Tag Archives: dc

George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic, Dan Auerbach, and Lucinda Williams walk into a bar…

…just not on the same night.

I think we’ve spent more time at the 9:30 Club in the last few days than in all of last year, total. Mind you, I was abducted by aliens (or possibly artomatic) last year, so that’s all a blur and maybe doesn’t count.

Well, whatever. We’ve been supporting live music lately and we’ve seen a bunch of really good shows.

Friday night we caught George Clinton Parliament Funkadelic. A pared down version of the band opened and then the full funk mob took the stage and played til the club threw on the house lights and threw everyone out.

As always, it was an outstanding show.

And, as always, I had nightmares about an old dude in a big diaper for days after.

Saturday night I dragged Husband to see Dan Auerbach. He enjoyed the show (whew). I figured he would, but I’m not sure he’s ever listened to the Black Keys and I knew he hadn’t listened to “Keep it Hid” – which was only released a couple of days ago. You should get “Keep it Hid”, by the way, it’s a really good album.

Auerbach played in Boston the next night and you can read the review here, it pretty much says what I would have said.

The opening band was Those Darlins, who were a very fun band out of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. They were followed by a quick set by Hacienda, who were also Auerbach’s very capable backing band.

Was this a trend this week?

Yes, yes it was. Tuesday night Lucinda Williams’ road band, Buick 6, was also her opening act. They’re quite good, plus they did an instrumental cover of Prince’s “Erotic City,” which is Husband’s favorite Prince song.

We met up with a group of friends, one of whom worships Lucinda Williams. I think Jean can die happy now because it was a good show and it sounded great and we didn’t have an obstructed view for even a moment.

There was a couple in front of us, but they stayed primly seated until the encore. Then they stood up and “danced.” They should probably have stayed seated, but I’m not one to judge. Much. It’s safe to say they really love the new album. Really really love the new album. A lot. I think “Real Love” must be “their song.”

Come to think of it, that’s probably a good thing – or at least a far better thing than having some of those early wristcuttin’ songs be your song, because I’m pretty sure that’s not the sign of a healthy relationship.

Although Williams posts her setlists on her website, the most recent shows aren’t up yet. Luckily, Dave of Sound off with Dave posted a setlist so I don’t have to try to reconstruct it. Oh, let’s face it, I wasn’t going to try, but since someone else did the work I can pretend.

People Talkin’
Ventura
Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Circles and X’s
Pineola
Drunken Angel
Side of the Road
Everything Has Changed
Something About What Happens When We Talk
Over Time
Tears of Joy
Are You Down?
Real Love
Essence
Come On
Real Live Bleeding Fingers and Broken Guitar Strings
Honey Bee
Joy
Righteously

Encore:
Angel (J Hendrix) – solo acoustic
Little Rock Star
Long Way to the Top (AC/DC)

Thanks, Dave!

Saturday night we encountered the Human Eclipse – moments before the show started Saturday, the tallest guy in the place wedged himself in front of me – causing my view of the stage to go from “perfect and unobstructed” to this:

The view from here

We were standing on the steps of the balcony – it was pretty much impossible for the suburban lumberjack to be unaware he was crowding in front of other people when they’re all standing on a ledge.

At least Kyle Bunyon parked his ox outside. Sheesh.

We had a phenomenal view of the stage for Lucinda Williams, thanks in part to the Kennedy Center crowd perched primly on the steps, clearly terrified to stand during the show. Friday night we also had a great view of the stage and of the crowd. (I really like watching the crowd, especially at a George Clinton Show). I think it’s safe to say that Husband and I were the only ones at both of those shows.

And now, because I shouldn’t be the only one who’s haunted:

(That’s from last month, but it’s the right image and, conveniently, the right club. Not my picture, I found it on flickr).

bloggity, blog, blog

Rather ironic that I’m off to a blogging conference at a time when my blog has been full of so much fluff. Fluffier fluff than usual, even. My deranged determination to not fail the blog365 challenge has led to some pretty lite posts, I know, but I’d like a gold star for not missing any days throughout kidney surgery and that demonic respiratory virus earlier this month and, last but not least, the ruptured tendon that made typing less than enjoyable for the last few weeks.

Wait, no, I haven’t soldiered on because of blog365, I did it because I love you, my loyal readers. It’s all about you, lieblings. It’s always all about you. I do this for you, and only you.

