Results tagged “affairs>”

While the "nature v. nurture" argument may rage for years to come, two respected musical patriarchs showed that regardless of which is the more important, nature and nurture in tandem are a most formidable combination. Oliver Lake (pictured right), a trailblazing elder statesman of jazz, and Ravi Shankar (pictured below), the most celebrated Indian classical musician in the world, each performed at the Kennedy Center this past weekend with gifted progeny in tow. The result...

>> D.C. United and Chivas Guadalajara renew their budding rivalry this evening. The match is part of the Copa Nissan Sudamericana, a 34-team invitational tournament featuring the best clubs of South America and several North American teams looking to crash the party. The match could be one of the most entertaining, competitive affairs this season. United aims to atone for their first round exit from the tournament two years ago; they also seek to...

At the close of last night's concert at the 2007 Duke Ellington Jazz Festival, Executive Producer Charlie Fishman said his friend and mentor, the great Dizzy Gillespie (pictured), who was the focus of this year's proceedings, chose to name his last big band the United Nation (in the singular) Jazz Orchestra to show the oneness of humanity. Fishman went on to say that Dizzy often told his colleagues that human beings all share two characteristics:...

MONDAY: Democratic presidential candidate and Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd will make an appearance at Politics and Prose to talk about his book Letters from Nuremberg, which has nothing do with 2008 and everything to do with 1948 (or thereabouts). Dodd's father, Thomas, was an attorney during the famous Nuremberg trials, in which members of the Nazi Party in Germany were prosecuted for their crimes, and the book consists of letters written by Thomas to his...

>> An early morning fire struck some vacant buildings located at 14th & Maryland. [Frozen Tropics] >> Could potential supporters of the D.C. Voting Rights bill in the Senate, such as Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Chris Dodd, end up being out campaigning and miss the vote, thus leaving it open to a filibuster threat? [Free Ride] >> The D.C. Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs is trying revoke the business...

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: Stalker Revered in his prime as perhaps one of the best filmmakers Russia ever produced, Andrei Tarkovsky built his reputation on just seven feature films. As is so often the case, some of the most poignant art comes from those artists who must fight to bring their vision to an audience. Tarkovsky's films, often restless...

There aren't many reasons to wake up at a quarter of 5 a.m., but tomorrow's celestial phenomenon—a total lunar eclipse—may be one of them. The second of 2007, tomorrow's eclipse will be but a fleeting treat for Washington and the rest of the eastern U.S. According to the U.S. Naval Observatory's friendly and helpful public affairs Officer, Geoff Chester, Washington will be lucky enough to see the Moon slip into the Earth's umbral shadow a...

While he worked the crowd last Saturday at Eastern Market's re-opening, Mayor Adrian Fenty again made it clear that he likes to keep connected to city affairs at all times. Hanging from his belt were his famous three Blackberries -- one for mayoral duties, one for personal responsibilities and one for immediate contact with Police Chief Cathy Lanier. Rumors have circulated that he may be in the market for a fourth. Photo by Martin...

Months after a fire gutted the interior of Eastern Market's South Hall and almost destroyed the District landmark, vendors will be back in business tomorrow in a temporary structure built across the street. The structure, which looks like a big white tent, cost $1.5 million and will be used while $25 million in repairs are completed on the South Hall, a process that could take up to two years. We're happy to see things slowly...

The office of Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) has released an alert to the news media on this slow August Wednesday afternoon, and that means it's going to get a lot more coverage than it probably deserves. For our part, we wanted to mention it also as an excuse to post the funniest video our staff could find of someone destroying a television. The winner is above. For her part, Cheh is concerned...

So who do you turn to if you're an embattled administration facing an unpopular war, bitter criticism both at home and abroad, an exodus of senior staff, and the barrel of a long year's worth of lame ducked-ness? A retired general? Nope. A political mastermind? Nah, that would be too easy. Perhaps a captain of industry? They're too busy starting and running multi-billion dollar foundations. Well, then how about someone who made his name by...

It's Washington's own version of The Big Dig, but it's much more secluded and (hopefully) isn't filling up with water. It's a multi-million dollar boondoggle that provides plenty of fodder for Congresscritters who wish to howl about federal spending. It's the Capitol Visitor Center, which has been under construction since 2001, and has increased in cost from $265 million at that time to $573 million today—which isn't too bad for a Federal project, right? The...

When you find yourself cupping the balls of a bull, you know your life has taken a turn for the weird. At least, that's what Stephanie Garibaldi found after spending time in a Mayan village, just after deciding Ivy League College was not for her. Garibaldi's is one of four stories involving faith and self-discovery showcased in Chocolate Jesus. The work is performed by regulars from SpeakeasyDC, a monthly storytelling night featuring seasoned regulars and...

We couldn't help but giggle when we heard an ad on WAMU today for The Nina Totin' Bag, a collectible canvas bag honoring NPR's Legal Affairs correspondent (who is certainly getting a workout lately with all the Supreme Court decisions being handed down in rapid succession), Nina Totenberg. Shouldn't it be the Nina Totenbag, then? Looks like The Hill had the first word on the collectible bags, which were passed around at an event in...

