Weekend Round Up August 11, 2011
• August 15, 2011

Art & Live Jazz Saturday

August 13th, 2011 at 01:00 PM | Free | liveanartfullife@verizon.net | Tel: 540-253-9797

“The Painted Pot” by Phyllis Handal. Phyllis is known for her painted pottery in butterfly, dragonfly and vegetable motifs. She will be featured with a demonstration of how she paints her pottery at our Art & Live Jazz Saturday from 1 – 5 PM. Her work is very likable, functional and sure to bring a smile. Live Jazz will start at 5PM that evening with the Samba do Jazz Quartet and wine tasting by Vintage Ridge Winery. Make a day of it in The Plains!

Address

Live An Artful Life

6474 Main Street

The Plains, VA 20198

Aidah Collection Trunk Sale at Flash Market
August 13th, 2011 at 12:00 PM | info@aidah.com | Tel: (202) 338-0680

Flash Market: A Pop-up Extravaganza

hosted by Hillyer Art Space

Join Aidah Collection and other local fashion and jewelry designers for a fabulous Summer Trunk Sale with mimosas, cupcakes and a mini-runway show!

View and shop the new Accessories Collection of handmade eco-chic flower brooches, rings and tote bags.

RSVP ON FACEBOOK:

Address

Hillyer Art Space

9 Hillyer Court NW DC

(Dupont Circle Metro)

Live Jazz With Vocalist Nancy Scimone

August 13th, 2011 at 07:30 PM | No Cover Charge | livejazzconcerts@verizon.net

Vocalist Nancy Scimone delivers spirited performances of lively and lush American jazz standards, French and Latin-influenced tunes. The Henley’s extensive wine list, classic cocktails savory treats (crispy shrimp) and desserts (pear bread pudding!) are perfect accompaniments to these sublime songs. Cozy tapestry seats, intimate lighting. No Cover. Saturdays 7:30 – 11:15 Perfect for conversation or just listening.

Near Metros, on-street parking

Address

The Henley Park Hotel

926 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington DC 20001

Bourbon Steak: Annual “Pig Out” Patio Party

August 14th, 2011 at 03:00 PM | $35 per person | Tel: 202.944.2026

It’s time once again to “Pig Out” at Bourbon Steak (2800 Pennsylvania, NW). The modern American restaurant will host its second annual pig roast event on their spacious patio Sunday, August 14 from 12 to 3 p.m. Priced at $35 per person for food, and $50 inclusive of food and drink, guests at this year’s pork-centric party will once again enjoy a 300-lb spit-roasted pig from Eco-Friendly Foods, among other show-stopping offerings from Executive Chef Adam Sobel and his team. Bourbon Steak is partnering with DC Brau, the DC-based brewing company, to provide the perfect pork-pairing beers for the event. The restaurant will also make available special non-alcoholic punches available throughout the day for all guests. In case of rain, “Pig Out” will be held on Sunday, August 28. To purchase tickets to “Pig Out”, call 202.944.2026 or visit www.bourbonsteakdc.com for reservations.

Address

Bourbon Steak

2800 Pennsylvania, NW

Parish Gallery: Leslee Stradford “The Night Tulsa Died”

August 16th, 2011 at 12:41 PM | Tel: 202.944.2310

Showing through Tuesday, August 16, Parish Gallery (1054 31st Street, NW) proudly presents Leslee Stradford’s “The Night Tulsa Died: Black Wall Street Massacre 1921”. A descendant of the victims in “The Tulsa Race Riot 1921,” Leslee Stradford vividly conveys the social, cultural and historical story of the massacre confined to the racially segregated Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 31, 1921. Stradford’s style, sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract and sometimes both, uses new technology and research to create digital images, painted canvases and silks. Primarily representing, but not exclusively, contemporary visual artists of significance from Africa and the African Diaspora, you can view this artistic display of history and the spirit of social preservation and regeneration in the Parrish Gallery showroom. 202.944.2310

Address

Parish Gallery

1054 31st Street, NW

Join Us for Networking with a View… And a Salute to Furin’s

Wednesday, August 17, 2011 | 6:30 – 8:30 p.m.

