Nov 15, 2007
Popcorn & Candy: Music in the Time of War
DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Indie: War/Dance Sometimes you need an antidote before the poison even arrives. Next week Hollywood releases yet another of those diabetic-shock-inducing films about musically gifted youngsters and how they can be an inspiration to us all, designed to make soccer moms everywhere weep into their hankies. One week prior to that, though, comes a documentary from…
Sep 19, 2007
Preview: Dan Deacon at the Black Cat
Baltimore’s Dan Deacon, who plays tonight to a sold-out Black Cat, does things differently. His latest album, the critically acclaimed Spiderman of the Rings, starts with cascading and overlapping samples of Woody Woodpecker’s laugh. Usually called an “absurdist composer” rather than solo electronic musician, he packs a crazy sense of humor, samples and loops into a building frenzy on tracks like “Crystal Cat,” the 11 minute “Wham City,” and “Snake Mistakes.” In concert, Deacon sets…
Jul 18, 2007
Popcorn & Candy: Inaugural Edition
DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive new guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week. Foreign: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg The Avalon is screening tonight, for one night only, this classic musical by Jacques Demy and Michel Legrand. Both bittersweet and endlessly charming, the film features the always enchanting Catherine Deneuve as an umbrella saleswoman in love with the local auto mechanic. Nothing works out the way anyone wants it…
Jun 27, 2007
About Tonight
>> Head out to H Street tonight to catch a free, jam-packed line-up in the Captial Fringe Festival’s first official preview. The festival itself kicks off July 19, but tonight at Palace of Wonders you can see 20 of the more than 200 productions that will be on offer during Cap Fringe. Performances will include The Lesbian and the Flying Pig, Speakeasy, Love and War: Bard’s Broads, Cautionary Tales for Adults, Arts United, Pretty…
Sep 25, 2006
DCist Does V Fest
It was a beautiful Saturday at Pimlico; the predicted scattered showers never materialized and the temperature never went too far in either direction. Stages were set up for the innaugural U.S. edition of V Fest. And what fine stages they were. Never having gone to the Preakness, I didn’t realize how massive Pimlico really is. The man who makes cross-Atlantic flight comfy, spacious and fun did the same for his music festival. Compared to past…
Jul 18, 2006
Hater, Please
We love doing the things we do here at DCist. We like to think we’re entertaining, informing, and maybe, on occasion, delighting the greater Washington area with the things we write about this city. We believe we have lots of satisfied readers. But there are also Haters. Haters are inevitable. Usually we giggle over them privately. Sometimes, though, when they’re just too cute, they deserve a little public attention. Today, we give you this gem…
Oct 17, 2005
Reader, Meet Author
MONDAY: >> We’ve been hearing an awful lot about certain journalists who’ve spent superfluous time in jail for ideals they supposedly believe in — but, before you make any contributions to that gravy train, why not hear from Marie-Helene Carleton, who’ll be in town discussing the travails of her filmmaker partner Micah Garen, who was taken hostage in Iraq in 2003. Even if you’re an avid news junkie, there’s still a lot you don’t know…
Jun 14, 2005
SILVERDOCS: Fun for the Whole Family
( Editor’s Note: This preview of the SILVERDOCS film festival comes to us from Sommer Mathis, who has joined our staff to write about arts.) Just when you were certain that downtown Silver Spring will never be as hip as it wishes it was, SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival returns for its 3rd year to challenge your deeply held beliefs. This year’s opening night gala alone is enough to make any film geek perspire with…