News & Politics

Robert Devaney • March 22, 2012

Harlem Globetrotter star Herbert “Flight Time” Lang traveled on Key Bridge into Georgetown March 19 to start the tip-off for Globetrotter Week. During his dribbling, walking and basketball spinning from Lee Highway in Arlington to the basketball courts at Volta Park, Flight Time paused at Francis Scott Key Park on M Street and saluted the Georgetown author of the national anthem and the Star-Spangled Banner which waves above the park.

Flight Time’s one-mile walk was part of the Globetrotters’ school visits and goodwill appearances which lead up to the team’s three games demonstrating the Globetrotter’s unique skills and techniques on March 24 and 25 at the Verizon Center and the Patriot Center. (They will take the court at the Verizon Center, March 24 at 1 p.m., and then the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Va., March 24, 7:30 p.m., and March 25, 2 p.m.).

One of the Globetrotters’ most dynamic ball handlers, Flight Time appeared with teammate Nathaniel “Big Easy” Lofton on “The Amazing Race” in two separate seasons. In their second effort for the finish line in the TV show, they came in second. Having appeared on other TV game or “reality” shows, Flight Time’s record was perfect on “Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?” during which he answered each question posed to him correctly.

For more information, visit www.HarlemGlobetrotters.com. [gallery ids="100585,100586" nav="thumbs"]

Georgetowner • March 19, 2012

BLOSSOM DC

March 16th, 2012 at 10:00 AM | Free | info@oldprintgallery.com | Tel: (202) 965-1818 | Event Website

BLOSSOM DC, opens on March 16th with a nighttime reception and runs until May 11th. Inspired by the 100 year anniversary of the gift of cherry trees from Japan to DC, this show celebrates the youthful energy of spring’s blossoms. A large number of prints by local DC artists are included in the show, coupled with a selection of works by NY contemporary artists and several early 20th century printmakers. Highlights include prints by local artists Marti Patchell, Susan Goldman, and Erwin Thamm.

Address

The Old Print Gallery

1220 31st Street, NW

Looking for more Cherry Blossom Themed event? Click Here for more!

Not Alone’s St. Patrick’s Day Fundraiser

March 17th, 2012 at 06:00 PM | One (1) Ticket: $70; Two (2) Tickets: $125; Four (4) Tickets: $240 | danielle@notalone.com | Tel: 615-243-7400 | Event Website

Come learn about and support Not Alone, an organization that provides programs, resources and services to warriors and families impacted by combat stress and PTSD through a confidential and anonymous community. Enjoy unlimited beer and wine, kick up your heels to great music, and taste the exquisite food of Todd and Ellen Gray.
Washington, D.C. 20007

Address

Watershed Restaurant

1225 1st Street Northeast

Washington D.C., DC 20002

Champagne Dinner

March 19th, 2012 at 07:00 PM | Event Website

Join Washington Women and Wine at The Curious Grape Wine Bar for a Champagne Dinner

Address

The Curious Grape Wine Bar

2900 South Quincy Street

Shirlington Village – Arlington, VA

2012 Pink Tie Party

March 15th, 2012 at 07:00 PM | $200 | Tel: 877.442.5666 | Event Website

Washington’s petal partiers will gather for the National Cherry Blossom Festival’s signature Pink Tie Party on Tuesday, March 20 at 7 PM. Chefs José Andrés and Roy Yamaguchi, innovators in the culinary community, will host the evening, exemplifying the international collaboration and creativity at the heart of the Festival. The sixth annual fundraiser and kick-off to the Centennial Celebration will be held at The Mayflower® Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel.

Address

Mayflower® Renaissance Hotel

1127 Connecticut Avenue, NW

Washington, DC 20036

Preparing for the Ball: Dancing

March 20th, 2012 at 07:00 PM | 10-12 | Tel: 202-337-2288 | Event Website

Fourth in a series of four 19th-century skills & etiquette workshops, with the “American Ladies,” Pat Sowers and Jackie Geschickter. Become immersed in Jane Austen’s world at Dumbarton House’s annual Spring Ball on March 24. To prepare for the festivities, attend one or all four classes on period games and dances. Series includes: Feb. 28, Gaming; March 6, Dancing; March 13, Gaming; and March 20, Dancing. Classes are held in the Belle Vue Room. Each class $12; Members $10.

Address

Dumbarton House,

2715 Q Street, NW,

Washington, DC, 20007

Gary Tischler •

“I am of Ireland

And the Holy Land of Ireland

And time runs on, cried she,

‘Come out of charity

Come Dance With Me in Ireland.’ ”

— W.B. Yeats

I am not Irish and not of Ireland.

