Arts and Events: May 2009 Archives

Go to enough shows and you'll hear numerous folks say something to the effect of "I like them better live." Express skepticism about a up-and-coming band and one might hear their defenders say, "Oh, well have you seen them live?"

          

From the looks of it, many of you spared a little bit of time from this weekend's spectacular weather to check out the opening weekend of Artomatic, the collective arts exhibit which is celebrating its tenth year of existence this summer. This year's space, located near Nationals Park on M Street SE, will be open for the next five weeks -- here's a little taste of what's on display.

June starts tomorrow, and that means that the Classical Music Agenda will soon be going on its annual summer hiatus. Already, there are fewer and fewer concerts to put on one's schedule, unless you are willing to do some traveling. If you are determined to hear some music this week, here are your choices.

Aperturef64 supplies this wonderful landscape from Hains Point, where the lonely Bianchi at the focus of the photograph will certainly be joined by countless two-wheeled friends this weekend -- it's perfect weather for a bike ride of any kind. So jack up the Queen and strap on a helmet, we're going for a spin.

We've already mentioned once just why we find the Baltimore/D.C. dual citizens of Impossible Hair incredibly interesting, but it bears repeating. Most of these guys have been playing in bands of varying degrees of notoriety for over a decade and have perfected all of the elements of writing a good song. Many of their songs are short and sweet, barely over two minutes, moving seamlessly from one song to the next. While this hearkens back to the days of early rock and roll, their ability to bend and twist these elements without dumping on loads of reverb makes Guided By Voices the most oft-used reference point for describing Impossible Hair. And while Guided By Voices is an easy reference point for any band that has short songs with unusual song structure and angular guitar riffs, much like Bee Thousand, their debut album, What Is the Secret of Impossible Hair? pits fantastic track after fantastic track, so even though there are fourteen songs, they seem to end far too quickly.

Held regularly since 1999, Artomatic has been housed in every quadrant of D.C. (and once in Virginia), and annually transforms an unfinished indoor space into a creative haven, welcoming all artists who want to exhibit. This year is Artomatic's largest event ever, hosting over 1,000 visual artists and 1,500 performance artists with three music stages, a dance stage, a stage for comedy, and return of the British Ink tattoo parlor.

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

FRIDAY:

This grainy and animated conversation was snapped by furcafe. We appreciate the composition with the placement of the silent and reproachful portrait looking on. EXIF.

Written by DCist contributor Elisabeth Meinecke

Celebrating the Jewish holiday of Shavuot is pretty much the equivalent of a collegiate all-nighter. The religious festival commemorates the delivery of the Torah to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. One associated tradition includes eating dairy foods—the Jews were just sorting out the complicated kosher meat laws—so bring on the cheesecake! A second tradition is also, naturally, food related. Originally a grain harvest festival, it was customary to offer, or now to eat, the seven species mentioned in the Torah and native to Israel. Included are honey, barley, and grapevines. The whole food pyramid thing hadn’t really been sorted out yet either. Yet a third tradition provides for staying up all night studying Torah.

It's good to be alive, he thinks."

Every wedding needs a pick-up volleyball game, like the one captured by bethhowe1 this past weekend. The lighting highlights the participants' intent body language, showing that a little ad-hoc competition overshadows celebrating a lifelong commitment any day. EXIF.

Big news in the art world this week is the opening of the ginormous art event that is Artomatic on Friday. Back for another landmark year, Artomatic promises more of what you've come to expect from this come one come all art extravaganza. We'll have more Artomatic coverage for you soon, so check back in with us tomorrow for a run down of the opening day.

Loose Lips aren't here to start a revolution. The Fairfax foursome channel bits and pieces of the greatest parts of pop music over the past four decades. Although the vocals (at least on the recorded material) immediately recall Interpol's Paul Banks, their synth melodies don't sound dark and introspective but upbeat and breezy as if injected with a dose of 1960s California pop, with a side of working class grit. But Loose Lips doesn't sound so much like they're retreading their influences as reimagining them. When those familiar guitar riffs are found in such a well-crafted song, like the five on the new Weighing Winter EP, the familiar sounds fresh again.

MUSIC: Longtime D.C. resident (though she now calls New York home) Alice Smith made a name for herself on her solo debut, For Lovers, Dreamers & Me. She'll be at the Birchmere with local rapper on the rise, Tabi Bonney. 7:30 p.m., $25.

