CITYPAPER Washington
PoliTics: PePco’s sofT Power 7
Free Volume 35, no. 6 WashingtonCityPaPer.Com february 6–12, 2015
Notes from the Underground Can Metro ever get any better? 12 PhotograPhs by Darrow MontgoMery
food: This Table’s for sale 21
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INSIDE 12 notes
COOKING
from the underground Can Metro ever improve? And will it?
PhotograPhs by Darrow MontgoMery
4 Chatter distriCt Line
7 Loose Lips: No one utility should have all this power. 9 City Desk: The national media’s favorite local D.C. cliche 10 Gear Prudence 11 Savage Love 19 Buy D.C.
d.C. feed
21 Young & Hungry: Pay to plate? 24 Brew In Town: Oliver Winter’s Wolves 24 Are You Gonna Eat That? Tree ant egg laab salad
arts
27 Theater: Klimek on The Widow Lincoln at Ford’s and Mary Stuart at Folger 29 Arts Desk: Rule No. 1: Easy on the flash. 30 Curtain Calls: Ritzel on Gigi at the Kennedy Center 31 Short Subjects: Olszewski on The Duke of Burgundy 32 Speed Reads: Athitakis on W. Joseph Campbell’s 1995: The Year the Future Began 34 Discography: Hodges on Stranger in the Alps’ Pattern Matching and Essner on Paperhaus’ Paperhaus
DESIGNING DRAWING WRITING
City List
37 City Lights: Simon Shaheen, oud virtuoso 37 Music 42 Theater 44 Film
46 CLassifieds diversions
BAKING RECORDING
45 Crossword
on the Cover Photograph by Darrow Montgomery
“
we’re democratizing what would otherwise be held for the Jay zs, the al gores, the madeleine albrights of the world, —Page 21
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CHATTER
In which readers praise powerful women and continue to hate Uncle Earl
It’s a Woman’s World
Me and My Shadow. D.C.’s most ignominious character, shadow campaign financier Jeff Thompson, was once again the subject of a Loose Lips column, this time because of a $1 million investment he made in a Brookland private school with ties to a former top District health official. (Thompson’s D.C. Chartered Health Plan, Will Sommer reminds us, once held a city Medicaid contract worth hundreds of millions.) “Seriously? Anyone who took from Jeffy T should be thrown out of town, not left in office,” John Nowicki tweeted. “Jeff Thompson needs to be put in jail instead of suing D.C. Government,” Ben Sul said of Thompson’s $80 million lawsuit that alleges D.C. employees worked to wreck his company.
MRAs soMehow did not catch wind of Sarah anne hugheS’ history of women in D.C. politics (“A Woman’s Place,” Jan. 30), leaving the cover story’s comments section and Washington City Paper’s social media feeds (mostly) free of anything but love for the piece. “Man, this is really good,” tweeted Bloomberg View’s Alex Brun, while @LizEB13 wrote, “Fascinating look at history of #women in #DC #politics. I have a lot of ladies to look up to in this city #IloveDC.” Washington Times reporter Andrea Noble took note of the historic photos: “Loving the vintage D.C. Council portraits dug up for @wcpsarah’s great story on history of women in local politics.” While most readers focused on the positives of the story, D.C. Abortion Fund volunteer MDRSWRJ tweeted, “Perhaps another reason Congress denies us autonomy #freeDC #LiftTheDCBan.” While calling it a “great article,” Carolyn Dungee Nicholas lamented that more was not said about Hilda Mason. Nicholas, president of the Hilda and Charles Mason Charitable Foundation, said the councilmember was an “indefatigable champion of the young, the old, the ill, the disabled, the homeless and the inadequately sheltered, the uneducated and the undereducated, the unemployed and the
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underemployed, the underprivileged and the powerless, the racially, socially, economically, and politically excluded.” Indeed, Hughes herself said on Twitter, “My only regret about the women in D.C. politics piece is that I couldn’t include more. Just an incredible history.”
You’re a Bone Machine. The only thing that makes people madder than shady political dealings is bone broth, as Jessica Sidman’s short piece on the trend revealed. Really? commented, “Wait, 8 ounces of stock for four dollars?1?!?! And then you have to pay extra to, you know, make it taste like something. I’m sure it’s very good stock but at that that price, it has to be.” “NO NO NO NO shut this bullshit down - you know it’s ridiculous. It’s just broth. That’s soup minus the food,” @mizujada tweeted. @TheTravelingDan joked, “I’ve heard adding noodles to this broth is all the rage in Japan.” Perhaps soothed by a big bowl of bone broth, @bitasilverman made the case for the liquid meal: “YES! a remedy as old as the moon and sun! remedy for everything. Im gonna stock up--can be frozen for later too!” At least, as City Paper’s Zach Rausnitz pointed out on Twitter, new Art Director Lauren Heneghan’s accompanying illustrations were cool. Want to see your name in bold on this page? Jump into the comments at washingtoncitypaper.com. Or send letters, gripes, clarifications, or praise to mail@washingtoncitypaper.com.
puBLiSHER: Amy Austin EDiToR: mike mAdden MANAgiNg EDiToRS: emily Q. HAzzArd, sArAH Anne HugHes ARTS EDiToR: CHristinA CAuteruCCi FooD EDiToR: JessiCA sidmAn CiTY LigHTS EDiToR: CAroline Jones STAFF WRiTERS: Will sommer, AAron Wiener STAFF pHoTogRApHER: dArroW montgomery CoNTRiBuToRS: JoHn Anderson, mArtin AustermuHle, eriCA BruCe, sopHiA BusHong, kriston CApps, Jeffry Cudlin, mAtt dunn, deAn essner, JonAtHAn l. fisCHer, noAH gittell, sArAH godfrey, trey grAHAm, louis JACoBson, steve kiviAt, CHris klimek, AndreW lApin, ryAn little, CHristine mACdonAld, dAve mCkennA, BoB mondello, mArCus J. moore, Justin moyer, triCiA olszeWski, mike pAArlBerg, tim regAn, reBeCCA J. ritzel, Ally sCHWeitzer, tAmmy tuCk, Joe WArminsky, miCHAel J. West, BrAndon Wu iNTERNS: JAmes ConstAnt, morgAn Hines oNLiNE DEvELopER: zACH rAusnitz DigiTAL SALES MANAgER: sArA diCk BuSiNESS DEvELopMENT ASSoCiATE: kevin provAnCe SALES MANAgER: niCHolAs diBlAsio SENioR ACCouNT ExECuTivES: melAnie BABB, Joe HiCkling, AliCiA merritt ACCouNT ExECuTivES: lindsAy BoWermAn, CHelseA estes, mArk kulkosky MARkETiNg AND pRoMoTioNS MANAgER: stepHen BAll SALES EvENTS MANAgER: HeAtHer mCAndreWs SALES AND MARkETiNg ASSoCiATE: CHloe fedynA CREATivE DiRECToR: JAndos rotHstein ART DiRECToR: lAuren HenegHAn CREATivE SERviCES MANAgER: BrAndon yAtes gRApHiC DESigNER: lisA deloACH opERATioNS DiRECToR: Jeff BosWell SENioR AD CooRDiNAToR: JAne mArtinACHe DigiTAL AD opS SpECiALiST: lori Holtz iNFoRMATioN TECHNoLogY DiRECToR: Jim gumm SouthComm: CHiEF ExECuTivE oFFiCER: CHris ferrell iNTERiM CHiEF FiNANCiAL oFFiCER: glynn riddle CoNTRoLLER: todd pAtton CHiEF MARkETiNg oFFiCER: susAn torregrossA CREATivE DiRECToR: HeAtHer pierCe DiRECToR oF CoNTENT/oNLiNE DEvELopMENT: pAtriCk rAins CHiEF TECHNoLogY oFFiCER: mAtt loCke CHiEF opERATiNg oFFiCER/gRoup puBLiSHER: eriC norWood DiRECToR oF DigiTAL SALES AND MARkETiNg: dAvid WAlker LoCAL ADvERTiSiNg: Washington city paper, (202) 332-2100, Ads@WAsHingtonCitypAper.Com voL. 35, No. 6 FEBRuARY 6-12 2015 Washington city paper is puBlisHed every Week And is loCAted At 1400 eye st. nW, suite 900, WAsHington, d.C. 20005. CAlendAr suBmissions Are WelComed; tHey must Be reCeived 10 dAys Before puBliCAtion. u.s. suBsCriptions Are AvAilABle for $250 per yeAr. issue Will Arrive severAl dAys After puBliCAtion. BACk issues of tHe pAst five Weeks Are AvAilABle At tHe offiCe for $1 ($5 for older issues). BACk issues Are AvAilABle By mAil for $5. mAke CHeCks pAyABle to WAsHington City pAper or CAll for more options. © 2014 All rigHts reserved. no pArt of tHis puBliCAtion mAy Be reproduCed WitHout tHe Written permission of tHe editor.
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Washington City Paper’s Best of D.C. voting season launched at Tony & Joe’s Seafood Place in Georgetown on January 21, when over 500 attendees became the first to cast their ballots for their favorite restaurants, service providers, and 300 other categories. Voters noshed on delicious seafood delicacies while enjoying a lively open bar and the debut of New Belgium Brewing’s Slow Ride Session IPA. Local cover band Party Like It’s provided the evening’s soundtrack, while guests mingled and received goodies from event sponsors Monroe Street Market and Car2Go.
6 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
DISTRICTLINE
Marion S. Barry Jr. University of the District of Columbia? washingtoncitypaper.com/go/UDC
Loose Lips
ElEctric Boogaloo
opponents of a pepco sale face the company’s connections in District government The District has a chance to stop Pepco, the local unreliable power company, from being bought by Exelon, the one power company in the nation that could make the homegrown outfit look good. So where’s the D.C. Council? The Exelon acquisition has inspired activists to make Power D.C., a group who want the merger quashed or changed. Organizers have a long list of dream terms: a Pepco headquarters that stays in the D.C. area; rate cuts for seniors and the poor; solar panels for District government buildings; even WiFi from light posts in the poorest wards. But before they’ll get close to any of those, they’ll have to overcome Pepco’s deep ties in both the mayor’s office and the Council. The acquisition, as it stands since it was announced last April, is a crummy deal for anyone who isn’t a Pepco or Exelon shareholder. People’s Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Frye told a Council committee last month that the current deal would mean a “woeful imbalance of risks and benefits” for ratepayers. She’s not the only person who thinks so. Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh worries that Exelon’s business position would make the firm less likely to support the District’s renewable energy goals, since that could bring down the cost of electricity. A study of the purchase from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis found that the deal from Chicago-based Exelon, which overvalues Pepco by $2.5 billion based on the utility’s assets when the bid was announced, will pressure the company to raise rates on District customers. And then there’s Exelon’s aging nuclear plants, the largest fleet in the country, which could be financed by rate increases here. “The deal, if it goes through, would expose customers to rate increases aimed at
Darrow Montgomery/file
By Will Sommer
Shock and awe: D.C. officials have been pretty quiet about a planned Pepco merger. supporting Exelon’s struggling business model,” the report reads. Exelon didn’t respond to a request for comment. The Council doesn’t have an official role in approving the purchase, which will go in front of the District’s Public Service Commission. But a Council statement on the acquisition could help shift the PSC against the deal, or at least secure some more benefits for the District. The potential purchase puts At-Large
Councilmember Vincent Orange in an awkward spot. Not only does he run the Council committee that oversees the PSC and the People’s Counsel, but he worked for Pepco for three years as the company’s vice president for government affairs. After losing his Ward 5 Council seat during a disastrous 2006 mayoral bid, Orange worked for Pepco from 2007 to 2010. In 2007, Washington City Paper reported that he might have violated rules against former city employees lobbying their colleagues when
he tried to convince councilmembers not to back one of Cheh’s power plant bills. Orange claimed at the time that he wasn’t lobbying, and nothing came of it. Orange came back to the Council in 2011, meaning he has a chance to muddy the Council debate over the acquisition. So far, he’s doing great. When Cheh planned a hearing on the environmental impact of the merger, Orange threatened to exclude Pepco, Exelon, and District agencies from his own hearing if they went to hers. (In fairness, this could also
washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 7
DISTRICTLINE be chalked up to Orange’s oft-territorial approach to committee management.) Despite being paid by Pepco for three years to literally influence the government, Orange hasn’t recused himself from holding committee hearings on the merger. In an email provided to LL by Orange, Council general counsel David Zvenyach writes that Orange doesn’t have to recuse himself as long as he doesn’t have a financial stake in the company. Orange’s 2014 disclosure form didn’t list any stock in the utility. Even stranger, Orange is the landlord to one of Pepco’s top executives. When Orange went to Pepco, he took his former committee clerk, Donna M. Cooper. She’s continued to rise at the power company, most recently becoming Pepco’s regional president. Cooper lists her residence at a house owned by the at-large councilmember in the 4300 block of 12th Place NE (Orange lives elsewhere). In August, she listed the address on a donation to Muriel Bowser’s mayoral campaign. It remains her residential address
on her voter registration. Cooper and Pepco declined to comment. For his part, Orange refused to explain the nature of his relationship with his former staffer or whether she pays him rent. He doesn’t list any financial agreement with Cooper on his disclosure form, but he does list the house. District utility customers hoping their at-large councilmember would look out for their interests in the deal face an ugly situation: either a top Pepco exec pays him rent every month, or they’re cozy enough that she doesn’t have to. At least one councilmember does unquestionably have a personal interest in Pepco’s future. In a May 2014 financial disclosure, D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson reported owning shares in Pepco worth $17,000. In another sort of acquisition, Mendelson could just sit back and watch that stock turn into Exelon stock. But because Exelon is paying cash for Pepco shares—an attractive proposition for Pepco investors, since Exelon’s stock has been in a long-term fall—
Mendelson will have to take just a lump of cash. Using Mendelson’s 2014 valuation, the 25 percent premium paid to stockholders would net him around $21,250 if the deal goes through. “He can’t not get it,” says John Capozzi, an activist with Power D.C. “He can’t say, ‘I want stock in Exelon.’” Mendelson tells LL that he’s following Zvenyach’s advice to not “personally or substantially” participate in Council work on the merger. If the Council votes on a resolution about the purchase, Mendelson plans to recuse himself. Ironically, Mendelson’s recusal could rob opponents of the deal of a potential ally. Meanwhile, the executive branch has its own ex-Pepco lobbyist in Beverly Perry, Bowser’s senior advisor. A top government affairs exec for Pepco until she retired last year, Perry played a key role in Bowser’s transition as a go-between with Vince Gray’s administration even before Bowser won the general election. Now, as Bowser’s advisor, she’s one of the
new administration’s highest-paid appointees. Bowser hasn’t taken a public position on the takeover yet, but LL wouldn’t be surprised if her senior advisor still felt fondly towards the company. Since Perry hasn’t been in the government long enough to file a financial disclosure form, it’s not clear whether she owns Pepco stock. A senior administration official tells LL that Perry has recused herself from discussions of the merger. Of course, the fact that LL couldn’t get someone to put their name on that claim shows that it won’t be easy to see whether Perry really doesn’t offer Bowser advice on the purchase. That’s one part of Pepco’s resources that won’t make it onto the balance sheet, and that ultimately might make it seem like Exelon isn’t overpaying by so much: former ties to councilmembers and other city government employees. In the District, that’s CP not such a bad asset to have. Got a tip for LL? Send suggestions to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. Or call (202) 650-6925.
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DISTRICTLINE City Desk
Tomorrow’s history today: This was the week the Washington football team could once again begin to win the NFL offseason. 4. What: A terrorist! Ahmed Abu Khatallah, accused mastermind of the 2012 Benghazi attacks, appears in court “less [than] two blocks from the U.S. Capitol” (Wall Street Journal) or “just a mile from the White House.” (France24) Where: 1.2 miles away When: July 8, 2014 Why the White House shouldn’t worry: He’s already in federal custody.
This Was Written Blocks from the White House Hey listen, Mr. President: It’s not always about you. Sometimes, D.C. is just a city in which newsworthy city things happen and have nothing at all to do with the comings and goings of the federal government and its leaders. But try telling that to national news organizations, who’ve made noting the proximity to the White House and/or “the nation’s capital” a cliché in District coverage. Here are a few of the most egregious cases. It’s by no means exhaustive, and we’re not including events directly relevant to White House security, including that recent drone crash on the lawn. We’re also collecting examples on Twitter at @BlocksFromTheWH, so if you come across any good ones, give us a mention. —Emily Q. Hazzard 1. What: An explosion! “Two men seriously injured from boiler explosion on K St. NW, 3 blocks from White House” (ABC 7 News) Where: .4 miles away When: Jan. 18, 2015 Why the White House shouldn’t worry: Just a boiler exploding, folks, move along.
2. What: Stabbings! The assaults at Pennsylvania Avenue NW bar McFadden’s happened “eight blocks from the White House in the nation’s capital.” (Reuters) Where: .9 miles away When: Dec. 27, 2014 Why the White House shouldn’t worry: Nothing suggests the assailants intended to stab their way down the street afterwards.
3. What: Religious iconography! “[Just a] little over a mile from the White House,” the Indonesian embassy erects a Saraswati statue. (Press Trust of India) Where: 1.1 miles away When: June 10, 2013 Why the White House shouldn’t worry: Just some statuary. Bonus points to news organizations who noted in their headlines that Indonesia is a Muslim country.
5. What: Deadly disease! A patient with Ebola-like symptoms was under observation “only a few miles from the White House” and Capitol Hill. (McClatchy, WSB-TV) Where: 1.9 miles away When: Oct. 3, 2014 Why the White House shouldn’t worry: It turned out it wasn’t Ebola. 6. What: Guns! A gun range opens in Virginia “just miles from the nation’s capital.” (Washington Times) Where: 31.2 miles away When: Dec. 14, 2014 Why the White House shouldn’t worry: In traffic, this drive can easily take an hour. Besides, Virginia has nearly 80 other places to shoot a weapon.
