Bonny Wolf, NPR commentator and author of the book "Talking With My Mouth Full"
@ National Harbor
Q:What's your favorite food TV show or host?
A:"I like 'Top Chef.' They're serious about food, and have personality."
MUSEUMS ARE a summer staple, even for non-tourists, if only because you can hang out for hours and know that someone else is paying for the air conditioning. So when we heard about a new outdoor component to one of D.C.'s newer showplaces, the International Spy Museum, we were skeptical.
Spy In the City, which opened in mid-June, is the first of a planned series of outdoor "missions" at the Spy Museum. Here's how it works: you pick up a GPS device with a screen, some headphones and various important-looking buttons — let very young children share with an adult. You go outside the museum and the device tells you where to go and what to look for in order to solve the mystery.
The 90-minute adventure is well-constructed — certainly easier for natives than for tourists who will walk the wrong way looking for Ford's Theatre, but not so easy that you won't have fun. Surprisingly, running around Penn Quarter with little electronic devices attracts a lot of attention, including that of a friendly FBI policeman who opined "I bet I'd be good at that!" One warning: though generally you collect clues from your surroundings, there is one semi-obscure piece of trivia you just have to know. But if you guess wrong enough times, the device gives you hints that enable you to finish the game.
Continue Reading "Try to Act Your Espionage: Spy In the City" »
Bargain Redemption
An edgy stop-motion animated feature that explores the meaning of life is not kiddie fare, unless your toddler has been asking what it's all for. "$9.99" takes audiences on a wild ride with a 28-year-old slacker who finds an ad that promises a booklet that will explain his reason for being. The cost? $9.99. The angel that comes with it? Priceless.
» E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW: opens Fri., June 26, 202-452-7672, (Metro Center)
Hold the Martini
The International Spy Museum screens the film debut of the popular kids' book series "Stormbreaker" as part of its KidSpy program on Thursday. The film follows Alex Ryder from prep-school lad to super-spy when his uncle disappears. The $7 ticket price includes a debriefing from a former spy.
» International Spy Museum, 800 F St. NW; Thu., June 25, 1-3 p.m., $7; 202-393-7798. (Gallery Place-Chinatown)
Continue Reading "Indies & Arties: Meaning of Life Comes at a Price" »
WHAT A SWELL party it is to spend time with Noel Coward's witty, well-dressed 1920s bohemians in the Shakespeare Theatre Company's "Design for Living."
Sure, the 70-plus years since the Brit bon mot-slinger penned the comedy have diminished its power to shock but taken away none of the pleasure of watching its artistic freethinkers trade witty barbs and jump in and out of the sack with each other.
The setup is simple: Three twentysomething pals — Otto, Leo and Gilda — hang out, drink up and hook up in Jazz Age Paris, London and New York. Their creative pursuits — Gilda's an interior designer, Otto's a painter, and Leo's a playwright — provide some of the play's juice. The scandal comes from continual partner-swapping. What starts off as a Gilda-and-Otto romance morphs into every other imaginable pairing short of a threesome.
Continue Reading "Mad About the Boys: 'Design for Living'" »
THIS WEEKEND: Hold your tongue and let your eyes feast on the best of the Spanish table as "Luis Melendez: Master of the Spanish Still Life" entices at the National Gallery of Art. These rich and vibrant paintings from the 18th-century master are as much studies of light as they are efforts in fruit-and-bread verisimilitude.
» National Gallery of Art, 4th Street & Constitution Avenue NW; through Aug. 23, free; 202-842-6353. (Archives-Navy Memorial)
Written by Express' Nathan Martin
AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPHY IS something we take for granted. But the National Gallery of Art show "Jaromir Funke and the Amateur Avant-Garde" reminds us of an era when being a shutterbug was about more than re-creation.
Enter Jaromir Funke, the artist represented in the exhibition whose work in the Czech photography movement after World War I has largely been overlooked.
"His art has gained increasing attention in the marketplace and among lovers of photography privately," says the show's curator, Matthew Witkovsky (who recently left for the Art Institute of Chicago). "It was time to make him the center of an exhibition."
Continue Reading "A Rule-Breaker's Unique Vision: Jaromir Funke" »
FRIDAY: Yeah, yeah, the first day of summer is officially June 21. Pshah! For many of us, the start of summer is a fleeting moment that'll happen on May 22. It's that first sip of sangria while listening to jazz at the National Gallery of Art's Jazz in the Garden.
