Category Archives: The Features

These are our features. They come back either weekly, bi-weekly or monthly.

All Politics is Local, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, News, The District, The Features
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DC Farm To School Network

Photo courtesy of
‘i fear school lunch’
courtesy of ‘amarino17’

Although I’m not THAT far out of high school, my memories of cafeteria lunches are fairly limited, which leads me to believe that the food served was…well…unmemorable. That is, it wasn’t good enough to be noteworthy and it wasn’t bad enough to be permanently seared into my mind. I have foggy images of square pizza, sloppy joes, grilled cheese, lasagna, and a salad bar which in the 1990s (and I’m dating myself) was a groundbreaking, yet sadly disappointing and unappetizing, addition.

Given my, and I’m supposing most people’s, middling school lunch experience, I was extremely inspired when I learned about the DC Farm to School Network, a coalition of advocates working to connect Washington, DC schools to local farmers to get more healthy, local foods into school cafeterias. With the ultimate goal to improve child health, reconnect students with where food comes from, provide health, food, and environmental education opportunities and support the local food economy. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Chromeo @ 9:30 Club, 2/6/11

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All photos by Michael Darpino

Per Michael’s advice, I thought I’d cruise over to the 9:30 Club on Sunday night to dance with single ladies with good taste in music. I even came up with the perfect line – “excuse me, do you care about sports? Me neither.”

Okay, not entirely true. I try to care about football at least once a year, so I caught the first three-quarters of the Super Bowl. And I pretended to be heartbroken when I had to leave before the final quarter to catch Chromeo. They played two shows this weekend – Saturday night’s sold out forever ago, but The Game meant there were still tickets for Sunday. But even with competing activities, Chromeo nearly filled the club. It proved to be a great venue for these guys – with a full stage setup, complete with stadium-style lighting, backup dancers, and their trademark sexy-leg-synthesizers, Chromeo showed off their bona-fide rock star credentials.
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Mythbusting DC
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DC Mythbusting: You’re Saying it Wrong

Photo courtesy of
‘I before E’
courtesy of ‘dharmabumx’

Neighborhood names are a touchy subject here in the District, and residents tend to get riled up about what an area is called or what a Metro station is named.  But outside of that, are we even saying these names properly? Chances are you’re actually saying or writing some of these places incorrectly. Read on for some of the most frequently mispronounced names in Washington.

Glover Park rhymes with clover park, right? Wrong. The neighborhood north of Georgetown takes its name from Charles Carroll Glover, a landowner from the 1800s, and the Washington Post tracked down his granddaughter back in 2005 and asked her about how her family pronounces its name.  Her reply?  “GLUH-ver. Please. Everybody calls it GLOH-ver, and it’s absolutely wrong. It’s GLUH-ver Park.”  But that hasn’t stopped the debate– many residents still say it rhymes with Grover, the Sesame Street character.  So either way you say it, someone will probably tell you that you’re wrong, but if you’re trying to be historically accurate it should sound like lover and not like clover.

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Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘Enlightened Reader’
courtesy of ‘pablo.raw’

There’s so much I admire about this shot. First, it’s well spotted and composed. Initially, I thought it might be posed, even, but there’s really no indication that is the case.

Secondly, pablo.raw certainly threw his camera into manual. With oncoming lights and the relative darkness of most Metro stations, it’d be all but impossible for the exposure and focus to have hit the right spot.

Lastly, Metro stations make great backdrops, and it’s still not illegal to take great looking pictures in the system!

Entertainment, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Fern Knight/The Plums @ Comet Ping Pong, 2/5/11


Courtesy of Fern Knight.

The back room is filling up at Comet Ping Pong in anticipation of two intriguing bands set to showcase their sound and songs. Ping Pong tables are being pushed aside to make way for the crowd as the rather confused method of having people go back and pay a cover charge takes place. Martin Bisi and band [correction: The Plums]* set up and go through the laborious sound check as everyone eagerly awaits the music. And this is a fine bill with the talented New York based producer/engineer Bisi leading a band that sound a bit like some of the bands he has worked with such as Sonic Youth and Swans followed by Fern Knight, an always interesting DC/Philadelphia band with wonderful psyche and folk elements in their songs.

