Washington City Paper (February 22, 2019)

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D.C. won millions in federal grant dollars to remediate lead paint hazards in homes where small children live. Eight years later, the city has used only a fraction of its award. P. 12

By Morgan Baskin Photographs by Darrow Montgomery

Zilia Sánchez SOY ISLA (I AM AN ISLAND) February 16-May 19, 2019

PhillipsCollection.org Corner of 21st and Q NW

The exhibition With lead exhibition support and a is organized Curatorial Fellowship from The Andy

by The Phillips Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Collection.

Generous funding is provided by the Diane & Bruce Halle Foundation.

2 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

Additional support is provided by the Ednah Root Foundation, Marion F. Goldin Charitable Fund, the Lichtenberg Family Foundation, PHILLIPS, and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts, and from the Frauke and Willem de Looper Charitable Fund.

The artist documentary on Zilia Sánchez is made possible by Beatriz Bolton and the Dosal Family Foundation.

In-kind support is provided by

Zilia Sánchez, Topología (Topology), from the series Azul azul (Blue Blue), 2016, Acrylic on stretched canvas, 34 × 34 × 7 in., Collection of the artist, Courtesy Galerie Lelong & Co., New York

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LEAD ASTRAY

12 Despite receiving multi-million dollar federal grants to remediate lead paint hazards, D.C. has fixed few units, while families wait for funds.

DISTRICT LINE 4 Loose Lips: Nearly a year after an off-duty cop fatally shot D’Quan Young, the officer’s name remains unknown.

6 Building Bridges: A Honduran immigrant advocates to help TPS holders stay in the U.S.

SPORTS 8

Round Two: After years of tumult, a local boxer prepares to return to the ring.

10 Shavasa-nah: Yoga teachers of color respond to the controversy over a whitesonly yoga Meetup group posting.

SPECIAL SECTION 11 Peep Hope Alive: Our annual Peeps issue comes back in April. Prepare your glue guns.

FOOD 15 Dress For Our Success: Hosts break down dressing standards at some of D.C.’s finest restaurants.

17 Not-So-Starving Students: Undergrads recommend cheap Georgetown snacks.

17 The ’Wiching Hour: Birds Eye’s marinated steak sandwich 17 Roasted: Georgetown’s Corridor Coffee

DARROW MONTGOMERY C&O CANAL, FEB. 15

ARTS 18 Toeing the Line: Gian Carlo Perez brings his personal history to the stage.

20 Curtain Calls: Paarlberg on GALA Hispanic Theatre’s El viejo, el joven y el mar and Klimek on Rorschach Theatre’s Reykjavík 21 Sketches: Capps on Jason Gubbiotti: Things Are As They Seem at Civilian Art Projects 22 Short Subjects: Gittell on Fighting with My Family and Zilberman on How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World 23 Discography: West on Jeff Cosgrove/ Matthew Shipp/William Parker’s Near Disaster

CITY LIST 25 Music 30 Theater, Film

DIVERSIONS 33 Savage Love 34 Classifieds 35 Crossword

EDITORIAL

EDITOR: ALEXA MILLS MANAGING EDITOR: CAROLINE JONES ARTS EDITOR: MATT COHEN FOOD EDITOR: LAURA HAYES SPORTS EDITOR: KELYN SOONG CITY LIGHTS EDITOR: KAYLA RANDALL LOOSE LIPS REPORTER: MITCH RYALS HOUSING COMPLEX REPORTER: MORGAN BASKIN STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER: DARROW MONTGOMERY MULTIMEDIA AND COPY EDITOR: WILL WARREN CREATIVE DIRECTOR: STEPHANIE RUDIG CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: MICHON BOSTON, KRISTON CAPPS, CHAD CLARK, RACHEL M. COHEN, RILEY CROGHAN, JEFFRY CUDLIN, EDDIE DEAN, ERIN DEVINE, CUNEYT DIL, TIM EBNER, CASEY EMBERT, JONATHAN L. FISCHER, NOAH GITTELL, SRIRAM GOPAL, HAMIL R. HARRIS, LAURA IRENE, LOUIS JACOBSON, CHRIS KELLY, STEVE KIVIAT, CHRIS KLIMEK, PRIYA KONINGS, JULYSSA LOPEZ, NEVIN MARTELL, KEITH MATHIAS, PABLO MAURER, BRIAN MCENTEE, BRIAN MURPHY, NENET, TRICIA OLSZEWSKI, EVE OTTENBERG, MIKE PAARLBERG, PAT PADUA, JUSTIN PETERS, REBECCA J. RITZEL, ABID SHAH, TOM SHERWOOD, MATT TERL, SIDNEY THOMAS, DAN TROMBLY, JOE WARMINSKY, ALONA WARTOFSKY, JUSTIN WEBER, MICHAEL J. WEST, DIANA MICHELE YAP, ALAN ZILBERMAN

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DISTRICTLINE Name Names

It’s been nine months since D’Quan Young was shot by an off-duty cop, and we still don’t know the officer’s name.

“It’s devastating to hear, and I’m incredibly disappointed that that’s what took place,” Allen said. “That’s unacceptable. The entire incident is unacceptable, but in particular the way in which you’re describing the interactions you had.”

MPD has declined to answer City Paper’s questions about the fatal encounter, including whether the officer in question is working while the case is under investigation. The department has released no further information since Catherine Young told her story at the Feb. 7 committee hearing. Soon after the incident in 2018, MPD announced that the officer would be put on administrative leave.

An MPD spokesperson says the case is “under review” by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which will decide whether to bring criminal charges against the officer.

Although it’s not unusual for MPD to withhold an officer’s identity while he or she is under investigation, the department has no official policy guiding release of information following an officer-involved shooting, an MPD spokesperson says. Departments across the country are moving toward more transparency and accountability in police shootings.

The Seattle Police Department’s internal policies, for example, require all officers who discharge a firearm in an officer-involved shooting to be publicly identified within 48 hours. Within 72 hours, the department will release relevant video footage, if any exists.

In 2014, it took police in Ferguson, Missouri, six days to identify Darren Wilson as the officer who fatally shot 18-year-old Michael Brown. The fatal encounter sparked months Darrow Montgomery

Catherine Young

By Mitch Ryals Her eyes cast down on the sheet of paper in front of her, Catherine Young’s voice shook as she struggled to push the words from her mouth. As the nine-month anniversary of her son’s death at the hands of an off-duty Metropolitan Police Department officer approached, Young testified before the D.C. Council’s Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety to bring public attention to the case.

MPD has yet to identify the officer, and has released few details about the fatal incident, leaving D’Quan Young’s family with no choice but to assemble the little information they have into an account of how he died.

“I just want an answer to who is the police officer,” Catherine Young said at the committee oversight hearing. D’Quan Young’s father, Don Davis, consoled her. “I just don’t under-

LOOSE LIPS

stand where’s the transparency,” she said. “I just have no understanding.”

Between pauses and deep breaths, Catherine Young continued to recount her memories of May 9, 2018, for the committee. She described waiting hours on the scene for officers to tell her what hospital her son was taken to.

Once at the hospital, she said, homicide detectives barraged her with questions before they would tell her whether her 24-year-old son was alive or dead.

When she was finally permitted to see his body, she says in a separate interview with City Paper, he was laying on a table in a hallway.

“He had a blanket, but it looked like they had just taken the tubes out of his mouth,” says Michelle Young, Catherine’s sister, who accompanied her to the hospital. “He may have been there for a while.”

Councilmember Charles Allen, who chairs the judiciary committee, said he was “deeply disturbed” to hear how Catherine Young was treated.

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of public protests and riots in the St. Louis suburb and drew national attention.

There’s even precedent in D.C. In July 2016, Mayor Muriel Bowser ordered the release of body camera footage showing a fatal confrontation between police and a man in Northeast. At the time, City Administrator Rashad Young told the Washington Post that the mayor believed the public’s interest in seeing the video outweighed the government’s need to keep it secret even during the early stages of the investigation.

And later that year, in September, Bowser broke with longstanding police practice and identified the officer who shot and killed unarmed motorcyclist Terrence Sterling. The officer, Brian Trainer, was ultimately fired, and Sterling’s family settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the city for $3.5 million.

Bowser has declined to make public the officer’s name in this case, the Washington Post has reported. The mayor did not respond to request for comment for this story.

There is, however, another local example where law enforcement has clamped down on information in a fatal shooting. In November 2017, U.S. Park Police shot and killed motorist Bijan Ghaisar, who was unarmed. Authorities have released video footage, but no officers have been identified.

“I can understand why it might take the U.S. Attorney some time,” says Arthur Spitzer, legal director for the ACLU of DC. “It’s not unusual in my experience for them to take some time to prosecute somebody, though May to February is, I hope, above average.

“I still don’t know why they can’t disclose the name of the officer.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office has offered no timeline for when investigators will be finished reviewing D’Quan Young’s case. Until then, his family is left to piece together fragmented witness accounts and the few details that Chief Peter Newsham has made public.

Davis calls the police department every week asking for an update on his son’s case.

Every week, he’s told the case is still under review. Recently, police told him that they are waiting for analysis of surveillance video.

Catherine and Michelle Young describe a chaotic scene the day they arrived at the 2300 block of 15th St. NE, near the Brentwood Recreation Center.

D’Quan Young had already been taken to the hospital. Michelle Young says witnesses told them that he was shot by an officer in plain clothes, while officers on the scene initially told her that that wasn’t true.

DISTRICT

LINE

The confusion may have stemmed from the fact that a sergeant did not immediately notify superiors that an officer had fired his weapon.

That sergeant was suspended pending an internal investigation, Newsham has said.

Witnesses also told Michelle and Catherine Young that D’Quan Young was “walking away” after the two had been talking.

In her written testimony this month, Catherine Young questioned whether her son and the officer knew each other and why, as some witnesses initially said, the officer reloaded his weapon. Newsham has said that preliminary evidence indicates the officer did not reload.

One witness, Andy Williams, says he was on a nearby softball field when he heard shots ring out. He says he arrived in time to see D’Quan Young fall to the ground. And he saw a broken gun in the street some distance away from his body.

About a week after the incident, Chief Newsham offered more details, saying D’Quan Young “came across the street and confronted the officer,” who was on his way to a cookout with friends. “Quickly thereafter shots were exchanged between the two,” Newsham said on Fox5.

Some of Newsham’s comments, though, appear to D’Quan Young’s family as attempts to vilify him without releasing all the information. For example, the chief also said it’s “disturbing to us that we have someone carrying an illegal firearm and confronting people on the street. God forbid that wasn’t a police officer. We don’t know what might have happened to some other young man walking through that neighborhood.”

In a separate interview, Newsham mentioned D’Quan Young’s previous arrests, two of which were firearm related. One resulted in a conviction, but it was reversed on appeal, according to online court records.

Catherine and Michelle Young acknowledge that D’Quan Young wasn’t perfect, but his criminal record and the chief’s comments do not adequately describe the man they knew.

They remember him as a good older brother, who encouraged his siblings to “read the book” (referring to the Bible or the Quran). He talked of starting his own business and sold soaps and oils on the street, Catherine Young says. In accordance with his Muslim faith, she says, he went every day to pray at the recreation center near the area where he was shot.

They say he was a loving father to his now 5-year-old daughter, and made sure she went to the dentist and the doctor. Catherine Young says that around this time last year, he took the young girl to see Disney On Ice—a tradition she kept going this year.

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DISTRICTLINE Bridge Builder

Donaldo Posadas Caceres repairs bridges by day and fights for a path for immigrants to stay in the U.S. in his spare time.

By Hamil R. Harris

Darrow Montgomery/File

For the last 20 years, Donaldo Posadas Caceres has strapped on a harness with a paint gun to scale the towers and steel beams of some of the tallest bridges in the United States.

Whether he’s on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland, the Walt Whitman Bridge in Philadelphia, or other suspension bridges up and down the East Coast, Posadas thinks about his wife and family, because “I will do anything for my family,” he says.

Posadas and his wife came to the United States from Honduras in 1998. Shortly after they arrived, he says, “my wife cried for days” because of the trauma she faced in leaving her family behind while she sought safety.

Once in Baltimore, Posadas was accepted into an apprentice program run by the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, and he learned how to paint bridges. His onthe-job training was painting the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, which took six years to complete.

“When I started I was scared,” he says, recalling the sheer height of the bridge. “But every day that I went to work I felt the love that I have for my family and the pride for having a job and letting me take care of them.”

The bigger challenge came down on the ground—nearly two decades later.

On Jan. 11, 2018 President Donald Trump criticized protections that the United States gives to immigrants from about a dozen countries that have suffered natural or man-made disasters, like earthquakes or war. When the U.S. government gives a country the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) designation, immigrants from that country who are already living in the U.S. can stay here legally.

As an immigrant from Honduras, Posadas has lived in the U.S. under TPS. “Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump said that January, according to people who attended the White House meeting.

Some 262,000 Salvadorans, more than 30,000 of whom live in the D.C. area, have TPS. President George H.W. Bush signed the Immigration Act of 1990 that allowed immigrants from certain countries to live and work in the U.S. until it’s safe for them to return home.

Meanwhile, recipients have held jobs, had children, purchased homes, and built lives.

A January 2018 rally

The Department of Homeland Security announced in 2018 that it would end TPS status for about 400,000 people from six of the protected countries—El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Nepal, Nicaragua, and Sudan.

But on Oct. 3, 2018, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court in Northern California put a hold on Trump’s plans to stop renewing the legal status of 300,000 people from El Salvador, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Sudan who have TPS. In his decision in Ramos v. Nielsen, one of several TPS lawsuits against the Trump administration, U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen said that the Trump administration lacked “any explanation or justification” for ending TPS designations for immigrants from the four countries. He wrote that without TPS, the people would be subject to removal from the United States and “suffer irreparable injury.”

For Posadas, this decision offered no immediate or practical relief, as Honduras was not

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included in the case. But on Feb. 11, 2019, TPS holders and U.S. citizen children of TPS holders filed a new lawsuit challenging the termination of TPS for Honduras and Nepal. TPS for people from Honduras living in the U.S. expires on Jan. 5, 2020, and Nepal, on June 24, 2019.

Posadas and his 9-year-old daughter are plaintiffs in this class action lawsuit.

He says that it hurts when he hears Trump talk about undocumented people who have come to the United States for a better life. He is proud of painting bridges from Maryland to New York. He still remembers the early years of his job, when he slept in the construction trailer so that he could start work at 4 a.m. His work day didn’t end until 8 p.m.

“I don’t think that he can understand how deep our commitment is to work in this country,” says Posadas. “It definitely hurts to hear him talk about us in that way because we are not the way that he says we are.”

Posadas says that he has placed American

flags on top of some bridges. He’s also in a documentary called Bridge Brothers, which is about workers who repair bridges.

“My biggest hope is in God to give the president a new heart. Not just the president, but all the people in Congress, that they pass protections for us,” says Posadas, adding that he is a Christian who takes his bible to work. He says his two favorite passages are Psalms 91 and John 13:34-35.

The psalm helps him with his job. It starts with, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.”

The passage from John, which helps him deal with the angry debate over immigration and the plight of his family, begins with “A new command I give you: Love one another.”

Going forward, Posadas is planning to continue advocating. “We check the news every day when we wake up to see if there is any good news for people with TPS,” he says.

The hardest part has been talking with his children. “We have tried to explain it to them the best way that we can,” he says. But he has no words to express the possibility that they could lose their parents. He fears that he and his wife will be deported if TPS ends.

During a recent White House press conference on Feb. 15, Trump joked about his legal fight in the Ninth Circuit over immigration and how a judge would likely block his new efforts to declare a national emergency to build a border wall. Trump speculated that the U.S. Supreme Court would later decide in his favor.

When the Republicans controlled both sides of Congress, the Democrats introduced The American Promise Act and the SECURE (Safe Environment from Countries Under Repression and Emergency) Act— both to put TPS holders on a path to residency. But the bills have been swallowed up in the larger immigration debate between Trump and the Democrats.

James Boland, president of the 75,000 member International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, says that about 50 percent of the construction workers in the U.S. come from Latin American countries and that they are being wrongly targeted.

“When I immigrated to this country nobody called me a terrorist, but now we have a President who along with his followers are doing that,” Boland says. “We have a lot of immigrants in the union and in the D.C. area.”

Two weeks ago Posadas took part in a rally on the grounds of the U.S. Capitol to seek permanent protections for TPS holders from 13 countries. Despite being pelted by freezing rain he said it was worth it. “It was so cold, I’m still feeling the cold,” said Posadas that evening. “But I feel hope because we have to achieve our objectives. To be honest, I thought about the consequences that could come for not taking a stand. Losing our TPS would be the worse consequence possible.”

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Darrow Montgomery

Jason Rogers

SPORTS

For the Stanley Cup winning Capitals players, tattoos are worth the pain.

Round Two

Dusty Hernandez-Harrison finds peace in the boxing ring after years away from the sport.

By Harry Zahn Dusty HernanDez-Harrison sleeps on the five-hour car ride to West Virginia, gathering his strength before making his long-awaited return to the boxing ring.

The 300 miles from Southeast D.C. to New Cumberland, West Virginia, is nothing compared to the hard work Hernandez-Harrison has put in to get back to what he loves. After the half dozen fights that fell through, the falling out with his father, legal trouble, the loss of his house, and death of

BOXING

a close friend, Hernandez-Harrison is eager to put the past to rest and push his life and career forward.

“Now, since I’m working on my own comeback, I just feel so attached to comeback stories now. I can’t help but root for it,” he says.

“Before I didn’t give a shit … cause I was never the underdog.”

Hernandez-Harrison, 24, was once the hottest boxing prospect D.C. had to offer— a young, undefeated phenom blessed with physical gifts who had earned praise from boxing greats such as Mike Tyson and Andre Ward. He was one of the sport’s brightest rising stars.

8 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

But it’s been two and a half years since he last fought. He wants to resume his chase for a world title, but first he has to return to the public eye and and shake off the rust. And that can only start in the place he knows best—the gym. tHe wiry six-foot-tall pugilist has 11 pounds to lose and he’s less than a week out from his comeback fight as a 160-pound middleweight. In order to drop some water weight, Hernandez-Harrison dons a sauna suit—pants and a hooded long-sleeved shirt made out of a waterproof fabric designed for maximum sweating—while he runs on the treadmill in the gym this mid-

February night.

