Category Archives: Entertainment

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, We Love Arts
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Great Noise Ensemble at Capital Fringe

GNE@Hirshhorn
great noise ensemble uploaded by hirshhorn

I want to like the Great Noise Ensemble. I really do. They are a plucky bunch of kids, fighting the good fight of aesthetic diversity, they play that post-minimalist, rock/chamber fusion that’s all the rage with the kids, they’ve won WAMMIES two years in a row, and they have a creation story that a Marvel hero could envy. Even more so, this town needs some new blood in its New (Concert) Music Scene, and an outfit that tries to play varied, forward-looking repertoire would be a great addition to the community.

GNE performed Wednesday evening at the Harmon Center for the arts, the ensemble’s second performance in as many years at the Capital Fringe festival, another young, forward-looking organization that is growing in leaps and bounds. The concert, entitled ‘Carnal Node: Sex Noise and Lies in the Internet Age’ showed off the good and the bad about this group: Rhetoric surpassing event, ambition surpassing execution, but all with a promise of better things to come.

The program title sets up a rather specific theme for the show, but only one of the pieces seems to bear much relation to it— rather than telling us anything new about relationships, or technology, or lying, the program as was rather more interested in placing GNE firmly in the rock-derived, post-minimal camp exemplified by the many-tentacled corporate entity known as Bang on a Can; indeed one work had been commissioned and first performed by BOAC through the ‘People’s Commissioning Fund.’ The instrumentation varied from electric bass, guitar, drums and brass to soprano and an ‘extended pierrot,‘ but all the work played with rhythm and phrasing in a manner more akin to Talking Heads than to Mozart, searching for that sweet spot between ‘concert music’ and ‘popular music.’
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Entertainment
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Social Calendar: July 24 – July 30


“metro_yellow_line” by Ghost Bear

This week’s Calendar is prepared from a hotel room in California. Please forgive the brevity, and definitely chime in if you think I missed anything! Thanks!

Thursday, July 24: There is a lot going on tonight. Of all of it, though, I would probably pick Statehood at Fort Reno. It is the “night of a thousand cakes” – so bake something and celebrate the recent cancer freedom of singer Clark Sabine.

Friday, July 25: The Wasabassco Traveling Burlesque Revue makes a stop at Palace of Wonders. Go and find out if they can back up the claim of “another full evening of risqué-fun, saucy striptease, rat-pack style hosting, inebriated shenanigans, near-nekkidness, and the best Wasabi Hot Pepper Sauce on the eastern seaboard.”

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Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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Last Minute: War Games 25th Anniversary

War Games NORAD

War Games, the quintessential geek movie of the 80s, is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary tonight with showings on the big screen. For those of you looking to relive the good old days of 300 baud phone-coupled analog modems and a military industrial complex unconcerned with security breaches that could wreak a nuclear holocaust kind of havoc with a simple game of tic-tac-toe, tonight’s your night. (Also, you’ll get to see a young Ally Sheedy and Matthew Broderick.)

I’ll be heading to the Tyson’s Corner location with a group from HacDC, but you can look up the closest theatre to you on Fathom Events website. (Unfortunately, it seems only theatres in VA are participating. I couldn’t find any in DC or the MD suburbs.) Tickets for most showings are still available online.

Entertainment, The Daily Feed, We Love Arts
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Last Minute: monochrom

If you’re looking for something entertaining this evening, check out Monochrom: Law and Second Order tonight, hosted by HacDC, at 8:30 PM at St. Stephen’s Church in Columbia Heights (16th & Newton NW). It’s sure to be a wild and absolutely crazy show. The rumour is they spent yesterday in Pennsylvania Amish Country shooting an Amish porn video after a weekend performing at The Last Hope, a hacker conference in NYC.

monochrom is a worldwide operating collective dealing with technology, art, context hacking and philosophy and was founded in 1993. So to sum up, monochrom is an unpeculiar mixture of proto-aesthetic fringe work, pop attitude, subcultural science and political activism. Their mission is conducted everywhere, but first and foremost in culture-archeological digs into the seats (and pockets) of ideology and entertainment. monochrom released a leftist retro-gaming project, established a 1 baud semaphore line through the streets of San Francisco, started an illegal space race through Los Angeles, buried people alive in Vancouver, and cracked the hierarchies of the art system with The Thomann Project.

Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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Joss Whedon shows us what it’s like in there.

Those of you who are fans of Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog (and if you aren’t, I don’t know what’s wrong with you) will be interested to know that Joss “I done lost my mind during the writers’ strike” Whedon will be doing a chat with our very own Washington Post today at noon to discuss the show.  Those of you who haven’t seen it have just enough time to download the online-only show from iTunes and catch up on it as the chat starts.  It has everything you could want: Neil Patrick Harris as Dr. Horrible, Nathan Fillion as Captain Hammer, and catchy tunes.

