Category Archives: Night Life

Dupont Circle, Essential DC, Food and Drink, Night Life, Special Events, The Features, We Love Drinks
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We Love Drinks: Beer Week

Photo courtesy of
‘Partay!’
courtesy of ‘Kevin H.’

DC Beer week is upon us and beer lovers are presented with a plethora of excellent events to attend.  While nearly every single one is appealing, you’re only one person and can only attend so many.  Hence, I’ve created a handy guide to help you choose what to do and where to go. My guide  is by no means exhaustive and I’d encourage you to check out the full list of events before you decide where to go.  There are some really great options, and all that really matters is that you go to at least one of them. But, should you choose to heed my advice, I’ve got three rules to make this Beer Week perfect: attend a beer dinner, find the values, sample the rare goods. I’ve selected a few events to coincide with each rule to help you decide what to attend.

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Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Night Life, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Mod Madness Tonight at the Textile Museum

Has the rain got you down?  Do you just want to curl up on the couch in your sweats and watch Mad Men reruns?  Well don’t, because only boring people get bored.  Tonight is your chance to show off your own mod style as the Textile Museum hosts its second “PM @ the TM” with a tribute to textile designs and fashion from the 50’s and 60’s.  It will be complete and utter Mod Madness:

“Step into the museum’s garden for cool drinks, noshes and jazz by the Pete Muldoon Quartet.  Escape the heat with gallery tours led by WE ARE SCIENCE and music by DJ Jahsonic in the exhibition Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain and enter to win prizes from area businesses and restaurants.  Silk screen your own t-shirt or bag to take home with the Washington Printmakers Gallery and Kristina Bilonick.  D.C.’s most fashionable will be on hand to nominate the “best mid-century dressed”  so show us your best fedoras, swing skirts and mod shifts!”

Worried about getting your skinny tie wet?  Don’t be, they’ve rented a giant tent.  While all advanced tickets are sold out (i.e. lots of fun people will  be there), tickets will be for sale at the door for $10 and includes two drink tickets for members, one drink ticket for non-members.  Don’t be a square – be there.

Food and Drink, Night Life, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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Southampton Beer Dinner

Photo courtesy of
‘Southampton Cuvée des Fleurs’
courtesy of ‘Bernt Rostad’

I’m a sucker for beer dinners.  Call me a fan boy, but I’m a genuine believer that beer and food were made to be paired.  That’s why I pass on to you, dear reader, any scoop I get on one that’s happening in the near future.  I happen to have such a scoop, now. Commonwealth Gastropub in Columbia Heights is hosting a dinner highlighting the beers of New York based Southampton Publik House. Southampton is a fairly recent addition to the DC beer scene and makes a wide variety of regional styles.  Commonwealth is featuring their IPA, Double White, Altbier and Cuvee de Fleurs.  I’m particularly excited about the Double White, a Belgian Wit, that is supposed to be one of Southampton’s best offerings.  Along with the beer, Commonwealth is offering a four course meal to compliment each beer.  The menu includes a red grapefruit salad, mussels, grilled pork, and ricotta in honey.  The event is tomorrow at 6:30 and will run you $45.

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, We Love Music
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We Love Music: Deadmau5 @ 9:30 Club 7/28 & 7/29

Photo courtesy of
‘Deadmau5’
courtesy of ‘Max Cook’

Joel Zimmerman aka Deadmau5 played 2.5 concerts at the 9:30 Club last week. After delivering stunning shows on Wednesday and Thursday nights, Deadmau5′ set on Friday night was cut short when he vomited and passed out on-stage. Immediately after his performance the night before, Deadmau5 posted “God damn… What’s wrong with me now? Ugh… Me no feely so good” on Twitter. Sources indicate that on Friday Zimmerman had been vomiting back-stage before the show and that he tried to tough it out before collapsing. After passing out, Zimmerman was immediately hospitalized, diagnosed with exhaustion, and the next day it was announced that the remainder of his world tour has been canceled.*