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Food and Drink, Foodie Roundup, The Features
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Valentine’s Day for Every Couple: The Problem Solving Edition

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘erin m’

It’s t minus one week until Valentine’s Day, and if you’re reading this, you’ve got problems. You haven’t decided on the year’s most romantic meal that will impress not only your significant other, but every person you’ve ever met. There’s a lot of pressure when it comes to Valentine’s plans, and there are way too many choices. So this year, we’ve shortcut it for you. For every stage or annoyance in your relationship, there is a Valentine’s Day option for it.

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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Monotonix @ Comet Ping-Pong, 2/4/11

Monotonix at Comet 018
All photos by author

So this is what anarchy feels like.

Even with over 700 shows under their belt, Monotonix’s show on Friday night at Comet might’ve been the best chance to catch them on this tour. For reference, their show earlier this week in L.A. attracted 600 fans to a tiny venue – the cops ended up shutting down the show. Comet, on the other hand, can only hold 120 people in the back room. The show was sold out around 11pm, and the staff were kicking out people who didn’t have tickets, to stay within fire code.

For those lucky enough to get in, Comet’s back room was ideal for vocalist Ami Shalev’s antics. Sure, I’m a big fan of Monotonix’s brand of garage rock – noisy, positive, exciting, with energetic drums and dirty guitar licks. But a Monotonix show is more performance art than concert. The packed crowd offered a platform for Ami to climb around the room on our arms and shoulders, using every bit of space in the room from the floor to the rafters. I’ve never seen a band so utterly destroy the 4th wall between band and audience.
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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Wizards Collapse Late In Defeat Against Hawks

Photo courtesy of
‘Wizards’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

There’s no “me” in Wizards.

Go with me on this one, I had to change up the adage a little bit.

After half-time the Wizards went back onto the floor trailing the Atlanta Hawks 52-46. Over the course of the second half the Wizards managed to catch back up to within striking distance but didn’t have enough juice in the final quarter and fell short 92-99. The key difference was in their free throw shooting where they went 8-18, compared to 26-35 from the Hawks. Doesn’t matter if you criticize the FT% or the free throw attempts, it’s still a terrible number.

On the surface the team didn’t do too bad: the players shot 50%, Nick Young had another solid night with 21 points (and a new fro), and Al Thornton had a dunk that is already being called “Dunk of the Year.

The problem is the team isn’t performing to the true sum of the parts. Everybody is trying to one the game on their own, not as a team.

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Weekend Flashback
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Weekend Flashback: 2/4 – 2/6/11

Photo courtesy of
‘_DSC0637’
courtesy of ‘mediaslave’

After perusing the Flickr pool this morning, you would have never thought there was some big game on television last night. Apparently dominating everyone’s mood was the celebration of the Chinese New Year in Chinatown yesterday afternoon!

Still, it was a jam-packed weekend for most, along with some great weather. As you settle back to work, take a moment to reflect on the weekend past, including victories won, contests lost, and celebrations galore. Continue reading →

capitals hockey, Sports Fix
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Caps Evolve, Shut Out Penguins 3-0

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Last year at this time, DC was buried under Snowmaggedon. The Caps lit the region with a hard-fought win over the Penguins as everyone prepped for the Super Bowl. This year, it’s deja-vu…sorta.

The Caps came into this afternoon’s contest on a mission to establish themselves and their game plan. After their dominating win over Tampa on Friday, it was imperative the Caps continue their new-found momentum as the Pittsburgh Penguins visited the Verizon Center.

Pittsburgh, however, arrived missing two of their marquee players. Sidney Crosby was currently out of the lineup due to lingering concussion symptoms from a Jan 5 game against Tampa Bay, and Evgeni Malkin was out, awaiting a second opinion on his torn MCL/ACL in his right knee. (Malkin may be out for the season at this point.) Continue reading →

Capital Chefs, Food and Drink, The Features
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Capital Chefs: Tom Marr of Pete’s Apizza (Part 2)

Photo courtesy of
‘squash’
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

So I didn’t manage to obtain the secrets behind making New Haven style pizza (besides, would it even compare to the real thing if you made it at home?) But, I did get a great recipe for one of Pete’s Apizza’s antipasti: carmelized winter squash, sundried cherries and apple crisps with a cider vinaigrette. According to Chef Marr, you can use a variety of squash for this recipe–butternut squash, acorn squash–depending on your preferences and what’s available or in season. For those of you wary about stepping in the kitchen, fear not. The dish is an easy, but impressive, appetizer to serve to your friends the next time they come over for dinner. The recipe is for a large amount, so feel free to scale it down if you’re not cooking for a crowd.