But, aye, often I have wished to be. Now, on St. Patrick’s Day, thousands, maybe millions embrace the same wish as if they had kissed the Blarney Stone on a damp day some time ago. They wear green, drink green beer, quaff the quaffables, sing and dance, wear green hats, try to speak Gaelic, listen to the grand Irish music and perhaps stand on a floor in two inches of Guinness and tears. Perhaps not. Most parades have already gone by. The music will linger if you’ve heard it.

Yes, the Irish in America have left their imprint. They brought their famine tales, destitution and memories. They came in droves in the wake of the Great Famine of the early mid-19th Century. They came to where stores were littered with signs that read, “Irish need not apply.” They were drawn in political cartoons as pipe-smoking monkeys.

They brought their music, their smitten-with-words poetry, their poets and playwrights, their fiddle players and their red-headed sages and lasses. They left their troubles behind in Ireland where they still persist here and there, as mysterious a tragedy as ever existed. They became cops, firemen, nannies — and, soon enough, politicians — and bartenders, priests and nuns, except for the Ulster folks.

They gave us Shaw, Yeats, Wilde, Behan, Synge and the great Irish place names. Eugene O’Neill who is enjoying a festival of his works at Arena Stage and throughout was as wildly Irish as you can be. Just check out that crazy family saga, “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” or “A Touch of The Poet.” O’Neill knew that the Irish also quadrupled the number of bars in America, and he wrote the ultimate bar play, “The Iceman Cometh,” which I trust alcoholics living day to day would avoid. The second best bar play was written by an Armenian, and it was called “The Time of Your Life.” If Eastern Europeans were Irish, they would be called Armenians.

Myself, I emigrated from Germany knee high to nothing at ten years old from the most Irish place in Germany, which would be Bavaria. Bavaria is as Catholic as Ireland, as beer-soaked as Ireland and as Bohemian as Ireland, and it has its grand stock of peasant tales and superstitions and music And the food is better. Maybe that explains the affinity.

John Ford was Irish —the great director of westerns and Americana movies — and also directed “The Quiet Man,” which is Ireland as a dream of Ireland, a technicolor film where the greens and reds were so green and so red that they looked like paint. It had a matchmaker played by Barry Fitzgerald, who drank too much, a village where the local Catholic protected its Anglican priest by pretending to be Protestant. It had John Wayne as a retired pugilist. It had Maureen O’Hara, whose hair defined the term “redhead.”

O’Hara came from the Abbey Theatre still alive and strong in Dublin. Irish writers will always be among us. Witness Seamus Heaney, the great Irish poet, and the new breed of Irish playwrights, whose work is both surreal, crazy and modern. There’s a lad named McDonough who is particularly good. Look out for a production of his “The Seafarer” soon, produced by Robert McNamara, the artistic director of Scena Theatre who is as solemnly Irish as they come. The play is about three men who play poker with the devil, and you know what the stakes are. The devil does all right until he starts taking tastes of the homegrown brew in the house. Plays are about words, and, boy, do the Irish love to talk and sing.

I believe in my heart that the Irish invented poetry and the job title of bartender. How else would so many who found work found it as a bartender? I knew a few in Washington in my time in places like the Dubliner, Nanny O’Briens, Kelly’s Irish Times, the Four Provinces, Matt Kane’s, Ellen’s and from what I hear tell, there’s a whole new generation of publicans and pubs. In those places and among those gentlemen — along with the ladies — I found such surely old-fashioned qualities as trust and loyalty, fierce kindness and grand thoughts and talk. There is something to be said for the drink, were it not for the fact that you can’t remember what it was that was said. A toast to the Kelly’s Michael and Hugh, Mr. Coleman at the Dubliner and Obie O’Brien. Some have gone, none forgotten.

And always, the sound of the fiddle, the Celtic drums, the rebel songs, and sad songs about the troubles and old Irish moms mourning their sons. There is dancing and, of course, as luck would have it “Danny Boy,” a song impossible to sing properly and which almost everyone thinks they can sing. I remember a member of the Irish embassy, an older gentleman in a bow tie and sports jacket, singing it loud and clear in the kitchen at 3 a.m. at Kelly’s Irish Times a long time ago.