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Blocks from THE WHiTE HousE; 1500 Block of i sTrEET nW, fEB. 3. By DarroW monTgomEry washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 9
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Sun, March 1st at 7:00pm Noir at the Bar ten female writers read crime fiction 1517 CONNECTICUT AVE. NW 202.387.1400 // KRAMERS.COM 10 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
Gear Prudence: What do you think about cycling-specific shoes? Are they beneficial for bike commuting or only for serious recreational cyclists? —Currently Lacking In Pedal Power, Efficiency Diminished Dear CLIPPED: Of the few key differences between cycling shoes and their non-cycling equivalents, the primary distinguishing feature is that cycling shoes attach to the bike’s pedals. The idea is that this leads to more efficient pedaling and allows you to draw power from both pushing down on the pedal and the upstroke. Also, having shoes that attach to your bike is useful if you’re the kind of person who is always misplacing his shoes. While this extra efficiency might be a plus, having shoes attached to the bike takes some getting used to, especially when stopping. Many a bicyclist new to cycling shoes has found herself toppleing as a result of not being able to detach from the pedal in a timely manner. This happened to me once at at a stop sign during dismissal time in front of an all-girls high school. Sadly, the oncoming rush of long-suppressed teenage anxieties provided no cushion to either my mortification or my fall. Nevertheless, with minimal practice, one becomes quite adroit at freeing a foot and forestalling disaster. Cycling shoes might be best for commuters who are riding a fair distance on uninterrupted trails and roads with few occasions to stop. They also work well for the person who wants to dress the part of a bicyclist and wishes to be festooned head-to-toe in cycling-specific attire. They’ll complement your pro kit much better than would a pair of topsiders. For those riding through an urban environment dotted each block with stop signs or red lights, the benefits might be outweighed by the hassle of clipping and unclipping and the subsequent wear and tear. And for short trips or trips during which you don’t aspire to any speed records, you might find any increase in efficiency and power totally negligible. Furthermore, some people just don’t want a unitasker shoe. Commuting in shoes you don’t plan to wear at work means you’re either hiding shoes at the office (check the bottom drawer in the filing cabinet) or bringing them with you each day. There are a few pairs of cycling shoes that almost look like regular shoes, but they still might not be office-appropriate. What about toe clips instead? Ultimately, though, as usual in all matters sartorial, there’s no right or wrong. So wear what makes you happy. Even if they provide no real benefit in your ride, far be it from me to get in the way of your shoe selection. They’re —GP your feet. Gear Prudence is Brian McEntee, who blogs at talesfromthesharrows.blogspot.com and tweets at @sharrowsdc. Got a question about bicycling? Email gearprudence@washingtoncitypaper.com.
SAVAGELOVE My husband and I are a straight couple in our early 50s, and we’ve been married for more than 30 years. We were raised to wait for sex till we got married—this was back in the early ’80s—and we did. Our wedding night was pretty disappointing since neither of us knew what we were doing. He got off, but I didn’t. We both assumed that there was something wrong with me, because he didn’t have any problem coming, right? We were both raised to believe that sex was something men took from women, that it was difficult for women to orgasm, and that no woman wanted sex as much as a man did. We read books, we went to counseling, but nothing changed. This went on for a couple of decades. He’s a great guy—funny, loyal, faithful, great dad to our kids—so I figured I was lousy in bed and I was lucky he put up with me. Recently, I got my hands on a vibrator. OH. MY. GOD. There’s nothing wrong with me! Now I think my libido might actually be stronger than his. But even with what I now know about my sexuality, we have been unable to figure out how to get me to orgasm when we are together. I’ve suggested some milder forms of kink, but he isn’t interested. I suspect we’re just incompatible in bed, which has made me a fairly vocal opponent of the “waiting for marriage” garbage, much to my husband’s consternation. He thinks it’s so sweet that neither of us has ever had sex with someone else. So you can probably see my dilemma. Neither of us has ever been unfaithful, and neither of us is okay with being unfaithful—I know he isn’t. Even though I’m intrigued by the idea, I don’t think I could pull off the lying and deceit required to do it behind his back. We also live in a small town where it would be nearly impossible to have a discreet affair. I don’t really want a divorce, because it means losing the entire life we’ve built together, which is no small thing. But when I think about never having good sex in my entire life, I can hardly stand it. What would you do? —Bored In Bed For An Unbearably Long Time What would I do? I would be unfaithful, BIBFAULT.
And since there’s no guarantee that I would click sexually with the first guy I fucked other than my husband—or the second guy or the third guy or the fourth guy—I would go right on fucking other guys until I fucked a guy who was spectacular in bed. (Please note: While “spectacular in bed” sounds like some sort of objective standard, it’s actually a highly subjective and personal experience. One person’s spectacular sex partner is another person’s meh-to-traumatizing sex partner. So while BIBFAULT and her husband aren’t a match—clearly—he has matches out there and so does she.) I’m not telling you what to do, BIBFAULT, I’m just answering the question you posed: “What would you do?” If I were in your shoes, if I had suffered through three decades of subjectively lousy sex, if I were staring down the possibility of going to my grave without ever having experienced good-to-great sex (not even once!), I would cheat on my husband of 30 years. I would’ve cheated on him already, past tense, a decade or two ago and probably at regular intervals. (I also would’ve sued all those counselors who failed to suggest buying a vibrator when I complained about my difficulty achieving orgasm.) But that’s me, BIBFAULT. What should you do? I really couldn’t tell you. That’s not true. I could tell you what to do. Telling people what to do is pretty much my fucking job. But in all honesty, I’m not sure what you should do. You say you’re not okay with cheating, and I almost believe you—you wouldn’t have written if you weren’t okay with cheating on some level and/or seeking permission to cheat—and cheating would be logistically complicated, given your circumstances, and it would put everything you have with your husband, who you genuinely love, at risk. So I’m not going to tell you to cheat. But I will tell you this: You may have an easier time not cheating—an easier time not going out there and actively seeking out sex with other men, an easier time not seizing the first
opportunity to cheat that comes your way— if you give yourself permission to cheat if an opportunity to cheat discreetly and with minimal deceit comes along. Telling yourself it will never happen, that you’ll never have good sex, means living in despair, and despair isn’t good for individuals or marriages. But telling yourself that it might happen— but only if the planets have all aligned perfectly (you’re out of town, it’s someone you trust, you won’t have to actively lie)—means living in hope, and hope is good for individuals and marriages. And knowing that you can cheat when the right opportunity presents itself will make it easier for you to resist cheating—to resist doing something reckless—when the wrong op—Dan portunities present themselves. My wife, who is 35, had sex with a 25-yearold neighbor when she was barely 15 years old. (It was two days after her 15th birthday.) I should say “was raped by,” not “had sex with.” She insists it was consensual, claims she wasn’t traumatized by it, and is actually Facebook friends with the man who raped her. I think this is unhealthy. How do I get through to her? —Totally Unacknowledged Trauma I had sex with someone in their mid-20s when I was 15—I had sex with two mid-20s someones at the same time when I was 15—and I regard that encounter as consensual and I wasn’t traumatized by it. So you can take this question to some other advice columnist, TUT, or you can stop policing your wife’s feelings —Dan about her own sexual history. I’m a merrily married straight woman with an amazing husband and what was once a thriving sex life. Recently, my husband had what was supposed to have been a routine surgical procedure. He ended up having basically every complication possible, short of dismemberment and death. I had no problem being his caregiver during this time, but I’m now having trouble men-
tally reigniting the erotic spark. He’s recovered and interested, and I want to be intimate again, but I find myself thinking that he looks pale or that position X might be too much for him, and it’s very difficult to get in, and remain in, the mood for sex. How do I turn off caregiver mode and get back to being a sexual partner? —Missing My Sex Life
You may have an easier time not cheating if you give yourself permission to cheat if an opportunity to cheat discreetly and with minimal deceit comes along. The next time you’re having sex and that little voice in your head says, “This position might be tough on him,” MMSL, ignore it and power through. It may not be particularly fulfilling sex for you—you may not be fully present and in the moment—but the quickest way to prove to yourself that your husband isn’t too fragile for sex (or too pale for it) is to have sex a few times. After you’ve seen with your own eyes that sex didn’t break him (and may have brought some color back to his skin!), that little voice in your head—the voice of the caretaker he needed when he was sick but doesn’t need —Dan now—should fade away. Send your Savage Love questions to mail@savagelove.net.
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Notes from the Underground
12 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
By Aaron Wiener
Can Metro ever get any better? PhotograPhs by Darrow MontgoMery
The Jan. 22 meeting of Metro’s finance committee was a bleak affair for fans of public transit. Typically, Metro’s board weighs fare hikes every oth-
er year. But now, facing an operating budget shortfall and reluctance among suburban jurisdictions to increase their subsidies for the system, the board was contemplating an off-year fare raise of up to 10 cents, which would result in an
estimated two million fewer rides per year. On top of that, the directors were considering service cuts that would substantially reduce train frequency. Former D.C. planning boss Harriet Tregoning, a devotee of multi-mod-
washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 13
al transportation, had joined the board in November as a federal representative: She now directs the Office of Economic Resilience at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Her D.C. affinity shone through as she cut into the board’s presentation with a question. Why, she wondered, should an expanding city with growing transit needs be restricted by the tightfistedness of the suburbs? “If some jurisdictions decide to provide the subsidies and others don’t—” began Tregoning, but she was cut off. Impossible, she was told. Funding has to go by a pre-ordained formula that splits the costs among the region’s cities and counties according to a specific ratio. In effect, whichever jurisdiction is least willing to pay gets to determine how much everyone pays. “Just as a ‘for instance,’” she pressed on, “I know that we’ve had conversations in the past with [the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority] about 24-hour service in the District, where you’d turn trains around and they’d just run in the District, and the District only would pay for that service.” No dice: That would require a renegotiation in the formula. “I would just suggest,” Tregoning persisted, “that there are some of the proposals here that could be implemented jurisdictionally.” “That’s just not how the process works,” came the reply. Fares and schedules might seem like the least of Metro’s concerns after the Jan. 12 incident at L’Enfant Plaza that filled a train with smoke, left one passenger dead, and sent more than 80 to the hospital. But for a rapidly growing city, and one that relies on public transit more than any other except New York, Metro shrinkage is the opposite of what’s required. No one knows it better than Tregoning. As planning director, she hammered home the need for more housing and transit options to accommodate a population that was expanding by about 1,000 residents a month. The trouble, as Tregoning discovered, is that there are considerable structural impediments to expanding the Metro system in step with the District’s needs. No matter how big the city gets, how maxed out its roads, how high the demand, how keen the desire for expansion to underserved neighborhoods, Metro won’t be able to keep up. Partly, it’s the unwillingness of suburban jurisdictions to sign on to (and help pay for) any new stations or lines. If they’re getting grumpy about funding the operating expenses needed to maintain the meager status quo, good luck getting a green light for expanded service in the District. Partly, it’s a lack of imagination. Metro does, in fact, have a blueprint for expansion, beyond the extension of the Silver Line deeper into the Virginia suburbs. In December 2013, after testing more than 100 proposals over two and a half years, Metro released its vision for the system 25 years hence. There was no “Brown Line” connecting Wisconsin Avenue NW, the National Mall, Bloomingdale, and upper Georgia Avenue NW, as contem-
as to enter the realm of fantasy,” wrote former Metro board chair Robert J. Smith in a Washington Post op-ed. (Smith, a Maryland appointee, had been fired from the board in 2006 after publicly condemning homosexuality as “sexual deviancy.”) “It’s a setup for a disappointment comparable to the forlorn soul in that 2000 television commercial who asked where the flying cars were that he had been promised in his youth. … Kennedy would have found the moon launch to be comparatively easy.” And then Smith revealed the true source of his reservations, and it’s the same one that could doom any other plan, even a less ambitious one. “What possible benefit of this project would inure to the people of Maryland,” he asked, “particularly those who dwell beyond Montgomery and Prince George’s counties?” Finally, there are physical limitations to better Metro service in the District. These constraints go beyond recalcitrance and shortsightedness: They’re rooted in the indelible history of the system’s creation.
plated in one discarded proposal, and no infill stations at St. Elizabeths, Oklahoma Avenue, NE and Kansas Avenue NW, as pitched in another. Instead, the plan was to separate the trunk lines to create a new loop around downtown serving Georgetown, Capitol Hill, and
14 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
Potomac Park, and to expand transfer options to facilitate trips within Northern Virginia. For some, this aspirational plan—the first meaningful expansion of D.C.’s Metro service since the gradual rollout of the Green Line—went too far. It’s “so far beyond dream
In a 1962 report to President John F. Kennedy, the National Capital Transportation Agency presented a dilemma in the planning for the D.C. area’s yet-unnamed heavy rail system. Suburban travelers would want a system with as few stops as possible to make for a speedy commute, while the District would prefer higher station density to increase access and support development. “Other cities have solved this problem by providing (1) express and local service on four-track rapid transit routes or (2) shorter urban routes with numerous stations in the densely developed close-in area and high-speed suburban routes in a separate location to serve more distant areas,” NCTA wrote. “NCTA has adopted the latter solution.” Twelve years later, construction was underway on Metro’s inaugural stations. Metro’s first general manager, Jackson Graham, again addressed the express-train question in a letter to Maryland Congressman Gilbert Gude. “Multiple track rapid transit routes can be justified only by the existence of huge passenger volumes,” he explained. “Consequently, this type of operation is found extensively only in New York City and one line each in Chicago and Philadelphia. An operation of this type would not be feasible economically in the Washington metropolitan area.” At the time, NCTA and Graham were justified in their reasoning. The District, which had grown every decade since its founding through 1950, was in the midst of a population nosedive. Highways, not rails, appeared to be the transportation infrastructure of the future. In this context, it’s a miracle that Metro got built at all. It wouldn’t have happened if not for suburbanites looking for a faster way to get to work. These days, the equation is different. The population is booming. Fewer and fewer Washingtonians drive to work. Housing costs have shot up around all but a handful of the District’s Metro stations, so many young residents are being pushed out to neighborhoods
Pieces of Silver Metro cashed in to promote its newest line. By Will Sommer
without Metro access, where they tax D.C.’s busy roads in cars or buses and lose productivity to slower commutes. The few underdeveloped Metro-adjacent areas are quickly filling in: Just look at Congress Heights, the poorest neighborhood near a Metro stop, where two of the city’s biggest development projects will soon surround the station. But demand for housing will continue to grow. That’ll leave developers with two choices: Build up in D.C. neighborhoods without good transit access, or head to the suburbs, with new Metro stations and ample parking. I suspect they’ll opt for the latter, and D.C. will lose out on residents and tax dollars. The most effective solution, of course, would be to build additional Metro lines serving new neighborhoods, particularly in Wards 4, 5, 7, and 8. That would not only improve quality of life in those neighborhoods, but would spur the construction of more housing to help slow runaway rents and home prices. But absent a sudden and remarkable change of heart from Metro’s mostly suburban overlords, that won’t happen. So the next best thing would be to add infill stations, as we did a decade ago in NoMa, to remarkable success. There are several suitable candidates for new station locations on the Red and Green lines, where some stations are spaced so far apart, even in the District, that people living directly between two are effectively out of range of both. These stations were designed to conform to NCTA’s idea of “high-speed suburban routes,” but they’re in areas that now have to be envisioned as denser and more
urban if D.C. is to have room to grown. The trouble is that, in the absence of a third or fourth track to allow for express trains—adding them retroactively would likely be even more difficult than building entirely new lines—we can’t create a whole bunch of infill stations without lengthening commutes for people living or working farther out on those lines. Each additional station means an extra couple of minutes added to the trip, and frustration for commuters who now have to leave home 10 minutes earlier. If the prospect of an expensive solution that’ll make commuting easier for suburbanites has some Metro stakeholders throwing a fit, imagine the reaction to a plan that would slow down their travel. Perhaps conceding that a meaningful Metro expansion is not in the cards, D.C. has gone all in on an alternative: the streetcar. The planned line from Union Station to Georgetown largely parallels Metro’s proposed downtown loop; it would make little sense to build both. But the streetcar, whenever it actually starts running, is hardly an adequate substitute for Metro. It operates largely in mixed traffic, making it no faster than buses—sometimes slower, since it can’t change lanes—and its capacity doesn’t compare. Still, D.C . planners could very well point to the streetcar to argue that we’re meeting the demand for new mass transit, obviating the need for an expensive Metro expansion. It’d be a shame if, amid all the suburban resistance, the deciding factor against more D.C. Metro stations CP were one of our own making.
The people of exurban Northern Virginia are losers. Or at least a trio of ads released last July would have had you think so. In one, a glum young office worker feeds paper into a copy machine. In another, a guy who looks like a quarter-life crisis Napoleon Dynamite sits with a cat on his lap, dejected. A portrait of him and the cat sits nearby. “Look alive, Andersons,” the narrator tells one family of shut-ins. “Good times are ahead.” What’s changed? It’s not a Zoloft prescription. Rather, the three ads came as part of the Washington Metro Area Transit Authority’s final push to promote the Silver Line. In Metro’s telling, the new route to D.C. for people as far away as Reston meant good things: a new job, outings with your family, a girlfriend who isn’t a cat. The odd, 15-second spots came at a hefty price— $102,182.10, according to documents obtained through Metro’s version of the Freedom of Information Act. They were all part of a regional attempt to promote the new line, one that that included bags, tiny flashlights, and 1,000 lanyards. Metro’s campaign included $22,548.61 for focus groups to study how to pitch the Silver Line, and $53,196.96 for Silver Line street teams.
