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" »

Posted by Express at 3:13 PM on May 6, 2008
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Tagged in College Park , Entertainment , Maryland , Music , Prince George's County , Top Stories

Map It:  College Park 

CHOREOGRAPHER SUSAN MARSHALL designed this 90-minute ballet, "Sawdust Palace," to be performed inside a Spiegeltent, which is a large mirrored tent popular in turn-of-the-century Belgian carnivals.

It may surprise you that the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center doesn't just have a Spiegeltent lying around. However, this series of short pieces inspired by vaudeville and cabaret is performed in the round, as a concession to its origins. It performs Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., with a Saturday matinee at 3 p.m.

»Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, University Boulevard and Stadium Drive, College Park; 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.; $7-$35; (301) 405-2787. (College Park).

Photo by Rosalie O'Connor/The Washington Post

Posted by Fiona Zublin at 11:23 AM on April 11, 2008
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Tagged in College Park , Entertainment , Stage , Top Stops , Top Stories , University of Maryland

Map It:  College Park   Greenbelt   New Carrollton 

WITH NEGOTIATIONS TO BUILD a stadium for D.C. United in the District stalled, officials in the Old Line State have taken a big first step that could lead the team to move to the Maryland suburbs. As The Post's Ovetta Wiggins reports, the Maryland Stadium Authority has decided to spend $75,000 to study a potential relocation's economic impact and tax benefits.

Prince George's County Executive Jack Johnson initially pressed the stadium authority to help the county steal the team from the District. Writes Wiggins:

United has shown interest in two locations in College Park. But David Byrd, deputy chief administrative officer for the county, said Johnson wants the team to build a stadium near the Metro stations in New Carrollton or Greenbelt, where it could anchor a mixed-used development.

Talks between United and D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty to build a new soccer stadium at Poplar Point broke down last summer.

Continue Reading "Md. Looks at Impact of Relocating D.C. United" »

Posted by Michael Grass at 9:29 AM on January 23, 2008
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Tagged in College Park , D.C. United , Free Ride , Greenbelt , Maryland , New Carrollton , News , Prince George's County , Real Estate , Sports , Top Stories

Map It:  College Park 

IN THE BATTLE FOR FEDERAL TRANSIT FUNDING, proposals that would serve the most passengers stand the best chance of getting a thumbs up. For Maryland's proposed Purple Line, which would be a light-rail or bus-rapid-transit link between the Bethesda and New Carrollton stations via Silver Spring and College Park, the University of Maryland is a potential ridership goldmine. But as The Post's Katherine Shaver reports, officials at the university are opposed to a state plan that would bring the mass transit line through the heart of the university on Campus Drive, pictured above, citing safety and aesthetic concerns. Writes Shaver:

State officials say similar transit lines operate safely in other areas crowded with walkers, including on college campuses. Supporters of the Campus Drive route say location is key. They point to the inconvenient walk or shuttle bus ride required now because Metro's College Park station was built a mile from the campus, which has about 36,000 students and 12,400 employees.

Continue Reading "U-Md.: Purple Line Should Avoid Campus Center" »

Posted by Michael Grass at 9:18 AM on January 22, 2008
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Tagged in College Park , Free Ride , Maryland , News , Prince George's County , Real Estate , Top Stories , Transit , Universities , University of Maryland

Map It:  College Park 

IN SOME COLLEGE TOWNS, campus and city mix to create a vibrant academic and social environment for students to enjoy outside the classroom. That's not quite the situation in College Park, but officials at the University of Maryland are aiming to change that with a $700 million development project called East Campus.

As The Post's Ovetta Wiggins reports:

The University of Maryland plans to tear down old student housing, abandoned research greenhouses, its mail facility and maintenance buildings to create an area where students and residents of the College Park community can shop, dine and gather for concerts.

Also in the works for the 38-acre tract of land bordered by Route 1, Paint Branch Parkway, Central Campus and College Park's Green Line station is a branch of the Alexandria-based Birchmere music club, a movie theater, a grocery store and new housing. The first phase of the East Campus project is expected to be complete in 2011, the second phase by 2014.

Continue Reading "U-Md. Aims to Create Social Hub in College Park" »

Posted by Michael Grass at 12:54 PM on January 7, 2008
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Tagged in Architecture , College Park , Free Ride , Maryland , News , Planning , Prince George's County , Real Estate , Top Stories , Universities , University of Maryland

Map It:  Bethesda   College Park   New Carrollton   Silver Spring 

AT AN OPEN HOUSE in Silver Spring last night, transportation officials with the Maryland state government presented ridership projections and other statistics for the long-proposed Purple Line, a 16-mile mass-transit corridor that would link Bethesda and New Carrollton via Silver Spring and College Park. At issue is what form the proposed line could take: light rail, rapid-transit bus or traditional bus service.

Let's take a look at state's findings and projections by the numbers ...

» 47,000: The number of riders a Purple Line light-rail link would attract per day. As The Post's William Wan reports, that figure compares "favorably with similar transit projects being created throughout the country, bolstering Maryland's case for federal money needed to build the $1.8 billion line, state officials said."
» 45,000: The number of riders a Purple Line bus-rapid-transit link would attract per day.
» 29,000: The number of riders a traditional limited bus line along the Purple Line route would attract per day. That's the lowest projected ridership for the Purple Line.
» 46: The number of minutes it would take to ride the Purple Line end to end, according to one alignment option. Another alignment would result in a 73-minute ride.

