Yearly Archives: 2011

News, The Daily Feed
By

Weaver willing to do the Dirty Jobs according to video

Photo courtesy of
‘Cup cake eating contest – Columbia Heights Day 001’
courtesy of ‘squidpants’

So far, from the advertising perspective, the At-Large campaign has been pretty bland. Lots of standard fare all the way around. Some have been upset by campaign ads near editorial material, in the Current newspapers for example, but overall the content of the ads is nothing to write home about. Trite sayings, promises that are rarely backed up, and logos that aren’t exactly inspiring.

That’s no surprise, though, as campaigns generally aren’t won or lost on logo design or ad placement, they’re won and lost on numbers. Stuck with a money deficit and an attention deficit as many reporters and pundits call this a Biddle vs. Orange race, Bryan Weaver has put out a campaign video spoofing the material done by Mike Rowe’s Dirty Jobs television show. It’s a pretty entertaining watch. It’s after the cut. Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: Photograph 51

Elizabeth Rich and Alexander Strain in Theater J's "Photograph 51." Photo credit: Stan Barouh.

Biographical plays can be tricky. The best – works like Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus or Hugh Whitemore’s Breaking the Code – have come to brilliantly define the genre but also created conventions that theater audiences now take for granted. There are the poetic monologues illustrating the main character’s motivations, the chorus or narrator trying to shape the life for you (either trustworthily or not), crazy jumps in time, and an overall attempt to make some philosophical sense out of a life. The pitfall is, a life may not necessarily have a theme other than the playwright’s desire for one.

Playwright Anna Ziegler teases some sadly beautiful metaphors out of the life of scientist Rosalind Franklin in Photograph 51, now playing at Theater J. It’s a swift ninety minute production with no intermission, befitting the race it depicts but perhaps also the difficulty in breathing theatrical life into what was an intellectual and lonely pursuit. If you have a young niece or daughter whose interest in science you want to encourage, this may be the play to take her to – or not, considering it’s a deeply discouraging look at the boys’ club Dr. Franklin struggled against in her quest to map the contours of the DNA molecule.

It’s this struggle that Ziegler focuses on, and she makes us feel it keenly. We cringe every time the mature and learned Dr. Franklin is addressed by her backbiting colleagues as “Miss Franklin.” But there’s something else going on here as well, the suggestion that it was this prejudice alone that resulted in her not being the first to win the DNA mapping race. Does Ziegler want us to be convinced of that at the play’s end, or is it simply that Franklin’s pride was the block to success? Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

19th Century breasts incite painting attack at National Gallery

Gauguin Painting

The Gauguin painting Two Tahitian Women (NSFW, painted breasts), on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to the National Gallery, came under attack by a patron on Friday afternoon. The post-impressionist work was protected by a plexiglas case which the attacker attempted to rip from the wall, and then banged on with her fists.

The Gallery has not identified the attacker, except by her gender, and she did appear in court on Saturday related to the incident.  The painting is part of an on-going exhibit at NGA called Gauguin: Maker of Myth, which runs through early June.  The painting has been removed to the conservation room to inspect its surface with a microscope for damage and may remain out of the exhibit for a period.

Adventures, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District
By

WeLove BabyLove DC

Photo courtesy of
‘Pink Knit Baby Booties’
courtesy of ‘[F]oxymoron’

Based on a successful charitable model, BabyLove DC provides clothing, products, gear and other necessities to pregnant mothers and their children in DC’s inner city. The group hosts monthly drives to collect new and gently used items, such as baby monitors, crib bedding, bottles, clothing, toys, diaper carriers, etc. All donations must have been purchased within the last 3 years, with certain items (diapers, breast pumps, bottles, cribs and feeding supplies) accepted as new only.

BabyLove’s next drive takes place this Saturday, April 9th from 9am-1pm at Hardy Middle School (34th Street and Wisconsin Avenue, NW) just across from the Social Safeway.

In addition to donations, BabyLove needs volunteers to help sort and repair clothing, and help coordinate and run their drives and charity events. If you’re interested in volunteering or donating, you can contact BabyLove DC at info@babylovedc.org

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Tim Reynolds @ Blues Alley, 4/1/11


all photos by author.

As a photographer, I’ve never had band management ask me to check on a venue’s photography policy. But when Tim Reynolds publicist sent an email asking me to check on the photo policy for Blues Alley in Georgetown, I hopped on the phone.

