Music, The Features, We Love Music

Hot Ticket: Pat Green @ 9:30 Club, 4/16/14

patgreenCountry singer Pat Green released a second album of covers, Songs We Wish We’d Written II, in 2012. With his cover series, the Texas country artist explores more of the influences in his nearly 20-year career with songs like Joe Ely’s “All Just to Get to You.” But he also surprises by reaching outside of his genre with a song like “Even the Losers” by Tom Petty, to which he adds his affable demeanor and mellow croon.

Green is probably best known for his song “Wave on Wave,” which hit #3 on the U.S. Country chart in 2003. He makes his mark with his easygoing, laidback style, which serves as hallmark to that song and others. Tomorrow, Green performs at the 9:30 Club, which may not be a traditional venue for country artists. But after selling out shows by Loretta Lynn, why shouldn’t the 9:30 Club host some country folks who can work D.C.’s best space? Pat Green might just fit that bill.

Pat Green
w/ Cory Morrow
9:30 Club
Wednesday, April 16
Doors @7pm
$35
All ages

Music, The Features, We Love Music

We Love Music: The Sounds @ 9:30 Club — 4/12/14

Maja sings at Jesper in Philadelphia

Maja sings at Jesper in Philadelphia

The Sounds brought plenty of shake-shake-shake to the 9:30 Club Saturday.

In a very nearly totally sold-out room, the Swedish quintet kicked off the night with “Emperor,” a song from their new album. If some in the audience didn’t know it that well, the band got their attention with better-known “Song with a Mission” from their popular second album, Dying to Say This to You, and kept the crowd jumping and squealing in delight for the rest of the night.

All members of The Sounds performed with a furious energy. Vocalist Maja Ivarsson was in good form, singing huskily through selections from all five of the band’s albums as she writhed, hopped and slinked across the floor. Ivarsson however did not perform too many of her trademark kicks Saturday. I caught The Sounds earlier in the week at the Union Transfer in Philadelphia, and Ivarsson was striking out with her legs in dramatic fashion as she pranced along the stage in heels with some disregard as to how much of her underwear she showed off. Still, Ivarsson stomped and vamped through the set — at one point during the end of the show, she even slid down on her belly to sing seductively into a microphone that had fallen on the ground.

Continue reading

Weekend Flashback

Weekend Flashback: 4/11-4/13

Perfect weekend. These past few days were exactly what make living in DC so great. Sun, warmth, and great weather. We waited through a hellacious winter for this, and it was worth it. Next two days aren’t great, but I’ll happily take it if that means we get weekends like we just got.

BTW: do you love reading Weekend Flashback? Ever considered writing it? If so, here’s your chance because we’re looking for photo writers! If interested, please send in your info and we’ll be in touch. Continue reading

We Love Weekends

We Love Weekends – April 11-13

Rebecca J: Friday I’ll be taking it easy with some wind down the week yoga at Down Dog Yoga. Saturday I’m playing footie in morning, BBQing down in the Palisades in the afternoon and then headed to the much anticipated – makes me SOOOOO happy they’re in town – The Sounds show at the 9:30. Sunday more footie in the morning followed by a scrumptious Easter Sunday lunch supplied from the fresh fares at the Palisades Farmer’s Market.

Tom: This is a weekend for visiting the parks and enjoying the outdoors, so we’ll be starting with Noyes Park, Ft. Bunker Hill, and Turkey Thicket, to do some outside enjoyment of the city with our son Charlie. We may venture down to the Cherries, but with the crowds and the perfect weather does beauty trump hassle? We may head for the DC Insider’s favorite spot instead. There’s discussion of outdoor margaritas for the weekend, but Mike Madden from the City Paper has me thinking some time outside with a stroller at Meridian Pint is where all the cool parents hang out. Great job with the Best of DC, guys.

Fedward:  while my first inclination would be to go to Red Apron and buy All The Meats for a weekend of non-stop grilling and eating, we can’t actually just skip everything on the schedule.  Sigh.  There’s some good theater closing this weekend so we’re seeing Water by the Spoonful at Studio, and we caught Brief Encounter at Shakespeare Theatre last night, and can recommend it highly.  Saturday, because irony, we’ll be spending the glorious day inside the AFI Silver Theater for free movies thanks to Car2Go.  Sunday I finally get to do my grilling and I can’t wait.  60-day aged rib-eye, here I come.

