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Carles gives it to us str8, yall
Adherents of the Falun Gong spiritual discipline protested in Washington today against the 2008 Olympic Games set to be held in Beijing, China. Falun Gong members say they are persecuted by the Chinese government and want President Bush to agree not to attend the opening ceremonies next month. Photo by Bullneck.
- Two D.C. men bet each other on the outcome of last year's baseball season, and the loser had to spend the last week living as a homeless man in the city. [WUSA]
- Gaaaah too much cuteness! Sen. Barack Obama, holding an adorable three legged puppy. [City Desk]
- The University of Maryland accidentally released the Social Security numbers of over 23,000 students. [WTOP]
- Linda Parke Gallagher, the head of Barracks Row Main Street Inc. and a community activist, has died at the age of 64. [D.C. Wire]
- D.C. firefighters on Friday battled a three-alarm fire at a home at 220 Longfellow St. NW that damaged at least four homes. [NBC4]
- The Mt. Pleasant farmer's market should have watermelon, cantelope, and blackberries tomorrow. [Climbing the Mount]
- Chix, the chicken joint on 11th Street NW just above U, has received a liquor license and will begin serving beer and wine on Saturday. [Prince of Petworth]
Six suspected con artists have been arrested for their involvement in a counterfeit Metro fare card scheme.
The suspects are accused of trading in counterfeit paper farecards to Metro farecare machines in order to receive legitimate ones, or adding the phony amounts to SmarTrip cards. The cards would then be resold, with the scammers earning at least $16,000.
The six suspects were arrested in D.C. and Virgina stations including Judiciary Square, Union Station, Pentagon and Eastern Market. The Post notes the individuals had the cards in their possession.
Honest customers are going to be affected, says John Catoe, Metro's general manager.
"The amount of money customers may trade in the value of a paper fare card has been lowered from a maximum of $40 to $7," Catoe said in a statement.
SmarTrip cards that investigators believe are linked to the scheme have also been frozen to allow Metro personnel to track if more fraudulent transactions occur.
Photo by moworld
Adams Morgan mainstay closing
For over 15 years, San Marco has been an Italian mainstay in Adams Morgan. It had long been rumored that it would close, but tomorrow night they will be closing their doors for good. So stop by for a last plate of lasagna and wish owners Pino Mele and Roberto Massarin well.
Dish of the Week: Blue crabs
I'm a little crab obsessed, and I know soft shells have been the dish of the week before. It's part of being from the Baltimore-area, where every event is stocked up with hot crab dip, or crab cakes. And no summer feels complete without some hard shell action on a picnic bench decked out with newspaper, cold beer and sweet white corn. (Although those in the know get their crabs in late August through October when they are at the largest, most plentiful and delicious). Though they don't have the yield that larger crabs such as Dungeness have, nor the ease of popping a mouthful of lump crab, the delicate sweetness of blues make all the work worthwhile. There is a certain sense of accomplishment after emerging with a pile of shells and tiny cuts smarting from Old Bay, knowing that you've defeated the little suckers. Unfortunately, D.C. does not have the small shacks and trucks scattered around that I grew up with, where you could buy your live or steamed crabs. The messiness seems to preclude them from any fine dining scene. So what are your options?
Though it would be preferable to go farther north to Baltimore or Annapolis, you can check out Bethesda Crab House, which dishes out only crabs and not the sides that are available from places like Cameron's or Quarterdeck. The Maine Avenue Fish Market has also proven to be a great resource for both steamed and live crabs.
Photo by geraintwn
Small Bites
Psh ... burgers are so last week
Rumor is Michel Richard might be getting himself in the burger business. He's already proven himself with the burger on his menu at Central. But is he looking to expand, or will the burger joint glut keep him out? One thing is apparent: with the burger issue in the New York Times Dining section this week, D.C. is finally ahead of the game.
Openings and Closings
Add another opening to the list of recent Bethesda additions. Redwood, from the owners of Mendocino Grille and Sonoma, will be opening on Bethesda Row on July 21. The menu focuses on seasonal, organic, and local items as well as wine - though it'll be interesting to see how they deal with all the Montgomery County ABC laws.