“Yes, I’m a photographer and I’m scheduled to shoot the Tim Reynolds show you have coming up. What’s your photo policy?”

“We have no photo policy.”

“Oh, ok. So I’m good to go, anything else?”

“No, it’s a ‘no photo policy.’ We don’t allow photos at all.”

“Uh….”

“But you can shoot the soundcheck if it’s okay with Tim’s management.”

Score.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Director of DOES fired late Friday

Rwebb

This is Dr. Rochelle Webb (University of Phoenix), former nominee for the head of DOES. Late Friday, the word got out, first to Alan Suderman, that she’d been fired from her position at the agency.  Webb, who has been staying at the W Hotel downtown to the tune of almost $5,000, and had been driven to and from work by a staffer, against job descriptions for all involved, has been lately embroiled over the above, and the job that the city found for her son.

The city’s unemployment rate is above 9%, with some wards closer to 25%, and is in dire need of good job training services, which is the mission of DOES.  Watching the Mayor struggle with his choice, and then terminating her appointment over some (very) poor choices about moving expenses, it’s setting the Mayor’s agenda on employment issues back six months.

With Gerri Mason Hall out the door this week related to Sulaimon Brown’s scandal, Gray is short a fall guy for this particular scandal.  Given the number of incidents since Gray took office in January, I’m not exactly sure who in their right mind who go to work for the DC government in an executive capacity.

Food and Drink, Special Events, The Daily Feed
By

ARTINI Congratulations!

Ronald Flores of Art and Soul with his ARTINI Coleman's Juice. Photo by author.

Congratulations to Ronald Flores of Art and Soul, who was awarded the Critics’ Choice at Saturday night’s ARTINI 2011 celebration at the Corcoran Gallery of Art. The intrepid We Love DC drinks team had been following the entries closely every week with our Friday Happy Hours, and congratulations are really due to all the competing mixologists. It was an honor for me to serve on the judging panel alongside last year’s winner Justin Guthrie (now Estadio’s general manager), Todd Thrasher of Restaurant Eve/PX, Corcoran’s assistant curator for contemporary art Beatrice Gralton, Washingtonian editor Sophie Gilbert, and notable chef Mike Isabella of the soon-to-open Graffiato.

It was an extremely tight race! Flores’ cocktail was inspired by William Christenberry’s sculpture Coleman’s Cafe and was crafted with Gentleman Jack Tennessee whiskey, mezcal, yuzu-agave syrup, rhubarb bitters, and housemade vanilla cola. Garnished with a housemade Slim Jim (which honestly I mistook for a half-smoked cigar upon first sight, a nice homage to Christenberry’s shack of a cafe), the drink was called Coleman’s Juice and had a distinctly smoky flavor.

The evening was filled with gorgeous guests (seriously, anyone who still thinks Washington is “Hollywood for ugly people” needs to get to next year’s ARTINI and be blown away by the eye candy!) in the beautiful classical surroundings of the Corcoran. I’ll detail the other very worthy contestants and wrap up my experience later this week in Thursday’s We Love Drinks.

News, People, Special Events, The Features
By

We Love Sports: The U.S. Armed Forces Wheelchair Basketball Game

Photo by Rachel Levitin

Billy Demby travels to Walter Reed Medical Center to coach their wheelchair basketball team two times a week for two hours at a time. Demby, a Vietnam veteran and bilateral amputee himself, coached the All-Marine wheelchair basketball team to win gold in the 2010 Inaugural Warrior Games before starting with Walter Reed a couple years back.

The 2011 Walter Reed wheelchair basketball team is one of many participating in the Wounded Worrier Project. The Wounded Warrior Project is a non-profit organization founded in 2002 dedicated to honoring and empowering wounded warriors. Walter Reed’s team is also one of three teams who have participated in the U.S. Armed Forces Wheelchair Basketball Game two times since the game’s inaugural event last year.

This year’s U.S. Armed Forces Wheelchair Basketball Game was played Thursday, March 31 at American University’s Bender Arena and Demby’s Walter Reed players took the court against the National Rehabilitation Hospital Ambassadors.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
By

Nationals lose laugher to Braves 11-2

Photo courtesy of
‘scooting through’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

April baseball can be a peculiar thing. The Nationals today displayed that peculiarity in all of its ugliness before a crowd of 22,210, surrendering 11 runs to the Braves,

Despite a month of Spring Training ball, both the Braves and Nationals made some ugly miscues in the field this afternoon.  In the bottom of the first, Braves’ veteran Chipper Jones crossed in front of Jayson Werth on the basepath, inciting a collision that threw Werth off his balance and cost him a few steps. He turned 3rd and headed for home to be thrown out, but awarded the run on obstruction.