Hernandez-Harrison has been sharpening his tools at Old School Boxing Gym, the facility on the grounds of the Rosecroft Raceway in Fort Washington that his father, Buddy Harrison, owns.

A ring consumes the center of the main room, and dented spit buckets sit under two of the corner posts. Boxing gloves hang by their laces from the air ducts above, though Harrison has the temperature set to 90 degrees, and dozens of flags hang from the ceiling. The walls hold Harrison family relics: trunks Hernandez-Harrison wore in the ring, headgear Harrison used as an amateur, and posters and photos of legendary boxers like Muhammad Ali, Oscar De La Hoya, and Sugar Ray Leonard.

As Hernandez-Harrison prepares for his fight with light sparring, he looks comfortable. He pulls his head just out of range of his sparring partner’s punches and dances around the perimeter of the ring, playfully switching stances and throwing downward jabs.

When he’s in the ring dodging punches, he finds a sense of peace. Outside the ropes, uncertainty swirls.

Hernandez-Harrison grew up in Naylor Gardens, a D.C. neighborhood southeast of the Anacostia River. He remembers hearing gunshots almost nightly. “It’s not as bad now,” he says.

His father groomed him to be a boxer from infancy. Harrison himself was once a promising amateur fighter before being convicted for armed robbery and serving 10 years in prison. He then resolved to turn his life around.

“I didn’t want that for Dusty,” he says.

Harrison had his son running laps and shadow boxing outside when he was a toddler and recruited students from nearby Winston Elementary School to spar with him. Harrison jokes that the neighbors “wanted to call social services on me.” Hernandez-Harrison remembers his first exhibition, when he, a 39-pound six-year-old, knocked out a 10-yearold in the second round.

The spartan training paid off. As a teen, Hernandez-Harrison amassed an amateur record of 167 wins with 30 losses and won more than 10 national titles in his age bracket, including the Silver Gloves twice and Junior Golden Gloves three times.

After turning pro at 17, Hernandez-Harrison fought regularly, often in D.C., where he attracted attention from area fans and celebrities. At one of his bouts, local rappers Wale, Shy Glizzy, and Lightshow each wanted to perform during Hernandez-Harrison’s ring

SPORTS walk and offered to escort him. They ended up compromising: Hernandez-Harrison walked out to “Southside Remix,” a song featuring all three artists.

In October 2016, the International Boxing Federation ranked Hernandez-Harrison, then carrying an undefeated pro record of 30-0-1, among the top 15 boxers in the world for his weight class. But soon, his life and his career began to unravel.

The faTher-son, coach-fighTer dynamic has always been a tricky relationship to navigate. After training his whole life with his dad, the pair split in early 2016 and the young boxer found a new gym.

For Harrison, the falling out was the low point in his life. “We weren’t talking,” he says.

“He was training at another gym, with another coach and lived a street over.”

The problems cascaded from there.

Police arrested Hernandez-Harrison in February 2017 for carrying an unlicensed, unregistered pistol and ammunition. (The charges were later dropped.) Fights weren’t materializing with his then-promoter, Roc Nation Sports, and Hernandez-Harrison lost motivation. He questioned why he continued showing up to the gym every day only for fights to fizzle out.

He started training only three days a week, then two. Then Hernandez-Harrison stopped going, period.

“I didn’t want to box no more,” Hernandez-Harrison admits. “I never made it public or anything, but I decided to walk away.”

Initially, the break from a lifetime of training and cutting weight was a welcome change.

Hernandez-Harrison had just bought his first house in Accokeek, Maryland.

No longer watching his diet, the normally slender fighter who made his professional career fighting at 147 pounds ballooned to just over 200 pounds—by definition, a heavyweight.

Out of shape and out of money, HernandezHarrison struggled. As with many pro fighters, his resume was his record. “The nine-to-five doesn’t care about the fact that I could fight and cut weight,” Hernandez-Harrison says.

Then, last March, Aujee “Quick” Tyler, a gifted 22-year-old professional boxer and one of Hernandez-Harrison’s closest friends, was shot and killed in Southeast D.C. It was the toughest psychological test of his life, he says now.

But the bills persisted. Without a steady income, he had to sell his home and move back to his old D.C. neighborhood.

“It was really bad the last three years.

There’s been so much that’s happened. Not one thing has went my way,” Hernandez-Harrison says.

But then something changed. “One day I got tired of the shit,” he says. “I started running—every day.”

Things began To improve once he got back into the gym.

He and his father reconnected and made amends. In June, Hernandez-Harrison split with his previous promoter and signed with Toronto-based Lee Baxter Promotions. A comeback fight was in the works.

Then came another criminal incident.

“There’s more to the comeback than what people know,” Hernandez-Harrison says a week before his planned fight. He lifts his right pant leg to reveal a court-issued ankle monitor—part of an investigation involving the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

“I’m part of my friend’s investigation I got wrapped up in,” Hernandez-Harrison says.

“They charged me with more possession of guns and stuff.”

Hernandez-Harrison has a status hearing on March 1, but Lee Baxter is still betting on him.

“You gotta realize that you’re in the sport of boxing, where two individuals agree to punch each other in the face for some pocket change until they make it,” says the president of Lee Baxter Promotions. “Those type of people are not usually guys that don’t have a colorful past.”

“It’s just that much sweeter when it gets accomplished,” he adds.

The day before the comeback fight, Hernandez-Harrison clears the weigh-in.

Inside the Mountaineer Casino on fight night, his mother, father, stepmother, promoter, and other friends are sitting outside the venue. Harrison explains that his son’s original opponent never got on the plane from Mexico. A backup opponent had trouble getting over the border and the extra backup was ready to fight, but the state commission interfered due to a misunderstanding about his record. The fight is off.

Harrison is visibly disappointed. “I’m so sorry,” he says. “This is terrible.”

But Hernandez-Harrison doesn’t appear too discouraged—he’s at the buffet eating barbecue ribs. Placing the night in perspective, he says, “I’ve been through so much the last two-and-a-half years—I’m still happy …

I’ve dealt with much worse.” Later, in an Instagram post, he apologizes to those who traveled to see him fight and says he knows he’ll be back soon.

Within minutes of learning about the cancellation, Baxter speaks with major New York-based boxing promoter Lou DiBella.

A new fight is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 23 in North Carolina, pending approval from his case manager, Hernandez-Harrison says.

Until then, he will be home in D.C., eager to continue writing his unexpected comeback story.

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washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 9

SPORTS Shavasa-nah

D.C. yoga teachers of color respond to a white woman’s whites-only Meetup group ‘experiment.’

Darrow Montgomery/File

Simone Jacobson

By Kelyn Soong Simone JacobSon iSn’t angry. She doesn’t want to call out and publicly denounce Pat Brown, the criminal profiler from Prince George’s County who over the weekend created an uproar when she admitted to starting three whites-only Meetup groups, including a yoga event exclusively for white women.

Instead, Jacobson, a Burmese-American writer, yoga teacher, and the lead instructor for Yoga District’s Diversity, Inclusion, and Community training program, believes this can be a teachable moment. She wants to call Brown in—not out.

“Calling in is more of a practice of really trying to help someone to understand, and to me, this [is a] Buddhist philosophy and yoga philosophy,” Jacobson says. “When I see the

YOGA

actions she’s taken, the action that I hear is that she’s saying, ‘I’m hurting and I want to be heard.’ For me, I think it would be interesting and fruitful to have yoga instructors of color and other people of color use non-violent communication and just sit down and talk to her.”

Brown wrote in a lengthy blog post on Saturday explaining that she started the three groups, White Women Yoga, White Women Walkers, and Caucasian Camera Buffs, as an “experiment” and “investigation.” She insists that she never planned to actually host the events. Brown adds that her issue is with Meetup promoting groups that she feels are “institutionalizing separatism,” and that people should feel free to hang out with whomever they want. Meetup, an online events service founded in 2002, eventually took down the groups.

“Meetup takes the integrity and safety of our community very seriously,” a company

10 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

spokesperson writes in an email to City Paper.

“We expect that every Meetup group follow our Community Guidelines. This group [sic] was removed when we determined it did not adhere to these policies.”

The spokesperson did not specify which guidelines these groups violated, although Brown says it’s because the groups weren’t legitimate and the company had received hate mail.

Over the last few months, Brown says, she’s seen “an increasing amount” of Meetup groups that she can’t join because she’s white.

She noticed that some of the events describe themselves as single-race only. Brown calls the concept “very unsettling,” and decided to conduct her “experiment” using the same language she says she found on a “black only” yoga group.

She expected the backlash (even setting up a voicemail alerting media when she would be available) and in a recent blog post, called “safe spaces,” the “new apartheid.” Brown adds that the people-of-color only Meetup groups are discriminatory and therefore racist.

But what she doesn’t quite understand, Jacobson says, is that there are reasons why these spaces exist for people of color.

“I think she truly doesn’t understand the fact that racism is a systemic form of oppression,” says Jacobson. “Structural racism—and that’s the only definition of racism—I think that’s something a lot of Americans don’t understand. Yes, you may have been discriminated against or experienced bias, but black yogis literally cannot oppress you.”

Ben Takai, an instructor at Yoga District, agrees. He points out that in the United States, white women make up the majority of those practicing yoga, which originated in ancient India.

“There needs to be welcoming places for people who have been pushed aside their whole lives,” says Takai, who is JapaneseAmerican. “A cisgender white woman, they are basically included in all aspects of their lives. A black woman is not. A Hispanic woman is not. A gay man is not. It’s like saying why isn’t there a children’s day? Every day is children’s day. My reaction to [Brown] is, you have access to everything you want, so there are spaces that people create be-

cause they are not welcome in other spaces.

I think a white woman is generally welcome to most places.”

Brown isn’t buying the argument. She says her ex-husband is black and she has two biracial children and one black son. She would never join a whites-only group, but adds that she hopes her children wouldn’t join a group that she wouldn’t be able to join either.

(Brown says she chose the yoga group at random and doesn’t practice the discipline.

“I find it too slow and boring for myself,” she says.)

To Brown, who is 63, reverse racism is “a very real thing,” and she believes that her proposal is no different than when golf clubs excluded black members.

“You get to the point where, you go to a Meetup, and you can’t join this group and that group, and you have to send a picture and it’s declined because you’re not the right color,” she says. “Yes, it does feel a lot like what happened in those days. And I’m not just speaking for myself as a white person, I’m speaking for any person that is what I’ve termed it— PONEC, people of not enough color.”

Felicia Taliaferro, a yoga instructor at YogaWorks who also teaches at Balance Gym, is at a loss for words. She doesn’t know quite how to respond to the assertion that a black women-only yoga group is the same as a whites-only golf club, and pauses for several seconds before answering the question.

“OK, it’s not the same,” says Taliaferro, who is black. “Because the motivation for those in the country clubs to not include black people—they wanted to not be around people they felt were inferior ... We also want our safe spaces but we have no power. Back in the day, you try to go to a country club, you could die. A lot of things were up against you, as opposed to just a group that doesn’t let me in.”

“People of color in this country heal themselves from trauma,” she continues. “These safe spaces are true safe spaces, and when whiteness is interjected, things change, trauma is lived.”

And reverse racism? “There’s no such thing,” Taliaferro says. “For a person to be racist, they have to hold power.”

Ultimately, Jacobson says, Brown would stop her mission to take down the Meetup “safe space” groups “if she were made to understand why people of color need these spaces.”

“I find a lot of white students, students who are becoming teachers, they never thought about things around their identity in the same way the rest of us have because they don’t have to,” Jacobson says. “I would explain to her the difference between systemic racism and bias. I think that’s where a lot of people get lost.”

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Off the Peep End Our annual Peeps diorama contest is back and we want your submissions.

Calling all lovers of craft projects, glue guns, and sugar-coated marshmallow confections! Washington City Paper’s Peeps Diorama Contest is back and we want to see your work. In 2017 and 2018, you impressed us with your interpretations of Hirshhorn exhibitions, criminal trials, popular bars, and celestial events, and we can’t wait to see what inspires builders this year.

The contest will work the same way it has in years past.

First, make a diorama using Peeps.

Keep the base measurements to 22 inches by 28 inches, roughly the size of a sheet of poster board.

Then, take a photo of it.

You’ll upload a JPEG image of your diorama, not to exceed 10 MB in size, to the Google Form on washingtoncitypaper. com/peeps2019 and also provide us with a few pieces of information, like the name of your piece, your name, where you live, and your contact information. Submissions are due Sunday, March 31 at 11:59 p.m. EDT.

A panel of esteemed judges (also known as the Washington City Paper staff) will review the submissions and pick finalists, who will be invited to display their dioramas and have them photographed for publication in City Paper.

Then we’re turning it over to you, dear readers. We’ll ask you to vote for your favorite finalists online, and the diorama with the most votes will appear on the cover of City Paper’s April 18th issue. Its creator will receive unlimited bragging rights, as well as a City Paper prize package. Photos of the other finalist dioramas will appear inside City Paper. The dioramas will also be displayed at a D.C. location to be named later. Good luck!

A few rules: • Do not submit dioramas you’ve submitted to any other Peeps contest.

• People domiciled with or related to City Paper staff members are not eligible to enter this contest.

• You must be able to drop off your diorama at City Paper’s office in downtown D.C.

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washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 11

By chronically failing to spend federal grant funds, D.C. has lost out on the only dedicated subsidy for remediating lead paint hazards for low-income tenants with small children.

By Morgan Baskin

“There could be DANGER in YOUR HOME,” a pamphlet from D.C.’s Department of Housing and Community Development reads. A photo of a grade-schooler in a hot pink blouse—mouth agape, eyes wide—illustrates the issue.

Above her hands, which are covered in finger paint, the brochure says, “Lead Paint Poisoning: A Silent Epidemic.” A constellation of symptoms are typed around the girl’s body: “Irreversible Brain Damage,” “Learn-

Photographs by Darrow Montgomery

ing Problems,” “Muscular Weakness,” “Reduced Growth.”

“This,” it says, “is how lead paint affects your child.”

D.C.’s housing stock is, in a word, old. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2013 American Housing Survey shows that the median housing unit in the DMV was built before 1978, when the federal government banned consumer uses of lead-containing paint. And roughly 44,000 of D.C.’s 104,000 rental housing units are in

12 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

buildings that were constructed or last remodeled before 1978, according to data culled by D.C. Policy Center Director Yesim Sayin Taylor. Walk-up rentals, which represent about 49,000 housing units, are an average of 43 years old.

Up until about four months ago, the District had a program that would help low-income tenants remediate lead-based paint hazards in older rental properties like these. The program, Lead Safe Washington, provided prop-

erty owners with funding assistance of up to $17,500 per unit to reduce or eliminate leadbased paint hazards in eligible single- and multi-family properties where low-income tenants live, especially those with children under the age of six.

D.C.’s Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) operated Lead Safe Washington. The funds came from the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s Lead Hazard Reduc-

tion Demonstration grant.

D.C. has been the recipient of this grant since 2012, when HUD awarded the city $2.9 million to remediate lead-based paint hazards. As part of its application, DHCD had to set goals against which HUD could measure its progress. The department settled on the benchmark of remediating lead paint hazards in 225 housing units, and providing another 275 with free lead paint inspections and risk assessments.

It unravelled nearly from the start.

In 2014, when HUD awarded DHCD a second grant for the same purpose—this one for $3.74 million—it still had not fully used the funds from its 2012 grant cycle. By 2015, HUD placed D.C.’s 2012 grant on “High Risk” status, according to letters sent by HUD officials to Mayor Muriel Bowser. That year, HUD also took the significant step of placing a “stop work order” on the 2014 grant. (“This is [the threat of] a premature closeout of a grant based upon performance, which is a very serious thing,” explains HUD spokesperson Brian Sullivan, who calls DHCD’s poor track record with the grant “historical and habitual.”)

In the last three years of its grant cycle, DHCD remediated lead hazards in a total of 35 of its targeted 225 units. It has used a fraction of the awarded funds. Now ineligible to re-apply for the grant’s next cycle, DHCD has also quietly shuttered Lead Safe Washington and laid off the program’s director, though you wouldn’t know that by going to DHCD’s website, which still includes information about the program.

In an interview with City Paper, DHCD Director Polly Donaldson downplays the significance of Lead Safe Washington’s closure, referring to it as a “restructuring” of the agency that occurred at the behest of her staff. She adds that DHCD functionally absorbed LSW’s programming into DHCD’s existing responsibilities.

“I can tell you that there were certainly issues identified with the grant over the course of last year. I did direct my team to address those issues with the grant and come up with a plan for how to continue to serve the residents of the District. That was a very clear directive I gave the team,” Donaldson says, declining to elaborate on what those issues entailed.

She also tells City Paper that in fiscal year 2019, the agency is now working “at twice the pace we were in fiscal year 2018, which is good.” The agency’s current model for processing lead abatement subsidies “serves more residents. This structure is the way to do it,” she says. But the profile of that resident has changed with the closure of Lead Safe Washington, which was D.C.’s only dedicated subsidy to remediate lead paint hazards in the homes of low-income renters.

Anne Cunningham is a senior attorney at the Children’s Law Center, the District’s largest nonprofit legal provider. The organization works with over 5,000 children every year, many of them among the city’s poorest.

“D.C.does not strategically or meaningfully address the issue of kids being exposed to lead in rental housing,” Cunningham says.

“The loss of this grant is is emblematic of the broader problem about how we approach lead

in D.C. There are issues with the way agencies test for lead hazards in rental housing.”

Cunningham estimates that, between previously awarded funds that went unspent and losing out on future grant money, D.C. has lost or forfeited about $7.6 million that it could have used to remediate lead hazards in older housing units.

“We just clearly did not use this resource that could have been so useful,” she says.

Public health exPerts have known about the dangers of lead-based paint for decades, but it took the government a while to catch up. In 1992, Congress finally passed the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act, acknowledging that low-level lead poisoning is “widespread among American children,” affecting about 3,000,000 children under the age of six, “with minority and low-income communities disproportionately affected.”

