VIDEO AMERICAIN IS a throwback to the golden age of the corner video store.
As you'd expect of a Takoma Park institution, however, its local acts are backed up by global thinking. There are racks of international movies organized by director, genre and country of origin. The shop stocks DVDs, but also tapes. And the clerks are passionate about films that don't have Wookiees in them. If you want to check out Pieter Kuijpers' "Off Screen," the toast of the 2005 Montreal World Film Festival, the red envelope can't help you, but Video Americain can.
And every week or two, there are free Thursday screenings that have ranged from "Rushmore" to "The Beaver Trilogy" to "Kitten With a Whip." This week, it's Fritz Lang's dystopian 1927 classic "Metropolis" so we spoke with Annie Chabel, Video Americain clerk and programmer of in-store film nights http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolis_(film)
Continue Reading "Renter's Paradise: Video Americain & 'Metropolis'" »
IT'S NOT A GOOD MORNING for Red Line riders. A cracked rail near the Takoma station has forced trains to single-track between Silver Spring and Fort Totten at the height of the morning rush.
The transit agency warns of delays of at least 20 minutes. According to a press release, track crews are working to repair the problem.
Ready for that three-day weekend yet?
» UPDATE 8:38 a.m.: The crack has been repaired and single-tracking has ended, Metro says. Read the full press release below.
Continue Reading "Cracked Rail Spawns Delays on Metro's Red Line" »
THE SPOOKY ACTION THEATRE'S production of Eric Overmyer's 1992 play "Dark Rapture," directed by Paul Takacs, begins topically, with a fire in the California hills that echoes the one only recently in the news. As gels flood the set with shades of red and orange, two men stand center stage and watch the spectacle, one of them dominating the scene with a lengthy monologue about volcanic eruptions.
It's a promising scene full of dread and mystery, and these two men of course will figure prominently into the plot as it twists and globe-trots from California to Key West to Cabo San Lucas. A colorful cast of characters follow a suitcase full of cash, but that's just an excuse to get them talking about the Kennedy assassination, hurricanes and mai tais.
Overmyer gives Spooky Action a lot to juggle. The cast gamely chew the scenery, tearing into his dialogue with the aplomb it demands. Hilary Kacser is a stand-out playing a Key West drug dealer/love interest with a playful Southern drawl and wisps of alluring gray hair (which may be the most telling aspect of her character).
Misha Kachman's set design is clever and evocative, centering on a movable wooden wall onto which the title cards for each scene are projected — a strong cinematic touch. Bedrooms and barrooms are wheeled in on floating stages, allowing the actors and director full use of the uncluttered stage area to explore the play's comedy and tragedy.
» Black Box Theatre at Montgomery College's Takoma Park campus; through Dec. 2, $10, $5 students; 301-650-1487 (Silver Spring)
Written by Stephen M. Deusner
Photo by Perry Schwartz
IN A MOVE that has irked many just across the Maryland line in Takoma Park, the Metro board has approved a plan to sell 6.8 acres of land near its Takoma station in the District to a developer who plans to construct an 86-unit townhouse development.
As The Post's Ann E. Marimow reports, there are strong opinions both for and against the project. Those who have fought the plan contend the reworked site will "create a dangerous mix of cars and buses, reduce the number of parking spaces at the station, make it more difficult for disabled riders to use the elevator and shrink space available for additional bus bays," Marimow reports. Metro has been under pressure by critics to better use its available real estate to encourage transit-oriented development.
The plan isn't a done deal quite yet: Now that the land sale to Bethesda-based developer EYA has been OK'd, the development proposal will now go to the Federal Transit Administration and D.C. planning and zoning officials.
IT'S PRETTY EASY to figure out who represents the District's disenfranchised voters on Capitol Hill — non-voting Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (or, perhaps Texas Republican Louie Gohmert). For residents in Silver Spring and Takoma Park, however, the congressional borders are drawn so oddly that representation is anybody's guess.
The map at right, though, has the answers. The three members of the Maryland delegation that represent the area are Steny Hoyer (in blue), Chris Van Hollen (in red) and Albert Wynn (in green). It's easy enough to find your street on there, right?
A recent comment at Silver Spring Penguin addresses the confusion:
I voted in the wrong district last year (whoops) because who would have thought moving from Georgian Towers to Twin Towers would change your congressional district!!?? I mean, come on! I realize "Silver Spring" and "Downtown Silver Spring" are [unincorporated] areas ... names with no legal bearing — but you'd think these things would follow SOME sort of logical path! And yes, I realize the reason is that the partisans (uhm.. that'd be the entire [C]ongress) somehow have the authority to move the lines back and forth all day long until they get the balance of power they're looking for — in the process, effectively making some people's votes more or less significant ... but that shouldn't bother us, we're not a democracy or anything.So how exactly can you figure who represents you in Congress, or, for that matter, in Annapolis? Just use this mapping tool. It has overlays that show district boundaries and an address lookup feature so you can find where your home fits in the mix.
