If you needed more evidence that the rain has stopped and people have bolted out into the sunshine you could base it on the dearth of weekends entries our authors have submitted. (I’m not counting the fat-fingered “M OUT IN SUN & NOT COMIN BACK SUCKER THERE’S UR WEEKEND ENTRY LOL” smartphone-submitted messages as entries.) Some of us are stuck in the office, though, and have penned these expansive wishes for the sweet release of death Friday.

Sangria
courtesy of ampenagos

JCM: My parents and in-laws are in town this weekend, which means an obligatory trip to Shelly’s for whiskey and cigars. My husband and I are also throwing a belated Mother’s Day cookout for them, which will probably lead to shopping the Arlington Farmers’ Market at Courthouse and making sangria (recipes ideas welcome). It’ll be fun, but I have to admit, even though I’m getting too old for this #%$^, I’m envious of the folks partying at the Spanish Embassy on Saturday night. On Sunday I’ll bike over to join the fam at Eastern Market for some coffee and a stroll before the goodbyes start. And for some late weekend fun we’ll be seeing The Servant of Two Masters at STC.

Bloomingdale
courtesy of Pappa91

Tom: I feel like I’m being pulled in about twenty million directions this weekend. The Orioles are down from Baltimore for the Battle of the Beltways that starts on Friday night and runs through the weekend; Baltimore Rock Opera Society‘s Valhella is playing at the Autograph and is begging for me to headband; it’s a Strawberry weekend at our CSA farm, Great Country Farms in Bluemont; I’m desperately behind on my cycling goal with a week to go, and a long ride down to Mount Vernon or National Harbor sounds like a great idea; the choices are starting to get pretty overwhelming, frankly. I also need to hit the Bloomingdale Farmer’s Market to get my garden act in high gear. Whew. Fortunately the weather looks awesome.

Baltimore Orioles Steal Second Base contest
courtesy of Keith Allison

Rachel: Friday’s a day I’ve been waiting for — it’s BAND PRACTICE DAY! My excitement for this day draws mostly from the fact that it’s band practice for my DC9 debut on Saturday May 26 with Filligar (featuring DC’s own The Grey Area). This is Filligar’s last tour stop before heading out on the road with the Counting Crows in June (they’ll be at Wolf Trap on June 20, FYI), so it’s going to be a helluva rock show. Saturday I’m off to Nationals Park to catch part of the Battle of the Beltways series. Then I’ve got a double header with the Glover Park Co-Ed Softball League on Sunday. All in all, it’s the makings for a good weekend I think.

Fountain of Light
courtesy of Michael T. Ruhl

Don: We’ve got some company in from out of town on Saturday so Friday night is the flurry of cleaning and organizing designed to convince our friends we don’t live in disorganized squalor. Saturday means outings with them, though, so sky’s the limit. But they have kids so let’s stop kidding ourselves: it’ll be the zoo. Sunday is liver punishment day, both because we’ll have spent a day in close proximity to small children and because it’s Kate’s birthday festivities. After that I’m off to wild and not-Woolly Shirlington (see what I did there?) for press night at Signature’s Xanadu. I’m torn between ironic amusement and wide-eyed Gen-Xer glee to see this adaptation of the movie musical I adored at age 10.

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.

Cheverly Day 09 – 6-6-09
courtesy of mosley.brian

Mosley: CHEVERLY DAY!  Sorry for that, but one of my favorite days out of the year is on Saturday: Cheverly Day.  It’s a day I get to drink outside, in a beer garden, and it’s socially acceptable; in fact, I’m donating money to a church to do it!  I also get to see the best firework display in the area.  And I get to eat a ton of bad festival food!  What more do you need for a great day?  Other than that, it’ll be a generally quiet, peaceful weekend; I’m so looking forward to it.

Always Moving
courtesy of KatieFielding

Natalia: After much travel, I’m excited to spend the weekend in the District and catch up on all that’s been going on here. On Friday, I am headed to the Hirshhorn to finally see Doug Aitken’s Song 1 in an event that will bring together live music by No Age, High Places, Oneohtrix Point Never and Nicolas Jaar. Art, music, and a bar? Sounds like the weekend trifecta. Saturday’s weather permitting, I’ll head to the Georgetown waterfront for a picnic and pick up some serious sandwiches from Stachowski‘s new shop, which opened just over a week ago on 28th Street in the former Griffin Market space. Saturday night I want to check out ESL’s newest venture Chez Billy . Sunday, it’s mama’s day… so I’ll be toasting to my mom from afar and cooking in her honor with whatever seasonal ingredients I pick up at the Dupont Farmer’s Market that morning.

AFI
courtesy of Kevin H.

Carl: I will be out of town this weekend to take my Dad to the Mount Hope Brewfest up in PA. I will also be bringing him a couple bottles of the easiest stout beer I have ever made. On Sunday Beautiful Girlfriend and I will visit her mother and drive home to pass out after a full weekend. If I were in town, I would probably try to get some champagne and fried chicken with BG and take her to whatever is playing at the AFI theatre in Silver Spring and sneak in some Paczki if I could find some.

DSC_5712
courtesy of MudflapDC

Joanna: It’s the end of the semester for my ever-busy law school student hubs, so we’re celebrating with a trip to Europe! Before you get too jealous, we’re doing the student loan-friendly version: the E.U. Embassies’ Open House. As fans of Eastern Europe, we plan to start with the yellow route and go from there. For weeks we’ve been wanting a Sunday picnic at Gravelly Point, but our plans for that keep getting rained out – maybe this is the magic weekend. And we’re ending the festivities at the Arlington Drafthouse to see The Grey. Hopefully watching a bunch of roughnecks brave the Alaskan wilderness with a pack of wild wolves at their heels won’t bring up too many memories of my man’s first year of law school…

Gibson
courtesy of maxedaperture

Fedward: DC has Rickey Month and the Repeal Day Ball; New Orleans has Tales of the Cocktail; New York has the Manhattan Cocktail Classic, which coincides with World Cocktail Week. So it’s not in DC, but if you knew of a good party wouldn’t you want to go? That’s where I’ll be all weekend. There is at least a minor DC angle, though. As one of a few big trade events it’s a big draw for DC area spirits producers and bartenders. I know representatives from Catoctin Creek and Chairman’s Reserve will be at Tuesday’s Indie Spirits Expo, and I know of several DC bartenders attending the industry invitational (and will inevitably run into more DC locals once I’m there). Friday’s opening gala is sold out, and it’s too late to register for the trade part of the trade show, but tickets are still available for many public events, including Saturday’s “Gentleman’s Cocktail Crawl” (six drink tickets, five hours, black tie encouraged). Are you going? Leave a note in the comments!

DSC_4235_rc
courtesy of tdr28

Don: I’m going for homebody of the year this weekend. My darling wife comes home from a week-long work trip so we’ll probably want to mostly canoodle on the sofa with the pup. So long as one can canoodle while screaming “SUCK IT, RANGERS” at the tv during Saturday’s game seven between the Cap and NY. that is. My sole possibly planned outing might be Pasties and Popcorn, a little burlesque and screening of some DC Shorts over on H St.

… 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.

Fedward: Shameless plug: Saturday the Social Chair and I are making the signature drinks for Rorschach Theatre’s fund raiser, 5.5: A Sensory Cinco. Tickets are still available. The drinks will feature Chairman’s Reserve rum and Eades Double Malt whisky. Other than that, Friday is a family dinner night, this time maybe at Etete since it’s been too long. Sunday we’ll recover from Saturday night’s party before heading to the Passenger for our usual restorative brunch.

[JUNIPER LANE] IOTA 08 OCT 11
courtesy of meg linehan * part deux

Alexia: As usual, my weekend rocks, literally. Friday night I’m heading to Iota to see my friends The Cinnamon Band rock it out, as they do. Saturday morning will find me at the monthly Arlington Civitan Flea Market, which is always like a treasure hunt. Saturday night I am so excited to see some more friends rocking- LA-based Electric Guest, making a stop at Rock & Roll Hotel on their US tour. Sunday night I’ll be doing the rocking, in DC style- playing a house show at The Paperhaus with my band The Torches, along with Philly-based Br’er, DC’s Layne Garrett, and North Carolina’s Deep Chatham. What’s sleep?