>> Tonight's pick takes place at Utopia, where Three Stars alum Matt Rippetoe will be leading a group that includes trumpeter Joe Herrera, pianist Dan Roberts, bassist Andrew Cox, and drummer Larry Ferguson. The band will be playing Rippetoe's original material, in addition to selections by legendary pianist Keith Jarrett. 9 p.m. No cover

I used to think it was implied that anything you find under a bench is free, but furcafe's shot of a U Street bench shows that sometimes people need a price tag. I'd leave a buck or two behind anyway, just in case they're watching. EXIF.

PROTEST: As we mentioned earlier, there will be a gathering in Dupont Circle tonight at 8:30 p.m. to protest the ruling by the California Supreme Court upholding Prop 8.

Who says you can't have a little fun in the rain? I'm sure these boys dig getting a chance to play dress-up (practice for Halloween in four months), and as Shaun Barrows' no doubt thought, it sure brightens the day a little bit for the rest of us.

>> Vocalist Alice Smith (pictured) spent enough years in the District for us to consider her a D.C. artist. Now based in New York, the Grammy nominee made a name for herself on her solo debut, For Lovers, Dreamers & Me. She'll be at the Birchmere with local rapper on the rise, Tabi Bonney. $25, 7:30 p.m.

MONDAY:

On Memorial Day, it just feels appropriate to say: thank you.

           

On the subject of long-haulin' it, Charlie Daniels has perhaps the definitive word. In the liner notes to his legendary 1974 album , Daniels wrote, "Hungover. Red eyed. Dog tired. Satisfied. It's a long road with a little wheel and it takes a lot of turns to get there. Thank you, damn it."

Shaun Barrows kindly shared a couple takes in which leather, long beards, leather vests, patriotism, scandily-clad women, and, of course, hogs are prominently featured -- duh, Rolling Thunder is in town for Memorial Day. EXIF.

If you read Charles Gray's Nats column, then you know that he's been making the strong case for military intervention to prevent Nationals Park from collapsing into a failed state. philliefan99 catches the Coast Guard answering Charles's prayers, deploying two HH-65A Dolphin helicopters before last night's game against the Orioles. Unfortunately, in response, Baltimore deployed a "31-year-old AL relief pitcher who hasn't batted in almost three years" in the 12th.

So what was Mona Lisa really smiling about anyway? Was she thinking about a past romantic rendezvous? Wistfully reminiscing about days gone by? Wincing a little over a pesky toothache?

FRIDAY:

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

          

In the case of some bands, escaping the inevitable comparison to another, more popular outfit is borderline impossible. But with thousands of musicians out there trying to make a name for themselves, saying one is following and/or ripping off the other is rarely justified. Take Keane, for example. Yes, they're from the U.K., and sure, their frontman has a seemingly limitless supply of energy. Ok, so they also are heavy on the keys and played an intimate acoustic mini-set during their show on Tuesday night, but really, that's where the similarities to that other band (you know, rhymes with Schmoldsplay) end. Wait... founder Tim Rice-Oxley and Chris Martin met in 1997, when the latter invited the former to join his band? Too weird.

As you might guess, Memorial Day weekend isn't usually crammed with gallery openings, but we found a couple items of note in our inbox, so consider this your holiday art hodge-podge.

MUSIC: Strong local rock lineup at the Black Cat tonight, featuring three bands that have all, in one form or another, been featured prominently by DCist. First up is Casper Bangs, featuring ex-members of the Hard Tomorrows, followed by Brooklyn indie popsters the XYZ Affair, with Deleted Scenes headlining. XYZ Affair will also give away two brand new songs for download. 9 p.m., $8.

Aw, happy dog! Most of us are counting down until we can hop in the car and road trip out of town for the weekend. Let this guy, smiling for thepezident, be your inspiration to get you through the next few hours. EXIF.

