You’ve gotta love a man who can make the “All The World’s A Stage” monologue not sound like something you’ve heard 80 zillion times before. That man is Joseph Marcell (best known as Geoffrey from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air), offering the most nuanced of performances in the generally strong cast of Folger Theater’s As You Like It. Granted, his Jacques is one of the more interesting roles in a Shakespeare work that has its…
The Oranges Band’s last album, The World and Everything In It, is the kind of record most music writers would feel obligated to say is “pretty good.” It’s got catchy songs, but no hook is too forceful; it’s got fuzzy, but stately guitars and giddy, but assured performances; and the singer has a little of that British-circa-1981 thing going on. And he’s singing about summer, and girls, and often about girls in the summer who…
Bellflur Thursday’s opening band for the DAM! Festival show at DC9 was Gaithersburg’s Bellflur. Initial impressions that they were (very) heavily indebted to OK Computer-era Radiohead proved true, with the band either attacking most songs with a “Paranoid Android”-like aggression, or plodding through “You and Whose Army?” style ballads. There were nice touches though – a full arsenal of effects pedals and some spooky vocal lines – and the band has a knack for making…
Oct 25, 2006
DAM Fest: Listen Up
We’ve talked about the lineup, interviewd the organizer, and even talked to a couple bands. Now we want to give you the chance to hear what’s coming our way with some MP3 previews of a few DAM Fest bands. The music staff got together, divied up the lineup, gathered some files together and is now serving up brief breakdowns of a few bands D.C. will play host to this weekend. If you’ve got some insight…
Oct 20, 2006
Ghost Hunting 101
Do strange sounds in your musty old Georgetown townhouse keep you up at night? Ever wonder who that bloody, transparent little girl is at the foot of your bed? Is George Washington, himself, sharing your bathroom? Who are you gonna call? Why, you’ll call the CPRI (Center for Paranormal Research and Investigation), of course. With Halloween right around the corner, we thought it might be helpful to prepare for the horrors that await by speaking…
Sep 08, 2006
Out and About: Weekend Picks
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…
Jul 24, 2006
Weekly Music Agenda
MONDAY >> Everyone, we’re stumped. We’ve been scratching our heads for weeks now, trying to figure out why three bands with as much buzz following them around as Cold War Kids, Midlake, and Sound Team (pictured) would be playing the Black Cat’s back stage, especially when nothing else is booked upstairs. We loved Cold War Kids when we saw them last month. Midlake is winning fans left and right, including a very hyperbolic Jason Lee….
Jun 11, 2006
Elsewhere in the Ist-a-verse
LAist is flashing a sad peace out to their editor Carolyn Kellogg with one hand and bumping knuckles with their new head typist L.A. blogger king Tony Pierce with the other. Where do ist editors go when they hang up the ‘editorial we’? They take on MySpace, apparently. At least Ben Brown does. Austinist reminds of the just rewards of less savory careers this week and then they witness the Arctic Monkeys and We Are…
Mar 07, 2006
Play Ball, and Hookey
It’s no secret that this Thursday and Friday afternoon thousands of area employees will “run errands,” sneak off to the office TV lounge, or otherwise alt-tab their way through the day as NCAA conference tournament play blesses us all with daytime television that doesn’t suck. March Madness isn’t the only productivity killer available this week, however. The World Baseball Classic, which began last week with Pool A games featuring China, Taiwan, Korea, and Japan, comes…
Aug 16, 2005
John Irving at the National Press Club
From DCist contributor Kristin Kovner Since when did literary events become D.C.’s hot tickets? Since last night, when John Irving decided to grace the National Press Club with his (commanding) presence and promote his new bestselling novel, “Until I Find You.” On Monday evening, over 400 fans packed into the NPC’s Ballroom to listen to the author of “The Cider House Rules,” “The World According to Garp,” and “A Prayer for Owen Meany,” read aloud…