Yearly Archives: 2010

The Daily Feed
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Hot Ticket: Robert Randolph and the Family Band @ 9:30 Club 10/29 & 10/30

Pedal steel guitar master Robert Randolph and The Family Band is coming to town for two shows on Friday and Saturday night at 9:30 club. Ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time, Randolph is touring to promote his latest studio album, “We Walk This Road”. “WWTR” mainly consists of original music but also features covers of songs by Prince, John Lennon and Bob Dylan.

Citing Stevie Ray Vaughan, Sly and the Family Stone and Earth, Wind and Fire as main influences, Randolph brings an eclectic mix of funk, blues, soul and gospel to the table. Known for lively concerts that are full of crowd interaction, Robert Randolph promises to put on an amazing show. If you’re an electric guitar fan, this is a concert you won’t want to miss.

Robert Randolph and The Family Band
w/ Tauk
10/29 & 10/30
@ 9:30 Club
$25

All Politics is Local, Entertainment, Media, Special Events
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The Rally To Restore Sanity: Why We All Need To Stop Analyzing It And Just Enjoy It

Wednesday night I was having dinner at the Gordon Biersch in the Cleveland Airport when the gentleman at the table next to me decided to strike up a conversation.

His name was Rocky Ray, and he worked for Michigan State University. He was on his way back to his home in Lansing but mentioned he was bringing his family to DC on Friday to attend the Rally To Restore Sanity. When he spoke about bringing his kids to The Rally he had an enthusiasm that a Dad would have keeping his kids up for a No-Hitter in baseball. He talked about his past family trips to DC for the past two Inaugurations and his excitement for The Rally made me realize how high this event has risen.

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The Daily Feed
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Could a Republican House change DC for good?

Photo courtesy of
‘Rep. Gohmert’
courtesy of ‘ryanjreilly’

Jeff Surrell believes that a GOP House win wouldn’t be all bad for the District, as many have claimed.  Specifically, Surrell points to Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) who wants to remove the Federal Income Tax from District residents, putting them on par with Guam, Puerto Rico and other US Territories, which are neither taxed federally nor do they have voting representation in the House. I’m not so sure that’s the right path to take.

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Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
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November’s Best at NMAI & SAAM

Blur

Some great stuff’s going on this month at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum (SAAM) and the National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI). While there’s a ton of events and exhibits happening at both locations, I’ve highlighted some of the more interesting things you may want to check out. Got a free afternoon or in need of some distractions for visiting relatives? Well, there’s something here for everyone.

The following activities and events are at the National Museum of the American Indian, located at the eastern tip of the National Mall at 4th and Independence Avenue SW. (All activities are free.)

Native Dance: “Native Pride Dancers”
Nov. 5, 10:30 a.m. and noon (Discovery Theater); Nov. 6, 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. (Rasmuson Theater)
Authentic regalia.… rhythmic drumming… skilled footwork… experience the excitement of a Native American powwow! World Champion Fancy Dancer Larry Yazzie of the Meskwaki Nation, and the Native Pride Dancers perform music and movement celebrated by their American Indian cultures. Reservations are required for Friday’s performances. Call Discovery Theater to reserve seating for groups and individuals: 202-633-8700 or visit http://discoverytheater.org. Saturday’s performances are open to the public, first come, first seated.

Family Celebration Harvest Festival
Nov. 6-7, 10:30 am – 4:30 pm
The whole family is invited to kick off the Smithsonian’s celebration of American Indian Heritage Month with a weekend-long festival exploring how Native communities throughout the Americas celebrate the harvest. It includes harvest-related dance and theater performances, cooking demonstrations, and hands-on activities.

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All Politics is Local, Business and Money, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, History, Life in the Capital, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District
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Commander Salamander to Close. This Time For Realz

CS finally closing

We’ve been covering the Commander Salamander store closing situation since January 20, 2010. At first it appeared the historic and nostalgic shop was closing, yet the “going out of business” remained in the windows and the doors remained opened. Then about a month ago, the signs disappeared leaving the fate of the shop unknown. Now, according to City Paper, and as confirmed by the above storefront signs, Commander Salamander is indeed shuttering.

Merchandise is being HEAVILY  discounted. So if you’re in town for the “Rally To Restore Sanity” or if you’re just a fan of a store’s punk/hipster/preppy/raver gear, the shop (located at 1420 Wisconsin Ave NW–between N P St & N O St, is definitely worth a stop in.

The Daily Feed
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Wizards Drop Opener to Orlando

Photo courtesy of
‘IMG_5387’
courtesy of ‘zugaldia’

The NBA’s Southeast Division, as mentioned in yesterday’s season preview, is not exactly a fun place to try and rebuild a team. The same can probably be said for how the team was forced to begin the 2010-2011 campaign against Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, Vince Carter and a Magic team opening a brand new arena. The Magic came into the game as a top team from the preseason, where they went undefeated, and the expectations are so high that some have even picked them to beat Miami and Boston to win the East.

