Yearly Archives: 2010

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.
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The Daily Feed
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Food Truck Tracker

Photo courtesy of
‘District Taco Truck’
courtesy of ‘foodtruckapp’
Northwest-ers, you’re in luck! Not only is the Lobster Truck hitting up Friendship Heights today, but eatWonky is making an appearance in much-underserved Van Ness. Show them how much you need them, and maybe they’ll make their trek uptown a regular occurrence.

And if you’re not in the mood to chase down a moving target, District Taco opened their brick and mortar shop yesterday at 5723 Lee Highway in Arlington. Just in time for the winter months, though I think tacos taste better after standing in the snow for them.

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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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The Daily Feed
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DC-3 Opens Today

Photo by Author

I’m clearly a food cart convert, but there are some days when you want your hot dog to come from a place with a front door. Enter DC-3. From the folks behind Matchbox, the newest edition to Barracks Row is all hot dog, all the time. The dogs are all based on regional favorites, from the classic Chicago 7 (all-beef, poppy seed bun, tomato, pickle, relish, onions, peppers and mustard) to the not-so-classic Q’s Seoul Bulgogi & Kimchi (beef dog, Frankfurt loaf, rib-eye bulgogi and pickled kimchi). The menu even includes a nod to the D.C.-area with the Bay Bridge Pretzel Dog, an all-beef dog on a pretzel roll, slathered with crab dip and Old Bay.

The restaurant’s moniker comes from the plane of the same name, and the owners make sure you know it’s not a coincidence. Not only is there a giant DC-3 propeller hung on the wall, the menu is designed to look like an airline ticket. Unfortunately you won’t get any frequent flyer miles while you’re there, but who needs a free upgrade when you’ve got fancy hot dogs, right?

Adventures, All Politics is Local, Business and Money, Food and Drink, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed
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MoCo To Serve Booze On Sundays

Photo courtesy of
‘LIQUOR at Kenny’s and Kovak’s…’
courtesy of ‘ellievanhoutte’

Before today, if you were looking to buy booze on a Sunday, then Montgomery County was not your friend as it tightly controlled the 24 county-owned liquor stores and prohibited the sale of alcohol on Sundays.

Now in an executive order from County Executive Ike Leggett, that  should pass today and will be in place by the end of November, county-owned liquor stores will be able to open for business on Sundays. This six-month trial has some estimating that the county will pull in an additional $2 million a year . Skol!

Entertainment, Fun & Games, Music
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The Winning Ticket: Medeski Martin & Wood

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!

Prepare yourself for some sweet, late Friday night, avant-groove jams after you win this pair of tickets to see Medeski Martin & Wood performing at the 9:30 Club on Friday November 12th. (NOTE: This is a late show; Doors at 10pm).

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…
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The Daily Feed
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Happy Birthday, USMC

Photo courtesy of
‘sunset’
courtesy of ‘choofly’

The Marine Barracks at Eighth and I Streets Southeast and the Marine Corps Memorial at Iwo Jima will be abuzz today with birthday celebrations for the United States Marine Corps, which was formed on this day in 1775 to assist Colonial ships as infantry-at-sea.  The Marines that are posted to the Barracks are certainly a part of the Barracks Row community on Capitol Hill, and we urge you to celebrate the men and women of the Marine Corps today, and every day.

Semper Fi, Marines.  Semper Fi.

The Daily Feed
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Travel + Leisure Thinks We’re Ugly

Photo courtesy of
‘fugly duckling.’
courtesy of ‘JASON ANFINSEN’

As WTOP depressingly reported, DC was ranked as the sixth least attractive city in the nation by Travel + Leisure’s America’s Favorite Cities survey. This poor showing should come as a surprise to absolutely no one who has lived here for more than five minutes. As someone once told me, Washington is the Hollywood for ugly people. We’ve got a lot of power and gravitas, but good looks we do not.

We also didn’t score very well for style or friendliness, but won with flying colors for museums/galleries (#1), historical sites/monuments (#1) and cultural getaways (#2). So I guess that makes us ugly but interesting. We’re the “but (s)he has a great personality” of cities, if you will. Better than nothing, right?

The Daily Feed
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Attempted murder, harassment. Tomato tomatoeh, eh?

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘julianne’s’

If you yell at someone in a convenience store till they try to flee on their moped, then chase them in your Lincoln Navigator and ram them… what would you call that?

If you’re the Virginia legal system you call it attempted murder.

If you’re a Washington Post writer, you call it “harassment.”

I can’t help but wonder what sort of neighborhood the headline writer lives in. What needs to be involved to move it up to “abuse” I wonder? Napalm? Here’s a tip, WaPo: if you’re afraid of sounding like a sexcrime-lover, you can still pretty safely call it “assault.”

The story on the WaPo crime blog is, instead, titled “Man harasses Va. sex offender” and I’ll add that I am SHOCKED that someone would use the information in the sex offender registry to engage in inappropriate and illegal behavior. Who could possibly have expected that if you published a list of the people who have finished serving their time, then combined it with addresses and photos, that you might incite citizens to take the law – or their vision of justice, anyway – into their own hands?

Adventures, All Politics is Local, Business and Money, Entertainment, Essential DC, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, History, Life in the Capital, News, Penn Quarter, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District
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TEAISM to be Carrotmobbed

Photo courtesy of
‘Every Food Fits: “What’s Up, Doc?”‘
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

This Saturday, November 13th starting at 10am at TEAISM’s Penn Quarter location,  the Restaurant Opportunities Center of DC (ROCDC) is organizing DC’s first ever Carrotmob to promote paid sick days for DC restaurant workers.

