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SATURDAY: Is it that time of year already? No sooner have we stuffed our sweaters to the back of the closet than we're dusting off the flip-flops and heading out to the DC101 Chili Cook-Off.
RFK Stadium hosts the annual bacchanal of grease, peppers and, this year, big names in '90s rock. Rain or shine, expect to hear the sounds of the recent(ish) past when Puddle of Mudd, Papa Roach, Shinedown, Third Eye Blind, the Offspring and Red Jump Suit Apparatus, left, take the stage.
Chili samples are available in the competition area, but it's not the main attraction — this show annually kicks off the summer season of large-and-in-charge rock festivals.
» RFK Stadium, 2400 East Capitol St. SE; Sat., May 16, noon-9 p.m., $35; 800-551-7328. (Stadium-Armory)
Written by Express' Arion Berger
Photo by Joseph Cultice
THIS WEEK: Sure, New York can rib our fair city for being small and fashion-backward and not having 24-hour-cookie delivery — or, indeed 24-hour anything delivery. If you're tired of throwing the usual excuses back at them — "Must be nice to have vomit in your Metro! And rats!" or "How's Wall Street these days?" or the classic "I bet it feel great to pay to get into museums, eh?" — you can crow about D.C.'s green spaces. Not only do we have Rock Creek Park, we've got the National Arboretum, which bends over backward to make sure you can enjoy the greenery any time of the day — or night.
The National Arboretum's Full Moon Hikes offer an escape from the daily grind of city living at a time of day when you're actually free. Tucked away off of New York Avenue, this urban oasis of holds moonlit five-mile excursions though its meadows, woods and gardens. Wear comfortable shoes and don't bring the kids. Five miles is longer than you think.
» U.S. National National Arboretum, 3501 New York Ave. NE; Wed., May 6, 8 p.m.-10 p.m., $19; 202-245-4521. (Stadium-Armory)
Written by Express' Brian Austin
Photo courtesy U.S. National Arboretum
SATURDAY: Forget the pubs. Try more than 50 live bands, thousands of screaming fans and endless amounts of green beer. Shamrock Fest 2009 features all this and more in what could possibly be the most massive Saint Paddy's Day festival this side of the Atlantic.
The day-long fete features a 40-acre "party area" with Irish American bands such as Flogging Molly and Carbon Leaf, as well as notable DJs Team Facelift and Junior Sanchez. Not enticed yet? Just head over to the festival's "Irish Village" for authentic Irish pub games and performances by the McGrath Academy of Irish Dance or the D.C. folk group The Flying Cows of Ventry to fulfill all of your traditional Irish needs.
The sultry sounds of bagpipes and kettle drums go perfectly with that $12 solo cup of Guinness you chugged between the SMZB set and whatever clog-dancing group was stomping it up before them.
» RFK Stadium, 2400 East Capitol St. SE; Sat., March 14, 1 p.m., $20-$80; 202-547-9077. (Stadium-Armory)
Written by Express' Brian Austin
Photo courtesy of Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post
LIKE REGGAE? Move to California. No, just kidding, although that's where the most amazing reggae festivals are. But that's changing!
Although summer is technically over, the Reggae Summer Fest will take over the RFK Stadium this weekend, with performers like Ky-Mani Marley, S.T.O.R.M. and Stryker's Posse.
Express' Christopher Porter has been filing his eardrums down to little nubs finding videos to give you a taste of what Summer Fest will have to offer. Experience the fruits of his labor over at his Sound Bets blog.
» RFK Stadium, 2400 East Capitol St. SE; Sat., Sept. 7, 3 p.m., $35-$65; 202-397-7328. (Stadium Armory)
ETANA IS A RASTA.
But she doesn't have dreadlocks, is dressed like Billie Holiday on the cover of her debut CD, "The Strong One" (VP Records), and sings in a voice that's equally influenced by the last 20 years of American R&B (Jill Scott, India.Arie, Lauryn Hill) as it is the past 40 years of Jamaican music (Sizzla, Marcia Griffiths, Bob Marley).
She'll be one of two women headlining the Reggae Summerfest, which features Beres Hammond, Ky-Mani Marley, I-Wayne, Turbulence, Chuck Fender, Fire Star, Prestige, Ruth, New Kingston Band, The Iternals, Mr. Tex, Strykers Posse, S.T.O.R.M., Yawd Lynk, Passion Band, Image Band and Iration. (Check our Sound Bets blog for a series of video previews for many of the artists.)
But she's also one of the few women in reggae — period — let alone one singing cultural, political and original roots-reggae songs rather than chanting sex-saturated dancehall tunes. Not that she didn't go through that phase.
"The people that I was working with told me that the first song that I wrote — about a person getting rich, then losing everything and living on the roadside — said they couldn't make money off of that song," Etana said. "So I started writing raunchier lyrics, about sex and stuff, trying to fit in."
HILL EAST. Poplar Point. The Anacostia Riverwalk. The replacements of the 11th Street and Frederick Douglass bridges. If you can't keep all of the various redevelopment projects for the greater Anacostia waterfront area straight, you might want to stop by the upcoming Anacostia Waterfront Community Fair, slated for this weekend.
The gathering, sponsored by the Office of the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development and the District Department of Transportation will allow city officials, developers and nonprofit organizations to interact with the public and discuss proposals for the Anacostia waterfront, a part of the city that was long neglected, but is seeing a surge in interest.
The fair will take place Saturday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. at St. Coletta of Greater Washington at 19th Street SE and Independence Avenue. It comes as the city is expected to officially pick a developer to transform Poplar Point into a mixed-used destination near the Anacostia neighborhood's historic core.
