I’m on my way to the Red Carpet Party at Malmaison (3401 Water St. NW, DC) in Georgetown to see the 87th Annual Academy Awards! But before I go, I am here to share a few last thoughts on the nominees in the categories of Best Actor and Best Actress!
Around Town: Oscars Red Carpet Party @ Malmaison, 2/22/15
Every year, I get very wrapped up in the race to the Oscars, and I get invested in my favorite nominees!
On Sunday, I’ll go to Malmaison (3401 Water St. NW, DC) in Georgetown for the Washington Film Institute’s Red Carpet Party. Join me there if tickets remain available!
My Oscar “picks” aren’t always who I think will win but they are always those that resonated the most with me personally. This year, for example, I had a lot of love for “Birdman” but I didn’t think too much of “Boyhood,” and so I don’t think the latter film should win too many awards.
In this post, the first of two parts, I’ll share my thoughts with the nominees for Best Director, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress. Find me later for additional thoughts on Best Picture, Best Actor and Best Actress.
Don’t Miss: Leisure Cruise @ DC9, 2/22/15
Born in the wake of Hurricane Sandy, Leisure Cruise pairs the synth-driven instrumentation of Dave Hodge (known for Broken Social Scene and Bran Van 3000) and vocalist Leah Siegel. As the story goes, Hodge saw Siegel passing by while sitting in a Brooklyn café after the storm and shared some songwriting with her. And now together, they have written a debut album, Leisure Cruise, set for release on May 6.
Last year, Leisure Cruise released their debut album, and now they set sail on a 12-date tour of east coast and west coast cities, starting in Boston today making their third stop DC9 in DC on Sunday, Feb. 22.
I’ve been listening to the 11 tracks listed on the Leisure Cruise SoundCloud, and these are some excellent songs.
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The album opens with the soaring synths and lush vocals of “Double Digit Love” (a truly catchy song), progresses to the relaxed and hypnotic “Earthquake,” and the very new wave “Crime Tip.” The album gets more exciting as it progresses with sci-fi allusions to sex and travel.
According to the band’s press, the album is “something sounding like the future as imagined in the past-yet rooted in the now. Imagine the music of a John Hughes film if it had been written by Bowie, remixed by Johnny Jewel, and fronted by a female Prince, and you’ll start to get the idea.”
Watch a live performance of “Crime Tip” from BalconyTV:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1bA31WSYdI]
Tickets are available online and at the door.
Leisure Cruise
w/ Tigers Are Bad for Horses
DC9
Sunday, Feb. 22
Doors @8:30pm
$10
All ages
Submitted for Your Approval: Flashband in DC
Recently, I witnessed an interesting phenomenon.
Where people meet, join together to form a short-lived band, practice, and then perform in front of a live audience with other bands at a showcase event.
A friend from my flag football team played in one such flashband, and we snuck in for a peek.
This showcase, dubbed 80’s Dance Party, took place at Club Heaven and Hell. Once a bastion of the Thursday night 80’s DJ Party hosted by The Angel.
The bands were surprisingly solid at reliving 80’s classics given they had only practiced together a few times.
The band we were there for, Where’s the Beef?, was an all women band, fronted by a former pop-singer from Russia, along with said friend on the bass. They came close to stealing the show outright, but the bands Those Loud Mother F***ers (rocking Crazy Train and Cult of Personality) and The Big Band Theory (dropping crowd pleasers like Separate Ways and Hit Me With Your Best Shot) deserve to be part of the conversation. I saw five of the seven bands.
As an experiment in having fun, it seemed to work. All the band members were enjoying themselves and there was dancing and singing along from the respectable sized crowd.
There’s a fee to attend the flashband forming event and for renting the studio for practice. Learn more.
80’s Dance Party Flashband Showcase
Sports Park: Capitals Weekly Report Card – 2/9-2/15/15
Weekly Record: 2-1 (4 pts)
Overall: 30-17-10 (70 pts)
+10 pt advantage for playoff spot
Alex Ovechkin has been a force of nature this season. He now leads the league in goals scored (36) after scoring two against the not-so-mighty Ducks on Sunday and another one against the Kings on Saturday.
The Capitals continue to play well enough to win. Their only loss this week was a road game against the Kings. No shame in that.
Results
February 11, 2015: Sharks at Capitals – WIN (5-4 OT)
February 14, 2015: Capitals at Kings – LOSS (1-3)
February 15, 2015: Capitals at Ducks – WIN (5-3)
Feb. 9-15 Weekly Report Card: B
Grapevine: Wunder Garten, a Pop-Up Beer Garden Coming to NoMa in April 2015
Looks like the large vacant lot at 150 M Street, NE, in NoMa next to the future home of REI, is turning into a pop-up beer garden and park this spring, called Wunder Garten.
The owner hopes to open in mid-April, but the long-term future of the beer garden is still an open question.
‘Business partners, including the owner of L’Enfant Cafe in Adams Morgan, are planning a hybrid beer garden and park that will cater to guests of all ages (and will likely allow dogs as well). The fenced in lot will be leveled and landscaped in a way that maintains a large open area for recreational activities. The partners in Wunder Garten are working closely with the NoMa Business Improvement District on the design to maximize the park area as NoMa currently has a deficit of parks. There will be beer benches like one would find in a German beer garden and a significant portion of the space will have a tent over it for rain. They will have multiple beers on tap at the bar they will build on site that will mostly be German and Austrian, but they do plan on having a few local microbrews as well. The space will not have a kitchen (the nearby Harris Teeter that is technically on the same land restricts what kinds of food can be sold in the space); however, there will be 2-3 food trucks in the space that will rotate. High end portable restrooms will be available for customers. In all, the space will be designed to fit 200-300 people inside.
