By Brian Mosley
Avalon Theatre
courtesy of ekelly80
It was a hot one, that’s for sure. The week is supposed to be cooler; let’s hope it comes through. Strange that 80s is considered “cooler” but there it is. Anyways, check out the weekend pics from some of our great contributors. Yes, some even went outside! Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
Photo by reddit user IvyGold
Saturday’s heat may not have broken the all-time record, but it was only on a technicality that we missed history. The heat did tip over the 106°F mark, but only for a minute or so, which was not long enough for the official weather station to mark that as the high temperature (records require 3 minutes at a given temp). This morning’s low 70’s temperature as I left the house actually caused me to sigh in relief.
The 11-day stretch at 95°F or above for high temperatures – several of those days above 100°F – was enough to wreak havoc across the area, but no place funnier than at DCA where a plane literally sank into the asphalt it was so hot. The Post has the whole story, which doesn’t mention fluid dynamics, but maybe should.
Look for a few days of some occasional summer thunderstorms, but the mercury shouldn’t get out of the 80s for the next five days. Enjoy it, DC! What are you planning to do this week you couldn’t do last week because of the heat?
By Tom Bridge
A pair of errant throws from the usually stable Nationals’ bullpen were the difference in the game this afternoon, as the Nationals fell to the Rockies 4-3 in their last game before the All-Star Break. The Nationals wasted a “real jewel” pitched by Jordan Zimmermann, who went 7 full, giving up just a single run on three hits. Tyler Clippard, nominally untouchable this season, gave up a run on a double and a wild pitch in the ninth, just an inning after 3 hits off Sean Burnett and a wild pitch from Michael Gonzalez put the game in jeopardy.
It was rare to see the Nationals’ bullpen in such a struggle, given that they’ve racked up accolade after accolade, but perhaps like the rest of the city, after 11 straight days of 95° heat, there was a breaking point after all. Though Gonzalez and Clippard would both recover and finish their innings, it was enough to see them battle. The Nationals would strand 5 on the base paths and go just 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position, as their streaky offense was once again beguiled by Rockies pitching. Jeremy Guthrie would surrender just a pair of runs in 6 full, both coming on Ian Desmond’s 17th home run of the year in the fourth inning. Continue reading
Nats vs. Marlins-0776
courtesy of MudflapDC
An error-filled defense illustrated by the Colorado Rockies during the sixth inning of Saturday afternoon’s ball game is what led left-handed pitcher Gio Gonzalez to his twelfth win of the season with the Washington Nationals. The 4-1 victory marks the team’s forty ninth win this year.
It was the second-consecutive 100-plus degree day at Nationals Park but Gonzalez lasted six innings against Colorado. He gave up three hits, one run, three walks, and struck out six over 102 pitches, 60 for strikes. It wasn’t his most efficient outing but Colorado’s defensive missteps coupled by a productive Nats offense helped procure the positive outcome. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
Just watching the game
courtesy of erin m
The Nationals ran into a buzz saw on Friday night, and it wasn’t the heat, nor was it the metro derailment, it was the right arm of rookie Drew Pomeranz, who absolutely dominated the hot Nationals offense through six and a third. With Colorado adopting a four-man rotation – and pitch limits of around 75 per outing – the Nationals only got to see Pomeranz through six and a third before he was yanked. Pomeranz hurled a one hitter through that short stint, and stymied pretty much everyone. His 81 pitches were located with pinpoint accuracy, out-dueling Stephen Strasburg. The Nats’ ace just couldn’t figure out Tyler Colvin, who went deep in the yard twice on his fastballs.
Throughout Pomeranz’ portion of the game, the Nationals’ hitters were getting overly impatient and chasing out of the zone. Manager Davey Johnson said in the post game press conference, “Sometimes when you know what’s coming, you get overly aggressive.” Danny Espinosa had a rough night, going 0-4 with a pair of K’s, but he wasn’t alone, as Ian Desmond and Tyler Moore also went hitless in their plate appearances. Chasing out of the zone will do that to you. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
mob on first
courtesy of philliefan99
In April, my friend Elliot asked me, “Is it time to believe yet?” when the club was 10-3 and the Nats were the first to ten wins in the majors. Any team can go 10-3 over the stretch of 13 games.
