KICK OFF CHRISTMAS with this year's lighting of the Capitol Christmas Tree. Join members of Congress, senators and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi in the traditional ceremony of lighting up the "People's Tree" -- one that's of the people, for the people and by the people, of course.
Hailing from Montana, this 144 year-old, 78-foot fir tree will be decorated with more than 5,000 handmade ornaments and 10,000 LED lights. Chris Gabrielsen, a 4th grader from Montana, won a statewide drawing and will have the honor of flipping the switch to light the tree.
» West Lawn of the U S. Capitol, Tue., Dec. 2, 5 p.m., free; 202-265-0930. (Union Station, Federal Center SW)
Photo courtesy Office of the Architect of the Capitol
WE'VE ALL GOT OUR HOLIDAY TRADITIONS. For some, it might be watching Frank Capra's "It's a Wonderful Life" on Christmas Eve for, oh, the 27th time — while stuffing our bellies full of homemade cranberry meatballs and empanadas. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't try fitting in something new this season — between your caroling practice and sugar cookie gorging, of course.
Add a little Nordic to your noel on Tuesday by stopping the 12th Annual Norwegian Christmas at Union Station. Bring a gift for the Toys for Tots campaign and feel free to let your inner child marvel at one of the world's largest model train exhibits, which will be unveiled at 9 a.m.
Make sure to pop by at 6 p.m., though, for the lighting of a 32-foot tall Christmas tree in the station's main hall. Too good to be true? Sorry, no lutefisk will be served.
» Union Station, 50 Massachusetts Ave. NE; Tue., Nov 25, free; 202-333-6000. (Union Station)
Photo by Robert A. Reeder/The Washington Post
AFTER WORLD WAR I devastated much of Europe and sent stunned and damaged Americans home, but before World War II did the same, there was the music and dance. The art emerging from that lull — the product of postwar anxiety and celebration — is partially the subject of a collaboration between the Washington Ballet and the In Series, "Fall[en] Angels."
Melancholy meets hope, prosperity bumps up against privation, and nationalism seems both more necessary and more absurd as the world took stock of the damage from what was then called the Great War. The nomenclature is telling — no one spotted it as the first of more than one so-called world wars, and the emergence of Weimar-era Germany's modes of popular entertainment — from art-song to naughty cabaret to experimental theater — signaled relief as well as unease.
The Washington Ballet taps this tricky mood using music from German icon Marlene Dietrich, mixed with that of, well, German icons Johannes Brahms and Richard Wagner, in a dance-theater piece opening on Saturday at the Atlas Performing Arts Center's Lang Theater.
Continue Reading "Once Again Ins Cabaret: "Fall[en] Angels"" »
TV VIEWERS KNOW DELANEY WILLIAMS as the jovially ball-busting, go-along-to-get-along Sgt. Landsman of the novelistic HBO series "The Wire." Long before he hit the screen, Williams trod the boards, appearing at Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth, etc. This month he inhabits the massive frame of Falstaff in the Folger's production of "Henry IV, Part 1." A drunkard's drunkard, a coward's coward and (not coincidentally) a survivor's survivor, Falstaff never had a Shakespeare play named for him, but he is nevertheless one of the most magnificent of the Bard's creations.
» EXPRESS: Do you see similarities between Landsman as an organization man and Falstaff as someone who talks a good game but never sticks his neck out so far that he risks losing his head?
» WILLIAMS:David Simon, creator and executive producer and head writer of "The Wire" — that's one of the things that he always went back to when talking about Landsman: He's the consummate survivor of that environment, of his life. You see that in Falstaff. It's important to him, his own skin, but ... he sees that as smart and logical and true and honest and righteous. And that it's not so much a failing on his part to be a survivor, but it's an achievement.
» EXPRESS: Falstaff's greatest speech in the play is about the meaninglessness of honor. It seems especially apt today. Is cowardice a form of heroism?
» WILLIAMS: This may not be your traditional take on the role, but it's my take on the role. ... I don't think, generally, you think of the strictly human side of what these characters are going through when you're talking about a historical play from 400 years ago.
» EXPRESS: Respectfully, is Falstaff the Hawaiian shirt of great stage roles, in that actors possessed of a certain physical presence can occupy it the way no runt man can?
» WILLIAMS: Actually, I think I've seen a Falstaff or two in a Hawaiian shirt in previous productions. ... I'm fairly certain that I wouldn't have been the first choice for Hotspur or Hal or even Henry in this production, but if you were thinking about a man of my size to play a role, this is the one that might first come to mind.