Alexandria St. Patrick’s Day Parade ’09
courtesy of _rockinfree

Carl: As usual, beer is on tap for me this weekend. On Saturday I will start an English brown ale and keg the cream ale I made a couple weeks back. Want to come by for beer day? Saturday night I will be at Kena Shriners, serving the pirate’s ale I have been yammering on about for a few weeks. Sunday I will finish a photography assignment for a repeat client and spend the day with Beautiful Girlfriend as we plan the vacation we have coming up to western Pennsylvania. As much as we love DC, sometimes we all have to get away to renew ourselves.

win
courtesy of oddlittlebird.

Tom: This is a weekend for baseball. The Phillies are in town, and there’s nothing I love quite as much as a spring evening at Nationals Park. I’ve got tickets to all three games this weekend, so look for me at Nats Park. Of course, I’m also heading to the Dhoonya dance recital this Saturday night to celebrate the hard work of my wife and her friends in the dance company. I’m also planning to see if we can’t sneak our way into the soft opening for Menomale in Brookland this weekend. After everything they went through, it’s the least I can do.

Zim be nimble, Zim be quick
courtesy of philliefan99

Mosley: It’s time to take back the Park!  Like Tom, I’m going to the Nats game on Friday and want to see an unholy stomping of that away team  (I will not say that team’s name this weekend) .  Make it happen Nationals!  Saturday is a mixed bag of family/friend stuff; nothing to big.  I wish I had the time to go to the 2012 Curbside Cook Off (AKA: Trucko de Mayo); the last Curbside Cook Off was awesome, even with the long lines.  If you can make it, have an empanada for me!  As for Sunday, I have to clear one day to see Avengers.  I wanted to see it at the Uptown, as all movies should be seen; but they are showing it in 3D, which is an abomination worse than Abomination.  So I’ll probably slum it in Georgetown.

reach for the prize
courtesy of philliefan99

Huzzard: It is summer time and that means one thing and one thing only. If you want to find me I will more than likely be at a ballpark. This weekend is a very important series for the Nats as it their third against another NL east team and the first against the defending champs, the Philadelphia Phillies. It also happens that I like to eat and before Saturday’s game I will be trying to get a bite in at Good Stuff Eatery before heading down to the old ball yard to help the Nats take back the park. I might try and see The Avengers on Sunday morning as I hear that is kind of a big thing.

Sunglasses
courtesy of Tony DeFilippo

JCM: Friday is movie night with an old friend, but I’ll partially wish I was at the  opening reception for the DC Latino Collective Art Show at The Fridge. Fortunately the show – partly inspired by Spanish surrealism, where I live in my head most of the time – will be open till May 27. For Cinco de Mayo I’m celebrating by bringing $5 to Civitan’s Arlington Flea Market and seeing what I can get for it. (Who am I kidding, though? I’m also bringing my checkbook…) Then to top off a weekend of Spanish and Mexican fun, I’m hoping to spend Sunday at NGA’s new exhibit Joan Miró: The Ladder of Escape. As part of their opening celebration, their ciné-concert premiering original Catalan-inspired scores to Segundo de Chomón films looks especially intriguing and showcases my alma mater, so I’ll probably end the weekend with that.

Don: I’m shipping my darling wife out of town for business (her business – my business doesn’t involve shipping her out of town. So far) so I’m going to celebrate my temporary bachelorhood by watching women in gauzy outfits dance around. Specifically the Dhoonya Dance students doing their most recent showcase. (What did you think I meant, perv?) Sunday I think I’ll join Tom for one of those baseball outings. Other than that I’m largely house-bound since I’ll be a single puppy parent and unable to be gone for long periods of time…

Rachel: This is shaping up to be a pretty fun weekend. A dear friend of mine who used to reside in the District but has since moved will be making her triumphant return. This means we’ll be at Churchkey. On Saturday I’ll FINALLY get to go to The State Theater in Falls Church for the first time to see The Clarks (one of Pittsburgh’s finest rock bands around). Then the weekend will be rounded out by some quality time on the diamond at 39th and Calvert for some Glover Park Co-Ed Softball. Not too shabby.

Hard Times
courtesy of voteprime

Carl: I have a busy weekend. Friday night I will relax at home, in preparation for the weekend. Saturday I am helping lead a big annual event at the George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria. After that I will likely dive head-first into a pint and a bowl of chili at Hard Times. Sunday will be beer maintenance day, as I clean my kegs in preparation to get something back on tap after finishing off the kolsch not too long ago. It’s a tough job, finishing off a keg. Almost made me cry. Thank goodness I still have mediocre Irish stout.

Georgetown Cupcakes’ Special Gluten Free Sweetlife Cupcakes
courtesy of ctoverdrive

Tom: Sweetlife Festival is this weekend, which means you will find me at Merriweather with the teeming masses. The lineup looks pretty solid and they’ve got some real fun stuff happening out in the Food Forest, so look for me there, I’ll be wearing an all-access pass and looking like I haven’t slept since Thursday. Sunday, I will be passed the fuck out.

Teddy Folkman cooking at Granville Moore’s
courtesy of bonappetitfoodie

Brittany: So many parties and adventures in store for this weekend. Thursday night kicks off with whiskey, dancing ladies, and dapper boys at The WW Club: A DC Style Speakeasy at The Water Street Project, after a drink at Last Exit. On Friday, my friends in bands Mary Christ and Tender Thrill have super-rad privilege of opening for Ted Leo & the Pharmacists at the Black Cat. On Saturday morning, I am hopping in the car with three of my best-dressed male friends for a little road-trip to Baltimore to hit the Confirmed Stock pop-up market. Confirmed Stock is all (totally great) menswear, but I intend to go along in my advise-and-consent capacity. After some shopping – and probably some coffee at Spro in Hampden - it is right back to DC. We have to return in time that I can change clothes and head to Class Is In Session, a crazy-cool fundraiser that benefits culinary-education program for less-advantaged kids – by bringing together a ton of amazing chefs, bartenders, and other folks for a fun party which, I am told, may include “bathtubs full of champagne.” Sunday will probably call for a trip to the farmer’s market, brunch, and general newspaper-and-coffee relaxation.

Ryan, X-13, Vertijet
courtesy of San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives

Mosley: I sorta have my weekends back!  Kinda.  Anyways, I’m going to be doing a lot of sleeping to recover from this crazy week at work, but I will probably try to make it out for the Science and Engineering Festival.  This is basically the kind of stuff I work on, only on the much drier policy side of things; so to have some fun with it is a great change of pace.  I walked around the festival when it was on the Mall two years ago, and it was a ton of fun.  I got to see a scale mock-up of the SpaceX Dragon space capsule; I got shot at by a smoke cannon; and I got to walk through a science haunted house (the last festival was held near Halloween).  It’s a great way to walk around and geek out; or a great place to take kids for a day and have them learn about SCIENCE!  Hope to see you at the Convention Center.

Starve An Artist, Cover Your Trash
courtesy of andradeXcobain

Marissa: Since the forecast is predicting rain, I’m kind of looking forward to an unusual weekend of lazing about. In between my moments of hermitage though, I plan on checking out the French Market in Georgetown which runs this Friday and Saturday from 10 AM to 5 PM. Sunday’s game plan is to wander through the National Gallery of Art’s recently opened photography exhibit, “I Spy: Photography and the Theater of the Street, 1938–2010″, before some friends and I get together for a big dinner of spaghetti, meatballs and lots of red wine.

Theodore Roosevelt Island Couple
courtesy of Mr. T in DC

Don: All my pent-up desire to be outdoors will have to be indulged during the rain respites this weekend. Some patio time, maybe a little walk with my darling wife and darling dog around Roosevelt Island (I’m sure the puppy wants to see where we got engaged, yes?).  I may try to find a little interest in the West coast hockey playoffs, starting Saturday, but odds are poor. Maybe come Monday I’ll find a way to drag a tv outside to watch the Caps continue their journey.

It’s the weekend and it seems like every writer is planning to booze it up. Or in other words, business as usual. It’s hard to imagine that the weekend is going to live up to the week, what with most of the city getting dive-bombed on Tuesday by a 747 seemingly driven to insanity by the odd-shaped tumor on its back. But we’re willing to try.

Marissa: Lately it feels like I’m living for the weekends. Anyone else with me? Friday night, a friend and I are headed to check out the recently opened Maple in Columbia Heights. Saturday night I might mosey over to Georgetown to check out some local art and musicians at Listen Local First’s Record Store Day Showcase at The Water Street Project. If you don’t have any plans Sunday afternoon, I suggest you check out the second annual Food Experiment competition in DC from 12-3 PM. Last year’s competitors made tacos (yours truly having been one of them) and this year’s challenge is “the Chinese take-out experiment.” Word to the wise: buy your tickets in advance online since tickets at the door sold out quickly last year.

