Monthly Archives: October 2012

Interviews, Music, We Love Music
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Q&A with J. Tom Hnatow

 

I first became acquainted with the soulful, sweet pedal steel guitar styling of J. Tom Hnatow pretty recently, whilst listening to, loving and obsessing over the last These United States record, released earlier this year. As I like to say- I may be late, but at least I made it to the party. Hnatow is skillful on the pedal steel, playing with nuance, subtlety and heart, but can also totally rock it out, and plays many other instruments as well. He was with TUS for seven years (starting out in DC), five albums, and about a thousand shows, living mostly on the road. He has recently left the band, moved from North Carolina to Lexington, Kentucky, and is now on tour playing guitar with The Mynabirds (another band with DC roots- front-woman Laura Burhenn lived many years in DC.) Amidst his busy tour schedule he took some time to chat with me on the phone about music, icons of the pedal steel world, leaving These United States, and more. You can see Tom play with The Mynabirds this Friday, October 26th at Black Cat!

 

Alexia: So how did you first start playing music?

Tom: I was forced to take piano lessons when I was a kid, like 8 years, and I hated it! Absolutely despised it, and, I think my Mom said something like “When you turn fifteen you can quit.” So I was like “Ok, cool, I’m out!” And then I sort of stumbled into playing guitar and thought that was pretty cool, and kind of went from there.

Alexia: And how did you get into pedal steel?

Tom: How did I get into pedal steel? I think I stumbled into it, because I played banjo and I played lap steel for a long time, and realized that what I was doing on the lap steel, there were a lot of things where I was trying to imitate a pedal steel, so I thought “Oh, this’ll be really easy! How hard could it be? I can play slide guitar!” And I learned rapidly that was not the case! I’m just sort of stumbling my way through it.

Alexia: Um, for stumbling you’re doing a pretty damn good job! (laughs)

Tom: (laughs) It’s smoke and mirrors! It’s an illusion.

Alexia: Was there any artist or album that first made you fall in love with rock & roll?

Tom: Yeah. Well, I didn’t listen to rock & roll as a kid much. I wasn’t that into it, and it wasn’t that my parents banned it, but we just weren’t allowed to watch MTV, and I just really was not exposed to rock & roll. My Dad’s like a real jazz guy. So, for some inexplicable reason, and I still don’t know why he did this, when I graduated from junior high school he bought me the Led Zeppelin box set. And I don’t think I’d ever heard a note of Led Zeppelin, other than, you know, of course “Stairway to Heaven”, and I was just floored by the fact that this music existed! So I was like “I’m going to play guitar,” so of course my first band was like Led Zeppelin riffs played even stupider. (laughs)

Alexia: Are there any people in the pedal steel world who are inspirational or icons to you?

Tom: Yeah- there’s a guy named Ralph Mooney, Waylon Jennings’ long-term sidekick, and he is just absolutely one of my favorites. And Ben Keith , I think he’s the only steel player who played on any Neil Young records, and I just love his playing. It’s just like so simple and beautiful and perfect. You know, any Neil Young song you hear the steel and it’s just like, it just couldn’t exist otherwise. Continue reading →

News
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City Paper/Kojo Nnamdi Poll revelatory on District’s politics

citypaperCity Paper Imagery used without permission, but with fervent hopes of fair use holding up in court

This morning’s Washington City Paper/WAMU Kojo Nnamdi Show poll results post is phenomenally interesting for its snapshot of DC. Broad-based and far-reaching, it breaks down the results of the city-wide poll of 1,222 likely voters with a variability of +/- 2.8%. Included are issues of citywide import like open primaries, taxi and sedan service, red light and speed cameras, a new D.C. United stadium, and the various city-wide elections that are up for grabs this November.

Give it a gander, it’s worth your time to look at the politics of the district. Some highlights:

Of all the Wards, Ward 5 is most likely (26%) to tell you things have gotten significantly better since 2010. Ward 4 leads the people who said it’s going the opposite direction at 28%.

