Downtowner (April 2015)

Years & Years' OllY Gets "real"

skip Manhattan, Visit WilliaMsburG

spinninG in the District

Volume 12 Number 2 April 2015All the News you cAN use

downtownerdc.com

Is BIkIng safe In DC?

Years & Years' OllY Gets "real"

skip Manhattan, Visit WilliaMsburG

spinninG in the District

2 April 8, 2015 GMG, INC.

GMG, INC. April 8, 2015 3

n e w s 5 Calendar 6 Town Topics 7 Business10 Editorial/Opinion11 Remembering Lincoln12 Mayor Bowser: Meet the

New Boss14 Business Profiles:

Boobypack and EagleBank

R e a l e s tat e15 News Round Up16 Real Estate Sales17 Featured Property18 Auction Block19 Antiques Addict

C ov e R s t o R y20 Is Biking Safe in D.C.?23 Indoor Cycling Boom

F o o d & w i n e24 Sotto on 14th

Street 25 Cocktail of the Month26 “Green” Eats

F e at u R e 27 Cherry Blossom Culture

t R av e l 28 Skip Manhattan, Visit Williamsburg

29 Equestrian Season in Va.30 In Country Calendar

Bo dy & s o u l 31 Murphy’s Love

Spring Cleanses a R t s

32 Years & Years at U Hall33 “Freedom Song” at Ford’s

Theatre34 Mingering Mike35 “Conversations” at the

`Museum of African Art

s o C i a l s C e n e 36 Gridiron Dinner, Latino Student Fund Gala & more

4 april 8, 2015 GMG, inC.

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on The coverthis issue’s cover of the downtowner features a young bicycle rider popping a wheelie to introduce our cover story about bicycle safety in the district of Columbia. the photo was shot by erin schaff near Freedom Plaza.

2801 M Street, NWWashington, DC 20007Phone: (202) 338-4833

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April 7-12New York City BalletGeorge Balanchine’s company performs two programs at the Kennedy Center that showcase the past and present, featuring Balanchine works and pieces by Peter Martins, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky and Justine Peck. “Everywhere We Go,” choreographed by Peck, features a score by indie-rock star Sufjan Stevens. $25 to $98; kennedy-center.org 2700 F St. NW.

April 11National Cherry Blossom Festival parade

This parade celebrates the closing weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival. Giant colorful helium balloons, elaborate floats, marching bands from across the country, celebrity entertainers, and performers travel down 10 blocks along Constitution Avenue. The steps of the National Archives serve as an exciting performance backdrop. The event takes place from 10 a.m. until noon. $20 for grandstand seating. Viewing

along the parade route is free. nationalcherryblossomfestival.org. 7th to 17th streets NW along Constitution Avenue.

April 24- SeptemBer 7“Watch this!: revelations in media Art” This Smithsonian American Art Museum exhibit explores how technology and artistic expression have shaped one another via 44 multimedia works incorporating film, video games and other genres. americanart.si.edu. 8th and F streets NW.

April 8- AuguSt 2 “the Divine Comedy: Heaven, purgatory, and Hell revisited by Contemporary African Artists”The National Museum of African Art features different interpretations of Dante’s “The Divine Comedy” by contemporary artists in this exhibit. africa.si.edu. 950 Independence Avenue SW.

April 3- 26“lights rise on grace”This drama by Chad Beckim put on by the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company only has three characters—shy Grace, the daughter of Chinese immigrants; Large, the African-American man she falls in love with; and Riece, the white man Large becomes involved with during six years in prison. The action follows a nonlinear timeline. $45 and up; woollymammoth.net. 641 D St. NW.

April 23- April 26Smithsonian Craft ShowThe 2015 show at the National Building Museum consists of 121 distinguished craft artists selected in the “Quest for the Best” work in their fields and a sale of one-of-a-kind or limited edition works in 12 different media—from furniture and ceramics to glass and wearable art. Thursday

and Friday the exhibit is open from 10:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Saturday the exhibit open from 10:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Sunday the exhibit is open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. General Admission: $20. 2 Day Pass: $30. SmithsonianCraftShow.org or call 888-832-9554. 401 F St. NW.

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Mayor Bowser Promises More Streetcar

In her State of the District Address on March 31, Mayor Bowser stated “the District is strong and growing stronger.” She voiced a commitment to improved education in the District, from early-childhood education to adult education opportunities and job training programs. She surprised many when she promised that the much-maligned D.C. Streetcar will soon run on H Street and Benning Road. But surprise turned to shock when she added that the project would eventually extend from Georgetown to east of the Anacostia River.

“We all know that the Streetcar has been long on promises but short on results. That changes now. I promise you that we will get the Streetcar along H Street and the Benning Road line up and running. Then we will extend the line to downtown Ward 7 so that Council member Alexander’s constituents along Benning Road can ride to Union Station and eventually all the way to Georgetown.”

Bowser’s announcement has stirred up strong feelings, with supporters excited about the increased access to, and clientele for, H Street’s many bars and restaurants, while skeptics are unconvinced that the Streetcar system can be run safely and without wasting even more taxpayer dollars.

Biggest U.S. Weed Giveaway Ever Goes Down in D.C.

In the latest development in D.C.’s brave new world of legalized pot, thousands waited outside D.C. Cannabis Campaign headquarters on Saturday, March 25 (and the previous Thursday) to receive free marijuana seeds. Despite Congressional objections, Mayor Bowser and the D.C. leadership have forged ahead with Initiative 71, resulting in 25,000 seeds being given away at two seed-share events. Under Initiative 71, each District resident is allowed to cultivate six seedlings and up to three mature

plants (limit 12 plants per household). The impacts of these giveaways are difficult to predict, as it remains unclear how many D.C. residents have the knowledge or equipment necessary to grow marijuana in their homes. Further seed giveaways seem unlikely, as the D.C. Cannabis Campaign must disband this spring and may no longer organize public events, per District election laws.

Stat to Be Proud of: D.C. Most Energy-Efficient City in U.S.

D.C. beat out reigning five-year champion Los Angeles as the nation’s leader in energy-efficient buildings, with 480 Energy Star buildings (compared with L.A.’s 475 and New York’s 299). This is especially impressive given the District’s relatively small size, though D.C. probably gains an unfair advantage from all the federal buildings.

Stat to Be Ashamed of: D.C. Has Highest STD Rate in U.S.

Despite extensive efforts by the D.C. Department of Health, the District still has some of the highest STD rates in the country, says a report by Superdrug Online Doctor. It’s bad. So bad that D.C. required “its own scale due to its very high rate of STDs, with peak rates of gonorrhea more than three times higher than the peak rate among the 50 states.” The silver lining is that the city’s AIDS/HIV rate is dropping sharply, but D.C. continues to struggle with chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and hepatitis. DOH employees note that D.C.’s small geographic area and dense population skew the results and blow the District’s STD problem out of proportion. Still, the department is poised to launch campaigns aimed at lowering chlamydia rates. Wrap it up, people.


town Topics

NEWSYour number-one Source for everYthing downtown.Keep up on the LateSt newS bY SubScribing to our e-newSLetter.

What’s New at Nats ParkBy RoBeRt DevaneyWhether the place to see baseball or is part of a cool baseball scene, Nationals Park has some new additions – besides the players – that include new Kentucky Bluegrass on the field, the second set of grass since the stadium opened. As if there were not enough to taste-test at the stadium on South Capitol Street, new concession concepts include Throwing Cheese, “featuring decadent macaroni and cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches,” and much, much more.

Jessie Ware Charms at the 9:30 ClubBy PeteR MuRRayJessie Ware outdid herself with her D.C. tour stop, belting and riffing on songs from both albums – effortlessly and with a British charm that enraptured the crowd, even when the chan-teuse stopped between songs to chat. Let’s not kid; the crowd was enraptured even before Ware came onstage, following every Instagram post and Tweet, ready to sing along with every word when the Brit arrived. (More photos by Jai Williams online.)

Battling Gender Bina-ries with Laverne CoxBy Caitlin FRanz“The gender binary can’t exist without gender policing,” she said before asking, “What if every day for a year we each decided that we’re not going to be the gender police today?” in a speech at the George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium on March 31. Read more about Cox’s speech online.

n o w o nDowntowneRDC.C M By MaRC PitaRResi

NPR: Telling the World’s Stories from a Sustainable District HeadquartersBy sallie lewisIn 2008, the Georgetown-based architecture firm Hickok Cole created the winning design in a large competition for NPR’s new headquarters in the NOMA neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The firm was inspired by the building’s history, which dates back to 1926 when it was a warehouse and workshop for the Chesapeake & Potomac Tele-phone Company, and later. Today, with the vision of Hickok Cole, NPR’s new home is made up of three main elements: the entry block, the old 4-story warehouse building, and a new 7-story office block.

The D.C. Cannabis Campaign gave away thousands of marijuana seeds on March 23 and 25.

The building at 1225 Connecticut Ave. NW is one of the District’s most energy-efficient.

A view of DC Streetcar tests on H Street NE.


Continues on page 8

town Topics

Bardo Brewpub Plans Massive Riverfront Complex

A year after resuming brewing activities, Bardo Brewpub is looking to take it outside, launching an Indiegogo compaign to help fund a two-acre, multi-use, riverfront location with an on-site brewery next to Nationals Park. The self-styled “Beer Disneyland” will boast the city’s largest dog park, parking for 500 bikes and an on-site bike shop, outdoor movies projected onto a floating screen in the river and the all-important flush toilets. Bardo is offering Groupon-style discounts for those who donate to this noble cause.

Ike’s Closes and the Burger Joint Shuffle Continues

A bit of sad news: Adams Morgan staple and one-time hotspot for Clinton administration staffers, Chief Ike’s Mambo Room will close, murals and all, citing increased competition from the 14th Street and H Street corridors. Continuing a worrying trend, Black & Orange Burger on 14th and U has closed (their Dupont

location closed in December). According to PoPville, Bo$$ Burger & Breakfast plans to take over the space and fill the void left in the late-night food scene.

In other burger news, Bareburger is set to come to the former Così space north of Dupont Circle at 1647 20th St. NW. Prince of Petworth points out that burger joints have been failing in the area of late, with Smashburger and even Five Guys closing within a few blocks of the new Bareburger location last year.

New Beer Garden Coming to NoMa

D.C.’s love affair with beer gardens continues as NoMa gets in on the action with Wunder Garten. The 150 M St. NE location will hold 300 drinkers and is set to partner with local food trucks to feed patrons. Wunder Garten also announced a partnership with nearby REI, though no word yet on what the outoors retailer will bring to the table (maybe a climbing wall?). Another tease: there is the possibility of “occasional live music.”

Nando’s Brings Peri Peri to H Street

In addition to locations in Woodley Park and Laurel, Maryland, Nando’s Peri Peri has agreed to take over two vacant buildings on H Street NE’s 400 block, with hopes of opening at the location this fall or winter. The South African chicken restaurant will be situated between Ethiopic and The Big Board, and across from Driftwood Kitchen.

District’s First Cidery to open in Truxton Circle

Anxo Cidery & Pintxos Bar will join D.C.’s raft of new distillers and breweries later this year. The concept – a combined bar, restaurant and cidery – will include a 25-seat bar on the first floor in addition to a 40-seat dining room

upstairs. Anxo’s Basque-inspired cuisine will include pintxos, which are small plates from the region. The menu will also feature more generous servings, with dishes like a 25-ounce cider-house steak meant to be shared. The District’s cider producer will be located at 300 Florida Ave. NW in Truxton Circle.

Maki Shop Opens in Logan Circle

The new sushi joint Maki Shop opened on April 6 at 1522 14th St. NW. The 15-seat restaurant serves 15 varieties of sushi made with the help of sushi-rolling machines. Maki Shop will also sell healthy drinks from Jrink Juicery and Capital Kombucha. Realizing that raw fish isn’t for everyone, the Maki Shop team has developed maki rolls with meat, seafood and vegetables.

Business Clips

The patio at Bardo Brewpub in NE. Courtesy of Bardo Brewpub.

By Marc Pitarresi, Peter Murray and Linnea Kristiansson

The facade of Ike’s Mambo Room, which closed at the end of March.

Peri peri chicken, rice and corn on the cob from Nando’s, which will open an H Street NE location soon.

8 April 8, 2015, GMG, INC.

Funny or Die Opens D.C. Office in 1776 Campus

Funny or Die is coming to Washington, D.C. after hiring former White House staffer Brad Jenkins. Jenkins worked as President Obama’s liaison and director of engagement to the creative and advocacy communities.

“Whether working behind the scenes to help drive traffic to HealthCare.gov through the President’s appearance on ‘Between Two Ferns’ or helping celebrities engage on the President’s policy initiatives, Brad served as a key link to creative executives, artists, advocacy leaders, and more,” said Valerie Jarrett, Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama.

“Brad was our main liaison at the White House, and he’s the perfect person to lead our DC office because he understands how we work and how we can make a difference,” says Mike Farah, President of Production of Funny Or Die.

District residents should expect Funny or Die to produce more D.C.-related humor in the coming months (as if the city needed to be made fun of anymore for hosting the federal government).

Bonchon Korean Fried Chicken Opens in Navy Yard

Bonchon, the Korean fried chicken joint with the cult following, has finally come to the District in the Navy Yard. Like its other locations from Rockville to Annandale, Bonchon’s location at 1015 Half St. SE is expected to generate hour-plus wait times (if the Nats are in town, watch out). Bonchon boasts a 90-seat lounge area to cater to the baseball crowd, 16 draft beers including local and Asian brews, patio space for 60 to 80 people and a separate takeout space.

town Topics

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Continued from page 7Zach Galifianakis interviews President Obama on “Between Two Ferns” for Funny or Die. Courtesy of Funny of Die.


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Big Bear Expands Patio, Now Open for DinnerThe iconic Bloomingdale neighborhood spot Big Bear has made the jump to full-scale restaurant, offering dinner Monday through Saturday, showcasing James Beard Award semifinalist Chef Quinten Frye’s farm-to-table approach. The menu features seasonal produce and dishes, homemade sausages and house-cured fish and bacon.

Food and Fashion Combine at Maketto

At long last, Maketto, a new venture from Erik Bruner-Yang (Toki Underground) and Will Sharp (Durkl), will open April 10 (the pre-party was April 4). Maketto has had plans to open since 2013, but the restaurant cum Asian market finally has a hard open-date. The 1351 H St. NE location will share space with Vigilante Coffee.

New Food Delivery Service DoorDash

DoorDash debuted in D.C. at the end of March, combining elements of food-delivery apps like GrubHub and Seamless with the contractor-

driver model of Uber and Lyft. DoorDash delivers only from

restaurants in Northwest D.C. and only within a four-mile radius of your restaurant of choice. So far, Bethesda Bagels, Ben’s Chili Bowl, Pho 14, Busboys & Poets and Chipotle have partnered with the service. DoorDash differs from Seamless and GrubHub in that it charges a flat $7 fee for food delivery and the driver, not the restaurant, is in charge of pick up and delivery. DoorDash promises successful delivery within one hour of an order.

Bike Rack Teams Up with Coffee Filter in Brookland

The Bike Rack and Filter Coffeehouse will open a joint location at 716 Monroe St. NE in the fast-growing Brookland neighborhood this month. Filter will reside in the street-facing part of the space while the Bike Rack will handle the rest. The combo location is set to open its doors April 18.

Bloomingdale cafe Big Bear from R Street NW. Photo from CarFreeDC flickr account.

The exterior of the Bike Rack location on 14th and Q streets NW. Photo by Tim Riethmiller.