Black Thai
courtesy of Samer Farha

Carl: On Friday I will be spending a quiet evening with Beautiful Girlfriend as we remember our sweet kitty who passed this week. On Saturday BG is working so I will be brewing a cream ale (since the kolsch is all gone) and then driving to Ellicott City (that’s in Maryland, for you Virginia folk) to meet a friend I knew when I lived in New York. I haven’t seen him in about ten years, so it will be good to catch up. On Sunday I will wrap up the weekend by tapping my Irish stout and mourning the coming of Monday. Want to come by and taste the goodness? Let me know. I also want to make it to one of my favorite wineries, but I don’t know how to fit that in with everything else.

19
courtesy of Kevin H.

Rachel: I’ve gone and done it again. I’ve booked too many events for one night and now have to figure out how to do everything despite my poor planning efforts. Friday will be a double feature of the live music variety. First stop: Adrian Krygowski’s “Hope For Us” CD Release Party at The Dunes with opening acts Wes Tucker & The Skillets and Justin Trawick. Next: it’s off to The Red Palace for Midnight Spin with The Grey Area. Saturday’s looking to be a good day for a trip to the ballpark for the Nats vs the Marlins at 1:05 p.m. Sunday will be yet another glorious occasion now that the Glover Park Co-Ed Softball League is back in action for the season. Got a late-afternoon game on the diamond followed by some cold ones with my Summer Sunday family at 39th and Calvert.

christmas eve
courtesy of volcanojw

Joanna: I’m starting out this weekend the half-Irish way with some boozy depression at Arena’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night. I’ll probably need a Guinness afterwards, and I’ll probably get it outside at Siné in Arlington. On Saturday I’m joining a bunch of nerds at the taping for “celebrity” (read: wonk) Jeopardy! at DAR. Sunday if the weather complies the hubs and I are making sushi – including a kibble-stuffed sushi for the dog of course – and heading out to Gravelly Point to watch airplanes. Somewhere in there I need to figure out how to spend a Crystal City Shops gift card left over from the 1K Beer Walk, and all of that while anticipating YPT’s New Play Festival starting Monday.

292/365
courtesy of ekelly80

Don: I’m happy at the prospect of some rain for our area, considering the near-drought conditions and recent burn warnings, but less excited for my weekend prospects with it projected to water us both Saturday and Sunday. So maybe it’s just indoor entertainment time. Some afternoon hockey on Saturday to see the Caps continue to struggle against Boston, possibly followed by watching my old home town team go up against the Devils. Throw some squeaky toys across the living room for the pup to run after. Sunday we’ve got tickets to see the Neo-Futurists at Arena. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to go see Cabin in the Woods before someone spoils it for me. Psst, Rosebud is a sled.

Hirshhorn Donut Hole
courtesy of Eric Spiegel

Jenn: I can’t believe I actually have a weekend free, after a marathon of getting my house ready for market these past weeks (interested in an amazing Victorian? talk to me). Now, it’s catch up time! First on the list: Song 1 at the Hirshhorn. I’m reading all over how fantastic an evening spent watching this video installation is, and I really want to experience it myself. There’s also a quirky art opening at my favorite gallery, Morton Fine Art, with work by Billy Colbert making for an essential Friday night stop before heading to Jack Rose or Smoke and Barrel in Adams Morgan. The rest of the weekend is all about exploring the wilds of that strange foreign land across the river, searching out Tyler Cowen’s ethnic dining spots. Final recommendation? You should really catch the last performances of Japanese folk puppet mash-up Dogugaeshi. 

Space Shuttle Discovery
courtesy of A B Pan

Fedward: I have pretty much ruined my weekend by taking a mostly-unannounced day off to hang out at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center as Space Shuttle Discovery was rolled up nose to nose with Enterprise.  The wifi’s overloaded so my plan of getting a little work in this afternoon is … not happening, so I envision a bit of catchup work Saturday and Sunday to preserve goodwill with my manager and our clients.  But hey, Space Shuttles!

Grand Marshall Alex Trebek
courtesy of Kevin H.

Brittany: The most amazing thing I get to do this weekend (month, quarter…) is go to the live taping of Jeopardy! Power Players Week at DAR Constitution Hall. I will be attending the Friday afternoon session and working really hard not to blurt out answers and get myself removed from the audience. After the taping wraps, it is up to Comet Ping Pong to see a trio of rad local bands: Deleted Scenes, The Caribbean, and Cigarette. I will try to get there close to the 10pm start because opener Cigarette really impressed me when I saw them at Black Cat a while back, but I only caught the end of their set that time and want to make a point to hear more. Saturday, Positive Force hosts a benefit concert for the Washington Animal Rescue Leauge at St Stephen’s church in Columbia Heights. Several friends are playing, including new group Iron Galaxy, up first around 7:45. While the show is strictly booze-free, I will probably stop in to Room11 for a pre-rock-show cocktail. Afterwards, we might head to Zeba Bar for Ottomania, which is billed as “a transglobal Balkanic dance party” – which may be the first new DJ night theme I have heard in a while and I am intrigued.

The esteemed Brian is slaving away in the salt mines, busier than a one-legged man at an ass-kicking contest, all because of today’s deadline: tax day. Two days later on the calendar than usual, thanks to the 15th falling on a Sunday and then D.C.’s celebration of one of Lincoln’s other infamous and divisive moves: freeing the District’s slaves.

So in honor of what tax day is all about I present to you this photo of money. It’s nicely sharp considering that it was shot at 1/40th of a second and without a flash, information you can find yourself on Flickr’s EXIF information page for the photo. The macro lens used provides the tiniest amount of depth of field; the part of the bill closest to the lens is in focus but the crinkled corner, probably less than 1/2 an inch farther away, is blurred. That’s with an aperture choice that isn’t even as fully open as it could have been.

If you want to experiment with extreme close-up yourself it doesn’t necessarily require special gear. A lot of zoom functionality has a very close focal distance; I have a zoom lens that when turned to 200mm has a focal distance of 18 inches – which is less than 5 inches off the end of the barrel when it’s fully extended like that. You can also try shooting through a $3 magnifying glass – it works better than you’d think.

Huzzard: Like the song goes it has been a long, cold, lonely winter, and while the sun might not be out in full force and heat today the boys of Summer will take the field at Nats Park. As for my weekend it all starts…RIGHT NOW!!! This afternoon I am headed down to Nats Park to enjoy the glories and traditions of Opening Day. But that is only the start. Tomorrow I get to head out on my first baseball assignment of the year for this very site to cover some of the new food offerings at the park and the Friday the 13th game of Jordan Zimmermann vs. Bronson Arroyo. Then Saturday I once again head out to the park back in fanmode to collect a Stephen Strasburg bobble head and enjoy the third game in the four game series between the Nats and Reds. As far as Sunday goes, this might be the week to use it as intended, a day of rest, or to head down to the farm and see what the P-Nats are up to.

On the bridge III
courtesy of pablo.raw

Tom: This weekend we’re off to the second city to visit with some internet friends, but with weather like we’re expecting here, color me jealous of those of you who stay behind. I’d be riding the Beach Drive trail for its incredible scenic value in the Spring, or reliving 2002 with All-American Rejects at the 9:30 Club. Saturday also is Growler Hours day in Ward 5, as it is each week, and I’m sorta geeked out by the idea of Chocolate City’s First Coast Bohemian Pils. Sadly, that’ll have to wait a week.