At a hearing before the Public Services and Consumer Affairs Committee yesterday, the D.C. Council heard testimony both for and against the so-called payday loan industry, which has often been criticized for predatory lending practices. The businesses market themselves as a way for lower income individuals who don't qualify for credit or a bank loan to get emergency cash. The industry's opponents charge that payday loans prey on our society's most vulnerable people by charging...

Mayor Adrian Fenty held a press conference this morning to announce a slew of new cabinet-level nominations for his administration. Topping the list was his decision to go with current interim director of DCRA, Linda Argo, as his nominee to run the department. Argo was previously deputy director of DCRA, responsible for the agency’s public service enhancements. It's a somewhat uncharacteristic move from Fenty, who has tended to focus his hiring efforts on bringing in...

We do hope you had a pleasant, relaxing, not too horribly hot weekend, Washington. Even if you didn't, chances are your Monday morning is shaping up to be less of a hassle than it is for the staff of Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA). Webb finally admitted over the weekend that he owns the gun that his aide, Phillip Thompson, was arrested for carrying into the Capitol in March. What kept him from clearing up...

This morning the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs approved legislation granting the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives, sending the measure to the full Senate for cosideration. The vote was 9-1, with Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) casting the lone dissenting vote (seriously, can't Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) have a talk with this guy?). Senator Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), Senator Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Senator George Voinovich (R-Ohio), all considered key...

After a pair of hearings before two Senate committees, a proposal to grant the District a vote in the House of Representatives will be marked up tomorrow. The mark-up, which will occur at 10 a.m. before the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee, is the final step before the legislation -- which would grant both Utah and the District additional seats in the House -- reaches the floor of the Senate. Thanks to the...

Good Morning, D.C. It sure is getting hot in here, and for once, we don't just mean the weather. The Post reports this morning that the Voting Rights Bill is making some progress in the Senate. Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.), a co-sponsor of the bill, announced that the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, which he chairs, will vote on the legislation Wednesday. And in a meeting with Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton and Mayor Fenty,...

It's often easy to huff and puff about the city's lack of voting rights, budget autonomy and the kingly powers used by members of Congress to derail local initiatives or force the city into doing things that its voters never envisioned. But rarely does an example come along that brings the District's second-class status into such sharp relief as did a story published today in the New York Times. The story chronicles the tireless work...

Good morning, Washington. We know how it is, the week before a major holiday when you've probably got travel plans -- Friday can't come soon enough. There's only two full work days left to go before you get to walk out that office door and do a little dance of joy, but in the meantime, we'll do our best to distract you from that increasingly nagging feeling that you might soon completely lose your...

It looks like Senate Republicans really don't want today's scheduled Senate Judiciary Committee hearing to happen as planned. DCVote spokesperson Kevin Kiger tells us that Republicans have tried to invoke the 2-hour Rule, which would cut off committee action two hours after the Senate started work for the day. We've got our browsers set to the live webcast of the hearing, set to begin at 1:30 p.m., at which point we'll know whether Sen. Russ...

After passing the House and getting a hearing in the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee last week, The D.C. Voting Rights Act moves to the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow. The committee has scheduled a full hearing on Wednesday called “Ending Taxation Without Representation: The Constitutionality of S.1257,” which will address, natch, the constitutionality of the bill. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, is a supporter of...

If you work on the Hill you might still have time to run over to the Dirksen Senate Office Building, Rm. 342 for the hearing Equal Representation in Congress: Providing Voting Rights to the District of Columbia before the U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. The hearing, scheduled to begin at 10 a.m., will include testimony split into two panels, the first with Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.), Mayor...

After a rocky road through the U.S. House of Representatives, legislation granting the District a voting seat in the lower chamber will get its first hearing before a Senate committee tomorrow -- and pretty much everyone and their mother is set to testify. In a hearing scheduled to start at 10 a.m. before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, eight witnesses will discuss the legislation that was passed in the House on...

The U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs has scheduled a hearing to consider legislation that would grant the District a voting seat in the House of Representatives. The hearing, which will be presided over by bill sponsor Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), will take place on Tuesday, May 15 in 342 Dirksen. The hearing -- which we'll try to live-blog, obvs -- should be interesting. Among the Republicans on the committee are a...

As promised, Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) introduced legislation to create a Congressional seat for D.C., as well as a new seat for Utah, this afternoon. Of course, this doesn't mean the bill was debated or even mentioned on the Senate floor. While we sat eagerly by the television, fingers twitching to live blog the whole thing, it seems DCist should have been brushing up on our School House Rock. The senators...

After reporting last week on a slew of misaligned walk signs plaguing the city, we couldn't stop spotting them everywhere. At Florida Ave. and R St., NW, and Pennsylvania Ave. and 8th St., SE, all eight pedestrian signals were pointing away from oncoming foot traffic -- surely a dangerous state of affairs. While we originally speculated strong winds were responsible, several readers tipped us off on the most likely culprits: construction and delivery trucks. After...

Good morning, Washington. How's spring treating you? We're pretty pleased with how things have been shaping up this week. Not everyone's as sanguine about it, though: we were surprised to hear last night's FOX5 newscast include some newscaster banter whining about the heat. Well, relax Mr. Bolter. Today will be cooler, although it'll end with rain. City Agencies Flee Downtown: Traffic and parking are concerns, but it's skyrocketing property values that are spurring many...