Category Archives: The District

Get Out & About, The District, The Features
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The Insider’s Guide: Golfing in Golf Breaks Turkey

East Potomac Park Golf Course, Just South of the National Mall, Washington D.C. Ken Lund

With summer heat comes the heart of golf season. The AT&T National is this weekend in Bethesda, and August’s PGA Championships round out this year’s crop of majors. You can learn more about best iron set for beginner and where to play and find equipment while you are on the city just by visiting www.pineclubgolf.com.

I prefer other sports (and can’t sit through a minute of golf on TV), but on a hot summer day, far away from a river, ocean, or pool, the mood to compete at something that doesn’t involve running occasionally does strike. It did this past Sunday, when I visited the driving range at DC’s East Potomac Golf Course with my new uneekor eye xo.

DC has three public golf courses, unbeknownst to many, and there’s a good chance that you’ve passed at least one of them without realizing it. The East Potomac Golf Course sits on Thomas Jefferson’s marble doorstep within spitting distance of the Mall. The Rock Creek Golf Course is at 16th Street and Military, in the bloated belly-section of DC’s largest parks system. And the TimberStone Golf Course has called Benning Road home, just past where H Street ends, since 1939. see TimberStone Golf Course website to learn more about the course.

All three locations have 18-hole courses, a pro-shop, carts and clubs for rent, and extremely reasonable greens fees. Visit guys weekend golf courses and have fun winning with your friends. The East Potomac and Langston courses also sport driving ranges and full-service restaurants. My favorite thing about any of them, however, is the White Course at East Potomac. It’s an easy and fun 9-hole course with no holes longer than a par-4, making it perfect for a quick jaunt with friends, an outing with the family, or a practice session for beginners like myself. Check out Golf Holidays Direct for the Latest golf deal offers.

It may not be a world-class stretch of links, but for $13/person on weekdays and $16/person on weekends, it’s an absolute steal. Weekday greens fees at Congressional – where the AT&T National is hosted – sit somewhere around $165.

Note: The official DC website for these courses is awful (www.golfdc.com), but it does let you reserve tee times online, and provides some additional information for those brave enough to explore.

Essential DC, Food and Drink, The District
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Best Picnic Spots in DC

Lincoln Memorial Picnic Mr. T in DC

It’s getting to be the perfect weather in DC. You know, that fine balance we get maybe a few glorious weeks a year where the thermometer is perfectly positioned between chilly and OVERWHELMINGLY-HUMID-TAKE-ME-TO-ALASKA-WHAT-IS-THIS-PLACE-WE-LIVE-IN hot.

So we must embrace this time, and one of my favorite ways is by putting together a picnic and heading outdoors with the people I love. Here are some of my top picks for picnic spots, along with good places to grab picnic supplies.

Picnic spot: Yards Park. If you haven’t been by now, embrace the season and head on over and soak up the southwest waterfront.
Grab your supplies: If it’s the weekend, try and grab something from one of the vendors at Eastern Market before heading out. If not, I’d recommend either Cornercopia or Spring Mill Bread Company for fresh sandwiches.

Picnic Spot: Founders Park in Old Town, Alexandria
Grab your supplies: Perfect for a brunch picnic, Society Fair offers up plenty of baked goods (try the croissant) housemade yogurt and coffee to go.

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The District
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Vote Today. It’s Important

Precinct Eighty-Eight (Day three hundred and six) Madame Meow

The exercise of your franchise as a citizen is the simplest task. Show up, prove who you are (photo ID not required, most times), push buttons or circle in ovals, file your ballot, and walk out whistling a happy tune. The whole thing can be a process, I know, but today you have the benefit of voting in a special election, which means turnout across the city is going to be light, which means there will be no lines. 

Don’t know where to vote? No problem.

Not sure if you’re registered? No problem. (If the answer is no, also no problem, you can vote in DC on a same-day registration. You need a District ID, a lease or utility bill with your name, or a bank statement in your name, a paycheck with your name and address, or another government document with your name and address.)