In May, he asked me again, as the Nationals were 26-17, “is it time yet?” and given that the bats had remained somewhat silent, and the lead in the NL East was tenuous, I couldn’t yet pull the trigger, especially with the injury bug that seemed to affect the Nationals, before it was left in Toronto.
Last night’s 6-5 victory in the 9th was a tipping point for many fans. At 48-32, the Nationals have the 3rd best record in baseball, the best in the National League, and have a four and a half game lead on the second place Braves. They posses the 4th best run differential in the bigs, mostly the product of the last week’s worth of offensive triumphs over the NL West. It’s hard not to look at the pitching staff and just grin, because any series will see one – if not more – of Strasburg/Gio/Zimmermann. The Nationals’ pitching staff carries WHIP (Walks + Hits per inning pitched) rate of just 1.20 – best in the majors, and the lowest opposing batting average at .231.
The numbers aren’t the whole story – in fact, the numbers barely begin to scratch the surface.
By Tom Bridge
Train wreck
courtesy of Cian Ginty
Update 3, 7:38pm: A statement from Metro says, “It is expected that Green Line service in this section will remain suspended for the remainder of the service day, and possibly throughout the weekend, as crews make track repairs”. NBC Washington is reporting that Metro is looking at a portion of the track that may have been distorted due to a heat kink in the rail.
Update 2, 6:05pm: Metro has cancelled all weekend track work.
Update 1, 5:44pm: Metro has imposed a 35mph speed limit for all above ground tracks as a safety precaution.
By jonathandruy
photo by Ashleigh Mullinax
While Jason Mullinax comes to music originally as a percussionist, his current project Pilesar (pie-LEE-zur) explodes into much more than that, and is bringing DC’s music scene a one-man electro-force that blends keys, synth, guitars, vocodor, noise and loops. And he sings too! His free show Sunday evening at H St.’s Sova Espresso & Wine Bar should show off this noise-artist’s sonic prowess.
A veteran of DC’s Sonic Circuits Festival of Experimental Music, Mullinax has been playing around town quite a bit with his new release, “Stereo Space”, which brings to mind a lo-fi 60s/70s techno psychedelic time-warp. His range combines proggy atmospherics with krauty electro-cinematics, and 80s new-wave-hip-hop-samply goodness. On songs like “Absolute Zero”, “Spider Bait”, and “Keith’s Drum Machine”, his playful personality shines over it all, giving the noise a light touch. Throw in a guitarist and all sorts of other sound, and you have something that rewards repeated headphone listens. His extensive back catalog, including his previous release “Radio Friendly”, has less straightforward vocals but the same kind of electronic/noise fun.
A native of Columbia, South Carolina but now living in Takoma Park, Pilesar is another reason to believe that DC music is experiencing some sort of renaissance. I talked to him the other day about what it is he’s doing.
Jonathan Druy: How long did it take you to record “Stereo Space”?
Jason Mullinax: It took over a year, and a lot of that was making the songs, and getting the songs right. I had the thing mastered five times before I signed off on it. I’m really happy with it, and I think this is the first album that is really representative of what I do in this moment. Continue reading
By Don
Beat The Heat ~ Method #1 ~ Hang Out In A Barrel
courtesy of Dan Dan The Binary Man
It’s so hot we’re moving slower and you’re getting this entry on Friday instead of our usual Thursday. Addison, after last week’s hicksplosion, has not showed up for weekends. We can only assume he spontaneously combusted. You’re missed, Addison.
Joanna: After having no power for almost a week, I’m hoping to spend a good deal of my weekend sitting next to the air conditioner with a glass of ice and a wireless connection. If and when I venture outside, it will be to see some previews for the Fringe Festival (opening July 12!) and catch the opening of the uber-local exhibition Stocking the Fridge. Since my better half is finally back in town, we’ll also be hitting up The Arlington Civitan Open Air Market for some juice glasses and the Arlington Farmers’ Market for veggies with which to make said juice. Continue reading
By Brian Mosley
2012 – Fourth of July – Party in America
courtesy of mosley.brian
Another hot July 4th with the unfulfilled threat of rain. And as usual, we got through it! Hope everyone had all the grilled food, adult beverages, and what have you to celebrate the Fourth. And if you did or didn’t get a chance to see the fireworks along the Mall, you get a chance to relive them below. Enjoy, and remember only 363 Days until the next July 4th! Continue reading
Food Truck Rally
courtesy of LaTur
Welcome back, Friday. Celebrate it’s return with some food truck lunch. Friday will be here all day, but the food trucks won’t. So hurry on out there!
