Category Archives: The Features

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The Features
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I just got this eggplant; now what do I do with it?

Photo courtesy of
‘Eggplant (Beatrice)’
courtesy of ‘iLoveButter’

Remember when we talked this spring about what to do when you’ve got more farmer’s market produce than you can use? Good times. Except, all that information is out of season now! It’s a whole new set of intimidating fruits and vegetables to deal with now. Oh noes! Relax, DC: I am here to help.

With all the weather extremes we’ve been having, some produce has been coming in at odd times (stone fruits were really early) and that’s messed up my routine a bit. But now that it’s late summer, it’s getting to be time for eggplant. And I don’t know if you are weak like me, but I have been known to buy stuff I’ve never cooked at the farmer’s market just because it looks so freaking pretty. Yeah, eggplant. And now I get it in my CSA box. Continue reading →

Talkin' Transit
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Talkin’ Transit: Moving While Sitting Still

Photo courtesy of
‘Student in Computer Room, 1981’
courtesy of ‘LSE Library’

It’s only fitting that on a day where you need an ark, or at least a kayak, in order to make it to the office, we’re going to look at telecommuting.

I get to telecommute once or twice a week. I don’t do it out of any sense that it’s better for the environment or other green reasons. I do it because the company I work for lets me, and it’s a lot more convenient to be on a 7 a.m. conference call from my sofa. That’s right, most of my telecommuting days are marked by constant calls. By the time I’m done with the first or second, I don’t have enough time to hit the shower and get to the office. By the time I do have time to do that, it’s 1 p.m. and not worth the trip.

The ability to telecommute is one of the perks of my job. In addition to my regular one or two days a week, I can choose to stay at home if the Metro or roads are having a meltdown. That adds to my sanity and keeps me happy on days I’d otherwise have gone mental.
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Entertainment, Fun & Games, Music, We Love Music
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The Winning Ticket (Ska Day Bonus): The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

The Ska fans here at We Love DC are so stoked about this weekend’s plethora of Ska concert options that we decided one giveaway to celebrate this good-time genre just wasn’t enough! So I got on the horn with my good buddies The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and finagled a pair of tickets to give away to one lucky reader for their concert at the 9:30 Club on Saturday, August 21! (Well, actually I had to trade Dicky my lucky pair of braces for ’em – but the less said about that the better!)

The Mighty Mighty Bosstones are without a doubt one of (if not THE) most important American Ska / Ska-Punk bands. Coming out of the Boston hardcore punk scene in the mid-80’s The Bosstones introduced Trad and 2-Tone Ska sensibilities to that harder-edge sound. They slugged away in the trenches for years, gaining respect in both punk and ska circles, until the 90’s when their moment had finally come. Their popularity exploded as the 3rd-Wave Ska revival took hold in the US. A movement of ska and ska-tinged punk bands that the Bosstones were largely responsible for inspiring with all those years of hard touring and legendary concerts. On Saturday night The Mighty Mighty Bosstones make their return to DC and to the 9:30 Club. Between this show and Sunday’s Bad Manners/English Beat double bill this weekend is ska heaven.

Since this is bonus giveaway, let’s make this one a little more interesting.

For your chance to win these tickets leave a comment on this post with the most ridiculous, outrageous Ska performer name or band name you can imagine. Make sure you use a valid email address, so we can find you if you win. This contest will run between Noon and 4pm today; at which time the winner will be selected at random. One entry per email address, please. Tickets for this show are also available through Ticketfly If today doesn’t turn out to be your lucky day, check back here each Wednesday for a chance to win tickets to other great concerts.

For the rules of this giveaway…
Continue reading →

Entertainment, Fun & Games, Music, We Love Music
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The Winning Ticket: The English Beat & Bad Manners

As a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC will be giving away a pair of tickets to a 9:30 Club concert to one lucky reader each week. Check back here every Wednesday morning at 9am to find out what tickets we’re giving away and leave a comment for your chance to be the lucky winner!

This weekend DC has a boatload of Ska bands coming to town, so we thought it would be fun to make today Ska Day on We Love DC. To that end our 9:30 Club ticket giveaway this week is for a pair of tickets to see The English Beat and Bad Manners perform at the club this Sunday, August 22nd.