So. What are you voting for?

Yes We Can - DC Statehood Wayan Vota

First up is the easy one: an amendment to the District’s Charter. This amendment, if approved, would grant the District direct control over revenue paid by District residents.  Currently, all revenue for the District is subject to the interference by the Congress, where we have no representation. This amendment would allow the District Government to directly appropriate tax dollars collected by the city instead of passing them to the Federal government and requesting them back. 

This one’s a no brainer.

The next one is a lot more interesting, and a lot less clear: an At-Large member of the Council of the District of Columbia. When Kwame Brown resigned, and Phil Mendelson filled his chair in the November election by popular vote, his own At-Large seat went vacant. It has been held since then by Anita Bonds, who put there by Democratic Party fiat. The election today fills that seat until the 2014 general election, the rest of Mendelson’s original term.

Who’s running? Anita Bonds (D), Matthew Frumin (D), Elissa Silverman (D), Paul Zukerberg (D), Patrick Mara (R), and Perry Redd (SG). 

That’s four Democrats, one Republican and a Statehood Green. I can’t tell you who to vote for – that’s not our job – but many say that this is a three-way race between Bonds, who represents an older, more traditional DC, and Mara and Silverman, who each represent reform for the city Council. Mara is on his third run for the council, all three from the Republican side of the aisle, something the council hasn’t seen since Carol Schwartz was bounced during a primary (she lost to Mara). Silverman is on her first run for the council, and is on leave from the DC Fiscal Policy Institute, a think tank that works on DC budget issues.  Before serving at DCFPI, she was a Loose Lips columnist for Washington City Paper.

Mara, Silverman and Bonds are likely going to duke it out over a very few votes, so if you want to feel like you have outsize influence in a local election, today’s your day to go out and vote. Go vote, you’ll feel better no matter what happens.

The District
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In Solidarity with Boston

Last Sunrise Tony DeFilippo

It’s been a pretty hard day for a lot of people, and our hearts go out to the families of the injured and the dead in Boston, where two bombs exploded at the end of the Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day. 140+ are injured and 3 are dead.

It is both hard to fathom the attack on Boston, and yet it is so familiar to all of us who lived through 9/11. The smoke and the chaos, the fear and the anger, the hurt and heroism. 

Tomorrow is Emancipation Day in the District, a holiday to celebrate the freeing of the slaves in DC during the waning days of the Civil War. There will be a parade and a festival downtown at Freedom Plaza, and many businesses and offices will close for the day. It won’t be quite the same atmosphere as a Patriot’s Day in Boston – really, what is? – but there will be eyes on the city tomorrow as it celebrates in public.

MPD and Metro have already gone to heightened states of alert, though there are no disclosed threats to the metro area or to our transit systems. And yet, I worry for my city tonight, afraid of what tomorrow brings. Then I saw what my friend and fellow editor Dave Levy wrote tonight: The Sun Rises on Boston Tomorrow. This is not a city afraid, or a city reeling and listing, it is a city rising up. 

If Boston rises tomorrow, unafraid and unfaltering, then the District must rise with them, unafraid and unfaltering. Tomorrow is Emancipation Day, when District residents will take to the halls of Congress to lobby for statehood and local control. Tomorrow, we march in celebration of freedom ordained by our founding documents for all citizens regardless of their skin color. Be vigilant, tomorrow, and be observant, but do not be afraid.

It feels insincere to tell a city not to worry when there are real dangers out there, but I know that this town, like our friends in New England, is full of those who meet danger with courage, fear with resolve, and meet challenges like this with strength and determination.

We stand with our friends in Boston tomorrow, and every day, determined not to let fear get the better of us, and to meet the difficulties of life with help and with support for each other.

So say we all.

The District
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Reasons why the umpires were late last night

Umps yostinator

The umpires did not give comment as to why they were 20 minutes late for the Nationals game last night, so we made up a few potential reasons:

1. Home plate umpire Chris Guccione was so caught up in the beauty of the cherry blossoms that he spent twenty minutes sitting at the MLK memorial rocking back and forth while crying.

