TURNING PINK FLOYD into reggae?

Easy Star Records co-founder Michael Goldwasser was skeptical at first. One of his partners at the label, Lem Oppenhimer, had the idea while walking down the street listening to "Dark Side of the Moon."

But then Goldwasser, Easy Star All-Stars' musical director and producer, worked out some arrangements and realized a reggae Floyd could work.

So, in 2003 "Dub Side of the Moon" was born, marrying the sound of Jamaica with Pink Floyd's landmark album.

"We really didn't realize the enormity of what we were doing," Goldwasser said. "I was aware of the album, but I wasn't as into it as everyone else."

And the album has been a huge success for Easy Star Records, with sales at more than 125,000 copies. Prior to "Dub Side," the small, independent label had never sold more than 5,000 copies of anything.

Continue Reading "Welcome to Dub-Rock: Easy Star All-Stars" »

WHETHER YOU'RE looking for ingredients to replicate Mom's recipes or want to try your hand at a new cuisine, there are many international markets in D.C., Maryland and Virginia with ingredients beyond peanut butter and Wonder.

For Thai shopping, there are a few options in this area. Thai Market carries frozen seafood, including prawns, shrimp, squid, mackerel and other fish; pastes, including tamarind paste and curry paste; and canned goods like rambutans (the little, round, tropical fruits with red, spiky exteriors), lychee fruit and lotus root.

Nuts-and-bolts ingredients include kaffir lime leaves and coconut milk -- useful for Thai soups and curries -- as well as fish sauces, hot sauces and countless types of soy sauce necessary for pretty much every Thai dish. Also look for unique products such as frozen custard apples.

If Thai baked goods strike your fancy, head to the Bangkok 54 Oriental Foods Market in Arlington. There, you'll find freshly baked cookies, cakes and squares. They also sell freshly made sweet sticky rice with taro, wrapped in banana leaves; grilled skewered chicken; whole fried tilapia; and balls made of tapioca pearls and pork. Some items are labeled in Thai only, so if you're curious about what you might end up eating, don't be afraid to ask.

Continue Reading "Taste the World: International Food on Local Shelves" »

BEFORE NOV. 22, 2006, The Bridge had never played a headlining show to more than 400 people in its Baltimore home base. So, when the band had an album release party at the 1,600 person-capacity Rams Head Live, mandolinist Kenny Liner had hoped 800 people would show up. As fans filtered in, the crowd rose to 1,000. Then, by the time the band took the stage, it had swelled to 1,200.

Liner was sick at the time, nursing a 100-degree fever. He doesn't remember seeing much — he was so sick he was hallucinating — he said, but he does remember one thing:

"I remember walking out on stage and almost fainting, I was so surprised," he said. "I was just like, 'Who are these people? How do they even know who we are?'"

Lead singer and guitarist Cris Jacobs remembered the experience a bit better.

"It felt good," he said. "Just to walk out on stage, after five years of doing it, and see that huge crowd was definitely gratifying. It's one of those moments that you just kind of be thankful for."

And these days, The Bridge is having a lot of those moments.

Continue Reading "Crossing Over: The Bridge" »

THIS ONE-NIGHT-ONLY performance Saturday by legendary Chicago improv group Second City is sold out already. But the BlackRock Center is releasing some tickets on the day of the show, so if you really want to see One Nation Under Blog, line up at the box office.

The show itself is a ripped-from-the-headlines comedy review. Like The Daily Show. but onstage. And not scripted.

» BlackRock Center for the Arts, 12901 Town Commons Drive, Germantown; Sat., 8 p.m., $13; 301.528.2260.

IF IT'S A BUYER'S MARKET right now, what's with all the "For Sale" signs swinging in your neighborhood? And if you're thinking of selling, is this really the worst time since the Great Depression to be calling a real estate agent?

Even seasoned real-estate buyers and sellers are feeling edgy and unsure in the gloom of the current housing climate.

Shrieking headlines about condo prices in free fall and the subprime mortgage crisis pepper the Web and newspapers every day, only amplifying the chatter of everyone from your open-house obsessed Starbucks barrista to well-meaning relatives who keep telling you to quit renting already. So, what are you supposed to do in this crazy market? Buy? Sell? Pitch a tent somewhere near the Washington Monument and wait it out?

Agents and sellers who have managed to move a piece of property in recent months say that selling now revolves around two key factors: pricing your home accurately for the market, and making it shine in a sea of competitors.

Ahem, that means clearing out the magazine piles, putting into storage that overstuffed chair you love that — let's face it — slashes your living room's actual living area in half, and, in general, de-personalizing your home so a potential buyer can imagine his or her stuff in it.

"You have to make the place really sparkle," says Michael Tubbs, an agent with Coldwell Banker on Capitol Hill. "First impressions are so important in a competitive market. Staging" — the process of artfully arranging your own or rented furniture and decor in a home to make it look ultra-appealing — "is more important than ever." Even basic upkeep like washing windows or applying a fresh coat of paint can go a long way these days.

Continue Reading "Buyer's Guide: Is a Plunging Market Best for Buyers?" »

WHEN M. MARIE MAXWELL, 37, decided in 2000 that she wanted to buy a house in the District, the archives specialist at the National Archives did the most thorough type of research possible: She moved into her future neighborhood to check it out in person.

"I wanted to try to find something affordable," Maxwell says, "and I figured I could probably find something if I was very familiar with what block it was on."

