Will Rast of Funk Art
@ Fort Reno
Q:What's your song for summer?
A:"'I Ain't Nobody's Baby' by Sharon Jones."
SATURDAY: Fiction Family? That's what we call the Jonas Brothers. Oh, we kid. Actually, they are a collaborative effort between Sean Watkins of Nickel Creek and Joe Foreman of Switchfoot, two bands with sterling alt-country pedigrees. Fiction Family plays Jammin' Java on Saturday; we can't promise Jonas cameos.
» Jammin Java, 227 Maple Avenue E., Vienna; Sat., $20; 703-255-1566.
Photo Courtesy Andy Barron
MAYBE LIFE REALLY IS like high school. When alternative folkie Jonatha Brooke started writing songs with one of the guys in the popular music crowd (his name rhymes with Rick Trashay), she caught hell from those in her artsy clique.
But the singer-songwriter, who plays the Barns at Wolf Trap on Thursday, found the change of company liberating.
"[Working with Nick Lachey] took me out of my own head space and definitely showed me a different world," she says. "[But] I got so much crap about the fact that his name is on my record."
Who's to blame? A cheerleader, of course! Metaphorically, anyway. Jive Records A&R person Teresa LaBarbera-Whites, a longtime Brooke fan, played artistic matchmaker to the incongruous duo.
She also hooked Brooke up with 'N Sync singer JC Chasez, with whom Brooke also collaborated. Maybe Boston native Brooke won't get invited to the same parties. But the co-written songs, which the singers also recorded, make her newest album, "Careful What You Wish For," her most pop-savvy. Tunes like "Beautiful Girl" and "Prodigal Daughter" brim with hooks and pointed statements.
"I didn't set out to make a poppier record — it just sort of ended up that way," she explains.
Continue Reading "School of Pop: Alternative Folkie Jonatha Brooke" »
TRACK WORK and rail car testing will lead to delays on the Red, Orange and Green lines this weekend. Here's what to expect:
» ORANGE LINE: This is where you'll find the heaviest of the weekend's work. From 10 p.m. Friday until midnight Sunday, trains will share the same track between Vienna and West Falls Church. Alternating trains will turn around at West Falls Church rather than proceeding to Vienna, so keep an eye on your train's final destination. Metro warns customers to add 30 minutes to their travel time.
» RED LINE: Track maintenance between Grosvenor and Medical Center could cause delays of up to 15 minutes, with trains in both directions sharing the same track. The work's scheduled to take place between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
» GREEN LINE: New railcar testing between Greenbelt and College Park will force trains in both directions to share one track from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday. Add 10-15 minutes to your travel time.
» "Weekend Track Maintenance and Rail Car Testing to Affect Metro's Red, Orange and Green Lines" [WMATA]
IF YOU PLAN on traveling on the Orange, Blue, Yellow or Green lines this weekend, be prepared for delays due to scheduled track maintenance and rail car testing. But if you're heading out for Sunday's 12th Annual Columbia Pike Blues Festival in Arlington, you've hit the transit jackpot: Metro will be providing free rides.
Those attending the festival will not be charged for fares on routes 16B, 16G and 16J, between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m. The bus routes runs along Columbia Pike and connect to either the Pentagon or Pentagon City Metrorail stations.
Riders heading through Prince George's County on the Orange Line can expect 20 minute delays between the Cheverly and New Carrollton stations due to track maintenance. Trains between those stations will share a track from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Alternating Orange Line trains will terminate at the Cheverly station and return to the District and Virginia.
Continue Reading "Weekend Track Work, Free Bus Ride for Blues Fest" »
Metro Offers Opening Day Express Service to RFK
Map It:
Franconia-Springfield L'Enfant Plaza Metro Center Rosslyn Stadium-Armory
Vienna
IF YOU'RE A COMMUTER who's always wished that Metro would run express service to whisk you from far-out suburban stations into the city, you might wan to delay your commute until lunchtime.
For the Nationals' opening day, Metro is running Stadium-Armory-bound express train service on the Blue and Orange lines. Here are the details from Metro:
Supplementing its normal weekday service, Metro will operate one Orange Line express train departing the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU Metrorail station at 12:14 p.m., and one Blue Line express train departing Franconia-Springfield Metrorail station at 12:04 p.m. Each train will operate in express service to the Rosslyn Metrorail station, make local stops to Metro Center, operate express to L'Enfant Plaza, and operate express to its final destination, the Stadium-Armory Metrorail station. Passengers should listen carefully as the rail operator will make announcements advising fans they are on the special express train to Stadium-Armory. These express trains will be recognizable to Metrorail customers as the first two rail cars of the train will be wrapped in the red and white Nationals logo.Don't take the RFK express service as a sign that Metro can easily introduce express service elsewhere in the system — new 4-track tunnels don't just materialize out from nowhere. (But wouldn't that be nice?)