2. Third base umpire Phil Cuzzi wanted to try out a U Street Taco.

3. Look anybody can miss one turn on the Southeast/Southwest Freeway and end up in the HOV lanes all the way past Springfield. It can happen to anyone. Swearsies. Don’t forget your Garmin next time, guys.

4. First Base umpire Tom Hallion was busy having it out with some Half Street bros over the legacy of Margaret Thatcher at the Fairgrounds and lost track of time.

5. Dan Snyder. It’s always Dan Snyder’s fault. Remember that.

Tip of the cap to Dave Levy for the assist.

Entertainment, Interviews, Music, People, The District, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Ugly Purple Sweater

Ugly Purple Sweater

Ugly Purple Sweater is a indie-pop-folk group based in DC. Founded by Sam McCormally (vocals, guitar, & more)  and Rachel Lord (vocals, banjo, melodica, & more) in 2008, the band now includes Will McKindley-Ward on electric guitar, Rishi Chakrabarty on bass, and Mike Tasevoli on drums. Ugly Purple Sweater mixes mesmerizing guitar and banjo (and a bunch of other instruments) with beautiful soaring vocal melodies and dulcet harmonies. Their songs often blend darkness with light, minor keys and longing juxtaposed with a bright beat and jubilant vocals. Singer Sam Cormally’s clarion voice has a purity and depth at times reminiscent of Rufus Wainwright. Check out the video for their song “DC USA“, the title track from their brand new EP. Ugly Purple Sweater celebrates the release of said EP, DC USA at Black Cat this Saturday, January 12th, along with Kingsley Flood and Kindlewood!

This week We Love DC’s Alexia Kauffman had a chance to ask Sam McCormally some questions, and here’s what he had to say.

Alexia: How did you first start playing music?

Sam: I personally started playing and writing music when I was really little. I remember when I was about 8 starting to write songs, but having literally no idea how the music I heard on the radio was made. I had a little cassette tape boombox (remember that?) with a microphone, and I would set it up on top of my bureau and record myself singing and strumming guitar. I had a fantasy that I would slip the tape into my friend’s older sister’s tape player so she’d think it was the radio, and that way I could tell what she really thought of it.

Ugly Purple Sweater started 2008, when I surreptitiously intercepted an invitation for one of my other bands to play at a Barack Obama fundraiser. I had been writing some songs and posting them on MySpace (remember that?), and I thought it’d be fun to try them out. Rachel sat in on a couple of songs with me, and those were by far the most popular, so we started playing together all the time.

Alexia: What song or artist or album first made you fall in love with rock music?

Sam: Will (who plays electric guitar in the band) says his first rock and roll love was Jimi Hendrix. I wish I were as cool as that. My first exposure to pop music (and I’m using the “big tent” meaning of the phrase) were my dad’s Simon and Garfunkel tapes. But the first record I ever got excited about all by myself was TLC’s Crazy Sexy Cool. I loved that album so much that I actually recited, in front of my entire 4th glad class, the rap in the middle of “Waterfalls.” I still kinda like that song, but needless to say it was not a canonical performance. Continue reading →

Food and Drink, The District, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Hogo Preview

Food This Way Fedward Potz

The info sheet handed out at Hogo’s media preview reads, “Hogo is part of a project called Temporary Works that hopes to bring new late-night dining options to Washington, D.C. by giving talented chefs a platform to cook bar food with their own twists. Located inside Hogo, Temporary Works has a dine-in kitchen that will be helmed by a cast of rotating chefs from Washington, D.C. and other nearby cities.” If you read recent City Paper coverage you might be asking, “would they really open a bar knowing that it would have to close in a year?” Your answer is thus completely out in the open, proudly announcing itself with the name Temporary Works. Hell, that’s even the name that appeared on the ABRA notice.