These titans of 2-Tone Ska have been providing rude boys and rude girls with skanking good times for over 30 years in the UK and the US. Bad Manners led by their infamous front-man Buster Bloodvessel are legends in the ska world known for their manic live energy and Buster’s larger than life stage presence. The English Beat (or The Beat) make up one-third of the 2-Tone Ska holy trinity and really should require no introduction to all the proper gangsters out there. Along with The Specials and Madness, The English Beat was one of the biggest Ska bands of the 1980’s. They were hugely successful in the UK and along with Madness and The Specials were responsible for breaking 2-Tone’s sound and style in the US. These days The Beat operate on both sides of “the pond”, but are much more active in the US thanks to the seemingly endless energy of band-leader Dave Wakeling. If you’re sitting there reading this trying to think of a song by The English Beat, allow me to help you: ‘Mirror in the Bathroom’, ‘Hands off, She’s Mine’, and ‘Twist & Crawl’ are just some of the essential 2-Tone hits on their seminal album “Just Can’t Stop It”. Together these two bands are going to put on one hell of a party. So dust off your pork-pie, don your finest threads, strap on those boots, and enter for your chance to be there. I was originally thinking of making this giveaway for Rudies only, but you civilians reading should feel free to take a shot too! (PS- Tune in here at Noon for a Ska bonus giveaway!)

For your chance to win these tickets simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 9am and 4pm today. One entry per email address, please. Tickets for this show are also available through Ticketfly If today doesn’t turn out to be your lucky day, check back here each Wednesday for a chance to win tickets to other great concerts.

For the rules of this giveaway…
Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Dragonette @ Rock & Roll Hotel 8/15/10

IMG_1662
photo by author.

Electro good time gal Martina Sorbara and her synth-savvy husband Dan Kurtz brought their attitude drenched, dance-pop band Dragonette to Rock & Roll Hotel on Sunday night to keep a party-packed weekend rocking into Monday morning. Joined by beat-maker and human time-piece, drummer Joel Stouffer, the husband and wife team wowed the small but dedicated crowd full of electro fanatics, pretty boys, and dancing queens. Their late-start set covered the deepest cuts from their albums, “Galore” and “Fixin’ to Thrill”, and blew the roof off when they launched into the three excellent new songs from their latest EP, “Mixin’ to Thrill”.

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Mythbusting DC, The Features
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DC Mythbusting: Most Extreme Weather Ever

Photo courtesy of
‘seems so long ago’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

We’ve seen fire, and we’ve seen rain. We’ve also seen earthquakes, heat waves, blizzards, floods, and, of course, thundersnow. The DC region has seen more than its fair share of crazy weather this year, leading many people to say that this is the most extreme year of weather on record for DC. But in a town where the summer always feels like the most humid ever, and the winter always seems like the most miserable ever, has this year really been out of the ordinary?

Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Bryce Harper coming to Washington

Photo courtesy of
‘The Nats drafted Bryce Harper’
courtesy of ‘afagen’

The deal came down to within the last minute, but it got done, and Bryce Harper has signed a $9.9M major league contract with the Washington Nationals.  The high-school and junior-college phenom is likely the most touted signing of an offensive player since Mark Teixeira in 2001.  Harper will likely play right field in the Nationals organization.  His first stop will be the Gulf Coast League, as soon as possible, followed by the Arizona Fall League.  Before that, though, Harper will come and spend a few days with the big club next week, including a possible BP session, and get acquainted with the concept of playing professional baseball day in, day out.

The Nationals spent just under $14M yesterday signing four of their top picks.  Sammy Solis, and A.J. Cole, both starting pitchers, went for $1M and $2M respectively, and also signed pitcher Robbie Ray for $799,900.  All told, the Nationals signed 25 of their top 26 picks, with just one deferring entry to finish college.

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Featured Photo
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Featured Photo

Photo courtesy of
‘View from Balcony of the SAAM, Washington, DC’
courtesy of ‘B Jones Jr’

DC often has a small town feel. You constantly run into friends and friends of friends while wandering around. And everyone seems to know everyone.

Once in a while, the city even looks like a small town. Look at this shot by Bill Jones. It’s taken from the commanding and beautiful Smithsonian American Art Museum building, looking down upon the Hotel Monaco and the Spy Museum. All of these, big buildings, big businesses. And yet. They aren’t tall buildings. They aren’t wide intersections.

This looks like it could be any small town in Colorado, or Pennsylvania. Replace the modern cars with horses, and it could be any town in the wild west. But it isn’t. It’s just another intersection in our town. Our small town.

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Public Enemy @ 9:30 Club 8/14/10

IMG_1523
photo by author.

Public Enemy returned to DC at the 9:30 Club on Saturday night bringing a show billed as a live performance of their album “Fear of a Black Planet” that turned out to be a two and a half hour performance of most of “Fear…”, most of “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”, and select tunes from other albums. It was a sneak attack, classics-spanning set of high-energy, politically-driven, old school hip-hop by arguably the greatest hip-hop group of all time. This was one of the very best sets in DC of 2010, of that their is no question; what is slightly confusing though, is where were all the people? Playing to a less than sold-out club, with a crowd that thinned as their awesome set progressed, Public Enemy performed with enough passion, conviction, and energy to entertain thousands.

Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Fix

Photo courtesy of
‘213/365’
courtesy of ‘Danilo.Lewis|Fotography’

Redskins
Record: 1-0
Last Two Weeks: 1-0

Sure it’s still pre-season, but there’s reason to be excited. Friday night’s dismantling of the Buffalo Bills was an awful lot of fun to watch. Both Donovan McNabb and Rex Grossman had solid efforts on Friday, and there’s a lot to like in undrafted rookie Brandon Banks, who had a 77-yard punt return TD in the third quarter.

The battle of the running backs is going to be fascinating to watch. Clinton Portis put in some strong work, but Williams and Torain got the majority of carries against the Bills with 11 and 17 respectively. Williams picked up a pair of TDs, as well.

Albert Haynesworth was the 2nd team nose tackle Friday, but played some great football, meaning we might see him on the first team before Saturday’s game against the Ravens. Continue reading →

Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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On the bats of Zimmerman and Willingham, Nats pick up series win

Ryan Zimmerman crushes HR #23
Photo by Ian Koski / Nats Daily News

Not everything was at it seemed to be at the Nationals game this afternoon.  What was expected to be a fairly full house to watch Stephen Strasburg, was a half-full park of enthusiastic fans.  What was expected to be a show of dominance by Strasburg, was an effective, but not errorless, five inning outing by Strasburg.  Four protestors ran onto the field in the bottom of the fifth to protest the decision to hold the All Star Game in Arizona next year, and were eventually lead off the field.

But, in the end, it was a win.  Not a pretty win, by any stretch of the imagination, but home runs from Josh Willingham and Ryan Zimmerman lead the Nationals to a 5-3 win and a 2-1 series win over the Diamondbacks this afternoon at Nationals Park.  Stephen Strasburg would put in five innings of work, with 85 pitches thrown, and seven strikeouts, all swinging.  He was having some command issues, though, and after getting ahead in the count, he would sometimes struggle to finish the job.  That’s part of his learning process, and something he’ll need to master. Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Concerning Rob Dibble

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_0598’
courtesy of ‘MissChatter’

On Wednesday night, Rob Dibble opened his mouth during a MASN broadcast of the Nationals and swallowed his whole foot. He said, of two women sitting behind home plate, that they must be talking about shopping. It went on like this for a bit. His broadcasting partner, Bob Carpenter, tried to help Dibble out of the jam, and threw him a rope. Instead of taking it, Dibble hung himself with it.

There have been a lot of column inches and pixels devoted to Dibble’s terrible miscue, and his ill-advised rambling, and we’re not about to join them except to say: In the short history of the Nationals, no one figure, on the field or off, has been so widely discussed and largely disliked as the MASN broadcaster. There’s good reason for that, and his comments Wednesday were pretty much atrocious. They represent the worst sort of bias: the kind that’s laughed off.

In his response today on the MASN website, Dibble once again dodged this issue. In a piece titled, “The Greatness of Baseball”, Rob Dibble does everything but apologize. He concludes the non-apology by blaming those who interpreted his remarks: “The other night I made an off-handed comment, the meaning of which may have been misconstrued beyond what was said. If any fan of this great game took offense, then he or she should know that this was neither my intention nor my history in the game.” Continue reading →

News, Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Nats drop embarrassing game to Diamondbacks, 8-2

Manager Jim Riggleman takes the ball from Jason Marquis
Photo by Anthony Amobi / Nats Daily News

The Nats have a hard choice right now.  Jason Marquis’ last two starts are little better than his April ones.  Tonight he pitched just 4 innings, but gave up 5 runs on 7 hits, walking 2 more.  Asked after the game tonight, manager Jim Riggleman said, “his sinker just wasn’t down.”  It showed.  Miguel Montero blasted him for a 2-run homer in the 2nd, and Gerardo Parra added a solo shot later in the inning.  That would be all the Diamondbacks would need, but they kept up the offense just to stay engaged.  Kelly Johnson added a homer in the third, and Montero slapped a second bomb in the fifth.  Riggleman wasn’t comfortable talking about Marquis’ fate tonight, but one has to think the Nats have to be thinking about what possible utility he has at this point.  There aren’t a lot of options for them down in Syracuse, and Jordan Zimmermann isn’t quite ready yet, nor are Yunesky Maya or Chien Ming Wang.

