Actress Lynn Redgrave at the Folger Theater

Have you seen a performance at the Folger Theater? Housed in the Folger Library at 201 East Capitol Street, SE, about three blocks from the Capitol South metro station, the Elizabethan theater offers an intimate theater experience with top-notch performances. The Great Hall in the building is used for special exhibitions on early medicine, early newspapers, and other early this and thats related to Elizabethan times.

This April, Lynn Redgrave will be coming to the Folger Theater with a new show, Rachel and Juliet. Redgrave stars in the one-woman show, which pays tribute to her mother, actress Rachel Kempson, whose love affair with the role of Juliet and search for her own Romeo lasted her whole life. Redgrave weaves Ms. Kempson's own words and passages from Shakespeare to create a companion piece to her Tony Award-nominated Shakespeare for My Father. (At least that's what the Folger's Web site says.)

Tickets on sale now. Folger member price: $40-$50. General public: $50-$60.

http://www.folger.edu/woSummary.cfm?wotypeid=2&season=c&woid=495

Academy Award nominees to be screened

Once again this year, National Geographic will be screening all five Academy Award nominees for the best foreign language film. The films will be shown from February 13 - 15 -there is a complimentary reception between each screening. 

Tickets go on sale today, January 26, $8.00 each or $35.00 for the series. (Last year they sold out.) Call the number below for the least expensive way to buy tickets.

National Geographic
1600 M Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036

202-857-7700

http://events.nationalgeographic.com/events/event-series/global-glimpses-series/?source=email_nglivedc_20090123&email=nglivedc

This year's nominees are

The Baader Meinhof Complex (Der Baader Meinhof Komplex) (Germany, 150 min)

The Class (Entre les murs) (France, 128 min)

Departures (Okuribito) (Japan, 131 min)

Revanche (Austria, 121 min)

Waltz With Bashir (Vals Im Bashir) (Israel, 90 min)

O happy day!

On inauguration day, this fellow (above) was, by far, the toughest and perhaps the craziest guy we saw on the national mall. (Photos on today's blog sent in by L.A. Hernandez).

At 7:00 a.m. on January 20th, five friends and I were up and starting pile on our layers of clothing. With temps in the twenties, and a wind chill near single digits, we knew the proper clothing would be the key to surviving the inauguration experience. At 8:00 we assembled outside my house on Capitol Hill and began our trek toward the Capitol and the national mall.

Things went well until we reached 1st Street, SE where we were forced to turn left – two blocks later we were surrounded by the thousands of ticketholders waiting to get into one of the security gates. By linking hands and arms we threaded our way through the crowd and walked down an offramp of highway 395, which was closed for the day. From there we crossed the road (past the infamous 3rd Street tunnel of despair) and scrambled up the embankment on the other side. Our trip was only beginning – we walked another overcrowded, cramped, squeezed 13 blocks before the throngs of security would let us move north toward the mall.

At 9:30 we reached the Washington Monument and found a spot on an embankment where we could (sorta) see a jumbotron and (semi-sorta) hear the not-so-loudspeakers. For the next two hours we took photos of the crowd, wandered around a bit, chatted, and tried to keep warm. The crowd was joyous. Though many people looked troubled by the cold, there was a great feeling of anticipation and excitement.

By 11:30 the warm up bands had finished and the program began. Shots of Bush or Cheney on the big screens drew scattered ‘boos’ and the ‘na na na na, hey hey, goodbye’ chants. As Rick Warren gave the invocation, the people around us bowed their heads and stood quietly, some praying along. Joe Biden received polite applause as he was sworn in – this obviously wasn't his crowd. Folks around us started to get antsy during the classical piece performed by Yo Yo Ma and Itzak Perlman, and I heard a few shouts of ‘wrap it up’ and ‘let’s go.' But considering the intermittent sound and the cold, I have to assume these people weren't as rude as they seemed to be.

