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Kristin Sørumshagen • November 28, 2011

On Nov. 13, the 3rd Annual Hilly Awards were presented at the Atlas Performing Arts Center, and the National Capital Bank was honored with a top Hilly Award for Professional Service.

The Annual Hilly Awards is produced by Capitol Hill’s Chamber of Commerce. The organization works to “connect Hill businesses with the greater community,” according to their website, ChampsDC.Org.

The Hilly Award for Professional Service was one of 12 categories of awards presented. With over 2,100 initial nominations for the awards, the winners were popularly voted on by Capitol Hill residents.

“We’re honored to receive this recognition,” said Richard A. Didden, chairman and CEO of the bank, in a press release. “A Hilly Award epitomizes our corporate philosophy because it is based on votes from the individuals we serve on Capitol Hill.”

According to the release, this is the second consecutive year that NCB has been recognized as a leader in the community. In 2010 the Bank was voted best Community Services organization, also a Hilly Award. The bank has been recognized over the last decade with numerous accolades for its safety and soundness, confirmed by a long list of awards and distinctions on NationalCapitalBanc.Com.

In July 2011, the CHAMPS Hilly Awards received the D.C. Economic Partnership’s citywide award for Small Business Initiative of the Year, according to the event invitation on AtlasArts.Org. This year’s event was kicked of with a Red Carpet Reception before the winners were announced, followed by a celebration in Atlas’ Sprenger Theatre.

NCB’s headquarters are located on Capitol Hill with and a second branch in Friendship Heights. They’re Washington’s oldest bank, founded in 1889, and have been managed by the Didden family for 122 years. It has been recognized for its “exceptional performance, and for being the best bank in DC for small business loans,” according to the press release.

Gary Tischler •

Everything you read or hear about the singer Suzanne Vega inclines you to think that she remains something of a secret. Elusive, quiet, a kind of musical whisper in the annals of popular contemporary music. She seems part legend, part rumor, a mystery with staying power.

So you approach a phone interview with Vega, who’s doing a concert at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue downtown Saturday at 8 p.m., with a little respectful nervousness, even after listening to and watching her in the rich playing field that is YouTube.

The thing that pops up the most is her most enduring, best known and popular song, “Tom’s Diner,” a wispy, blank poetry infused, gritty little number that first saw the light of day in 1987 on her third album, “Solitude Standing.” Turns out, all poetry aside, you could dance to it—as in “do do do do do do do do.”

Even now, she’s a little puzzled by the continuing refrained fame of the song, which has been done, covered and re-mixed by hordes of musicians, groups and singers, and found its way into the pop culture like a house guest that always knew he was staying for good. The song, and Vega, are especially popular in Europe, where she is something of a goddess after 25 years on the scene.

“I guess I was surprised initially by how the song was received and its longevity,” she said. “I meant it as a light song, it was about this diner by Columbia University, it was bouncy, but it was also a series of observations by someone sitting in a diner, watching people, society, that kind of thing, a little ironic. It’s hard to say what you were thinking all these many years ago.”

Vega, who recently sang with her daughter Ruby, now in her teens, doesn’t seem like someone from all these many years ago. She—and her music, even though she hasn’t done a new album in some time—seem like yesterday, a minute ago, fresh off the train.

Vega came up for air and into the spotlight in the early 1980s when a kind of folk revival was going on, (among many musical uprisings), and as a result she is one of the more hyphenated singers in the annals of music, as in folky-acoustic-intellectual-pop-waif-new age. She is perhaps most importantly a writer with a keen, sharp eye. One that sees the world pretty clearly, as opposed to in ideal, romantic terms. “I’m not overtly political, singing about politicians and that kind of thing” she said. “But I do see things and feel them and I know that I don’t fit the mode of girl singers, even folk singers. I don’t care about that, the ‘you’ve got to look good to make it,’ that kind of thing.”

