By Erin McCann
‘DC Police’
courtesy of ‘Chris DiGiamo’
We told you this weekend about the DC photographer who says he was detained by MPD officers while shooting a traffic stop in Georgetown. My initial complaint about the account was that the photographer, Jerome Vorus, hadn’t gotten names of the officers who stopped him or apparently followed up with a complaint to the MPD. Turns out, I was wrong. Continue reading
By brownpau
DC Fire/EMS on Twitter reports smoke at the Q Street NW entrance to Dupont Circle Metro on the Red Line — also site of this morning’s Escalator Fail. That entrance to the station is now closed and emergency responders are on the scene.
Update: Update from DC Fire/EMS: Dupont Circle Metro – Metro Mechanics on scene – situation under control – Station Open – DC F&EMS clearing scene – no injuries
In the attached video, courtesy Twitterer jaredev (view it larger after the jump) we have people being evacuated from the south station entrance, vaulting over the handrail due to a barricade in the way.
By Don
‘Kelly Clarkson’
courtesy of ‘vagueonthehow’
A group of us got together on Saturday to celebrate our friend Jaimie’s birthday and decided to start with dinner at Gordon Biersch – not least because they were okay with us bringing in an ice cream cake.
They’ve also got an open-door policy on celebrity as well, it seems. After the fourth or fifth pair of young girls walked up to a neighboring table we figured out that Kelly Clarkson was dining there with a few friends.
As it turned out, Clarkson was on her way out the door just after our waiter brought out Jaimie’s cake. As she walked by one of us said “Hey Kelly, want to help us sing happy birthday?” She said “sure!” and asked whose birthday it was. Then she started singing, though she stopped after the first line to say one thing.
“The rest of you can join in anytime.”
So sue us – we were a little gobsmacked by the moment. We recovered and finished up our collaborative piece with the grammy winner.
It was a nice and genuinely warm moment from someone who could have just as politely said “can’t – gotta go!” and kept on moving. Kudos, Kelly Clarkson, for being nice to random strangers.
By Jenn Larsen
I’m reviewing eight plays over eight days for the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival, in collaboration with DC Theatre Scene. Get your button and join me!
One of the challenges of reviewing Fringe theater is determining how much weight to give earnest performance over clumsy material. But with so many productions to choose from, with your time and money on the line, I’d rather be blunt than kind.
Darfur: The Greatest Show on Earth! thinks itself mighty clever, contrasting genocides in Nazi Germany and the Sudan under the guise of a big-top circus subverting the cliches of musicals. But it’s merely a muddle of ethical issues, preferring to preach at the audience rather than to be truly brave. When Theater J’s stunning In Darfur simply broke a refugee’s legs on stage, that was theatrical power at its most subversive. But being screeched at to get out of my chair and take political action, as in this performance? Just not effective.
The faults of Darfur: The Greatest Show on Earth! are really the faults of the writer, Jonathan Fitts. The naive plot lines – in the past a Nazi Guard grapples with his bigotry in the face of an innocent child, while in the present a Janjaweed soldier fights his love for a refugee – make for an awkward, clumsy musical that would need a very strong directorial hand to make it as gutwrenching as it seems to think it is. Continue reading
By Ashley
‘Wonderland Ballroom’
courtesy of ‘scottahb’
I’m not really in to car washes, dance marathons or date auctions. I am, however, in to eating. So what better way to raise money for Columbia Heights Day than by doing just that. This Thursday, July 15th, you’ll be able to do that too. From 6pm-10pm, certain Columbia Heights restaurants and bars will have specials and will be donating to the Columbia Heights Day Initiative. So get out there on Thursday and eat for a cause!
Participating restaurants include: Commonwealth Gastropub, The Heights, Looking Glass Lounge, (the very new) Meridian Pint, Panda Express, RedRocks Pizzeria, Room 11, and Wonderland Ballroom. More information is available here.
This year’s Columbia Heights Day is on Saturday, August 28th.