Soul Train: WMATA’s ad portrays Metro riders dancing on their commute.
But Metro’s biggest—and priciest—push came in the form of dozens of dancers boogieing to the Wiehle-Reston East location. Backed up by a song from Australian power poppers Architecture in Helsinki, a conga line of joyful commuters make their way to the station.The message: Metro’s so great, people in Reston will start spontaneously dancing. That ad ran the cash-strapped system a hefty $483,320.42, according to Metro records. Whatever you think of the ads, they worked—or something. Three months after the Silver Line launch, the new stations were approaching their end-of-year ridership goals. No word yet on how much of that can be attributed to the dancers. CP washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 15
Tunnel Vision
When tragedy strikes Metro, passengers with phobias see their irrational nightmares come true. By Sarah Anne Hughes The deadliest day in Metro’s history— when two Red Line trains collided in June 2009, killing eight passengers and a train operator—was the last straw. I was already prone to anxiety and panic attacks, and the crash confirmed what my irrational brain was sure of: You will die while riding Metro. It’s just a matter of time. This is, obviously, untrue. Since operations began in 1976, 12 passengers have died in three separate incidents while riding Metrorail. (This does not include homicides or suicides, or train operators and track workers killed while on duty.) Compare that to the 225 million trips taken on the system in 2009 alone. But these facts didn’t stop me from completely avoiding underground trains for more than a year after the deadly crash, opting to use buses instead. “There’s a difference between fears and phobias,” says Alies Muskin, executive director of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America, based in Silver Spring. Fears are reasonable; phobias are not. That is to say that phobias are involuntary and cannot be soothed with logic, like stats on Metro deaths and ridership. The person with a train phobia, explains Dr. Beth Salcedo of the Ross Center for Anxiety and Related Disorders, primarily fears being confined in a space from which she cannot escape. “They fear this whether Metro is working properly or not,” Salcedo says. “These are not people who follow which lines have the least trouble... They treat it all the same.” The most recent incident on Metro—when a train near the L’Enfant Plaza station filled with smoke, leaving one woman dead—may have reinforced the phobia and panic for some riders, Muskin says. But that doesn’t neces16 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
sarily mean tragedies cause phobias. “We don’t really see a change in presentation of current or new patients when tragedies like [the one on Metro] happen,” Salcedo says. “The fear is irrational, so [it’s] not precipitated by what you might think.” It can, however, increase the number of people who are afraid. “I know a lot of people who stopped taking Metro for awhile,” Muskin says of the 2009 crash. But while there may be some decrease in ridership following a tragedy (it happened in 2009), passengers will likely return in a matter of months. It boils down to dependence on the system, says Arline Bronzaft, a New York-based environmental psychologist who worked as a consultant for that city’s transit authority. Experts say Metro has no responsibility to word post-tragedy statements specifically for people with anxiety disorders, but the agency should focus on how to best explain what happened and assure the general public on the system’s safety: “The way you state how you ameliorate the situation going forward is very important, so that people feel comfortable that you have their best interests at heart,” Bronzaft says. WMATA failed in that respect in an apology for the fatal 2015 incident pub-
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lished in the Washington Post, which read in part: “Our safety work is not complete; it will never be.” Their intention may have been good, but “the message was that Metro will never be safe,” Salcedo says. Of course, for people with phobias, a statement, badly worded or not, won’t fix the is-
sue; only treatment can. “Nothing rational is going to help people who are already phobic about it,” says Muskin, whose organization has heard from people who won’t take a job because it’s not bus-accessible. Phobias cause people to change their behaviors, which is why they’re often treated with Cognitive Be-
havioral Therapy, a short-term form of psychotherapy that focuses on learning problem solving skills. Beyond seeking professional treatment, ADAA offers self-help materials online, including podcasts. Days after the latest tragedy, I boarded a Metro train, and I’ll do so again this week
and the week after that. Still, it’s hard not to let the phobia commandeer my brain when I consider this: Kim Brooks-Rodney, the attorney representing at least 60 people in a class action suit against Metro over the latest incident, says she will no longer ride the system. CP She was once employed by WMATA.
We Must Increase Our Busk By Christina Cauterucci
Waiting for the Q train on a dingy platform in the New York City subway a few years ago, I saw a crowd gathered around an elderly Chinese man. Head bent, eyes down, he was expertly plucking a stringed instrument I now know to be a guzheng. Back then, all I knew was that the sounds he made were heart-rending, gorgeous, and wistful—some of the most supernatural noises I’d ever heard coming out of an analog machine. The platform was otherwise nearly silent as we all watched in awe; I swear I saw a tear fall from one woman’s eye. Dear readers, the single public-transit experience I would ever deem transcendent: brought to you by the power of busking. Busking—playing music in a public space for tips—currently occupies a gray zone in D.C. Metro law. Since a local guitarist sued Metro last summer for the right to busk in and around stations (it was formerly lumped under panhandling and prohibited as such), D.C.’s U.S. District Court has ordered Metro officials to leave performers alone until the case is settled, which could be years from now. WMATA gave controlled pseudo-busking a shot last summer, when it commissioned 14 musicians to play one to three concerts each at Metro entrances through the MetroPerforms! program. It was a rough, much-criticized concession to would-be buskers: The musicians were chosen through live auditions held on short notice; the roster consisted almost entirely of vocalists and guitar players; and they were required to perform as volunteers, without even accepting tips, which is an insane stipulation for any city that claims to support artists to make. It’s time for WMATA to do away with the half-measures and make busking a welcomed, well-supported part of our Metro environment. I know, I know, no one wants to hear a squeaky karaoke rendition of “Seasons of Love” on their way home from a 525,600minute day at a dead-end job, and busk-
ing does raise legitimate safety and logistics concerns. A smart Metro busking plan for D.C. would sit somewhere between New York’s free-for-all and Boston’s nanny state, where licensed MBTA performers must be “neat in appearance” and leave trumpets and drums at home.
musicians. Busking areas would be out of the way of the heaviest foot traffic, far enough apart to prevent noise pollution, and never inside Metro cars. (Anyone who’s been thisclose to a kick in the face by an amateur in-car b-boy would agree.) Musicians could be chosen via audio or video submission by a pan-
To head off complaints about quality and limit potential turf wars, D.C. should designate a couple of first-come-first-served busking zones at each Metro station and hand out a large but limited number of permits to local
el of D.C.-area music-makers and -lovers (I humbly volunteer as tribute) with a commitment to diversity of styles and performers, allowing for a slight preference toward homegrown genres like go-go and bluegrass. With
18 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
no shortage of live music venues in the city, D.C. could even give the Howard Theatre, Bohemian Caverns, or the Pinch a residency of sorts at their nearest Metro stations, creating new spaces for curated performance series and opportunities to get the word out about upcoming shows. Developing a consistent system for buskers to play in and around Metro stations wouldn’t deliver a universal commute experience on the level of my moment of glory on the Q train platform, but it would make the tensest part of some riders’ days slightly more bearable. “Pearls Before Breakfast” be damned: Even if crowds don’t gather (and real talk—during rush hour, they won’t), the ambient sounds of instruments played by real human beings would create a warmer, more relaxed atmosphere. And for some people, it’d be a serendipitous shot at hearing music they’d never encounter if left to their own free-streaming devices. “The only time I ever hear go-go is coming out of car windows or outside the Gallery Place stop,” a longtime D.C. resident once told me. More music in highly trafficked transit areas could inspire a new generation of fans of go-go, violin concertos, or the guzheng. Live music in the Metro would give local artists more opportunities to share their skills and make ends meet, and get transit users out of their smartphone seclusion to appreciate the talent in our music scene. We demand that Metro fulfill our utilitarian expectations, but in public space, there’s potential for communal joy and uplift, too. Form and function aren’t mutually exclusive; a Metro that fosters beauty and local culture is a better CP Metro, period.
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YOUNG & HUNGRY
Fee for All
Is charging for restaurant reservations a good idea?
Darrow Montgomery/file
By Jessica Sidman
Seating Frenzy: Want a last-minute table at Jaleo on Saturday night? That will be $20. Last Saturday afternoon, I checked OpenTable for a reservation at Zaytinya that night. My only options: 5:15 or 10 p.m. Instead, I showed up at 7:30 p.m. Normally, for a table at a prime time like this, I’d have to book a couple weeks in advance. I noticed a couple in front of me frown and turn away when the host told them how long the wait would be for walk-ins. But only minutes after I arrived, the host guided my party of two to a table on the upper mezzanine. This is not the result of some special food writer privilege or old-school bill-slipping to the maitre d’. Rather, I’d paid a $20 fee earlier that afternoon to guarantee a same-day seat in the otherwise sold-out dining room through a new service called Table8. Launched in D.C. last week, the San Francisco-based website and app offers diners the option to book a
limited number of reservations at popular restaurants at the last minute and during peak times—for a price. So far, 17 mostly high-end local restaurants are participating, including Estadio, Del Campo, Fiola, Birch & Barley, and Kapnos. If they’re not booked up, people can make reservations through Table8 for free. But if the places are full, a table for two between 7 and 8 p.m. commands a $20 fee, while a fourtop goes for $25. The idea was immediately controversial: Is charging for a reservation smarmy or smart business? Table8 comes from two San Francisco-based tech types: Peter Goettner, a venture capitalist and CEO of an elearning company called DigitalThink, and Santosh Jayaram, one of the first executives at Twitter. The service grew out of another project they were working on for
Virgin Group in the U.K. to create a virtual concierge on phones, which required them to talk to hotel concierges around world. When Jayaram asked the concierges about the toughest part of their jobs, they’d often say how hard it was to get people into fine dining restaurants at the last minute. “They either don’t have the relationships or know very confidently that these restaurants are completely booked out,” Jayaram says. Goettner and Jayaram realized it wasn’t just concierges who had this problem: They had it, too. When Jayaram and his wife had a last-minute date night, it wasn’t uncommon that the places where they’d want to eat were already booked. But Table8’s target demographic is more corporate types with expense accounts than forgetful daters (although procrastinators are encouraged too). Table8 partners with Concur, which manages business travel and expenses for many big corporations, so its network of 25 million users can access last-minute reservations. “They came to us and said, ‘Santosh, we have about $35 billion that flows through our expense system, of which about $7 to $8 billion is dining, and we don’t have a horse in that race,’” Jayaram says. A last-minute booking is ideal for business travelers, Jayaram says, because they don’t necessarily know what time they’re going to be free or who will be joining them. Plus, being able to book a table whenever you want at a sought-after restaurant has a certain social cachet. “There’s a demographic that have a lot of money and have a lot of influence, but that don’t have a lot of access,” Jayaram says. “And we’re basically making that access possible.” Restaurants are certainly happy to have them. When they were developing the service, Goettner and Jayaram talked to San Francisco restaurateurs, who told them the difference for them between a “great week” and “fantastic week” was the percentage of business diners who tend to bring in big bucks. Jayaram also found from Concur’s data that business travelers are likely to return to the same places again and again. Business travelers are the main demographic that ThinkFoodGroup hopes to attract by signing Zaytinya, Oyamel, and Jaleo on to Table8. “There’s certainly business travelers who, because there’s an expense account, may choose to spend more overall,” says ThinkFoodGroup CEO Kimberly Grant. “We want these travelers or business people to have access to tables that maybe in the past they wouldn’t have access to.” If they have a good experience at Jaleo or Zaytinya, Grant says, they may be more likely to visit one of José Andrés’ restaurants in another city. Whether the boss is paying or not, the logic follows that someone who’s willing to pay for a table will also be willing to splurge on a bottle of wine or an extra dessert, too. “It’s a higher likelihood that you’re not just going to go in, order one entree, share it with your friend, and leave,” says Farmers Fishers Bakers partner Dan Simons, whose Georgetown eatery is participating in Table8. Not only that, but Jayaram argues that it prevents noshows. “The minute you make people pay for a reservation, they show up,” he claims. While filling a seat with a big spender is certainly desirwashingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 21
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DCFEED(cont.) able, Max Kuller, a principal and wine director for Proof, Estadio, and Doi Moi, says for him, the appeal of Table8 is exposure. He hopes the highly curated list acts as a sort of guide to some of the city’s best restaurants and gains buzz in travel circles. Jayaram says Table8 is “very, very picky” about who participates, and there will never be more than 25 restaurants signed on in D.C. Profit that restaurants receive from the reservation fee itself is mostly negligible, given that none of those involved are putting up more than a couple tables a night. (The restaurants split the fee 50-50 with Table8.) Neighborhood Restaurant Group and Farmers Fishers Bakers plan to donate their fees to charity. “I would not do the Table8 thing if I was not able to tie an altruistic result,” says Farmers Fishers Bakers’ Simons. He says he was interested in the platform as a way to learn about his patrons and determine whether something like Table8 would help create a frequent loyal customer. Ahmass Fakahany, the CEO of Altamarea Group, which operates Osteria Morini, is likewise interested in Table8 as a sort of consumer behavior experiment. He claims he doesn’t even know what the fees are— that’s how unconcerned he is with them. He says he’s more intrigued by the client database that Table8 links with through Concur and the evolving way that diners approach a restaurant. “This is research and development,” he says. But that hasn’t stopped a social media backlash among critics who begrudge Table8 for taking tables away from the average diner. At the gut level, it feels unjust or wrong to pay for something that’s always been free. Jayaram claims that, for the most part, the tables they’re using wouldn’t otherwise be on OpenTable. Rather, he says they’re often VIP tables that restaurants would otherwise set aside in case an investor or a high-profile guest happened to pop in unannounced. “In a kind of very ironic way, we’re democratizing what would otherwise be held for the Jay Zs, the Al Gores, the Madeleine Albrights of the world,” he says. “Now that regular Joe Schmo can get that same kind of access for a fee.” That’s not always true, though. Proof, Estadio, and Doi Moi never set aside tables for VIPs. At Proof, the two Table8 tables per night would otherwise go to OpenTable. (If no one books the tables through Table8 by 4 p.m. the day of the reservation, they are returned to OpenTable.) Estadio and Doi Moi don’t take any reservations during prime times, so those tables would otherwise go to walk-ins. But Simons doesn’t think the service will prevent anyone from getting into Farmers
Fishers Bakers. “If you want to book a table, book a table. I’ve got 250 seats, so we’re not exclusionary,” he says. “That’s the same thing as being annoyed at the airlines for having four first-class seats and telling you economy is sold out.” The other way to look at it: Table8 is the online equivalent of walking up to the host stand and slipping the maitre d’ a $20. Which, let’s be honest, is bribery. Is Table8 formalizing bribery in its own way? Kuller doesn’t see it that way. Hosts who take cash from guests for a table would be disciplined at his restaurants, he says. “There’s no bribery going on here. It’s transparent. We’re saying we’re offering these tables,” he says. Kuller, like other proponents, compares the model to Uber surge pricing or even StubHub. When tickets are released for a concert, people can plan ahead and buy their tickets at face value. And if they don’t, they can go to StubHub and pay extra at the last minute. (Although sometimes StubHub tickets can be less, too.) “It doesn’t seem like it’s out of line with the way things work in the rest of society,” he says. At the same time, Kuller’s restaurants and others on Table8 are only offering a very small number of tables for a fee. Things could get more problematic on a larger scale: The concept loses its claims of exclusivity and hospitality if half the dining room is paying just to sit there. Simons wonders what restaurants will do if or when someone else creates an app that allows them to buy up a large number of reservations at peak times and sell that inventory without the restaurant’s consent. (Scalping already exists on a limited scale in New York.) “Someone could book out the entire night of Valentine’s Day for every two- and four-top six weeks in advance and then create a whole aftermarket and charge for it,” he says. “I look at that, I’m thinking, ‘What would I do?’” By participating in Table8, he argues, he’ll be able to learn if there is a market for paid reservations and get ahead of the trend, if there is one. Jayaram claims Table8 will never take more than 8 to 10 percent of a restaurant’s seating inventory. Right now, the restaurants involved only set aside between one and four tables per night. But if it turns out plenty of people are willing to pay, is the possibility of a hot restaurant charging a reservation fee for all its tables—through Table8 or some other service—far off? “It’s an experiment, I guess, at this stage,” Kuller says. “It will be interesting to see to CP what degree people take to it.” Eatery tips? Food pursuits? Send suggestions to hungry@washingtoncitypaper.com
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DCFEED Grazer
what we ate last week:
Hangover soup with fish cakes, $13, Bul. Satisfaction level: 3.5 out of 5
what we’ll eat next week:
Spicy fried chicken and doughnut, $16, Founding Farmers Tysons Corner. Excitement level: 3 out of 5
SAUCE-O-METER
LAME SAUCE
How the week’s food happenings measure up
MUMBO SAUCE
brew in town
Oliver Winter’s Wolves Where in Town: Lost and Found, 1240 9th St. NW Price: $5/16 oz.
Mothership is closing in Park View later this month.
California Tortilla launches a ramen burrito.
Chef Frederik De Pue is embroiled in legal conflict with his restaurant partners.
Urban Butcher will reopen Feb. 9 after a fire shut it down.
Three Little Pigs changes its name after lawsuit from New York’s Les Trois Petits Cochons.
The Dish: Tree Ant Egg Laab Salad Price: $15
There’s now an entire shop devoted to cakepops.
Are you gonnA eAt that?
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West visit NuVegan (formerly Woodland’s Vegan Bistro).
Captain Cookie & The Milk Man now has a storefront in Foggy Bottom. Chef Jamie Leeds will open a cocktail bar called Twisted Horn in Petworth.
