Category Archives: The Features

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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Jonsi @ 9:30 Club 11/8/10 & 11/9/10

DSC_0721-1
all photos by Mike Kurman.

This week the 9:30 Club was completely transformed by the will, voice, and performance of Jonsi for two nights in a row. This tall, elf-like, painfully shy vocalist stood center-stage surrounded by a four-piece band of multi-instrumentalists whose unusual instruments filled the stage. Behind them and flanking the stage, beautifully produced video elements were projected onto screens in concert with an expertly staged light show to re-invent the club’s space in a way I have rarely seen before. The combination of the show’s next-level theatrical production values and the truly beautiful yet bizarre music made for two of the most audience enveloping, emotional performances I have seen at the 9:30 Club in 15 years.

If you are at all familiar with Jonsi’s original band Sigur Ros, you probably have an idea of how BIG he thinks when it comes to his music and extravagant live performances. Jonsi debuted his solo album earlier this year and has been performing various manifestations of this show with his incredible backing band at outdoor festivals, proper theaters, and large nightclubs. His show adapts well to whatever environment it finds itself in. I saw Jonsi perform at the Coachella Music Festival this past Spring and his performance there was so powerfully unique that I described it as “so other-worldly that I don’t even know if it took place in the same time-space continuum as the rest of the festival.” Allow me to expand on that idea when I describe the two shows at the 9:30 Club earlier this week. Jonsi’s musical alchemy somehow managed to transport the entire club and everyone in it into some sort of shamanistic pocket universe for an hour and a half each night. Both the performance and the performance space became enchanted by Jonsi and his band until they returned the club safely to its perch at 815 V St. promptly at 10:30 each night.*

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Interviews, People, The Features, We Love Arts
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Theater Spotlight: Rick Foucheux

Rick Foucheux in Theater J’s “The Odd Couple.” Photo credit: Stan Barouh

Second in a series of interviews with the many theater professionals who call DC their artistic home.

There comes a crossroads in every theater professional’s life, where you have to answer the question – should I try my luck in New York or LA? After two decades as a beloved actor of the DC scene, Rick Foucheux hit that point. So he spent last year “pounding the pavement” in NYC.

But, luckily for us, he returned to DC when the year was out. As exciting as the Big Apple was, and despite his doing well there, its energy just didn’t suit him. “New York has a charge, but it’s like a frayed electrical cord,” he joked, “DC has a more regular current.”

Foucheux got his start in DC theater when he came here in 1982 to host a TV show called “Good Morning Washington” on Channel 7 – it lasted a year. Having studied theater in college in his home state of Louisiana, he thought he’d try his hand at freelancing and made a decent living acting in industrial films. But when the “theater explosion” burst upon DC in the mid-1980’s, he took a chance and got back on the boards. Suddenly it seemed the area was filled with “strong small companies, and as they grew, I grew too.”

In speaking with Foucheux about his background and thoughts on DC theater, it’s obvious that he’s a gracious gentleman, putting you instantly at ease. Displaying equal doses of humor and humility, he’s happiest as a collaborator, enjoying his work with the current crop of playwrights and feeling privileged to be a part of the process. “I like having the opportunity to make some comment,” he says, though then quick to point out he feels his is a small contribution. During our interview, his smooth voice reminded me of a old-school radio announcer, no doubt a result both of his training for TV and his Louisiana background. It’s a welcome respite from the days of mumblecore.

He knows he is lucky too. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Wizards Shutdown Rockets In Wall’s First Career Triple-Double

There was so much about last night’s game that reminded me of last Tuesday’s home opener.

A marquee match-up: this time around it was a Yao vs. Yi Chinese face-off.

A game after a notable embarrassment: a notably terrible practice that caused Coach Saunders to flip out.

An energy about John Wall that excited the crowd.

Well  I suspect every game will have that sort of anticipation.

What was also the similar to last Tuesday’s opener was the result: a win for the Wizards and another achievement for rookie John Wall. However that’s where the similarities end.

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Special Events, The Features
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The Nationals Get New Uniforms


Photo Courtesy of the Washington Nationals

Clean-cut and no frills – that’s what the Washington Nationals new set of uniforms for the 2011 season are. The fan-favorite curly W that is predominately displayed as an integral logo of the Nationals organization is now the cornerstone of the front office’s attempt to provide their players and fans with a sense of baseball identity.

