Parklife DC

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March 16, 2016

Your DC United return to DC for their first home game of the season this Sunday, March 20th.

They’ve got off to a slow start, losing one and drawing one on the road.

The first thing to note about this season, the team has a new logo (as seen above).

I’ll be the first to admit that their first logo has been among the best in the league…so a change didn’t really seem necessary. I wasn’t excited about it.

But after viewing this updated badge over the last few weeks, it is actually pretty cool. And maybe even better…? You can decide. I do like that there is more focus on the black over the red. The team name font is cleaner and the eagle bursting forth from the badge is a nice touch.

The second thing to note is the new players. For example, we have Marcelo Sarvas (of Brazil) transferring over, after missing a good chunk of last year’s MLS season. At age 34, his best days are likely behind him, but the trend of great players switching to the MLS when they might otherwise retire, is good thing to bolster attention to the league.

Finally, the quest for DC United to take up new residence at Buzzard Point is taking shape. And I love the name of the area. I hope they keep it in the stadium name like clubs in the UK often do. Stamford Bridge or White Hart Lane. Very cool. Check out the latest renderings here.

Let’s kick off the season. Home Game 1 of 17 starts on Sunday! Get your tickets here.

If you can’t make it this weekend, have a peek at the season schedule here and choose a few. How about we go to the match-up with the Sounders on June 1st?

MLS: Colorado Rapids at DC United
RFK Stadium
Sunday, March 20, 2016
5:00pm
$20-55
All ages

Around Town: ShamrockFest 2016 @ RFK Stadium Festival Grounds — 3/12/16 (Part 1)

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March 16, 2016

ShamrockFest goes green

What is ShamrockFest? Held every year at the RFK Stadium Festival Grounds (aka the parking lot), it presents an interesting enigma.

If you take your cue from the revelers that attend every year (now 17 editions strong!), then you can easily look around and say it is about having fun with friends and letting go of inhibitions.

It is about dressing up in bright green, with shamrock logos, kilts or skimpy outfits. It is about basking in the waves of sounds, with fiddles, horns, guitars and drums. It is about dancing. It is about loitering with friends and enjoying yourself. It is about helping those said friends stand when they had just a wee bit too much… It is about hoisting a pint and saluting those about to rock. It is many things and more.

2016 was my 4th foray into the odyssey that is ShamrockFest (including three of the last five years).

Music Park: Metric @ The Fillmore Silver Spring — 3/13/16

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March 15, 2016

Emily Haines strikes one of many triumphant poses during the Metric show at The Fillmore Silver Spring on March 13, 2016. (Photo by Mickey McCarter)

Emily Haines steps onto the stage and the room lights up.

Well, it literally does light up with intense shades of red from an explosive light show that her band Metric have orchestrated at the Fillmore Silver Spring on Sunday night. But it also lights up in the way that you cannot help but smile and gasp when Emily bounds onto stage to take her place alongside her bandmates.

Ebullient and effervescent, Emily engaged the audience throughout the evening in a show worthy of the band’s consistently strong material. Metric performed for nearly two full hours for a stop in their “I Can See the End” Tour, a name lifted from a line in “Breathing Underwater” from their 2012 album, Synthetica. The set list drew heavily from the last two albums (Synthetica and sixth album, Pagans in Vegas), but the band touched on all six of their records, kicking things off with “IOU” from their very first album, Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?

Sports Park: Capitals Fortnightly Report Card — 2/29-3/13/16

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March 14, 2016

2015-2016 Fortnightly Report Card Archive

Fortnightly Record: 4-2-1 (9 pts)
Overall: 49-14-5 (103 pts)

The Capitals lost two games in a row for the first time since February 2nd. They haven’t lost three games in a two week span since November!

Are they slowing down? Time to get worried?

No. It’s a long season and they still are playing better than most teams. Luckily both New York teams behind them in the standings have lost two in a row as well. The Caps remain 18 points clear of the Rangers in their division and still have the best record overall by a whopping 12 points.

Part of the problem could stem from the fact that Alex Ovechkin hasn’t scored in five games, three of which the Capitals lost. So, once Alex gets back to form things will turn around. Also, Evgeny Kuznetsov hasn’t scored in six games either. Hard to win if your two top players aren’t producing goals.

The Capitals next play at home against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday, March 15 and then play Nashville on Friday, March 18.

Get your tickets to the games here.

Results

March 1, 2016: Penguins at Capitals – Win (3-2)

March 2, 2016: Maple Leafs at Capitals – Win (3-2)

March 4, 2016: Rangers at Capitals – Loss (2-3)

March 5, 2016: Capitals at Bruins – Win (2-1 OT)

March 7, 2016: Capitals at Ducks – Win (2-1 SO)

March 9, 2016: Capitals at Kings – Loss (3-4 OT)

March 12, 2016: Capitals at Sharks – Loss (2-5)

February 29-March 13 Fortnightly Report Card: C+

Music Park: Nap Eyes @ DC9 — 3/11/16

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March 14, 2016

Nap Eyes (Photo by Colin Medley)

It was a concert on a Friday night, and some pretty girls and guys were there.

And they were there to see Halifax quartet Nap Eyes, who along with Irish guitarist Cian Nugent on a double bill, charmed with some occasionally folky/occasionally psychedelic guitars.

