Feb 25, 2010
Popcorn & Candy: Because It’s There
DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. North Face Disappointed with the snow non-event this morning? Thinking that this winter has been great and all, but couldn’t we have more snow, more cold, more extreme and life-threatening weather? North Face might just satisfy your apparent lust for frostbite. The film chronicles the attempt of a pair of German climbers who, before the 1936…
Sep 26, 2008
DCist Interview: Tia Lessin
Trouble the Water directors Carl Deal and Tia Lessin Tia Lessin’s path to her first feature documentary as a director started right here in Washington D.C., and carried her through production duties on some of the biggest profile documentary projects of the past decade, including three Michael Moore films (and his TV series), and Martin Scorcese’s Dylan doc, No Direction Home. With her co-director Carl Deal, she has created one of the definitive documents…
Sep 25, 2008
Popcorn & Candy: High Water Mark
DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Trouble the Water One of the hottest tickets of the SILVERDOCS film festival earlier this year was Tia Lessin and Carl Deal’s moving documentary on Hurricane Katrina, which we reviewed in June. The buzz beforehand was that the pair had broken the mold in their look at the tragedy, giving viewers a rare look at things…
Dec 03, 2007
Helping the Musicians of New Orleans Return Home
“It pissed me off.” That is how R.E.M.’s Mike Mills described his reaction to seeing firsthand the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and the stagnated recovery effort since. Though his band has a history of political involvement, Mills himself has shied away from activism until now. Having seen the suffering of New Orleanians in the aftermath of Katrina, he declared, “No one can appreciate the destruction without seeing it and I was very aware that…
Sep 04, 2007
Morning Roundup: Back to School Edition
Good morning, Washington, and welcome to September. After what was quite possibly the most beautiful weekend in the history of late summer weather in this city, we’ve finally arrived at the date many of us still associate with “back-to-school” — the Tuesday after Labor Day. So sharpen your pencils, polish your lunchbox and make sure you have the right Trapper Keeper as we check out today’s headlines. At Least Four Weekend Killings: The Examiner…
Aug 14, 2007
CD Review: Terence Blanchard Remembers Katrina
This month marks the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s assault upon the city of New Orleans. The suffering and hardship of that city’s citizens no longer makes headlines, but the havoc caused by the storm is something many people still live with on a daily basis. Jazz trumpeter and composer Terence Blanchard is one of those people. A son of the Crescent City and musical descendant of fellow New Orleanians Buddy Bolden, Louis Armstrong, and…
Jun 12, 2007
About Tonight
>> Two quality offerings from the Black Cat tonight: Japan’s uber-weird noise outfit Melt-Banana take the mainstage with Hex Machine at 8:30 p.m., $13. Plus Falls Church native and now Richmond-based newgrass singer Josh Small is in the Backstage tonight, with Tim Barry and The Wading Girl, for a paltry $8 at 8 p.m. >> Campus Progress is calling all summer interns and other young folks to head over to Science Club tonight for…
Jun 11, 2007
Reader, Meet Author
MONDAY: Leftover anger from last week’s G8 Summit? Check out John Perkins at Politics and Prose tonight. He’ll be discussing his newest book The Secret History of the American Empire: Economic Hit Men, Jackals, and the Truth about Global Corruption, which details the shady deals behind U.S. foreign aid to developing countries. 7 p.m. TUESDAY: Hurricane season is upon us yet again, and this August will mark the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating impact…
Mar 01, 2007
Arts Agenda: Crammin’ It In
>> Welcome to March and another First Friday in Dupont Circle from 6 to 8 p.m. Find the gallery locations here. >> We’ve all got our old movie favorites. If you pop in Gone with the Wind everytime you’re home sick, or channel surf for old episodes of I Dream of Jeanie on a Sunday afternoon, you’re just the person Mark Bennett is drawing for. His India ink draftings of the fictional homes used in…
Nov 03, 2006
Joseph Arthur Rocks Then Trashes Jammin’ Java
Akron, Ohio’s very own Joseph Arthur is having a busy year. First, Michael Stipe and a bunch of other big-name artists released an EP with different versions of his song “In the Sun” to raise money for victims of Hurricane Katrina. Then, he showed up on The Twilight Singers’ excellent album Powder Burns, adding that sweet falsetto to several of the songs. And last night the now-New York-based artist was out at Jammin’ Java promoting…