That's right, D.C. denizens, it's back. The free outdoor summer series kicks off with jazz vocalist Lady A at 5 p.m. So grab a blanket and scout out a grassy knoll — although the mulch ain't a bad spot to settle in either — and buy a pitcher of the fruity summer beverage. Your weekday stresses will eke away with each chord progression.
» National Gallery of Art, 6th Street & Constitution Avenue NW; Fri., May 22, 5 p.m., free; 202-842-6799. (Archives-Navy Memorial)
Photo by Lucian Perkins/The Washington Post
LET'S FACE IT: Finding a decent lunch on the National Mall is no easy task. But now, a taste of Washington's food scene is available on the well-beaten National Mall path. Through September, the National Gallery of Art is turning over its West Building Garden Cafe to D.C.'s own celebrity chef Jose Andres.
Host of a PBS series and the owner of five Washington restaurants (including Jaleo and Zaytinya), Andres jumped at the chance to collaborate with Restaurant Associates chef David Rogers on the Spanish-infused tapas menu.
"I have been living in Washington for over 18 years, and I wanted to be part of the culture of the city," said Andres. "Since Spain is my birthplace, my place of origin, I hold a certain pride whenever there is attention given to the country's culture. Whenever the opportunity comes to help share my heritage with the world, I take it."
Continue Reading "A Taste of Spain: Andres Brings Authentic Spanish Food to NGA" »
THOSE LOOKING FOR more than a week's worth of exotic cocktails might want to take a look at the drink menu new general manager Adam Crocini is debuting at the Source by Wolfgang Puck.
The choices include a few nice twists on classic mixes that are well suited for warmer weather, like the pomegranate mojito, which manages to add a layer of fruit flavor without becoming cloying.
On the opposite end of the spectrum is the cucumber martini, a combination of gin, lime juice and muddled cucumber that manages to simultaneously be salty, briny and very refreshing — like a homemade pickle straight out of the fridge.
One of the most complex offerings has to be the blackberry anejo, a mix featuring aged Herradura tequila that hits the tongue with the sweetness of berry puree, but leaves a pleasant Tabasco burn on the way down. While hardly an alternative to a simple gin and tonic, it's ideal for anyone looking for a drink that will surprise them.
» The Source, 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW; 202-637-6100 (Gallery Place-Chinatown/Archives-Navy Memorial)
Written by Express contributor Robert Margetta
Photo courtesy Amber Pfau Communications
"I THINK BRUCE Conner is the least appreciated of the greatest American filmmakers," Scott MacDonald says. The author of the five-volume series "A Critical Cinema: Interviews With Independent Filmmakers" introduces the National Gallery of Art screening of "Bruce Conner: A Tribute," which includes some of Conner's 16 mm shorts. MacDonald discusses the almost hidden secret artistic life of the 20th-century artist best known for his evocative found-object assemblages.
» EXPRESS: How did Conner's assemblages intersect with his career as an experimental filmmaker?
» MACDONALD: I think he was kind of the same person in each form, but he kept those worlds pretty separate. I'm not even sure whether the sculpture world would know about his drawings, for example. And, certainly, most people who know his films have no idea of his other work. What he did early was pretty controversial — erotically charged assemblages using old furniture, junk, women's stockings, in the late '50s and early '60s. The bottom line is that there are two different kinds of things, but the collage urge is the same in both assemblage and cinema.
» EXPRESS: What was he like as a person?
» MACDONALD: He was very smart, very feisty, very practical. At one point, he was one of the better-known beat artists in the late '50s and '60s. He was part of that world for a while and moved from one world to another, though, in the long run, there was a hermit aspect to him, and he wouldn't be at art openings or anything. ... He was very smart about the world and smart about how art functions in the world.
Continue Reading "An Homage to Filmmaker Bruce Conner: Author Scott MacDonald" »
IN HONOR OF Earth Week, the National Gallery of Art presents Planet Film, a series of international short films about the environment.
Each film has a message about protecting nature, and might even guilt you into being a better steward of the planet.
» National Gallery of Art, 600 Constitution Ave. NW; Sat., 10:30 a.m. & Sun., 11:30 a.m., free; 202-737-4215. (Archives-Navy Memorial)
Still from "The Tree Elves" courtesy the National Gallery of Art
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