Good morning, Washington. It looks like California’s still on fire, and likely to remain so. Most versions of the aforelinked AP story include the phrase “firefighters all but concede defeat,” and the Post is calling the resulting evacuation the largest in modern history. It all sounds pretty grim. Good luck, West Coast. Yet More Stadium Parking Controversy: The Post reports on the latest in a seemingly neverending series of deliberations over parking at the…

When the advance promo single from The Beanstalk Library landed in our hands in the midst of that blinding heat wave in early August, it seemed perfectly timed. The one-two punch of “Elephantitis”, a rushing, gushing power-popper, and “Fake It”, with its requisite jangle and harmonies, was the perfect antidote to midsummer malaise. Now the proper full-length, America at Night, is finally out, and the band’s finally got the album they’ve been working on since…

Even before our scatterbrained, ADHD world began over-prescribing Ritalin, we giggled at Steven Wright’s one-liners on SNL during the ‘80s. If you’re like us, maybe you even stayed up late into the night listening to albums like I Have a Pony. His brand of comedy, as something of an intellectual punster, appealed to us as kids just as much as it does today. Jokes like, “I was walking in the woods all by myself. A…

Ever wonder why rock critics use phrases like “this generation’s Dylan” to describe Conor Oberst and Bright Eyes? Just to piss people off? As an easy hook for ageing rockers? There may not be another artist today so overtly and capably ripping off the rambling, verse-upon-verse epics Dylan has perfected over the years, but the expectation that comes with the “new Dylan” tag is too heavy for anyone to bear. A few of Oberst’s songs…

If you’re reading this, chances are you live in D.C. If you live in D.C., chances are you have at least a small political geek flag to fly. Today’s your chance to shine. Stop limiting your nerdiness to naming freshman Representatives at the State of the Union, and throw down at a bar tonight in celebration of the Constitution! Yes, Washington, today is the 73rd anniversary of the 21st Amendment’s ratification. What better way to…

Written by DCist contributor Eli Resnick. Apparently, we are all on drugs. There is no other simple explanation for the collective hallucination that has overtaken all three people paying attention to the Washington Capitals’ game late last night against the Colorado Avalanche. No, the rink didn’t fall off its mountain, and no, Ray Bourque did not appear to the crowd in an Avs uniform, hipcheck Ovechkin and score a hat-trick. Instead, something much stranger seemed…

TUESDAY Today’s a good day to study the landscape of war, real and imagined. For a close look at the ephemeral, literary variety, stop by the Corcoran Gallery to hear author Ron Rosenbaum discuss The Shakespeare Wars: Clashing Scholars, Public Fiascos, Palace Coups. If you’d prefer something more current, and harrowing, Paul Rieckhoff brings first-hand experience to the task of Chasing Ghosts: A Soldier’s Fight for America From Baghdad to Washington. Rosenbaum: in the Hammer…

D.C.-via-Charlottesville band Cataract Camp played Black Cat last night, and like foreign food you’ve never tried before, some songs were downright tasty, while others just didn’t quite sit well with this reviewer (who admittedly has not heard a band this ear-drum shatteringly loud in quite some time). Cataract Camp is comprised of Zach Carter on keyboards and lead vocals, Thomas Ogeren on guitar and lead vocals, Drew Butler on bass, and Steve Snider on drums…

With 2,500 products rotating through its grocery shelves, each Trader Joe’s has to churn out a good number of its signature cutesy price labels. In fact, the number’s so good that each TJ’s—including the West End location that opened early this month—must hire a a full-time, four-person art team to deal with it all. The way it works is a classic division-of-labor: two artists devote themselves to creating laminated labels, while one handles 3-D signage…

The Washington Post ran a lovely Metro section article this morning chronicling progress on the mammoth effort to re-engineer the Mixing Bowl from a slapdash mess of on-ramps, merges, exits, and bottlenecks into 50 graceful bridges and 24 streamlined lanes of traffic. As we read the first few sentences of this little human interest-style puff piece, a curious trend jumped out at us.When Woodbridge resident Kit Oliva first drove across the new Springfield interchange ramp,…