They held “Reel Around the Shamrock” with Eileen Evers and Immigrant Soul at the Music Center at Strathmore this Thursday along with the Culkin School of Traditional Irish Dance with Brendan Mulvihill and Billy McComiskey. Mulvihill, a national fiddle champion in Ireland, and McComiskey were part of the Irish Tradition, one of the most popular Irish bands on the East Coast. Brendan could break your heart when he played the fiddle. And I can recall that he had an Afro load of Irish hair and how the Tradition’s music rousted the Wild Rover in all of us.

More than that, Paddy Maloney and the Chieftains are celebrating a 50th anniversary at the Kennedy Center this Friday night, March 16. Things don’t get more Irish than that.
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Gary Tischler • March 15, 2012

“Game Change,” the HBO movie about the selection of then virtually unknown Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s vice-presidential running mate, has come if not gone, leaving behind a certain amount of controversy and some unsettling thoughts.

The movie, based on a much larger account of the 2008 presidential campaign by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin in which the McCain-Palin story was a smallish part. “Game Change” premiered in New York and at Washington’s Newseum, with red-carpet stars like Julianne Moore in attendance (actually, the carpet was blue at the Newseum’s March 8 reception), amid local rehashing of old Palin and McCain campaign tales.

Palin dismissed and trashed the movie without having seen it. That’s too bad, because in reality — if there is such a thing in politics — she comes off as much more of a whole person than one might expect from such efforts. McCain also attacked the filmmakers for their treatment of Palin, being ever the gentleman about his expressions of feeling toward Palin and his choice of Palin as running mate. This way, he also doesn’t have to take responsibility for unleashing Palin’s particular gift for creating disharmony in the body politic.

When all is said and done, however, you’re left with a film that has its own sort of power and manages to be a work that feels like a more-or-less truthful, if slightly fictional account of the Palin’s selection and her subsequent impact on the 2008 election campaign.

Movies about politics and government often don’t fare well. There are few that resonate through the years, although Robert Redford’s “The Candidate” Otto Preminger’s “Advice and Consent,” about a nominee for secretary of state, and Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man,” which is getting a Broadway revival, are terrific examples of the genre.

“Game Change” reminds us more than anything of Mike Nichols’s film version of “Primary Colors,” the thinly disguised, hugely entertaining tale of what it was like on Bill Clinton’s campaign trail in 1992, with John Travolta playing an exuberantly hungry Clintonian-like character with Emma Thompson in the Hillary role.

“Game Change” is about real folks — as real as politicians can be — and it sinks or swims with Moore’s portrait of Palin which is so eerily dead on the mark that she pushes Palin right through the clichés and ticks of her own caricature — some of it self created, some by a both fawning and aggressive press.

Woody Harrelson plays Steve Schmidt, a senior political strategist and adviser to McCain, who had been brought on board after the campaign appeared to be in absolute shambles. With McCain surviving early setbacks, he rolled to front-runner status and eventual winner. The selection of Palin, as indicated in the film and in other accounts, was something of an illusory, smoke-and-mirror process with hopes of finding “a game changer” to electrify McCain’s campaign. McCain himself appears to have wanted Joe Lieberman, the Democrat who supported his candidacy.

What’s scary in this film is how little Palin, a popular, dramatic, charismatic, conservative and political novice — not to mention policy-know-nothing — was vetted by McCain’s staff. Harrelson’s Schmidt, confronted about not asking her policy questions or testing her knowledge of foreign affairs, frustratingly says he didn’t ask her and instead wanted to make sure that she knew all that was about to drop on her media-wise.

Palin dove in with relish, and with very few doubt, despite of the fact she had a teenaged daughter that was about to become an unwed mother, that there was a scandal brewing that became her own state trooper problem and that she knew next to nothing about foreign affairs—including who was the political leader of Great Britain.

Moore manages to make you her feel for her, by showing the determination as well as the anguish and frustration she was going through as the campaign exposed her ignorance. The movie would have it that she came close to a breakdown, surrounded by McCain’s mostly male and not very friendly operatives. Watching her watch herself being ridiculed by Tina Fey on Saturday Night Live is a gem of acting.

What we see here are things we already knew in some ways — to dwell on Katie Couric’s interview on CBS News is to resurrect a nightmare. An even bigger nightmare is what happens when Palin came into her own and displayed her natural political gifts. Such were Palin’s ability to connect to the folks which would later become the core members of the Tea Party, her ability to rabble rouse, her considerable charm and charisma and her very naked ambition.