‘a closer’s windup’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’
This is the fifth straight year the Washington Nationals have sent just one player to the All-Star Game. Other than that, they had a pair featuring Livan Hernandez and Chad Cordero that participated in the All-Star Game during the Nats inaugural 2005 season.
Matt Capps is the lone Nats All-Star in 2010.
The Nats closer is 3-3 with a 3.18 ERA and 23 saves going into the break, but there’s more to this man than his numbers. Continue reading
By Dave Levy
With the global version of football now out of the way (congratulations to Spain, of course), it’s time to turn our attention to the fact that we are really only about six weeks away from the return of the American version. Up at FedEx field, a very different looking team will be appearing out of the tunnel come the beginning of the new season due to both addition and subtraction on the field and sidelines, and it actually is time to start thinking about the year on the horizon.
With many of the big events from earlier this summer concluded, alongside the fact that today is one of the slowest sports days of the year (as the days before and after the MLB All-Star Game often are), there was a nice hole in the sports pages to try and get in the conversation. Not surprisingly, the Redskins have used this to launch a little bit of a marketing effort to fill out the stadium come September. The slogan this year? “R You In?”
Well, are you? Check out the released video for the campaign and let us know if you think it gets you excited for the season. My opinion? Meh.
By Jenn Larsen
I’m reviewing eight plays over eight days for the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival, in collaboration with DC Theatre Scene. Get your button and join me!
If you want to know why Greek tragedy is still vital to modern theater, go see paperStrangers Performance Group’s adaptation of Medea. Striking use of movement and multimedia combine to bring very intense moments of madness to life. Director Michael Burke has a fascinating vision, unified throughout all the major design elements he also helmed – lighting, video, sound and costumes – creating a sometimes strident but brutally beautiful work, like Medea herself.
“A woman’s likely to get emotional when her husband marries again,” understates Jason (of the Argonauts, if you are keeping mythological score). He owes a huge debt to Medea, who murdered her own brother and many others to assist Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece. She bears him two children, and expects to reign as his queen despite her barbarian background. But love is a luxury for heroes – he puts her aside for a more royal bride, and more insults to follow, with the bride’s father wanting her banished.
This is where we meet them, at the moment the ultimate bridezilla is dumped in her swan feathered bridal gown, her voiceless screams of rage fracturing the space, a creepily twisted chorus shuffling in to reveal her inner turmoil. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘CHALK4PEACE @ Artomatic’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’
From the pages of the ANC 6B agenda, set for Wednesday night, comes a potential location for this year’s 10th anniversary Artomatic: Hine Junior High School near Eastern Market. On the corner of 7th & Pennsylvania Ave SE, right opposite from Peregrine Espresso. The property is no longer a part of DCPS, and will be developed by Stanton-EastBanc next year as some office for the Shakespeare Theatre Company. The development will eventually be 510,000 sqft of mixed use office/apartment/retail/restaurant space. This summer fall, though, it will hopefully play host to a collection of amazing artist projects.
Ryan Jensen from Peregrine gives us some detail in the comments: If Hine is selected as the site, Artomatic would likely be from Mid October to Mid November, with an epic Halloween party.
An update from Artomatic’s Rebecca Gordon: “Veronica is just doing a presentation about our history. At this time there’s no agreement or schedule.”
By brownpau
It’s been a fun (i.e. not fun) morning on Metro, with backups from multiple sick customers on Orange/Blue and Green/Yellow Lines at Rosslyn and L’Enfant Plaza, broken escalators at Dupont Circle, and the standard parade of nonworking air conditioners. Update: Oh, and a switch malfunction at Rosslyn. And a family stuck in the Cleveland Park Metro elevator. Update, 6PM: And an escalator fire at Dupont! Today is the gift that keeps on giving. And by gift we mean not a gift.
For extra enjoyment, here’s a video of people yelling at the Dupont Circle escalators, courtesy wfpman: (after the jump) Continue reading
‘Lonely Lady’
courtesy of ‘Hoffmann’
Author Stephen Salny will be giving a talk on Tuesday night at the Corcoran (7PM) about his critically-acclaimed book, Francis Elkins: Interior Design (Norton, 2005). Francis Elkins is best known for her avant-garde style, pushing the boundaries of Interior Design for the first half of the 20th century, and ultimately still influencing the practice today.