House of Sweden| On the Waterfront | 2900 K Street NW | Georgetown

Hors d’oeuvres by Ridgewells Caterers

Desserts by Chris Furin

Beverages compliments of the Georgetown Business Improvement District

Event Free for GBA Members | $20 for Non-Members

RSVP by Monday, August 15, 2011 to Sue Hamilton 202-333-8076 or sueinnovent@aol.com

Major Traffic Delays Today in Rosslyn
• August 11, 2011

Anyone hoping to cross the Key Bridge into Rosslyn today should be ready to add a considerable amount of time to their commute today.

According to the Georgetown Patch, last night, a retaining wall at a construction site on 1530 Claredon Boulevard collapsed, closing both lanes on Claredon between Pierce and Oak streets. The Rosslyn exit on route 110 has also been closed, and Lee Highway and Arlington Boulevard are suggested as the best alternate routes. Metro bus 38B and ART bus 45 are still in operation, but have been detoured.

The cause of the collapse is currently unknown.

Key to Georgetown Parking: Creativity
• August 10, 2011

It is not surprising that a considerable chunk of my commute is the series of laps around Georgetown I have to take before finding a curbside parking space. Some days I find one in a few minutes, but there have been days it has taken 20, even 30 minutes before finding a space. Even as valuable time ticks away though, there is one thing I, and many others, would not consider: going to a parking lot and plunking $14 for a space.

There are lots of spaces in Georgetown, over 3,000 according to BID Director Jim Bracco. The problem is that unmetered spaces in the residential part of Georgetown are more likely to be filled than the lots and garages. This can cause congestion when there is a large influx of residents, tourists and visitors in the neighborhood.

For Bracco, this is a problem.

“We have about 3,800 garage spaces. On weekends about 40 to 45 percent are available. People don’t like to pay for parking, so trying to park in the residential side can be a challenge,” he said. According to the BID’s website, there are 25 pay-to-park lots and garages.

“People will drive an extra five blocks so they don’t have to pay for parking. People from the suburbs might not know about garages,” said Citizens Association of Georgetown President Jennifer Altemus.

People who come to Georgetown aren’t as likely to park in the lots. Different groups are working to find ways to fill these lots and clear up the curbs.

For example, Vice President of EastBanc Philippe Lanier admits there is a “visitor aversion to going underground,” and that EastBanc is working to “find ways to correct this problem.” The garage in their building at 3307 M St. NW was “underutilized,” according Lanier. CB2, the furniture store that opened in the same building this April, offers an hour of free parking for every CB2 customer. According to CB2’s general manager, every CB2 store except for SoHo has parking so that shoppers can get furniture into cars easily. Since CB2 has opened, there have been fewer vacancies in the lot.

In addition to different deals that can be made with garages and lots, community leaders are working with the District Department of Transportation to find new ways to control curb space.

Damon Harvey of the D.C. Department of Transportation’s Policy Planning and Sustainability Administration at DDOT says “We have a lot of really new tools in our toolbox at DDOT. Performance parking is a tool. Smart meters are a tool. RPP enforcement is a tool. You don’t have to use have all of them.” According to Altemus, Harvey is the “parking guru” of Washington.
Currently, community leaders are involved in a working group discussing the idea of performance parking. According to Bracco, the group includes Jennifer Altemus and ANC Commissioners Ron Lewis, Ed Solomon and Bill Starrels.

“Performance parking” is a system that involves using parking meters to charge for parking at market rates to create vacancies on curbsides. This system is in pilot programs in Columbia Heights and blocks surrounding Nationals Park.

Smart Meters, at which drivers can use credit cards or even mobile devices to pay for parking, are also known as “green monsters” because the large machines allow drivers to print parking permits.

Pop Goes the Easel
•

“Pop”, a bold and very new musical about Andy Warhol and his factory boys and girls now at the Studio Theatre has a lot going for it: it’s smart and sharp, its witty and biting, it has something to say and sing about art, it’s designed with a pop,, if you will, creating and re-creating an atmosphere of what it might have been like to move around the pale and distant sun of Warhol’s world.