After a year of renting in Shaw, Maxwell purchased a 1,000-square-foot house there and has been pleased with her decision ever since. But if the Internet had held eight years ago what it does now — you know, everything from "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" clips to the lowdown on condos under construction — Maxwell might have had an easier time peering into her real estate future.

Now, her blog, In Shaw (An Historically Gentrified Blog), helps other could-be neighbors get to know her area. Like most other Web scribes, Maxwell writes about what matters to her. Sometimes that includes the history of her house or the peas she's growing in her garden. But more often than not, she offers musings on community news and local lore, which amounts to holding a virtual looking glass up to the Shaw scene.

It's a beautiful day in the bloggerhood when potential D.C. homeowners or renters can scour the Internet to find answers to almost any question they might have about
their future digs. Neighborhood blogs may be geared toward folks who already live in a given 'hood, but that doesn't mean you can't use them to find out about where to move in and around the Beltway.

Continue Reading "Blogs in The 'Hood: Exploring Real Estate Hot Zones Online" »

ON THE PHONE, ALEXI LAIHO is laid back to a fault.

Onstage, he's a face-melting demon, howling and shredding as the frontman of Children of Bodom.

The Finland fivesome's latest disc, "Blooddrunk," is ferocious, with scooped death tone aplenty, virtuosic keyboards and rapid-fire double kick drumming that'll have Merriweather Post breaking out the emergency defibrillator before Saturday's Gigantour show is done.

Come early, but leave your genre-cizing at home.

"We got thrash, we got death metal, we got black metal, we got '80s metal," says Laiho. "I just call it 'metal,' and that's it."

Continue Reading "Strong to the Finnish: Children of Bodom" »

JUST IN TIME FOR summer, the city of Takoma Park has decided it will no longer provide bottled water to people attending city-sponsored events.

That might come as a shock to those who didn't know that Takoma Park gave away free bottled water at city-sponsored events. The bottles were also available at city offices. But Mayor Bruce Williams says the cost of transporting and recycling the bottles and a push toward eco-friendliness are partially behind the move.

According to Williams, members of the city council banned Takoma Park from buying water in bottles smaller than one gallon. The ban doesn't keep local stores from selling bottled water in smaller sizes or residents from buying it, but Williams says he hopes people will consider similar moves to reduce their environmental impact.

"We the city won't buy any [water] to make it available either to council or staff, or residents who come to any of our facilities, parades or festivals," Williams said. "If we're going to provide water to anybody, it's going to be through some other method, like a water fountain ... and we're encouraging everyone else to do the same."

Continue Reading "No More Free Bottled Water in Takoma Park" »

THESE DAYS, your roommate who can't even pour her own coffee is merely called lazy.

In the more verbally creative Edwardian era, British playwright Hubert Henry Davis wrote a little drawing-room comedy about a slothful housewife, dubbing it — and her — "The Mollusc."

Dulcie Baxter (Malinda Smith), the bivalve-cum-wife in this droll period piece, is a true layabout, asking her milquetoast husband, Richard, and trod-upon governess, Miss Roberts (Laura Russell), to put stools under her feet, fetch her fan and even rearrange the furniture.

That Dulcie's also too indolent to take a walk or have a thoughtful talk with her spouse drives the little action in this witty trifle. When Dulcie's vibrant brother Tom — long abroad making and losing fortunes in the American West— shows up in the Baxters' fussy parlor, he's immediately incensed at what a slug his sister has become. Detecting the master of the house's attraction to the dutiful governess, Tom sets about making Mrs. Mollusc detach herself from the fainting couch and reattach to life and her husband.

Continue Reading "Get Up Off Your Bustle: 'The Mollusc'" »

FORGET SPARKLY GRAY GRANITE counter tops or chemical-loaded shag carpet in chocolate brown — the most fashionable shade in home decor and rehab these days is green. These eco-minded stores sell stuff to decrease your carbon blueprint, er, footprint.

» Amicus Green Building Center
Flooring made of reclaimed barn wood. Clay paints that'd give any room a mottled, "Are-we-in-ancient Rome?" vibe. Almost anything that goes on walls or floors, or in kitchens stars at this green shop in Kensington, Md.'s warehouse district. Owner Jason Holstine consulted for clients like the EPA before opening Amicus two and a half years ago because he was tired of telling folks about "cool products you had to go to Seattle to get." Now his customers might start with a $37 spring-cleaning kit or go "deep green" with rain-catching barrels or Bean-ee-doo, a soy-based goo remover. Cabinets in FSC-certified wood, bamboo or wheatboard can also be ordered, and Amicus works with contractors who know how to install this stuff. "Greening up can be confusing," says Holstine. "We help people learn." (4080A Howard Ave., 301-571-8590; Amicusgreen.com)

» Eco-Green Living
On a recent afternoon at this Logan Circle temple to the green life, owner Keith Ware used a blowtorch to demonstrate how the sprayable insulation he sells works. Applying a flame to a piece of metal treated with the stuff, he then handed it off to a customer, and, sure enough, it was cool. "Ninety percent of people who walk in here want one thing, like a tankless hot water heater," says the chatty eco-warrior. "Then they'll realize all the other things they can do." The shop sells loads of good-for-the-globe stuff, from Anna Sova silk sheets to solar tube lights that get their glow from the sky, even on cloudy days. "What surprises people is that going green isn't more expensive," says Ware. (1469 Church St. NW, 202-234-7110; Eco-greenliving.com)

Continue Reading "The Eco Home Depots: Where to Shop Sustainably" »