By Tom Bridge
courtesy of Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie
CLIF Bar’s 2-mile challenge is about as simple a concept as it comes: if the errand is within 2 miles, replace a car with a bike. Sure, it’s tough to hear when it’s going to be torrid outside, but WABA is hoping that you’ll take a ride (which makes its own breeze!) through the city to help them raise money. The bike advocacy non-profit gets a buck per ride during the month of July, to a maximum of $10,000, which they can use to help get bike routes marked and lanes painted throughout the metropolitan area.
If you’re the biking sort, it doesn’t take much to get signed up and charting your rides with them! Remember your lights & helmet, though, and practice good situational awareness.
As someone who’s now lost close to 60lbs by taking a bike a few times a week, the little miles add up to a whole lot of progress. Get out there and bike, DC!
By Tom Bridge
Androids Can Litter
courtesy of Epiclectic
How bad is this heat wave we’re in? The folks who run DC’s text alert system have gone to the Thesaurus to find new words for hot. Last night’s alert read: “NWS has issued an Excessive Heat Watch, effective from Saturday afternoon through Saturday evening. Although tomorrow will once again be very hot, with highs near 100, Saturday is expected to be torrid. Dewpoints are expected to remain the lower 70s all day (i.e. high humidity). That will likely make the high temperatures of 100-103 feel like 115 degrees.”
There’s that word, right there in the second sentence.
Torrid.
I’m going to say that again, because saying it makes me feel mischievous, almost lewd.
Torrid.
My dictionary says that torrid, aside from being a scorching heat, is “full of passionate or highly charged emotions arising from sexual love”.
So, stay cool DC, but mainly because I’m not sure that this town could handle a string of torrid days. The scandal would be too much to take.
By Don
Law Library Stacks
courtesy of Mr. T in DC
The Washington Post ran an editorial on June 30th opining that perhaps the District shouldn’t be seeking new FOIA exemptions during a time when corruption scandals seem to be plentiful. July 3rd saw a response from DC Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan asserting that this is more about balancing extensively broad requests against the limited time available to make sure they don’t disclose sensitive information.
My suggestion would be that the next time the administration wants to put forth this sort of claim they might want to have it penned by someone whose office wasn’t given a vicious beatdown by a DC Superior Court judge for their rubber-stamping of records request denials… on the entirely false basis that there’s sensitive information in them.
I don’t think turnaround time is your problem, Mr Nathan. Perjuring one’s self, as Judge Macaluso asserts Assistant Chief of Police Patrick Burke and Assistant Attorney Chad W Copeland did when they claimed everything in a FOIA request was privileged or too difficult to redact, can be done quite quickly. Admittedly the time spent in court when someone calls you out on it is time consuming, but you make your trade-offs, yes?
If DC government isn’t responsibly using the exemptions currently given them, and lacks time to asses them properly – without lying, anyway – then how does adding more exemptions streamline the process?
By Tom Bridge
A local non-profit – one classified as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center – based in Falls Church may find themselves in hot water for their use of a New Jersey couple’s wedding photo in a Colorado political attack ad. The photo, originally taken of Brian Edwards and Tom Privitere in New York, was photoshopped to move the couple from New York to a snowy idyll representing Colorado, to attack Republican State Senator Jean White, who voted for same sex marriage in the last legislative session. The photo was used entirely without permission, and the photographer and the subjects are currently seeking legal action.
Public Advocate of the United States (PA-USA) ran the ad in a couple different forms ahead of last Tuesday’s election in Colorado. Based in Falls Church, and run by Republican Loudoun County Supervisor Eugene Delgaudio, the group, despite its innocuous name, works to fight against LGBT issues throughout the US. Delgaudio has made a name for himself locally as the crusader-in-chief against gay rights. Delgaudio has made some fairly hilarious and peculiar statements in this vein, suggesting that TSA patdowns “promote the homosexual agenda“, and that anti-bullying laws threaten religious freedom, while also suggesting that a Tampa pirate festival has been overrun by militant homosexuals. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
Bryce Harper – Arizona at Washington – 5/1/12
courtesy of dmbosstone
The Nationals’ rookie phenom Bryce Harper is in the final four players that could be named to the All Star Game this year in Kansas City. The young outfielder has had a tremendous start, putting up a strong slash-line (.280/.354/.478) despite the fact that he’s the most pitched-around player in the National League right now. His 23 RBI put him tied for fourth on the Nationals’ depth chart, and only Adam LaRoche has him beat for OPS.
