Posts Tagged ‘Music’

We Love Music: The Avett Brothers @ DAR Constitution Hall, 2/18/11

All photos by Erin McCann I didn’t much like the Avett Brothers when I first heard them. The banjo was too much, the vocal harmonies sometimes too off-key, the melodies sometimes just on the other side of pleasant. That changed a little bit for me one day when “Ballad of Love and Hate” from 2007′s [...]

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

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 [...]

Photos: MAGfest 9

Chances are, you’ve played a video game or two in your day. Maybe you haven’t picked up a controller since Mario made his first (of many, because man she was helpless) attempts to rescue Princess Toadstool. Or maybe you’re a little tired this afternoon because you stayed up too late last night obsessively launching birds [...]

We Love Music: Anamanaguchi @ Black Cat 1/9/11

all photos by Michael Darpino Late on a Sunday night, there’s a stark contrast between the cold, deserted DC streets and the cave of 8-bit fantasy I’ve emerged from. Anamanaguchi assaulted the packed Backstage at the Black Cat with strobe lights, pixellated animation, and their unique brand of electronic power-pop. The last time I caught [...]

Why I Love DC: Martin

‘Rock Creek Parkway at Night’courtesy of ‘ianseanlivingston’ Why do I love DC?  Because I HATE DRIVING. I guess I’ve changed a whole lot since I was 17 years old, when I kind of loved my summer job delivering food for Wing Zone around the suburbs of Atlanta. I met plenty of characters, sure, and getting [...]

We Love Music: Reel Big Fish (and Aquabats!) at 9:30 Club

You can tell a lot about a show by the way people leave after it’s over. The lights come up, the house music kicks in, and people filter through the door, clinging a little bit to the last two hours. Or, in the case of Reel Big Fish at the 9:30 Club on Monday night, [...]

National Geographic Live: December 2010

National Geographic concludes their 2010 NatGeo Live season with eight more programs to ring in the holidays. Because all of their events wrap up before mid-December, we’re giving you a chance to win one of two pairs of tickets to any of the programs below (except the sold-out Irish Christmas Celebration). To enter, simply comment [...]

We Love Music: The Singing Capital Chorus

It was just after five on a Monday afternoon and Jim Cullen decided to lay down for a little nap. It felt so good to rest his eyes, he recalled, that he let them stay shut until eight. That’s when he woke up in a hurry. “Oh my god,” he said. “I’m missing my Monday [...]

The Winning Ticket: A Q&A With Dawes

The “next big thing” is thrown around a lot in music culture. What you hear about less often is the next great thing, the next band that’ll knock your socks off not just because all the cool kids love them but because they are just that good. If there is a musical god out there [...]

We Love Music: The Mighty Mighty Bosstones at the 9:30 Club

‘Bosstones’ by ‘erin m’ There’s a unique tension that exists between the Mighty Mighty Bosstones and the fans in the crowd: for the guys on stage, a good show requires precision, in dress and musical performance, even movements; a good night for the mass of people rests upon the successful implementation of the exact opposite [...]

Photos: Welcome back, Fort Reno.

” courtesy of ‘erin m’ I love Fort Reno. And I don’t mean in some, “Oh man, that’s a great event” sort of way. I mean…well, you remember that scene in “Say Anything” where John Cusack is holding up the boom box outside Ione Skye’s window? That’s how I feel about Fort Reno, the summer [...]

Blossom! A Design Challenge

’09-3-31 – Cherry Blossoms – Pink and Yellow’ courtesy of ‘mosley.brian’ Who doesn’t love a good design challenge? Especially one that has to do with the National Cherry Blossom Festival. The Festival is seeking amateur designers from the metro-DC area to showcase their creativity through the design of an original graphic creation using the blossom [...]

9:30 Club Says Fight the Merger

Thrifty District: Music

” courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’ If you’re a music fiend like me, you find a way to fit music in your budget– but if you don’t keep an eye on your spending, it can easily get out of control. But is there any way around just buckling down and buying $200 concert [...]

A Historic Rage

No matter what Craig Finn may tell you about a unified scene, The Hold Steady comes at you in fragments.

Blame it on the sometimes sloppy, jangly old-school rock and roll riffs — unashamedly lifted straight from your dad’s collection of vinyl — the drunken sing-speak proclamations of Finn, or just the confusion over just what you’re watching; America’s biggest bar band throws the craziest fist-pumping house party in town.

Granted, it’d be a strange place thing to witness from the rafters, a seat, or just a spot on the balcony — boredom and misplaced analysis falls easy— but when you’re packed into the rolling, bouncing first rows of the 9:30 Club on a sloshing Sunday night, there’s no scene that I’d rather fall into.

Artomatic 2009 Opens!

We Love Arts: Cherry Blast

I think we can all agree that one of the reasons “we love DC” is the arrival of spring each year when our city is transformed from a bleak, gray land of zombies into a cheery land of fresh-faced partiers.  The harsh winter weather is behind us, the cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom, girls [...]

Weekend Flashback: 3/20 – 3/22/09

They make a big deal about the cherry blossoms and spring here in DC, courtesy of quinnums In case you had no doubt, spring is finally here in DC. Hope you all were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather and the end of winter’s grasp. From the photos I saw in Flickr, [...]

We Love Music: Musical Moments– Kurtágs Play Kurtág at the Library of Congress

’2007.10.19-111c.am’ courtesy of ‘RShinozaki’ Saturday, February 7, 2009 Library of Congress, Coolidge Auditorium György and Márta Kurtág & the Keller Quartet After the Library of Congress’ recent parade of the rather bland contemporary American music, the premiere of a new work by Kurtág performed by the composer and his wife and long-time duet partner Márta [...]

Live Blog – Moby @ The 9:30 Club

D.C. begins it’s musical revelry for the Inauguration of Barack Obama on Sunday with both concerts for the masses but also in smaller venues. Tonight, or this morning if you take it that way, Moby is now on stage at the 9:30 Club with a sold out show expected to end at 4:30am this morning. [...]