Twice the Nationals’ outfielders ran into trouble with balls in the right-center gap, with Werth and Ankiel having some miscommunication over who was playing lead.  The biggest defensive trouble came from Danny Espinosa today, whose efforts in the fifth formally cost him an error and the Nationals a run, but that was just one of four plays on the day that hurt the Nationals in the field.

Continue reading →

capitals hockey, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
By

Ovechkin’s OT winner sends Caps to the top of the East

Photo courtesy of
‘ovi en fuego…’
courtesy of ‘choofly’

Alexander Ovechkin scored the game-winning goal with 1:41 remaining in overtime to give the Washington Capitals a 5-4 overtime win over the Buffalo Sabres in a weird and wild game Saturday night at the Verizon Center. The win moved the Caps to the top of the Eastern Conference by one point over the idle Philadelphia Flyers, though Philadelphia does have a game in hand.

However thrilling the win was to the 18,398 fans who made up the 100th consecutive sellout crowd for a Capitals home game, Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau was in a less-than-celebratory mood at his postgame press conference.

“I’m concerned with the process of how we played,” Boudreau said, “I thought it was way too close to looking like last year.” Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Thunder and finesse from Ankiel and Nats power past Braves

Photo courtesy of
‘7TH’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

One swing of Rick Ankiel’s bat made John Lannan and the Nationals winners for the first time in 2011 on Saturday as Washington beat the Braves 6-3 in a soggy affair at Nationals Park.

Ankiel took a 91 mile-per-hour four-seam fastball from Braves starter Tommy Hanson to right field above the out-of-town scoreboard in the third inning to give the Nats a 4-1 lead, all they would need to sink Atlanta on another chilly day at the ballpark.

Ankiel also layed down a perfect squeeze bunt in bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded to score third baseman Ryan Zimmerman and make the score 5-2 Nats. Catcher Wilson Ramos (three singles) and right fielder Jayson Werth (two doubles and an infield single) both had three hits to pace the Nats 10-hit performance.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Nats Offer Japan Relief Effort

Photo courtesy of
‘Moon over Nationals Park’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

The team launched a special “text to give” program on Opening Day and will continue to encourage Nationals fans to donate to UNICEF throughout the weekend. In order to successfully “text to give,” text “JAPAN” to 864233.

Fans can also purchase $10 Japan aid game tickets Saturday, April 2 and Sunday, April 3. The Nationals will donate $5 from the price of each $10 ticket to UNICEF. Sections eligible for this donation include the Upper Infield Gallery, Upper Outfield Gallery, Outfield Gallery, Lower Rightfield Terrace and Upper Rightfield Terrace.

Japan aid tickets can be purchased at the Washington Nationals Main Box Office or online.

Sports Fix, The Features
By

Blatche, Crawford lead Wizards over Cavs

Photo courtesy of
‘Wizards’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Andray Blatche tied his career-high point total with 36, and set a new career-high rebounding total with 19 as the Washington Wizards held off the Cleveland Cavaliers 115-107 Friday night at the Verizon Center. Playing without John Wall, who was serving a one-game suspension for throwing a punch at Miami Heat center Zydrunas Ilgauskas Wednesday night, the Wizards (19-56) became the first team in NBA history to have two rookies record triple-doubles in the same season after Jordan Crawford scored 21 points, dished 11 assists, and grabbed 10 rebounds (recording career-highs in the latter two categories). Wall recorded the other triple-double by a first-year player when he had 19 points, 13 assists, and 10 rebounds against Houston November 10.

It would be easier to get excited about Crawford’s and Blatche’s achievements if they hadn’t come against a truly execrable Cleveland (15-60) team featuring Baron Davis, perhaps the biggest waste of NBA talent over the last 15 years (True to form, Davis managed 10 points and 11 assists, but went 2-for-8 from beyond the three-point line and 4-for-12 from the field with a plus/minus of -11). But it also won’t do to be too churlish, as Wizards coach Flip Saunders came roaring into the media room after the game full of praise for his team’s effort.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: Liberty Smith

Photo by T. Charles Erickson

With the success of films like Shrek and Toy Story, there has been newfound respect for the “family film”. Gone are the antiquated tales of Princesses and “Happily Ever After”, instead today’s G-rated fare uses satire and pop culture references that hits with a savvier generation of children and their parents.

