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Is Tysons Corner the 'Single Most Unpleasant Place' on Earth?

A post on Gregg Easterbrook’s ESPN blog has gotten our staff list all abuzz today with this anti-Tysons Corner rant, so we thought you might want to join the debate. D.C.-based Easterbrook lays down some serious Tysons hate when regarding the choice of Arizona Cardinals’ coaches to house their players in a hotel next to the mega-mall for the week between their games against Washington and New York.

But rather than find some pleasant countryside location or college campus where the team could train and concentrate, the Cardinals stayed in this hotel in Tyson's Corner, Va. In case you haven't had the misfortune of visiting Tyson's Corner, it is the mega-mall for the nation's capital -- a hellish conjunction of stores, parking lots, sprawl, gridlocked roads, beltway cloverleafs and cars, cars, cars. Here's what it looks like where the Cards stayed. Between the concrete, fumes, gridlock and screaming commerce, Tyson's Corner may be the single most unpleasant place on planet Earth. You couldn't pay me to stay in a hotel in Tyson's Corner! Small wonder the Cards stunk up the joint in Jersey on Sunday, committing seven turnovers in a 56-35 loss to the throwback-clad Jets led by Hackensack Brett. If you'd stayed in a shopping-mall hotel for a week, you'd play terribly too! But perhaps Arizona coaches got some good deals on Dockers.

A visit to Tysons can often be unpleasant, but the most unpleasant place on the planet? What Easterbrook forgets is that the Cardinals typically reside in Phoenix, which is sort of like Tysons to the 10th power, except located in the center of the sun. Share your feelings about Tysons Corner in the comments.

Image courtesy the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority

Bikes vs. Cars: The Rules of Engagement

All our sympathies go to the SWDCBlogger's roommate who was intentionally struck by a driver while riding late ~~last~~ Friday night on 14th Street SW near Constitution Avenue. Witnesses to the incident picked up the driver's tags, so the hope is that justice will catch up with that automomaniac. Anyone else who was hanging around the Mall after 1 a.m. and saw the incident should get in contact with the blog's author.

This writer, too, has had several recent run-ins with motor drivers compelled to violence by nothing more than the inconvenience of sharing a lane with a bicyclist. It's enough to drive a person to a Matt Borlikian attitude toward anyone with car keys. Last month, for example, while I was biking on Florida Ave NW, a driver who had crowded me and honked his horn repeatedly from behind me — despite the fact that no one was using the other east-bound lane — finally passed me so aggressively and ostentatiously that he clipped my front tire, sending me off the road. And just last night, a driver on 14th Street near the Columbia Heights Metro station swerved toward me, nearly clipping my toes, when I stepped out on foot into the lane but then stepped back toward the car. So, I punched her trunk as she passed, prompting her male passenger, who was behaving in a manner consistent with being high on drugs, to hop out and, after some debate about etiquette, follow me into that terrible pollo burrito place there by the Gentrification Giant and punch me in the face. (The worst part of the exchange came later: regrettably, I ate the burrito I ordered.)

Granted, each of these respective drivers earned a flurry of middle fingers from your correspondent at various points in our conversations, but hey, that's driving. Incivility is certainly not a license to use a 5,000-lb. vehicle in order to enforce a norm of the road. Drivers: You may not assault, batter, or kill bicyclists with your vehicle, no matter how slow they seem to be going, how much lane they seem to unfairly occupy relative to their size, or how many rude digits they point in your direction.

Drivers absolutely may not strike bikers, but ... is there ever a case when it might be appropriate for bikers to hit back at drivers? No one should read this as a call for asymmetric violence by bicyclists against drivers who put them in danger, but given the "etiquette" conversation I had last night before getting punched, I'm curious: do you all think responding to vehicular assault by banging your fist down on a trunk is so wrong? And what about a well-placed U-lock to a tail light? Where do you draw the line?

Image from richardmasoner, used under a creative commons license

Can We Come Up With Some Other Words for a Group of Kids, Please?

We had been mulling over yesterday's Washington Post story about an apparent increase in teens and kids even younger committing crimes like robbery and assault in groups, and then last night's FOX 5 report on violent crime in Adams Morgan really crystallized it: we have to come up with some better words for describing this phenomenon, if it is one. About a third of the way through the FOX 5 video, reporter Roby Chavez has a member of the Guardian Angels, who have recently starting patrolling Adams Morgan, describe groups of kids who are purposefully engaged in criminal activity together as "wolf packs." The Post similarly goes with "pack robberies," describing how these groups of juveniles are "roaming" the city streets looking for opportunities to assault and rob unsuspecting citizens.

It's easy to understand why you would want to avoid calling these groups "gangs," but equating them with groups of wild, ferocious animals seems pretty outrageous, in the sense both that these kids are a) just kids, after all b) actual human beings, and not in fact animals, not to mention the fact that the general public, who are already on edge due to what certainly feels like a rise in violent crime and robberies, aren't exactly well served by imagining something like a "roaming pack of wild youths" on the street.

So, can we just stick with words like "groups," please?

Should District Gun Owners Need Insurance?

Ever since the Supreme Court ordered the District to allow gun ownership, we've heard any number of proposed regulations on how to get them, where to store them, when to use them and how to carry them. Today in the Post one reader proposes something a little different -- gun liability insurance:

The D.C. Council should require all gun owners in the District to obtain gun liability insurance. The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of an individual right to own firearms, but it did not say that jurisdictions cannot regulate guns in a way similar to how cars are regulated. A study by P.J. Cook and Jens Ludwig, professors at Duke University and the University of Chicago, shows the direct and indirect costs of handgun violence exceed $100 billion a year.

In fact, the National Rifle Association sells gun liability insurance. Responsible gun owners could procure insurance from reputable companies; those whom society would least want to own guns would have difficulty obtaining it at reasonable cost, if at all. As it stands, health insurers and taxpayers are penalized for the actions of criminals and irresponsible gun owners, who should be bearing the costs. Let the market resolve this issue and penalize those it determines are not responsible enough to own guns.

In August, a professor at Rutgers University made the same case, arguing that "while the activity may be lawful and to some extent necessary, those who engage in the activity should pay for the carnage the activity almost inevitably produces."

Good idea or just another scheme to make gun ownership that much harder? We'd like to hear your thoughts.

Put Your Debate Watching Party on Ice

Republican presidential candidate John McCain is asking the Obama campaign and the debate commission to delay Friday night's first presidential debate, reports the AP. He has announced he is suspending his campaign to focus on the economic bailout package currently before Congress.

To quote Matthew Yglesias:

WTF? You can’t just stop the presidential campaign — what does that even mean?

We're guessing it means McCain is getting hammered in recent polls on whether voters think he or Obama is best suited to address the economic crisis.

We had already been planning what sort of debate-themed cocktails to serve on Friday night. Think it's possible Obama could just go ahead and show up, and get all that airtime to himself? Or will we all be forced to stick to C-SPAN to watch a floor vote on the economic package that night?

UPDATE 4:45 p.m.: An Obama aide has said Obama is inclined to go forward with the debate as planned on Friday.

UPDATE 5:40 p.m. Obama has rejected McCain's proposal to delay Friday's debate.

Bailout FAIL!

The U.S. House has voted down the bailout package, 205-228. By and large, Republicans voted against the bill, while Democrats voted for it, though the Democrats voted for it by a rather small margin. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has already dropped more than 500 points, just shy of five percent, since the news broke.

Presumably, the House leadership will start working on a new bill, but given that the Republicans wouldn't vote for this one, the one that contained all kinds of concessions the GOP had been asking for, it's pretty hard to imagine what kind of bill would somehow pass.

Consider this an open thread for your dour doomsday predictions for the state of the world economy. Is it time for cocktails yet?

AP Photo/Richard Drew

Woman Killed in Bizarre Hamburger Shooting

In the annals of heartbreaking, senseless violence in the District of Columbia, this one ranks right up there at the top. WJLA and the Post both have stories about the shooting death of 18-year-old Tanganika Stanton in Northeast over the weekend. The story D.C. police are telling is that Stanton was approached by 19-year-old Terrence Jones while she was sitting outside her home eating a hamburger. In an apparent attempt to flirt with her, Jones asked Stanton to make him a burger. When both she and her mother refused to cook him food, Jones left, then returned with a gun and shot up the house. Stanton and her mother were both shot; Stanton died, while her mother was shot in the foot and is expected to make a full recovery. The Post's story plays up the weird hamburger aspect of the shooting, but WJLA's video report makes the important point that this was really about a young man who was aggressively engaging in street harassment. He felt rejected, and lashed out. It's a horrifying story for any woman who is accustomed to street harassment from men in this city. Jones has been arrested and is being held without bond.

Should D.C. Repeal Its Height Restriction?

Our little corner of the world has a certain charm - the picturesque avenues and the historic structures give it a somewhat timeless feeling. Perhaps then, it's fitting that we adhere to laws which reference to somewhat-antiquated 20th century guidelines. It's part of our local character, and something that we're always subject to navigate - for instance, the rules requiring parking spaces in new developments that don't necessarily need or want them.