» RELATED: "The Race to Gerrymander" [Washington Monthly]
MORE BAD NEWS for Metro's Red Line: Ultrasonic testing overnight turned up another set of flaws on a different part of the heavily traveled corridor, a development that will continue the slowdowns riders have been experiencing throughout the week.
The flaws were detected in sections of track at the Forest Glen, Takoma and Fort Totten stations, Metro says. Those flawed sections of track come in addition to the imperfections discovered earlier in the week between the Medical Center and Friendship Heights stations.
The transit agency says that track workers will be installing new sections of rail while the system is closed — work that's expected to be completed overnight and into the weekend. Until it's finished, though, trains will operate at a reduced speed — 35 miles per hour instead of the usual 44 — in the spots where track flaws were found as a safety precaution. Those speed restrictions have been in place all week between Friendship Heights and Medical Center.
Metro's cautioning riders to be on the lookout for minor delays.
» "Rail Flaws Continue to Cause Minor Delays Today on Parts of the Red Line" [WMATA]
HOUSING NEAR Metro stations is almost always in high demand, but some Maryland leaders and residents are pushing the transit agency to pull the plug on a plan to sell land it owns near the Takoma station to a developer seeking to build townhouses.
The Metro board is scheduled to vote on the matter today.
Part of the seven-acre property, which sits on the D.C. side of the border along Eastern Avenue, is currently green space dotted with trees. Some nearby residents in both Maryland and D.C. hope to keep it that way, saying they're concerned that adding townhouses would limit access to the station for walkers and bikers, The Post's Ann E. Marimow reports.
Proponents, however, see the development as a chance to give the Northwest neighborhood an economic shot in the arm and an opportunity to create more mass transit-friendly places for residents to live.
IF PRESIDENT BUSH or Vice President Cheney were to leave the confines of the District to visit constituents in suburban Maryland, one place they probably won't be greeted with smiles and flowers is Takoma Park. The city, which sits on the border with D.C., is officially on the record as wanting the chief executive and his No. 2 removed from office.
In a 5-0 vote on Monday, the city council approved a resolution that "calls for the city of Takoma Park to write letters to the Montgomery County Council, the county executive, the Maryland legislature and the governor asking them to consider adopting similar resolutions," The Post's Dan Morse reports.
» "City Council Strongly Backs Bid to Impeach Bush, Cheney" [WaPo]
Photo by Alex Wong/AFP/Getty Images
HOW'S YOUR WEEKEND shaping up? Table-salt margaritas and Old El Paso? There are people having a better time, right down the street.
The house-concert scene is thriving, but you need the secret password. Two weeks ago, it got you in at Casa Lars and Becky, where The Old 78's threw down "Indian War Whoop," acoustic music as God intended it — high energy, close quarters, no P.A.
The Folklore Society of Greater Washington is also handling a Saturday concert at a fiddler's home in Takoma Park (seating capacity: 45). Elin Skoglund and Edward Anderzon, adepts of the Swedish keyed fiddle, will be concluding their second U.S. tour there.
Continue Reading "'Harpas in the House: Skoglund & Anderzon" »
WHEN YOU WALK away from the Takoma Metrorail station on Carroll Street in the District and cross the state line into Maryland, it's not difficult to notice the lack of restaurants in Takoma Park's quiet business district. Along with keeping the city free of nuclear weapons since 1983, Takoma Park has generally kept out top-notch cooking, too.
Sure, there are some fine small-scale eateries in the enclave, but overall, the words "fine dining" and "Takoma Park" normally don't make a good pairing. But there seems to be at least one local blog in the area who places high value on fine do-it-yourself dining. And when you're armed with the cookbook from Yountville, Calif.'s famed French Laundry and documenting how to make pan-roasted Maine jumbo scallops with morel mushrooms and asparagus puree and such wonderful things, perhaps it's time to bring that to the neighborhood at large. Just a thought ...
» "Takoma Park, Maryland Celebrates 20 Nuclear Free Years" [Nuclear Free Takoma Park Committee]
» "Pan-Roasted Maine Jumbo Scallops with Morel Mushrooms and Asparagus Puree" [French Laundry at Home via DCBlogs]
Addison Road