Monthly Archives: January 2011

capitals hockey, Sports Fix, The Features
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Halfway There: Capitals Midseason Review

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_9034’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

At the beginning of the season, many fans of the Caps pretty much wanted to fast-forward to mid-April and get going with the playoffs. Going into this year’s campaign, the Caps looked pretty good on paper and were predicted to be yet again runaway winners of the Southeast Division and one of the top three seeds in the Eastern Conference.

Now? Well, it’s not all doom and gloom – but reality has definitely sunk in.

The Caps currently sit second in the Southeast Division, one point behind the current leader, Tampa Bay. And two points behind the Caps? The surprisingly strong Atlanta Thrashers. This year’s division race will not be a repeat of last year, when the Caps had sealed their division title before the Ides of March with a thirty point cushion. It will come down to the wire again, much like 2007-08, when the Caps wrested the title from the Carolina Hurricanes on the last game of the season.

When comparing the first half of this season to the last two, the Caps are virtually in the same spot. Currently sitting with 52 points this year, it’s only three points less than last season and five points less than two years back. True, it is “less than,” which annoys many fans to no end. But considering the adversity and issues the team has had to deal with so far, the fact that they’re not less than 10 or 15 points back is something to take a bit of pride in. Or is it?

Let’s break the team down so far and see what we can see. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Hot Ticket: Anamanaguchi @ Black Cat 1/9/11

Anamanaguchi - Dawn Metropolis

Anamanaguchi are returning to the Black Cat Backstage this Sunday with their signature brand of punk/power-pop.  Oh, and they’re bringing their hacked Nintendo.

Anamanaguchi are quickly becoming one of the most infamous “chiptunes” bands around.  In the past year, they’ve composed the soundtracks to video games including Scott Pilgrim vs The World: The Game, and are slated to appear in the next version of Rock Band.  They also grabbed minor media attention for holding a vigil in support of Four Loko in NYC last November.

When I imagine a chiptunes concert, I usually think of scrawny high-schoolers bent over their Gameboys, with pixelated graphics running on a projecter.  However, Anamanaguchi bring a ton of energy to their live show; the drums are front-and-center, and the Nintendo blends with the guitar lines, rather than sticking out as a gimmick.  These guys have a ton of positive energy; it’s like a re-imagined Weezer.  You’ll leave with a smile on your face.

Anamanaguchi
w/ Club Scout
Sunday, Jan. 9
@ Black Cat Backstage
$10

Fashionable DC
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TheFashionMagpie: Bringing D.C. Fashion and Art to the Foreground, Butler & Claypool Style

Photo courtesy of
‘Adams Morgan Day – 2010’
courtesy of ‘TDLphoto’

Have you heard about Butler & Claypool?  The District’s blogosphere is atwitter about this fresh-off-the-press retail and design collective.  Founded this past fall but currently gearing up for a full launch later this month, the D.C.-based “collective” (more on what that means in a moment) was established by seasoned fashion commentator Holly Thomas, analyst Krista Haywood, and musician Paul Thornley.

The talented trio has set out to “create a wholly unique retail experience with a focus on originality, sustainability, and community.”  Put differently (i.e. in lay terms), they’re planning to curate a series of pop-up shops featuring the wares of local artists and designers, organize performances and workshops by D.C. artists and musicians, and host “salon-style” discussions on fashion, art, and all things cultural.  (Not sure what those sessions would be like; I can’t help but envision an 18th-century Enlightenment-era set-up, with ladies in full dress reclining on chaise lounges as they read Moliére, a la this Jean Francois de Troy painting.)  As a self-professed shopaholic, I, of course, am delighted at the prospect of frequenting pop-up boutiques filled with vintage goodies, local crafts, and an assortment of fashion and jewelry finds from the collective’s eponymous label.  But even more exciting?  The serious, thoughtful way in which Butler & Claypool intends to promote the District’s homegrown artisanry and cultural profile.  “One of our main goals is to  promote and support locals who are doing inventive, inspiring things,” says Betsy Lowther, one of the start-up’s contributors.  “There are a number of really talented people who are mostly unknown to local shoppers, and we’re hoping to help bring them together.”

