Yearly Archives: 2010

The Daily Feed
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Daily Show in DC in October: More Tickets Made Available and Then Gone in a Flash

Photo courtesy of
‘100106-N-0696M-131’
courtesy of ‘Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff’

On Monday, a sneaky link on the Daily Show website let everyone know about special tapings of Jon Stewart’s show here in DC, and the free tickets went like hot cakes. I know some people were bummed that they missed their chance. Well, out of nowhere, more tickets were made available today (likely because a lot of people forgot to click confirm, including yours truly). If you got seats but forgot to reserve them or if you missed your chance on Monday, today may have been your lucky day.

For a few minutes earlier this afternoon, you could have reserved your seats at this site for one of the four tapings that start Monday, October 25 and run through Thursday of that week. The tapings occur in the early evening, and all four will be shot at the Harman Center for the Arts in Chinatown. I got a chance to check out Daily Show live earlier this year up in New York City; I can’t wait to see Stewart down here in D.C.

Good luck and hope you get yours! If not, keep your eye on that page, it’s likely tickets could open up…again.

Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Night Life, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Mod Madness Tonight at the Textile Museum

Has the rain got you down?  Do you just want to curl up on the couch in your sweats and watch Mad Men reruns?  Well don’t, because only boring people get bored.  Tonight is your chance to show off your own mod style as the Textile Museum hosts its second “PM @ the TM” with a tribute to textile designs and fashion from the 50’s and 60’s.  It will be complete and utter Mod Madness:

“Step into the museum’s garden for cool drinks, noshes and jazz by the Pete Muldoon Quartet.  Escape the heat with gallery tours led by WE ARE SCIENCE and music by DJ Jahsonic in the exhibition Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain and enter to win prizes from area businesses and restaurants.  Silk screen your own t-shirt or bag to take home with the Washington Printmakers Gallery and Kristina Bilonick.  D.C.’s most fashionable will be on hand to nominate the “best mid-century dressed”  so show us your best fedoras, swing skirts and mod shifts!”

Worried about getting your skinny tie wet?  Don’t be, they’ve rented a giant tent.  While all advanced tickets are sold out (i.e. lots of fun people will  be there), tickets will be for sale at the door for $10 and includes two drink tickets for members, one drink ticket for non-members.  Don’t be a square – be there.

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 →

Food and Drink, The Daily Feed
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Food Truck Tracker

Photo courtesy of
‘217/365’
courtesy of ‘BrianMKA’

There’s a fair amount of food truck closings/different locations due to today’s weather. We’ve moved those trucks that are closed/not operating today to the middle of the Potomac, because let’s face it, we’re all under water right now.

If you are going to brave the weather and head out to a food truck, best to check that food truck’s specific website or twitter feed to be sure they’re operating and to double check their location. Continue reading →

Adventures, Entertainment, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, People, The Daily Feed, The District, The Great Outdoors
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Run in the Rain with Michael Wardian

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

Tonight at 6:30pm, The Georgetown North Face’s weekly run features ultra-marathoner Michael Wardian.  Wardian has competed a races all over the world, including four wins in DC’s National Marathon, and is  a fantastic resource for those interested in marathon running. So despite this dreary wet weather, get your running shoes on and enjoy a run in today’s slightly less humid and hot summer evening.

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed, The District
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New poll shows Gray with razor thin lead over Fenty

Photo courtesy of
‘vince gray blogger roundtable’
courtesy of ‘Dave Stroup’

The web is buzzing with the results of a new independent poll of the race for mayor. The poll, conducted independently by Clarus Research Group, has challenger Vincent Gray with a slim 3-point lead over incumbent Mayor Adrian Fenty. In a sampling of 501 registered Democrats, Gray comes away with 39%, Fenty with 36%, Leo Alexander with 2%, and a whopping 22% undecided. Among those considered likely voters, Gray opens up a larger lead, 41% to 36%. The margin of error for this poll was +/- 4.4%.

