Monthly Archives: May 2012

We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends: May 11 – 13

Photo courtesy of tedeytan
Shaw’s Tavern DC 4170
courtesy of tedeytan

Tom: This weekend I’m headed to Atlanta to spend some time with extended family, but were I here, I’d be making the rounds of my usual haunts, including Shaw’s Tavern (whose cocktail lineup is taking shape!) and Boundary Stone (they’re serving 13th Street Meats’ Bratwurst poached in DC Brau, it’s worthy.) Before I go, though, I’ll be spending time with my friends on Thursday night at San Antonio Bar & Grill after casting my vote early for Kenyan McDuffie in the Ward 5 special election. If you live in Ward 5, consider this my firm endorsement: vote for the guy who’s not late on his debts, not taking thousands and thousands in shady bundled corporate donation, and not the former employee of Marion Barry, Michael Brown and Kwame Brown. That’s Kenyan. So vote up, Ward 5. Continue reading →

Downtown, Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Patrick Watson @ 930 Club, 5/8/2012

Patrick Watson, all photos by Matthew Carroll

Patrick Watson set an intimate mood in the 930 club Tuesday night, starting their set in the dark. Five players all together were onstage- Patrick Watson singing and on piano, Robbie Kuster on drums, Mishka Stein on bass, Simon Angell on guitar and Melanie Belair on violin.The Montreal-based band is on tour now opening for Andrew Bird, in support of their latest release Adventures in Your Own Backyard, which came out in Canada April 17th, on Secret City Records/Domino.

Patrick Watson
 Eventually the stage was lit, but softly, making it feel like you could be in the band’s living room, or back yard. Watson’s vocal delivery is delicate for the most part, lilting and floating amidst tinkling piano or softly strummed guitar, violin tremelos. In livelier moments the band had an almost circusy feel, like a gypsy carnival, though still subdued.  To take things to an even more intimate place, the band gathered around one mic in the middle of the stage and played a couple of songs in an old-timey radio way, including the sweet, tender “Words In A Fire.”
Highlights of the set included the spooky, ethereal “Quiet Crowd,” the bouncy “Into Giants,” with its lovely layered vocals, and the Spaghetti-Western feel of “Adventures in Your Own Backyard.”   The band closed their set with a dedication to the recently deceased Maurice Sendak, playing their song “Where The Wild Things Are,” ending with a jammed-out, dark-circus frenzy.
 
Patrick Watson

 

capitals hockey
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Caps Top Rangers, Force Game 7


Photo courtesy of clydeorama
Lundqvist Ovechkin Stare Down courtesy of clydeorama

And so we go to Game 7.

In a 2-1 victory in Game 6 last night the Caps struck early, stayed aggressive, and then held off the NY Rangers down the stretch to stay alive in the NHL playoffs.

Buoyed by a raucous crowd at Verizon Center, the Caps scored two goals in the first two periods. The Rangers came charging back in the third. Just as in Game 5, the Rangers pulled the goalie and scored a last-minute goal. But the Caps clamped down on defense to prevent an equalizer. The Caps’ rookie netminder Braden Holtby was spectacular in earning the victory with 30 saves. Continue reading →

We Love Music
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We Love Music: Slash

Slash on stage at Ram's Head Live with Myles KennedyPhotos by author

If you grew up in the 80’s and early 90’s like I did, you might have been a fan of Guns N’ Roses. While they’re still around today, they hardly resemble the lineup that featured Slash, Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin. The name might be the same but the band now seems to consist of Axl Rose and a group of randoms.

Continue reading →

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Bike Trip and We Are Serenades @ Black Cat — 5/7/12

Photo courtesy of tnarik
Adam Olenius
courtesy of tnarik

About 60 people or so turned up at the Black Cat backstage Monday night to see what two well regarded Swedish rockers had to offer in combining their talents as We Are Serenades as they kicked off a US tour in DC. It turned out that indie rockers Adam Olenius of the Shout Out Louds and Markus Krunegard of Laakso were interested in making fewer fuzzed out sounds with their guitars and instead seek to build sweet harmonies armed with a largely twee-pop repertoire of… well, serenades.

The five-piece band certainly did not abandon guitars, however, as Olenius and Krunegard demonstrated the strength of their concept by trading off vocals and sharing guitar duties. But they were augmented by a keyboard, a synthesizer and drums as they offered up about 10 songs largely about being in love and appreciating nature. The two vocalists looked comfortable with their material and the five-member band seems poised for larger spaces. Olenius and Krunegard were easygoing and earnest and their vocals were perhaps the most crystal clear I’ve ever heard in the back of the Cat, making for a wholly pleasant listening experience. While all quite twee, their songs ranged a bit from familiar guitar rock numbers to more dance pop selections.