Continue reading →

News, Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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WMATA issues statement in wake of beating video

Metro Emergency Button>
Metro Emergency Button by Mr. T in DC

By now, I am certain that you have seen the video, or heard about the incident that took place at L’Enfant Metro this past weekend, where a man was beaten by a group of teenagers while they took video of the incident. Metro has now issued a statement after the fact condemning the incident. It’s after the break. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Hot Ticket: The Pietasters @ 9:30 Club 1/8/11

Wherever you are in the country or the world, if you are having a conversation about Ska music, and Washington DC comes up, it is a sure thing that The Pietasters will be the first band to be mentioned. Cranking out “DC’s finest ska” since the early 1990s, The Pietasters toured hard for years as an opening band for every punk/ska revival act or music legend that would have them (they even backed for James Brown!), all the while perfecting their soulful Ska sound and earning their stripes. These days The Pietasters are one of Ska’s most respected groups and known to the world as the face of DC Ska.

I saw The Pietasters more times than I can count back in the 90’s. I think the last time I saw them was in 2000(?) opening for Joe Strummer in Philadelphia. As always the guys put on a fantastic set of rudie anthems showing the Philly ska/punks how it’s done down in DC. I lost track of The Pietasters after that for several years. So imagine my surprise when the older, wiser, and ruder-than-ever Pietasters showed up at the 9:30 Club 30th Anniversary Concert last year and treated the crowd to a tight-as-hell mini-set! It was great to see the guys again! They worked the room like pros and sounded fantastic! I expect more of the same out of them this Saturday night, when they will be headlining the best reggae/punk/ska party in town!

The Pietasters
w/ HR of Bad Brains, Copstabber, and The Shifters
Saturday, Jan. 8
@ 9:30 Club
$15

News, The Daily Feed
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Sekou Biddle selected by D.C. DSC for open council seat

D8158_017.JPG

Meet Sekou Biddle, who will take the oath of office as DC’s newest At-Large councilmember. Don’t remember voting for or against Mr. Biddle? No surprise there, he was selected by the DC Democratic State Committee, literally in a backroom (a kitchenette, actually) at about 9pm last night.  Why did this happen? In short, because the electoral system of the District of Columbia makes about as much sense as a paper bag full of ninjas wielding salamis.

When DC selected Kwame Brown to be the new chair of the city council this November, the DCDSC were placed in charge of replacing Mr. Brown until such time as his successor could be elected (currently scheduled for April 26th) and, because they chose not to listen to our little reality show idea, they let 74 people whose selection to the committee is of unclear provenance vote in quasi-secret ballots to select Mr. Biddle.

Thursday night was a sausage-making affair the likes of wish you’d hope not to see in the Nation’s Capital, but it makes the council whole again, and Mr. Biddle carried the endorsement of a number of sitting councilmembers.  Biddle currently serves as a Ward 4 Board of Education member.

Congratulations on your new job, Mr. Councilman.

The Daily Feed
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DC Water asks Congress to give up the bottle

Recycling Water Bottles
Recycling Water Bottles by Mr. T in DC

Late yesterday, DC Water General Manager George S. Hawkins sent a letter to Speaker Boehner accompanied by ten reusable water bottles. The message was clear: You’re looking to save money, cutting bottled water would save almost $800,000 a year from Congress’ staffs.

While I’m fairly sure that the message fell on deaf ears on the Hill, it’s good to see DC Water ponying up with a few good ideas for saving money. We’ve gone to just filtering DC Water at home, and love it. When cases of bottled water keep rising in price, we’re paying just pennies on the dollar.