There was a time when watching an action movie inevitably meant turning off the brain, stuffing one's head full of popcorn, and departing the theater with a glow of adrenaline-fueled bliss that at least lasted until you got to the parking lot. Somewhere along the line, a select few movies proved that guns and muscles didn't have to come with a frontal lobe numbing agent. James Cameron, whatever soggy atrocities he can later be blamed for, was at the vanguard of smart action-blockbuster cinema, and the first two Terminator films (along with Aliens) are prime examples of action movies that provided a thinking man's (and woman's) alternative to the oeuvres of the Seagals and Van Dammes of the world. Which is why it's so disappointing that Terminator Salvation is such a big, dumb, noisy mess.

MUSIC: D.C.'s own funky soulstress YahZarah, a.k.a. Purple St. James, has made a name for herself singing with the likes of The Foreign Exchange and Little Brother, not to mention releasing her own material. She'll be performing two shows at Blues Alley. $20 plus $2.50 per person and $10 purchase minimum per person, 8 p.m. and 10 p.m.

Gah! My first thought in coming across this photo in the Flickr stream was most definitely, "What in the name of all that's holy IS THIS? And why would Kyle Walton put this in the DCist Flickr pool where anyone could innocently stumble over it?" I was going to quickly click onto the next image, but curiosity overwhelmed me and I Googled the tag "William M. Cochran," which led to the bizarro-geocities-esque page for The Community Bridge. Apparently, Cochran is a "professional public artist and trompe l'oeil master" in Frederick, Md., most famous for his $500,000 illusion painted onto a pretty damn ugly bridge. He says that the fake gates are so real-looking that birds try to land on them, which is hilarious and... kind of mean? He paints other various illusions around town, including the terrifying Jesus, David Copperfield, Mel Gibson The Edge of Gravity you see above. Enjoy!

Contempory composer Nicholas Maw died yesterday at the age of 73. Born in England, Maw moved to the United States after his first marriage ended in divorce, making his home in Takoma Park with Maija Hay, a ceramics artist. For much of that time he was on the faculty of Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore and had some success getting his music performed by American ensembles, including here in Washington, like the Left Bank Concert Society.

>> Up-and-coming vocalist Lulu Fall performs tonight at Twins Jazz. Her band includes talented local artists, the Jolley brothers on piano and drums, and Oliver Albertini on bass. Call 202-234-0072 for set time and cover information.

Last week, the D.C. Commission on Arts and Humanities opened its call for applications for its 2010 grant season. Each year the well-funded DCCAH has hundreds of thousands of dollars to give away to the artistically-minded, and the crazy part is that they can't seem to find enough people to give it all away to every year. Free money, guys! You just have to ask!

              

Bruce Springsteen is still Working on a Theme.

HAPPY HOUR: If you're a fan of Bar Pilar's weekly Cocktail Sessions, you'll want to stop by tonight to send off bartender Adam Bernbach, who is leaving the 14th Street drinks and tapas joint for new and exciting things. Tonight's craft cocktail hour is being dubbed "the Black Sessions," and will feature a special menu of Adam's favorite concoctions. No cover, and the special drinks are $11 each.

It's been a week since D.C. received the sad news that HBO was pulling its sponsorship of Screen on the Green, the popular outdoor summer film festival on the National Mall. In that time, there has been a flurry of activity by devotees attempting to salvage the festival for this summer and hopefully into the future. Two Facebook groups sprung up almost immediately looking for support for saving SotG, and late last week the two merged into one, now over 1700 members strong. Of course, creating and getting members into a Facebook group is easy and largely a symbolic gesture taken on its own. What's pleasantly surprising is that the group's organizer, D.C. Council staffer Jesse Rauch, is taking real and substantive steps to find a new sponsor. After speaking to HBO, Rauch was able to find out the budget necessary to put on the series — $150,000 — and has been in contact with movie studio representatives and the MPAA about sponsorship, all thanks to contacts within the Facebook group.

Flickr photographer Matt.Dunn sure knows how to take a portrait - on film, to boot - as we've noted before. I'll leave further analysis of this particular shot to our esteemed commenters.

After a spring season of more challenging operas — a vicious Peter Grimes and a controversial, Americanized Siegfried — Washington National Opera brought home the bacon on Saturday night, opening its final production, Puccini's Turandot. The company presented this opera last time only in 2001 (with Alessandra Marc in the title role), and the Kirov Opera brought its road staging to the Kennedy Center in 2006. To answer the natural question — do we really need to see Turandot again so soon? — the company brought the colorful, somewhat slapstick, but still disturbingly savage production created by Andrei Şerban for Covent Garden 25 years ago (with none other than Plácido Domingo as Calaf) to Washington. Since most of the singing was quite good and the orchestra sounded in top form, this is indeed a production worth seeing.