And yet, something doesn’t push it over the top, and after a while, you realize that what this show, for all of its intelligence and seriousness needs is the kind of pop that made Andy Warhol pop, a fizz of vulgar fun.

Somewhere in there, after climbing three or four flights of stairs, after watching Warhol pop images fly on the walls or stick like a fly, after seeing Warhol define the essence of a paper bag, of seeing a crew of attractive (none more than Matthew DeLorenzo as superstar Candy Darling) needy famous wannabes, artists, actors and models cavorting on a striking factory set, you feel like you should be invited to up there and frug, or that you have to restrain yourself from jumping on the stage.

In the intimate upstairs space of the Studio’s 2nd Stage, which has seen Jack Kerouac in his natural surroundings, the cast of “Hair” splayed against windows, and “Reefer Madness” goes crazy mad, you’d think this over-the-top urge would be on tap. It’s not quite there. Maybe because Maggie-Kate Coleman and Anna K Jacobs’ show is just a tad too smart, too serious about art. That’s not a necessarily a bad thing, and if you’re Stephen Sondheim it’s a very good thing.

The smart stuff—the song about the paper bag for instance, which contains nothing, which contains the world and the essence if Warhol-speak, and the dance and song by the trio of expressionist super-stars, for instance—are very smart indeed.

And Tom Story—pale of face, dark of leather jacket—gets Warhol’s utter weirdness, his stand-offish presence, the guy so very prescient (about fame, vulgarity, stardom, the commerce of art) but not quite present. He’s surrounded by people who want his light to shine on them, to make them right here and now famous and not just for fifteen minutes.

That includes the likes of the already noted Candy Darling, Viva the Superstar who went to the Sorbonne before doing porn, the little rich girl Edie Sedgewick, an odd and sad turn of little girl blonde flightiness that’s also wingless.

The sets are just real and riff and raff enough to make you bathe in the ambiance of a kind of art that’s art because somebody, usually Andy, says it is.

The focus of the show is the near-assassination of Warhol in 1968, a shooting that certainly shocked Warhol, if not the world. But that’s the 2nd problem: we already know who did it, historically speaking, but that doesn’t stop you from really appreciating the performance of Rachel Zampelli as Valerie Solanas, the head of the super aggressive SCUM (Society for Cutting up Men), who thinks Warhol will stage her play. (He dumps it probably where it belongs, a toilet which doubles as an art work).

Warhol showed us that anything can be art, anyone can write, and anyone can be a star or be famous for the usual amount of time, thus anticipating reality shows, the breach and reach of the internet, the eventual meaninglessness of too many words, and the worship of celebrity.
Lacking the fun factor that ought to be all over the stage, what’s left is still entertaining, fascinating and junk food for thought. But don’t dance, they won’t ask you. (Through August 7)

Weekend Round Up August 04,2011
•

30th Anniversary at the National Aquarium

August 5,2011 at 10 a.m.-3 p.m.

The aquarium celebrates its birthday with a three-day festival, complete with music, dancing, face painting, art projects, and zumba instruction.

Address

National Aquarium – Baltimore

Pier 3, 501 E. Pratt St.

Baltimore, MD

Dog Days of August Sidewalk Sale

August 6th, 2011 at 6PM

The neighborhood’s 12th annual event includes sales at local shops, plus arts and cultural events. Free offerings include candy samples at Artfully Chocolate & Kingsbury Confection, free fans at Junction and free workouts at VIDA fitness.

Address

14th and U streets NW

Washington, DC

Live Jazz With Vocalist Nancy Scimone

August 6th, 2011 at 07:30 PM | No Cover Charge | livejazzconcerts@verizon.net | Tel: 571-232-1873

Vocalist Nancy Scimone delivers spirited performances of lively and lush American jazz standards, French and Latin-influenced tunes. The Henley’s extensive wine list, classic cocktails savory treats (crispy shrimp) and desserts (pear bread pudding!) are perfect accompaniments to these sublime songs. Cozy tapestry seats, intimate lighting. No Cover. Saturdays 7:30 – 11:15 Perfect for conversation or just listening.
Near Metros, on-street parking

Address

Henley Park Hotel

926 Massachusetts Ave. NW

Washington DC 20001

Food Network Star Open Call

August 8, 2001 at 10-2PM

The Food Network is looking for people who are full of life, passionate about cooking, and knowledgeable about food to meet them in person at their open casting call.

