Yearly Archives: 2010

All Politics is Local, Crime & Punishment, Essential DC, History, Life in the Capital, News, Special Events, The District, WMATA
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NTSB Finds Systemic WMATA Safety Issues From Red Line Crash Investigations

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

Today in a five hour long hearing, (not including a one hour long lunch break) the NTSB released their findings on the 2009 Red Line crash. Chairwoman Hersman kick off the hearing with opening remarks that highlighted the thoroughness of the report, the importance of its findings and immediate need for WMATA to take action to rectify what Hersman called “WMATA’s anemic safety culture.”

As Tom pointed out earlier today, many of the findings had already been unearthed. NTSB Engineer Payan spent a good length of time both describing and fielding questions about the failures of the Automated Train Operation (ATO) system and the WEE-Z bond sensors that caused the first train to essentially disappear from the track circuitry sensors and made the second train speed up and, tragically, slam into the first train. Prior to the crash, circuit failures like this were happening so often that WMATA employees became desensitized to the alerts and would ignore them. More shocking is that since the crash, WMATA has identified about 290 track circuits capable of this same failure and has not replaced them. No word on if WMATA is currently paying more attention to the alerts. Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
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We Love Arts: Noises Off

The Keegan Theatre's production of "Noises Off." Photo credit: Jim Coates Photography

British playwright Michael Frayn’s farce-within-a-farce Noises Off has become one of the most beloved and popular comedies since its original staging in 1982 – so popular that when Frayn updated it ten years ago for a National Theatre revival it caught a Tony for its famous Broadway transfer. Listening to the audience’s uproarious laughter at Keegan Theatre’s production last night, it’s not hard to see why this play is produced again and again – it’s simply guaranteed to make you laugh.

There’s an endearing quality to Keegan’s performance, with the appropriately creaky Church Street Theater making a believable setting for a play about all the awful failures a tired touring company goes through.  This may not be the most perfect production of this jewel of a farce, but the cast is giving it their all and there are crazy moments of hilarity. Playing now through August 22, it’s a very entertaining night out.

Three acts take the audience through three nights of watching as a touring company attempts a farce called Nothing On, a silly piece of froth with a Benny Hill sensibility. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Shh…Secret Supper Club…Pass It On

Photo courtesy of
‘Archives – Top Secret’
courtesy of ‘Amberture’
In a town where security clearances seem to grow on trees, it’s always nice to be the first on your block to find something new. This may not exactly be the lost Watergate tapes, but the D.C. Supper Club put on by Artisa Kitchen is shrouded in just as much mystery.

Held monthly, the dinners do not follow the usual supper club template. Instead of a revolving door of chefs, the meal is held at a different Washington-area art gallery each time. Only after you book your meal are you informed of the top secret location. No matter the site, chef Bryon Brown (of molecular gastronomy powerhouse Jaleo) prepares a 12-course farmers market-sourced tasting menu accompanied by six wine pairings ($90).

There’s only room for 28 diners, and they are completely booked for the July and August events. Next up is the September 30th date, followed by a vegan supper on October 7th. It’s a great option for those who like their dinner with a little intrigue…but you didn’t hear it from me.

The Daily Feed
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Man Gets 90 Days For Stealing Library’s Pet Tarantula

Photo courtesy of
‘Meet Mozart’
courtesy of ‘GollyGforce’

The DC area has its share of zany criminals. There’s the infamous Georgetown Cuddler and the relatively new eco-terrorist. But did anyone know that we also have a Spider-Man in our midst? Randy Humple, 27, of Westiminster, MD has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for stealing the resident tarantula of Westminster Library. Chili Rose, a Chilean Rose tarantula, was discovered missing from his (her?) home at the library’s information desk on May 19. Humple was later apprehended after he was not only seen with the spider, but heard bragging about his crime. Apparently, there’s a very fine line between zany and incredibly stupid. The 90 day sentence is in addition to the four year sentence Humple also received for violating his probation in a 2007 assault case.

Now, onto the next mystery: why a library would keep a tarantula as its pet.

capitals hockey, The Daily Feed
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2011 Winter Classic Logos Debut

While it’s been confirmed since May, the reality of the 2011 NHL Winter Classic finally began to set in today. The league’s press conference today didn’t reveal much information beyond the logos and some remarks by various officials (mostly from Pittsburgh), but it did serve as a nice bit of hockey news in the heated wastland of summer.