» "Metro to Offer Express Service for Nationals Home Opener" [WMATA]
» "Taking Metro to the Game" [WaPo]
Photo by Kevin Clark/The Washington Post
OH, MAMA QUAN'S TIKI HUT, we hardly knew ye — mostly because you opened this spring and closed this fall. And that may be for the best. You and your precious air rights will probably be replaced with condos — that's what seems to be the thing to do in Clarendon these days. In yesterday's edition of The Post, Kim Hart examined the state of the urban village, a mixing of residential and commercial space that still carries a high level of mass appeal. But the question is also whether the growing popularity of places like Clarendon, which is looking more and more like Bethesda with countless new restaurants and bars opening there, is beginning to evolve like Dupont Circle — an area that's lost many of its smaller businesses to franchises and chains that can better adapt to the changing real estate market.
With that we have a real estate development quiz. Using Clarendon's development calculus, on to the first question:
1.) If Clarendon is a mix of Bethesda and Dupont Circle, which emerging development relationship makes the most sense?
a.) Virginia Square is mix of Federal Center SW and Congress Heights.2.) Which area near a Metrorail stop won't be seeing new large-scale mixed-use development for at least a year because of a city council decision last night?
b.) Wheaton is a mix of Clarendon and Rockville
c.) Petworth is a mix of Eastern Market and Dupont Circle.
d.) Branch Avenue is mix of Vienna-Fairfax and Largo Town Center.
a.) Largo Town Center3.) Barracks Row's "Main Street," 8th Street SE, has seen a dramatic overhaul in recent years. What Northeast neighborhood might real estate hawkers term the next Barracks Row?
b.) Rockville
c.) Wheaton
d.) Dunn Loring-Merrifield
a.) Brookland
b.) Eastland Gardens
c.) Trinidad
d.) Ivy City
Answers, and explanations after the jump.
Photo by Bill O'Leary/The Washington Post
DOWN IN THE VICINITY of Connecticut Avenue and K Street NW, there were two men, "one in a skirt/casual kilt," trying to get passersby to sign a Starbucks workers' rights petition. And in a Craigslist Rants and Raves posting, we find a self-described member of Washington's "worker class" peeved about the Starbucks petitioners' motives:
So, don't act so sanctimonious with your snide bourgoise [sic] (from obvious privileged backgrounds) attempt to scoff at my mode of dress (beret & kufia) as if to say; "Why dress like "that" and not give a damn about signing a worker's rights petition?" ... Your feeble attempt at trying to lay a cheap guilt-trip on me was wasted. It simply did not work ...If it had been a Burberry kufia, we think that the petitioner would be in the right to ask some additional questions.
» "Starbucks Worker's Rights Petition" [Craigslist]
» ST. ELIZABETHS: A federal judge has ruled that John Hinckley — the man who shot President Ronald Reagan on T Street NW outside the Washington Hilton in 1981 — can continue overnight visits with his aging parents in Virginia, The Washington Times' Jim McElhatton reports. But the judge noted that Hinckley's siblings might have to step in to play a larger role in supervision. Hinckley is currently housed in at St. Elizabeths Hospital in Ward 8. [WT]
» VIENNA: Parking officials at Metro and Fairfax County officials have a warning for commuters who use the Orange Line's terminal station at Vienna-Fairfax: A temporary overflow parking lot on private property that went into reuse following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks will close on Nov. 17. The lot went into use in 2000 when parking garage construction forced transit officials to find replacement parking. After shutting down following the construction, high transit demand following the terrorist attacks led to the temporary reopening of the 650-space lot. The agreement between Metro and the lot's owner ends on Nov. 19. Metro suggests using other park and ride lots or using Fairfax Connector buses to get to the station. Fairfax County has proposed the construction for an additional parking garage at the station. [WMATA]
Photo by Frank Johnston/The Washington Post
» PETWORTH: Buried in today's profile of Maryland Senate candidate Michael Steele by The Post's David A. Fahrenthold, is this little tidbit about Steele's District roots:
He was born at Andrews Air Force Base but adopted through a Catholic charity and raised in the Petworth neighborhood of Northwest Washington. Steele's mother and stepfather were Democrats — and still are, to judge from the campaign sign for D.C. mayoral candidate Adrian M. Fenty (D) in their yard this fall.Sounds like Fenty's Republican opponent, David Kranich, needs to pay a visit to the Steele home. [WaPo]
» ALEXANDRIA: Need a tree? Or a couple of trees? The city of Alexandria will be having a tree sale on Saturday, 8 a.m.-1 p.m. in Fort Ward Park off Braddock Road.