For more on author Stephen Salny, check out his interview with We Love DC!
Tickets are $15 for the public and $12 for Corcoran Members, ASID, and AIA.
For more information please call 202-639-1770.
The Corcoran Gallery of Art is located at 500 Seventeenth Street NW.
By Tom Bridge
On a picturesque July Sunday, the Giants came out swinging. With the series on the line in the last game before the All Star Break, they’d get a pair of walks and a pair of singles off Livan Hernandez to jump out to a 2-0 lead. Livo was reaching for the corners but not finding them in the first, throwing six pitches to both Posey and Uribe looking for that elusive third strike call. In the third, the Giants would lead off with back to back singles from Sanchez and Huff, followed by an off-the-wall triple from Buster Posey. On the triple, Nyjer Morgan would take a difficult route to the ball, which would bounce just behind him, and back into center, letting Posey advance to third easily. Ishikawa would sacrifice him home, letting the Giants come out to a 5-0 lead after the third. Continue reading
By Jenn Larsen
I’m reviewing eight plays over eight days for the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival, in collaboration with DC Theatre Scene. Get your button and join me!
There’s not much point to Happenstance Theater & Banished Productions’s Handbook for Hosts except to create an atmosphere. But what an atmosphere! From the moment the ensemble begins teasing audience members with spot-on film noir accents and prettily coiffed hair, you willingly enter the parlance of the 1930’s and ’40’s.
Bumbling Russian spies, dueling femme fatales, and even the Chattanooga-Choo-Choo all combine to resurrect the allure of an era lost. Ably created and helmed by Mark Jaster, Sabrina Mandell, Melissa Krodman and Michael Sazonov – this quartet shines whether singing, dancing, or miming old movies with clever shadowplay. Punctuated throughout are old style radio renditions advising gents how to be proper hosts, a java jingle, riffs on film noir classics (including a spectacularly funny bit of audience participation), and a moody poem on dames gone wrong. The quartet’s dedication to creating a naughty glamour is hypnotic.
Don’t go in expecting a heavy plot or political musings. This production’s like an old perfume bottle of attar of roses, with a little saucy kick. It’s playful and a bit perverse, like silk stockings all askew, a welcome escape from our drab world outside.
By Erin McCann
‘Nacho #24’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’
My pet project involves making sure photographers in the DC area are free to shoot without idiotic restrictions imposed by a sometimes-security-crazed bureaucracy. So it’s with some interest and outrage that I came across this blog post by local photographer Jerome Vorus detailing an incident last Saturday in Georgetown. Vorus claims several MPD officers told him photographing people in public without their consent is illegal, said he was being detained, required his ID, and ran his name through a database before letting him go. Um, what? Continue reading
By Jenn Larsen
I’m reviewing eight plays over the next eight days for the 2010 Capital Fringe Festival, in collaboration with DC Theatre Scene. Get your button and join me!
Two perverted men in raincoats. On a park bench. Outside a girls’ school. Think you know what’s going on? Just wait til they start calling each other Sigmund and Karl, claiming to have witnessed events from a hundred years ago – throw in some torture talk and vague references to Chilean dictators, and you have quite a puzzle. Oh, and lots of flashing.
Washington Shakespeare Company’s production of Secret Obscenities is the kind of play that requires you to pay attention or you’ll get lost in the twists. Written by Marco Antonio de la Parra and set in 1980’s Chile, the two protagonists dance around the truth of their situation until the very end. Starting out as hysterically funny “dirty old men,” Brian Crane as Sigmund and Christopher Herring as Karl display enough antics to keep you entertained before delving into deep philosophical and political issues. There’s frantic physical comedy punctuated by well, dick jokes. Clocking in at a rapid 70 minutes, it explores what happens when you lose your identity to the totalitarian state. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘Road Closed’
courtesy of ‘Phillip Pessar’
There are a couple of big closures this weekend that you should be aware of as you plan your driving routes this weekend. The first is the 12th Street exit from inbound 395 across the Case Bridge. The ramp from 395 to 12th Street will be closed starting tonight at 9pm, and will not reopen until 4am on Monday. They’re fixing things on the ramp most of the weekend, and that will also close D Street SW east of 12th Street, too.