Clarus also polled on the Council Chair race, and the results are roughly what was expected. Kwame Brown leads Vincent Orange 39% to 29%, with 29% undecided.

There are no real surprises in the poll, but if you’re a DC politics junkie it is fascinating stuff. We learn that most people in the city aren’t familiar with District Attorney General Peter Nickles–and those who do know him like him, 27% favorable, 18% unfavorable. MPD Chief Lanier gets 80% favorable, and Rhee is more divisive, as expected, 50% favorable, 35% unfavorable.

What does it all mean? The race is close. Super close. We already knew that. The numbers on Rhee are split down the middle, again not a surprise. The Nickles numbers show what us bloggers and commentators often forget–most people don’t read the same things we read. I bet you’d see similar numbers if you polled about Ron Moten. We’re going to see more ads about Fenty’s “results” and we’ll see more hits by Gray on Fenty’s personality and ‘cronyism.’ I’d venture a guess though that with Nickles’ numbers where they are, most people either don’t care or don’t know about the alleged cronyism. In essence, this poll merely confirmed what we all thought, this is going to be an extremely close election.

The Daily Feed
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The Rain is Making Your WLDC Authors Crazy

Photo courtesy of
‘Giddy #1’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

We’ve all been talking about the weather. For nine months, we’ve been talking about the weather. Shannon Mythbusted the weather yesterday. And it’s starting to get to us. Please see the following e-mail chain going around among the We Love DC authors:

Dave L.: Right now, I have this feeling that if the TBD app says “4000%” chance of rain…it might actually be right. I’ll post something quickly, I’ll see if Twitter can tell me about any other road closures.

Rebecca J.: Can you also include this driver educational message: Your car is NOT a submarine. Repeat your car is NOT a submarine.

John: Verify our range to target, Vasilly. One. Ping. Only.

Tiffany: This is just like Oregon Trail. Don’t try to ford the river. It will only end in tears.

Rebecca J.: Someone is definitely getting dysentery.

Rachel: Can we embed clips from Yellow Submarine while we’re at it?

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 →

The Daily Feed
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Grab Your Ark For This Morning’s Commute


Dulles Access Road, taken by We Love DC’s Max Cook

This isn’t a post to tell you it’s raining (although, man, is it ever), but to make sure you get to work or wherever you may be going this morning safely. Stories are coming in from around the city that heavy standing water is affecting many different parts of the morning commute, especially throughout Northern Virginia. More specifics and images after the jump. Continue reading →

All Politics is Local, The Daily Feed
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2,600 change party affiliation ahead of primary

Photo courtesy of
‘Just in Time to Vote’
courtesy of ‘trazomfreak’

Apparently you all listened when we said it was time to make sure your voter registrations were up to date, and that you needed to be registered as a Democrat in order to vote in four weeks. 2,600+ of you changed your voter registrations as of yesterday, including 308 Republicans and 2,000+ who’d claimed no party of their own. This will definitely be a number that comes into the fore on September 15th, when we’re dissecting the results of the primary. 300 Republicans is good for Mayor Fenty, many of whom place their trust in Fenty on issues of education reform, but the 2,000+ “no party” affiliation folks, well, that could be just about anybody.

Good on everyone for getting their registrations handled well before election day, and in plenty of time for the primary. Four more weeks of campaign ads, campaigning, and watching those guys like hawks. I know that I, personally, am still undecided about this fall’s mayoral race. Where are you? Tell us in the comments.

News, The Daily Feed
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Sandbags, Getcher Sandbags

Photo courtesy of
‘Raising the Levee’
courtesy of ‘The National Guard’

It’s going to rain tomorrow. But, fitting in with our year of wacky weather, we’re talking about a multi-inch event capable of flooding homes, and not just your typical rainy day. DC DPW will be allowing residents to pick up 4 sandbags, starting at noon today, to help keep water out of problem areas near your home. These are 40-50lb sandbags, so come prepared with a vehicle that you can load them into, and an able-bodies person to load them. You can pick them up at the DPW facility over near the Navy Yard in Southeast:

DC DPW Facility
New Jersey Ave SE & K St SE
Washington DC 20003

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”.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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What Bryce Harper Means For The Nats Fanbase

Young Fan
Photo by Rachel Levitin

The Washington Post’s Thomas Boswell raised a pretty good point this morning. “Baseball fans can win two ways,” he wrote. “Their team can be great. Or a player can be so sublime that his performance, year after year, almost every day for six months at a time, gives so much accumulated pleasure that his individual art actually rivals victory.”