That said, it isn't the first time that we've had this discussion: but with this AP report hitting the wires yesterday claiming that "within 15 years...no more space will be available in a 3.5-mile stretch from Georgetown to Capitol Hill," we figured it was a good time to revisit the topic of D.C.'s building height restrictions. The wire story cites Brookings fellow Christopher Leinberger, who believes that the incredibly high commercial real estate prices in D.C. - which already rank second in the United States, behind only Manhattan - would reach uncharted heights (no pun intended) without a lifting of the upward restrictions that have been in place since 1910.

Many organizations already feel the pinch of the artificial space cap - various sources tell us that smaller nonprofit agencies are struggling to deal with the hefty inflation of real estate costs combined with the District's notoriously high property taxes in prominent office neighborhoods like the West End. One could argue that the loss of such jobs to cheaper areas in Northern Virginia would constitute a similar loss of one of the city's well-known characteristics - its reputation as a landing place for so many people who want to work in something they feel passionate about.

The planners that would benefit most from the law's disintegration believe that the loss of such restrictions must be handled with discretion. For example, many European cities like London and Paris have "high-rise" districts like Canary Wharf which balance old and new structures - but then again, London and Paris aren't working under the space constraints which we have here. On the other hand, consider a city like Philadelphia. For years, the city of Brotherly Love had an informal rule regarding the height of buildings compared to City Hall - but since it's reversal, it's seen incredible buildings (like the new Comcast Center) go up in the last twenty years. The city center there has taken on a new rejuvenated feeling, partially because of such developments. Personally, if we're going to compromise old and new in such a way, we'd like to see the District's height restriction loosened near Metro stations, in order to encourage intelligent transit development.

So what say you - is the space situation in the District desperate enough for you to reconsider your thoughts on the height restriction? Or is the rule something sacred, a vital tool which helps carve Washington's truly unique character?

Photo by philliefan99.

Morning Roundup: Good News and Bad News Edition

Good morning, Washington. So the Redskins managed to beat the Dallas Cowboys yesterday, which when all is said and done, basically means 'Skins fans get to walk around with a sort of boosted self-esteem for the next week, which lets them trash talk, gloat and generally be obnoxious. That kind of fandom is not something I'll likely ever understand, but if it also means fewer people walking around who are from the D.C. area but for some totally incomprehensible reason are Cowboys fans and wear Cowboys gear out to bars, then I say 'F Romo,' too. Who are these people, and why weren't they raised right? If we can get even a small break from having to deal with these clowns, then I welcome post-beating-Dallas-week with open arms.

Tale of Two Shootings: Two double shootings happened within hours of each other on Sunday, both in areas where such violence is relatively rare in the District. One person is dead and another injured after a double shooting at 11 p.m. at Meskerem Ethiopian Restaurant in Adams Morgan. Police say that it appears the shooting took place after an argument, which preceded one man shooting another before turning the gun on himself. The man with the gun died, while the condition of his victim, who is still alive, wasn't known this morning. The other shooting happened a few hours earlier, at 14th and T NW. Two men were shot and seriously wounded. No clear motive has been established in that shooting. As for the Meskerem shooting, it'll surely be interesting to see whether or not Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham calls for the restaurant to have its license suspended as a result. Wouldn't it be awfully hypocritical if he didn't?

Bad Accidents: Couple of really horrific accidents over the weekend. The first was a deadly collision that took place when a Metrobus, which was thankfully empty of passengers, ran into a taxicab carrying several passengers. One man died in the crash, a 55-year-old from California named Bartlett Tabor. The others, including the Metrobus driver, the cab driver, three other passengers and a firefighter, were sent to the hospital. The accident, which happened at 19th Street and Virginia Ave. NW, is under investigation. The Metrobus driver has apparently been employed by WMATA for less than a year. After hitting the cab, the bus jumped a curb and continued through a grassy area, eventually stopping on the grounds of the Federal Reserve Building at Virginia Avenue and C Street. The effort to remove the bus from the Federal Reserve campus is pictured above, caught by a DCist Flickr contributor.

The second scary accident occurred when a medical helicopter crashed in District Heights, Md., killing four of the five people who were on board. One person, an 18-year-old woman, survived, though she remains in critical condition and underwent surgery this morning. The painfully tragic aspect of this crash is that some of the victims were being transported via medevac because they had just been in a serious car accident.

Briefly Noted: House set to vote on bailout package, forcing news watchers around the globe to look up the definition of moral hazard ... Region already has gotten same amount of rainfall so far this year as it usually does over an entire year ... Man dies after stabbing ... Head of the D.C. police photo lab sued again for sexual harassment, again.

Photo by jeremyreitman

McCain Virginia Strategy: Rest of State vs. NoVa?

So over the weekend John McCain's brother, Joe McCain, serving as a surrogate for the presidential candidate, appeared at a rally in Loudoun County. During his remarks, the Post reported that he joked that Arlington and Alexandria were "communist country," alluding to the fact that Northern Virginia has become increasingly Democratic over the last decade, and that Arlington and Alexandria especially might as well be part of the District of Columbia in terms of their left-leaning politics. He was playing to the Loudoun crowd, and apparently people there laughed. Assuming we shouldn't just ignore this as mere political gaffe, and considering how important both candidates appear to think Virginia is to their electoral strategies, we're curious what you Virginia residents think about this. Has the divide between Northern Virginia and the rest of the state grown so wide that the McCain campaign may be on to something by trying to play up those differences in areas like Loudoun County? Or has Loudoun itself sufficiently changed over the last decade that playing up the us vs. them mentality in that part of Virginia might be supremely stupid?

Photo by NCinDC

Columbia Heights Suspicious Package: Weird Bear Costume?

Via the DCist tipline, we get this image from Irving and 14th Streets of an odd looking bear costume wearing tattered clothing and posed over a trash can. A lot of our readers are telling us this is the reason for the suspicious package alert. "Cops have the street blocked off and are standing around looking at it as of 9:30 am," the tipster wrote. Could this be another Aqua Teen Hunger Force moment?

UPDATE 11:25 a.m.: We agree that this is most likely a Mark Jenkins piece. We've contacted Jenkins to confirm and will let you know when we hear back from him -- hopefully he doesn't end up stuck with a bill for the MPD's bomb squad.

UPDATE 11:35 a.m.: Other folks tell us they think it's this bear, seen around town recently raising some awareness about climate change and U.S. dependence on oil. Certainly seems plausible. Would that mean there's someone inside that costume, then? It's been variously described to us by several people who saw it as seeming like it wasn't moving and was more like an art installation -- did anyone see it move?

UPDATE 12:01 p.m. The consensus is that no person was inside the bear costume installation. Still no word back from Jenkins or any environmental groups looking to take responsibility.

UPDATE 12:20 a.m.: The bear has been deemed safe and the Metro station has reopened.

Obama Rejects Debate Delay

Here's his statement (via):

“This is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person who in approximately 40 days will be responsible for dealing with this mess,” Obama told reporters in Clearwater, Fla.
...

“In my mind, it’s more important than ever that we present ourselves to the American people and describe where we want to take the country and where we want to take the economy,” he said.

...

As for the debate, he said, “It’s going to be part of the president’s job to be able to deal with more than one thing at once.”

What do you think of his response?

AP Photo/Chris Carlson

Monday Metro Schedule May Annoy You

This coming Monday is Columbus Day, which is technically a federal holiday. That being the case, WMATA has announced as it always does that it will be following a holiday schedule for the day, meaning the Metrorail system will operate on a modified Saturday schedule, opening at 5 a.m. and closing at midnight. In other words, there won't be any peak service during rush hour. But how many of you actually have Monday off? More of you than, say, get Veterans Day off? About the same? We're curious.

Morning Roundup: Fighting Bearrorism

Good morning, Washington. Yesterday's news of a stolen firefighter uniform in Arlington obliges us to offer this reminder: it's never too early to start thinking about your Halloween costume. The 31st is a mere six weeks away! Of course, we'd also like to remind you that, if at all possible, it's best to refrain from assembling your costume by stealing from our emergency responders or otherwise breaking the law. "Firefighter" isn't a very creative idea, anyway.

Oh, also, the fed effectively nationalized global financial firm AIG for $80bn, which we suppose is arguably bigger news than the missing firefighter uniform.

Bear-based Embarrassment: The Post weighs in on the emerging fake polar bear menace. There's not much additional information beyond what we reported yesterday, but the paper's wry account of the bomb squad response does drive home how ludicrous our security apparatus has become. Fortunately, a quick look at Google News indicates that the District has escaped the sort of scorn heaped on Boston — for now, anyway. There's still no definite word on who's responsible for the bears.