This may have something to do with the fact that although she was born in Santa Monica, she grew up in New York, in neighborhoods where you have to be savvy, a little tough and smart to navigate your way safely: 102nd Street and roadway in Spanish Harlem on the Upper West Side of New York City. They’re also the sort of places that heat up the imagination, inspire and make you, like the photographer Walker Evans urged, someone who goes out “with a hungry eye.” She went to the New York High School of Performing Arts, the “Fame” school. She wrote poetry at a very young age and also showed off her toughness in her writing. Here is Vega at 13: “I’m the baddest girl in the world/as I’m as bad as Super Fly/and I don’t need coke to get me high/I can beat you, Jack, and you better get back/when the Vega’s come around.”

She laughed when I told her I had read her early poetry. But poetry—blank verse, swift, hard, arrow-straight words mark her song-writing, and that quality makes her enduring, there’s nothing pretentious about her work, or the way she sings and talks. She’s a serious person, sure, but not so mysterious or waif-like as she’s often described.

“I don’t know about the waif part, now, I mean I am 50, so maybe that doesn’t apply,” she said. “But yes, I’m serious about the work, about how I live, about being a mother, about responsibility.” She has also written a play about Carson McCullers, worked with David Lynch, always pushing, always exploring. She toured with Bob Dylan in Europe and held concerts which re-created her first album in its entirety.

She sings, even on videos, with clarity, and while she’s not one of those singers that bowls you over with emotion, or movement, her songs fly straight at you, unfettered. “I’ve gotten more comfortable on stage over the years,” she said. “I move around a lot more.”

She picked up a guitar as a teen, but started out majoring at Barnard College in—surprise—English Literature. “I saw Lou Reed once in person, and that had a huge influence on me,” she said. “That influenced me strongly.”

Which is not to say she was an instant hit—her demo tapes were rejected by just about everyone of note. In her early twenties, she played in a bar in Buffalo called Nietzsche’s, which somehow seems perfect.

When she did finally put out her first, self-titled album, it was a huge hit to the tune of over a million albums. Her second album was called “Marlene on the Wall,” with the haunting hit song “Luka,” a song about a homeless child in the neighborhood. “I used to see the kid, and it was meant to be about his observations, how he felt about the world around him, in the hallways, out in the streets.”

“Solitude Standing” came next with “Tom’s Diner,” which apparently touched the imagination of all sorts of creative types high and low, including such diverse groups and artists asd Terror Squad, Eazy-E, Will Smith, Ludacris, Jars of Clay, 2Pac, REM, Nikki D and Peter Behrens with “Dep De Do Dep.”

High Tide times followed—at the very first Lilith Fair, that popular mobilization of all-star women vocalists touring the country, she was the first star to appear. She won Best Female Artist for “Luka,” beating out none other than Cher.

She is now in the midst of a four set CD project, the first of which, “Suzanne Vega, Close UP, Volume 1, Love Songs”—came out last year and sparked a 38-city tour. “Right now, yes I guess I’m looking back, summing up,” she said. “When I finish, then it’s time to move in to something new.”

Something new is hard to define. So much of what she has done , musically, writing wise, is new and in tune with the new—as the do, do, do, do’s of “Tom’s Diner” and Luka’s straight-talking and singing lament – continue to haunt. They carry forward, become a part of what’s next.

Robert Devaney •

On Nov. 16, the board of directors of the Georgetown Business Association elected its officers for 2012 and held its networking reception at F.Scott’s restaurant on 36th Street.

Succeeding Joe Giannino as president will be Rokas Beresniovas of HSBC Bank USA. The new vice president will be Riyad Said of Wells Fargo; treasurer, Karen Ohri of Georgetown Floorcoverings; secretary, Janine Schoonover of Serendipity3. They begin their one-year terms Jan. 1.

“Building on great leadership for the past two years, the GBA has new energy and is getting younger members,” Beresniovas said. “We have to sustain that, and we have built better relationships with many community groups.” The GBA — which also acts as a lobbyist for small businesses — works closely with the Georgetown Business Improvement District, which is not allowed to lobby.