In addition, DDOT is doing some testing on the Frederick Douglass Bridge (South Capitol Street Bridge) from 4am to 9am on Sunday for standard monthly testing of the swing span.
You should also prepare for evening stoppages next week on DC 295 and I-295 around the 11th Street bridge project next week as they remove old sign structures and so they can add the steel trussing for the pedestrian bridge.
‘Strasburg’
courtesy of ‘Max Cook’
The media saturation regarding Stephen Strasburg, as anyone living in D.C. or elsewhere can tell you, has maintained a heavy and steady flow since he signed on as the first round draft pick last year by the Nationals.
He’s been immortalized by newspapers, magazines, and by Major League baseball itself. As if that wasn’t enough for a young man of just 21 years in age, he can now add a song to that belt with so many notches tacked on to it in only six starts (his seventh comes tonight against the San Francisco Giants in Washington).
Singer and guitarist Steve Wynn penned the song “Phenom” with the mindset of an imagined perspective straight from the head of Strasburg. Continue reading
By Tom Bridge
‘Street Sense, Washington DC’
courtesy of ‘Photos by Chip Py’
If you work downtown, you know what Street Sense is. You know their vendors well, they are DC’s homeless, who publish, print and sell a weekly newspaper as a way of making a living. Street Sense is looking for your help to take part in a Chase grant. If you want to give them a hand, use your facebook account to help them get to 1,000 signatures, they would receive $25,000 in funding from the Chase Community Giving group. That would be a significant boost in their bottom line. It doesn’t take much, just a click or two. Give it a click, would you?
By Dave Stroup
‘Meridian Hill Park’
courtesy of ‘ Jomo’
The National Park Service announced today that construction work will begin July 12 on the western retaining wall of Meridian Hill Park. The work will impact both vehicular and pedestrian traffic along 16th Street for roughly three months. From the NPS press release:
Beginning the week of Monday, July 12th, the National Park Service’s (NPS) Rock Creek Park and its contractor, The Christman Company of Alexandria, VA, will begin performing necessary stabilization work on the historic 35-foot- high retaining wall at Meridian Hill Park that borders northbound 16th Street, N.W. This historic wall is located on the west side of Meridian Hill Park near the intersection of 16th Street N.W. and Crescent Place Drive, N.W. Work on this project is expected to be completed in approximately three months.
To ensure pedestrian and vehicular safety, the work will require closure of a portion of the northbound lanes of 16th Street, N.W. beginning the week of July 12, 2010. The work area will start near the bus stop on the northbound side of 16th Street, N.W., and continue approximately 600-feet northward. The resulting traffic shift will provide two lanes in both directions at all times. Parking along southbound 16th Street, N.W. will be eliminated adjacent to the work area.
Also note:
Pedestrian traffic on the east side of 16th Street, N.W. will be restricted during the working hours of Monday through Friday, 6:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. This sidewalk will be open every afternoon after working hours and will remain open all weekend. During working hours, pedestrian traffic will then be redirected to the west side of 16th Street, N.W. at W and Euclid Streets, N.W.
DC Water is also doing some pipe replacement work between Euclid and Fuller Streets, NW. If you use 16th Street as part of your daily commute, beware, it’s likely traffic will be heavy between Florida Avenue and Columbia Road. The S1, S2, S4 and S9 bus routes may also experience delays due to this work.
Bad accident in the HOV lanes of I-395 between King Street and Seminary Road. A car has flipped over. Emergency crews are on the scene and may well have it cleared before your commute this evening, but you should consider an alternate route, or perhaps dinner in the city. Traffic cam embedded after the jump. Continue reading
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