Happy Funtime Friend Service

Whether you want to plan to go or stay as far away from the Mall as possible, the Folklife Festival run from 27 June through 1 July and 4 July through 8 July on the National Mall.  This year the highlighted cultures include Northern Ireland, the Mekong River, and Virginia.  There are a variety of crafts, demonstrations, concerts, exhibitions, etc. planned for the week.  Check the schedule for any events you’re particularly interested in.  Related events will be taking place at the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center (inside in the air conditioning).  Take Metro to the Folklife Festival, pack a lunch or be prepared to deal with the vendors (or try to go to the National Museum of the American Indian - that’s where the best food court is), and dress for the weather.  It always seems like the Folklife Festival is the hottest and unrelentingly sunniest time of year.

If you are so inclined, they are still looking for volunteers.  It’s a great way to get a different perspective on the event.

There’s a special screening of the first in a new documentary series - Out of the Book.  This first installment features Ian McEwan.  Tickets are available from Olsson’s Books (the event sponsors) with the purchase of McEwan’s new book, On Chesil Beach.  There will also be live music and a panel discussion with three local authors.

The event will be held at the Warehouse Theater, but you can call the Penn Quarter branch and have your book and ticket held in advance - 202-638-7610.

Another event I didn’t realize it was time for already is Silverdocs.  If you’re not familiar, it’s a film festival hosted by the American Film Insitute focusing on documentary films.

Dry material you say?  Last year I saw Air Guitar Nation about the International Air Guitar Championship that is held in Finland every year.  And the year before I saw the Aristocrats - the dirtiest and dumbest joke in the world told 150 times (it’s the singer not the song and Bob Saget is a bad, bad man).

This year’s special honoree is Jonathan Demme, so they will be featuring several of his films including Stop Making Sense - the Talking Heads concert movie that taught us all what a concert movie really could be, and the Neal Young film Heart of Gold.  He will also be debuting his new movie - New Home Movies From the Lower Ninth Ward.

I also want to see First Saturday in May about horses preparing for the Kentucky Derby, and Note by Note (The Making of Steinway L1037).  And the AFI is a beautiful theater to see a movie and you’ll be surrounded by people who love movies too.

Discounts are available on passes for ITVA-DC members as well as Women in Film & Video members (alas, not for DC Film Society), and I won’t be able to go enough to make it worth it to buy a pass (curse that day job that pays my bills), so I’ll be looking over the schedule this weekend and buying individual tickets (that don’t conflict with Romeo and Juliet at Millennium Stage of course).

I have to admire a man who saw a bunch of tiny plastic toys in vending machines and thought to himself, “I can put on a Shakespearean play with those fellows.” And Tiny Ninja Theatre was born.

I saw MacBeth a few years ago over at the Warehouse Theater and always hoped he’d be back, but alas. Then I saw the list of activities for the Shakespeare in Washington Festival and who should be coming to the Millennium Stage at the Kennedy Center?

On June 11 & 12, they’ll be performing MacBeth at 6 p.m. On the 13th & 14th, it will be Romeo & Juliet. Check it out - even if you think it’s not your style, Millennium Stage performances are free. Just be there a little before 6 to get a good spot. Take the free red shuttle from Foggy Bottom Metro.
And I think of it as the perfect revenge for anyone who was told “You can’t make a living playing with that.”

I can’t believe I totally missed the start of Jazz in the Garden. But after the lingering cold and lack of spring like weather (other than the raging pollen count), it just escaped me that it could be that time already. But here we are, so it’s time to skip Friday happy hour, grab a blanket, and head over to the National Gallery of Art’s Sculpture Garden to listen to some great local jazz artists. If you’re not a bring a picnic and sit on a blanket kind of person, the cafe stays open until 8:30 on jazz nights. Tonight is Frank LoCrasto Group and coming up soon is one of my favorites - Thad Wilson.

In DC, the best house tour to score is the White House. And while the rules on getting to tour the White House are more complicated, they still do the occasional open tour. This weekend is the first of three summer garden tours at the White House. The other scheduled dates are July 21 and August 11. There will be two tours each day at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. Everyone (even small children) must have a ticket. Tickets will be distributed (one per person) beginning at 8 a.m. at the Ellipse Visitors’ Pavilion until they are gone. In case of inclement weather, the tour will be canceled.

What if someone else found your cell phone?  What would they learn about you?  And what if they started answering your calls?

That’s the premise of the new Woolly Mammoth play Dead Man’s Cell Phone by Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Ruhl.

I’ve heard good things about the show, but I also think it’s funny that they’ve created a site to point out that conversations that used to be private aren’t anymore.  And they are asking everyone to submit their most surreal overheard conversations.  Their favorites will be played in the theater, and you can get a discount on tickets just for participating.  I’m not sure I want to know what a “horse divorce” is quite frankly.

Show opened this week and runs through the beginning of July, so don’t wait if you want to see it.

Everyone is always asking how we know what’s going on around town.  I like to say “The Force” because it sounds cooler than telling people that I spend hours trolling ticket and theatre sites, going through print and web calendars, and (gasp) actually listening to people talk about what’s coming up. 

And in case I already didn’t have enough text messages because of Twitter, there’s a new site to help keep you up to date on what’s going on.  Their tag line is “be in the know” and they have customized content for a variety of cities - happily, DC is one.   I’ve signed up for the indie music alerts, but there’s also fashion, weather, hip-hop, and something to do with kids (but HappyFunTime is no expert on what to do with children).  They nicely limit themselves to one text message per day with the most relevant information and then you text back to get additional details.  Visit 80108 to sign up or learn more.  I’m looking forward to their adding additional authors and topics in the area.

 And in the interest of full disclosure, I learned about 80108 from BzzAgent - a word of mouth marketing group that I participate with.  No money involved but I do get samples of products to try and tell people about.  (Another good way to meet people, by the way.)

I know it’s short notice, but if you wake up and are surprised to find that it’s nice outside (contrary to yesterday’s weather report) then mosey over to Adams Morgan and Kalorama for 86+ Yard Sales because you can never have enough crap.