A tornado watch has been issued for the D.C. area until 9 p.m., according to the National Weather Service. Now, a watch means that "conditions are favorable for tornadoes and severe thunderstorms in and close to the watch area" - which includes D.C., Maryland, northern Virginia, eastern West Virginia, and coastal waters. A warning would mean there is an immediate chance for tornadoes. Along with the possibility of tornadoes, we have the possibility of hail - half an inch in diameter, wind gusts to 70 mph, and dangerous lightning. There's also a flash flood watch. Guys, I would just stay inside today. more ›

It's a muggy, if sunny, hot mess outside this afternoon, but it looks as though that's going to change rapidly. The National Weather Service has issued two alerts for the D.C. metro area this afternoon. A Severe Thunderstorm Watch is in effect as of 1:25 p.m., and continues through to 9 p.m. Along with rain, conditions are favorable for lightning, hail of up to two inches in diameter, and wind gusts of up to 70 mph. more ›

The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch for the D.C. metro area, effective until 9 p.m. tonight. Along with rain and lightning, looks like there's a 40 percent chance of winds gusts up to 80 mph and hail of up to 2.5 inches in diameter (!!). Do be careful on your way home tonight. more ›

The National Weather Service has issued a Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 5 p.m. this evening. Some of the intense storm activity that could pop up midday today includes hail up to 1.5 inches in diameter, wind gusts up to 70 mph, and lightning. Capital Weather Gang finds the silver lining: "... the cold front causing the storm threat should clear out all this muggy air. We'll feel much more comfortable for the weekend, before shower chances return early next week." Works for us.
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Flickr user Beck Exposed, a.k.a. Capitol Hill resident Sarah Becker, sent us this photo of the hail that pummeled her front stoop for about five minutes around 11:30 a.m. Anybody else spot some hail? These thunderstorms the last couple of days have been pretty impressive, if not a little bit freaky. How can we have hail when it's 50 degrees out? more ›

Check out these photos taken at 5:30 p.m. at the East Falls Church Metro station, where downed power lines have shut down Orange line travel in both directions. Metro has finally issued a full press release on what's happening down there. Based on these images, if you're heading out on the Orange line, our best advice would be to stay in the city tonight until much, much later, if not crash on a friend's couch. more ›

Deluge '08? more ›

Haven't had enough of the severe weather we've been experiencing over the last several days? The National Weather Service says more of it is already upon us. A severe thunderstorm warning and a tornado watch have both been issued until 8 p.m. A line of storms are now approaching western Frederick, Loudoun and Fauquier counties, and will move through the metro area over the next few hours. more ›

MONDAY >> Those looking to kick the month off with a bang might be out of luck, as it looks like there's not a whole lot going down tonight. Still, it's not a total wash, as all the usual suspects — the Black Cat, DC9, the Velvet Lounge and the Rock and Roll Hotel — will have their bars open and waiting for the District's disillusioned masses. >> DJ Jahsonic has a new Monday night... more ›

The 2nd year of the District's Awake! Music Festival is making it's grand sophomore entrance tomorrow night in clubs across town. News about the festival is traveling far and wide, with a sponsorship and podcast from everybody's favorite online radio station, WOXY, an interview on the local news, and more. A few last minute changes have been made to the festival — namely the unfortunate cancellation of Cloud Cult's set, and of the Rock &... more ›

At Nevin Kelly Gallery until October 7th is Peer Pressure, a group exhibition guest curated by D.C. artist Thom Flynn. Of the four artists featured, Sue Huang and Pasqual Sisto hail from UCLA’s Media Arts program, while Carrie Mallory and Baby Martinez reside in D.C. Flynn claims that the impetus for his selection of work was simply to “assemble a group of his peers to size-up contemporary trends in art,” however the show itself seems... more ›

Hope for a last minute hail mary. After the highs and lows of almost getting an installment of Live Earth in our town, then having Congress stomp all over it, Al Gore's figured things out in the final hour and is adding the District to the globe-crossing concert. Live Earth will take place tomorrow, from 9 locations around the world. The purpose of the massive undertaking is to raise worldwide awareness of climate change. Musical... more ›

>> Given how notoriously bad our area's traffic is, nothing is more frustrating than rubberneckers who slow down to stare at every blow out and speeding ticket they pass. This morning along the Dulles Toll Road, however, they had something legitimately interesting to look at. $5 bucks says she names the kid Hunter. [NBC4] >> Teenage mutant ninja whippets. Bullies on the half shell. Puppy power! [International Herald Tribune] >> If you live in... more ›

MONDAY >> DC9 scoured the globe for tonight's lineup. The Comas hail from Brooklyn and Chapel Hill and specialize in the darker shades of psychadelic rock. The Veils are here all the way from New Zealand, with some "if you like The White Stripes, you'll love The Veils"-style blues-inspired rock. Locals Zulu Pearls round out the lineup with solid, basic, indie rock. We're incapable of hearing their name without thinking of "Zuzu's petals" from It's... more ›

At this week's concerts, the National Symphony Orchestra premiered the new harp concerto that it commissioned from Mark Adamo. Adamo dedicated Four Angels to conductor Leonard Slatkin, who helped make the commission happen, and the NSO's principal harpist, Dotian Levalier, for whom the solo part was created. On Friday night at the Kennedy Center, Slatkin led the NSO through a sensitive reading of this rather traditional but hauntingly lovely score. The first movement is named... more ›