» "Purple Line Could Draw 47,000 Riders a Year, Officials Say" [WaPo]
» "The Purple Line" [MTA Maryland]

Cross section of a possible University Boulevard alignment courtesy MTA Maryland

Posted by Michael Grass at 2:47 PM on December 4, 2007
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Tagged in Bethesda , College Park , Free Ride , Maryland , Md. Politics , Metro , Montgomery County , New Carrollton , News , Planning , Prince George's County , Silver Spring , Top Stories , Transit

Map It:  College Park   Silver Spring 

WHEN DOUG DUNCAN stepped aside from his job as Montgomery County executive, it was reasonable to assume that he might fade from the local government scene, especially since he landed a job across the Prince George's County line as the University of Maryland at College Park's vice president for administrative affairs.

Not so.

Now Duncan's successor, Ike Leggett, is vexed over $2 million the state had committed to bring the Birchmere music club to Silver Spring. Yesterday, Leggett announced a deal to bring a Live Nation venue to Silver Spring, just as the Birchmere inked a deal to go to College Park. Leggett says the money should still go to Montgomery County, but as The Post's Ann E. Marimow reports, Duncan "has lined up a powerful ally in his quest to secure the state money." That's Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., who represents part of Prince George's County, is a loyal university alumnus and wants that money for the Birchmere.

» "Two Counties Lay Claim to Grant for Music Venue" [WaPo]
» EARLIER: "Montgomery Co. Brokers Deal With Live Nation" [Free Ride/Express]

Posted by Michael Grass at 10:17 AM on September 27, 2007
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Tagged in College Park , Entertainment , Free Ride , Maryland , Md. Politics , Montgomery County , Music , News , Prince George's County , Silver Spring , Top Stories

Map It  College Park 

LISTEN UP, AMERICANS! Soon, you will shoulder the responsibility of voting for the next president of the United States. Will it be the Mormon guy, the actor guy, the hair guy, the girl guy, the Satanist vampire guy ... what?

Oh, yes.

Jonathon "The Impaler" Sharkey is the first Satanist vampire presidential candidate in American history, and if you think you're fascinated, meet W. Tray White, who grabbed a camera, scraped up a crew and made "Impaler," a strange, funny and moving documentary about the Democrat from Minnesota with a taste for blood.

Express talked to White before Friday's 5:30 p.m. screening of the film at Hoff Theater at the University of Maryland, where the director will be on hand along with executive director Mark Rosen and Sharkey himself.

Continue Reading "Fangs for Voting: 'Impaler'" »

Posted by Arion Berger at 7:20 AM on September 27, 2007
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Tagged in College Park , Entertainment , Film , Maryland , Top Stories , Universities , University of Maryland

Map It  College Park 

THE GUARNERI QUARTET has been in the game since 1964, and with three of its original members still in the group, you might think the celebrated foursome would have little left to learn at this point. The news of their retirement after the 2008-09 season might even make you think they'd simply be playing out the string now (as it were).

But throughout its recording and concert career, the group has earned its many fans by ceaselessly searching for that numinous texture, that heartbreaking detail, that innovative approach that will allow them to best serve the music. In what's become a tradition of open rehearsals at the University of Maryland, they allow an audience to come along on that search — and maybe even influence its course.

The first of four open rehearsals this fall is Wednesday at 5 p.m., in the university's Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center. If you can get out of the office by then, you'll get to watch violinists Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley, violist Michael Tree and cellist Peter Wiley punch in and get to work — the quartet uses the time just like any other rehearsal, concentrating on preparing for their next concert. Still, it's definitely a special occasion as rehearsals go, and the quartet hopes "that people enjoy hearing what a quartet behaves like, what it's like to be up there," Tree said.

Continue Reading "Closing the Open Book: The Guarneri Quartet" »

Posted by Express at 7:32 AM on September 25, 2007
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Tagged in College Park , Entertainment , Maryland , Music , Prince George's County , Top Stories , Universities , University of Maryland

LIKE ALL GREAT artistic endeavors, Kronos Quartet was seeded by dissatisfaction. It was 1973; the Vietnam War was grinding on.

"Late one night, I heard George Crumb's 'Black Angels' on the radio," recalled violinist David Harrington, pictured at left. "And as a 23-year-old, until that moment of hearing 'Black Angels,' I was searching for the right music to play. Nothing felt right to me. I just couldn't find it. And then all of a sudden, seemingly by accident, there it was."

The quartet had its first rehearsal the next month. Nearly 35 years later, Kronos has a reputation as the contemporary string quartet, having commissioned hundreds of works from cutting-edge composers and put new spins on once-unlikely concert-hall choices as Jimi Hendrix and Ornette Coleman.

This weekend, Kronos begins an extended residency at the University of Maryland. On Thursday, the group's founder demonstrates that his iPod simply isn't like yours, in a program called "What's David Harrington Listening To?"

And Friday, Kronos continues its tour of "Awakening," a concert in remembrance of Sept. 11. For the first time since recording Aulis Sallinen's "Winter Was Hard" the group is performing it live, with the assistance of local school choruses. The evening's centerpiece is Michael Gordon's "The Sad Park," a harrowing composition inspired by Manhattan children's recollections of the day the towers fell.

Continue Reading "Kronos Quartet Takes Up Residence at U-Md." »

Posted by Express at 8:23 AM on September 6, 2007
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Tagged in College Park , Entertainment , Maryland , Music , Out & About , Top Stories , Universities , University of Maryland