Panda Snack
courtesy of Mondmann

Carl: On Saturday I will be brewing a pilsner with a friend who wants to learn the basics of brewing, in addition to kegging the Pirate’s Ale I made. It still has a few weeks before it is ready to be served, so it will age for a bit. On Sunday my father will be visiting for lunch on his way home to Pennsyltucky, so I will likely take him to one of the many great hole-in-the-wall restaurants in downtown Silver Spring. Any place that does not require pants will be okay. I get that from somewhere, you know. If he has a lot of time, I might take him to see our lazy-ass welfare pandas. Tourists love lazy-ass welfare pandas.

courtesy of Andrews McMeel Publishing

Don: For me this weekend is all about the in-person socializing. I’m still dragging my heels on picking a restaurant destination for our Friday out-of-town guests. Normally my response to the guidance level of “oh, anywhere is fine” is to just take them to Ben’s for a half smoke all the way and wander U St. But I’m fed up with the chill and tomorrow evening is still going to hit a low in the 40s. Maybe Againn to see who’s in charge of things this month. Saturday I’m considering heading to Falls Church and One More Page books to see writer Jacob Weinstein read from his book How Not To Kill Your Baby. It’ll make a good gift for the hostess of the baptism party we’re going to on Sunday. Though I guess it would have been even more valuable before the little man dodged the threat of purgatory…

Sig bev base
courtesy of counterculturecoffee

Marissa: I’m kicking off my weekend tonight by checking out the recently expanded Bar Pilar. While I’ve already sampled the food there (it’s still freaking great, for the record), I’m looking forward to seeing the new upstairs (stay tuned for those photos and more). If you don’t have plans for the evening, I’d suggest checking out the Counter Culture Coffee throwdown tonight at Buzz Bakery out in Ballston, and snag yourself a few treats made by Tiffany MacIsaac. Friday night I might get artsy and check out the Smithsonian’s Visco-Disco. Then Saturday it’s off to celebrate a friend’s birthday at 18th Street Lounge where Eric Hilton of Thievery Corporation and DJ Will Eastman will be DJ-ing for the night.

Chilli Cheese Fries
courtesy of Danilo.Lewis|Fotography

Mosley: Work.  Sadly, my weekend revolves around work.  None too happy about it.  But I do have one bright spot this weekend: I get to go to my first Nationals game of the year!  It’s against the Reds, so not a grade A game, but still, it’s baseball.  And it’s looking like this weekend will be awesome, weather-wise.  You can find me with my signature baseball game dinner: two Ben’s half-smokes, all the way, and a good beer.  It has been too long; winter officially ends for me on Saturday!

Nationals Park Sunset
courtesy of flipperman75

Rachel: Back to Nats Park I go this weekend! Needless to say, I’m happy to have an excuse to sit outside for hours in the fresh air watching the game I love so much again. This Nats team is looking to be quite a bit of fun this season so it’ll be a fun summer. (PS – It’s Strasburg bobble head day on Saturday. Just so you know!) Then Sunday is the Glover Park Co-Ed Softball League’s Opening Day. As per tradition, my team (one of the founding teams of the league) will play in the first game at 2 p.m. Come on out to 39th and Calvert and join the festivities. It’s a great way to spend an afternoon!

Snifter Bokeh
courtesy of Samer Farha

Fedward: with a beer-drinking friend in town Friday night, there’s a good chance we’ll be at Churchkey or Meridian Pint. Saturday I’ll be north of Baltimore all day for the DC-Baltimore Perl Workshop, coordinated by the DC and Baltimore Perl Mongers groups. Sunday I get to sleep in while the Social Chair has early plans, before we meet up at the Passenger for evening brunch.

DSCN0882
courtesy of bhrome

Addison: Playoffs?!?! We’re talking about PLAYOFFS??!? You’re damn right we are, and my weekend kicks off a little early, starting off with the Bruins-Capitals first game tonight. Luckily, I don’t have to work on Friday, so it will be no problem for me to head out to Hard Times Cafe in Fairfax to Rock the (Terulinga) Red with some chili and beer (since apparently I’m bad luck if I watch the game at home). Friday’s going to be my day to catch up on errands and sleep in preparation for Saturday. The first official weekend day of what looks to be a gorgeous weekend will find me headed up to Charm City for a jaunt to the National Aquarium, which I have not visited in over a decade, to check out the dolphins, fish, turtles, and other assorted sea life. On the way back, while the ladies in the group hit up Arundel Mills for some discount shopping, I will be leading a contingent to the closest sports bar to watch the second game of the Caps-Bruin series. Saturday night I will be getting stuffed with meat at one of my favorite dining experiences, Fogo de Chao in Penn Quarter (protip: avoid the salad bar). I will need to atone for my previous evening’s sins on Sunday, so some outdoor activities in the form of a nice long run along the Washington and Old Dominion Trail and some afternoon kickball on the Mall will round out my weekend.

courtesy of muohace_dc

Rebecca: Soccer and gardening season are in full swing and so this weekend I’m prioritizing getting my spring veggies and flowers in the ground, de-weeding/cleaning up my garden, playing my heart out on the soccer field and trying to stem the bodily soreness I’ll have from both activities. When not on the pitch or in the garden, I’ll be catching a margarita on the Surfside rooftop or watching the Georgetown v. Notre Dame Men’s Lacrosse game on Sunday at 1pm.

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courtesy of furcafe

Alexia: starting my weekend off properly with rock, playing an early show at U Street Music Hall with my band The Torches, opening for Tim Fite. Doors at 7pm, we go on at 7:30! Saturday trying to cram a lot into a little time- must finish taxes and frolic outdoors during the day, then in the evening going to a classical concert by the Juilliard Baroque at the Library of Congress, and then making a beeline to Comet Ping Pong for Silo Halo‘s record release party, which also features Edie Sedgwick and Talk It on the bill. Whew! Sunday involves much cleaning and packing in preparation for next weekend’s trip to the Coachella music festival!!

Joey Arias in Arias with a Twist. Photo by Steven Menendez

Woolly’s Arias with a Twist is Arias as in Joey Arias, drag performer, and Basil Twist as in puppets. The show is visually stunning on every level – the lighting, costumes, sets, and oh my, the puppetry – the puppetry is superb. And I was bored through almost all of it.

Which is so disappointing. I love a good, campy, drag show. I love live music and cover songs. But it would have taken a step up for me to make it to underwhelmed by the experience as a whole. We got more enjoyment after the show from ranking which other theater would be more or less likely to show someone feliating a puppet. [For the record, we had no consensus on most likely, but National was the winner for least probable]

I’m not sure why it never came together for me, though I’m going to lay some hate on the sound. Saturday’s show had several sound issues and there were a number of occasions where I simply couldn’t hear Arias speaking or singing. It seemed particularly bad when the body mike was in play, but there were level issues all around. I understand the desire to crank up that pounding Bonham drum on Zeppelin’s Kashmir but Arias simply was not holding up the vocal end of the bargain. The alien gag was amusing but, like most of the rest of the bits, not enough to overcome the very long and unimpressive musical number.

Perhaps a good campy drag show just can’t survive being this well produced. If we’re going to buy it as cheesy fun when a super-sized Arias stomps though New York City then maybe it shouldn’t be so beautiful and convincing. The four band member puppets were the most subtle and were brilliantly manipulated. The piano player exhibited a subtle shaking laughter that would have brought a tear to Jim Henson’s eye.

If the music and audio lived up to the snark and visuals – or if I was a lot more stoned – I’d be lined up to go back tonight.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s production of Arias with a Twist, performs through May 6, 2012. Woolly Mammoth Theatre is located at 641 D Street NW Washington, DC 20004. Closest Metro stop: Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter (Yellow/Green line). For more information call 202-393-3939.

Carl: Friday night holds a bit of a wind-down from the week’s activities as I draw a pint off my new draft system and plan my wood-aged beer I will make next month. On Saturday night I will hang out with the lovely and talented Jenn, and then on Sunday I will go to Beautiful Girlfriend’s cousin’s place for Easter dinner. I hope they have circus peanut salad. It’s just not Easter without circus peanut salad.

delicate, fresh, complex and tasty
courtesy of LaTur

Joanna: I’m starting out this weekend by making sushi – but not just boring salmon rolls, because apparently my tutor wants to teach me this. On Saturday I’m perusing the Arlington Flea Market (opening for the first time this season) and hoping I’ll find saucers to use for a Passover seder that evening. Sunday is Easter, which also brings Feaster. We’re heading to a friend’s place to chow down. And what would any holiday be without a drag queen abducted by alien puppets? That’s why I’m finishing off the weekend with Arias with a Twist at Woolly Mammoth.

Walkway
courtesy of BrianMKA

Mosley: It’s a Cherry Blossom Festival weekend for me!  Saturday night I’m planning on going down to the Southwest Waterfront and watching the Festival’s fireworks.  Not as awesome as the 4th of July (or Cheverly Day) fireworks, but still fun.  On Sunday, I’m planning on going and checking out the annual Lantern Lighting Ceremony on the Tidal Basin.  I’ve gone the past few years and it is a wonderful little ceremony, with the Washington Toho Koto Society playing traditional Japanese music.  It’s a wonderful piece of Japanese culture.