Those responding that the District should not have its own representation (just 6% of respondents) come from the city’s toniest wards: Ward 3 (40%) and Ward 6 (29%).

Wards 4, 5 and 6 are in a near-tie for the most civically active, measured by neighborhood meeting attendance. Ward 3 trails that category by a large margin.

It’s not often we get such a good window into the politics of the District. Relish this one. Nice job, WCP and Kojo!

All Politics is Local, News
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James O’Keefe’s new shitshow, coming to Arlington

YouTube Preview Image

Here ya go – the next “expose” from Project Veritas. This time it’s hidden video of Patrick Moran on hidden camera as a fellow talks about his idea to fraudulently vote on behalf of no-show registered voters in Virginia.

I’ve never been a big fan of Jim Moran’s and now it seems his kid doesn’t have the best judgment either. It seems pretty clear to me that he’s just trying not to alienate an existing volunteer – he doesn’t play along, repeatedly goads the guy into putting his efforts into real get out the vote efforts, etc. Like most of the O’Keefe products it seems to rely 90% on prodding people who have to glad-hand others and who are reluctant to firmly call someone out on their BS.

All that doesn’t make it into the final video, of course – what fun would that be? You’d take time away from the boogah-boogah about how Pat Moran is a paid individual on Jim Moran’s re-election team!

As someone who just went through election worker training in Arlington last night, let me help you out of your freak-out, Veritas-heads. The new ID requirements ARE discussed at length in training and, in fact, a volunteer commented that she thought we could expect to be jerked around by someone looking to game the system. General Registrar Linda Lindberg shrugged and said “probably.”

She and everyone else is pretty unconcerned about it, and you know why? Because the process is pretty well-defined and documented. In my 100 page training packet there’s a two page spread with a grid laying out what is and is not valid ID under the laws – there’s two, actually, since both Federal and State apply under different circumstances. If someone comes in and is insisting they vote even though their documentation doesn’t match up right… we let them. On a special provisional ballot which doesn’t get counted unless they come up with valid ID which they produce at the Office of Elections in the next few days.

Moran knows all this, of course, and knows that someone serious about perpetrating fraud doesn’t need to interrupt a man’s pursuit of his bagel to ask how he might generate paper with the help of “a computer guy” and go cast fake votes. He’s just identified this dude as a useful idiot and was too reluctant to say “that’s stupid and illegal” when he should have.

UPDATE 6:29p – WUSA is reporting that Patrick Moran has resigned.

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Sharon Van Etten

photo courtesy of Sharon Van Etten

 

Sharon Van Etten has a beautiful, pure, at times haunting voice, which she uses to bring her dark, hypnotic songs to glorious life. Her songs are vocal and guitar driven, dreamy, dark, moody rock with a folk influence. The Brooklyn-based Van Etten has released three albums to date- 2009’s Because I Was In Love, 2010’s Epic, and this year’s Tramp. She is currently on tour of the U.S., and in December will head to Europe and Australia. Sharon Van Etten plays DC’s 930 Club this Thursday, October 25th. Amidst her chaotic tour schedule she took a few minutes to answer some questions from We Love DC’s Alexia Kauffman.

 

Alexia Kauffman: How did you start playing music?

Sharon Van Etten: I took piano lessons, violin lessons, clairinet lessons, then I was in choir and musicals.

Alexia: What music did you grow up listening to?

Sharon: Neil Young, The Kinks, Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez (parents)
Nirvana, Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees, Guns ‘n Roses (brother)
Julianna Hatifeld, Lemonheads, Mazzy Star (sister)
PJ Harvey, Liz Phair, Sonic Youth, Frente, Murmurs, Portishead

Alexia: Was there any artist or album that first made you fall in love with music/rock?

Sharon: Neil Young

Alexia: How did you start writing music?