Don: Fedward beat me to the cheapskate punch in mentioning the AFI free movie outing but he can’t take Roosevelt Island from me. If we decide we’re in the mood for a long walk we may peep some cherry blossoms by the tidal basin. Last year we had family along so we took them to the Arboretum which also has cherry trees and is more doable if you have mobility challenged folks along and have no choice but to drive. There’s even a Saturday tram tour which, as of 1pm today, still has openings. That’s pricier than free at $22 a head, but if you need it, you need it. Entry and parking is still free if you just need a more accessible and less crowded (though only by so much) place than the Tidal Basin.

Music, The Features, We Love Music

Hot Ticket: Space Oddity: A David Bowie Dance Party

There is no more important figure in modern rock history than David Bowie. And there’s a Bowie party you should put on your calendar for Thursday, April 10, at the Satellite Room–Space Oddity: A David Bowie Dance Party!

I’ve long called Bowie “The Godfather of New Wave,” as he married glam guitar to synthesizers and produced a blueprint that revolutionized European pop music in the late 1970s. An entire subset of fashionistas, the New Romantics, took their inspirations directly from him and wrote amazingly intricate dance songs that still endure today.

Bowie the man, the myth, the icon still inspires today, as he has for more than four decades.

In my opinion, Hunky Dory with the likes of “Life on Mars?” and “Queen Bitch” was his first thoroughly great album, but he then followed that up with the opus The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, perhaps everyone’s favorite Bowie album. During the very prolific years that followed, Bowie produced the famous Berlin trilogy—Low, Heroes and Lodger—and then hit his commercial zenith with the amazing Let’s Dance soon after. He put out a new album every several years, taking any significant break only recently 2003-2013. Last year’s The Next Day was an absolutely wonderful return, for which Bowie deservedly won a BRIT Award.

So a Bowie party should be an impressive undertaking as diverse and as captivating as the man himself. In New York City, they have an excellent fellow named Michael T., who performs regularly at Bowie parties (hosted by Twig the Wonderkid) and himself is practically a Bowie impersonator. But here in DC, we haven’t had as many Bowie parties. The last major one that I recall was in 2007 at the Rock and Roll Hotel—hosted in part by our own perfect fellow to produce a Bowie party, DJ Chris Strange (who always capably adapts, like Bowie, to his environment with his partner in crime DJ Medusa).

DJ Ed Metaphysical will spin Thursday’s Bowie party, and I’ve heard good things, although I’ve never personally caught the man in action. All of the cool cats will be there, and so should you!

Space Oddity: A David Bowie Dance Party
Satellite Room
Thursday, April 10
Show @10pm
Free!
21+ to drink

Featured Photo

Featured Photo

The mood of a photograph can be important. If the light and color are bright, that tends to give the photo a good, happy feel; if the shadows are dark and colors subdued, the viewer can start to get an ominous feeling. Then you have a photo like Laura’s above, where you feel like you’re eavesdropping on a high level meeting of Bond villains.

Granted, a lot of the mood comes from the processing of the photo. However, the underlining composition and lighting do more than a little to make this image work. Capturing the people in the bright light from the skylights, while framing the shot so that they are the only people present, gives the sense that we’re intruding on a conversation. Adding in the modern, and subterranean, architecture of the National Gallery’s cafeteria, and the black and white treatment, and the villain layer feel is complete. All that’s left is to have an over-sized laser and someone telling James Bond that he is expected to die.

Friendly reminder, WLDC is looking for some new blood to be photo writers. If interested, there’s till plenty of time to voice your interest.

Sports Fix, The Features

Nats Shutout the Marlins, Beating Miami 5-0

Photo courtesy of BrianMKA
Batting practice fisheye
courtesy of BrianMKA

The Washington Nationals found themselves on the winning side of 5-0 game against the Miami Marlins Tuesday night thanks to a solid outing from left-handed starting pitcher Gio Gonzalez and impressive offensive efforts from first baseman Adam LaRoche and third baseman Anthony Rendon.