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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Girl Talk @ 9:30 Club, 2/1/11

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All photos by Andrew Markowitz

If you’re looking for a good dance party, you can’t do much better than Girl Talk.

Gregg Gillis, the man behind the moniker Girl Talk, sits as the king of the mash-up, where different parts of different songs are combined into a track that’s both retro and fresh. The genius of Girl Talk is that he shifts from one part to the next so quickly that it doesn’t get stale – before you can name that tune, it’s on to the next one. It’s the perfect soundtrack for the ADD generation.

I thought that the best way to enjoy Girl Talk was to sit around with your friends, drinking beers and calling out which Radiohead beats were mixed with which Missy Elliot verses. Of course, Girl Talk’s music is solid enough to stand on its own, beyond being just a long game of ‘name that tune’, and the live show propels it to a new level. It seizes your attention and never lets go. If you stop paying attention, you’re bound to get hit in the face with toilet paper propelled by a leaf-blower.
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Capital Chefs, Food and Drink, The Features
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Capital Chefs: Tom Marr of Pete’s Apizza (Part 1)

Photo courtesy of


‘Chef Tom Marr, Pete’s Apizza’
courtesy of ‘bonappetitfoodie’

Walking into the Pete’s Apizza location in Tenleytown, I approached the counter and asked for Chef Thomas Marr. “Chef who?” said the cashier. Suddenly I was afraid that I had gotten the location wrong. Was I supposed to go to the one in Columbia Heights? Did I get the time wrong? “Uhh, let me go check for you,” he said. No sooner did the jovial chef come out to greet me, the cashier laughed, “Sorry, when you said ‘chef’ I got confused. He’s known as one of the owners around here.”

Photo courtesy of

Wearing multiple hats is exactly what Marr does–he’s a chef, but he’s also one of the co-founders of Pete’s Apizza and is often busy managing the restaurant and talking with familiar customers. “Restaurant people are restaurant people,” he says, adding that once they start working in the restaurant business, they stay. For Marr, he always enjoyed the hospitality aspect and getting satisfaction out of making customers happy. Now, he’s got a restaurant of his own, and even invested in a POS system, e.g., Revel Systems, so he can have better customer transactions. Marr entered the restaurant world as a dishwasher, graduated to doing prep work and eventually trained at the Culinary Institute of America. He’s worked in restaurants across the world, including DC’s own National Gallery of Art.

‘Pizza at Pete’s Apizza’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

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We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, February 5-6

Photo courtesy of
’30/365′
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

Michael: Decisions, decisions. Friday night is stacked with good options. Insane Israeli rockers Monotonix are at Comet Ping Pong at the same time as legendary techno-scientist Tom Middleton is at U Street Music Hall. Both will be a blast so it will probably come down to a coin toss. Definitely hitting Chromeo at 9:30 Club on Sunday night though. These guys completely wowed me at FreeFest and I am curious if they can do the same minus the Dance Forest contact high.

Ben: Friday will be spent taking in a screening of Shared Experience: Telling Our Stories at the National Museum for the American Indian (and next week is much ado about chocolate!). Saturday is a day of writing and rest, and then there’s the big game on Sunday – no, not the one with the Steelers. It’s here at the Verizon Center: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Washington Capitals. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Robert Plant @ DAR Constitution Hall, 2/1/11


courtesy of RobertPlant.com

Like many people my age, we grew up as big fans of Led Zeppelin. They had the power and the superstar aura about them. They seemed far more mystical and untouchable than many of the other big bands of their day, akin to latter day Beatles perhaps. It has been interesting to follow the individual members since that time, as they have been much more down to earth in accessibility both personally and musically. John Paul Jones worked with Foo Fighters and Queens of the Stone Age members, Jimmy Page plays often and is open for interviews and was even featured in the documentary “It Might Get Loud”. Yet it is Robert Plant who has been most active with album releases. He has released a ten-disc box set covering his career and has since added an award winning duet CD with Alison Krauss. Now he is touring in support of his latest album with another solid group called Band of Joy.
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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The Radio Dept. @ Rock & Roll Hotel, 2/1/11

Radio Dept.
all photos by Erin McCann.