Master of Puppets
courtesy of specimenlife

Don: My weekend is going to be a little low key after these last few days of theater and other running around. With the except of, of course, more theater. Areas with a Twist over at Woolly, to be exact. Singing, drag and puppets, what’s not to love? If I can stand to be indoors while it’s so lovely out I’ll try to go catch Synetic’s Taming of the Shrew, though some time on the porch in the sun with a beer seems way more likely.

Sweetgreen #14
courtesy of Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie

Rachel: My weekend starts Friday afternoon with a performance at the TEDxChange event in Dupont Circle (tickets are still available by the way). I’ll be performing as part of the Local Voices panel which features the folks behind Sweetgreen, 826DC, and more. Saturday will be the standard “track down a brunch at a place that’s Metro accessible,” though the location is yet to be determined. That will be followed up by a Saturday evening stop by Miss Jenn’s place along side a few of the other members of We Love DC. Then Sunday will be a day to cozy up on the couch and watch the new Titanic documentary Titanic: The Final Word With James Cameron on National Geographic Channel. I saw a preview of it last night at the Titanic 3D screening at the National Geographic Museum and let me tell you, it’s going to be an intriguing bit of television programming. Also – if you’re as into the history of Titanic as I am – please get your butts to the Nat Geo Museum’s Titanic: 100 Year Obsession exhibit. It’s fantastic.

dome setting
courtesy of philliefan99

Tom: Oh thank heaven for the weekend. This has been a fairly long week, and I find myself craving the solitude of a long bike ride. The Capital Crescent starts up in Silver Spring and finishes down in Georgetown, and runs about 11 miles or so. Afterward, I’ll likely bike on over to Boundary Stone for some of their award-winning wings. Of course, I’ll be tuned in to see how the Nationals do in their opening series with the Cubs, I’ve missed the dulcet tones of Charlie and Dave on 106.7 this winter.

Great Hall
courtesy of vpickering

Fedward: The Social Chair and I are finally taking some engagement photos (turns out getting married is a lot of work). We’ll be flitting about on Friday acting like we love each other in various scenic locales, ending up at (where else) the Passenger for some photos of us in our natural habitat, followed by at least one round to celebrate checking off another item on the to-do list. Saturday we might head to the National Building Museum for the Unbuilt Washington exhibit we keep talking about visiting, then walk a few blocks for In Vibrant Color: Vintage Celebrity Portraits from the Harry Warnecke Studio at the National Portrait Gallery, before we join the rest of the We Love DC crowd at Jenn’s
house-selling party. Easter (Easter?! I hardly know ‘er!) Sunday we will avoid any morning traffic and crowds by having brunch at home before heading to the Passenger for second brunch. Don’t judge.

Rachel Spencer Hewitt as Madeline Arnold and Joe Short as Gordon Evans in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Strange Interlude, directed by Michael Kahn. Photo by Scott Suchman.

Before there was Herman’s Head there was Eugene O’Neill and Strange Interlude.

Wait, where are you going? Come back!

Okay, sorry, sorry – I get it, comparing a B-level 90s sitcom to the Pulitzer-winning work of a nobel laureate is maybe a little jarring. The Shakespeare Theater Company’s production of Strange Interlude is certainly a far cry better than the show that brought us such masterful dialog as “regret is a rough sheet to sleep on,” but they’re both trying to do the same thing: give the viewer a peek behind the curtain of what a person says, shows, and implies and instead convey every exact thought.

Michael Kahn trimmed the notoriously long play himself and directed this cast, providing us with a snappy, funny, clever, compelling, riveting, tragic story of people living the lives of quiet desperation that Thoreau described. O’Neill wanted to expose us to that song rather than just see the reflection of it around the edges and STC’s production does it beautifully. It might be longest show I have ever seen in the Harman and may also be the one that felt the shortest.

In the spirit of the play I’ll be explicit: I really loved it.

Baylen Thomas as Ned Darrell and Francesca Faridany as Nina Leeds in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Strange Interlude, directed by Michael Kahn. Photo by Scott Suchman.

The greatest triumph in this production is one that Kahn, O’Neill, and the actors all share credit in: these flawed and variously despicable, pathetic, and abhorrent people all manage to keep your affection and sympathy. Not in every moment; some of them make it very hard to respect or pity them in turns. But O’Neill shows you the paths these people take in their quest for happiness with such detail that you can see why they’d do these questionable things. Kahn and his actors wed the actions and appearances with the wordy details of their inner thoughts – often in very stark opposition to each other – into people you can believe.

I had the pleasure of sitting next to the infinitely better educated and more erudite Trey Graham for this show, and we spent a little of one of the two intermissions wondering about the plentiful laughs the production gets from the hypocrisy and lies the characters exhibit, not infrequently to themselves. How many of these were funny to audiences eighty years ago? Were they the outright laughs a modern audience produces over some of the characters’ sexual shenanigans or did they smirk to themselves? Or were they silently aghast at some of the horrible choices these folks make?

Francesca Faridany as Nina Leeds in the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s production of Strange Interlude, directed by Michael Kahn. Photo by Scott Suchman.

It’s to Kahn and his cast’s credit that it doesn’t matter. We see any number of older works dusted off and re-imagined into different times and locales, sometimes in (what I, in the minority thought was) an awful way and sometimes harmlessly but pointlessly. Strange Interlude is tied in time pretty tightly by its connection to the first world war and Kahn leaves it there. But our perceptions can’t help but be tied to our own time, and surely we view some choices radically differently than the original audience. In this production it doesn’t matter; even if Faridany’s Nina would have different options in life now than she would have in the 1920s we still feel her universal emotions: loss, longing, doubt, desperation, and the inevitable shrinking number of options that come with age.

The only false note I found was with the opening that Kahn tacked on. The very out-of-character minimalist white set that STC opted for here allows for projecting simple, mostly-static background images during scenes. There’s shorthand movies of what’s been going on during the passing of time in between the acts. It works well to keep the rhythm flowing, but the one time we see movie and live action combines is when we’re subjected to Nina viewing her fiance’s previously off-stage pre-play death. Asking any actor to emote sadness as a 20-foot-high biplane screams towards the ground behind them may be a lot to ask of anyone. I’m not sure why a play which has every person saying every little thing that goes through their mind needed a preface to demonstrate that Nina is upset by her loss. I’d like those two minutes and lost hearing from the roaring engine back someday.

A triviality, that. Once we get past it and start down our breakneck pace it’s forgotten and forgiven. You may need a pre-show coffee to insure you’re awake enough to make your way home at 11pm but you won’t need it to maintain your attention.

Strange Interlude runs through April 29th at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Harman Theater, located at 610 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20004.  Closest Metro stop: Gallery Place/Chinatown (Red/Yellow/Green lines). For more information call 202-547-1122.

For three days only – with two now remaining – Constellation Theater Company brings you Tom Teasley, performing live accompaniment to the almost 90-year-old animated film The Adventures of Prince Achmed. It’s a blast, and the best $20 you’ll pay for a musical performance this year.

Admittedly, on a beautiful day like today you might wish this was going on out at the lawn at Wolf Trap. But any longing you have to be anywhere else should pretty well disappear within about five minutes of the lights going out. The initial hook for me was “oldest surviving animated film,” but after a few minutes of admiring the techniques I found myself engrossed in the story.

Cartoon
courtesy of Kevin H.

Teasley’s music takes a good deal of credit for that. His middle-eastern inspired sound melds some afro-rhythms, in particular when the African wizard is on screen. Through it all it’s a guided improv piece; when I asked during the subsequent Q&A why he’d choose to do a live piece rather than a single recording the answer was short and to the point. “I’m a jazz musician,” Teasley said, and that informs all his choices.

The subsequent Q&A was almost as entertaining as the performance itself. Teasley quipped about why he’s do this in conjunction with Constellation, in comparison to past collaborations when he provided scores for performances. “The actors keep talking over my music.” We were treated to a bit of talk about his collaborations and nowhere near enough show-and-tell about the array of instruments he pilots through the piece.

If you go it’s possible you’ll hear an entirely new array of information; the post-show session is open for questions from the audience, so if something else is more in your wheelhouse you’re free to ask. All indications are that Teasley will answer. His passion and enthusiasm for the work comes through and it’s obviously dear to him. After an hour of never getting a moment’s rest while accompanying the film it would have to be.

Tickets are still available on the Constellation website, and if you enjoy the sound from the clip above I would highly encourage you to go.

