Category Archives: The Features

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

The District, The Features
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She Loves DC: Kaya Henderson – Interim Chancellor, DCPS

Kaya Henderson, Interim Chancellor of DCPS
Photo courtesy of DCPS

Yesterday afternoon, we had the chance to sit down with DCPS Interim Superintendent Kaya Henderson to talk about her new position within the school system, what she loves about DC, and what her goals are as the new interim superintendent of the city schools.

You graduated from Georgetown, you have a bachelors in foreign service, in diplomacy if you will, when did you decide that Education was what you were looking for?

Kaya: When I went to Georgetown, I thought like most folks in the school of foreign service, I wanted to change the world. The world being a big place, I had traveled a ton when I was growing up and I was fascinated by what was going on in lots of other places in the world.  In the course of my four years, as my friends were headed off to farflung places to help other people, it became pretty clear to me that there was something weird about going to Latin America or Africa or Asia to help other people, I felt there were significant needs here.

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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Delphic @ Liberation Dance Party @ DC9 10/8/10

IMG_4795
all photos by author.

Last Friday night DC was treated to a very special, one-off, U.S. headlining gig by the new stars of the British dance music scene, Delphic. This singular opportunity to catch one of the UK’s hottest bands was hosted at the unlikely venue of DC9 thanks to the savvy programming of Liberation Dance Party. Those in the know about these kinds of things were totally freaking out at this random chance to see Delphic perform in one of DC’s most intimate spaces. At home and in the rest of Europe, Delphic have already risen to festival main-stage status; but for the Eyjafjallajokull Icelandic volcano preventing them from making their Coachella Music Festival U.S. debut last Spring, they probably would be well on their way to playing large venues stateside as well. Their mind-blowing performance at DC9 on Friday proved that they are more than ready too.

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We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, October 16-17

Photo courtesy of
‘Colors of Autumn’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

Max: Friday night I’ll be checking out the opening at Flashpoint for Adam de Boer’s “Finca”.  Saturday I’ll be flipping through the pages of the second issue of Worn Magazine at a preview party in Georgetown, and possibly throwing my underwear on stage at the Super Diamond show at 9:30.  Sunday I’ll be popping Advil and trying to get “Sweet Caroline” out of my head.

Brittany: My birthday falls on Saturday, so it is a pretty festive week for me. First stop is at Urban Style Lab. Jen did an amazing job overhauling my faded-out California “ombre” color and her sister Liana will be trimming my fringe this weekend so I can actually see what happens, even if I cannot remember. There will be birthday drinks with a couple of friends at The Gibson. Dress code is suits and bow-ties for the boys. Quelle adorbs, right? Sunday is the real party, though, featuring my amazing friends, djs, day drinking, and such, followed by an after-party on my friend’s gorgeous Columbia Heights rooftop. Monday, one of my fave local causes, 826DC is having a fundraiser at my fave bar, The Passenger, and Tuesday is the sure-to-be-rad Worn Magazine Issue 2 Party at U Hall. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Gorillaz @ Susquehanna Bank Center (NJ) 10/10/10 & Patriot Center (VA) 10/11/10

IMG_2318.jpg
all photos by Andrew Markowitz.*

Pop-music mad scientist Damon Albarn is currently touring his ever-evolving collaborative group and multimedia extravaganza, Gorillaz, across the United States. After Gorillaz climbed around New York City like King Kong at the end of last week, they took their road-show down the Turnpike to play an incredible show in Camden, New Jersey on Sunday night, and then down I-95 to perform at George Mason University’s Patriot Center on Monday. Having previewed the 2010 Gorillaz live show at this year’s Coachella Music Festival, I was determined to catch at least one of their national tour dates. As it turns out I was fortunate enough to catch two of them.

Everyone that I talk to who hasn’t seen Gorillaz live seems to have the misconception that their concerts are fully-animated affairs, with the real band hidden behind screens. If you are reading this and are skipping your area’s Gorillaz tour date because of a similar thought, let me tell you that 2010 is the year Gorillaz have come out from behind their rather silly veil to stage an extravagant stage show that features upwards of 25 people on stage at once. The live show is a head-spinning cavalcade of guest-stars and top-notch musicians with so many moving musical parts that every inch of the stage is packed with something interesting for the eyes and the ears. With the latest Gorillaz release, a concept album entitled “Plastic Beach”, and this massive tour, Albarn has finally realized the full musical potential of the novelty Hip-Hop meets Brit-Pop group that he and cartoonist Jamie Hewlett conceived nearly a decade ago. “Escape to Plastic Beach” tour is one of the most unique entertainment events of this year or any other.

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Interviews
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She Blogs DC: Date Me, DC!

This piece was almost over before I would have the chance to write it.