Where to Get It: Thip Khao; 3462 14th St. NW; (202) 387-5426; thipkhao.com What It Is: “I call it Laos caviar,” says chef Seng Luangrath. The white pill-shaped pods don’t come from the sea though. Known as kai mod daeng in Laotian, they’re actually tree ant eggs. A commonly eaten protein in the Southeast Asian country and neighboring Thailand, the ova are hand-harvested from nests often built on the leaves of mango trees. One method of obtaining them is to shake the nests over a bucket of water. The eggs sink to the bottom, while the insects either drown or crawl out. It’s tough work, because the fierce bugs will bite. Though Luangrath remembers painfully procuring the eggs as a child, she now imports frozen eggs when they’re available from January through March. You may not find them on the menu every day. What It Tastes Like: The eggs are steamed,
then tossed with toasted rice powder, fish sauce, lime juice, chili powder, fresh lemongrass, mint, cilantro, and chopped onions. Rounds of eggplant and cucumber plus plenty of hot-as-hell red chilies complete the salad. Before I took a bite, I asked Luangrath
24 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
EquityEats will open a “pop-up megaplex” at 918 F St. NW this spring.
what I should expect when I got to the ant eggs. “I tell people they taste like bubble milk,” she says. “When you bite into them, they pop and then there’s milk that has a little sour taste to it.” Frankly, the overwhelming flavor here is the significant heat of the chilies, though hints of mint and cilantro manage to shine through. Texturally, the eggs are like caviar, but splooshier. The Story: “In Laos, we eat anything that moves,” jokes Luangrath. This includes grasshoppers, crickets, silkworms, and baby shrimp known as dancing shrimp because they are eaten while they are still alive and moving. So eating tree ant eggs in a number of preparations—salads, soups, and omelets—is no big deal. However, the chef was concerned that it might be too freaky an ingredient for American diners. Her son, who works at Minibar, urged her to put it on the menu, where it has been greeted with equal parts surprise, shock, delight, and disgust— —Nevin Martell as well as steady sales.
Metal Head What do heavy, racing guitars and a driving drumbeat taste like? Oliver Breweries’ head brewer Stephen Jones has considered that question in depth. Working for 10 hours at a stretch in the basement of Baltimore’s Pratt Street Ale House, he passes the time to a soundtrack of beloved bands. For years, Jones has served up a series of beers named for, and inspired by, his favorite tracks. One, Winter’s Wolves—named for a song off Austin-based metal band The Sword’s 2006 album Age of Winters—began as a one-off experiment. But when the band’s manager discovered the beer via social media, he called Jones up and offered to officially license it. Mash Pit When asked to describe Winter’s Wolves, Jones calls on imagery from the song’s lyrics: “A Viking warrior crossing a bloody battlefield, surrounded by wolves lifting the life from the throats of his enemies.” Tasty! More literally, this strong dark ale features a lengthy malt bill, including pale, roasted, chocolate, and smoked barley, among others, and four kinds of hops. Additional complexity comes from the honey and heather tips Jones adds to the boil before conditioning the beer with toasted American oak. The result is a rich, 7.4 percent-alcohol brew with a dry, hoppy finish. Despite its heavy metal heritage, I find Winter’s Wolves suitable for sipping, not slamming. Looking for some? It will be easier to find soon. The brewery is undergoing a massive expansion that will quadruple its production and make Oliver kegs, casks, and soon cans widely available throughout Maryland, D.C., and Virginia. —Tammy Tuck
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VISIT US AT CFA.GMU.EDU
Virginia Opera
Walnut Street Theatre
Todd Ellison and Friends
A Life in the Theatre
The Romance of Broadway
Salome
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6 AT 8 P.M. This hilarious work about two actors competing for the spotlight – and the dressing room! – provides a backstage glimpse into “Theater” and the challenges of the relationship between a mentor and his apprentice. “Mr. Mamet has written – in gentle ridicule; in jokes, broad and tiny; and in comedy, high and low – a love letter to the theater. It is quite a feat, and he has pulled it off.” (New Yorker) Please note: This performance includes mature language. $44, $37, $26
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8 AT 4 P.M. An evening of romantic Broadway songs with one of “Broadway’s electric conductors” (The New York Times) and some of Broadway’s finest vocalists… Bring your sweetie for a delightful program of favorites such as “Some Enchanted Evening” and “On the Street Where You Live,” and gems from such shows as West Side Story, Show Boat, and The Music Man. $46, $39, $28 ff
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14 AT 8 P.M. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15 AT 2 P.M. Virginia Opera brings Richard Strauss’ spectacular Salome to our stage for the first time! A century ago, audiences were shocked and thrilled by its extravagant debauchery and rich, evocative score. Today, it’s recognized that the title role, with its broad vocal range and the sensual “Dance of the Seven Veils,” is among the most demanding in all of opera. Sung in German with English supertitles. Saturday - $86, $72, $44 Sunday - $98, $80, $48
ff = Family Friendly performances that are most suitable for families with younger children
TICKETS 888-945-2468 OR CFA.GMU.EDU 26 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
Located on the Fairfax campus, six miles west of Beltway exit 54 at the intersection of Braddock Road and Rt. 123.
CPARTS There’s Two Things A local artist’s mural got totally f***ing censored at American University. washingtoncitypaper.com/go/fucking
About Mary
The tribulations of a grieving first lady and an imprisoned would-be queen
Mary Stuart By Frederich Schiller Translated and updated by Peter Oswald Directed by Richard Clifford At Folger Theatre to March 8 By Chris Klimek “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” James Brown said, in a song for which Betty Jean Newsome (a woman’s woman’s woman and, for a brief spell, one of Brown’s girlfriends) was granted co-writing credit only after she sued him. It’s never been easy for women (he said), not in 1964 or 1865 or 1587. Not even for first ladies. Not even for queens. Historical Marys whose lives were rerouted by assassination are the subjects of two plays that opened last week: The Widow Lincoln is a world premiere commissioned by Ford’s Theatre, and it imagines Mary Todd’s anguish in the weeks after her husband’s fatal shooting in a box above that very stage 150 years ago. Mary Stuart is a six-year-old update of 215-yearold dramatization of a now 430-year-old power struggle in England. It suggests that politics have changed little since the Tudor era, which is why the older play actually feels newer. (It’s also staged and performed with much more vigor.) Men try to sway both its queens—Mary (Kate Eastwood Norris), who had a strong claim to the throne, and the technically illegitimate Elizabeth (Holly Twyford), who had the throne itself, skirting due process to keep her cousin Mary Gitmo’d for 18 years. But ultimately, the dudes must submit to their “female king,” as one of them spits. The Widow Lincoln, meanwhile, has no men at all. What it does have is Mary Todd’s baggage. Literal baggage: Tony Cisek’s set design stacks dozens of steamer trunks on the otherwise unadorned stage like a children’s fort. Todd— wound tighter than a piano string as played by Mary Bacon— is supposed to be packing up to vacate the White House for incoming President Andrew Johnson, whom she berates as “that Tennessee drunk.” (Given that the pallbearers of LBJ—who, like the earlier President Johnson, was a Southern man elected
by a bullet—have stirred to protest his portrayal in Ava DuVernay’s film Selma, will AJ’s cronies write the Washington Post urging people to boycott The Widow Lincoln, too?) But she’s dragging her heels, even as looters venture into the White House and the hoi polloi begin to accuse her of stealing the china and silverware she ordered to aggrandize the place, running up a tab of $27,000—roughly a bazillion dollars in 2015 money. Todd exhibited signs of mental illness before her husband’s death, but that she endured more loss than anyone should be expected to bear is undeniable. She suffered from migraines and anxiety throughout her life, which were only made worse by a head injury sustained in a carriage crash. She buried two child sons before she buried her husband, and would bury one more after that. No wonder that when she doffs her black cloak, her white dress is still stained with President Lincoln’s blood and viscera. (Wade Laboissonniere designed the costumes.) Her closest confidant is Elizabeth Keckly (Caroline Clay), who lived the first 34 years of her life in bondage before becoming a sought-after dressmaker to “Washington City’s” finest. Like Todd, Keckly was no stranger to grief. She’d bought herself and her son out of slavery in 1852; a decade later, her son left college to fight for the Union and was killed in combat. Scandalously, Keckly published a memoir of her time with the Lincolns, which might be why she’s so well remembered. Gloria Reuben played her in Steven Spielberg’s 2012 film Lincoln, for which Tony Kushner wrote the screenplay. Spielberg’s movie, at least, was notable for the way it mostly did away with the suffocating decorum that attends so many depictions of the 16th president. The Heavens Are Hung in Black, the previous Ford’s-commissioned Lincoln play from the Widow team—writer James Still and director Stephen Rayne—did, too. Set in 1862, it explored President Lincoln’s grief for his 11-year-old son, and for the innumerable sons he ordered to their deaths, which manifests itself through sleeplessness. But walking through the waking dreams of the fun-
Todd Only Knows: Lincoln’s widow endured a lifetime of loss.
Teresa Wood
The Widow Lincoln By James Still Directed by Stephen Rayne At Ford’s Theatre to Feb. 22
niest chief executive we ever had was a lot more fun than sitting shiva with poor, mad Mary. She doesn’t even convene a séance until the play is nearly over. Even the presence of Brynn Tucker, whose solo show A Guide to Dancing Naked enlivened the Capital Fringe Festival a couple of summers ago, doesn’t do much to spike the energy level. She’s the youngest of a half-dozen maids in mourning clothes, a Greek chorus that includes Kimberly Schraf, who also plays Laura Keene—the British actress who was performing in the production of Our American Cousin at Ford’s during which John Wilkes Booth shot the President—and Sarah Marshall, who also turns up as Queen Victoria, modulating her speech as though embodying a transatlantic condolence letter. Marshall’s look of forbearance when Todd tells the monarch a silly joke the president once made about his wife’s maiden name earns the biggest laugh of the evening. But the most striking moment comes when we hear an excerpt of the President’s autopsy report read, and the chorus of mourners each drop a bullet into their white bowls in unison. Plink. washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 27
CPARTS Bacon’s Mary steers into the skid of her disintegration by quoting Lady Macbeth; her husband would sometimes unwind, she says, by performing that spooky play out loud, in its entirety, from memory. And yet a late-show reveal about a soldier assigned to guard her owes more to Shakespeare’s comedy than his tragedies. If only it brought a few more laughs with it.
Mary Stuart is all smuggled letters and clandestine oaths and palace intrigue and powerhouse performances. It builds to and then reverberates from a confrontation, early in the second half, between its two queens. They meet only the once, which is one more time than they met in real life, but to quote Herr Schiller (as dramaturg Michele Osherow does in the program), “it is betraying very narrow ideas on tragic art…to drag the tragic poet before the tribunal of history.” That tête-à-tête is the most electrifying scene in the play, with Norris’ proud Mary kneeling before Twyford’s aloof Elizabeth to plead for her own release. WSC Avant Bard used this same, svelte Oswald translation for its 2010 Mary Stuart with Heather Haney as Mary and Sara Barker as Elizabeth. That was good. This is better. Elizabeth’s Catholic subjects regard Mary as their true ruler, and if she kills Mary, she risks making a martyr. The show
feels contemporary in its understanding of the way pawns may be expected to sacrifice themselves, knowingly or not, to protect their leaders’ reputations. Though the set (Widow’s Cisek did this one, too) makes Mary’s cell look like a dungeon with with dank stone walls (before they slide back to reveal the gold paneling of Elizabeth’s throne room), she is in fact the involuntary house guest of a nobleman played by Louis Butelli—one too honorable to abide the sycophantic Lord Burleigh’s suggestion that some misadventure should befall Mary while in his charge. Rajesh Bose’s Burleigh is the only shaky performance. He affects a cartoonish, nasal accent. The other actors, happily, just talk the way they talk. And what other actors: Cody Nickell, who has appeared on this stage and others with his spouse, Norris, and with Twyford on many happy occasions, brings his usual fluency to the double-dealing Earl of Leicester, a man who enjoyed extraordinary intimacy with the virgin queen. New face Paul-Emile Cendron is convincingly hot-blooded as Mortimer, a conspirator who dismisses the more timid Leicester as “addicted to his own existence.” Nancy Robinette plays the faithful nurse who tries to comfort Mary in captivity. As Sir William Davison, a sacrificial functionary to whom Elizabeth gives intentionally confounding orders regarding Mary’s fate, Todd Sco-
Carol Rosegg
Continued
field elicits pity for a character we’ve barely met. And Craig Wallace has his usual gravitas as the Earl of Shrewsbury, a veteran advisor who seems genuinely surprised to learn he can no longer surf the tide of a despot’s whim. “I lack the necessary flexibility,” he says sadly. Here’s a political thriller that bends CP for nobody. 511 10th St. NW. $33.90-$72.30. (202) 347-4833. fordstheatre.org 201 East Capitol St. SE. $40-$75. (202) 544-4600. folger.edu
The Silk Road: Creative Intersections
Simon Shaheen
This Weekend! oud & violin Sat, Feb 7 at 8pm Sixth & I Historic Synagogue 600 I Street NW, Washington, D.C.
The Silk Road Ensemble Cristina Pato with Yo-Yo Ma Sun, Mar 1, 5pm Kennedy Center
2700 F Street NW, Washington, D.C.
Face the Music
New York City’s youngest “alt-classical” ensemble – and the only teen ensemble in the U.S. dedicated to the creation and performance of music by living composers – makes its D.C. debut performing Michael Gordon’s Trance, along with original works by Face the Music students and D.C.-based composers under age 18.
Sat, Feb 21, 3pm Atlas Performing Arts Center 1333 H Street NE, Washington, D.C. Made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts and the Amphion Foundation.
28 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
Spanish bagpipe virtuoso & Silk Road ensemble veteran
Sat, Mar 14, 8pm Sixth & I Historic Synagogue 600 I Street NW, Washington, D.C.
Zakir Hussain
Celtic Connections Tue, Mar 17, 8pm GW Lisner Auditorium 730 21st Street NW, Washington, D.C. Co-presented with GW Lisner Auditorium
“A force in the new music world”
TICKETS: WashingtonPerformingArts.org
(202) 785-9727 Co-presented by
~The New York Times
Zakir Hussain
Celtic Connections Tue, Mar 17, 8pm GW Lisner Auditorium 730 21st Street NW, Washington, D.C. Co-presented with GW Lisner Auditorium
TICKETS: WashingtonPerformingArts.org
(202) 785-9727 www.atlasarts.org
(202) 399-7993
CPARTS Arts Desk
One trAck MinD
Kenn Starr Square One
standout Track: No. 11, “Farewell,” a contemplative track from rapper Kenn Starr’s new album, Square One, his first LP in eight years. On “Farewell,” the Bethesda resident uses a Marvin Gaye-inspired tune—courtesy of producer Kev Brown—to ponder personal struggles: Starr (born Kenneth Jones) didn’t stay in church, his girl takes issue with his weed consumption, and he could’ve been a father by now. “It’s hard to be celibate when ya head is up in them skirts/Led to an accident, ain’t thinkin’ ‘bout having kids/’Till my first child got miscarried before the birth,” he rhymes. Guest rapper Sean Born lends a reflective verse about being there for his family. Musical Motivation: Starr says he loved the instrumental from the first time he heard it. At the time, Brown was creating a series of beats that sampled Gaye, and “Farewell” was one of them. “I never had the nerve to ask him to do something to the track,” Starr says. “It was so special and so crazy to me.” During a recording session, producer/rapper Kaimbr suggested that Brown let Starr rhyme on the track. “I didn’t think he’d go for it, but I’d already been writing to it,” says Starr, 31. Once the song was done, Brown agreed it was a good fit for Square One, released by Mello Music Group last week. déjà Vu: Starr had a track on his debut album, 2006’s Starr Status, called “Know Too Much (To Go Back)” that also addressed his grappling with what’s right and wrong. He sees “Farewell” as an update to that piece. “The difference is my ability to execute these sentiments on a record, whereas before I was still trying to figure that out,” Starr says. “As emotional as ‘Farewell’ is, there’s no compromise in its technical proficiency. I poured my heart out. I left it all on the table. It’s probably the most transparent record I’ve done, period.” —Marcus J. Moore Listen to “Farewell” at washingtoncitypaper. com/go/farewell.
