Monthly Archives: December 2013

Food and Drink, We Love Drinks
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Friday Happy Hour: How To Stock Your Holiday Bar

Yeah, I wish... Paul Allen

Tis the season for holiday parties, so let’s talk about how to keep your bar stocked. The first mistake that everyone makes–myself included–is to try to find the best of the best and impress your friends with your masterfully curated liquor selection. Which, for me, usually ends with a hefty dose of buyers remorse after I mourn over my empty bottle of $70 dollar scotch the next morning. The best thing to remember with parties is don’t get too fancy; keep it simple and keep it cheap. Cheap doesn’t have to mean bad, it’s easy to find a great bourbon when you’re not worried about the price tag, it’s much harder to find a great bourbon when you’re on a budget. Hopefully this list of how I stock my bar will help.

First and foremost we start with American whiskies, so pick up a bottle of Buffalo Trace. A good, cheap bourbon is harder to come by than almost any other spirit, by my count. But Buffalo Trace clocking in at around $20 for a 750 ml fits the bills. It makes for a killer Old Fashioned, works great as a sipping whiskey, and isn’t too expensive to blush at the thought of pouring a bit in your morning eggnog. After bourbon, the next most important whiskey to have on hand is a good rye. The only rye I want you to even think about buying for your holiday parties is Old Overholt. There’s a reason I tell people this is the cornerstone of American mixology. Rye whiskey is an essential component in so many fundamental cocktails–Manhattan, Sazerac–and we are very lucky to have such a cheap and abundant source in the US as Old Overholt at only $15 a bottle.

Now let’s hop the pond and round out your sipping whisk[e]ys. Scotch can be an expensive endeavour, but fortunately it doesn’t have to be Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Week in Review: 12/2-12/5

3/31/365 anokarina

With shorter days and colder temperatures it gets harder and harder to motivate yourself to go outside and do anything considering all the napping, eating, and general lazing you could be doing inside a nice warm house or apartment. Luckily we have a few hardy souls amongst our photographical contributors who are willing to brave the elements and continue to document our fair city. That doesn’t give the rest of you a pass but as long as we have people picking up the slack we can let it slide. For now.

And now, your Week in Review.  Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, People, The Features
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Celebrating an Irish Christmas with Moya Brennan

Clannad - Moya Brennan dhaun

The first time I heard Moya (also known as Máire) Brennan sing, it was on a friend’s Clannad album during an intense study period at college. The music, with its ethereal tones and haunting vocals, imparted a sense of peace and calm, allowing our study group to finally settle down and prepare for finals.

My music taste has evolved over the years, but my love for Celtic and Irish music hasn’t waned. In fact, it’s grown. And central to that has been Moya’s incredible music.

I had a chance to talk with her last year before and after her St. Patrick’s Day concert. It’s a great look into her approach and style, and even though her concert tomorrow is a Christmas one, still very relevant.

YouTube Preview Image

Brennan visits Washington tomorrow as part of a short U.S. tour with her Christmas show “An Irish Christmas.” The two performances, 3 and 7 p.m., will be at the Grosvenor Auditorium at the National Geographic Museum, located at 17 and M Streets, NW. The tour is part promotion of a re-release of her popular Christmas concert album. Both shows are sold out.

The “First Lady of Celtic Music” began her professional music career with Clannad back in the 1980s. The band, featuring many of her family members, started out of her father’s pub, Leo’s Tavern. Clannad is considered the flagship group that started the Celtic music movement. “We didn’t intentionally want to go out and become famous and make a lot of money and everything because we very much, when the band was formed, sang traditional Gaelic songs,” Moya said in an interview with CBN last year. “And even in Ireland people thought we were mad.”

Moya launched her solo career in the 1990s and to date has released seven albums. Her music career spans more than 20 albums, film scores, and collaborations with other well-known artists like Robert Plant, Shane MacGowan, and Bono. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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We Love Weekends – Dec 6-8

8941-21Crop furcafe

Only two days of weekend? Feels like such a cheat after last week, and it doesn’t help that it looks like we’re going to get a ton of wet dumped on our heads Sunday. But we’re still going to get up to trouble, baby, and here’s what we have in mind.