Council Loosens Gun Laws: They were just proposals when we discussed them yesterday; now they're the law, according to the Examiner. The changes to D.C.'s gun laws will allow semiautomatic weapons and ease storage and transport restrictions. Whether they'll head off congressional efforts to dictate D.C. gun policy remains to be seen — but as we said yesterday, the upcoming election leaves us pessimistic.

Briefly Noted: Military aircraft will be conducting exercises in the area today and tomorrow.... Virginia mailing letters to felons about old biological evidence available for retesting... Racist graffiti in Greenbelt... Great Falls bridge closed due to Hanna... Corn mazes!... Alleged school arsonist arrested... Alleged school arsonist arrested (yes, a different one)... Beetle smuggling is apparently a crime...

This Day In DCist: One year ago Breakwell's Coffee (since renamed) had a fire and we wrote a letter to Mitch McConnell.

Image posted to DCist Photos by Flickr user Skyhawk Flyer

House Passes Gun Legislation

Legislation revising the District's gun regulations passed the House today in a 266-152 vote. From the AP:

The bill, sponsored by Mississippi freshman Democrat Travis Childers, repeals the District's semiautomatic handgun ban and overturns D.C. law requiring that firearms kept in the home be locked up and inoperable. It allows D.C. residents to purchase guns from federally licensed dealers in Maryland and Virginia and repeals what critics claimed were burdensome registration requirements.

Given that the D.C. Council loosened restrictions yesterday, parts of the Childers legislation would merely double up on changes the city has already made. More seriously, though, it would do away with the existing registration process and severely curtail the city's ability to pass any further regulations.

Pelosi green-lighted the legislation in order to provide cover for vulnerable Blue Dog Democrats in the November elections. One explained the logic behind their vote in favor:

"'Number one, I'm a pro-gun Democrat,' said Rep. Mike Ross, D-Ark. 'Number 2, if the government of the District of Columbia can take your guns away from you in our nation's capital, Prescott, Arkansas, and many other small towns across the country could be next.'"

Wait; what? Is Rep. Ross saying that the D.C. Council has somehow gained extra-legislative powers and can impose its will on small towns in middle America? If so, heck, we've got plenty of legislative ideas we'd love to see forced on little Prescott. If that's not what he's saying, we're confused. How would the District's decision affect Arkansas, let alone any other state? Oh yeah -- it won't.

Given that the D.C. Council already moved to revise the regulations, the House's vote is a crassly political effort to satisfy the NRA. It's especially disappointing because it tramples on the principle of allowing local governments to make local decisions -- and it's a group of Democrats leading the charge.

Image of Rep. Childers taken from his House website

City to Charge for Rush Hour Tows

It seems amazing to me that the District government doesn't impose an additional fee when it tows cars illegally parked in rush hour lanes. Whenever possible the city just moves cars to another nearby street, gives the driver a $100 ticket, and that's it, no additional towing fee. Considering the inconvenience drivers who leave their cars in rush hour lanes cause to everyone, the practice seems a little too fair. Well now the D.C. Council looks poised to do something about it. The Examiner reports that they have tentatively approved an additional $100 "vehicle relocation fee" that drivers would be charged on top of the parking ticket fine. The fee is designed to allow DPW to hire more independent tow trucks to help move more vehicles out of the way. Seems like a pretty reasonable solution.

Chewing the Fat: Tyler Cowen and his Ethnic Dining Guide

Most people wouldn't ask an economist where to get dinner. But Tyler Cowen, a professor at George Mason University and author of the economics blog Marginal Revolution, has become an unlikely food critic with the popularity of his expansive Ethnic Dining Guide. Grounded in basic economic principles, Cowen's somewhat unusual dining philosophy has allowed him to discover arguably some of the best ethnic restaurants in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. Last week, Cowen spoke to DCist about his dining habits, the economy, and the future of ethnic cuisine in the District.

What compelled you to start writing your Ethnic Dining Guide?

At first my dining guide was a typewritten reference, for myself only. That was before the web. Then I xeroxed a few copies for friends. As the web came along, the whole thing grew. Now it is quite long, well over one hundred pages single-spaced I believe.

Why focus on ethnic food rather than traditional fine dining? Were you always an adventurous eater?

All food is ethnic food, in my view, fine dining too. I try to cover as much fine dining as I can. But two things limit me. First, I am not wealthy. Second, I don't think this is a very good area for fine dining. I'd rather save up my money for periodic trips to Europe and other places. Right now Washington doesn't have a single truly first-rate restaurant in the fine dining sense.

When I was a kid I wouldn't eat much more than hamburger, fish and chips, and veal parmigiana. I still love those dishes, at least if they are done properly.

You've traveled to 65 different countries. When faced with a cuisine you've never tried before, what are your strategies for selecting a restaurant and making the most out of an unfamiliar menu?

I think it is over 70 countries by now. I try to go local. I look for proximity to fresh ingredients. I look for downscale food in a competitive environment, in places where the proprietor is close at hand. When it comes to the menu, I ask or I copy other people. I don't choose what to me sounds like it will taste best. That's a mistake usually.

Photo courtesy of Tyler CowenWhen you try a restaurant for the first time, what are you looking for in terms of quality dining experience?

The quality of food matters above all else. I'll put up with any kind of decor -- dumpy, snobby, or whatever -- for superb food. I enjoy the quest to get there as well.

Economic times seem pretty uncertain, if not altogether bleak, right now. Do you have any thoughts about how an economic downturn will affect ethnic restaurants in particular?

I expect the real estate crash to help ethnic restaurants, overall. Many places get priced out of existence by high rents, and lower rents will help avoid that. If things stay bad, however, the dwindling of immigrants (yes, the numbers are already down) will hurt a great deal.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal published an article on why Chinese food isn't "hip." Why do you think some ethnic cuisines have gone upscale while others have not?

I'm delighted that Chinese food isn't hip. Thai food is "hip" and that's more or less ruined it. Most "Chinese" food in this country is abominable, but the good Sichuan places and the like are very tasty and in no danger of being ruined by mass popularity.

What sort of changes have you noticed in the local dining scene? Where do you see it going next? Are there any particular cuisines that are on the rise or fall?

Latino cuisines continue to grow in relative terms, and that is driven by immigration and also birth rates. Sichuan seems to have kept a foothold. Good Cantonese doesn't seem sustainable because the ingredients are too hard to come by in the proper quality. Indian continues to get better. Ethiopian remains solid and is getting better. Afghan is actually making a comeback. I predict the further spread of good Chinese and Indian.

Currently, what are you favorite places to eat in the D.C. metro area?

I love Thai X-ing (DC), Meaza (Baileys Crossroad), Nava Thai (Wheaton), Hong Kong Palace (Falls Church), China Star (Fairfax), Bombay Indian (Silver Spring) and Angeethi (Herndon), plus just about everything Vietnamese in Eden Center (Falls Church). The 9th Street Ethiopian row is very good as well, and also Zenenbech, up on Florida/U/5th or so. Those places are very good and I can eat at them more or less without limit. There aren't many places around as good as those.

Photo of the Day: September 16, 2008

A big group of Flickr contributors went out to capture images of last night's Harvest moon. It was difficult to choose just one, but today's POTD from Flickr user erin_m is a striking example, with the bright sphere hovering over the Capitol building. I see the moon behind the shadow of the cloud, ready to pounce. We'll see if we can't post some more Harvest moon shots later on.

Other Polar Bears Spotted Around D.C.

Flickr user benmiller23 spotted this polar bear installation, which looks very similar to the one that a bomb squad tore apart after shutting down surrounding streets and a Metro station in Columbia Heights today, on the National Mall on Thursday, Sept. 11.

It's looking more and more like these bears are part of an elaborate campaign to raise awareness about the plight of polar bears amid global climate change. Another bear, spotted at what looks to be the Gallery Place Metro station, had signs which made the effort more explicit. Perhaps if today's Columbia Heights polar bear had also had signs, he wouldn't have been suspected of containing explosives.

Flickr user a nameless yeast also added the clearer capture below of today's bear, and below that, WJLA gave us permission to use an image of the bomb squad dealing with the bear menace.

DCist Interview: Sarah Vowell

You don't need to be told who Sarah Vowell is anymore. You can immediately recognize her voice from years and years of This American Life appearances, her role in The Incredibles, and her road-trip ready audio books, especially Assassination Vacation. Maybe you find her nasal tone irritating, maybe you don't, but you know that she has an uncanny ability to nail down the unique contradictions to be found in the stories of Americans. You also know, or at least you should, that she's a lot smarter than you. Her new book is The Wordy Shipmates, which delves into the history of the Puritans who settled the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the 17th century. Vowell is in town tonight for a reading at the Avalon Theater at 8:15 p.m., sponsored by Politics and Prose. Tickets are already sold-out, but if you're a Vowell disciple, that probably won't stop you from heading down to the theater tonight to see if you can snag an extra from someone on their way in. Vowell took some time to chat with DCist last week.

So, why Puritans?

