A reminder to mark your calendars for the 8th annual DC Beer Week coming September 24th through October 1st.
Check out what we posted for last year’s week highlighting some of cool events that typically take place throughout the week.
For more info, see DCBeer.com as they talk about changes to DC Beer Week 2016, including shifting from August to September and that the event will now be run by The D.C. Brewers’ Guild.
Deep Purple perform at the Montreux Jazz Festival’s Stravinksy Auditorium in 2013. (Photo by Lionel Flusin)
What is the Montreux Jazz Festival exactly?
If you’re like me, you’ve occasionally seen or heard live performances from the festival on video or CD — and you have the impression it’s a far-flung gathering of musicians socializing over jazz in some elite location in Switzerland.
Well, now I’m here, and the first thing that I can report is that it’s not just a jazz festival — it’s dedicated to all kinds of music ranging from rock to soul to EDM. It’s also not necessarily all that elite. Take for example this year’s Montreux Jazz Festival 50, which hosts an incredibly robust free program over its two-week stretch in this month of July. You could attend from 2pm to 5am many days and see many performances and then dance until you drop for free admission.
Marissa Nadler (Photo Credit: Ashley Frangie)
Marissa Nadler comes to DC9 on Sunday, July 24th, touring for her seventh studio album, Strangers.
Songs like “Drive” and “Wedding” from previous albums are haunting, folky indie pop tapestries of sound and mood.
Marissa was born in Washington, D.C., but raised in Massachusetts near Boston. She released her first album, Ballads of Living and Dying, in 2004.
From Strangers, a new video for “Janie In Love” uses grayscale and stop-motion animation to convey a sense of melancholy and the lyrics speak to preparing for the havoc of love.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XFFWrS1gm0]
SPIN named Strangers Album of the Week and said, “Her releases have been consistently stellar, each with more poise and maturity than the one previous. More than a decade in, she has complete command of her craft on her most sonically expansive and emotionally wrenching outing yet.”
The new album focuses on loneliness, and characters that are fractured, disillusioned, and delicate, hence they are the voice of ‘strangers’.
Don’t be a stranger yourself, come to the show!
.
Marissa Nadler
w/ Wrekmeister Harmonies & Muscle and Marrow
DC9
Sunday, July 24, 2016
Doors 7:30pm
$13
All ages
Your Nationals play on July 4th, 2016
Today the United States of America turns 240.
Getting up there, but like baseball and apple pie, still good after all these years.
Happy 4th!
Smithsonian Folklife Festival 2016
Come down to the National Mall this weekend and next, and experience the annual Folklife Festival.
This year’s themes are Basque culture (regions in Spain and France) and the Sounds of California (celebrating the rich diversity of cultures in the state).
I always enjoy the Folklife Festival for the ethnic food options each year. Sometimes from places I have yet to visit, or sometimes from countries where I love the food I’ve tried, but it’s a regional variation or area of that country I haven’t been to.
Basque cuisine is something I’ve yet to try, so looking at the menu offerings, it looks pretty good. The Talo con Chistorra (paprika pork sausages in tortillas), Sukalki (beef short rib stew) and the Pantxineta (Almond custard-filled puff pastry) are definitely going in my belly.
The California food options are tacos and Thai food. Alright!
There will be performances of Basque music and dance, as well as a variety of performers from cultures in California.
Each evening there is a concert at 6:30pm at the Ralph Rinzler Concert Stage.
Evening Concert Schedule
Find the full schedule of events and activities here.
Folklife Festival 2016
The National Mall
June 29-July 4 and July 7-10
11am-5pm (Special events at 6:30pm)
Free entry (Pay for food and drink)
All ages
Kristin Leonard and Jared Molyneux of The Shivas rock out at L’Usine in Geneva on June 28. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)
Yours truly, your humble music concert correspondent, happens to be in Switzerland, where I will travel next week to the Montreux Jazz Festival for a day or two.
Meanwhile, I’m parked in Geneva, checking out the indie rock scene here, and its epicenter is surely the nonprofit arts building L’Usine, which hosts all manner of music parties. Produced by a promotions outfit calling itself Kalvingrad, L’Usine (Place des Volontaires 4, 1204 Genève) often hosts rock-n-roll concerts in a large, comfortable dancehall that can likely hold up to 700 or 800 people — approximate in size and configuration to the upstairs stage at DC’s own Black Cat.