According to Nationals Chief Operating Officier Andrew Feffer, the organization spent the entire season getting the feel for what District baseball fans would like to see if any changes to the uniforms were made. A combination of focus groups, surveys and casual conversations brought the Nats uniforms to where they are and will be for the duration of 2011 – a red, white, and blue palate of patriotism garnished with a curly W.

Some fans and critics of the team have already expressed their disdain for a lack of the team’s name being prominently displayed on the front of the home jersey but that’s the thing about uniform changes … not everyone’s always going to fall in love at first sight. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Zimmerman passed over for Golden Glove

Photo courtesy of
‘Ryan Zimmerman’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

Ryan Zimmerman is a joy to watch at 3rd base.  He’s the sort of guy that old school radio announcers loved to call games around.  “Zimmerman at Third like a Razor’s Edge!”  “Zimmerman makes the play, leaping on that ball like a mongoose!”  He’s a phenomenal athlete, and the core of the Nationals’ young franchise.  Unfortunately, he couldn’t repeat his Golden Glove performance of 2009.

This year’s Golden Glove goes to Scott Rolen of the Reds, who had 9 fewer errors in 6 more chances at third base, as well as five more double plays than Zimmerman.  While Zim had a great year for the Nationals, and was largely the team’s MVP, it’s hard to ignore the statistics.  Sorry Zim, you’ll get it in 2011.

History, Scribblings, Special Events, The Features
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American Indians, American Presidents…And a Heritage

Photo courtesy of
‘In the land of the Sioux’
courtesy of ‘Smithsonian Institution’

Ask someone on the street about Native American history and more often than not, they’ll most likely recall the “Thanksgiving story,” the Indian Wars of the late nineteenth century, “Custer’s Last Stand,” or probably the (abysmal) movie Dances With Wolves. It’s an era of our nation’s history that I think many know little about – or choose to look the other way – and I cannot blame them for it. It’s not a pretty period of history, nor is it exactly the United States’ most proudest collection of moments.

When I saw the National Museum of the American Indian’s (NMAI) press release regarding the variety of activities in celebration of Native American Indian Heritage Month, one of the events that caught my eye was today’s lecture with NMAI Director Kevin Gover and museum historian Mark Hirsch. They were speaking regarding a book the Smithsonian released last year, American Indians, American Presidents: A History, edited by Clifford E. Trafzer. While I couldn’t attend the lecture, I had wanted to interview both Director Gover and Mr. Hirsch regarding the book and its impact but despite both NMAI and my best efforts, we couldn’t quite make things work out.

Nonetheless, I decided to forge ahead with a look at this book – even though it was released last year – for a variety of reasons. Native American history is a subject very close to me, for starters, and is an era of history I feel is mostly glossed over in classrooms. The struggle of Native Americans during this country’s formation and rise to power is something that cannot be ignored and, I believe, contains lessons for our future as a nation and as a people.

So I asked NMAI for a copy of the book, eager to see what new perspectives awaited within. And…I was left wanting. Continue reading →

Talkin' Transit
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Talkin’ Transit: The Future’s Bright

Photo courtesy of
’30 Oct 2010 – No 377′
courtesy of ‘B Jones Jr’

Or at least the future will have mobile data.

Since my return to semi-regular Metro use, I’ve been wondering about a few changes and enhancements that have been promised (or needed). I asked Metro to comment on several items, including what’s going on with the continued roll out of cell phone service in the rest of the system.

Last year, Metro and the various mobile companies launched service inside the 20 busiest stations, and I think everyone is rather happy with the result. The agency is under a mandate to launch service throughout the rest of the system by October 2012. I noticed that at Court House, the visible infrastructure was installed, so I wanted to know if roll out was going faster than planned or if it would be phased in.
Continue reading →

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: House of Gold

Images taken by Stan Barouh, courtesy of Woolly Mammoth

Woolly’s House of Gold succeeds spectacularly at creating a unique experience in the theater that couldn’t be replicated in another medium. Whether it succeeds in any other way is a difficult question.

