. If you like rum, you’ll probably like cachaça too. The classic cocktail featuring cachaça is a caipirinha. In its purest expression, it is a sipping cocktail consisting of little more than muddled lime and sugar, crushed ice, and cachaça, in an old fashioned glass. Some bartenders serve theirs in a Collins (tall) glass, topped with soda, which makes an excellent refresher in warm weather.

Tonight at Café Atlántico you can sample two different brands of cachaça: from Leblon, casked in Cognac barrels, and Novo Fogo, whose silver cachaça is rested in steel tanks so it is still white. Also part of its Carnaval celebration, the restaurant hosts a capoeira demonstration on Sunday and the aforementioned dinner on Tuesday. Reservations are recommended for the weekend and required for Tuesday night’s dinner.

I’ll be there Tuesday night to lean on Chef Andrés personally on the matter of his bar’s gin and tonic. Oh, and to try the food. I’ll report back on that subject next week.

Arlington, Food and Drink, The Features
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Beer Dinners at Lyon Hall

Lyon Hall's Ommegang Beer Dinner

Beer dinners have been growing in prevalence and popularity in the area as the number of beer-inspired restaurants and bars continue to build. Pizzeria Paradiso, Birch and Barley, and Meridian Pint have all played host to beer-pairing dinners, and you may now add Lyon Hall of Clarendon to the mix.

Tuesday saw their first beer dinner since opening just under a year ago, and I was lucky to attend as a guest of the restaurant’s beer director, David McGregor. He’s long planned to do the pairings, which will occur on the first Tuesday of every month, and finally had the opportunity to start this week. Talk with David and you’ll sense his sincere passion towards all things malt and mash, and a genuine excitement to share in his explorations of their interplay with deftly prepared dishes.

For the inaugural dinner, David invited in Brewery Ommegang’s local director, Steve Cardello, and together with Lyon Hall’s chef de cuisine, Andy Bennett, put on a four-course meal catered to and built around the flavors and textures of Ommegang’s classic and unique offerings.

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