Despite attempts at strengthening housing laws for federally subsidized developments to help curb the deterioration of lead-based paint, Congress wrote in the bill that “the Federal response to this national crisis remains se-

verely limited.”

Children under the age of six are particularly vulnerable to lead poisoning. According to the World Health Organization, they absorb four to five times as much lead from a given source as adults do, and because of “age-appropriate hand-to-mouth behavior” are also most likely to pick up and swallow flakes or chips of lead-based paint.

“From the Children’s Law Center’s perspective, kids being exposed to lead is such a preventable public health issue,” Cunning-

ham says. “The consequences of kids being exposed to lead long term is so incredibly profound that it is really alarming to me that we aren’t doing more meaningful and strategic work, in respect to rental housing.”

The District has largely split the responsibility for identifying and remediating lead hazards between two agencies: DHCD and the Department of Energy and Environment.

DOEE is often the first part of the puzzle.

As part of its lead programming, the agency fields complaints from tenants who believe their homes might contain lead paint or dust hazards and conducts preemptive inspections of properties it has identified as potentially problematic.

If a DOEE inspector identifies a lead hazard inside an apartment or home, they will post an order to eliminate the hazard, which the property owner is then required to remediate at an average cost of between $8 and $15 per square foot. Families are also often forced to relocate during this process, as remediation can release harmful lead dust.

“We refer a lot of our clients over to DHCD” for financial assistance, says Amber Sturdi-

vant, who leads DOEE’s lead and healthy homes division. (DOEE itself only completes around 200 inspections per year.)

One of those mechanisms for financial assistance was Lead Safe Washington. Property owners, including those who own occupied multi-family residential properties built before 1978, could apply for lead abatement grants through some of D.C.’s Community Based Organizations, or CBOs. These include organizations like University Legal Services or Housing Counseling Services. (DHCD

wasn’t awarded the HUD grant in a lump sum.

It would submit receipts to the agency for reimbursement, drawing down from its grant award, which HUD held.)

Housing advocates in D.C., even those who have helped usher tenants through Lead Safe Washington’s application process, acknowledge that tenants whose landlords applied for the program on their behalf found the procedure cumbersome.

DHCD’s approval process for Lead Safe Washington’s subsidies didn’t “happen overnight,” Sturdivant says. “There’s a lot of paperwork, a lot of approvals. It may take months or years. If the property isn’t in the [tenant’s] name, they have to get a deed change, which is a huge problem in the District. They have to stay in compliance with the program’s taxes and homeowners’ insurance requirement.” Beneficiaries of the grant had to prove they met the program’s income restrictions, which was about $69,000 for a two-person household.

This is one possible explanation for why it was difficult for the District to meet its spending goals, says Anabell Martinez, the housing policy director at the the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN), which also helps clients apply for lead paint remediation grants from DHCD. The clients she works with are typically lower-income, and English may not be their first language. Not many were enthused when their landlords applied for Lead Safe Washington, which made tenants provide extensive personal information to show that they met the program’s income requirements.

Allison Ladd, DHCD’s deputy director, cites HUD’s requirement that some Lead Safe Washington applicants have a child under the age of six in their home as “one very strict requirement” that made hitting DHCD’s goals “a challenge.”

The department’s initial goal, as articulated in its very first grant proposal, was to remediate lead hazards in 225 homes. City Paper asked Donaldson why that figure was the department’s benchmark. “Both of those grants were submitted under the previous administration, so I can’t describe why that number was chosen,” she says.

City Paper asked Donaldson whether DHCD has reassessed that number, and if so, what it believes is more realistic for the department today. “I have not,” Donaldson says.

DhcD’s annual grant reports and other documents show that the agency spent little of its award, raising questions about how the agency managed the program.

Donaldson says that when she first took the helm of DHCD in 2015, Lead Safe Washington’s program manager position was vacant.

“There was not a team leader to administer the grant, one of the reasons performance wasn’t meeting the metrics,” Donaldson says.

So the department hired one.

As part of its grant award from HUD, DHCD was required to match spending of about $1.2 million, which came from the department’s Housing Production Trust Fund. DHCD’s annual expenditures from the grant are publicly available on the website of D.C.’s Chief Finan-

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cial Officer. They show that even after Donaldson took over the agency and made new hires to oversee Lead Safe Washington, DHCD’s grant spending has largely continued to decline year to year since 2014.

In 2014, the agency drew down just over $800,000 from the grant; by 2016, that figure dropped to $511,000. Spending rose slightly to $572,000 in 2017, though about half of that money came from unused funds awarded in 2014. In 2018, despite reporting that it had about $2.5 million in available grant funds, DHCD drew down only $435,000 from the grant, the CFO’s website shows.

DHCD was “not able to turn around the program in that way,” Donaldson says. “Basically we were not able to address the issues, but we thought [hiring a program manager] would help address that.”

D.C. Auditor Kathy Patterson had trouble figuring out just how many units the program helped benefit. “DHCD could not provide us with a list of units preserved through its single-family programs (i.e. Single Family Residential Rehabilitation Program and Lead Safe Washington),” a March 2018 audit of the department’s HPTF spending reads.

Last September, just weeks before Lead Safe Washington folded, Ward 6 Councilmember Charles Allen introduced the “Lead Hazard Prevention and Elimination Amendment Act of 2018.”

The bill would require that landlords provide their renters with evidence that a rental unit is free of lead paint, or that the landlord has taken steps to remediate lead-based paint hazards, as well as reduce the threshold for blood-lead levels that are considered acceptable.

It would also establish a locally sourced fund to help abate lead paint hazards in units occupied by low-income tenants.

“There’s a recognition that we do have a substantial housing stock that is older homes. A lot of them are over 100 years old. There are going to be some costs associated [with more frequent lead testing] and I don’t want the cost to be a barrier for the owners to do the right thing,” Allen tells City Paper. “Government is frequently not the model of efficiency. We want to recognize

that we always have room for improvement in how we have our agencies work together.”

The bill was referred to the Committee on Transportation and the Environment, but never received a markup, and effectively expired with the end of the last Council period. Allen plans on reintroducing it this spring. (The Children’s Law Center worked with Allen’s legislative staff to design the bill.)

In the current absence of a locally funded subsidy to remediate lead hazards, Donaldson cites the department’s Single Family Residential Rehabilitation Program, which subsidizes homeowners’ property repairs, as a sufficient alternative to Lead Safe Washington.

But the Single Family Residential Rehabilitation Program applies only to owner-occupied single family homes, which City Paper pointed out during an interview with Donaldson. “That’s true,” she said after a pause.

Donaldson adds that the agency is still processing “every one” of the applications submitted to Lead Safe Washington when it was still around.

But housing advocates say they’re also turning people away. One social services provider, who requested anonymity, tells City Paper that Lead Safe Washington never processed the application of a homeowner “in serious need” of the program.

The man came to the social service provider two years ago because he “had small children, peeling paint, a roof problem, lots of issues,” the social service provider says, “but he never got into the program. We sent him to the CBO to fill out his application. We kept following up, and [DHCD] never processed his application.

This was when they still had money in the program. [It] was kind of appalling.”

The Central American Resource Center’s Anabell Martinez says that a nonprofit housing developer approached CARECEN in December about applying for a Lead Safe Washington grant to help abate lead hazards at an affordable building on New Hampshire Avenue NW. “But DHCD said, ‘We no longer have it,’ and that they’re focusing on single family homes,” she says.

“Those people need the program.”

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Dress For Our Success

As D.C. dining environments change, so do dressing standards for restaurant hosts.

By Laura Hayes Stephanie Kara Jordan subscribes to the theory that being exposed to cold weather can make you ill. While working as a host at J&G Steakhouse—the former restaurant inside the W Hotel—she says she was required to wear a red jersey wrap dress without tights or a sweater, even during major snow storms. “I got very sick and had to take time off,” she says. “You had me standing in the lobby in a dress, freezing. Of course I got sick.”

Jordan worked as a host for 10 years. She loved strategizing where to seat guests and took pride in recognizing regular customers.

The main drawback was always the style standards. At Mon Ami Gabi, where she worked from 2006 to 2010, the all black dress code frustrated her. “I love color,” she says. “Wearing all black killed my soul.”

At J&G, the dress code changed with each incoming manager. “They came around and let us wear sweaters, but the biggest part was around shoes,” Jordan says. One mandated 4-inch stiletto heels. “We were all aghast.”

Hosts stand for hours and often help run food from the kitchen to tables when restaurants are slammed.

“They were looking at style over substance,” Jordan says. “They didn’t care about our needs. Customers don’t care. No one is looking at our feet.” That manager left and the person who succeeded them implemented a more sensible shoe policy.

But hosts aren’t just told how to dress to impress. “I’ve had male bosses tell me, ‘You need to wear makeup,’” Jordan explains. Worse yet, she says a manager at J&G Steakhouse asked her to wear her hair straight because it would look “more polished.” “I have curly, kinky, beautiful hair,” Jordan says. “It was very styled, but they said, ‘It’s not the look we’re going for.’”

Despite a general relaxing of service in restaurants, hosts remain under the microscope.

Bosses scrutinize everything from what they wear to how they talk because hosts often supply diners’ first impression of a restaurant. Some seasoned industry pros believe more restaurants are recognizing the important role hosts play, and the professionaliza-

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tion of the position has affected how hosts dress in D.C. today.

“The host department is really where you make your money,” says Caro Blackman, a 25-year veteran of the local hospitality industry, who has been, at times, a server, bartender, manager, and host. She currently works at Maydan and says hosts set the tone and pace of service. Their responsibilities include taking reservations; seating guests in a way that’s fair to servers and not a burden on the kitchen; fielding questions; and manning the phones.

Being a host is challenging work that Black-

man believes some undervalue. “They’re the unseen even though they’re the first to be seen,” she says. “They’re the first to be reprimanded if the timing is off. They’re the last to be praised if a night went smoothly. They’re also the first to receive abuse from guests and the first to be hit on.”

Hosts have two seconds to make an initial impression, according to Blackman. “The best way to instill trust in the guest is by greeting them with a smile and eye contact and having the best posture possible,” she says. “How we’re dressed has a huge impact on how the

restaurant will be perceived.”

Like Jordan, Blackman has encountered some impractical dress codes in her time.

“Years ago we had to wear heels,” she recounts. “You’re walking on all kinds of different surfaces that are wet and greasy … There were a few hostesses that would wear BandAids because their feet were bleeding. Upper management knew, but it was still enforced.”

Another restaurant asked Blackman to wear neutral nail polish; avoid red lipstick; limit earring size; and pull her hair back in a tight bun.

“Not everyone can fit in that mold,” she says.

“I’m black and West Indian. I have very curly hair—to slick it back in a bun is a nightmare.”

Styling it that way caused her hair to thin, so she made a drastic change. “I’m cutting it off and not going back,” she says.

Some places Blackman worked asked hosts to wear uniforms. One required a suit in the winter and a wrap dress in the summer. While Blackman says she appreciated that her employer was investing in attire, she had a specific issue that explains the need for modifications.

“This was at the peak of my abusive relationship,” she says. “I was going through PTSD, having been violated repeatedly for 13 years. There was a point where I wanted to be covered up as much as possible.” She liked wearing blazers and turtlenecks. “But when spring came around, we had to wear wrap dresses that showed a lot of the chest area. It was hard for me to perform on the job. I had major anxiety and almost left because of it.”

Like most people, area hosts want some flexibility in how they dress at work, whether that means altering a uniform or wearing their own clothes. Having wiggle room not only lets hosts feel safe and confident, but Blackman believes letting some individuality shine through allows the guest to better connect.

“I prefer to wear my own clothes that are very professional looking,” says Abby, a parttime host in D.C. who has worked at Scarlet Oak and Magnolia. At the latter, hosts were asked to dress “business casual.” For her, that meant dress pants and a blouse. She alleges that the owners preferred women wear dresses to attract customers, but owner Anthony Lupo disputes that. “With the wind and all the movement, I prefer business casual or jeans,” he says.

washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 15

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At her new job, she wears a uniform—black dress pants and a restaurant-supplied black blazer. She says it helps customers recognize who’s in what job, but ultimately Abby prefers wearing her own garments. “When you’re in uniform and it gets dirty, you are constantly washing it,” she explains.

Another host, Alexandra, is working as a host while studying at George Washington University. She describes the restaurant she works at as “fine dining” and “white tablecloth,” and was surprised to find out that there was no formal uniform when she took the job.

“I was told to ‘look presentable,’” she says. Her bosses are fine with dresses with heels or boots or even jeans. Requirements for men are more clear-cut—khakis with a sport jacket.

“After working in a restaurant, you start to pick things up when you go out,” she says.

“No matter where I’ve gone recently, it’s always been host’s choice. I never noticed a formal uniform. It’s more relatable.”

Sachelle Brooks likes working as a host because she feels like the “unspoken captain of the ship.” She agrees with Alexandra that uniforms have largely fallen by the wayside since she moved here three years ago. “Most places haven’t had a strict code at all,” she says.

“They say, ‘look professional,’ or ‘look clean.’”

A casual survey of other restaurants supported Brooks’ statement. Power dining spot BLT Steak asks its hosts to “dress up and dress professionally,” according to general manager Beau Monroe. “They can wear suits or pant suits or dresses, but are reminded to just keep it tasteful and conservative.” At Gravitas, one of D.C.’s newer fine dining restaurants that feel more casual, hosts are asked “to dress like they’re going to a cocktail party,” according to chef and owner Matt Baker.

“For men we ask for a blazer and button down shirt, and for women we ask for a blouse with a blazer or a dress.”

While most report restaurants are moving away from uniforms, there will likely always be exceptions, according to Mirabelle general manager and beverage director Jennifer Knowles.

Knowles once worked as the wine director at The Inn at Little Washington. The bastion of fine dining plays by different rules.

Knowles believes any establishment that’s competing for stars from Forbes or diamonds from AAA puts each staff member in a uniform with a name tag. “When I got to the Inn, I was like, ‘This is cheesy,’ but then I realized it was an actual rule,” she says. A spokesperson for the Inn says there are actually no formal requirements, but hosts do wear name tags for accountability reasons and to better connect with guests. Plume inside The Jefferson Hotel, a property with similar goals to the Inn, provides suit uniforms for hosts to wear with name tags.

Knowles is known for running a tight ship and agrees with Blackman that the host position is too often overlooked. When she first opened Mirabelle in 2017 and was dictating the dress code, she required hosts to wear the same suit and blouse. The following year, when Mirabelle reopened after a chef change, she elected to have hosts dress in all black clothes of their choosing. “I want them to imagine that they’re going to an office job,” she says. “It’s not casual Friday. It’s a high-end office job.”

That being said, she would never ask hosts to wear heels. “If your feet hurt you, you are not thinking about the guest and how happy they are,” she says. “Now people really want their staff to feel comfortable. Hosts are a huge part of the team. It’s not like they’re an extraneous part of the restaurant or some decoration.”

Knowles notes that the restaurant industry hired based on physical standards for too long.

“But in our culture, that’s not tolerated [anymore],” she says. “If someone walks into a restaurant and sees all of the hostesses are 5’8” and weigh 120 pounds and know they don’t fit that model but have a good background and don’t get the job, I’m pretty sure someone is going to say something these days.”

Longtime chef and restaurateur Robert Wiedmaier remembers when restaurants and bars hired for attractiveness and asked women to don revealing clothing. While he says this practice likely continues today, he doesn’t see it much anymore. “In the really well run restaurants, you’re looking for maturity and professionalism,” he says. At his most formal restaurant, Marcel’s, he asks his hosts to dress elegantly but not in uniform.

Over his career spanning decades in D.C., Wiedmaier has come to realize just how critical the host position is. “Back in the day you put the cheapest person there to answer the phones and take reservations,” he says. “But that’s the lifeline to your restaurant.”

“In today’s market, if you’re not pushing the envelope on all levels, you’re going to lose,” he adds. Everything has to be special because right now people have a big-ass TV at home.

Most people have Netflix. Most people have a kitchen and UberEats. It has to be something special to go downtown to a restaurant and spend money.”

Retaining talented hosts who are trained up and professional would seem like every restaurant’s goal, as the host position has high turnover. Being flexible with dress code accommodations and making room for hosts to express themselves can only help keep them.

“You want people to feel like the best version of themselves when they’re at the door,” Blackman says. “When a woman is feeling restricted or they can’t fit into a mold that the restaurant deems professional or beautiful, that’s when it chips away their self esteem.”

CP

DCFEED

what we ate this week: Barbecue carrots with cornbread ice cream, part of a $65 tasting menu, Rooster & Owl. Satisfaction level: 5 out of 5.

GRAZER

what we’ll eat next week: Salt-baked sweet potato with puffed grains, hot honey, and pickled goji berries, $5.50, Coconut Club. Excitement level: 4 out of 5.

Not-So-Starving Students

Caroline Jones

’WichingHour

Five Deals in Georgetown That College Kids Love So you’ve found yourself in Georgetown, hallowed home of retired politicians, an Anthropologie, and not one but two high-end macaron bakeries. You need a little something to sustain your M Street NW shopping spree, but you’re having trouble sniffing out a place that balances the cheapness of fast casual dining with the quality and portions of classier fare. Follow the children’s lead: Here are five food deals in Georgetown to which college students flock again and again.

—Amy Guay First Bake at Farmers Fishers Bakers 3000 K St. NW A go-to study spot during midterm season, First Bake boasts unlimited refills of regular coffee and a food menu that caps off at $5. Only available on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., this FFB gem offers a filling breakfast for a fraction of what Georgetown restaurants typically charge. Try combining an order of the fresh beignets with a breakfast sandwich for a savory-meets -sweet start to your day.

The Tombs 1226 36th St. NW The storied university saloon touts a number of budget-friendly deals, includ-

Roasted is a new recurring column exploring D.C.’s coffee scene from the perspective of journalist and coffee shop connoisseur Christina Sturdivant Sani. Read on for insight into cafe culture— the ambiance, vibe, and perks— as opposed to nerdy coffee talk about gadgets and magic beans.