Gonzalez threw 101 pitches, 61 strikes, over six innings and gave up three hits while walking two batters and striking out five to secure his second win of the season.

Washington scored early, taking a one-run lead in the first inning when LaRoche drove outfielder Jayson Werth home with two-out. Manager Matt Williams’ line-up failed to score again until the sixth inning, but that’s when things got interesting.

Continue reading

Music, The Features, We Love Music

Hot Ticket: All That Remains @ 9:30 Club, 4/9/14

All That Remains (Photo by P.R. Brown)

All That Remains (Photo by P.R. Brown)

DC has been enjoying an interest in all things metal lately, particularly with the spectacular Spirits in Black monthly at various locations and Monday Heavy Metal nights at Satellite Room.

So it’s a perfect time to get out tomorrow and catch All That Remains as they hit the 9:30 Club Wednesday as they prepare to release their seventh studio album in the near future. Meanwhile, the band recently released a video for their song “What If I Was Nothing” from their last album, 2012’s A War You Cannot Win.

Sonically, A War You Cannot Win covers a lot of ground! Songs like the opening track “Down Through the Ages” and “You Can’t Fill My Shadow” are prime examples of the “metalcore” for which the band is known–howling hardcore choruses over thumping metal guitar riffs. Watching the video above, however, you would accurately conclude that the band is not without its sensitive side, capable of breaking out sweeping ballads to express wistful reflections of sorrow. Metalheads can be sensitive too!

Clearly, these guys have some tricks up their sleeve. Come out and see what other surprises they have in store for us!

All That Remains
w/ Darkest Hour, Wilson, Wings Denied
9:30 Club
Wednesday, April 9
Doors @7pm
$20
All ages

Music, The Features, We Love Music

We Love Music: Kraftwerk @9:30 Club—4/4/14 (By Christine Hall)

Kraftwerk graphics (Photo by Christine Hall)

Kraftwerk graphics (Photo by Christine Hall)

(Editor’s note: Long-time Kraftwerk aficionado Christine Hall was kind enough to report on last week’s Kraftwerk concert — a very important show indeed — as yours truly was out of town.)

Robots! Space travel! The Autobahn! For those who yearn for what was once “the future,” Kraftwerk’s sold-out, two-show, 3D spectacular at the 9:30 Club on Friday, April 4, was wondrous.

The best part was the man in the machine.

The artistic concept is impressive: four man-machines in matching neoprene uniform-jumpsuits (in an irregular, phosphorescent grid), expressionless and stationary before (luminescent-trimmed) cuboid synthesizers, making robot-music, accompanied by retro-3D animation (and some black-and-white film sequences).

Versions or elements of the show were previously presented at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, London’s Tate Modern and Munich’s Lenbachhaus. Visually, the 3D animation, ca. 1980s/early CGI, is thrilling to behold (through good old-fashioned 3D glasses), especially when a flying saucer bears down on you with unsettling urgency (see: Spacelab) or a giant man-machine head peers around and speaks at you rather eerily.

Continue reading

Featured Photo, Week in Review, Weekend Flashback

We Love Photo Writers: So Write for Us!

Do you love photography? Do you love DC? Then we want you!

WLDC is looking for new photo writers. You will be responsible for writing one to two posts a week (mainly in the categories of Weekend Flashback, Featured Photo, and Week In Review), while getting to love DC all week long as you sift through and seek out terrific photos of the city. You will also have the liberty to write on other topics as your interests dictate and editors approve. It’s an opportunity to become part of a close-knit and supportive group of volunteer writers who are passionate about seeing you reach your full potential. If you’ve been interested in brushing up on your social media experience, or have been wanting to write more in a professional setting, this is a great venue to do it. You will have the creative freedom to write what you like, be able to share your vision of the city with others, and get feedback from some fantastic writers and readers. I have never regretted joining the team here, and I can’t imagine anyone not having a great time as well.