Bethesda prog-metal outfit Periphery dropped two Guitar Hero-worthy albums in one day washingtoncitypaper.com/go/periphery
Mosh
While you were sweating your hairspray out in the front row of a Priests show or jumping, eyes shut, off the St. Stephen’s floorboards, D.C.’s show photographers were watching. These participant-observers translate their music fandom into portrait art that bleeds energy and noise, documenting the on- and offstage personalities of the local music scene and stirring up some serious FOMO for couch-sitters who skipped the show. This Saturday, at Paperhaus’ album release gig at 9:30 Club, four D.C. artists will stage the venue’s first pop-up music photography exhibit. Deconstruct their work with the stories behind their images and pro tips for amateurs who want to look as hard as they listen. —Christina Cauterucci Clarissa Villondo Photographer for: Her whole life The photo: Damaged City Fest, St. Stephen’s, April 12, 2014. My gear was nearly crushed and I walked out with a concussion; however, it’s the only concert I’ve ever shot where I walked out with 300-plus photos I absolutely loved. This shot was out of good timing and luck. Somehow this kid launched himself that high in the air. I don’t know how he did it, but he made this one of the best crowd shots I’ve ever taken. Good advice: For amateur photogs who want to take better photos, I would discourage using flash and instead recommend use faster lenses and decent DSLR. There are plenty of venues around D.C. that don’t allow flash, so you’ll be better off getting into the habit of not using it. Staying away from flash gives you the chance to occasionally turn around and look at the crowd without ruining the concert for them by blinding them with the flash. alex sChelldorf Photographer for: Eight months The photo: Net Neutrality benefit, St. Stephen’s, Jan. 17, 2014. One of the most underrated local bands in the scene is the Black Sparks. The group is made up of high school-aged kids who are ripping harder than some bands out there that have been around since before these dudes were born. Sometimes you nail a shot because you’re prepared. Sometimes you fire when you see movement and hope for the best. Sometimes you just get lucky. I’m not good at Venn diagrams, but I was somewhere in between all that for this shot. Good advice: Some of the larger venues here like Black Cat (both upstairs and downstairs) and DC9 have lighting that is hard to manage, and difficult to correct later—let alone the dark basements at house venues. Flash is your best friend for color control. But definitely do not be the dude in the front the whole show, strobing in someone’s face all night. MaTThew Brazier Photographer for: 17 years The photo: In It Together Fest, St. Stephen’s, Aug. 2, 2014. I wanted all my photos from InFest to have a uniform look so I used a slow shutter speed with a flash to create somewhat surreal images full of motion and color. Loud Boyz always put on such high energy shows, it’s hard not to take great photos of them, but I really liked how Alex [Anderson] was framed by the InFest poster in this shot. Good advice: Try not to ever become the center of attention by using excessive flash (if a flash is even necessary) or by blocking the crowd’s view too much. Concerts are dark, especially at the smaller venues, so invest in a camera that can handle shooting at a high ISO and fast f/2.8 lens so you don’t have to rely on using a flash every time. MiChael andrade Photographer for: Three years The photo: Priests, Black Cat, Sep. 7, 2014. Priests is one of my favorite bands of all time and I have been documenting their music for over two years now. The challenge about shooting a band more than once is finding new ways to showcase them. Katie Alice Greer, the lead singer, has an uncanny ability to draw all kinds of emotions from the crowd, and this photo shows that in everyone’s faces. Good advice: If you want to take better pictures at shows, you need to not worry so much about not having the best gear but worry about capturing a unique moment. Don’t ignore the crowd in your photos; including them adds a perfect element to your composition. Be respectful of others who have paid money to see the bands, don’t be afraid to get close to your subject, and be cautious of over-editing. washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 29
TheaTerCurtain Calls C’est La FiLLe
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Gigi By Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe Adapted by Heidi Thomas Directed by Eric Schaeffer At the Kennedy Center to Feb. 12
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D.C.’s awesomest events calendar. washingtoncitypaper.com
washingtoncitypaper.com/ calendar
Photo by James Kegley
Featuring Kate Eastwood Norris & Holly Twyford
ON STAGE NOW THROUGH MAR. 8
202.544.7077 | folger.edu/theatre
30 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
underbelly of the Eiffel Tower hangs above the stage. To simulate changes of rooms, decorations and doorways occasionally drop in from the rafters. The sets and staging have little flair, so it’s left to the actors to fizz, froth, and sparkle like Veuve Clicquot. By and large, they do. Tony winner Victoria Clark (A Light in the Piazza), as Mamita Alvarez, has the sort of soprano that’s worthy of a recital every time she opens her mouth. Dee Hoty plays her sister, Aunt Alicia, and together, midway through the show, they deliver “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” as a salute to their favorite mistress-in-training, Gigi. An even better duet
Thank heaven they didn’t let a dirty old man sing that song again. Director Eric Schaeffer’s much-buzzedabout revival of the 1958 movie musical Gigi opened last month at the Kennedy Center, and this version’s makeover starts with the opening number. In the film, a grinning, aging Maurice Chevalier sang “Thank Heaven for Little Girls” while les jeunes filles in frilly dresses scampered around him in a Parisian park. My mother claims that when she repeatedly watched the film while growing up in the 1960s, Chevalier was not considered creepy, but très debonair. We both lovingly recall my grandfather singing the song around the house Too Gross for Comfort: Gigi’s update stripped away the more offensive bits. as he cared for four daughters, then six granddaughters. is created when Clark joins Howard McGilAnd yet, as I rewatched the movie last lin, in Chevalier’s Honore Lachaille role, to week to prepare for seeing Gigi at the Ken- sing the still-clever ballad, “I’m Glad I’m Not nedy Center, the number struck me as unde- Young Anymore.” niably gross. The youthful Gigi, as you might have There are no septuagenarian men crooning heard, is played by former teen poplet Vanabout little girls growing up in delightful ways essa Hudgens. How is she? Cute and spunky, in this immensely likable new Gigi; the smart- but not much of a dancer and not nearly as est thing Schaeffer and his production team good as her paramour Corey Cott (Newshave done is reassign who sings what through- ies), who in this revamped version of the muout the show. The dumbest thing he’s done? sical plays Gaston not as a rich, bored danJettison that gorgeous Parisian park. dy, but as a wannabe engineer, eager to fund Gigi the film was a success in part because the latest in dirigible technology. British drait was such a spectacle, winning a then-re- matist and screenwriter Heidi Thomas (Call cord nine Oscars. The musical was written the Midwife) updated the book, and managed for the screen by Alan Jay Lerner and Fred- to retain the best zingers (“The only people erick Loewe, still fresh off My Fair Lady’s who make love all the time are liars”) while Ascot glow. (A 1973 Broadway adaptation reworking a thin, somewhat offensive (forof Gigi would flop.) Going straight to MGM merly, anyway) story into a delightful evening allowed the duo to create a Belle Époque of entertainment. epic that ran way over budget. In Gigi’s park A wealthy New York theater patron named scenes, dozens of horses pull carriages full Jenna Segal is leading the producing team, of well-dressed courtesans. The parties at which does not include the Kennedy Center. Maxim’s dance hall make the Moulin Rouge From here, the musical goes off to Broadway, look like a bore. The indoor ice rink sur- beginning previews March 19. “Say A Little rounded by champagne-sippers remains a Prayer for Her Tonight,” is the refrain Clark cinematic marvel. sings the night Gigi goes off to spend her first Schaeffer couldn’t compete. But surely night with Gaston. In the film, a frightened he and designer Derek McLane could have Gigi sang “Sing a Prayer for Me” herself. come up with a set less generic than two Onstage now, it’s a much sweeter moment, winding staircases which could just as eas- but one that still doesn’t feel entirely right. —Rebecca J. Ritzel ily be dropped into a production of Mame, An Ideal Husband, or The Sound of Music. Pixelated clouds hover in the background, 2700 F St. NW. $99-$150. (202) 467-4600. while a curved grid that resembles the kennedy-center.org
Joan Marcus
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FilmShort SubjectS Call for SubmiSSion The Duke of Burgundy Directed by Peter Strickland If The Duke of Burgundy, a love story about two wealthy lepidopterists, took place in modern times, you’d imagine that one or both women might hide a Cosmo within the covers of their butterfly books, learning “10 Ways to Spice Up Your Relationship!” instead of the latest on monarch larvae. Cynthia and Evelyn, you see, have caught the seven-year itch. Or, more specifically, the not-the-badmaid-and-human-toilet-thing-again itch. “Human toilet” is not a phrase you expect to hear—more than once—in a film that’s so misleadingly Merchant-Ivory-esque that a
throughout.) She’s not the only one growing weary of their games, however. “Try to have more conviction in your voice next time,” Evelyn chastises at one point. Meanwhile, moths are everywhere, including a surreal scene in which a zombie-like Evelyn disappears into a room full of them, with Strickland’s camerawork recalling the Stan Brahkage short Mothlight. What does it mean? Well, that’s a headscratcher: If there’s a metaphor here, good luck finding it. (Though once you glimpse mannequins sitting among an audience of real women in a lecture hall, you may just shrug off these touches as indulgent Dadaism.) There’s one easily misinterpreted detail that’s important to get right, however. Evelyn is frequently heard calling out or whispering in voiceover—some parts of Burgundy are rather Tree of Life, complete with Like a Moth to the Game: Cynthia and Evelyn play out their scenes ad infinitum.
“Perfume by” credit is nested in the opening, right alongside big guns like the producer, writer, and director. The latter two are Peter Strickland, and his creation is part romance, part erotica, and part absurdity, whipped together and sifted through a giallo filter. We first meet Evelyn (Chiara D’Anna) as she bicycles up to an ivy-covered country home. (Clothing and other details suggest that the film is set in perhaps the late 19th or early 20th century.) “You’re late,” says Cynthia (Sidse Babett Knudsen), who then directs the apparent maid on where to clean. She’s stern, Evelyn’s obedient, and soon, lingerie is involved. Just some role-playing, with the women going behind closed doors when the roles drop like so many panties. But then they play out the scenario again, day after day, over and over. It’s a surprise to discover that Evelyn is actually the dominant one here, leaving Cynthia ridiculously detailed instructions on how to act, and how to “punish” her. You can see the boredom in Cynthia’s eyes. (And, in one funny scene, her bafflement when Evelyn pleads for dirty talk and Cynthia runs out of things to say; Knudsen is a marvel of nonverbal expression
self-serious pretension—“be nasty.” Which makes sense, considering her sexual preferences. Really, though, Evelyn is saying “pinastri,” a type of moth that’s also the couple’s safe word. Big difference there. The Duke of Burgundy is scored by Cat’s Eyes, with atonal, hard-to-identify instruments emitting music that recalls horror films and soprano vocals that contribute to the overall sense of la-di-da that’s hiding the twisted. Just when the plot seems to be getting sinister, though, Strickland pulls his punches, and it’s a disappointment. Because it must be said: Evelyn’s a whiny brat, her frequent petulance even more pronounced when contrasted with the older Cynthia’s sophisticated, practical demeanor. When they consult a custom-furniture maker who specializes in fetishes, Evelyn pouts after hearing that a bed wouldn’t be ready by her birthday. “It’s OK. There will be another birthday,” she finally says. It doesn’t take long to side with the exasperated Cynthia and want to punish her, too. —Tricia Olszewski The Duke of Burgundy opens at West End Cinema on Feb. 6. washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 31
BooksSpeed ReadS Year Factor 1995: The Year the Future Began By W. Joseph Campbell University of California Press, 296 pp, $29.95
MANUAL CINEMA: LULA DEL RAY
THIS WEEK FRIDAY & SATURDAY 8PM / DOME THEATRE Chicago-based performance troupe Manual Cinema transforms the experience of attending the theater with their awe-inspiring productions. “Visually stunning...and surprisingly moving.” —NYTheatre.com
AURELIO
FRI FEB 13 AT 8PM / DOME THEATRE
Presented in partnership with the IDB Cultural Center Singer, percussionist and guitarist Aurelio Martinez will bring his charismatic mastery of Garifuna, African and Caribbean music to Artisphere for one night only.
www.artisphere.com
1101 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22209 Free parking weekdays after 5pm + all day on weekends Two blocks from the Rosslyn Metro Follow us: @Artisphere Like us: ArtisphereVA 32 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
On May 20, 1995, a month after domestic terrorists bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and killed 168 people, authorities placed temporary concrete roadblocks on the stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue north of the White House. The barriers have only become more permanent since then. There may be more potent symbols of America’s lost innocence: JFK’s assassination, the Challenger explosion, 9/11. But as moments of paranoia go, the Murrah Building bombing is exceptional, and W. Joseph Campbell rightfully pegs Timothy McVeigh’s act as transformative: It “signaled the rise of a more guarded, more suspicious, more security-inclined America, and of what can be called ‘a national psychology of fear,’” he writes in his new book 1995: The Year the Future Began. Don’t let the TED Talk-esque subtitle trouble you. Campbell, a professor at American University, isn’t prone to making grandiose claims about the importance of 1995. But it was a year of interesting pivots in our national culture, and his book is built on brisk, nonacademic surveys of five of them: the McVeigh bombing, the rise of the Internet, the O.J. Simpson trial, the Dayton Accords ending the ethnic war in the Balkans, and Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky. On the face of it, some of these cases don’t seem capable of deeming the year “a clear starting point for contemporary life,” as Campbell writes. But what’s consequential about them now isn’t what people imagined would be then. For instance, Campbell argues that the O.J. trial matters now for legitimizing DNA evidence on a national stage, more than the semiserious discussion about race that pundits predicted at the time. And it’s practically axiomatic that the online world of 1995 has had a long reach. Household Internet adoption began its speedy surge; the launch of Windows 95 gave computers a then-unheard-of glitz; Amazon.com hung out a shingle; the browser wars gave dotcom startups a celebrity that’d become serially hubristic; and anti-web contrarianism arguably found its first flower in the form of scold Clifford Stoll. (“Why not send a fax?” he wrote.)
Campbell is less persuasive in other cases, though. The Dayton Accords, he writes, “launched the United States on a trajectory of increasingly forceful interventions abroad.” Even allowing that in 1995 Clinton acquired a backbone on the international stage that he’d lacked in Somalia and Rwanda, the USS Cole bombing and 9/11 did more on the force-launching front. (Even the Murrah Building attack may have mattered more, stoking anti-Middle East sentiment that dissipated only slightly after it emerged that the terrorists were homegrown.) As for his assertion that the Clinton-Lewinsky revelations “signaled a stark partisan divide that would deepen and intensify during the first fifteen years of the twenty-first century,” the likelier wedge is the government shutdown that enabled the pair’s assignations—or, apter still, Newt
Gingrich’s speakerdom, which prompted the shutdown. Clinton’s bubba eruption got him impeached, sure. But who today makes anything of it besides compulsive enthusiasts of the #TCOT ilk? However debatable Campbell’s points are, his book voices a larger, legitimate point: The forces that reshape history are rarely the ones you expect. Who knew that a Seattle book hawker named Jeff Bezos would reshape the online economy? Who would’ve figured that the O.J. trial would set the world up for CSI: Miami? Who could’ve predicted a stable Balkans, and an unstable Oklahoma? Or imagined a world where a fax is a punchline? —Mark Athitakis
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Emily Platt
MusicDiscography
unmatchymatchy Pattern Matching Stranger in the Alps Self-released Forget trying to pinpoint a pattern on Pattern Matching. The album, the second from Stranger in the Alps, is packed with so many shifts in mood, style, and tempo, that attempting to peel back the layers of each of its seven tracks can feel like a futile endeavor. The solo project of Steve Kolowich, Stranger in the Alps has a sound that’s evolved from the breezy, introspective folk of his previous release, 2013’s Honey if You Will, to a rich mix of alt-country, electronic, and chamber pop. This marriage of mellow acoustic riffs and moody electronics was largely brokered by Pattern Matching’s producer, electronic artist Louis Weeks, whose solo material boasts the same blip-tinged warmth that permeates Stranger in the Alps’ arrangements. Weeks worked with Kolowich on Honey if You Will, too, but on Pattern Matching, the pair has clearly found its sonic groove. Here, Kolowich ditches his indie-folk comfort zone in favor of a new, radiant soundscape where guitars mix with hiccuping synths and fullbodied wurlitzer, only to be interrupted by a dreamy wash of woodwinds. Pattern Matching kicks off with a robotic
sample declaring, “Yes, this is it.” The computerized voice acts as a sonic permission slip, giving listeners the go-ahead to sit back and take in the somber vibe of the album’s opening track, “Lady Mondegreen.” The song’s fusion of acoustic guitar and slow-moving synths is blanketed by slinky pedal steel, creating a bleak tone that contrasts with the bright hues of the album’s cover art. This attention to atmosphere is part of what makes Pattern Matching so compelling. The album’s tracks are carefully arranged, both in texture and in lyrical content, to keep listeners guessing while communicating some pretty heavy themes. On “Lady Mondegreen,” Kolowich croons about crossword puzzles and coffee getting cold, innocuous but relatable references that prime listeners for his darker statements about the monotony of routine: “Draw an inkblot/Draw a blank/Fill an empty filing rank/Living day-to-day is getting old.” Kolowich’s talented team of collaborators shaped Pattern Matching’s vivid scenes with whimsical instrumentation. Weeks shows up on every song, while D.C.’s Seán Barna and Travis Lyon (a D.C. expat in Ireland) contribute to most others. Throughout, the team bounces between divergent instruments— egg shakers! acoustic bass! synthesizers!— and styles. From the album’s title track, a dusty, guitar and wurlitzer-driven folk tune that brings to mind the sun-baked folk of Phosphorescent, to the woodwind-laced dreamscape of “Middle America,” Kolowich
34 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
Stranger in the Alps plays the Black Cat Sunday, Feb. 8. Listen to Pattern Matching at washingtoncitypaper.com/go/patternmatching. PHOTO CREDIT: Passenger Photography
Whimsy Scale: A wealth of instruments fill out Pattern’s texture.
and company patch together a range of distinct but complementary genres, manufacturing the musical equivalent of a stained-glass window. In recent interviews, Kolowich has noted that most of the album’s tracks were penned on airplanes. It shows, especially on “Black Box,” where Kolowich blends hushed strums with subtle electronics in a meditation on society’s 24/7 thirst for information—“Eat your breakfast/Mind your checklist/And your angle of attack”—and its correlation to the missing black box of Malaysia Airlines flight 370. As Stranger in the Alps, Kolowich shines as both a thoughtful songwriter and a matchmaker of sorts, combining his detailed prose with its instrumental equivalent. The result is a seven-track trip into his psyche, which, with its fuzzy samples and twangy guitar, makes for a thrilling destination. —Carey Hodges
I Think I Can: Paperhaus does its namesake justice.
Over the Influence Paperhaus Paperhaus Self-released It’s a gutsy move to name your band after a Can song, but on Paperhaus’ selftitled debut LP, its members mostly live up to the moniker. Paperhaus is a solid conglomeration of what the D.C. mainstays do best—shaggy-haired, solo-happy ‘70s rock and experimental krautpop—with some minor tweaks.
