>> The Capitol Christmas Tree lighting ceremony is scheduled to take place at 5 p.m. this evening on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol. >> Washington-area writers Michelle Brafman, Merle Collins, T. Greenwood, Joanne Leedom-Ackerman, Faye Moskowitz, Barbara Mujica, Jessica Neely, Amy Stolls, Hananah Zaheer, and Christy J. Zink will be at Politics and Prose to read from their contributions to the latest anthology, Electric Grace: Still More Fiction by Washington Area Women….

Fried Chicken Frenzy Returns Fried chicken fanatics have something to get excited about. Both Colorado Kitchen and Ray’s the Classics have restored their famous versions of the dish. Everyone lamented when Gillian Clark pulled her chicken from the menu a few years ago. But now, she is hosting burgers and fried chicken nights on December 11 and January 8 (the second Tuesday of the month). Apparently her chicken is so good that she told…

Howard Kurtz’s WaPo column today concerns the kerfuffle over Tim Page’s angry email to Ward 8 Council Member Marion Barry’s office that we told you about yesterday. As you’ll recall, Page, who writes about classical music for the Post, received an unsolicited press release from Barry’s office about the city’s deal with Specialty Hospitals of America to purchase the Greater Southeast Community Hospital. Page then fired off an angry email in which he called the…

Channel 9 reporter Bruce Johnson has broken the story on the dust-up at the Washington Post this past week. Classical music critic Tim Page, winner of a Pulitzer prize, has long been one of the best writers in the Style section, making the paper’s shrinking coverage of classical music all the more shameful. In response to a mass email from the staff of Ward 8 Council member Marion Barry, which was sent to Page apparently…

On Saturday night, Washington National Opera opened its fall season with an oh-so-edgy rendition of a tired old chestnut, Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème. It is the fifth mounting of this opera by WNO since 1984, which works out to a production every four or five years on average. Film director Mariusz Treliński created this new production for the Teatr Wielki in Warsaw, which also gave Washington his Butterfly and Andrea Chénier. The aim, laudable…

FRIDAY: >> You don’t need us to tell you any more about local heavyweights Benjy Ferree, Meredith Bragg and the Terminals, or Greenland. But tonight is Ferree’s first time headlining at Black Cat’s mainstage, so don’t forget to show up and lend your support. 9 p.m., $10. SATURDAY: >> Guitarist Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs will spin a DJ set at the Rock and Roll Hotel. $10 after 10 p.m., free before. >>…

In addition to having a vibrant classical music concert scene, Washington is home to a number of classical performers and composers, like Nicholas Maw, composer of Sophie’s Choice, who now makes his home in the Maryland suburbs. When a great performer dies, classical music fans everywhere mourn the loss of a favorite voice or sound, but when such a performer also happens to be a fellow Washingtonian, it hits closer to home for us here….

Last week, I recommended the final production of Washington National Opera’s season to you. Monday night, DCist was in the audience for the second performance of Rossini’s L’Italiana in Algeri, and I can now say confidently that this production is a “smashing success” (as Tim Page described it for the Post). While not perfect as I heard it, the voices and musical performance are all of high quality and the wacky story is likely to…

In Sunday’s Post, classical music critic Tim Page asked the question a lot of us are wondering about these days: who will replace Leonard Slatkin at the podium of the National Symphony Orchestra? Slatkin still has two seasons left on his contract, but some rumormongers whisper his name as a possible replacement for Daniel Barenboim, who will be departing the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the end of this season. If Slatkin does vacate the post,…

Last Saturday, Washington National Opera opened its new production of George Gershwin’s classic American opera Porgy and Bess (1935), and this DCist was happy to be in the Kennedy Center Opera House for the performance Wednesday night. We know that many DCists wonder why we bother to cover things like opera and classical music, which seem too stuffy and expensive for many people. However, this opera especially is part of our heritage as Americans, and…