Design Star Open Call

August 9,2011 at 10-2PM

They want people who are passionate about their work, knowledgeable and hold a clear & unique design perspective.

They are casting everyone from beginner’s level to experts!

Address

The Westin City Center

1400 M St NW, Washington, DC 20005

Parish Gallery: Leslee Stradford “The Night Tulsa Died”

August 16th, 2011 at 12:41 PM | Tel: 202.944.2310

Showing through Tuesday, August 16, Parish Gallery (1054 31st Street, NW) proudly presents Leslee Stradford’s “The Night Tulsa Died: Black Wall Street Massacre 1921”. A descendant of the victims in “The Tulsa Race Riot 1921,” Leslee Stradford vividly conveys the social, cultural and historical story of the massacre confined to the racially segregated Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma on May 31, 1921. Stradford’s style, sometimes figurative, sometimes abstract and sometimes both, uses new technology and research to create digital images, painted canvases and silks. Primarily representing, but not exclusively, contemporary visual artists of significance from Africa and the African Diaspora, you can view this artistic display of history and the spirit of social preservation and regeneration in the Parrish Gallery showroom. 202.944.2310

Address

Parish Gallery

1054 31st Street, NW

Georgetown Public Library: A Treasure Resurrected
•

If you had been standing at the intersection of Wisconsin Avenue and R Street in April 2007, staring at the Georgetown Public Library up in flames, with its roof collapsing as firefighters rushed to connect working hydrants and librarians threw damaged documents onto the sidewalk, you had a right to feel depressed. It’s a damn shame to see a library on fire. How and when would we fix this?

Well folks, we did fix it, and we made it better, thanks to all: from the construction workers and library staffers to Mayor Adrian Fenty. This renewal shines as an example of everything and everyone coming together to get the job done. If the fire were to happen today, as Councilman Jack Evans noted, the job may not have gotten done so well.

We are indeed heartened to see the elderly with walkers determined to enter the new library and read the news blogs by college students. Tired of Georgetown University’s Lauringer Library, a student blog posted: “Those who yearn for a more civilized studying experience would be well-advised to head up…to the newly reopened Georgetown Public Library.”

The library is rightfully praised for its latest technology, historic reconstruction, open reading spaces and Peabody Room with rare Georgetown papers and artifacts. We are especially delighted by the artwork in the children’s reading room. Panels with lyrics of the first sentence of “The Star-Spangled Banner” line the wall, and Francis Scott Key is shown reading The Georgetowner Newspaper. So, support the Friends of the Georgetown Library and visit with Jerry McCoy, curator of the Peabody Room to learn about your home and history. Make sure your library card is current. It is time to borrow books—print or digital—and enjoy your beautiful neighborhood library.

Just Sittin’ Here, Watching the Tickets Flow
•

 

-The Key Bridge — Friday, October 19. Walking across the bridge, from the Rosslyn metro into town, five police officers were sitting on the Washington side, immediately pulling over drivers on their cell phones and issuing tickets. All the commotion was exacerbating a traffic jam on the already crowded bottleneck onto M Street, on a typically busy Friday morning. The rows of stopped vehicles and squad cars could have led you to believe there was a drug bust in place. Three blocks into town, I had already passed three other officers ticketing vehicles that had over-extended their parking privileges
by the slightest infraction.

Traditionally, this is what you would call “bad business”. Washington, specifically Georgetown, needs revenue from outside the city to prosper — a situation made all the more serious by the city’s deficit and declining revenue. To welcome visitors and commuters with a hundred dollar fine for a menial violation is not a reasonable manner in which to treat your fellow neighbors. What does this attitude convey to a visitor, coming into town to shop or meet a colleague for lunch, about the city they’re in? This is a clear and consistently raised issue among citizens living outside and around the city. No one wants to come in because of the too-strict, small-scale traffic enforcement. There has been many a quip, even by unlikely Democratic Mayoral candidate Leo Alexander, that an evening in Georgetown is expensive enough without a parking ticket under the wiper-blade or that you can’t come into town without a sack of quarters in your pocket for the money-hungry parking meter.