But is he an All Star?
If the All Star Team is about enthusiasm, yes, absolutely, Harper belongs there. There is no player in the bigs right now playing with the sheer emotion of Bryce Harper, for better or for worse. Harper’s played the game like his hair’s on fire since coming up in late April. His hustle and charge mentality is unquestioned, though it appears to require the seasoning of experience, as Harper’s been caught several times trying to add an extra base to a single or double, or getting a little too excited on the basepaths.
If the All Star Team is about production, though, Harper’s argument is far less clear cut. Atlanta’s Michael Bourn is the better outfield according to just about every major stat. Bourn is 5th in the NL in Wins Above Replacement with 3.9 (Harper has just a 1.4 WAR rating) and appears in 18 different top ten lists of NL stats. Harper, unfortunately, doesn’t make a single one of those lists, but he’s got about 20 fewer games than most of the leaders.
Perhaps Harper should get a good three days’ rest with his family back in Vegas and come charging back into the season after the break. They’re going to need Harper’s offense down the stretch, and a pause might do him some good.
By Mickey
Scissor Sisters at Lovebox 2011
courtesy of subetheric
Ladies and gentlemen!
Your master of ceremonies for tonight is Ana Matronic, a true disco diva. She’ll strut, pout and wail but she’s not a prima donna. She works well with her team of musicians and dancers and she shares her spotlight easily with her singing partner Jake Shears in the Scissor Sisters.
Together, they’ll take you high and they’ll go low, particularly when playing songs from the band’s surprisingly somber fourth album, Magic Hour. But we still have fun fun fun — well, until someone in the first row picks up their phone and starts texting. Then all bets are off.
At the second of two sold-out shows at the 9:30 Club Tuesday night, the Scissor Sisters played a great deal of their new album but played plenty from their first three as well. But the show wasn’t the bouncing-off-the-wall dancefest you might expect, perhaps mostly due to the mellow tone of the new album. Although the packed room may have been surprisingly sedate, the crowd soaked up every song, demonstrating that the Scissor Sisters know what they are doing when they take it down a notch.
By Tom Bridge
Via NASA come pictures that show how severe the power outages were in the DC area during the aftermath of last Friday’s derecho storm. The slider effect is devastating, and shows whole large swaths of Northern Virginia and the Maryland suburbs that were in the dark in their entirety. The core of DC stays largely lit, thanks to its network of underground power conduit.
Thanks, NASA, you’re pretty awesome at showing how much Pepco, Dominion and BGE had to recover because they haven’t figured out things like “Trees falling on power lines make electrical grid fall down, go boom.”
By Alexia
Jesse Elliott, photo by Tamara
These United States play exuberant, uplifting alt-Americana rock & roll. They formerly called Washington,DC home, but are now based in New York, and spend copious amounts of time on the road. The band recently opened for country legend Willie Nelson, and are touring now in support of their fifth studio album, the eponymous These United States. They’ll be making a stop to play Black Cat this Saturday, July 7th. This week TUS frontman Jesse Elliott offered WLDC’s Alexia Kauffman a little peek inside his mind. Check it out here.
Alexia: How did you first start playing music?
Jesse: Honestly, it was like soccer, or math club, or all these strange things we got signed up for when we were very young and couldn’t possibly know any better and they turned out to be these beautiful human endeavors that people had been doing for centuries, just a goal and a ball and a bunch of other humans to kick it all around between.
Alexia: Was there any artist or album that first sparked your love of rock music?
Jesse: The Who.
Alexia: You all were based in DC for a while- what was the catalyst for your move?
Jesse: We were moving around so much, it just made sense to keep moving. we had one foot on the platform, at one point, and then all of a sudden both of them were on the train, and we couldn’t say why, but even the platform looked perfect in the distance, from that far away – so why not? Continue reading
One-Eyed Cajunators
courtesy of andradeXcobain
Doesn’t feel good to be back in the office, does it? Ease the pain with a little food truck love.
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