O, Colin Meloy! How your cherubic visage and reedy vox rather astoundingly do not stoke within me a zealous ardor to curl the fingers of mine hand into a mightie ball and hurl it with an urgencie most awesome and terrible straight at the furry vortex from whence issues your sugar-dusted melodies and capricious rhymes!

Good morning, Washington. How was your State of the Union viewing experience? We hope that “enjoyable” is the answer — although not so enjoyable that you now have a State of the Union hangover experience (don’t you love living in a city where such a thing is a possibility?). Whatever your experience, this morning it seems like some of the week’s frantic political energy is draining out of the city, as the shot to the…

Congratulations, Alyssa R.! Your thoughtful commentary on this week’s Decemberists show won you the gatefold vinyl copy of The Crane Wife and a special, limited edition lithograph signed by the band! We were particularly fond of Alyssa’s social and political observations as they related to the show. Here’s what she had to say: A couple of thoughts: 1)The material from “The Crane Wife” rocks a lot harder on stage than it does on the album,…

Behold the power of Broken Social Scene (and constant touring). When Feist made her first stop in town last May she played to a half-full room at the Black Cat opening for British Sea Power. A few more stops through town in ’05 and a mere eight months later she is headlining the Cat and sold it out to boot. The crowd inside was a mix of hipsters and um…people that don’t go to many…

This past week brought January, that month of cookouts and picnics, beach trips and suntans, to a close. The local groundhog said winter is going to stick around for six more weeks. We’re not one to trust wildlife for our weather forecasts; then again, the groundhog knew shit was bad in New Orleans long before Michael Brown. This week in DCist, we announced the long overdue return of Unbuckled, and we set up our own…

He is a writer, writer of fictions. He is the heart that you call home. He is Colin Meloy, front man for The Decemberists who wrapped up his solo tour this past Saturday with a sold out show at the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria. Tables filled up early with a diverse age range and variations on the dark-rimmed glasses typically worn by Colin, while others sat cross-legged in front of the stage like children…

Man, after last night’s DCist Happy Hour, we’re not sure we want to do anything for the rest of the weekend except curl up in our beds and pound Advil. But for the rest of you folks, here are some events we think are worth dropping by. FRIDAY: >>In this week’s Art Agenda, we erroneously reported that photographer Samantha Wolov’s exhibit opened Saturday evening; the opening actually takes place tonight from 6 p.m. to 9…

At the sold-out and uncomfortably crowded Colin Meloy concert last Friday night at Iota, you could hear whispers of discontent make their way through the audience. “I can’t even move!” or “This is ridiculous; they obviously oversold the show,” or “That jerk just spilled beer on my shoe,” and perhaps the most common lament: “Where’s Colin?!” But when Meloy, the front man for Portland indie folk group The Decemberists, took the stage grinning mischievously and…

If you can make it through the 4-5 inches of snow that are sure to shut down our fair city this weekend, we’ve got some picks to round out your weekend of snowball fights and hot chocolate. FRIDAY: >> Velvet Lounge celebrates its sixth birthday this weekend with a Friday lineup of Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, The Small Shouts (featuring Olivia from Washington Social Club), Debutants, and Greenline. >> On-the-rise female rapper Jean Grae…

Looking for a few good shows? Our music picks for this week follow. TUESDAY: >> The Carlsonics (pictured at right) continue their month-long Tuesday night residency at DC9. Read the DCist review of their performance here. With The American Watercolor Movement & The Heartless Bastards. $6. THURSDAY: >> Noise Against Facism: The Inauguration got you down? You should head over to the Black Cat tonight, where for $12 you can see Mirror/Dash, a duo of…