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Get Rid of Greenwashing This Earth Day, let’s get rid of greenwashing. We’re fed

up with companies pretending their products are green to dupe paying customers. Examples abound for all types of greenwashed products in the U.S., from shampoos and detergents, to meats and vegetables, to electronics and clothes, to cars and oil products, and even to plastics (water bottles and trash bags!) and paper products(!).

American consumers are all too eager to buy products with a green sheen and companies are happy to serve the market with products that deceive with “green” or “natural” labels or packag-ing design. Consumers are being “greenmailed,” if you will, into buying products that claim to be more environmentally friendly than competitors. Well, they aren’t.

“Natural” and “all natural” mean nothing. Plastics aren’t green. Paper products, unless made primarily with recycled material, are not green. (For example, the super soft toilet paper increasingly found in grocery stores is so soft because it is made from ancient trees that are hundreds of years old.) Shampoos, conditioners, lotions and makeup made with petroleum or coal products are not “natural.” Laundry and dish detergents contain countless toxic chemicals can’t be “green.” There’s not such thing as a “green” car; even Priuses and electric cars run on fossil fuel. Home appliances that save energy are better for the envi-ronment than clunker predecessors but they still use substantial amounts of energy, usually made by burning fossil fuels. The list goes on and on.

As consumers, we expect more from these companies than the way they shamelessly hawk their environmentally degrading products. Companies, please drop the pretenses and be honest about your products’ impact on the environment. Show us a little transparency as the customers who spend millions on your prod-ucts.

We know companies are hesitant to do this on their own because of American capitalism’s twisted incentives, so let’s urge them on. Large companies are increasingly responsive through Twitter and other social media outlets, so let’s call them out and tell them that their “all-natural” dish soaps and pesticides are ruining our water-ways, that their paper products are crushing our most pristine forests, their plastic is poisoning our sea life and their appliances are burning up our atmosphere. It’s time to kill greenwashing.

BY JACK EVANS The Council is now in full review of Mayor Bowser’s budget

request for fiscal year 2016. The mayor transmitted her budget proposal to the Council last week, and while I am still reviewing the budget as I write this, I want to share some initial thoughts and important points.

First, I appreciate that this budget contains only a 3.2-percent spending increase over this year’s budget. In the past, the District’s spending has increased 4, 5, even 12 percent from one year to the next. This is important because it means that, while the District’s economy is expected to grow more than 4 percent this year and next year, an even larger share of the District’s growth will be enjoyed by individuals and small businesses, instead of being paid in taxes.

I applaud Mayor Bowser for instructing all of her cabinet members and department heads to undertake a thorough review of their budgets to find areas and programs where funds are being underutilized or unwisely spent. This kind of fiscal discipline will reap far greater benefits than simply increasing government spending.

Beyond the overall size of the budget, the mayor’s proposal includes much that I agree is important. For example, the mayor endorsed my position to fully commit the District’s contribution to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority’s budget, to prevent any fare increases or service reductions. Also on the transportation front, the budget increases funding to repairs streets, alleys and sidewalks, a critical area of need in Georgetown and across the city. I also support the mayor’s full funding of the Housing Production Trust Fund, to build affordable housing at

the rate of $100 million per year.What is my greatest concern in my initial review of the budget?

Proposals to increase our sales and parking taxes. The District sales tax rate has been 5.75 percent for over 20 years. It only increased to 6 percent from 2010 to 2013 because the District was in a serious financial crunch due to the economic recession. The sales tax is the most regressive tax, and increasing it will hurt residents on the lower end of the income spectrum. We should save that potential revenue for when we really need it, as in 2010.

As for the parking tax increase, this proposed move follows an increase from 12 to 18 percent three years ago, along with an increase in the minimum wage, which applies to many of the city’s parking attendants. This latest increase is a triple whammy. When it’s more expensive and difficult to find a parking spot, people are less likely to go out, spend money in the District and generate tax revenue. Plus, most of these costs get passed on to residents, making it more expensive for people to park near their offices, restaurants and stores. More than a third of those parking in garages are District residents. So, in effect, we are taxing our own people again and again.

I will continue to review the budget proposal in the coming weeks, and the Council will hold hearings on each government agency, at which agency leaders will go over their plans for the upcoming year. Please share your views with me and with my colleagues about the budget and plans for the District.

Jack Evans is the Ward 2 Councilmember, representing Georgetown since 1991.

A First Look at the Mayor’s Budget

The Tyranny of the Outraged in IndianaBY AMOS GELB

So let’s get something out the way. Bigotry – of any kind - is both bad and stupid.

Race, sex, gender, nationality, politics, sports teams, technol-ogy brands, flavors of ice cream.

Which makes the question of what is happening in Indiana – or rather how what happened in Indiana is playing out in the media – all the more mind-bending. Because what is happening is that rather than being a source of shining light on one of human-ity’s more persistent flaws (bigotry and our proclivity to go to war over it), the holier than though reaction of the pundits and the incompetency of the media response regarding Indiana has turned a severe storm into a full-blown Hurricane Katrina.

So let’s get the facts straight – the conservative Indiana leg-islator passed a law that, inadvertently or intentionally, ensures “people of faith” the ability to not do anything with people of whose life-style they disapprove. What that really means: con-servative Christians don’t have to do business with gay couples.

Welcome to the age of the outraged. Following the law, which as we now know is little different than one President Clinton signed, the hue and cry went up decrying this perceived valida-tion of bigotry; calling for the law to be repealed, pillorying the conservative governor Mike Pence, leading to a boycott of the entire state complete with travel bans. To which the governor’s immediate tone-deaf response was not that he disavows anyone who would make that choice but only that it is their choice to make (which the outraged immediately took as a confirmation that Pence is bigoted too).

So can we call a time out? Most of all in the media. Under the tyranny of the outraged the conversation goes from the changes already made to the law and the deeper questions it has for Ameri-can today to the need for boycotts and the guilt-by-association punishing an entire state.

But why has nobody asked the question – why would a gay couple want to do business with people like that? Why would they

want to buy their flowers or wedding cake from someone who would so publicly express disgust at their very existence? What a wonderful memory:

“Love the flower arrangements, where did you get them?”“From some bigot who called us queer and we sued to force

him to sell them to us.”Saturday Night Live had the best prescription – using a “going

out of business” sign as the new logo for any company whose business model is turning away customers. Can’t the outraged create a list of business that follow this practice? I personally would not do business with someone who had a prejudice-based business model. But then again I am totally opposed to forcing them to do business with people they reject.

And here, the media needs to think about what we are doing and its impact. Is it enough in this age of omnipresent media to just provide a faucet of information, which in this case just feeds the torch-bearing mob with each move (or perhaps misstep) of the Indiana PR machine? Consider the aftermath of the tragic cop-killing events in Ferguson and then New York. The round-the-clock coverage of both events has created a palpable sense that somehow, rather than the exception, these kinds of tragic encoun-ters are the norm, across the country, and all cops are out to get black males. That benefits no one, even if the coverage is accurate.

Objectivity, that age old grail of journalism, seems to get ever more complicated in this age of infinite information.

So when ABC News standard-bearer George Stephanopolous on live television relentlessly berates Governor Pence to confirm his law gives license to bigots to not serve gays, it makes for great television but not public discourse.

Governor Pence indeed needs a new PR team. But George Stephanopoulos, a savvy and smart veteran of political wars, knows better. We need him to set a new standard, not bait the lowest common denominator.

We Were WrongWhen the Rolling Stone story “A Rape on Campus” was

published last year, we published a scathing editorial about the University of Virginia, its fraternities and its students and called for the UVa. “To shut down and disband the local chapter of Phi Kappa Psi, and keep fraternities closed for the spring semester while they consider whether such institutions are worth having on their campus.” We were duped and we’re sorry.

After reading Sabrina Erdely’s story about “Jackie”’s horri-fying gang rape, we were moved to condemn those who were alleged to be behind the attack. It turns out that we jumped too quickly to that conclusion and that the story didn’t hold up to widely accepted journalistic standards according to a new report by the Columbia Journalism School.

We apologize to Phi Kappa Psi and its members for our mistake and we condemn Rolling Stone for printing then retract-ing a story about rape at our universities that will cast doubt on victims of sexual violence in the future.

Please send all submissions of opinions for consideration to: [email protected]

PUBLISHERSonya Bernhardt

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFRobert Devaney

MANAGING EDITORPeter Murray

FEATURES EDITORSGary TischlerAri PostPaul Simkin

WEB & SOCIAL MEDIACharlene Louis

ADVERTISINGEvelyn KeyesKelly SullivanRichard Selden

GRAPHIC DESIGNEsther AbramowiczAngie MyersErin Schaff

PHOTOGRAPHERSPhilip BerminghamNeshan Naltchayan

CONTRIBUTORSMary BirdPamela BurnsLinda Roth ConteJack Evans

Donna EversJohn FenzelAmos GelbLisa GillespieWally GreevesJody KurashStacy Notaras MurphyDavid PostAlison SchaferRichard Selden

Shari Sheffield Bill StarrelsSallie Lewis

INTERNSCaitlin FranzLinnea Kristiansson


FEATURE

No single group of Americans is as revered in American hearts and minds – minds, especially – as the Founding Fathers, that group of giants from South and North who

brought about a revolution.No single man is more revered in American hearts

and minds – hearts, especially, but also imaginations and passions – than Abraham Lincoln, the man from the Midwest, self-taught in almost everything he knew.

This city may bear Washington’s name, but it is not Washington’s city. This is Lincoln’s city.

Emancipation was born and given voice here by Father Abraham. Everyone comes to see Washington’s monument – that challenge to the sky itself, as straight as a soldier’s back on parade – but it’s rare to see weeping in its presence or a sudden, thoughtful stillness.

Everyone is drawn to that stone siren-song of a

Lincoln Memorial on the Mall. They gather to sing, to bring on the Easter sun, to commemorate, commiserate and commune before Daniel Chester French’s stunning statue, that seems capable of tears and laughter, of aging and of humbled body and soul.

Everyone comes and came to the man in the big chair, even Richard Nixon. Lincoln finished the unfin-ished business – unfathomably furious and ferocious

– that the Founding Fathers, large as they were, would not wrestle with.

Lincoln led the country at its deepest dark hour, he danced with the bear of what slavery had wrought: an all-consuming war, whose most notable and last victim he became.

This is Lincoln’s city. We are coming up on the 150th anniversary of his assassination by a man Lincoln had seen perform Shakespeare at the National Theatre. Ford’s Theatre – where he was felled by a still-resounding shot from that actor’s derringer – remains a theater, but it is at the same time and at all times a shrine. This is the place and the city where he died, early the next morning, in a boarding house across 10th Street.

This is Lincoln’s city. Out in Petworth, at the site of the Soldiers’ Home, is Lincoln’s Cottage, where he spent time away from the fetid heat, arriving on an a gray horse, at times in the company of his much spoiled and loved son Tad. For a few years, his son Willie was buried in Georgetown at Oak Hill Cemetery.

This is Lincoln’s city. Our great national free-verse poet Walt Whitman, who nursed wounded soldiers pouring in from battles and lived near the cottage, saw him daily. Whitman said, he “looks. . .as the commonest man. … I see very plainly Abraham Lincoln’s dark brown face, with the deep-cut lines, the eyes, always to me with a deep latent sadness in the expression.”

The “commonest of men” was the noblest American of them all. This is his city, our captain, the emancipator, our better angel.

Comemorating Lincoln - EventsBY CAITLIN FRANZA list of events and exhibits to experience history and to experience the nation’s capital, as we commemorate the loss of one of our greatest leaders, Lincoln.

April 9Cottage Conversation with Don Doyle and Sidney Blumenthal

Historian Don Doyle discusses his book, “The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War,” with jour-nalist Sidney Blumenthal, former aide to Bill Clinton. Tickets are $10 for the lecture and $10 for the reception. For details, visit lincolncot-tage.org/cc-doyle-2015/. President Lincoln’s Cottage, Upshur Street at Rock Creek Church Rd. NW.

April 14-15The Lincoln Tribute

This continuous event will mark the 150th anniversary of Lincoln’s assassination. Ford’s Theatre will be open overnight, presenting Ranger talks, the one-act play “One Destiny” and panel discussions about the life, assassina-tion and legacy of our 16th president. On the street outside, all day and all night, living his-torians will provide first-person accounts about the end of the Civil War, the experience of being inside the theater at the moment of the assassi-

nation, medical reports from the Petersen House and the impact of Lincoln’s life and death. The morning of April 15, Ford’s will mark Abraham Lincoln’s death at 7:22 a.m. with a wreath-lay-ing ceremony. Church bells will toll across the city, as in 1865. Tickets are required for entry to the Ford’s Theatre campus. 10th Street NE between E and F Streets. Call 202-347-4833.

April 14-15Ford’s Theatre Behind-the-Scenes Tour

Author and Ford’s Theatre Society board member Brian Anderson leads a behind-the-scenes tour of Ford’s Theatre based on his book, “Images of America: Ford’s Theatre.” 514 10th St. NW. Call 202-347-4833.

April 15Midnight Tour with James Swanson

For the history buffs and night owls, James Swanson, author of “Manhunt,” leads a mid-night tour of Ford’s Theatre. 514 10th St. NW. Call 202-347-4833.

April 17Fortune’s Fool: Life of John Wilkes Booth

In Fortune’s Fool, historian Terry Alford provides a comprehensive look at the life of the figure whose life has been overshadowed by his final, infamous act. A book signing will follow

the program, which begins at noon. National Archives. 700 Pennsylvania Ave N.W.

April 18-19On the Trail of the Assassin

This event, featuring historical demonstra-tions, Civil War reenactments, walking tours, performances and more, will run Saturday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., at the Dr. Samuel Mudd House Museum. Event admission is $5 per car. House tour admission is

$8 for adults and $2 for ages 6-16. 3725 Dr. Mudd Rd., Waldorf, Maryland. Call 800-766-3386.

Through May 25Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination

This exhibition at the Ford’s Theatre Center for Education and Leadership displays a col-lection of artifacts that were in Ford’s Theatre or carried by Lincoln on the night of his assas-sination, including the contents of Lincoln’s pockets, his top hat and the gun used. 514 10th St. NW. Call 202-347-4833.

Through May 31Assassinations in the Capital Tour

This 90-minute tour covers two miles, starting at the Crime Museum and ending at Lafayette Square with a stop by Ford’s Theatre. Participants will learn about assassinations, attempted assassinations and other crime history in the nation’s capital. 575 7th St. NW.

Through Jan. 10‘President Lincoln Is Dead’: The New York Herald Reports

For the first time since 1865, this Newseum exhibition brings together all seven New York Herald special editions from April 15 of that year, beginning with the 2 a.m. edition, con-taining the earliest Associated Press report that Lincoln had been shot. 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Call 202-292-6100.

‘This is Lincoln’s city’

Portrait of John Wilkes Booth by Alexander Gardner.

Repairman climbs up the face of Abraham Lincoln at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota.

Our Commonest Man, Our Noblest AmericanBY GARY TISCHLER


Ever since Muriel Bowser – not unex-pectedly – won the November general election, becoming the District of Columbia’s second female mayor and

the second-youngest of either sex, she has been enjoying an extended honeymoon with the city’s residents and, by and large, the media.

Honeymoons are common for newly elected officials, though their duration tends to be unpredictable.

In a way, the whole process imitates how people end up married. There is that first, exciting meeting and flush of curiosity among the public, the media and the new candidate, followed by an odd kind of courtship played out in town forums and debates (the gotcha-eager media watching every step). Then there’s commitment, as the winning candidate makes promises that she or he may or may not keep. An engagement party – in the form of inaugural bashes, ceremonies and parades – makes things official. And they do solemnly swear.

But what happens next is never quite what anybody – candidate, constituents or the press – thinks it is going to be. Right from the start, life comes barreling down, in some cases almost on the morning after the morning after (Mayor Vincent Gray, anyone?).