Sharon: By making up words ad singing to chords I didn’t know existed yet. It was terrible.

Alexia: What inspires you?

Sharon: Everything. Love.

Alexia: Are there any singers that have been really influencial to you?

Sharon: PJ Harvey, Rufus Wainwright

Alexia: You’ve been touring a lot- do you have any favorite or really memorable moment from tour?

Sharon: Getting stuck in the mud at a festival and having the tow-truck get stuck and we had to get another tow-truck to get the two of us out. Ha!

Alexia: If you could collaborate with any artist who would it be?

Sharon: PJ Harvey

Alexia: I saw that you worked with The National’s Aaron Dessner on your latest album, Tramp- what was the experience of making this album like?

Sharon: Working with Aaron was amazing. He pushed me to try new things and he helped my ideas flourish in his instrumentation.

Alexia: Who are you listening to these days?

Sharon: Angel Olsen, TEEN, Triffids, Nick Cave, The Rolling Stones, Robyn Hitchcock, John Cale.

Alexia: What’s on the horizon for you?

Sharon: I have three more tours: US, Europe, then Australia. Then in January I am taking a three-month break to decompress, rest, write, and hopefully record. I really miss having a normal life.

 

Check out Sharon’s song “Warsaw” and “Serpents” from her latest album, Tramp. See Sharon Van Etten live this Thursday, October 25th at the 930 Club!

Sharon Van Etten
w/Damien Jurado
6pm/$18
get tickets here!

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The Rocky Horror Show

(Photo: Jeff Malet)

Rocky Horror and Halloween go together like Hollywood stars and hit-and-run accidents. Whether it’s a midnight screening at E-Street Cinema or a local production of the Richard O’Brien musical, the show takes on a special significance during this time of year when “sexy” costumes of all kinds are in vogue. What makes Rocky Horror different from any other show is the musical’s culture of attending performances in costume, heckling the cast with call-outs, and taking part alongside the show through the use of props. As a result the campy tale of Brad (Chad W. Fornwalt) and Janet’s (Ali Hoxie) night at a mysterious castle inhabited by a trans-sexual cohort turns into a cult performing arts experience that everybody has to experience at least once.

The Washington Savoyards paid special attention to the Rocky culture as they opened their production of The Rocky Horror Show at the Atlas Performing Arts Center. The audience on H-Street maybe a bit too hip to show up to a performance in heels and corsets as they demonstrated this past weekend but the vibe was still there with bags of props sold to patrons in the lobby and a healthy encouragement from the cast for audience members to shout some of the more commonly known Rocky call-outs. Director Jay D. Brock and company understand that the audience entertains themselves as much as the actors on stage and have created a production that plays to the Rocky Horror fans out there.

Continue reading →

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Jeremy Dawson of Shiny Toy Guns

Photo courtesy of Shiny Toy Guns

Shiny Toy Guns have embarked on a tour in support of their new album III, out today (Oct. 23) in the United States. Not only does the album mark the group’s first new record in four years, but it also heralds the return of vocalist Carah Faye Charnow, who was the female singer on the band’s first album, We Are Pilots. (Shiny Toy Guns recorded a second album, Season of Poison, without her.) In returning to Shiny Toy Guns, Charnow has reunited with male vocalist and guitarist Chad Petree, drummer Mikey Martin and of course keyboardist Jeremy Dawson.

Dawson took some time out on the road in New Mexico, where it is illegal to talk on the phone and drive, to chat with We Love DC about getting the band back together and injecting the drama of the ’80s into their music.

Mickey McCarter: How is it going?

Jeremy Dawson: Good! We are slowly creeping across New Mexico. We are moving our equipment to California. We were doing a YouTube thing and soon we will start the tour.

MM: I’ve had a few times to meet you in the past and I’m always struck by how authentic you guys are. I really mean this as a compliment. I saw you in Baltimore for the first time some years ago and my friends were getting pictures with Carah. You walked up and said, “There are beers in the green room. Want to have a beer?”