If you have basic knowledge of photography (for example, do you know the difference between shutter and aperture? Do you know what HDR is? Can you spot bad HDR?), a dedication to quality writing, and the commitment to post on a weekly basis, we’d love to hear from you. Please e-mail me at mosley[at]welovedc.com. Include your name, contact info, a general description of your photo knowledge (URL to your blog, Flickrstream, Instagram account, or such will do), and a few sentences on why you’re interested (nothing too fancy or long). I’ll reply with more info soon after.

Oh, and you must love DC. That’s the most important part.

Weekend Flashback

Weekend Flashback: 4/4-4/6

Yeah, it’s Monday and it’s raining but that’s far superior to it being Monday and snowing. It feels like we’ve finally (FINALLY!!!) turned the corner and can now enjoy all the trappings of Spring — cherry blossoms, warmer temperatures, baseball, and tourists. Our photographical contributors got out there and got to snapping so grab another cup of coffee and take a look through the Weekend Flashback. You deserve a break after all your hard work so far this morning. Continue reading

Sports Fix, The Features

Braves Hit Strasburg, Beat Nats 6-2

Photo courtesy of philliefan99
Nats at Night
courtesy of philliefan99

The Washington Nationals failed to produce sufficient run support on Saturday night as the Atlanta Braves secured their fourth victory of the season with a 6-2 win at Nationals Park. Despite Washington’s best efforts with team ace Stephen Strasburg on the mound, the team’s offense struggled to score against Atlanta’s right-handed starter Julio Teheran.

Strasburg lasted 4.1 innings in his first D.C. start of the year. He gave up eight hits and six runs (three earned) while throwing 96 pitches (59 strikes). He also struck out six and walked three batters but a high pitch count early on prevented him from going any further.

The Nats managed to get a brief taste of offensive production with a two-run Adam LaRoche homer in the first inning, his second of the season, but that didn’t yield the long-term results Washington was hoping to achieve Saturday night. Washington didn’t maintain the lead long, though, and Atlanta came fighting back in the fourth inning when a pair of runs scored off a Ryan Zimmerman throwing error to tie it up at two runs each. Zimmerman was later removed from the evening’s game due to soreness and pain in his right shoulder. Continue reading

We Love Weekends

We Love Weekends: Apr 4-6

Rachel: Friday night’ll kick-off when I catch up with some friends I haven’t seen in awhile. We’ll be gathering at the first-ever Unplugged 9 Songwriter Series show at Hierarchy Art Gallery in Adams Morgan. Then Saturday is a big day … er … night … since it’ll be my first Nats game of the year! I look forward to hearing the buzz of the crowd and seeing the skyline view of the city from the press box. I’m also really looking forward to breathing in the fresh air and keeping score in real-time. There’s just something so very zen about it all. Then, I’ll wrap the weekend with a softball game on Sunday afternoon in Glover Park. I’ve still got a broken foot but that doesn’t mean I can’t sit on the bench and help motivate my team toward victory!

Rebecca: Whoa nelly this weekend kicks ass. Friday afternoon I’m catching the early (6pm) sold out show  of Kraftwerk at the 9:30 Club. Saturday as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival, I’ll be doing yoga on the Mall from 10-12 after which I’ll grab some noms at the returning District Flea as I peruse the stalls. Saturday evening I’ll hit The Dunes to check out DC’s very own Furniteur at her first show. Sunday it’s footie in the morning and Elsinore at DC9 at night.

Tom: Like a thirsty man returned from the desert, I will be drinking deeply of the waters of baseball this weekend. The Nationals have a three-game stand against the hated Braves this week, so I will be repping Natstown. Sunday is Screech’s birthday, so look forward to some random Mascot adventures that afternoon. Also this weekend is a neat event from our friends at Feastly which is part of a nationwide series called Salo. It’s a pop-up for Phillipino cooking, and the menu includes halang-halang and Agos-os, which you will have to google, but then will want immediately.