The Caps had a few officials in attendance, including Team President Dick Patrick and Caps players Dave Steckel and Mike Knuble. Most of the press questions revolved around the recent history between the Penguins and Capitals and the hyper focus on the Crosby/Ovechkin matchup. “It takes a team effort to win the game,” said Steckel during one brief interview. “There are outstanding performances by them [Crosby and Ovechkin], but ultimately it comes down to all the guys on the team to succeed.” Continue reading →

Food and Drink, Penn Quarter, We Love Food
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We Love Food: Poste Roast

Photo Credit: Michael Harlan Turkell

I love throwing dinner parties. In my head, they always turn out like the cover of Bon Appetit and there’s always enough delicious food and the wine is perfect and everyone is happy. But in actuality, the food is pretty okay, it never is all ready at the same time, and I usually forget to put forks on the table. I always just assumed that the perfect dinner party was in the same category as unicorns and leprechauns, but Poste Roast proves that is not the case.

Poste Roast is a genius special event put on by the fine folks at Poste Moderne Brasserie in the Hotel Monaco. It’s part pig roast and part elegant dinner party. I admittedly didn’t really know what to expect when I forced seven of my closest friends to give over full control of their dinner and wallets to me that night, but I thought it was bound to be something memorable.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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Old School DC License Plate Nerdery

Seriously old school DC plate

I saw this car yesterday and traffic, and immediately noticed that the plate said “HOYAS.” But then I noticed that it’s a black-and-white DC plate, embossed with a die in an older style, and got curious. A vanity plate like “HOYAS” is kind of like getting your first name as a Gmail username- it’s got early-adopter cred like crazy, and you do whatever you have to to to renew it and make sure you keep it, dammit. So over dinner last night, Tom and I got curious and wondered exactly how old this plate was.

DCPlates.net gave us the answer: This particular style of black and white baseplate, with the “Nation’s Capital” slogan on top and “Washington, D.C.” on the bottom, came into use starting in 1968. It was issued numerically until February 1974, when it was replaced with the first red, white, and blue design, but was still the standard plate for vanity plates until 1978. Which means this plate is older than I am. Awesome. That’s some dedication, right there.

And speaking of dedication, I’ve got to credit DCPlates for being pretty much the most thorough example of niche DC nerdery I’ve ever seen. Kudos to you guys.

The Daily Feed
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Squash Blossom Festival Returns To Oyamel

Photo courtesy of
‘squash blossoms’
courtesy of ‘willsfca’

Cherry blossoms are so last season. Right now, it’s all about the squash. Yesterday marked the first day of Oyamel’s third annual Squash Blossom Festival, which will take place through August 8th at the downtown Mexican restaurant. The event celebrates the summertime harvest of squash’s delicate edible flower, a defining ingredient of Mexican cooking. Six new dishes and one specialty cocktail will be available throughout the two-week period, each incorporating squash blossoms into its mélange of flavors and textures.

Continue reading →

We Love Music
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We Love Music (and Photos): Drive-By Truckers at 9:30 Club

Photo courtesy of

‘Patterson Hood’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

Around 10:00 Friday night, Drive-By Truckers strolled out onto the 9:30 Club stage. Singer Patterson Hood raised his arms, puffed out his chest, and screamed: “Goddammit, I feel GOOD.” By 1 a.m., Hood and his fans were drenched in sweat twice over, the band was wrapping up a raucous cover of punk hero Jim Carroll’s “People Who Died,” and “good” had become an understatement of epic proportions for the way the night felt.

Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Rookie Phenoms Strasburg and Heyward Face-Off

Photo courtesy of
‘Stephen Strasburg’
courtesy of ‘MudflapDC’

The National League East has been a hot-bed of competition in 2010. The Mets resurrected themselves from dismal play due to injury in recent seasons past, the Marlins can boast what with Josh Johnson on the hump, the Phillies are one of the best all-around playing teams in the big leagues, the Braves are doing their best to extend legendary Manager Bobby Cox’s final season in the game to October, and then there’s the Nationals who are the only team currently under .500 in the standings at .424 and 15.5 games back.

