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Don’t Miss: Golden Bloom @ Sehkraft Brewing, 1/28/16

Mickey McCarter
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Don’t Miss: Golden Bloom @ Sehkraft Brewing, 1/28/16

golden bloom 2 photo by matt cosby
Golden Bloom (Photo by Matt Cosby)

I dropped by Sehkraft Brewing (925 N. Garfield St., Arlington, Va.) recently at the invitation of Michael Scruggs, co-owner and well-regarded DJ about town. This cozy new space in the Clarendon neighborhood of Arlington offers a tempting array of beer and some terrifically high-quality food. They will begin offering their own microbrews very soon.

Even more compelling: Sehkraft has a small yet admirable stage in the center of the restaurant, separating the bar area from the dining room. And it’s stood up a rather full performance schedule to keep that stage busy.

One concert coming to Sehkraft in the near future is folkpop quartet Golden Bloom, which is visiting on Thursday, Jan. 28, the day before their new record drops. The band consists of Shawn Fogel (vocals, guitars), Josh Cohen (guitars, keys, vocals), Matt Girard (bass, trumpet, vocals), and Justin Hoffman (drums), and the album is titled, Searching for Sunlight, to be released by Rhyme and Reason Records.

The band’s bright music caught the attention of Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, who so admires the band that he lent his backing vocals to their single “Want Love.”

Watch Golden Bloom perform for a One on One Session at City Winery New York on Sept. 10, 2015, including songs “Fall Out of Line” and “Want Love”:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuTwmAEoCwM]

DC American collective The NRIs open for Golden Bloom. Tickets are available at the door. But maybe I’ll see you at Sehkraft for a beer sometime before that date?

Golden Bloom
w/ The NRIs
Sehkraft Brewing
Thursday, Jan. 28
Show @830pm
$5
All ages

Don’t Miss: Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy @ Birchmere, 1/14/16

Mickey McCarter
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Don’t Miss: Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy @ Birchmere, 1/14/16

holyholyheader

Perhaps the single greatest modern musician ever to draw a breath, much less play a note, is David Bowie.

Our little blog has been an unabashed admirer of the UK shapeshifter — the godfather of glam, the nexus for new wave — for as long as we can remember. I personally have made it a point to scour the concert halls for the musical statesmen that carry Bowie’s inspiration forward (such as Spandau Ballet, Midge Ure, and Mike Peters) as well as new bands that demonstrate an affection for The Thin White Duke (such as Gardens & Villa and Jack Ladder).

And so it is remarkable that a fiendishly clever Bowie-related project that took root in London is actually coming to the United States to perform for at least 11 dates in 2016. The DC area welcomes Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy to the Birchmere Music Hall in Alexandria, Va., on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016.

Now wait a sec — Woody Woodmansey, you say? Who is this fellow?

Well, you can call him David Bowie’s drummer! Yes, Woody was a founding member of Bowie’s backing group The Hype, which transformed into a little band you might have heard of called The Spiders from Mars. They performed on Bowie albums The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and Aladdin Sane before calling it a day as a performing group.

The band also featured superproducer Tony Visconti (who produced Bowie, T. Rex, and many others) on bass and the late Mick Ronson on guitar. Woody and Tony are part of the Holy Holy project, and they have recruited other musicians (like guitarist James Stevenson) to fill in for their old bandmates. Their goal: To perform Bowie songs from that period where they were active, and now to do it here in our area!

Watch Holy Holy perform “Five Years” from Ziggy Stardust live at Shepherd’s Bush Empire in London on June 30, 2015, on YouTube:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoovL84Xi98]

Oh, and of course they don’t have David along with them, so they have recruited an able substitute as part of their collective — Glenn Gregory, best known as the vocalist for another Bowie-inspired outfit, Heaven 17.

Tickets are available online! Don’t miss out on this incredible show, which I still cannot believe is touring to perform for us Americans! What an opportunity.

Woody Woodmansey’s Holy Holy
Birchmere Music Hall
Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016
Show @730pm
$39.50
All ages

Don’t Miss: A Sunny Day in Glasgow @ Comet Ping-Pong, 1/3/16

Mickey McCarter
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Don’t Miss: A Sunny Day in Glasgow @ Comet Ping-Pong, 1/3/16

ASDIG_Planes_(Adam_Herndon)
A Sunny Day in Glasgow (Photo by Adam Herndon)

As the year 2015 winds down, we at Parklife DC are looking forward to our first recommended show of 2016!

And it’s going to be a pretty good one: Shoegazing collective A Sunny Day in Glasgow have returned with a new double EP, Planning Weed Like It’s Acid/Life Is Loss, and they are returning to DC to perform at Comet Ping-Pong on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016.