I guess I had been thinking about John Winthrop a lot, starting on Sept. 11 and then we went into the war in Iraq, and it all just kind of came crashing down on me watching Ronald Reagan's funeral. When Sandra Day O'Conner was reading "A Model of Christian Charity" at the funeral, that's the sermon that gives us the "City upon a Hill" soundbite that president Reagan was so very fond of. So she's reading that and she gets to the part of the sermon that says, "the eyes of all people are upon us." It was right after the Abu Ghraib photos came out, and I had just been to NYU to see Al Gore give a speech where he called for Donald Rumsfeld's resignation, and the speech was all about how not only were those atrocities generally sinister, but that it was a betrayal of American exceptionalism. And of course Rumsfeld was sitting there in the National Cathedral with the president, and it just seemed like a good time to go back and look into the foundations of American exceptionalism and write about the people, the New England Puritans, specifically the founders of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, who gave us the idea of ourselves as a city upon a hill. They gave us the idea of ourselves as God's new chosen people.
Did you approach your investigation into those ideas expecting to find that we've gone against them?

I don't think we've gone against them, I think we totally still believe it. I say in the book, even I most of the time probably still believe we're God's chosen people, and I don't even believe in God. It's such an innate part of the American DNA. The average American, and myself included, we can't really get away from it, and history bears it out. We're pretty much the superpower. There isn't really getting past it, but you can question it and be aware of it. Barack Obama actually uses the words "American exceptionalism" in interviews fairly often. But I think I can tell that he has a sense of responsibility about that. The thing I say about Winthrop and his shipmates and especially "A Model of Christian Charity" is that to him, the idea of being a city upon a hill isn't just about being a beacon of hope, it could also be the opposite. I mean, he's terrified that they will fail and disappoint their God and incur their God's wrath. To say that "the eyes of all people are upon us," he also means everyone's watching and if we fail, we fail big, and we fail in sight of everyone and we fall harder because we go higher. It would be nice if we were a little more mindful of this tendency of ours. My favorite image of 17th century New England is the official seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, which is the Indian saying, "come over and help us," which is ironic considering that within a few years of getting there that colony literally burned alive 700 Pequot, for example. The idea that they had about themselves was that the Indians needed their help, that they were coming over to help, we're here to help whether you want our help or not. That seems to be kind of the M.O. of the United States as well.

When I went to school, I was taught that America never lost a war, and I started kindergarten in 1975, four months after the helicopters are being whooshed out of Saigon. I just don't like this idea that we have of ourselves that we're infallible. You think we would maybe proceed with a little more caution perhaps in the world stage if we were aware of our own shortcomings.

Since you've written this book, are there elements of modern society where you now can't help but notice this heritage of puritanical doctrine and beliefs?

Well right, like when Dick Cheney went on Meet the Press during the buildup to the war in Iraq, with this statement that we'll be greeted as liberators. He might as well have just morphed into the seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. But also, with Winthrop and his crowd, there was a tendency to say one thing about themselves and be another, and I think we definitely have that. "Model of Christian Charity" is all about generosity and brotherhood and suffering together and mourning together, but anyone who disagreed with the clergy or the magistrate was banished. One guy I write about had his ear sliced off for saying seditious things about the clergy and magistrate. And then, even that speech itself, I write about how it was quoted by Reagan, and same thing. Reagan was going around quoting from this sermon that's about charity and generosity to get himself elected and re-elected, in order to preside over an administration that is at its core about a complete and total lack of charity and generosity. He's quoting from a sermon that says "if your brother's in need, and you love God, if you can help him, then thou must help him," and Reagan is quoting [this] while he's slashing the budget for housing and urban development, cutting school lunch programs, and not mentioning AIDS until thousands of people are dead from it. I guess it's ironic at the very least, but I'd also say it's phony, and disingenuous and offensive.

So would John Winthrop have fit in with the Bush Administration?

This administration, especially the president himself in terms of theology, is actually a descendant of Anne Hutchinson, the woman heretic who John Winthrop banishes from Massachusetts. She has this very cockamamie, emotional form of Christianity that's about a direct relationship with God, she says she hears the voice of God and that she's filled with the Holy Spirit, and to the Puritan higher-ups, this is just blasphemy. The fact that the president is an inheritor of this more ecstatic, loosey-goosey, overly emotional, gut-level of Christianity, Winthrop would probably be horrified by that. They're very Biblical, Calvinists, their approach to religion is highly intellectual. And the president, as we know, is all about his gut. None of that book learning. Puritans are all about book learning.

So they're the snobby elites?

The Puritans? Yeah. That's why I like them. That's one thing that's very admirable about them. They're obsessed with learning and knowledge and scholarship and expertise. They've barely built their own houses and they're building Harvard, because they want their sons and especially their future ministers to be fluent in Hebrew and Latin and Greek, and to be able to discuss all the great theological texts of Europe and the ancient world. These are people who wrote poetry in Latin, they're incredibly brainy people, which is another reason I wanted to write about them. More than anything, they were thinkers and writers, and I don't like how their image is often stereotyped that they're stupid. That probably comes from all the silliness in Salem, which came much later after Winthrop was dead. They're essentially literary.

Yeah, the list of primary sources at the end of your book is pretty daunting.

Um, yeah.

How long did it take you to do all that reading and research? Were there tomes that were just incredibly difficult to get through? I imagine that the language they were written in was a little dense.

Oh, yeah. I think I mention that I really feel for the scholar who edited the volume of Roger Williams's correspondence. A two-page letter by Williams will have 30-something footnotes, because Williams alludes to sometimes several Bible verses in one sentence, so sometimes unpacking all that theology gets a little tricky. I definitely culled through a lot of dense texts, and hopefully I pilfered out the juicier bits.

In fact, when I was recording the audio book, I was using various actors to be the different Puritans, and I never noticed it until we were putting the audio book script together, but it's rare that I let one of the Puritans have an entire sentence. I frequently quote only part of a sentence, I'm quoting the understandable bit, and then the part that needs to be deciphered I will kind of translate that a little bit. I am kind of proud in just a general knowledge sense, this book is absolutely for the general reader, and at the very least it's definitely one of the breezier books on the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

I would say so.

So I'm a little bit proud of that, and maybe that's one reason why these people are a little bit forgotten is that they were really so much smarter than us and were just so well educated and heady that it's harder for the general reader to dig in, compared to say Lincoln or somebody, who's such a clear literary stylist. Reading the speeches of Lincoln is nothing but a pleasure, where there are certain sermons from the Puritans that are definitely a pleasure to read, but not all of them.

Presumably you had a pretty good grasp of the colonists's behavior toward the Native Americans before you started writing ...

Yeah, that part of it is not complicated at all.

Did you uncover anything that actually shocked you?

I don't know about shocked. I mean, it is shocking, the idea of burning 700 people alive is shocking, which they did to the Pequot, babies included. Baby burning is always pretty shocking.

But I do talk about my own little epiphany I had with my own background, being part Cherokee, and the Cherokee are one of the so-called five civilized tribes, and always prided themselves on their civilized behavior. And to me, that aspect of Cherokee heritage always made me a little uncomfortable, because I just felt like the English showed up and the Cherokee just dropped everything they were doing and said, "sounds good to me," and immediately converted to Christianity and wanted to become white southerners to the extent that they owned black slaves. There's nothing Geronimo about the Cherokee, and I always wondered, where was their backbone? And then when I was researching the big plague, the one that happened essentially right after the first European contact, and I was specifically researching the plague that happened amongst the Native American population in Massachusetts between 1616 and 1619. The reason that the Pilgrims and the Puritans can sort of swoop in and settle Massachusetts was that pretty much the entire native population was killed off by this small pox epidemic. That basically happened up and down the Americas starting in 1492, starting from fisherman and traders and explorers, that initial contact brought so many germs that some scholars estimate as much as 90 percent of the native population of the Americas was wiped out even before organized colonization started.

So I was reading all that and then I came across one sentence from some anthropologist who said that when the Cherokee suffered through an epidemic like that, their priests destroyed all the idols of the tribe. Basically, they abandoned their God, because God had abandoned them. And that was just a light bulb moment, it was like, oh, that's why when the English show up and they're so healthy and their God protects them from all these horrible diseases and epidemics, that's why the English ways and especially English religion and education would seem so attractive. So that answered that little thing that had pretty much nagged me my entire life.

There's a line in your book where you talk about how the Puritans that you're writing about would be totally horrified by the idea of Thanksgiving. You said they'd think, "what if we didn't deserve it this year?" Are you planning on celebrating Thanksgiving any differently this year?

Oh, do I deserve it? I probably never deserve it. (laughs) I mean I basically ignore Plymouth and everything we think of as the classic Thanksgiving story, so probably not. I'll be in Hawaii for Thanksgiving actually. It is interesting though how things filtered down from colonial Massachusetts, we get this holiday, Thanksgiving, that to the Puritans, Thanksgiving was definitely a conditional event, and you couldn't have Thanksgiving unless you deserved it. More frequently they would fast to atone for however they had offended the almighty. The idea that Thanksgiving would be a day in the calendar would be blasphemous to them. And I write about how their Thanksgivings were often pretty disgusting, in that they feel like they deserve a Thanksgiving after the massacre of the Pequot, because God had clearly given the English this victory and destroyed their enemy so mightily. It's really gross to have a party to celebrate that babies got burned alive.

