Music Monday: Music @ The Kennedy Center - For Free?

So when you found out that DC has the world class Kennedy Center in its back yard, you might have written it off (as I did) as a super-classy home of super-classy music, theater, and dance with super-classy pricing to match - far beyond the financial reach of the pockets of 20something (our fearless leader) and you (our fearless reader).

The Kennedy Center does indeed have that super-classy (and date-worthy) feel to it, but the good news is that... wait for it... there's a way in for free!

Behind the Kennedy Center's four theaters, opera house, and concert hall (all of which are amazing venues in their own ways), lies a long hallway with a stage at either end. One of these stages hosts a show every day of every week, 365 days a year (including Christmas, Arbor Day, Take-Your-Daughter To Work Day, you name it). The show is always at 6pm and is always completely free. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

While I have gone to see shows at the Millenium Stage before (Manhattan Transfer and Koolooloosh come to mind) I recently went to a show with my pal Z so I could scout the venue with the intense discerning eye that DistrictBeat requires. Here are my intense discerning thoughts (and insider tips) on the experience:

• The Kennedy Center is about a 7-8 minute walk from the Foggy Bottom (Blue and Orange) Metro (Insider Tip: There is a maroon Kennedy Center Shuttle that picks up every 5-10 minutes from the top of the metro escalator - it drops off right at the front door).
  
• The stage is situated at the end of a long and narrow hall way with about 20-50 rows of chairs, and steps that are used as bleachers on one side. Get there early if you are going to see a popular act as the seats do fill (Insider Tip: No matter how late you show up, there are always good views available from the side steps/bleachers if you are willing to have a hard seat).
• The sound is quite good and the experience is almost always worth the cost - which is really just the time it takes to get there and back.
  
• You can chat with the artists after the performance - there is no real "green room", so they are usually willing to hang out right there. Performances usually run about an hour.
  

We saw John Jensen on the night we were there. He was an absolutely fantastic player (though a bit short with us when we met him afterwords) and made playing really tough classic Jazz pieces seem like a piece of cake. He had that BB King-esque air of choosing notes so well that we waited for each one and felt what each was meant to convey. His band was also great - each contributed tastefully and stood out when the moment called for it. Check out a video of the performance Here. Jensen is a DC/NoVa local, so he's worth seeing if you are into classic jazz and love performers who feel every note they play.

The Millenium Stage has not let me down yet. I wholeheartedly recommend checking out their calendar of upcoming shows HERE.

Have you seen anything at the Millenium Stage? Please share any comments below...

Also - don't forget to add us to your RSS reader - that little orange box in the URL window at the top of this page - click it. We dare you.

Finally - A few shows I'll be at in the next few weeks (!). Shoot me an email (theclubscout@gmail.com) if you plan on going...

• Trombone Shorty and Orleans Ave. at the State Theater in Arlington on Thursday of this week - http://www.thestatetheatre.com/events/e1274.xml?
• HaDag Nachash at 6th and I on March 2nd - http://www.sixthandi.org/EventDetails.aspx?evcatID=1&evSubCatID=1

- theClubScout

District Beat turns 100!

Wow, what a year it’s been. I’ve been blogging for just over 14 months now, and we’ve arrived at a very exciting milestone. This is officially our 100th post to District Beat! And what a long, strange trip it’s been, both personally and for the blog. In the past year, I got a new job, moved, and got engaged (the last of those items I hope goes to explain my slowness to post these last two months). And on the blog side, my intrepid team of reporters and I have brought you information about 110 shows (yes, I counted). We’ve written about all the plays, concerts, events, and food we could get our hands on (much to the chagrin of my budget and my waistline). We’ve written about the good, the bad, and the just plain weird. We've reported on all different kinds of arts, as well as important world events. This whole thing gone from being a crazy idea that TheClubScout and I had at a concert to a real thing, with real readers (who sometimes even comment). It has been an honor to be on this journey with all of you, and I can’t wait to share with you all our future journeys: both personal and artsy. But before we go any further, I think this is a fantastic opportunity to restate our thesis. As I look back on my first post, where I outlined my vision for this space, I realize that our concept has grown and changed in the last year. I think this is a great chance to take a step back and restate who we are and why we do what we do.

Let me start with what am not. I am not a reviewer. I have the greatest amount of respect for reviewers. I have learned so much from the pros and from our fellow bloggers. It has been a great honor to be taken under the wing of some of DC’s Veterans. I continue to learn so much from them. And we do, often review the performances that we see. But this is not the purpose of our posts. So what, then, is the purpose? If I’m not a reviewer, what am I?

I am an evangelist. Let’s ignore any connotations, either positive or negative of that word for the moment. Let us especially ignore all religious weight of it for a bit. In esscane though. evangelists just love something so much that they can’t help but share that excitement with you. Evangelists share their joy with everyone they meet. Evangelists have seem some sort of light, and they want you to see it too.

