Category Archives: Entertainment

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, People, The Features, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Stephen Kellogg

Photo Courtesy of Missing Piece Group

Photo Courtesy of Missing Piece Group

Amid the adversity of life, Americana Rock singer-songwriter Stephen Kellogg found himself at a crossroads. His band, The Sixers, went on hiatus after nine years of playing together at the end of November 2012. And for the first time since 2002, Kellogg was in a place where he could release a solo album.

“Blunderstone Rookery,” which is scheduled for a June 18 release, comes after the loss of Kellogg’s mother-in-law, grandmother, and the roof of his house. The album features a collection of honest songs written with the hope of leaving behind a positive legacy for his family — a feat that Kellogg encourages all people to strive for in their own lives.

Rachel: “Blunderstone Rookery” is being released at a unique time in your life and you’ve drawn inspiration for these songs from personal stories. What would you say are the biggest challenges you’ve faced while writing and releasing this album?

Stephen Kellogg: The amazing thing about life is that it’s always a unique time in one’s life, because it’s the only time you’ll ever be where you are. We can look back with hindsight and kind of understand or make sense of what was going in a given moment, but often it’s tough to fully appreciate where we’re at while it’s happening. While writing and releasing this album I was very aware that I was in a challenging place because I had lost my mother-in-law, my grandmother, the roof of my house, and my band in the course of about five weeks. Not surprisingly I got kinda sick, and found myself knowing that was going to be something I was going to have to “go” through and “grow” through.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, We Love Arts
By

In Rehearsal with Les Miserables

Les Miserables in rehearsal / courtesy The Theatre Lab

Les Miserables in rehearsal / courtesy The Theatre Lab

We stepped into the large theater at Calvary Baptist Church on 8th Street and made our way to a seat. Deb Gottesman was instructing a varied chorus of old and young on the rehearsal process and what to expect from the night. My husband – a seasoned actor himself – turned to me and asked, “Is this a class?”

Yes and no. It’s Theatre Lab – an independent, nonprofit school for the dramatic arts. It’s also home to a new production of Les Misérables – hence my husband’s confusion. This was a rehearsal, a class, and a performance all in one.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Honor By August

Honor.By.August_lineup

Photo Courtesy of Honor By August

It’s hard to coordinate schedules with Honor By August these days. They’re busy guys. The DC-based band is currently on the road promoting their new album “Monuments To Progress” while playing to audiences all over the country. Next Up: They’ll be spending the summer on tour in support of The Voice’s Season Two finalist Tony Lucca. But before that, Honor By August will playing a big CD release celebration show at the 9:30 Club this Friday (May 24).

Lead singer Michael Pearsall took a few minutes to talk to We Love DC via e-mail about the bands’ recent success on a national level and how that all feels in anticipation of their big hometown show.

Rachel: Tell me about this new album. I’m sure there’s a certain sense of accomplishment having gone the Kickstarter route. How does it feel to have it released?

Michael: It feels incredible to be able to put out an album that was funded by our fans. We were truly humbled by the amount of support we received from people through Kickstarter. Monuments To Progress is a great representation of Honor By August that showcases out diversity. There are moments where we really rock out but there are also moments where we dial it back and hopefully draw the listener in. It’s a complete album that explores the depths of different emotions lyrically and reaches new heights for us sonically. It’s an effort that we’re all very proud of.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: Other Desert Cities

Other Desert Cities
Photo: Scott Suchman

Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities, Arena Stage’s season-ending production, focuses on the fictional Wyeth family. A family with an all too familiar Hollywood story.

Patriarch Lyman (Larry Bryggman) is a golden-era actor who followed in the footsteps of his friend Ronald Reagan and went into politics. Under the Reagan administration Lyman was appointed U.S. Ambassador and later became GOP chair. Matriarch Polly (Helen Carey) earned her fame writing TV shows and books with her sister Silda (Martha Hackett). Their kids Brooke (Emily Donahoe) and Trip (Scott Drummond) did pretty well too: Brooke is an acclaimed author and Trip is a successful reality television producer. A successful Hollywood couple with successful Hollywood children.

But also like celebrity families, they had their share of tragedies alongside their accomplishments. Silda was an alcoholic and Brooke was deeply depressed. The eldest Wyeth child Henry committed suicide after running away from his family and was implicated in a bombing that killed a war veteran. The Wyeth family story sounds all too familiar in American celebrity culture: great success intertwined with scandal and tragedy.

Baitz’s gripping drama takes us beyond the tabloid type and paparazzi photos and shows us conflict more real and raw than anything you’d see on those reality shows on E! or VH1.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Special Events
By

Celebrating Cinco De Mayo At LivingSocial BeerFest

LivingSocial Beerfest 2013 dmbosstone

This past weekend I was invited to celebrate Cinco De Mayo with beer instead of the traditional tequila. Sunday afternoon I went down to the Half Street Fairgrounds by Nats Park and walked around the final day of LivingSocial’s BeerFest. Craft beers, crazy party games, and a silent disco certainly made my Sunday Funday a good one.