Yeah, right.

OK. So, while I’m gone, here’s the Washington Post’s Sunday Source piece on thrift shopping.

Incidentally, if you wear an 8 1/2 or 9 and have very skinny calves – last week Veronica and I spotted a divine pair of high-heeled, tall, red leather boots at the first store they mention, Look Again Resale (900 King St., Alexandria).

But I digress. The point of this post is to direct you to a couple of the very fun thrifting blogs they gave a little well-deserved love to in one of the article’s sidebars. My favorites are Righteous (re)Style and the DC Goodwill Fashion Blog.

This all comes full circle, at least in my mind, since I thought BlogHer DC was Tuesday, and I’d be able to fit a quick trip to Goodwill into my day on Monday to drop a few bags of clothes off that are ready to find a new home. On the upside, now my Tuesday is pretty wide open…

Center for American Progress & Surveillance at Nevin Kelly, but not TwinTech

Thursday’s TwinTech event was a smash hit. I know this because it was reported as such in the paper and by associates who went. Apparently, I could get away with saying I know this because I was there, because three people have sent me messages telling me that they wanted to say hi but couldn’t get across the room before I disappeared. Stranger still, someone described what “I” was wearing, and it was in fact what I was wearing that day. Well, on the upside, if there are two of me maybe now I can get more work done. I just wish I’d keep me informed of what I’m doing when I’m out flouncing around at networking events without me.

I should have some coffee before I try to follow that thought any further. Maybe I’ll just back up a bit.

Last Thursday I went to the Internet Advocacy Roundtable event, Here Come the Millennials, Politics Beware, at the Center for American Progress Action Fund’s. Authors Morley Winograd and Michael Hais presented on their new book, Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, and the Future of American Politics, followed by an hour of interesting discussion with the audience.

After that, I went to Nevin Kelly’s gallery for the opening of the show Sondra “not my sister” Arkin and Ellyn Weiss curated, called Under Surveillance.

For some time we have watched with concern, anger, even fear, as the area of personal privacy available to each of us shrinks due to the technology and the license now given both to the government and private corporations to watch and listen to us. Under Surveillance presents the responses of twelve very different artists to this fact. Curated by Ellyn Weiss and Sondra N. Arkin.

The opening had a good turnout and it was lovely to see old friends, but I was too tired to stay long and will have to go back another time to get a really good look at the art.

Info from the gallery’s blog:

Curated by Ellyn Weiss and Sondra N. Arkin, “Under Surveillance” will feature the work of Scott G. Brooks, Groover Cleveland, Richard Dana, Anna U. Davis, Aziza Claudia Gibson-Hunter, Rosemary Luckett, Elizabeth Morisette, Ann Stoddard, Tim Tate, Ruth Trevarrow, and the curators themselves. The exhibition will reflect the artist’s concerns over the technology and the license now given both to the government and private corporations to watch and listen to us.

The show is up until October 8, 2008, the gallery is located at 1517 U Street NW in Washington, DC.

stikman

The first time I really noticed stikman was in a crosswalk in Philadelphia. At the time, I thought that the city was trying to send pedestrians a message. Possibly, “Dear pedestrian, the drivers of Philadelphia want you dead.”

IMG_7340.JPG

I posted a picture and then I promptly forgot to do any more research, even after noticing that the figure appears in random places in DC. Fortunately for me, I don’t have to look any further for info because there’s a little article in today’s paper, “On the Trail of the Mysterious Stikman”. That’s good enough for me.

Lotuses and Artscape and X, oh my!

Tomorrow is the High Holy Day known more commonly as the Water Lily and Lotus Asian Culture Festival at the beloved (at least in our house) Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens.

Today, Saturday and Sunday Artscape takes over a big chunk of Baltimore.

For those who don’t want Visual Art messing with their musical experience, there’s also Whartscape. Line-up is on the website, but with the disclaimer, “Schedule subject to incomprehensible changes at the drop of a hat!” which has an honesty to it I appreciate.

As a sidenote, I’m annoyed to see that we missed Mark Hosler preforming Negativland’s new project, Thingomatic last night as part of Whartscape. I recently tried, not very successfully (my fault), to explain Negativland to Sean and Rania.

Speaking of Sean, he’ll be at X Saturday night, which you should also go to.