Those stumbling home in Clarendon now have a new late-night food option. Open until 2 a.m. every night, Spider Kelly's touts itself as a casual, neighborhood bar/eatery, telling patrons to "come as you are." The bulk of the menu emphasizes burgers, sandwiches, and salads - fare that shouldn't stain your nightlife clothes too badly.
Merkado and its Latin-influenced menu will be closing to make way for Commissary, "an all-purpose cafe, lounge, coffeehouse and wine bar." Given that the Logan Circle/14th Street area has become more of a destination for nightlife, this sounds like a smart move. [via WaPo]
Gerard Pangaud Bistro is closed, at least for now, according to Don Rockwell. A source indicated that that the closure is most likely not due to economic reasons, and hopes that it will reopen soon. A permanent closure would be a real shame, as Chef Pangaud was the first two-Michelin starred chef working in the U.S. and was the youngest chef in France to win a second star.
The job is a cheap thrill--it pays $35,000 for the year, and the previous laureate, Charles Simic, declined to repeat the honor for a second year because he needed more time to write. The original title was Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, but the title was changed in 1985 to make it sexier. Poets Laureate tend to be accessible poets who write relatively clear poems, with Billy Collins perhaps the most controversial because his gentle, ironic verse is popular and sells well. But then poets don't tend to respect their peers. The first poem I read by her was Turtle; she specializes in very brief, compact, internally rhymed, wry poems. "It's kind of a thrill to go from nothing to this," she says. "This is probably going to keep me so occupied that it will discourage any contact with the deeper mind. But my deeper mind needs a break."
Horatio Hornbeam likes nuts. In his mouth. And if you didn't get it the first time, you'll have dozens of reminders of this fact throughout the production of I Like Nuts! (The Musical), playing at Studio Theatre for the Capital Fringe Festival.
The hammering home of such silliness is part of the charm of I Like Nuts!, but it also quickly wears thin. Those who are fans of the "Deez Nuts" school of humor should at least be able to make it through the first couple musical numbers, but then what? Writers H.F. Greek and Chris Davenport have put together a Wizard of Oz style journey to advance the proceedings of I Like Nuts!, but with mixed results (resisting...mixed nuts...reference...).
Along for the journey, among others - a domestically disturbed couple of squirrels, a vampire, a robot, a slacker. They provide varying degrees of amusement; Josh Drew is a wry delight as the robot, Greg Crowe grows quickly shrill as Rob The Angry Squirrel. Perhaps most enjoyable is the buddy-comedy chemistry between the clueless Hornbeam (Nick Greek) and the loyal and affable Gary (Josh Drumwright, the funniest of the bunch), who seem to be aspiring to a Tenacious D-style bond.
The musical numbers are of the comedic singer/songwriter school of writing, and while they produce some laughs, there really could stand to be a few more (rhyming "lame ass" with "famous" is among the better lyrical moments). What the show really needs, though, is more energy, particularly during the chorus numbers -- choreography is done haphazardly, vocals peter out. If you're going to sell absurdity, you really have to commit to it.
I Like Nuts! (The Musical) has five remaining performances, including tonight. Tickets are available online.
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UPDATE: While we earlier heard it was all day, Papa John's employees are saying the deal ended at 4 p.m. Sorry! But at least there's a closer pizza joint for those folks in Shaw, downtown, and Mt. Vernon Triangle.
What's better than hot pizza on a hot, hot day? Well, maybe it's ice cream or water ice, but hey, the pizza is free! A new Papa John's location near 4th and Mass NW just opened, and they're testing their oven/luring in customers with free large pizzas for pickup. Hungry folks can get cheese or pepperoni, limit one per party. You might want to call in first though (202-986-2222), it can take 15-30 minutes for a free one to get made. The free pizzaing lasts all day, so get on it. 313 H Street NW.
It seems that David Freud's expression of the New Labour dream is finally to be announced on Monday. You remember him, surely, the banker and entrepeneur that Tony got in to advise about how to fuck social security and Gordon now apparently loves.
