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Richard Selden • June 8, 2016

Weekend Metrorail service first pushed past midnight, to 1 a.m., in 1999 (the better to party like it’s 1999). Currently operating until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights, the trains will have a midnight curfew seven days a week after the last reveler exits the turnstiles early Sunday morning, May 29.

The earlier closing times are part of a year of service cutbacks as the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority attempts to complete three years’ worth of maintenance in less than a year.

WMATA’s revised SafeTrack plan, detailing the work it intends to carry out, was released May 19. The scheduled completion date is March 19, 2017.

Along with plenty of weekday single-tracking — which riders are already experiencing — there will be several periods of service shutdowns on particular lines. Shuttle buses will replace trains to the extent feasible.

• Service on the Orange, Blue and Silver Lines between Eastern Market and Minnesota Avenue (Orange) and Benning Road (Blue and Silver) will shut down for 16 days beginning June 18.

• Service on the Yellow and Blue Lines between Reagan National Airport and Pentagon City will shut down on the evening of July 5 for a week, with a second week of no service between the airport and Braddock Road.

• Service on the Red Line between NoMa-Gallaudet and Fort Totten will shut down from Oct. 10 to Nov. 1.

• Service on the Blue Line between Rosslyn and Pentagon will shut down from Dec. 7 to 24 (except for Dec. 17).

Clearly, the reduction in late hours has been the most alarming part of the plan for night owls. On an average weekend night, there are about 7,500 riders between midnight and 3 a.m. This number has declined in recent years, in part due to the rise of car services such as Uber and Lyft.

In response to the reduced Metrorail hours, Uber announced that it would expand its ride-sharing service, UberPOOL, to Montgomery County and Prince George’s County in Maryland and to Virginia towns beyond Arlington and Alexandria. However, surge pricing would be in effect, without a cap on the multiplier for the time being.

Georgetowner •

Jazz in the Garden
MAY 27TH, 2016 AT 05:00 PM | FREE | TEL: 202-737-4215 | EVENT WEBSITE

From their folk instruments (upright bass, fiddle and acoustic guitars) to their approach to music and performance, the 19th Street Band has followed the traditions of the Carter Family and the Kingston Trio while integrating modern elements of Americana, country and rock and roll.

National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden, Constitution Avenue and 7th Street NW

The Great William: Writers Reading Shakespeare
MAY 27TH, 2016 AT 06:30 PM | FREE (REGISTRATION ENCOURAGED) | TEL: 202-547-1122 | EVENT WEBSITE

This event, hosted by University of Maryland English professor Theodore Leinwand, explores how seven renowned writers — Coleridge, Keats, Virginia Woolf, Charles Olson, John Berryman, Allen Ginsberg and Ted Hughes — wrestled with Shakespeare in the very moments when they were reading his work. Leinwand tracks their reading experience through their Shakespeare marginalia, lectures, letters, journals and reading notes.

Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F St. NW

Donny McCaslin Group
MAY 27TH, 2016 AT 08:00 PM | $30-$40 | TEL: 301-581-5100 | EVENT WEBSITE

Donny McCaslin is a Grammy-nominated performer known for his superb musicianship and acrobatic phrasing. His work often blurs the line between jazz and electronica, delving into fusion, angular post-bop, polyphonic funk and ethereal balladry.

AMP by Strathmore, 11810 Grand Park Avenue, N. Bethesda, Maryland

Feed Your Soul Blues and Gospel Brunch
MAY 28TH, 2016 AT 03:00 PM | $25 ($35 ALL-DAY BRUNCH) | TEL: 202-649-0824 | EVENT WEBSITE

Presented by HBC Playback Theater: A full day of live music, vendors, painting and food. Special deals all day from the stores inside the Anacostia Arts Center, including Vintage & Charmed Boutique. Brunch will be prepared and served buffet style by the Art-Drenaline Cafe. A private vending circle will be hosted in the black box theater with an eclectic blend of local brands including jewelry, home decor and holistic wellness and skincare.

Anacostia Arts Center, 1231 Good Hope Road SE

Living the Legacy
MAY 28TH, 2016 AT 07:30 PM | $25 | TEL: 202-727-8764 | EVENT WEBSITE

The Duke Ellington School of the Arts presents its annual spring dance concert. Also Sunday at 4 p.m.

Ellington @ Garnet-Patterson, 2001 10th St. NW

Great Noise Ensemble: ‘Van Gogh’
MAY 28TH, 2016 AT 08:00 PM | $25 | TEL: 202-399-7933 | EVENT WEBSITE

GNE closes its season with Michael Gordon’s incredible opera “Van Gogh,” composed from the texts of letters between the artist and his brother Theo.

Atlas Performing Arts Center, 1333 H St. NE

James McNeill Whistler and the Case for Beauty
MAY 29TH, 2016 AT 02:00 PM | FREE | TEL: 202-737-4215 | EVENT WEBSITE

American-born visionary James McNeill Whistler introduced groundbreaking ideas and forms that ultimately thrust him into the first rank of modern artists. Filmmaker Karen Thomas, who created this hour-long profile using dramatic recreations, paintings, graphics and a variety of interview footage, will introduce the film and answer questions at this Art on Film Dialogue. Kevin Kline provides the voice of Whistler and Anjelica Huston narrates.

National Gallery of Art, 401 Constitution Ave. NW

Talk By Choreographer Mats Ek
MAY 29TH, 2016 AT 06:00 PM | FREE | EVENT WEBSITE

Washington Post dance critic Sarah Kaufman will moderate a talk by Swedish choreographer Mats Ek about his 40 years as a dance rebel. The exhibition “Mats Ek: A Dance Rebel on the Move for Forty Years” will be on view.