>> Philly's Jaguar Wright has been a staple on the soul scene for a while, having come into prominence through her association with The Roots. She'll be a part of "R&B Live" at Posh along with D.C native, Kevin Ross. $20 two drink minimum, 8 p.m.

>> The week kicks off with what promises to be a fantastic and unusual concert at Iota, where two solo multi-instrumentalists give you the opportunity for a break from anything approaching "standard." Ben Sollee is the headliner, primarily a cellist who also incorporates banjo, guitar, and percussion into his repertoire, and blends folk and jazz in a way that made him a perfect match for a project a few years back with Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck. Opening up is Anni Rossi, a violist who I once saw open for Carla Bozulich at the old Warehouse Next Door, who delivered one of those opening performances so surprising and transfixing that I had to make a beeline for the merch table as soon as she left the stage. One caveat here: Rossi, who recently signed to 4AD and released her first record for the label, is frequently compared to Joanna Newsom, and while her voice has an entirely different timbre, she's inclined towards the same sorts of odd vocal gymnastics, leaps, and yelps that that comparison might suggest. Which is to say that she might be an acquired taste for some, but if you're into that sort of thing, you just might be blown away. 8:30 p.m., $12.

The Beanstalk Library, a mainstay on the local alt-country scene, have a new live lineup and some new recordings to celebrate. To launch their re-formation, they've taken to the internets. Five local blogs (DCist, BYT, District of Sound, Instrumental Analysis and Baby, You Got a Stew Goin!) are each streaming one of their five new songs. DCist's exclusive track is called "The Only Things I'll Take With Me," and it features another of our very favorite local musicians, Tom Hnatow of These United States, on pedal steel. It's a sweet reflective tune that's just right for long hot summer days, paired with a front porch and a glass of iced tea. If you like what you hear, you can see the guys perform this and other songs live on Memorial Day (Monday, May 25) at Iota (8:30 p.m., $10). It's the band's first local show in 8 months, and the first since replacing two members.

             

A man cannot live on indie rock alone. So it's with great pleasure that I look forward each year to the DC101 Chili Cookoff. It's the unofficial start of summer and the kick off to the concert festival season. Yes, the lineup doesn't exactly skew to what I imagine is on a typical DCist reader's iPod, but the vibe at the show is always second to none; great food, copious amounts of alcohol, rowdy fans and crowd surfing galore. Much better than going to a show and standing there with your hands in your pockets the whole time, right? Plus, it's all for a good cause, with proceeds supporting the National Kidney Foundation. According to the NKF, last year’s Cook-Off raised over $1 million dollars for the foundation.

DCist's guide to lectures and discussions in the D.C. area

We dig the perspective and composition of this shot by eschn3am, placing the viewer right behind the valiant rook, awaiting his swooping vertical and horizontal moves to come. EXIF.

The final opera of the Washington National Opera's season opened last night, a visually lavish production of Puccini's Turandot (a full report will come tomorrow). Here are some recommendations for your listening pleasure the rest of this week, beginning with a full schedule of free concerts.

This weekend marks the final wave of commencement ceremonies around the city. While there's no way to prove decisively that this flashy set of kicks was thrown on a 14th Street wire by a departing grad, we'll imagine it so -- just a small token left behind as he or she heads off to whatever interesting things lie in their future. Bogotron provides the colorful capture.

       

Sometimes bands build up their audience’s energy over the course of a set, but The Thermals had no interest in easing anyone in on Wednesday night at the Black Cat. After a jovial hello from singer/guitarist Hutch Harris, the Portland trio began their hour long set with 2006 standout “Return to the Fold” inspiring a loud, audience-wide sing-a-long. The rest of the show followed suit as Harris, bassist Kathy Foster and drummer Westin Glass gave a filler-free jaunt through their catalog, while the audience did their best to mirror the band's energy and enthusiasm.

Let's get one thing out of the way early - Signature Theatre's is worth the four (yes, four) hour investment.