Carl: My general plans include racking the Pirate’s Ale into a secondary fermenter and doing the final calculations and ingredients list for a pilsner using an ale yeast. If you are a beer nut like I am, you know that is totally nuts. It’s not as nuts as cannibalism resulting from cabin fever, but still – it’s damned crazy. I was invited to give a talk Saturday morning at a Masonic lodge about The Book of Ruth, of all subjects, so I will be doing that as well, and then having dinner with Beautiful Girlfriend and her friends I have not yet met. Good times will prevail.

09 Kite Festival – Free as the Wind – 3-28-09
courtesy of mosley.brian

Mosley. Annoyingly, I’m not in town this weekend due to a business trip. It’s annoying because I’m missing one of my favorite events of the year: the annual Kite Festival at the foot of the Washington Monument. I love it because of the pictures I get; the sight of hundreds of kites in the air; even the Bubble Wright is awesome! It’s a truely DC event and I recommend everyone goes to it. If you’ve never gone, please go for me and have a great time.

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courtesy of furcafe

Fedward: the best part of my weekend happens tonight, as I revel in the urban haute bourgeoisie of Whit Stillman at the sold out preview of Damsels in Distress (with in-person appearances by Stillman and Greta Gerwig). Friday night the Social Chair and I head back to the AFI Silver for the Gene-Kelly-on-roller-skates spectacular Xanadu (the less said about the non-Gene-Kelly parts of the movie, the better). Saturday if the weather holds we’ll stay home and have a few cocktails on our patio. Sunday we’ll be back in Maryland, this time in Bethesda for Monologue Madness.

A Beautiful Day In The Nation’s Capital
courtesy of Dan Dan The Binary Man

Marissa: As this is my one weekend in town sandwiched in between two different trips, I’m trying to make the most of it! Saturday I’m going to try to catch whatever is left of the Cherry Blossoms down at the Tidal Basin. Later on, I’ll take in the Suprasensorial exhibit and the SONG 1 exhibit at the Hirshorn, both of which look mindblowingly awesome. Saturday evening I’ll be chatting with chef Billy Klein over at Cafe St. Ex, so stay tuned for that Capital Chefs feature. Sunday afternoon is devoted to seeing my college roommate who’s in town for the weekend. You tell me where we should brunch that afternoon in the Dupont or Logan Circle region–preferably some place with extraordinary bloody marys and someplace I have yet to try…

No. 2,000.
courtesy of erin m

Rachel: I’ve got no big plans for the weekend to be honest. I may stick to my standard little Saturday and head to Kramer’s for brunch. That’ll give me time to finally finish the last 100 pages or so of Mockingjay (book three of the Hunger Games trilogy for those of you who didn’t know). Sunday will be rounded out by the first softball practice of the year. Who’s ready for some Glover Park Softball?!?!?! It’s gonna be a party on 39th and Calvert every Sunday from April 15 until the end of July.

Paws and All
courtesy of mosley.brian

Don: Mostly we’ll be hunkered down over the weekend, getting in some quality puppy time after being without our little boy for five days of terrifying intensive care. Get your dogs vaccinated against Parvo, folks. It’s nothing to screw around with, and we and Mighty Casey would have been a lot happier if enough other folks had done it such that he hadn’t been infected. He was, but the early vaccinations aren’t as effective… obviously. We’ll venture away from our furry buddy on Sunday night to catch press night at the Shakespeare Theater Company for their part of the Eugene O’Neill Festival: Strange Interlude.

Tom: I will be spending my weekend in scenic Indianapolis rooting on the swimming & diving team of my alma mater Denison University as part of Division III Nationals. Go Big Red! Of course, were I here, I’d be walking up the stairs of the central tower of the National Cathedral Saturday to get a look at the amazing view. It’s the first time the tower’s been open since this summer’s quake. There’s also the 13th Street Meats sale on Saturday at Pharmacy Bar in Adams Morgan going on, and really, you can’t go wrong with any of their delicious offerings. Sunday I’ll be back in time for the annual fantasy draft of the District Ruffians baseball league at Ragtime. Here’s to hoping I don’t screw up the first pick of the draft. Wonder who I should take with that pick. Leave your thoughts in the comments.

(134/365)
courtesy of kimberlyfaye

Carl: I will be finishing up some photography work for a repeat client on Saturday, and then will try to see my old friend Jason for a tipple or two in the afternoon. On Sunday I will probably go to the homebrew store and get ingredients to make another beer. The Pirate’s Ale is bubbling away and I need to get another brew started that has been commissioned for a party in May. A brewer’s work is never done!

Cherry Blossoms by Bikeshare
courtesy of Mr. T in DC

Mosley: Friday night I have a photo talk I’m going to at the National Press Club: Lynn Abercrombie, wife of the late National Geographic photographer Tom Abercrombie, about her new book about traveling the world.  Saturday I’m hoping to go to the National Cathedral and climb the central tower; never done it before and I’m looking forward to the view, both of the city and the Cathedral.  Sunday I’m going to the opening ceremonies for the Nation Cherry Blossom Festival at the Convention Center; should be fun.

Street Dogs
courtesy of Hooligan Abby

Rachel: I’ve been waiting for this weekend for far too long. It’s SHAMROCK FEST at RFK on Saturday and I’m pumped. While the musical line up sounds decent, I admit my friends and I are going for the sheer enjoyment of playing flip cup and beer pong with strangers in a giant parking lot. That might make us immature but I choose to think of it as a good, old fashioned college flashback.

Scaffolding
courtesy of Michael T. Ruhl

Joanna: It will be hard to resist watching basketball all weekend long. However, I’ll be taking breaks to see Ah, Wilderness! at Arena Stage and climb the central tower of the National Cathedral – a first time opportunity since the earthquake! Sadly I also have some work to catch up on, so if the weather’s nice I’ll be using my full punch card for a free drink outside at Northside Social. Sunday I’m supposed to welcome a friend back from Israel by biking down to visit Mt. Vernon, which really makes no sense whatsoever but should be fun. And of course, basketball. At this point, it’s all about which teams I want to lose rather than the ones I want to win.

Baan Thai Spa
courtesy of Echo Valley Ranch (www.evranch.com)

Rebecca: The boyfriend is out of town for the weekend, which means it’s a girlie weekend. Friday I’ll be having a some Cherry Blossom inspired drinks with my ladies out on the back patio deck at Old Glory in Georgetown. Saturday I’m headed to the Create and Barrel outlet in Alexandria and West Elm in Georgetown for an apartment decorating shopping fest with my sister. I’m looking for stuff on sale that I can used to add a little color splash and pizazz. Saturday afternoon I’ll be getting my garden even more in order with planting of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and some much need tilling. Sunday morning it’s the beginning of soccer season so I’ll be gasping for breathe and hoping to catch my wind in the AM, followed by a visit to Spa World to soak in hot tubs, get a body scrub and sweat it out in various relaxation rooms.

Don: My weekend is largely going to revolve around following around a nice but somewhat dim creature and trying to prevent random chewing and indoor defecation. Then, if I have time left after Tom and I are done hanging out, I’ll probably spend some time with our new puppy. He’s a rescue from the local operation Lost Dog Rescue; not the only way we could have gone but we found them to be most easy to work with when it came to finding a match who wouldn’t bother my darling wife’s allergies. Sadly we’re not going to get to check out the area’s multiple dog parks yet; little Casey isn’t old enough for his parvo innoculations to have fully taken root yet, making it important to keep him away from older dogs and places where the very hardy and long-lived virus can be hanging out.

Photos by Scott Suchman.
Grigori (Doug Kreeger, holding basket) is happily greeted by a group of strangers for his healing powers.
Pictured left to right: Stephen Gregory Smith, Erin Driscoll, Russell Sunday, Rachel Zampelli.

Signature Theater’s Brother Russia is a pleasant enough musical, combining a talented cast, some catchy songs, and beautiful and clever staging. But the end result of turning the corrupt Mad Monk into a (sort of) redemptive and (very vaguely) redeemed mystic figure is odd and unsatisfying. It’s not the oddest use ever of Grigori Rasputin by a long shot, but the story doesn’t live up to the music and the production.

