TIRED FROM HOLIDAY shopping and festivities? Hop in the car and drive through Watkins Regional Park in Prince George's County to see an annual holiday display that features more than a million twinkling and animated lights.
Brightly lit displays of Christmas trees, dreidels, Santa and trains are sure to bring smiles. Don't forget your camera as well as some canned goods to donate to locate food banks; it'll make you feel extra jolly.
» Watkins Regional Park, 301 Watkins Park Drive, Upper Marlboro; through Jan. 1, 5 p.m. - 9:30 p.m., $5 car or mini-van, $15 mini-bus; 301-699-2456
Written by Express' Hannah Kim
Photo courtesy Maryland National Capital Park & Planning Commission
REGGAE IS HARDLY a niche genre, but Jamaican performer Beenie Man took it one step further and became an international superstar by combining upbeat dancehall with R&B, and by working with hip-hop names.
Catch his worldly blend of genres when he performs at Crossroads Club in Bladensburg on Saturday night.
» Crossroads, 4103 Baltimore Ave., Bladensburg, Md.; Sat., 9 p.m.,$25.; 301-927-1056.
Photo by Jonathan Mannion
ONE SUMMER DAY last year, Prince George's County and City of Bowie police approached a townhouse on Piller Lane. The county sheriff SWAT team stared at the door, awaiting its signal.
Pvt. 1st Class Jamie Anderson was there. A week before, the city of Bowie police officer had made a routine traffic stop. "The driver bailed and ran," she says dryly, "and dropped a pound of marijuana."
The driver had run toward this house, and research linked the car's registration to this address. Anderson wrote up a search warrant, laying out probable cause for a raid and outlining public dangers of not investigating. Among them: "The house was 200 to 300 feet from a school and right in front of a playground."
Continue Reading "D.C.'s Finest, Apply Here: Becoming a Police Officer" »
IN CIRCUS SHOWS, it's usually the clowns making the funny and the acrobats bringing the oohs and aahs. But Cirque du Soleil is no typical circus, and with its new touring show, "Kooza," the roles have changed a little. Merging the two circus traditions, acrobatic performance and clowning, the show explores identity and power.
While David Shiner spent part of his youth in D.C. (no comment on whether he was class clown at Suitland Junior High School), he took his passion for humor global. With a resume that includes being a street mime in Paris, a clown with international renown, a movie and Broadway performer, Shiner tells us what inspired him to develop this show.
» EXPRESS: How is "Kooza" different from other Cirque du Soleil shows?
» SHINER: This is an art form of a one-ring circus that has elements, with great acrobatics and great comedy. It's simple in its form, but complex in its structure. We chose some of the best artistic acts in the world, and the skill level is just mind-boggling. It focuses on the connection with the audience.
» EXPRESS: Your career has spanned quite a spectrum. What do you consider your personal highlights?
» SHINER: I loved working with Cirque du Soleil in 1990. Also, when I worked with Bill Irwin on Broadway on the production "Fool Moon." Now I'm excited about "Kooza." I'm the first American director of Cirque du Soleil. This is all my own.
Continue Reading "Clown Confession: Cirque du Soleil's David Shiner" »
LIKE EVERY OTHER serious contender for "America's Next Top Model," Isis King knows her stuff when it comes to makeup.
"A little lip gloss helps freshen any look," the Prince George's County native says. But when she offers another nugget of wisdom — "I've learned concealer is your best friend" — it's hard not to recall that King, who was booted at the end of last week's episode, is not entirely like the other women on the show.
Although they all had to work it in a series of shoots, King faced the additional challenge of posing in skimpy outfits while obscuring from view signs that she's a pre-op transsexual. Not that the other contestants and panel of judges weren't clued in. From the first round of the competition, her fellow models gabbed catty comments to the cameras. And host Tyra Banks sent her packing with a speech telling her she was already an inspiration to the LGBT community.
DIABETES, WHICH AFFECTS ONE IN 13 D.C. residents, can't be cured with a wardrobe overhaul. A better makeover includes building self-confidence and healthier habits, which is why women are invited to attend Divabetic, a free education program that lures folks with massages and manicures, but sneaks in lessons on how to get healthier. This Saturday, it's paying a visit to Camelot by Martin's at 1 p.m. (13901 Central Ave., Upper Marlboro, Md.; pregister at Divabetic.org).
