Outside of her relatively small but loyal following, the United States has not seen much of Sinéad O’Connor over the past decade, though she has continued to release albums and perform. Despite having a massive hit with the Prince-penned "Nothing Compares 2 U," she is remembered equally for the controversy she generated with her infamous appearance on Saturday Night Live and her refusal to have the national anthem played before a concert in New Jersey.... more ›

Gothamist learned about the craziest urban nightmare come true: A huge python found in the bathroom pipes. It was also a nightmare for some Yankees fans, as manger Joe Torre declined to come back and manage the Bronx Bombers. At least the city's attempt to give some direction to subway riders was interesting, pranksters went shirtless at the Fifth Avenue Abercrombie & Fitch and the I Heart Brooklyn Girls calendars came out. And just... more ›

Local LGBT activists are upset over a document distributed by the Washington Nationals, according to City Desk. The document details the team's Vendor Procurement Program and features Major League Baseball's affirmative action policy, which includes this portion:The Licensee shall not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment or against any service recipient or applicant for services because of race, color, ethnic status, religion, sex, age, national origin, disable veteran status, Vietnam era veteran status,... more ›

Atlanta-based singer Donnie first made himself known around 2001 with the release of two tracks, “Do You Know?” and “Our New National Anthem.” The former song sounded very reminiscent of “Flying Easy,” which was performed by one of Donnie’s influences, Donny Hathaway. Besides Hathaway, it was evident on the 2002 album, The Colored Section, that Donnie’s sound was also derived from Stevie Wonder and the gospel music he was exposed to by his preacher parents.... more ›

Hayden Panettiere, the young star of NBC's Heroes, is getting mixed reviews on YouTube for her performance singing the National Anthem in D.C. on Wednesday as part of the Capital Fourth concert at the National Mall. Judge for yourself.... more ›

Doom, gloom, rending of garments. That's the poetic way of remembering how Redskins fans felt after the last time the team headed up to New Jersey to play the Giants. If you've forgotten that game, here's a brief capsule of how it went: the teams were introduced, there was a singing of the national anthem, then a coin toss, followed by a kickoff, then the ball was handed to Tiki Barber--and the next thing you... more ›

The National Symphony Orchestra gave its first official performance of the fall season last night in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall, opening by tradition with a performance of the national anthem. Music director Leonard Slatkin struck exactly the right tone by opening not with a perennial audience favorite, but with a piece never performed by the NSO until now, William Walton's Partita for Orchestra (1957). It rocketed to a start in a blast of sound,... more ›

With a title like Assassins, theatergoers probably walk into Signature Theater’s latest production thinking that they’re going to be witnessing something very removed from their everyday lives (well, unless one of them happens secretly to be planning a political murder). After all, how much does the typical D.C. resident really have in common with John Wilkes Booth? Then the American-flag curtain is raised, and we find ourselves staring back at a mirror image of a... more ›

LAist has so much fun this week! They go to E3, where they overhear the timeless remark "Man, this is where nerdy girls get laid." Is that a promise? They also give us this week's best CDs and make us realize that LA is the best place to use Zillow. Ah, Houstonist. They're biking to work, that is, if they can figure out how to get there. That's right, Mapquest says "Houston had the... more ›

After 22 straight scoreless innings, things looked bleak for the Nationals. With their highly-anticipated Battle of the Beltway on tap, the Nats had to beat the Cubs and Kerry Wood making his first start of the season. Well, a little bit of lineup shake up did the trick as four players, including Damian Jackson and Marlon Anderson, homered in a 5-3 victory over the Cubs. Firmly in fourth place, the Nats can now look ahead to their three-game showdown against their natural regional rivals, the Orioles. more ›

An abstract flag, made of lightweight, reflective polycarbonate and approximately 40 feet long and up to 19 feet high will soar above the entrance to the new Star-Spangled Banner gallery and will become the new central focal point of the second floor where more than two-thirds of the museum’s visitors enter. Visitors to the flag gallery will experience the 30 by-34 foot wool and cotton Star-Spangled Banner in a new setting with floor-to-ceiling glass windows designed to evoke the “dawn’s early light” in which Francis Scott Key saw the flag, still flying above Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor in 1814.

Renée Fleming has been called America's diva, which means primarily that her profile as a celebrity is greater than that of most opera singers. In other words, she gets called to do things like sing the national anthem at the first Nationals game, sing at the memorial service at Ground Zero in Manhattan, lead holiday carols at the White House, get interviewed on Letterman, and sing on The Lord of the Rings soundtrack. Lots of... more ›

On a beautiful Sunday afternoon, before the Nationals took on the Phillies at the Bobby, the RFK crowd was treated to a performance of the National Anthem by a trio of pre-teen blonds in American flag dresses which had dubbed themselves, or had been dubbed, Clique. In true Sparklemotion style they sang the anthem (and since it was Sunday, God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch), while the scoreboard announced that their names were Ariel,... more ›