Monthly Archives: April 2013

Music, The Features, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Flume, Lovelife @ U Street Music Hall — 4/3/13

Flume (courtesy Pitch Perfect PR)

Flume (courtesy Pitch Perfect PR)

Wunderkind DJ Flume brought some good energy and urbane smoothness to a packed U Street Music Hall Wednesday night, pleasing the crowd with R&B-tinged trance-like mixes that got everyone dancing, particularly when mixed up with some effectively frenetic beat-matching to add some spark to the mix.

A good selection of songs put everyone in the mood to relax and shimmy along. Flume wisely chose songs that complement his own, favoring his full-length self-titled debut released last fall. He put the crowd at ease with the very down-tempo “Get Free” by Major Lazer before he cleverly slid into his own “Insane,” featuring a dreamy vocal by Moon Holiday. “Insane” is a pleasing slow jam that opens with some effective minimalism and builds up to a steady pulsating groove, effortlessly putting you at ease despite it’s perhaps threatening refrain of “go insane.”

Continue reading →

Sports Fix
By

Nationals squish fish, sweep first series

Ovation 46347505@N05

The Nationals continued their systematic dismantling of the Miami Marlins with a 6-1 thumping on Thursday afternoon in front of 25,000 freezing Nats fans playing hooky from work and school.  Jordan Zimmermann took the mound hoping to extend the Nationals’ shutout streak past 18 innings – and he would, but just another inning.

Zimmermann did, at times, display the new change up he’s been working in the pre-season, and for effect. Justin Ruggiano, though, took a four-seam fastball into the right-field stands on the first pitch of the second inning. The wily righty battled the Marlins lineup for six innings, scattering eight hits, and benefitting significantly from expert defense in the field to keep things from getting out of control.

The Nationals’ offensive machine began to move in earnest against Wade LeBlanc, with Denard Span (1-3, BB, 2R), Jayson Werth (2-4, HR, 2R), Bryce Harper (2-4, R, RBI), and Ryan Zimmerman (3-3, BB 2B, 2RBI) all putting up stellar days. Manager Davey Johnson was quick to credit their approach in the post game press conference, saying, “no matter what we read, we don’t get too far in front.”

The Nationals’ pitching was stellar in the series, surrendering just one run across three games. Asked about the sharpness of the staff, Johnson smiled, “I love my staff, my starters and bullpen both. Every day is going to be a test, but I like how they approach the job.”  One approach we hadn’t yet seen this season until today was Henry Rodriguez, who claimed the final spot on the 25-man roster just two days before the end of spring training. He dealt the Marlins in order in the 7th, including a filthy slider to Giancarlo Stanton to end his brief trip to the mound.

After today’s game, the team heads next to Cincinnati to face a real major league baseball team, as the Reds are thought to be one of the few teams with as good a chance at post-season play as the Nationals.  The Reds are coming off a 2-1 opening series against the Angels that was tightly contested, with the first game going 13 innings. This will be the first real test of the Nationals’ lineup against a real opponent. The series starts Friday night with Dan Haren making his inaugural start for Washington against Homer Bailey, and continues with two afternoon tilts Saturday and Sunday. Johnny Cueto and Stephen Strasburg go head to head in the latter matchup in what will be an intense pitchers’ duel.

Continue reading →

We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: Hello, Dolly!

Nancy Opel as Dolly Levi with Jp Qualters, Harris Milgrim, Kyle Vaughn and Alex Puette in the Ford’s and Signature Theatre co-production of “Hello, Dolly!” Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Nancy Opel as Dolly Levi with Jp Qualters, Harris Milgrim, Kyle Vaughn and Alex Puette in the Ford’s and Signature Theatre co-production of “Hello, Dolly!” Photo by Carol Rosegg.

When tourist season comes around and you own arguably the most famous theater in the country, it can’t hurt to play it safe.

That’s what Ford’s Theatre and Signature Theatre seem to think, anyway, as they’ve teamed up to bring Hello, Dolly! to the Ford’s Theatre stage right as the cherry blossoms and spring breakers roll in.

It’s not an entirely bad idea: the line to Tuesday’s performance stretched down the street outside; groups arrived by the busload; and the show – which won the 1964 Tony for Best Musical and/or production of the year at your high school – is a light, catchy romp.

If that’s what you’re looking for, Hello, Dolly! will do just fine; but this production has room to improve for those of us watching from beyond the tour bus.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
By

Nats Down Marlins 3-0

Photo courtesy of MudflapDC
DSC_7597
courtesy of MudflapDC

For just the 13th time in major league history a baseball team has opened the season with back to back shutouts. The 2013 Washington Nationals backed by Stephen Strasburg and Gio Gonzalez are the first team to do so since a 2002 Diamondbacks team that featured Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling atop their rotation. It was thought that the Nationals could make history in 2013, but who knew it would be so fast? On Opening Day Bryce Harper became the youngest player to hit two homers on Opening Day and just two days later the Nats became just the 13th team with back to back shutouts to open the season.

It is no mystery that the Nats starting staff is a formidable one and we’re only 2/5 of the way through it. The Marlins line-up is nothing special featuring such luminaries of the game as Juan Pierre, Placido Polanco, Miguel Olivo, and Casey Kotchman. Speaking of Kotchman he had to exit the game with an injured hamstring after grounding into a double play in the fifth inning. That sequence was in itself Kotchmanesque.

Continue reading →

Featured Photo
By

Featured Photo

Cherry Blossom Festival christaki

Long exposures, where the shutter of the camera is left open for longer than the fraction of a second of a normal photograph, are normally a night photographic technique. Which makes sense; exposing a sensor or film frame to such a large amount of daylight normally results in a worthless picture. But there are ways to make it work, as Chris shows above. While I’m unsure if his shot is achieved through post-processing in a computer program or an in-camera technique, it is a good example of a daytime long exposure.