Bryce Harper signing with the Washington Nationals is just one of a few ways Nationals fans will find victory while cheering for a team who has yet to contend in post-season play.

“Just five years after getting a team back after a 33-year absence, Washington fans are getting a reward that, while perhaps not as cherished as a World Series, ranks enormously high,” Boswell wrote.

What’s the reward? A team that went from hopeless, having lost over 200 games in two seasons, to a team full of hope. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Donovan McNabb Willing to Play for Wizards if NFL Locks Out

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

There’s been some talk in the sports circle about a looming lock out in the NFL if the owners and players’ association can’t reach a deal after this season. One of the reasons for a lot of chatter is that several NFL players – most vocally, Brandon Marshall of the Miami Dolphins – have said they’d put their skills to the test on an NBA court in the interim.

Well, new Redskins QB Donovan McNabb jokingly said he’s willing to follow suit. In an interview with Comcast SportsNet last night, McNabb made a few statements about his willingness to stick around D.C. for years. And if the lockout means it is playing a different sport? Why not! Via Dan Steinberg of DC Sports Bog:

“Well, we just drafted John Wall, (have) Gilbert Arenas, they’re looking for kind of a power guard that can come in, get a little physical down low. I can go play with the Wizards if things don’t really work out. Drop about 10, 15 basketball pounds…slap some boards a little bit, get up on the rim.”

H/t USA Today‘s The Huddle

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 →

The Daily Feed
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College Class of 2014 Has Never Known a Congress Of Which The Nation Approves

Photo courtesy of
‘state of despair’
courtesy of ‘redjoe’

One of my favorite lists that comes out every year is from researchers at Beloit College in Wisconsin. Based on pop culture research, the academians up north compile a list of things that incoming college freshmen have grown up understanding as truths. These include all of those television or technology trends they may not remember, or some things for which they are likely nostalgic.

Two D.C. mindsets stand out the most in this list of 75 items, and while the entire list is pretty entertaining (for example, this round of 18 year olds don’t know Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry, but as a sensitive director), here are two beltway thoughts to make you feel old while we’re at it:

71. The nation has never approved of the job Congress is doing.

72. One way or another, “It’s the economy, stupid” and always has been.

And the kicker: the class of 2014 was generally born in 1992. That’s scarier than anything on that list, if you ask me. What else do you see that’s a little frightening?

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.

Continue reading →

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.

The Daily Feed
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Does riding Metro count as my exercise for the day?

Photo courtesy of
‘The working escalator’
courtesy of ‘ianseanlivingston’

It’s no surprise that there’s a correlation between rates of people driving to work and higher rates of obesity, but GOOD has created a fun new graphic that shows it in an interesting way.  This map of the US shows rates of walking, biking, and taking transit to work alongside obesity rates.  Since DC is compared to more spread out states, we obviously come in first place in the walking/biking/transit commute rates, and we’re third lowest (behind super-active Colorado and Connecticut) in statewide obesity rates.

The typical caveat applies here: when DC is compared to states the results should be taken with a grain of salt.  Virtually any dense city would beat out  statewide averages in terms of rates of taking non-motorized transportation to work.  And we shouldn’t pat ourselves on the back too much– there’s still a lot of work to be done to reduce obesity in DC.  While overall the District may be considered healthy and active, the obesity rates in Wards 7 and 8 are nearly double the District average (and much worse than the national average).

But still, next time you’re stuck walking up a broken Metro escalator, remind yourself that it’s keeping you fit!