WEEKEND: Equal parts Greek tragedy and "Rocky Horror," "Hedwig And The Angry Inch" is the story of Hedwig Schmidt, a rock 'n' roll obsessed German boy who becomes the transgendered child-bride of an American G.I. And that's just the first act.
A trip to Kansas, a divorce, some Hasidic johns, a sassy New Yawk band manager, the remaining angry inch and a love affair with a young Christian rock star round out the story.
The Obie-winning off-Broadway musical is in D.C. for a limited four show run, and the production is tailored to each city's climate via local references. Any guesses as to Hedwig's stance on Marion Barry?
» Warehouse Theater, 1021 7th St. NW; Fri. and Sat., Oct. 30 and 31, 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.; $25 in advance, $35 at the door (cash only); 202-783-3933. (Mt. Vernon Square)
Written by Express' Anne Polsky
Photo courtesy Warehouse Theater
TONIGHT: Still seeking that permanent cure for writer's block? Head to Busboys and Poets tonight for a reading and discussion of Michael Largo's new book "Genius and Heroin: The Illustrated Catalogue of Creativity, Obsession and Reckless Abandon Through the Ages."
We're not saying drugs will make you a better writer. Well, they might make you think you're a better writer, but unless you can get everyone in the world to take them, that won't help you much.
The book offers juicy tidbits, addiction woes, creative processes and the tragic downfalls of legendary artists and philosophers, including Nietzsche, Edgar Allan Poe and Charlie Parker. Best taken with a grain of salt and cocktail in hand.
» Busboys and Poets (Cullen Room), 1025 5th St. NW; Sept. 22, 6:30 p.m., free; 202-789-2227. (Mt. Vernon)
Written by Express' Anne Polsky
Photo courtesy Harper Collins
IT'S A RIOT TO WATCH Fido chomp away at his favorite chew toy. But an apartment littered with rubber hedgehogs and ratty dog beds is likely to land you in the "before" category on one of those HGTV makeover shows. But does adopting a dog, cat or, heck, guinea pig mean you have to surrender your pad to paw print-stamped pillows, fusty carpet scratching posts and metal crates that resemble canine jails?
"There's this desire on the part of home-owners to beautify their spaces, but for many years, the pet-product industry didn't take that into account," says Julia Szabo, pet columnist for the New York Post and author of the new book "Pretty Pet Friendly" ($17, Wiley). But luckily for design-conscious pet lovers, a new generation of chic pet companies has moved to the front of the pack.
Getting your paws on hipper, sleeker puppy beds, cool birdcages and haute cat collars is easier than teaching a dog tricks now, thanks to fresh stock at online outlets, indie boutiques and big-box stores such as Petco and PetSmart. What began with a few high-end designers offering handmade wares with a mod sensibility has evolved into an industry-wide phenomenon -- a growing piece of the $45 billion pet-product pie, according to the American Pet Products Association.
"Carpet-covered monstrosities were not cutting it," says Kate Benjamin, a Phoenix blogger who defies the "crazy cat lady" stereotype on her blog, Moderncat.net, where she emphasizes design-forward products -- from "Jetsons"-esque cat pods by Hepper Home (Hepperhome.com) to sleek cat perches and DIY sheepskin-topped acrylic cubes -- and shows how she incorporates her six felines into her swanky, boutique hotel-ish pad.
Continue Reading "Paw & Order: Accessories for the Modern Pet" »
OVER THE PAST couple years, in-the-know foodies have burrowed into underground dining at secret restaurants in New York, San Francisco and Chicago.
In Washington, though, it's drinking on the DL that's catching on. Since Todd Thrasher began shaking and stirring at the speakeasy-style Alexandria lounge PX in 2006, a wave of underground watering holes has surfaced. These bars are featured everywhere from local food blogs to the New York Times, and while some establishments are grateful for the attention, others have a more complicated relationship with the press. On one hand, mixologists want to share their craft with as many people as possible; but, they also want to encourage quality over quantity.
Continue Reading "Undercover Cocktails: DC's New Speakeasies" »
ONE OF THE best ways to burn extra calories is to try a totally new activity, and you're basically guaranteed to stumble across something novel at NBC4's annual Health and Fitness Expo at the Convention Center this Saturday and Sunday (9 a.m.-5 p.m.).
