Results tagged “thewire”

Another March, another run of sold-out Pogues shows at the 9:30 Club. Despite the propitious occasion of St. Patrick’s Day — the equinox 'round which the graying-but-still-preeminent purveyors of Emerald Isle folk-punk (funk?) book their East Coast tours in recent years — Tuesday night’s hootenanny was no more gleefully shitfaced than their 9:30 gig from last year on March 9. In fact, it was arguably less so: Frontman Shane MacGowan seemed more lucid than the last time he stumbled through town, and his snarled vocals more intelligible. And the other seven active-duty Pogues? Affable, enthusiastic professionals all -- especially Spider Stacy, the group's tin whistler and fill-in frontman who who bashed a metal tray against his head whenever additional percussion was required. The mid-show appearance of a two-man horn section gave a warm shading to several unabashedly sentimental tunes, but especially a late-in-the-game “Rainy Night in SoHo.”

President Obama's inauguration was a star-studded affair, with some of America's most famous personalities and entertainers showing up at concerts, gala events or with prime seats to Tuesday's swearing-in. One star, though, tried to translate her fame into better seating—with mixed results.

Just a few days from now, the critically acclaimed HBO series The Wire will kick off its fifth and final season. Considered one of the best and most realistic portrayals of crime and corruption in a struggling city (Baltimore, in this case), the show traces the thin line that divides the good guys from the bad. Whether cops stealing stacks of cash during drug busts or thieving dockworkers pooling together money for a stained-glass window at their local church, the distinction between law and lawlessness is often hard to find.

One of those longstanding D.C. arguments may be finally coming to a resolution, and you can feel the excitement in the air this morning, Washington. No, it's not the handgun ban, or taxicab meters, or anything to do with voting rights -- but there sure are a lot of longstanding arguments in this town, now that we mention it. Rather, metro riders should keep their eyes peeled for two railcars that will soon be sporting...

We're not quite sure what to make of HBO's Entourage. On the one hand it consistently provides a breezy half hour filled with laughs, wish-fulfillment, and little to no plot to slow things down. On the other, its sensibility seems geared toward the sort of despicable lunkheads who insisted on calling everything "money" in college; and we're pretty sure that if we ever met Turtle in a bar, punches would end up being thrown.

Campus Progress is determined to keep you busy. Last week they hosted an early peek at an episode of The Wire. Tomorrow they'll be continuing their advance screening M.O., offering an opportunity to watch an episode of the civil rights documentary Eyes On The Prize prior to its return to PBS later this fall. A screening of a twenty year-old documentary may not sound like a big deal, but in this case it is. Despite...

You're probably sick of hearing it by now. We're sorry about that. But we're only thinking of your well-being when we say it: you really ought to be watching The Wire. The stunningly complex and believable series about Baltimore's drug trade and pervasive institutional decay is only a couple of weeks into its fourth season on HBO, but the plaudits are already here in force. A 98 out of 100 on metacritic should provide some context. This is, at the very least, among the best dramas currently on TV. And now's a great time to get into it: taking a relatively fresh start, this season promises to examine Baltimore's failing school system. We're confident that by the end of it the D.C. educational system will look like the School of Athens by comparison. Lucky for you, Campus Progress wants to help you discover the show. They'll be hosting a screening of the season's third episode at 7 p.m. this Wednesday at the Mayflower Hotel. Unfortunately, all of the RSVP slots are currently taken — but you should think about getting on the waiting list anyway, because in addition to a chance to catch the new episode early, there'll be a Q&A with creator David Simon and writer Ed Burns immediately after. If this lengthy interview with Simon is any indication, it should be an interesting chat. Besides, they've already changed venues to accomodate the large crowd once. Who knows — by the end of this process, we might all be watching it at RFK. But if you don't get lucky on the wait list, you should tune in this Sunday anyway. And while you're at it, you might want to check out our interview with novelist and Wire writer George Pelecanos.

FRIDAY: >> The fine folks at the Black Cat are throwing themselves a 13th anniversary party tonight, and bully for them — it can hardly be an argument that the bar and music venue has become a nightlife mainstay for those of us who like our drinks cheap and our juke boxes funky. The convergence of two unlucky symbols (13 and black cats) isn't lost on the staff, who are encouraging you to go ahead...

It's getting down to the wire. The city's Democratic primary will occur next Tuesday, at which point the identity of the city's next mayor will almost certainly be decided (there's always time for post-primary scandal, we suppose — or maybe just hope). Today's Post tackles the race with an all-out blitz. If you've somehow missed out on the flyers, handshakes and speeches that have blanketed the city these past few months, you may want to...

Author George Pelecanos has been writing about life in D.C. for over fifteen years, but it's not the Washington you expect. He shuns the overdone political thriller, with the glamorization of Capital Hill and shiny Northwest. Instead, Pelecanos finds the homegrown stories of families who've been here for generations. The author, who also contributes to HBO's The Wire, was born in the city and raised in Mt. Pleasant (but now lives in Silver Spring), and...

Today, the Wonkettes have answered reader requests to take on the struggling Post effort to chronicle local political news, blog-style. It seems that the Post's D.C. Wire has been on an unintentional hiatus for over three days, and their commenters are letting them hear about it. Wonkette reposts this excerpt, from the comment stream of the Wire's latest post (on February 17): 3+ days and counting. They manage to put out a paper every day,...

Well, they just won't go away, will they now? In winning their last two straight against the Mets, your Washington Nationals have made up a little ground in the Wild Card standings. Hector Carrasco took the baton from an ailing John Patterson on Tuesday night, coming through with four solid innings and setting the tone for a 4-2 win (Rauch, Eischen, Majewski, and Cordero combined for five scoreless innings). Last night, Esteban Loaiza gave most of the members of the beleaguered bullpen a much needed breather, tossing seven gritty innings (7H, 3R, 0BB, 5K) to pitch the Nats to a 6-3 victory (Cordero earned his 46th save). Livan Hernandez takes the hill for the Nats this afternoon with a chance to sweep the series.

There's a minor controversy today on eGullet in reference to Tom Sietsema's review of Pazo, which will appear in Sunday's Post Magazine. This time, the controversy isn't over the restaurant's rating (three stars), but over its location: 1425 Aliceanna St., Baltimore.