For me in their better moments, We Are Serenades get a little new wavey, almost sounding a bit like their countrymen in The Mary Onettes, although without the urgency and full-throated crooning that characterize the older band. We Are Serenade’s full-on dance number “Weapons,” for example, has a bouncy new wave synthline that makes for a pleasant distraction but it still politely invites you to come dancing rather than forcefully compelling you to do so. Their latest single, “Criminal Heaven” (which is the title track from their debut record), provides more opportunities for the duo vocalists to harmonize, which they do surprisingly well, and to generate more guitar pop.

Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Cork Introduces Fried Chicken and Champagne Sundays


Courtesy of ThreeLockharts Communications

So you need a good date spot. Something that’s more than just a drink but less than an eight course tasting menu while violins play in the background. That’s where Cork Market & Tasting Room comes in. The restaurant on 14th street introduced Sunday fried chicken and champagne dinners this past weekend.

Chef Kristin Hutter serves up her fried chicken (which was named in Bon Appétit magazine’s “Top 10 Places for Fried Chicken”) along with champagne on Sundays* from 6 to 8 PM in the market’s upstairs dining room. You and your date (friend, dining companion, whomever) can feast on half of a crispy fried chicken along with side dishes such as biscuits and asparagus salad and two glasses of the bubbly stuff.

Reservations for the Sunday fried chicken and champagne dinners must be made 24 hours in advance by calling 202-265-2674 or by emailing tastings[at]corkDC.com. The dinner for two is $75, not including tax and gratuity. Cork Market is located at 1805 14th Street, NW.

*Update as of May 21: Cork Market is offering the Sunday fried chicken dinners one Sunday per month (running indefinitely, as of now). The next fried chicken dinner is on June 10th.

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of philliefan99
fisheye nats park
courtesy of philliefan99

That is one great shot of Nationals Park! Phil employed his trusty fisheye lens to get nearly the entire seating bowl of the stadium into one shot. A fisheye lens is an ultra wide-angle lens which gives a 180 degree view. It’s a fairly specialized lens, and few photographers use them. This is mainly because the distortion that is created can become a tiresome effect and people lose interest in using it. Also, such a wide-angle lens is not useful in most situations. However, when employed properly, like the shot above, the results are outstanding!

Weekend Flashback
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Weekend Flashback: 5/4-5/6

Photo courtesy of philliefan99
open for business
courtesy of philliefan99

Talk about a banner weekend for DC. Nationals go 2 for 3; Caps win the big game; DC United wins on the road; heck, even New York City got leveled in the Avengers! Everything seems to be turning up DC. We even had great weather; first hit of heat on Saturday and then a nice cool off for Sunday, and no rain. Let’s keep this going…by checking out some photos from the weekend. Enjoy!  Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Nats Can’t Complete Sweep, Fall to Last Place Phillies 9-3

Photo courtesy of oddlittlebird.
Werth
courtesy of oddlittlebird.

An evening that started out with such promise turned sour right around the top of the 4th inning when Jordan Zimmermann lost his control of the strike zone and then lost his command in it. With the Nats leading 1-0 in the top of the 4th and having won the first two games of this series, to send the Phillies to last place, Jordan Zimmermann walked Shane Victorino ahead of a Hunter Pence blast that would give the Phillies a lead they would not look back from.

During that same inning Nix would score on a Polanco single, but the truly damaging Polanco single was yet to come. In the 6th inning with 2 out and none on Polanco would would hit a shallow fly ball that Werth would try to make a sliding catch on but missed with his glove caught in the turf and bent his wrist backwards. The extent of Werth’s injury is still unknown but it is fitting that a couple days before Zimmerman is due off the DL and LaRoche back in the line-up that the Nats would lose another key player.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Multi-Homer Game Wins it for Washington, Nats Beat Phillies 7-1

Photo courtesy of Kevin H.
Jayson Werth Digs for Third
courtesy of Kevin H.

Aggressive offense and a quality start from left-handed pitcher Gio Gonzalez is what enabled the Washington Nationals to beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-1 on Saturday. A crowd of 39,496 was delighted to a round of nine innings that put their home team on display. It was Washington’s seventh consecutive win against their division rival dating back to the 2011 season.