I was not at the Friday night show. I was, however, at the concerts on Wednesday and Thursday night to witness the Deadmau5 techno-spectacle road-show first hand. Since debuting his new stage show at the Coachella Music Festival back in April, Deadmau5 has been touring hard around the world with an incredible show that blends electronic music and digital visuals better than almost anything else I have seen.** His aggressive campaign to take the crown for best electro-concert experience has been relentless and I’m afraid has now taken its physical toll on him. With each show, Deadmau5 makes his case for best dance concert experience with an astonishing display of visual fireworks that envelopes and overwhelms you while his bass-heavy House/Electro beats toy with you like a sadistic cat would a dead mouse. For fans of performance spectacle, the tour is a visual feast. For dance music fans, Deadmau5′ current tour is about as close to nirvana as it gets.

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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 →

Adventures, Alexandria, Arlington, Downtown, Dupont Circle, Entertainment, Foggy Bottom, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Music, Night Life, Penn Quarter, Petworth, The Great Outdoors, The Hill, The Mall, We Love Weekends
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We Love Weekends: July 24-25

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

Rachel: Well, I’m fresh off a stint in Nashville to audition for American Idol. It didn’t go my way but I learned a lot and am ready to rock out harder than ever before after being “cut” from the program before ever seeing any air-time. I’ve got a gig booked for Saturday night at the Tonic Lounge (located at 2036 G Street NW, near the Foggy Bottom Metro). I’m not the only entertainment on tap, several artists from the DC area will take the stage too. So grab a drink at the bar, stay for the tunes, and if you’re a Glee fan I guarantee a solid new cover added to my repertoire from the second half of last season’s show. Not gonna tell you what it is, you’ll have to stop by to hear it. Show starts at 8 p.m. with a $5 cover. I’ll also have albums on sale with proceeds going to the National Kidney Foundation in honor of my late father who received a heart transplant in 1999. Hope to see you there! It should be a rockin’ good time.

Patrick: Weeks of no social life ends this weekend. Noises Off! opens this Saturday at Keegan Theatre in Dupont Circle. As the stage manager I’ll be in the booth playing the role of incompetent sound technician #1. No seriously, come see the show and watch the actors freak out at me during Act III. The show will run through August so I hope to see everybody there eventually. While I’m running the show I’ll also be trying to figure out where to eat and drink before and after performances- anybody have any suggestions for places I should check out around 17th Street?

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Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Daily Feed
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Blurt Magazine’s “Best Kept Secret”: D.C.’s The Public Good

Photo courtesy of The Public Good
Photo courtesy of The Public Good.

“One of Rock’s Best Kept Secrets,” according to Blurt Magazine, is D.C.’s very own The Public Good.

The quartet featuring the one-time nucleus of the North Carolina band The Popes rocks hard while writing songs with wit and empathy regarding the highs and lows of everyday life as a big kid aka being an adult.

The Public Good will be gracing D.C. with their stage presence on July 29 for an early 8:30 p.m. show opening for North Carolina’s Saint Solitude with fellow D.C. band Sweet Interference and indie band Spouse rounding out the Thursday night bill at The Velvet Lounge.

Doors open at 7:30. Show starts at 9 and is 21+ with an $8 cover charge.

Downtown, Entertainment, Fun & Games, Music, Night Life, Special Events, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: July Music Preview

Photo courtesy of
‘American Flags in Bensonhurst’
courtesy of ’emilydickinsonridesabmx’

Besides birthday’s in general, the Fourth of July is pretty much my favorite holiday. It’s a much needed mid-summer mini mental vaycay that recharges those brain batteries over a long weekend. Then, it’s on to the long awaited arrival of the dog days of summer.