FRIDAY:

              

D.C. may be known as Hollywood for ugly people, but for a little while last night, it was almost like we were just plain Hollywood. Granted, there was no actual red carpet at last night's "red carpet" U.S. premiere — which was billed as a World Premiere despite Tuesday night's London screening — of Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian at the National Air & Space Museum. But there was a crowd of excited fans lining the steps up to the museum's doors, a red velvet rope line populated with microphone-wielding entertainment journalists inside, stressed-out personal assistants and handlers in headsets, heavily-made-up television correspondents, and discreet but tough-looking bodyguards. Substitute middle-aged male studio execs for the slightly paler middle-aged male government types who got invites to the event, and you could almost imagine you were at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

DCist teamed up with the Phillips Collection last month to sponsor the museum's Make Your Own Morandi contest, which challenged local photographers to create images in the style of Italian painter Giorgio Morandi. Morandi was famous for his still life scenes featuring everyday objects that portray a vague purpose, and his work is featured in a special exhibition that runs through May 24.

>> Transformer opens a thought provoking exhibit that challenges traditional notions of gender. Domesticated: Men and the Domestic Interior opens Saturday, with a curator and artist talk at 4 p.m. followed by a reception from 5 to 8 p.m.

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

TALK: D.C.'s favorite crime writer, George Pelecanos, will be at Politics and Prose tonight at 7 p.m. to read from and sign copies of his brand new novel, The Way Home. Sure to to be packed, to get there early. 7 p.m.

What's the age when you want kids to experience new things, yet make sure they're old enough to appreciate and remember what they're doing? D©Bloom's shot of a youngster enjoying Ben's Chili Bowl and the parents' expectant-yet-instructional looks (note the dad making a "You need to blow on it" face) brings back some of these early memories, like losing my Mickey Mouse ears on Space Mountain and having my first Kohr's orange cream frozen custard on the Jersey Shore. EXIF.

Every now and then a young musician comes along and accomplishes so much, so quickly, that the rest of us are forced to wonder what we are doing with our lives. That is the position in which we found ourselves when, during a recent interview, we tried to hide our envy while asking Esperanza Spalding what it was like to perform at the White House earlier this year before the President, first lady, and Stevie Wonder, at a ceremony awarding Wonder the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.

A few years after Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld dominated network television with their “show about nothing,” Tom Stoppard astonished the theater with a play about everything. More specifically, the mathematical conceits that govern the ultimate predictability of everything. Or don’t. Learned opinion varies about the math.

We're still a little heartbroken over yesterday's news that HBO has left us high, dry, and movie-less on the National Mall this summer. Seriously, HBO, was it that much of a financial burden? You couldn't have just trimmed back Alan Ball's fake blood budget for season two of The Sookie Stackhouse Soap Opera Hour? I think that would probably have covered it. They may have sacked the best of D.C.'s outdoor film series, but that doesn't mean that we're without options. An abundance of them, it turns out. So to soothe those wounds from yesterday, we present as comprehensive a list as we can come up with at the moment of places where you can see movies outside this summer. If we've missed anything, please add them in the comments.

MUSIC: The Pacific Northwest comes to Northwest. The Thermals are at the Black Cat with two other Portland bands, The Shaky Hands and Point Juncture. 8 p.m., $13 tickets are still available.

      

The mood was quite different the last time I saw Animal Collective. It was the summer of 2004, and the band had just released their breakthrough LP, Sung Tongs. Of the 100 or so folks who showed up to see the band play in the basement of a university building that night, I would wager that most, if not all of them had heard Sung Tongs and were eager to see how the songs would be rendered live. The members of Animal Collective, however, had their own plans. In what has since become a hallmark of Animal Collective's live sets, the band decided to eschew album tracks in favor of a series of works in progress, most of which took the form of protracted, improvised drone experiments. This, of course, made the crowd anxious and the band, determined to stand their ground, reacted with contempt. The end result was a tense, confrontational vibe--it felt as if the band was playing against, rather than for the audience.

I know, I know, it's another feet photo, but Flickr photographer Nicole Aguirre has combined shallow depth of field, an unusual angle and unconventional lighting of her subject to concoct a timeless image. (EXIF)

>> Trombonist Jen Krupa and saxophonist Leigh Pilzer team up tonight at Twins Jazz to lead their quintet, JLQ. Call 202-234-0072 for set time and cover information.