The group’s production has never been cleaner or clearer, shifting Paperhaus’ focus away from the jangle-y haze of 2013’s wonderful Lo Hi Lo EP and toward a sound that feels muscular in a Josh Homme kind of way. Paperhaus is also the band’s most concise statement by a country mile, an album where lead songwriter Alex Tebeleff has finally figured out how to honor his wide array of influences—which range from Townes Van Zandt on 2011’s self-titled EP to R.E.M. on Lo Hi Lo—while maintaining a sonic consistency throughout. Still, the record could use some trimming. A few of its tracks, like the goth-leaning “Surrender” and the slow blues burn of “Misery,” riff on a single melody past its freshness date. “Misery” is particularly confounding; it feels like it ought to soundtrack a Mexican standoff in a lost John Wayne film, with its seven-plus minutes of wacky suspense, howling vocals, and bursts of noise like an unexpected revolver shot. But it also lacks momentum and direction. The tightrope between purposeful linearity and monotony is a tough one to walk, and the band hasn’t completely mastered the skill. Too often, Paperhaus seems bent on reaching some sort of avant-garde nirvana, even when its songs don’t seem to call for it. So it’s no big surprise that Paperhaus is at its best when the band doesn’t sound like it’s trying too hard, like on the gorgeous, string-laden “432”—which, delivering all the sorrow of a mid-afternoon sigh, could almost pass for a Bedhead song—and the swaying “I’ll Send It To You,” where Tebeleff croons, “I hope you’ll find/Some memories to hold behind.” However, a question of individuality looms large. Paperhaus is a fine album that sums up everything Tebeleff and his rotating cast of musicians have made in previous years, yet the band still hasn’t fleshed out its own distinct voice. It can sound like R.E.M., it can sound like Townes Van Zandt, and sometimes, as on this record, it can put both of them together quite well. Paperhaus has the talent to more than emulate its wide array of artistic heroes, but Paperhaus sometimes feels like it should be accompanied by an elaborately drawn music history web. The record peaks with the album’s first single and opening track, “Cairo,” where the band sounds most in control of its experimental leanings. It’s also the most Canlike of everything here, with its unflinching percussive drive and deftly executed dynamic shifts. Thanks to songs like this, Paperhaus manages to nearly meet the lofty expectations of both its influences and its name. Maybe next time, it’ll transcend them completely. —Dean Essner Paperhaus plays 9:30 Club Saturday, Feb. 7. Listen to “Cairo” at washingtoncitypaper.com/ go/paperhausLP.
washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 35
I.M.P. PRESENTS Merriweather Post Pavilion • Columbia, MD JUST ANNOUNCED!
THE DECEMBERISTS
THIS WEEK’S SHOWS
w/ Father John Misty .......................................................................................... JUNE 4
U STREET MUSIC HALL PRESENTS
Viceroy w/ Phantoms & Will Eastman ..................................................................... Th 5
DOCTOR DREAD PRESENTS
Bob Marley’s 70th Birthday Celebration featuring Third World • Jesse Royal • Roger Steffens • DJ Dub Architect .............................. F 6
DC MUSIC DOWNLOAD’S THREE YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW FEATURING
Paperhaus (Album release show) • Loud Boyz • Baby Bry Bry and The Apologists • DJ AYESCOLD Early Show! 6:30pm Doors .................... Sa 7
AN EVENING WITH
Chris Robinson Brotherhood ...............................................................................W 11
Kix • Europe • Queensrÿche F lorida G eorGia l ine feat.
and more! ........ MAY 1 & 2
Two-day tickets on sale now. For a full lineup, visit m3rockfest.com
w/ Thomas Rhett & Frankie Ballard .........................................................MAY 9
KENNY CHESNEY The Big Revival Tour 2015
w/ Jake Owen & Chase Rice .................................................................. MAY 27
FEBRUARY Phox w/ Field Report........................................................................................................ Th 12 FIRST SHOW SOLD OUT! SECOND
On Sale Friday, February 6 at 10am
SHOW ADDED!
SpeakeasyDC’s Sucker for Love
This is a seated show. Late Show! 8:30pm Doors.............................................................Sa 14 Mixtape: Alternative Dance Party with DJs Matt Bailer & Shea Van Horn Late Show! 11pm Doors ................................................................................................... Sa 14
FALL OUT BOY| WIZ KHALIFA
BOYS OF ZUMMER TOUR w/ Hoodie Allen & DJ Drama ...................................................... JUNE 27
DARIUS RUCKER
w/ Brett Eldredge • Brothers Osborne • A Thousand Horses................................AUGUST 22
• merriweathermusic.com • 930.com
ALL GOOD PRESENTS
JJ Grey and MOFRO w/ The London Souls .............................................................. W 18
Meyerhoff Symphony Hall • Baltimore, MD
AN EVENING WITH
Big Head Todd and the Monsters ........................................................................... Th 19
NIGHT ADDED! TWO NIGHTS SOLD OUT! THIRD Punch Brothers w/ Gaby Moreno ............................................................................. Su 22
Ariel Pink w/ Jack Name ..............................................................................................M 23 ALL GOOD PRESENTS
Railroad Earth
Sarah McLachLan
AN EVENING WITH
(F 27 - w/ Floodwood feat. Al Schnier and Vinnie Amico of moe.) .............. F 27 & Sa 28
MARCH Aesop Rock with Rob Sonic w/ DJ Abilities ........................................................... Su 1 Gang of Four w/ Public Access T.V. ........................................................................... Tu 3 Pat Green & Josh Abbott Band ............................................................................... Th 5 ALL GOOD PRESENTS THE ROAD TO DELFEST WITH
...................................MARCH 15
Ticketmaster
Echostage • Washington, D.C.
BELLE AND SEBASTIAN
.......................................................................... JUNE 11
I NTERPO L ...............................................................................................JULY 28 2135 Queens Chapel Rd. NE • Ticketmaster
The Travelin’ McCourys
featuring Billy Nershi and The Jeff Austin Band ..........................................................F 6 of Montreal w/ Yonatan Gat ..........................................................................................Sa 7
RFK Stadium • Washington, D.C.
RuPaul’s Drag Race: Battle of the Seasons
hosted by Michelle Visage featuring Alaska 5000 • BenDeLaCreme • Darienne Lake and more! .............................................................................................. Su 8 The Church ....................................................................................................................... M 9 Jukebox the Ghost w/ Little Daylight & Secret Someones ................................. Tu 10 G. Love and Special Sauce w/ Matt Costa ............................................................. W 11
20th Anniversary Blowout!
Buddy Guy • Gary Clark Jr. • Heart • and more! ...................................... JULY 4, 2015 For full lineup, visit 930.com Ticketmaster
U STREET MUSIC HALL PRESENTS
Flight Facilities ................................................................................................................ F 13 Ryan Bingham & Lucero w/ Twin Forks ............................................................... Sa 14 STEEZ PROMO PRESENTS
Robin Schulz w/ Le Youth .............................................................................................. W 18 Joshua Radin w/ Rachael Yamagata & Cary Brothers.......................................... Th 19 J. Roddy Walston and The Business w/ Jessica Hernandez and The Deltas ..... F 20
MANY MORE SHOWS ON SALE!
9:30 CUPCAKES
930.com
The best thing you could possibly put in your mouth Cupcakes by BUZZ... your neighborhood bakery in Alexandria, VA. | www.buzzonslaters.com
1215 U Street NW, Washington, D.C.
JUST ANNOUNCED!
KIESZA
: THE SOUND OF A WOMAN TOUR
w/ Betty Who..........................................................................................................................MAY 11 On Sale Friday, February 6 at 10am
DEMETRI MARTIN :
The Persistence of Jokes
Taping His New Comedy Special! ............................................................................ MARCH 7
9:30 CLUB PRESENTS AT U STREET MUSIC HALL JMSN w/ Rochelle Jordan & Abhi//Dijon..F 13 Wolf Alice............................................... F 27 Doomtree French Horn Rebellion ...............Th MAR 5 w/ Open Mike Eagle & Seez Mics.......... Sa 14 Hundred Waters Theophilus London w/ Mitski & Soft Cat .................................. F 6 w/ FATHER & Doja Cat .......................... Su 15 Pete Rock & Slum Village w/ HANiF ..Tu 10 Francisco The Man Hermitude............................................. W 11 w/ Jackson Scott & Raindeer .................. W 18 Young Summer ..................................... F 20 Kindness w/ Pell.................................. Th 19 OCD: Moosh and Twist w/ Ground Up . W 25 Ibeyi....................................................... Tu 24
FIRST NIGHT SOLD OUT! SECOND
NIGHT ADDED!
WELCOME TO NIGHT VALE .......................................................................... MARCH 28 AN INTIMATE SOLO/ACOUSTIC PERFORMANCE BY
Citizen Cope .................................................................................. APRIL 9
LISA LAMPANELLI ............................................................................................ MAY 29 • thelincolndc.com •
U Street (Green/Yellow) stop across the street!
• Buy advance tickets at the 9:30 Club box office
Tickets for 9:30 Club shows are available through TicketFly.com, by phone at 1-877-4FLY-TIX, and at the 9:30 Club box office. 9:30 CLUB BOX OFFICE HOURS are 12-7PM Weekdays & Until 11PM on show nights. 6-11PM on Sat & 6-10:30PM on Sun on show nights. 9:30 CUPCAKES The best thing you could possibly put in your mouth. Cupcakes by BUZZ... your neighborhood bakery in Alexandria, VA. www.buzzbakery.com
36 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
PARKING: THE OFFICIAL 9:30 parking lot entrance is on 9th Street, directly behind the 9:30 club. Buy your advance parking tickets at the same time as your concert tickets!
HAPPY HOUR DRINK PRICES
AFTER THE SHOW AT THE BACK BAR!
930.com
CITYLIST Music
Music . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37 Theater . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 Film . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
SearCh LISTIngS aT waShIngTonCITYpaper.Com twins Jazz 1344 U St. NW. (202) 234-0072. Abdoulave Ndiave. 9 p.m. & 11 p.m. $15. twinsjazz.com.
CITY LIGHTS: FRIDAY
Friday
BluEs
LULA DEL RAY
Rock
madam’s orGan 2461 18th St. NW. (202) 6675370. Lex Grey and the Urban Pioneers. 10 p.m. $3–$7. madamsorgan.com.
9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Third World, Jesse Royal, Roger Steffens, DJ Dub Architect. 7:30 p.m. $30. 930.com.
zoo bar 3000 Connecticut Ave. NW. (202) 2324225. Over the Limit: Lisa Lim, Tom Maxwell, Wolf Crescenze, Bart Baldereson. 10 p.m. Free. zoobardc.com.
bethesda blues and Jazz 7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda. (240) 330-4500. David Kitchen, the Flea Bops, the Rock-A-Sonics, Honky Tonk Confidential, Ruthie and the Wranglers, Jelly Roll Mortals, Cal Everett, Ron Scott, Dagmar and Bob, Jason Hicks, M.C. Colin Davies. 8 p.m. $20. bethesdabluesjazz.com.
Folk Gypsy sally’s 3401 K St. NW. (202) 333-7700. Alan Barnosky. 7 p.m. Free. gypsysallys.com.
birChmere 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. (703) 549-7500. Pat McGee Band. 7:30 p.m. $35. birchmere.com.
iota Club & CaFé 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. (703) 522-8340. Drew Gibson. 8:30 p.m. $12. iotaclubandcafe.com.
dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. White Arrows, Chappo. 6:30 p.m. $12. dcnine.com.
WoRld
Gypsy sally’s 3401 K St. NW. (202) 333-7700. Dana Fuchs. 9 p.m. $20–$25. gypsysallys.com.
roCK & roll hotel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-ROCK. Black Masala, Congo Sanchez. 11 p.m. $12. rockandrollhoteldc.com.
Funk & R&B Kennedy Center atrium 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Maceo Parker. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $32. kennedy-center.org.
ElEctRonic eChostaGe 2135 Queens Chapel Road NE. (202) 503-2330. Datsik. 9 p.m. $30. echostage.com. Flash 645 Florida Ave. NW. (202) 827-8791. Timo Maas, Slope, Jubilee, Ramirez. 8 p.m. $8. flashdc.com. u street musiC hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 5881880. Mark Farina, Karina, Benoit Benoit. 10 p.m. $15. ustreetmusichall.com.
Jazz blues alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Roy Ayers. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $45. bluesalley.com.
Paper puppets. Actors in silhouette. An overhead projector. A live band. No, this isn’t some reductive new adaptation of The Muppets; it’s Lula del Ray, a theater piece performed by Chicago’s Manual Cinema. The coming-of-age tale follows a lonesome adolescent girl, Lula, who lives with her mother in the middle of a satellite array in the American Southwest. After hearing a haunting country tune on the radio, Lula runs away from home in search of a new life. But during her journey, she finds the road to personal freedom fraught with danger, deception, and disappointment. The production includes no dialogue, so the story is told by shadowy shapes that flit across the screen to an original score inspired by the music of Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, and Patsy Cline. Manual Cinema knows its way around a stage: In 2013, it earned awards for Best of Festival and Best Design from the National Puppet Festival. Watch the performers’ graceful movements, quick scene changes, and artful imagery, and you’ll see why. The performance begins at 8 p.m. at Artisphere, 1101 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. $20. —Tim Regan (703) 875-1100. artisphere.com.
classical ClariCe smith perForminG arts Center Stadium Drive and Route 193, College Park. (301) 405-2787. Meccore Quartet. 8 p.m. $25. claricesmithcenter.umd.edu. Kennedy Center ConCert hall 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. National Symphony Orchestra with Vilde Frang. 8 p.m. $10–$85. kennedy-center.org.
saturday Rock
9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Paperhaus, Loud Boyz, Baby Bry Bry & The Apologists, DJ Ayescold. 7 p.m. $16. 930.com.
THIS F E B RUA RY AT BLUES ALLEY! CELEBRATING 50 YEARS IN OUR NATION’S CAPITAL February 13-14 February 26-28
Frederic Yonnet
Angela Winbush
(Urban Jazz Harmonica)
February 5-8
Roy Ayers
(Vibes/Soul Fusion)
BLUES ALLEY
(Soul/R&B)
February 19-22
Kim Waters (Sax/Smooth)
March 5-9
Stanley Jordan (Solo Guitar)
1073 Wisconsin Ave. (in the alley) • (202) 337-4141 • www.bluesalley.com washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 37
ClariCe Smith Performing artS Center Stadium Drive and Route 193, College Park. (301) 4052787. Juiced. 9 p.m. Free. claricesmithcenter.umd.edu.
BluEs
DC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Tortious Tones. 7 p.m. dcnine.com.
Chubby Carrier, Little Red & The Renegades. 7 p.m.
iota Club & Café 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. (703) 522-8340. Sirsy. 9 p.m. $12. iotaclubandcafe.com. u Street muSiC hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 5881880. The Project, His Dream of Lions, Sub Radio Standard. 6:30 p.m. $15. ustreetmusichall.com.
ElEctronic 9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Borgeous, LooKas, LJ MTX, BORTZ. 11 p.m. $17. 930.com. eChoStage 2135 Queens Chapel Road NE. (202) 503-2330. Cosmic Gate, Orjan Nilsen. 9 p.m. $30. echostage.com. PyramiD atlantiC art Center 8230 Georgia Ave., Silver Spring. (301) 608-9101. Dan Joseph, Chester Hawkins, Noiseless Ensemble. 7:30 p.m. $10. pyramidatlanticartcenter.org. u Street muSiC hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 5881880. Autograf & Zimmer, Eau Claire. 10 p.m. $10. ustreetmusichall.com.
the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. $15–$20. thehamiltondc.com. maDam’S organ 2461 18th St. NW. (202) 6675370. Rico Amero. 7 p.m. $3–$7. madamsorgan. com. Lex Grey and the Urban Pioneers. 10 p.m. $3–$7. madamsorgan.com. zoo bar 3000 Connecticut Ave. NW. (202) 2324225. Big Boy Little Band featuring Bret Littlehales. 10 p.m. Free. zoobardc.com.
World Sixth & i hiStoriC Synagogue 600 I St. NW. (202) 408-3100. Simon Shaheen. 8 p.m. $35. sixthandi.org. troPiCalia 2001 14th St. NW. (202) 629-4535. Enjambre en Concierto. 7:30 p.m. $20–$25. tropicaliadc.com.
Hip-Hop
Jazz
howarD theatre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899.
blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Roy Ayers. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $45. bluesalley.com.
thehowardtheatre.com.
KenneDy Center terraCe gallery 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Chris Brubeck’s Triple Play. 7:30 p.m. & 9:30 p.m. $26–$32. kennedy-center.org. twinS Jazz 1344 U St. NW. (202) 234-0072. Abdoulave Ndiave. 9 p.m. & 11 p.m. $15. twinsjazz.com.
Slick Rick, Rakim, EZ Street. 8 p.m. $32.50–$37.
classical KenneDy Center ConCert hall 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. National Symphony Orchestra with Vilde Frang. 8 p.m. $10–$85. kennedy-center.org.
CITY LIGHTS: SATURDAY
SIMON SHAHEEN One of the foremost interpreters of traditional Arabic music in the West, Simon Shaheen is a celebrated virtuoso on the oud, the pear-shaped Middle Eastern string instrument from which the lute takes its name. Typically the mainstay of any Arabic musical ensemble, the oud in Shaheen’s hands easily carries the show, by turns lively and vibrant, brooding and melancholy. The New York-based Palestinian musician and composer has not only mastered his traditional musical heritage; he’s also a classically trained violinist and incorporates Western genres like jazz and Latin beats into his work, particularly on his best-known album, 2001’s Blue Flame. Shaheen performs at Sixth & I as part of the season-long “Silk Road” series organized by Washington Performing Arts in conjunction with the 15th-anniversary tour of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. Joining Shaheen are three other Arab musicians, including his brother Nijab, a fellow oudist, and Sashank Navaladi, an Indian sarod player. Their performance promises to be as musically diverse as the legendary silk route. Simon Shaheen performs at 8 p.m. at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue, 600 I St. NW. $35. (202) 408-3100. sixthandi.org. —Vanessa Larson 38 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
---------3701 Mount Vernon Ave. Alexandria, VA • 703-549-7500
For entire schedule go to Birchmere.com Find us on Facebook/Twitter! Tix @ Ticketmaster.com 800-745-3000
Reunion Show!
