Written by DCist contributor Angela Olson. The Washington Ballet aims to engage families with young children in the world of ballet with its current production of Where the Wild Things Are. Undoubtedly, they achieved this goal with colorful sets and costumes ripped from the pages of Maurice Sendak’s book, and energetic choreography by Artistic Director Septime Webre. It is difficult to criticize such a worthy goal, indeed the children sitting near me were dancing in... more ›

Hollywood, rock and roll and reality TV are all subject to artist Jeremy Blake’s critical eye in Wild Choir: Portraits by Jeremy Blake. The Corcoran Gallery of Art, where the show opens tomorrow, calls his work “psychological pop portraits” — trippy digital videos depicting the lives of cultural figures. Flashing images, voice overs, music and explosions of color are typical in the three videos on display — 2003’s Reading Ossie Clark, 2005’s Sodium Fox, and... more ›

MONDAY >> Were you out of town this weekend, wishing you were home soaking in the goodness that was the DAM! Festival? Fear not. Tonight there is one more show, and it happens to be the festival's biggest. The chanteuse to give all other indie chanteuses a run for their money, Cat Power, is taking the 9:30 Club stage with the Dirty Delta Blues, and a little help from openers Childballads. $25 or your... more ›

Early in Sean Penn's new film, Into the Wild, a pickup truck driving across a frozen landscape drops a young man off at the literal end of the road. The young man is Emile Hirsch, who portrays Christopher McCandless, the Annandale native who sent his $25,000 life savings to Oxfam and disappeared abruptly after graduating from college in 1990. The man driving the truck is James Gallien, who also happens to be the same man... more ›

DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: Into the Wild Annandale native Chris McCandless had just graduated from Emory University in 1990 when he donated his substantial life's savings to charity and set out on the road under the name of "Alexander Supertramp." His highly publicized disappearance ended two years later when his body was found in the Alaskan wilderness, and the... more ›

The Washington Times brings us the most, ahem, alarming piece of news we've seen this morning: that D.C. fire officials are investigating whether some firefighters have been running a prostitution ring out of several of the city's firehouses. Around a dozen employees from at least four firehouses are being investigated for involvement in the prostitution ring, which fire officials first learned of after a criminal investigation last month into claims that a sergeant exposed himself... more ›

>> A singer-songwriter showcase featuring Martin Royle of Washington Social Club, Mick Coogan of The Dance Party and Stephen Kilroy of Middle Distance Runner is being billed by MDR as "Steve, Martin tonight at the Black Cat!" Which is technically true, though we're guessing the show will be a little more earnest guitar playing and a little less Wild and Crazy Guy. Black Cat's back stage. $8, 9 p.m. >> Redskins CB Carlos Rogers... more ›

>> Having drawn comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel since recording their debut album in D.C. last summer, Donny Hue and the Colors, featuring members of the Carlsonics, Nethers, Washington Social Club and Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, will play for free at the Kennedy Center's Millennium Stage at 6 p.m. If you can't make it there in time, the performance will also be broadcast live on the web. >> Check out our review of... more ›

One rule of writing is that your best material tends to come from your experiences. If this isn't true about Dominic Cicere's Near Wild Heaven, then he's damn good at faking it. more ›

MONDAY: Oliver August will be at Politics and Prose to discuss his latest book Inside the Red Mansion, which chronicles the hunt for China's most-wanted fugitive, Lai Changxing. For more information, check out this short film on the making of the book. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Writer Dominic Cicere will be holding a book release party at Galaxy Hut for Near Wild Heaven, which contains a collection of poems, a short story and a screenplay on... more ›

MONDAY Richard Preston, fresh off his Daily Show appearance, where he confounded Jon Stewart, brings his unique perspective on some of America's oldest residents, California redwood trees, in The Wild Trees. Politics and Prose, 5015 Connecticut Ave. NW, 7:00 p.m. TUESDAY With the glut of celebrities proclaiming themselves Buddhists, it's sometimes hard to pin down the historical and ethical roots of this ancient religion. Author Lama Surya Das, who the Dalai Lama calls 'The American... more ›

We here in the Ist-A-Verse know that we're sensational, but it's very rare that we get a chance to be sensationalistic. This week, we've decided to have ourselves a little fun and try our hand at tacky tabloid headlines, using nothing more than our favorite posts from this week. Torontoist Special Report: Rosie to Trump: "Fire 300 Bicyclists for Fraud!" On DCist: Students Go Wild for Slogans, Secrets and Sexual Harassment The action was thick... more ›

So much is happening in classical music this week, much of it already sold out. Here are a few things for which tickets are still available and that should be of interest. JUST VISITING: >> The award for best free concert of the week goes to the Hilliard Ensemble, one of the best choral groups in the world, visiting the Freer Gallery of Art on Wednesday (January 24, 7:30 p.m.). Their program includes music by... more ›

We get it. You have strong feelings on the smoking ban. The little number next to the "Smoking Ban May Get Tougher..." link at the top of the page can attest to that. Overheard has resolved not to take a public position either way on the issue. We are uniters, not dividers. But we will say this: people carrying conversations that were taking place at a semi-private table in a noisy bar out into the... more ›