I’ve spent much of the last year concerned about whether the theater experiences available to us really make use of the format. I won’t rehash the same issues I wrote about in August; I’ll simply say that House of Gold makes use of the space and stage design in a way that’s unique, compelling, and attention-grabbing. The action takes place on multiple physical levels and, at one point, uses live video and projection. Director Sarah Benson, set designer David Zinn and everyone else involved in putting this visual together deserves a pat on the back and perhaps an award or three.

Whether the play itself works? Honestly, two days later I’m still trying to decide.

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: The War of the Worlds

Regen Wilson as Orson Welles in SCENA Theatre's "War of the Worlds." Photo credit: Ian C. Armstrong.

As a child one of my favorite Halloween activities was listening to a taped radio rebroadcast of The War of the Worlds. In my memory it’s always during a power outage, candles flickering, my father scaring us kids even more by playing scratchy old records afterwards on a creepy vintage Victrola. Though the voice of Orson Welles instantly connected me to primal fear, there was always something in that rumbling tone that felt safe, an underlying comic lifeline, a wink. But my father made sure to explain that wink got Welles in a hell of a lot of trouble.

In SCENA Theatre’s recreation of the October 30, 1938 broadcast, Regen Wilson nails that Wellesian voice just right. But the production itself is too faithful to a fault. Simply too much of a recreation, it strangely fails to mine the greater implications of the original broadcast. It feels like a dusty museum piece, playing to an almost empty house the night I visited. Talented actors, a fine production design, all on display for what purpose? When one can download the original in a few minutes and be frightened by Welles himself, what could the intent of such a performance be?

That almost empty house preyed on my mind while writing this review. There is no worse feeling when you love theater. But I have to be honest, all that reverential recreation made for a dry night out. The confines of this conceit are just too restraining for SCENA, which only released itself into what it does best – chaotic surrealism – in the final minute. It all adds up to lost opportunities. And considering this is a remount of their 2006 production, the safe choices are even more mystifying.

At first glance, this seems a respectable production to introduce you to Welles’ infamous prank about a Martian invasion.  It’s well-acted with good production values, taking up an easy hour of your time in the H Street Playhouse. Continue reading →

Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Deep Blue DC

Photo courtesy of
‘elephant or donkey?’
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

DC is a special place: it’s the center of the country’s political power, but it has little to no political power of its own.  And every election season, our city is cast as just about the worst possible place in the world.  The District is notoriously left-leaning, but we’re about to welcome a lot more right-leaning representatives and staffers to the area too.  This week’s Mythbusting will tackle some political myths.  Is DC one of the most liberal districts in the country?  And what about the region as a whole?

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The Features
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DC Water’s Blue Plains: A look into DC’s high tech treatment system

Photo courtesy of
‘DC Water’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Big physical systems are some of my favorite things.  Giant factories with conveyor belts and robots, pneumatically-driven pipe organs, and physical engineering projects. These are some of the most amazing things to me, because they combine human ingenuity and back-breaking labor to massively alter an original product and make of it something wholly new. I think that explains why I loved my trip to DC Water’s Blue Plains Advanced Wastewater Management plant more than I expected to.c

The expansive facility at DC’s southern tip is DC’s only sewage treatment plant, more than that, it’s the largest advanced wastewater treatment plant in the world.  That’s not a typo. While many cities spread out their treatment processes, DC’s system is centralized on the eastern bank of the Anacostia just south of Bolling Air Force Base.  The system covers all the sewage waste from DC and several surrounding suburban counties that pump their waste deep beneath the city, through the beautiful Art Deco Main & O Pumping station just next to Nationals Park, which sends it to the head end of the plant at Blue Plains.

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Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘dc_streets_new-4’
courtesy of ‘dr_kim_veis [”o ]’

While looking for photographs to use for this feature (please, consider this an invite to add yours), I noticed a pattern. My eye fell on many film pictures, particularly street photography ones, and I began to wonder why. I think that good street photos require good composition, rather than shooting from the hip. I think that folks with film rather than digital cameras tend to spend a little more time composing a shot (yes, it’s a generalization, deal with it).

I imagine Dr Kim Veis standing there, patiently waiting while all the actors got into place between the lines. The wary business men on their way, wondering why there’s a photographer shooting them, while the man with the phone goes about his business, unaware. All of this at a building that has a reputation of shooing photographers away.

