WASHINGTON'S OWN JUNIPER LANE has spent the last seven years crafting their signature sound. They've traveled up and down the East Coast, and are heading home for a show at Iota in Arlington. Check them out if you're into local bands that fall somewhere between indie and mainstream rock, featuring pianos and pretty lead singers.
» Iota, 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; Sat., Nov. 29, 9:30 p.m., $11; 703-522-8340. (Clarendon)
Written by Express' Kelsey Parrish
Photo courtesy Juniper Lane
THE FIRST HIT IS FREE at Potomac CrossFit. The owners of the new Clarendon studio are certain that anyone who samples their anything-goes approach to exercise will be hooked. So every Saturday morning, they offer a complimentary class.
Co-owner Curtis Blake and fellow CrossFit devotees are just excited for more members join their "family" — of course, here each relative you meet seems buffer than the next.
WHO WOULD HAVE thought a play about a 1960s Catholic nun who suspects a priest of unsavory behavior would be so universal. But lo and behold, "Doubt" not only won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, but it's been staged all across the world and has a film version (starring Meryl Streep) due out next month.
Our best guess? It's extraordinarily well-written. Playwright John Patrick Shanley expertly reveals his characters one layer at a time, constantly forcing the audience to shift its loyalties as the play progresses.
The International Festival of Hispanic Theatre has appropriated the play, setting it in Caracas, Venezuela, and translating it into Spanish. Don't worry, there are English subtitles.
» Gunston Arts Center, 2700 S. Lang St., Arlington; Thur.-Sat., Nov. 13-15, 8 p.m., Sat., Nov. 15, 3 p.m., $25-$30; 202-882-6227.
Photo courtesy Teatro de la Luna
CLARENDON CLUB Galaxy Hut began serving lunch this week. The menu is the same one you've always known, but now you can eat beginning at 11:30 a.m. (except on Saturdays). Our favorite part: their happy hour now starts at 11:30 a.m. and goes straight through till 8 p.m. Way to take the edge off a workday.
» Galaxy Hut, 2711 Wilson Blvd., Arlington; 703-525-8646. (Clarendon)
Photo by Gerald Martineau/The Washington Post
THE NEW WAY TO SUPPORT OUR troops? Play against them in a real-time video match-up.
On the eve of Tuesday's Veterans Day holiday, GameStop is hosting a tournament at its Fashion Centre at Pentagon City location (1100 S. Hayes St., Arlington; 703-415-3535) in which D.C.-area Average Joes can square off against G.I. Joes stationed in Fort Drum, N.Y.
The battleground of choice? Xbox Live's "Call of Duty: World at War," a day prior to its official release. Gameplay lasts from 9-11 p.m., with by a developer meet-and-greet at 10 p.m. and prizes awarded at 11:30 p.m.
» Game Stop, 1100 S. Hayes St., Arlington; 703-415-3535. (Pentagon City)
Photo courtesy of GameStop
HOLLY GOLIGHTLY and the Brokeoffs' "Getting High for Jesus" sounds like it's been passed around for years, from the Mississippi delta to the Appalachian Mountains.
But it hasn't.
Golightly and partner Lawyer Dave (who effectively is the Brokeoffs) wrote the song for last month's "Dirt Don't Hurt," the second album from the duo. The entire record is seeped in American roots music, which isn't surprising if you're familiar with the British-born Golightly, but it is if you're not.
She may speak with a British accent, but she sings like a perfect Southern belle.
"With country music, I think about it in terms of belonging to lots of different people," Golightly said. "I think lots of European folk music had to influence it in the early days. It has so many different flavors because it came from so many different places. It is folk music, after all."
Even more surprising, she recorded the mud- and whiskey-soaked disc in Spain. Though, she said, location has little bearing on the music she makes.
"Well, I don't ever think about it in those terms because I've always written country songs even though I have no real knowledge of country music," she said. "I play in that formula because it's an easy formula. I'm not particularly technically gifted when it comes to playing guitar, so I'm sort of limited by the 12 bar blues."
Continue Reading "Evolution: Holly Golightly and the Brokeoffs" »
PIZZA, BULGOGI, GUMBO AND edamame on the streets of D.C.? It seems the capital is finally nearing the tipping point for great street food. Though hot dogs and chips are still the street-cart staple, a few entrepreneurs are venturing into new culinary territory. And just because the weather's turning cooler is no reason to stay inside — these food options will coax anyone out of the office and onto the sidewalk.
THE LUNCH BUNCH
Delle & Campbell's Halal Luncheonette, On the Fly, and D.C. Central Kitchen's Capital Cart rule the lunch hour with shawarma, Teaism-inspired curries, and po'boys. The carts are a D.C. Business Improvement District experiment aimed at improving vending downtown. Scott Pomeroy of the D.C. BID cautions that the experiment hasn't been a total home run. "It'll take a little bit of time to build up," he says, but "vendors are seeing repeat visitors."
Since Delle & Campbell's has been cooking up halal food since '07 (in a different location), and On the Fly's green carts have graced D.C.'s streets for just as long, Capital Cart's the new kid on the block. Run by D.C. Central Kitchen training program graduates, the cart's takes on gumbo and healthy sandwiches are tasty and easy on the wallet.
Continue Reading "D.C. Good to Go: Area Street Carts Serve Variety" »
EVERYTHING IN THIS town is political. So many people work for (or writes about, or contract for) the government, everyone talks about politics after work and everyone will be out in force for the giant election party that will take over the city on Tuesday night. But before that happens, you can chow down on political-themed food at local eateries that are using election fever as a chance to get creative with their menus.
IT'S HARD TO BELIEVE long-running Richmond Latin dance band Bio Ritmo started life as a dreadlocked drum circle. Stylish and innovative, the group has morphed into a suave, sexy rhythmic beast.
Singer Rei Alvarez says the beast was born when its core of percussionists went searching for new rhythms and settled on the sounds of Tito Puente and Ray Barretto — leaders of New York's Puerto Rican jazz and salsa scenes of the '60s and '70s.
"I remember putting on an old Fania record from the era and saying, 'That's it! That's the sound we want to play!'" he says.
Alvarez and his fellow rhythmatists were all old hands at rock and reggae, but found switching to salsa took some work. And Alvarez had to adapt: "I got asked to sing back-up vocals, which I thought I would never do, since I was always happy to hide behind the drums," Alvarez says. Now Bio Ritmo's frontman, Alvarez just lets his cool charisma do most of the work.
LADIES WHO WANT TO DRESS UP as belly dancers this Halloween can get a better treat than a few fun-size candy bars: a crash course in how to shake and shimmy.
Arlington's Saffron Dance (3260 Wilson Blvd., 703-276-2355, Saffrondance.com) is offering "Best of the Best: Belly Dance Beginners' Weekend Intensive" ($150) Oct. 31 through Nov. 1 to introduce newbies to the moves and cultural history of the seductive dance. And Saphira, the studio's founder and artistic director, says whether you want to lose weight, build self-confidence or simply like the idea of wiggling around, the series is a great way to get started.
As one learns how to belly dance, it becomes more than just a form of exercise. "It feeds so many elements of our spirit and nurtures our mind and our emotion," Saphira says. But to reach that state, every dancer starts with three basic moves.
Continue Reading "It's a Piece of Shake: Belly Dance at Saffron" »
Addison Road