After attending the world premiere of Liberty Smith at Fords Theatre it doesn’t surprise me that the musical tale of a fictional American Revolutionary hero originally started as a screenplay that almost made the silver screen. Instead the screenwriting team of Marc Madnick, Eric Cohen, Adam Abraham, and Michael Weiner decided to adapt their idea for the stage. The end product is a fresh new musical that is bound to be a hit.

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
By

Friday Happy Hour: ARTINI Edition – Week Four

Photo credit: Daniel Swartz/REVAMP.COM Courtesy of Corcoran Gallery of Art

For the last time in 2011, Friday Happy Hour takes a look at the Cocoran’s ARTINI 2011 Each of the twelve participating bars have a created a special cocktail inspired by works from the Cocoran’s collection which are on offer leading up to the April 2nd gala. Each bar gets one “feature night” when their creation is showcased and a portion of the proceeds is donated to the Corcoran – though the drink continues to be available the entire month.

With the gala tomorrow, this week saw the final three features: AGAINN, The Gibson, and P.O.V.. All three drinks this week were quite good in what was perhaps the strongest line-up of any of the four three-bar groupings.
Continue reading →

Adventures, Entertainment, Fun & Games, History, Life in the Capital, The Features, Tourism
By

Tourism: Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens

Nestled in Northeast, you’ll find a time capsule from the past, where the remnants of Washington’s natural history of wetlands and rivers flourish. Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens is the hidden gem of the DC area National Park System and a excellent spot for DCers to escape to for a serene and educational respite.

In the late 1800s, Walter Spondhaw bought a piece of land along the marshland flats of the Anacostia River. Shaw, a Maine native, planted a few wild water lilies in a pond of this strip of land. The lilies took on like gangbusters and Shaw planted other lilies and varieties of flowers. When Shaw died in 1921, his daughter, Helen Shaw Fowler, expanded the gardens and made the location where U.S. presidents, their families, and neighbors would take day trips to. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
By

Food Tweet of the Week

Photo courtesy of
‘Lobster Truck’
courtesy of ‘yostinator’
It’s funny how self-promotion can either come across as annoying and uneccessary or cute and endearing. Food trucks pretty much have to promote themselves to survive, and make sure customers know what they’re offering, when, and where.

In this case the popular Red Hook Lobster Pound was hoping to score another popularity title. After one month of food-truck matchups at Washingtonian, the championship round featured the lobster truck and Solar Crepes. Red Hook called out for help from one of DC’s (and Spain’s and Vegas’) most well-known chefs.
Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Cut Copy @ 9:30 Club, 3/29/11


photo by Mike Kurman.

As you may have read earlier, I went down to Miami last weekend for the Ultra Music Festival. Cut Copy and Holy Ghost! performed there, but since I knew I would be seeing them at 9:30 Club on Tuesday night, I opted to skip them at the festival. Ultra turned out to be a fantastic weekend of electronic music and although I was exhausted upon my return, a part of me was very excited to keep the dancing going by going to this show.

Cut Copy are touring on their third album “Zonoscope” and Holy Ghost! are about to release their self-titled debut. Both bands have their new albums on the line, but also Holy Ghost! are trying to make the transition from openers to headliners and Cut Copy are trying to dis-spell rumblings of a band identity crisis. I expected this show to be a high-energy, home-run from both bands. Instead it was an average showing from both that made me suspect that perhaps I wasn’t the only one feeling the post-Ultra hangover.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Nationals Still Against Spell Check

It’s a happy day when I get to use to Natinals tag here at We Love DC. A pair of spelling errors were caught by a few folks over at Mr Irrelevant this morning. A video board for player intros left John Lannon (neé and actually Lannan) with a name change, and the Nats’ also are redefining the term Honoriing with that extra I.

I’m also trying to figure out if there’s any Photoshopping on that, right now, but I think the Mottram Bros are anti-dumb April Fools’ jokes. A bigger version after the jump for those not reading this post in a reader. Continue reading →