“Expect the unexpected,” said the 42-year-old Bowser of her job. On March 20, a busy day

at the mayor’s office, she had just settled down for an interview with The Georgetowner. “You have to be ready for surprises.”

It was interesting to watch the process as – with an early announcement, back in spring 2013 – Bowser moved from being a Ward 4 council member to a citywide candidate.

Over that period of time, we’ve had the opportunity to observe her on the campaign trail, where she grew steadily in confidence against a seasoned group of campaigners, including the scandal-plagued incumbent mayor Vincent Gray. She won the Democratic primary going away.

Her general election campaign against Independents David Catania and Carol Schwartz was different in tone and in practice. She became a candidate who was very much in control of her campaign, and the campaign in general. We talked to her then at a crowded, millennial-oriented coffeehouse in Petworth, a scene representative of the changes the city was experiencing. If anything, she was more confident than ever, dismissing questions about the possibility of a tight election.

“To me,” Bowser said then, even after limiting the playing field to four debates, “the biggest thing was being able to meet and talk with the people across the diverse neighbor-hoods of this city. I know who I am and where

I come from, but here, in this process, I saw and engaged the whole city. It was revealing to me how much all of the people in this city have in common, and, at the same time, the diversity of hopes, needs, dreams – the resources of the same people.”

We saw Bowser build her transition team – which included former mayors Marion Barry, Sharon Pratt, Anthony Williams and Adrian Fenty – and later become one of the chief mourners for Barry, who passed away unexpectedly and to much citywide sorrow in November.

We watched her being sworn in along with a number of new members of the District Council (Bowser called them NKOTBs, New Kids on the Block), as well as the District’s first elected attorney general, Karl Racine, who ruled that the mayor’s $20-million initiative to empower young boys and men of color passed constitu-tional muster.

We sat down with her for an interview last month, then watched her deliver a rousing hope-filled, project-filled, initiative-filled and slogan-filled State of the District Address March 31 at the historic Lincoln Theatre, right next to a D.C. icon, Ben’s Chili Bowl, on the U Street Corridor. Outside, demonstrators rallied, calling for more affordable housing, more help for the homeless and the protection of

neighborhoods.There are several reasons for the honey-

moon that, despite the demonstrators, Bowser is experiencing. One of them is plainly the growth of her public persona. From being a relatively reserved council candidate, mentored and picked by Fenty, she has grown to be – over the course of the extended campaigns, her victory and her first three months in office – almost omnipresent in the public eye and the media. She appears to relish that part of the job, and doesn’t intend to change it.

For instance, she moved to more approach-able digs on the third floor of the Wilson Building, with a view – from airy, brightly lit and modern rooms – of Pennsylvania Avenue, the Willard Hotel, the National Theatre and buses rolling along the boulevard. On a table in her office sit Barack Obama’s “Audacity of Hope” and Marion Barry’s autobiography, “Mayor For Life.”

“It’s a conscious decision to be closer to everything,” Bowser said. “Sometimes, the office can isolate you from staff – and real people.”

To all appearances, she was ready and eager to take on the work of being mayor. “I’m ready to go to work,” she said at her inauguration. “But the reality is that it’s a sobering, humbling experience to deal with the daily tasks, the

MEET THE NEW BOSS EXPECTING THE UNEXPECTED

Mayor Muriel Bowser at the 2015 State of the Union.

BY GARY TISCHLER AND L INNEA KRISTIANSSON l PHOTOS BY ERIN SCHAFF


FEATURE

duties, the things that surprise.” She reiterated: “Expect the unexpected.”

In the first month of her tour of duty, there were not one, but several, winter storms that closed schools and made for an endless series of decisions about deployment, preparedness and resources. Then there was the fatal fire

at the L’Enfant Plaza Metro station, putting both Metro and the D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department under scrutiny. Bowser was emphatic, saying that the D.C. departments had acted professionally and appropriately.

Later, she hired Gregory Dean, retired chief of the Seattle Fire Department, as the District's new fire chief. During an interview with The Georgetowner, Bowser said that the problems at the fire department – especially relating to its EMS component – were “sobering.”

During her first (almost) hundred days in office, Bowser seems to have been every-where. Searching for budget ideas, she held four community forums throughout the city. She traveled to Texas, to New York City – and got a favorable bond-rating increase – and to San Francisco for a fruitless push to host the Olympics. And she made sure that residents knew what she was up to, with newsletters, emails and a hefty social-media presence.

“We are going to be the most transpar-ent administration that you can possibly be,” Bowser said.

In the new position, her life has changed considerably. What does she miss? "Driving myself where I want to go, when I want to go," she said. "Did you ever want some Cherry Garcia ice cream and just go get it? I used to like just going around the city, driving around, meeting people, checking things out. That can’t be done anymore, and I understand that." To relax from the stressors of her new job, she has begun to allow herself some time off, such as a weekly massage at the Four Seasons.

She readily acknowledged being “a home-town girl,” adding, “I was raised in Ward 4 in a large family. Our parents made sure we had

what was needed. We did not go hungry. We went to good schools, and we got our educa-tion.” Her higher education reflects her varied interests: a bachelor of arts in history from Chatham College, a master’s degree in public policy from American University.

In many ways, Bowser is all about the future, even while acknowledging the contribu-tions of people like Barry and earlier mayors and leaders.

“The city’s changing enormously,” she said. “We have to make sure that we don’t lose

people because they can no longer afford to live here. But, you know, when we’re talking about 'One City,' we’re talking about getting the neighborhoods to pull together. It’s not about divisions in race, or money, even. It’s about pulling together.”

Now, the mayoral city slogan is: "We are Washington, D.C."

“The city council is no longer the city council of the past,” she said. “We have a number of new people on the council who are young, smart, able and imaginative. Frankly,

their talents should be used to head commit-tees that are now part of the Committee of the Whole.” A veteran of the council herself, Bowser said that she sees this arrangement as a better division of work: "I hope they revisit the organization of the council."

Like many politicians, she seems to have a preference for talking in slogans, peppered with the acronyms of Twitter and Facebook.

In her State of the District Address, titled “Creating Pathways to the Middle Class,” the middle-class thematic came up a number of times, none more moving and pragmatic than when Bowser described the world in which she grew up, raised by middle-class parents.

“My parents bought their first home in 1960, when the average price of a home was $15,000. Today, it’s $500,000,” she said. “We have to make sure that if we’re going to be a city where families can stay and grow, we must do more to create opportunities for them. It always means creating pathways to the middle class.”

She used the phrase “fresh start” more than once – although not in terms of the streetcar project to which she committed $350 million more so that it would reach Georgetown, among other places. She rattled off a series of projects: building new housing, providing affordable housing, changing the landscape of Anacostia, preserving and expanding the Mayor Marion S. Barry Summer Youth Employment Program, new education and workforce-training efforts, programs to get and keep residents by putting them to work and letting them succeed.

“Because, we know, when they succeed, we all succeed,” she said several times, using another oratorical trope in her growing rhetori-cal toolbox.

Most of her measures were greeted with loud applause, the 50 or so protesters outside the theater notwithstanding.

“We are a growing city, a world-class city,” Bowser said. “But we face a large $250-million deficit, which requires tough decisions. But I will balance that budget, with the help of the residents of this city, and I’ll deliver it tomorrow [April 2] to the city council for its approval.”

Which she did. In order to balance the budget, the tough decisions included increasing sales taxes and cutting funds for the University of the District of Columbia and Medicare payments.

No doubt there will be arguments over these and other choices. But for now, Mayor Muriel Bowser is still on a kind of honeymoon. Even the realities of the $12.9-billion 2016 budget won’t change that – yet.

“The city’s changing enormously, we have to make sure that we don’t lose people because they can no longer afford to live here."

Mayor Muriel Bowser: Get to Know Her

Muriel Elizabeth Bowser, Mayor of the District of Columbia, was born Aug. 2, 1972, in Washington, D.C. She traces her

Washington roots through five generations. Her middle name – Elizabeth – is from her maternal great-grandmother, Elizabeth Brown.

Bowser grew up in North Michigan Park, the youngest of five children. Her father, Joe, an advisory neighborhood commissioner, has been a community activist since the mayor was a little girl. “His legacy is part of her,” Bob King, the city’s longest-serving advisory neigh-borhood commissioner and a family friend, told the Washington Post.

When she was born, her closest sibling in age was Mark, 10 years old. Twins Martin and Marvin were about to begin high school and the eldest daughter, Mercia, was getting ready for college. Her mother, Joan, recalled that Muriel grew up almost as an only child.

She graduated in 1990 from Elizabeth Seton High School, an all-girls Catholic high school in Bladensburg, Maryland. She earned a bach-elor of arts degree in history from Chatham College in Pittsburgh and a master’s degree in public policy from American University. Before entering politics, she worked for State Farm Insurance.

She began her political career in 2004 when

she ran for the local ANC and represented the neighborhood of Riggs Park, where she bought a house several years earlier. In 2006, she was re-elected.

When Adrian Fenty became mayor in 2007, Bowser was the campaign coordinator for Ward 4, which Fenty represented in the District Council. In a special election to fill his seat, she won with 40 percent of the vote. In 2008 and 2012, Bowser was re-elected, winning with 97 percent of the vote both times.

Bowser was chairwoman of the Council’s Committee on Economic Development, which helped to create affordable housing, passed legis-lation to build a new soccer stadium and secured

a portion of the Walter Reed campus for D.C. As chairwoman of the Committee on Government Operations, she worked to pass comprehensive ethics reform, improve the efficiency and safety of the Metro system and increase transparency in government contracting.

On March 23, 2013, Bowser announced that she would run for mayor in the 2014 elec-tion. She won the Democratic primary on April 1, 2014, with 43 percent (42,045 votes) of the vote versus incumbent Mayor Vincent Gray’s 33 percent (31,613 votes).

In the general election, Bowser won with 80,824 votes. She took office Jan. 2 as D.C.’s seventh elected mayor.

Mayor Muriel Bowser at her swearing-in ceremony on Jan. 2.


We’d guess that very few people can say they started their own business on their lunch break, but Christina

Conrad of BoobyPack did just that. She said the idea came to her over one

weekend hanging out with some girlfriends in a tiny New York City apartment.

“For the rest of the night ‘boobypack- the fannypack for your rack’ is all I could think about,” Conrad said. “The next day I went into my day job at Time Inc. and during my lunch break started googling how to file for an LLC.”

The innovative product was inspired by her friends mentioning that the lost or damaged their phones at an outdoor music festival in Mi-ami. Conrad wanted to create an alternative for ladies who wanted to go out without a purse—particularly for outdoor events.

Boobypack’s mission does not end with the bra bag.

“Our biggest take away from Shark Tank was that there are a lot of other markets out there interested in our rack packs,” Conrad said.

The company is working on a less reveal-ing Boobypack for impact athletic activities, as well as a comfier version for travel.

“We've even had moms tell us it's perfect for cruise ships, so that they never lose their room keys!” she said.

A surprise use for the product is to store in-sulin pumps. Diabetics have written to the com-pany and posted pictures showing their special take on the Boobypack.

The company wants to work on improving its designs for all of these different groups of women, while continuing to sell and distribute the Boobypack products online.

“We're a company made up of women, making a product specifically for women,” she said. “So female empowerment comes naturally to us. It's in our DNA.”

Boobypack is super involved in the social media sphere, using hashtags like #believein-yourSHELFIE and #Girlboss frequently on In-stagram.

“Being a Boobypack Angel means you're a confident, active woman with a sense of hu-mor,” Conrad said. “A #girlboss who believes in her #shelfie if you will.”

Boobypack: Keeping it Close to the ChestBY CAITLIN FRANZ

BUSINESS

EagleBank is best known in Georgetown as a local community bank, specializing in providing its customers with personal care. The bank is also well known for its

involvement with D.C.’s booming restaurant scene, serving over 100 area restaurants including the Black Restaurant Group (behind BlackSalt), José Andrés’s growing ThinkFoodGroup empire and local Georgetown spots like the Peacock Café, J.Paul’s and Paulo’s.

After successfully tackling commercial and personal banking on a community level, to the tune of over $3 billion in loans in and around the District, EagleBank is looking to provide banking services to Washington’s most celebrated multi-billion-dollar industry: politics.

With the hiring of John Vogt as senior vice president and Joanne Parker as assistant vice president, EagleBank is pivoting to where the big money is in Washington, the political arena. As the 2016 election season heats up, EagleBank is looking to steal the business of super-regional banks like SunTrust and PNC and – even bigger – national fish like Bank of America and Wells Fargo, by taking a community-oriented approach to the commercial banking needs of D.C.’s trade associations, political committees, unions, lobbying firms and advocacy groups.

It all starts with Vogt, a 30-plus-year political and policy veteran who worked as an operative on the Hill, at the Treasury Department under President George H. W. Bush and as the head of the Washington office of the now-defunct Bond Market Association. (The Bond Market Association was a part of the trade association merger that resulted in the formation of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association or SIFMA.)

After bouncing between Tennessee, West Virginia and New Jersey growing up, Vogt visited Washington on a trip with other promising youths on a Hearst Foundation fellowship. The group met President Carter, Vice President Mondale and Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall. Vogt was most impressed by

a day spent shadowing Senator Howard Baker of Tennessee on the trip. He told the senator that he was applying to Georgetown University, to which Baker replied, “If you go there, why don’t you come and work for me?” Vogt ended up at Georgetown and that’s exactly what he did.

Years later, with a young family at home and Jack Abramoff in the news, Vogt made a career change, starting Chain Bridge Bank near home in Mclean. “A community bank is what I’m built for,” he says. He cherished life as a part of the McLean community, volunteering to coach his kids’ Little League teams, becoming treasurer of the McLean Community Foundation and teaching financial literacy and setting up a student-run bank at their school.

Vogt was having fun, but started itching for a new challenge. Upgrading his credentials at Barclays, where he got licensed and registered as a broker-dealer and investment advisor, he found himself missing the “people-ness” of community banking. His office at Barclays was housed in the same building as EagleBank Vice Chairman Bob Pincus’s office, and Pincus kept after him to meet. The subject: banking for the political sector, something Pincus had been intimately involved in during the 1980s and ’90s.

One conversation led to another. Vogt ended up joining EagleBank’s enterprise banking team in early 2015, along with Parker, who had previously worked as chief financial officer of the Republican Governors Association.

The freshly hired duo is in charge of bringing in business from the big money players in Washington, regardless of political affiliation. With inside knowledge of how political operations work, Vogt and Parker are hoping to bring EagleBank’s customized and personalized brand of commercial banking to D.C.’s countless political organizations.

Parker says, “We can go in anticipating what they [clients] might need off the bat and understanding where they’re coming from with a lot of the things they’re asking for, and their wants

and desires.” As for their political affiliations, Vogt says, “Bankers keep their mouths shut. We are a bank for organizations of all sizes and all entities.”

The work itself isn’t very sexy, but Vogt and Parker hope that their know-how, networks and experience make EagleBank a more attractive place for political organizations to bank. As campaigns ramp up for the coming elections, EagleBank is launching a campaign of its own: a bid to take business from the bigger banks, using its trademark tailored approach.

EagleBank: Banking on PoliticsBY PETER MURRAY

EagleBank’s Joanne Parker and John Vogt. Photo by Paul Simkin.

Three Boobypack models wearing the product, from left to right, Jaclyn Simon, Catie Straut and Sabrina Burda. Christina Conrad, the founder of Boobypack, is third from the right. Image courtesy of vixely.com.