Wunder Garten will be open weekdays from early afternoon through 10 pm and on weekends from noon through midnight.’
Sports Park: THEALUMRUN Comes to DC, 3/29/15
THEALUMRUN™ is coming to DC at the end of March.
The first road race specifically focused on university alumni and college sports fans, THEALUMRUN will hold its inaugural event in DC on March 29, 2015.
Participants can choose from a 5K or a 10K race. In addition, there will be a 1K future alumni fun run for children.
After the race, runners can enjoy live music, a wellness village with group fitness options, a spa tent and much more.
Craig Dixon, co-founder of THEALUMRUN, chats with ParkLife DC:
ParkLife DC: Why did you choose DC for the first THEALUMRUN?
Craig: The other founders and I are from the DC area, this is our backyard. DC also attracts huge numbers of college grads, with a broad cross-section of people that love their schools.
ParkLife DC: Where else will you host this racing events?
Craig: We are planning for eight cities in 2015, including Richmond and Virginia Beach in Virginia, Philadelphia and even one on the West Coast in Portland, OR.
ParkLife DC: What does it mean in the event bio to ‘raise money for their University’?
Craig: Each participant has the opportunity to make a donation to their school’s Annual Fund or to their local scholarship fund. Many alumni chapters in DC have scholarship funds for local students to attend their university, including my alma mater, William & Mary.
ParkLife DC: How do the School Teams work?
Craig: Anyone can race, with or without a team, and any group can form a team. We encourage alumni chapters to form a team for their members, or multiple teams. Teams will receive shirts in their school colors. Team members can run either the 5K or the 10K.
In addition, there will be a Reunion Party on the Friday before the race and a day of service on the Saturday, in support of a local DC charity, which we are finalizing now.
ParkLife DC: I notice that you’re tracking school participation and fundraising on the website, is there any prize for being the top school in any category?
Craig: It’s meant to be fun and for schools to have bragging rights.
ParkLife DC: What should an alumni chapter do if they want to participate?
Craig: Help spread the word. Get their members to run. Help generate volunteer support for the day of service. Put it on your calendar or share via your Facebook page or Twitter account. We can also provide a template for sharing key points.
You can register here.
There is also a Flash Sale (20% discount) until February 15th. (Use Promo Code: TAR20)
THEALUMRUN 5 and 10K Race
Freedom Plaza
Sunday, March 29
$35 for 5K
$40 for 10K
Reunion Party, Friday, March 27
Day of Service, Saturday, March 28
Music Park: Priests @ Black Cat — 2/7/15
Gideon Jaguar and Katie Greer do the rock.
Katie Greer’s voice is half kitten purr and half jet engine roar.
Priests took to the stage as an opener for Parquet Courts in a sold-out show at the Black Cat Saturday night, and they blasted out of the gate so rambunctiously, you could be forgiven for forgetting everything that followed them.
Katie and company opened with “New” from their EP Bodies and Control and Money and Power, released in June 2014. The song has all of two lines really — and they are about the sensation of things being “new” when you’re a kid.
But the lyrics matter less in this case than how they are delivered. Katie’s growl grows more powerful as the song goes on while Daniele Daniele pounds away on the drums behind her, yelping out a high-pitched refrain behind her bandmate’s lower register. Taylor Mulitz completes the rhythm section with some deft handling of bass.
Sports Park: Capitals Weekly Report Card – 2/2-2/8/15
Weekly Record: 3-1 (6 pts)
Overall: 28-16-10 (66 pts)
+9 pt advantage for playoff spot
The Caps beat the defending champs, the Kings, 4-0! That’s one way to get their mojo back.
Then they beat the Senators. That’s an A+ for winning against Canada.
But after a three game winning streak, they slipped against the Flyers to close out the week.
Still a good effort.
Results
February 3, 2015: Kings at Capitals – WIN (4-0)
February 5, 2015: Capitals at Senators – WIN (2-1)
February 6, 2015: Ducks at Capitals – WIN (3-2 OT)
February 8, 2015: Flyers at Capitals – LOSS (1-3)
Feb. 2-8 Weekly Report Card: B+
Report Card Archive
Music Park: Laura Tsaggaris @ 9:30 Club — 2/4/15
Justin Jones affectionately calls her “L.T.”
And the alt-country crooner recalled playing with her over the years, getting their respective starts at the Grog and Tankard (formerly 2408 Wisconsin Ave NW, DC) in Glover Park.
“We’ve both come a long way,” Justin said Wednesday night at the 9:30 Club. She in question is DC singer-songwriter Laura Tsaggaris.
For her part, Laura is a hard-charging, dedicated musician whose perseverance pays off in a number of rock-and-roll songs that are at turns a little bit country, a little bit folk or a little bit blues. Her joint show with Justin Wednesday was billed as Laura Tsaggaris vs. Justin Jones and the B-Sides, but it was honestly a mutual musician’s concert of admiration.