Apologies to Nap Eyes for borrowing the opening line from their song “Mixer,” from their new album Thought Rock Fish Scale, there — but it was true that they drew a fair crowd at DC9 on Friday night on their tour to support the new release, published in the United States on Feb. 5.

Music Park: Blanck Mass @ DC9 — 3/8/16

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March 11, 2016

Music Park: Blanck Mass @ DC9 — 3/8/16

Blanck Mass performs at the festival Best Kept Secret in The Netherlands on Friday, June 19, 2015. (Photo by Jostijn Ligtvoet)

The opening track, “Loam,” on the latest full-length album from Blanck Mass begins as a confused muffle of sounds that resembles someone speaking underwater. The song then mellows out midway and becomes the sonic equivalent of a soft strobe light, electronic beats skipping gently toward a languid conclusion.

Blanck Mass, born Benjamin John Power, performed “Loam” also as an opener for his show at DC9 on Tuesday night as a stop on his tour to support the album and an ensuing EP, the Great Confuso, both released last year. He drew a dedicated crowd excited to dance to Blanck Mass’ very accessible cut on music that occasionally borders both neo-psychedelia and dark ambient pop.

Loam means soil, and it’s clear that Blanck Mass envisions this to mean “clay” as in material for sculpting a human form. The album, Dumb Flesh, thematically explores how human beings are victims of their biology, responsive to the biological stimuli of all mammals despite our intellectual yearning to strive for something more.

Around Town: Nerds in NoMa Speaker Series, 3/15/16

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March 11, 2016

Next Tuesday, March 15th, come out for the third session of the Nerds in NoMa Speaker Series.

The topic is ‘Urban Adventure’, a look at how to find an adventure in the city that is right for you.

It will be moderated by Matt Liddle of REI. (You know I love REI!)

With the following panelists:

Lee Cain, Director of Recreation, Anacostia Watershed Society
Becky Curtis, Director Programs & Partnerships, C&O Canal Trust
Nelle Pierson, Deputy Director, WABA
Karen Zeiter, Program Manager, Rock Creek Conservancy

I went to the session on February 16th, on “Who’s Art”, and heard some lively debate and interesting tidbits on social art in DC, with updates on current and future projects, all while snacking from a bag of popcorn and sipping a cold beer. There was a decent crowd on hand to listen to the panelists share their experiences and opinions. With a little more word of mouth and a topic of greater interest (to me), it might just be full this time.

Register for the free event here.

They still have free beer and popcorn!

Future sessions

4/19 – Capital Climate Change

Nerds in NoMa Speaker Series
Session 3 (of 4): Urban Adventure
The Lobby Project (1200 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002)
Tuesday, March 15
6:00-8:00pm
Free
All ages

Music Park: Q-Tip Named Artistic Director for Hip Hop @ Kennedy Center, 2016-17

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March 10, 2016

Q-Tip (Photo courtesy Def Jam Recordings)

Popular musician, producer, and DJ Q-Tip has been named artistic director for hip hop culture at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

In his new role, Q-Tip will manage the Kennedy Center’s new Hip Hop Culture series, set to launch in the coming months.

“With Hip Hop constantly changing and evolving, it is easy to forget the history and legacy that precede it,” Q-Tip said in a press release. “I want to begin at the beginning of the Culture to help people see its roots, better understand its present, and responsibly create its future.”

Don’t Miss: Nap Eyes @ DC9, 3/11/16

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March 9, 2016

Nap Eyes (Photo by Colin Medley)

Psych folk quartet Nap Eyes are an intriguing band, given to deep musings on existence and a taste for arcane literature.

Hailing from Nova Scotia, the band released its sophomore album Thought Rock Fish Scale via Paradise of Bachelors, a North Carolina label that definitely has a particular psychedelic flair. Nap Eyes have launched a tour in support of their new album, and they visit DC9 on Friday, March 11.

Songs from the new album have a vibe of imparting friendly, welcome wisdom — such as the song “Stargazer,” wherein vocalist Nigel Chapman sings of the search for inspiration. Nigel draws a lot of critical comparisons to Lou Reed for his lyrical compositions and his conversational manner of singing. The fellow certainly has a way with words and brings a much needed intellectual heft to indie rock.

Nap Eyes dropped by Coach House Sound Sessions to record a live video for “Stargazer” in February. Watch it on YouTube:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ihn66RDDfJ4]

With able collaboration from bassist Josh Salter, guitarist Brad Loughead, and drummer Seamus Dalton, Nigel develops winsome guitar pop, recording plainly and simply live with no overdubs.

Said Noisey of the band, “Nap Eyes moves from psych-riffs to astrophysicists, from Rubaiyatic poetry to punctuated bass, in easy fluid motions. Chapman’s calm, steady voice can be as pained as Bob Dylan’s, and his lyrics can be just as profound.”

Irish guitarist Cian Nugent opens for Nap Eyes. Tickets are available online.

Nap Eyes
w/ Cian Nugent
DC9
Friday, March 11
Doors @6:30pm
$10
All ages

Don’t Miss: Metric @ The Fillmore Silver Spring, 3/13/16

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March 9, 2016