Brother Russia is framed as a more-or-less contemporary story of a decrepit Russian traveling theater/carnival who are themselves telling the story of Rasputin. Or Rasputin’s story as their troop leader claims it happened, which he’d know if indeed he himself is Grigori Rasputin as he claims. Confused yet? It’s less convoluted as acted out upon the stage… within the stage… but the story’s attempt to tell a wild fable and justify it as a modified oral history is undercut by its own staging. Certain choices near the end make a firm assertion that the story, impossible as it is, is literal truth. There’s even a twist/connection that a late-career M. Night Shyamalan might come up with.

Photos by Scott Suchman.
A fourth-rate Russian theater troupe welcomes their audience in the world premiere of “Brother Russia”.

It’s a pity the story doesn’t gel because everything else is well done. I’m not a huge fan of the rock musical style, having been weaned on traditional show tunes, but it’s well integrated with the style of the production and several songs demand to be hummed for hours afterwards – the opening and closing “Brother Russia Presents” in particular. If you ever sat back and thought “Oklahoma and My Fair Lady? C’mon Arena, you couldn’t get Jesus Christ Superstar?” then Brother Russia is right up your musical alley.

The cast does a nice job with the iffy story as well, in particular Natascia Diaz as Sofya as Anastasia. Playing shy and restrained in the midst of this many big characters and bold conflict is a harder job than she makes it look.

Dorothy Parker once wrote a review saying ”this is not a novel to be tossed aside lightly. It should be thrown with great force.” It’s a fun quip, but it obscures the fact that loathing is a more impassioned response to art than an indifferent shrug towards a merely adequate effort. Unfortunately nobody will be gathering memorable quotes from Brother Russia reviews, including from this one.

Signature Theatre’s production of Brother Russia performs through April 15 at 4200 Campbell Ave Arlington, VA 22206. Closest Metro stop: Pentagon City (Blue/Yellow lines). For more information call 703 820 9771.

That’s the bomb This American Life just dropped on the web, perhaps not so coincidentally the same day as the new iPad hits the streets. The impact for DC is a little farther out: specifically, July 17th when “The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs” is scheduled to return to Woolly Mammoth.

Agony is the source material for the TaL episode and it’s a powerful piece; I saw it in previews and Patrick reviewed it when it came back in full release. I don’t know what was in the piece in its final form, but when I saw it there was even an explicit statement as part of the dialog where Mike Daisey says “I am not a journalist.” A statement he’s repeated today as part of his response to this development.

Whether or not that’s enough, or baloney, or a completely reasonable response, I have no idea yet. I’m looking forward to hearing the TaL piece and a detail of what is and isn’t factual in regards to Daisey’s time in China. Personally I’m uncomfortable with any piece that presents something as fact when it may be an embellishment or a composite, but not everyone agrees. Plenty of biopics come out of Hollywood that do it every year and the conflict can be seen in stark black and white in the new book The Lifespan of a Fact. In it John D’Agata’s resistance to an article fact-checker who took issue with his playing fast and loose in his “lyrical essay” takes on comically excessive proportions.

I do know that the portions of Daisey’s show that detailed events I was very familiar with – the early days in Silicon Valley – were accurate in relating the stories behind the early days of Apple,  Micro-Soft (as they were then named) and others. They might have been “lyricized” but I couldn’t tell from my recollection – if they were, it was in the manner of Monet where the up-close details might not make sense but the picture from afar was perfectly representative of the truth.

I’m curious to see what the TaL revelations are and eager to hear what Woolly Mammoth has to say about it. As I finish this I haven’t heard back from them yet. I expect they’re huddled up trying to decide what to do, or perhaps waiting as the rest of us are for the TaL details. I’d wager the show will go on, with perhaps a statement on the matter.

Update: Woolly Mammoth stated to DCist’s Ben Freed on twitter that Daisey’s July appearance is still on. A certain chief editor here wryly commented “hell, if I were them I’d extend.”

I’m going to spoil the big surprise for you: Fedward intends to be at the Passenger this Sunday. Even less surprising is that a lot of us intend to enjoy the out-of-doors as Spring has super-sprung and we’re looking at a mostly dry and very pleasant weekend. If you want more specifics you’ll have to read on…

Mosley: Video Games. That’s my weekend.  More specifically, the Smithsonian American Art Museum’s exhibition, the Art of the Video Game, is opening this weekend.  And to kick off the opening, the museum is holding Game Fest, a three day festival of activities celebrating the opening of the exhibition.  The schedule of events looks AMAZING, so I highly recommend going; be on the lookout for a review next week.  Other than that, I’m going down to the Tidal Basin and Haines Point to check out the Cherry Blossoms before they’re gone.  Again, I highly recommend going.

Cupid’s Undie Run 2012
courtesy of vpickering

Addison: Saturday morning I’m running the Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon. After that, sleep, lots of sleep. Maybe some bourbon and ice (for my legs). Then more sleep.

DC Brau – Growler – 08-06-11
courtesy of mosley.brian

Tom: Saturday morning, I’ll be joining the Friends of Rhode Island Avenue cleanup, which was rescheduled due to rain. After that, a late brunch at Shaw’s Tavern, which remains my favorite new brunch place, if only for their unique menus. DC Brau is holding Growler Hours and Red Apron is coming with bacon bangers, so look for me there. Sunday we’re celebrating the lovely weather with a barbecue, come on out, if you like.

Bottle Caps
courtesy of oparrish

Carl: Saturday I have a commitment all morning in Alexandria but around lunchtime the tie will come off and I will have a pint with some new friends I don’t even know yet. That’s the thing about beer – it is an instant friend-maker. Sunday is a brew day for the homebrewing club I am running. We are making a yummy spicy ale for a pirate-themed party. Want to join me for the next brew day and learn how to make beer? Just let me know!

20110317-DSC_2104
courtesy of MudflapDC

Moses: My absolute favorite weekend of the year!  March Madness opening weekend (which happens to also encompass my birthday) aka “anything can happen days” where Cinderella actually exists!  Add to that some picture perfect weather and you know you’ll catch me rooftop at Cleveland Park Bar & Grill for the day games on Thursday and Friday (by the time you’re reading this, I’ll hopefully already be there!).  Friday night is a TV indoor, “visitin’” outdoor birthday, Bourbon, and BBQ bash at my place, with wings, mac ‘n cheese and BBQ catered by Duffys - perhaps we move the rowdy crowd over there afterwards for pre-St. Paddys festivities.  Saturday and Sunday are all about catching the games and sun wherever both can be found!  I can’t believe I picked my Hoyas to lose to Belmont in my brackets. Just a bad feeling.  Feel free to give me my due (positive or negative) in the Comments section.  Sunday includes a small, delightful snag in my basketball watching itinerary: christenings for my nephew and niece (please don’t tell my wife why I wear an earpiece in the chapel).

Lemon #37
courtesy of Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie

Rachel: My birthday’s next week (yay!) but I’ll be celebrating a little earlier thanks to my mom. She couldn’t stand not being here with me on the “big day” so she decided to fly me home to Chicago for the weekend. I’ve already started to plan my trip and I have to say, we’ve got it pretty gosh darn good here in DC. The Smithsonian is free where as all the museums I want to visit this weekend in Chicago cost at least $25 for a decent “general admission” package. Therefore, I now proclaim that it is far easier to nerd out in DC than it is in Chicago. I’ll come back with a report, though. I promise. Other than that, I’ll be mentally preparing myself for next weekend’s Shamrock Fest at RFK. Tickets are still available, by the way, and I strongly recommend going with the VIP package. It’s worth it. This will be my second time going and I have to tell you… if it’s anything like the first time, I’m gonna walk away a happy and utterly exhausted Irish Jew. Nothing beats flip cup with strangers in the RFK parking lot while drinking Harp that came from a tap. Nothing.

DC Brau – Aging in Whiskey Barrels – 08-06-11
courtesy of mosley.brian

Fedward: Friday night I’ll be in Adams Morgan for a friend’s birthday celebration. Saturday afternoon I’ll check out the new Art of Video Games exhibition at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which caps off its night with a screening of King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters. As usual for me on St. Patrick’s Day I’ll be avoiding noisy Irish bars that night and perhaps sipping a wee dram of whiskey somewhere less chaotic. Sunday I’ll try to get some spring cleaning in before heading to Tom and Tiff’s for barbecue, and of course we’ll end our Sunday night with a round at the Passenger.

If you want a clear explanation about why some of us were – and are – irked by the MPD moving to encrypted police radios, well, look no further than last Friday’s court decision ordering the MPD to release documents that DC law says they must.

