Good news, Washington: our vicarious American Idol dreams live on! Despite a performance of "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" that prompted criticism even from Paula Abdul, D.C. resident Antonella Barba has made it through the show's first round of voting. Nice as this is to hear, it's not unexpected. DialIdol.com, a site that provides autodialing software and analyzes the incidence of busy signals to gauge voting volume, predicted that Barba would finish safely... more ›

Sarah Kryscio (pronounced "Krissy-O") is a Wisconsin transplant to the D.C. area. When this DCist asked her if she had any voice training, she meekly answered "some." Perhaps she was embarrassed, but 'some' would be an understatement. You could even tell that at her gig opening for Mike Holden at Revolution Records, where she impressed the intimate (no mics) crowd with her singing chops, her note-holding chops, and her lung-capacity chops. That's a lot of chops, but it seems effortless for this young musician who's been singing since she was three and took nine years of classical voice lessons beginning at eight. more ›