Fedward:  The Social Chair has left for NYC so I’m on my own until Sunday.  One option is to liquor up and riot, with perhaps a DB3 and a stop at Ivy and Coney, or maybe whiskey on tap at the Partisan. Or I could work on my career at Startup Weekend (but if anybody knows the organizers let them know they really need to up their social media game). Practically speaking I’ll probably just head to Annie’s and do some home improvements without the wife around to get nervous (which isn’t to say I won’t reward myself with a Red Apron steak when I’m done). Saturday afternoon also offers the opportunity to “welcome home” some WWII veterans at the Soldiers’ Home (complete with Marine Band). Sunday she’s back home, so we’ll wrap the weekend in our usual brunch-at-the-Passenger style.

Featured Photo

Featured Photo

If it weren’t for the modern SUV one might look at this and think they were looking at a photo taken many, many decades or centuries ago. Arlington National Cemetery has always had an air of mystery and solemnity about it from the time it was created. Kevin Wolf does an excellent job of capturing the scene on a foggy winter morning. The layers of history are distinct and yet blend together so well due to the monochromatic nature of the photo. Without color to distract the eye we can look around and pick out different details hidden by the fog.

Arlington House was built in 1803 by George Washington Parke Custis, the adopted son of George Washington. During the Civil War the property was taken by the Union army and used as a place to bury their dead to ensure that General Robert E. Lee, Custis’ son-in-law and leader of the Confederate army, would never return to live there. After the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier was dedicated in 1921 the number of visitors and vehicular traffic heading to the cemetery increased. In an attempt to ease the traffic jams the Arlington Memorial Bridge was built in 1932. On the hill below Arlington House the eternal flame at President John F. Kennedy’s gravesite is visible at night. These are just the things shown in this photo, there’s so much more going on in the acres of land just beyond this scene.

We get used to seeing these sites and others around the city as we go about our daily lives and it’s easy to overlook them. They start to blend into the background. It really is amazing how much history surrounds us. Washington DC is such a layered city, in more ways than one, and sometimes it’s nice to take a moment to appreciate just how lucky we are to live here.

Music, The Features, We Love Music

The Winning Ticket: Galantis @ 9:30 Club, 4/24/14

GalantisFAs a way to say thanks to our loyal readers, We Love DC will be giving away a pair of tickets to a 9:30 Club concert to one lucky reader periodically. Keep your eyes open for opportunities to find out what tickets we’re giving away, and leave a comment for your chance to be the lucky winner!

Today, we are giving away a pair of tickets to see Galantis at the 9:30 Club on Thursday, April 24.

For your chance to win these tickets, simply leave a comment on this post using a valid email address between 10am and 5pm today. Feel free to leave any comment, but perhaps share your favorite song by Galantis (or one of their related projects)! One entry per email address, please. Tickets for this show are also available through Ticketfly.

Galantis! They came to dance! Galantis is Christian Karlsson of Miike Snow and Linus Eklöw aka Style of Eye. They are making their live debut at Coachella on April 12 then embarking on a brief tour that ends at the 9:30 Club on April 24. They will bring with them their self-titled debut EP, which includes dance tracks such as “Smile” and “Revolution.” Lest you wonder what these gents know about dance (I mean, other than the Miike Snow thing), Karlsson has co-produced tracks such as “Toxic” for Britney Spears and Eklöw produced “I Love It” for Icona Pop. So there you go.

For the rules of this giveaway…

Comments will be closed at 5pm 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 9:30 Club Guest List window one hour before doors open on the night of the concert. 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.

Galantis
9:30 Club
Thursday, April 24
doors @10pm
$30
All ages

Entertainment, We Love Arts

We Love Arts: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The cast of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." Photo by Scott Suchman.

The cast of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” Photo by Scott Suchman.

Although Broadway musicals throughout history have been written about a tireless myriad of topics and events, few plot lines seem weaker or less full of suspense at the onset than The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. With the entire storyline centering on the events at a Midwest American spelling bee, the only initial enthusiasm for the show seems to be in wondering who the winner will be. Yet despite the fact that the entire plot really is exactly what it seems to be—contestants competing in a small-town spelling bee—The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a work of musical genius and one of the most amusing and entertaining shows I have ever seen.