Georgetown’s Corridor Coffee Where: 1655 Wisconsin Ave. NW; (202) 625-1665; facebook.com/ corridorcoffeedc

Christina Sturdivant Sani

Roasted

Time of visit: 2:30 p.m. on a Friday What I’m drinking: A solid vanilla latte with oat milk—no need to add simple syrup, which I usually do. My partner, who joined me, got a mocha that he said was one of the best he’s ever had.

Ambiance: Formerly known as The Bean

ing half-priced bottles of wine on Sunday nights. But “Burger Monday” is popular among students starved for red meat.

Enjoy half-priced, 6.75-ounce burgers served with a side of fries, fruit, or salad for a little over $7 from 11:30 a.m. to midnight. Pair it with a glass of Tombs Ale, if you’re so inclined.

Falafel Inc. 1210 Potomac St. NW The mission-driven falafel joint has preserved its original low prices, meaning you can still devour a pita sandwich stuffed with falafel, lettuce, red cabbage, and a melange of sweet and spicy sauces for $3. For those who crave greens and a bigger portion, try the falafel bowl

Counter, this row house-style coffee shop underwent renovations under new management last year. Though the new space has a minimalist design, it exudes just enough warmth to make you want to stay for a while. The narrow entrance is large enough for a wooden counter with bar stools along the wall. The front space houses two tables tucked into nooks to create makeshift work spaces. A short hallway leads to the coffee counter that’s a few feet away from a beautiful back patio. Three more tables and seats for about a half dozen people are located upstairs. Natural light streams in from two large windows and

for $4 and stock up on the rainbow of condiments at your fingertips.

90 Second Pizza 1077 Wisconsin Ave NW Try 90 Second Pizza for a lightning-fast pie that doesn’t skimp on portion size for $9.99. Look for employees giving out free samples at the door, allowing you to try it before you buy it. The “Bianca” is a must-order take on a classic white pizza with cherry tomatoes and mushrooms.

A Free Cupcake from Georgetown Cupcake 3301 M St. NW It’s hard not to scoff at the block-long line filing out of the doors of this M Street NW darling. But did you know that with a quick social media scan and a commitment to showing up at the storefront soon after it opens at 10 a.m., you can receive a free cupcake? Just look for a Facebook post or tweet advertising Georgetown Cupcake’s “Flavor of the Day,” request it when you arrive, and walk away with a morning treat while supplies last. plant life makes up most of the decor.

Vibe: Just beyond Georgetown’s main tourist zone, this shop has a laid back, neighborhood feel. Over the course of a couple hours, a steady flow of people shuffle in and out for coffee, lunch, reading, studying, and co-working. Everyone is friendly, from the baristas to fellow customers. A Ravyn Lenae-heavy Alternative R&B playlist adds to Corridor’s chill mood.

Wired: WiFi is available and there are plenty of outlets on both levels.

Perks: Customers can pick up pre-packaged items like bags of Counter Culture coffee, Japanese candy, and lemon curd. In addition to pastries sourced from Severna Park’s Hawthorne Fine Breakfast Pastry and a robust menu of loose leaf teas from Pearl Fine Teas, patrons can purchase juices for adults and kids and browse fashion and culture magazines during visits. —Christina Sturdivant Sani

The Sandwich: Marinated beef sandwich Where: Birds Eye (inside Doi Moi weekdays from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., weekends from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), 1800 14th St. NW Price: $15 Bread: Baguette Stuffings: Thai-style steak, marinated shallots, Shark Sriracha jus Thickness: 3 inches Pros: Every piece of steak retains its crispy external char but remains tender inside, and the meat’s sweet and sour marinade lingers and blends well with the tart and earthy shallots nestled on top of the sandwich. The Sriracha jus gives the sandwich the appropriate level of heat and is just thick enough to coat the fillings without making the bread soggy.

Cons: Featuring just three ingredients, this is a bare-bones sandwich. The addition of fresh herbs or vegetables—cilantro, mint, carrot—would give it some extra brightness.

Sloppiness level (1 to 5): 1.5. The steak and shallots remain inside the bread as you bite, so you don’t have to worry about ingredients getting all over your hands or your plate. However, the combination of tough bread and steak requires major mastication, so your jaw works overtime.

Overall score (1 to 5): 4.5. This simple sandwich doesn’t look stunning, but looks can be deceiving. Everything you eat doesn’t need to be on Instagram.

Take your time to enjoy the smoky beef and sweet shallots on a good piece of bread while enjoying some people watching on 14th Street NW. —Caroline Jones

washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 17

CPARTS

Aziza Barnes’ BLKS, now playing at Woolly Mammoth, celebrates all forms of female friendship. washingtoncitypaper.com/arts

Toeing the Line

As one of The Washington Ballet’s premier dancers, Gian Carlo Perez makes ballet personally, poignantly relevant.

Through these connections, the ballet becomes not a faraway tale of fairies and princes, but a very personal account of seeking, losing, and remembering love But the form today has fallen out of favor with American culture—particularly as the New York City Ballet reckons with allegations of sexual harassment and violence, and ballet’s model of men partnerning women on pointe struggles to accommodate society’s expanding view of gender.

Still, ballet—a centuries-old performance art form—has endured much death and rebirth. And it’s artists like Perez, who can reach the heart of the dance night after night, that can reignite the popularity of ballet.

By Mary Scott Manning Gian Carlo Perez still gets jitters in the moments before a performance. He waits in the wings while stagehands and set pieces move around him.

When his nerves get the better of him, the Cuban dancer retreats to the bathroom until his cue. But his audience would never know. When Perez dances, he is completely at ease.

Classically trained in the Cuban ballet technique, Perez does not misstep; nor are his movements robotic. His 6-foot frame glides through his combinations with athletic grace. Perez has warm brown skin, dark brown eyes, and a countenance that changes to match the tone of each ballet he dances.

His whole body is a clue to the dance’s sentiment; its story. This sensitivity of expression, particularly striking in a man of such physical strength, makes Perez memorable.

A case in point is his recent performance as the Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy in Paul Taylor’s Company B with the Washington Ballet last fall. As the number began, Perez bounded onstage to a bright tune accented by cymbals and horn blasts. He leapt through the air, always sticking his landing, always with a smile. But his performance came across as superficial, more acrobatic than artistic—not his usual, stirring performance.

But the Bugle Boy, to Perez, was not a poet or prince. He was a happy guy and entertainer; an optimist who is perilously blind to the reality of war depicted in Company B. In the last measure, a bang cuts the tune short. The boy falls, shot dead.

Perez conveyed exactly the story he intended.

What makes Perez such a stunning dancer is how he ties himself to his characters. In any good ballet, there’s a moment Denby wrote about in which the line between performance and real life is blurred, “where you actually saw a real person moving and felt the relation to your real private life with a sudden poignancy.” This golden thread between dancer, dance, and audience is the enduring magic of ballet.

“That’s what makes a good artist. It’s not about how high you can jump or how much you can turn,” Perez says. “It’s how you represent a character, how people are going to believe what you’re doing.”

DANCE

18 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

Procopio Photography

Perez was born in Havana, Cuba, with dance in his blood and music as his heritage.

His father performed with the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, the country’s government-sponsored ballet company, for two years before he took his career to Spain. But a motorcycle accident forced him to quit when he was 29—the height of a dancer’s career and only five years older than Perez is today.

Perez’s stepfather played bass in a traditional Cuban band. While he kept the rhythm on stage, Perez and his mother danced son cubano— one of Cuba’s popular dances—and salsa in the crowd. His mother, a contemporary dancer, often brought him along to her rehearsals. A teacher noticed Perez playing around and encouraged her to have him audition for the BNC’s school, the Escuela Nacional Cubana de Ballet. The week before the audition, she taught her son the five basic ballet positions and prepared him to do a split. He had never taken ballet before.

“I suffered like crazy,” Perez remembers. But he made the cut.

Perez entered the program at age 9, taking dance classes in the morning and traditional subjects in the afternoon. Over time, the school came to embody his ambitions, and he set his sights on joining the BNC upon graduation.

As part of his audition for the company, Perez danced the second act pas de deux from La Bayadere, which tells the story of Nikiya, a temple dancer in ancient India, and Solor, the warrior who swore his love to her. Solor is tricked into promising marriage to another woman, a princess. The princess, jealous, schemes to have Nikiya fatally bitten by a

Audiences believe the dancers who make them see not a complicated series of steps, but a story. A dancer must bring their own stories to bear in a ballet to make what famed dance critic and poet Edwin Denby once called “points of contact” between the dance and the drama of one’s own personal life.

CPARTS snake. Nikiya dies in front of Solor and the entire court, and he retreats to his chambers, overcome by grief. There, in an opium haze, he imagines Nikiya back to life and dances with her, achingly and indulgently.

The challenge of taking on Solor’s part is to embody the role with both power and fragility—a warrior undone by grief. For 17-year-old Perez, there was the added pressure of dancing with his then-girlfriend, with whom he had a tumultuous relationship.

They struggled to master a duet about eternal love until Alberto Alonso, a co-founder of the school, dropped in on their rehearsal.

Perez recalls that the 95-year-old ballet master said, in Spanish, “OK boy, let’s do this.” After the pair danced, Alonso ordered Perez to leave the room.

“Excuse me?” Perez replied.

“Yes, get out of the room,” said Alonso.

“Why? What did I do wrong?”

“I didn’t believe what you were doing,” came the verdict.

Alonso explained that Solor was supposed to be high on opium, fearful his beloved could vanish. He should be gentle and soft but unwilling to let her go. Alonso saw nothing of that story in Perez’s performance.

“Go to the bathroom, wash your face, and come back,” Alonso ordered. “We’re going to do this again.”

Perez correctly performed the steps but hadn’t danced the character. He hadn’t yet understood Solor; connecting the warrior’s pain to the experience of holding someone you loved but lost. He then returned to the studio and the pair mastered the piece.

Perez joined the Ballet Nacional de Cuba in 2012 as an apprentice, with six months to prove himself worthy of a longterm position. That’s a challenge, as new recruits spend much of that time watching the principals rehearse.

Unwilling to waste those moments, he set out to learn each part in every ballet the company performed—in addition to his own. His reasoning was twofold: The ballet master would see him as a professional, and he’d be prepared to step up whenever injury sidelined another dancer.

His opportunity came during the company’s tour of Spain.

Before the last act of Coppélia, the principal dancer twisted his ankle. “Nobody wanted to step in. Nobody wanted the responsibility,” Perez recalls, “and I was like, ‘Can I?’” When he returned to Havana, the company promoted Perez to soloist.

As a soloist, Perez had more time and space to develop his roles, to understand his characters’ stories. One of the company’s prima ballerinas invited him to partner her in the USA International Ballet Competition held in Jackson, Mississippi. Perez leapt at the chance—for dancers outside the U.S., competitions are a way to be noticed by American ballet companies.

Perez prepared to compete and traveled to the States with high hopes—so being disqualified after the first round was a surprise. He didn’t expect to be knocked out so early, so his return flight wasn’t booked until the competition’s close. With nothing else to do, he attended a class offered to competitors, which the USAIBC opened to ballet company directors—one of whom was Septime Webre, the Washington Ballet’s for-

mer artistic director. In Perez, Webre saw a magnetic dancer who could make ballet inviting.

“He’s filled with that factor X that draws us to him, we relate to him, and we want to be him,” Webre says.

After the class, Webre approached Perez to recruit him. The director explained his contract and showed him several ballets in the company’s lineup, including Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort— which greatly excited Perez.

Perez signed the contract, stepping off the fast-track to becoming a BNC principal, and moved to America. In August 2014, he began his career with The Washington Ballet, the company he now calls his family.

Since then, Perez has been a highlight for the company. Webre’s successor at the Washington Ballet, Julie Kent, nominated Perez for the 2017 Princess Grace Foundation’s Award for Dance—one of the most prestigious awards in dance—a mark of his progress and her trust in him as the company’s nominee.

He submitted samples of his work, including the Petite Mort duet, for the award, and won.

This past fall, Perez danced a principal role in Serenade, a lyrical ballet of women dancing in the night choreographed by George Balanchine, himself an immigrant to America. Perez’s role begins in the second act. EunWon Lee, one of the principal female leads, waits for him at the stage’s edge, above the orchestra. She stands still, as if frozen.

Perez steps into the light and strides toward her. He touches her shoulder, she comes alive. As they dance, the story extends into the crowd, stirring old memories of falling in love.

In that moment, the moonlight illuminates them all.

CP

GREAT PERFORMANCES AT MASON 2018/2019 SEASON

Mark Morris Czech National Symphony Orchestra Dance Group 100 Years of Leonard Bernstein

with the MMDG Music Ensemble

John Mauceri, conductor

Friday, March 1 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, March 2 at 8 p.m.

Saturday, February 23 at 8 p.m.

ff

Family Series

Erth’s Prehistoric Aquarium Adventure

EN AR JO TS Y A AT LL CF THE A!

Danú Sunday, March 17 at 7 p.m.

ff

Sunday, March 3 at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

Family Friendly performances that are most suitable for families with younger children

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 703-993-2787 OR CFA.GMU.EDU

Located on the Fairfax campus, six miles west of Beltway exit 54, at the intersection of Braddock Road and Rt. 123.

washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 19

THEATERCURTAIN CALLS

THE ALLINCLUSIVE GULAG ARCHIPELAGO El viejo, el joven y el mar

By Irma Correa Directed by José Luis Arellano At GALA Hispanic Theatre to March 3 Located in the Atlantic Ocean a thousand kilometers from the Iberian peninsula, the Canary Islands have historically been Spain’s Siberia, a place of domestic exile so far away it might as well be another country. Various Spanish governments have sent various troublemakers to the islands to keep them from causing problems, often in vain. In 1936, the Spanish Republican government ordered to the Canaries a young military officer who would later overthrow it, one Francisco Franco.

Canarian playwright Irma Correa’s new play, debuting at GALA Hispanic Theatre, focuses on another temporary denizen of the islands, the Basque author Miguel de Unamuno. Sent there by an earlier Spanish dictator a decade before Franco’s banishment, Unamuno had upset then-caudillo Miguel Primo de Rivera with his critiques of the monarchy and championing of the Basque language.

El viejo, el joven y el mar (The old man, the youth and the sea) is a well crafted, well acted, talky play that fleshes out its subjects without quite demonstrating why we should care to see them fleshed out. The implicit reason for focusing on this obscure (for non-Spanish audiences) period of history is to foreshadow another, slightly less obscure period, the Franco dictatorship. Unamuno, a Generation of ’98 author whose not particularly radical writings got him a not particularly unpleasant stay on a tropical beach, might not be the most sympathetic dissident, except as a stand-in for a later generation of intellectuals who suffered

far rougher treatment under a far more brutal regime.

Standing in for the Spanish people in the play is Cisco, an illiterate fisherman employed to clean the bungalow where Unamuno is under house arrest who gradually becomes an object of the writer’s attention not so much out of friendship but boredom. Played with salt-ofthe-earth earnestness by Víctor de la Fuente, Cisco voices and acts out his dreams of being a whale hunter and seeing the world beyond his isolated home. Far from being Unamuno’s foil, Cisco takes the starring role. Pacing with nervous energy around furniture in the spare, plywood set, de la Fuente conjures a man whose ambitions are frustrated by the social structures under which he was born, understands this, and yet is too paralyzed by his deference to those structures to do anything about it.

The whole play would be one long conversation between the two characters were it not for interruptions by two others. An army general shows up to periodically threaten Unamuno; his bragging about seeing combat in Morocco, which would later serve as the launch pad for Franco’s revolt, makes clear his role in the play’s central metaphor. And a subplot involving an Argentine love interest with an escape plan evaporates as soon as it’s introduced due to Unamuno’s lack of interest in both. The fact that both characters are so underutilized is a shame, given the talent of the actors playing them, GALA regulars Delbis Cardona and Luz Nicolás.

Argentine actor Horacio Peña plays Unamuno with a bemused detachment that belies his fixation on Cisco, which develops in a series of increasingly heated interrogations about the younger man’s beliefs, dreams, and personal shortcomings. The banter is meant to represent Unamuno’s concept of intrahistoria, the historical importance he attributed to everyday life. What it demonstrates instead is Unamuno’s comfortable position in the stratified system he only tepidly critiques, both in the play and real life.

Unamuno’s virtue, we are told, is in his moderation. A liberal who came of age in the period of Spanish imperial decline, he came

20 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

to be a critic of militarism late in life. He was also, famously, a fencewalker, who also criticized the Republic for its radical excesses and initially welcomed Franco’s coup, only to die under detention in its aftermath.

Director José Luis Arellano treats Unamuno as a straightforward, if slightly jerky, hero and premature anti-fascist. But a different interpretation could just as easily have him personify the moral failings of Spain’s intellectuals leading up to the dictatorship. Unamuno’s patronizing attitude toward Cisco reflects the attitude of a whole class of elites who felt entitled to lead the unwashed masses they saw as lacking agency of their own: a “sack of potatoes,” as Marx called the peasants. If those would-be leaders failed to recognize the danger of fascism before it was too late, they only had themselves to blame. —Mike Paarlberg 3333 14th St. NW. $30–$48. (202) 234-7174. en.galatheatre.org.

COLD AS ICE Reykjavík

By Steve Yockey Directed by Rick Hammerly At the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre to March 3 Maybe Steve yockey went for one of those Icelandair specials offering a no-additionalcost stayover and regrets it. Or maybe he just chose the remote, expensive, beautiful city of Reykjavík as the setting for his latest supernatural horror anthology because the sun never goes down in the summer and never comes up in winter, the season in which his loosely inter-

connected set of twisty queer relationship vignettes takes place.

Yockey seems to relish the way in which the anthology format allows him to pivot between tenderness and cruelty. His prior Rorschach Theatre show, 2015’s very still & hard to see, was another collection of spooky tales set in a uniform location. In Reykjavík, each segment gets a video screen title card accompanied by a droning post-punk tune and some

cheesy screensaver-y animation of crows; in the darkness of the Silver Spring Black Box Theatre, that pounding music quickly conjures the sense of oblivion that at least one of Yockey’s characters, a boy named James, played by Josh Adams, is seeking.