I love the DC arts scene. I feel so blessed to be living here and living here now. Did you know that we have more theater companies than any other metropolitan area outside of New York? How cool is that? That is my joy and my light, and I hope to share with you.

I noticed at a certain point, back when I thought that I was a reviewer, that I rarely if ever reamed a show. Instead, I always seemed to find something to like. At first, I thought this was a failing. A true critic, must be critical. It's in the name. But I was saying things like "well at least the set was cool," or "this might be some one's cup of tea, just not mine." Lady AWesome can tell you that I was really stressed because I thought that I would loose all my credibility as a reviewer if I was being too forgiving. And then I realized why I was going so easy on everyone and I forgave myself. I love going to shows, and so I am inclined to find the good in each one. And more importantly, I want you to love going to shows. So, for instance, if cool sets are your thing, far be it from me to discourage you from checking some out. I just want to be your information broker. I want to help you all find things that will get you as excited as some of them get me. So I'll find the good in almost anything, just in case that one little part was exactly what you were looking for.

I also realized something else about myself. While I am a general fan of the arts, apparently I am particularly passionate about theater. I have been a theater buff for as long as I can remember (I was the only kid in my kindergarten class who wanted to be a set designer. No joke). But I didn't realize, when I started this project, that I would want to focus on it so much. But, as a good evangelist, I know that theater won't ring every ones' bells. So I am trying to branch out, and to add in a few writers who can share their passions. Hopefully, you will find some light in all of this that makes you as happy as it makes us.

So there it is. That's who I am. I'm not a reviewer and I'm not a critic, though I do review and criticize. I have the utmost respect for those professions, but please tell me if I err to much in that direction. Our job is to get the word out, to share the love. We've got our ear to the street, so that we can share the beats that we hear with you. And if it strikes your fancy, leave us a comment. Tell us what you thought. That's what the comments section is for: It's a place where you too can evangelize about the things that moved you. And hopefully we can bring you along with us for the next show.

And the Beat goes on...

-20Something

They did not Stick the landing.

Show: Stick Fly

Theater: Arena Stage, Crystal City. 1800 Bell St. Arlington, VA.

Metro: Crystal City (Blue and Yellow Lines). Directions here.

Genre: Living room Drama

Cost: $12 YA tickets for people under 30. $25 "new deal" tickets for anyone who calls ahead, Goldstar also has $35 tix.

Dates: Through February 7

Rating: 2.5/5 Starving Artists

The hardest shows to talk about are the ones about which I did not have strong feelings. I’d be happy to share with you my icy dislike or the warm glow of my enjoyment, but what do I say when I was just lukewarm? How do I describe a play that was good, but barely good enough?

As for our recent outing in this category, Stick Fly was… interesting. I was intrigued by the story, and wanted to see how it ended, but I can’t say it wasn’t predictable. The playwright, Lydia R. Diamond, tells the story of an particular American minority: the “Black Upper Class”. I liked where that was going. That’s a world I know nothing about, and I’m always excited to learn about people about whom I know nothing, especially in a theater. My favorite parts of the play were passing references to their world, like Jack and Jill, a sort of high society club for African American children. These little bits of culture were quite captivating, but they were too sparsely interspersed in a larger web that was much less captivating.

Lady AWesome and I were having trouble deciding what made it so bland. At first we thought it might be the acting, but I’ve decided that I was impressed by the acting, but not blown away. Amber Iman was particularly good as Cheryl, especially in the second act. Then we thought it might be the story, but that was intriguing enough. So we have come to the conclusion that it was the writing. The dialogue was hard to believe. People seemed to say exactly what they meant at any given time. Characters were able to receive hugely revelatory information and then joke about it in the next moment as if it were old news. Everybody seemed upset most of the time, but nobody talked as if they were surprised by much. The actors were doing the best they could with material that made them hard to believe. All this left us with a play that was just ok. Certainly not as great as the last few things we saw at Arena.

As is often true, my reviews of the uninteresting shows are the shortest. There are much better things playing right now, and I’ll write about them in a few days. But my next post is going to be VERY exciting, so stay tuned…

Music Monday: Utopia? That's Setting The Bar Pretty High...

Greetings DB readers and Happy New Year! The first month of the year can be the hardest; The holiday season is behind us, the biting cold has decided to stay, and musician's are all taking time off - so there are only a few shows to see.

Now that I've bummed you out, let me bring a ray of musical hope: DC has tons of amazing places to get warm and hear weekly performances. Many bars and coffee houses have great house bands who cannot be deterred by bad weather and the doldrums of the first quarter of the year. "I have not found them!" you say? "Where, oh where can these band be found?" you ask? You didn't think I'd keep you out in the cold, didja?

U-topia Bar and Grill (Link)

Utopia is located right in the heart of the U St. neighborhood's jazz corridor and is a welcoming cavern of music, drinks, and art. The medium sized two room establishment serves up date-worthy ambiance; red brick walls, dark woods, high ceilings, and candle light create nice ambiance. Drinks are reasonably priced and the beer selection will keep all but the Brickskeller crowd happy.

