IF YOU'RE AN OYSTER-ORDERING NOVICE, flipping open a menu stocked with Blue Points, Wiannos, Kumamotos and an array of other confusing varieties can make you wish for a shell of your own to snap shut.
We're now in the thick of oyster season (they're edible all year but at their best when the water's cold, during months that have an "r" in them) but choosing a type can be as intimidating as ordering that first glass of wine.
The first step to picking the right one? Relax.
"In my opinion, they're all good," said Mallory Buford, executive chef at Kinkead's Restaurant in Foggy Bottom.
Buford said there's really only one key difference that diners have to keep in mind when ordering oysters: East Coast versus West Coast.
PERHAPS IT'S A good thing bachata boy band Aventura grew up in the South Bronx rather than the Dominican Republic.
While the bachata Latin genre is popular in the DR, it was considered hick music for older folks due to its origins in the rural countryside. But there were no stigmas attached to the music in New York, where Dominican-Yorkers like Aventura's lead singer and heartthrob Anthony "Romeo" Santos could sing enchanting and soulful love ballads to his heart's content.
"Many people thought that bachata was for middle-aged guys who would kill themselves if their wife didn't come back for them. It's sad stuff, man."
SATURDAY: Learn the secrets of potions, powders and elixirs when the Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum in Alexandria lets visitors go behind the counter. Saturday's tour through the museum's collection, its building, history and the development of pharmaceuticals from the time of the shop's founding in the 18th century. Behind the Counter tours take place every every third Saturday of the month and include a light breakfast.
» Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum and Gift Shop, 105-107 S. Fairfax St., Alexandria; Sat., Nov. 21, 9 p.m., $25, reservation required; 703-838-4242.
Photo courtesy Stabler-Leadbeater Apothecary Museum
THIS WEEK: We've always thought Mt. Vernon was just about beautiful enough to eat — and finally, someone agrees with us. Former White House pastry chef Roland Mesnier is making our dreams come true this week.
Chef Mesnier will be inside Mt. Vernon constructing a gigantic replica of George Washington's former home out of gingerbread for Christmas. The structure will be highly-detailed and will include a number of figurines made out of marzipan. Drop by any time between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. to watch him while he works and smell some of that delicious, delicious gingerbread.
We're salivating already.
» Mt. Vernon, 3200 Mount Vernon Memorial Highway, Mount Vernon; through Tue., Nov. 24, free; 703-780-2000.
Written by Express' Sarah Mimms
Photo by Frank Johnston/The Washington Post
WEDNESDAY: Amanda Palmer became famous as half of the Dresden Dolls, and now her visage is familiar to anyone with a finger in the underground cabaret scene.
At her performance at State Theater tonight, We're expecting her usual mix of original numbers and covers — she's a genius at the latter; her version of "Billie Jean" is a Youtube classic — and probably some tie-in to her album/book/giant strange mystery project, "Who Killed Amanda Palmer?"
» State Theater, 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church; Wed., Nov. 18, 7 p.m., $20; 703-237-0300, Thestatetheatre.com.
Photo by Beth Hommel
MONDAY: The Flatlanders might not work quickly — four albums in 30 years — but they do work smart. Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely and Butch Hancock combine country-music harmonies, folk's social consciousness and the twangy power of roots rock, and the Texas trio brought their songwriting talents together again for 2009's "Hills and Valleys." It's their first CD in five years, but like everything The Flatlanders do, it was worth the wait.
After the jump: Check out some live clips of The Flatlanders.
» Birchmere, 3701 Mt. Vernon Ave., Alexandria, Va.; Mon, Nov. 16, 7:30 p.m., $29.50; 703-549-7500.
Photo by Steve Gullick
WEDNESDAY: Bob Dylan doesn't care anymore; that's been made clear. The man released the weirdest Christmas album ever, and that's quite a feat. But he was — as much as he denied it — the voice of a generation and the finest songwriter of his time.
Unfortunately, his singing has worsened — if that's even possible. If you still love him, you can attend his concert at the Patriot Center.
» George Mason University, Patriot Center, 4500 Patriot Circle, Fairfax; 8 p.m., $57.50; 202-397-7328.
Check out our feature on Bob Dylan's craziest moments.
Photo by D.A. Pennebaker, Patriotcenter.com.
TUESDAY: We're in a bit of a pop culture rehash Renaissance aren't we? (Really, what was the deal with all of those 'Where's Waldo?' Halloween costumes this year?). Here's a trip down memory lane — or should we say a yellow brick road — we don't consider kitchy overkill.
On Tuesday, Nov. 17, select local theaters will screen "The Wizard of Oz" at 6:30 p.m. to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Dorothy and her rag-tag peeps. If you had half a brain, well, unless you're the Scarecrow, you'd know this event is a must. Oh and pay no mind to the man behind the curtain. He should be behind the film projector anyway.
» Select theaters, (Fathomevents.com)
Photo courtesy MGM
D.C. IS KNOWN FOR for having its share of talking heads, but politics and punditry aren't the only ways to put your money where your mouth is.
Voice acting can be a fun — and lucrative — way to earn a living or extra spending money, says David Bourgeois, president and creative director of Voice Coaches, a Schenectady, N.Y.-based company that's bringing its expertise to Alexandria with "Getting Paid to Talk: An Introduction to Professional Voice Acting."
"One of the great positives of it is it's something you don't have to quit other things you're doing to do. You can build this around other things that are priorities," he says.
» The Basics
John Gallogly, the company's senior creative director and a voice actor since age 9, will teach the course, which is open to 20 students.
Participants will listen to examples of demos by professional voice actors and record a practice script of their own at the end of the class, such as a voice-over for an ad. The idea is to give students the chance to see what it's like to be on the microphone and take directions, Bourgeois says.
Continue Reading "It's How You Say It: Voice Acting Classes Teach a Lucrative Side Gig" »
AFTER SURVEYING THE FULL HOUSE from a back room at the DC Improv Comedy Club's Lounge, Chris White heads toward the stage and introduces himself. Then he starts cutting himself down. Next come the stories about his dysfunctional family: "Parenting is a job. My mom treated it like a job. Every day at
5 p.m. she would stop working and go to happy hour."
Just as the crowd teeters on the brink of deciding whether the 32-year-old comedian is funny-funny or crazy-funny, White switches gears, closing with a terribly off-key sing-along (folks chimed in on the chorus) of the Backstreet Boys' "I Want It That Way."
And the audience knows: Whatever White's deal, they just spent an hour laughing.
For White and other local comedians, that's the ultimate employer feedback. Nine-to-5 isn't really in comics' vocabulary — unless they're talking about their day jobs, which many keep to earn a living. Prep time is short — usually a few hours per week — and performances can clock in at a whopping three minutes, but most funny folks aren't in the business for the big bucks. They're in it for the big laughs.
Continue Reading "Secrets of the Funny Business: The Pursuit of Laughter in D.C." »
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