James came to Reykjavík hoping to see the Northern Lights, he says, in the way that Rick Blaine went to Casablanca “for the waters.” The opening segment, set in “an afterhours lounge,” features projected supertitles to make its dialogue discernible over the pulsating clubby soundtrack. Without the captioning, we wouldn’t know that the two guys who invited themselves over to James’ booth, played by Carlos Saldaña and Dylan Arredondo, intend to drug, rape, and murder him.

There’s no explicit depiction of sexual violence in the show, but the candid way in which it is discussed may be enough to alarm some audience members.

A story in which a murder of crows spies on two lovers played by Robert Bowen Smith and Arredondo, in a different role this time, during sex and offers unsolicited but piercing insight—translated into English via cheery concierge Saldaña—into their relationship brings more whimsy to the evening. In another darkish vignette, Arredondo, in a third role, rents the company of Adams, playing a different character, while making revealingly erroneous assumptions about who his fuckboy actually is.

While tonal code-switching feels deliberate, the extent to which Yockey and director Rick Hammerly intend for these tales to intersect narratively isn’t always clear. The discrete storylines are not of equal interest, and the double- and triple-casting gets confusing on the occasions when actors do reprise their roles from previous scenes.

On the plus side, the episodic format still lets these half dozen actors flex their muscles in rewarding ways.

There’s a nimble quality to Adams’ performance as the prostitute, like he’s used to being underestimated. (Or to being cast as hustlers hired by deeply troubled Johns—he played a similar part in Theater J’s production of Tony Kushner’s The Intelligent Homosexual’s Guide... in 2014.) Smith has a particularly strong monologue about a mortifying chapter from his adolescence, long before he came out, when he was caught with a big bag of gay erotica. That scene has all the horror and comedy and tragedy that Yockey could possibly want, and there isn’t anything supernatural about it.

—Chris Klimek 8641 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. $20–$30.

(202) 399-7993. rorschachtheatre.com.

GALLERIESSKETCHES stractions that take the form of topographical maps, casting the viewer into surveyor mode. But this work works in three dimensions.

“Fighting in the Age of Loneliness” (2019) takes it even further. It’s a doormat, more or less: an acrylic painting on a rubber base that’s been plopped haphazardly on the floor. Part of it falls askew onto the wall where “Bottom Breather” by Jason Gubbiotti (2018) the floor meets the corner. It’s a sad trombone of a piece, a floppy painting that looks like it came loose from its place of pride on the wall and slid cartoon-like into its sadsack status. The fact that it’s such a simple abstraction (green and orange shapes bound by a white border) makes it seem like a sarcastic send-up of the whole enterprise Jason Gubbiotti: Things of painting. Between “Loneliness” and “FIREAre As They Seem BIRD” (2018), a black chevron on a fiery red At Civilian Art Projects to March 23 shaped canvas—or the hood of a bitchin’ 1974 Pontiac Trans Am—Gubbiotti’s just having fun.

“The Science of Swearing” (2019) is an ambiJason Gubbiotti has never gone big. He is the rare abstract painter who has kept to a scale tious and vexing painting, if that’s the word for that is close and intimate, never using sheer it. The piece looks like several canvases stitched size to woo the viewer. His hard-edged paint- together to form a board, one attached to the ings fall within the Goldilocks range: not-too- wall by a pair of long pine-green dowel rods and large and not-too-small. In almost every oth- suspended from the ceiling by yellow string. er way, though, Gubbiotti bucks the bounds of Trapezoids and rhombuses from Gubbiotti’s the picture plane. Some of his works could be geometric paintings bleed out into space itself shields. One of them is shaped like the hood in this painting, which is really an installation.

Even as he flexes in three dimensions, Gubof a vintage muscle car. Some of his recent paintings aren’t paintings at all. In Things Are biotti makes work that still resonates most on As They Seem, Gubbiotti punches through the the surface. “Drawing Book”—a series of 30 drawings produced by Gubbiotti over the span wall and enters into hard sculpture territory.

Longtime viewers will see a lot of change of seven months—hammers the point home. in Gubbiotti’s latest show at Civilian Art Proj- Each drawing is a meticulous abstraction comects. A graduate of the former Corcoran Col- prising simple tiny square marks arranged in lege of Art & Design, and now based outside endlessly imaginative ways. The drawings Paris, Gubbiotti got his first solo show in 2001 look like dot-matrix prints, his points so preat Fusebox, a perfect white-cube gallery on 14th cise that they could be computational. Even Street NW, back when most of its storefronts with his drawings, Gubbiotti introduces laywere either fish stands or boarded up. “Lion’s ered paper or cutouts to defy the convenClub” (2016 and 2018) could have fit right into tional image plane. Each drawing has its own one of his older shows: Gubbiotti paints by ap- rhythm, even though the drawings as a bunch plying careful layers of acrylic bound by tape to are repetitive: clever variations on a theme.

For his next act, Gubbiotti could wind up make superfine lines, borders, and territories, as in this trippy painting. “Lion’s Club” falls ditching the canvas altogether. The artist’s work somewhere between a heat map of a military is treading new ground as he takes tentative installation and the playfield of an acid-tinted steps into space and sculpture. As a painter who pinball game. The bottom edges of the painting shapes every canvas he makes, he can already list are nicked off; Gubbiotti has no use for squares. woodwork as one of his core strengths. But tran“Subspace” (2018–19) is a rehash of the shield sition is just another tool for Gubbiotti to bring form that Gubbiotti first debuted in his last show to bear in his investigation of planes and perimwith Civilian (Glass Giant in 2017). The piece fea- eters. Whether he’s spinning out mind-numbtures acrylic over felt on wood and a slit in its bot- ing patterns over dozens and dozens of pages or tom center. Teal and gold tints dare the viewer to stringing a painting up as a sculpture, Gubbiotti carry it off to a Legend of Zelda cosplay session. never loses sight of his true focus: line and color.

—Kriston Capps The painting stands on the floor, leaning against the wall and hiding a secret—a reverse face painted a brilliant orange. Gubbiotti has always played 1469R Harvard Street NW. Free. with perspective in his works, especially in ab- civilianartprojects.com.

SEEMS LEGIT

SEPTEMBER 23, 2018 — MARCH 3, 2019 AT THE BALTIMORE MUSEUM OF ART

“A loose journey of self-discovery that can be read in mythological or biographical terms or, often, both at once.”

— New York Times, April 27, 2017

Mark Bradford: Tomorrow Is Another Day, presented at The Baltimore Museum of Art, is made possible by the Henry Luce Foundation, Maryland State Arts Council – Department of Commerce, Nancy L. Dorman and Stanley Mazaroff, Gabriel and Deborah Brener, Katherine and Joseph Hardiman, John Meyerhoff, M.D. and Lenel Srochi-Meyerhoff, Mafia Papers Studio, and Hauser & Wirth. The project is also supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit www.arts.gov.

Mark Bradford, 2017. © Mark Bradford. Photo: Carlos Avendaño

washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 21

FILMSHORT SUBJECTS tism, as an athlete and an actress, that cannot be faked, even if it is staged. With a winning film at her back, she is a star not simply born but wrestled into existence.

—Noah Gittell Fighting with My Family opens Friday in theaters everywhere.

LET’S GET READY TO RUMBLE Fighting with My Family Directed by Stephen Merchant

Wrestling movies have been around since Hollywood’s early days, but the warm and winning Fighting with My Family comes closest to representing the actual spirit of the sport: It’s full of clichés, is built to appeal to the broadest audience possible, and requires a deep and willing suspension of disbelief.

Yet you somehow get wrapped up in its victories and defeats all the same, and despite your best intentions, you will find yourself cheering from the edge of your seat.

Based on the life of WWE star Paige, Fighting with My Family places itself squarely in a familiar but fading genre: the sports underdog movie. Married couple Ricky (Nick Frost) and Julia (Lena Headey) are former hustlers who make ends meet in Norwich, England, by running a low-rent wrestling league. Short on talent, they employ their grown kids, the goth-influenced Saraya (Florence Pugh) and wholesome Zak (Jack Lowden), as their star athletes. The family lives a hard life, with money always tight, but the film sees this as a virtue. It champions their lowbrow lifestyle—and lowbrow sport— by equating their economic struggles with authenticity. They may be poor, but they’re happy with their dreams of stardom.

When Saraya and Zak try out for the WWE and only the former is chosen for the second audition in America, Saraya is forced to break from the family in order to save it. With her new stage name Paige (inspired by her favorite witch on TV’s Charmed), she endures a grueling wrestling bootcamp led by Hutch (Vince Vaughn) and struggles to fit in with her more camera-ready cohorts, most of whom are either models or cheerleaders.

STOP DRAGON MY HEART AROUND This tried-and-true premise—a scrappy underdog succeeds on grit and determination— is presented without a hint of subversion, but at least it doesn’t shy away from unpleasant realities. The film knows the difference, for example, between spontaneous and scripted violence. A barroom brawl and a wrestling match that goes haywire feel dangerous and real.

Forced to contend with the death of his childhood dream back in England, Zak becomes dangerously depressed. Written and directed with just the right amount of depth by funnyman Stephen Merchant, Fighting with My Family lives up to the double-meaning of its title.

It is ultimately focused on giving you a good show, but it always keeps one eye on real familial dysfunction.

Wrestling is defined by its characters, though, and the film succeeds largely due to its genial cast, a crew of recognizable actors doing exactly what you want them to, and little more. Frost is his usual lovable dimwit, and he is even blessed with a son, played by Lowden, who looks remarkably like Simon Pegg, his frequent collaborator. Dwayne Johnson almost wins the film in an extended cameo as himself, charming us all without even getting into the ring or breaking a sweat.

Fighting with My Family may be best remembered, however, as a tale of two stars, one ascendant and one settling into the second act of his career. Vaughn, who proved too acerbic to become the leading man he was projected to be, recycles his smarmy drill instructor bit from Hacksaw Ridge, and he is a welcomed, familiar presence. As a star, his charm was always undercut by seething anger, but now it is even more poignant, serving as a shortcut to explaining the defeats of middle age. This role previews a longevity to his career that was once far from assured.

Meanwhile, Pugh, who first gained notice as an underestimated Victorian housewife in 2016’s Lady Macbeth, becomes a star in real time here. Turning her vulnerability as a misfit into her identity as a performer, Paige wins over the crowd in the final scenes, and that includes us sitting in the dark. She has a gritty magne-

22 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Directed by Dean DeBlois

modest expectations are underappreciated. Not every film, particularly an animated one, is going to be an award winner or a megahit. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World knows exactly what it is supposed to be: a satisfying, exciting final chapter in a series that mixes comedy with action. There is no ambitious concept that you might expect from Pixar, nor are there meta-references that you might expect from The LEGO Movie or Wreck-It Ralph.

Instead, The Hidden World tells its brisk story with affection, and by never overstaying its welcome, it is easier to look past the annoying bits.

The original How to Train Your Dragon and its sequel are about Berk, an island where a viking tribe lives harmoniously with dragons. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is the chief, and his passion is liberating dragons from their captors. Most dragon hunters are no match for Hiccup and his lieutenants, since each one has a corresponding dragon with considerable strength and firepower. Their success attracts the attention of Grimmel (F. Murray Abraham), a cunning hunter who desires Hiccup’s personal dragon, Toothless. This leads to a series of battles and escapes, with Hiccup and Grimmel attempting to outmaneuver each other.

Director Dean DeBlois, who also wrote the screenplay, keeps the plot simple enough so that young children can follow it. There is even a cute sequence where Toothless—a catlike dragon that’s all black—meets a potential mate who is all white, and they court each other through increasingly extravagant gestures.

DeBlois’ primary focus is the action, and stunning animation. He makes sense of complex aerial combat, so that there is enough dan-

ger and spatial coherence to keep it genuinely thrilling. On top of that, parts of The Hidden World can be surprisingly lifelike, like when characters interact with sand or water. Other sections are impressive through the sheer level of detail. When the film finally shows us the hidden world of dragons, hundreds of them fill the frame at once. The cumulative effect forces the audience to take in the entire gorgeous canvas, instead of focusing their attention on a single image or figure.

What is less successful are all the moments in between the battles and vistas. The Hidden World has an ample supply of secondary characters, including Hiccup’s mother Valka (Cate Blanchett) and love interest Astrid (America Ferrera). Their appearance here is perfunctory—Blanchett has maybe a dozen lines total—so most of the attention is on Hiccup’s friends, who provide the comic relief. None of them have a distinct personality; instead, they’re defined by a simple, broad caricatures.

This leads to subplots that go nowhere, or awkward physical gags. Perhaps DeBlois ran out of material, padding it out instead of attempting genuine character development.

Comic discursions notwithstanding, The Hidden World preserves the emotional core of Hiccup and Toothless. Even if you haven’t seen the original two films, Toothless is still a delightful creature, more like an overly friendly pet than a fire-breathing lizard. He and Hiccup have parallel story arcs, so the way they are simultaneously resolved adds a greater emotional resonance.

The first film came out in 2010, so kids who grew up on these films are old enough to appreciate the wisdom that comes with maturity and letting go. These scenes are deftly handled, with DeBlois avoiding the easiest choices, so the comic missteps are easier to forgive.

The Hidden World is admirably brisk. It runs at just over 90 minutes, ensuring that audiences of any age will not lose their patience (albeit for different reasons). And its final, bittersweet moments are an appropriate coda for a story about friendship and acceptance. No kid will ever have a pet like Toothless, but this film may show them the rewards of embracing someone because of their differences, not in spite of them.

—Alan Zilberman How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World opens Friday in theaters everywhere.

MUSICDISCOGRAPHY

DISASTER ARTISTS Near Disaster

Jeff Cosgrove/Matthew Shipp/ William Parker Jeff Cosgrove Music In avant-garde jazz, it’s not uncommon for the listener to lose the drums. They don’t play notes or a beat, per se, and the collision of the other instruments tends to usurp the attention. Moreso when the other instruments are Matthew Shipp’s clanging, resonant piano and William Parker’s probing, kinetic bass, as they are on Near Disaster. In fact, drummer Jeff Cosgrove is the album’s most restless and dynamic musician—the freest—and often in command.

Indeed, Shipp and Parker are very much concerned with careful designs. They’re veterans of the late David S. Ware’s celebrated quartet, whose one clear regulation was painstaking development of the themes it spontaneously crafted. Here, on the 35-minute centerpiece “October Nights Sky,” Shipp and Parker seem at first to be casting about, assembling tentative ideas and lobbing them between each other in search of purchase. It doesn’t last long: 30 seconds in, Shipp is deep into a construction, Parker orbiting around him on bowed bass until the 1:40 mark, when he finds a counterpoint to work with.

It’s then that Cosgrove comes in, having only emitted a few percussive asides in

that early going. His arrival brings the piece its dimension: As Parker and Shipp recycle, extend, and vary their harmonic and rhythmic motifs, then go off in search of others, it’s the drums that form the truly irregular shapes. His tink-tish ride cymbal prods, skips, flirts with the standby triplet “swing” figure. It’s such a distinctive, insistent sound that it fools the ear into thinking it’s more regular than it actually is.

But it’s not chaos, either. Cosgrove is keeping abreast of Parker and Shipp’s changes in direction, turning their subtler modifications into major shifts just by adjusting the syncopation. And when they explode, it is he who determines the blast radius. About 15 minutes in, as a riled-up ensemble tsunami hits, Cosgrove suddenly pulls away from his snare-drum onslaught; he still tosses in some licks and presses for accent, but his attenuation dissipates the tidal wave, and when Shipp and Parker head in for another one the drummer first joins, then changes to a frantic ride-cymbal gallop with the other two following.

The other two tracks, the opening “Last Steps, First” and closing “Spherical,” find Parker and (especially) Shipp more consistently motif-driven than “October Nights Sky.” As “Last Steps” begins, the pianist carves out a chord-heavy stomp that he continues to mutate throughout the piece, with Shipp often bounding alongside him; no matter how long they stretch out, though, Cosgrave rarely stays in place. “Spherical” is a playfully rhythmic piece (perhaps a nod to Thelonious Monk, whose middle name was Sphere), but it’s Parker and Shipp who keep it bouncing along as the drums rifle through a swing groove, displace that groove, then pulverize it, sometimes fading out entirely (leading the piano and bass, at one point, in what sounds like a manic episode) before crashing back in. Thus Near Disaster hammers home a point that, like the drums, is often lost in free music: “Form” is relative.

—Michael J. West Listen to Near Disaster at washingtoncitypaper.com/arts.

RICHARD THE THIRD by william shakespeare

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24 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

CITYLIST

TUESDAY, MARCH 5 | 8:30PM

Music 25 Theater 30 Film 30

Music

COWBOY MOUTH + ERIC LINDELL’S FAT TUESDAY

CITY LIGHTS: FRIDAY

(LOCATED IN UPSTAIRS DINING ROOM)

FRIDAY

$45/$55/RESERVED SEATING $100

CLASSICAL

BARNS AT WOLF TRAP 1635 Trap Road, Vienna.

(703) 255-1900. Wu Han and Friends. 7:30 p.m. $40. wolftrap.org.

★

MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. BSO: Elgar Cello Concerto. 8:15 p.m. $35–$90. strathmore.org.

THU 2/21 OLIVER BATES CRAVEN (FOREMERLY OF THE STRAY BIRDS) FRI 2/22 JIVE MOTHER MARY SAT 2/23 FOLK SOUL REVIVAL

ELECTRONIC

9:30 CLUB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Cherub. 10 p.m. $25. 930.com.

THE ANTHEM 901 Wharf St. SW. (202) 888-0020. Dillon Francis and Alison Wonderland. 8 p.m. $45–$65. theanthemdc.com.

$15/$18

FUNK & R&B

THU 2/28 MELANIE BRULEE FRI 3/1 RAY SCOTT $15/$20 SAT 3/2 HONEY DEW DROPS ALBUM RELEASE $15 TUE 3/5 COWBOY MOUTH + ERIC LINDELL’S FAT TUESADAY $45/$55 THU 3/7 THE SEA THE SEA

THE HAMILTON 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. Kat Wright. 8 p.m. $15–$20. thehamiltondc.com.

