Parklife DC

Don’t Miss: MetroCooking DC @ Washington Convention Center, 12/3-12/4/16

Around Town

Mickey McCarter

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December 2, 2016

Don’t Miss: MetroCooking DC @ Washington Convention Center, 12/3-12/4/16

Ribs from Oklahoma Joe’s in Kansas City, Kansas (Photo by Adam Kuban)

Feeling hungry this weekend? If you didn’t eat enough at Thanksgiving last week, MetroCooking DC, the Metropolitan Cooking & Entertaining Show, is offering a two-day food festival at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday, Dec. 3, and Sunday, Dec. 4, for you to satiate your cravings.

MetroCooking DC is offering programming on each day including meet and greets with celebrity chefs and book signing opportunities. You can see the entire schedule, including opportunities to meet chefs like Tom Colicchio, Jacques Pepin, and Duff Goldman at http://www.metrocookingdc.com. You also can sign up for cooking demos!

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Music Park: Zipper Club (Opened for The Sounds) @ 9:30 Club — 11/28/16

Live Review

Jeremy Bailey

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December 1, 2016

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Music Park: Zipper Club (Opened for The Sounds) @ 9:30 Club — 11/28/16

Lissy Trullie of Zipper Club performs at the 9:30 Club on 11/28/16

Zipper Club, out of Los Angeles, gave the crowd flowing in to witness The Sounds at the 9:30 Club last Monday a bright and hopeful look at what’s to come.

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Music Park: The Sounds @ 9:30 Club — 11/28/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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December 1, 2016

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Music Park: The Sounds @ 9:30 Club — 11/28/16

The Sounds impress mightily at the 9:30 Club on Monday, Nov. 28, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

Ten years is a long time, and a lot can change over those years. Just ask Maja Ivarsson, the tough-yet-sexy vocalist for The Sounds. She’s on tour with her two-year-old son right now!

But maybe it’s true that the more things change, the more they stay the same. Ten years ago, Maja looked almost exactly the same when The Sounds toured the United States in support of their breakthrough album, Dying to Say This to You. To mark that achievement a decade ago, The Sounds returned to the 9:30 Club Monday night to perform the entire album and other music to a very full house that gave the Swedish quintet a rapturous reception — as if it were 2006 all over again.

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Don’t Miss: White Lies @ 9:30 Club, 2/1/17

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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December 1, 2016

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Don’t Miss: White Lies @ 9:30 Club, 2/1/17

White Lies (Photo by Steve Gullick)

UK post-punk trio White Lies have come blazing back into our music streams with an excellent new fourth album, Friends.

Lead vocalist Harry McVeigh and his mates have really struck some new wave gold with singles like “Hold Back Your Love,” which undoubtedly was inspired by their recording of the album in Bryan Ferry’s private studio in London’s Olympia!

To support the album, White Lies are launching a short US tour that kicks off at the 9:30 Club on Wednesday, Feb. 1. Said bassist Charles Cave, “America is a huge place, and much as we would like to play five times as many cities, we’ve put together a couple of weeks of shows that we hope many of our fans can find their way to.”

Watch the official music video for “Hold Back Your Love,” which features a lot of people in their underwear, by White Lies on YouTube:

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

White Lies have seen increasing popularly and audience with every return visit to DC. Undoubtedly, part of their success is attributable to the fact that they are such canny craftsmen of the staple post-punk sound. Although they undoubtedly owe a debt to Joy Division, Charles has rejected the labeling of his band as a “goth” band and stressed their uplifting outlook.

As I observed when White Lies last visited us at 9:30 Club in February 2014, “Deft moves like adding [a] Prince cover, along with an earnest and humble performance that eschews wailing theatrics, gives you plenty of reason to acknowledge that White Lies are forging their own path.”

I’m calling for this show to sell out! Don’t sleep on it. Tickets are available online.

White Lies
w/ Vowws
9:30 Club
Wednesday, Feb. 1
Doors @7pm
$25
All ages

Around Town: Careless Memories @ Dodge City, 12/8/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 30, 2016

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Around Town: Careless Memories @ Dodge City, 12/8/16

Duran Duran for Melody Maker Magazine in England in 1982. (Photo by Chester Simpson)

This past month, Sting reopened the Bataclan, the Paris concert venue that was shuttered for roughly a year after a horrific terrorist attack. That 2015 terrorist attack occurred during a concert by the Eagles of Death Metal, who days prior to the show performed a cover of “Save a Prayer” by Duran Duran with the band on UK television and then made the cover part of their live set.