JD: (chuckles) It gets lonely out there.

Continue reading →

Music, The Daily Feed
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Hot Ticket: Psychedelic Furs @ The Howard Theatre, 10/22/12

Photo courtesy of Man Alive!
Psychedelic Furs
courtesy of Man Alive!

The Psychedelic Furs have not put out a new album since 1991’s World Outside.

That has not stopped the English post-punk group from touring the United States non-stop since the year 2000. Indeed, they have been through the Washington, DC, metro area several times in the last year or so, playing The State Theater in Falls Church, Va., and the Fillmore in Silver Spring, Md. Now they make their first trip to the newly renovated Howard Theatre tonight, performing perennial favorites such as “Love My Way,” “Pretty in Pink” and “President Gas.”

Opening for the Furs are The Lemonheads, the Boston post-grunge rockers known for goofy drug songs. The pairing of The Lemonheads and the Psychedelic Furs may appear to have little rhyme and reason at first glance, but Lemonheads’ bass player Juliana Hatfield long has been an admirer of new wave-tinged 80s rock groups like the Furs and even sang a duet with lead singer Richard Butler in the past several years — so perhaps the genesis of the pairing occurred with her. Unfortunately, Hatfield dropped out of the tour after initially planning to participate.

Still, the Psychedelic Furs have a well-earned reputation for being one of the most engaging live bands ever to tour, which has helped them sustain the band quite easily in the past decade. Tickets are $30 plus fees. See you there!

Psychedelic Furs w/ The Lemonheads and The Chevin
Tonight! Monday, Oct. 22
doors 6pm; show 8pm
$30
The Howard Theatre
All ages

Sports Fix
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Redskins Lose to Giants 27-23

Photo courtesy of Keith Allison
Chris Cooley
courtesy of Keith Allison

Under a minute and a half left to play, the Redskins with a three point, and the Giants needing a long drive to take the lead. What could possibly go wrong? How about everything that has gone wrong for the Redskins all on display for on play. Manning would find Victor Cruz who was supposed to be double covered by Wilson and Williams for a 77 yard game winning touchdown. The Redskins secondary had once again let them down, blown a late lead, and allowed a big play. Everything the Redskins have done wrong this season on display for one play.

Here is the good news, and it is the same good news it has been for the past six weeks. Robert Griffin looked good. No, he looked great, electrifying, unstoppable. Robert Griffin looks like the next superstar quarterback in the NFL. All those little things he was going to have to work on like accuracy and poise are already on display. For a hybrid quarterback Robert Griffin might be the most accurate there has been. For the season he has completed 70% of his passes. That is off the charts good for a drop-back, pocket passer. For a scrambling quarterback that is other worldly, and about that scrambling thing. RGIII has rushed for 557 yards on 73 attempts.

Continue reading →

The Features
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ULTRA & Elkins: DC Faces at The Fridge

h.r. by ULTRA / aerosol and acrylic, 30 x 22 inches. 2012

It’s portraiture at its most local: to celebrate the opening of their new retail and gallery space, the folks over at The Fridge have put together two important DC-centric shows, filling their space front and back with provocative new works.

Quiet Walks in Dangerous Places

In the main gallery, the exhibit quiet walks in dangerous places showcases work by street artist Asad “ULTRA” Walker. ULTRA began his career as part of a DC-native go-go graffiti movement; and today his work in spray paint has changed the artistic sensibility of the district.

quiet walks in dangerous places is ULTRA’s first solo show. It focuses on portraiture of everyday people he has met in DC – people different from the ones you and I meet, unless you happen to be a graffiti artist out at 4am.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix
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Week Seven Preview: Redskins at Giants

Photo courtesy of Mike Morbeck
Eli Manning
courtesy of Mike Morbeck

This one has been coming for awhile. It is finally time to see what Bob Griffin can do against Jason Pierre-Paul and the rest of the Giants defensive line. If you don’t know the story it goes something like this. Jason Pierre-Paul was asked what he thoughts of RGIII and how they would stop him. He then went on to explain that Robert Griffin had done nothing in the NFL and wasn’t worthy of the respect of a nickname, and until he won something he was just Bob Griffin.