HIP-HOP

9:30 CLUB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Vince Staples. 6 p.m. $35. 930.com.

JAZZ

BLUES ALLEY 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Kim Waters. 8 p.m.; 10 p.m. $45–$50. bluesalley.com.

POP

DC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Greyson Chance. 7:30 p.m. $15–$45. dcnine.com.

U STREET MUSIC HALL 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

AJ Mitchell. 6:30 p.m. $20. ustreetmusichall.com.

UNION STAGE 740 Water St. SW. (877) 987-6487.

Rachael & Vilray. 8 p.m. $25–$30. unionstage.com.

ROCK

BIRCHMERE 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. 10,000 Maniacs. 7:30 p.m. $45. birchmere.com.

THE HAMILTON 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000.

Lauren Calve Trio. 10:30 p.m. Free. thehamiltondc. com.

MIRACLE THEATRE 535 8th St. SE. (202) 400-3210.

Rachael & Vilray. 8 p.m. $25–$30. themiracletheatre.com.

STATE THEATRE 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church.

(703) 237-0300. Corey Smith. 9 p.m. $20–$25. thestatetheatre.com.

SATURDAY CLASSICAL

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR THE ARTS 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. (888) 9452468. Czech National Symphony Orchestra. 8 p.m. $36–$60. cfa.gmu.edu.

SIXTH & I HISTORIC SYNAGOGUE 600 I St. NW. (202) 408-3100. Lara Downes. 8 p.m. $35. sixthandi.org.

COUNTRY

THE ANTHEM 901 Wharf St. SW. (202) 888-0020.

Brothers Osborne. 8 p.m. $40–$75. theanthemdc. com.

FUNK & R&B

AMP BY STRATHMORE 11810 Grand Park Ave., North Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. Soul Crackers. 8 p.m. $15– $25. ampbystrathmore.com.

★

ORCHIDS: AMAZING ADAPTATIONS

Come, stop, and smell the orchids. From a collaboration between the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Gardens, and the U.S. Botanic Garden comes the vivid and vibrant installation Orchids: Amazing Adaptations. As the first exhibition of the year-long “Habitat” series, viewers can delight in seeing thousands of orchids from all across the globe in the museums’ courtyard. Orchids reside on each and every continent except for Antarctica, with the most abundant masses of orchids found in Latin American and Asia.

One of the most fascinating facts about orchids is their ability to use color, shape, and smell in order to attract very different pollinators while also steering clear of self-pollinating and life-endangering threats. Orchids highlights the many places that these flowers currently thrive, from South America to Canada. Enjoy the myriad colors of this cherished part of our ecosystem. Who doesn’t love a good orchid? The exhibition is on view to April 28 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 8th and F streets NW. Free. (202) 633-7970. americanart.si.edu.

—Malika T. Benton

BIRCHMERE 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. Jeffrey Osborne. 7:30 p.m. $79.50. birchmere.com.

U STREET MUSIC HALL 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

The Suffers. 7 p.m. $20. ustreetmusichall.com.

GOSPEL

JAZZ BLUES ALLEY 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Kim Waters. 8 p.m.; 10 p.m. $45–$50. bluesalley.com.

THE HAMILTON 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. Big Sam’s Funky Nation. 8 p.m. $19.75–$25.75.

FILLMORE SILVER SPRING 8656 Colesville Road, Sil-

thehamiltondc.com.

ver Spring. (301) 960-9999. Travis Greene and Mosaic

POP

MSC. 8 p.m. $30–$75. fillmoresilverspring.com.

DC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. The Western

HIP-HOP

Den. 9 p.m. $12. dcnine.com.

HOWARD THEATRE 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899.

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477

Jay Electronica. 9 p.m. $35–$59.99.

18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Lily & Madeleine. 8 p.m.

thehowardtheatre.com.

$15–$17. songbyrddc.com.

$10/$15

WOODSHEDDERS $5 JESS ELIOT MYHRE & THE HONKYTONK HEROES $10 THU 3/14 ANDREA VON KAMPDEN + LOUISA HALL FRI 3/8 SAT 3/9

$12/$15

TUE 3/19 THE 9 SINGER/ SONGWRITER SHOWS

$12/$15

THU 3/21 19TH STREET BAND FRI 3/22 TRAGEDY: ALL METAL TRIBUTE TO THE BEE GEES & BEYOND $12/15 SAT 3/23 CASEY CAVANAGH EP RELEASE FT. JUSTIN TRAWICK & THE COMMON GOOD 12/$15 HILL COUNTRY BARBECUE MARKET

410 Seventh St, NW • 202.556.2050 HillCountry.com/DC • Twitter @hillcountrylive

Near Archives/Navy Memorial [G, Y] and Gallery PI/Chinatown [R] Metro

washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 25

ROCK 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

Feb 21

Bonnie JAMES McMURTRY Whitmore

24

JEFFREY OSBORNE

27&28

MARSHALL CRENSHAW & THE BOTTLE ROCKETS The Empty 2 BOB SCHNEIDER Pockets 3 SWEET HONEY IN THE ROCK 7 MADELEINE PEYROUX & PAULA COLE Mar 1

8

THE MANHATTANS

9

SUGAR SAMMY

14

KINKY FRIEDMAN & DALE WATSON "Long Tales & Short Songs

15 16 18

featuring Gerald

alston

DEL & DAWG

(Del McCoury & David Grisman)

TOM RUSH NM Reed TODD SNIDER Foehl att akoa

Cash Cabin Sessions Vol. 3, Album Release Tour!

WE THREE 20 LUNASA 22 OHIO PLAYERS 23 THE FOUR BITCHIN' BABES 24 JIM"Share BRICKMAN The Love" 19

THE RIPPINGTONS RUSSfeaturing FREEMAN 26 ROBERT EARL KEEN 27 DAVID ARCHULETA 28 BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY 25

29

Mo' Fire

In Gratitude: Tribute to EWF and Motown & More!

30

HARMONY SWEEPSTAKES Mid-Atlantic Regionals 2019

THE HAMILTON 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. Alex the Red Parez & The Hell Rojos. 10:30 p.m. Free. thehamiltondc.com.

UNION STAGE 740 Water St. SW. (877) 987-6487. MEG MAC. 7 p.m. $15–$30. unionstage.com.

SUNDAY CLASSICAL

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR THE ARTS 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. (888) 9452468. Jeffrey Siegel. 7 p.m. $26–$44. cfa.gmu.edu.

MUSIC CENTER AT STRATHMORE 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. BSO: Elgar Cello Concerto. 3 p.m. $35–$90. strathmore.org.

NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART WEST GARDEN COURT 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. (202) 8426941. Curtis Opera Theatre Vocal Quartet. 3:30 p.m.

Free. nga.gov.

PHILLIPS COLLECTION 1600 21st St. NW. (202) 3872151. Ana Vidović. 4 p.m. $5–$45. phillipscollection. org.

FOLK

HYLTON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 10960 George Mason Circle, Manassas. (703) 993-7759. Loudon Wainwright III, Suzzy Roche and Lucy Wainwright Roche. 4 p.m. $30–$40. hyltoncenter.org.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW AT TICKETMASTER.COM/800-745-3000. presents

COLUMBIA ICEFIELD

Columbia Icefield, the new quartet project of experimental jazz trumpeter Nate Wooley, is named for a large expanse of glaciers in the Rocky Mountains. The music sounds glacial, too. Not just because of its slow pace—although that’s no small part of it—but because of the chill of its demeanor, the aloofness of its soundscape, the majestic heights to which it deliberately builds. There’s also a definite lack of compromise in its progression. That’s a hallmark of Wooley’s music in any context, as well as his colleagues’ (guitarist Mary Halvorson, pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn, drummer Ryan Sawyer), all among the most distinctive and risk-taking artists in avant-garde music. Again like the icefield, you might think twice before you decide to mount an expedition through it. Unlike the icefield, however, you don’t have to trek through snow for the music’s great payoff. Columbia Icefield perform at 7 p.m. at The Corner Store, 900 South Carolina Ave. SE. $10–$15. capitalbop.com.

—Michael J. West

FUNK & R&B

BIRCHMERE 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. Jeffrey Osborne. 7:30 p.m. $79.50. birchmere.com.

JAZZ

CITY LIGHTS: SUNDAY

BLUES ALLEY 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Kim Waters. 8 p.m.; 10 p.m. $45–$50. bluesalley.com.

ROCK

9:30 CLUB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. You Me At Six. 7 p.m. $20. 930.com.

BLACK CAT 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. The Chills. 7:30 p.m. $20. blackcatdc.com.

FILLMORE SILVER SPRING 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. (301) 960-9999. Flogging Molly. 8 p.m. $35. fillmoresilverspring.com.

U STREET MUSIC HALL 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

Donna Missal. 7 p.m. $15. ustreetmusichall.com.

UNION STAGE 740 Water St. SW. (877) 987-6487. Adeline. 8 p.m. $12–$15. unionstage.com.

MONDAY FUNK & R&B

U STREET MUSIC HALL 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

The-Dream. 8 p.m. $25. ustreetmusichall.com.

POP

SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. Hailey Knox. 7:30 p.m. $13–$15. songbyrddc.com.

ROCK

DC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Twin Drugs. 8 p.m. $8. dcnine.com.

TUESDAY CLASSICAL

GEORGE MASON UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR THE ARTS 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. (888) 9452468. Mason Wind Symphony & Symphonic Band. 8 p.m. $5–$12. cfa.gmu.edu.

FOLK

APRIL 2, 2019 - 8PM

CITY LIGHTS: SATURDAY

STATE THEATRE 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church.

(703) 237-0300. The British Invasion Years. 9 p.m. $30–$35. thestatetheatre.com.

THE HAMILTON 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. The Brother Brothers & Dead Horses. 7:30 p.m. $10–$20. thehamiltondc.com.

POP

UNION STAGE 740 Water St. SW. (877) 987-6487. The Aces. 8 p.m. $16–$46. unionstage.com.

26 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

THE ART OF LIGHT: A CONVERSATION WITH CHARLES ROSS AND JAMES MEYER

Suspended from the ceiling of a darkened chamber, 36 prisms reflect and refract the light that sneaks into the space. It’s minimalist magic––a precise exploration of the relationship between luminescence and shadow, between depth and dimension. This is “Hanging Islands,” an art installation conceived in 1966 and refabricated in 2015 by artist Charles Ross and one-fifth of the National Gallery exhibition Spaces: Works from the Collection, 1966–1976. On Sunday, join Ross and James Meyer, curator of art from 1945–1974, as they discuss the pleasures and quirks of working with light in and through art against the backdrop of the dangling, diametric “Hanging Islands.” While you’re there, encounter the four other “Spaces” on view, including Robert Morris’ iconic 1966 minimal sculpture “Untitled (Battered Cubes)” and André Cadere’s “B12004030=35=9x10=”—a round bar of wood left by the artist in galleries such as this one, creating space out of nothing. Charles Ross and James Meyer speak at 2 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art, 4th Street and Constitution Avenue NW. Free. (202) 737-4215. nga.gov. —Amy Guay

washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 27

CITY LIGHTS: MONDAY

TICKETS ON SALE SATURDAY!

STING AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE THE AVETT BROTHERS JOSH GROBAN RINGO STARR & HIS ALL-STARR BAND LAKE STREET DIVE SARAH McLACHLAN WYNTON MARSALIS SHERYL CROW STRAY CATS MELISSA ETHERIDGE DISPATCH WAIT WAIT... DON’T TELL ME! “WEIRD AL” YANKOVIC JOJO SIWA MARK KNOPFLER REBA M c ENTIRE EARTH, WIND & FIRE

ROCK AND ROLL HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES

THE-DREAM

As The-Dream, Terius Nash has written and produced a decade of pop-R&B jams, whether for himself (“Shawty Is Da Shit,” “I Luv Your Girl”) or others (Rihanna’s “Umbrella,” Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies”). While the latter have been stratospheric hits, the former has been the focus of his energies. Across a handful of albums, EPs, and mixtapes, Nash has established himself as one of his generation’s finest soul singer-songwriters, diving headfirst into the syruppy depths of club-to-thebedroom R&B with future-facing beats and sexually charged, blush-worthy lyrics. Never one to be shy or subtle, Nash named his latest project Ménage à Trois: Sextape Vol. 1, 2, 3. The mammoth project is a 40-track flex that shows what Nash can do, seamingly with ease. He maintains that the project isn’t a vault dump, but all new material. And while it isn’t built for the radio or DJ booths, it’s a slow-motion sex soundtrack, and as unapologetic as ever. “You know how it is around me,” he sings, “So turn the song off if you disagree.” The-Dream performs at 8 p.m. at U Street Music Hall, 1115 U St. NW. $25. (202) 588-1889. ustreetmusichall.com.

—Chris Kelly

WEDNESDAY ELECTRONIC

SOUNDCHECK 1420 K St. NW. (202) 789-5429. Megalodon. 10 p.m. $10–$15. soundcheckdc.com.

FUNK & R&B BIRCHMERE 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. War. 7:30 p.m. $59.50. birchmere. com.

HIP-HOP U STREET MUSIC HALL 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

Nightmares on Wax. 10:30 p.m. $20. ustreetmusichall.com.

JAZZ BLUES ALLEY 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Willie Jones III Quintet. 8 p.m.; 10 p.m. $25. bluesalley.com.

ROCK

March 2, 2019, 8 p.m.

Ronnie Spector and the Ronettes best-loved hits include the Grammy Award-winning “Walking in the Rain,” “Do I Love You,” “Baby I Love You,” “I Can Hear Music,” and the international #1 smash “Be My Baby.”

U STREET MUSIC HALL 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

Mike Doughty. 7 p.m. $25. ustreetmusichall.com.

WORLD MANSION AT STRATHMORE 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. Anjali Taneja. 7:30 p.m. $17. strathmore.org.

Tickets are $55 Regular, $50 Faculty/Staff, & $45 Students Discounted tickets must be purchased in person with valid student or staff ID.

THURSDAY

Montgomery College • 51 Mannakee Street, Rockville, Maryland 20850 www.montgomerycollege.edu/pac • Box Office: 240-567-5301

CITY WINERY 1350 Okie St. NE. (202) 250-2531. C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band. 8 p.m. $20. citywinery.com.

ROBERT E. PARILLA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER 28 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

BLUES

CLASSICAL KENNEDY CENTER CONCERT HALL 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. National Symphony Orchestra: Shaham & Mozart. 7 p.m. $15–$89. kennedy-center.org.

MILKBOY ARTHOUSE 7416 Baltimore Ave, College Park. Sirius Quartet. 8 p.m. $10–$30. milkboyarthouse.com.

PHILLIPS COLLECTION 1600 21st St. NW. (202) 3872151. University of Maryland Faculty and Student Concert. 6 p.m. $8–$20. phillipscollection.org.

FOLK SONGBYRD MUSIC HOUSE AND RECORD CAFE 2477 18th St. NW. (202) 450-2917. William Tyler. 8 p.m. $15– $18. songbyrddc.com.

FUNK & R&B BIRCHMERE 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. War. 7:30 p.m. $59.50. birchmere. com.

JAZZ BLUES ALLEY 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Joey DeFrancesco. 8 p.m.; 10 p.m. $25–$30. bluesalley.com.

ROCK 9:30 CLUB 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Big Head Todd & The Monsters. 6:30 p.m. $35. 930.com.

THE HAMILTON 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. Slim Wednesday. 7:30 p.m. $24.50–$44.50. thehamiltondc.com.

ROCK & ROLL HOTEL 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-7625.

Vundabar. 8 p.m. $15–$17. rockandrollhoteldc.com.

Merriweather Post Pavilion • Columbia, MD JUST ANNOUNCED!

DC101 KERFUFFLE FEATURING

Greta Van Fleet • Young The Giant • The Revivalists • Tom Morello • SHAED • Blue Stones ......................................................... MAY 19

THIS WEEK’S SHOWS

Michael Ray w/ Ryan Griffin ................................................................. Th FEB 21 Cherub w/ Mosie ............................................................................................. F 22 You Me At Six w/ Dreamers & Machineheart .............................................. Su 24 Pat Green and Aaron Watson ................................................................. W 27

THOMAS RHETT

w/ Dustin Lynch • Russell Dickerson • Rhett Akins .. JULY 18

On Sale Friday, February 22 at 10am M3 ROCK FESTIVAL FEATURING

Whitesnake • Extreme • Warrant • Skid Row • Vince Neil • Kix and more! .....................................................MAY 3-5 For a full lineup, visit m3rockfest.com

FEBRUARY

MARCH (cont.)

Big Head Todd & The Monsters w/ Blue Water Highway ..............Th 28

MARCH

AEG PRESENTS

Cole Escola This is a seated show.

Early Show! 6pm Doors ........................F 1

STEEZ PROMO PRESENTS

Manic Focus Late Show! 10pm Doors ......................F 1 Deerhunter w/ L’Rain Early Show! 6pm Doors ......................Sa 2 BASS NATION PRESENTS

Dirt Monkey Late Show! 10pm Doors ....................Sa 2 WET and Kilo Kish w/ Hana Vu ...................................Tu 5 ALL GOOD PRESENTS

ALL GOOD PRESENTS

Mike Gordon ............................F 15 Teenage Fanclub w/ The Love Language ...............Sa 16 Jonathan McReynolds w/ Anthony Brown & Jason Nelson .Su 17 ALL GOOD PRESENTS

Railroad Earth Two-night passes available. ..F 22 & Sa 23 AN EVENING WITH

Nils Frahm .............................Su 24 TRILLECTRO PRESENTS

Lil Mosey w/ Polo G .................W 27 Failure & Swervedriver .....Th 28 STEEZ PROMO PRESENTS

Boogie T.rio w/ Mersiv & Vampa ...................Sa 30

JJ Grey & Mofro w/ Southern Avenue ....................Th 7

ALL GOOD PRESENTS

Let’s Eat Grandma ..................M 1

BoomBox w/ Late Night Radio ...F 8 ALL GOOD PRESENTS

The Motet w/ No BS! Brass Band .................Sa 9 Sabrina Carpenter ...............Su 10 ALL GOOD PRESENTS

J Boog w/ EarthKry & Eddy Dyno .M 11 ALL GOOD PRESENTS

Trevor Hall w/ Dirtwire & Will Evans ............Tu 12 Smallpools ...............................W 13

MANY MORE SHOWS ON SALE!

