Working better to serve YOU, courtesy of afagen

Metro dropped a press release today outlining tentative plans for Inauguration Day.

That’s right, “tentative plans.” Since we still don’t have any official word on expectations (ranging from the FBI’s 800,000 to Mayor Fenty’s 4 million), it’s kinda useless to plan anything at this point. But I’ll give Catoe and Co. credit - at least they’re trying to do something about it.

I mean, it’s more important than escalator repair, right?

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Star Spangled Sculpture by tbridge

It was sad to me, back in 2006, when the National Museum of American History (NMAH) closed its doors. My wife and I, when first we met, had a very delightful time wandering its halls when she had first come down from Pittsburgh. It’s a special place, for us. I knew that they were working to make it a brighter, more modern place, having not undergone significant renewal since its opening in 1964. It was due for a renovation. Tomorrow morning, at 9am, the ribbon will be cut, and the NMAH will again be open to the public, a combination of new and old, of historic talismans and of high technology.

Yesterday, at the re-dedication of the museum, there was no shortage of fanfare and pomp. The Army District of Washington’s fife and drum corps was present, a brass quintet from the Army Band played, and one of their vocalists sang the national anthem. The President gave a short speech on the importance of the Smithsonian, and what their collection represents in terms of national ideals. President Bush and the First Lady have arranged for the handwritten White House copy of the Gettysburg Address to be on display with the Museum until early January, and you can stand just inches from the famous text, handwritten by President Lincoln. Around the corner is the book in which that speech appeared, as it was part of a fundraising effort in 1864 for the Union Army. Also included was the original copy of the Star Spangled Banner, in Francis Scott Key’s own hand. Read the rest of this entry »

"Tabard Inn Cocktail" with lemon zest and thyme leaves...

When the weather gets frigid, I begin my never-ending quest for a drinks spot with “hygge.” This is one of those totally untranslatable Danish words - encompassing a feeling of warmth, cosiness, and social cheer, hopefully accented by music and free of pretension - the feeling you get on a cold night, halfway through a mulled cider or a hot toddy, sinking into a soft divan before a fireplace, surrounded by jazz aficionados - wait a minute, here’s a much easier translation:

“Hygge” = Tabard Inn.

Tabard Inn is a classic small hotel, neither swank nor modern nor cold, with an antique-filled, lived-in look, like a grandmother with a twinkle in her eye. It’s hard to go wrong with drinks in the firelit front room, but you can also snuggle up in one of the many nooks upstairs or at the bar in the dining room.  It’s the sort of place my girlfriends and I go when we want “proper cocktails” in a quiet comfortable corner - reminding me of my favorite place for drinks in NYC, the Algonquin Hotel.

Last Sunday was one of those nights, with a brisk wind driving us to thoughts of mulled cider before the fireplace.

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Chavari 2 Courtesy of Cirque du Soliel

Earlier this past summer WaPo’s DC Scout sent me an email giving me pre-sale access to tickets for Cirque du Soleil’s touring show, Kooza. I bought tickets, and then promptly forgot about the show until looking at my calendar for November. I was pretty excited to remember Kooza! I’d never been to see a Cirque show, though I always hear rave reviews every time I talk with someone about a Cirque show that they’ve seen.

Kooza is playing at National Harbor, up above the main harbor on what they call the plateau, basically a huge parking lot and a big paved surface for Kooza’s tent. Matt and I arrived at the big top tent, or the “The Grand Chapiteau” about an hour before the show started. We got there just as the 4 p.m. showing was letting out, which was good because we got a good parking spots. And then we headed up to the main tent, which opens an hour before the show. Smart, since Cirque has shops and refreshment stands open before the show and lets you take food in. The beer selection is not to shabby (they featured Magic Hat’s aptly named Circus Boy hefeweisen) and we got to share a chocolate mousse pie.

We headed into our seats and that’s when the show began. Immediately clowns started coming out into the audience, picking on people. There were a few scattered through the audience acting as spectators, and then surprising people by jumping up and being a part of the show. I love that kind of audience interaction, and knew we were in for a good time.

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Poonanza 6 at the DC Improv

When I mentioned to Tom that this week’s Comedy in DC feature was going to be on the sixth-ever Poonanza, he looked at me skeptically and said, “That doesn’t sound like a comedy show, hon.” Yeah, I know. 