The GBA’s Dec. 14 annual meeting on Dumbarton House will elect new members to its board and celebrate the holiday season.

Georgetowner •

Alliance Francaise Celebration of Beaujolais

November 18th, 2011 at 6:00 to 9:00PM | $ 40.00 members, $ 50.00 admission VIP: $120 | Tel: 202-234-7911 | Event Website

Kick off the beginning of the French wine harvest with a formal celebration at The Washington Club hosted by Alliance Francaise. This event will offer the greatest variety of entertainment, in a building that was used as a temporary White House during the Coolidge administration. During this evening, guests will enjoy the beautiful building, a live jazz band, fashion show, silent auction, DJ and dinner buffet from a local Franco-inspired restaurant. An open bar will be set with their traditional red and white beverages.

Address

The Washington Club

15 Dupont Circle

Washington DC

The Washington Harbour Food Drive

November 17-22nd, 2011 All Day | Tel: 202-944-4230 |

The Washington Harbour is now collecting non-perishable food items for donation to the Food Drive for SOME (So Others Might Eat). From now until November 22, donation boxes will be located in the East and West office lobbies at 3000 and 3050 K Street NW, Washington, DC at The Washington Harbour. The lobbies are open from 8:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. The collection will be donated to help stock the food pantry at SOME, which provides meals to those in need in the Washington, D.C. area. Suggested food items include: nutrition bars; cereal; pasta & sauce; rice; beans; macaroni; canned meat/soup/vegetables; peanut butter/jelly; evaporated milk; instant potatoes; instant oatmeal; ground coffee.

Address

Washington Harbour Condominium

3030 K St NW

Washington DC 20007

“Masters of Illusion: Impossible Magic”

November 19th, 2011 at 8:00 PM | Event Website

The illusionists from TV’s “Masters of Illusion: Impossible Magic” come to Strathmore for two nights for a live magic show. Saturday, Nov. 19, 8 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 20, 2 p.m. Masters of Illusion Live!, which NBC Radio declares is the “best non-stop family entertainment anywhere!” features a cadre of talented showstoppers –Mark Kalin, Jinger Leigh, Farrell Dillon, Darren Romeo, Kevin James and Aaron Radatz.

Address

Music Center at Strathmore

5301 Tuckerman Lane

North Bethesda, MD 20852

Sculpture Garden Ice Rink Opening

November 19th, 2011 at 10:00 AM | $8.00 for adults and $7.00 for children, students, and seniors | ngaicerink@guestservices.com | Tel: (202) 216-9397 | Event Website

The National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden Ice Rink is scheduled to open this Saturday at 10 a.m. despite warm-ish weather. Check it out for a chance to enjoy this winter activity while wearing only a light jacket. Call 202-216-9397 for more information and for conditions.

Address

7th St NW & Constitution Avenue

Washington D.C.

15th Annual Holiday Brunches with Santa

November 27th, 2011 at 10:00 AM | $39.95 for adults and $20.00 for children ages 4-11 | lisa@lindarothpr.com | Tel: 202- 416-8555 | Event Website

Santa Claus is flying into town early again this season, parking his reindeer and sled atop the world-famous Kennedy Center, as Roof Terrace Restaurant prepares for its 15th Annual Holiday Brunches with Santa. Families and friends are invited to gather amidst live jazz music and incomparable skyline views, while visiting with Old St. Nick to share their holiday wish lists.

When: Sunday, November 27; Saturday, December 10; Sunday, December 11; Saturday, December 17; Sunday, December 18.

Address

Roof Terrace Restaurant

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

2700 F Street

Washington, DC

Gary Tischler •

Everyone agrees.

Andy Rooney, who died at the age of 92 last week, was a curmudgeon.

