Arts and Events: November 2009 Archives

MOVIE: The Alliance Française, in partnership with the Bureau de Quebec, presents a screening of Claude Meunier's romantic comedy, Le Grand Départ / Honey, I’m in Love, about a man who leaves his monotonous wife for a much younger woman, but soon begins to wonder if the choice has really left him happier. At the Letelier Theater, 7 p.m., tickets are $9.

Perhaps it's this dreary weather that's putting us in the mood for an abstract image today, and christaki has come up with the goods. He cleverly combines his decaying subject's unusual color palette with careful framing – incorporating the artistic rule of thirds – to catch the viewer's eye. (EXIF)

Signature Theatre's production of demonstrates two things: that sometimes a hefty dose of an old-school musical is just what you need, and that even those old chestnuts can still have some surprises in store.

>> Sriram already offered plenty of reasons why you should head to the 9:30 tonight for Bebel Gilberto. Don't forget, it's an early show -- doors are at 6 p.m. $35.

MUSIC: Bebel Gilberto performs tonight at the 9:30 Club, in an early show (doors 6 p.m.). Tickets are $35, and check out our preview here.

Our occasional series "Secret History" features profiles of classic D.C. albums as a way of looking back at the District's contributions to music over time. This installment finds DCist speaking with members of Chisel about their debut LP, 8 A.M. All Day (Gern Blandsten, 1996).

DCist Pool contributor lorigoldberg captured the old time feeling of this tailor's shop. The old sewing machines, the reflections, the Diana's trademarked softness all add up to a picture that matches today's grayness.

During a recent interview, we asked vocalist Bebel Gilberto what she wanted her audience to come away with after a performance.

This Self-Centered Sunday business redounds to everyone's benefit when someone like caroline.angelo composes such a bright portrait. The ocher color of the wall looks like it was chosen to match the freckles on the subject's arms. Further, the brightly lit section of the wall contrasts with the olive of her headband in a way that's almost difficult -- the eye strains to perceive them as a similar hue. Of course, obscuring the face is a notorious strategy in contemporary portraiture, and in this shot, caroline.angelo captures a lot of fun despite not revealing the subject's eyes.

Walking to The Passenger last night, my mind drifted toward thoughts about the development of the area north of H Street along 7th Street NW. Perhaps it was destiny, then, that I stumbled over this photograph of Mt. Vernon Square taken in 1992 by Jack Boucher for the Historic American Buildings Survey of the Library of Congress, which DCist flickr contributor rockcreek shared with our image pool yesterday. It's a good reminder of how far the neighbohood has come in the last seventeen years.

As you might expect, there is not all that much to hear this week, with the Thanksgiving holiday and all. But you can give thanks for the chance to hear a few good concerts.

. Holy hell, but this picture is horrible.

It's difficult to enter into Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans expecting a comedy. That's despite a title more ridiculous and unwieldy than even a CSI spin-off would accept, and a trailer that features star Nicolas Cage waxing rhapsodic on his lucky crack pipe, and instructing some henchmen to shoot a dead body again, because the victim's "soul is still dancing." This has to be meant for laughs, right? The lingering expectation of a gritty drama lies mostly in this film's status as an ostensible remake of Abel Ferrara's 1992 cult favorite, the Harvey Keitel tour-de-force Bad Lieutenant, and in Herzog's reputation for dark and sober dramas about outsized obsessive personalities.

FRIDAY

Be prepared for the DCist Flickr Pool to be infiltrated by an invading army. These Terra Cotta Warriors have started their advance at National Geographic and scouts have already been spotted in the Pool, like this one by erin m. EXIF.

Feeling the limitations of the jazz combo format that was prevalent in the late 1940s, Miles Davis assembled a nonet to play music that allowed for more orchestration and color, while still maintaining the improvisational elements of that era's be-bop sound. With orchestrations from the great arranger Gil Evans, as well as band members Gerry Mulligan and John Lewis, the band performed briefly in the fall of 1948. But it wasn't until 1949 that the group entered the studio to record what would become Birth of the Cool, a seminal recording that kicked off a movement that became known as "cool jazz."

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

CLASSICAL: Berlin's Vogler Quartet will perform a concert of music with Jewish folk connections this evening in the Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. All of this music was performed by or composed for the St. Petersburg-based Zimro clarinet sextet, including Profokiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes. Tickets are available for a slight discount ($25 instead of $32) if you mention Promotion Code 45484 when you order your tickets, either online or at the box office. 7:30 p.m.