The brainchild of local comedy icon Larry Poon, Poonanza is a largely sketch-based show written by the Pooninator himself as well as co-performers Ryan Conner, Jay Hastings, Justin Schlegel, Danny Rouhier, the apparently controversial Aparna Nancherla, and Jon Mumma.  (While I was checking all these comedian URLs, I noticed how many of them are referred to as either “outrageous” or “one of the hottest young comics in [geographical area].” Time to come up with some new promotional copy, kids.)  Poonanza attendees will also enjoy some standup comedy from David Angelo, who is the top Google result for a search on his name but still managed to get stuck with a .info domain, and Erin Conroy.  The show will be on Saturday, December 13th. There will be two shows, 8 and 10:30, and tickets are $10. All the previous Poonanzas have sold out, so you’d better act quick.

Having seen many of these comics at a number of standup shows around the area (three of them at Chief Ike’s the night of the infamous Olive Oil Incident), I’m interested to see how they translate to sketch.  And as if the above photo of Larry Poon doesn’t tell you enough, there’s video behind the cut. Read the rest of this entry »

This is the start of a new column for us here at We Love DC. We’re going to do pieces on a lot of the different “leisure sports leagues” that are organized here in this area. Sure, some of them will be more leisurely than others, and our starting sport is certainly one of the more intense ones. Are you in a leisure sports league? Are you interest in fame and fortune, though legally we can guarantee neither? Email us with your story at tom at welovedc dot com.

Swinging by tbridge

The drive up to Reisterstown to visit the Baltimore Broomball Club was nothing short of exhausting. 2 hours from door to door, in rainy traffic at first, and by the end a pea-soup sort of fog that hid the Reisterstown Sports Plex, except for a vivid fog halo from the lights. Inside, on the cold rink, hockey practice was ending, and the zamboni was on the ice. 25 people had braved the fog, the traffic and the late fall chill to come suit up and play Broomball.

Broomball’s origins are a bit blurry, but is said to have evolved in Canada, like most games played on an icy surface. It’s not to be confused with curling, though, which is a subject for a wholly separate story, as there is a DC Curling Team of some repute. The game is straight forward: think of Soccer, crossed with Hockey. Two 18-minute periods make up the game as a whole, and six players from each team are on the ice at any given point, one of which is generally the goalie. Each player gets a helmet and a “broom”, and wears special shoes that grip the ice a good bit better than your average hiking shoes. Read the rest of this entry »

Fixation Opening Party by vincent gallegos

It would be an extreme understatement if I said that it was ‘a night to remember’.  Friday night’s opening party for Fixation at Fight Club was one hell of a way to get FotoWeek DC started.  This show tied together art, people, and the city like no other.

It’s impossible to explain how comfortable and chill the party was, all the while electric and full of energy.  You couldn’t escape the eclecticism.  The crowd ranged from wealthy, “in the know”, socialite art collectors to artists and die hard skaters.  The music switched from electronica to rock and roll, then drifted back to club music to keep the party rolling.  Our beverages began as champagne and later morphed into beer, while our food went from gourmet pizza to food off of a snack cart.  If you commissioned a painting to represent the night, it would contain elegant brush strokes smeared with spray paint, colors from across the spectrum.

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G20 summit in Washington, DC, courtesy of Downing Street

Despite the gray skies, tornado warnings, cold rain and a Redskins letdown, this was still an eventful weekend in the greater Washington DC area. Highlights after the jump.

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Enjoying a dozen oysters at Clyde's

In our ongoing quest to conquer the Omnivore 100 list, we come to #28, Oysters. It’s hardly a chore for me to kick back several dozen oysters. My love affair with the bivalves began as a child watching my grandfather stir up some homemade oyster stew, mesmerized by the delicate edges curling up in the cream. At some point as a teenager I dared my first raw bar, and the salty brine was instantly addicting. I’ve never strayed, even after a disastrous food poisoning incident in New Orleans (on my birthday, no less). No, there really is nothing like the luscious oyster, and we’re lucky in DC to have plenty of places to enjoy them.

They say eating an oyster is like kissing the sea, or a mermaid. I don’t know about that, but I do know that slurping back a mineraly oyster freshly shucked off the shell is one of those things that divides people - either you can’t stand the thought or the taste of them raw, or you love them passionately. While perfectly fried oysters battered in cornmeal certainly ranks high on my list, it’s the ritual of the dozen (or three!) that I really enjoy. So here are my top DC raw bar experiences…

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Sculpture by Mark Eisendrath, image courtesy of the artist

I find writing about art difficult. Music as well. Both disciplines hit me on a profoundly visceral level, a wild and wordless place that for a writer is disconcerting.

So to encourage you to attend a local artist’s opening (and full disclosure, he’s a friend as well), I think it best to stay clear of attempts to put into words what should be experienced on a tactile emotional plain.

I’ll just say - Mark Eisendrath’s sculptures are fascinating forms, riffs on glyphs, and well worth a drive out to Towson this Saturday.

 (More images and gallery info after the break)

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