This cannot in any way be an impartial report. Regular readers of this site — especially the weekend posts — might by now have the idea that the Social Chair and I spend a lot of time at the Passenger, two doors north of Hogo. It should thus come as little surprise that we’ve come to be friends with brothers Tom and Derek Brown (and in the interest of the fullest disclosure possible, we have known their landlords and partners the Rupperts for even longer than we have known the Browns). We first met Tom in the company of the Rupperts after a “garage sale” at the Warehouse Theater, in the Passenger’s early days. Presented with the horrible beach cocktail book we’d bought at the sale, he admitted that what he really wanted to open was a rum bar with tiki drinks. Several years and uncounted Tiki Tuesdays later, he has realized that dream with Hogo. Not only have we known the new bar was coming, though, we helped paint the place and move the furniture.

Continue reading →

Downtown, Entertainment, Georgetown, Life in the Capital, Music, The Daily Feed, The District, WTF?!
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That Time I Walked Around DC In A Gangnam Style Costume

Gangnam Style has certainly taken America by storm this summer, and if this week’s appearance at the American Music Awards says anything- Psy might be around just a bit longer to be more than a one-hit wonder. On YouTube the video is currently the second most viewed of all-time and is poised to beat out the Biebz as #1.

Recently I took to the streets of DC to bring some local flavor to everybody’s favorite galloping dance. Watch the video below to see what happens when you walk around The Mall, White House, and U.S. Capitol dressed up as your favorite Korean rapper.

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All Politics is Local, The District
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How to Vote For Your ANC (even if you don’t know what an ANC is).

Precinct Eighty-Eight (Day three hundred and six)

Voting! It’s so patriotic! I’ve never missed an election (even when I was studying abroad in Australia and generally tipsy the entire time). I get really into voting. Not so much into politics, what with the big bird, and the binders and all the yelling, but I feel extremely strongly about exercising my right to vote. And this, my friends, is my first big DC election.

Having resided in Arlington for most of my post-college twenties, I was used to um… normal politics.  You know, senate races that aren’t prefaced with the term “shadow” and local county elections. But DC is not… normal.  That’s why we love her. We have all kinds of whackadoo local representation, and earlier this month I decided it was time to buckle down and be a responsible citizen and figure it all out. So one day in early October, I sat down do ALL THE VOTING RESEARCH! And I came upon this weird thing called the ANC, and got rull, rull confused.

I’m a relatively smart person, and I pay attention, but I was seriously confused about my ANC.  There were letters, and numbers and oh my.  Was I voting for 4C? 7D? Why are there numbers? What does it do? Why is it there? WHAT IS THE MEANING OF LIFE? (Oh. Well, that I know. 42.)

Anyways,  I got around to asking my smart, competent friends who live in DC about their ANC commissioner, and none of them really knew what an ANC was. Well, okay then. I vaguely recollected the ANC thing from a post Dave Stroup wrote for WLDC a while ago, so I started there. That was helpful. But I still had questions. So I did a whole lot of grilling of the WLDC staff, and a whole lot of googling. And the rest of this post is what I figured out, so that you, too, can be an informed DC voter.

ARE YOU READY?

Continue reading →

Adventures, Entertainment, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Penn Quarter, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District
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Start Halloween Early With “A Spooky Adventure” at 901 Restaurant

If you’re looking to make your Halloween costume go beyond the 31st, then Penn Quarter’s 901 Restaurant is your place to make that happen, because this Wednesday, October 17th at 9pm, they’ll be hosting a sultry Halloween soiree with trick-o-treat inspired sips.

Show up in your Halloween-inspired attire and you’ll get a complimentary drink ticket for either a Bloody Bang, a mixture of Emperor Imperial, homemade raspberry puree and champagne, served up on the rocks topped with fresh raspberries and a lemon peel, or a Midnight Aura, a savory mix of Belvedere, lemon, home spiced Asian pear puree, ginger and lemon bitters served in a martini glass.

Tunes will be provided by DJ Steve Starks of Nouveau Riche and 901’s marble tabletops, lounge couches, veiled curtains and candle lit ambiance should make for the ideal setting to get in the Halloween mood.