9:30 CUPCAKES

Slayer w/ Lamb of God • Amon Amarth • Cannibal Corpse ................................... MAY 14 Jason Aldean w/ Kane Brown • Carly Pearce • Dee Jay Silver ..................... MAY 17 Florence + The Machine * w/ Blood Orange ................................. JUNE 3 Brandi Carlile ........................................................................................ JUNE 14 Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit & Father John Misty w/ Jade Bird ............................................................................................................ JUNE 21

Phish ........................................................................................................ JUNE 22 & 23 Third Eye Blind & Jimmy Eat World * w/ Ra Ra Riot ...... JULY 19 Train/Goo Goo Dolls w/ Allen Stone ..............................................AUGUST 9 Chris Stapleton w/ Margo Price & The Marcus King Band .................. AUGUST 11 Heart* w/ Joan Jett and The Blackhearts & Elle King........................... AUGUST 13 Beck & Cage the Elephant* w/ Spoon & Sunflower Bean . AUGUST 22 Pentatonix* w/ Rachel Platten ............................................................ AUGUST 26 The Chrysalis at Merriweather Park

LORD HURON w/ Bully ....................................................................... JULY 23 Ticketmaster • For full lineup & more info, visit merriweathermusic.com • impconcerts.com *Presented by Live Nation

APRIL

BASS NATION PRESENTS

Getter ........................................Tu 2 Patty Griffin ...............................W 3 Emily King .................................Th 4 ALL GOOD PRESENTS

The Infamous Stringdusters w/ Jon Stickley Trio .......................F 5 ALL GOOD PRESENTS

Beats Antique w/ Axel Thesleff Early Show! 7pm Doors .....................Sa 6

930.com

The best thing you could possibly put in your mouth Cupcakes by BUZZ... your neighborhood bakery in Alexandria, VA. | www.buzzonslaters.com

Capital One Arena • Washington, D.C. THIS THURSDAY!

Disturbed w/ Three Days Grace .........................................................................FEB 21 MUSE .................................................................................................................. APRIL 2 Ticketmaster

Lincoln Theatre • 1215 U Street, NW Washington, D.C. ALL GOOD PRESENTS AN EVENING WITH

The Mavericks ........................ MAR 8 Alice Smith ................................. MAR 9 Whindersson Nunes .......... MAR 23 Meow Meow + Thomas Lauderdale (of Pink Martini) .............................. MAR 25 Spiritualized ............................APR 16 Citizen Cope .............................APR 17 D NIGHT ADDED!

FIRST NIGHT SOLD OUT! SECON

9:30 CLUB PRESENTS AT U STREET MUSIC HALL

Imogen Heap with special guest Guy Sigsworth of Frou Frou ............... MAY 4

Gang of Four ................... Th FEB 21 Mike Doughty Plays Soul Coughing’s The Suffers w/ Jeremie Albino ......Sa 23 Ruby Vroom w/ Wheatus ...............W 27 Arkells Donna Missal w/ Samia ..............Su 24 w/ The Greeting Committee ......... F MAR 1

JOHNNYSWIM .........................MAY 15 Josh Ritter & The Royal City Band w/ Penny & Sparrow ............MAY 17 Yann Tiersen (Solo In Concert) .........................MAY 24 AN EVENING WITH

Apocalyptica Plays Metallica By Four Cellos Tour .MAY 28

AN EVENING WITH

Glen Hansard ...........................JUN 3 AEG PRESENTS

Bianca Del Rio -

It’s Jester Joke ........................ OCT 18

• thelincolndc.com • U Street (Green/Yellow) stop across the street!

• Buy advance tickets at the 9:30 Club box office • 930.com

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 on weekdays & until 11pm on show nights, 6-11pm on Sat, and 6-10:30pm on Sun on show nights.

HAPPY HOUR DRINK PRICES impconcerts.com AFTER THE SHOW AT THE BACK BAR!

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!

930.com washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 29

CITY LIGHTS: TUESDAY

ANTHONY ABRAHAM JACK

What’s worth saving when the world collapses?

Miami native Anthony Abraham Jack intimately understands elite colleges and the Ivy League. He’s received degrees from Amherst College and Harvard University, and now serves as an assistant professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. His new book, The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges are Failing Disadvantaged Students, which he will discuss at Kramerbooks, gets inside the climate of elite colleges and how they educate disadvantaged students, with Jack fundamentally challenging their systemic approach and methods. Jack counts himself among “the privileged poor,” those rare poor students who are selected to attend these elite universities and then left to struggle there.

For this book, he interviewed dozens of undergrads and used his own experience to provoke more thought on the issues that plague higher learning in this country. While exploring what it means to be a member of the low income student base, he expresses the dire need for change—from the content taught in college to the communal programs and initiatives set forth to surround disadvantaged students with the tools necessary to succeed as professional and progressive members of society. It’s an issue that centers around the future of our college students and thus our society, and you won’t want to miss what Jack has to say. Anthony Abraham Jack speaks at 6:30 p.m. at Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. (202) 387-1400. kramers.com.

—Malika T. Benton

masterpieces of the oral and intangible

heritage of humanity A deeply resonant world premiere

by Heather McDonald about three women in the end of civilization Starring Felicia Curry, Yesenia Iglesias and Holly Twyford

Photo of Holly Twyford by Christopher Mueller

February 26 – April 7 Pride Night: March 22

Vanity Fair

Theater

AMONG THE DEAD Three time periods come together in a small Korean hotel room: A Korean American travels to Seoul in 1975 to retrieve her father’s ashes, a young American soldier fights in the Burmese jungles in 1944, and a Korean comfort woman awaits the return of her father’s daughter in 1950. Spooky Action Theater. 1810 16th St. NW. To March 10. $20–$40.

(202) 248-0301. spookyaction.org.

BLKS Friends Octavia, June, and Imani attempt to party their cares away over the course of one long New York night in this radical centering of black sisterhood and queerness from poet and playwright Aziza Barnes. Woolly Mammoth Theatre. 641 D St. NW. To March 3. $20–$69. (202) 393-3939. woollymammoth.net.

By KATE

BLOOD AT THE ROOT Inspired by the tensions and protests surrounding the 2006 Jena Six case in Louisiana, Blood at the Root focuses on a fictional black student who occupies a traditionally white space and inadvertently triggers hateful violence in her community. Anacostia Playhouse. 2020 Shannon Place SE. To March 24. $30–$40. (202) 290-2328. anacostiaplayhouse.com.

HAMILL

Based on the novel by William Makepeace Thackeray

Directed by JESSICA

STONE

ORDER TODAY! SHAKESPEARETHEATRE.ORG | 202.547.1122 Support by Share Fund.

Restaurant Partner:

30 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

Photo of Chelsea Mayo by Tony Powell.

BEGINS TUESDAY

THE DOYLE AND DEBBIE SHOW A musical by Bruce Arntson, The Doyle and Debbie Show is a parodic send-up of country music’s tradition of iconic duos and their battle of the sexes. DC Arts Center.

2438 18th St. NW. To March 30. $50. (202) 462-7833. dcartscenter.org.

REYKJAVÍK In the 24-hour darkness of Reykjavík’s bitter winter, James becomes enmeshed in a strange, supernatural world of menacing strangers, threatening romance, and the enigmatic Huldufólk in this genre-bending tale of suspense at the edge of the earth. Rorschach Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center. 1333 H St. NE. To March 3. $20–$30. (202) 399-7993. rorschachtheatre.com.

VAMPIRE COWBOY TRILOGY A live comic book anthology of three comedies that skewer three genres: hard-boiled crime fiction, the war story, and monster fantasy. DC Arts Center. 2438 18th St. NW. To March 30. $50. (202) 462-7833. dcartscenter.org.

VANITY FAIR From The Wall Street Journal’s 2017 Playwright of the Year comes an irreverent dance hall pageant that stars two complicated and vivacious women. Becky Sharp and her friend Amelia climb social ladders and test fate to reclaim and reshape their destinies. Lansburgh Theatre. 450 7th St. NW. To March 31. $44–$118. (202) 547-1122. shakespearetheatre.org.

Film

ALITA: BATTLE ANGEL A female cyborg is revived without her memory and goes on a journey of selfdiscovery. Starring Rosa Salazar, Mahershala Ali, and Christoph Waltz.

FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY A young girl works hard to realize her dream of being a professional wrestler and joining the WWE. Starring Dwayne Johnson, Lena Headey, and Vince Vaughn.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: THE HIDDEN WORLD A dragon rider discovers a hidden dragon utopia, and must find it before an evil tyrant. Starring Jay Baruchel, America Ferrera, and F. Murray Abraham.

ISN’T IT ROMANTIC Rebel Wilson stars as a young woman who finds herself trapped inside a romantic comedy. Co-starring Liam Hemsworth and Priyanka Chopra.

VOTING IS OPEN! Cast your vote for all your favorite local stuff by March 3. washingtoncitypaper.com/bestofdc2019 For advertising opportunities contact your Account Executive or call 202-650-6937

washingtoncitypaper.com february 22, 2019 31

VALET & SECURE PARKING aVAILABLE

take your wine to-g0 with growlers & retail wine!

CITY LIGHTS: WEDNESDAY

RESTAURANT | BAR | MUSIC VENUE | FULLY FUNCTIONING WINERY | EVENT SPACE

* BECOME A CITY WINERY VINOFILE MEMBER *

EXCLUSIVE PRESALE ACCESS, WAIVED SERVICE FEES, complimentary valet & MORE! FEB 21

FEB 22

FEB 23

FEB 23

FEB 24

Charlie Mars in the wine garden

Rhett Miller Acoustic

Procol Harum

black alley in the wine garden

Ms. Anita Wilson

FEB 25

FEB 25

FEB 25

FEB 26

FEB 28

Son Little

C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band

dc living room show w/

w/ lauren calve

Briclyn Ent. Presents

OSOG

Carter King & Daniel Womack of Futurebirds

crush your craft ft. Lori Hall, Sr. VP of Marketing &

in the wine garden

w/ Christopher Paul Stelling

MAR 1

MAR 2

MAR 3

MAR 3

MAR 4

Suttle

Aztec Two-Step ft. Rex Fowler & Friends

Shinyribs

Zelula Tributo Caifanes, El Cruce Los Prisioneros Tribute

christopher cross

Creative Services at TV ONE

in the wine garden

in the wine garden

Take Me As I Am Tour 2019

1350 OKIE ST NE, WASHINGTON DC | CITYWINERY.COM/WASHINGTONDC | (202) 250-2531

THE WASHINGTON BALLET PRESENTS THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

Once upon a time, Princess Aurora, cursed by the evil fairy Carabosse, pricked her finger on a spinning wheel and fell into a deep slumber, one she would only awaken from if kissed by a handsome prince. The Washington Ballet opens a new production of classic ballet The Sleeping Beauty at the Kennedy Center this week, using sets and costumes of a traditional romantic vintage.

What’s exciting about this Sleeping Beauty is the casting: Four couples will take turns dancing the lead roles of Princess Aurora and Prince Desire. Of those eight dancers, seven are of black, Asian, or Latinx descent. So while it is legit to mourn the art form’s continued dependence on 19th century fairy tale ballets, there’s a lot to be said for artistic director Julie Kent nurturing and recruiting dancers of color and dancers from the world over to join the royal ranks. The ballet runs to March 3 at the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater, 2700 F St. NW. $25–$160. (202) 4674600. kennedy-center.org.

—Rebecca J. Ritzel

CITY LIGHTS: THURSDAY

KID GLOVES: NINE MONTHS OF CAREFUL CHAOS

Chained dogs suffer day in and day out. They endure sweltering temperatures, hunger, and thirst and are vulnerable and lonely.

Keep them inside, where it’s safe and comfortable.

Photo: Don Flood (donfloodphoto.com) • Makeup: Mylah Morales, for Celestine Agency Hair: Marcia Hamilton, for Margaret Maldonado Agency • Styling: Natalie and Giolliosa Fuller (sisterstyling.com)

32 february 22, 2019 washingtoncitypaper.com

In her graphic memoir Kid Gloves: Nine Months of Careful Chaos, author and illustrator Lucy Knisley fixes her gaze on all the complexities of motherhood. Knisley always wanted to be a mother but while trying to get pregnant endured fertility problems and miscarriages. Then, during her successful pregnancy, she experienced health issues and a near-death labor and delivery experience. Kid Gloves is an honest and personal story but also a universal one, the story of so many mothers. The book also forays into the history and science of reproductive health and those essential figures in medicine and midwifery. It’s a fascinating and necessary look at what it takes for us all to get here and those brave women who bring us into the world. Motherhood so often involves trauma that mothers suffer silently. Knisley’s book opens up an important dialogue. I’d advise every bold soul out there, who is able to, to ask your mother what it was like to get you here, from the months of pregnancy to the labor and delivery experience—your mother’s answer may surprise, confound, affirm, sadden, and intrigue you. And maybe, tell your mother you love her a bit more often. Lucy Knisley speaks at 6:30 p.m. at Solid State Books, 600 H St. NE. Free. (202) 897-4201. solidstatebooksdc.com.

—Kayla Randall

SAVAGELOVE Two weeks ago, a longtime reader challenged me to create a new sexual neologism. (Quickly for the pedants: You’re right! It is redundant to describe a neologism as “new,” since neologisms are by definition new: “ne·ol·o·gism, noun, a newly coined word or expression.” You got me!)

“Neo-Neologisms, Please!” was too polite to point it out, but my two most famous and widely used neologisms have been around so long—pegging (2001) and santorum (2003)— that they’re practically paleogisms at this point.

So I accepted NNP’s challenge and proposed “with extra lobster.” My inspiration: On a visit to Iceland, I was delighted to discover that “with extra lobster” was a menu item at food carts that served lobster. This delighted me for two reasons. First, lobster is fucking delicious and getting extra lobster with your lobster is fucking awesome. And second, “with extra lobster” sounded like it was a dirty euphemism for something equally awesome. I offered up my own suggested definition—someone who sticks their tongue out and licks your balls while they’re deep-throating your cock is giving you a blowjob with extra lobster—and invited readers to send in their own. It was my readers, after all, who came up with the winning definitions for pegging (“a woman fucking a man in the ass with a strap-on dildo”) and santorum (“the frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex”).

What follows are the best reader-suggested definitions for “with extra lobster,” with occasional commentary from yours truly.

—Dan Savage “With extra lobster” sounds to me like going down on someone—regardless of sex—when it’s a little more odoriferous than you would like because they haven’t bathed in a while. For example: “Things were getting hot and heavy with my Tinder date last night, and then I started to go down and was surprised with extra lobster.”

I think I have a good candidate for your “with extra lobster” definition! It could be applied to a man who has an exceptionally large and dangling foreskin (“His penis comes with extra lobster!”) or a woman whose labia protrudes (“I love pussy with extra lobster!”).

When I first started dating my wife, she kept her lady parts waxed clean, and they looked a bit like a lobster claw, even being slightly red if the waxing was recent. We nicknamed her vagina and surrounding area “The Lobster,” or “Lobby” for short. So I would suggest that “with extra lobster” should mean anytime you get some extra lobster in on the act—from normal lesbian sex (two lobsters!), to a standard-issue male fantasy threesome (two lobsters and one cock), to a surprise sec-

ond go-around after you thought the sex was over.

al problems and stuff. More freaks please!)

The area surrounding the vagina already has a name: the vulva. While most people are familiar with the labia majora and minora parts of the vulva, aka “the lips,” fewer know the name for the area between the labia minora. The spot where the opening to the vaginal canal can be found— also part of the vulva—is called the “vaginal vestibule.” According to my thesaurus, lobby is a synonym for vestibule. So this proposed definition of “with extra lobster” is pretty apt. Now, some will quibble with the lobby-ish implication that a vagina is a space that needs to be entered.

One can have a good time—great sex with lots of extra lobster—without anyone being penetrated, i.e., without anyone entering the lobby. —DS

Too literal and too improbable—and euphemisms that describe things that have never happened or only happen very, very rarely are unlikely to enter the lexicon.

—DS

Extra lobster should be the name for those cockextender things. Example: “My husband has a small penis. And you know what? The sex is great!

He gives great head, and isn’t afraid to strap on some extra lobster now and then.”

As a vegan, Dan, I strongly object to “with extra lobster.” It reinforces the speciest notion that is it permissible to consume lobsters, sentient life forms that feel pain, and associating a sex act with the violence of meat consumption further desensitizes us to acts of sexual violence.

Fuck off.

—DS

When you see a gorgeous ultra-feminine creature far more gorgeously feminine than my straight CIS ass will ever be. But under all the silks and stockings and satin panties … there’s a wonderful and welcome surprise! That girl comes WITH EXTRA LOBSTER! I’ve learned about fursuits from you, Dan, and so many other crazy things—like the guy who wanted to be sexually ravished and then torn apart and eaten by zombies. With that in mind, I think “with extra lobster” shouldn’t refer to a sex act.

It should be ENTIRELY literal: an act of bestiality performed not with one lobster, but with two or more lobsters. (The zombie guy was what hooked me on “Savage Love.” I’m too shallow for the actu-

I used to hook up with a cuckold couple with a particularly naughty fetish: I’d fuck the woman, fill her up, and her man would eat it out of her. So, say you hooked up with a woman, let’s call her “Melania,” and her husband, call him “Donald,” ate her pussy after you filled her with come. Donald is eating pussy with extra lobster!

Sounds more like pussy with extra chowder to me—and what you’ve described already has a perfectly good (and widely used) name: cream pie. And, please God, let’s leave Trump out of this. There’s no need to associate something so vile and disgusting with eating another man’s come out of your wife’s lobby. —DS “With extra lobster” should refer to any intimate pleasure where your expectations are greatly exceeded! I’m a gay man in my sixties, and my husband and I have been together for decade. I also have a friend with benefits. One night we were camping and I blurted out, “I would like to cuddle with you.” What happened next was 12 courses—at least—with extra lobster! We’ve managed to rekindle this energy every couple of years over the past 25!