The CBS correspondent, who had become an icon to Americans if not the world for delivering intemperate, grouchy, funny and sometimes controversial commentaries from 1978 to 2011, made his attitude of irritation and annoyance so much a part of his shtick, that he turned it into a profession.

As in: Curmudgeon Andy Rooney dies at 92. The word or variations on that theme—the New York Times headlined him the “Cranky Voice of CBS”—unquestionably made its way into numerous headlines across the land.

Rooney, in an interview with 60 Minutes Colleague Morley Safer, saw himself as a writer, not a man with an attitude. But it was the attitude, hitched to a man who could rumple brand new clothes in seconds, sitting behind a rumpled desk, looking at the audiences out from under a set of imposing, bristling eyebrows with baleful eyes, which endeared himself to audiences as much as what he had to say.

Remembering some of his “spoken essays,” and some of the comments he made to Safer about refusing to give autographs, or his low opinions of fan mail he received, I suspect the curmudgeon was no act. I suspect that he highlighted his curmudgeon credentials with relish, it was authentic to a fault, and as such things often happen in mysterious ways, the quality came across on television in a way that made him a beloved everyman, where the same quality might make you want to grimace in person.

Rooney wrote about himself, or rather how he dealt with daily life, and all of its annoyances from cereal boxes too big for the meager amount of cereal they contained to the omnipresence of hefty phone books, the commercialization and preponderance of useless products, the mystery of keys and why they wouldn’t turn. He had no patience for youth culture and refused to take it seriously. Those kinds of rants received an affectionate and recognizable hearing from a huge audience, the rest of us out there, especially, you suspect, men who got set in their ways around the age of ten on certain matters. He spoke the frustrating rant and language that a long-married man might speak over breakfast, with the spouse nodding ‘yes, dear,’ who is bewildered by the mysteries of a can opener.

He was of course much more serious than Paul Revere warning of the coming of the fall of civilization. There’s an element of the truism that as you get older, the past seems rosier than it was, and the future looks bleak, which of course it does, giving where age in the end brings us. He had strong and powerful opinions about events and people, and never lacked courage in saying what he thought needed saying, hence his take on the “Shock and Awe” start of the second Gulf war: “We didn’t shock them, and we didn’t awe them in Baghdad. The phrase makes us look like foolish braggarts. The president ought to fire whoever wrote that for him.”

Rooney, you can fairly suspect, had an intemperate temperament, probably gained honestly. An avowed pacifist, he was part of that Tom Brokaw, dubbed Greatest Generation which served in World War II, in his case as a war correspondent for Stars and Stripes. He accompanied bomber crews on raids into Germany, deliberately putting himself into harm’s and flak’s way. He started out as a writer—including working for loveable and sometimes curmudgeonal Arthur Godfrey before landing a job with CBS.

He got into trouble more than once, as curmudgeons often do with rash judgments and comments about gays, African Americans, women—he didn’t think they should be sideline reporters at football games—and Kurt Cobain. Statements which he sometimes regretted because they rode against the grain of his self-described liberalism.

But he could also be generous, and eloquent, as when he wrote about the crew of the space shuttle Challenger, which blew up after takeoff in 1986. “We can all be prouder to be human beings l because that’s what they were. They make up for a lot of liars cheats and terrorists among us.”

Andy Rooney died of serious complications from surgery. He made his last appearance on 60 Minutes on Oct. 2 of this year.

In the Safer interview, Rooney said he thought about death a lot. “I don’t like it,” he said.

Me neither. On this matter, we are all curmudgeons.

Samantha Hungerford •

The 17-year-old boy who was shot on M Street Halloween night died today after eight days spent in critical condition. The teenager is the first fatality among the six victims that were shot that night in five separate incidents throughout D.C.

On Oct. 31, a man was arrested close to the scene of the Georgetown crime and charged with carrying a pistol without a license, according to The Washington Post. The District police have not yet stated whether that man will be charged with the shooting. They also have not released the names of the man who was arrested or the young victim.