The Giants defensive line is tough. Aside from Jason Pierre-Paul there is Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora, and Prince Amukamara. All four of them can get to the quarterback and be a general nightmare for an offensive line. Their ability to get to the quarterback allows the Giants to drop more men into coverage and close off passing lanes for their opposition. The Redskins offense has been one of the best in the league thus far into the season, but the Giants defense is going to provide a tough test for RGIII and the rest of the Redskins.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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Hot Tickets: Music worth checking out this weekend!

Tonight you can satisfy your musical cravings whether you prefer a dance night or a live show.
Black Cat starts a new dance night tonight on the backstage- Catalyst, “a party for people who like great music.” The night will be hosted by a rotating cast of awesome local DJs. Tonight’s kicks off with DJ Steve EP, and is $5.
Also at Black Cat tonight on the mainstage is The 9 songwriter series. Tonight’s edition features some great talent including Sam McCormally of Ugly Purple Sweater, Ryan McLaughlin of Typefighter, Victoria Vox, and Christylez Bacon. $10/9pm
Meanwhile, Comet Ping Pong has an awesome lineup of local and international bands tonight that will make you want to dance. Starting off the night are one of my favorite DC bands, Coup Sauvage & the Snips.  Their super-sassy neo-soul-punk realness is super-entertaining, not to miss. DC’s Drop Electric is also on the bill, and headlining the night are Berlin’s  Thieves Like Us, bringing their delicious blend of nostalgic disco-dream-pop. (If you like M83 or Miami Horror, check them out!) $10/10pm/All-ages.
Saturday night Chicago’s JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound bring their post-punk/soul extravaganza to U Street’s Tropicalia. Also bringing the grooves is DJ Baby Alcatraz. This is an early show! $10/7pm doors, music starts at 8pm!
Sunday, if you feel like a change of pace, or a touch of culture, why not head over to the National Cathedral? The Cathedral Choral Society will be performing their “Glory of France” concert, featuring the Durufle Requiem & Saint-Saens’ Symphony No. 3. Beautiful music in a gorgeous setting. 4pm, tickets from $20.
Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Norman Rockwell

Photo Courtesy of Norman Rockwell

It was a rainy Saturday night in September and I almost stayed home but I couldn’t. It was the night of Derek Evry‘s CD release show and I knew I’d regret missing it if I didn’t go. So instead of a boring night home alone, I braved the eerily dark storm and headed on over to Iota in Arlington. Long story short – it was the best live show featuring local music that I’ve seen in 2012.

I got to the venue early and caught the other acts’ soundchecks. This included brief bursts of tunage from local folk-rockers The WeatherVanes and Americana folk-rockers Norman Rockwell. My interest was piqued since I’d never heard Norman Rockwell live before. They were a new blip on my local music radar at the time. I had listened to The WeatherVanes before but I’d only heard of Norman Rockwell recently after they shared the stage with some of my favorite local musicians, including the incomparable Ben Tufts.

Needless to say, it was love at first strum. Norman Rockwell is a Northern Virginia-based band and a name to know if you’re keeping an eye out for up-and-coming talent in the DC area.  Not only can Joshua Johnston (Guitar/Harmonica/Vocals), Ben Hirsch (Guitar/Banjo/Mandolin/Violin/Vocals), Sean Meyers (Bass/Guitar/Vocals), and Nathan Read (Drums/Percussion/Vocals) all sing in beautiful four-part harmony with each other but they’re sound is refreshing in an almost nostalgic way. Norman Rockwell sounds as if Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, and The Band all got together and said, “Let’s combine our powers for the greater musical good!”