After the first quarter, it was pretty clear that the Wiz were outmatched, and there wasn’t much good to report on after the team’s 112-83 loss in the new Amway Center. Even though John Wall posted 14 points and nine assists, one off of starting his career with a Double-Double, he still looked shaky when shooting from anywhere outside the lane. Yi Jianlian, Al Thornton, JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche were bad at times, awful at others and just seemed to stand there while the Magic bigs had their way under the hoop. Orlando significantly outrebounded the Wiz, 53-25, and even though Washington came away with 21 turnovers, it wasn’t enough to overcome the body size and shooting efficiency of a major conference player.

The Wiz head to Atlanta on Saturday against another Southeast Division opponent before coming back home for the Verizon Center opener next Tuesday against Philadelphia, and Washington stands for a significantly more even match with the 76ers to try to improve to 1-1. Just remember: the Verizon Center wasn’t built in a day. Or a season.

The Features
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The Rundown: November Edition

Photo courtesy of
”
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

This weekend is the Marine Corps Marathon, one of the largest races in the Washington region. Over 30,000 people are signed up for the marathon and 10K, and many streets in Arlington and the District will be closed for the event. Good luck to everyone who is running!

But once the last runner crosses the finish line on Sunday, don’t think that running season is over in the District. We’ve still got several weeks of good road races coming up, including dozens of turkey trots in the area. Here’s the rundown!

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Entertainment, Food and Drink, People, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Drinks Smackdown! Norton vs. Colbert

Word on the Truthiness Beat is that Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton has challenged Stephen Colbert to down a shot of the lethal Norton’s Revenge, to be served to those truly courageous enough to knock back its brutal liquid force at The Passenger’s official happy hour event for the March to Keep Fear Alive.

From 3pm-7pm this Saturday, not only can you enjoy some seriously fun cocktails like the Tea Bagger (Kilbaggan whiskey, dry vermouth, and olive juice) or the Fear Monger (Kraken rum, lime and ginger beer) with 10% of sales going charity, you also just might witness the epic endgame between Norton and Colbert, whose battle royale has been waged not only in the name of comedy but also to help educate the country on the lack of voting representation for District residents.

So can you down a Norton’s Revenge, Colbert? Let’s see you sneer at DC now, huh? Take your medicine!

The Daily Feed
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Zoo Animals Love Halloween Too


Asian small-clawed otter by Smithsonian’s National Zoo

They may not be able to go trick-or-treating due to, well, being locked in confined quarters, but that’s not preventing these cute zoo animals and their keepers from getting into the holiday spirit.  I can’t wait for Christmas when they build snowmen with the gorillas and hang ornaments from the giraffes’ horns.  Feast your eyes on the whole set here.

The Daily Feed
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The Last of the Warm Fall Days

Photo courtesy of
‘colors’
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

It looks like we’re just about done with the summer-like warmth.  It’s hard to believe we’re in the waning few days of October, and the air conditioning tripped on this afternoon.  The weather has been pretty amazing these last few weeks, as if to gently ease us into the longer nights and colder weather.  Well, today was just about it. The high tomorrow is 60, and aside from two days in the mid sixties over the weekend, we’re headed toward the cold again.  So get those sweaters back out. Fall is coming.

The Daily Feed
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National Archives seizes materials from former employee’s home

Photo courtesy of
‘National Archives’
courtesy of ‘SwymRocket’

Our friends at TBD report that federal agents have seized several boxes of materials apparently belonging to the National Archives from the Rockville home of a recently-retired Archives employee.

Agents from the Archives arrived at Leslie Waffen’s home with a search warrant for specific materials, but no arrest warrant for Waffen, who has not been charged. Waffen had worked at the Archives for 40 years before retiring in June.

An audit completed by the Government Accountability Office this month found numerous issues with the National Archives’ preservation and security process, some internal and some related to document retention policies not being followed at other federal agencies. The audit was conducted after news reports last year of certain particularly valuable historical documents being missing, such as the original patent for the Wright Brothers’ flying machine.

There is no word on what specifically the Archives expected to or actually did find at Waffen’s home, but it’s kind of unnerving to contemplate the idea of important pieces of the American historic record sitting in boxes in a retired government employee’s basement.

Adams Morgan, Food and Drink, Interviews, People, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: David Fritzler

David Fritzler pours up a Blue Blazer cocktail at Tryst. Photo credit: Samer Farha.

We Love Drinks continues our series where we look behind the bar, profiling the many people – from mixologists to bartenders, sommeliers to publicans – who make your drinks experience happen.

I first met David Fritzler back in January when fellow WLDC author Samer and I watched him pour up an impressive flaming Blue Blazer at Tryst. You might think such pyrotechnics indicate a showy brash personality, but that’s far from the case. As I saw this summer when he served up his Rickey Contest entry, he’s a thoughtful crafter of cocktails. It was that Smokin’ Joe Rickey, somehow reminiscent of Lapsang Souchang tea, that made me want to learn more.

“The drink is never more important than the people enjoying it,” David says, “It’s not all about the cappuccino or the cocktail. It’s about the moment and memories that the drink facilitates.”