Continue reading →

Downtown, The Features
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Fire Under Willard & W Hotels, Evacuations, Street Closures

Huge smoke cloud in the distance in front of the Willard Hotel in DC
Photo courtesy Frank Gruber, techcocktail.com

The fire has been extinguished, but you should expect street closures in the area around the Willard and W hotels overnight.

An underground transformer caught fire under 14th & F Streets NW, causing evacuations of the Willard Hotel, the W Hotel near the White House and Treasury Department. The Secret Service has closed 15th Street. As you might expect, power is also out in the area. Avoid it altogether if you can. Continue reading →

The District, The Features
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Why I Love DC: Samer

Lincoln's Shadow
All photos by the author

I’ve lived in and around this town for 23 years now. When I got here, DC was where I was headed to college. It offered an interesting backdrop, but I didn’t imagine I’d be here so many years later.

And, yet, here I am. Tomorrow I’ll celebrate my 41st birthday, and as I age, the city has grown up around me. I’ve never lived anywhere else for so long. And while I have an Arlington address, my life revolves around the city — from work to play, I’m more often downtown than not.

I could go on and on about what makes DC better than other places. But, being more comfortable with a camera than I am with the pen, I’m going to try and show you parts of my DC, and the reason that I find myself staying here, year after year.
Continue reading →

All Politics is Local, The Features
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Campaign Notebook: August 13, 2010


P1040409
By Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie

Welcome back for another issue of Campaign Notebook.  There are just 32 days until the Primary.  In little over a month, the hard decisions related to a lot of the city offices that are up for election in November will be completed, and we’ll have a mayor- and council chair-apparent. We’re gearing up for fever pitch here and there’s a lot going on.

Continue reading →

The Features, Where We Live
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Where We Live: Bloomingdale

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_0940’
courtesy of ‘mediaslave’

Thanks to your great suggestions telling me where you live, we have several more neighborhoods in the District, Virginia, and Maryland to profile over the coming weeks.  This week, we’re heading back in to DC to look at a very neighborly neighborhood: Bloomingdale.  It’s a beautiful neighborhood close to the center of town but it feels worlds away.  Read on to find out what makes Bloomingdale a great community, and the number one thing that residents love about the neighborhood.

History: Bloomingdale wasn’t part of Pierre L’Enfant’s original plan, and started out as a pretty rural area.  It was next to the planned suburb LeDroit Park, and didn’t really see much residential development until the 1890s when streets were paved and a streetcar connected through the area.  Bloomingdale quickly became home to rowhouses, churches, and schools, and it has remained a quiet residential neighborhood ever since.   More on the history of Bloomingdale over at Bloomingdale DC.

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Sports Fix, The Daily Feed
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Chances wasted as Nationals get swept by Marlins

Photo courtesy of
‘monsoon!’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

The Nationals had a couple chances tonight, in the fifth and in the seventh, when they could’ve mounted a rally to beat the Marlins and snap a four game losing streak.  In the fifth, they loaded the bases, but couldn’t capitalize as Adam Dunn continued his awful performance with runners in scoring position and two outs.  Dunn can muscle the ball, no doubt, but in clutch situations he’s not delivering the way that other sluggers have. In the seventh, they’d get back-to-back singles from Pudge and Willy Harris, but pinch-hitter Alberto Gonzalez would ground into a double play and Roger Bernadina would fly out to end the effort. That would be all they could look at as they slumped off the field after dropping a 5-0 loss to Florida.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, People, The Features, We Love Arts
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Theater Spotlight: Eleanor Holdridge

Eleanor Holdridge, director of Theater J's "Something You Did" by Willy Holtzman. Photo courtesy of Eleanor Holdridge.

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

Eleanor Holdridge had been freelancing as a director for twenty years. It can be a grueling profession, on the road sometimes for eight months at a time to make a living. She was ready for a home.

“Welcome to DC! Now, direct a play that’s political,” she jokes.

Having recently moved here to head the directing program at The Catholic University of America, Holdridge is out of the gate directing Theater J’s season opener, Something You Did. Playwright Willy Holtzman has updated the piece from its 2008 incarnation to reflect the current polarized political climate. Replacing the controversial Imagining Madoff with a play about 1960’s idealist turned imprisoned radical facing off against a neo-conservative media pundit prone to conspiracy theories may seem a bit out of the frying pan, but that kind of daring choice is what makes me admire Theater J.

With warm enthusiasm and infectious humor, Holdridge graciously shared a rehearsal coffee break with me to talk about her move to DC, her impressions of theater here, and what’s in store for audiences when Something You Did opens with previews beginning August 28.

As a Baltimore area native, Holdridge grew up coming to DC to see plays at Arena Stage. So perhaps it was inevitable that one day DC theater would call her back. Continue reading →