There has been a crime wave through the neighborhood — assaults, robberies, homes broken into, and even an organized armed bank robbery. But still our local police force piles the citations on reasonable citizens for petty misdemeanors. Priorities need to be straightened.

Talking on a cell phone while driving can indeed be hazardous, especially in congested, urban areas. Parking enforcement is ultimately a burden we all must carry, and the circulation of parking spaces through a time system is a reasonable and pragmatic design. There are indeed reasons for these laws, which can be agreed upon. But where is the line drawn between reasonable traffic enforcement and a police officer needing to fill a quota? At some points, it begins to seem that keeping the peace becomes overshadowed by a disgruntled, hungry system shaking spare change from the pockets of its people. For now, as Bob Dylan (sort of) said, we’ll just sit here on the Key Bridge and watch the tickets flow.

The Perpetually Delayed Waterfront Park Turns to Community for More Money
•

 

-After ongoing delays and skyrocketing leaps over the original budget by over $2.2 million, Waterfront Park is still about where it has been for the past six months: over budget and delayed. Delays were largely a result of previously undetected foundation debris associated with the former Capital Traction Company Powerhouse that was located at the spot of the park. The building was demolished in 1968.

Additional costs were then incurred to redesign the underground pumps for the fountain, the centerpiece of the plaza. Though Councilmember Jack Evans, with support from Mayor Fenty, was able to obtain $950,000, which was matched by money from the National Park Service’s Centennial Initiative Fund, phase two of the construction was still asking for an additional $150,000 from private
sources — again to be matched by the Park Service, bringing the total to $300,000 — to complete the park.

On October 7, the Georgetown BID presented Bob vom Eigen from the Friends of the Waterfront Park with a $50,000 check to assist in the completion of phase two of construction. The donation again will be matched by the National Park Service and will apparently, along with Pepco’s recent $50,000 donation, finalize the necessary fundraising for completion of phase two of the Park by June 2011.

But the Friends of Georgetown Waterfront Park continue to turn to the local community to come up with the rest of the funds, with the promise that every dollar donated will be matched by the National
Park Service.

According to Councilman Jack Evans, our local government is facing a shortfall of $100 million in declining revenue and $75 million in various spending pressures. Is this troubled park currently worth the efforts and resources of an ailing economy? We present no argument against the importance of public spaces, and the positive effects of community parks and recreation areas, but the plans for this park far exceed necessary expenditures for community development.

Plans for phase two of the Park, which stretches from Wisconsin Avenue to 31st Street, include a low arcing fountain lined with benches and steps laddering down to the river. A wide walkway will be continued along the river with an area with benches and a pergola for river viewing. An interactive
fountain will be added, and an arbor will be constructed above the new benches. Below the arbor, river stairs will descend to the water, forming an amphitheater where people can view activities in the park and watch the finish line of the boat races. For more information about Georgetown Waterfront Park construction, visit www.georgetownwaterfrontpark.org. Keep your fingers crossed.

The Mama Grizzlies Are Coming – But Will They Eat Their Young?
•

 

-Grr. Swat. Intimidating pose.

A new political animal may be coming to a town and statehouse near you: mama grizzlies. They combine a protective maternal instinct with the power of a large angry animal.

This could be excellent news for kids who have suffered greatly in the recession. Their college funds have been decimated, their homes foreclosed and taken away, their families impoverished from extended periods of under- or unemployment. The innocence of these citizens does not earn them the power to vote, so champions for their wellbeing (beyond their mothers) are more than welcome.

Throughout history Moms have symbolized compassion and self-sacrifice, from renaissance images of the Madonna to the life and works of Mother Teresa. Through their collective efforts to help the world’s children, mothers represent a bridge from a present replete with potential (and problems) to a bright future.

