Results tagged “hurricanekatrina”

Tia Lessin's path to her first feature documentary as a director started right here in Washington D.C., and carried her through production duties on some of the biggest profile documentary projects of the past decade, including three Michael Moore films (and his TV series), and Martin Scorcese's Dylan doc, No Direction Home. With her co-director Carl Deal, she has created one of the definitive documents of the impact of Hurricane Katrina, told through one young couple who attempted to weather the storm in the Lower Ninth Ward before being forced to flee on the rising waters. Trouble the Water was a particular highlight of the films we saw at this year's SILVERDOCS documentary festival earlier this summer, and the film is opening today for a brief run here in D.C. at the Landmark E Street Cinema, where Lessin and Deal will be on hand at a number of screenings this weekend. Tia Lessin answered a few questions for DCist about her experiences making the film.

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

"It pissed me off." That is how R.E.M.'s Mike Mills described his reaction to seeing firsthand the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and the stagnated recovery effort since. Though his band has a history of political involvement, Mills himself has shied away from activism until now. Having seen the suffering of New Orleanians in the aftermath of Katrina, he declared, "No one can appreciate the destruction without seeing it and I was very aware that...

Good morning, Washington, and welcome to September. After what was quite possibly the most beautiful weekend in the history of late summer weather in this city, we've finally arrived at the date many of us still associate with "back-to-school" -- the Tuesday after Labor Day. So sharpen your pencils, polish your lunchbox and make sure you have the right Trapper Keeper as we check out today's headlines. At Least Four Weekend Killings: The Examiner...

This month marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's assault upon the city of New Orleans. The suffering and hardship of that city's citizens no longer makes headlines, but the havoc caused by the storm is something many people still live with on a daily basis. Jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard is one of those people. A son of the Crescent City and musical descendant of fellow New Orleanians Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, and...

>> Two quality offerings from the Black Cat tonight: Japan's uber-weird noise outfit Melt-Banana take the mainstage with Hex Machine at 8:30 p.m., $13. Plus Falls Church native and now Richmond-based newgrass singer Josh Small is in the Backstage tonight, with Tim Barry and The Wading Girl, for a paltry $8 at 8 p.m. >> Campus Progress is calling all summer interns and other young folks to head over to Science Club tonight for...

MONDAY: Leftover anger from last week's G8 Summit? Check out John Perkins at Politics and Prose tonight. He'll be discussing his newest book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption, which details the shady deals behind U.S. foreign aid to developing countries. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Hurricane season is upon us yet again, and this August will mark the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastating impact...

>> Welcome to March and another First Friday in Dupont Circle from 6 to 8 p.m. Find the gallery locations here. >> We've all got our old movie favorites. If you pop in Gone with the Wind everytime you're home sick, or channel surf for old episodes of I Dream of Jeanie on a Sunday afternoon, you're just the person Mark Bennett is drawing for. His India ink draftings of the fictional homes used in...

Akron, Ohio's very own Joseph Arthur is having a busy year. First, Michael Stipe and a bunch of other big-name artists released an EP with different versions of his song "In the Sun" to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Then, he showed up on The Twilight Singers' excellent album Powder Burns, adding that sweet falsetto to several of the songs. And last night the now-New York-based artist was out at Jammin' Java promoting...

Written by DCist contributor Abby Lavin. Last year’s rioting in response to Danish drawings of the prophet Muhammad showed that, in some cases, cartoons are no laughing matter. They don’t just lampoon the political landscape; they have the power to shape it as well. Provisions Library’s current exhibit, Drawing Back: Cartoon Critiques of America, examines the power of cartoons as a means of social protest. Culled from twenty-five different countries, the 80 editorial cartoons are...

Armageddon is once again upon us. America is on-edge, what with the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week, and it seems we can't wait for the next tragedy. Well, if you don't get an actual one, you might as well make one up. If you watch cable news, you'd think that Tropical Storm Ernesto was threatening the East Cost like a modern-day Krushchev. Here in the real world, Ernesto strolled through Florida, barely managing...

A couple years ago, D.C. had two Kwame Browns in the news, a local politico and a mediocre hoopster, which might have caused a few people to comment how it was great that a pro athlete was getting involved in local politics. Thankfully for the Wizards, one of those Kwame Browns moved on. However, D.C. now has two Michael Browns in local politics. The other day we saw this poster on the street, which confused...

Although District residents may be seguing into fall's business-as-usual pace, we're reminded today that, one year after Hurricane Katrina, those who call New Orleans home are still caught up in loose ends and mired in disarray caused by Katrina's aftermath. Area food folks remind us that people still need our help. As Metrocurean reported last week, local restaurants participating in Share our Strength's Restaurants for Relief today, which include Evening Star, Tallula and Capitol Grille,...

Good morning, D.C. How are you feeling this morning? Tired? Did you stay up late to watch the old Wilson Bridge be demolished? Yeah, us too. After waiting for what seemed like forever (due to, it turns out, some real geniuses who broke through the fence to get closer to the action) , the Bridge was finally blown, though we have to admit to being somewhat disappointed with the spectacle. Sure, the explosions were loud...

Share Our Strength Benefit For Katrina Victims August 29 will mark the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall, but clean-up, rebuilding, and resettling are still taking place. Charity group Share Our Strength will observe the date by holding Restaurants for Relief, an event in which restaurants will donate a portion of their proceeds to help recovery efforts and to end childhood hunger along the Gulf Coast. Almost 90 restaurants in the metro area plan to...