In the aftermath of that experience, Duran Duran donated their royalties from the Eagles of Death Metal cover to charity, and then subsequently dedicated live performances of the song to the good in people — as a sort of protest against terror.

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Ticket Giveaway: The Pietasters @ 9:30 Club, 12/23/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 30, 2016

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The Pietasters (Photo courtesy the band)

It’s officially safe to talk about Christmas after Thanksgiving, right? No matter — it’s always a good idea to talk about The Pietasters. And The Pietasters have an upcoming Christmas show at the 9:30 Club on Friday, Dec. 23.

You’ll want to be there to skank the night away with the (currently) nine-man band under their founder Stephen Jackson, who started The Pietasters back in 1990! Although The Pietasters released their last studio album, All Day, back in 2007 on their own Indication Records, they are still a strong touring act, very much ready to blow you away with their personal blend of ska, rocksteady, soul, and punk rock.

Watch the official music video for “Out All Night,” a popular concert staple from the 1998 album Willis, by The Pietasters:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZ5cjQhhZus]

Parklife DC is giving away a pair of tickets to see The Pietasters in their Christmas show at the 9:30 Club. To win these tickets, leave a comment on this blog. You can leave any comment, but we would like to hear your favorite song by The Pietasters.

For the rules of this giveaway–

Comments will be closed at 5pm on Friday, and a winner will be randomly selected. The winner will be notified by email. The winner must respond to our email within 24 hours, or they will forfeit their tickets and we will pick another winner. We will email you instructions on claiming your ticket. Good luck!

If you don’t win, tickets are available online.

The Pietasters
w/ Mephiskapheles, Hub City Stompers, Loving Paupers
9:30 Club
Friday, Dec. 23
Doors @ 8pm
$15
All ages

Music Park: The Big Moon @ DC9 — 11/25/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 29, 2016

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Music Park: The Big Moon @ DC9 — 11/25/16

Juliette Jackson of The Big Moon sings at DC9 on Friday, Nov. 25, 2016.

The Big Moon may have been the opener at DC9 last Friday, but you wouldn’t have been able to tell that by the crowd they drew! DC9 got full quickly and early for the four ladies from London, who shined brightly with guitar jams that crashed and ebbed as furiously as the tides.

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Music Park: CRX @ U Street Music Hall — 11/16/16

Live Review

regardingtess

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November 29, 2016

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Music Park: CRX @ U Street Music Hall — 11/16/16

Nick Valensi and CRX perform at U Street Music Hall on November 16, 2016. (Photo by Theresa C. Sanchez)

If your live performance is under 35 minutes, you better bring it. Nick Valensi and his new band CRX made every single second count — and then some. They managed to accomplish a similar feat in less time with their debut album, “New Skin,” released October 28 via Columbia Records. Their U Street Music Hall appearance Wednesday, November 16, was part of a several-month tour promoting the record.

Under the cloak of darkness, the 6’4” guitarist stepped onstage with his four bandmates and together they erupted into the power-packed track “On Edge.” All the anticipation and hype suddenly made sense. Like the venerated ’90s Honda model everyone “in your neighborhood tried to steal,” this group of guys named after that sought-after vehicle was absolutely awesome. Their rapid-fire delivery was reminiscent of the Ramones in their heyday and the basement setting couldn’t be more fittingly “alternative.”

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Music Park: Peter Hook & The Light @ Howard Theatre — 11/23/16

Live Review

Mickey McCarter

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November 28, 2016

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Music Park: Peter Hook & The Light @ Howard Theatre — 11/23/16

Peter Hook performs at the Howard Theatre on Wednesday, Nov. 23. (Photo by Paivi)

Peter Hook, former bassist for Joy Division and New Order, is willing to bet that we are not soon to forget that he contributed significantly to the sound of both bands. If Hooky were a gambling man, this gambit paid off well for him indeed, as he wrapped up a successful US tour of tracks found on the Substance compilations by both bands — a tour where many stops sold out and a local visit to the Howard Theatre last Wednesday drew a very full house indeed.

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