Historic Preservation Board Okays Shaw Developments

The Historic Preservation Review Board gave the okay for two new developments in Shaw, one in Blagden Alley near Mt. Vernon Square and another at 801-811 N St. NW. The Blagden Alley micro-unit project had faced the board before, but the HPRB rejected it because of an enclosed bridge spanning the two pro-posed buildings. The new proposal includes an open walkway, roofed in glass. The project also ran into trouble with the Board of Zoning Approval because of a lack of parking spaces. That issue was cleared up when the develop-ers, SB-Urban and Rooney Properties, pointed out that the millennials living in the micro units would rely more on bikes, walking and public transport than cars.

The N Street building brought forward by developer Mufu Sanni and architect Michael Vallen jumped through its last hoop when it was approved by the HPRB on March 30. Empty lots currently occupy the plot of land.

District’s First ‘Micro Hotel’ Planned for Chinatown

In an effort to cater to money-conscious young travelers, Monument Realty and Modus Hotels have paired up to plan a 245-room mi-cro hotel at 627 H St. NW. The $60-million project is scheduled to begin construction this

month for a 2016 completion. The planned micro hotel will tout its convenient location as a primary selling-point to younger travel-ers, who are less concerned about comfort and amenities than their aged counterparts. Rooms will be smaller than a traditional hotel, but do include private baths. It remains to be seen if the success micro hotels have seen in New York will transfer south to D.C., but Modus has also teamed up with Abdo Development on an 83-unit micro hotel in Foggy Bottom called Hotel Hive.

Argentine Developer Threatens New ‘Middle Finger’

Argentine developer Hai Donacare is pro-posing to add a whopping 10 stories on top of a U Street-area rowhouse. The new develop-ment would come in at 89.5 feet, inches below Height Act-mandated altitude. The top unit has already been sold, according to Urban Turf. In Urban Turf’s interview, Donacare said, “These people think they’ve seen a building construct-ed like a middle finger … I’ll give them a mid-dle finger.” The other 40 or so condos are still up for sale, but let’s hope that the developer fails in his quest to blight D.C.’s skyline.

D.C. Zoning Commission Limits Pop-Up Condos

In an effort to curb the growth in “pop-up” homes, the D.C. Zoning Commission voted to reduce the maximum by-right height of single-family rowhouses from 40 to 35 feet in several of the city’s quickly gentrifying neigh-borhoods, including Capitol Hill, Columbia Heights, Shaw, Petworth and Bloomingdale. Developers are still able to request a special exemption to build a 40-foot building. While the commission’s decision is not final, it will likely set a roadmap for the pop-up debate.

Big Expansion Approved at Union Market

The Zoning Commission unanimously ap-proved Eden Development’s plans to build out a movie theater (the Angelika Film Center, currently located just north of Union Market on New York Avenue), office space and resi-dences on top of the existing Union Market structure. The plans include a park in front of Union Market and a plaza behind it, as a buf-fer zone for a building planned for the second phase of construction.

RFPs Announced at ‘March Madness’ Event

Mayor Muriel Bowser announced RFPs for sites near the Waterfront Metro Station (at 1000 4th St. SW, where the District envisions a 400,000-square-foot mixed-use development), on New Jersey Avenue and H Street NW (a 9,653-square-foot lot), at 1520-1522 North Capitol St. NW near Truxton Circle, in Ana-costia on Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. SE and Good Hope Road SE and in Shaw on Parcel 42 at 7th Street and Rhode Island Avenue NW.

REAL ESTATE

Real Estate Roundup

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A rendering of the Blagden Alley development approved by the HPRB for Shaw. Courtesy of SB-Urban and Rooney Properties.

The iconic Chinatown arch at H and 7th streets NW where Monument Realty and Modus hotels plan to build the District's first micro hotel.

A rendering of Eden Development's expansion at Union Market. Courtesy of Eden Development.


Real EstatE

Address Subdivision Bedrooms Full Baths Half Baths Days on The List Price Close Price

5112 LOWELL LN NW KENT 4 3 2 12 $2,295,000 $2,125,000

2518 44TH ST NW WESLEY HEIGHTS 4 4 1 6 $1,799,000 $1,820,000

675 E ST NW #700 PENN QUARTER 3 3 1 16 $1,595,000 $1,575,000

2119 O ST NW #2119 DUPONT/CENTRAL 3 4 0 2 $1,299,000 $1,356,000

5538 HAWTHORNE PL NW KENT 4 3 1 5 $1,295,000 $1,300,000

1830 JEFFERSON PL NW #21 DUPONT CIRCLE 3 2 1 2 $1,249,900 $1,280,000

3814 ALTON PL NW NORTH CLEVELAND PARK 3 2 1 0 $1,275,000 $1,275,000

1449 N ST NW #4 LOGAN CIRCLE 2 2 1 7 $1,249,000 $1,264,000

4852 LOUGHBORO RD NW KENT 3 3 1 102 $1,290,000 $1,260,000

2319 NEBRASKA AVE NW PALISADES 4 4 0 0 $1,250,000 $1,250,000

1420 12TH ST NW LOGAN 3 3 1 32 $1,199,900 $1,181,000

3820 GARFIELD ST NW OBSERVATORY CIRCLE 5 3 2 25 $1,175,000 $1,140,000

4318 WARREN ST NW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PARK 3 3 0 0 $1,095,000 $1,136,750

3522 QUEBEC ST NW CLEVELAND PARK 4 3 0 9 $950,000 $1,081,000

4517 DAVENPORT ST NW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PARK 3 4 0 0 $1,050,000 $1,050,000

4919 ALBEMARLE ST NW AMERICAN UNIVERSITY PARK 5 3 1 5 $929,000 $983,000

616 R ST NW OLD CITY #2 6 3 0 19 $1,149,000 $975,000Prov

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The auction BlockBy Ari Post

Bringing the Hammer DownFinal selling prices for last month’s featured Auction Block items.

BonHam'sAn Important Suite of Diamond and Ruby JewelryVan Cleef & Arpels French, 1988Estimate: $180,000 - $220,000Auction Date: April 15

This diamond and ruby suite from the 1980's, part of Bonham’s Fine Jewelry sale, is a beau-tiful and romantic example of Van Cleef & Arpel's graceful designs set with superbly matched calibré set cut rubies and diamonds. This suite is a fine example of Van Cleef & Arpels interpretation of the unique time and fashion which characterized the 1980's with the image of wealth and success expressed in impressive jewels and dress.

LongandFoster.com/LuxuryHomes

The world’s mosT desired homes —

broughT To you by long & FosTer and ChrisTie’s.

cHRisTie'sA massive pair of Napoleon III ormolu-mounted Japanese Imari Porcelain thirteen-light torchère Estimate: $120,000 - $180,000Auction Date: April 16

Part of Christie’s auction, The Opulent Eye: 19th Century Funriture, Sculpture, Works of Art, Ceramics & Glass, each of these rather magnificent torch lamps is of bottle outline with a pair of profusely scrolled acanthus han-dles, issuing thirteen scrolled candle-branches on entwined dolphin support. A truly opulent sight.

FReeman’s Special Minguren I Coffee TableCurly maple burl and walnutGeorge Nakashima (1905 – 1990)Estimate: $30,000 – $50,000Auction Date:April 22

The American Furniture, Folk & Decorative Arts sale at Freeman’s is a welcome treat for those interested in the unique history and style of American craft and design. From the 18th century to the 20th century, the selec-tion ranges from a Chippendale walnut case clock ca. 1775, to 20th century master furni-ture makers like George Nakashima, whose renowned “natural wood” design is on full display with this beautiful coffee table. Other offerings include Oriental rugs and carpets, as well as rare coins.

Doyle new yoRkFrida Kahlo ArchiveEstimate: $80,000 – $120,000Auction Date: April 15

Doyle New York’s auction of Rare Books, Maps & Autographs is highlighted by an ar-chive of unpublished love letters written by Mexican artist Frida Kahlo to Jose Bartoli.This group of letters is dated between August 1946—when Kahlo had just turned 39—and November 1949. Her letters were written while Kahlo was recuperating at home in Mexico City from a spinal fusion performed in June of 46. The archive comprising ap-proximately 25 letters in Spanish from Kahlo to Bartoli.

cHRisTie's“Near Gloucester,” c. 1916-19Maurice Brazil Prendergast (1858-1924)Auction Date: March 25Estimate: $150,000 – $250,000Final Selling Price: $125,000

Doyle new yoRk“Shoe Shine Boy with Dog,” 1900John George Brown (1831-1913)Auction Date: April 1Estimate: $30,000 – $50,000Final Selling Price: $56,250 (in-cludes Buyer's Premium)

soTHeBy's“Untitled VII” (from “Men in the Cit-ies”)Robert Longo (b. 1953)Auction Date: April 1Estimate: $6,000 – $8,000Final Selling Price: $8,750

BonHamsAmethyst, Turquoise and Diamond RingJean SchlumbergerAuction Date: March 31Estimate: $8,000 – $12,000Final Selling Price: $52,500

soTHeBy’sSilent Seasons – Summer No. IIOil on CanvasWill Barnet (1911 – 2012)Estimate: $60,000 – $90,000Auction Date: April 23

Sotheby’s April sale of American Paintings, Drawings and Sculpture includes a rich array of American artwork from the 19th and 20th centuries, including this iconic painting by Will Barnet, which exhibits the artist’s characteris-tic motifs of the human figure and animals in casual scenes of daily life, depicted in a state of dreamlike whimsy. Other highlights include Gifford Beal’s ‘Fish Houses, Winter Day,’ as well as works by George Inness, Jasper Francis Cropsey, and notable 20th century artists like Charles Burchfield and Norman Rockwell.

FReeman'sChinese "Jun" Bowl, Late YuanAuction Date: March 14Estimate: $10,000 – $15,000Final Selling Price: $25,000


antiques addict

BENNETT BEAN

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The Antiques Addict Cure-Alls in Colored BottlesBy Michelle Galler

Distinctive bottles of many shapes and hues, displayed in the windows of medieval apothecaries, lured ailing customers to buy their con-

tents. By the 18th century, England was pro-ducing more than 200 elixirs and serums, their secret formulas known only to their makers.

Called patent medicines, these “amazing cures” were manufactured under grants to those who provided medicine to the Royal family. Each medicine came in its uniquely colored, hand-blown bottle. By the late 1700s, these elixirs began to arrive in the United States with the first settlers.

After American independence, rising nationalistic feelings were exploited by U.S. manufacturers, who claimed that their potions were derived from plant products found exclu-sively in North America. Self-medication was alluring to early Americans, who often had limited access to medicines or doctors, and the patent-medicine business flourished. Remedies, often laced with alcohol, morphine, opium or cocaine, were virtually unregulated and avail-able for every known ailment.

By the mid-19th century, doctors, tin-smiths and everyone in between promoted their “branded” concoctions, each with its unique bottle. Sold in retail stores and at traveling med-icine shows, they relied on attractive bottles to promote their exotic ingredients. From the 19th to the mid-20th century, a variety of glass medi-cine vessels, numbering in the thousands, were manufactured to contain an equally prodigious number of brands.

The earliest of these bottles were made from natural sand, which gave them an opaque aquamarine color. In 18th- and 19th-century America, glass bottles were often hand-blown

and misshapen or asymmetrical. Because they had to be detached from the blowpipe when finished, a round imprint on the bottom of the bottle – known as a pontil mark or scar – was created.

Early experimentation with additives in glass manufacturing resulted in green, amber or blue bottles. Colored, pontiled medicine bottles are scarce, and prices range from $100 to $20,000. These rarefied bottles are typically a color other than aqua or clear, with a pontil scar on the base. They are embossed with the

name of the doctor or the type of “medicine,” as in “Cure,” “Bitters,” “Tonic” or “Sarsaparilla.” The more common aqua medicines with pontils sell for upwards of $20. (Clear glass was not perfected until the late 19th century; hence, a clear bottle is a later bottle.)

One of the clues for dating a bottle is the lip, as nearly all bottles made prior to 1870 had a hot piece of glass crudely applied to the lip. As a rule of thumb, bottles made from 1830 to 1850 have a flared or sheared lip and those

made from 1840 to 1870 have applied round or squared lips. After 1870, a lipping tool was used to twist two pieces of glass clipped onto the sides of the bottle into a uniform shape. Bottles from the last part of the 19th century show evi-dence of this twisting motion.

One of the many popular patent products sold via elaborate travel-ing shows was Kickapoo Indian Sagwa. Featuring acrobats and Native American horse riders, the shows traveled the countryside, touting their cure-all as a blood,

liver and stomach remedy. The richly embel-lished bottles claimed to contain special Native America herbal medicine, which was actually mostly alcohol, stale beer and a strong laxative. They did, in fact, contained a touch of herbs.

In 1906, the industry received its fatal blow when Congress passed the Pure Food and Drug Act. The U.S. government had finally stepped in to stop the sale of these “medicines,” the sellers of which made unproven, often outra-geous claims about their curing everything from tuberculosis and colds to cancer.

Even so, a few patent medicines continued to be produced up through the 1950s. Some products continue to be sold even today, such

as Father John's Medicine. First produced by Father John O'Brien in Lowell, Massacheusetts, in 1855, its brown bottle still retains its familiar picture of Father John.

More than 10,000 types of patent medicine bottles were produced and distributed through-out the United States between approximately 1850 and 1906. Historians have estimated that more than 15,000 different medicines were available in these bottles.

In 1892, Owens Glass Company invented the semi-automatic bottle machine, which left a large ring, known as the Owens’ ring, on the bottle’s base. At around that time, the typical color of glass used for bottles changed from aqua to clear. Fewer bottles were embossed by the late 1930s and into the 1940s, and bottles lost their individuality as food manufactur-ers demanded more regular containers. The bubbles and the charming irregularities that collectors love disappeared as the 20th century progressed.

Michelle Galler has been an antiques dealer for more than 25 years. Her shop is in Rare Finds, 211 Main Street, Washington, Virginia. She also consults from her 19th-century home in Georgetown. Reach her at [email protected].

Laudanum, a tincture of opium, contains morphine and was a common ingredient in patent medicines.Credit: US National Library of Medicine

Manufacturers of patent medicines used a variety of distinctive bottles to lure customers to buy their potions.Credit: Society for Historical Archeology


Photo by Erin Schaff.

Ask any bicyclist in D.C. if they’ve had near-death experiences with cars, and the typical response will be, “How many?” Anecdotal evidence abounds about bicyclists being hit by cars or having near misses that result in injury.

Whether the driver was cruising through an intersection without looking, turning right into the bike lane (and the bikers in it) or opening his or her door into bike traffic, bicyclists in D.C. collide with cars on an almost daily basis.

In some situations, the cyclist is at fault for breaking bike laws; in others, the accident occurred because the driver was, unbeknownst to him or her, breaking traffic laws regarding bicycles.

Regardless of the circumstances, in 2014, there were 842 reported collisions between cars and bicycles in the District, up by more than 200 accidents from the prior year.

The situation has led to a war of sorts between cyclists and car drivers, with each party blaming the other for not following the rules of the road. Last year, Washington Post contributor Courtland Milloy let loose the opening salvo, declaring, “It’s a $500 fine for a motorist to hit a bicyclist in the District, but some behaviors are so egregious that some drivers might think it’s worth paying the fine.”

Cyclists, who regularly talk their fair share of smack about drivers and their behavior, struck back with a protest at the Post’s building and continued their usual kicking and hollering (or cussing) at cars doing wrong on the road.

In the bikers’ defense, being hit by a car on a bike is quite the jarring experience. A car going more than 25 miles an hour can easily kill or maim a bicyclist, while the damage a bike can inflict on a car is limited to dents, scratches and, at most, a busted window. Bicycling is inherently risky in the city due to the automotive density and the unpredictable nature of drivers (not to mention the laws of physics).

But viewing D.C.’s transportation system as a war between cyclists and drivers isn’t helpful. The problem isn’t drivers and their cars or bikers and their bikes but rather the District government’s failure to adopt laws and install infrastructure to keep bikes safe, and out of the way of cars, on the road.