Take a look at some photos I snapped at the festival below.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: The Personals

IMG_9390

Much of No Rule Theatre’s The Personals plays out like a twisted Match.com ad. An early 40-something woman seeks a sweet and honest man. A serious reporter searches for, “an aggressive woman.” Blind man hopes to find a sighted mate. These are not the serendipitous perfect matches portrayed in those online dating commercials. That’s because the dates are part of an on-going role-playing game between a husband and wife who are hoping to repair their broken marriage.

Unable to pick up the pieces after a tragic accident, Don and Janna (Michael Kramer and Anne Kanengeiser) attempt to rekindle their lost love through their fake blind dates. The two go on dates set-up through personal ads in the newspaper. Taking on characters dictated in the personal ads, the two meet in the after hours of the bar where Don serves as both owner and headline entertainer.

The premise equates into a multitude of roles for Kramer and Kanengeiser, who both provide subtle hints of chemistry through their false personas that illustrates the love that once existed in the now vacant marriage. There are quite a few humorous moments, especially through Don’s cheesy magic act, but don’t mistake this for a stage version of Fifty First Dates. The mood is gloomy, a thick fog that separates a husband and wife who hope to find their way by pretending to be somebody else.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Daily Feed
By

Local Comedy Group LYGO Hopes To Bring On The Laughs With Second Weekly U-Street Show

LYGODC

As I walked up to Desperados on U Street, I was greeted by a man collecting tickets who describes himself to be “5 foot, 19 inches”. He appeared to be just a guy manning the front door until I found out he was Richard Bennett, LYGO DC co-founder and host of the comedy show I was attending.

As I went into the basement bar/restaurant I immediately spotted the stage: a small black wooden crate that couldn’t have been more than two feet long with a height of probably six inches. Behind the makeshift stage was a long sheet of black plastic that resembled a shower curtain. To say the set-up of the event was no-frills would be an understatement, but it is the bootstrapping approach that has helped the local group grow from a brunch-time comedy show at to quickly growing addition to the DC comedy scene.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: WLDC 2012-2013 Theater Review

WLDC-Theatre-2-Vid-2_1

Spring is in the air, Cherry Blossoms are coming and going, pesky tourists return to stand on the left side of the escalator.

As the temperature goes up, the DC Theatre season is winding down. With a couple of months to go til we enter the “Summer Reruns”, the We Love DC Theater team got back together at The Passenger to look back at what we said in our earlier preview and how it all shook out.

Continue reading →

Entertainment
By

Rare Opportunity: Classic Silent Films at AFI Silver Theatre

Promotional photo from Harold Lloyd's film Safety Last!, via Wikimedia Commons.

Promotional photo from Harold Lloyd’s film Safety Last!, via Wikimedia Commons.

This weekend the DC area’s finest movie palace, the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, begins a Silent Cinema Showcase. Many of the films and shorts will feature live accompaniment. While you’ve probably seen the image above, you may not know anything about the film Safety Last! itself. Even Roger Ebert hadn’t seen it before he reviewed it in 2005!  He wrote:

It is by general agreement the most famous shot in silent comedy: a man in a straw hat and round horn-rim glasses, hanging from the minute hand of a clock 12 stories above the city street. Strange, that this shot occurs in a film few people have ever seen.

Your chance to be one of the few comes this weekend. A new 35mm print of Safety Last! will be presented Sunday at 7:30, with live musical accompaniment. Other films in the series include two feature films starring screen legend Mary Pickford, a collection of experimental shorts called Wild and Weird, and shorts by Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy, and Buster Keaton (you get two chances for Keaton: one short is grouped with Chaplin and Laurel and Hardy, and then three Keaton shorts will be presented together).

The series starts this weekend and runs through May 4.

Entertainment, Music, People, She/He Loves DC, The Features
By

He Loves DC: Ted Garber

Photo for Patch--Ted Garber

Photo Courtesy of Ted Garber

She/He Loves DC is a series highlighting the people who love this city just as much as we do.

Ted Garber is a DC native. These days, he’s an award-winning “BluesAmericanaRock” singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentatlist. Ted’s also a perpetual student who frequently travels the globe in an attempt to absorb as much about the world’s cultures as he can. His curiosity is contagious.

What is it about DC that makes it home to you?  