Despite some of the big guns like Ryan Zimmerman, Michael Morse, Adam LaRoche, and Mark DeRosa being down for the count due to injury, the current Nats roster continues to hold on to sole possession of first place in the National League East.

Washington hit three home runs over the course of the game, including shots from: Jayson Werth, Ian Desmond, and Chad Tracy. The entire squad accounted for 15 hits. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Ramos Hot Off The Bench, Nats Beat Phillies 4-3

Photo courtesy of philliefan99
mob on first
courtesy of philliefan99

The story going into Friday night’s ball game was that starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg and outfielder Bryce Harper would be in the lineup, at home, together for the first time in club history. It makes for a romanticized story of circumstance, but the Washington Nationals took it upon themselves as a 25-man roster to liven up the premeditated story.

As the final position player on the bench in the eleventh inning of an electric game, Wilson Ramos led the Nats to an exciting 4-3 victory over their division rival Philadelphia Phillies with a walk-off single. To put it lightly, this was one hell of a game. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Friday Happy Hour: The Garden

Photo courtesy of Jenn Larsen
“The Garden” cocktail
courtesy of Jenn Larsen

After almost two weeks of struggling with being sick and exhausted, my disco nap this past Wednesday night was in danger of becoming an early bedtime. Then the tweet came through from Fedward with the magical phrase, “There is a bottle of Gran Classico behind the bar and a drink including it on the menu. Somebody’s holding out.”

I bolted out of bed and dashed over to American Ice Company. Yes, it was a race of mad cliches. That’s what “bitter love” does to the granddaughter of a Torinese during an aperitivo shortage.

Spirits in Black happens roughly every month at American Ice and has quickly become my favorite recurring event in the city. Patrick Owens just plain rocks as he mixes drinks inspired by heavy metal while head-banging and air-guitaring with abandon, and I’m always impressed by Ashley May’s ability to keep everyone happy and in line. Joined by a guest bartender and a metal DJ, it’s a night that brings out the best in the DC drinks and music scenes – people are talkative, friendly, and enjoying themselves.

And then there are the drinks. Continue reading →

Capital Chefs, Food and Drink, The Features
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Capital Chefs: Sebastien Archambault of Blue Duck Tavern (Part 2)

Photo courtesy of bonappetitfoodie
Salmon with sorrel cream at Blue Duck Tavern
courtesy of bonappetitfoodie

Sometimes you need to glam things up in the kitchen. Go for something a little elegant. Now, the recipe that follows from Blue Duck Tavern’s executive chef, Sebastien Archambault might look a little overwhelming at first–there’s smoked roe and you might be thinking of emailing me, “Sorrel cream? Child please, how can I make that?” But as I said, this is your chance to glam things up in the kitchen. And if you don’t want to go fancy, you can tweak the recipe here and there (ie: leave out the salmon roe). Knowing how to sear a piece of fish so that the skin is crispy? That’s something useful to keep in your back pocket after you try this recipe.

Or you can head straight to the second part and try your hand at the roasted baby vegetables and farro dish. I’m seeing farro on more and more menus and this is a good recipe that will let you use some of the produce that’s abundant at farmer’s markets around the city this time of year.

Happy cooking this weekend, readers.
Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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I have been inspired…

YouTube Preview Image

… by this video.

I think I am going to apply similar principles as a way of encouraging tourists not to disregard the “do not throw coins in the fountain” signs at monuments. Specifically, when they throw in a coin I will beat them with a sock full of quarters.

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Marilyn Manson @ The Fillmore, 5/1/2012

all photos by Aminta S. Nieves-Candamo

Goth-rock superstars Marilyn Manson played a sold-out show at The Fillmore in Silver Spring on Tuesday night, in the middle of their “Hey, Cruel World” tour. When I got a ticket to this show I did so without many expectations, except maybe to have a trip back in time to my high school/early college days when I was a big fan and saw them several times. I got what I wanted, basically.

Their set was musically strong- Manson himself still has energy, stage presence and rockstar mojo to spare, and thankfully Twiggy (sometimes bassist, now guitarist, and major songwriter for the band) has rejoined the group after a hiatus in the early 2000s (which involved stints with A Perfect Circle, Nine Inch Nails, and The Dessert Sessions). However, having seen them in the height of their fame, while they were riding high on the shock-rock infamy which used to surround them, Tuesday night’s show seemed like mainly old tricks. It was also shorter than one would expect (15 songs, just over an hour-long set) from a band who has been around and active for as long as they have, with as large a catalog as they have. Continue reading →