The crowd on the night of my visit was in their young 30's and was interested in music - the room where the band plays was full, but the other room (where conversation can more readily happen, but the band is a bit further away) was mostly empty.

As for the music - the important part of this review - Wayne Wilentz, who plays every Sunday and Thursday, was really great. Those who have read my last post know that I am a fan of "understandable jazz", or jazz that is accessible to those who need to tap or hum along to make sense of what they are hearing. I'm happy to report that Wayne's style is understandable while still complex (I know that sounded like an ad for whiskey, but I mean it) and is fun to listen to. He played a few songs that I have heard before as well as some that were new to me. I'd love to go back and check out his Brazilian Jazz Trio there on Thursdays.

I would absolutely recommend Sunday evening (in particular) at U-topia as a nice stop on a date or as a place to meet up with friends for a drink. I had no problem getting a seat or talking to my date and we enjoyed the experience immensely. We'll be going back.

A few insider tips:
1. Mondays are "industry night" and the bar gets a bit more clubby. Not recommended for those looking for a quiet evening.
2. Sundays and Tuesdays are the quietest for conversation. I have not yet been on a Tuesday, but I'll be going to hear Bill Heid (who plays every week) in the not-so-distant future.
3. They have a couch area in the back that is open on Fridays and Saturdays or by request during the week. Ask for this area to be away from the music (though it is audible anywhere in the bar), particularly if you are with a group of four or more.

Have you been there? Feel free to leave a comment below with your two-cents.

I'll be checking out more places with house bands soon. In the meantime, stay warm!

Here's a video of Wayne you might want to check out:

Belated Snow Day post #3: A cover for every pot, (but this was not my cover)

Performance: Mommy Queerest
Theater: Theater J, 1529 16th Street NW
Metro Stops: Dupont Circle – Red line or U Street/Cardozo-Green line. Directions here.
Genre: Gay? Jewish? Seinfeld-ian? Definitely a comedy

Cost: All tickets are half price for people 35 and under (and the Sunday shows are only $30 to begin with). Get $10 off tickets before Dec 16^thwith promo code TJ10. Also goldstar has tickets starting at $15.
Rating: 2/5 Starving Artists.

In the history of popular culture, there have been a number of things that I didn’t like, even though everyone else seemed to. Skip-it, Halo 2, 30 Rock, and LOLcats are just a few examples. So I have considered the possibility that I am not to be trusted as an authority on all things popular. It is with this caveat that I tell you how much I didn’t like Mommy Queerest, the newest show at Theater J. Much of the rest of the audience seemed to be really enjoying themselves while I twiddled my thumbs. The crickets in my head were befuddled by the laughter around me. So take my word for it, if you want.

Mommy Queerest is the new one-woman show by the humorist Judy Gold. This is the second time she’s brought a show to Theater J (the first was 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother). This production is a world première and it certainly feels pretty rough. The basic premise is that Judy has always felt that her life would make a great sitcom. She is a huge fan of the sitcoms of her childhood. All the hits of the 60s and 70s get a mention. And so she makes references to The Brady Bunch and The Waltons, with which she draws loose parallels with stories about her life. Judy want to make it very clear that she is a 6 foot tall, Jewish, lesbian, mother of two, and so she repeats this phrase a number of times, to diminishing humorous effect. The TV executives she parodies seem to think that these characteristics that would be fitting for a quirky neighbor on a sitcom, but wouldn’t not make for a great principal, and I’m inclined to agree (sorry Judy). I can only hear how her life was a little bit like Bewitched, or strangely similar to Gilligan’s Island so many times before things start to get repetitive. There were a few funny lines, but nothing memorable. The whole thing feels like a gimmicky standup routine; a boat with too many holes in it to safely carry us for an hour and fifteen minutes.

But then again, everyone else was laughing (or at least it felt like it). And these weren’t courtesy laughs. People seemed to legitimately enjoy it. The girl next to me said she loved it, and that Judy had basically described her childhood. Other than the tired clichés and stereotypes from the bottom of the comedy barrel, I didn’t identify strongly with her story. Comedy is an interesting beast. When performed well, a routine’s specificity is universal. More than once I’ve heard stories where Jewish comedians are told that their familial reminiscences are perfect descriptions of someone else’s Korean family. And I’ve heard this story told using any two ethnicities (which I guess goes to prove the point even further). But I couldn’t really find my life in Judy’s because hers felt like an amalgamation TV’s least funny stereotypes.

The whole thing left me with a feeling of simulated nostalgia. I got that she was reminiscing, but I wasn’t able to go there with her. And I did not think this was generational, as that girl next to me that I mentioned before was younger than me. So, the whole thing felt like C-rate material in an A-rate venue. Kinda disappointing.

But don’t take my word for it…. DC Theatre scene called it a warm and funny delight.