The Features
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Your credit card debt is your college’s revenue

Photo courtesy of
’90B #3′
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

Well, it is if you’re a student from Catholic or American who got a branded credit card. Otherwise it’s just your debt.

The content you see on Stocktrades, is from those who have a vested interest in making sure the absolute best content is exclusively available at https://www.stocktrades.ca/.

The CARD Act passed Congress last year and requires higher education institutions to disclose the terms of their agreements with credit card providers when they involve promoting credit cards to students. There’s an online database you can search now to find the terms of those agreements and what money the institution is pulling in as a result. I’m not examining the deals from Baltimore – John’s Hopkins, Notre Dame of Maryland, Loyola – so I can focus on our area. The only schools in our area making a deal for their current student’s information are American University and Catholic University in the District and Marymount University in Arlington.

That’s not because they’re necessary less ethical than George Mason University or University of Maryland – those institutions, being public, are bound differently by FERPA and can’t legally make this sort of deal for an enrolled student’s info. Georgetown and George Washington, on the other hand, don’t have that FERPA hurdle but still decided to let their students make it out into the workforce and have a few years under their belt to learn the perils of revolving debt.

And make no mistake, revolving credit is a peril for everyone. It’s a scourge on modern life and serves almost no useful purpose except to build wealth through the most repugnant and unnecessary form of money-lending. Well, and to allow people to make a purchase that will eventually cost them between a 5 and 50% premium. Sadly about 55% of the population disagrees with me or has gotten sucked in by temptation and now carries a balance. You don’t have to agree with me, but I want you to know where I’m coming from – disclosed biases and all that.

So AU and Catholic students, what are your charging habits worth to your schools?

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Sports Fix
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Sports Fix: Bye Week Edition

Slapshot

Capitals
Record: 10-4
Last Two Weeks:
Place: 5-1 First in the Southeast, 20 points

A four-game winning streak. A trio of capable young goalies. Undefeated in Overtime. That’s not a bad first month of the season for the Capitals. Perfect? No, they’ve made some mistakes, but they’ve had a pretty good start, and that’s all that Coach Bruce Boudreau needs right now to keep things moving.

The Caps are still trying to find their offensive groove, and some of the lines are working better than others. They’ll be testing things out against the NY Rangers on Tuesday night at the Garden, then back to DC for Thursday night’s match with Tampa Bay. They bounce around a bit for the next two weeks, with games here and away against Buffalo and Atlanta. Continue reading →

We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Oklahoma!

The company of the Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!Photo by Carol Rosegg.

Arena Stage’s Oklahoma! – their first production since their return to their proper home – isn’t perfect, but it doesn’t need to be. The dramatic misses are made-up for in toe-tapping, infectious energy combined with enjoyable choreography and an impressive stage design. If the stars lack a little chemistry and the threat in the final act fails to really fit, well, if you can’t grade Rogers and Hammerstein on a curve, who can you?

Oklahoma! starts strong with Nicholas Rodriguez as a Curly so likable and beaming that you’re left a little uncertain why Elesha Gamble’s Laurey would ever play hard-to-get. The two of them never managed to convince me they were deeply in love, but any lack of chemistry they exhibit in their duet is quickly forgotten when Cody Williams as Will bursts onto the stage and sings and dances his way through what ended up being my favorite number of the night: Kansas City. The cliche police might come to get me but it’s true: I really did discover myself tapping my toe without realizing it.

Arena’s Oklahoma! succeeds best in the moments when it’s being loudly and gleefully earnest and cheesy. It’s not too surprising that this would be the case – Director Molly Smith’s program notes comment that the play was chosen because of its sense of transition and beginnings, to match Arena’s return to its transformed home down by the waterfront. Perhaps some of the other interesting and intermittently successful choices mirror Arena’s transition and journey in other ways as well.

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Sports Fix
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Skins Mid-Season Report

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘dbking’

After half a season, the Redskins seem to have almost as many questions marks as they did during training camp. However, there is reason to believe things can come together and the team can make a run towards the playoffs. 4 wins matches the win total from last season, and there are significant improvements in the areas of preparation, discipline, and opportunistic play. There’s also a major issue at quarterback and a lack of depth at key positions that will need to be resolved. Here are the major storylines thus far in 2010.

