Just a quick update on SmartBike DC: the city's shared bicycle program resumed normal service as of 6 a.m. this morning, according to a message sent to subscribers. SmartBike service had been suspended since the snow storm, but it looks like they've finally since managed to clear all the ice and snow away from the rental stations. more ›

It's not hard to imagine that regular SmartBike DC customers have been having a hard time accessing the service for the last couple weeks. Many of the shared bicycle stations are still buried under snow banks, and besides, riding a bicycle with this much ice and snow still on the roads is not for the faint-hearted. more ›

A set of three billboards that have been the source of complaints for decades are no more. A crew from Clear Channel was out at the site, at the intersection of 4th and P streets and New Jersey Ave. NW, this morning take down the large signs. more ›

It looks like I.M.P., the Montgomery County-based company that runs the 9:30 Club and Merriweather Post Pavilion, hasn't given up on opening a Silver Spring music hall. In September, we wrote that concert producer and venue owner Live Nation had signed a non-binding letter of intent to put a Fillmore music hall in the old J.C. Penney store at Georgia Avenue and Colesville Road in Silver Spring, across from the AFI Silver Theater. Both the... more ›

We told you long ago, in 2005 that is, that the District planned to roll out 788 new bus shelters as part of a $150 million deal with Clear Channel Outdoor. The shelters are finally starting to slowly creep across the city. On 8th Street between Capitol Hill proper and H Street NE, at least four shelters have been ripped out and are in the process of being replaced with the fancy new digs.... more ›

We noted awhile ago that the owners of the Birchmere had been in talks to open another venue in Silver Spring — while that has fallen by the wayside, it looks like Live Nation will be moving in instead. The Clear Channel spinoff, which produces concerts and owns music venues around the country, including Nissan Pavilion, various Fillmores, and the House of Blues chain, signed a letter of intent to build in an old J.C.... more ›

Just a little over a month ago, DCist Jeff updated our very occasional series, What We're Missing, with a plea for the introduction of municipal bicycles available for rent all over the city, a la the same deal that Paris, France is about to get. Here's what he said: At first, we cringe at the thought of hundreds of street-clogging lost tourists and a cottage industry of bike thefts. With more examination, though, there's a... more ›

Driving down I-81 in central Virginia earlier this year, we heard something we haven't heard in awhile: a radio station playing good music. This, and the announcement of "eco-station" 94.7 the Globe got us thinking: why doesn't D.C. have a good independent music station? Other big cities have great listener-supported music stations, like KEXP in Seattle and WFMU in New York, and many other cities have decent student-run college stations. But D.C. has neither. About... more ›

No, he didn’t make An Inconvenient Truth, but climate change policy wonks will probably turn out to throw Joseph Romm a bone as he signs Hell and High Water: Global Warming—the Solution and the Politics—and What We Should Do. At Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW., at 7 p.m. more ›

What does this bode for rock venues like the 9:30 Club and the Black Cat?. Ward 1 Council member Jim Graham put in his two cents, calling the proposed development “very detrimental” to local venues. 9:30 Club owner Seth Hurwitz lamented to the Post that, “We will lose half our business, at least” if and when a local House of Blues opens its doors. We at DCist are slightly more optimistic about the 9:30’s future. True, HOB is a nationally recognized name, but the 9:30 is a long-standing local institution. Don’t be so hard on yourself, Seth! more ›

Over the past several years, the dynamics of music marketing and promotion -- both locally and nationally -- have drastically shifted under the tectonic changes in the old school music industry and its marketing institutions. Corporate radio playlists by the likes of Clear Channel have done away with diversity on the airwaves, while the once-novel MTV is hardly an option to sort through new music. Today’s music connoisseurs often resort to digital downloading both legal... more ›

Yesterday the lineup for this year's edition of the HFStival was announced and headlining the two day festival will be Kanye West and...Counting Crows? Kanye is a no brainer but the addition of Counting Crows, in a headlining slot no less, seems to be a curious one. The band hasn't released an album of original material since 2002 and tends to have a fan base that skews much older than the Clear Channel approved... more ›

D.C. being the place that it is, big protests such as those that took place this last weekend are a dime a dozen. Complaints of excessive use of force by police officers are just as recurrent, with protestors often charging that overzealous police officers step in to make arrests too quickly and offer few apologies or admissions of wrongdoing thereafter. This weekend seems to have been different in that regard -- WJLA is reporting that the District's Office of Police Complaints, which sent 11 employees out to monitor the protests, did not observe nor report any aggressive police behavior. While this newfound concern for freedom of expression and assembly stems from the shameful 2002 events at Pershing Park, it is at least reassuring to know that expressing dissent nowadays won't provoke a quick billy-club to the head. more ›

NBC will be putting aside it's usual Saturday night line up of Law and Order reruns to air a special benefiting victims of the deadly tsunamis in southern Asia. Tsunami Aid: A Concert of Hope will feature musical performances, some serious Hollywood muscle and at least two former presidents this Saturday at 8 p.m. Clear Channel, the parent of DC101, will also broadcast the concert live. Expect to see everyone from recently separated Brad Pitt... more ›