If “Game Change” isn’t entirely objective — the overall portrait of Palin is hardly flattering but also seems accurate — it provides a solid, fascinating portrait of the campaign mentality and political process in action. What we’re watching now with the Republican primary is an echo of that campaign, its by-products coming home like chickens roosting.

To see more images from the premiere of “Game Change” click here [gallery ids="100532,119974,119947,119967,119956,119964" nav="thumbs"]

Michelle Kingston •

With 47 million people suffering from sleep deprivation and 43 percent of American’s claiming they rarely get a good night’s sleep, according to a University of Minnesota study, it is no wonder there is now a National Sleep Awareness Week. The events, which ran March 5 through 11, focused on screenings and educating the public on how to get some proper shut eye. What may come as a shocker to most of us, however, is what follows NSAW: Daylight Saving Time (DST).

Why do we lose an hour of sleep after being told how beneficial it is to sleep well?

Daylight Saving Time began in World War I to conserve energy. Five years ago, the date in which we change the clocks moved to the second Sunday in March. Regardless of when we have to do it, we have to do it. And, boy, is it tough.

This year, from March 11 until November 4 (unless you’re in Arizona, Hawaii, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, or the Commonwealth of Northern Mariana Islands), our clocks spring forward an hour and force us to lose an hour of sleep. Not only do we suffer a groggy Monday, but we are also putting ourselves at risk.

Charles Cziesler, M.D., Ph.D., who is the chief of the division of sleep medicine at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston and professor and director of the division of sleep medicine at Harvard Medical School, says that cutting just one hour of sleep might not sound like a big deal but that springing forward increases the risk of car crashes and heart attacks significantly.

While driving statistics show only 1 percent of drivers crash because of drowsiness each year, this still totals 1.9 million drivers. A 1996 study found that the number of car accidents on the Monday after the beginning of Daylight Saving Time increase, the Huffington Post reported.

Heart attacks are more common because of the effects of sleep deprivation. Less sleep equals more buildup in arteries that leads to heart attacks. Also, people who get less sleep are often overweight and are at risk for heart problems even before the time change.

The good news: Sam J. Sugar, M.D., director of sleep services at the Pritikin Longevity Center and Spa, said that, although it can take up to a week to adjust to the hour lost, for most people it will only take a few days to be back on track. “Our brains are incredibly good at adjusting to anything we throw at them,” she said. “For almost everybody, it isn’t a problem.”

Also try to get some sun if you are feeling the time change. Robert Oexman, M.D., director of the Sleep to Live Institute said, “Sunlight helps us ‘retrain’ our circadian clocks and allows us to get back on the right time.”

If that isn’t enough, we can always catch up on our sleep in November, which is just a short eight months away.

Jeff Malet •

Hollywood and politics mixed it up at the Newseum on Thursday, March 8 in Washington DC. for the premier of HBO’s “Game Change” based on the McCain-Palin presidential campaign of 2008. (The movie opened nationally on HBO on the following Saturday.) View our photos as the stars, the writers and the director of the film walked the red carpet by clicking on the photo icons below. (photos by Jeff Malet) [gallery ids="100531,119857,119865,119873,119882,119890,119899,119909,119919,119849,119840,119958,119805,119951,119813,119944,119823,119937,119832,119928" nav="thumbs"]

Ari Post •

Mike Isabella, “Top Chef All-Stars” runner-up and local restaurateur, has his hungry eyes set on the District.

After a successful tenure commanding the kitchen at Zaytinia, José Andrés’s Mediterranean-inspired eatery, Isabella opened his flagship restaurant Graffiato in June of last year to rave reviews. The neo-Italian cuisine has been almost universally adored by critics and guests for its fresh take on old-world culinary traditions, with its salt-and-pepper tributes to the chef’s Jersey roots (The Jersey Shore pizza, from their wood-fired oven, is heaped with fried calamari, provolone and cherry pepper aioli).

Isabella is also on the cusp of opening his latest venture, Bandolero, a Mexican-themed restaurant in Georgetown in the space once occupied by Hook at 3241 M St., N.W.

Now, Isabella is upping the ante — and doubling the wager. He announced last week plans to open two new restaurants for 14th Street, N.W., next door to each other. This announcement comes at a time that would already be a full plate for any restaurateur.

If all goes to plan, the 7,000-square foot space at 1326 W St., N.W., will be up and running at double capacity in early 2013. The first restaurant, Kapnos (Greek for “smoke”), will be a Greek restaurant that Isabella has been conceptualizing for years — presumably inspired from his days at Zaytinya. Its sister restaurant, simply named G, will serve up sandwiches by day and four-course tasting menus in the evening. Not such simple ambitions.