D.C.’s bicycle infrastructure looks impressive at first glance. The city is considered a leader in the Mid-Atlantic with regard to experimenting with innovative bicycle accommodations. Including some funding from the federal government, D.C. spends among the most per capita on bike projects of any large U.S. city. It boasts 68 miles of bike lanes.

But peek a little closer and the picture for bicyclists, and their safety, grows grim.

A physical barrier protects only six of Washington’s bike-lane

Bicycle Safety: The RouTe of The PRoblemBy Peter Murray


district bike stats

miles. These protected lanes (or cycle tracks) are a bicyclist’s best friends; research has shown that they are not only the most heavily used type of bike infrastructure, but that they also reduce risk of injury for bikers by 15 to 40 percent. On the other hand, 13 miles are shared lanes, which means that there is some signage to alert drivers that bikers are on the road, but no designated space for them. The rest are bike lanes that are demarcated on the street but not physically separated.

Inconsistent bicycle infrastructure causes problems for everyone on the road, but especially bikers. Emily Badger and Christopher Ingraham point out in the Washington Post: “Bike commuting throughout the city is often like this: cobbled together out of a bit of bike lane here, an unprotected shoulder there, a scrap of sharrow [shared lane] and some silent pleas that cars won’t run you over … It’s quite literally not possible to travel between many points in the city using only cycling infrastructure.”

Shane Farthing, executive director of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, has an even dimmer assessment: “I wouldn’t even include sharrows or marked bike routes [on the bike infrastructure map]. Sure, they are good for folks

who are happy riding with mixed traffic, but not for a kid or someone who’s new to [Capital] Bikeshare,” he says. Similarly, Councilmember Mary Cheh, a bicyclist herself and an advocate for others, has said she “breathes a sigh of relief” on her commute once she reaches cycle track after the “nightmare” scenario with “no protection” on Connecticut Avenue NW. (There are no bike or shared lanes on Connecticut Avenue but there are a number of Capital Bikeshare stations.)

Further illuminating a bad situation for bikers, DDOT released a report last month on the disrepair of the District’s local streets. The report found over 40 percent of the pavement on local streets to be in poor condition, creating situations bad for cars but worse for bicyclists, who can be easily thrown off their bikes by potholes and other road conditions. DDOT would have to spend $25 million annually for 10 years to get all roads to good (not even excellent) condition. Their budget for next year is a meager $3.4 million.

Similarly, Farthing doesn’t think DDOT’s planned bicycle-related projects for 2015 (six new miles of cyclist facilities, the large majority of which will be shared with cars, and 10 intersection “improvements”) come close to solving the

“We need to see the netWork built

out for cyclist safety. We are

talking about safe protected cycle tracks in core

corridors based on ridership and

demand.”

Photo by Erin Schaff.


connectivity problem. Councilmember Mary Cheh agrees, teling WAMU that DDOT is “moving fast enough.” Farthing says the city “has a tendency to look for low hanging fruit, and DDOT’s [2015 cycling infrastructure] map represents that,” concluding: “We need to see the network built out for cyclist safety. We are talking about safe protected cycle tracks in core corridors based on ridership and demand.” He also stresses the importance of bike signage and lights to “help cyclists know their role,” because “everyone is confused about their rights, roles and responsibilities on the road.”

D.C’s bicycling laws are also fragmented, resulting in a tilt against bikers. Sure, bicyclists are allowed to follow a pedestrian cross-signal now, thanks to the Bicycle Safety Amendment Act of 2013, signed by then-mayor Gray, but few District residents, let alone transportation and enforcement officials, are well versed on the city’s bike laws.

D.C.’s Department of Motor Vehicles includes bike laws in its driver’s manual, but questions are randomized on the District’s driver’s license test, and the questions about biking – which include one about the buffer cars are required to give bikers when passing (three feet) – are not particularly illuminating.

Meanwhile, bikers around D.C., especially those who use Capital Bikeshare while visiting, may lack not only biking skills but also a clear understanding of the rules of the road.

Signage sometimes makes the situation more confusing. “You have regulator signs that say to do things that conflict with the vehicle code then you have police officials who will

tell you to do something totally different, and they have the regulation that says you must do what an officer says,” Farthing told the Washington Lawyer, pointing out that police officers who spend the majority of their work in a car are inherently biased against bikers.

Farthing’s organization “advocates for police being stricter on any behavior that’s likely to cause harm,” even if perpetrated by a biker. But he says that “the Metropolitan Police Department needs to invest in training for its officers who regularly don’t understand what

those [bicycle-related] rules are.” According to MPD statistics, only 400 officers out of a 3,800-person force have been trained in District bicycle laws.

Confusion around cycling laws also facilitates bias in a court setting. Cory Bilton, a personal injury attorney, wrote in the Washington Lawyer that when it comes to D.C. bike laws, “people within the legal system, whether it’s lawyers, judges, witnesses, or insurers” are biased against bikers due to

their own habit of driving. Ray Thomas told the New York Times that generally “jurors identify with drivers … [They] just think, well, I could make the same mistake. So they don’t convict.”

But in the District (and in Virginia and Maryland), bicyclists who have been injured in a collision with a car have even fewer paths to redress the accident, no matter who was at fault, because of contributory negligence, an archaic law under which a plaintiff seeking to recover damages can be barred from doing

so if he or she acted in any negligent manner whatsoever leading up to the accident.

Farthing says the law prevents cyclists (and pedestrians) from receiving compensation in the case of an accident with a car, because it is extremely hard to disprove a biker’s negligence. In addition, he says the law makes it harder for injured parties to find legal representation.

D.C. Council member David Grosso introduced the Bicycle and Motor Vehicle

Collision Recovery Amendment to update the law and allow bicyclists to receive damages proportionate to the level at which the motorist was at fault. Under his bill, which Farthing expects to pass this year without “major opposition,” a cyclist seeking $1,000 in damages for an accident who is found to be 50 percent at fault would receive $500. Farthing says the bill was held up over the concerns of trial lawyers, but that the lobby has been mollified by changes made to the 2015 version.

The passage of Grosso’s bill would be a big, positive step for bicyclists, but it won’t affect bicycle safety, only the repercussions when a cyclist is hit. If the District wants more bikers (and fewer cars) on the road, more must be done.

Right now, cyclists in the District are disproportionately white, well-educated men. Research has shown that the main obstacles to participation by women and members of minority groups are safety-related. So, while other U.S. cities may put the District on a pedestal with regard to cycling, without a more comprehensive infrastructure in place, many people will shun cycling as a mode of transportation – and rightfully so – out of fear for their safety. (In a national survey conducted by People for Bikes, more than half the respondents said they did not bike out of fear of being hit by a car; 46 percent said they would be more likely to ride a bike if they were physically separated from traffic.)

Mayor Bowser’s adoption of “Zero Vision,” a transportation concept originating in Sweden that calls for zero roadway deaths and concrete steps to get there, has given Farthing hope. He says his organization is advocating for the

“mpd needs to invest in training for its officers who regularly don’t understand what those [bicycle-related] rules are.”

Photo courtesy of Death to Stock Photo.

If biking outside is an activity too dangerous for you, try out indoor cycling to get the same health benefits without dealing with the mean

streets of D.C.

Off Road DCThe local cycling studio Off Road DC

provides a great fitness experience with a diversity of classes to make sure clients get a full body workout. Tali Wenger and Tammar Bergen opened the studio in October 2012, wanting to bring something new to D.C.

Tali Wenger, main instructor and co-owner of the fitness center explains that Off Road strives to maintain a welcoming environment for their clients. ”Off Road DC provides something for everybody, with any background and every fitness level," she says.

In addition, the Off Road DC team makes sure that beginners and veteran athletes both feel comfortable, welcome and fulfilled by HIIT (high intensity interval training), mixed cycling and running classes. ”We want clients to feel they can take any class and at their own pace.” Wenger explains.

Every class is different and instructors are given the freedom to express themselves in both music and teaching style. Off Road DC also has a wide range of offerings tailored to every person’s fitness goals. At the studio you can train indoor cycling, TRX, boxing, bootcamp and mixed classes. The mixed classes combine both cycling, running and core.

The first Thursday of every month, Off Road DC partner up with the 9:30 Club for a special spinning class. Tali Wenger encourage beginners to join the free intro class on Saturdays at 11:15 a.m. to walk through the bikes and get a 30-minute workout. ”The first step for anyone is coming in the door,” Wenger says.

Off Road DC is located on 905 U St. NW Washington, D.C.

Flywheel SportsThe popular indoor cycling studio Flywheel

Sports recently opened a new studio in Dupont. ”Flywheel is the ultimate, revolutionary cycling

experience”, says Danielle Devine-Baum, master instructor and creative director for the northeast region.

Flywheel is a full body training combined with an arm sequence at the end of every class. The Torqboards on the bikes allow riders to view and keep track of their rate per minute (RPM), power and torque. The results are uploaded to patrons’ accounts online and on the Flywheel app after every class. In addition, you can see calories burned and how mileage biked in the app and online.

If you’re not into indoor cycling, you can try out FlyBarre classes. FlyBarre helps tone and work up long, lean muscles. The classes

focus on lightweight leg, arm and abdominal exercises with many reps. ”Flywheel Sports is a perfect fit for all fitness levels and our instructors are trained to help set up beginners so the intimidation factor disappears,” Devine-Baum says.

”[The] Dupont [location] is Flywheel’s thirty-third studio and with more than 60 bikes, [the location] is the largest studio today, which is very exciting for us,” Devine-Baum continues. The studio has showers, lockers, changing rooms in addition to a blow dry bar with spa equipment. Seat cushions and shoes are complimentary at every Flywheel Sports studio.

Flywheel Sports studio is located on 1927 Florida Ave NW.

SoulCycleThe trendy spin studio SoulCycle

will take over a former Georgetown restaurant and hookah bar later this year. The company has been growing in and around D.C. over the past few months, most recently opening locations in the West End in 2014 and Bethesda earlier this year.

Two new locations are in the works for the Washington area this year, according to SoulCycle, and the company has signed a lease for 1024 Wisconsin Ave. NW, where the poorly regarded Prince Cafe closed last fall..

SoulCycle’s classes combine spinning on stationary bikes with upper-body workouts. The new location will include a SoulCycle lifestyle boutique.


To Avoid Dangers of Cycling, Try Spinning InsteadBy L innea Kristiansson

implementation of specific steps that will lead to fewer bicyclist deaths, but that there are very few specifics presently on the table. For starters, he would like to see bicycle lights at some of the city’s “trouble” intersections (see infographic below).

Large-scale infrastructure improvements may be out of the question at the moment, but the city could take smaller steps to improve cyclist safety and bike-car relations. For example, the city could train more of the police force about bicycle laws so that road users are held responsible when someone car-doors a biker (which is the person in the car’s fault) or when a cyclist runs a red light. Bicycle laws could be more prominent on the DMV’s driving test. Bike store employees could converse with customers about bike laws and Capital Bikeshare stations could provide legal guidelines for new users.

For now, the best thing for cyclists to do is to attempt to ensure their own safety. First and foremost, bikers should be knowledgeable about basic District bike laws, which can be found on the WABA and MPD websites.

Another obvious step is to wear a helmet

and a light (or something equally bright or reflective and visible to drivers). Further, cyclists should pick a route ahead of time, choosing bike lanes and cycle tracks over major roads. Bicyclists should communicate clearly using their left arm as a turn signal and stay three feet away from parked cars to avoid getting doored. In addition, Yvonne Bambrick, author of “The Urban Cycling Survival Guide,” says that cyclists should “avoid buses and trucks,” as those vehicles – logically, given their size – pose the most danger to cyclists. She also says cyclists should eliminate distractions like “texting and listening to headphones” due to the stressful and dangerous nature of city biking.

Until D.C. changes its laws and infrastructure, the most important rule cyclists can follow is this: Pay close attention on the road. It is impossible to control drivers and their habits. The safest thing a biker can do is to look out for harmful behavior as it’s happening, so that collisions and injuries can be avoided. Knowing the road and the rules of it goes a long way toward staying safe in the District’s mean and crowded streets.

DDOT's map of existing (in bold gray) and proposed bike infrastruc-ture. Blue represents proposed bike lanes, green proposed climbing lanes and red proposed cycle track. Courtesy of DDOT.

A spinner's view of a Flywheel class. Courtesy of Flywheel.

On March 3, Ari Gejdenson of Mindful Restaurant Group unveiled his newest venture: Sotto on 14th Street NW. The space is home to

a harmonious blend of live jazz, wine, craft cocktails and American cuisine with a smoky finish. Sotto, ‘below’ in Italian, is appropriately located underneath Ghibellina, another of Gejdenson’s popular dining destinations.

The jazz and blues cultural center HR-57 was the former tenant of the building, before moving to H Street four years ago. As a tribute to the building’s past, Sotto has live jazz and blues Tuesday through Saturday, featuring a constant rotation of local artists and aspiring talent.

The restaurant’s ambience is as sleek and sexy as the jazzy sounds that fill it. Sotto’s dimly lit space, designed by Gronning Architects, incorporates lots of exposed brick, with attractive wood and steel accents for an overall warm, sultry effect. Patrons waiting for a table or simply looking to drink and snack on appetizers can sit at the long wooden bar, flanked by rustic steel barstools.

Sotto’s bar manager Daniel Barnes created his cocktail list based on classics from the 1950s and earlier; think of a “Trolley Car” with spiced rum, blood orange and angostura or an “Ed Ellington” with scotch, Lillet Rose, cranberry and orange. His take on these cocktails goes back to D.C.’s jazz culture, when jazz clubs were really big up and down U Street. “We’re trying to continue that by having jazz here,” said Michael Rosato, Sotto’s general manager.

Executive chef Keith Cabot’s menu reflects regional American cuisine with an emphasis on smoked meats. The chef’s selection of housemade sausages was inspired by Gejdenson’s trip to Austin. Other highlights include the Brussels sprout salad with an herb cream dressing

and pomegranates, pork ribs, beef brisket and a delicious half-chicken with a delightfully crisp skin and chili sauce. Sotto also has a sweet selection of desserts, like poached apple with caramel ice cream or banana bread with dulce de leche and chocolate.

Diners can enjoy all of this in one of the restaurant’s cozy booths or at long wooden tables. At the end of the restaurant, a stunning glass wine cellar is the backdrop to the night’s local talent.

Sotto is open Tuesday through Saturday for dinner, starting at 6 p.m.

1610 14th St. NW (lower level)202-545-3459

www.sottodc.com


Food & wine

Live Jazz, Sultry dining at newly opened SottoBy Sallie lewiS

From top right to bottom left: A selection of drinks from Sotto’s bar.Beef brisket dish from Sotto.Beef rib for two from Sotto. A sausage board from Sotto. All photos cour-tesy of Sotto.


Located at the intersection of 31st Street and the C&O Canal at Capella Washington, D.C.,

a block south of M Street in the heart of Georgetown.

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PRE-FIXED MENUThree Courses Each

Lunch $26.95 Monday thru FridayNightly Dinner $36.95

Proudly Serving The Georgetown Community for 24 years

Cocktail of the Month : The Spirit of AfricaFood & wine

By Jody KurashAfrica is an exotic continent with an

unbridled spirit: a place full of starry-eyed dreams of safari, mystifying native people, endangered animals, spectacular sunsets and thrilling sojourns across savannahs filled with breathtaking vistas.

On my first trip there, I came across a striking elixir in Kenya with a bold label that truly caught my eye. The label prominently featured a massive elephant with mammoth tusks staring at me with its ears alert. The brown bottle with a golden cord tied around it blended seamlessly into the background display, featuring images of the sun going down on a dazzling landscape, with elephants silhouetted across a sky tinged with orange and gold.

