Yearly Archives: 2011

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Peter Hook presents “Closer” @ 9:30 Club, 9/21/11


Last December, Peter Hook (formerly of Joy Division and New Order) brought his band The Light to the 9:30 Club and performed the Joy Division album “Unknown Pleasures” in its entirety plus a handful of ancillary Joy Division songs. Just about everyone in attendance went in to that show skeptical and curious about Hook’s audacious move; essentially performing as Joy Division without any of the other surviving members and seemingly dancing on deceased lead singer Ian Curtis’ grave. Hook and his band stunned the audience by playing a bullet-proof set that was as raucous as it was reverent. That show proved without a doubt that the world has longed to hear these songs performed live again and that Peter Hook is full of passion for the material he, Ian, and the others wrote 30 years ago.

On Wednesday night, Hooky brought The Light back to the 9:30 Club to continue the Joy Division revival tour. This time they would be performing the Joy Division classic album “Closer” in full. This time around the show had a positive buzz and even brought out a few Joy Division fans who skipped the first show due to sheer disbelief but had since heard Hook was doing the band’s memory justice. So the atmosphere inside the club was much more positive this time around. Everyone, including myself, expected a good show, one that would hopefully match the caliber of the “Unknown Pleasures” set. Peter Hook & The Light delivered an excellent show this time and a great time was had by all; however I can’t help but compare it to their previous show and this week’s performance didn’t quite match last year’s triumph.

Continue reading →

Arlington, Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: Macbeth

Irakli Kavsadze and Irina Tsikurishvili in Synetic Theater's 2011 production of Macbeth. Photo credit: Graeme B. Shaw

What would you do for absolute power? Could you kill your friend? Murder children? Call it justice? Watch out. On the path to conquering the world, you might lose your soul. “Fair is foul and foul is fair…”

There’s a gasp-inducing moment in Synetic Theater‘s production of Macbeth that focuses it as a straight-up morality tale. Lady Macbeth, in the last throes of madness induced by guilt, slides into a hellish hole like blood down a drain. It’s terrifying, as Irina Tsikurishvili’s eyes roll around and the watching witches smile demonically in approval.

It’s hard to remember there once was a time when Synetic seemed to come out of nowhere, with images like this one shaking up the DC theatre scene. Their physically combustive style was almost subversive in its daring. Now that they’re more established, at home in Crystal City, they could easily rest on the accolades gained by their current signature style of Silent Shakespeare, and audiences might not blame them for it. But I doubt there will be much resting by Synetic’s driven artistic team, and I’m interested to see what they come up with in the next phase.

Before they move on with new explorations of world physical theater next year, their Silent Shakespeare Festival Speak No More revives three of their popular wordless adaptations – Macbeth, Othello (my personal favorite) and Romeo & Juliet. Each run will be just about three weeks – Macbeth closes October 2.

This revival of the 2007 production is darkly militaristic. Forget the tartan. Bring on the choke chain.

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
By

Mid City Caffe to Close

Photo courtesy of
‘Strut’
courtesy of ‘lorigoldberg’

Charming Logan Circle coffee spot Mid City Caffé is set to close for business effective October 1st.

While a victim in part of its location – on a second floor and away from the kind of office-based foot traffic that supports a bustling coffee shop five of seven days a week – the owner and management still made the difficult decision to close rather than relocate when faced with a lease expiring and ambiguous future for the building they occupy (a situation which, unfortunately, may also impact the street-level tenant, vintage shop Miss Pixie’s in the coming months.)

Until the recent arrival of Peregrine Espresso’s second location only about one block away, Mid City was the only serious coffee shop in the Logan Circle/14th/U St region and, in addition to serving great coffee, it served as a valuable daytime spot to work or socialize in a neighborhood more focused on nightlife. Regulars seeking a spot to open the laptop and drink a tasty beverage will now most likely have to head over to Filter in Dupont.

Mid City’s current general manager and head barista, Jeffrey Lamoureux (previously with Chinatown Coffee Co), brought in to run the struggling shop just a few months ago, will be moving on to open a new espresso bar concept within the renovated AKA White House hotel. That cafe is expected to open later this autumn.