Gary Tischler •

When we think of depression-era- and- beyond documentary photography, people probably don’t think of Louise Rosskam, except maybe in context of her better known husband Ed with whom she worked.

You might think, instead of Dorothea Lange perhaps, or Walker Evans and his collaboration with James Agee on “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.”

The Rosskams worked for institutions and corporations like the Farm Security Administration, the Office of War Information, the U.S. Treasury Department, the Standard Oil Company, the Office of Information for Puerto Rico or the New Jersey Department of Education, a client list that might not pique interest or generate excitement.

Yet, “Re-Viewing Documentary: The Photographic Life of Louise Rosskam,” part of a group of eclectic exhibitions currently at American University’s Katzen Arts Center, places Louise Rosskam among her better-known peers and contemporaries, all of whom displayed a photographic eye which mixed technical and professional acumen with empathy, a willingness to see and search for meaning in the image before shooting it.

Rosskam’s subjects in this exhibition of 150 photographs are characteristic of the depression-era imagery that has survived, but also go beyond. She and her husband photographed the lives of migrant workers of the kind which today excite controversy and unkind, resentful hearts. Back in the 1920s and 30s they were part of a landscape which included thousands upon thousands of workers—migrant and otherwise—sweating to barely keep food on the table. They traveled all over the country, to New Jersey and to Vermont and to California photographing the people.

There is also a lengthy, generous sampling of their study of life in Puerto Rico during the Depression and after, a land not much looked at in those times and often misunderstood, a U.S. “possession,” not a state. These were times of political stirring, but they were also hard times of poverty and suffering for the poor.

Documentary photography was the province of books, the journalism of photographic essays or case studies, a role that would soon be taken over by television imagery which cares little for emotional power and lot more for talk and melodrama. But in Rosskam’s photos, you can learn more than lifetime’s intake of travel posters—you get the soul of Puerto Rico with her photographs of sugar refineries, a portrait of the family of demonstrators killed in Ponce, framed by a wall full of bullet holes.

More startling, sad and refreshing are her photographs of a Southwest Washington neighborhood in the early 1940s and 1950s which lost its tone and character with the onset of urban renewal projects. Included in this section are haunting color images of Shulman’s Market, a red-brick corner deli with big, red Coca Cola signs, adults and children hanging by the store door, or sitting on stoops in the apartments in the neighborhood.

The powerful accompanying book by Laura Katzman and Beverly W. Brannan is a richly detailed volume that opens up further details on the remarkable careers and lives of the Rosskams, and of Louise in particular, who cared little about personal credit but a lot about the subjects they both photographed.

If you want to know what Louise Rosskam brought to the photographic, documentary table, nothing explains it better than Louise Rosskam herself: “When I got a camera in my hands, I know that I wanted to take a nicely balanced picture, with a theme….but I wanted to get people to understand what that woman holding that child, without enough to eat, felt; and therefore I waited before I took the picture—till the ultimate of her emotions seemed to show, and then quickly got a picture…I wanted to feel that, and get other people to feel it.”

You can see from her photographs at the Katzen exhibition that she got it right.

(“Re-Viewing Documentary: The Photographic Life of Louise Rosskam” is at the Katzen Arts Center through Dec. 14.)

Georgetowner •

Albrecht Muth, the man who was charged last August with the murder of his wife, Viola Drath, a Georgetown resident, announced in last Friday’s hearing that he will represent himself in the trail, according to a release issued by the Drath family.

He continued to assert that his involvement with the Iraqi army lead to his wife’s murder. He is currently being held without bail.

According to the Georgetown Patch, at the end of the hearing, Muth asked Judge Russell F. Canan to note that if he dies in jail, his body should be released to the military and that he would begin an “unlimited fast” Sunday night.

Another status conference is scheduled for Feb. 3, 2012 and the trial is scheduled to begin almost a year from now on Oct. 1, 2012.