Songwriter Ben Daniels, the band’s founder, brings regular players with him in the form of drummer Adam Herndon, vocalist and cellist Anne Fredrickson, vocalist Jen Goma, vocalist and guitarist Josh Meakim, and bassist Ryan Newmyer. The six-person cooperative are in good form with their new material, their first release since their critically applauded 2014 album, Sea When Absent, which Pitchfork said “has an atmospheric, bleeding-watercolor quality that makes it sound a little bit like a My Bloody Valentine record if the moodiness and pensiveness were replaced with a feeling of almost violently explosive joy.”

The happy, hopeful attitude continues on their most recent synthy single, “Hey, You’re Mine,” which singer Jen described to Spin as an internal conversation with yourself about moving forward.

Watch the official wrestling-themed music video for “Hey, You’re Mine” on YouTube:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekyessgsYv0]

NYC power poppers EZTV and Baltimore folk rockers Outer Spaces open for A Sunny Day in Glasgow. Tickets are available online and at the door. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to see these shoegazer innovators!

A Sunny Day in Glasgow
w/ EZTV and Outer Spaces
Comet Ping-Pong
Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016
Doors @9pm
$12
All ages

Merry Christmas from Parklife DC

Mickey McCarter
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National Christmas Tree at dusk
The National Christmas Tree stands on The Ellipse near the White House on Dec. 8, 2015. (The National Menorah is in background.) (Photo courtesy IIP Photo Archive/US Department of State)

Happy holidays from us at Parklife DC!

 

Music Park: Free Gift from Dot Dash

Mickey McCarter
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Music Park: Free Gift from Dot Dash

dotdash
Dot Dash (Photo courtesy of the band)

Power poppers Dot Dash have made a video for their song “Flowers,” a single from their latest album Earthquakes & Tidal Waves, released in March via The Beautiful Music.

“Flowers” is a sunny, jangly guitar-driven tune, and the DC-based quartet shot themselves in performance on the street outside the restaurant Southern Hospitality (at Columbia and 18th Sts. NW, DC) in Adams Morgan, breaking up their live rendition of the song with amusing graphics that mirror its lyrics.

Watch the official music video for “Flowers” on YouTube:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NWsOcmyeCbo]

And in the spirit of the holiday season, the members of Dot Dash — vocalist and guitarist Terry Banks, guitarist Steve Hansgen, bassist Hunter Bennett, and drummer Danny Ingram — are giving away a free MP3 of the song!

You can download “Flowers” on Bandcamp for free:
[bandcamp width=400 height=120 album=1914878428 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small track=1579107664]

You also can buy the full album, Earthquakes & Tidal Waves, from Bandcamp as well as all four Dot Dash albums! They are having a bundling sale where their entire catalog is 25 percent off at $17.97.

Dot Dash don’t have any shows scheduled at the moment, but they surely soon will announce some dates in 2016.

Around Town: DC’s First Street NE is Voted #6 Best New Bike Lane of 2015

Jeremy Bailey
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Around Town: DC’s First Street NE is Voted #6 Best New Bike Lane of 2015

First Street NE Bike LaneFirst Street NE Bike Lane near Union Station (Photo Credit: Mike Goodno)

PeopleForBikes has released their 10 best new bike lanes in America in 2015.

Congrats to DC and the DDOT for having the #6 best new bike lane in the country!

They gave the honor to First Street NE and the new, protected lane that runs next to Union Station.

This is the third year they’ve released a best list, and in 2015 they had 80 new projects across the country to choose from.

Read the full article here.

 

PeopleForBikes is the movement to make riding better for everyone. By collaborating with millions of individual riders, businesses, community leaders, and elected officials, we’re uniting people to create a powerful, united voice for bicycling and its benefits.

Music Park: Stand With Me: A Song for Peace and Understanding

Parklifer
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[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT5OpShw_9g&w=640&h=360]

A group of DC-based artists and musicians recently gathered on the National Mall to create a song and video to promote peace, and they were joined by some volunteers they happened to encounter along the way. Watch their video above!

Multimedia journalist Winyan Soo Hoo wrote to us to explain their message of peace calls attention to the Syrian refugee crisis as well as the fight against Islamophobia.

“It’s a unique approach to a nuanced topic and a great way to call for compassion and decency for all communities,” she said.

In the spirit of brotherhood — and sisterhood — among all, we are compelled to share their video. Perhaps you will also!