Where's a privacy advocate when you need one? First, we can't make out in public. Now, a man can't even take an upright nap on a bench in Malcolm X Park without being captured by Flickr user gerdaindc and her like-minded voyeurs. EXIF.

            

Public Enemy came to D.C. Wednesday on a mission–not to fight the power, but rather to use the band's influence to fight youth homelessness in the District and the rest of the country. The evening began at the Sasha Bruce House, where Chuck D, Flavor Flav and the rest of the iconic hip-hop group toured the facility and hosted a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for more than 30 homeless youths.

MUSIC: One of the most important groups in hip-hop history, Public Enemy, will be at GW's Lisner Auditorium tonight. Tickets are $25 for the 8 p.m. show, but don't forget you can also catch Chuck D, Flavor Flav and the gang performing live on a moving flat-bed truck (map of the route here) starting at 7:45 p.m. Also, concert attendees who bring a new or lightly used coat to donate will be upgraded to VIP.

Last year we ran a Three Stars feature on Silver Spring-based Zo!, aka Lorenzo Ferguson, and by all accounts, he hasn't had a slow moment since then. Zo! played a role in The Foreign Exchange's acclaimed Leave It All Behind album and has toured with the group extensively. Not to mention, he's been working on his own LP, SunStorm, which will be released early next year. In the meantime, Zo!'s laced us with a pre-Thanksgiving morsel in ...just visiting too, a free EP that's out this month.

>> A major traveling exhibition hits D.C. this week: National Geographic hosts this leg of the Terra Cotta Warriors tour. Over 100 artifacts are on display from the 2000-year-old sculpted army that guarded China's First Emperor from any dangers as he entered the afterlife. The exhibit opens tomorrow and runs through March 2010. Tickets are $12 (adult) and sold by date and 30 minute blocks; purchase them here.

Meet Kyle. He's one of jim_darling's 100 strangers. Kyle was at the Tweed Ride over the weekend, and Jim coaxed a list of the reasons he came out all dressed up. Kyle wanted to support the group because he wants to encourage people to "express the best part of themselves," because dressing up is "joyful," and, well, because "I dress this way anyway." Take a look at Jim's 93 other strangers, and see how one photographer's eye for portraits has developed over time. (EXIF)

>> With a style she calls "acoustic smashing," vocalist Jaqui Naylor fuses the Great American Songbook with classic rock sounds of the 60s and 70s. Catch this intriguing combination tonight at Blues Alley. Tickets to the 8 and 10 p.m. sets are $20 + $12.50 minimum/surcharge.

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A critical consensus has been reached: playing an entire album live is a bit of a bore. The once novel concept has quickly become an unimaginative experience that legitimizes bands trotting out reliable hits without looking desperate (perhaps not always such a bad thing). From an artist's perspective, the album-as-set-list can be a self-mythologizing ego boost reinforcing older work as classic. The fans, for their part, get the songs they want in the order they are accustomed. Old codgers of all stripes will tell you that the album used to 'mean' something that kids today just don't understand. These individuals, fans and artists alike, have been weaned on the hallowed AOR template, a place where deep album cuts and well-known singles are valued equally.

MUSIC: Brooklyn's Sean Bones hits DC9 tonight, in support of his new album, Rings. Fellow Brooklynites The Dig open. $10, 9 p.m.

When I think about the band Dawes, I'm remind of that line in Oh Brother, Where Art Thou when George Clooney's character, Ulysses Everett McGill, is explaining the sound of his band, the Soggy Bottom Boys. In an attempt to convince the old blind radio station operator that the group is worthy enough to play on air, Everett says, "Uh, sir, the Soggy Bottom Boys is been steeped in old-timey material. Heck, we're silly with it, ain't we boys?" Now if you consider CCR, CSN, Neil Young, The Byrds, The Band, and Gram Parsons, "old-timey material," then Dawes too, are steeped in, and silly with it.

While yesterday's article and photo gallery described the civilized side of the proceedings, alex logan has peeled back the veneer of the D.C. Tweed Ride to reveal its sordid underbelly. (EXIF)

>> One of the most important groups in hip-hop history, Public Enemy, will be at GW's Lisner Auditorium. In the effort to support the night's cause of fighting youth homelessness, attendees who bring a new or lightly used coat will be upgraded to VIP. $25, 7 p.m.