MOVIE: How could our top pick be anything other than the Washington Psychotronic Film Society's screening of C.H.U.D. tonight at the Warehouse Theater? We've noticed a few of our commenters are planning to be there, natch, and we can tell you a gaggle of DCist staffers will be in the house as well. We'll get to the bottom of this underground menace together! 8 p.m., $2 suggested donation.

>> For the last time before it goes on hiatus, DJs 2-Tone Jones and Marshall Law will be hosting a "Vs." featuring the works of Kanye and Snoop at Almaz. $5, 9 p.m.

Sleeping while standing... or leaning... is a skill I've always been keen to acquire. Flickr user chrisindc's nicely framed shot provides helpful pointers in that quest. Perhaps consumption of pizza - or whatever is in the shopping bag - is a more important element than I'd realized. (EXIF)

Vocalist Sara Serpa's career track is a road less traveled in today's jazz world. Many singers are beholden to the past, choosing to express themselves through the standards of yesteryear, while trying to recreate the sound of the great crooners, whether it be Sinatra, Holiday, or Fitzgerald. Serpa, originally from Lisbon, Portugal, not only does not limit herself to old material, but has an approach closer to that of an instrumentalist instead of a chanteuse. Her intriguing sound will be on display tonight at Blues Alley.

DCist's guide to lectures and discussions in the D.C. area

"The whole point of living is preparing to die," says one character at a pivotal moment in Solas Nua's new production of Woman and Scarecrow. It's not just the point of life, but the point of the play itself, most of which is spent inside the mind of an unnamed woman as she spends her final hours succumbing, with both relief and reluctance, to an unnamed malady. If that sounds quite dark, well, it is. You were expecting something a little more uplifting from an Irish deathbed drama? But if it also sounds dreary, that's where you'd be wrong.

              

On Saturday, before the D.C. United-Toronto FC game, about 500 United fans marched from Lincoln Park to RFK Stadium in support of keeping the team in the D.C. area. The march was organized by fans and supporters' groups and had the support of the team.

kimberlyfaye provides an excellent example of macro photography with this shot of a fiery poppy blossom in Southwest D.C. You've got to love those textures. EXIF.

>> Awwwwwww yeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaah, Maryland! Who's ready for some poetic introspection? I said, WHO'S READY FOR SOME POETIC INTROSPECTION! Seventy-four-year-old songwriter's songwriter Leonard Cohen ain't exactly the sort of cat you imagine headlining a summer shed show, and indeed his Merriweather gig is kind of an outlier on the itinerary of a tour schedule -- his first in about a decade and a half -- that mostly has him playing theaters. Cohen has been upfront about returning to the road at this late date because he needs money: His former business manager stole most of Cohen's savings while he was meditating at a Los Angeles monastery for the last few years of the 20th century. But he's still one of the greatest songwriters who ever held a pen, and his just-released Live in London album, recorded last summer, offers persuasive evidence that his performing mojo remains undimmed. $40-$250, 7:30 p.m.

       

The Vinyl District, Som Records, DC Soul Recordings, and Civilian Art Projects sponsored an incredibly successful record fair last year. Anyone who went will tell you that it was standing room only: It was almost impossible to bend down to go digging for that first Boards of Canada LP.

      

Thursday was a big night for indie rock, as Illinois were at DC9 while Peelander-Z played at The Red and the Black, which might explain the small turnout at the Black Cat for The Dears, Great Northern, and Eulogies. It was a shame, as all three bands put on good sets.

If you need to come up with something quick to do for your mom on Mothers' Day, the agenda begins this week with some free concerts this afternoon, so you can save your money for some flowers. Combine the concert with a trip to the museum for extra good child points, but it is probably best to show up early in case there are crowds.

This photo has the color and composition of a cubist collage. Is blueiris2006 revisiting Jean Arp? Citing Stuart Davis? Nope, it's just Spike's hat! He (and colleague Carla) appeared in Adams Morgan to demonstrate some top cheffery, but it's a mystery as to where.

A rich summer portrait by Matt.Dunn. It's hard not to sympathize with the subject, as the photographer does in this endearing photo. Those are, after all, some cute freckles.