Though it would certainly be inaccurate to suggest that he's the driving force behind this - it is all stuff that follows on perfectly well from established NL priorities. The system is to basically be privatised, with companies being paid to get people off the lists and into doing shit short-term jobs for their associates. Anyone wanting to get benefits will have to do community service as well - not, you know, a job, one that gets paid properly, but penance for having the temerity to be anything but housebound and quadriplegic (though, you know, why can't you type things with a stick in your mouth, eh? Benefit scrounger!) And there will be lots and lots of people getting thrown off the lists. They already are being thrown off the lists for all sorts of spurious reasons from everything I've heard from those on the sharp end.
The thing about the benefits system is that it's actually not supposed to enable the private sector to find cheap work, or at least that was the original idea. It was supposed to mean that people weren't immediately forced to choose between exploitative jobs and starvation. It was supposed to be support for workers against the interests of business. The point is not to have the dole office being a labour market for Tesco. Except that now, apparently, it is.
Photo by Pianoman75
FRIDAY:
>> Head over to the opening of 1460 Wall Mountables at the DCAC, a first-come, first-served alternative gallery show featuring artists hanging whatever they can dream up to fill in individual 2' by 2' spaces. 7 to 9 p.m.
>> The New Gay presents Homo/Sonic – their first dance party featuring britpop, indie-rock, dance-punk and cutting edge queer artists – at the Black Cat Backstage. 18 and over, $5, 9:30 p.m. Or head upstairs for the No Scrubs '90s dance party helmed by DJs Will Eastman, Brian Billion and special guest Cobra Krames. $10, 9:30 p.m.
>> The National Symphony Orchestra gives its free concerts at the Carter Barron Amphitheater this weekend, starting tonight at 7:30 p.m. Tonight's program, Around the World in 60 Minutes, features clarinetist Paul Cigan and violinist Laurent Weibel. The music is all crowd-pleasing summer fare from composers representing several European countries, including Germany (Wagner, Weber, Nicolai), Finland (Sibelius), Russia (Borodin), Spain (Sarasate/Bizet, Chabrier), and the good ol' U.S.A. (Bernstein). Associate conductor Emil de Cou conducts. The gates open at 7 p.m., and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. This is a great event for kids, who will enjoy the Instrument Petting Zoo before the concert, starting at 6:45 p.m.
>> Three Stars alums Carol Bui and The Caribbean play the Velvet Lounge with Poor But Sexy. 10 p.m. $8.
>> Don't miss our movie picks for the week, including the Slapsticon Comedy Festival, running all weekend at the Rosslyn Spectrum.
SATURDAY:
>> Swedish soul singer Kissey Asplund has won big endorsements from overseas critics and is set to do the same in the States. She'll be joined at BloomBars by British-born, Japan-based visual artist Shantell Martin. Free, 9 p.m.
>> The NSO's second free concert at Carter Barron is conducted by Marcelo Lehninger. The program, Music from the Americas, includes pieces by Gershwin, John Williams, Copland, and Grofé. The gates open at 7 p.m., and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis.
>> The graphic art/belly dancing/silkscreen selling/anything goes X event, followed by the dance party Pulse, is at BeBar this month as usual. X is 7 to 10 p.m. ($8), Pulse is 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. ($5).
>> Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin, Bellman Barker and Ha Ha Tonka are at the Black Cat. $12, 9 p.m.
>> Local rockers Collider, described by the band as AC/DC with PJ Harvey on vocals, will be at the Rock and Roll Hotel with The Engine Room, Memories from the Space Age and Suspicious Package. 9:30 p.m. $10.
SUNDAY:
>> Unbuckled 7 alums Motel, the jazz/hip-hop collective led by bassist Matt Grason, pay a visit to the Bossa Bistro & Lounge. 10 p.m. Call 202-667-0088 for set time and cover information.
>> The '80s synthpop duo from the U.K formed by former Depeche Mode member Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet, Yazoo (known as Yaz in the U.S.), are back in the U.S. for "Yazoo Reconnected: Live" They'll be stopping by the 9:30 Club tonight, touring off the release of their new digitally remastered box set, In Your Room. $50, 7 p.m.