 

Life in the Capital, Real World DC, Special Events, The District, Thrifty District
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Planning a DC Wedding: Venues

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While planning your big day can often seem daunting, First Class Functions will provide you with professional advice to help you know what is needed to make your special day everything you imagined.

Photo courtesy of Karon

 

Random Find
courtesy of Karon
The Social Chair returns to tell us all about finding a DC venue for a DC wedding.

After narrowing down the date for our wedding, Fedward and I began the long process of finding the perfect location. Alas, not enough of you voted for us to win a wedding, so our dream venue of the National Building Museum was quickly out of the running. What could be more DC than one of the locations of the Inaugural Balls?

There are a ton of resources for finding a venue in DC. Our best resource? Friends. DC is filled with event venues and wedding ballrooms. Ask around. Many businesses rent their spaces for private events. We joined forces with another recently engaged couple and shared Google docs with places we’d scouted after choosing our ring from the tungsten wedding rings for men collection.
Continue reading →

Interviews, Music, Night Life, People, The District, The Features, We Love Music
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Q&A with Ryan Mitchell of Shark Week

photo courtesy of Shark Week

DC-based rockers Shark Week have energy, sexiness, style and swagger to spare. Their sound blends garage-rock/psychedelia/blues & surf, with a punk-rock attitude. Check out their surfy-bluesy jam “If You Want Me To Stay (for a while)” from their new EP. You can experience the awesomeness that is Shark Week live for yourself this Friday, August 10th at their EP release party at Montserrat House. This week WLDC’s Alexia Kauffman got the chance to ask frontman Ryan Mitchell a few questions, and here’s what he had to say.

Alexia: How did you first start playing music?

Ryan: Motley Crue. My neighbor when I was thirteen was John Corabi, the second singer of Motley Crue. His son was pretty close to the same age, and happened to be an amazing drummer. Still is, actually. I guess it was worth it to let me borrow his fender and a practice amp so his son could have someone to jam with…
 
Alexia: Was there any artist or album or song in particular that first made you fall in love with rock music?

Ryan: Hard to say, I mean, I remember really liking the Offspring when I was eleven. But we never had cable so I was always way behind my highly cultured cousins at the time who were educated by Beavis and Butthead and MTV. I remember my county’s NPR station would play blues roots all day on Sundays and I would press record on a blank tape and get these great early American folk and blues gems which fit in really well with the punk music I was getting into at the time. It was easy for me to tie Woody to The Clash or something like that. So I really think I benefitted from having over-sheltering Christian parents in my youth. They shielded me from terrible pop and somehow I was still able to get punk tapes from my friends.  Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, People, The District, The Features, We Love Music
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Hot Ticket: Black Hills at Rock & Roll Hotel, 7/30/2012

photo by Stephanie Breijo

DC’s own Black Hills play tonight at Rock & Roll Hotel. They are opening for British electronic-rock duo The Big Pink.

Black Hills is the dreamy electronic project of Aaron Estes, former front-man of the now defunct DC indie-rock group Bellman Barker. If Air, Royksopp, and Goldfrapp had a beautiful, iridescent love-child, it would be Black Hills. A few months back I interviewed Estes- you can check that out here. I also couldn’t stop gushing in my review of Black Hills’ performance at the Black Cat in May- read that here. While the songs on the EP Black Gold (which you can hear here) are all written/produced by Estes, the live show features a full band, and is a must-see/hear. Do your ears, heart, and soul a favor and go check out Black Hills tonight!