So you're heading to Hawaii, and I understand that your next book is set in Hawaii?

Yeah I think so, it'll be about the history of Hawaii, pretty much a story I'm always attracted to which is how white people messed things up. Basically from European contact with Captain Cook through probably statehood. It's kind of a sequel to the Puritans book, actually, because the history of Hawaii, especially in the 19th century has to do with immigrants from New England, both the missionaries who settled Hawaii and the whalers from Salem and Massachusetts, so Hawaii is basically Massachusetts part two. I don't know if you've ever been to Hawaii, but there are so many congregational churches built by missionaries from New England, that you can barely drive 20 miles down any back road on any island in Hawaii and you'll come across a church that looks like it's straight out of a Massachusetts village.

I've never been to Hawaii, I had no idea about that.

It's pretty great.

I bet. So are you going to watch the debate tonight?

Oh yeah.

Here in D.C., people gather, you know every bar in town will be packed tonight with people watching the debate. Do people do the same kind of thing in New York?

There's a little bit of that, sure, but it's not like D.C. I lived in D.C. for a little bit of time after college, and it seemed like people gather in D.C. to watch specific votes on C-SPAN.

Ha, sometimes.

I can imagine a real showbiz event like a debate would be like that times ten.

Where did you live when you lived here?

Adams Morgan, over by the Zoo.

When was that?

1993.

Oh wow, so have you seen Adams Morgan since then?

I guess I've been to Dupont Circle a few times but, no, why?

It's pretty different.

It was all like, Ethiopian restaurants as I recall.

Well all of 18th Street is now one bar after another, it's where people get drunk and throw up in the street.

I just remember it was the fall, and coming from Montana where it's mostly evergreen trees, I was so charmed by my whole neighborhood, all the sidewalks were carpeted with leaves. It was very picturesque.

Greenpeace, Mark Jenkins Take Responsibility for Polar Bears

Via a reader tip, Fox 5 reports that Greenpeace has taken responsibility for the polar bears that have been mistaken for suspicious packages around town over the last week. Indeed, if you go to the Greenpeace homepage, it turns out that not only was Greenpeace responsible, but they actually did it in collaboration with street artist Mark Jenkins -- so both of our guesses were correct!

Greenpeace has unveiled a collaborative art project with well-known street artist Mark Jenkins. The project highlights the shared plight of polar bears and humans in the face of global warming. We hope these polar bear street art installations help people draw a deeper and more immediate connection to the reality of the crisis.

Jenkins, a Washington, D.C.-based artist who creates sculptures primarily from packing tape, has earned international recognition for his street art installations, many of which feature astoundingly realistic human figures. For this series, Greenpeace and Jenkins added polar bear heads and ragged clothing to human figures to convey a sense of displacement and homelessness. To date, four sculptures have been deployed throughout the D.C. area in locations chosen to reach a variety of audiences and address different aspects of the global warming crisis. One bear bore a sign reading “S.O.S.,” while another had signs saying: “Victim of Oil Addiction” and “Global Warming Refugee. Help a brother out?”

“My intention with this project was to leverage my street installations to promote awareness about the issue of global warming and the plight of the polar bear,” said Jenkins. “It was our shared goal that the public would develop empathy for the polar bear as they have for the homeless which we see as two connected issues.”

Given how much media attention the fake bear bomb scare got yesterday, we can safely say this tactic was a big success for Greenpeace. It's also not the first time they've sent a polar bear to Washington.

DCist Interview: Martha Reeves

For those of us who spent our childhood (or adulthood) glued to oldies radio stations, reliving a mythical golden era, Martha Reeves is more than just a household name. Her years with the Vandellas constituted one of the most successful runs during Motown's halcyon days in the mid-'60s. You can't flip on BIG 100.3 FM or go to a wedding these days without hearing "Dancing in the Street" or "(Love is like a) Heat Wave", and "Jimmy Mack" and "Nowhere to Run" have never fallen out of steady radio rotation. Mrs. Reeves came to town last week -- to play a show, sure, but also to pay Congress a visit in support of her chosen cause, musicFIRST.

Reeves is one of the driving forces behind the artist and association joint effort to get performers paid by radio stations for airplay. The law has remained the same for over 70 years -- despite new laws giving artists compensation for satellite and cable airplay -- but the issue is gaining traction on the Hill. Senators Patrick Leahy and Orrin Hatch joined with Congressmen Darrell Issa and Howard Berman in issuing the "Performance Rights Act" to ensure fair pay for artists when their performances are broadcast on the air.

In addition to musicFIRST, Reeves -- a 1995 inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame -- has served on the Detroit City Council for four years and continues to tour. DCist had the supreme honor of sitting down with her Friday to talk legislation, love songs, and life lessons with us over chili half-smokes at Ben's.

So how did you first get involved with the musicFIRST coalition?

Well, I was on the board of AFTRA, the Detroit branch. We’re always trying to help artists and trying to see how we can make life easier for artists, especially those that have been with us [Motown] for a while. We’re celebrating fifty years of recorded music in February 2009 and I was asked if I thought we should get paid for the music that played on these stations. Most people have our recorded music in their homes already; in fact it’s been revised, reissued, and there are plenty of records that have the same songs by different artists on them, so we don’t expect to have any more money from sales – which was a third of a penny anyways. And you hear a DJ do his rap and play your music and people assume we get something – a third of a penny or something – when they play it on the station, they play it on a regular basis you can hear it everyday. I wondered why we weren’t getting paid, and looking to history, we found its never been a payment of a record that’s being played. Frank sinatra’s family could probably use some – they’re selling stamps now – some of his airplay money. Now there are thousands of groups emulating the Coasters and the Drifters and these groups could use some compensation now. We didn’t just record the music, we had to do record-ops and sockhops and travel all over the world and make friends and sell records and you know, do the repeats. Somebody asked me how many times I sang "Dancing in the Street" and I’ve never had to count, but it’s a good thing it’s a happy song and its fun to do.

Photo by Meaghan GayDo you have a lot of your artist friends behind the cause too?

Yeah, a lot have come on board. We got Dionne Warwick and Jennifer Hudson just yesterday. There've been rallies here, on the Capitol, and some musicians actually performing in hallways in the Senate to try to get help getting this bill passed.

In terms of new artists, do you get the same kind of involvement?

Yeah, well I’m sorta stuck in the '60s, and I’m on the Detroit City Council. So when I do run into people of my generation – who are senior citizens now – I’m most concerned about them, so I don’t know if this would be a thing that would make new artists excited because they're starting out and their music’s actually being bought. So their records are getting commission from the record stores, but our records aren’t selling anymore, but they’re continuing to be played on the radio. Which is what we want, but we want some compensation.

You know if this wasn’t a practice in other countries, we wouldn’t bother. Music is being played just as much in the U.K. as it is in America, but they have a fund for their artists to actually receive a fee. And when they play our songs, they take those funds and put them back into the mix because no one's there to receive it. But it really should be a good international thing like the Euro or something, adopted and accepted all over.

You recorded a new album not too long ago. What can you say about the changes in the recording industry over the years?

It’s opened up for new artists, the hip-hop and the rap. That’s the music that’s being performed with just one instrument, basically synthesized, but I’m recording the same way I recorded in the past. I used a full orchestra, eight horns, two guitars, bass, you know everything we recorded with before, and it was very hard to get distribution because record companies are anxious to put out the "half-music." I call it "half-music" -- synthesized, noisy toys. Those companies are happy to do that because it doesn’t take a whole lot of work or energy, just short-stack and wholesale. Maybe we’ll get back to that one day, but now they’re more apt to cater to the new music, the half-music.

Can I then assume that you don’t have any interest in ever recording that way?

I'll never record that way. I can't sing to the toys, I can't hear the toys. I hear real good bass; I mean, we were trained that way, we were trained to listen that way. I still perform with horns, I have to have a full orchestra. I don’t want the guy playing the trumpet part to "Dancing in the Street" on a synthesizer. It’s the feel, it's like the fullness, the richness of it. You know, the Funk Brothers really spoiled us all on Motown. They were jazz musicians, by the way.

Do you listen to new music?

I find it unlistenable. All you get is bass. You can’t hear the lyrics, you don’t hear what they say or what they sing. You know we had lyrics that’ll make you cry, if you listen to them, you fall in love, they make you grow, you know -- positive thinking. “My Girl” – the kids in school, all of them know the words to "My Girl". 'I’ve got sunshine on a cloudy day,' things like that, simple things, the poetry that Motown was known for. It has substance and it had meaning and it was real music.

How do you feel about your older material today?