WHILE MOST BRAND-COOKS trade in their toque for a food franchise or a line of TV dinners, Art Smith is venturing into the hi-lo country of feel-good cuisine. His menu at Art and Soul Cafe brings modern and regional flavors center plate with a soothing drawl.
The Land and Sea hoe cake is essentially a cornmeal pizza with blue crab, braised beef and Brie. Homey standards like lamb chops come with charred poached pears and mint julep sauce. Ham-swaddled rockfish paired with crab risotto is a belly-filler that harks back to a time when nobody worried about carbs or cream.
EVEN IF YOU can't afford a pricey dinner at RAMMY favorite Monocle on Capitol Hill, you can get the Monocle experiences at the bar area. New on the bar menu are three-piece shrimp platters using different cooking methods and flavors. The "margarita" shrimp trio is dressed in citrus and jalapenos and served with a sour cream avocado sauce.
» The Monocle, 107 D St. NE; 202-546-4488, themonocle.com. (Union Station)
Written by Express contributor Stefanie Gans
Photo by Michael Temchine
UPCOMING CONSTRUCTION on Columbus Circle outside Union Station is forcing the east-west D.C. Circulator line to detour through the area. But the rerouting will bring the red buses into the heart of the station complex, with a new stop in the parking garage between the Amtrak station concourse and the H Street NE viaduct over the rail yard, allowing for transfers to be made closer to Amtrak, VRE and MARC train facilities.
To reach the new Circulator stop, take the escalators up to the mezzanine-level parking garage. A second stop has been relocated to the northwest corner of North Capitol Street and Massachusetts Avenue.
» "D.C. Circulator" [Official Site]
Metro Installing Debris Collectors on Its Tracks
Map It:
Gallery Pl-Chinatown Judiciary Square Union Station
IF YOU'RE WAITING for a train at Union Station, Judiciary Square or Gallery Place-Chinatown, you might spot new small yellow contraptions on the track bed, like the one pictured here.
If you see a copy of the Examiner or City Paper — or, perhaps, Express — get pushed under the contraption by the magic forces of train-powered wind, the things are doing their job.
Metro today announced the deployment of debris collectors at select stations as part of a new program to try to reduce the number of track fires, often sparked by newspapers and similar items getting blown into tunnels and other problematic places.
If the program is successful, Metro says it could expand the use of the debris collectors to other parts of the rail system.
Photo courtesy Metro
SINCE A SLATE OF NEW NIGHTSPOTS opened up on H Street NE in the past year and a half, there's been an important element missing from the neighborhood mix: a dedicated H Street mass-transit link. The heart of Near Northeast's commercial corridor lies more than 10 blocks to the east of the Union Station rail yards and further still from Union Station's Red Line stop. A streetcar line has been proposed, but it'll be many years until it becomes a reality. A new shuttle bus, however, might fill that gap in the interim.
Just as the H Street NE corridor is getting $50 million for a major streetscaping project, which includes laying the groundwork for the future streetcar line, and $25 million in special tax increment financing to help boost commercial and community development, there's also $225,000 in the mix to launch special shuttle bus service linking Union Station with the Blue Line's Benning Road station via H Street.
Continue Reading "H St. NE May Get New Shuttle Bus by End of Spring" »
Metro to Set Up Special SmarTrip Sales Kiosks
Map It: Anacostia Ballston Brookland Columbia Heights Minnesota Ave Potomac Ave Silver Spring Union Station
AS METRO GEARS UP to make its fare hikes a reality next month, the transit agency is also working to make it easier to buy one of its rechargeable SmarTrip fare cards.
Bus riders will be especially interested in SmarTrip cards. After the new rates go into effect on Jan. 6, riding the bus will still cost $1.25 if you pay with a card, but fares will rise to $1.35 for those paying in cash.
No surprise, then, that the special kiosks Metro officials are setting up to sell the cards next week will be in rail stations that they say cater to a large number of bus riders. The special sales of SmarTrip cards, which cost $5 to buy, are scheduled from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at these dates and locations, according to a Metro press release:
» Jan. 3 at the Anacostia Metrorail station (near the bus bays)
» Jan. 4 at the Minnesota Avenue station
» Jan. 7 at the Columbia Heights station
» Jan. 8 at the Union Station and Potomac Avenue stations
» Jan. 9 at the Silver Spring and Ballston-MU stations
» Jan. 10 at the Brookland-CUA station
Riders can also pick up SmarTrip cards online, as well as at Metro sales offices, some Giant stores, commuter stores and vending machines at Metrorail stations that have parking facilities, Metro says.
Addison Road