After running across dating blog Date Me, D.C.!, it quickly found a place in my Google Reader. I wanted to seek her out and learn more about the woman who’s “never experienced a coffee date, a blind date, a date you go on as a favor to your mom/aunt/best friend/etc., a bad date, a stood-up date — none of it!” After two long-term, monogamous relationships she found herself single- not a problem when you live in one of the nation’s best cities for single women. With a new sense of freedom and a hint of naiveté, this Cincinnati native set out to experience dating in the city head-on and decided to document her dating adventures for all of us to read.

However a few days after I interviewed her she decided to take a break from dating.

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Talkin' Transit
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Talkin’ Transit: Trains!

Photo courtesy of
‘Amtrak’
courtesy of ‘ep_jhu’

Today’s Talkin’ Transit is an homage to Amtrak. Well, really, an homage to all things train. Amtrak just happens to be our primary ride, here in the Nation’s Capital.

What is it about train travel? There’s an old world feel to taking the train. It seems more civilized, certainly, than air travel. It’s less stressful, too. And, while driving might be faster and more convenient, it’s also more stressful (and depending on route, not cheaper, either).

Obviously, a lot of you like the train, too. Amtrak says it has 65% share of the DC to NY air/rail market — which, even with the various bus services left out, still seems like a staggering number to me. It shouldn’t come as a surprise, though: every time I head to a business trip in NY, the Acela seems more and more full. A little over three hours from the heart of DC to the heart of NY, and no one has asked you to strip naked.
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Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Serena-Maneesh & Woven Hand @ DC9 10/7/10

IMG_4635
All photos by author.

Last Thursday night, my prayers were answered when DC9 was visited for the second time in 2010 by Norway’s best entry in the shoegaze genre, Serena-Maneesh. For my money, S-M are hands-down the best band of the nu-gaze movement (shoegaze revival); yet they retain a relative unknown status here in DC. Their set on Thursday night was full of sonic beauty and brutal guitar noise, making the perfect case for why I hold them in such high regard amongst their peers.

Along for the ride was the “opening” act Woven Hand, who are quickly establishing themselves as legendary performers; particularly after a successful stint opening for Tool on the west coast. Woven Hand drew a larger crowd than our Norwegian visitors on Thursday night. I am not entirely surprised by that, but I am a little disappointed that so few people stuck around to sample S-M’s incredible live show.

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Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: The Sports Curse

Photo courtesy of
‘Strasburg – Coming Spring 2012’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

We all know about the Sports Illustrated cover curse.  And we know the story of the Madden NFL cover curse.  But is the worst curse of all just being part of the Washington sports scene?  That’s what ESPN claims, saying, “A star-destroying black hole of unimaginable proportions, the Washington curse goes beyond sports, touching everything from reality TV (worst seasons ever for “The Real World,” “Top Chef” and “The Real Housewives”) to politics (the reputation of any popular pol who stays in town long enough).”  Ouch.  But does the DC area really have a sports curse?

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Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘(285/365)’
courtesy of ‘kimberlyfaye’

It’s still summer out there. Yesterday, we came within two degrees of breaking the record high temperature. Today, it’ll be in the low 80s. But fall is coming. It has to, you see:

The candy corn is in the stores. People are pumpkin picking. Sexy Big Bird costumes are in the stores. Even I am doing drinks and dinner outside.

And the Halloween decorations are out. Kim Baker‘s even got her house decorated (as do half my neighbors, it seems). There’s something just this side of menacing from that spider silhouette. But, as cool (or creepy) as that photo is, the best part of it is the sure knowledge that fall is coming.

Sports Fix
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Week 5 Recap: Skins vs. Packers

Photo courtesy of
‘Big men hitting hard’
courtesy of ‘joelrivlin’

For three quarters yesterday, the Redskins offense could not produce any spark and the defense let Aaron Rodgers spread the ball around the field. In the fourth quarter, the offense woke up and the defense attacked Rodgers with a mission. Donovan McNabb threw a 48-yard touchdown to Anthony Armstrong. The defense had 4 sacks (two by Brian Orakpo) and made key stops on third down. After Graham Gano’s 45-yard field goal sent the game into overtime, Laron Landry came up a difficult interception and Gano kicked a 33-yard field goal to give the Skins a 16-13 victory over Green Bay. They are now 3-2 and still on top of the NFC East. A Sunday night matchup with the Colts looms but in the meantime, this is another conference win to savor. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Slayer w/ Megadeth @ 1st Mariner Arena

I know every self-respecting heavy metal fan is looking at the title of this article and wondering “where the f*ck is Anthrax?”. It is true that Anthrax opened the show in Baltimore on Wednesday night but I did not get to see much of their set. Try the last part of their last song only. Thank you Baltimore for forcing a show to start the minute the doors opened to get the small army of metal fans in and out of the Inner Harbor as quickly as possible. Seriously, my buddies and I made good time on our drive from DC to Baltimore, only to be shocked that Anthrax were saying their “Thank you, good night” the minute we took to the arena floor. It was 7:36 and Anthrax had already played their full set. FAIL.