The guys of Norman Rockwell took some time to do a Q&A with We Love DC in anticipation of their CD release show this Saturday at Jammin’ Java. Tickets are available online for $15 and the show starts at 8:00 p.m. Here’s what they had to say:

Rachel: How did you all meet and decide to form the band now known as Norman Rockwell?

Norman Rockwell: Josh and Ben met at various open mics in the greater Washington, DC area. Sean and Nathan have previously played in other bands together. We all met at The Soundry, an arts space/music venue where Sean ran his first open mic. The atmosphere was incredibly open and catered to any and all types of music. We then decided to join together to form Norman Rockwell.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, People
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We Love DC Hates Cancer – Join Us

When I think about Cathy, I picture her tending a sauté pan of scallops over an open flame. She is attentive, determined, fearless, and holding her own alongside one of our city’s best chefs.

In this memory, it’s early on a Saturday morning; I am the food editor here at We Love DC (a position I gave up in 2010), and she’s the cooking writer. We are conquering yet another recipe for the Capital Chefs series, a series we invented together where I would casually interview a local chef and they would teach Cathy how to cook a recipe from the restaurant.

We won over some of DC’s most bullish perfectionists this way, getting them to give us the scoop on what they love about cooking in the nation’s capital. In retrospect, I chalk most of that up to Cathy’s prowess behind a stove, and her appreciation for learning new techniques. Because of that charm, she and I were able to bring you recipes and stories straight from chefs across the city.

Outside the kitchen, Cathy is a great friend; one of those genuinely good people that you can’t help but like. She’s recently married and is attending Georgetown for her MBA. When I think of her, I think of a smart, fun, easy-going woman who can make a mean risotto.

I do not think of cancer. Continue reading →

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Hot Ticket: Saint Etienne @ U Street Music Hall, 10/25/12

Photo courtesy of Saint Etienne

When former music journalists Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs formed the band Saint Etienne in London around 1990, they sought to make music for films — to borrow a page from Brian Eno. If you’ve never sat and listened to the band’s first two albums — Foxbase Alpha and So Tough — from start to finish, you must do so immediately. They will transport you from driving Italian sports cars on a sunny afternoon to sipping wine at dusk in empty city plazas to dancing the night away in smart Europop dance clubs. The albums are the soundtracks to the fabulously interesting life experiences of your daydreams.

When recording Foxbase Alpha, Stanley and Wiggs intended to use different singers for every Saint Etienne song, adding to the varied texture of movie soundtracks. But to their delight and ours, the lovely Sarah Cracknell alone fulfilled their expectations so completely that she quickly became the permanent third member of the group.

Borrowing from Italo disco and other dance genres, the trio fused different musical strands into ambient house originally before moving into what critics called folky electronica in later albums. Cracknell’s lush voice and the sweet and synthy stylings of Stanley and Wiggs forged an alluring brand of dreampop that became the band’s signature sound.

Around 2000, Saint Etienne shifted into trip hop, becoming more followers than trailblazers with several interesting if occasionally dull albums. The band kept very busy for seven years after 2005 engaging in musical projects other than releasing studio albums. But they returned this year with Words and Music by Saint Etienne, a fantastically great album that not only sees them re-embrace their Italo disco roots but indeed fully unearth them in a shimmering spectacular of pop nostalgia that is so good your ears cannot help but melt with joy upon hearing it.

I.M.P. Productions is bringing this remarkable trio to the intimate U Street Music Hall for a concert on Thursday, Oct. 25. Local smooth house band Volta Bureau, featuring U Hall co-owner Will Eastman, serve as openers. Inconceivably, the show has not yet sold out. Do yourself a favor and buy a ticket now for this potentially once in a lifetime show.

Saint Etienne w/ Volta Bureau
Thursday, Oct. 25
doors 7pm
$30
U Street Music Hall
All ages