>> Only Los Angeles could produce whatever Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zereos is. An unholy union of the Manson and Partridge families, this dozen piece collective is yet another band of wide-eyed mystics from la la land looking to recruit converts through peace, love and folksy sing-alongs. As if that wasn't enough, the much buzzed about Fool's Gold and Local Natives round out a diverse, sold out evening at the Black Cat. 8 p.m.

                     

Scores of well-met journeymen and women gathered yesterday in the northeast of the Capital city for an expedition to celebrate the latest in fashion, industry and whimsy. This peregrination saw fashionable fellows and dandizettes tour the city by bi-cycle and fixed-gear machine. A good time was had by all!

MUSIC: Still wishing you had gone to see Devo last night? Well there are actually still tickets available for tonight's second show at the 9:30 Club. While Sunday featured the legendary '80s band performing Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! in full, tonight's set will feature every song from Freedom of Choice, in order. $45, 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show, with JP Inc. opening.

This photo from Command Z was made using a color flash holga. The different layers of color are a happy contrast to the confused faces of the dogs. We love the result.

This is a good week for hearing some great pianists in the area, and of all stripes and colors, too. Some good options for free concerts are listed after the jump.

Escher, yes, but also something more sinister. These photos of the U.S. Treasury by Flickr user mindgutter reveal a more playful angle to the work of Robert Mills, America's first great architect. You might know him better as the designer of the Old Patent Office Building (now home to the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum) as well as a couple Washington Monuments.

FRIDAY:

The Messenger starts with loss, as Staff Sergeant Will Montgomery (Ben Foster) has one last bittersweet meeting with his girlfriend, who met another man while he was off to war. It's a gentle way of ushering the audience into a movie that is all about loss on a larger scale. For soon after his return from the war, with injuries that nearly took away an eye and his ability to walk, Montgomery is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service, bringing news of the deaths of soldiers in the field to their families back home.

As hip-hop began its ascent in pop culture, many jazz musicians embraced it, trying to infuse its infectious rhythms with an improvisational and harmonic sophistication. While such experiments have mixed results, we've seen several groups who continue to try to bridge the chasm between the two genres.

       

Three weeks ago, we met up with Civilian Art Projects' Jayme McLellan to see their progress as they made the move from their previous space above Apartment Zero in Gallery Place to their new 7th Street location in the old Warehouse Arts Complex. At that time, the road ahead of them seemed long, with the walls still peeling and piles of work ahead of them before their grand opening in the new space tomorrow from 7 to 9 p.m.

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

JAZZ: In 1957, Miles Davis was commissioned to produce the score to the film Ascenseur pour l'échafaud (Elevator to the Gallows); tonight, Three Stars alum Thad Wilson recreates this experience tonight at HR-57, where his group will perform live alongside a screening of the film. 7 p.m., $10.

       

As the cold remnants of Hurricane Ida drenched the Mid-Atlantic, a few intrepid souls left the quotidian comforts of home to gather at the Black Cat for three sets of warm acoustic bluesfolk from Mimicking Birds, The Low Anthem, and headliners Blind Pilot. The lineup was assembled from across the US—the first and final hailing from Portland, OR, the median from Providence, RI. The main stage room was full and hazy with persistent, idle chatter. People dribbled in like wet rats.

It's hard to believe, especially on a day like today, that gray can be anything but cold and dreary. Flickr user Karon brings us this painterly photograph that shows how gray can be equally mysterious and dynamic. EXIF.

              

Critically-acclaimed singer-songwriters Marissa Nadler and Alela Diane showcased their considerable musical talents at DC9 on Tuesday night, captivating an attentive audience with intimately stripped-down sets of folk songs.

>> Guitarist Rodney Richardson leads a group tonight at Twins Jazz. His trio features Three Stars alum Will Rast and drummer Larry Ferguson. Call 202-234-0072 for set time and cover information.

We're still in the midst of FotoweekDC (visit their website for detailed listings of events, lectures and workshops), but there are also tons of other arts events going on this week. Here's a not-so-short and sweet calendar for you to plan your next few days of artiness.

Panography is a photography technique to take multiple images of a scene around a central point and then marry the resulting images by overlapping them with minimal touch up. It lets you explore the area being photographed more completely than a panorama, and provides for a cool effect.