Entertainment, The Daily Feed
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Artscape Festival

Reader Shannon wrote in another suggestion for your weekend. In addition to the Whartscape festival featured earlier, Baltimore does have another, bigger festival competing for your attention: Artscape 2008.

Artscape claims to be the country’s largest free public arts festival. The event includes visual arts as well as just about every kind of performance you can think of – fashion shows, music, theatre, film… There is even a category of “Exotic-Hypnotic” which has several events each day. Charm City Craft Mafia and other indie crafters will be selling their work at DIY @ Artscape.

These activities and much more will take place in numerous venues around the city, Friday and Saturday noon to 10, and Sunday noon to 8.

Entertainment, Night Life
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Social Calendar: July 17 – July 23


“X in DC: March” courtesy of irrezolut

Thursday, July 17: I discovered We Were Pirates when he (Great Falls, VA resident Mike Boggs + laptop) was a winner of a This American Life remix contest. The pop confection break-up song produced for the radio show was a representative introduction to We Were Pirates’ oeuvre – if less polished-sounding than official releases. Besides, everybody loves Fort Reno.

Friday, July 18: I am not going to be telling you about a lot of music that gets played at Irish “pubs” in places like Sterling, VA. But, then, Ned Devines’ stage probably does not often have acts like Virginia Beach rappers the Clipse. Is there something I am missing that makes this seem less awkward than I think?

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Comedy in DC, Entertainment
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Comedy in DC: Jon Mumma

I first saw Jon Mumma at the Laugh Riot at the Hyatt in Bethesda doing a featured set. I laughed all the way through, so I was delighted to see that he’s emceeing at the Improv this week- you should check him out there, appearing with headliner Kevin Pollak. I could spend rather a lot of time geeking out about his use of non-verbal communication to enhance the joke he’s telling, but it would probably only be interesting to me. The short version: He’s funny, and you should go see him. But don’t take my word for it… watch him online.

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Crime & Punishment, Entertainment, The District, The Great Outdoors, The Mall
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The Cardboard Samurai are Coming

cardboard samurai.jpg

When the scroll arrived at my desk this morning, borne on the winds of change by a messenger falcon, I could not believe my eyes. The Cardboard Samurai were coming. Their likes have not been seen in Washington for some time, after they were driven back by the Army of the Paper Airplane back in ’99. I had feared that would one day return.

They fight without mercy, without cease, until their cardboard tubes lay in pulpy pieces upon the ground. The havoc…

On July the 26th, they shall return to Washington DC, their cardboard tubes at their side, their cardboard armor freshly carved and worn like the samurai of old. They will meet on the Mall, betwixt the Smithsonian and Natural History Museum at 3pm to display their ancient art.

The Washington War Dance. Upon us again. Perhaps, for the last time.

cardboard samurai2.png

Top photo: IMG_1075 by Hellathatguy
Bottom Illustration: Penny Arcade

All Politics is Local, Comedy in DC, Entertainment, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Ron Paul DC March

Ron Paul, the anarcho-capitalist cryptolibertarian neoconfederate survivalist Texas congressman and sometime presidential candidate who published a racist newsletter and opposed a medal for Rosa Parks, civil rights, MLK Day, Tibetan freedom, DC voting rights, and the 14th and 16th Amendments, and enjoyed endorsements from such greats as the John Birch Society, Stormfront White Nationalists, and the Ku Klux Klan, is having a march and rally today! Continue reading →

Business and Money, Entertainment, WTF?!
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I’m sick of the iPhone, and I want one

That was the scene at the Pentagon Mall yesterday, with so many people waiting for the iPhone 3G that the line stretched from the Apple store three storefronts to the left all the way around the balcony.

At 8:15 in the evening.

I don’t want to belabor the point, since I am so sure that the media today is tripping all over itself to talk about this that I’m tired of it already and I haven’t even turned on the TV, but the scene was so jaw-dropping that I needed to share. The only news I’m really interested in about this is specific to Pentagon City mall, where I made a rough count of about 70 in that line. With Apple quoting about a 7-10 minute time to process a single sale – contracts, you know – I figure that one of two things happened:

  • They stayed open till around 1am to handle all those customers
  • The shut their doors at about 10pm, stranding 40+ people who then rioted, breaking and burning all around them before degenerating into savagery and bludgeoning each other to death with iBooks.

I figure it looks something like this there now.

screengrab from the Dawn of the Dead remake, if you wondered….

Entertainment, Night Life
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Social Calendar: July 10 – July 16


Photo of a type cabinet at Pyramid Atlantic Art Center courtesy of erin m

Each week in this space I will be bringing you some ideas of things to do to keep busy around town. Obviously, this is will never be a complete record of everything going on, so please feel free to chime in with comments about your own recommendations or accuse me of suggesting complete rubbish.