Five Favorites
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Five Favorites: Reasons to Leave the House

Photo courtesy of
‘masked’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

It’s easy to just want to hibernate this time of year– it’s dark when you get home, it’s too cold to be outside for more than 10 minutes, and well, not much can compete with a warm couch and a Snuggie.  And now that the holiday season is over, there aren’t as many fun winter events, like tree lightings or holiday parties, to distract you from the winter doldrums. But there area some great seasonal activities in DC that are definitely worth leaving the house for.  Here are our five favorite winter activities in the District!

Continue reading →

Comedy in DC, The Daily Feed
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RagnaROCK – Comedy, Music, Theater, Epicness

There’s a special kind of magic that happens when three dudes get drunk one night and decide that what their town really needs is an entertainment apocalypse.

At least, I am assuming that copious alcohol consumption was involved in the conception of RagnaROCK, the latest production from the minds of Tyler Sonnichsen, Evan Valentine, and Christopher Brooks.

I’m not saying this as a bad thing, not at all. It just seems that taking some comedy (Valentine, Sonnichsen, and Jake Young), some hip-hop (City Lights, featuring Brooks and Maurice Lowe), and deciding that what that show really needs is a performance of a song-sketch about the Norse God Thor being banished from Valhalla to an East Coast city and trying to fit in with the locals… well, I’m just saying that might require the addition of some kind of intoxicant.

Did I mention that this will be the first time “THOR!!!” will be performed in 2 years? Well, now you know.

As a fan of Sonnichsen and Young generally, of course, I think you should check this out. Really, don’t miss “THOR!!!’s” triumphant return.

The show will be performed on Friday and Saturday nights next week, January 14-15, at the DC Arts Center in Adams Morgan. Tickets are $10.

News, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Increased Food Truck Enforcement?

Photo courtesy of
‘Vacation in a Cup!’
courtesy of ‘Phaesia2011’

The word spread over Twitter in yesterday’s lunch hour that MPD was spotted talking with two food trucks at L’Enfant Plaza, and that perhaps one of them had received a ticket.  This morning, we’re hearing that one of the Sauca vehicles was forced to move yesterday. We talked with one of those trucks yesterday afternoon late, and spoke with the operator, Dingo from Fojol Bros.  They have noticed a significant uptick in MPD attention to food trucks since the new year.

Continue reading →

We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, January 8-9

Photo courtesy of
‘2/365’
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

Max: After the much needed holiday hiatus (that was much too short), it’s tempting to spend the next few month on my couch watching Netflix movies and hibernating.  Alas, there are some great exhibits opening at the galleries this weekend that I will brave the cold for.  On Friday, First Friday to be exact, I’ll be checking out Leah Appel’s dreamy photos of Savannah at Hillyer Art Space, then possibly eating at one of my favorite DC restaurants, Bistro du Coin. Saturnalia opens Saturday night at Irvine Contemporary, a group show featuring some of the gallery’s artists.  On the other side of town I’ll be checking out Laura Elkins’ White House Negligee at The Fridge.  Sunday will probably be spent doing something exciting like tax preparation and napping.

Carl: After a whole month of weekends packed with activities, Beautiful Girlfriend and I finally have some unstructured time to just enjoy being together in this great city. I hope we can get out to the National Portrait Gallery, which has an exhibit about Katharine Graham, as well as one titled Elvis at 21. Presley, that is. Someday I want to be known for just my first name. The rest of the weekend will be spent eating meat and finishing my book manuscript. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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A Red, White and Blue Wizards

It’s something we skipped over during the craziness of the holidays, but in case you missed the news from Ted’s Take, the Mystics switched their colors for the upcoming season to the ever patriotic red, white and blue. Interestingly, the logo maintained its former configuration – this was really just a straight up color swap to get from the old teal/gold to this.