That’s an easy one.  I was born in DC at Washington, DC hospital.  My late father made his living all his too-short life playing music in and around DC. I grew up in and around DC. My mother worked at the Justice Department. In spite of a few fascinating years in New Orleans, West Virginia, and L.A., DC will always be the place where both my family and I are from. I mean, my Dad sang on the now-defunct official Redskins Singers choir. It was commensurate to blasphemy to take the ‘Skins name in vain or to disparage them in any way, especially during a losing game. That particular violation usually resulted in a grounding or a night spent taking dinner alone in my room. To be fair though, I am an Orioles fan. The Nats did not exist when I was growing up here, so we drove to Memorial Stadium and later Camden Yards for games. (That’s probably going to bring me grief for admitting, I know).

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, The Features, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Grace Pettis

Photo by Rodney Bursiel

Photo by Rodney Bursiel

When I first met singer-songwriter Grace Pettis this past October, I was standing outside The Bluebird Cafe in Nashville, Tennessee. The airline had left my bags in D.C. so I was on the phone with them for a good hour while soaking up the southern sunshine in my cowboy boots. It was my first time at the legendary Bluebird. It’s a special place to the songwriting a community. It’s a place where some of the finest songwriting talent in this country has played at least a song or two. And that’s also the night I learned that “timing is everything.”

While on the phone with the airline, a car pulled into the lot and a group got out to start loading in for the night. That was Grace Pettis and her band. It was the night of a CD release show for her most recent album “Two Birds.” Like I said, timing is everything.

As they unloaded for the gig, I held the door open for them a few times. What else did I have to do? I was on hold without any of my luggage in Music City, USA with just my phone and wallet. After load-in, they sound checked and what I heard was worth getting to the Bluebird early for.

Grace returns to Washington for a set at Ebenezers Coffeehouse this Friday and took some time over e-mail to answer a few of our questions. Here’s what she had to say. Continue reading →

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: A Man, His Wife, and His Hat

HUB 16_Sasha Olinick and Kerri Rambow_Photo by Melissa Blackall_1600x1066

(Photo: Melissa Blackall)

The setting of Lauren Yee’s A Man, His Wife, and His Hat is unknown. Looking at the actual set of The Hub Theatre production, one might guess that it takes place in the 80s based upon the telephone and television. The dialects and accents hint that it takes place somewhere in old Europe where hat-making is still a feasible profession. The overall feel of the show reminds me of the fictional land of Mypos from Perfect Strangers. It wouldn’t have surprised me if Balki Bartokomous burst through the door to the tunes of Jesse Frederick’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Me Now.

The foreign land, the somewhat distant past, and the physics that are meta in both scientific and poetic terms come together to form a fairy-tale world. In Yee’s universe golems live underneath your floorboards, memories are kept in glass jars, and all-knowing walls possess the secrets of the world on printed pages.

Yee’s story, with direction from Shirley Serotsky, is a whimsical one — with a message of love that’s heartwarming yet not too sugar-coated.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Get Out & About, Music, The Features, We Love Music
By

The Winning Ticket: Paint The Music at The Dunes 4/13/13

Photo Courtesy of Paint The Music

Photo Courtesy of Paint The Music

Today We Love DC is giving away a pair of tickets to Paint The Music, a live art series bringing together local musicians and area painters for a showcase where visual artists paint an entirely new piece —  on stage — inspired by the first song of a singer-songwriter’s set in real-time. Paint The Music will be at The Dunes this Saturday night April 13th and features music from event creator and singer-songwriter Dan Fisk as well as Nita Chawla and Zahra Universe with artwork by Sardar, Nadia Janjua, and Margret Kroyer.

For your chance to win a pair of tickets to Paint The Music at The Dunes, simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address until 6pm today. One entry per email address, please.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 6pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at The Dunes on the day of the event. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID.

Comment away!

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts
By

We Love Arts: The Mountaintop

The Mountaintop
(Photo: Scott Suchman)

On the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination, less than two miles from a new monument erected in honor of the late civil rights leader, Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop opened at Arena Stage. The show is a bold imagining of the last night of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s life that not only takes us inside Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel where he stayed, but into the mind, heart, and soul of the great man.

However in Hall’s vision, we do not see an infallible leader, the perfect picture of leadership and integrity that we like to bestow upon the great leaders of our time. Instead we see MLK as a man with real weaknesses, vulnerabilities, hopes, and fears.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, History, Special Events, The Features, We Love Arts
By

The Real Pirates of National Geographic

National Geographic - Real Pirates - 03-07-13 04 mosley.brian

There are pirates in Washington.

If you doubt, head over to the National Geographic Museum between now and September 2; the Jolly Roger flag hanging from the flagpole should convince you. If you need more persuasive evidence, head inside and wander through the museum’s latest exhibit Real Pirates.