The complete statement issued by the Drath family read: “We learned in court today that Albrecht Gero Muth will be representing himself, which he has every right to do. We are grateful for the continued
hard work of the Metropolitan Police Department. We hope that justice is
served.”

To read past coverage of the case, click here

Kyle Lundberg • November 10, 2011

Georgetown will see massive street closures and parking restrictions this weekend through Halloween. According to the Metropolitan Police Department, these restrictions are subject to change. On Sunday, the Marine Corp. Marathon will wind its way through Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C. From 7:30 until about 10:45 a.m., the following roads will be closed:

GWMP from Spout Run to Key Bridge off ramp (one northbound lane will remain open)

Francis Scott Key Bridge

Canal Road NW from M Street NW to Reservoir Road NW

Reservoir Road NW from MacArthur Blvd. NW to Canal Road NW

MacArthur Blvd. NW from Foxhall Road NW to Reservoir Road NW

Foxhall Road NW from Canal Road NW to MacArthur Boulevard N

M Street NW from Canal Road NW to Wisconsin Avenue N

Wisconsin Avenue from M Street NW to K Street NW

K Street NW from Wisconsin Avenue NW to Rock Creek

On Halloween, parking restrictions will be in effect from 4 p.m. until 6 a.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 1. The following roads will be affected:

K St, NW from 30th Street to Wisconsin Avenue, NW

Water Street, NW from 33rd Street to the Mouth of the Capital Crescent Trail

1000 – 1300 Blocks of Wisconsin Ave. NW

M Street NW, from 25th Street to the Key Bridge

1100 block of 26th Street NW

Thomas Jefferson St.– 1000 block (From the canal north to M Street)

Restrictions will be posted at least 72 hours in advance.

Beginning on Halloween at 6:30 p.m. and lasting until 4 a.m., the following streets will be closed to through traffic:

1000 block of Grace Street NW

1000 block of Thomas Jefferson Street NW

1000-1500 blocks of 29th Street NW

1000 -1500 blocks of 30th Street NW

1200-1300 blocks of Potomac Street NW

1200-1500 blocks of 27th Street NW

1200-1500 blocks of 28th Street NW

1200-1600 blocks of 33rd Street NW

1200-1700 blocks of 34th Street NW

1500 32nd Street NW

1600-1700 blocks of 35th Street NW

2600-3100 blocks of Dumbarton Street NW

2600-3100 blocks of P Street NW

2600-3600 blocks of O Street NW

2700-3600 blocks of N Street NW

2700 block of Poplar Lane NW

2700-2900 blocks of Olive Street NW

• 3100 Block of Blues Alley

• 3100 Block of Oak Alley NW

• 3100 Block of South Street NW

• 3200-3400 Q Street NW

• 3200 Block of Cecil Place NW

• 3200-3600 blocks of Prospect Street NW

• 3300-3400 blocks of Dent Place NW

• 3300 blocks of Cady’s Alley NW

• 900 Block30th Street NW

From 4 p.m. to 4 a.m. on Halloween, metal barricades will be erected along the sidewalks of 3100-3200 blocks of M Street, NW and 1000-1200 blocks of Wisconsin Avenue, NW.
The Metro has also scheduled major track work for the rail system this weekend. The Red Line will be reduced to a single track from Union Station to DuPont Circle. On the Green Line, the Metro will shut down the Waterfront, Navy Yard, Anacostia and Congressional Heights stations. The Orange Line will share one track between New Carrollton and Cheverly.

If you wish to brave the chaos, there will be several events to occupy your time. In addition to the Marathon, the Washington International Horse Show will run through Sunday at the Verizon Center. In Georgetown, L2 Lounge will celebrate the holiday with its L2 Air Halloween Party on Saturday at 9 p.m., and Tudor Place will host its Historic Halloween Spooktacular Trick or Treat on Monday. For more information on events and the best ways to avoid the crowds, go to the Georgetown BID website, GeorgetownDC.com.