A tagline proclaimed it: “Amarula – the spirit of Africa.”

I would later see this alluring liqueur on sale throughout Africa, from the town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe to the safari dreamland of Tanzania, from the rollicking beaches of Ghana to the colorful deserts of Namibia.

Amarula is a cream liqueur (similar to Baileys), forged from the fruit of the marula tree. In Africa, the tree is also known as the elephant tree because elephants are very fond of its fruit.

There is also an ancient African legend about the elephant and the hare. According to African.org, a hare helped an elephant during a time of drought. To thank him, the elephant presented the hare with a tusk. The hare buried

it in his garden and then enjoyed the wonderful fruit in times of famine. From then on, the elephant is said to be looking for his tusk as he devours the fruit from the marula tree.

Marula trees grow abundantly in the wild and are found in South Africa, Botswana, Swaziland, Namibia and Zimbabwe. The fruit,

the size of a small oval plum, has a golden-yellow skin and a soft, citrus-like flavor, but with a creamy nuttiness.

Amarula liqueur is made in South Africa. The technique is very similar to the process of making wine, for which South Africa is also known. Like grapes, the fruit is crushed with the skins. Next, the pulp is transported to Stellenbosch, South Africa’s famed winemaking town, where it is fermented, distilled and then left to age for two years in oak barrels, where the additional flavors of vanilla and spices are imparted. Finally, it’s blended with fresh dairy cream to give it its thick, velvety consistency.

The rich and creamy final product is often served on the rocks as an aperitif or after-dinner tipple. Many of the cocktails made with Amarula are thick and heavy. For a dessert-like indulgence, it is mixed with coffee or other sweet liqueurs and ice cream.

The best Amarula mixture I’ve sampled came from an outdoor restaurant along the beachfront road in Cape Town’s hip Camps Bay neighborhood, where fashionable young locals hobnob on Sundays. It was a brisk early-spring afternoon, just before sunset. I was sitting on the patio, lazily enjoying the sublime view.

My drink arrived in a classic martini glass, looking a bit like an old-time brandy Alexander. A combination of Amarula, vodka and Cointreau, it was a pleasant pre-dinner treat. The orange liqueur enhanced the orange flavor of the Amarula, while the vodka provided an

Brandy Alexander cocktail. Photo courtesy of Amarula. Swinging Safari2 1/2 shots of Amarula

1 1/4 shots of Cointreau

1 shot of vodka

Mix all three ingredients in a cocktail shaker with ice. Strain into a martini glass and garnish with an orange peel.

extra kick, preventing the drink from becoming too heavy. It was a lovely way to cap off a day of touring Africa’s celebrated southernmost coast.

There are more noble reasons to imbibe Amarula than the exotic taste. The brand is involved in many projects to help the people and wildlife of Africa. Being true to its majestic elephant mascot, the Amarula Elephant Research Program tracks elephant movement rates and ranging behavior. Amarula has also partnered with the Kenyan Wildlife Service.

Another unique community project the company sponsors is the tassel program, which helps formerly unemployed women by hiring them to make the tasseled cords that adorn every bottle of Amarula.

You don’t need to fly to Africa to sample this unique elixir. Amarula is available in many local liquor stores.


It’s easy to get bogged down in over-zeal-ous green marketing campaigns when trying to find high-quality food that is also produced in an environmentally respon-

sible way. Check out the following compilation of local restaurants with local, fresh and eco-friendly menus.

Big Bear CaféBig Bear Café features seasonal produce and dishes, homemade sausages and house-cured fish and bacon. The iconic Bloomingdale spot, a hipster haven, is now open for dinner. The newly expanded patio is the perfect place to enjoy the warming weather. 1700 First St. NW ● 202-643-9222 ● bigbearcafe-dc.com.

Busboys and Poets Busboys and Poets is a widely popular res-taurant with a cozy atmosphere for all ages. Whether for brunch with friends or a romantic date, the menu is well stocked with sustainable food and locally cultivated organic ingredients. Browse the bookstore’s environmental selec-tion while you wait to be seated or after your meal. 2021 V. St. NW ● 202-387-7638 ● busbo-ysandpoets.com

Café du ParcThis authentic French bistro provides a casual dining atmosphere, complimented by its one-of-a-kind menu, enhanced with locally grown produce. The restaurant has three-star certi-fied status from the Green Restaurant Asso-ciation.1401 Pennsylvania Ave. NW ● 202-942-7000 ● cafeduparc.com

CommissaryAnother three-star certified Green Restaurant, Commissary offers a place to sit down for a meal at any time of day, plus a bar and a cof-feehouse. The P Street venue serves breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, along with snacks, desserts and smoothies. There’s a cozy lounge area, an outdoor café and free Wi-Fi. This local

dining spot obtains its ingredients from the Eatwell Natural Farm in Maryland. 1443 P St. NW ● 202-299-0018 ● commissarydc.com

TableBoasting menus that change daily depending on the seasonal ingredients on hand, it’s no wonder that hours are spent handwriting each of Table’s menus – in pencil. Tucked away on N Street in Shaw, Table gained the honor of being one of the first restaurants in the United States to be REAL (Responsible Epicurean and Agricul-tural Leadership) Verified by the United States Healthful Food Council. 903 N St. NW ● 202-588-5200 ● tabledc.com

The PigAs its name would imply, the Pig has a pork-centric menu. The restaurant features locally sourced food, which changes based on the availability of the freshest ingredients. The vegetables used in its dishes are grown on its farm in nearby La Plata, Maryland. In addition, the Pig uses only humanely raised animals and works to create minimal waste. 1320 14th St. NW ● 202-290-2821 ● thepigdc.com

Restaurant NoraNora was the first restaurant in America to be certified organic. The venue uses solely organic ingredients and prides itself on farm-to-fork dining. Restaurant Nora utilizes sustainable cooking methods and offers a seasonal dinner menu. 2132 Florida Ave. NW ● 202-462-5143 ● noras.com

1789 RestaurantAn institution in Georgetown, 1789 also happens to be a great place to sample cuisine made with local and organic ingredients. The restaurant’s website features a list of local farms where it obtains its fresh ingredients. Make sure you make a reservation if you plan to dine at 1789. A jacket is required for men. 1226 36th St. NW ● 202-965-1789 ● 1789restaurant.com

Food & wine

Green Eats By Caitlin franz

Fresh veggies at Table restaurant at 903 N Street NW.

Lobster at Table restaurant at 903 N Street NW.


FEATURES

Each spring, the National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrates the Japanese gift to the United States of more than 3,000 cherry trees. People

from around the world come to Washington to see the unforgettable blooms. Interestingly, visitors leave with not only a memory of these flowering trees, but also with a budding appreciation for Japanese culture.

Paul MacLardy is the owner of Arise Bazaar in Clinton, Maryland, one of the largest Japanese textile emporiums in the nation. Arise also has a large selection of Japanese ceramics and antiques, but MacLardy’s textiles are what set him apart. With upwards of 8,000 pieces – traditional Japanese kimonos, fireman’s coats, obis, workers jackets and Happi coats – he is a leading collector of Japanese textiles. On Saturday, April 11, he will be displaying a portion of his collection at Sakura Matsuri.

Sakura Matsuri (which means Cherry Blossom Festival) is Washington’s annual Japanese street festival, the largest one-day celebration of Japanese culture in the U.S. Vendors and performers from

all over the world fill nearly a mile of downtown D.C., sharing their love for Japanese custom and history.

Arise Bazaar will have a large, three-booth set-up with about 800 kimonos and textiles, along with Japanese ceramics, furniture and small gifts – all of which are for sale. There will also be three people present to do tying demonstrations

and help

attendees dress in a tradi-tional kimono ensemble. The team takes pride in educating people about the many variations and details that go into

these dressing ceremonies. With the large range of kimonos avail-able, MacLardy has something for everyone, and his price points are accessible as well. Most kimonos cost between $40 and $100, but he also has a number of vintage kimonos, some of which are 19th-century collector’s pieces that can cost up to $5,000.

For MacLardy, the buying and selling of Japanese textiles is a passion that goes beyond business; it’s a mission to preserve a legacy.

In 2001, MacLardy published his book, “Kimono: Vanishing Tradition.” In it, he acknowl-edges that the art of making kimonos by hand has been slowly disappearing. The master kimono makers were reaching the end of their lives without passing on their skills. Young people who might take up the craft were uninterested. Furthermore, over the 20 years that MacLardy had been visiting Japan, he noticed that people weren’t wearing kimonos nearly as often.

“Ironically, since we’ve written that book, that’s all changed,” he said. “When we started the company, people weren’t wearing kimono tradi-tionally. Most people were buying long kimono or fabric to hang on a wall. Now, more and more people are buying kimonos to wear.” His forth-coming, second book, “Kimono: Symbols and Motifs,” will highlight this change in attitude.

The older generations have long understood the sophistication of Japanese textiles, but they are increasingly fascinating to younger people. MacLardy travels across the nation attending

Japanese festivals and anime conventions, where he’s found a resurgence of interest in traditional Japanese textiles among young people. He’s also found that they are being reinvented in a modern way through experimental, untraditional styling. The kimono’s influence was evident in the 2015 fashion shows by designers such as Tracy Reese, Thakoon, Duro Olowu and Tibi, suggesting a heightened worldwide appreciation for these age-old garments.

For Paul and his team at Arise Bazaar, preserving the ceremonial dress of Japan is more important than ever in a changing 21st-century landscape. Stop by the Arise Bazaar booths at Sakura Matsuri on April 11 to take home a symbol of Japanese culture. The event, which takes place from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. will close the National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Arise Bazaar is open Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. and by appointment. 7169 Old Alexandria Ferry Rd., Clinton, Maryland. 301-806-0337

Beyond the Blossoms One Company’s Mission to Preserve Tradition

As the weather warms, the petals of Washington’s most famous trees – the gift of the Japanese people in 1912 – will begin to descend, decorating the sidewalks, lawns and roads around the Tidal Basin with cheery,

cherry reminders of the renewal of spring. One of the best locations to enjoy the

blossoms is the historic Dumbarton Oaks estate, where the gardens are one of the major works of landscape architect Beatrix Farrand. The property was owned by Mildred Barnes Bliss and her husband, diplomat Robert Woods Bliss, who could not have had more appropriate last names to match this haven.

The estate, library and art collections were given to Harvard University in 1940, with 27 acres of the gardens given to the U.S. government to be made into a public park. The gardens are preserved as part of a Harvard initiative that supports garden and landscaping studies.

The Dumbarton Oaks gardens are open to the public daily from 2 to 6 p.m. A brief docent-led garden tour takes place at 2:10 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. The tours begin across from the Garden Gate House, just inside the entrance to the gardens at R and 31st Streets.

March 15 marked the beginning of the gardens’ regular season, a few days before the start of the 2015 National Cherry Blossom Festival. However, because Mother Nature is not always as ready for spring as we are, the

garden is subject to closure due to hazardous weather conditions.

For another unique perspective this spring, check out these opportunities to view the cherry blossoms from the water:

Potomac Riverboat Company offers a special cruise departing from Georgetown’s Washington Harbour through April 10. The narrated 50-minute tour features the Embassy of Sweden, the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument and the Tidal Basin. Tickets are $15 for adults and $8 for ages 2-11. Tickets may be purchased at the ticket booth or online at potomariverboatco.com.

Boomerang Boat Tours offers an hour-long cruise along the Potomac with beautiful views of the 3,750 cherry trees. The route also passes by the memorials and landmarks, along with the Memorial and 14 Street Bridges. Tickets may be purchased at georgetowndc.com.

Cherry Blossom Paddling Tours allows you to experience the cherry blossoms on a three-hour kayaking trip. An instructor is there to assist kayakers every step of the way. The trek begins at the docks at Key Bridge Boathouse and heads out to East Potomac Park. Cherry blossoms are sure to line the river. For more information, visit boatingindc.com.

Enjoying the Blossoms on Land and Water

By Caitlin Franz | photo By erin sChaFF

A cherry blossom blooms at Dumbarton Oaks.

Kimonos by Paul MacLardy. Photos from “Kimono - Vanishing Tradition”.

A bronze putto in a sculpture at Dumbarton Oaks.

By sallie lewis

Williamsburg, Brooklyn, once a backwater to the often daunting Big Apple, is now a main attraction.

A plethora of music venues, restaurants, galleries (though Williamsburg’s most stunning artworks can be found spray-painted on walls around every corner), cafes, markets and retail stores – in many cases housed in old warehouses and factories – have brought a distinctly hip aesthetic to the ’hood over the past two decades.

Billyburg has become its own must-see destination, with a completely different vibe, not to mention cityscape, from Manhattan’s.

Do yourself a favor and stay at the Wythe Hotel, a converted factory centrally located on sometimes bustling Wythe Avenue. The hotel is home to the Reynard, a French-inspired

restaurant that revels in its Brooklyn-ness, with a dancing-fox mascot and menus covered in ironic animal artwork. On the roof, the hotel has a bar with gorgeous views of the Manhattan skyline; there’s another bar in the historic cellar, along with an HD projector-equipped screening room.

Just across the street from the Wythe is Brooklyn Bowl, a bowling alley cum restaurant and music venue (which recently hosted performances by Lauryn Hill). Here, you can find kids dancing and bowling with their parents alongside bearded hipsters, debating the merits of gentrification while quaffing locally brewed craft beer. The New American menu is also quite good, featuring burgers, sandwiches, salads and seafood from Blue Ribbon foods, a carbon-neutral supplier

committed to bringing fresh, organic food to New York City.

Speaking of fresh food, Smorgasburg, a weekly food market (not a farmer’s market) on the waterfront at East River State Park, is a not-to-be-missed Williamsburg occasion. The event, every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., attracts more than 100 vendors, not to mention thousands of hungry customers from all walks of New York life.

If you’re looking for a sit-down experience for brunch, look no further than Diner, a quaint haunt under the Williamsburg Bridge built into a 1920s-era Kullman Dining Car. The ever-changing menu, written lovingly on the paper covering the table by a waiter, includes some staples, such as fresh fried doughnuts and a grass-fed burger. On my last visit, I enjoyed poached eggs over lentils and olive oil with crème fraiche.

If it’s dinner you’re hunting for, St. Anselm is the place. Like many spots in Williamsburg, St. Anselm is unassuming from the outside, but the steakhouse (the restaurant also specializes in seafood) is hailed as one of the best in New York. The food and the hardwood-dominated interior has made St. Anselm extremely popular with Williamsburg’s hipster scene, so diners should anticipate a wait of at least an hour – the perfect amount of time to grab a signature cocktail at close-by Extra Fancy.

People-watching should be a constant activity everywhere you go in Williamsburg. Brooklyn is on the cutting edge of fashion, and while Williamsburg is increasingly becoming a home to national brands like Gant and J. Crew, the neighborhood has a thriving fashion scene that can be experienced at local stores like Pilgrim Surf + Supply, a men’s clothier featuring surfer and hipster fashion; Catbird, specializing in totes; Mociun, a jeweler; and many, many more.

(Incidentally, the J. Crew store in Brooklyn, which has styles not found anywhere else, is itself hard to find. The store is apparently trying to keep up with the hip, minimal, logo-less aesthetic of Williamsburg.)

While Manhattan boasts hundreds of theaters and that Broadway place, Williamsburg is a terrific spot to catch a show (concert that is), with an underground music scene rivaling the Big Apple’s. Four major venues are within close walking distance of one another. Choosing which to go to really depends on taste.

To see up-and-coming indie acts or big names playing intimate venues, check out the schedule at the Music Hall of Williamsburg or Rough Trade NYC, record store by day, music venue by night. For electronic dance music, head to Verboten or Output, two popular clubs that bring in performers like Disclosure for special occasions.