Feb 6
Pat McGee Band 14 burlesque-a-pades in loveland!
THE BAD PLUS
feat. The World Famous pontani sisters, angie pontani, Miss Tickle, Calamity Chang, Helen pontani, The Main attraction, Cherie Nuit and albert Cadabra!
TONIGHT AT 8 PM!
RideRs in the sky “Salute to Roy Rogers!”
15
Robert Earl Keen
Bonnie Bishop ‘Happy Prisoner: The Bluegrass Tour’
17
FEB 5
INTERNATIONAL GUITAR NIGHT
18 19
owen leighton meester Danoff tab benoit
20 21
FEB 6
THE MONTROSE TRIO Jon Kimura Parker, Martin Beaver, and Clive Greensmith CHAMBER MUSIC AT THE BARNS
keller williams An Evening with
Don McLean 22 Stanley Clarke 23 NORTH MISSISSIPPI ALLSTARS & ANDERS OSBORNE PRESENT N.M.O. 24 Uriah heep (Rescheduled from 10/1/14. All 10/1 tickets honored on this new date.)
MIKE+THE MECHANICS Steve Poltz 28 NAJEE Mar 1 British invasion tour 2015 26 &27
feat. Peter asher, Denny Laine, Chad & Jeremy. Billy J. Kramer, Mike Pender’s searchers, terry sylvester
FEB 7
BEAUSOLEIL AVEC MICHAEL DOUCET LAURA BENANTI
Cindy BETH HART Alexander 4&5 GAELIC STORM 6&7 Rachelle FeRRell
2&3
GENERAL ADMISSION DANCE
8
Watch aWards 2015 Washington area community theater honors
jesse cook the Quebe 10 Asleep At the wheel sisters 11 An Evening with seth Avett & jessicA leA mAyfield 12 leo kottke The Far 13 DAVE ALVIN & PHIL ALVIN & THE GuILTy ONEs West mid atlantic 14 Harmony sweepstakes regionals 9
FEB 20 & 21
HAPA
FEB 24
BETTYE LAVETTE
16
Second Night Added!
18
LIZ LONGLEY
Tommy emmanuel 17 Marcus Miller Brian Wright
Diana Krall wallflower world tour
December 4, 8pm
FEB 25
KAT EDMONSON ROBERT ELLIS
SEE FULL SCHEDULE AT
WOLFTRAP.ORG
The music cenTer aT sTraThmore
Tickets available at Strathmore.org or call 301-581-5100.
LEDISI With Special Guests
THE
Intimate
TRUTH TOUr RAHEEM DEVAUGHN LEELA JAMES
Saturday, March 21, 8pm Dar Constitution Hall
Tickets On Sale Now through Ticketmaster.com/800-735-3000
washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 39
UPTOWN BLUES
w/
www.bethesdabluesjazz.com
F
E
B
R
U
A
R
Y
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6
14TH ANNUAL
BUDDY HOLLY TRIBUTE SU 8
THE MARCELS, A SALUTE TO THE JUKEBOX GIANTS
Open Mic Blues JaM Big Boy LittLe every Thursday
Fri. Feb. 6 over the Limit Sat. Feb. 7 Big Boy LittLe Band Fri. Feb. 13 Sookey Jump BLueS Band
Smokin’ poLecatS Fri. Feb. 20 moonShine Society Sat. Feb. 21 Stacy BrookS BLueS Band Sat. Feb. 14
Sundays mike FLaherty’S
dixieLand direct Jazz Band
VALENTINE’S DAY WEEKEND
3000 Connecticut Avenue, NW (across from the National Zoo)
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14
202-232-4225 zoobardc.com
THE DUKE ELLINGTON ORCHESTRA SPECIAL PERFORMANCE SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15
THE DUKE ELLINGTON ORCHESTRA
F 20
LIVE CHUBBY
SOUND CONNECTION FEATURING MARQUISE & DJ NOEL
SA 21 JOE CLAIR COMEDY NIGHT (SHOWS AT 7P & 10P)
UPCOMING PERFORMANCES
CARRIER
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 25
JUST ADDED
SPECIAL FILM SCREENING OF
W/ LITTLE RED & THE RENEGADE SATURDAY FEB 7
“TOUCH THE WALL” F 27 THE FABULOUS HUBCAPS SA 28 TOM PRINCIPATO BAND
M
A
R
C
LEON
Black cat Backstage 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. Fellow Creatures, Stranger in the Alps, Rachel Ries. 8 p.m. $10. blackcatdc.com.
Black cat 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. Brooke Fraser, Dark Waves. 7:30 p.m. $18–$20. blackcatdc.com.
ElEctRonic
Dc9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Jamaican Queens, Sleepy Kitty, Pree. 8 p.m. $10. dcnine.com.
tropicalia 2001 14th St. NW. (202) 629-4535. Billy Lace Afterhours. 3 a.m. $15–$20. tropicaliadc.com.
THUR, FEB 12
Jazz
u street music hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 5881880. DJs Deakin, Geologist, Avey Tare. 10 p.m. $10. ustreetmusichall.com.
FRI, FEB 13
Jazz
Blues alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 337-4141. Jacqui Naylor. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $20. bluesalley.com.
W/ THE BUMPER JACKSONS
Blues alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Roy Ayers. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $45. bluesalley.com.
RUSSELL
MIDGE URE
W/ CRIS JACOBS
(SOLO ACOUSTIC) PLUS
NEW RIDERS OF THE PURPLE SAGE FRIDAY MARCH 20 & SATURDAY MARCH 21
MAGGIE ROSE SUNDAY MARCH 22
“WHIPLASH” NOMINATED FOR 5 OSCARS: BEST PICTURE, BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR, WRITING, FILM EDITING & SOUND MIXING
7P - “WHIPLASH”
FILM SHORT VIEWING (20 MINUTES)
730P - HANK LEVY LEGACY BAND PERFORMANCE
WEDNESDAY
FEB 11
THURS, FEB 5
AN EVENING WITH
PUDDLES PITY PARTY STOOGES BRASS BAND CHATHAM COUNTY LINE SAT, FEB 14
NEWMYER FLYER PRESENTS LOVE SONGS | BEATLES TRIBUTE TUES, FEB 17
DIRTY DOZEN BRASS BAND
Rock
mansion at strathmore 10701 Rockville Pike, Rockville. (301) 581-5100. Cyrille Aimee. 7 p.m. $28. strathmore.org. twins Jazz 1344 U St. NW. (202) 234-0072. Tony Tovar Y Projecto Jazz. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $10. twinsjazz.com. zoo Bar 3000 Connecticut Ave. NW. (202) 2324225. Mike Flaherty’s Dixieland Direct Jazz Band. 7:30 p.m. Free. zoobardc.com.
7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD (240) 330-4500
Two Blocks from Bethesda Metro/Red Line Free Parking on Weekends
The Lieutenant of Inishmore tells a funny story about a man who loves his cat. But don’t buy tickets for the kids—the man is a depraved torturer willing to bloody others to find out who hurt his feline. Constellation Theatre Company’s version, which mixes verbosity with physicality, features both live and puppet animal actors, as well as plenty of fake blood. One actor is even suspended upside down for eight minutes—an impressive feat of engineering and performance. Written by Martin McDonagh (author and director of the similarly dark comedic film In Bruges), the play follows the lieutenant and other revolutionaries on an Irish isle in the early 1990s as people began to negotiate the end of the Troubles. But the show is interested in a broader exploration of all the noble beliefs that compel us to do evil things to one another, whether for fun or revenge. The play runs Feb. 5 to March 8 at Source, 1835 14th St. NW. $20–$45. (202) 204-7741. constellationtheatre.org. —Rachel Kurzius
Monday
SUNDAY MARCH 8
SU 15
THE LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE
sunday
H
MARGOT MACDONALD
CITY LIGHTS: SUNDAY
THEHAMILTONDC.COM
40 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
countRy rock & roll hotel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-ROCK. Lydia Loveless. 8 p.m. $15. rockandrollhoteldc.com.
Rock
Bohemian caverns 2001 11th St. NW. (202) 299-0800. Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra. $10. bohemiancaverns.com.
classical kenneDy center millennium stage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Beijing Chamber Players. 6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org.
Tuesday Rock maDam’s organ 2461 18th St. NW. (202) 6675370. The Johnny Artis Band. 9 p.m. $3–$7. madamsorgan.com.
Jazz Bohemian Caverns 2001 11th St. NW. (202) 2990800. Lenny Robinson. 7:30 p.m. & 9 p.m. $10–$15. bohemiancaverns.com.
World Freer Gallery oF art Jefferson Drive & 12th Street SW. (202) 633-1000. Mayumi Miyata, Wu Man, and Jin Hi Kim. 7:30 p.m. Free. asia.si.edu.
Go-Go
madam’s orGan 2461 18th St. NW. (202) 6675370. The Human Country Jukebox Band. 9 p.m. $3–$7. madamsorgan.com.
Hip-Hop
Thursday roCk
9:30 CluB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Phox, Field Report. 7 p.m. $15. 930.com.
ClassiCal
BlaCK Cat BaCKstaGe 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. His Name Is Alive, Geoff Britches. 8 p.m. $15. blackcatdc.com.
Wednesday roCk
9:30 CluB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Chris Robinson Brotherhood. 7 p.m. $25. 930.com. BlaCK Cat BaCKstaGe 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. The Sidekicks, LVL UP, Foozle. 8 p.m. $10. blackcatdc.com. the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. Leon Russell. 6:30 p.m. $25–$40. thehamiltondc.com. velvet lounGe 915 U St. NW. (202) 462-3213. The NRIs, Feral Conservatives, EastWestHwy. 7:30 p.m. $8. velvetloungedc.com.
Jazz
DISCOVER 600+ BEERS FROM AROUND THE WORLD!
tropiCalia 2001 14th St. NW. (202) 629-4535. The Higher Hands, J Pope and Funk Friday, Sidewalk Chalk. 8 p.m. $10. tropicaliadc.com.
Blues alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 337-4141. Familiar Faces. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $20. bluesalley.com.
Kennedy Center terraCe theater 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio. 7:30 p.m. $49. kennedy-center.org.
VOTED TOP 100 BEER BARS IN THE USA!
Funk & r&B the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. Stooges Brass Band. 6:30 p.m. $15–$20. thehamiltondc.com. howard theatre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899. Kendall Isadore, Jordan Campbell, Bahati Barton, Matthew Robinson, Good Girl, MPrynt, Kasaun Wilson. 7:30 p.m. $20. thehowardtheatre.com.
Folk Gypsy sally’s 3401 K St. NW. (202) 333-7700. The Hackensaw Boys, Grand Ole Ditch. 8 p.m. $15–$20. gypsysallys.com.
HAPPY HOUR SPECIAL 5-7 PM
ANY DRAFT AND A BURGER JUST TEN BUCKS 1523 22nd St NW – Washington, DC 20037 – (202) 293-1887 www.bierbarondc.com @bierbarondc.com for news and events
S H AW - H O WA R D METRO ACCESS O F F GREEN LINE
620 T ST. NW WASHINGTON DC, 2001 202.803.2899 THEHOWARDTHEATRE.COM
VALET PARKING + SELF PARKING ON INTERSECTION OF 7TH & T ST FULL DINNER MENU EVERY SHOW NIGHT
JUST ANNOUNCED
World Kennedy Center millennium staGe 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Ani Cordero. 6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org.
twins Jazz 1344 U St. NW. (202) 234-0072. Joe Vetter Quartet. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $10. twinsjazz.com.
madam’s orGan 2461 18th St. NW. (202) 6675370. Patrick Alban and Noche Latina. 9 p.m. $3–$7. madamsorgan.com.
Country
Hip-Hop
BirChmere 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. (703) 549-7500. Travis Tritt. 7:30 p.m. $55. birchmere.com.
Fillmore silver sprinG 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. (301) 960-9999. 50 Cent, G-Unit. 8 p.m. $47.50. fillmoresilverspring.com.
4/23-JARABE DE PALO
3/3-CURREN$Y
5/3-ERICA CAMPBELL
6/19-GINGER BAKER
CITY LIGHTS: MONDAY
DATE LAB LIVE Once a week, the Washington Post’s Date Lab matches up two singles in an effort to prove how difficult it is to spend a few hours with a stranger. In one of this ongoing experiment’s highlights, a dater said she was going to the bathroom and never returned—a harsh choice, but given Date Lab’s track record, at least a time-saving one. Even would-be lovebirds subjected to less dramatic fallouts face embarrassment in the D.C. area: Rate your date too high and come off thirsty, rate too low and read as frigid. How does the Date Lab crew get it so wrong every week? Find out from Post “matchmakerin-chief ” Christina Breda Antoniades, who will chat with Post advice columnist Carolyn Hax (pictured) and pro matchmaker Paul C. Brunson on love and, presumably, why Washingtonians continue to submit themselves to the column’s amateur but highly readable matchmaking. Later, eligible singles will compete in a live dating game. The “prize”: an evening out on Date Lab. The event begins at 7 p.m. at the Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. $25. (202) 292-6100. newseum. org. —Will Sommer
3/1-LES NUBIANS
6/26-THE DAMNWELLS
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 6TH
4/20-MONOPHONICS
3/6-RAHSAAN PATTERSON
UPCOMING SHOWS TUESDAY FEBRUARY 10TH
SUNDAY FEBRUARY 15TH
WHITE FORD BRONCO
BLACK LIVES MATTER
SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7TH
AMAZINGGRACE PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS
THE AFRO PRESENTS
NEW WILDERNESS
93.9 WKYS PRESENTS
SLICK RICK & RAKIM SUNDAY FEBRUARY 8TH
A DRAG VALENTINE’S SALUTE TO THE DIVAS WHAT SHI-QUEETA-LEE HAS DONE WITH IT
MAJIC 102.3 PRESENTS
STEPHANIE MILLS
THURSDAY FEBRUARY 12TH
TUESDAY FEBRUARY 17TH
THE 5TH ANNUAL MATTERS OF THE
DAWN RICHARD
HEART R&B BENEFIT
FRIDAY FEBRUARY 13TH SATURDAY FEBRUARY 14TH VALENTINE’S WEEKEND WITH MAJIC 102.3 PRESENTS
WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY 18TH MAJIC 102.3 PRESENTS
MS. LAURYN HILL
GEORGE CLINTON AND PARLIAMENT FUNKADELIC
2/24 PARKS & REC FINALE PARTY SOLD OUT 2/26 ERIC KRASNO, LEE FIELDS, 2/20 MARTHA REEVES & THE VANDELLAS IRMA THOMAS, 2/21 AMEL LARRIEUX ALECIA CHAKOUR PRODUCED BY JILL NEWMAN PRODUCTIONS & BLISSLIFE & THE DYNAMITES: 2/22 MAJIC 102.3 PRESENTS THE LUTHER BLUES AT THE CROSSROADS VANDROSS RE-LIVES TOUR FEAT. 2/27 HIPHOP LIVS 93.9 WKYS PRESENTS WILLIAM “SMOOTH” WARDLAW BRAND NUBIAN & KOOL G RAP
2/19 93.9 WKYS PRESENTS PRHYME (DJ PREMIER & ROYCE DA 5’9”)
THE WORLD FAMOUS HARLEM GOSPEL CHOIR
EVERY SUNDAY !
2/28 MAJIC 102.3 PRESENTS LUCKE JAMES & BJ THE CHICAGO KIDS 2/28 THE PRINCE & MICHAEL JACKSON EXPERIENCE 3/3 CURREN$Y 3/4 RAW DC 3/5 RED BARAAT’S FESTIVAL OF COLORS
$45 GETS YOU ALL YOU CAN EAT SOUTHERN STYLE BUFFET AND ENTRY TO THE SHOW
washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 41
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Luce Unplugged Community Showcase Friday, February 6 6-8pm Explore thousands of artworks and enjoy music from D.C. groups lowercase letters and Art Sorority for Girls. Port City Brewing offers a free tasting (21 and older). Cash bar. Presented with Washington City Paper. Bands selected with the help of Arts Editor Christina Cauterucci and Washington City Paper arts writers. Free!
AmericanArt.si.edu
www.washingtoncitypaper.com
Smithsonian American Art Museum • 8th and G Streets, NW • Gallery Place/Chinatown Metro 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. • AmericanArt.si.edu • Free
Bohemian Caverns Tuesdays Artist in Residency
Heidi N JA Martin
DC’s Legendary Jazz Club
Established in 1926 2001 11th ST NW - (202)299-0800
American Crooner Tour
Vinx
Quartet
Mad Curious B FE
a Special Bohemian Caverns presentation
The
Young Lions Jan 9 & 10
Mat Mitchell & Ches Smith presented in conjunction w/ Transparent Productions
Sun Jan 11th
Jason Hwang’s SING HOUSE presented in conjunction w/ Transparent Productions
Sun Jan 18th
Bohemian Caverns Jazz Orchestra
Mansion at strathMore 10701 Rockville Pike, Rockville. (301) 581-5100. Spektral Quartet. 7:30 p.m. $25. strathmore.org.
Baskerville Tony-winning playwright Ken Ludwig takes advantage of the Sherlock Holmes craze and presents this comedic new take on The Hound of the Baskervilles, with five actors playing more than 40 roles. Arena Stage. 1101 6th St. SW. To Feb. 22. $55-$110. (202) 488-3300. arenastage.org.
