I got a surprise visit from a couple of cousins that I haven’t seen in more than a decade. Dave was working on one of his rental houses in this area, and Stan and Ruthann were driving up from Florida to Massachusetts. We managed to connect up for dinner. It was great to see them all, and reconnect.
I was on my way back to my apartment after grabbing some lunch, just prior to heading off to the airport, and I stumbled across a fun little event. They had blocked off F street just in front of the National Portrait Gallery, and the Philadelphia Police Department’s precision motorcycle drill team were putting on a demonstration. They drove motorcycles sort of like the Blue Angles fly jets; columns of motorcycles driving at each other, weaving in and out. Very impressive driving. Someone managed to video them and post them on YouTube: video1 video2 video3 video4
Tonight I saw another great play, Hamlet, at the Folger Shakespeare Library. As with most of the plays I’ve seen lately the acting was superb. My seat was in the second row, right at the foot of the stage. Considering how all the seats at FSL are relatively close to the stage, this was real close. I really enjoyed this production. The set was fixed, all white, styled somewhat like modern architecture … but it worked. With subtle alteration of the lights you could imagine the settings changing. They also made great use of subtle background music and sound effects, all of which were executed by one musician off to the side. This is another production I’d consider seeing again.
My return trip home reminded me of why this is a great place to be living. My walk took be back, right past the capitol steps, under the impressive capitol dome in the dark, through some of the parks, then down Pennsylvania Ave. Even after a year, going that close to the seat of government is pretty awe inspiring.
I got a big treat tonight. I got to see Julia Nunes perform at a small local club, DC9, and it was wonderful. This place epitomized the term funky. You enter downstairs which appears to be a small, somewhat grungy, bar. The musical performing area was upstairs, in an area about three times as big as my apartment. The stage was an area in the corner raised a few inches relative to the rest of the floor. While there were some chairs and tables towards the back, out of the way, the audience primarily crowed around the stage, right next to the performers. The performers basically had to work their way through the crowd to get to the stage.
The show kicked off with a half hour warm up by Jessica Louise Dye, who did a nice solo set accompanied by guitar. She apparently is the lead vocalist of a local band Lightfoot. Julia came on soon after. She sang and played great, and the audience was very engaged. She seemed to enjoy the enthusiasm of the audience. She’s as friendly and engaging in person as she appears on her videos. She did about an hour set including a number of my favorites. She mentioned that she was rushing through it because I guess in DC minors have a curfew, and there were a few younger folks in the audience. It was very very enjoyable. During part of her set she was accompanied on guitar by her friend Mike. I’m glad I got to hear her perform a full set live, to follow up the one song performance I heard at YouTube live. I know she’s playing in Annapolis in a couple of days. I’d be tempted to see here again.
Tonight I went and saw the latest STC production, The Liar. It was a lot of fun. Like all STC’s plays, the acting was superb. The set was not overly ornate, but was beautiful and worked very well, rotating between three or four major sets. The story was a simple farcical tale of a guy who comes to town and just keep telling these big tales, and all the romantic complications that ensue. What made the play really enjoyable were the words (and the good acting to pull it off). Then entire play was done in verse, iambic pamtameter, where funny lines and rhymes came up frequently. The play was adapted from an old French play, but most of the funny rhymes and jokes were modern. A great way to spend the evening. Enough fun that I’m tempted to go back and see it again. This is a great place to live.
Tonight as I was walking to the grocery store, I came upon a brass band playing Dixieland style jazz right outside the Metro. They were very good, and had attracted quite a crowd. There were about a dozen band members, and there were between 50-100 people gathered on the corner listening to them. They started pulling people in from the crowd to start dancing. It was like a spontaneous street party. I’d love to hear them play again.
Tonight I saw Henry V the second half of this season’s “Leadership Repertory.” It was great. Like Richard II, the basic staging was spare, but the staging was used to great effect. The three person chorus effectively moved the story along and changed the scenes. From a dramatic reveal of the cast from behind a dropping curtain, to a hanging map that was turned into a sail, to helmets lowered from above symbolizing dead soldiers, the staging was great but not overpowering. Also great, again this time, was the acting. Strikingly good. Of particular note was the actor playing Fluellen, and certainly the lead actor playing Henry, who also played the lead in Richard II. I’m tempted to see both of these again before they close.
It was also a fun night because it turned out Andi and Kim had tickets the same night. We’ll have to try and coordinate this in the future.
LANL’s Mark Anderson rented a car for the weekend, so it gave us an opportunity to do some sightseeing away from the core of DC. We decided to go see the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. The naval academy is a reasonably large campus (considering there’s only a few thousand students), sitting on the north edge of Chesapeake Bay. It was interesting to see. More interesting (and beautiful) is the bayside area of Annapolis near the academy. Annapolis is the capital of Maryland, and the state government buildings are quite historic looking and quaintly beautiful. The wharf area had lots of boating and yacht companies. Annapolis bill itself as the sailing capital of the world. The area had a bit of a touristy feel, with lots of shops, restaurants, and historical buildings against the water leading to Chesapeake Bay. Very pleasant area.
Tonight I saw an excellent production of Richard II at the Harmon Theater. In contrast to previous productions, the staging was more spare, but still beautiful. It was more in step with what I’m used to from Cal Shakes productions. The acting was again superb. This play was the first of two plays paired as “The Leadership Repertory.” The next will be Henry V. The same actor who played the lead in this play (who was excellent) will also play the lead in the next. I’m very much looking forward to it.
I’ve been moaning for a while about wanting to experience some east coast snow. Be careful what you wish for. It started snowing Friday morning. It was sufficiently warm that even by Friday evening, it wasn’t building up on the streets or sidewalks. But it kept snowing over night (for more than 36 hours before it stopped), and definitely accumulated. It was a wet heavy show that broke down trees, and left a slippery layer of ice on the streets and sidewalks. I went out walking on Saturday while it was still snowing, and it was knee deep in the street. While there were some tracks on the streets from the few cars that had passed, the sidewalks were pretty much blocked, so the few adventurous people were out waking in the middle of Pennsylvania Ave. Definitely a winter wonderland.
I wish I could have stayed around and enjoyed the snow, but I had a business trip out of town Monday morning. While the main roads were somewhat cleared, the conditions in DC were so bad there were few taxis out Monday morning, and they didn’t even have anybody manning their phone center. Fortunately I did manage to get out to the airport, and I made it out of town. I came back on Friday. DC had another hard snow mid-week, and things were still pretty bad on the side streets. The grocery stores were just starting to get restocked a week after the first big snow. Now if only I had my boots out here.