Your last stop, to caffeinate for the road with Colombian coffee (go easy if you’ve never had it before; the stuff is strong) at a quintessential Brooklyn café, should be Devocion. Devocion’s space is breathtaking, with soaring ceilings, a massive skylight, a wall that grows live plants and luxurious leather sofas.

Williamsburg is a charming, low-key, cultural powerhouse. So do yourself a favor: skip Manhattan and hit this thriving Brooklyn neighborhood instead.


travel

Skip Manhattan, Visit WilliamsburgBy Peter Murray

A view of Brooklyn Bowl’s interior. Courtesy of Pure Consulting.

The interior of Diner in Williamsburg. Photo courtesy of so_patricia flickr account.

Smorgasburg with a view of Manhattan. Photo by Scott Lynch.

The interior of Devocion. Photo by Alison Murray.

The Wythe Hotel and the Manhattan skyline. Photo courtesy of Morris Adjmi Architects.


IN COUNTRY

Telephone (540) 687-6500P. O. Box 500 s No.2 South Madison Street

Middleburg sVirginia 20117

THOMAS AND TALBOT REAL ESTATELAND AND ESTATE AGENTS SINCE 1967

A STAUNCH ADVOCATE OF LAND EASEMENTS

P r o P e rt i e s i n V i r G i n i A H u n t C o u n t ry

Please see over 100 of our fine estates and exc lusive country properties on the world wide web by visiting www.THOMAS-TALBOT.com

spring Hill loyAlty roAd

MelMore MAnor

locust grove

zullA cottAge Aldie cottAge12147 Moss Hollow

Brooke Hill

Comparable to exquisite Kentucky Horse Farms, the 750+acres of gently rolling fields are lined with white boardfencing. Features include a gracious 6 bedroom manorhome, pool with house, 8 barns, large machine shop, 2ponds, 9 tenant homes and at one of the entrances, theowner’s handsome office inclusive of conference and im-pressive trophy room. $7,500,000

An outstanding, well built 2 Bedroom, 3 Full Bath cottageon over 50 tranquil acres in Markham, perfectly locatedminutes from Rt.66. This lovely home takes advantage ofnature and privacy with views of Cobbler, Buck andRattlesnake Mountains from the expansive rear porch withthe rustling of Thumb Run Creek nearby. One level livingwith Stucco, Standing Seam Metal Roof and manyexceptional details throughout ~ A must see! $1,200,000

Marshall~Lovely country house individuallydesigned and arranged over 3 floors. Superb locationwith privacy and tranquility but minutes from I-66.Original farmhouse dates to 1910. Beautifullyrenovated with a sizable addition added in 2003.Perfect for entertaining, many built in features,separate dining room. Two sun rooms overlooking26 fenced acres ready for horses. $1,230,000

Fully renovated home on 1+ acre with 2 bedrooms, 2½ bathson sought after Zulla Road. Freshly painted, new windows, newappliances, new carpet & refinished woods floors. LivingRoom/Dining Room combo with fireplace, Galley kitchen &Family Room with picture window. Bedrooms have full BAs& walk-in closets. Sep. entrance to spacious Mudroom. Largefront & side porch. Great commuter location. EZ to I-66 &Rte. 50. Walk to park. $324,500

A fabulous custom residence with 3 finishedlevels of extraordinary living space. Gorgeousmillwork, 4 fireplaces, elegant details and afinished walk-out level. A magical enclosedgarden surrounds the custom pool. Beautifullysited on almost 7 acres with breathtaking moun-tain views. $1,695,000

Nestled in the heart of Virginia’s renowned “HuntCountry,” Locust Grove encompasses over 250acres of magnificent woodlands, lush pastures androlling countryside. A long winding drive, borderedby groves of flowering trees, stone walls, and split-rail fencing, leads to this historic stone residence ina secluded and storybook setting. $2,175,000

Restored in 2013, this charming stone cottage is in theHistoric District of Aldie, convenient to Stone Ridge,Middleburg, Leesburg and I-66 at Haymarket. Newkitchen, bath, wiring and plumbing. Two bedrooms onsecond level with potential for a main level bedroom.Full unfinished lower level w/walk-out. Detached twolevel carriage house offers space for a garage and studio.Immediate occupancy. $300,000

Stately Colonial on 3+ acres with a spring fed pondand gazebo. Generously sized rooms, great forentertaining. 4 BD, 2.5 BA, large kitchen with slatefloors, granite countertops opening onto a large slateterrace and screened in porch. Large Master with hisand her bathrooms and closets. 3rd floor convertedinto studio-type space. Minutes east of Middleburg,great for commuting. $949,000

Offers subject to errors, omissions, change of price or withdraw without notice. Information contained herein is deemed reliable, but is not so warranted nor is it otherwise guaranteed.

T & T_Georgetowner_4.2015_Layout 1 3/31/15 3:33 PM Page 1

A Hat for the RacesBY L INNEA KRISTIANSSON

With summer on its way, so is the equestrian season. Perhaps you want to buy a dramatic hat for the Derby

or the Oaks, the Royal Ascot or the races in Middleburg.

Of course, every woman needs a casual hat for everyday shopping, travel, the garden, the beach, “bad-hair days” or to stay cool and out of the sun. Wear a hat and be treated like the

lady you are.Remember to buy a hat that’s comfortable

and has a wide brim. Choose the color carefully since dark colors tend to get warmer. The most easily worn hat is the one with a light pastel color – mint green or apricot pink, for example. Combine the outfit with a light-colored skirt and a top in the same color as the hat. Or simply wear a summer dress that matches your hat.

Road to the DerbyBY L INNEA KRISTIANSSON

Each year, horses have the once-in-a-lifetime chance to run in the Kentucky Derby. To earn a spot at the starting gate, they must travel the “Road to the Kentucky Derby,” a 10-week se-ries of 35 designated races at tracks across the country and around the world. A sliding scale

of points is awarded to the top-four finishers in each of the 35 races, includes 16 significant events that make up the ”Kentucky Derby Championship Series.” The 20 horses with the most points will be at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

The horse to keep an eye on at this year’s Derby is named International Star, the fourth colt since 1992 to sweep the Fair Grounds series of races for three-year-olds on the 2015 Kentucky Derby trail. In capturing the Lecomte Stakes, the Risen Star Stakes and the Louisiana Derby, International Star joins an elite group of colts to win two or more of these Derby preps without a loss.

Kentucky Derby hopeful, International Star.

Apricot pink Derby hat.

Kim Kardashian wearing a black and white derby hat.

Julia Roberts in ‘Pretty Woman’ with a brown polka dot matching outfit.


In country

8203 Watson Street • McLean, VA 22102 • 703.790.8844www.GolfdomGolf.com

Golfdom’s1st Major Sale15% Storewide V.I.G. Sale!

April 1-15

110 East Washington Street, Middleburg, Virginia [email protected] www.sheridanmacmahon.com (540) 687-5588

BUCK RUN FARMHume, Virginia • $1,925,000

Stone & stucco cottage overlooking 2 ponds & amazing mountain views • 72 acres with minimal maintenance & maximum quality throughout shows in every detail • 4 BR • 2 1/2 BA • 3 fireplaces • Copper roof • Antique floors & beams • Charming library & multiple french doors opento massive stone terrace.Helen MacMahon (540) 454-1930

WASHINGTON STREETMiddleburg, Virginia • $785,000

Classic Virginia colonial • Circa 1926 • Stone and frame construction • 3 bedrooms, 2 1/2 baths • Hardwood floors • High ceilings • Screened side porch on .65 acre in town • 2-car garage with apartment • Beautiful gardens and rear terrace.Paul MacMahon (703) 609-1905

OAKFIELDUpperville, Virginia • $4,750,000

Stone manor house in spectacular setting • 86.81 acres • Highly protected area in prime Piedmont Hunt • Gourmet kitchen • Wonderful detail throughout • 5 BR • 5 BA • 3 half BA • 3 fireplaces, classic pine paneled library • Tenant house • Stable • Riding ring • Heated saltwater pool • Pergola • Full house generator.Paul MacMahon (703) 609-1905

PALMER’S MILLBluemont, Virginia • $875,000

circa 1860 Virginia Farm house of stucco, stone & frame construction • House updated & enlarged in 2004 • 3 to 4 bedrooms • 2 1/2 baths • hardwood floors • 3 fireplaces • exposed beams & gourmet kitchen • 10 acres • fenced & cross fenced • 2 stall barn with tack & hay storage • spring house & smoke house • Protected with mountain views • Piedmont Hunt Territory.Paul MacMahon (703) 609-1905Helen MacMahon (540) 454-1930

STONEWOODMiddleburg, Virginia • $930,000

Charming stucco, log and frame home • 10 acres • 3-4 bedrooms • 3 1/2 baths • 2 fireplaces (one in the kitchen with antique brick floor) • Beautiful reclaimed pine flooring • Bright and sunny family room opens to bluestone terrace • Master bedroom opens to private balcony • 2 car garage • 4 stall barn with tack room with 2 paddocks • 2 recorded lots.Paul MacMahon (703) 609-1905

LIBERTY HILLBoyce, Virginia • $1,900,000

Mountain top retreat with 60 mile panoramic views of the Shenandoah Valley • 215 acres • 1/3 pasture • Main house circa 1787 • 3 BR, 1 BA • 2 fireplaces • Random width pine floors • 2 BR, 1 BA guest cottage • Stone & frame barn circa 1787 • Remnants of formal garden • Old cemetery • Spring fed pond • Gazebo.Paul MacMahon (703) 609-1905Helen MacMahon (540) 454-1930

FARAWAY FARMMiddleburg Area • $3,350,000

Solid stone home with copper roof on 70 acres • Original portions dating from the 1700’s • First floor bedroom & 3 additional suites • Original floors • 8 fireplaces • Formal living room • Gourmet kitchen • 2 ponds • Mountain views • Stone walls • Mature gardens • Pool • Log cabin • Piedmont Hunt.Helen MacMahon (540) 454-1930 Paul MacMahon (703) 609-1905 Ann MacMahon (540) 687-558

FIRETHORNThe Plains, Virginia • $950,000

Handsome house located in sought-after area between Middleburg and The Plains • Main residence recently renovated • includes large master suite & two additional generous sized bedrooms, each with their own full bath • Large gourmet kitchen • lovely living and dining rooms • wrap around porches • western views from the elevated site • charming guest house • beautiful gardens & stonework.Helen MacMahon (540) 454-1930/ Alix Coolidge (703) 625-1724

Equestrian calendarBy L innea Kristiansson

April 11Horsemanship Camp at Stonelea Farm For details, call 540-687-6375. 39953 New Road, Aldie, Virginia.

April 10Concert on the StepsMiddleburg Community Center presents a free concert by Gary Smallwood celebrating local artists, businesses, friends and neighbors. 300 West Washington St., Middleburg, Virginia.

April 26The Middleburg Hunt point-to-pointGeneral admission to this day of steeplechase racing in Glenwood Park is $5 in advance or $10 the day of the race, plus $5 for parking. For details, call Mrs. Liam Tuohy at 540-454-2991. Foxwood Road and Glenwood Park, Middleburg.

MAy 2Virginia Gold CupGates open to the public at 10 a.m. for the legendary Virginia Gold Cup steeplechasing classic, now run before a sellout crowd of over 50,000 people. For details, call 540-347-2612. Great Meadow, 5089 Old Tavern Rd., The Plains, Virginia.

MAy 9Twilight polo Opening Night GalaThis weekly event runs through Sept. 9. Gates open at 6:30 p.m. and the first match is at 7. After the feature match, there is dancing to a DJ in the pavilion. Throughout the evening, Greenhill Win-ery will be on site with a selection of wines available for purchase. For details, call 540-253-5000. Great Meadow, 5089 Old Tavern Rd., The Plains, Virginia.

MAy 29Twilight JumpersThis event, on selected Friday nights through Sept. 19, features two jumping competitions, a giant tug-of-war for kids, wine tasting and dancing. General admission is $30 per car. For details, call 540-253-5000. Great Meadow, 5089 Old Tavern Rd., The Plains, Virginia.

JuNe 1-7upperville Horse ShowThe oldest horse show in the United States, Upperville extends a full seven days and involves more than two thousand horse and rider combina-tions. For special arrangements, reserved parking and box seats, call 540-687-5740 (or 540-592-3858 during the show only). 8600 John S. Mosby Hwy., Upperville, Virginia.


Body & soul

Murphy’s Love: Advice on Intimacy and RelationshipsBy Stacy NotaraS MurphyDear Stacy,

My boyfriend and I have been living together for three years. We are both in our early 30s, and get along great. We have talked about mar-riage since we first started dating (five years ago), but so far, no proposal. I know he wants to have a family in the long term, and I know he loves me, so I don’t know why we aren’t moving forward. When I bring it up, he tells me he will know when it’s right, but that’s the end of the discussion. I don’t like how much power this seems to give him in our relationship, but I know I want to marry him and it seems like he’s less sure about me. I am wondering how much longer I should wait. I set a mental deadline of the end of this year, but I wonder if I should tell him that if we aren’t engaged by then, I’m leaving?

– Ready to Marry

Dear Ready:Let’s start by saying, congratulations on

knowing what you want. That’s honestly a big step. Many people find themselves in your situation and assume that marriage is what they should want, but don’t give the deeper questions much thought (fast-forwarding a few years, they find themselves in a counselor’s office and realize they never really wanted to build a marriage together in the first place). You know what you want. Boyfriend knows what you want. The rest is a little murky. Let’s look at why that is.

Scenario #1: Boyfriend is unsure. Truly. He needs “more time.” That is understandable, but the question that needs to be asked is not, “Why do you need more time?” Rather, it’s: “What are you doing with that time?” Is he soul-searching? Is he talking to you about his concerns? Is he in therapy? If “No” or “Not

yet” is the answer to these questions, then you need to pay attention to how that feels.Scenario #2: Boyfriend is sure. He has a ring. He’s got a plan in motion. You are going to be swept off your feet – lucky you.Scenario #3: Boyfriend is sure. He does not want to marry you. He doesn’t know how to

tell you. He is waiting it out so that you get so irritated that you give him an ultimatum and force yourself into a corner.

Your mental deadline is an ultimatum of sorts. I’m not against setting a boundary like this, I just want to make sure you are comfort-able with the outcome either way. I understand that you are thinking about marrying this person, so the dissolution of the relationship may never feel “comfortable,” but that’s the only way an ultimatum works: You have to be willing to accept the consequences. (Note: Have your support network queued up and ready.)

If you are not ready to walk away, then don’t tell him about your deadline. Instead, ask the questions from Scenario #1 and see where they take you. If you are comfortable then with the possible outcomes – pro and con – I think waiting and seeing may be an excuse to put off the inevitable. This all starts with you. Have the conversation with yourself before you bring Boyfriend into it. Good luck.

Stacy Notaras Murphy (www.stacymurphyLPC.com) is a licensed professional counselor and certified Imago Relationship therapist practicing in Georgetown. This column is meant for entertainment only and should not be considered a substitute for professional counseling. Send your confidential question to [email protected].

Spring diet Cleanses - What you Need to Know By joSef BraNdeNBurg

Thanks to warmer tempera-tures and the celebrity buzz, more and more people are

thinking about losing weight and getting healthier with the help of cleanses. Most will be disap-pointed. The central idea behind all cleanses or detox diets is that we’re sick and fat because our bodies are saddled with excessive toxins. By adhering to these very low calorie, often liquid-only diets – goes the pitch – we can detox, become healthy and lose weight quickly.