>> In case you missed this story in the Washington Post this morning, it seems another one of D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton's favorite long-term projects, expanding the District's Home Rule Charter to give the District budget and legislative autonomy, is actually getting some play up on the Hill. We can't even count how many times she's introduced bills like the two currently before the House, but it's been at least 15 years since Congress... more ›

For a struggling offensive team like the Nationals, there's no greater place to play a few games than the Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati. And lately for the Nats, there's no greater foil than whiny Wayne Krivsky's Reds. For those reasons, I had quite the time watching the Nats pound the stuffing out of the Reds in last night's 12-7 win. The club's long-slumbering lumber has finally awoken--aided by Cincy's teensy bandbox of a field.... more ›

Over five years ago the Newseum shut its doors in its Rosslyn neighborhood and started laying down bricks on Pennsylvania Avenue. The venue dedicated to the First Amendment is still on schedule for its grand opening this October, and in the meantime has been stoking its coffers with donations from news makers all over the country. This week they received their biggest gift so far, $15 million from The Annenberg Foundation. Newseum will name its... more ›

Hoyer and Pelosi Need Your Input: Mike Panetta, D.C. Shadow Representative, informed us that voting rights activists are pushing Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) to bring the voting rights legislation that was derailed last week back to the floor of the House this week. They're afraid that if it gets pushed off until next week, it may well get lost in the usual congressional shuffle. Panetta has... more ›

By DCist Contributor Mehan Jayasuriya Much like the similarly canonized Robert Johnson, Brian Wilson is an American icon for whom mythology has contributed as much to his legend of being a "musical genius" as his accomplishments have. The five years spent in a bedroom, the lost (and eventually found) masterpiece Smile, the strange, drug-induced happenings at an L.A. mansion in the 1960s and a long history of mental illness add up to something that... more ›

As a rather fervent concert goer, I've been watching my October Outlook calendar with alternating excitement and dread as my concert calendar gets more and more crowded. This all came to a head yesterday as I started putting in the DAMfest schedule and noticed a whole bunch of scheduling conflicts in the making. Area indie rock fans are going to have some tough choices to make the last full week of October. Thursday, Oct.... more ›

Last week, they brought the roof down at The Red & The Black, literally. OK, not really literally. We can't blame the Brindley Brothers for the crumbling ceiling which closed off the upper level of the H Street Corridor’s version of DC9 last week (it's hopefully fixed by now, we're trying to find out). What we can tell you is that the quality and dedication illustrated in their intimate acoustic set confirmed why they... more ›

Hate your job? Feel like everyone in the office secretly considers you a nutcase? Diana Saez did, so she quit. And now she gets paid for being a nutcase. These days, she actually likes her co-workers — probably because they appreciate her nutcaseyness. After two years of futzing around in the Washington stand-up scene, Saez and two other locals, John McBride and Jeffrey Adrian, kick-started Lucky Cat Comedy — a fresh group of entrepreneurial stand-up... more ›

If the fiery hell holes of silent elevator shafts and devilishly high heat indexes have D.C. repenting with sweaty Hail Marys, there is an escape: find Alabama's finest photographer and sculptor William Christenberry at any of four art relief stations around the city. Cool A/C, (photographed) ice-cold Coca-Cola, and - Hallelujah - none of those famous Tuscaloosan chitlins! Get on up, lil' doggies, and drag yourself along on a Christenberry tour that's as Southern as... more ›

This summer must be a particularly frustrating time to be an unsigned hip-hop artist. The southern rap offensive continues with wave after wave of purp-sipping, leaning, rocking and snapping singles which, although from time to time laudable, tend to wear thin (though they do make for some amusing YouTube fodder). So while Young Joc is telling us where it's going down (apparently the mall, though I was recently at Pentagon City and the place was... more ›

TUESDAY: >> All hail the mighty Pearl Jam! Their show tonight with openers My Morning Jacket has yet to sell out, so fulfill your duty as a child of the 90s and head to the Verizon Center at 7:30. $54. >> The locals alight on Arlington, as Pontiak, These United States and Brandon Butler take the stage at Iota. >> In "huh?" show #1 of the evening, T Bone Burnette and Jakob Dylan -- remember... more ›

Good morning, D.C. Thanks to everyone who joined us for Unbuckled last night — DC9 was packed for what we think was our best show yet. We had a great time, and we hope that you did, too. If you snapped some pictures while you were there, do us a favor and tag them on Flickr with unbuckled3 so that we can round 'em up in one place. Now that your concertgoing and drinking responsibilities... more ›

Vince Scheuerman, eat your heart out. This morning, DCist's inbox contained a press release announcing an upcoming party kicking off a campaign to adopt a city song for Washington. The effort calls itself, "Come to Washington: A Song for the City," and it's thrown its support behind "Come to Washington," a treacly bit of civic pride penned by Lincoln Ross, a longtime D.C. musician whose past work has included stints with Count Basie and Donald... more ›

The weekly Ist wrap-up is written by Seattlest editor Dan Gonsiorowski. DCist helps us make more sense of the world this week. Posts like this concert review are the reason for Scott Stapp. DCist also enumerates the reasons for playing ultimate frisbee, Condi's tight buns, their love of a local convenience store, and their jealousy of a person in Seattle calling the city. LAist documented graf artist Banksy's most recent visit to LA in one... more ›

MONDAY Counterprogramming this week’s State of the Union Address will be activist Cindy Sheehan, who will ostensibly be discussing her book Not One More Mother’s Child tonight at All Souls’ Church tonight at 7pm. For anyone who’s either been hiding under a rock this past year or who hasn’t yet experienced the pleasure of being clouted in the forehead with a ball peen hammer by a member of the Free Republic, this reading is a... more ›