FRIDAY:

Kirby Dick likes making movies about secrets. In his last documentary, This Film is Not Yet Rated, the director went on a quest to determine the identities of the MPAA ratings board, a secret the Motion Picture Association guards closely. In the process, he provided a shrewd examination of the unfair practices of that committee, and, more generally, of American attitudes towards sex, violence, drug use, and language in our entertainment. His latest film, Outrage similarly attempts to cast light on people seeking to remain in the dark, in this case the dark of the closet.

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

Don't forget to vote for your favorite Make Your Own Morandi photo from our three finalists. Tonight go see the real things at the Phillips Collection and check out the first installment of this is not that CAFÉ, designed to create interaction between artists and viewers. The café, run by On the Fly, will be open for purchases, and tonight visitors are encouraged to meet the project collaborators, the dB foundation. The event will take place every first Thursday during Phillips After 5.

MUSIC: The Dears are at the Black Cat tonight, and tickets are still available. Great Northern and Eulogies open. 8 p.m., $15.

       

The adjective "icy" gets thrown around a lot by critics when discussing the Junior Boys. You've got to admit, it's a pretty apt descriptor. Not only are the 'Boys Canadian, they also craft electro-pop songs that belie their very human obsessions with a cold, near robotic precision. Increasingly, however, the duo has tended toward looser, more organic arrangements, while allowing their lyrics to take on a slinky, almost sinister edge. On their latest full-length, Begone Dull Care, Jeremy Greenspan's vocals are hushed yet breathy, the production lush yet meticulous. Where once the Junior Boys were "icy," it now seems that they've "thawed"--to borrow the critical descriptor du jour.

er3465 scoffs at your fancy lenses with the unbelievable zoom. You want a good shot of a squirrel? You get right in their face and you take it. The scratches and bitemarks on your face will heal, and Wikipedia says they "pose almost zero risk of transmitting rabies." Sounds like safe money to me. EXIF.

April showers have overstayed their welcome, but the area's museums are offering some great indoor fun.

***There's a plot point discussed in the first parapraph that a couple of people have called foul on; my feeling is that if it's exposition and happens in the first five minutes of the movie, then talking about it hardly qualifies as a spoiler, but if you want to go in as an utterly blank slate, you may want to skip it. So, that said, let this serve as fair warning for a potential spoiler.***

MUSIC: Brooklyn-based Antibalas has made a name for themselves for mixing Afrobeat and Latin jazz sounds into a potent musical concoction. They're at the Black Cat, with DJ Neville C. $15, 8 p.m.

Lucky Strike in Gallery Place is as much a photographer's playground, with the colorful neon lights and all the curves and lines, as it is a good choice for something to do when it's been raining for days on end. Spodie Odie took this shot of what is surely a strike in the making. EXIF.

It's exciting when a show with epic scope and epic ambitions translates into epic results.

>> The D.C. based Fuse Ensemble is a collaboration between composer Gina Biver and multimedia artist Edgar Endress. The ensemble performs classical music with influences from jazz, world, minimalism, avant-garde, and electronica. Fuse will perform tonight on the Millennium Stage. 6 p.m. Free

       

For a musician to find continued success on a solo level, as well as with a number of different accompanying bands, speaks volumes about the talent possessed by the individual. Ben Harper, despite rarely crossing into the mainstream with heavy radio play or a number of chart-topping hits, has done exactly that.

CINCO DE MAYO: For those of you who like to use this holiday as an excuse to guzzle margaritas and fill up on chips and salsa, we'd probably recommend Metroing up to Downtown Silver Spring, where they'll be shutting down Ellsworth Dr. from 4:30 to 8:30 p.m. and filling the place up with mariachi bands. Austin Grill, natch, will be serving up drink specials both inside and outside in a Cinco de Mayo Beer Garden. If you prefer to stay inside the city, consider heading over to Chi Cha Lounge, where a silent auction/Cinco de Mayo fiesta will benefit the excellent Hope House, which helps kids whose parents are in prison. That runs from 6 to 9 p.m.

Washington National Opera continued its epic American Ring Cycle on Saturday night, opening a production of Wagner's Siegfried that was plagued by vocal and technical troubles but was still an evening of revelations.

>> It's Cinco de Mayo, and DJs 2-Tone Jones and RBI will be celebrating with their "Latin Quarters" party at Almaz. Expect music from hip-hop's Latino luminaries: Big Pun, the Beatnuts, Cypress Hill, and Fat Joe. $5, 9 p.m.

