Candle tribute for Ramos
Originally uploaded by tbridge

50-60 fans gathered in the cold at Nationals Park this evening for a showing of fan loyalty and solidarity in support of abducted catcher Wilson Ramos. The gathering, organized hastily late yesterday in a grassroots effort lead by twitter user Alicia (@dragballwramos), brought together a number of smaller fan groups into a cohesive whole, sharing stories about fan encounters with the Nationals’ young catcher.

Ramos is being held by parties unknown after being captured late Wednesday outside his family home in Valencia, Venezuela. The Nationals and Major League Baseball, joining with Venezuelan authorities, are working to secure Ramos’ return.

Update, 10:08pm: Word from the Interior Minister of Venezuela tonight says that Wilson Ramos is being returned to his family after being rescued from captivity.

Very glad to see that Ramos will be returned to his family, answering the prayers of many at Nats Park this evening.

‘flame in twilight’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Since Wednesday evening’s news that Nationals’ catcher Wilson Ramos was abducted at gunpoint, little else has been publicly revealed. His family, and the Venezuelan police, maintain that he is alive and being held, but nothing is known about the group holding him, or their demands. The Nationals, on the advice of the Commissioner’s office and Major League Baseball, have said very little other than that they are working with authorities both foreign and domestic.

Fans have organized a vigil tonight at the Center Field Gate at Nationals Park at 6pm tonight to show support for Wilson Ramos and his family in this difficult time. There’s a great post from Nationals Inquisition on the vigil. Special note: Navy Yard Metro is closed for the weekend due to work on the Green Line, so plan on going another way, by bus, bike or shuttle.

We’ll see you there.

courtesy of Nasty Little Man.

Local boy done good, Dave Grohl brings his hugely successful band The Foo Fighters back to the DMV tonight to headline a great triple bill at the Verizon Center.

For years the music industry has been saying that straight-ahead Rock music has no place left in the market place performing poorly on the charts and only appearing on the radio in snippets within grotesque multi-genre mutant songs. For Dave Grohl that message has been falling on deaf ears. One of the last champions of straight-forward rock music left on the radio, his band The Foo Fighters has been going strong for 17 years, most recently offering up the fantastic, back-to-basics album “Wasted Light”.

Recorded in a garage with his band-mates and some old pals (most notably Bob Mould*, Butch Vig, and Pat Smear) “Wasted Light” is a collection of barn-burning rock songs that drop all big studio pretense and trickery in a way that recalls the ‘Alternative Rock’ glory days of the early 90’s while also managing to sound amazingly refreshing amidst the current wasteland of crap-radio fare. Not that Grohl and The Foo Fighters needed it, but “Wasted Light” finds the group sounding reinvigorated and I’m expecting them to deliver a blistering rock show tonight.

Grohl is one of the coolest personalities in mainstream rock music. He takes advantage of his success to collaborate with and shine the spotlight on bands and musicians who he personally loves and/or was inspired by. The openers on this show are too cool to have happened by coincidence; I don’t think it is much of a leap to assume that Grohl had something to do with picking American Hardcore legends Social Distortion and on-the-rise, Welsh, noise-pop trio The Joy Formidable as his warm up acts. All told this show is stacked with quality music and is going to make for a fantastic night of rock & roll in the Nation’s Capital.

The Foo Fighters
Social Distortion and The Joy Formidable
@ Verizon Center
Tonight – 7:00pm
$57.50, 47.50, 37.50

* Dear Bob Mould, please be in town and do a guest-spot when they play “Dear Rosemary”.

‘No I don’t want to support breast cancer Safeway’
courtesy of ‘wfyurasko’

Today is Give 2 the Max Day for the Greater DC area, a pop-up day for charitable donation, with organizations doing their best to collectively raise millions. Hosted through charity site Razoo, local charities could register up through Monday of this week, and now a massive directory of good causes are competing for $125,000 in funds and grants and prizes (PDF)for various donor levels and amounts.

Chances are, your favorite charity in DC is in the directory today. Do some good, DC. As of post time today, over 3,000 people have donated, with $338,186 in the coffers so far.

Causes that we’ve highlighted here and elsewhere that are participating include Miriam’s Kitchen, DC Central Kitchen, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, the Washington Nationals Dream Foundation, and United for D.C.

Anything and everything helps, DC. Do note that Razoo does take 3% of donations to cover their CC processing fees, and adjust accordingly.