Marina gave us a Russian stock that we can use on the board and I put it in the dropdown. More info in Russian is here: http://community.livejournal.com/lj_ru_
- Music:John Mayer - I'm Gonna Find Another You | Scrobbled by Last.fm
Great report from Dave Weigel over at Reason's Hit and Run blog on original D.C. handgun ban plaintiff Dick Heller's return to the District's gun registration office this morning. What happened yesterday was Heller showed up to register his 1911 single-action Colt .22 revolver, but he didn't bring it with him, and the police told him to come back with the gun.
Weigel reports that Heller met with "partial success" today. Police took his finger prints and tested the gun's ballistics, an he took a 20-question exam. Heller still has to come back in a week with two passport photos, and wait for the city to process his background check. There's also apparently some question about whether his older gun qualifies as a "machine gun," since it apparently holds more than 12 rounds.
In the video above, Weigel gets some circular answers from Heller on his reported bid to challenge D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton as a libertarian candidate. But our favorite part of the story is this quote from Heller:
On why he registered the colt: "I bought it because it was the gun they used in Gunsmoke," Heller said. "That used to be our culture."Definitely curious which "culture" Heller is referring to here. The culture of watching incredibly popular television shows? The culture of U.S. Marshals trying to keep order in 1870s Kansas?
People love the newest gadgets. It was the Walkman back in the day, then the iPod, the Wii, and lately, the various iterations of the iPhone, with locals swamping Apple stores from Clarendon to ... wherever other Apple stores are. You see them all over the Metro, at bars, and hopefully not while driving. The newest generation of smartphones have all the bells and whistles, a Swiss army knife of communications. There's just one problem.
Overheard of the Week
Walking into an office building elevator:
Man talking on smartphone: "Yeah, it's great... I got GPS, I can watch live TV..., internet, email... Hello? You there? Hello? Guess not."
After the jump, charity baseball conspiracies, Rocky Mountain oysters, topless kickball, and ice cream.
Keep sending in your funny and weird stuff: overheardindc (at) gmail (dot) com
Photo by DG-rad
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Gee, I am busy for whatever time period the event occurs.
On the Red line
Guy 1: "What are you doing this weekend?"
Guy 2: "(name) is having a Rocky Mountain oyster festival in Virginia. I'll send you the email."
Guy 1: "I can't go but have fun."
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One of the benefits of living in D.C., dontcha know?
On the Blue line to Smithsonian:
Woman with a Minnesota accent: "Since I've moved here my nipples aren't frozen."
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Freedom fries
On the D6 bus on Bastille Day (7/14):
The bus was packed to the brim with French people, many loud and intoxicated, heading to the French Embassy. There was a massive traffic backup on Reservoir Road on the way to the embassy. When the bus arrived, the French people got out.
An old man on the bus opens the window and yells: "I can't believe we saved your fucking country. You're all faggots." Then he closes the window and goes back to reading the paper.
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Probably works better than "step back"
On a Shady Grove-bound train at the Union Station:
The operator honks horn multiple times as the train enters the station.
Operator over the intercom: "And to the gentleman who was hanging his girlfriend over the edge of the platform, have some sympathy for your own girlfriend. Thank you."
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Where's the Mitchell Report when you need it?
Two young Hill types at the Congressional Baseball Game for Charity on Thursday night:
A Republican just stole a base:
Guy: "They stole third base like they stole the goddamned election! What the hell Ump, that is some flawed intelligence!"
Girl: "Republicans are sneaky BASTARDS!"
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So what you're saying is "no"
Friday on M Street in Georgetown:
A 20-something woman holding a clipboard working for some environmental group is trying to get someone to stop and talk to her.
Woman with clipboard: "Do you care about the environment?"
Man with foreign accent, as he walks by her without stopping: "I was just at the G8 summit."
Woman with clipboard: "Oh, awesome. Thank you."
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Aw mom, I already posted my resume online for video game tester and ninja.
Outside the water ice place on H Street NE:
Ten year old kid to his mom: "Mom, can I get some ice cream?"
Mom to kid: "Can you get a job???"
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Why do so many overheards about kickball involve toplessness?
Some kickballers on the Mall:
A guy is looking at a female teammate while talking to another teammate.