Perhaps, the most mouthwatering bit of news released is Isabella’s intent to employ a spit roaster to use in the restaurants. Spit roasting is an ancient culinary practice, but one that has been largely phased out, mostly due to its sheer impracticality and inconvenience. But if you’ve ever had a bite of pork shoulder or grilled vegetables pulled right out of a crackling, wood-fired flame, it is nothing you ever forget. The Greeks are famous for their roasting of whole animals, particularly lamb (Does “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” ring any bells?), and Isabella plans to bring this communal tradition to Washington for the first time. While it sounds old fashioned — prehistoric, even — there’s no telling how Isabella plans to spin this technique for the modern epicure.

“I’ve been cooking Greek food for a large part of my career,” said Isabella in a statement. “So, opening my own place was only a matter of time. With Kapnos, I want to bring something totally unique to D.C.; daily whole animal spit-roasting is a side of Greek cuisine that no one else is doing in this city. G is a sister to Graffiato, but the menu will be more traditional Italian — a place to get a meatball hero for lunch and a four-course dinner.”

Once Kapnos and G open their doors, Isabella will have himself a culinary empire in the District. It looks like Andrés, Washington’s current epicurean kingpin, might have to start watching his back.

Jeff Malet • March 12, 2012

Over 13,000 gathered for the annual AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington D.C. on March 4-6, 2012. AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is a pro-Israel lobby group. Speakers included Presdent Barack Obama, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, Israeli President Shimon Peres and many of the GOP Presidential Candidates. View our pictures by clicking on the photo icons below. [gallery ids="100525,119337,119330,119354,119321,119361,119313,119367,119305,119374,119346" nav="thumbs"]

Jody Kurash •

On Friday, Feb. 24, 2012, the world lost a bit of its sparkle, and the sun shone a little less brilliantly. Glenn Sorvisto lost his battle of more than two years with cancer. He passed peacefully in my arms, his suffering put to an end.

As someone who has written hundreds of stories — most recently, for the Georgetowner — I still cannot begin to piece together the words to describe the beautiful, gentle psyche and the magical person that made up Glenn.

Truly a national treasure, Glenn was a special being who loved all, a drummer and performer whose true genius reached beyond music. He had the passion of a madman, and the unbridled and uncompromising spirit to always do things his own way with a sense of style and flair unlike any other. His heart was a precious jewel.

I cherish every moment we had together, our adventures, explorations, the fun times, the good stories, the laughs, the smiles and tears of joy. Glenn’s time on this earth was short, but he touched so many.

Some say he marched to the beat of a different drummer, but Glenn did more than that. He was his own drummer, who wrote his own song, always staying true to himself, always an individual, unfettered by others.

Glenn will always be a part of all of us. I remember my solo travels, when Glenn would hide notes and gifts in my bag. I would venture with a basket, collecting experiences, photos and stories we could share together when I came home. I would eagerly anticipate Glenn waiting for me at the airport, wearing a goofy outfit, holding a funny sign or bearing a silly gift. I hope Glenn received an equally marvelous greeting when he arrived at his new destination: an existence free of pain, in a Willy Wonka-like place filled with drums, flowers, plaid pants and birds. I hope he found the paradise that we both dreamed about — a beachside cantina with perfect bodysurfing waves, ice-cold beers, ten-cent tacos and Glenn headlining the entertainment every night.

Glenn will live on through his music. He was a talented drummer and singer appearing on dozens of CDs. His first band, the Hates from Houston, were on the cutting edge of the punk movement in the late 1970s. In San Francisco in the early 1980s, his band Arkansas Man was a critical favorite, touring with Johnny Lydon’s post-Sex Pistol project, Public Image Limited. Their band posters are featured in “The Art of Rock” by Paul Griushkin, and their debut album was recently released on CD and iTunes.
Later in New York, he toured nationally and throughout Europe with the groups WOO and Happy New Year. His musical talents are featured on albums from the Molecules, The Three Terrors and Rev.99. His most recent collaboration was with the Baltimore-based Pleasant Livers, which was named by the Baltimore City Paper as “the Best Band to See Live.”

Born in Arizona, Glenn, 51, spent his childhood in Vancouver, Canada, Australia and Colorado. A traveler throughout his life, he ventured throughout Europe, Latin America and the South Pacific. He travels still.

Jody Kurash, a writer for The Georgetowner, is part-owner of a Georgetown business and a retired Associated Press photojournalist.