It’s not the fact that there was a fight over releasing documents; in the FOIA world there’s a constant struggle between the ‘forces of openness’ and the government employees who don’t always want to share information – whether it because they want to keep it secret or because they just don’t think taking the time is a priority.

What is in this decision that causes worry – now that radios can’t be overheard and we’re reliant on what the MPD chooses to reveal – is the court’s finding that MPD and the city attorney walked some line between ignorance and sloth on one end and flat-out deception on the other. Judge Macaluso talks about the MPD’s decisions to withhold entire documents as sensitive and opens with “this avowal is transparently false for almost every document for which it is asserted.”

Police lights
courtesy of BrianMKA

Other words and phrases used:

• those affidavits [submitted by MPD] are transparently false
• The District’s willingness to rely upon false documents undermines every argument the District of Columbia puts forward
• As far as the Court can determine her [Ms. Hanson] representation is completely inaccurate.

And right about that point, halfway through the transcript, Judge Macaluso reads the MPD and the District’s legal representation, Chad W Copeland, the riot act.

That paragraph states, and Mr. Copeland I direct this content particular towards you. That paragraph states, each reviewing official shall be held personally accountable for the affidavits he or she approves, that’s the police. Each reviewing official, as in you, shall be held personally accountable for the affidavits he or she approves. Those need to be your watchwords. I have two or three other police FOYA cases before me, and you let the word go out that no District of Columbia attorney is to do what you did in this case.

It goes on from there, further detailing what was either over-reach from Assistant Chief of Police Patrick Burke or a lazy assertion that material was sensitive. Which Judge Macaluso says is not so, or “is well within the common sense knowledge of the lay public.”

Here’s the transcription from the hearing; it lacks a quotation mark since it’s a transcription of the Judge’s reading of AC Burke’s statement but I think it’s sadly clear:

Assistant Chief of Police Burke swears each withheld record described above was reviewed line by line. He swears that. It is my conclusion that no portion of the order could be released. The privilege and sensitive techniques, procedures, and information are inextricably dispersed throughout the text. Redacting sensitive information would result in a document with only a title followed by unintelligible and/or meaningless fragments. The substance of all these records is exempt. I declare under penalty of perjury that the true, that the forgoing is true and correct.

Well, for forgoing is not true and correct. The forgoing is completely and obviously false.

I’m not going to keep flogging this dead horse; if you’d like to see the sorts of things that one of MPD’s top cops thinks are super secret, open the document at the top link. The Judge reads some of this into evidence, like some of former Chief Ramsay’s statements about the District being a dynamic city that serves as a symbol of freedom and democracy and that there’s vibrant neighborhoods and museums here. Or the mission statement of the family violence and child protection unit.

The point – and I do have one – is that it seems we can’t count on the MPD to release documents to the public without claiming that innocuous travel brochure language is privileged information. We can’t count on the District’s attorneys to give those ridiculous assertions a basic sniff test to see if they’re full of [redacted].

So why should we trust Chief Lanier when she says don’t worry, we’ll make sure to share needed information you can’t hear on those scanners anymore. We’ll share and share freely. You won’t be kept in the dark, you can trust us.

Well, the Partnership for Civil Justice couldn’t trust you, Chief. Further, the people of the city – already in belt-tightening mode – couldn’t trust you not to squander their money. Because this was so egregious a violation of transparency that the city has now been ordered to pay the Partnership for Civil Justice’s court and attorney fees.

So tell me again – why should we trust MPD to be transparent about events as they happen if they won’t be transparent at their leisure?

”

courtesy of ‘Helernn’

WaPo reports that a deal has been made in the Bristow case of a mother initially charged with felony murder after leaving her almost three-year-old child in a car. She’ll serve probation for two years and perform community service in exchange for her plea to two counts of child neglect.

I mentioned this when the charges were filed last year and I’ll mention it again: if you have a firm opinion on this and haven’t read Gene Weingarten’s piece about the phenomenon, Fatal Distraction, you’re almost certainly insufficiently informed to have that opinion.

This plea deal feels a lot closer to what seems right than murder, though it’s hard for me to know in my heart whether anything is the right thing to do. Does society need this woman herself to suffer more than she already is? Does the punishment provide any deterrent to others? Can we fight distraction and sleep deprivation mistakes with fear of justice system reprisal?

Another week of misery at work, another…. eh, pass the beer.

At least we’ve got some nice weather to salve the pain of the workin’ dude. (Dude is gender-neutral, you know) It’s the sort of weather that helps us determine which restaurants adhere to a slavish devotion to a set date for setting up outdoor chairs, despite year after year of whipsaw DC weather revealing that folly. I’m looking at you, Crystal City Jaleo location. Capital Weather Gang doesn’t think it’ll persist into the weekend, at least not this warm, but hope springs eternal…

Joanna: I need to rest this weekend, so I’m keeping it relatively low-key, starting with the Oscar-winning Iranian film A Separation in Shirlington. I’m hoping the weather will stay warm enough on Saturday for a bike ride down to Eastern Market – or more specifically, The Fridge, to see King Me. On Sunday I’m taking it easy with the hubs but heading out (way out) that evening – all the way to Tyson’s Corner for a reading of the new musical Galactic Cigarettes Presents: It’s Your World at 1st Stage.

Starve An Artist, Cover Your Trash
courtesy of andradeXcobain

Marissa: Good lord the weather looks like it’s going to be beeee-ooo-tiful this weekend. While my Saturday will be occupied with some errands and pre-birthday shopping (treat yoself!), if I were you, I’d head to Urbana to learn how to make fresh mozzarella, haloumi and fromage blanc from chef John Critchley. The $40 class is this Saturday from 3 to 5 PM, and you can reserve a spot by emailing Lindsey Walker at linsey.walker (at) urbanadc.com or calling 202-956-6650. If the weather holds up, come Sunday I’m planning on getting some fresh air and renting a kayak from Thompson Boat Center.

Potomac view
courtesy of ekelly80

Don: I’m fighting off a mild throatache so my weekend plans are pretty well focused around taking it easy. But when the weather gods send you an invitation like this one you need to make at least a token appearance. So I think my darling wife and I will go take a pleasant stroll around Roosevelt Island at the very least and perhaps spend a little time doing some outdoor dining and watching the planes over at gravelly point. Maybe go by the movie theater and very deliberately not see the abomination that is The Lorax. I’m open to other suggestions that involve sloth and recovery if you have them to suggest.

6.27.10
courtesy of Paige Weaver
Fedward: Saturday I will observe the International Day of Awesomeness (“March 10th, Every Year!”). I’m unaware of any official gatherings in the area so I will start by making my own awesome breakfast (with awesome bacon and awesome coffee), and then perhaps visit the awesome Unbuilt Washington exhibit at the ever-awesome National Building Museum. I’ll end the day seeing The Language Archive presented by my awesome friends at Forum Theatre. Sunday starts with the non-awesome loss of an hour due to Daylight Saving Time (TL,DR: I’m agin’ it). I’ll make sure to get to the Passenger’s hangover brunch early, so I have extra time to cry in my beer.

moon over freedom
courtesy of philliefan99

Mosley: I’m still recovering from a business trip last week, so my weekend is going to be slow.  Tonight I’m meeting up with a bunch of photo friends to take pictures of the full moon rising over the Mall.  At the full moon closest to the Equinox the moon rises close to true East; this can allow it to line up with the major buildings along the Mall, like these.  Cloudy weather is the problem, and it isn’t looking like a great evening tonight.  Other than that, Saturday night DC by Foot is doing a Lincoln Assassination walking tour.  No, it’s not a tour where you get to assassinate Lincoln, but where you’ll visit all the sights in the old Downtown area of significance to the plot to kill President Lincoln.  Other than that, I’m hoping to get out an enjoy the Spring-ish weather that we’re having; hopefully it will stay with us through the weekend!

00147-14Crop
courtesy of furcafe

Moses: An incredibly busy weekend for me, in the best of all ways.  Tonight is the 2012 Embassy Chef Challenge fundraiser for Cultural Tourism DC at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, so I’m stamping my stomach passport with international hors d’oeuvres all night!  Friday morning FHI 360 is hosting a free international development seminar “Human Development: The 360 Degree Perspective” in North Dupont (RSVP here – spots still available).  Friday night is the Black Keys at the Phone Booth – months of anticipation and wearing out my BK playlist finally coming to an end! Saturday night I’ll hopefully be cheering on my Hoyas in the Big East tournament Final at Touchdown (or else I’ll be drowning my sorrows there).