Trees for sale include shade trees (Willow Oak, Pin Oak, Red Maple, and Sycamore), ornamentals (Kwanzan Cherry and Red Bud), and evergreen (American Holly). Shade and ornamental trees will be available for $30 per tree, and evergreens will be available for $40 per tree. Planting assistance is available for an additional fee for purchases of 10 trees or more that will be planted on one site.Apartment-dwellers are encouraged to stick to small window plants and goldfish. [City of Alexandria]
3 Chords & 2 Wheels
Map It: Vienna
ABBY DE WALD and Amanda Barrett were a couple long before they were a band. "It just came about through our own relationship that we ended up doing music," DeWald said. "We had a friend who heard us sing together ... and he just kept encouraging us — bought us a P.A. system, we'd perform at his house. And there was gatherings of musicians there who would listen and play. It was a nice environment for developing music."
Several years on, the Ditty Bops, as they are now called, have a charming new album out from Warner Bros. that they made with big-league producer Mitchell Froom.
But despite the major-label might behind "Moon Over the Freeway," when it came time for the duo to support the disc, the Ditty Bops chose the road less traveled.
Starting out from their home base of Los Angeles on May 25, the eco-conscious DeWald and Barrett have been touring the country by bicycle. On Thursday they drop their kickstands at Jammin' Java. On Friday they pedal to Annapolis to play the Rams Head Tavern.
AS WAS REPORTED yesterday in The Post, a number of D.C. Public Library officials were fired in advance of the arrival of the new libraries chief, Ginnie Cooper, on Monday. Everyone is promising quick reform to get the D.C. library system — described during an April public meeting by a library volunteer as "the laughingstock of the American library community" — back on track, but that effort faces huge obstacles, including the public's general lack of faith in the system.
To put this in greater perspective, we must travel to Taylor, Minn., to catch up with Tenleytown-based blogger, Dave's Big Adventure, who is biking across the country as part of an American Lung Association fundraiser:
We're staying tonight in Taylor, MN and the people here have been incredibly hospitable to us. Right now, for example, I'm sitting in the town's public library well after hours and the librarian, Laura, is staying late to accommodate us. Just try asking a DC librarian to do that. Better yet, just try to find an open public library in Tenleytown, DC (my neighborhood) — it's been closed for almost two years.Good luck, Ginnie Cooper. You have your work cut out for you.
» "Several Officials Ousted Before New Chief Arrives" [WaPo]
» "South Dakota Still Blows" [Dave's Big Adventure]
» GALLERY PLACE-CHINATOWN: The new Bed Bath and Beyond in Gallery Place has been open for five month, but it's only this week that 7th Street NW has been graced by a bilingual banner celebrating its arrival to the neighborhood. Is it a better-late-than-never welcome or a sign of weak sales? [Gallery Place Living]
» VIENNA-FAIRFAX: After a year-and-a-half-long rehabilitation of a commuter parking garage at the Orange Line's Vienna-Fairfax-GMU terminal, 180 additional spaces are now available in the north garage. [WMATA]
» WHEATON: Because of construction of residential units above the Wheaton Metrorail station's Kiss and Ride lot, several Metrobus and Montgomery County RideOn bus stops will be relocated. Click here for a map of the new set-up. [Montgomery County]
Photo by Michael Grass/Express
WHEN THE BRINDLEY BROTHERS play their home base, Jammin' Java, this weekend, there will be special guests, door prizes and iPod giveaways. But if they'd really wanted to capture the spirit of their spanking-new sophomore release, "Filled With Fire," they'd be handing out free E-ZPasses.
"Our producer, [Jim Ebert], said we should just call it 'Out of New Jersey'," frontman and songwriter Luke Brindley said.
Luke and Daniel Brindley were Montclair kids who spent their summers on the Jersey shore. And though over the past few years they've put down roots in Northern Virginia, it's tough to shake the Garden State. "Maybe the places you grew up kind of get bigger in your mind once you leave them," Luke observed. "It is one of those places that you still miss and I consider home. A lot of our growing up and our formative time musically and otherwise happened there."
The Brindleys have relatives up north they visit frequently. It isn't hard to detect the influence of New Jersey's favorite son on the new record either. A Brucely falsetto haunts the intro of "Everybody Wants." And the totally Bossworthy theme of the freedom of youth vs. the responsibility of middle-age plays out across the disc, particularly on "Saturday Night," where a guy is just trying to get his old lady to enjoy herself again, to hell with the paycheck.
"That was one of those songs that started coming together in the studio....I kept going back and forth: Is it too campy? Is it too lighthearted?" Luke recalled.
"But [Ebert] was like, 'Every time we play that, we bring it up on the monitors, we all smile and it just feels so good.' He's like, 'Just go with it.' 'Don't fight it,' he kept saying. 'Don't think too much. Don't fight it.'"
» Jammin' Java, 227 Maple Ave. E., Vienna; with Shane Hines, Friday, and with Anthony and Patrick of the Echoes, Saturday, 8 p.m., $12; 703-255-1566, ext 8. (Vienna)
This post was written by Express contributor Glenn Dixon
Addison Road