Chris’s photo creates a great sense of movement, while simultaneously giving an idea of the crowd of people. As well, framing the shot between two cherry tress skillfully contains the subject matter. Lastly, the most powerful part of the shot is the solitary, and unmoving, bench in the middle of the frame. Juxtaposed against the ghost like movement of the people, one is left with a sense of time; both those things that are transitory and those that are stationary. It is a shame that there aren’t any cherry blossoms to add more color to the shot (new peak prediction is April 6-10) but it is a small issue. All around an excellent shot for the season!

Sports Fix, The Features
By

Thoughts on Opening Day 2013 at Nationals Park

hashtag
hashtag
courtesy of philliefan99

The Washington Nationals rang in their ninth year of DC baseball on Monday afternoon in front of a record-setting regular-season crowd of 45,274. They went on to defeat the Miami Marlins 2-0. The day’s events celebrated both their historic 2012 run and the start of a highly anticipation 2013 season.

An Ideal Scenario

2012 was the most successful year in Nats history by far. The Nats touted the best record in all of baseball with 98 wins and 64 losses, four players made it to the All-Star game, several players earned Silver Slugger and Golden Glove awards, Manager Davey Johnson was named Manager of the Year, Bryce Harper won the National League Rookie of the Year Award as a 19-year-old, Executive Vice Present of Baseball Operations and General Manager Mike Rizzo was named Executive of the Year by the Boston Chapter of the BBWAA, and they won their first National League East Division Title.

Despite the inevitable growing pains endured during their first few years and the dismal losing records posted in the 2009 and 2010 seasons, the Nats are headed in the right direction thanks to Rizzo building this team from the bottom up. Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: American Utopias

Mike-Daisey---Credit-Ursa-Waz
Photo: Ursa Waz

If there were any concerns that Mike Daisey’s infamous This American Life scandal that rocked both the tech and theater worlds last year would leave any lasting marks on Daisey’s ability to draw an audience, they disappeared the minute I walked into the packed lobby of the Woolly Mammoth Theatre. Instead of doubt there was a palpable energy of anticipation among patrons waiting to see his latest piece, American Utopias. The buzz was heightened by the club-like atmosphere of the decorated lobby. I stood  next to a carousel horse with a sign that said, “Ride Me”. In fact almost everything in the lobby had instructions for patrons like, “Tweet Me” and “Feel Me.” Also there was fur. So much fur.

There was one reminder of the events of last year. In the program Woolly Mammoth disclosed the following: “The management also wishes to remind you that this is a true story, and like every story told in every medium, all stories are fiction.”

However, the past was out of sight and out of mind as Mike Daisey performed in front of a packed house and not only delivered the brand of thought-provoking and comedic storytelling that he is known for, but also managed to take his monologue game up a level — something I did not think was even possible until now. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
By

Harper and Strasburg Put on a Show, Nats Win 2-0 on Opening Day

Nats Opening Day 2013

The success of Washington’s 2012 season trickled over to Opening Day 2013 as young guns Stephen Strasburg and Bryce Harper led the Nationals to their first win of the year, a 2-0 victory over the Miami Marlins. Strasburg was efficient through seven innings. He threw 80 pitches, 52 for strikes, and gave up three hits while striking out three. Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: Mary T. & Lizzy K.

Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris and Naomi Jacobson in Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater’s production of Mary T. & Lizzy K. Photo credit: Scott Suchman.

Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris and Naomi Jacobson in Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater’s production of Mary T. & Lizzy K. Photo credit: Scott Suchman.

It’s hard to imagine in these days of cheaply manufactured clothes that there was once a time when getting a new outfit was a laborious and artistic process. Only in the worlds of high fashion or in the theater is the art of dressmaking still practiced to that level (and even there, machines have almost eradicated the particular craft of hand sewing). In the prudish Victorian era, no one knew your body more intimately than your dressmaker, from the crafting of a muslin mock-up perfectly fitted to your body to the execution of a dress that suited you alone.

Giving yourself that intimately to another person requires absolute trust, and that ultimately is the subject of Tazewell Thompson’s new play Mary T. & Lizzy K. The world premiere of a work commissioned between Thompson and Arena Stage, as the first production of Arena Stage’s American President’s Project its primary subject is the relationship of Mary Todd Lincoln (Naomi Jacobson) and her dressmaker Elizabeth Keckly (Sameerah Luqmaan-Harris). It can’t entirely escape the long shadow of the president, but it attempts to give two women who both suffered from marginalization (in two very different ways) their due.

It’s both gorgeously written and acted with a cool intellectualism that counterpoints the deep emotions that permeate any work to do with the Lincolns. Though the overall conceit – a prelude to that dreadful assassination night at Ford’s Theatre – may feel contrived, so indeed is a beautiful dress. Continue reading →

Weekend Flashback
By

Weekend Flashback: 3/29-3/31

DC Roller Derby pablo.raw

You’ve reached Brian’s automated posting service. Sorry, Brian can’t come to the blog right now because he’s waiting in line to, **HOPEFULLY**, get a ticket to the National’s home opener today. If this is an emergency, well, I guess it’s kind of an S.O.L. situation until early this evening; besides, why would you try to find him on this blog in an emergency? Weird. Anyways, please wish him luck and leaving any non-emergency problems in the comments, after the beep.

But before the beep, enjoy this assortment of photos from over the weekend. As always, they are excellent. Continue reading →