We’ve got a simmering slew of fun shows you might not have necessarily found on the front page of Ticketmaster for the month of July. They’re guaranteed to give you some solid summer memories should you choose to partake, so check ’em out! Continue reading →

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The Golden Filter @ DC9 6/19/10

Photo courtesy of
‘The Golden Filter’
courtesy of ‘yousayyeah’

On Friday night, DC9 mainstay, Liberation Dance Party brought in New York’s The Golden Filter for a special appearance to amp up the already crazy dance party LDP hosts week after week. Unsurprisingly, the result was an even crazier dance party. The Golden Filter delivered a killer set of sexy electro-pop to a packed house eager to dance, dance, dance! And dance they did, taking to the riser boxes, standing on the booths, shaking and grinding while the band delivered on the promise of their amazing debut album, Voluspa, with a live performance that was a delight to watch through the filter of moving bodies.

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Entertainment, Fun & Games, Music, Night Life, The Daily Feed
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psst, wanna see a free show?

Photo courtesy of
‘Amanda Palmer in State Theatre, Falls Church’
courtesy of ‘spiggycat’

Performer Amanda Palmer, formerly of the Dresden Dolls, is scheduled to play the 9:30 Club on Thursday with Jason Webley as their Siamese twin performance art duo Evelyn Evelyn. But Palmer’s special brand of punk cabaret cannot be contained to just one night, so she’s put the word out via Twitter that she’ll be holding court tonight (for free!) at the old Bethesda Theater. Palmer’s got the space for two hours starting at 6 sharp, and she’s urging fans (and curious bystanders) to “expect MADNESS, tell EVERYBODY, bring LOVE.” And really, whose Wednesday night couldn’t use a little more madness and love?

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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N Street Village Night Sessions Comin’ Atcha

Photo courtesy of
‘Setting up at Rock and Roll Hotel’
courtesy of ‘dcjasmine’

There’s a new night-life music event call N Street Village Night Sessions taking the stage at the Rock & Roll Hotel next week. Here’s the run down on the situation:

  • Who: N Street Village, a nonprofit organization in DC that offers a safe, empowering community for homeless women to gain stability.
  • What: Food, drink, live music, and mingling while supporting an important cause for the DC community.  Tickets are just $35 for open bar, food and live music from three local artists: Evan Bliss, Tom McBride and Ro Sham Bo.
  • When: Thursday, June 24, 2010, 7:30 p.m. – midnight.
  • Where: Rock & Roll Hotel, 1353 H Street, NE, Washington DC 20002.
  • Cost: $35, order online at EventBrite.

Here’s “why” you should even attend:

  1. Live music
  2. It helps people
  3. The Rock & Roll Hotel rules
  4. Did I mention live music, helping people, and the fact that the Rock & Roll Hotel is always awesome?
Entertainment, Night Life, We Love Music
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Upcoming: Revolution @ FUR 6/17/10

Revolution @ FUR

This Thursday the DC alternative music scene makes its return to a proper dance club with the launch party of “Revolution” at FUR Nightclub. For years industrial, goth, 80’s, and punk music has been surviving (and in some cases thriving) in basements and bars around the DC area. The underground was not always relegated to the shadows in this town however. For the first fifteen years that I lived in the DC area, there was always a large format dance club giving Industrial/Goth/Punk/80’s dance music a home. Cavernous clubs with huge dance floors and sick sound systems lending themselves once-a-week to the alternative crowd for epic dance parties. For many, these clubs were the epicenter of not just music but also of a thriving nightlife community. Hell, I met my wife at one of those clubs and had my wedding reception after-party at another!