MUSIC: Three Stars alum Flex Mathews is hosting a listening party for MF Doom's new album, Unexpected Guest. Joining him to supply the sounds will be DJ Underdog and NIck Da 1nda. Free, 6 p.m.

MUSIC: D.C.'s own Title Tracks are at the Black Cat's Backstage tonight, opening for Brooklyn's Bryan Scary & the Shredding Tears. The Black Hollies, out of New Jersey, also play. $10, 8:30 p.m.

By DCist Contributor Dan White

Waiting for paint to dry can be quite a boring endeavor, but someone decided they didn't need to wait to add their own "artistic flair" to this freshly painted wall. User * Chris D captured the tagging and the cool colors. (EXIF)

>> Even though MF Doom is about as likely to show up to the listening party as he is to one of his own shows, this album release party should be worth checking. Hosted by Three Stars alum Flex Mathews, Lounge of 3 (1013 U Street NW) will play host to a listening party for Doom's Unexpected Guest album. Joining him to supply the sounds will be DJ Underdog and NIck Da 1nda. Free, 6 p.m.

>> Made famous by their star turn in the 2007 film Once, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, better known as the Swell Season, have been charming audiences around the world with their trans-European folk fusion ever since. Tonight they'll stop by the 9:30 Club with Doveman. Sold out, 7 p.m.

       

This isn’t the first time that Thao Nguyen has sold out the Black Cat. It’s actually become an expectation, like death and taxes, that the young guitarist from Falls Church, VA and her awkwardly named band will bring the crowds and start a party. Party seems an unlikely description of a show by a band who specializes in rather harsh tunes about heartbreak and loss. But Thao’s feisty presence and quickness to invite others onstage elicited a celebratory homecoming atmosphere.

ART: Fotoweek DC festival opened last Friday and continues all week. Tonight we recommend a discussion on digital storytelling hosted by National Geographic and NPR (6:30 p.m.) and an opening reception at Carriage House, featuring work by some of the best fashion photographers in the city (at 7 p.m.) You can also stop by Local 16 every night this week after 5 p.m. to mingle with photographers and festival organizers, enjoy drink specials and watch photo projections.

Sometimes it's the most simple photograph that catches your eye and steals your attention. This photo from every.seven is exactly that: simply beautiful.

In 2006, when Washington National Opera opened its American Ring Cycle, few could have imagined that it would end as it did on Saturday night, with a concert performance of Götterdämmerung. After very promising productions of Das Rheingold and Die Walküre in 2006 and 2007, financial considerations delayed the staging of Siegfried by one season, to last spring, when it ended up with a troubled casting and special-effects woes. The collapse of the financial and housing market last fall was the final nail in the coffin, forcing the company to cancel the plans to mount the entire four-opera cycle this month. By all logical expectations, this doomed Ring should have come to an ignominious end, with nothing but the fact that it finally concluded to show for all the trouble.

Someone has placed a Star-Spangled GIF in front of kimberlyfaye's photo of the Old Executive Office Building -- lulz! But why does it not animate? Why do you not wave freely? Why no fireworks, little American Flag? Where does your eagle soar? I don't know what I'm talking about.

Free concerts are the headliner again this week, followed by a few concerts, of far too many on the schedule, that will require some money.

           

Every so often a songwriter emerges who captures something about the city he calls home. Elliot Smith was as Portland as fixies and strollers. There is something free and unmistakably flyover about Omaha, Nebraska's Conor Oberst. Kurt Vile -- who finished a tour to support his latest record (and first release on Matador Records), , at the Black Cat on Thursday -- is making his claim as a lo-fi laureate of Philadelphia.

Round House Theatre's production of rises well above the realm of mom-daughter drama.

FRIDAY

Technology is amazing; that a simple camera phone can capture such an image. And with jim_darling's keen eye and knack for color and composition, you get one gorgeous photograph.

By DCist Contributor Adam Mazmanian

When Kailash Kher starts talking about music, it is tempting to dismiss him as someone waxing philosophical about metaphysical concepts, without any substance behind his words. But after a few minutes of listening, it becomes clear that he is the real deal. This palpable enthusiasm comes from a man who sees music as food for the soul, and an ultimate expression of spirituality.