>> Hippie favorite and mainstream crossover artist Ben Harper already sold out the 9:30 Club, where he'll be playing with his new band, the Relentless7, tonight. But Craig and friends still have some options for you. 7 p.m.

Pretty amazing news for the local theater community. The 2009 Tony Award nominees are set to be announced tomorrow morning, but in the meantime, the special, non-competitive awards were announced today, and Arlington's Signature Theatre was awarded this year's Regional Theatre Tony Award. From the release:

On the recommendation of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Tony Awards has selected the Signature Theatre of Arlington, Virginia as the recipient of the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The Award is accompanied by a gift of $25,000 from Visa, USA.

Continue reading "Signature Theatre Wins 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award"

The weather forecast for the next few days sure is bleak. Guess that means it's the perfect time to break out some classic games over a nice warm mug of tea. Personally, this writer is partial to a solid game of chess, but maybe you're like Kyle Walton and Mahjong is more your style. (I'll go ahead and put on the kettle.) EXIF.

There are a number of really interesting lectures this week, including three focused on food (tomatoes, tortillas and even an Indian buffet!), as well as a good variety of visual and performing arts lectures, book talks, and more.

Because of the generally conservative audiences in Washington, local ensembles tend not to program too much contemporary music, preferring to stick with familiar favorites. The Kennedy Center's CrossCurrents contemporary music festival, which opened auspiciously on Friday night with a superb concert by the Russian composer Lera Auerbach, is attempting to buck that trend. If you are the sort who complains about hearing the same old music, you are obliged to get out there and listen to something new.

mosley.brian took the liberty of uploading a couple of pictures from earlier this spring to our DCist Flickr photo pool today; among them, this interesting perspective of the Smithsonian Arts and Industries building through waves and waves of cherry magnolia blossoms. The shot, while not as accurate as an actual Ishihara color test, is probably a stiff test for those of you with dichromacy, anomalous trichromacy, or achromatopsia.

What? What?? A Bene Gesserit is going to appear here in the D.C. Metro area? Bring forth the understand the significance of the Kobayashi Maru.

From Stoppard to scarecrows, we've got the rundown on what's opening around town this May.

FRIDAY:

When outsiders (or heck, even locals) think of D.C. music, dance bands don't exactly come to mind. There are a few acts that have added loops or synthesizers on top of jangly pop tunes or angular rock riffs, but straightforward dance bands aren't really around. Enter Lode Runner. They care about putting on an entertaining live rock show and putting on an intricately rump-shaking dance night with equal fervor. It probably comes as no surprise that singer/multi-instrumentalist Scott Bauer helps run Velodrome, which puts a DJ and a live band in the same room. There's a cerebral aspect to Lode Runner, as the music is very technically complex. But they take that technical complexity and try to run it in the same vein as Cut Copy, by mixing in new wave guitars with their electronic blips and steady drum beats. And on top of it all is Brock Boss' baritone, which is of a rare quality you might expect to hear from British post-punk outfits. Bauer, multi-instrumentalist Eddie Rodela and drummer Ken Quam took some time out to talk to DCist in Adams Morgan about the intricacies of their set up and songwriting process.

              

The 9:30 Club saw its fair share of rock 'n' roll last night, from bare bones rock to lush walls of sound. Magics Wands, The Horrors, and headliners, The Kills well um... killed it.

I've not yet been assimilated into the world of yoga, but if it can involve acrobatic activities like the ones captured by ray fitzgerald in Meridian Hill/Malcolm X Park recently, then maybe I can be converted. (EXIF)

The AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival will close out its 2009 run with a film chronicling the life of times of D.C.'s own Marion "Mayor for Life" Barry, festival organizers announced today. The world premiere of The Nine Lives of Marion Barry, by filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer, is set for Saturday, June 20 at the AFI Silver, and is billed thusly:

Many people remember Marion Barry as the philandering drug-using mayor of the nation's capital, who was famously caught in a 1990 FBI sting operation. Yet others know him as a folk hero, a civil rights champion and defender of the poor. Barry’s soaring achievements, catastrophic failures and phoenix-like rebirths have made him a symbol of mythic indestructibility. Who is Marion Barry, really? A hero? A scoundrel? Why is he such a polarizing force? And why do people still vote for him?