Continue Reading "Event to Discuss Plans for Anacostia Waterfront" »
AFTER THE GATES of the Stadium-Armory station's Independence Avenue entrance were locked behind us and we walked past the empty station manager's kiosk, the sights and sounds of Metrorail after hours slowly emerged. The rattle of machinery grew louder as we approached the escalators leading down to the platform.
Usually, when thousands of sports fans pour into the station after events at RFK Stadium, they're greeted by a platform crowded with fellow attendees heading home. But early Wednesday morning last week, well after the last passengers had left the station, Stadium-Armory was mostly empty, but far from silent. The din of activity came from about midway down the platform, where small hoses snaked toward opposite end of the station. The electronic passenger information sign was covered in plastic, as were telephones and a lighted Calvin Klein advertising display. Workers in two cherry pickers armed with high-pressure water hoses were spraying out the hardest-to-get to areas of the station: the waffle-shaped coffers high above the platform.
Dirty water cascaded from the ceiling to the platform and trackbed below, where other workers were busy spraying more accessible surfaces. In all, the group was about 10 workers strong, but since many of them were wearing special breathing masks, there was little casual conversation in the spray zone. The noise of the water and the motors driving the high-pressure machinery drowned out all but the occasional muffled yell.
"It's a whole different world at night," Thomas Morrison, Metro's superintendent of contract maintenance and station enhancement, said as we walked past a cherry picker surrounded with spray. "People don't realize the efforts that go on at night."
Continue Reading "As Riders Sleep, Special Metro Cleaners Get to Work" »
GREENBELT OR NEW CARROLLTON could be potential new homes for D.C. United, which is looking to build a new stadium. As discussions broke down this summer between D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and the Major League Soccer franchise for a new stadium at Poplar Point in Anacostia, United officials began looking across the Maryland border for a potential new home.
As The Post's Rosalind S. Helderman reports preliminary discussions have started, and United owner Victor MacFarlane has expressed interest in New Carrollton and Greenbelt, sites the team had considered a few years ago.
Why those sites? They're both Metrorail accessible and have room for mixed-used development with a stadium as its anchor, which is what United was looking for with the Poplar Point site. Additionally, Prince George's County has a large Latino population, which forms a critical foundation for the team's fan base.
All this comes at a time when District officials are trying to figure out what to do with RFK Stadium — United's current home and until recently, home to the Nationals — which will move into a new stadium in Near Southeast in the spring. As The Post's David Nakamura reports, the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which operates the facility, is looking for $2.5 million in public money, to cover a budget shortfall, "largely the result of the Nationals' ending their annual $2 million rent payment at RFK ...."
» "Would They Call It P.G. United?" [WaPo]
» "Drain Feared As Nationals Leave RFK" [WaPo]
Photo by Toni L. Sandys/The Washington Post
Photo of construction work at the new Nationals stadium last month by Ricky Carioti/The Washington Post
THE EFFORT TO BUILD a new stadium for the Washington Nationals has been a lot of things — fractious, confusing, convoluted — but it certainly hasn't been boring. The latest battle: Where fans will park. And communication between the team and the city government doesn't appear to be in the best of shape.
» SHOT: The Nats announce Tuesday that stadium-goers will be able to park for free at RFK Stadium, the Nats' old home, once the new ballpark opens in April. They'll hop a shuttle bus from there to the new facility, which sits near the Navy Yard Metro station and South Capitol Street.
» CHASER: D.C. officials, who control RFK, say they haven't signed off on the plan, The Post's David Nakamura reports:
"Right now, we haven't finalized any arrangement for satellite parking," said Greg O'Dell, chief executive of the D.C. Sports and Entertainment Commission, which operates RFK and is overseeing construction of the new ballpark. "We're certainly in discussions and want to come to an arrangement that makes sense to both parties."Both the Nats owners and the city have a hefty stake in making sure fans can get to the ballpark, Nakamura reports: The family of Bethesda developer Theodore Lerner paid $450 million for the team and the city is spending $611 million to build the stadium.
Continue Reading "Nationals, D.C. At Odds Over Parking Plan" »
SO METRORAIL'S NAVY YARD station is probably going to see some sort of name change to better brand the Green Line stop as the home of the Washington Nationals, as WTOP has reported. 
Otherwise, those unfamiliar with the transit system might end up at the Stadium-Armory station, where RFK Stadium is located. DCist on Tuesday polled its readers in a post titled "Should We Rename the Navy Yard Metro Stop?" Well, DCist should know it doesn't have the authority to rename Metrorail stations, but beyond that jurisdictional matter, the blog's commenters have offered up some worthy suggestions. Our favorite is a reference to Near Southeast's ousted adult entertainment venues: "Something like Navy Yard/Nationals Stadium/Historic Gay Bathhouse District," commenter Monkeyrotica suggests.
Another commenter notes something important: "On that note, we must change Stadium-Armory to RFK Stadium-Armory. We must prevent clueless tourists from their own incompetence."
Good point. First things first. Shouldn't there first be a name for the new stadium before the Navy Yard station is renamed? Oh, details. [WTOP; DCist]
» HERE WE GO AGAIN: There's another petition to get a high-end grocery store in the Gallery Place-Chinatown-Verizonville-Penn Quarter neighborhood. 
This time, the people — and Douglas Development — want a Whole Foods. Good luck with that. [PQ Living]
» OVERPLAYED: The good folks over at law firm Sullivan & Cromwell are trying to lure new young lawyers not only with big fat bonuses, but also, oddly, with bonsai trees. The evidence is here. Why not a big credenza to stash loot in? [Above the Law; Law Blog/WSJ]
» QUICKLY QUOTED: Ahhh, this situation must have been awkward: "In that brief moment of eye contact I tried to say 'I am a student of history, not a pseudo-scientific Victorian eugenicist! Horrible misunderstanding!'" [EJ Takes Life]
Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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