Arts and Events: November 2009 Archives

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

>> 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.