I believe your example of “with extra lobster” regarding an extra WOW factor during something sexual is perfect and doesn’t need extra explanation. As the saying goes, Dan, you pegged it!

I agree with the last two letter writers: “with extra lobster” shouldn’t refer to any specific sex act—and it should never involve actual lobsters and/or mental images of the current president of the United States—but should, instead, be a general term meaning “expectations exceeded.” When someone really comes through for you, when they knock your socks off, when they make you see stars—when they really WOW you—then you got boned or blown or fucked or flogged or torn apart and eaten by zombies with extra lobster!

And with that sorted and settled, a bonus neologism to close the column ...

—DS This isn’t a definition for “with extra lobster,” but I wanted to share it. I live in Uganda and many of the streets are lined with stalls that sell BBQ chicken. If you know to ask for the special chicken, they’ll often sell you weed. Special Chicken has become my favorite euphemism for weed!

Email your Savage Love questions to mail@savagelove.net.

LIVE MUSIC | BOURBON | BURGERS

FEBRUARY TH 14 WIL GRAVATT FR 15 BLUES & SOUL NIGHT FEATURING FAST EDDIE & THE SLOWPOKES FR 22 DANNY BURNS w/ BELLWETHER BAYOU SA 23 GOOSE SURPRISE ATTACK SU 24 SOUTHWEST SOUL SESSIONS w/ ELIJAH BALBED & ISABELLE DE LEON TH 28 ROCKABILLY NIGHT FEATURING KITI GARTNER & JAY JENC (FROM JUMPIN’ JUPITER)

MARCH FR 1

BENCOOLEN SWIFT TECHNIQUE

SU 3

GRAMMY NOMINATED FOR BEST CONTEMPORARY BLUES ALBUM DANIELLE NICOLE BAND w/ ASHLEIGH CHEVALIER

TU 5

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2019 ADM 000126 Name of Decedent, Earl R. Lee. Notice of Adult . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 DC International Appointment, Notice to School Creditors to Auto/Wheels/Boat . . . . .and . . .Notice . . . 42 Invitation for Bid Unknown Heirs, Virginia Buy,Underwriter Sell, Trade . . L. . .Olsson, . . . . . whose . . . . .ad . . . .

Financial RFP for Financial UnMarketplace . . . . dress . . . . is . .550 . . .Central . . . . 42 derwriter Services: The Avenue, E16, Linwood, purpose of this Request Community . . . . . NJ . . 08221 . . . . .was . . .appointed . . . 42 for Proposal is to solicit Personal Representative Employment . . . . of . .the . . .estate . . . . of . .Earl . . 42 sealed, competitive R. proposals from qualified Lee who died on NovemHealth/Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . underwriting professionber 23, 2018, with a Will als to Body assist District of . . . and & Spirit . . . . will . . .serve . . . .without . . . 42 Columbia InternaCourt Supervision. All . . . . . . .heirs . . . and . . . heirs 42 tional Housing/Rentals School (“DCI” unknown or “School”) on the whose whereabouts Legal Notices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

42 refinancing of their are unknown shall existing facility debt of Row . enter Music/Music . . . their . . . .appear . . . . . 42 approximately $55 milance in this proceedPets tax . . .exempt . . . . . . . . ing. . . . Objections . . . . . . . .to . such . 42 lion utilizing bonds issued through appointment shall be Real Estate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

42 the District of Columbia filed with the Register or anyShared other alternative Housing . of . .Wills, . . . .D.C., . . . .515 . . .5th 42 financing alternative.

Street, N.W., Building . .3rd . . .Floor, . . . .Washing . . . . 42 PleaseServices . email rfp@ . . . . . . . A, dcinternationalschool. ton, D.C. 20001, on or before 8/21/19. Claims org for the full proposal.

Proposals are due no against the decedent shall be presented to later than 12:00PM on the undersigned with a Friday, March, 8, 2019. copy to the Register of SUPERIOR COURT Wills or to the Register OF THE DISTRICT OF of Wills with a copy to COLUMBIA the undersigned, on or PROBATE DIVISION before 8/21/19, or be

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forever barred. Persons Adult believed to be heirsPhone or legatees ofEntertainment the decedent who do not receive a Livelinks Chatnotice Lines. Flirt, copy of -this by chat and date!

Talk to25 sexydays real singles mail within of in your area. Call now! (844) its publication shall so 359-5773 inform the Register of Wills, including name, Legals address and relationship. first publiNOTICEDate IS of HEREBY GIVEN cation: 2/21/2019 THAT: Name Newspaper INC. TRAVISAofOUTSOURCING, (DISTRICTperiodical: OF COLUMBIA DEand/or PARTMENT OFCityCONSUMER Washington Paper/ AND REGULATORY AFFAIRS Daily Washington Law FILE NUMBER 271941) HAS Reporter DISSOLVED EFFECTIVE NOVEMName of Person RepreBER 27, 2017 AND HAS FILED sentative: Virginia L. OF ARTICLES OF DISSOLUTION Olsson DOMESTIC FOR-PROFIT CORTRUE TEST copy PORATION WITH THE DISTRICT Anne MeisterCORPORATIONS OF COLUMBIA DIVISION of Wills Register Pub Dates: February A21,CLAIM AGAINST 28, March 7 TRAVISA OUTSOURCING, INC. MUST INCLUDE THE NAME OF THE SHINING STARS DISSOLVED CORPORATION, MONTESSORI ACADINCLUDE THE NAME OF THE EMY PUBLIC CHARTER CLAIMANT, INCLUDE A SUMMASCHOOL RY OF THE FACTS SUPPORTING REQUEST FORBEPROTHE CLAIM, AND MAILED TO 1600 INTERNATIONAL DRIVE, POSAL SUITE 600,Stars MCLEAN, VA 22102 Shining Montessori Academy Public Charter ALL CLAIMS WILL BE BARRED School solicits proposals UNLESS A PROCEEDING TO for the following: ENFORCE THE CLAIM IS COM* Enrollment MENCED WITH INSupport 3 YEARS OF * Student Data ManagePUBLICATION OF THIS NOTICE ment and theWITH Student IN ACCORDANCE SECTION Data Analytics 29-312.07 OF THE DISTRICT OF Full RFP available by COLUMBIA ORGANIZATIONS ACT. request. Proposals shall be emailed as PDF Two Rivers PCS is soliciting documents no later proposals to provide projectthan man5:00PM on Tuesday, agement services for a small conMarch 2019. struction 5, project.

For aContact: copy of the RFP, please email procurement@ procurement@shiningsttworiverspcs.org. Deadline for arspcs.org submissions is December 6, 2017.

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION 2019 ADM 000076 Name of Decedent, Doris J. Holman. Notice of Appointment, Notice to Creditors and Notice to Unknown Heirs ,Monique Holman-Smalls, whose address is 3415 Camden Street, SE, Washington, DC 20020 was

Print Deadline The deadline for submission and payment of classified ads for print is each Monday, 5 pm.

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appointed Personal Representative of the Legals estate of Doris J. Holman who DC SCHOLARS PCS REQUEST died on 10/11/2018, FOR PROPOSALS – Moduwith a Will and will serve lar Contractor Services - DC without CourtCharter SuperviScholars Public School sion. unknown solicits All proposals for a heirs modular and heirs whoseprofessional wherecontractor to provide abouts are and unknown management construction servicesenter to construct a modular shall their appearbuilding to house four classrooms ance in this proceedand one faculty offi cetosuite. ing.

Objections suchThe Request for Proposals appointment shall be(RFP) specifi cations can be obtained on filed with the Register and after Monday, November 27, of Wills, D.C.,Stone 515 via 5th 2017 from Emily comStreet, N.W., Building munityschools@dcscholars.org.

A, 3rd Floor, WashingAll questions should be sent in ton, 20001, on or writingD.C. by e-mail.

No phone calls regarding8/14/19. this RFP will be acbefore Claims cepted. Bids must be received by against the decedent 5:00 PM Thursday, December shall beonpresented to 14, 2017 at DC Scholars the undersigned withPublic a Charterto School, ATTN: Sharonda copy the Register of Mann, 5601 E. Capitol St. SE, Wills or toDC the Register Washington, 20019.

Any bids of Wills withalla areas copyastooutnot addressing the on orwill lined undersigned, in the RFP specifi cations before 8/14/19, or be not be considered. forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or Apartments for Rent legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship. Date of first publication: 2/14/2019 Name of Newspaper Must see!

Spacious semi-furand/or periodical: nished 1 BR/1City BA Paper/ basement Washington apt, Deanwood, $1200.Law Sep. enDaily Washington trance, W/W carpet, W/D, kitchReporter en, fireplace near Blue Line/X9/ Name of Person V2/V4. Shawnn 240-343-7173.

Representative: Monique Holman-Smalls Rooms for Rent TRUE TEST copy Anne Meister Holiday Special- Two furRegister of Wills nished rooms for short or long Pub Dates: February term rental ($900 and $80014, per 21, 28.with access to W/D, month) WiFi, Kitchen, and Den. Utilities included. Best N.E. location SUPERIOR COURT along H St.DISTRICT Corridor. Call OF Eddie OF THE 202-744-9811 for COLUMBIA info. or visit www.TheCurryEstate.com PROBATE DIVISION 2019 ADM 000116 Name of Decedent, Shirley B. Cooper. Notice of Appointment, Notice to Creditors and Notice to Unknown Heirs, Reginil

Cooper, whose address is 931Construction/Labor Still Pond Drive, Glen Burnie, MD 21060 was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Shirley B. Cooper who died on January 10th, 2019, with a Will POWER DESIGN NOW HIRand serve without INGwill ELECTRICAL APPRENTICESSupervision.

OF ALL SKILL All LEVCourt ELS! unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts about the position… are unknown shall Do you loveappearworking with enter their your hands? Are you interance proceed-and estedininthis construction ing.

Objections to such in becoming an electrician? appointment shall be Then the electrical apprentice filed withcould thebe Register position perfect for ofyou!

Wills, D.C., 515 5th Electrical apprentices are ableN.W., to earnBuilding a paycheck Street, and full benefi ts while learnA, 3rd Floor, Washinging D.C. the trade through ton, 20001, onfirstor hand experience. before 8/14/19. Claims against the decedent what we’re looking for… shall be presented Motivated D.C. residentstowho the undersigned with a want to learn the electrical copy to the of trade and haveRegister a high school Wills or to diploma or the GED Register as well as ofreliable Wills transportation. with a copy to the undersigned, on or a little bit about us…or be before 8/14/19, Power Design is one of the forever barred.

Persons top electrical contractors in believed to be heirs or the U.S., committed to our legatees the and decedent values, to of training to givwho do not receive a ing back to the communities copy of this by in which we livenotice and work. mail within 25 days of details… shall so itsmore publication Visit the powerdesigninc.us/ inform Register of careers or email name, careers@ Wills, including powerdesigninc.us! address and relationship. Date of first publication: 2/14/2019 Name Financial of Newspaper Services and/or periodical: Denied Credit??

Work to ReWashington City Paper/ pair Your Credit Report Law With The Daily Washington Trusted Leader in Credit Repair.

Reporter Call Lexington Law for a FREE Name of Person Repcredit report summary & credit resentative: Reginil repair consultation. 855-620Cooper 9426. John C. Heath, Attorney at TRUE TEST Law, PLLC, dbacopy Lexington Law Anne Meister Firm.

Register of Wills Pub Dates: February 14, 21, 28. Home Services Dish Network-Satellite Television Services. Now Over 190 channels for ONLY $49.99/mo!

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TWO RIVERS PUBLIC Auctions CHARTER SCHOOL REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Real Estate Legal Services Two Rivers Public Charter School is soliciting proposals from qualified law firms to provide real estate legal services.

For a copy of the RFP, please procureWhole email Foods Commissary Auction ment@tworiverspcs.org.

DC Metro Area Dec. 5 at 10:30AM SUPERIOR COURT 1000s Tables, Carts OF THES/S DISTRICT OF & Trays, 2016 Kettles up COLUMBIA to 200 Gallons, Urschel PROBATE Cutters &DIVISION Shredders in2018 ADM 001458 cluding 2016 Diversacut Name of Decedent, D. 2110 Dicer, 6 Chill/Freeze Devarajan aka DharCabs, Double Rack Ovens & Ranges,Devarajan.

(12) Braising malingam Tables,of2016 (3+) Stephan Notice Appointment, VCMs, to Creditors 30+ Scales, Notice and Hobart 80 qt Mixers, Notice to Unknown Complete Machine Shop, Heirs, Naseer Azeez aka and much more! View the Naseer Azeez, catalog Mohamed at whose address is 11604 www.mdavisgroup.com or Hourglass Way, German412-521-5751 town, MD 20876 was appointed Personal Representative Garage/Yard/ of the estate ofRummage/Estate D. Devarajan akaSales Dharmalingam DevaraFlea Market every Fri-Sat jan who died August 10am-4pm.

5615 on Landover Rd. 9th, 2018, with a Will Cheverly, MD. 20784. Can buy and willContact serve 202-355-2068 without in bulk.

Court Supervision.

Allor if or 301-772-3341 for details intrested in being a vendor. unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, N.W., Building A, 3rd Floor, Washington, D.C. 20001, on or before August 7, 2019. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or to the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before August 7, 2019, or be forever barred.

Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the

decedent who do not Miscellaneous receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 NEW SHOP! daysCOOPERATIVE of its publication shall so inform the RegFROM EGPYT THINGS ister of Wills, including AND BEYOND name, address and re240-725-6025 lationship. Date of first www.thingsfromegypt.com publication: 2/7/2019 thingsfromegypt@yahoo.com Name of Newspaper and/orAFRICAN periodical: SOUTH BAZAAR Craft CooperativeCity Paper/ Washington 202-341-0209 Daily Washington Law www.southafricanbazaarcraftcoo Reporter perative.com Name of Person Represouthafricanba z a ar @hotmail. sentative: Naseer Azeez com aka Naseer Mohamed AzeezFARM WOODWORKS WEST TRUE TEST Custom Creativecopy Furniture Anne Meister 202-316-3372 info@westfarmwoodworks.com Register of Wills www.westfarmwoodworks.com Pub Dates: February 7, 14, 21.

7002 Carroll Avenue Takoma Park, MD 20912 KIPP DC PUBLIC Mon-Sat 11am-7pm, CHARTER SCHOOLS Sun 10am-6pm REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS Motorcycles/Scooters Workday Implementation Consulting Services 2016 Suzuki TU250X for sale.

1200 miles. CLEAN. Just serviced. DC Comes with bike cover KIPP is soliciting and saddlebags.

Asking $3000 proposals from qualified Cash only. for Workvendors Call 202-417-1870 M-F between day Implementation 6-9PM, or weekends.

Consulting Services.

The RFP can be found Bands/DJs for Hire on KIPP DC’s website at www.kippdc.org/ procurement. Proposals should be uploaded to the website no later than 5:00 PM EST, on March 5, 2019. Questions can be addressed to woodrow.scott@ kippdc.org.

Get Wit It Productions: Professional sound andCOURT lighting availSUPERIOR able THE for club, corporate, private, OF DISTRICT OF wedding receptions, holiday COLUMBIA events and much more. Insured, PROBATE DIVISION competitive rates. Call (866) 5312019 000060 6612 ExtADM 1, leave message for a Name of call Decedent, ten-minute back, or book onRickey Recardo Pharr Sr. line at: agetwititproductions.com Notice of Appointment, Notice toAnnouncements Creditors and Notice to Unknown Heirs, Anthony -Baker, Announcements Hey, all you lovers of erotic isand bizarre whose address 202 romantic fi ction!

Visit 37th St., SE, Wash- www. nightlightproductions.club ington, DC 20019 wasand submit your stories to me Happy appointed Personal Holidays! James K. West wpermanentwink@aol.com

Representative of the Events estate of Rickey Recardo Pharr Sr. who died on Christmas in Silver Spring 12/13/18, without a Will Saturday, 2, 2017 and willDecember serve without Veteran’s Plaza Court Supervision. All 9:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. unknown heirsChristmas and heirs Come celebrate in whose the heart whereabouts of Silver Spring at our are unknown Vendor Village on shall Veteran’s Plaenter their appearza. There will be shopping, arts ance in this proceedand crafts for kids, pictures with Santa, music and entertainment ing. Objections to such to spread holiday cheer appointment shalland bemore.

Proceeds from the market will filed with the Register provide a “wish” toy for children of Wills, D.C., 515 5th in need. Join us at your one stop Street, N.W., Building shop for everything Christmas.

A, WashingFor 3rd moreFloor, information, contact ton, D.C. 20001, on or Futsum, before 8/7/19. Claims or info@leadersinstitutemd.org against the decedent call 301-655-9679 shall be presented to General the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Looking space for Wills ortotoRent theyard Register hunting of Willsdogs. withAlexandria/Arlinga copy to ton, VA area only. Medium sized the undersigned, on or dogs will be well-maintained in before 8/7/19, ordog behoustemperature controled forever es. I have barred. advanced Persons animal care believed and to be heirs or rid experience dogs will be legatees the decedent free of feces,of flies, urine and oder.

Dogs will in areceive ventilated akennel who dobe not so they of willthis not benotice exposedby to wincopy ter andwithin harsh weather etc. of Space mail 25 days will be needed as soon as possiits publication shall so ble.

Yard for dogs must be Metro inform the Register of accessible. Serious callers only, Wills, including call anytime Kevin, name, 415- 846address 5268.

Priceand Neg. relationship. Date of first publication: 2/7/2019 Counseling Name of Newspaper and/or periodical: MAKE THE CALL TO START Washington Paper/ GETTING CLEANCity TODAY. Free 24/7 for alcoholLaw & drug DailyHelpline Washington addiction treatment. Get help! It Reporter is time toof take your lifeRepback! Call Name Person Now: 855-732-4139 resentative: Anthony Baker Pregnant? Considering AdopTRUECall TEST copy tion? us first.

Living expenses, housing, medical, and continAnne Meister ued support afterwards.

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