Get Up & Dance

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Ever wish you could dance like they did on the train platform at the end of Slumdog Millionaire? Well, here’s your chance. There’s a Bollywood flash mob set for the Fiesta Asia Street Fair on May 22 on Pennsylvania Avenue NW (between 3rd & 6th Streets).

A tutorial for the dance is available on YouTube to learn ahead of time, and there are practices April 17th & 19th at Saffron Dance studio in Clarendon (3260 Wilson Boulevard).

You know you want to. And what better way to make friends than to dance?

Cherry Blossoms!

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blossomsEven though the peak blooms were this past weekend, there’s still plenty of fun to be had down by the Tidal Basin.  I just learned about ranger guided lantern walks – National Park Rangers give free guided tours of the cherry blossoms by lantern light on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday evenings from 8 – 10 pm. Meet at the Tidal Basin Welcome Area and the Washington Monument Lodge. They recommend bringing your own flashlight.  (The walk is about a mile and a half, so be prepared and wear comfortable shoes.)

Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival

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Ok, I know it’s wrong, but I want to go to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival at some point because a co-worker of mine whose wife is really into the knitting said that he goes because of the lamb kebobs.  Yes, not only do they fleece ‘em, but they then grill them as well (that’s sadistic and friggin’ awesome in my book). The festival takes place May 2-3, 2009 (this weekend!) at the Howard County Fairgrounds in Friendship, Maryland. There’s all kinds of events from spinning and dyeing classes to felt making and weaving demonstrations. Hell, there’s even a sheep beauty pagent of sorts (they call it the “Parade of Sheep Breeds”). Find more information and directions, etc. on their site: http://www.sheepandwool.org/

And if you go, bring me back a kebap!

Birbiglia – He’s in the Future Also

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Mike BirbigliaEverywhere I go — there’s more Mike Birbiglia. He performed at the taping of This American Life and now this. A tour. The first time I heard Mike Birbiglia’s stand up he was opening for Jon Stewart at Merriweather Post. We’d missed the majority of his routine thanks to lousy dinner planning, but we caught his bit about playing Scrabble with Snoop Dogg. That was all I needed to hear. Now he’s coming to the Warner Theatre in DC on October 10th. It’s a pretty big venue for a stand-up, but I think he’ll fill it.

Grab your tickets now: http://www.livenation.com/edp/eventId/407207

This American Life – Live Taping

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This American Life - Live Taping

This American Life - Live Taping

Stating that something will be “beamed via satellite” to select theatres sounds antiquated, but that’s the charm of This American Life which will be taping a stage show tonight, April 22nd, in New York City (natch) and “beaming” it using “technology” to movie theatres where we TAL nerds will sit munching on our German licorice and/or fancy schmancy malted milk balls from Dean and Deluca. Because I can’t just eat regular Whoppers like the rest of you.

Get tickets by visiting the This American Life’s site.

Update: If you missed the show, they’re doing an encore presention on May 7, 2009 in participating theatres, which is cool because the show featured both Mike Birbiglia and Joss Whedon… Joss Whedon singing. Yes, that Joss.  Again, tickets from This American Life’s site.

Behind Closed Doors

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You’ll notice a theme – we like other people’s houses. Especially people who live in nicer places than ours. And the DC area is rife with house tours. I always liked the Georgetown House Tour with one exception – they used to spread it over two days and there were always one or two houses that you really wished you could go to that were open the other day. But now, they’ve solved that – it’s all on one day, this Saturday, and 11 (!) houses. Well, really 10 houses and one church. But that Church is historic and pretty plus they are including the Rectory on the house tour. And they host a Parish tea in Blake Hall to revive you once you’ve walked all over visiting all those houses.

Tickets are $45 and can be bought the day of the tour at the Church (corner of O and Potomac). The tour carries on rain or shine. They give you map and a booklet and you can set your own path and pace. Grab a friend and see what it’s like to live behind the brick walls in Georgetown.

Kevin Smith Plays Carnegie Hall

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An Evening with Kevin SmithThe show is mid-week, June 17, 2009 @ 8PM, which sucks for us out-of-towners. Times like these that I do wish I were a New Yorker then I go up there and someone moons me as I wait for a train and the desire to live there passes. Tickets go on sale today, April 16, 2009 at 11am. Yeah, that’s short notice.

Tickets are available through Carnegie’s at www.carnegiehall.org or by calling (212) 247-7800.

We never promised you a Rose Garden

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This weekend the Rose Garden, the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden the Children’s Garden and the South Lawn of the White House will be open for the annual Spring Garden Tour. Also on view (from a distance) will be the very popular new “Victory Garden” or the White House Kitchen Garden as it is officially known. Read all the details about what you can and can’t bring so there are no surprises, but basically you can’t bring much. Strollers, wheelchairs, and cameras are permitted.

Tours are 10 – 4 on Saturday, April 18 and 11 – 3 on Sunday, April 19. Everyone needs a ticket and tickets will be distributed at the Ellipse Visitor Pavilion located at 15th and E Streets on each tour day beginning at 8:00 a.m (one per person, so everyone who wants to go needs to be in line). Tickets are only distributed for the same day so you can’t get tickets for Sunday on Saturday. And you should probably be in line already.

If you go, please post your pictures and let us know. Extra points if you get a picture of Bo. (The rules say no food or beverages but I wonder if that includes dog treats.)

For Our Next Trick…

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“…we’ll be playing Rock & Roll.”  Those were the words of the lead singer of the Hives tonight at the Verizon Center as they opened for Maroon 5.  They are playing a full set at the Black Cat on Wednesday night, and whatever your plans, are change them and go see this Swedish Rock and Roll band and let them woo you.  You will be in love by the end of the night – with their energy, their banter, and their music.

See Once – The Live Version

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If you’ve been near me lately, you’ve been subjected to hearing me talk about the movie Once, the soundtrack, the Frames, how much I miss Dublin, etc.  But thanks to the eagle eye of AMK, I just found out that our happy couple from Once are touring under the name The Swell Season and coming to the Lincoln Theatre (U Street, next to Ben’s Chili Bowl) on Sunday, 18th November.  Tickets are available as of today at Ticketmaster and are somehow General Admission.  I’m not sure how that’s going to work at the Lincoln Theatre, but we’ll see.  If you’re going, post a note here or over on iLike at Facebook.  We’ll be at Ben’s for dinner before the show.

I was just at the Lincoln Theatre for the Duke Ellington Jazz Festival and it’s beautifully redone and I had just decided I wanted to attend more events there, so if that’s extra incentive (like the soundtrack from the movie shouldn’t be enough) we’ll see you there.