TUESDAY Tired of running into the virtual junta of returned Peace Corps volunteers living in our fair city and being forced to listen to story upon story about how working in an office every day will just never be as fulfilling as digging that well in Cameroon? Then this event is not for you. Former Peace Corps volunteers read from and sign A Life Inspired: Tales of Peace Corps Service. Peace Corps, 111 20th...

Mr. T, famous for his days as part of the A-Team and the enormous amount of gold chains that he wears around his neck, has decided to give gold a break. After the devastation left behind by Hurricane Katrina, Mr. T said he doesn't feel it would be right spiritually to wear such ostentatious objects. One has to wonder what he's done with the gold frying pan he had around his neck in the AP...

The months since Hurricane Katrina have been filled with the fervor of apocalyptic millennialism for many weather geeks. The Weather Channel has been endlessly running a feature on how dreadful things would be if a Category Five storm trundled up the Hudson, leaving me, as a good Washingtonian, to mutter how Katrina on the Potomac wouldn't exactly be a bag of cupcakes. Newspapers carry, as the Post did yesterday, breathless stories on how the earth...

Back in April we noted that the National Museum of American History will be closing at the end of the summer for a two-year renovation project. Today we're hearing a little more about what the museum plans to feature — aside from the Star-Spangled Banner Project — when it opens back up in 2008. Evacuation signs, lace valances stained at the high-water mark, and personal rosaries are among the artifacts that curators and historians...

If you couldn’t get down to New Orleans to celebrate Mardi Gras properly, look no further than Warehouse. The gallery is currently hosting Arty Gras, an exhibition to celebrate artists displaced by Hurricane Katrina and raise funds for the Habitat for Humanity Gulf Coast recovery efforts. The exhibition was organized by independent curator Beth Baldwin, who grabbed onto the idea after seeing offers of gallery space for artists whose shows were canceled after the storm....

Tuesday: Tonight, Iota hosts one prong of the WAMA Crosstown Jam for Flood Relief trident, a concert series taking place Tuesday and Wednesday to benefit the victims of Hurricane Katrina. While Jammin' Java and Chick Hall's Surf Club in Bladensburg are featuring buckets of bands, your buck goes furthest at Iota, where Laura Burhenn (pictured) and Gist stand out in the noteworthy crowd. $10. For those less charitably inclined, dirty speed-punk act The Twats take...

Longtime DCist readers know we love a good documentary. We're particularly interested in a triple header WETA has lined up for tomorrow examining Hurricane Katrina and what lessons it left behind. The evening starts at 8 p.m. with the premiere of a NOVA on Hurricane Katrina titled "The Storm that Drowned a City", examining the science behind the hurricane and how it caused so much destruction in New Orleans. Then at 9 p.m. is the...

After a brave but fruitless fight, District officials today announced that D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams' official blog has passed away. No services have yet been scheduled, and Williams was unavailable for comment at press time. City officials remained mostly quiet on the blog's passing, though one individual close to the mayor remarked, "Williams had a blog? Really?" Bloggers unofficially stick to the rule that a blog that goes without an update for 30 days or...

MONDAY >> Monday welcomes the Fictionista Book Tour to Washington, D.C., featuring readings from Josie Brown (True Hollywood Lies), Kayla Perrin (Gimme an O!) and Stephanie Lessing (She’s Got Issues). Good gravy! All that chicklit in one place? Does it get any better? Oh, people. It does. The event is taking place at the Hard Rock Café -- and that means Aerosmith-themed quesadillas. 999 E. St NW., 7 p.m. TUESDAY >> In her book, Nickel...

That sudden, crisp feeling in the air can only mean one thing: the doldrums of one of the worst summer movie seasons in history are mercifully over. DCist suggests you celebrate fall by checking out a few of the many, many sharp looking film festivals starting this week.

Dine Out for Hurricane Relief In what has unfortunately become a familiar event, area restaurants, OpenTable, Share Our Strength and Windows of Hope team up to present Restaurants for Relief, a night when restaurants will donate a portion of their dinner sales to provide hunger relief for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Mark your calendar for Sept.27 and make a reservation. At the moment, 55 local restaurants have joined the effort. Don't worry if you...

Don't get used to those decreasing gas prices just yet -- Hurricane Rita's tear through the Gulf of Mexico and into Texas may well set off another round of jumps that may put Hurricane Katrina's $3 a gallon to shame. News reports find that Rita -- which has already forced refineries in the Galveston, Texas area to shut down -- could push gas prices beyond the $5 mark nationally, meaning that the District, one of the most expensive gas markets in the country, may see even more dramatic rises. And given the additional crowding on Metro that current gas prices have caused, DCist can only think that now is probably a good time to invest in good running shoes, rollerblades, or a bicycle.

Now that we are almost in October, the fall season of classical music is heating up, and we have put together a list of highlights through December for you over at Ionarts. But, this week, you should give some thought to hearing some of the good music out there (we have a more complete listing at Ionarts). We reiterate our recommendation from last week: the first opera in the 50th anniversary season of the Washington...

Hoping to diffuse controversy over a special Congressional panel charged with investigating the federal government's shortcomings in the response to Hurricane Katrina, Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert has tapped local Rep. Tom Davis (R-Va.) to be the panel's leader. The panel has been a flashpoint of debate in recent days, with Congressional Democrats claiming it would "whitewash" what have come to be perceived as substantial failures in the federal response to the storm and its aftermath.

It's not everyday that you run into a marching band on the District's streets. Yesterday was one of those days, though. After attending a brief meeting in the Judiciary Square area, DCist emerged to find a high school marching band clad in yellow t-shirts bearing the slogan, "Brown for Mayor." And suddenly it all made sense -- Michael Brown, son of the late Clinton era Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, officially declared his candidacy for mayor...