When the moment came for Obama’s swearing in, our screen and sound sync was so off, we could see him finish a sentence before we heard the first words. I doubt anyone watching on our side of the Washington Monument had any idea that John Roberts mixed up the words to the oath of office – we couldn't tell who was saying what. But we sure knew when the oath was over and Obama was officially the President. The crowd screamed, hugged each other, and jumped up and down. It was sheer joy. We stayed for the inaugural address, though by that time we were all talking about buying the DVD or catching what he said on-line at home. Too many sentences were lost to the struggling acoustics. 

After the address, we quickly collected ourselves and zipped off the mall to avoid some of the 1.8 million other people. We later found out we missed poet Elizabeth Alexander and Reverend Lowery, but I believe John Stewart summed them up quite well for us.  http://www.hulu.com/watch/53921/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-tue-jan-20-2009

It was a wonderful day, a historic day, a very, very cold day. We were all so happy we went.

Service and commerce

Monday, January 19, Martin Luther King’s birthday, was designated as a day of service. In the D.C. area, there were dozens and dozens of opportunities to sign up to help. You could help paint a school, plant a tree, clean up the Anacostia river front. For one of the bigger operations, our mayor, Adrian Fenty, asked volunteers to sign up and come to RFK Stadium to help assemble care packages for the troops. The goal – 75,000 care packages and hand written letters from the volunteers.

At 1:30, I went to the stadium with my friends T & B, who flew in from Los Angeles for the inauguration. Once there we received a quick orientation and went inside the heated tents where we spent an hour walking along with bags ‘trick or treating’ as other volunteers dropped sunscreen, energy gel, pens, and pads into our bags. In less than an hour, we filled about 24 care packages, wrote three letters, and were finished. Simple, easy, well-organized. The final total for the event – 85,000 care packages filled by 12,000 volunteers.

And we still had time to look at the Obama goods being hawked outside the stadium by a gauntlet of vendors – Obama calendars, shirts, hats, buttons, posters, and air fresheners. As we walked by, one particularly enterprising vendor yelled, "They done put Barack Obama on an air freshener, y'all." We couldn't resist a pitch like that and bought three for $5.00.

Getting back to 'normal'

After three days of inaugural activities, it looks like the party is about over. In Washington, roads and bridges are again clear, commuters are commuting, and the Federal government is open for business. But what a couple of days!  I'll be doing a few posts to wrap up what I saw and heard from January 18 - 20.

For me, the festivities (and work) started with the Opening Ceremonies, a free concert, at the Lincoln Memorial on Sunday. Earlier this month, I was one of 11,000 people selected from the 80,000 people who offered to volunteer during the inauguration. I was asked to work at the Opening Ceremonies concert, so I attended one training session, then arrived on the mall at 10:00 a.m. on January 18. By that time, thousands of people had already arrived, and they continued to pour in the gate where I was stationed until it was closed by Secret Service at 1:00. Scores of baffled people stood outside the gate on 17th Street until they realized they weren't getting in and moved across the street to watch the three jumbo screens facing the Washington Monument (one of the best vantage points, I thought).

With no work to do, I wandered the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial and found a spot where I could sit, hear, and watch the concert on a giant screen. (There were more than 10,000 invited guests up front, so the other 290,000 of us basically watched the show on the screens.) 

You've probably seen the concert or excerpts by now, so I'll just say from within the crowd the highlights seemed to be Bob Marley's "One Love" sung by Sheryl Crow and Will.i.am with Herbie Hancock, Garth Brooks (really!!) getting the crowd dancing with "American Pie" and "Shout," and U2 performing "Pride (in the Name of Love)," their majestic ode to Martin Luther King. As with everything Obama, the choreography was great. For the most part, speakers like Tom Hanks, Denzel Washington,and Jack Black (what??) did a fine job reading about important moments in American history and presidential actions in times of crisis over well-edited video segments.

Despite an odd segment with a bald eagle, the show moved along quickly though some people got restless and started to trickle out about 1/2 way through. I was surprised that some even left during Obama's short speech, but I'm sure they had something really important they needed to take care of at that exact moment.