Don: This weekend is family and festivities, even if those festivities are for someone who won’t understand them. Specifically for That Darned Baby, who is turning 1 and may need to start being referred to as That Darned Toddler. It’s more an event for us adults than for him and the other ankle biters, really, but either way it means prep and shenanigans. Mostly we’re doing our own baking but we’ve got one little guest coming with a serious egg allergy so we’re going to get him a vegan cupcake cakecup from Baked and Wired. We’re going to try to sneak in a visit to the Aurora Hills Women’s Club’s holiday boutique on Saturday morning before the Toddler Cakemessapalooza kick off. It’s our old neighborhood and we know someone involved in the planning but our major reason is they have the best hand-made to-order wreaths we’ve ever seen. With the weather looking craptacular the rest of the weekend will mean some indoor activities like museums or restaurants, or perhaps we’ll leave the boy with the parentals and go off for adult fun ourselves. I feel like there’s somewhere we could go get a drink on Sunday and maybe run into Fedward, but what’s the name of that place again? He mentions it so rarely.

Pineapple & Mango Puff Jenn Larsen

Patrick: Friday I will be kicking off my weekend writing up my review of “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” over at Arena Stage. Saturday I’ll be getting decorating running costumes with Katie and Rebecca for Sunday’s Jingle All the Way 8K. I may be wearing red tight-like things on my legs. They count as pants right? After I struggle to run that morning I’ll be brunching over at Ping Pong Dim Sum with my Asian friends. Because that’s what Asians do right?

Jenn Larsen

Paul: I’ve only got one thing on my mind this weekend: the DC Craft Bartender’s Guild Repeal Day Ball, or, more specifically, how to survive the Repeal Day Ball. Last year I narrowly escaped on my 8am flight the next morning with a torn suit, massive headache, and a disturbing void of memories. There was something about drinking vodka on the rocks with Tony Abou-Ganim (dude, my roommate still has your flask, BTW) then it all went downhill from there. This year I’m going to be smart, I’m going in prepared. No spending 20 minutes at the absinthe table or tasting flights of cask strength scotch (cheers Ewan!). Instead I signed up for prep work, so I’ll be busy juicing citrus (which is a great way to find out that you have little tiny cuts all over your hands that you otherwise wouldn’t notice), cutting ice and doing all the grunt work. Hopefully I’ll get some face time with you lovely attendees and won’t be spending the entire evening batching drinks behind closed doors. The idea of me working LUPEC DC’s table was bandied about, but the thought of all the drag and chest-shaving that would be necessary to fit in with the Ladies United for the Preservation of Endangered Cocktails seems a bit too steep a price for some much coveted floor time. Who knows? I’ve got two days to say goodbye to my young Burt Reynolds look.

Jane's YPMB Strangs photoshoot eschweik

Rachel: Another fun one ahead. Heading all the way out to Haymarket, VA to checkout the 4410 Open Mic which will feature my ukulele playing friend Louisa Hall on Friday night. Then Saturday, I’m heading to a holiday party in Rosslyn but if I can make it in time I’m gonna head on over to the Black Cat for the first-ever 9 Songwriter Series show featuring FULL BANDS. They’ve got a stacked line-up of local acts that you’d be foolish to miss.

national harbor dinoanis

Tom: CHRISTMAS TREE TIME! We’re headed up to Tastee Diner in Silver Spring, then up to Butler’s Orchard for to get us a Christmas Tree and a cider donut. It’s also our good pal Harris’ first birthday party this weekend, so we’ll be hanging in Arlington with the Whitesides to celebrate. Sunday I’m getting in the festive season with Falls Church Presbyterian’s Chancel Choir. After that, I may sneak down to the Downtown Holiday Market for some Christmas shopping, assuming we’re not all under a ton of snow by then.

Shakers and tins Jenn Larsen

Fedward: Like Paul, the Social Chair and I will also be doing our best to survive the Repeal Day Ball. Pro tip: weigh the length of the coat check line against the cold snap that will arrive right around the end of the party. This year, for the first time, the Social Chair will be working at the LUPEC table. I’ve been assured she’ll have some time to wander around and split some drinks with me, but I’ll have to be careful not to overdo it without my trusted companion.  Our other weekend plans are to get a Christmas tree at the annual Bancroft Elementary sale and to recover from the Ball. It goes without saying that the Passenger’s hangover brunch would cure what will almost certainly ail us, but it remains to be seen whether we’ll be able to make it out of the house.