Anthrax rant aside, the rest of the Jagermeister Fall Music Tour aka American Carnage II otherwise known as Clash Of The Titans Tour Redux was a head-banging, air guitar dueling, kick ass, good time. Megadeth performed their classic album “Rust in Peace” and then some with arena-metal showmanship that, frankly, I forgot still existed. Slayer then took the stage to perform their second masterpiece “Seasons in the Abyss” along with a sampler of their greatest hits and delivered a mammoth set of skin-peeling intensity. The show was a fun mix of somewhat silly 80’s Metal nostalgia followed by a virtuoso performance by the best Metal band in the business.

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven

(l to r): Patricia Penn, Sue Jin Song and Youngsun Cho in Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven by Young Jean Lee at The Studio 2ndStage. Directed by Natsu Onoda Power. Photo credit: Carol Pratt

“My work is about struggling to achieve something in the face of failure and incompetence and not-knowing. The discomfort and awkwardness involved in watching this struggle reflects the truth of my experience.”

— Young Jean Lee, playwright

It would be easy to write about Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven as a play about racist stereotypes, the culpability of bigotry that we all share regardless of personal race. Certainly there is a great deal of that theme on display at The Studio 2ndStage’s production, playing now through October 24. But essentially, to me this is a play about failure – the failure to understand one another, to communicate, to believe, to love oneself. It’s a powerful piece with a core of deep self-hatred and the awful humor that comes from knowing one’s weakness, and giving in to it. 

Raw emotion like that is not easy to watch, so the pre-set tricks the audience into false sense of tranquility. Shepherded behind the seats through an incense-filled temple walkway, glowing with candles and red paper lanterns, you might think you’re in for a lovely spa evening.

Then three women in beautiful traditional Korean costumes reveal a video of playwright Young Jean Lee, her tear-streaked face puffy from repeated hard slaps, her eyes wounded and staring at you, her audience – her tormenters and conspirators.

You probably wouldn’t expect to laugh after that opening. But you do. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The xx / Warpaint / Zola Jesus @ 9:30 Club 10/5/10

I’ve got some good news and I’ve got some bad news. Which do you want to hear first? I suppose I will begin with the good news because there is much less of it to share than there is bad news to break. But first some simple facts to set the scene.

The xx played the 9:30 Club on Tuesday night. It was their fourth(?) concert in DC of 2010. This time they were fresh off a prestigious Mercury Prize win (British album of the year) for their debut album and performing as headliners to a sold out 9:30 Club. Midwestern, indie-Goth revivalist Zola Jesus and L.A. art-rockers Warpaint were the opening acts. Zola Jesus played first.

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The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Cheverly

Cheverly - The Cheverly Sign - 11-11-07

Welcome to the last regularly-scheduled Where We Live.  We’ve had a great run over the past year and a half, profiling dozens of neighborhoods in the District, Maryland, and Virginia.  But all good things must come to an end (especially when we’re running out of neighborhoods to profile!).  So while Where We Live won’t disappear, and you can still expect more neighborhood profiles on occasion in the future, this will be the last regularly-scheduled one you’ll see for a little while.

And we’re wrapping things up with the lovely suburb of Cheverly.  Cheverly, known as “the hidden jewel of Prince George’s County”, is an idyllic little town right outside of the District.  It sounds too good to be true– tree lined streets, a small-town atmosphere, and beautiful, affordable housing close to a Metro station.  As it turns out, it’s all true.  So let Where We Live fill you in on one of the Washington region’s best kept secrets: Cheverly.

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We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, October 9-10

Photo courtesy of
‘Rabbit in a hat’
courtesy of ‘martha_jean’

Dave: While Friday night is dedicated to a brief happy hour out in Columbia Heights with a few others of the media world at Meridian Pint, I’m probably most excited for another weekend gig down at The Rookery with my band, The Greensides. In addition to the normal level of acoustic rocking you can expect, we’re also really please to have an outstanding opener: comedian Christian Hunt. And if you’ve never seen the Capital City Showcase host perform, this is as much a treat as anything. Once all of that winds down, Sunday is about recovery, but at least it’ll be during a field trip for tacos in Virginia to recognize the birthday of one of WLDC’s own, the great Tom Bridge.

John: This Friday, come check out my band Juniper Lane, headline IOTA Club and Cafe in Arlington. We’ll be playing with No Second Troy and it’ll be a fun night of rock and roll. We’ll be playing almost all of the material from our new record. Saturday I’m going out to Bull Run Farm to do a cider pressing as part of my Community Supported Agriculture program. Then I’ll be finishing up some raised beds and doing the fall clean up and winterizing and hanging out with my lady. Ahh fall! Continue reading →

Alexandria, Entertainment, Interviews, People, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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Dance Preview: Bellydance Superstars

The Bellydance Superstars in Bombay Bellywood. Photo courtesy of Bellydance Superstars.