Suddenly, a volunteer team leader found me and I was called back to work, forcing me to miss the "This Land is Your Land" finale with Pete Seeger and Bruce Springsteen and Beyonce's "America the Beautiful." But thanks to the wonder of youtube, I feel like I was almost there. 

Look Here Film Buffs -- Free Movies

From January 15 - February 27, on Thursday and Friday nights, the Royal Thai Embassy will be hosting a Thai Film Festival in the Multimedia Room on the ground floor of the embassy (Georgetown area between M and K Streets). The films are free and so are the Thai snacks, but you do need to R.S.V.P. Popcorn, soda, and beer will also available. For complete information, check out their Web site, http://www.thaiembdc.org/CalturalCalendar/event.aspx

Bruce, Bono, Stevie, Garth, Beyonce, and Renee at Lincoln Memorial

The Presidential Inaugural Committee has just announced the 'initial' lineup for the WE ARE ONE: THE OBAMA INAUGURAL CELEBRATION AT THE LINCOLN MEMORIAL on January 18. Here is the exact understated listing as it was released (in alphabetical order):

Musical performers scheduled for the event include Beyonce, Mary J. Blige, Bono, Garth Brooks, Sheryl Crow, Renee Fleming, Josh Groban, Herbie Hancock, Heather Headley, John Legend, Jennifer Nettles, John Mellencamp, Usher Raymond IV, Shakira, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, will.i.am, and Stevie Wonder. Among those reading historical passages will be Jamie Foxx, Martin Luther King III, Queen Latifah and Denzel Washington. (I don't see Jimmy Buffet on this list, so the coast is clear - it should be a great show.)

What's missing here? Well, the time of the event for one, although I've heard it may be around noon. Also details about facilities, jumbo screens, entrance locations, security details, what you can bring, etc. Basically just about everything except the location and this initial list of performers.

On Sunday evening from 7:00 - 9:00 p.m. Eastern, HBO will broadcast the show using an open signal, meaning you can see it if you have cable or satellite TV. (Hey, that conflicts with the Ravens/Steelers game! I guess these folks aren't football fans).

More to come, we hope.

Rock the Vote concert just announced!

Here's another just-announced event on sale today. January 19 at the 9:30 Club.

Honky-tonkin at Iota, January 13

This just in from ‘our gal in Austin’ –

Next Tuesday, January 13, legendary singer/songwriter guitarist James Intveld will be at Iota. I remember years ago (that means the 80s) he played regularly around Los Angeles. It seemed like every week he was playing in one club or another. He's one of those hard-working and rare musicians who can and does play everything (guitar, bass, drums. . . ) and has a great voice. Roots rock, rockabilly, country, blues. Check ‘im out. Showtime 8:30.

http://www.jamesintveld.com/

Iota Club and Café
2832 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201
703-522-8340

Reality and Rumor in Obamaland

Today we're getting a little bit of reality and a lot of rumors about inaugural events taking place between January 17 - January 20. The biggest rumor is that Bruce Springsteen will open the show on the 18th at the Lincoln Memorial. The Washington Post's inaugural blog reports that Springsteen has indeed been asked to play. This one could be true - Bruce did spend a good amount of time campaigning for Obama AND he does have a new CD coming out later this month. The 90-minute (what?! - it'll take us that long to get there) event will be broadcast live on HBO - Obama and Biden will both be there. No word on the start time yet. (Hey, as long as they don't invite Jimmy Buffet, this ought to be worth checking out.)

As you've probably seen by now, every organization, neighborhood, and interest group is having some sort of inaugural ball-Obama event that weekend. If you're willing to take at least a $100 chance, you have a lot of options. Some sound cool but pricey (The Green Ball, $500 a ticket, http://www.greeninauguralball.com/about.html), but most sound, ummm, a little less cool (Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor Party's Inaugural Celebration, $100).

Still, you may want to get out, so here are two options to keep you busy those cold winter nights: 

Obamarama: DC Blues Society's Pre-Inaugural Party with CW Harrington 

C.W. Harrington and his six-piece band perform blues, jazz, R&B and soul music at the DC Blues Society's pre-inauguration party Obamarama at Surf Club Live in Hyattsville. Veteran musician Harrington has worked with such legends as Lou Rawls and Wilson Pickett. 