Black Hills

opening for The Big Pink

doors 7pm/show 8pm

$13 advance/$15 door

Rock & Roll Hotel

History, The District
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McMillan Sand Filtration Site

Photo courtesy of mosley.brian
McMillan Sand Filtration Site – Walk By the Three Giants – 04-21-12
courtesy of mosley.brian

Crossposted on Got Nikon, Will Travel

The McMillan Park and Sand Filtration Site is a fascinating piece of DC history. In fact, to call the site fascinating really doesn’t do it justice; there’s nothing else like it in the area. Completed in 1905, it was part of the McMillan Plan to develop and beautify Washington. The site was used until 1985 to filter drinking water for the city. When the site was completed it was a state of the art water filtration system, using sand to filter water from the Washington Aqueduct (if you’re really interested, it used a slow sand filter system).

As I said, fascinating site: above ground are ivy covered water towers and open grass fields; below ground, twenty catacomb chambers, where the sand filtered water. As you can imagine, the only light that comes into the chambers is either from open man-mole covers in the chamber’s roof or the access doors at the front of the chambers. Photographically, it creates a fascinating play of light and shadows. And to break the monotony, there is even some damage from the 2011 earthquake (picture below), where part of the ceiling caved in. The site is similar to St. Elizabeths, with neglect and decay making some remarkable sights.

Photo courtesy of mosley.brian
McMillan Sand Filtration Site – Looking Down the Gallery – 04-21-12
courtesy of mosley.brian

As great as the site is, it was recently closed to future tours. I was lucky enough to go on the open houses, which the local ANC held, twice; once last October and another in April. The site is slated for development, but I’m not convinced it will happen anytime soon. Hopefully something can be worked out and the site can be reopened for tours. It truly is an amazing site and something every DC resident should see. It is a great part of the city’s history.

Photo courtesy of mosley.brian
McMillan Sand Filtration Site – Directions to the Well of Souls – 04-21-12
courtesy of mosley.brian

The park is located west of Catholic University, with by North Capitol Street on it’s east side, Channing Street NW to the south, 1st Street NW to the west, and Michigan Avenue NW on the north.  Continue reading →

The District
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We Love Meetups on the 4th!

Photo courtesy of mosley.brian
2011 – Fourth of July – Amber Waves
courtesy of mosley.brian

The Fourth of July is a week away, and I can’t wait! Baseball, grilling, and, best of all, fireworks. As I said last year, the Fourth of July fireworks along the Mall are one of the great things about living in the District and everyone should take advantage of it. To that end, I want to set up an official We Love DC Meetup for the fireworks.

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a meetup to see the fireworks. I’m thinking this will mainly interested photographers, as I will gladly offer my services to assist people taking shots of the display. But you don’t have to be a photographer to take part; all you have to do is be interested in seeing the show with a group of people. So come one, come all!

The details: I’m interested in setting up on the south side of the Memorial Bridge, on Columbia Island, right along the river. That way the shots will get the bridge, the Potomac, and the fireworks. Also, it will be less crowded than along the Mall; we’ll still have to go through security, but not as bad. Check out this map for locations; note that Arlington Cemetery Metro station is very close. Getting across the Parkway is tricky, and a little dangerous, so I would prefer to do it as a group. I thinking meeting up at 6:30pm is best; not too early but not too late that we get crowded out.

Comment on this story if you want to get e-mail updates (such as if we have to cancel due to weather), or follow me on Twitter. All that’s need after that is to show up next Wednesday at 6:30pm. Hope to see you there. And if not, I hope you have a great 4th!

Essential DC, Music, The Daily Feed, The District, We Love Music
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Fort Reno 2012 free concert series starts tonight!

The Fort Reno concert series is a DC institution. I have fond memories of the series from when I was in high school- getting to see Fugazi (and other cool acts) for free, outdoors in the summer. The threat of rain is always looming, but the reward is a unique concert experience.

The concert series is an all volunteer enterprise, which has presented free shows in the park for more than 40 years. The season goes from mid-June through August, with shows on Monday and Thursday evenings starting around 7pm and going until dark. It features only bands based in the DC/metro area. All ages are welcome.

The series is notorious for announcing their lineup last-minute, and this year is no different. So far only the first two shows have been announced, and only on the Fort Reno facebook page. Tonight, (6/18) the first night of the season, features Teen Mom, Alarms & Controls, and Upforth.