Ready for your close-up? Jenn Larsen

Jenn: If you haven’t already figured it out, several of us at WLDC will be attending or working the DC Craft Bartenders Guild Repeal Day Ball this Saturday. Held at the historic (and mildly creepy, in that perfect old Victorian manse way) Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital, this is the party’s 6th year, honoring the 80th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Featuring some of the top bartenders in the city, with sparkling conversations fueled by cocktails galore, it’s always my favorite party. This year will feature two tables dedicated to LUPEC DC, our local chapter of the national women’s cocktail society. I’m very proud to be a founding member and will be there to help spread the word about women behind the bar. Attending a blast of a party Saturday night means Sunday looks quiet…but it also means Friday should be spent in training! Perhaps a visit to Daikaya’s upstairs bar to see what beverage director Lukas Smith can teach me about his phenomenal house made tonic (ah, wormwood!), or a plate of nettle pasta at Iron Gate‘s gorgeous carriageway bar (and trust me, talk to wine director Brent Kroll about some of his incredible wines). Who cares about wintry mix and foul weather? It’s looking to be a lovely weekend.

running 1 volcanojw

Rebecca: I’m trying to get my Holiday shopping wrapped up ASAP and with just a few items left I’m off to Union Market to grab a nice glass of wine from Righteous Cheese and peruse the offerings. Saturday I’ll be at Maddy’s Taproom on 13th (official Mizzou bar) to watch my beloved Tigers take on Auburn in the SEC Championship game. Great beer. Great food. Great atmosphere. Great teams. Should be an awesome game. Sunday I’m up early to don my Holiday Squirrel costume and run with Patrick, Katie and a bunch of weirdly decorated other friends at the Jingle All the Way 8K. We’ll be recovering post run with a boozy brunch at Tel’Veh Café and Wine Bar.

Esther:  I’m gettin’ my holiday on this weekend!  Now that December is upon us, and I have an itching to hear Jingle Bells at least 13,436 times, I am spending my weekend at National Harbor as they celebrate Christmas in full glory.  Starting on Friday, I will don my ugliest sweater and head to Bobby McKeys for Armed Forces & Ugly Sweater Appreciation night.  Whether they are appreciating ugly sweaters or just the Armed Forces is unclear, but I will be there with my blinking Rudolph sweater nevertheless to enjoy $5 happy hour specials.  For dessert, I will head over to the Peeps & Company store for free peepster cookies and hot chocolate during their weekly Friday night holiday festivities.  While I am there, I may have to invest in marshmallow-bunny shaped mittens so I’ll be warm during the nightly holiday entertainment, harbor light show and fireworks.  Saturday will find me back at National Harbor continuing the winter festivities, starting with a stroll through their holiday market, finding everything I need to deck my halls and fill my belly with Christmas treats.  Also filling his belly like a bowl full of jelly will be Santa, who is going to be riding the carousel from noon to 2 pm and then working off the treats with a triple axle at  National Harbor’s brand new Ice Rink from 2 to 4 pm.  After assuring Santa that I have been a good girl this year, I will prove it by offering to buy him dinner at Stonewall Kitchen where Chef Marco will be doing cooking demonstrations and have his Italian culinary creations available for sampling.  Finally, I will attempt to complete my Christmas shopping at the more than 40 retail shops in National Harbor and hope at least one of them will be playing holiday music.  I need my Feliz Navidad fix.

The District
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Do You Know This Katie?

Do you know this lady?

According to a New Zealand man, this is “Katie” (this is not our Katie), and she hails from DC. He met her in Hong Kong while they were both lost, and the only thing he has from the encounter is a first name, a city, and a charge, “Find me.” There’s more in a Facebook Group, and the AP in New Zealand has a piece with the organizer, Reese McKee, so this doesn’t appear to be a Diane-in-7A hoax like the one we saw over Thanksgiving.

So, do you recognize this face?

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Hot Ticket: Hugh Cornwell @ Black Cat, 12/5/13

Hugh Cornwell (Photo by Kevin Nixon)

Hugh Cornwell (Photo by Kevin Nixon)

I’ve just listened to Hugh Cornwell’s new album, Totem & Taboo, released back in January, and it’s quite good! The former frontman of The Stranglers still has a good, strong voice that sounds like smooth leather, capable of both challenging with a bit of satire or soothing with a pleasing thought.