Surf Club Live (Hyattsville, MD)
Saturday, Jan. 17 @ 8:30pm

$12.00

Dance You Can Believe In
Start the party early and let Moby kick-off your inaugural week the right way. I mean, how many times do you get to dance until dawn in DC?

9:30 Club
MOBY (dj set)
January 18, doors open at midnight, dancing until dawn

$35.00

A great dinner - guess where?

Compared to meals I've had in other cities - like New Orleans and San Francisco - I haven't had a lot of memorable meals in Washington (I'm talking about the food, not the company.) So I'm happy to write that I had a wonderful dinner on Saturday night at Napa 1015, on H Street, in the up-and-finally-coming-back H Street corridor (or Atlas district). It was one of the best meals I've had in locally in a long time.

Napa 1015 is located at 1015 H Street, NE - you'll have to look hard to find it if you're driving by. Inside it's a cozy little artwork-adorned place that calls itself a "neighborhood restaurant, offering Northern California inspired cuisine with a French flair." I've been to northern California a number of times, but I don't have any idea what "Northern California-inspired cuisine" is. But I can tell you I had the Wild Boar Pork Loin with Cinnamon Crab Apple Salsa, Gingered Sweet Potatoes & Swiss Chard Gratin, which had a delicious and interesting blend of flavors and seasonings.

The rest of my party had the Tagine-style Lamb Shanks with Apricot, Butternut Stew, and Couscous and the Pan Seared Chilean Sea Bass with Blood Orange Chipotle Cream Sauce. For vegetarians, they offer Grilled Tofu with Roasted Garlic Sauce and Winter Vegetable Stew, but otherwise their winter menu is heavy on meat and game.

My only complaint - we were there from about 7 - 9 on a Saturday and by the time we ordered desert, I had to make three selections before finding something the kitchen still had available. Since 8:30 is not exactly late to be ordering desert, to their credit the chef gave us a complimentary bowl of Mixed Berries with Crème Anglaise.

Napa 1015 has an authentic Mexican food night with homemade sauces and salsas every Thursday and a weekly wine tasting on Wednesday from 5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

So if you're heading to a play or show on H Street, or if you want to just check out a restaurant in a different area of town, try Napa 1015.

NAPA 1015
1015 H St. NE
Washington, DC 20002
202-396-NAPA
http://www.napa1015.com/

2 million people are gonna go where?

It looks like the Presidential Inaugural Committee is doing everything they can to scare the pants off people planning to come to Obama’s inauguration. First our mayor suggested we could have up to 4,000,000 people coming into town. (Never mind that the entire Mall would hold about half that.) Now the Committee has sent out a press release warning about crowding, cold temperatures, long security lines, long lines for metro, closed bridges and roads, traffic jams, and long walks from wherever in the world you're planning to park.

If you're unfortunate enough to have tickets in the standing room only area, you're being asked to be on site by 9:30, two hours before the inauguration begins. You can't take backpacks or baby strollers into the viewing area, and there may be some issues with letting you in and out to use 'the facilities.' If you live within 2 miles, better make that 3 miles, of the Mall, you’re expected to walk.

So basically if you’re young and fit – c’mon down, just don’t bring any children along. If you’re older but can walk several miles and stand in extreme cold weather for up to 6 hours, you’re welcome too. A senior citizen . . . hmmm, how’s your bladder?

Now officials have revised their estimates, and we expect up to 2,000,000 people to line the length of the mall from 4th Street (where the official ticket holder crowd ends) to the Lincoln Memorial. There will be jumbo screens set up the entire length of the mall and plenty of port ‘o’ pots. Us regular folks can bring backpacks, strollers, whatever, and show up when we want. We won't have to go through security either. So bring a blanket and some snacks to share.

Oh, one tip – stick together. We're being told cell phone systems may be overloaded that day.

I wouldn’t miss this for the world! Look for me – I may need a snack or a working cell phone.