We Love Weekends
By

We Love Weekends – Sep 23 – 25

Photo courtesy of
‘I’m Andy Warhol, Who Are You?’
courtesy of ‘maxedaperture’

Marissa: This weekend will probably prove to be a busy one. Friday night I’m planning on finally checking out Lost Society since their cocktail menu looks quite tasty. Saturday night I’m excited to see my friends’ band, Level 7, play at the Level X Lounge. Tickets are only $10. Then I’ll round out the weekend on Sunday afternoon checking out the newWarhol exhibit at the National Gallery of Art.

Mosley: You mean besides a lot of photo editing and trip prep?  Actually, after having such a blast at the H Street Festival last week, I’m excited to see that Barracks Row is having it’s own fall festival on Saturday.  Other than that, I’ve been telling myself, for a number of years, to check out the National Book Festival.  I might end up doing that on Sunday.  Full weekend indeed!

Fedward: The Social Chair and I will be visiting friends near Front Royal, which usually means a winery tour. Past favorites have included Linden Vineyards (a Virginia wine pioneer and consistent producer of high quality wine), Glen Manor Vineyards(recently featured in a wine maker dinner at Dino), and Chester Gap Cellars (a place I’d go just for the view from the tasting room, even without Bernd’s excellent wines). If we’re organized we might even squeeze in a visit to a distiller or two. I should try to remember to bring along some WLDC business cards, huh. And then on our way back we’ll stop at Apple House for some donuts.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Latin Rhythms Infuse Food and Wine at Vintage Crystal

photo: Moses

It was easy to take a virtual voyage to Latin locales when I was invited by the festival organizers to attend last Sunday’s “Vintage Crystal: A Taste of Wine and Jazz” in Crystal City. Tasty bites from neighborhood purveyors were pleasantly paired with over thirty wines of Spain, Chile, and Argentina provided by Jaleo.

Local businesses promoted their services with friendly staff and colorful brochures, while Latin jazz from Trio Caliente set a soulful soundtrack for friends to deliberate the merits of Malbec, Carmenere, Verdejo, and Tempranillo. It was impossible to stand still, so it’s a good thing Arlington’s Latin lounge The Salsa Room was on hand to orchestrate rumba, salsa, and cha-cha lessons. Fortunately, overcast skies didn’t detract crowds; in fact, the soft glow and slight chill made for a refreshing climate to hit the dance floors.
Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Recharge your SmarTrip online!

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Well, thank heavens for small favors.

Metro announced this afternoon that anyone with a SmarTrip card that’s registered through their website will now be able recharge their transit card with a credit card. From the Metro website:

Because SmarTrip fare value is stored on the card, rather than in a central computer, customers must complete their transaction by touching their card to a target, such as a Metrorail faregate, vending machine or bus farebox. Customers should allow up to one business day for value to be transferred to their card when touching a rail faregate or vending machine and up to three business days at a bus farebox.

Well, it’s not perfect. But it’s a good start.

The Daily Feed
By

DC Fire Department: Social Media maybe isn’t just for Parties

Photo courtesy of
‘Party Animals on First Street, SE’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

One of the very first government twitter feeds I started following belonged to the DC Fire & EMS department, who tweeted short notices about a fire’s location, seriousness of the incident, and often provided updates. They were a quick way to a corroborate a problem across town, to give you a heads up about something that might be happening.

You’ll notice that @dcfireems has been pretty quiet. Yesterday it was revealed that the department brass wasn’t happy with the job that PIO Pete Piringer was doing with the account and they were taking measures to protect themselves.

The outpouring of frustration was pretty voluminous. Thankfully, the Department is listening, and today Tim Craig from the Post has good news for DC Tweeters: “Breaking Twitter News @dcfireems will resume today. Fire PIO Piringer will be tweeter, as had been case. He will also have backup. No filter”

Whew. Maybe social media isn’t just for partying?

Special Events
By

The wedding series continues – who ELSE is using your big day?

Photo courtesy of
’18 Sep 2010 – No 030′
courtesy of ‘B Jones Jr’

The following is a guest entry by the Social Chair, who is far more qualified than I am to discuss this particular subject matter.

So here’s the problem with being a girl who hasn’t been planning her wedding since she was a little girl:

When it’s time to plan your wedding, it’s a bit daunting.