Washington may be deserted this week, but there is still art to see. If you are stuck at work without much to do, ducking out early to hit some less-crowded galleries would be an excellent idea. Here a few things to help you conclude 2006. >> You have a couple weeks, through January 15, to see Ruth Duckworth, Modernist Sculptor, a selection of 80 ceramic pieces at the Renwick Gallery. Many of these works are... more ›

D.C. United entered last night's match against Red Bull New York with a grim resolve. In contrast to the pregame festivities in the RFK parking lot and the excitement of the 21,455 in attendance, United's starting 11 didn't crack a hint of a smile during the starting lineup announcements. They knew that for all intents and purposes, last week's favorable result was meaningless; the scars from last year's embarrassing playoff defeat attested to the... more ›

By DCist Contributor Morgan Hungerford. DC is not a city of sample sales and trunk shows, so when we have one fashion-related event worthy of attendance it is Very Exciting; when we have two it is a Big Deal. And three? Well, you lucky, things, let’s just say you’d better take advantage. Tonight is the Third Thursday MidCity Shopper Social; shop the U Street Corridor and 14th Street for special deals at Junction. Wild Women... more ›

Having dismissed Frank Robinson at the end of the season, the Nats are casting a wide net for possible replacements. Reports yesterday regarding the sudden firing (and availability) of four-time World Series winner Joe Torre now appear to be premature, according to the NY Post. With the nascent Torre-to-the-Nats campaign already toast, we take a look at the other candidates in the rumor mill... Lou Pinella Experience: Played briefly for O’s and Indians, but mostly... more ›

TUESDAY Tonight, political gadfly and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington discusses On Becoming Fearless...in Love, Work, and Life. With her kind of money, we’d sleep better at night, too. Olssons Books & Records, 418 7th St. NW., at 12:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY Rahm Emanuel and Bruce Reed hold forth at Politics and Prose tonight, discussing The Plan, which we’re guessing is the long awaited word from Democratic lawmakers that they’ve finally had an idea, and not... more ›

By DCist contributor Celeste Dawn Mitchell Any time's a good time for barbecue -- it's one of the few foods I have a perpetual hankerin' for. And the saving grace in working in the outer reaches of Northeast is my proximity to Hogs on the Hill, home of "DC's Best Hickory Smoked Pit B-B-Q." The venerable "Hogs" is nowhere near the Hill, and the number "3" on the storefront is a holdover from its franchise... more ›

You may have heard: some team called the Redskins plays their season opener this weekend. It seems as though that team has some sort of local following, so attention may start to shift away from baseball in the region soon. more ›

Hill staffers, it's your turn to bathe in the harsh glare of the reality TV spotlight. The new six-part Capitol Hill documentary series The Hill (not to be confused with the Laguna Beach spin off The Hills) shadows the young staff of Congressman Robert Wexler (D-Fla) as they navigate the slippery halls of political power. While a documentary about the wonky inner workings of a Hill office sounds mundane at best to us, we are... more ›

God, we're so sick of Snakes on a Plane that we want to kill anyone and everyone that makes a "something on a something" joke. But then we realized that there was no way we could ever win this fight, and, hell, if you can't beat them, we might as well join them. And with that, you have the theme of this weeks' Gothamist network post. Austinist makes it easy for us, with Candidate on... more ›

Maryland Lt. Governor and candidate for the U.S. Senate Michael Steele must be red in the face these days -- after calling an association with the Republican Party and President George W. Bush "a scarlet letter" in an anonymous interview with the Post's Dana Milbank, Steele is now trying to limit the damage of his surprisingly honest comments. "I'm not trying to dis the president," he was quoted as saying by the Washington Times.... more ›

Shanghaiist probably knows a little more about China than the Chicago Sun-Times. Giving them the benefit of the doubt on that one. The city does to have a music scene. Don't even front like they don't. They also have Dorito bananas and white guys shopping for wives. What they don't have is any more tolerance for jaywalkers. Bostonist sees Boston and Somerville each whip out their art and face off. A plagiarized novel is the... more ›

This entry was written by new DCist contributor Jeff Beam Away from the three ring circus created by Major League Baseball, City Council, and Mayor Williams’ office, the 2006 edition of the Nationals prepares this week to close shop in Viera, Florida and head north for another season along the Anacostia. A number of roster moves via trade, promotion, and shoulder tears have changed the look of the team, so we’ve compiled a season preview... more ›

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We know what you’re thinking – you have absolutely no idea what to wear to the DCist happy hour tonight (plug, plug). While all we ask is that you wear your drinking shoes, we understand if your work attire feels a little too corporate for Cue Bar, or if you feel intimidated by the bastion of cool that is the DCist staff. more ›

In a city whose residents love to talk about how they've lifted themselves up by their bootstraps, it's no wonder there are so many shoe stores. And while archaeologists digging up the remains of D.C. one day will likely conjecture that we exclusively wore shoes from Comfort One, that’s no reason to conform. DCist checked out some local footwear purveyors in search of a loafer-less life. more ›

The Nationals ended their final road trip of the season in fine fashion, lighting up the scoreboard on consecutive nights and earning a three game sweep against the fading Florida Marlins. Last night's 11-7 win was highlighted by a seven run, seven hit 4th inning that guaranteed an easy road to victory despite a not-so-good performance from Esteban Loaiza (6IP, 10H, 6R, 1BB, 1HR), and also guaranteed that the Nats can finish no worse... more ›