Motown’s music had the sound of young America. I feel as young when I sing "Heat Wave", "Dancing in the Street", "Nowhere to Run", as young as I felt then. There was a happiness in the world.

We related “Jimmy Mack” to a guy who went to Vietnam. It was too serious a record to release when we recorded it in ’64, but later on in ’66 when it was released it became an immediate hit. I remember when the DJs would do a whole spiel at the beginning of "Heat Wave", 18 bars, and all of the DJs were rappers, rappers took that style from DJs. And these DJs used to host us, they’d hold record hops and we’d do lots of free record hops for us to play before we put our record out... We had a one-on-one rapport with DJs. Now you have one DJ who can -- what do you call it -- syndicate, you don’t need all those DJs, one guy can cover New York, Washington, Chicago, Detroit, so there's a difference in how you get on the radio.

And in Detroit, we even had Canada, just across from the city, and they helped embrace our music. We were sort of like Canadians, too! Our neighbors over there and a lot of DJs in Canada helped get us started. And Dusty Springfield hooked us up in London and got us all over to UK – it was a love thing. Anytime the Temptations would sing "My Girl" or Mary Wells would sing "My Guy", people would fall in love more and more. And our music with "Holland-Dozier-Holland", and those ten hits of the Supremes, and everybody embracing those hits with "Baby Love" and "Come See About Me", lyrics that you all remember and grew up with. Its music that’s still being played and people still having those emotions. And I feel it's worth being compensated for.

It was about breaking down barriers. I remember being at a show, and they had a segregated audience. Smokey Robinson got on stage, and they used to have guys who stood on the side of the stage with clubs. And if anybody, black or white, tried to integrate, they'd hit them in the head. Smokey was the first one to stand up and say, "Listen, our music is dance music and anybody getting up and hitting anybody, get away, get out of here. This is dance music, don’t hit another one of our fans with those clubs.” And man, that show went so good, everybody got up out of their seat and started dancing in the aisles and the music stopped, everybody was having a good time, embracing each other, nobody remembered where they were sitting.

You've talked a lot about the collaborative nature of music back then. Do you still stay in touch with some of these people?

I don’t see them that much, and now we’re dying off. That period was a remarkable era, it will never happen again. We were like a family. Berry [Gordy] discovered over 30 acts. We had the Four Tops and Gladys Knight, and a family named the Jacksons who became the greatest entertainers in the world. And they came doing the same thing and singing the same music that Smokey Robinson introduced, being the first artist on Motown. So it was just a wonderful period of time, and we're celebrating 50 years. But we can't go back there. I don’t think you could get enough musicians together who felt that way about each other the way the Funk Brothers related to one another. They had a magic, they could kinda look at one another and say "OK, here I go man", and play something off the top of their head. No one collaborates that well anymore, just forgetting about anything but making good music.

Can you talk a little about touring now and playing shows? Do you still like to tour?

I’m gonna always tour as long as I can walk. People will call me and say “Hey, I just heard your record on the radio.” They assume I’m getting compensation, they assume I’m getting paid. It’s hard to face the facts that they can hear my song all the way in Philadelphia, but that I’m not getting anything, not even something to pay for the long-distance call, so I can call them back and say, “Hey, you heard my record?”

You've been in the Detroit City Council for four years now. Do you enjoy politics?

I wish politicians were artists and musicians. I don’t think I’ll ever like them. Politicians are strange people, I don’t think I’ll ever be one. I have common sense, but I don’t have the larceny and strategy that it takes to be a real opponent, because, you know, we’re supposed to agree to disagree. Basically, I'm there for senior citizens, I’ve been effective in getting Berry Gordy’s name on a boulevard, and I’d like to get statues over to Detriot of all the Motown artists, like they’ve done down in Memphis. There's an artist named Ronny McDowell who did a great statue of the Temptations and I’d like to get him to do some work for us. So senior citizens, single parents, I’m a single parent, and I'm working to get housing to help some of those single parents out. Some of these things for our musical tradition -- a lot of things I’m involved in don't have anything to do with my music.

Have the recent re-releases of the Motown catalog generated more enthusiasm?

Yes, and it’s making a bigger family. Now we have three generations, our generation, our children, and their children. It’s great to have a show where a grandmother brings her grandkids, and they all say “Look at Granny, she’s up and dancing along.” It’s all joy, there’s nothing I’d try to change.

You probably weren't necessarily thinking about the future payments at the time.

I had no idea we weren’t getting paid when they played it on the radio. I just knew if you went to the store to buy the record, we’d get a third of a penny as a group singer. There was a time when Payola dominated the record business and DJs would ask for money under the table, but we weren’t paid anything when they played it. That’s ironic.

Have you gone up to the Hill?

Yes, I love it. This is our second visit. The first year we talked to Congressman John Conyers, and this time we met Gregory Meeks. He was very helpful when he realized we hadn’t been compensated. I feel confident that since we now have a name, a number, and support for our bill, maybe in a year it might happen. I’ll come here every chance, try to get every artist I can. I gave one to Smokey Robinson, trying to get him on board too. We talked to Felix of the Young Rascals yesterday and he’s getting on board.

D.C. has a reputation for being a very career-oriented kind of town, so I have to ask: do you have any political aspirations to go for a higher office?

I don’t know. I’m surprised that I’ve been on City Council for four years, and I’m gonna re-up. If I can be of help, you know I’m getting up in age now, 67, but it still feels good. If there's some way I can do that, I will. I’ll get in where I can fit in. But my love and heart and soul is music, and I want to get them singing again up in Detroit -- a singin’ city council if I have anything to do with it.

Will you be or have you been active in the presidential campaign?

I have been as active as anyone else concerned about getting change in our political outlook here in the United Sates. I know that that war has put everybody in a bad, bad position, and I’ve always been against the war, and I am so hoping Barack Obama becomes our next president. I’m behind his platform and I’m working and doing everything I can to see that he gets elected.

What’s your favorite song of all time to sing?

My favorite song ever is (sings) “My father which art in heaven…” But the song I most like to perform is "Dancing in the Street" because people hear (sings horn intro), they get up, they don’t sit there anymore, they have to get up and wiggle. When I hear it on the radio it gives me an energy and there's an electricity there. I know why – when we recorded it, Marvin Gaye had sang it like a ballad to a girl, (sings) “Callin’ out around the world, are you ready for a brand new beat, baby?” Real smooth, right? Him and this girl were going dancin’ in the street. So I thought about Rio de Janeiro and I thought about New Orleans because I’d been in Mardi Gras, dancing and stuff, so that’s where I had it in my head. Instead of singing it where Marvin had it, I put it up a third, a little higher on the top of my voice. When I finished that version of it, they all congratulated themselves in the studio, Yeah man, we got a hit. And the engineer, Lawrence Horn, says “hey man, I didn’t have the machine on.” I said “what do you mean you didn’t have that machine on, I gave you my all man that was good!” So when you hear it, I’m a little angry. I wanted to go, “You Mother...” but instead I just calmed down and sang it again, all the way through, like a live version. So when I hear that, I feel that energy. Maybe they did it on purpose, I don’t know, but it worked. I don’t think I’ll ever have that same fervor, that same excitement as long as I live.

Photo of the Day: September 24, 2008

Flickr user soleil1016 took this photo of the old Waffle Shop on 10th Street NW, giving it an appropriate classic or historical look, since it's been shut down for awhile now. We especially like the bright building reflections in the windows. EXIF.

Photo of the Day: September 25, 2008

We were captivated by this long exposure of the Pentagon City Metro station in motion by Flickr user M.V. Jantzen - the kaleidoscopic effect is probably as close to a light explosion as you'll see in the cavernous undergrounds of the Metro. EXIF.

Band on Album: Listening to Crimes with These United States

These United States just released their second album, Crimes, and are celebrating that event Saturday night at the Rock and Roll Hotel (doors at 8:30 p.m., $12, with Evangelicals). Rather than reviewing the album, we sat down with the band and listened to the whole thing together. Take a look and get a glimpse of what it was like to make it and how they think things turned out.

So where'd you record the album?

Jesse: Lexington, KY in a place called Shan Gri La studios. It's a friend of ours named Duane Lundy who Mark, our colleague over here, is a good old friend of, and vice versa. So we had met Duane through Mark and decided he was the right guy to record a rock 'n roll album.

You guys recorded some other stuff before...

Jesse: We recorded one album before this and that's it.

Was there any goal with this one?

Jesse: To make it a live rock 'n' roll album with more energy, I think. Give it a sort of looser, more fun feel than the first album.

Mark: I think the first record has plenty of energy. Jesse did the first record primarily with Dave Strackany, who goes by Paleo in the music world. I play a bit part on a few songs... 30,000 people play a bit part on a few songs on the first record. But it was really more Jesse and Dave in houses, apartments, bedrooms. It didn't feel live -- in the sense that, like, when a band records a record. So I think the idea of this was to play it like a live rock 'n' roll band. And Duane has a giant -- his studio is just one giant warehouse space. So we basically all just set up and recorded.
Was it just the three of you plus Rob?