When last we met, I had just purchased my wedding dress (es).No, I still don’t know which I am going to wear. Luckily, I have some time to figure that out. We decided to push the big event to 2012 and enjoy being engaged, instead of frantically rushing to get it planned this year. Our wedding will take place in October 2012. The logic went something like this:

November-February: Holidays, cold, maybe snow. March & April: Could be nice, could be cold and rainy. May & September: Generally busy months, with weather that sometimes doesn’t cooperate. June: Could be nice, could be terribly hot. July or August: Are you kidding? Who wants to be in DC then? October: It’s the most wonderful time of the year in DC. We have a winner!

And then the fine-tuning begins.
Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Clutch @ Red Palace, 9/18/11

IMG_2285b
all photos by author.

This a concert review that is more about a beer than a band. Rather, this is a beer review that is more about a band than a beer. Or how about, this is a review that is about a beer that is named after a band who played a concert in honor of their beer. The band and the beer are called Clutch. The beer hails from Colorado. The band has its roots in Maryland. The concert in honor of the beer was at The Red Palace in Washington DC. The events that follow took place on Sunday night.* It was awesome and I’m sorry you weren’t there.

But really few people were. The performance space at Red Palace was full of people but since it’s a tiny space it could only hold so many. All told about a 150 lucky Clutch fans piled into the Red Palace for a free show by the band. So relatively speaking to the Red Palace, there were ‘a lot’ of people there. But compared to your standard Clutch show at 9:30 Club (or at HFStival the day before), you could say this beer show was quite exclusive. But exclusive sounds kind of stuck up and this event was far from that. In fact I would describe Clutch the band and this event as the complete opposite of stuck up. So instead let’s describe this concert with one of the region’s, nay, the country’s best rock bands as limited edition. I like that. Music collectors enjoy things that are limited edition. Usually we’d use the term to describe an object, but I think it’s safe to use it to describe this intimate free concert. I mean how often do you get to pile into a tiny room for free, drink a mighty tasty beer designed by one of your favorite bands, then listen to them play five or six rare ‘acoustic’ arrangements, before having your face rocked off when they unleash Pure Electric Rock Fury in the form of monster jam versions of some of your favorite tunes?

Continue reading →

The District
By

Why I Love DC: David Huzzard

Photo courtesy of
‘US Capitol’
courtesy of ‘specimenlife’

The question should be easy to answer, it is a personal one, but it isn’t. It has become quite hard, and I am left with nothing to do but try. At times I find it hard to love a place that is as unsure of itself as DC, but then I find myself driving on its streets and seeing row houses next to marble buildings next to modern commercial zones and realize something. DC’s beauty and identity comes from its unsure nature.

It might be easier to answer the question if I think of the times I haven’t been in DC. After I went away to college the plan wasn’t to return to DC it was to stay in the southern part of Virginia or move to the Tidewater area. Much quieter places with a more laid back feel. None of the rush and worry that comes with city life, but that didn’t pan out and I found myself back in this area.

Continue reading →

The Features
By

DC Graff: The Case for Open Walls (Part II)

Continued from Part I…

Just a few blocks from the Capitol South metro stop, alongside children tackling the jungle gyms and dogs chasing after Frisbees, Hill staffers play pick-up games of football and soccer on the greens of Garfield Park. Until a few years ago you might have caught a pick-up basketball game, too, at the cement-paved court nestled under the Southeast Freeway. But not so true anymore, ever since a group of young skateboarders discovered the court and claimed it as a skate park, installing improvised rails and ramps, decorating their domain with sneaker chandeliers and aerosol tags. “We had never had graffiti before” says Bill Phillips, President of Friends of Garfield Park, a community group that maintains the historic Capitol Hill locale. “We’d call the city and they’d paint it over and that did nothing but create a canvas for brand new graffiti.”

A canvas perfect for the work of Albus Cavus…

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
By

Q&A with Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr. is a talented duo from Detroit. Blending electronic elements with traditional rock instruments and vocal harmonies reminiscent of the Beach Boys and Paul Simon, they have crafted a unique and catchy sound.  Their live shows demonstrate their flair for the dramatic- with hand-crafted marquees flashing their moniker “Jr. Jr.”, bubble machines, and fans-onstage dance parties. Riding on the high of playing Lollapalooza 2011 this summer they are touring the US, spreading good times and harmony as they go.