It’s fortuitous then, that I got to see the space in action in a smaller configuration when American band The Shivas toured through Geneva from Portland, Oregon, slipping in a date in-between stints at European Festivals. A dedicated crowd of some 50 people showed up for The Shivas on Tuesday, and the band left a big impression on their Swiss audience who hungrily devoured every word and note delivered by the garage rock trio. You got the sense that an American indie rock band traveling through the area during the week was a rare treat indeed.
Snallygaster (Photo Credit: jtnhogs)
The fifth version of Snallygaster comes to The Yards on Saturday, September 17th. The beer festival for people who like too many good beer options, but not enough time to drink them all.
(Update for 9/12/16) The full beer list is out! 351 beers will be poured at Snallygaster, and since you can’t drink them all (well, at least I know I can’t), I suggest you start doing a bit of research and cultivating your own personal Beer List. You can download the full Snallygaster Beer List via PDF, Google Sheets or via the Pombe App.
Get your tickets while you still can, this is one beer festival you don’t want to miss! VIP passes are sold out, but the 1-6pm window is still available.
There will also be music (see our preview of Speedy Ortiz and more here) and plenty of food trucks and stands.
We’ll also preview a few beers this week we’re looking forward to. Stay tuned.
Snallygaster 2016
The Yards (1300 First Street Southeast, Washington, DC 20003)
Saturday, September 17, 2016
1-6pm (VIP 11:30am-6pm)
$35 (VIP $60 SOLD OUT)
21+
Check out our coverage from last year’s Snallygaster and get excited for September 17th.
Okay Monday at Supersonic on June 24, 2016.
Well, readers, I was on vacation in Paris over the weekend. So of course I’m going to review a performance by a fantastic band I saw there!
To my surprise on Friday night, I ended up at a small club in the 11th arrondissement called Supersonic (9 Rue Biscornet, 75012 Paris, Frankreich). There, a set of bands performed prior to a DJ taking over. Stumbling into the space around 11pm, it reminded me a great deal of our own DC9 — it could hold about 200 people, and it was comfortable and unpretentious. Supersonic had taps, however, and it seems to me that all of the “cool places” in France and Switzerland have either a Brewdog or a Brooklyn Brewery on tap. (Supersonic indeed served up Punk IPA.)
To my even greater surprise, I arrived in time to see three well-dressed French lads take to the stage and belt out terrific English-language numbers that take a page perhaps from a young Elvis Costello or The Jam. To my ear, their music also follows occasional cues from the likes of Go West or Nick Heyward. Their style was truly quite mod; their sound, very power pop! They call themselves Okay Monday.
Hiking the Appalachian Trail
October is coming! In October, the flagship REI store in NoMa opens. The Grand Opening Block Party will be held from October 21-23.
Once you’ve returned from putting those dates on your calendar, let’s look at what you can do in the meantime.
Get excited, because REI, partnering with many local businesses, will be conducting 100 days of activities, which they call United Outside.
From REI Wrench Nights at breweries where you can work on your bike, to bike tours, to campfires at Wunder Garten making s’mores, to classes on any range of outdoor activity, to coordinated efforts to see movies in NoMa, and much more, there is almost anything you can dream of.
Find the full list of events here.
Here are a few I’m looking at:
Campfire Chat Series: Sneak Peak of the DC Flagship
REI Community Space at Wunder Garten (First and L St. NE Washington, DC)
Monday, July 11
6:30-8:00pm
Free
Campfire Hangout With S’mores (repeating event)
REI Community Space at Wunder Garten (First and L St. NE Washington, DC)
Friday, July 15
6:30-9:00pm
Free
NoMa Summer Screen: DC Adventure Film Festival Sneak Peek
NoMa Junction @ Storey Park
Tuesday, August 23
7:00-8:30pm
Free
Elevated Camping: Hammock Camping Basics
REI Community Space at Wunder Garten (First and L St. NE Washington, DC)
Tuesday, September 20
6:30-8:00pm
Free
Union Market – Drive-In Movies (Photo courtesy of MoKi Media)
The Summer Drive-In Movies at Union Market are back!
Starting this Friday, July 1st, drive up to see Top Gun, and start feeling patriotic for the 4th of July weekend.
The Drive-In Movies will be monthly, through October.
It’s free for walk-ups in the picnic area, and $10 per car.
You can get Mason Dixie biscuits and Stella’s Popkern, and the DC Rollergirls will be there to roll snacks and drinks right to you.
Movies start at 8pm, and the gates open at 6:30pm.
What movies can you see?
Summer Drive-In Movie Series
Union Market parking lot (1305 5th Street NE )
Begins July 1 (through October 7)
6:30pm gates (Movie at 8:00pm)
$10 per car; free for walk-ins (pay for food trucks/snack)
All ages