Jesse: Robby and Justin. Duane produced it and this guy Rob Gordon sort of was there helping out, he's a guy from our record label. Justin is another guy from Lexington who plays in The Scourge of the Sea, which is another band with Robby. Robby and Justin have been in a few bands together now.

Tom: And then we stole Justin.

Jesse: Yeah, so we stole Justin. And then our friend from here, Josh Read, who's in a band called Revival in town here, he added some vocals and effects on it. But, other than that, it was just the five of us there playing.

Wanna turn it on?

Jesse: Turn it on!

Tom: Some rights reserved.

Jesse: It's a creative commons license.

The whole album?

Jesse: Yeah; I guess the idea is that you can't necessarily protect stuff anyway these days. So you say, I guess you can use this for certain purposes, just let us know and give credit where credit is due, and feed it back into the system. It seemed like the most logical thing to do.

So, this is the first song, it's called "West Won." This is the song we probably spent the most time on on the whole album. The most produced, fooled around with. Like all the sounds; we did a lot more layering with this one. The rest of them are more live. This one still sounds live, but it's the most worked with.

Were all the songs on this album new material, or had you recorded any of them before?

Jesse: We had played some of it a lot before, so it had been recorded in one form or another, but... well no, actually, this song was recorded before. It was a B-side of the first album. But I didn't like the version we came up with. I liked it, it just didn't fit the album. So it ended up on a 7" single in the UK. But I wanted to do something more like this, with all these guys, so we redid it basically. But I think this is the only song on this record we'd recorded before.

(Tom & Mark talking amongst themselves)

Jesse: You guys are agreeing with the song ordering here?

Tom: Yeah, I definitely like it.

Jesse: This was Kimberly's choice. It's smart, putting this one first.

Mark: A wise, wise man listens to the woman who provides his housing.

Jesse: An old proverb!

Mark: She's quite possibly heard these songs more than anyone.

Jesse: Yeah, actually, that's probably totally true. She listened to this probably a million more times than I did.

So how long were you down there recording?

Tom: 5 days, 6 days?

Jesse: 6 days.

Oh really? That's really quick.

Tom: Yeah. Some of the songs we'd never played before; we literally were tracking and cutting them on the floor, ya know, arranging them as we played through the songs. We'd play through the song once, track it, talk about what we could do better, and then... do it!

Did you like doing it that way?

Tom: It was... exciting. When it works, it's exciting. There were really only two or three songs that we struggled with.

Jesse: This was one of 'em (second song starts). It's called "Susie at the Seashore".

Tom: But by "struggled," it means we probably did four takes of it.

Jesse: Well, but we had a lot of discussion.

Tom: Yeah, but it was still relatively fast. It was one day.

That's unheard of. Were you all involved in the mixing?

Mark: Yeah. The recording all happened in that initial six day period. And then the mixing followed. It was still very compressed.

Jesse: Tom, do you have your laptop around? I just thought of something interesting I want to look up. I got an email today from this radio station in St. Louis, they're the first station to add this album to their rotation. They added 5 songs -- I don't think they added this one. Originally, this was the song we thought would be the one. Maybe we let the ending go on too long.

Tom: I know this entire bass part so well.

Jesse: Mark played the bass on the album, but Tom had to play it on tour for a while. Mark was off... marrying his 2nd Georgian bride or something. Have you seen the music video for this yet?

These United States on iLike - Get Sidebar

Tom: Jared did it, it is so rad. Have you seen the trailer yet?

You did a trailer for a music video?

(everyone laughs)

Jesse: Yeah, it's a 5-minute trailer for a music video. "Coming soon! In a world, where this trailer's over by the time you've seen the music video!"

Mark: Don LaFontaine actually died while he was doing the voiceover for that.

Jesse: This is one of the songs ("Get Yourself Home") the radio station chose. Again, Kimberly's input was the only thing she doesn't like is that this is gonna be that one song that's everybody's favorite. It's gonna be like "The Business".

Tom (to Mark): I basically just combined my guitar part with your bass part here.

Mark: Did you play bass the whole time?

Tom: No, we swapped off. This is my favorite Robby, right here.

Jesse: We'd be sitting around the mixing board going, is this OK? Is this too sloppy?

Mark: Robby's never gonna get any less sloppy. It's fun to record this way; to go in and say we're gonna track 2 songs every day. It'd be nice if you could do that without an end date. So if you hit a brick wall, you can say well that's OK, we hit a brick wall, we can come back to it. Here... you can't come back to it. We literally did 12 songs in 6 days.

Tom: We were actually gonna do more, we were trying to do 15. But it's still pretty amazing that we did 12 songs in 6 days. It also means as soon as you do a bad take, or as soon as you're not feeling something, the instinct isn't, "OK we'll come back to it." The instinct is, "let's all freak out right now. Let's all start worrying."

Did you play all the instruments at the same time?

Tom: I'd say 90 percent. Some scratch vocals.

Mark: The space was so large, we could all just spread out and run through each song as many times as it would take.

4th song, "Pleasure and Pain and Pride and Me" playing

So when do you guys leave for tour?

Jesse: Friday!

You guys just tour constantly. How much have you been on the road the last year?

Jesse: I don't know... 150 shows or something maybe? About 400 in the past 3 years.

Tom: That hasn't made us any better.

Do you have favorite cities to play?

Tom: Chicago is good.

Do you like a particular venue there?

Jesse & Tom in unison: The Hideout

Tom: Tucson is awesome. Paris & Glasgow are good.

Mark: Glastonbury's good -- it's a town for a week.

Jesse: This is "We Go Down to That Corner". I don't know about the vocals; this is one of those that I second guess now that I hear it. I sound a little... weird? Over the top? Saccharine?

Mark: Jimmy Hendrix never liked his own vocals, John Lennon never liked his own vocals.

Jesse: Yeah but those guys sucked!

Tom: Jesse, always one for modesty.

Jesse: This is one that we had in just a couple takes. It worked out pretty well.

Tom: Yeah, this is basically totally live.

Jesse: When we were recording this, this guy was in the studio named Steven Trask. He did a movie musical called Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and he does a lot of music soundtracks and stuff. And I remember we got done and we were all so excited with this one, we were all like, "we nailed it!" and we go down. There were a couple other people, there were like 10 of us listening to playback. And Steven, who normally likes our stuff a lot, was kind of like, "eh. Have you thought about changing the bassline?"

Mark: We had been so jazzed about it. Then he was like, "you're kinda playing it safe." And I think just the song we'd tracked before, someone said, "eh... it's a little busy." Steven "Wildly Successful" Trask told us to try it another way. Now, I'm not one to... ask for any notes, but...

Did you do a 2nd take?

Tom: Yeah. I think we did 2 or 3 takes of this, total. And we ended up using this one — the 2nd take. I think I fucked up something on the 3rd.

Did you take Steven's notes into account?

Mark: Oh, definitely.

Tom: The guy who was serving as executive producer took a particular liking to Mark as a bass player. So, they spent a lot of time.

Mark: We got to know each other really well over 4 strings.

This might be my favorite song on the record. (still listening to "We Go Down to That Corner")

Tom: I think "Six Fast Bullets" might be my favorite.

Mark: "Six Fast Bullets" and "Study the Moon". This is one that wasn't necessarily gonna be on the record, but Duane (the producer) was adamant, having seen the band play live, sometimes we end with this. We'd earmarked it for the 3rd record. And this was sort of the track for him that he really felt needed to be on there.

Jesse: He did a really good job with this. He did the best job with all the slower, moodier, more atmospheric songs.

Mark: That's his specialty.

"Honor Amongst Thieves" starts

Have you ever played with horns?

Jesse: Yeah we did, once in... where was that?

Tom: Athens

Jesse: Yeah yeah! We did a tour where we played with a different backing band in every different city. So we'd practice that afternoon and then, do the show that night.

How'd you find all the different bands?

Jesse: Using the magic of the internet, and friends. I'd say about half of them were people we already knew. We played in Athens, GA with this guy who'd played with Of Montreal and Olivia Tremor Control and Neutral Milk Hotel, he played a trombone. And then, Labor Day, we played in Boulder, at a party. And there was a trumpet.

This song is really sort of the feel we were going for for the whole album.

You mentioned that you already have plans for the third album.

Well, I have three more albums in my head, with all the songs written for them. So I have to decide which one we're gonna do next. I think it's gonna come down to the presidential election. I have one album that's really horrible and dark and moody and sinister. And then I have another album that's even more upbeat, poppy rock 'n' roll. It all depends on who wins the election.

Tom: We are called These United States.

Jesse: It's our job to reflect the mood of the country.

"Six Fast Bullets" starts

Tom: This was the first song we tracked on this record. And it was literally the first time we'd played it together. And this is like the second take. This was really the first time I thought this was gonna work. I mean, it was the first song. But we just banged through it once to get parts, and the second time, it just... sounded like this.