With this in mind, it’s worth remembering that it has been announced by Leonsis that the Wizards are going to follow suit and switch from the teal and gold (meaning all of Ted’s teams will be able to “Rock the Red,” among other things). I haven’t done nearly enough uniform editing as I have hockey rink moving, but I did try to follow the color replacement scheme that the Mystics did to create the above logo.

Following this, what do we think will happen with the uniforms? The thing with DC teams is certainly becoming the prominence of the red, but on the court, the current designs may need more than a color swap to make that happen.

The Bullets aren’t coming back, but I feel like we will need to see a logo and uniform refresh instead of just dropping in the red and blue. One creative individual has already thought of something (including stealing the Nats’ wordmark for Washington), but any other ideas?

Food and Drink, The Features, We Love Food
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DC Predicts: 2011 Trends in Food and Dining

Photo courtesy of
‘Restaurant with waiter’
courtesy of ‘The Field Museum Library’

To kick off the new year, we asked some of the most prominent folks in DC’s food and drink scene for their outlook on what will be big in 2011. We reached out to chefs, owners, bloggers, barkeeps, restaurant PR folks and more – all of them gave wise predictions on what will be big in the new year. Here’s what they had to say.

“With the population of DC crossing 600,000 in the latest census, you will see a lot more small, interesting restaurants. Bistros opening in the up and coming neighborhoods.” – Ashok Bajaj, Restaurateur (Bombay Club, Oval Room, Rasika, etc.)

“I predict more and more hip cocktail spots as people start seeking niche bars that feature house specialties rather than having the same old familiar line up…I also think many more smaller niche restaurants with more creative international decor…DCites are starting to demand more!” – Erik Holzherr, owner of Wisdom, Fruit Bat, and the soon-to-be-opened Church & State

“I think in 2011, you’re going to see more restaurants getting into the retail business. Some have done it already, like Cork’s Cork Market and Co-Co Sala’s retail boutique. Others will be inspired by the success of such ventures as the Batali/Bastianich Eataly in New York City. We’ve already seen some announced for 2011, like the Armstrong’s Society Fair market; it’ll be interesting to see who else gets into the game.” – Missy Frederick, Washington Business Journal Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Bar Pilar Gets an Upstairs

Photo courtesy of
‘03106-22Crop’
courtesy of ‘furcafe’

Bar Pilar has been my beloved neighborhood bar for years (even before it was one of my very first We Love Drinks). I wouldn’t have survived Snowpocalypse without it, that’s for sure, trudging the few blocks through the snow to beat cabin fever. Countless evenings hanging out for impromptu gab sessions, long brunch afternoons that turn into dinner, I could almost call it my third space if it weren’t for the other countless times I’ve walked in and walked right out again. Sweatily packed to over-capacity on peak nights, Pilar’s popularity has grown past its 49 seats. Recently I’ve even sworn off evenings there because of some rude pushing incidents. That’s the price you pay when your neighborhood bar becomes a hot spot.

Pilar isn’t just a bar, however, it’s a small-plates mecca (one of the first to have adopted that now ubiquitous model) under talented chef Justin Bittner. I’m addicted to the food there, from the meaty grilled octopus to the salty anchovies on toast which always remind me of Sicily – they even have fried pig ears! So even though the subject of restaurant expansion sometimes rightly gives pause (as Ashley notes earlier) the news that Pilar is expanding to include an upstairs dining room was met with optimism by me.

Let’s look at some renderings (keep an open mind though, computer models are notoriously cold looking). Continue reading →

Adams Morgan, Entertainment, People, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Dana Ellyn’s “The Art of Dating”

You can also find horny sex contacts online very easily as there are many women using adult dating.

Elephant(s) in the Room. 20″x24″ acrylic on canvas. Courtesy of Dana Ellyn.

What can be better than gaming and porn together? However, many of them are irrelevant, yet there are a few erotic games at lovedignity that can make the difference.