You might say: “But Rebecca, what the heck is a carrotmob?” And up until 15 minutes ago, I would have responded “I have no clue. Perhaps a pack of redheads angrily waving orange vegetables?”  And, unsurprisingly, I’d be dead wrong.

In reality the term “Carrotmob” comes from the phase “use the carrot, not the stick,” and is a method of activism in which consumers use their buying power to reward businesses that take socially responsible actions.

The TEAISM mobbing is in response to the Accrued Sick and Safe Leave Act, which passed two years ago and provides 3-7 days of paid sick/safe leave to many District workers. However, the law left out your server, waitress, waiter, and bartender, so they’ve been working (aka serving you) while they’re sick. Despite this TEAISM has gone above and beyond the call of duty and provides all their workers 5-7 sick days; They are indeed truly worthy of a good old fashioned carrotmobbing.

You can join the mobbing by visiting the Penn Quarter TEAISM this Saturday and by RSVPing at the event’s Facebook page.

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 →

The Daily Feed
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Support Women Photojournalists Tonight


KEN_011_082003_N041-22_WFP-Vanessa_Vick by Peter Casier

If you hadn’t noticed by now, we’re smack dab in the middle of FotoWeek.  While the number of photography shows, lectures, portfolio reviews, night projections and parties is rather daunting, it’s a no-brainer to check out an exhibit that is full of great work and is raising money for a good cause.

Tonight, the Women Photojournalists of Washington (WPOW) are hosting Women By Women, a juried exhibit and silent auction.  From their blog:

“The proceeds will benefit WPOW in continuing our mission to educate the public about the work of women photojournalists.  All 16×20 prints will be signed by the photographer.  Please bring cash or check if you would like to bid. The show will additionally be on view from November 5-13th at the gallery.  The gallery hours are from 3-8pm daily.”

The show is free to attend but by buying an amazing photograph in the auction tonight, well, it’s is a win-win for everyone.

When:
6:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Where:
Women Photojournalists of Washington
AYN Studio
923 F Street NW #201
Washington, DC 20004

The Daily Feed, We Green DC
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Think Spring – and Planting Cherry Trees

Photo courtesy of
‘DSC_2489’
courtesy of ‘bhrome’

Ever wanted to do more than just wander among the cherry trees during the National Cherry Blossom Festival (NCBF)? A new partnership between the NCBF and Casey Trees will now let you do just that.

Community groups who are interested in adding ten or more trees to public property in their neighborhood – property which includes DCPS and Charter schools and universities, parks, libraries, places of worship – can apply to the new Neighborhood Tree Planting Program for all eight wards of the District.

Groups can register by visiting the Casey Trees website and should make sure to list their intention to plant between three and ten cherry trees. Eligible sites should have the capacity to plant and maintain a minimum of ten trees; only three need to be cherry trees as part of the program.

The application deadline is November 30, with plantings occurring in the spring of 2011.

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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News, The Daily Feed
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Unsuck: Metro knew about the brake pads

Photo courtesy of
‘Beware the Jaws that Bite, the Claws that Catch…’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

You might have missed it in all the kerfuffle yesterday, but Unsuck DC Metro broke some major news yesterday: Metro knew that its escalators could fail under heavy weight and freewheel to the bottom, sending all those on the escalator to a pile at its feet.  The money quote? “Obvious signs of conditions requiring immediate maintenance/service address are being overlooked.”

Specifically, the report is concerned that numerous brake pads were worn beyond usable life expectancy, and out of adjustment, numerous switches in the safety circuits were dirty, out of adjustment and ineffective, and major amounts of oil and lubricant on the steps which are symptomatic of major leaks at the drive motor.

The date on these documents? September 30th, well in advance of the Rally for Sanity that saw the escalator at L’Enfant plaza fail and send patrons tumbling to the foot of the escalator, causing multiple injuries.  Better yet, Metro’s now claiming that they’re engaging in “proactive precautionary measures” at stations throughout the system.  Guys: It’s only proactive if you do it before the escalators develop “brake pads worn beyond usable life.”

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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The Daily Feed
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Everyone Loves Email and Cupcakes

Photo courtesy of
‘Curbside Cupcake Truck’
courtesy of ‘foodtruckapp’
Overwhelmed with all the food truck choices these days? Do you really just want a cupcake sometimes, but don’t want to have to do any Googling to find it? Well Curbside Cupcakes has got you covered. They have a nifty new program on their website that does the work for you. Just head to their site, and you can click on all the locations their truck hits on a regular basis that are of interest to you. When one of their trucks heads that way, they’ll send you an email to let you know, just in case you can’t smell the freshly baked cupcakes from a few stories up.

Business and Money, Essential DC, Life in the Capital, News, The Daily Feed, The District, We Green DC
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Capital Bikeshare Opens In Glover Park

Photo courtesy of
‘Do my nails clash with the red?’
courtesy of ‘fromcaliw/love’

After a lengthy community discussion about where to place the new Capital Bikeshare station, the latest addition to the operation has opened in the Northwest neighborhood of Glover Park in the parking lot of the Guy Mason Recreation Center.

According the Glover Park resident listserv, residents are hopeful that bikesharing will get a lot of use as an alternative to pokey buses and single-occupant car trips.

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.