David was kind to sit down with me at Tryst this past weekend and let me sample a few of their new warming cocktails while discussing his drinks philosophy. Tryst has been an Adams Morgan neighborhood favorite since it opened in 1998, and it’s still going strong, recently winning Best Local Coffeehouse of 2010 in Express Night Out. For many of my friends it’s their “third place” – office, studyhall, living room – and it inspires a great deal of local love. David’s been there almost since the beginning, ten years of dedication.

As beverage director, it’s not all flash – at the end of our chat he was off to Open City to take apart the espresso machine. Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Shelter releases redacted complaint after dog shooting on Adams Morgan Day

Photo courtesy of
‘Summer time, and the puppy is snoozing.’
courtesy of ‘Martha Garvey’

The Lucky Dog Animal Rescue has released a copy of their complaint (PDF) to the District over the incident on Adams Morgan day that saw a K-9 officer kill a pitbull during the festival.  The story is hair-raising, and alleges that the police let the dog, Parrot, bleed to death just off the sidewalk over a period of 1-2 hours.  MPD is still investigating the case, and has significantly limited comment on the matter.

We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends, October 30-31

Photo courtesy of
‘The Smiling Skull’
courtesy of ‘Marcellina.’

Patrick: If you’ve ever been asked to add your name to an e-mail list while at a downtown DC bar, you can expect an offer for a free “Happy Hour” in your inbox. Well my fortuitous luck is now your reward. I’ll be kicking off my weekend at Sign of the Whale at a Happy Hour to kick-off the Rally Weekend. Stop on by and drop my name to get some sweet drink specials. Complete details can be found here. After that my Saturday will be solely spent surviving The Rally To Restore Sanity. Be sure to check out my earlier piece for all the tips you need to know if you’ll be there too. Sunday will be spent recovering from Saturday. Now that’s a weekend.

Max: I’m predicting a spike in the murder rate this weekend with all of the activities going on at once; it may be necessary to fire up my helicopter.  Was that the proper use of a semicolon?  Don’t answer that because I don’t care.  But I do care about supporting my photographer friends, which is why I’ll be hitting three gallery openings on Friday.  First I’ll be flying to Georgetown to see Frank Hallam Day’s mysterious jungle campers at Addison/Ripley Fine Art, followed by the opening of a much anticipated photography show at Civilian Art Projects, and finally a crash landing at Social in Columbia Heights for the Cult of Frank Van Riper exhibit.  On Saturday I’ll be doing what all of you will be doing, you know, acting all liberal and cool on the Mall and later getting alcohol poisoning at a Halloween party.  If I’m not in the hospital on Sunday, I may try to cheer for some friends who are crazy enough to run in the Marine Corps Marathon. Continue reading →

News, The Daily Feed
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Fire at the NSF Building yesterday related to the storm

Photo courtesy of
‘Lightning!’
courtesy of ‘philliefan99’

Yesterday’s powerful windstorm had one building casualty yesterday: The National Science Foundation.  The building was struck by lightning early yesterday afternoon, causing one of the building’s three main transformers to catch fire.  The building was evacuated safely and no one was injured, but the building remains closed today while crews work to replace the transformers and restart all the existing systems.  An update at noon today says that Stafford One and Two (their HQ) is still undergoing repairs, and may re-open in time for work tomorrow.

Sports Fix, The Features
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Sports Extra: Wizards Hoops 2010-11 Season Preview

Photo courtesy of

‘20090930-6799’
courtesy of ‘Keith Allison’

League wide, the 2010-2011 NBA season is a little bit of a smoke and mirrors act. While there have been plenty of offseason story lines that we finally get to see in action on the court, for all intents and purposes, the list of title contenders is shorter than any in recent memory. Not a surprise: this year’s Wizards aren’t on that list, and as a young and rebuilding team, that isn’t necessarily the expectation. Even if the Wiz aren’t quite ready to join the league’s elite four squads (the Lakers out West, and the Celtics, Magic and Heat in the East), the upward projection of the squad is going to be much more than a dead cat bounce.

I’ll be one half of the WLDC Wizards team this season, joined by the great Patrick Pho to recap the on and off court action all season long. While sometimes a forgotten team among the other three DC squads, we will do our best to keep you up to pace with all of the hardwood action at the Verizon Center. In honor of the season tip-off for the Wiz tonight in Orlando, we’re proud to bring you this recap of changes and a preview of what’s to come in 2010-2011.

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The Daily Feed
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Last Chance for $50 Capital Bikeshare memberships

Photo courtesy of
‘Capital Bikeshare’
courtesy of ‘Daquella manera’

October 31st is your last chance to get cheap access to thousands of bikes all over the city.  Think of Capital Bikeshare like Zipcar-for-bikes: Put in your key and take a bike, and then get charged by the hour for when you use it.  If you think you’ll borrow a bike more than 10 days a year, it’s totally worth the $50 cost to join now. Better than that, for rides under 30 minutes, you won’t pay a dime in usage fees.  That means if you just need a quick bike through downtown on your lunch break, you can grab a bike for free and go from Capitol Hill to Georgetown without paying any usage fees.