Co-founder Daniel Zott took some time out of his busy tour schedule to chat with WLDC’s Alexia Kauffman about the band, their roots, and living your dreams.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

DC passes tax increase on those earning more than $350,000/yr

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Residents Federal Tax Dollars Paid: $2,849,954,367.04’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The debate was loud, and it found some odd bedfellows, but the DC Council yesterday passed an income tax increase on those residents earning more than $350,000 per year, increasing the taxation rate on dollars earned after the 350,000th to 8.95% from 8.5%. The move is expected to increase revenues by about $100M over four years.

The increase, initially partnered with a removal of the controversial bond tax but later separated from it, represents a pretty significant defeat for Council Chair Kwame Brown, who was seeking to repeal the bond tax and prevent an income tax increase. Yesterday also marked an odd political alliance between Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) and Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) who found themselves both opposing a tax increase. Evans because he didn’t want to see wealthy residents squeezed, and Barry because he doesn’t believe in paying taxes at all.

The good news, though, is that there’s a four-year sunset provision added to the tax, courtesy of Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) who fought hard to make sure this is a temporary measure that will need addition council battles in the future to extend, for more information you can check with chartered accountants ireland

How contentious was the debate? The Washington Post felt it was appropriate to include the swearing that happened related to the increase in their coverage. There are now three people, according to columnist Mike DeBonis, who have been granted the right to say fuck or shit on those august pages, and they are Jack Evans, Phil Mendelson, and Dick Cheney.

When will swearing privileges be extended to minorities and women, I ask you, Mr. Ombudsman?

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
By

First Look: TruOrleans

graffiato 001

TruOrleans Restaurant & Gallery sits on the early part of H St NE, before all the hustle and bustle you’ll find closer to Sticky Rice, Toki Underground and Granville Moore’s. If you stand across from it (by Ethiopic), TruOrleans really seems to command the entire block.

It is 2 floors with an open deck. The space is great, and the staff is friendly. Every time I make my way around the place, I’m greeted by the hostess, a waiter and a bartender. This friendliness is a saving grace.

Continue reading →

The Features, We Love Arts
By

DC Graff: The Case for Open Walls (Part I)

Murals DC Piece at Fuller and 15th NW

The debate is fresh but the line seems to already have been drawn.

On one side, facing an uptick in tagging that has cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars in removal fees this year alone, DC officials agree that illegal graffiti is criminal before artistic: “I appreciate art,” said Nancee Lyons of the Department of Public Works (DPW) at a panel discussion on the issue earlier this summer, “But if Picasso made a painting on the side of my house—it may be beautiful but if I didn’t ask him to do it it’s still vandalism.”

While the event—titled “The Art of Vandalism: A Closer Look at DC Graffiti”—featured an eclectic panel of experts on the art form, including a former graffiti artist, DC new brow art collector Philippa Hughes, a graffiti documentarian from Georgetown University, and Cory Stowers, Art Director at Words Beats Life (a hip-hop nonprofit), the debate still served as the official kick-off for the MuralsDC Project—the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities’ answer to tagging.

Launched in 2007 in partnership with DPW, the program aims to “replace illegal graffiti with artistic works” and “promotes respect for public and private property as well as community awareness for the young people [involved].” According to the website, sites are chosen “in collaboration with the Department of Public Works’ assessment of areas with high incidents of illegal graffiti. Each mural reflects the character, culture and history of the neighborhoods in the District.”

But the character, culture and history according to whom? Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Howard’s Afro Blue rocks Week 1 of the Sing Off

Afro Blue

Photo courtesy of Howard University

It’s hard to express just how much I love a cappella music. My undergrad degree is in Vocal Performance, but of the solo variety, I never quite had what it took to sing in an a cappella group, even if I loved what they were all doing. I think that, more than anything else explains my absolute love for NBC’s The Sing Off, which premiered its third season last night. Featured in the eight groups that performed in the 2-hour block last night was Howard University’s Afro Blue jazz ensemble, a marvelous vocal group of incredible talent.

They absolutely knocked it out of the park last night, so we’ve included the video below the cut here for you to enjoy. They’re singing Corinne Bailey Ray’s “Put Your Records On”, and they completely nailed it.

Congrats, Afro Blue!  They’ll be back in two weeks for the next round.

Continue reading →