Guy: "What's her name? I don't think I know her."
Girl: "Oh, that's (name). You know her."
Guy: "I don't think so."
Girl: "Yeah, you do. She just usually doesn't wear her shirt, just her bra."
Guy: "Ohhhh... I guess I didn't recognize her with a shirt on."
The Day I Stopped Believing by Billy Colbert |
Unlike, for example, Art Enables, the gallery doesn't feature work by those who fall within their mission. Instead it plans to feature fine art by (mostly) established local artists, and has started things off nicely -- Tai Hwa Goh, who recently had a show at Flashpoint, was part of their inaugural show in May, while their current exhibition includes Michael Janis and Billy Colbert (we'll get to them in a minute). The "healing" part comes from the process of enjoying the art itself, supplemented with a full calendar of events, discussions, and workshops. When I stopped by on Wednesday, I interrupted a lecture for photographers on how to market their work and display in galleries, a workshop the gallery generously hosted for the Hamiltonian Gallery down the street, whose construction snags have their delayed opening for another month.
Smith Farm has been hosting art exhibits for awhile, but they were crammed on movable partitions in their upstairs offices, next to their cooking class kitchen. They first envisioned the gallery when their pet shop tenants went out of business a few years ago. Smith Farm split the store, and the environmentally friendly Greater Goods moved in to two-thirds of it, while the gallery was set up in the other third, helped with a hefty grant from the D.C. Commission on Arts and the Humanities. In keeping with their earth-loving vision, the space is quite serene. Visitors are greeted by a hanging wall of succulent greens, which help oxygenate the room. Beautiful Brazilian cherry wood makes up the floor and "floating" cloud-like sections give a place to hang lighting while keeping an airy opening feeling in the space. Smith Farm has grand plans to renovate the back end of the building, with a small courtyard in between (where some artists are already envisioning installation work). The artists aren't required to sell their work, but if they do, Smith Farm's commission goes towards their artist in residence program.
Work by Michael Janis at the Healing Arts Gallery |
On the other end of the row is Social Engineering, with creepy mosquitoes looming above overhead photos of a freeway interchange, and another of a crowd of shadowy pedestrians, while white-dust images of what could be DNA chains run along the sides of box. While some of Janis' pieces fare less well -- a large glass panel of non-plussed faces hanging in the gallery window evokes too many circumstances to be intriguing -- his boxes are tight universes of few possible outcomes, begging the viewer to lean in for more clues.
Billy Colbert's multi-media, large scale collages bring the color into the exhibit with bright pastels from across the spectrum. Most feature black outlines of old-timey characters -- British style detectives and dapper young boys in britches -- that, together with the comforting colors, welcome you into the scene with the hands of an old favorite blanket or your baby photo album. Sometimes images remind you of stickers you might have slapped on your Trapper Keeper, "Alfa Romero" or a fluttery bird drawing, but within there's always something more sinister. The Day I Stopped Believing (pictured top right) evolves from the detective's quaint search for clues, to fragments of deep loss embedded out of his sight. Snippets of text, "space shuttle burst...," "Darryl Strawberry not playing...," "boy lost his sense of trust...," as a rat crawls near the bottom of the scene, leave you reeling from that moment Real Life crashed in on the innocent world of your childhood. Some, like The Ballad of Bruce are more subtle, as a referee blows his whistle and funny-looking gnomes bounce in the foreground, angry swirls of blue are painted above like storm clouds.
Paul Andrew Wandless works in clay sculpture, making figurines of heads and torsos like modern artifacts. He uses the clay bodies as a canvas in themselves, sometimes for hieroglyphic type text, sometimes for what seem like tattoos on the figure itself. Prize Fighter is a dark painted head with hands painted over the eyes that look like wings. The lips are a cherry red, and its spiked hair is adorned in a thorny crown. On the back of its neck is a "tattoo" that says "It's all black to me," next to a series of ladders that reach from the bottom, where its back would be, up the back of its head. The symbolism that each of Wandless' sculptures have is at times provocative, and at others far too heavy-handed.
The Healing Arts Gallery is located at 1632 U Street NW and open Wednesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Figurative/Narrative runs until August 28.
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