House of Sweden, 2900 K St. NW

National Memorial Day Concert
MAY 29TH, 2016 AT 08:00 PM | FREE | EVENT WEBSITE

For over 25 years, this multiple-award-winning television event has honored the military service and sacrifice of all our men and women in uniform, their families at home and those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. The program will be hosted by Tony Award-winner Joe Mantegna and Emmy Award-winner Gary Sinise. Performers include Renee Fleming, the Beach Boys, Katharine McPhee, S. Epatha Merkerson and Trent Harmon.

West Lawn, U.S. Capitol, East Capitol Street and First Street NW

Arlington National Cemetery Wreath Laying
MAY 30TH, 2016 AT 11:00 AM | FREE | TEL: 877-907-8585 | EVENT WEBSITE

The U.S. Army Military District of Washington will conduct a Presidential Armed Forces Full Honor Wreath-Laying Ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, to be followed by an observance program hosted by the Department of Defense in Arlington’s Memorial Amphitheater.

Arlington National Cemetery, State Highway 110 and Memorial Drive, Arlington, Virginia

National Memorial Day Parade
MAY 30TH, 2016 AT 02:00 PM | FREE | EVENT WEBSITE

The National Memorial Day Parade will commence at the corner of Constitution Avenue and 7th Street NW. It will proceed west down Constitution Avenue, past the White House, ending at 17th Street.

Constitution Avenue between 7th and 17th Streets

SOLE Defined
MAY 30TH, 2016 AT 06:00 PM | FREE | TEL: 800-444-1234 | EVENT WEBSITE

SOLE Defined presents a power-packed show that creates an exciting twist on percussive dance with its dynamic and rhythmic performance, fusing tap dance and body percussion. In this new performance, Soleful Soundz, electrifying performers from area companies, celebrate the rich history of percussive dance in Washington, D.C.

Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center, 2700 F St. NW

Kate Oczypok •

Eric Sommer, who drives around the good old U.S. of A. strumming …

Chuck Baldwin •

Citing a failure of city agencies to properly consult with the D.C. Council, a D.C. auditor released a …

Robert Devaney • June 7, 2016

Frida Frazer Winslow Burling, one of Georgetown’s oldest and noted citizens, died May 26 at her Washington, D.C., home.

Her daughter Belinda Winslow told The Georgetowner: “Mother passed away peacefully this morning about 10. She was surrounded by family and love. We did a circle of love and recited ‘The Lord’s Prayer.’ ”

Last weekend, Burling began receiving hospice care and died in her own bed in her own house on 29th Street.

That same weekend, she received an award — which her daughter Belinda accepted on her behalf — from the Episcopal Bishop of Washington Mariann Budde at St. John’s Church on O Street in Georgetown.  Burling was also visited at home by Rev. Gini Gerbasi of St. John’s and by Rev. Johnsie Cogman of Mount Zion United Methodist Church across the street from her house.

A memorial service is planned for September at St. John’s in Georgetown.

Yes, Georgetown’s Frida Burling — born in Sept. 16, 1915, in Newport, Rhode Island — led a life that merited many an award and was worth celebrating, especially in her town. 

When people talk about legacies and life stories, usually the tale is about how you lived your life, and what your markers there are along the way that tell your story and note what you bear your participation in your life and in your community.   

Here at The Georgetowner, we’ve always felt, ever since we encountered Frida Burling in her first forays into making something iconic, lasting and permanent out of the annual Georgetown House Tours, that in many ways, she represented an ideal of community and citizen here. Not just because of the tour itself — although she always gave the yearly celebration of Georgetown history and essence her full energy — but because she embraced the idea of community service and identity with place with all the joy she could muster, which was considerable. Ask those involved with the Junior League of Washington, another one of her favorite efforts.

Burling was and has always been, even now — with that beautiful energy now extinguished — a Georgetowner who represented her town and herself more than well. 

She had a deep, abiding love for the place where she lived and was never afraid to show it —and to be persuasive in her efforts to get others to join her in her various efforts that included the Georgetown Ministry Center as well as other programs at St. John’s Episcopal Church.

When she came looking for volunteers and help for the tour, whether to host patron’s parties or have homes on the tour, she was pretty hard to resist, because Frida always had an immense reservoir of charm, humor and knowledge and a sense of life’s duty and rewards.  

When we sat down with her in early September 2015 just before her 100th birthday at her 29th Street home — which is one of those sunny, stylish, book-filled residences that perfectly reflected the life she and her late husband Edward Burling shared there — she still had that empathy in her eyes and certain certitudes also.

She led a life which allowed her to dive into causes with fervor that was fueled by compassion, as well as self-assurance — she was at the 1963 Civil Rights rally and historic Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. In her book, you will find a picture of her gleefully holding up a sign (“Money for Jobs Not War”) at a rally protesting U.S. policy.

Burling’s lifetime spanned 17 presidencies: Wilson, Harding, Coolidge, Hoover, FDR, Truman, Ike, Kennedy, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush 1, Clinton, Bush 2, and Barack Obama. She remained firm about her loyalties and preference. Asked who her favorite president during the course of her life was, she emphatically said, “Barack Obama.”

Her long life produced a sense of continuity, a feel for its history, detailed and otherwise, and that burgeoning consistent warmth provided by family. In Burling’s case, one that produced a fair-sized clan and tribe from two marriages, both by any measure fruitful and well-shared.

But knowing Frida and knowing about her also gave you a sense of her values and the values and history of the community — she was exercising in the gym in her nineties — which she championed with that sustained energy of hers.