Jan 16th & 17th
Valentine’s DayWeekend Aaron “Ab” Abernathy w/ Nat Turner Fri Feb 13th
Loide Sat Feb 14th
Mondays @ 8pm
"This group is something special." ~ Mike West (CityPaper)
ClassiCal
Larry Willis
Fri & Sat
Quamon Fowler
While King Hedley II’s 2001 Broadway run received mixed reviews (the New York Times called it the most meandering piece in two-time Pulitzer-winner August Wilson’s 10-decade cycle of plays about African-American life in 20th-century America), subsequent versions have impressed some prior doubters. Arena Stage’s production, directed by Timothy Douglas, tells the story of a 1980s ex-con with a scarred face and a haunting past who returns to a rundown Pittsburgh rowhouse with dreams of opening a business. Played by Bowman Wright, last seen at Arena as Martin Luther King Jr. in The Mountaintop, Hedley struggles in a gun-filled environment where he faces social oppression in interactions with his girlfriend, a fellow conman, and a Bible-quoting, newspaper-hoarding neighbor named Stool Pigeon. Wilson’s script is full of long, caustic monologues and dialogue with historical references and funny trash talk. With an impressive cast that includes André DeShields as Stool Pigeon, if this working-class tale meanders a bit, audiences won’t care. The play runs Feb. 6 to March 8 at Arena Stage, 1101 Sixth St. SW. $40–$90. (202) 488-3300. arenastage.org. —Steve Kiviat
MusiC Center at strathMore 5301 Tuckerman Lane, Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: All-Bach. 8 p.m. $34–$89. strathmore.org.
Fri & Sat th
KING HEDLEY II
Buster Williams &
Thur Jan 8th
th
Lenny Robinson
CITY LIGHTS: TUESDAY
www.BohemianCaverns.com
42 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
TheaTer
Bessie’s Blues Playwright Thomas W. Jones II directs and choreographs the production that tells the story of the blues from the perspective of singer Bessie Smith. MetroStage. 1201 N. Royal St., Alexandria. To March 15. $55-$60. (703) 548-9044. metrostage.org. Cherokee One white and one black couple seek rejuvenation in nature and head to a campsite in Cherokee, North Carolina. But when a group member disappears and a strange local makes the remaining members consider living off the grid forever, their plans and lives quickly change. Woolly Mammoth Theatre. 641 D St. NW. To March 8. $40-$68. (202) 393-3939. woollymammoth.net. ChiCago The touring production of this classic musical about murder, mayhem, and ladies in prison comes to the National for a week of performances. National Theatre. 1321 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. To Feb. 15. $48-$98. (202) 628-6161. nationaltheatre.org.
Choir Boy When a prestigious boarding school for young African-American men falls on hard financial times, its acclaimed gospel choir feels the pressure. The young man chosen to lead the group must decide whether that responsibility is worth ignoring his sexual orientation in this new musical story by playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney. Studio Theatre. 1501 14th St. NW. To Feb. 22. $20-$78. (202) 332-3300. studiotheatre.org. Dunsinane The Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre of Scotland present a limited engagement of David Greig’s dramatic sequel to Macbeth, in which one man attempts to restore peace to a ravaged nation. Sidney Harman Hall. 610 F St. NW. To Feb. 21. $20-$110. (202) 547-1122. shakespearetheatre.org. Frozen 10-year-old Rhona disappears and the actions of her mother and killer are followed over the next several years by psychiatrists. Delia Taylor directs this production of Bryony Lavery’s script. Anacostia Playhouse. 2020 Shannon Place SE. To March 1. $25-$35. (202) 544-0703. anacostiaplayhouse.com. halF-liFe In this zombie-inspired work of physical theater, a car accident survivor wanders through life resembling an undead person and must handle the perceptions of others while she recovers. Flashpoint Mead Theatre Lab. 916 G St. NW. To Feb. 22. $10-$20. (202) 315-1306. culturaldc.org. house oF Desires In this play written in the 17th century by Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, four characters squabble over mistaken identities and failed romances. Director Hugo Medrano sets his version in 1940s Mexico and incorporates mariachi music into this farce that considers the will of women during a period when they were subjected to a strict moral code. GALA Hispanic
Theatre. 3333 14th St. NW. To March 1. $20-$50. (202) 234-7174. galatheatre.org. King Hedley ii In the ninth play from August Wilson’s “Pittsburgh Cycle,” King Hedley returns from prison determined to open a business. But when a scheming conman threatens to reveal long held family secrets, King’s plans are threatened. Arena Stage. 1101 6th St. SW. To March 8. $40-$90. (202) 488-3300. arenastage.org. last of tHe WHyos A gang leader in 1880s New York travels 100 years into the future to confront his future self in this mysterious and cinematic play. Spooky Action Theater. 1810 16th St. NW. To March 1. $10-$35. (301) 920-1414. spookyaction.org. tHe lieutenant of inisHmore When the black cat of a mad Irish liberation fighter is killed, his neighbors try to replace it without his knowledge. But when they wind up with an orange cat instead, the thoughtful couple has to contend with a world of machine guns and terrorism. Matthew R. Wilson directs Martin
McDonagh’s dark but gleeful comedy. Constellation Theatre at Source. 1835 14th St. NW. To March 8. $20-$45. (202) 204-7741. constellationtheatre.org. life sucKs (or tHe Present ridiculous) Aaron Posner plays with the plot of Chekhov’s Uncle Vanya in this new work about a gorgeous, misunderstood woman, a homely girl, and a man searching the depths of his soul to understand his failings. Theater J. 1529 16th St. NW. To Feb. 15. $25-$65. (202) 518-9400. theaterj.org. mary stuart Holly Twyford and Kate Eastwood Norris star in this new production of Frederick Schiller’s play that chronicles the final days and death of Mary, Queen of Scots. Folger Elizabethan Theatre. 201 E. Capitol St. SE. To March 8. $40-$75. (202) 544-7077. folger.edu. tHe metromaniacs Alexis Piron’s classic farce involves poets, pseudonyms, disguises, and many intertwining relationships. 450 7th St. NW. To March 8. $20-$100. (202) 547-1122. shakespearetheatre.org.
$10 BURGER & BEER MON-FRI 4 P M -7 P M
IOTA CLUB & CAFE
TRIVIA EVERY M O N D AY & W E D N E S D AY
$3 PBR & NATTY BOH ALL DAY EVERY DAY
12 taps--winter Beer--growlerfills
new hours:open 4 pm new +espresso ++ chai+
mon tue wed thu for
2ndwind happy hour
buzz beers - spiked lattes open 10 am friday saturday sunday breakfast = brunch = booze beer = bloody marys = b’pudn
february
th anne mccue 8:00 05 w/ sligo creek stompers $12 fr 8:30 06 drew gibson cd release $12 sa 9:00 07 sirsy w/ Boxwave $12 su open for brunch 10 a to 3 p 08 iota poetry series 6pm to 8 pm
CITY LIGHTS: WEDNESDAY
BARBARA KLEMM
Barbara Klemm, one of Germany’s leading news photographers, may not be a household name for Americans, but she’s getting double exposure in D.C. right now. Klemm’s work is featured in both a hefty retrospective of her photojournalism at the Goethe-Institut and a more limited selection of portraits and intimate work at the Leica Store. Surprisingly, Klemm’s depictions of diplomatic parleys and back-room politicking at Goethe are more compelling than Leica’s portraits of artists and other figures, like Claudia Schiffer (pictured). A handful of her subjects are well known in arts and letters (Louise Bourgeois, Nadine Gordimer, Joseph Beuys); of these, the best is a glum Andy Warhol. Overall, though, Klemm’s most evocative image at the Leica Store is one of a figure dashing through a portal in a graffiti-covered section of the Berlin Wall. On first glance, the image seems like a perfect allegory—a stand-in for the newly reunified country shown rushing headlong into freedom. In reality, the photograph predates the fall of the wall, depicting the most humdrum of authoritarian moments: a border guard going off shift. Klemm’s photograph is a fleeting tableau with the power to confound. The exhibition is on view Saturdays to Wednesdays 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Thursdays and Fridays 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Leica Store, 977 F St. NW. Free. (202) 787-5900. leicastoredc.com. —Louis Jacobson
8:00 mo jackson’s five 09 of the weathervanes free paige allBritton; caitlin schniderman; tom mcBride daniel hill; jackson
tu 10
lgbtuesdays at iota Bar-a video wall 7 p-12a
free
half-priced apps 4 pm to 9 pm free we --do you play?-11 open mic night ! 8:00
fr 13
twosign-ups @ 7:30 & 10:00pm
bobby thompson & the new gentlemen cd release show w/
sa 14
su 15 tu 17
westmain
w/
8:30 $12
lauren calve
andy zipfcowards choir 8:30pm ryan walkerBeanstalk liB. $12
dead mens hollow 7:00 rain followstheplow $10 mardi gras parade 8pm free
on wilson Blvd party@ iota 7 pm live music e l i k e h no cover charge free gumBo shots for the people lgbtuesdays at iota free thank you for your business
iotaclubandcafe.com
2832 WILSON BLVD
ARLINGTON VA 703/522-8340 2 1/2 BLOCKS EAST OF
CLARENDON METRO
600 beers from around the world Downstairs: good food, great beer, $3 PBR & Natty Boh’s all day every day
*all shows 21+
T H U R S D AY, F E B 5 T H
UNDERGROUND COMEDY DOORS OPEN AT 730PM SHOW STARTS AT 830PM F R I D AY, F E B 6 T H
LATIN ROCK BANDS
SHOW STARTING AT 730PM S A T U R D AY, F E B 7 T H
BARDLESQUE II ALL THE WAY FROM NY
DOORS OPEN AT8PM SHOW IS AT 10PM LONG TRAIL TAP TAKEOVER STARTING AT 6PM,WE WILL BE POURING; BERLINER WEISS, LT PALE, LT IMPERIAL STOUT, OTTER CREEK CITRA MANTA,WOLAVERS WILD WHEAT M O N D AY, F E B 9 T H
DISTRICT TRIVIA
DOORS AT 630 PM TRIVIA STARTS 730PM T U E S D AY, F E B 1 0 T H
LAST RESORT COMEDY
DOORS OPEN AT 730PM SHOW STARTS AT 830PM PETRUS BEER EVENT;WE WILL BE SERVING WITTEKERKE WINTER ALE, PETRUS WINTER ALE, PETRUS AGED PALE ALE W E D N E S D AY, F E B 1 1 T H
ALEX STARR PRESENTS DOORSAT630PM SHOWSTARTSAT730PM
TRIVIA WITH DAMION WOLFE TRIVIASTARTSAT730PM
T H U R S D AY, F E B 1 2 T H
UNDERGROUND COMEDY DOORS OPEN AT 730PM SHOW STARTS AT 830PM
1523 22nd St NW – Washington, DC 20037 (202) 293-1887 - www.bierbarondc.com @bierbarondc.com for news and events
washingtoncitypaper.com february 6, 2015 43
Much Ado About NothiNg This latest wordless production from Synetic Theater sets the story of confirmed bachelor Benedick and his equally stubborn and single counterpart Beatrice in 1950s Las Vegas. Paata Tsikurishvili directs the company’s 11th “Silent Shakespeare” adaptation. Synetic Theater at Crystal City. 1800 South Bell St., Arlington. To March 22. $15-$95. (800) 494-8497. synetictheater.org.
Fri & Sat, February 6 & 7 at Midnight! Buy Advance Tickets Online
othello WSC Avant Bard presents a new production of Shakespeare’s tale of love, hate, and jealousy, the only major tragedy by the Bard that the troupe hasn’t performed. Theatre on the Run. 3700 S. Four Mile Run Drive, Arlington. To March 1. $30-$35. (703) 2281850. arlingtonarts.org.
tickets.landmarktheatres.com
other desert cities A family comes together for the first Christmas in six years, only to be torn asunder when the daughter announces she’s written a memoir full of unsavory details, in this dark drama by John Robin Baltz. Highwood Theatre. 914 Silver Spring Avenue, Suite 102, Silver Spring. To Feb. 15. $20-$25. (301) 587-0697. thehighwoodtheatre.org.
JUST ADDED!
rApture, blister, burN After meeting in graduate school, Catherine and Gwen pursued opposite life paths, with Catherine becoming an academic and Gwen becoming a wife and mother. Gina Gianfriddo’s comedy explores what happens decades later, when they start to covet each other’s lives. Round House Theatre Bethesda. 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda. To Feb. 22. $10-$50. (240) 644-1100. roundhousetheatre.org. the teMpest Taffety Punk presents another allfemale Shakespeare production as part of its Riot Grrrls series. Company member Lise Bruneau tells the story of an overthrown duke and a mysterious monster in this new version of Shakespeare’s magical company. Taffety Punk at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop. 545 7th St. SE. To Feb. 28. $15. (202) 261-6612. taffetypunk.com.
Voting ends March 1. washingtoncitypaper.com
Vote online and be eligible to win airline tickets to anywhere Turkish Airlines flies.
BEST OF 2015 OUT APRIL 9 Reserve Now! Call the advertising department to book your Best of D.C. ad today: 202-332-2100 44 february 6, 2015 washingtoncitypaper.com
the WidoW liNcolN James Still’s world premiere play chronicles Mary Lincoln’s life in the weeks following her husband’s assassination. Ford’s Theatre. 511 10th St. NW. To Feb. 22. $35-$62. (202) 347-4833. fordstheatre.org. Zero hour: tokyo rose’s lAst tApe Japanese artist Miwa Yanagi tells the story of “Tokyo Rose,” a Japanese-American radio broadcaster who read Japanese propaganda messages aimed at Allied forces during World War II and was later tried for treason, through photographs, visual art, and stories in this new work. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater. 2700 F St. NW. To Feb. 7. $40. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org.
Film
AsceNdiNg Mila Kunis plays the Earthn Jupiter ling heiress to a magnificent galactic kingdom. One group vying for the ruling power wants her dead. A genetically modified soldier (Channing Tatum) ties to protect her. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) ArMy A documentary about a famously n red successful Soviet Union hockey team. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) soN The seventh song of a seventh n seveNth son battles evil spirits under the tutelage of Master Gregory (Jeff Bridges). The biggest challenge comes from a witch named Mother Malkin (Julianne Moore). (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) spoNgebob Movie: spoNge out n the of WAter More than 10 years after his first movie, the yellow guy returns to the silver screen. Mr. SquarePants and his crew fight an evil pirate (Antonio Banderas) over a stolen recipe. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information)
Film clips are written by Reese Higgins.
CITY LIGHTS: THURSDAY
HIS NAME IS ALIVE There are astoundingly few consistencies in His Name Is Alive’s decades-long career other than an unshakable commitment to left turns. Best known for the indie-pop records the group released on 4AD, the Michigan quartet hasn’t gotten comfortable in a single genre in years, restlessly reinventing its sound between albums, attracting and shedding different audiences and cementing its status with critics as one of independent music’s most daring and consistently baffling groups. On its latest album, the band finally settles on an appropriate form that can fully contain both its technical skill and disregard for genre allegiance. Tecuciztecatl scans mostly like a classic experimental prog album—long runtimes, bright ‘70s strumming, wailing guitar solos—but with satisfyingly eccentric deviations and nods to other sounds His Name Is Alive has mastered over the past two-plus decades. His Name Is Alive performs with Geoff Britches at 8 p.m. at the Black Cat Backstage, 1811 14th St. NW. —Maxwell Tani $15. (202) 667-4490. blackcatdc.com.
APPLYING PRESSURE
charles-Steck Photography
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10 Biceps strengthening exercise 11 Tied, as in a low-scoring soccer game 12 ___ Mouse 13 Fighting (with) 21 Old gatecrashing bomb 22 Four-door car 23 Cut the electricity to the bank, say 28 Spitting pack animal 30 Crow’s nest? 32 Professional slang 35 Haters 37 Peninsula that’s a perennial hotspot 38 Delta’s frequent flyer program 39 Jay Pritchett’s portrayer on “Modern Family” 40 Beer enjoyed while driving 41 Malaga miss: Abbr. 45 Hold in high regard 46 “Blurred Lines” singer 47 One of two in a Social Security number 48 Tyro 52 Knotty protuberance 54 TV journalist Lesley 57 Fixes golf divots 58 Test the weight of 59 Pope succeeded by Hilarius (Hilarius! What a name!) 63 Sch. where Pete Carroll coached
LAST WEEK: WEIGHTLIFTERS M A J O R S
R O M M E L
I N A B I T
L O C A L S
H E N R Y V I
J R P A C M A N
A F I A C S K S Q U M A S B E Y S A R C A N A O H N N H S O U R S I K L E A N E A N L D E L D T
A T H E A T R L A A D A Y B I E S T H S
L A P I P K E E R E V A
B Z R A O A N O N G
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T E C U M A S R E N C H E S X R T W E U R T P O U T R E N
I V O R I E S
T E S L A S
I R O N E D
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3 0 1 - 6 3 3 - 5 6 0 1 charles@steckphotography.com w w w. s t e c k p h o t o g r a p h y. c o m
ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE ®
BEST ACTRESS JULIANNE MOORE
“A R E M A R K A B L E F E AT O F A C T I N G.” -A.O. Scott, THE NEW YORK TIMES
JULIANNE MOORE ALEC BALDWIN KRISTEN STEWART
S T I L LRICHARD GLATZER A L& WASHIWESTMORELAND C E WRITTEN FOR THE SCREEN AND DIRECTED BY READ THE NOVEL FROM GALLERY BOOKS
Washington, DC LANDMARK’S E STREET CINEMA (202) 783-9494
Annapolis BOW TIE HARBOUR 9 (410) 224-1145
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