Last night we went to see The Steel Wheels show at Hill Country BBQ. I didn’t even know this place existed, I guess I must be the last one in DC to hear of it, but anywhere you can drink out of mason jars goes pretty high up on my list, so I’m sure we’ll be back.
I randomly found out about this band a few months back while putzing around online and reading about their “Spokesongs” bike tour where they cycle around with all their musical equipment for 500 miles through the mountains of VA. I decided immediately that they are awesome, bought some of their music, and wondered if they have/need bicycle groupies?
So fast forward several months, I found out they were playing a free show in DC!! My lucky day. So we met a few friends there, got some great seats, and enjoyed an evening of pickin’ and foot-stompin’ of a seriously energetic show. They played a long set, including a lot of stuff from their newest album, and ended with a nice tribute to Levon Helm.
Last night we saw Langhorne Slim and The Law at the Rock and Roll Hotel. I love that place. It’s just so cozy. The show was awesome – he sang a few solo songs, but most of the time the band was up there on stage with him, including the guy pickin’ the banjo, my favorite part. Now it’s just a rainy Friday afternoon, so I’m listening to all the songs again on repeat. They’re always that much better after seeing them live.
This past Wednesday evening, we were on our way home from Christmas party #1 with Matt’s coworkers and decided to stop in and check out Mechanix at Steve’s Bar Room. The music was just getting going when we got in there, and it didn’t disappoint. You come straight off the elevator and right into the mix — the DJ booth is literally in your face, with all the various musicians on top of that. Billed as “classical music, jazz improvization and underground electronic music, the duo’s live ‘musican vs. DJ’ aural hybrid is both organic and original…” we weren’t quite sure what to expect, but for me, anything with live drums is usually worth it. We didn’t stay too long since this was already our second destination of the evening, but it looks like it’s a regular jam for Wednesday evenings? (hard to tell from their website?), but I would definitely check it out again.
Sugarland and Keith Urban at Verizon Center
August 21st, 2009
Even though I have seen both of these acts perform on numerous occasions, I still get starstruck every single time. There is just something about country music concerts that always gets me. Last night we were lucky enough to enjoy free box seats to the show (just one of Matt’s job perks for having connections in the construction industry!) It was a really long set, and I don’t think anyone left disappointed.
No cameras were allowed for Friday night’s show – Lily Allen at the 9:30 Club – but of course Matt snuck this picture anyways. It had been awhile since we’d been back there, and maybe it was my choice of show/musical taste, but I feel older and older every time I go there. Anyways, the show rocked, I love Lily Allen and her quirky lyrics, and I especially enjoyed her ability to dance around onstage in the tallest sparkly heels I’ve ever seen…. and, I even enjoyed the first band, Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head even though I wasn’t that into their music on myspace, they weren’t too bad live.
ahh the Fort Reno concert days of summer…
June 26th, 2008
After work today I rode the one-wheel-newly-replaced and the other-wheel-newly-realigned bicycle over to Fort Reno Park in Tenleytown for one in a series of outdoor concerts… Why is the bike wheel new you might ask? Well that would be because the bikes crashed to the ground this morning while attached to our now-broken bike rack as we careened over a poorly marked speed bump on Gallatin Road NW. Let me present all the facts, fair and honest, and we’ll let our readers decide where to place the blame for my $80 spent at Silver Cycles repair shop today.
Throwing blame around is mostly healthy, so… is the offender: me (Lori)? is it Matt? the bike rack company? the DC government/road surfacing department? the early morning hour?
fact #1. Matt was driving. Lori was navigating. (For the record, this is already quite a backwards situation.)
fact #2. The speed bump is not painted. It is the same color as the road. The road is wider that most DC side streets. There is small sign indicating speed bump, it is on the side of the road. It is difficult to see the sign (this is unbiased).
fact #3. I have previously careened over the speed bump in question on a prior trip to the pool.
fact #4. It was 6 am. We were *almost* at the pool.
fact #5. Lori and Matt attached the trunk-mounted bike rack together this morning.
fact #6. Lori and Matt first trial-installed the bike rack 2 nights ago, while Lori read the instructions for doing so. Today it was discovered that Lori did not read aloud (this is important) the very last step, which involved tying off the straps, BUT
fact #7. the Straps had previously been tied off by Matt on a successful bike trip yesterday in which no bikes were spilled onto the road.
fact #8. Straps were not tied down this morning when the bikes flew off.
fact #9. Lori’s bike wheel got mangled.
fact #10. Matt’s seat, previously wobbly, got miraculously re-tightened during the flying-off of the bike rack and bikes!! Thank goodness for a silver lining.
fact #11. The bike rack is missing two pieces of plastic tie-downs. Actually, they’re broken, they’re not missing… because they are resting on the side of Gallatin Road where I flung them this morning.
So it’s up to our loyal readers to decide in the comments who is to blame here. Do remember, Matt was driving.
Ok, fine, I will say that, after writing out the facts, I think I am to blame. SAD FACE. If there was a moral or an end to this story, and there is, it would be this: it’s better to sleep in past 5:30 am like a normal human being instead of trying to bike *and* swim before working a 10 hour day.
I also just noticed that this post started out with the title of “ahh the Fort Reno concert days of summer…” and I didn’t even get to that part. In summation of the concert, there was a lot of mostly crappy acoustic singing, and lots of teenagers, so we went and got Thai food. Goodnight!
If you haven’t checked out Artomatic yet, I feel sorry for you! But there are still two weeks left so it’s cool. Here’s the scene on the ground floor from opening night — great local music and no shortage of graffiti on the walls either.
On a somewhat related but unrelated note, there is one of those On the Fly carts that is always parked outside the Artomatic building, and we finally tried it the other night on the way in… there are a couple of them in DC now and I’m always reading good reviews of them. For $2, I figured it was worth seeing what the taco hype was all about. I have to say that the chicken taco I got was downright gross because of this cold coleslaw stuff they put on top of it. And also, while I understand the convenience factor, $3 was a little much for the Diet Coke I was craving to clear my mouth afterwards. How can they charge more for that than the actual taco??
Maybe I missed the point. I will have to give them one more chance, since I do like everything else about their concept of sustainability through cheap food from a cart. And the masses of other foodies reporting online seem to dig the On The Fly grub. Guess it was an off night for me…
A little show from DC’s St. Patty’s Day parade down Constitution Avenue yesterday. And the cop that got in the way. Please enjoy the kilts and bagpipes (I know I did).. and I’ll get the rest of the photos up later today.
I first heard about the Silver Beats on Elliott in the Morning on DC101. So, I decided that a trip to the 9:30 Club was necessary to see what this Japanese Beatles cover band was all about, because I just couldn’t picture it.
On stage, between songs, they introduced themselves as Japanese versions their respective Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. They each wore tight suits and had long hair, and as for the vocals, I think they were dead on with the Beatles. The show was enjoyable, a novelty more than anything really, and it got better as the crowd got more into it by singing along. Twist and Shout was probably the highlight when everyone started dancing around. If you ever have the chance to see this band, don’t miss it!
If there was a moral or an end to this story, and there is, it would be this: it’s better to sleep in past 5:30 am like a normal human being instead of trying to bike *and* swim before working a 10 hour day.