The title track of the album is a jaunty tune that explores differences in attitudes that two people can have about the same thing. “God Is a Woman,” as Cornwell said in interviews, is a song inspired by the fact that ancient religions worshipped a female goddess and extrapolates that concept into admiration of women all around. “Love Me Slender” is a fun bunch of rhymes with a wry nod to the Elvis Presley song, and “Gods Guns and Gays” celebrates freedom of speech.

Cornwell comes to the backstage of the Black Cat on Thursday with the promise to play lots of his solo material with the addition of a couple of songs from his days in The Stranglers. A check of recent set lists shows he favors the new album, of course, but also plays some classics like “No More Heroes,” “Golden Brown” and “Nice ‘N Sleazy.”

DC post-punkers Dot Dash open for Cornwell.

Hugh Cornwell
w/ Dot Dash
Black Cat
Thursday, Dec. 5
Doors @8pm
$15
All ages

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

The Arrival pablo.raw

“Red Line train to Glenmont.” Even with all the troubles that Metro has given us in recent history, the system is quite pretty. From the Brutalist architecture, to vistas on some of the fly over tracks, Metro can still provide beauty in our daily lives. And that’s before you take the time to do a long exposure of a train coming into a station.

Pablo certainly captured that beauty with this Red Line train entering Union Station. He caught it just right so that the individual cars run together at one end, making it look like a single car. And at the other end, there are the light lines streaming along. And if you look closely at those light lines, you’ll see the wonderful movement made in the long exposure; solid lights and letters moving together forming a unique pattern. And you can clearly read the station sign and the warning on the tracks through the train’s arriving movement. Quite the sight and always a pretty one to see.

By the way, if you’re interested in great photography, our friends over at Exposed DC are getting ready to kick-off their 2014 Exposed Photography Show. They’re having a launch party at Bluejacket tonight and it will be well worth going to. This juried photography show is going into their seventh year and it is always worth seeing (both Kerrin and myself, as well as many of our regular contributors, have had photos in previous years of the show). Hope to see many people at the party!

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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Hot Ticket: Holograms @ DC9, 12/4/13

Holograms (Photo courtesy Captured Tracks)

Holograms (Photo courtesy Captured Tracks)

Holograms, a post-punk quartet from Sweden, kick off a three-week tour of the United States starting in DC tomorrow at DC9. Yesterday, they unveiled a video for their energetic single “Luminous” from their second album, Forever, released a few short months ago.

As you can hear from the song, Holograms are a bit of a cousin to Sweden’s Iceage. They share a similar appreciation for hardcore punk without completely giving themselves over to it. The young twenty-something band members — Andreas Lagerström (vocals/bass), Anton Strandberg (drums), Anton Spetze (vocals/guitar) and Filip Spetze (synths) — bring a strong synth presence to the songs, however, giving them a more melodic post-punk edge — albeit one with a lot of frenetic shouting. It’s dystopian rock with a beat, and you can dance to it.

TV Ghost, hailing from Indiana, open, promising some gothy sounds by way of The Cure.

Holograms
w/ TV Ghost
DC9
Wednesday, Dec. 4
Doors @8pm
$10 advance/$12 door
All ages

Sports Fix
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Nats Big Buyers on Cyber Monday

Doug Fister Keith Allison

The Nationals’ Mike Rizzo took advantage of some serious savings on Monday, picking up the Detroit Tigers’ Doug Fister in a deal that sent a journeyman infielder, and lefty reliever and a mid-level prospect back. Fister has been a middle of the rotation over performer for the Tigers, going 14-9 last year, tied for the league lead in induced GDPs, 2nd in home runs allowed per 9 innings (0.6) with a career 3.53 ERA.

Fister went 32-20 in three years in the Tigers organization, last year notching 159 strikeouts across 33 appearances on the way to the Tigers AL Central championship. A ground-ball pitcher of towering stature (Fister is 6’ 8”), the pickup can’t be overstated for the Nationals. They add a starter to fill the spot of the departing Haren, and it cost them just a replacement middle infielder (Steve Lombardozzi), a lefty reliever (Ian Krol), and a prospect (Robbie Ray). 

Hats off to GM Mike Rizzo for orchestrating the deal. As the first rumors surfaced (thanks to Chris Cotillo from MLB Daily Dish for his hard work breaking the news), fan approval was very high for the arrival of Fister, though some were saddened over the loss of Lombardozzi, who some believed the balm for some of the Nationals’ middle infield “issues”. I, for one, think that Dave Dombrowski might still have a tryptophan hangover to give up Fister for so little a return. The only explanation I can find is that they are far higher on the value of Robbie Ray than the Nationals are. 