The Bellydance Superstars will be at The Birchmere this month for two shows – October 27 and 28 – with a new production called Bombay Bellywood. I last saw BDSS perform at the Lisner in March 2009, and it was an infectiously fun performance that had the audience shimmying in their seats. For those of us studying dance, it’s always fascinating to watch and learn from professional touring companies. I’m looking forward to seeing what they’ve come up with this time around, in a production that’s mixing Bollywood and Bhangra into the usual line-up of Egyptian Cabaret and Tribal Fusion styles.

One of the highlights for me last year was the whirling veil work of Petite Jamilla, and I was thrilled to get a chance to talk with her about the new production and what DC area audiences can expect later this month.

“We are really leaving our hearts on the stage,” she said. Continue reading →

capitals hockey, Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Extra: Capitals Hockey 2010-11 Season Preview

Photo courtesy of
‘All alone in the net’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

Tomorrow is the start of the 2010-11 NHL regular season, pretty much the only sport that matters in my household. Around the DC area, the Washington Capitals are becoming – if not already – the number two sports franchise, and with good reason: unlike many of the other pro teams in the area, the Caps have been consistent winners the last several years.

Today’s date, actually, should probably be declared a local holiday. Why? Well, five years ago on October 5, some rookie with the number 8 on his sweater hit the Verizon Center ice in the season opener against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Forty seconds into the game, Alexander Ovechkin – the rookie in question – hit defenseman Radoslav Suchy so hard against the glass that one of the supports broke loose and hit the ice. A portent of things to come? If so, Ovechkin had two more signs to stamp his arrival to the NHL that night – his first two goals of his career, one of them a great one-timer from Jeff Halpern. At the end of that game, there was no doubt: Ovechkin – and the Capitals – had arrived at the next level.

It’s been an Ovechkin-fueled rocket ship ride for the Capitals since, with no sign of stopping.

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Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: King Arthur

Ben Cunis as King Arthur, Vato Tsikurishvili as Lancelot, and Ensemble in Synetic Theater's "King Arthur." Photo credit: Graeme B. Shaw

I’m fast running out of superlatives to describe Synetic Theater productions. They operate in a riveting crossfire where power meets grace, muscle meets sinew. And this time, for King Arthur, they do it all in ankle-deep water.

That’s right, the brutally complex swordplay, the exquisite dancing, the emotional physicality – all take place on a stage filled with water. Sometimes it even rains.

Superb.

Synetic is often described as presenting “physical theater” – to denote its wordless style. But I like to think of it more as “psychological theater.” Director Paata Tsikurishvili and choreographer Irina Tsikurishvili tease out character’s deep motivations into the physical realm, like taking micro-expressions and elongating them. As their brilliant foray into the shattered psyche of a triple-headed Iago in Othello showed, they are masters of the psychological nuance. One might not immediately think the King Arthur legend lends itself to that approach (isn’t it just a love triangle? you might initially think) but they mine the depths of betrayal to make what could be cardboard characters truly live.

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Sports Fix, The Features
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Season Wrap-Up: The Nationals

Photo courtesy of
‘Friday Night Fireworks’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

The baseball season is over and done with.  Hockey starts Friday, and Basketball in a few weeks. The beginnings of winter are incumbent upon us to respect, and the end of the baseball season is a part of that winterizing process.  This was a season of growth for the Nationals in many ways, and there’s a lot to respect in terms of significant process. There’s also a lot that we’ll have to see changed in order for this to become a contending franchise in the next decade.

This is a turning point for the Nationals, and there’s a real opportunity for this club to take what it’s spent the last five years working on and put it to good use.  The Nationals are not a complete franchise, right now, but in two or three years, they could be a .500+ club with a shot at the Wild Card.  Will they get there? I hope so, but I fear for the worst.  Losing the head of their front office will be a big test for this club that has relied upon his experience so extensively.  There is, as in many cases, both crisis and opportunity in this change.  The Nats finally have a solid GM in place, someone who can handle baseball operations and contract negotiations without giving away the farm, in Mike Rizzo, and the addition of Andrew Feffer as the Nats’ Chief Operating Office this past off-season gives them someone who understands the intricacies of running the ballpark operations side of things for the Nationals.

Stan Kasten is right: DC could be a baseball town. There’s an audience, yes, but they’re going to have to be shown that the product’s worth watching.  This season? It was too volatile to promise to a good audience.  If the Nats want to draw 2-2.5M fans each year, they’re going to have to put out there something that people want to watch.  And generally speaking, those people shouldn’t just be in from out of town.  Let’s take a look at the lineup this season and see how everyone did, shall we?

 

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