It has been too long since a kick-ass, proper dance club has opened its doors on a regular basis to this scene. This Thursday the Industrial/Goth/Punk scene will come roaring out of the underground and take over FUR Nightclub for the first of a bi-weekly, genre, dance-party called “Revolution”. I was invited to be one of the DJs for this awesome event and I happily accepted. After speaking with the event organizers it was obvious to me that we share the same idea about bringing these genres to one of DC’s nicest and most well-equipped dance clubs. The organizers, the other DJs, and I are all dedicated to creating a great dance party that won’t simply evoke the old, scene, dance clubs; we are determined to create a unique event that will hopefully grow to become legendary in its own right. With a great sense of history for the Industrial/Goth/Punk/80’s scene in DC, we all hope to begin a new era of massive dance parties with our party “Revolution” at FUR. Continue reading →

Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, History, Life in the Capital, Music, Night Life, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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2010 Ibero-American Guitar Festival

Photo courtesy of
‘2010:53’
courtesy of ‘::FiZ::’

This evening the 2010 Ibero-American Guitar Festival kicks off at the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian. The festival showcases classical guitarists from the Iberia peninsula, Latin America and South America. You can grab a little taste of what’s in store with the beautiful strumming of Berta Rojas.

Shopping for your first instrument should be the initial step in a lifelong journey of learning and inspiration. It can also be confusing because all musical instruments come in so many different makes and models. If you’re buying your first guitar, you’ll face choices like what size guitar to buy, deciding between an acoustic or electric, or whether to invest in a new or used instrument. While there are many variables that might affect your decision, the most important thing is to find a guitar that sounds good, looks good, and feels good to play, check the next online website, they did a great review of Yamaha c40.

This year’s festival is dedicated to Manuel M. Ponce, the Mexican composer who passed away in 1948, but whose guitar compositions continue to inspire the world of international guitar. Tonight, the Manuel M. Ponce Quartet will give a talk/performance illustrating the influence Ponce has had over three centuries of music and the artist’s relationship with the great Andalusian guitarist Andres Segovia. Saturday at 2pm Leonora Saavedora talks about Ponce’s effect on Mexican traditional song.

If you can’t make it out to the festival, there’s also a live webcast of the events/performance that’s definitely worth tuning into.

Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, Life in the Capital, Music, Night Life, People, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: June Music Preview

Photo courtesy of
‘Earth Day Concert Dancers’
courtesy of ‘Mr. T in DC’

Memorial Day is over, we’re on to June, and that means outdoor concerts and music festivals galore! The District’s got them all this month: Jazz, Folk, Blues, Rock, Pop, Acoustic — even crafts, dance, and all the culture you can stomach in one day (or over the course of many).

Here’s a look at June’s top “tickets” to get your butt outside and reap the benefits of living in a city where the world’s cultures collide with a wide-variety of  well-established American traditions. Continue reading →

Adventures, Entertainment, Essential DC, Fun & Games, History, Life in the Capital, Night Life, People, Special Events, The Daily Feed
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An Evening with Samurai: No Ninjas Allowed

Photo courtesy of
‘ã��Edo Wonderlandã�� Bad Ass Samurai’
courtesy of ‘-ratamahatta-‘

Tonight, courtesy of the Japanese Embassy, you can catch some Bushi-Do, a mix of traditional swordplay, beautiful choreography, comedy and drama. Simply put it’s sword fighting with a contemporary twist. The event titled “An Evening With Samurai” starts at 6:30pm at the Japan Information & Culture Center, Embassy of Japan 1155 21st Street NW, Lafayette Centre III. Admission is free.

The show is part of  Samurai Week which celebrates the first Japanese diplomatic mission to the U.S. 150 years ago, in which seventy-seven samurai crossed the ocean to secure the ratification of the Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation. During their visit, the samurai captivated the American people with their traditional clothing, top‐knot hairstyle, and prominent samurai swords. Oh yeah, they also developed the beginnings of a strong relationship between Japan and the U.S. No biggie.

The celebration continues through the end of the week with the Samurai Film Fest showing famous Japanese films by Akira Kurosawa, Yoji Yamada and Hatsuki Tsuji. The showings take place at the Japan Information & Culture Center and are free, however reservations are required.