The event features six stations, focusing on topics such as nutrition and goal-setting. Movement takes center stage at the "Twist & Shout" stop, led by Rochelle Rice, author of "Real Fitness for Real Women." She relies on Pilates to help them find their alignment, yoga to better their breathing and resistance bands to start challenging their muscles — all with modifications for folks with bigger bodies.
So, triangle pose leads to reaching for the seat of a chair instead of the ground. Cans become makeshift barbells. And Rice addresses the details that can make or break an exercise resolution: "One of the problems we have is when women are told to exercise, they get secondary injuries, like chafing thighs and aching feet. So, before you start a walking program, we can talk about what to wear and stretches for the feet."
Her ultimate goal is to get women to shake their groove things. "They get dancing, and the heart just sings," she says. "If they danced one song a day, I'd be happy."
Photo by Ramin Talaie
FROM THE FIRST AIR JORDANS to a fresh pair of Vans, sneakers are more than practical street or sport footwear — they're art. With that concept in mind, Art Whino owner Shane Pomajambo teamed up with kicks company Tagur for "Inked Souls," an exhibit of customized sneakers opening on Saturday — and sticking around — at the eclectic gallery's waterfront space.
» EXPRESS: How did this show come about?
» POMAJAMBO: I own Art Whino, and I've always been interested in trying to bring this kind of art form from California and New York to the D.C. area. This area is not really known for having any scene for this kind of art, and my goal is to have amazing shows and have people think about us when they think about this type of art.
» EXPRESS: What type of art do you mean?
» POMAJAMBO: I call it lowbrow or pop-surrealism — stuff that's emerged in the last 10 years from skateboard culture in California, like the breakdancing that happened in the '80s in New York.
Josiah Boyer and Kristin Tomasulo look at a tree that fell Wednesday at 9th and K streets NW. Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post. Below right: Virginia Melanson of Chicago seeks shelter from the storms in Annapolis. Photo by Marvin Joseph/The Washington Post
GOOD MORNING, WASHINGTON. If you haven't seen a downed tree limb, power line or other detritus from yesterday's onslaught of powerful stormy weather, you're one of the few.
The violent storms are blamed for one death, and caused so many power outages that Montgomery County and Prince George's County decided to shutter their public schools for the day today, although scheduled graduation ceremonies will go on as planned.
Here's the latest on power outages from The Post's Maria Glod, Debbi Wilgoren and Tom Jackman:
In Northern Virginia, more than 115,000 customers remained without power as of 7:30 a.m. this morning, Dominion Virginia Power reported. Pepco said there were 72,000 homes and businesses without power in Montgomery County, along with nearly 18,000 homes and businesses in Prince George's County and almost 12,000 customers in the District. Baltimore Gas and Electric reported another 7,000 outages in Prince George's, along with 20,000 outages in Anne Arundel County, 5,500 outages in Howard County. And some 6,400 outages remained in Southern Maryland, according to utility officials there.Area utility companies said last night that they will need until late tomorrow to restore service to all their customers.
EACH YEAR, the University of Maryland's National Orchestral Institute hosts a different group of musicians between the ages of 18 and 28 who want to hone their symphonic skills. Although the players change, the NOI's performances, held each Saturday in June, always blaze with an enthusiasm rare in an orchestral concert.
For James Ross, a professor at the university and the NOI's artistic director, cultivating this enthusiasm is just as important as making sure everyone's on beat.
"If you're not in the act of doing something that you're really committed to and enjoying, then there's no particular reason why people should ... pay a fair amount of money to sit and watch you not enjoy what you're doing," Ross says. "No rock group would survive that long with that kind of approach to what they do onstage."
Continue Reading "A Passion for Playing: National Orchestral Institute" »
EVER WONDERED how it feels to be struck by lightning? Sixteen-year-old Dominique Bennett can tell you.
"It hurt," the Maryland teen told NBC4. "It hurt pretty bad, I will say that. That's a feeling I would never want to go through again."
Bennett got his jolt while holding a tent pole at a fair in a Capitol Heights church parking lot on Saturday after the strong storms that swept through the area began to erupt, the TV station reports. He was hospitalized for two days.
Watch Bennett's amazingly understated version of the story here. Most people would probably tell it with more exclamation points and waving of hands. And perhaps the phrase "and that's when I was freaking HIT BY LIGHTNING!" But Bennett seems to have a cooler head than that.
» "Teen Struck By Lightning Credits God For Saving Life" [NBC4]
Photo from a 2005 storm by Steven King/The Washington Post
Addison Road