'Cause I Sez So!

New York Dolls return to Washington this Friday night, June 19, for a show at the 9:30 Club. Along with their old classics, they'll be playing songs from their new album "Cause I Sez So," produced by Todd Rundgren, who also produced their first LP way back in 1973.

If you had asked me five years ago if the New York Dolls would ever get back together, I would have said "no chance." Two original members had died and the other three didn't like each other all that much. Plus singer David Johansen (aka Buster Poindexter of "Hot Hot Hot" fame) seemed to be doing just fine on his own, thank you very much. But the surviving members were lured back together by long-time fan Morrissey in 2004 and, wonder of wonders, here they still are.

Much like the return of The Stooges in 2003, and Patti Smith's almost annual trips to town, the New York Dolls reunion has given long-time fans like me a chance to hear songs we grew up listening with. And it gives younger folks a chance to hear some authentic protopunks who can still rock without embarrassing themselves.

Opening the show will be Austin's Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears. Check 'em out!

Two chances for Stoppard

Hello again. Well, it's been a while since I've posted. The reason? Oh, something about work and not having enough time. The usual story. But after spending a few months in the 1940s with Josef Stalin (www.pbs.org/ behindcloseddoors) and writing about punks in America (book to be published later this year), I'm happy to write a little about the great things going on in D.C. 

In the past two months, Washington has had two top theater companies produce plays by the great Tom Stoppard. The Folger Theater (201 East Capitol Street, SE) has put on a wonderful version of Stoppard's "Arcadia" while the Studio Theater (501 14th Street, NW ) has been running his more recent "Rock 'n' Roll," the first local production of this play.

I was able to see both shows recently and strongly recommend them to anyone with a sense of humor and a decent dose of intellectual curiosity. No, you don't need to know much about English landscape gardening, Newtonian determinism, Prague Spring, British Communism, or The Plastic People of the Universe, subjects that Stoppard's characters discuss and debate. It's the questions behind these issues that draw us in: What attracts us to study and learn? How do people survive when they can't freely choose their own paths? What happens when people realize they've spent their whole lives believing something that isn't true?  Stoppard looks deeply at these questions while weaving together story lines so tight that even mathematics becomes compelling. Or rather, the study of mathematics becomes compelling. 

His plays generally draw a good crowd in Washington, and both of these plays have been extended. "Arcadia" ends next Sunday, June 21, while "Rock 'n' Roll," which opened in mid-April has been extended until Sunday, June 28.

Great fun at the Lansburgh

The Shakespeare Theater's current offering, "The Dog in the Manger," may be the funniest play you've never seen by a playwright you've never heard of. Written by Spanish playwright Lope de Vega (1562-1635), who claims to have written 1500 plays (hmmm, really?), "Dog" looks at the role honor played in society, particularly when it came to love between people from different social classes. In this story Diana, the Countess of Belflor, finds herself drawn to  her secretary, Teodoro, whenever she discovers Teodoro romancing her lady-in-waiting, Marcela. Compared to the two wealthy aristocratic fools wooing her, Teodoro is indeed a catch. But Diana can't let herself fall for a commoner . . . or can she? The acting is wonderful all around, but I have to mention David Turner as Tristan, Teodoro's servant. Built like Dana Carvey, and with similar gifts of mimickry, Turner shines every time his misguided but clever Tristan is onstage. It was one of the funniest performances I've seen on stage in several years. As directed by Jonathan Munby of the Royal Shakespeare Company, the action clips along, especially in the second act when Tristan's scheming pays off. Enjoy it now. At the Lansburgh Theatre until March 29. (Tip - check Ticketplace for discount tickets - they had them for this week.)

Prices for the times

Today, a few words about deals, discounts, reduced fares, cheap seats. As someone who enjoys a wide range of cultural activities, I feel lucky to live in Washington where I have so many choices available. To fit my relatively modest budget, I’ve had to find creative, inexpensive ways to enjoy the arts and still pay my bills. Here are a three options I’ve found (I'll write about others in a later post):

Ticketplace (407 7th Street, NW) – sometimes mistakenly called the ‘half-price ticket booth,’ like the famous discount ticket booth in Times Square, Ticketplace sells discount tickets the day of the performance for a wide range of theaters, National Geographic, Goethe-Institut, and other venues that feature speakeror film programs. They also sell discounted seats to some advance performances - you can  even purchase some on-line at http://www.ticketplace.org. The tickets here are discounted to usually a little more than half the regular price plus a 12% service charge. The downside: you have to get there to order a lot of the tickets and you need to move quickly for the popular shows. Open Tuesday - Friday from 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday from 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Closed on Sundays.  http://www.ticketplace.org/tx_venue.asp?id=61&tgs=2157542:17958649&cart_id=

Goldstar.com – sign up for this site and you’ll get a weekly e-mail summary of discounted tickets available in the city you select. You then order the tickets through their site, which also provides reviews of various events and tips about the venue, parking, and restaurants nearby. Goldstar offers tickets to theater, sporting events, classical concerts, jazz shows, workshops, walking tours, dinner cruises, and book and poetry readings. A recent example: $75.00 tickets to Les Miserables at the Signature Theater were offered for $37.50 plus a $7.50 service fee. $48.00 tickets for a Washington Wizards game were offered for $20.00 plus a $7.00 fee. The downside: the seats are usually assigned at the venue, so you won’t know exactly where you’re sitting until you get there. And these tickets can move quickly. http://www.goldstar.com/home

Entertainment book – an old favorite, these books with discount coupons to many restaurants, movies, flowers, bowling, drycleaners, you name it, have been sold for years to benefit all types of charities. Use one buy-one-get-one-free ticket to the Shakespeare or Studio Theater, or have a nice dinner out, and you’ve paid for the entire book. The 2009 Washington DC/Maryland and Washington DC/Virginia books, regularly $30.00, are now on sale for $19.95. The downside: many discounts have some restrictions but this discount is so deep it might be worth seeing that play on Thursday rather than Saturday. http://www.entertainment.com/

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.