Music Park: Des Ark @ Comet Ping Pong — 12/16/15

Jeremy Bailey
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Music Park: Des Ark @ Comet Ping Pong — 12/16/15

Des-Ark2Des Ark (Photo Credit: Marc Krause)

After a lengthy sound check that turned into a request to switch off the PA system in the second song, Des Ark finally got into their groove at Coment Ping Pong on December 16th.

Des Ark consists of singer/guitarist Aimée Collet Argote and drummer Tim Herzog, along with a few others.

Their latest album, Everything Dies, highlights Aimée ‘s folky, breathy voice and starts off with songs of angst and pain, from the perspective of women who are wronged or abused. The title is apt and the lyrics are heartbreaking. But then there comes a perceptible shift towards quiet optimism. Towards something worth fighting for.

Des Ark started off their set with such a more optimistic song from the album, “French Fries Are Magical”, which has the affecting question, “What can I believe, until you believe in me?” at its heart.

A few songs later, they played their strongest song (or at least my favorite) from Everything Dies, “Snake Stuff”, about heartbreak in love. “If I don’t learn to love, I’m going to die of fear.” The melody soared above the small, but tightly packed crowd.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEyXkGdVuIo]

Put together, the song writing and lyrics can incite a sense of melodically, while the gentle melodies and almost atmospheric music bring the mood into quiet harmony.

“Don Taco & His Hot Sauce Toss” starts off with a twangy banjo and moves into a happy acknowledgment of youth in love.

[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/211834074″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”150″ iframe=”true” /]

I didn’t catch the names of all eight or so songs Des Ark played, so I focused on the ones I knew from listening to Everything Dies.

The Comet Ping Pong space is small, and one side is simply blankets hanging down separating the music room from the restaurant. But it’s a perfect, intimate venue for a band like Des Ark, who has songs to deliver that are quiet and important to hear.

Check out Everything Dies, and give Des Ark a listen.

The Comet Ping Pong show was their last in 2015, but they pick up again in mid-January in North Carolina, then tour through mid-February throughout the country, before ending in Savannah, Georgia (3/12/16) after a month gap.

Sports Park: Capitals Fortnightly Report Card — 12/7-12/20/15

Jeremy Bailey
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Sports Park: Capitals Fortnightly Report Card — 12/7-12/20/15

Washington Capitals Report Card

Fortnightly Record: 6-1 (12 pts)
Overall: 24-6-2 (50 pts)

Your Washington Capitals have made a statement. They are here and they will not be trifled with.

Their latest victim is their bitter rivals, the New York Rangers. After taking a 3-1 lead in the 1st Period of Sunday’s game (December 20), the Rangers were probably feeling pretty good about themselves. But then the Capitals decided to crush them. Mercilessly. They scored six straight goals to dominate the game, 7-3.

With that victory, the Caps have extended their first place lead in the Metropolitan Division to 8 points (over said Rangers). At 50 points on the season, they are tied with Dallas for the most points in the league. And they have played one less game than Dallas.

They also have a 5-game winning streak, and have won 12 of their last 15.

The Caps are firing on all cylinders. Tonight they play at Carolina and look to continue their recent brilliance. And dominance.

 

Results

December 8, 2015: Red Wings at Capitals – Win (3-2 SO)

December 10, 2015: Capitals at Panthers – Loss (1-4)

December 12, 2015: Capitals at Lightning – Win (2-1)

December 14, 2015: Capitals at Penguins – Win (4-1)

December 16, 2015: Senators at Capitals – Win (2-1)

December 18, 2015: Lightning at Capitals – Win (5-3)

December 20, 2015: Capitals at Rangers – Win (7-3)

 

December 7-December 20 Fortnightly Report Card: A+

 

2015-2016 Fortnightly Report Card Archive

Music Park: Foals @ Lincoln Theatre — 12/16/15

Mickey McCarter
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Music Park: Foals @ Lincoln Theatre — 12/16/15

Foals @ La Route Du Rock 2015
Yannis Philippakis of the Foals performs at La Route Du Rock in France on Aug. 16, 2015. (Photo by Alter1fo)

“This song is about what happens when Trump gets into office,” said the very Greek Yannis Philippakis, frontman of the UK band Foals, when introducing a new song, “A Knife in the Ocean.”

The shimmery psychedelic song is both a departure and an affirmation of previous songs by the Foals in that it is more slowly paced but still built upon remarkable guitarwork. The song, from the band’s fourth studio album What Went Down, is about losing things to time as if they were washed away by the sea. Apparently, Yannis believes we will lose many things of value if Donald Trump becomes US president.

Politics aside, Yannis and his three bandmates played a sold-out show at the Lincoln Theatre on Wednesday, Dec. 16, enrapturing an enthusiastic audience with new material like “Knife” that stacked up well with the Foals’ more familiar songs.

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