Jesse: You guys all like this one more than I do. The problem is, now that we've done it live a dozen, two dozen, three dozen times or whatever, it's better. We play it live now and it's more energetic; it's just more confident.

Tom: I like this take of it though. Also I have the awesome fuck up right there.

(Everybody else looks confused)

Jesse: Only Tom hears it.

(We listen to it again; still, nobody hears the mistake.)

Jesse: Only someone who obsessively listens to their own part could hear something like that.

Tom: I completely miss the strings!

What are your favorite songs on the album?

Tom: I like "Study the Moon", which we haven't listened to yet.

Jesse: Everybody likes "Study the Moon".

Tom: And, "We Go Down to That Corner" turned out really well.

Mark: Those two, and the last track ("When You're Traveling at the Speed of Light"). I can't think of that one without thinking about that Rolling Stones record where they set up in an old house and recorded.

Tom: Exile on Main Street. They rented a mansion, in the south of France. It wasn't really an "old house."

Mark: Excuse me, but that is an old house.

Tom: That's true. But it's not like... this house.

Mark: But, they set up in the basement, and just sat around a room and played live. The sonic quality it gave it was amazing.

Tom: Do you know who built that chateaus they played in? Nazis!

Jesse: Nazi chateaus, huh Tom? This story's getting more sophisticated by the moment.

Tom: The storm drains were in the shape of swastikas. Yeah, read up on Exile on Main Street.

Mark: That's like when Trent Reznor recorded Downward Spiral in the Manson Family's mansion. That's pretty dark.

Jesse: We need to pick somewhere cool to record our next album.

An old house.

Tom: We also need to be billionaires.

Jesse: How 'bout the moon!
Oh I forgot about this one, this is one of my favorites. "Heaven Can Wait".

Mark: This is one of my favorite tracks too. I have 4 favorites now. Can you have 4 favorites on a record? Josh really took it up a notch, this song.

Jesse: Yeah definitely.

How many songs did he sing on?

Mark: 8?

Tom: Yeah he sings on a lot.

Jesse: "West Won", "Susie at the Seashore", "Get Yourself Home", "Pleasure and Pain", "Down to that Corner", "Honor Amongst Thieves", "Heaven Can Wait"...

Tom: This is our sort of collective favorite song. ("Study the Moon" starts)

Mark: This song benefited from Jesse being quite ill when he sang this one.

Tom: My least favorite song to record though. I just had no ideas for it. Our executive producer Rob came up to me after and was like, "You usually have really good ideas, but, you don't know what to do on this song." I was like yeah, I don't know what to do on this song. He said, "you're usually pretty creative, but you just don't have any ideas on this one. I... just don't know what you should do on it." And then Duane was like, "Just think, like, what would Keith Richards do?"

Did that help?

Tom: Yeah! That's exactly what this is!

So why is this the collective favorite?

Jesse: I dunno, I think it's because, it's the one that Duane, the producer, captured best. It really has the feel of what we were all doing. Also I think it's because we all had very different visions of it. This was another one we didn't play at all together beforehand. This is way different than I ever would have expected it to turn out. Duane came up to each of us individually and asked, "what's the feel of this song?" And none of us knew what the others had said. And he was like yeah, you each have a totally different idea of how this song is supposed to sound, so I'm just gonna let you do all of that, together.

Mark: I thought it should be Velvet Underground-y.

Tom: That's what it is!

Mark: Yeah, it's all together Velvet Underground.

Tom: It also sounds like the Stones, which was my thing.

Jesse: I don't think so, I think it ended up sounding way more...

Tom: See, this is what happened when we were recording.

Jesse: I thought it would sound like those two things, but it doesn't to me. I dunno; it's kind of emotional, and weird, not radio friendly. I think the guitar that Justin added changed the feel of it. That kind of '80s... whatever it is.

That polished sound?

Mark: Yeah, it's way more polished than Velvet Underground.

Tom: The thing is also, we've never done a song like this. This song isn't like anything else we do. It's just different.

How'd your producer know to pull that trick on this song?

Jesse: None of us had any idea what to do with it.

Tom: He's way smarter than us.

Mark: He's a diplomat, he knows how to work. He does this 70 hours a week, so he's finely tuned.

How does that relationship work? How does he help you while you're recording?

Tom: I think a good producer is someone who takes in everyone's ideas, and strengths and weaknesses. It's nice to be able to trust someone, so when I'm like it should sound like the Stones, and Mark's like it should sound like the Velvet Underground, and Jesse thinks it should be this and Justin thinks it should be this, the producer can say, OK, you're all right. It's a sort of very subtle guiding hand that you don't realize until you hear it. It's a very subtle background thing that puts everything together.

Mark: It's also someone that keeps you on task. You know, when you're in the studio, and you have an instrument in your hands, you have a tendency to wander.

Tom: We'll talk everything to death, so it's nice to have someone say, OK, everybody shut up and play another take. Or, talk about it, figure it out, I'm gonna go have a cigarette and I'm gonna come back and we're gonna play.

Did you guys get a chance to get to know him before you started recording?

Tom: All of us knew him before we started.

Mark: I've known him for 10 years.

Tom: So all of us had this inherent trust going in. Which is really nice.

Mark: For this song ("Those Low Country Girls"), we did a half day demo session about 6 weeks beforehand, just to feel things out.

Jesse: And it didn't sound that good!

Tom: This was the song we recorded so the label could hear it, and the producers, and get an idea. This is also my favorite solo, with Justin and I. It's just fun.

Did you just play steel on the album, or guitar too...?

Tom: I played everything... I did pedal and lap steel, guitars, banjo...

Mark: This song, I think the first time I heard it was a day or two before we left for Kentucky. And then, we spent a couple hours tracking it. Some of these songs we literally spent less than half a day on.

Tom: This is the second take; we just set up and played.

Mark: Many times I think a song could benefit from a band sitting on it for 6 months or something, but I think there's something special and unique about the spontaneity of sitting down and playing a song for a couple hours and saying, alright, that's it. Recordings of songs are snapshots. There's a greater landscape. It can really change. We could play this song in a completely different range, in a different time signature, 6 months down the road. So it's kind of liberating. That's one of the things I enjoy most about this band, for me personally, is that...

Tom: Lack of rehearsal (laughs).

Mark: But there's a certain sense of liberation. Whether it's a revolving cast of characters, or arrangements. It's fun to do it that way, it keeps it interesting.

Tom: It also helps that this lineup of people inherently trusts each other so much. All of us have played so many shows together, be it in any configuration. I don't think you could do this with like a normal... everyone just is confident that it's gonna work. It's a very cool experience.

This was probably the most difficult song to record. ("When You're Traveling at the Speed of Light")

Jesse: It was another round of, I don't think anyone's hearing it the same way.

Tom: We did and Rob was basically like, no that sucks. We went back and took it apart. We tried it acoustic, we tried it just Jesse and Robby. We spent a whole night like, we'll never get it. Then the next morning, we got it.

Threats Cause Storeowner to Move Artwork Satirizing Palin

Washington, D.C. may run decidedly blue in elections, and you may have to walk past 25 blocks of Obama canvassers before you even spot a McCain sticker here these days, but that doesn't mean we're all in agreement in this city.

Home furnishing and design store Skynear, located in Adams Morgan, recently asked artist Dana Ellyn if they could hang a few of her paintings. Ellyn is a popular local artist, having shown her work in a number of venues, such as Warehouse, Gallery Neptune, Long View, and most recently in the Brushfire sponsored show at Gallery Plan B, from which the three pieces in question came. Her bold colored caricatures, which often focus on current events, are intentionally provocative. And this time, it seems, they're making some people downright violent.

Owner Lynn Skynear asked Ellyn if she could hang some of her paintings in the run-up to the election, and Ellyn sent her three Gov. Sarah Palin paintings to put in their window: Miss Congeniality (with her sheeple), Pulling Rabbits out of Hats, and Juggling Act (pictured at right). Friday afternoon, Ellyn got a call from Skynear employee David Stulajter. The store is close to a number of other locally owned shops (a hair dresser, etc.), and these neighbors started bringing word to him about threats regarding the paintings.

We spoke with Stulajter, who said there were quite a few people who reportedly talked of "breaking windows" and vandalizing the paintings, though it's unclear if they were direct threats or passive aggressive "warnings" that, ahem, things like that happen. One particular Skynear customer, who had returned to order furniture, noticed the new paintings on the wall and told Stulajter he was "quite offended," particularly by Juggling Act, in light of Palin's baby with Downs Syndrome. He left without purchasing anything, and they don't expect him back.

Stulajter doesn't lament the lost sale, stating, "it's art!" While threats of violence go on behind their backs, there are also folks who like the work, finding them "funny and clever," and in fact, Ellyn already has an offer on Miss Congeniality.

Nevertheless, the store is worried about the safety of the artwork, so they've moved them to the second floor, away from the windows. In that location, Stulajter hopes, the store's alarm would scare anyone away before they got that far.