So, Moms log millions of unpaid hours volunteering in schools. Despite incredible hardship, impoverished mothers choose daily to prioritize the health and education of their children and receive a helping hand from microfinance organizations and charities. Neighborhood moms organize drives for disaster victims. Personally and collectively, mothers are a driving force in transforming their communities and the world at large.

This emergence of a potentially powerful and committed ursine species should bode well for kids struggling from the effects of this recession. Republican and Tea Party Senate candidates Carly Fiorina (California), Sharron Angle (Nevada), and Christine O’Donnell (Delaware), as well as South Carolina gubernatorial candidate Nikki Haley – and all of the others anointed “Mama Grizzlies” by Sarah Palin and her followers – claim they will fight for children in their states.

But these “mama grizzlies” seem more like their cousins the black bears, a species known to sometimes abandon their cubs.

“Mama grizzlies” aren’t making children’s health a priority. Many advocate repealing a deficit-neutral
health care reform package that specifically targets benefits for the nation’s youth. The new law prevents insurance companies from excluding preexisting conditions for children and adults alike, extends the period youths can stay on parents’ insurance, and funds state programs for poor children. Advocates of repeal fail to say how they will replace the many provisions that promise to keep kids healthy.

“Mama grizzlies” also support businesses that have been responsible for recent recalls of poisoned
peanuts, spinach, and eggs, as well gross negligence in allowing toxic chemicals into toys. And beyond even these deplorable business practices, our children’s future employment is imperiled by the exodus of manufacturing jobs overseas (one-third alone left during the Bush presidency). But generally these mamas are avidly pro-business. Haley has described placing private sector executives into state regulatory agencies as “a beautiful thing” and suggests wiping out the corporate income tax. These candidates have fallen short in describing how the candidates would build the next generation of jobs and ensure kids eat and play with only what’s safe.

These mamas do not seem particularly concerned about childhood’ education. America has dropped from first to twelfth in college attainment and ranks in achievement close to the bottom of Western nations in math, science and reading. Senate hopeful Sharron Angle once called for abolishing the Department of Education. Others call for performance-based pay and more private schools – piecemeal and ineffective approaches to our children’s education crisis.

These same “mama grizzlies” rarely discuss environmental and public health considerations, despite the asthma and obesity epidemics. One telling example is that Angle dismissed the escrow account for BP’s spill, a monumental disaster that has wreaked havoc on children’s mental health, breathing, and bodies, as a “slush fund”.

The approaching election offers a prime opportunity for moms with a grizzly bear’s strength of will to rise up and whack the oversized bullies that have left our children less healthy and poorer. This is an opportunity to do what Mothers should do: set up strict rules and punishing consequences for those who prey on their brood.

But insurance corporations, Big Oil, and too-large-to-fail banks seem to have co-opted the protective instincts of these potentially influential politicians. These “mama grizzlies” rise up. They grab a microphone to speak to the public, but they have little to say on the issues affecting our children. More than anything their message is, in effect, “Hey! Hands off the big guy.”

Voters have the duty to campaign for and elect candidates who put our kids first, who demonstrate
that they will fight to ensure a better future for the children of the country. While the roar of the mother grizzly is deafening, be sure not to mistake its tenor with the lesser snarl of the black bear.

DMV Amnesty Program
•

In this economy, breaks are a tough thing to catch. But starting Aug. 1, the DMV will be offering just that: amnesty on all overdue parking and moving violation tickets issued before Jan. 1, 2010, meaning that late fees on outstanding tickets will be waived.

The Amnesty Program, which will be in effect through Jan. 27, is applicable only to District residents and does not waive the whole fee, only late charges. The DMV also won’t assess points on moving violations and hearings will not be granted for amnesty tickets. Tickets must be paid within the six-month grace period to receive the waiver.

The program is a method of inciting District residents to pay long overdue tickets. According to The Washington Post, Mayor Gray (D) said that the city expects to collect $6.3 million over the course of the program.

Do you have overdue parking tickets?

visit the DMV’s Website and enter your license plate number to find out.