Tonight’s match-up of the first place Braves and the last place Nationals has the potential to be a jaw-dropping site of a show. The elusive and long-awaited face-off of phenom rookies is scheduled to finally take place (pending any last minute changes or injury). Stephen Strasburg meet Jason Heyward. Continue reading →

Downtown, Fun & Games, News, The Daily Feed, The Mall, WTF?!
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Meteors over Screen on the Green?

Photo courtesy of
‘Strisciata stellare ad Est’
courtesy of ‘gerlos’

Did anyone else see the large meteors that fell over DC, last night? I was at Screen on the Green last night watching 12 Angry Men (always awesome) and I saw two flaming chunks of rock fall over the Capitol.  And I’m not talking about dainty shooting stars. These were large enough and close enough to be seen despite the city’s light pollution and definitely caught the attention of most of the movie goers. You could even see the rocks beginning to break up and shed chunks of debris.  They kind of looked like fireworks right before the explode.  Did anyone else see them, or am I crazy?

Featured Photo
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Featured Photo


Hottest Day of the Year by Matt.Dunn

Ah, DC, your perseverance never ceases to amaze me.  Just when I start thinking that you’re a bunch of wimps, you go and do something to prove me wrong.  It seems that no matter what gets thrown your way, you fight back.  You’re fighters, not lovers, and on top of that you’re rich and smart!

Is Congress still refusing to give you a vote and treating you like second class citizens?  No worries – I know you’ll find a way to get up in their grill and make yourselves heard.  Is Metro raising its fares on you during tough economic times?  Hah, you’ll show them.  Is Mother Nature churning out record temperatures and throwing storms at you that knock your power out?  Bring it!  You just take your clothes off and ride around on a diesel powered, air conditioned bus.  Is Matt Dunn shooting you with his old school cameras and lighting you up with his fill flash?  Well, it appears you have no answer for that, but it’s OK.  Really.  It’s OK.

News, The Daily Feed, WMATA
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NTSB to release findings today in 2009 Metro crash

Photo courtesy of
‘metro’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

Today’s the big day for WMATA and the NTSB. This morning at 9:30am, NTSB will release their initial findings in the 2009 crash that claimed 9 lives as two trains collided outside the Fort Totten metro station. The preliminary documents will be released at the conclusion of the hearing, which will be livecast on the NTSB website.

If I had to make some predictions, I would imagine that fault will be placed on the system’s Automated Train Operation (ATO) system and the WEE-Z bond sensors (which Don explained last year) as well as on the not-at-all crashworthy 1000-series cars. I would also expect to see serious complaints about the leadership under John Catoe, as well as difficulties in the mid-level ranks at Metro to be blamed for the crash. Metro has said that they are working on an improvement to the ATO system, which has been disabled since the crash, but refused to answer any questions. In addition, Metro’s board has started the process for replacing the 1000-series cars, which will take several years to complete.

WMATA has been hiding behind this investigation, and its findings, since shortly after the crash, and has used the lack of a final report to mask their actions in the field from the press and the public. We can finally start to expect answers to questions like “What are you doing to fix the ATO system?” and “How is that real-time backup going?” Metro has had over a year to defer answers for most of their safety-related concerns until such time as the NTSB findings were released. Today will be some rough knocks for WMATA and their leadership, but it’s also the start of the real fix to the system. Today is when WMATA gets their final marching orders to fix ATO and return the system to scheduled operation, and that’s something I think we can all get behind.

We’ll have details as soon as they’re available.

Food and Drink, Night Life, Special Events, The Daily Feed, We Love Drinks
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Beer and Food Pairing at Little Miss Whiskey’s

Photo courtesy of
‘Hopeful Light’
courtesy of ‘Samer Farha’

As a beer lover there’s something so interesting that pairings do to the way you experience beer.  You still think about the malt characteristics and the quality of the yeast as you drink, but you get the added element of how your beer is cutting or complimenting your food.  You experience whole new flavors and elements of the brew that the food enhances.  You’re continually surprised by how reality contradicts your intellectual supposition of how a certain beer with pair with a particular food. Continue reading →

The Daily Feed
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Bollywood crash course in August

Photo courtesy of
‘Dhoonya’
courtesy of ‘erin m’

For those of you who have been looking for ways to get your Bolly on but who are allergic to crossing the river, Dhoonya Dance is offering a 4 week crash course in the basics of Bollywood dance Wednesdays starting August 4. The class will be held at the DC Jewish Community Center. It’s $60 if you’re not a JCC member, and $48 if you are, so if the nasty heat wave we’ve been suffering from is discouraging you from outdoor exercise, it might be time to spend some time on indoor physical activity.