On Tuesday night, bodies were packed like sweaty sardines into a very sold-out Rock & Roll Hotel to see the Swedish dream-pop trio The Radio Dept. This much anticipated show was an early date on their current U.S. tour in support of their career-spanning retrospective “Passive Aggresive”. But for most of the young audience the show was really the first chance to see The Radio Dept. since they released their excellent 2010 album “Clinging to a Scheme”. This is easily their most mainstream accessible work and it was obvious that a lot of the chatty crowd were only there to hear songs from that album. The set list featured a lot of non-album singles, a few older album tracks, and the highlights from “Clinging to a Scheme”. Unfortunately a combination of the sell-out crowd making the room very uncomfortable, early technical difficulties, audience rudeness, and a complete lack of showmanship from the band made this concert much less than the stellar, atmospheric-pop display that I was expecting.

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Entertainment, The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The Carpetbagger’s Children

(Seated) Kimberly Schraf as Cornelia, Holly Twyford as Sissie, and Nancy Robinette as Grace Ann in the Ford’s Theatre Society production of Horton Foote’s “The Carpetbagger’s Children,” directed by Mark Ramont. Photo by T. Charles Erickson.

It’s no surprise.

Much like everybody else around Washington, I am not locally born and raised. I was born in Lowell, Massachusetts and grew up in the neighboring town of Chelmsford. Before the city gained attention as the setting of The Fighter, it was known as a historic mill city  and one of the centers of the Industrial Revolution. Everything from canal tours to textile museum visits were regular rites of passage for the local school-aged children. While it was fun to ride in a boat through locks, learning about the finer points of looms and wooden dynamos were not the most entertaining of topics.

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The Features
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Photos: Old Washington in the Winter

Taft Inauguration

Photo courtesy of the DC Public Library

I love Flickr. Here at We Love DC, we all love Flickr. Without your contributions to our pool, the site would be a lot less colorful. But one of my favorite things about Flickr is The Commons, where museums of the world post selections of their historic photography collections. It can be fun sometimes to spend an hour or two lost in a long-ago world, made all the more enlightening because so many of those photos show scenes of our very city: Washington. As we recover from last week’s snowstorm and as we’re currently dealing with another mess of a weather pattern, it seems like the right time to take a look back at how Washingtonians of the past dealt with winter.

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Comedy in DC, Entertainment, Night Life
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Comedy in DC: Chris Barylick

Chris Barylick yellow

Chris Barylick, founder of the Geek Comedy Tour, met up with me at the very crowded Tynan coffee house in Columbia Heights this past weekend. We were fortunate to find two seats by the coffee machine. For a minute we stared at this knitting club that was hanging out right next to us. That was the first knitting club I have ever seen. It looked like they were having fun, but come on! I don’t get how people can just plant themselves at a coffeshop for hours and hours like it’s their den and think that it’s cool.

Anyway, Chris, 33, is from Providence, Rhode Island and moved to DC in 1996 and has been performing stand up for the past six years. Additionally, he runs an open mic at the Eleventh Street Lounge in Clarendon, VA every Monday. The first time I met Chris was at his open mic there. The weather that night was a little brutal, but a lot of comics showed up to do their thing. Chris announced the lineup of comics that were going to perform and then we moved down to the basement.  Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Office Of Future Plans @ The Wind-Up Space, 1/28/11

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“Office of Future Plans” set by author.

I went up to Baltimore on Friday for a night of good old fashioned American indie rock. The kind of early to mid-90’s, DIY-fueled, noisy indie rock that produced local legends like Ian MacKaye and J. Robbins. I guess it’s what music historians are calling post-hardcore these days. Emotional rock music with hardcore’s heart but with a compositional sophistication that punk could never pull off. This music has got guts and up tempos and expresses deep emotion without ever sounding limp or boring. It is music that can keep a room full of people moving or just as easily soundtrack your loneliest moment.

The big draw for me on Friday was finally seeing Office of Future Plans headline a show. This is J. Robbins’ new project that he has been incubating for almost two years now. Anything new from J. Robbins of Jawbox (et al.)* is going to peak my interest, but I had been hearing great things about his latest group and I wanted to check them out in the right setting. A special bonus on the bill was SPRCSS, a mysterious post-punk band with minimal internet presence, who surface like a submarine surprise attack every few years to blow audiences away with their select performances. Kicking things off was Baltimore’s own psychedelic freak-out heroes, Whoarfrost. Watching this spastic, noisy triple bill in The Wind-Up Space really took me back to my first days in DC, back when almost every other night offered great shows full of sonically interesting, passionate, local indie-rock bands who mixed power and emotion perfectly.
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