Coming This Week

Another week of overwhelming choices. It's really summer now.

• Artomatic kicks off this weekend. Visual artists, performing artists, music artists, and other local artistic types gather for a little art democracy. This year's Artomatic is in an empty office building off the Navy Yard metro station. Not to be missed.
  

• Cultural Tourism DC is offering a smorgasbord of free tours this weekend.
  

• Dan Fleshler will be at Busboys and Poets peace cafe on Sunday morning talking about his book Transforming America's Israel Lobby.
  

• The Washington Folk Festival at Glen Echo Park has more than 400 performers this weekend.

• The Old Town Arts and Crafts Festival is also this weekend.
  

• The Shakespeare Theatre Company has a free reading of Britannicus Monday night.
  

• The EuroAsia shorts film festival kicks off this week, many films are showing at the Goethe Institute.
  

• Thursday night, the Freer Gallery is putting on it's first ever Asia After Dark party with food, booze, and entertainment.
  

Adams Morgan Mural About DC Voting Rights

This mural in Adams Morgan says "If you lived here you'd be home now. But you still couldn't vote."

If you were not aware, DC does not have any voting representatives in congress, although it looks like that may change soon.

Unlike some places, Puerto Rico for example, that don't have voting rights, DC residents pay full federal taxes. Hence, our DC license plates say "taxation without representation."

Even worse, all our local governments decisions can be reversed by the congress, even though we have no representation.

Moscow String Quartet at the Freer Gallery

The Freer Gallery put on a free concert last week. the Moscow String Quartet performed four compositions.

First, let me say that these women were amazing musicians. Two of the songs they played were beautiful, one by Mikhail Glinka and the other by Alexander Borodin.

The other two pieces were written by Sofia Gubaidulina. That's her all the way on the right. They were a little crazy.

The first piece should have been playing in the background of a 1950s murder flick. It was, as Chris pointed out, the perfect music to strangle someone by. And there were quite a few candidates in the audience - the guy in the front row who was reading and fidgeting rudely, for example.

Also, the old, rotund, curmudgeon who yelled at the ticket people when we arrived was a good candidate for strangling. The other curmudgeon who yelled at someone for looking at one of his programs could have used a good throttle too. There were a lot of jerks in the audience is what I'm saying.

But I digress. The last piece was truly bizarre. They flashed red and green lights on the stage. The women played their instruments with little balls on slinkys. I know there was supposed to be music in there somewhere, but I did not get it.

Most of the audience still gave a standing ovation at the end. The musicians deserved it. They were amazing, even if one of their songs was kooky. The composer....well, she was old and we were polite.

Gay Rights Rally in Dupont Circle

Last night there was a rally in Dupont Circle in support of gay marriage and civil rights in general. I'm bad at guessing crowds, but I would say at least 500 people showed up.

That's as good a protest crowd as I've seen since I've been in DC. Interestingly, while most of the anti-capitalist/anti-war type protests have more cops than protesters, I only saw one cop.

Apparently, hundreds of homosexuals gathering in a public place to chant does not bring fear to the DC police. Two homosexuals getting married, on the other hand...

Speakers included two clergy, the vice president of the National Organization for Women, and Council Member Phil Mendelson. One of the clergy, told us to expect a coming out party next Tuesday of DC clergy in support of gay rights. He said the group includes black, white, straight, gay, baptist, methodist, and catholics. Stay tuned for that.

Taste of Eleven Benefit

Last Wednesday there was a benefit for the Capital Area Foodbank called Taste of Eleven. The benefit, sponsored in part by the Wizards and Mystics, was held at the Verizon Center.

For eleven bucks, you received six tickets good at thirty six different food stands. The food selection ran the gamut from McDonalds to Cafe Atlantico.

Amazingly, some of the biggest lines were for fast food. Chipotle was packed. No problem. That just meant the lines for Cafe Atlantico ceviche and Jaleo octopus were short.

A little guacamole from Oyamel and a couple sliders and my office mate and I were good to go...to wait on line for ice cream that is. One thing that all the attendees seemed to agree on was the need for a stop at Gifford's Ice Cream. The line was LONG.

It was a great event. Fun. Inexpensive. Something for every taste. And I'll bet they raised some serious cash too.

Coming This Week

The list of events is surprisingly thin this week. I imagine most of the town will be getting away for memorial day. Not to worry, it is going to be warm and the weather report is getting sunnier by the day. Also, a lot of summer-long events are kicking off this weekend.

• Jazz in the Garden starts tonight. The National Gallery Sculpture Garden will have jazz concerts every Friday from now until September 11th.
  

• Public pools around DC and Maryland open this weekend.

• It would also be a great weekend to hit the U.S. Botanic Garden where they have a chocolate exhibit.
  

• Or perhaps we will finally check out the National Arboretum or one of the parks around DC
  

• Sunday morning at 9:00 Mohammed Sawalha, a Palestinian human rights activist whose son is in Israeli prison, speaks at the Busboys and Poets Peace Cafe. (Peace Cafe brings together Jews and Arabs around the issue of Israel/Palestine.)
  

• Sunday night is vintage soul, jazz and South American music at Marvin
  

• Monday is the annual memorial day parade and preceded by a wall side ceremony
  

I think we'll manage to find something to do.

Hawaiian Plays and Fainting Spells

Friday, Chris and I went to a play at the National Museum of the American Indian. Before the play, this Hawaiian group played music in the Mitsitam Cafe.

The cafe served Hawaiian food, including some rather delicious lumpia (little egg rolls). They also had a sweet and imminently drinkable pineapple coconut cocktail.

The play was called The Conversion of Ka' ahumanu. It takes place in Hawaii and focuses on two women missionaries and three Hawaiian women. Subject matter ran the gamut from European exploitation of indigenous people (and resources) to indigenous people selling their women like cattle. It was a very feminist play.

I won't say I liked the play, but I did find it thought provoking. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the end.

I fainted.

You see. I am very, very (did I say very) squeamish. I have a particular phobia when it comes to needles and knives. The play had a very, very (did I say very) long act about one of the women's mastectomy. It was a mastectomy without drugs. It was descriptive. It was pretty much my worse nightmare.

I started feeling nauseous, but I didn't want to get up in the middle of the play. It's rude. Next thing I know, the voices got really far away. Chris says I let out some sort of moan and started slipping down in my seat. He had to help me out of the theatre.

After my recovery (head between the knees outside of the theatre), I stopped in the ladies room. While I was in there, one of the actors from the play came and asked Chris if I was all right. Apparently, they noticed from stage!

So embarrassing.