Entertainment, Music, We Love Music
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We Love Music: HEALTH @ Rock & Roll Hotel 7/24/10


courtesy of HEALTH.

As I predicted last week, Los Angeles noise outfit HEALTH smashed Rock & Roll Hotel into a million tiny pieces on Saturday night with a spectacular show of guitar and drum demolition. Constantly shifting gears between raw noise, power electronics, and their unique brand of danceable noise-pop HEALTH kept the audience gleefully off-balance for the duration. Their set was an audio killdozer, rolling over the crowd with its well-timed dual percussion, mad scientist guitar sounds, and deranged vocal manipulation. It was the most joyous and inventive celebration of controlled noise that I have seen come through DC so far this year.

Continue reading →

Adventures, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
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30th Street Bridge Finished, TJ Street Bridge Construction Begins

Photo courtesy of
‘blurry reflection’
courtesy of ‘ekelly80’

Time moves at the speed of light when you’re busy living life, so it will surprise you all that’s in been almost a year since the DDOT embarked on Operation: Remove, Restore and Replace Georgetown’s C&O Canal Bridges.

Since I last reported on the epic project from the construction companies dublin, the 30th Street Bridge had been closed to traffic, but as of the last few days the new bridge has reopened in spectacular form and on schedule to boot! Not word on budget status. A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle, such as a body of water, valley, or road, without closing the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, usually something that is otherwise difficult or impossible to cross.

Suspension bridges are strong because the force on the bridge gets spread out. The weight of the cars or trains or horses, whatever’s traveling across it, pulls on the cables, creating tension, to hire the best contractors to make a quality job, visit http://brownbuildingcontractors.com and hire them now. Those cables then pull down on the towers and also pull on the anchors on either end of the bridge, to hold up the deck.

When bridges requiring piers are built over a body of water, foundations are made by sinking caissons into the riverbed and filling them with concrete. In the case of suspension bridges, towers are built atop the caissons. The first suspension-bridge towers were stone, but now they are either steel or concrete. If you need some materials for your project you might want to buy from skirting boards Perth.

Next up is the renovation of the much beloved Thomas Jefferson Street Bridge scheduled to kick off on July 28th and last approximately one year. While two-way traffic will still be permitted between M Street and Thomas Jefferson Street Bridge and between K Street and Thomas Jefferson Bridge, what about crossing the canal to get coffee and cupcakes at Baked & Wired?!!!  I’m very concerned that my afternoon sugar rush will be sorely impeded and inconvenienced. On the up side, some extra walking will help make up for these sweet indiscretions.

The Daily Feed
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You CAN Afford to Live Here

Photo courtesy of
‘SALE’
courtesy of ‘nevermindtheend’

When I talk about how much I love living in my beautiful urban neighborhood in the District, suburb residents will often say that they love the city too but just can’t afford to live there.  Well, according to the Washington Examiner, they can’t afford not to.  According to a new study released by Montgomery County, when transportation and housing costs are combined, it’s a lot cheaper to live close to transit. For example, those who live in non-transit-accessible Potomac spend twice as much on transportation as those in transit-friendly Silver Spring.

There’s definitely a level of sticker shock when you first see how high rents in this area are, but when you factor in the ability to sell a car, take transit, and/or walk or bike to work, moving closer to the city is a wise financial decision.

The Features
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An ANC Guide: Running for Election

Photo courtesy of
‘A packed ANC 4C meeting in DC tonight’
courtesy of ‘Wayan Vota’

This week’s political squabbles over a liquor license for a popular cafe, have brought into sharp focus the role of the District’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions. Dave went over the ANC’s role in our community in a previous feature, and this feature is here to tell you a bit more about how the ANC commissioners come to be elected.

ANC Commissioners are non-partisan, which means that they are selected at the general election. We don’t have to tell you that this means that they’re elected at the smaller of the two elections this fall, or that it means that many seats run unopposed. It’s a thankless job, for the most part, but it’s about being deeply involved in your own district, in your own community, and yes, it does mean meetings. But this feature is about how you get there, not what it means.
Continue reading →