Entertainment, Food and Drink, Fun & Games, Night Life, The Features, The Great Outdoors, The Hill, The Mall
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Katie’s Guide to Summer

Photo courtesy of
‘Every Food Fits: Don’t Bother Us, We’re Crabby!’
courtesy of ‘staceyviera’

Summer is my favorite season, I’ve made no secret of that on this here blog over the years. DC comes alive in the summer, with events galore. And if you’re new to DC, or new to We Love DC, or even an old faithful reader (and we love you for that, truly) I just wanted to take some time to point out that we’ve got you covered for summer.

So here is my short list of things I love about summer in DC and links to articles that we’ve written in the past to help you get the most out of it. (We call this unabashedly re-purposing content.)

So without futher ado:   Continue reading →

Entertainment, Night Life, The Daily Feed
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DREAMGIRLS Come To Washington

Photo courtesy of
‘Dreamgirls’
courtesy of ‘pulguita’

The National Theatre announced that DREAMGIRLS will have a two week only run in the District starting July 28 and ending August 8. Ticket will go on sale Sunday, June 13 and will run between the $55.00 – $95.00 range.

DREAMGIRLS, in case you didn’t see the movie version with Beyonce and Jamie Foxx, is the story of an up-and-coming 1960s girl group equivalent The Supremes.  DREAMGIRLS captures the trials and tribulations of the women in these situations, shedding light on the historical past of the ever-changing American music scene.

Tickets are available through Telecharge online or over the phone at (800) 447-7400. Tickets will also be available at  The National Theatre box office starting July 5.

Entertainment, Music, Night Life, The Features, We Love Music
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We Love Music: The Constellations

The Constellations

A fan in Santa Fe once called The Constellations a real-life version of The Royal Tannenbaums. That sentiment is true.

This band of Atlanta brothers and sisters agree. The Constellations embody the highly intelligent nature of the disillusioned Tannenbaum family. All they’re trying to do is carve a path and find themselves in the process.

The Constellations have a two and a half year rotating line-up change to blame for their eclectic approach to music making. For frontman Elijah Jones and the rest of the gang, the studio is the playground and the instruments are the toys. Continue reading →

Night Life, The Daily Feed, WTF?!
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DC to reconsider untenable parking policies

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

Surprise, surprise. DC is proposing changes to its new parking meter policies because, well, they didn’t work. The DC Department of Transportation is proposing that the meter time limit be lifted after 6:30 PM. Public comments indicated that drivers weren’t offended by having to pay for parking in the evenings, but that the 2 hour time limit on meters made it difficult to engage in activities like dinner out or movies. The meters in high-demand areas would be reprogrammed to accept 4 hours’ worth of quarters after 6:30 so that users don’t have to slip out to feed them.

Council Member Jack Evans (D-Ward 2) wants to repeal evening enforcement altogether. Which would be cushy, but I’d be happy with just accelerating the adoption of pay-by-phone and pay-by-credit-card meters along with the increased time limit. Four hours’ worth of quarters is still 32 freaking quarters that I have to have handy if I want to park downtown, which continues to be logistically ridiculous.

News, Night Life, The Daily Feed, WMATA, WTF?!
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Metro Weekend Doors, Closing Early? Maybe.

Photo courtesy of
‘Lotus #49’
courtesy of ‘Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie’

It looks like Metro’s trying to get responsible, start saving money, and create more time to do track maintenance. I’d say, “Great! Hoorah! I’m proud of you,” but I can’t do that. Why? They’d have to eliminate late night train service on weekends to do it.

Director of Operations Planning at Metro, Jim Hughes, told WAMU-FM’s David Schultz that Metro carries less and less people that later in the night it gets. Well duh, Mr. Hughes. The earlier closure time would cost close to 800,000 riders a safe way home, but would save Metro more than $6 million a year.

If Metro goes through with the proposed change, DC area businesses would run the risk of losing a decent amount revenue previously brought in during those late weekend hours. Metro hot spots such as U Street, Chinatown, Dupont Circle, and Adam’s Morgan could all be hit hard by Metro’s actions.