Learn about fencing, play soccer and sample Dance Dance Revolution Extreme 2. There's a rock climbing wall, a snowboarding simulator and a driving range. Plus, gyms are offering demos (and perhaps membership discount deals). Time your visit right, and you could run into Ed Brantley and Heba Salama from "The Biggest Loser" (they're around both days at 1 p.m.), or Spike Mendelsohn of "Top Chef" and Good Stuff Eatery fame (Sunday at 11 a.m.) — he'll demo healthy recipes.
Even just walking around the hundreds of booths will feel like a workout.
Photo courtesy NBC4
DAVID REES was perhaps the first popular Web cartoonist to realize that you don't need to be able to draw to be a popular Web cartoonist.
While some Web artists resort to stick figures, Rees turns instead to clip art to accompany his political satire. His strip is so popular that it's been made into a play — and Rees will be speaking about his contribution to political discourse at the new Busboys and Poets space on Sunday.
» Busboys and Poets, 1025 5th St. NW; Sun., Nov. 23, 6 p.m., free; 202-789-2227. (Mt. Vernon Square)
Photo courtesy Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
PROMISE YOURSELF some downtime during the sure-to-be-exhausting D.C. International Arts Expo this weekend. May we suggest Saturday night's "The After Hours Xperience"?
88 DC throws a benefit for the Washington Project for the Arts with body painting, artists, projections, photographers and the live experimental electronica — from Aligning Minds, right, among others — for which 88 is known and revered.
» Convention Center, 801 Mount Vernon Place NW; Fri.-Sun., $10-$50; "After Hours" Sat., 10 p.m., $15. (Mt Vernon Square)
"THE WORLD'S BECOME completely unpredictable on a large scale," says writer Bernard Welt.
He says that pollutants and man-made alterations have rendered our rock-steady notions of Earth as stable algorithm totally obsolete, and while he would love for this to be manifested as "a rain of frogs," we'll just have to settle for ice caps melting, winters becoming intemperately warm and other subtle indications of irreconcilable climate change.
He says all of these things when summarizing the message of a seminal piece of environmental literature: Bill McKibben's 1989 book "End of Nature," which helped plant the idea of global warming into the lives of everyday Americans.
Welt, along with fellow writers Judith McCombs and Nan Fry, will be tackling McKibben's ideas in a poetry reading on April 19 at the Warehouse Gallery, in conjunction with the art exhibition "The End of Nature."
Continue Reading "Natural Poetry: Bernard Welt, Judith McCombs & Nan Fry" »
ONE DAY IN 1933, two French sisters who had been working as maids in an affluent household for seven years abruptly murdered their employer and her daughter, gouging their eyes out while they were alive and then using a hammer, knife and pewter jug to finish the job.
While the two sisters working as maids in Jean Genet's "The Maids," inspired by those events, don't necessarily want to be that vicious, they've certainly determined life would be better off without Madame around anymore.
THE WAFFLE SHOP on 10th Street NW sits abandoned. It served its last meal in its well-worn Art Moderne space across from Ford's Theatre in September. But maverick developer Douglas Jemal, pictured at right, has plans for the place. He says he's going to deconstruct it piece by piece, move it to a new location and open it back up under an agreement reached with D.C. officials and preservationists.
Reports The Post's Paul Schwartzman:
Although it is not unprecedented for developers to transplant old homes and facades, District officials cannot recall anyone moving an entire restaurant. Jemal promotes his agreement with the preservationists as a unique moment of compromise between forces often in cranky opposition.Although a destination has not been settled on, there's a good chance the Waffle Shop will end up on 7th Street NW on land Jemal owns across from the Washington Convention Center. But Jemal admits it will be difficult to re-create the atmosphere of the original Waffle Shop, as many of the regulars have moved down 10th Street to the Lincoln House, whose counters were rebuilt to make "the Waffle Shop faithful feel at home," Schwartzman writes.
» "Diner's Neon Might Glow Again" [WaPo]
» EARLIER: "On 10th St. NW, New Icons Arrive, Another Leaves" [Free Ride/Express]
Photos by Lois Raimondo/The Washington Post
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