From fore to aft, this exhibit rolls up the past, present, and future of the pirate vessel Whydah. Originally designed and used as a slave ship along the American-African slave routes, the Whydah was captured by pirate captain Sam Bellamy and used in his fleet to pillage more than fifty prizes across the Carribean. On a course for a New England harbor, the Whydah, her captain, and her crew ran into a violent nor’easter near Cape Cod and sank beneath the waves. With it went a hold full of pirate treasure and most of the men on board.

National Geographic chose to feature the Whydah exhibit for a number of reasons. According to Richard McWalters, Director of Museum Operations, the story of the Whydah crosses three seafaring trades: slavery, piracy, and recovery. Through the shipwreck’s history, visitors are exposed to the realities of the slave trade and its vessels, the life of a pirate crew during the eighteenth century, and the technology, dedication, and innovation of today’s salvage explorers. Continue reading →

Entertainment, Get Out & About, Music, The Features, We Love Music
By

The Winning Ticket: Soundbites 2013

soundbites 2013 email flyer

Today We Love DC is giving away a pair of tickets to Soundbites 2013, a benefit for DC Central Kitchen, at the 930 Club on Sunday, May 19th. This event features music from Deathfix (Brendan Canty of Fugazi, Richard Morel, Devin Ocampo of Faraquet & Mark Cisneros of Medications), DJ WIll Eastman, Batala, Kid Congo Power Hour and more. In addition to the music there will be free food tastings from dozens of area restaurants and food trucks, plus a mixologist competition.

For your chance to win a pair of tickets to Soundbites 2013, simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address until 4pm today. One entry per email address, please.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 4pm and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner.

Tickets will be available to the winner at the 930 Club on the day of the event. The tickets must be claimed with a valid ID. The winner must be old enough to attend the specific concert or must have a parent’s permission to enter if he/she is under 18 years old.

Comment away!

Entertainment, Special Events, The Features
By

A 2013 Helen Hayes Awards (Drama Prom) Diary

2

Yesterday I spent the night with Helen and she did not disappoint. For many in the DC theater scene, the past week was spent searching for dresses (especially those with pockets), getting manis & pedis, and making sure that hair was nothing less than perfect. It was all for the 29th Annual Helen Hayes Awards, Washington’s biggest night in theater where the arts community honors the past year of shows.

If you want a list of the winners you can find those here. Instead I offer you a tradition three years running: my complete breakdown of my day (and night) with Helen.

Continue reading →

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, The Features, We Love Music
By

We Love Music: Mike Mangione & The Union

MMTU Live

Photo Courtesy of Mike Mangione & The Union

Mike Maginone is a traveling man in good company while out on the road making music. What started out as solo project well over a decade ago has organically evolved into the band now known as Mike Mangione & The Union. Their melodic rock has a rootsy groove and folk instrumentation gone electric. It’s a sound reminiscent of Ryan Adams and The Cardinals’ early days with an echo of Ray LaMamontagne’s songwriting style.

Mike took some time from the road to fill We Love DC in on where his been, how far he’s come, and what he loves about making music. Here’s what he had to say.

Rachel: When did you first fall in love with music/making music? What was the catalyst for your eventual career in music?

Mike Mangione: I fell in love with music when I started playing my friend’s drums in the first grade.  I always enjoyed hearing music as a little kid, but it was not until I had the authority to create noise myself that I fell in love with the freedom and possibilities it enabled.

Continue reading →

Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Night Life, Special Events
By

The 2013 Fashion for Paws Runway Show

Photo credit: Moshe Zusman

 

Cute critters, cupcakes, celebs and clothes, oh my! If you’re looking for something spectacular to do this weekend, then The 2013 Fashion For Paws runway show this Saturday, April 13, 2013 at the National Building Museum is your ticket.

E! News Now anchor and E! News correspondent Ashlan Gorse returns to host over 1,700 guests for a four hour open bar and runaway show to support the Washington Humane Society. Which, by-the-way, is where I got my adorbs orange tabby Archie.

At this year’s event, Congressmen Jim Moran (D-Virginia) and John Campbell (R-California) will be honored with the 2013 Humane Hero Award, which recognizes individuals in media, politics and entertainment who have displayed a passion for animal welfare.

So whether you’re an animal <3er or a fashion enthusiast, get your ticket now!!!

Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed
By

Crashing Panels And Taking Names

Photo courtesy of Dan Dan The Binary Man
TGIF! From Me & Orion :)
courtesy of Dan Dan The Binary Man

This Friday just got even better since a friend of mine showed me “The Panel Crasher.”  The two day old blog documents the exploits of a former Hill staffer/Non-profit associate turned unemployed sequestration victim with a ton of time and no funds as he crashes Think Tank/Hill events, eats their food, pays no attention to their discussions and then makes fun of them on his blog.  There have only been two entries to date, but they feature a problem intern girl, Michael Jordan fashion, a Luke Perry reference and tons of other hilarity.