The Haynesworth Saga – What seemed like a problem a few weeks ago appears to have been assuaged. Mike Shanahan and Albert Haynesworth are now on the same page, and Haynesworth is playing at his highest level since joining the Skins. We should remember that these two men were barely talking to each other during the off-season and Haynesworth complained about the new defensive scheme. His benching and the death of his brother didn’t help matters either. The last 3 games, however, Haynesworth has looked great and they need him to continue that play in order to make the playoffs.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Caps notch Overtime win against Philly, 3-2

Title Card

Sunday night’s early evening game against the Flyers was full of opportunities for the Capitals to assert their dominance, but it was Philly that struck first.  Nikolay Zherdev scored on the breakaway against Braden Holtby in his first NHL start.  Holtby would block 23 of 25 and earn the second star tonight, including three beautiful back-to-back-to-back saves against a Flyers onslaught in the third period.

Eric Fehr and Alexander Semin would chalk up regulation goals in the first and the second for the Capitals, in an offensive performance that was mostly lackluster.  The Caps would pepper Bobrovsky with 39 shots, striking just three times tonight.  Worse were the missed connections from the Caps offense, which just couldn’t connect on the cross tonight, and had a number of difficulties clearing the puck.

The best chance for the Caps to finish off the Flyers came with 3:55 remaining in the third. Chris Pronger got booked on a double-minor for high-sticking, as he swatted defenseman Dave Steckel in the nose.  The physical game was almost entirely in Philly’s corner tonight, with the Flyers outhitting the Caps 30-17, and that’s what got them into the situation that cost them the game.  The Caps started overtime playing 5 on 3, and just 29 seconds into the period, Mike Green beat rookie minder Bobrovsky high on a laser shot to claim the victory.

History, Interviews, Life in the Capital, Media, Scribblings, Special Events, The Features, They Shoot DC, We Love Arts
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Photographing the President

Lyndon B. Johnson’s photographer Yoichi Okamoto disappeared behind the President to make this image. Okamoto would have been below the eye line of almost all of the reporters in the room. (LBJ Library/Yoichi Okamoto, p. 118); courtesy National Geographic

Photographs. They’re a common form of expression in media today; they’re everywhere. To many, none are more relevant or as communicative as those taken of the President of the United States. We see them every day in the paper, on websites, on television. “Pictures are worth a thousand words,” says the old adage; none more so true than those of the most powerful and important position in these United States.

But what about the men and women behind those shots? Ever wonder about them – who they are, how they do what they do, what it takes to get “that shot”? John Bredar recently published The President’s Photographer: 50 Years Inside the Oval Office. Bredar primarily chronicles Pete Souza, President Obama’s chief photographer (and former photographer for President Ronald Reagan), through the book while discussing the unique ins and outs of the position with past photographers. We managed – with National Geographic’s help (and a review copy of Brader’s book)- to catch former Presidential photographers Eric Draper and David Hume Kennerly and find out a little bit more about who some of these special and unique individuals are behind the lens.

Access to the President “behind the scenes” by photographers is, in the sense of Presidential history, only a recent development. “Do we really need someone following the President of the United States around every day with a camera?” Bredar asks in his book. When photographer Edward Steichen approached President Lyndon Johnson about it, he posed a simple question: “Just think what it would mean if we had such a photographic record of Lincoln’s presidency?” Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Interpol @ DAR Constitution Hall 11/3/10

IMG_5769
Photo by author.

Well, wasn’t this just about the biggest disappointment of the year?*

Interpol have returned after a several year hiatus with a mediocre fourth album and a new bass player. They performed at DAR Constitution Hall on Wednesday night to a 3/4 full house. Their performance was a lame mess of disjointed sonic elements that was either a symptom of hiatus rust or a band resting on its laurels. I fear it was a combination of both.

I don’t even know where to begin describing this one. Interpol used to be an amazing band and I saw them perform plenty in their prime. Ever since their junior album though, something has just not been clicking. I believe Carlos D felt that too and that is why their identifiable bass player quit to work on ‘other artistic projects’. His departure is not the reason for Interpol sucking these days though. The reason Interpol have devolved from a band that danced along the edge of passion and numbness brilliantly into a bloated, boring act seems to be disinterested members and a lack of general harmony among its musical parts.

Continue reading →