Fister is arbitration-eligible this year, and is under team control through 2016. Some place his salary at just under $7M for 2014, which would be a bargain for a 32-game starter that could take 200 IP and pick up 15 wins. The Nationals won big on Cyber Monday, that much is for sure.

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Temples @ DC9 — 11/27/13

Temples (Photo by Ed Miles)

Temples (Photo by Ed Miles)

A time-tested strategy for independent bands to gain buzz and build an audience: releasing a few singles, playing a lot of shows, becoming the toast of many reviews.

Temples, the UK quartet from the English Midlands, find this strategy paying off for them with the release of a full album not yet due until the second week of February. But unlike many bands who follow the independent band strategy, Temples are well worth the hype, as they demonstrated in an extraordinary eight-song set at DC9 on Wednesday, Nov. 27.

Listening to Temples’ SoundCloud page in preparation for the show, as I did, prepares you for a band with rolling melodies and a lush full sound. For example, their latest single, “Keep in the Dark,” offers some great melodies among band members and some really pleasing psychedelic guitar riffs. So it’s no surprise that it’s a good song—one apparently a catchy acknowledgement of the comforts of staying up late as well as perhaps remaining unenlightened. But the live show simply takes it to another level.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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December 2013 Concert Round Up

20090305L1000100 Christopher Chen

Ho-Ho-Ho-Holidays are upon us. And therefore it’s time to get your last concerts of 2013 in. Mickey, Rachel and I have rounded up our recommendations for the shows you should hit in order to round out the 2013 DC concert year.

Historically speaking, slow holiday times make good times for rocking out and there’s solid representation from local bands, so keep reading after the jump for the goods.

Continue reading →

Music, The Features, We Love Music
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The Winning Ticket: The Hives @ 9:30 Club, 12/10/13

TheHivesFAs a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC will be giving away a pair of tickets to a 9:30 Club concert to one lucky reader periodically. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to find out what tickets we’re giving away, and leave a comment for your chance to be the lucky winner!

Today, we are giving away a pair of tickets to see The Hives at the 9:30 Club on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

They live in stately Hive Manor. They record on Disque Hives. The Hives are law, you are crime. Garage punk rockers The Hives are all about style — and quite a bit about goofy fun. Fronted by Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, the live shows by the Swedish quintet have become legend. The Hives released a new album, Lex Hives in 2012, and they are coming back around to the 9:30 Club in support of it again. What crazy things will Almqvist say or do? What matching outfits with the band wear? How much moshing will occur? This is your chance to find out for free. Don’t be shy, see The Hives!

As an extra bonus, you’ll be one of the first to get a look at the new band from local guitar legend Mary Timony — Ex Hex. Timony, formerly of Helium and Wild Flag, started up the new band and put out a single, “Hot and Cold,” back in October. They already have a record deal with an LP due out in April. The glam tendencies of this all-female band likely will serve as a great segue/counterbalance to the rambunctious Hives.

For your chance to win these tickets, simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 10am and 5pm today. Feel free to leave any comment, but perhaps share your favorite song by The Hives! One entry per email address, please. Tickets for this show are also available through Ticketfly.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 5pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the 9:30 Club Guest List window one hour before doors open on the night of the concert. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

The Hives
w/ Ex Hex
9:30 Club
Tuesday, Dec. 10
doors @7pm
$35
All ages

The Daily Feed
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New York defeats Washington 24-17

It was a fitting ending for Washington in the loss that mathematically eliminated them from the playoffs. The end of Washington’s loss to New York was one of the most bizarre series of events to end a game since Saturday’s Iron Bowl. A second down pass looked like it was a yard short of a first down but the refs singled for a first down and the chains moved. Washington went for a deep pass that was dropped by Fred Davis and then followed that up with a pass to Pierre Garcon that was good for a first down but was ripped from Garcon’s hands by a New York defensive back to seal the game.

It was bizarre but it was so Washington. The game started out with promise as the offense, defense, and even special teams came out sharp and ready to play. Washington scored on their opening drive for the first time all season and then forced Eli Manning to go three and out before taking a 14-0 lead. New York would end up tying it up before the half and then Washington’s coaching came into play.

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