You'd be forgiven for thinking that the Real Estate/Girls show Tuesday night at the Black Cat was an extended tribute to The Clean, an open-mic homage to the under-known but influential Kiwi punk band. Hell, the show might have been a two-set-long cover act, the way both bands indulge in heavy chorus pedal and simple chord progressions and fancy-free songs about summer love. You'd certainly be in your right mind to be excited by a show with so much surf-punk. How could Girls go wrong?

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

There’s a huge star at the center of the Sydney Theatre Company’s much-hyped, Liv Ullman-directed, wholly satisfying new staging of A Streetcar Named Desire, which sold out its Kennedy Center run before the curtain rose on the first preview. I speak, of course, of the dramatist Tennessee Williams.

MUSIC: Kurt Vile will be at the Black Cat's Backstage tonight with his full band, The Violators. D.C.'s own Benjy Ferree opens. 8:30 p.m., $10 in advance, $12 day of show.

              

Typically I try not to describe a band's sound by listing every obvious influence and antecedent. But when it comes to Wolfmother, the exercise is almost impossible to avoid. Their sound is a skein of 70's rock tropes. Songs contain blatant borrowings from Steppenwolf, Led Zepplin, The Rolling Stones, Black Sabbath, etc. Everything from little riffs, to entire melodies, to more esoteric thematic robberies. It's not bad to borrow but there is certainly a big difference between what someone like Jack White has managed to do with his influences and what Wolfmother is doing with theirs.

When it comes to Woolly Mammoth's season-opening production of , sometimes you just have to run with it. Literally.

Cycle the Ghost Round's photo of what appears to be a 1949 Chevy Fleetline is a fall classic. A quiet Georgetown street, leaves blanketing the car, and a crisp autumn day with blue skies and fluffy clouds; just idyllic.

The South Asian Literary and Theater Arts Festival (SALTAF) brings together writers, filmmakers, and dramatists from across the South Asian diaspora for a day of screenings, panel discussions, and book signings. Previous participants of the festival, which takes place on Saturday, include directors Mira Nair (Mississippi Masala, Monsoon Wedding) and Deepa Mehta (Earth, Fire, Water), and writer Kiran Desai (Inheritance of Loss). The D.C. chapter of the Network of South Asian Professionals and the Smithsonian Asian Pacific American Program are the chief sponsors of the annual event, which is an opportunity for both emerging and established artists to present their work, and engage in a dialogue with those interested in South Asian culture.

Two years have passed since we last saw Portuguese vocalist Mariza, who delivered a memorable performance at the Music Center at Strathmore. The Queen of Fado, as Mariza is known, will be performing this Sunday evening at the Lisner Auditorium. She is the world's most prominent exponent of a style rooted in history and tradition, but fado clearly has universal appeal. Over the past decade, Mariza has not only performed in most of the world's great concert halls, but also at international events such as the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and Live 8 in 2005.

More than ever on the concert circuit, nostalgia is the move. With everyone from Liz Phair to Public Enemy to The Pixies (and those are just the P's) devoting gigs and sometimes entire tours to reviving their seminal albums in sequence, lots of long-lived performers — particularly those strugging to get even their cult to embrace their new music — have glommed to the trend.

The second annual FotoWeek DC Festival starts up this Saturday, and the city is already overflowing with all things photography and more than enough arty events to go around. We're featuring our picks in this week's Arts Agenda, but take a gander at the FotoWeek website, blog, and even their mobile site if you want full details. It runs straight through next Saturday the 14th, so even the busiest art lovers should be able to find time to stop in an exhibit or two over the next week and a half.

ART: The Goethe Institut unveils its newest exhibit, Iconoclash! Political Imagery from the Berlin Wall to German Unification tonight with a free discussion and reception from 6:30 - 9 p.m.

It's November. The last of the leaves are falling from their branches, the squirrels are dropping some of their take, and the local drunks are moving inside, leaving their discarded bottles behind. Wasting no time, Ronnie R captured this tableau on the first day of the month – a perfect submission for the sadly now infrequently updated Treebox Vodka. (EXIF)

Our occasional series "Secret History" features profiles of classic D.C. albums as a way of looking back at the District's contributions to music over time. In this installment, DCist speaks with members of Edsel about the band's major-label debut, Techniques of Speed Hypnosis (Relativity, 1995).