Thursday’s (6/21) lineup features Edie Sedgwick, Art Sorority for Girls, and BRENDA.

Fort Reno Park is at Chesapeake Street and Nebraska Avenue NW. All ages, dogs, and food are welcome. No glass bottles or alcohol!

Fort Reno has a weather hotline! 202-355-6356 You can also check their twitter feed, or facebook page!

*update- as of this afternoon, the weather line is not up and running, but you can still go to Fort Reno’s twitter feed or facebook for updates on the weather situation*

Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District, Ward 2, Ward 6
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New statue arrives atop Howard Theatre

New Sculpture arrives on Howard Theatre

photo by Sean Hennessey

The DPR mobile stage is up on T Street just south of Florida, and the rebuilt Howard Theatre is ready for people, but the last details are still coming together ahead of this morning’s dedication an opening. The ceremony, open to the public, begins at 11:30am, but at 8:30 this morning there was still a crane parked in front of the Howard Theatre. The  precious cargo being hoisted atop the famous façade is Brower Hatcher’s Jazz Man, an eight-foot metal-and-glass sculpture of a trumpet player.  In his hands, a trumpet crafted by DC artisan Sean Hennessey.

The Beaux Arts inspired Howard Theatre kicks off a week long extravaganza at 11:30am today with a dedication ceremony and public tour, with live music. Read our feature on the re-opening of this beautiful classic, and then head on over to check it out.

Howard Theatre
620 T Street NW
Washington DC
Metro: Green/Yellow Line at Shaw

Entertainment, Life in the Capital, The Daily Feed, The District
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Ringling Bros. Is Fully Charged In DC

Photo courtesy of mosley.brian
2012 Elephant Parade – Capitol Fun – 03-13-12
courtesy of mosley.brian

If you didn’t realize from the giant Elephant Parade last week, the circus is in town. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey’s Fully Charged Tour spent the weekend in Chinatown for a slate of shows at the Verizon Center. The circus will continue in Baltimore for the rest of the month and then head to Fairfax for a run of performances.

Ringling Bros.’ return to the DC-area wasn’t welcomed by all. PETA asked Mayor Gray to investigate claims of animal abuse and protesters were out in force outside the Verizon Center urging families not to see The Greatest Show on Earth. PETA has also recently released a new video starring Alec Baldwin pleading for a boycott of animal-featured circuses.

Regardless of the controversy, the show is a spectacle beyond any other where the best moments are found sans elephants, tigers, or other animals. An overwhelming mixture of human feats will surely draw the attention of any young child.

Continue reading →

Education, Entertainment, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Special Events, The Daily Feed, The District
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Ticket Giveaway: Washington Home & Garden Show

Photo courtesy of Victory & Reseda
Home and Garden Show 2
courtesy of Victory & Reseda

The Washington Home & Garden Show starts up next Friday and the event’s new management has been lovely enough to give WeLoveDC 5 pairs of tickets to give away to our readers.

This year’s three day event features 16,000 square feet of show featuring the latest in landscaping and outdoor lifestyle trend, celebrity guests (such as Todd Davis from HGTV’s Room Crashers and Sasha Andreev from HGTV’s Curb Appeal), “Innovation Avenue,” a one stop shop for the latest in home decor, kitchen, bath, and outdoor living, the IKEA Haute Design Show, a haute design comes to life during a chic runway presentation, and outstanding local professionals on hand to show DC how to transform homes into ultimate living spaces.

I don’t you know about you, but the DIYer, Urban Homesteader, Interior Decorator in me is pumped.

Here’s how the giveaway works:

Leave a comment on this post using a valid e-mail address before Tuesday, March 6 at 5pm. One entry per e-mail address. We’ll close off entries at 5 PM and winners will be randomly selected and notified by e-mail. If you’re chosen as the winner, you must respond to the e-mail within 24 hours or you will forfeit the tickets and we’ll select another winner. The winners will be able to pick up the tickets under their name at will call at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

Good luck!