Read More: https://www.lovedignity.com/top-10-best-adult-games-sex-games/

Jose lays the check directly between us. He couldn’t have have centered it more accurately if he’d held a ruler. The Pilot and I glance at the pleather billfold like it’s the elephant in the room it’s about to become.
– from Rachel Machacek’s The Science of Single

Earlier this week Katie interviewed one of her favorite writers Rachel Machacek on her new book, The Science of Single. Tonight one of my favorite artists, Dana Ellyn, unveils several paintings inspired by the book at a happy hour at Tryst from 7-9pm. It’s a fun coincidence bringing all our worlds together. Coyly titled “The Art of Dating,” Dana’s work is directly inspired by quotes from Rachel’s book, as well as her own ongoing investigations into the challenging aspects of being a woman and the conflicting expectations modern society places on us (and those we place on ourselves).

“Rachel attended my painting classes a few years back while she was in the midst of researching/writing/editing her book,” Dana explains. After randomly seeing Rachel’s Facebook status about her book being completed this past September, Dana sent her a congratulatory note, to which Rachel responded with an offer of a preview copy – “The only caveat is that you have to tell lots of people :)”

Of course Dana went one better. “Would you be interested in me doing a series of paintings and/or drawings inspired by your book and we could do a joint event with art and book launch sort of thing?” she asked. And Rachel’s response? “I. Love. Your. Idea. LOVE IT.” In a way that kind of literary inspiration mirrored Dana’s banned books series. After brainstorming sessions and the involvement of Danielle Lanteigne from Tryst, the exhibit was born.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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ICYMI: January 5th, 2011

GOVERNMENT
GOVERNMENT by Kevin H.

Today is the first day the sun sets at 5:00 or later. Starting Saturday, we pick up more than a minute of day light every day. Not so shabby. A few bits and bobs about Art in Anacostia and Mt. Pleasant, Mixed Use and Saint Elizabeth’s, and what happens to your Faceyspaces when you shuffle off this mortal coil follow for your ride home. Continue reading →

Fashionable DC, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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TheFashionMagpie: Miss DC Send-Off Tonight

Photo courtesy of
‘Miss Teen America’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

Does anyone watch the Miss America pageant anymore?  Some consider the annual competition an offensive vestige of not-so-progressive [read: chauvinistic] yesteryear, but I must confess to a strange interest in the spectacle.  Perhaps this curiosity has been fueled by the addictive, deliciously edited, and highly disturbing “Toddlers and Tiaras” series on TLC; perhaps I find the pageantry a throwback to my Barbie-obsessed youth.  Regardless, those that share my passing bemusement (or any more enthused variation on that theme) may be interested in attending  the Miss District of Columbia send-off to the Miss America Pageant, which will be held at The Institute of World Politics (1521 16th St, NW) at 6:30 p.m tonight.  The event is open to the public, but a $25 “donation” is “suggested.”  Tickets can be purchased via the Miss DC website.

I’ve heard through the blogosophere that some of the pageant clothing that Miss DC, med student Stephanie Williams, will be wearing at the 2011 Pageant (to be held in Vegas and aired on ABC on Saturday, January 15th at 9 pm) will be on display this evening.  The thought of “pageant clothing” leaves something to be desired, but I like that Miss DC–or her stylists–make a point of purchasing her wardrobe locally (including at my favorite accessories boutique, Sassanova).  Check out some of her latest looks and their purchase points here.  For those seriously interested in seeing a District gal win the nation-wide pageant, cast your vote on Miss Williams’ behalf at the Miss America website after watching her contestant video.  Believe me, it’s not half as painful as some of the other gems available for viewing on the site, which present an excellent, cringe-filled way to pass a slow afternoon.  I hesitate to put anyone to shame, but this song and dance from Miss Connecticut made me want to crawl under a rug.  Cute girl, solid effort, but man.oh.man, the shoulder shrug midway through the performance make me want to cry.  Will you be tuning in this year?

xoxo

TheFashionMagpie