The cleverness of the show lies in its complex simplicity. The plot is simple, with the audience knowing that as the show progresses, each of the contestants will be eliminated from the competition until there is only one winner. But book writer Rachel Sheinkin and composer/lyricist William Finn have added a wonderful layer of complexity to the show by leaving the audience asking more than just “who will win,” but also “what will cause the others to lose”, “how did the contestants come to be at the spelling bee in the first place”, and “how will this one event shape the remainder of the contestants lives (if at all)”. To be answered through short musical vignettes woven in between the actual bits of competition, and to all be done in a way that is uproariously hysterical is sheer brilliance. Continue reading

Food and Drink, We Love Drinks

Friday Happy Hour: Lupo Verde

I hope our last article got you in the mood for aperitivo hour, because that’s what’s on the menu this week. Specifically, the menu at Lupo Verde; and with Campari, Cocchi Americano, Zucca, and Fernet all in their rail (best rail in the city, I tell you), it’s going to be aperitivo time for a long time.

But first, I have a confession: I don’t like Negronis. They’re Italian cocktails 101, I know, and this must seem like blasphemy, but it’s the truth. I’ll freely admit they taste great, but I can never appreciate the gin, it just gets lost amidst the campari and vermouth. At home I don’t waste the gin and mix Americanos. When I’m out, if I want something a little more high test, I go for a Negroni Sbagliato instead.

But the Negroni at Lupo Verde is a Negroni worth mentioning. The addition of Barr Hill gin in the Annarella is a total game changer. The earthy honey flavor makes the gin take center stage. I could be biased, Bar Hill is my favorite gin, I just can’t get enough of that honey infused junipery goodness, but this is the most memorable Negroni I’ve ever had.

And speaking of riffs on classic Italian cocktails, an Americano variation? Hell yes! Classic juniper bite from the gin, interesting earthiness from the addition of pisco, but the muddled coffee beans are the all star. Especially since they’re left floating in the cocktail. Forget your vodka Red Bull, this is how I’m going to get my late night buzz from now. Continue reading

Entertainment, The Features, We Love Arts

We Love Arts: Loveland

Loveland at Arena Stage

(Ann Randolph in Loveland Photo: Teresa Wood)

As she struts up and down the imaginary aircraft cabin on the stage of Arena’s Kogod Cradle, Franny Potts (Ann Randolph) achieves a level of adorkable that dates back before Zooey Deschanel put on a pair of plastic frames. I’m not talking about today’s awkward yet cute look, I’m talking about an unfiltered mouth passionately spouting out factoids about America’s National Parks. I’m talking about a mouthful of adult braces and the lisp it causes. I’m talking about proudly and unabashedly being a dork because you love it and you don’t care what everybody else thinks.

The protagonist in Randolph’s Loveland reminded me of Molly Shannon’s Sally O’Malley character on SNL, down to Franny’s black stretch pants. I wouldn’t have been surprised if Potts spoke about her love of kicking, stretching, and kicking while shouting, “I’m 50!”

Loveland is a semi-autobiographical tale of humor, love, and loss. In this one-act, one-woman play, Randolph is awkwardly hilarious, occasionally endearing, and is very comfortable in her pair of stretchy pants.

Continue reading

History, Opinion, Sports Fix, The Features

Hey R**skin Fans, Snyder Cares! (Not Really)

With little fanfare, Washington pro football team owner Dan Snyder slipped a letter out to the team’s fan mailing list this past Sunday. It was a masterful work of self-service. In it, Snyder finally realized there were problems in Indian Country, based on a supposed 26 visits to various reservations around the country. The visits – all cherry-picked to councils who “agree” with him about the “non-offensive” nature of the team’s moniker – apparently opened his eyes to the plight and ills of reservation residents.

Let’s set aside for a moment that Snyder refuses to meet with tribal councils who oppose the name, including the still-open invitation from the Oneida Nation in New York. Snyder quickly jumped to the “hey, there’s more important issues to deal with than changing a football team’s name” defense, pointing out the horrific poverty rates, unemployment, poor health, and abysmal education found on many Native reservations. And yes, these are real problems. Big ones. Continue reading