>> Chances are that you've never heard the harmonica as it's played by Frederic Yonnet. Blending disparate genres into his amazing technique, it's no wonder this cat has played with the likes of Stevie Wonder, Branford Marsalis, Erykah Badu, and Prince. Yonnet will be performing tonight at the Strathmore Mansion. 7:30 p.m. $17

>> Directions: John Gerrard opens this Thursday at the Hirshhorn. In this exhibit, see Gerrard's farm-scapes and oil fields that raise questions regarding man's use and abuse of the environment.

From the first time I heard the music these guys make, whether together as the King Khan and BBQ Show, or in any of their other many incarnations (King Khan & The Shrines, Mark Sultan's unbelievably good solo album The Sultanic Verses, and so on,), I was in love. The nexus of garage rock, punk, and doo-wop could not be farther up my alley. In a world of electro-this and that, and sad-faced boys and girls singing sweetly, Blacksnake (King Khan's... real name?) and Mark Sultan bring a refreshing dose of pure, dirty, fun rock 'n' roll to the table.

TALK: Christian Siriano, the youngest designer to ever win Project Runway, will be at the Corcoran tonight at 7 p.m. to discuss his book, Fierce Style: How to Be Your Most Fabulous Self. $15.

Staceyviera's photo Creepy Grin is just that, creepy. The man in the foreground seems to have no idea that he is being watched. The painting above the grin, of a hairy man in his boxers sleeping while his clock is doing some bizarre smiling dance, adds to the weirdness of the scene.

>> DJ Stylus continues his weekly exploration into new music with "Refuge." As usual, it'll be at Tabaq. Free, 9 p.m.

>> The Boss is in town! The Boss is in town! Wait, wasn’t he just here? Perhaps that's why there are tickets available. Springsteen & The E Street Band will be rocking out the Verizon Center tonight. 7:30 p.m. $32.50, $68 and $98.

READING: At the Folger Theatre, authors Jonathan Lethem (Motherless Brooklyn) and Stacy D'Erasmo (A Seahorse Year) discuss their literary styles and read from their new novels, which are both set in post-9/11 New York City: D'Erasmo’s The Sky Below and Lethem's Chronic City. 7:30 p.m., tickets are $15.

November's proving to be a month of classics in D.C. From , old favorites are showing up quite a bit on local stages. Here's what's playing around town.

If you looked at this photo and thought, "What in the world?" or, "Is this even from this world?" you are not alone. This long exposure from discipula277 is of the DDP Drill Team, an avant garde dance performance group. The DDP is, according to their web site, short for "Dieter's Dance Party," a name borrowed from the Saturday Night Live Sprockets skit made famous by Mike Myers. And yes, it does appear that the dancers are carrying a Star Wars-themed light saber/drill team stick. The dancers are clearly fantastical, in their makeup, uniforms, and choreographed dance moves, and the photo captures their essence perfectly. I think this sci-fi military image is exactly the feel the DDP was trying to achieve.

Does director Timothy Douglas's choice to set Folger's production of Shakespeare's during the D.C. Caribbean Carnival feel arbitrary? Sure. Does it matter? Not entirely.

Despite its World War II period setting and the old-fashioned feel of its Broadway by way of the Catskills laughs, Neil Simon's Lost in Yonkers feels remarkably of the moment. A father is driven to bankruptcy trying to take care of his dying wife. In tough economic times, he joins the war effort to get himself out of debt, leaving his two teenage sons in the care of his stern mother, who also has an adult child still living at home. It seems like a plausible early 21st century storyline. Except that today when we have to treat the catastrophic illnesses of uninsured loved ones, we end up owing more than we can pay to banks, instead of the loan sharks Simon's Eddie has to pay. OK, so maybe it's not that different.

              

I think two things about making a gallery of pictures of jack-o'-lanterns. One: This is exactly the sort of task I'm up to on a November 1. I tend to enjoy my sweets in the four of bourbon for Halloween, and as a result November 1 is a hangover to rival January 1. In stumbling around the house groaning for advil and wondering how I stubbed my presently lame big toe, I present a more convincing zombie than any you saw in Georgetown last night. Two: Something about taking pictures of pumpkins makes people go nuts with the photoshop. How is it that photos of orange gourds look so green?

Here is a photo that manages to summon both Vince Gauraldi and Cecily Brown. This fall flickr by apium is full of flesh tones that draw the eye, but it's far from sexy. For all the skin color and movement, this picture still conveys the quiet transformation of autumn.