Thursday, July 10: Our fellow bloggers over at The New Gay are throwing a party they call “I Heart DC”. How could we not recommend that? The “co-ed and straight friendly” party will prominently feature DC bands in the indie-oriented playlist.

Friday, July 11: Attend the opening of “ACADEMY 2008” at the Conner Contemporary. The show features selected works by recent BFA and MFA graduates of area universities. Reception runs 6-8 (show hangs until July 26).

Saturday, July 12: Wale – Mark Ronson associate, mixtape impresario, and consummate District-representer – headlines the “Welcome to DC Concert” at Love. It is really important to the promoters that you note their dress code – “Please be business casual!” (the many sartorial prohibitions are listed on their site).

Sunday, July 13: Give in to the Frozen Yogurt Zeitgeist that has taken over the city this summer. Stage a tasting and report back. Suggested competitors: Mr. Yogato, Iceberry, Tangysweet, et al.

Monday, July 14: Bastille Day. Organized festivities available, if you are in to those. Alternately, maybe drinks at Napoleon is more than thematic enough.

Tuesday, July 15: The Cato Institute presents a policy forum entitled “McCain and Obama: Comparing Their Economic Platforms”. Experts from Cato and the Center for American Progress will discuss the candidate’s positions over lunch. Knowledge is power. (Note: Event is free, but requires advance RSVP)

Wednesday, July 16: Find something at the Capital Fringe Festival that looks worth a Wednesday night. It could turn out to be good or completely dreadful. Either way, let us know what you picked.

Entertainment, Special Events
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The Fringe Festival 2008

Another year, another Fringe. I’m looking forward to this one, but before I talk about it I need to take a moment to say: What the HELL is up with this button nonsense?

“$5: A Fringe button is required for entry to all Fringe Festival shows.”

The only reasoning I can come up with for this is (1) we sell quantity bundles and want to make it marginally harder for you to share them amongst yourselves and (2) we’re willing to anger and alienate you – when you forget your button at home and have to spend $5 for a new one – in order to make you do free promotion for us.

Well, free for the Fringe folks anyway – the rest of us pay $5.

That bit of new idiocy aside, there’s a bunch of fun-looking things kicking off tonight. My preliminary list is after the jump, based on a quick scan of the offerings. There’s three specifically I’ll call out though:

The Gilbert & Sullivan Youth Players present The Mikado

We saw them last year and they were superb. These kids are talented and they’ve been well guided.

If you see something, say something

Mike Daisey, possibly best known to the internet-world for an odd incident that was highlighted on BoingBoing, Daisey is an amusing fellow who does a Spalding Gray-like monologue performance. Now he’s taking on the Department of Homeland Security.

Jerry Springer: The Opera

Even if this didn’t sound like fun, this is a show at Studio Theater that would normally cost you almost twice as much. However during the Fringe they’ll accept the $20 per Fringe tickets for admission as well. It’s one more step – you need to get your tickets through the Fringe office or online – but I’ll do a little more to save $50%.

the rest of my initial eye-catchers after the jump… Continue reading →

Adventures, Business and Money, Downtown, Entertainment, Essential DC, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Music, Night Life, Special Events, We Love Arts, WMATA
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Why I Love DC: David


Capitol Columns #5
Originally uploaded by andertho

My first exposure to Washington D.C. was in 1982 as a side stop on our family’s trip down to see the World’s Fair in Knoxville, TN. On that trip we did the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the National Zoo in D.C.. I remember vaguely, the trees being more plentiful and taller, however I’m also a yard taller now, and they seem now, just a bit shorter. I’m still surprised I remember something from over 26 years ago, but D.C. had that kind of effect.
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Entertainment, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed
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Fireworks Tomorrow!

postfireworks.png

Be sure to check out the Post’s Google Maps Mashup for all the various fireworks celebrations tomorrow. My personal favorite spots to watch the fireworks are between the Washington Monument & the Lincoln Memorial on the Mall, as well as GW Parkway, just off the road. My good friend Dan suggests the Key Bridge, and a couple people I know swear by a canoe out on the water.

Looking forward to some fireworks tomorrow!

Comedy in DC, Entertainment
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Comedy in DC: Jimmy Meritt

As I’ve been enjoying my own tentative steps into the world of standup comedy, I’ve come to discover that a lot of my favorite comedians are locals, people who you may not see on Comedy Central, and who may not even be headlining a local club, but who I never fail to think of when someone asks me who I find funny. One such comic is Jimmy Meritt, who I first saw with the Geek Comedy Tour last fall. He has his hands full- in addition to his appearances with the Geek Comedy Tour (which I’ll be sure to catch at Wiseacres later this month), he performs at comedy clubs around the Eastern US, and will be appearing with the “We Can Make You Laugh” Tour this fall. I highly recommend that you see him this week at the DC Improv, appearing with Brett Leake. View his calendar, and watch him in action online.

Jimmy was kind enough to answer some questions for We Love DC:
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