Scientists, medical doctors and legitimate nutritionists disagree, and generally don’t even believe that “detoxing” exists. According to Professor Alan Boobis OBE, toxicologist at Imperial College London’s Division of Medicine:

The body’s own detoxification systems are remarkably sophis-ticated and versatile. They have to be, as the natural environment that we evolved in is hostile. It is remarkable that people are pre-pared to risk seriously disrupting these systems with unproven ‘detox’ diets, which could well do more harm than good.

Very low calorie diets are also known as crash diets or semi-starvation diets in scientific literature. While these diets can help you lose

weight very rapidly, they also fail 98 percent of the time. That is, 98 percent of the people on these diets regain everything they’ve lost, or everything plus interest.

These diets also become progressively less effective for the initial weight-loss boost

because they negatively impact your metabolism, sex hormones, muscle mass and thyroid function.

Health and fitness expert Mark Fisher sums up cleanses nicely: “If eating food leaves you full of toxins. . .perhaps we should seriously consider the quality of the food you eat.” Losing weight is easy, but keeping it off is the hardest and most important part.

Your long-term success is mostly dependent on how you lose the weight in the first place. Quick weight-loss is sexy, and it sells $200 cleansing kits, but it almost always fails you. Instead, by focusing on small, manageable habit changes that you can stick to, you set yourself up for progressive success, building a lifestyle that will deliver the health and fitness you want for a lifetime – not just a weekend.

A best-selling author and fitness expert with 16 years of experience, Josef Brandenburg owns The Body

You Want club in Georgetown. Information about his 14-Day Personal Training Experience may be found at TheBodyYouWant.com.

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and a spirit of freedom

Years & Years are rising fast in the pop world, with a slew of hits and the BBC’s coveted “Sound of 2015” poll under their belts. (Previous “Sound of” winners include Sam Smith, Haim and Ellie Goulding.) The band’s newfound fame owes much to Olly Alexander, Years & Years’ charismatic if a little too youthful frontman, who croons over bandmates Mikey Goldsworthy and Emre Turkmen’s synthpop productions with emotive force and intensely intimate lyrics. The band played a raucous show full of dancing, sing-a-longs and, of course, Alexander’s stir-ring vocals at U Street Music Hall on March 29. The Downtowner had a chance to catch up with Alexander backstage after the show to discuss his childhood, dysfunctional relationships and what it’s like to be a gay musician in the post-Sam Smith era.

When did you start singing? Were you into it as a kid?

My mom says I was always singing as a toddler. Just talking and screaming with this horrible voice she said. Then, as a teenager I always wanted to be a singer.

Did you ever do musical theatre or anything?

I did but never had a big part in it. I was a bit shy and weird. You’re al-lowed to be weird in drama group in school, which is why I enjoyed it. And then out of college, I mainly just did music.

The story goes that Mikey heard you singing in the shower when you’d both slept over at a mutual friend’s after a party and then asked you to join the band. Was that all set up by you to get into the band?

[Laughs] Yeah, it was like my au-dition. If you’re looking to make it into a band and maybe someone in it stayed overnight, I’d recommend doing that.

It seems like all your songs are about dysfunctional relationships. Is that coming from personal experience or is that just how you think pop music should be?

That comes from experience, you know. I just have had a lot of dysfunctional relationships, Peter. I’ve really gone from one to another to another. I’ve been stuck in a cycle of being ad-dicted to rejection in some fucked up way and always choosing someone who is going to re-ject me. But, I’m in a less dysfunctional rela-tionship now. I’d say it’s relatively functional.

In “Memo”, you sing and write from a gay perspective about romance and heart-break between two men.

I’m definitely writing from that perspective. There’s a choice when you write a song with how you talk about someone else. I watched Joni Mitchell do this interview where she said songwriting became easier when she started writing about “you and me.”

I would think that writing and singing about some other experience that isn’t your own would be hard.

Yeah, that would suck. I wouldn’t know how to do it.

So are you going to pull a Sam Smith and have a big interview to come out, or will you just let people listen to your songs to figure it out?

This has only been a thing recently. I’ve done a few interviews and been like "I’m gay and I’m singing about my boyfriends." I guess for a lot of people you need to say something before they’re really accepting of it.

Do you think you being gay might disappoint the female fans fawning over you?

There are a lot of gay artists with a lot of young female fans who love them just as much after they’ve come out.

You guys have swag. What influences your style? Emre doesn’t care about what he wears; we have to dress him. Mikey is into dapper clothing and printed button-up shirts and like Alexander McQueen and fashion label stuff. I dress like I’m a teenager in the 90s or like a 90s west coast hip-hop rapper or something. We are each our own individual Spice Girl.

[Laughs] You’re like retro Sporty Spice and Mikey is like Posh?

Yeah, exactly. Mikey is absolutely posh.

So what’s Emre?

I don’t know what he is. Emre is more like Scary [Spice].

Years & Years’ debut album “Communion” comes out on June 22 on Polydor Records.


music

A FrAnk ConversAtion with YeArs & YeArs FrontmAn ollY AlexAnderBy Peter Murray | PhotograPhy By erin Schaff

Years & Years perform at U Street Music Hall. Years & Years backstage at U Street Music Hall.

Performance

As the smartly brief but epic musical “Freedom’s Song: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War” moves to its inevitable end at Ford’s Theatre, a shot rings out, loud, sudden and star-tling – all the more surprising and emotionally powerful because it’s familiar, because we’ve been expecting it.

The sound comes from the hallowed presi-dential box. We know this because we know exactly where we are, if not in time, then cer-tainly in history.

The moment is a punch, a kind of climax to the production at hand. It sparks a keen aware-ness of being here, in this theatre, and also that we are in the midst of the commemoration of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. He and his wife Mary Todd Lincoln were at Ford’s to watch a comedy, “Our

American Cousin,” starring the noted actress Laura Keene.

That box to the side of the balcony is always there and always has been. In many ways, it’s the reason for the theatre’s existence, and nothing accentuates that fact more than an anniversary of the assassination.

The same day that “Freedom’s Song” opened, a press preview was held across the street at 514 10th St. NW, the theatre’s Center For Education and Leadership, for the exhibi-tion “Silent Witnesses: Artifacts of the Lincoln Assassination.” The small space is filled with artifacts: the overcoat Lincoln was wearing, the oh-so-small derringer used to kill him, Mary Todd’s black velvet coat and fragments of her bloodied dress, letters, the president’s top hat and so on. It is an intimate space and show, but hugely resonant with the “Freedom’s Song” production.

Both events are part of “Ford’s 150: Remembering the Lincoln Assassination,” a season-long series of events that began with the play “The Widow Lincoln.” A highlight of the schedule is “The Lincoln Tribute,” a round-the-clock event on April 14-15, with talks, a one-act play, a panel discussion and living-history presentations on 10th Street about the two days surrounding the assassination, includ-ing Lincoln’s death at 7:22 a.m. at the Petersen House.

The proximity of the “Silent Witnesses” exhibition to the “Freedom’s Song” produc-tion creates a kind of reciprocal poignancy. Knowing what Lincoln carried in his pocket – two pairs of spectacles and a lens polisher, a watch fob, a pocket knife, a wallet containing a five-dollar Confederate note, a linen hand-kerchief and, apparently, newspaper clips that included articles critical of him – adds some-thing to his words as spoken by members of the cast of “Freedom’s Song,” the human, earthy, prosaic stuff of a great man.

It is not the first time that the presence

of the box – the loca sancta, if you will – becomes important at a Ford’s production. Recent plays about Lincoln, a previous offering of the musical “The Civil War,” which forms the basis for “Freedom’s Song,” “The Rivalry,” “The Widow Lincoln,” “The Stars Hung in Black” and so on, resonate in ways that they could not do anywhere else. These days, visi-tors take selfies with the box in the background before the plays begin.

“Freedom’s Song” is a series of songs as vignettes, bringing us through the Civil War as if we are riding in a musical carriage. The dif-ference is that the words – speeches, musings, outtakes, stories – of Lincoln have been added, creating another kind of effect altogether. They are spoken by members of the cast, a group of young performers playing Union and Confederate soldiers, slaves, mothers, wives

and the like as the war rolls over them in ever larger waves.

Lincoln speaks through the cast: the Gettysburg address entire, words of emancipa-tion, a droll story of the kind Lincoln loved to tell, words on the end of the war and so on, punctuating the proceedings with his singular eloquence as we move through them.

What director Jeff Calhoun and design-ers Tobin Ost (sets), Wade Laboissonniere (costumes) and Michael Gilliam (lighting) have done is to create an ambiance of the Civil War. What composer Frank Wildhorn and writers Gregory Boyd and Jack Murphy have done is to overlay the narrative with a march of Americana music, songs that demand tears, emotional responses, soaring hearts and reminders of the past – and how it might have been lived and lived in.

The songs are the essence of historical pop, staged like living and lively frescoes. Slaves huddled under a table sing powerfully about “The Peculiar Institution” and its horrors, a wife sings beautifully about missing her young farmer husband, Confederates soar with “The Last Waltz of Dixie” and carouse around “The Old Gray Coat” and a fugitive slave powerfully lashes out in “Father, How Long?”

American pop music plays on emotions – it’s what makes the Great American Songbook great, after all. The cast performs it more than well, especially Carolyn Agan as the wife, Kevin McAllister as the Fugitive, Nova Payton as the Storyteller and Gregory Maheu as the Union Private, an appealing young soul who practically has a Dead Man Walking sign on his back.

The music doesn’t match the eloquence of Lincoln’s words; the words have the effect of elevating the songs to a higher level.

The shot, when it comes, carrying with it echoes from the exhibition, is a jolt. You can hear people stop breathing for a moment. That, too, is part of the music in “Freedom’s Song” – that small gun doing so much damage, bringing us here to this place.

“Freedom’s Song” runs through May 20 and “Silent Witnesses” through May 25.

Kevin McAllister, Joban Parker-Namdar, Nova Y. Payton, Rayshun LaMarr Purefor and Ashley D. Buster in “Freedom’s Song.”

The cast of the Ford’s Theatre production of “Freedom’s Song: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.” Photo by Scott Suchman.

Kevin McAllister in “Freedom’s Song.” Photo by Scott Suchman.

'Freedom’s Song' at Ford’s TheatreBy Gary Tischler



Visual arts

Our ideas of folk art are strangely and inherently conflicting. By nature, American folk art is that made by people who, through

means of economy, location and a number of imposing and typically limiting factors of their lives, have managed to avoid contamination by the otherwise universally epidemic tradition of the Western canon.

Over the past century, these have almost invariably been black Americans living in small, rural isolation. Their art is intrinsic, pure, seemingly born from some chaste and chasmic human urge to create and communicate through ritualistic vessels. There is a fascinating and undeniably refreshing sparkle to this work, both alien and deeply familiar, which deciphers what

we already know through wholly unique lenses. The way folk artists interpret people, archi-

tecture, nature, composition, is unaffected by the infinite textbook methodologies of these principles, as typically applied in contemporary practice. There is a defiant quality – however unintentional on the part of these artists – in simply proving that one can reflect on the world around you through art without any of the pseudo-philosophical toolkits and mecha-nisms we are conditioned to cling to as if they were lifeboats.

Can we observe folk art with an even-handed deference, without some degree of bemused condescension? More important, is it even possible for us to accept it on its own terms? The problem is this: as soon as this work and these artists are subjected to our reliable systems of cultural governance, they become permanently and inalterably defiled.

To expose these artists to the public – and worse, to the relentless burrowing scrutiny of scholarly excavation – is to uproot and plow over the wild, billowing prairie grasses of their creative vantage. Once they are introduced to this new environment, their amplified profes-sional awareness obliterates the rustic immac-ulacy of their id.

The discovery of a small subset of self-taught, southern black artists from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia was a remarkable phenomenon in the 1970s. In 1982, here in Washington, the Corcoran Gallery of Art presented “Black Folk Art in America: 1930 –1980,” the first exhibition and publica-tion documenting these previously unknown artists like Sister Gertrude Morgan, David

Butler, Bill Traylor and William Edmundson.And then we have the crazy magic of

Mingering Mike, whose exhibit and catalog at the Smithsonian American Art Museum is won-drous, unprecedented and seems to occupy an almost unimaginable crossroads in American art: both deeply resonant within the unmediated freeform heritage of folk art, and rooted entirely in popular culture. It brings together both sides of these hitherto mutually exclusive worlds.

The story starts with Dori Hada – a local DJ by night, a criminal investigator by day – who was digging through crates of records at a D.C. flea market. There he unknowingly stumbled into the elaborate world of Mingering Mike, a soul super-star of the 1960s and 1970s who released an astonishing fifty albums and at least as many singles in just ten years. But Hadar had never heard of him, and he real-ized why on closer inspection: every album in the crate, as well as the records themselves, were made of cardboard. Each package was intricately crafted, complete with gate-fold interiors, exten-sive liner notes, and grooves drawn onto the “vinyl.” Some albums were even covered in shrinkwrap, as if purchased at real record stores.

Hadar put his detective skills to work and soon found himself at the door of Mingering Mike. Their friendship blossomed and Mike revealed the story of his life and the mythol-ogy of his many albums, hit singles and movie soundtracks.

A solitary boy raised by his brothers, sisters and cousins, Mike lost himself in a world of his own imaginary superstardom, basing songs and albums on his and his family’s experi-ences. Early teenage songs obsessed with love and heartache soon gave way to social themes surrounding the turbulent era of civil rights protests and political upheaval – brought even closer to home when Mike himself went under-ground, dodging the government for ten years after going AWOL from basic training.

In “Mingering Mike’s Supersonic Greatest Hits,” on view through Aug. 2, Hadar recounts the heartfelt story of Mike’s life and collects the best of his albums and 45s.

Mingering Mike, like folk artists, uses biblical and cultural imagery as subjects for his work. But Mike operated on an even deeper level of imaginative force, finding his inspira-tion in his own lyrics, his own song titles, his own obsessions. Mike shares another fundamental principal with other folk artists among this visual tradition: he is often teaching or comment-ing on moral and spir-itual issues. In a way, public instruction is not so different from

what Mingering Mike is doing, in his own min-iaturized and eccentric domain. It is this impulse to communicate what he has learned, and what he feels about the power of visual art to express, that links him not only to other black visionary artists of his own and earlier generations, but to the very mainstream of American art.

Mingering Mike’s american artBy Ari Post

Mingering Mike, “A Aga / Ming / War Production: Mingering Mike the Big ‘D’ &the Colts Band ‘Super Gold’ Greatest Hits” in mixed media paperboard at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1970.

Mingering Mike, “Decision: Fractured Soul” with mixed media on paperboard at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1971.

Mingering Mike, “Mingering Mike: Minger’s Gold Supersonic Hits” on mixed media on paperboard at Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1972.

Mingering Mike, Joseph War and Friend: “As High As The Sky,” on mixed media on paperboard at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1972.


visual art

'Conversations' at the Museum of African ArtBy Ari post

As titles go, “Conversations” is a perfect distillation of the sprawling body of work now on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. To celebrate its unique history, the museum has mounted “Conversations: African and African American Artworks in Dialogue” as part of its 50th anniversary.

The exhibition, on view through Jan. 24, 2016, brings together pieces from the muse-um’s collection with others from the landmark African American art collection of Camille and Bill Cosby.

And, yes, it is that Bill Cosby. It would be foolish to ignore the inevitable wave of vitriol that his name now conjures, and which will very likely haunt him for the remainder of his life. However, it is just as irrelevant and naïve to condemn a successful and moving museum exhibition to admonish a television celebrity who owns some of the artwork on loan. So, as regrettable as it is to begin this way, let us clear the air in order to move on.

First, it takes a very long time to mount a museum exhibi-tion. By the time the allegations against Cosby were brought forth last year, this show was, for all purposes, mounted, funded and finished.

Second, we must make a dis-tinction between art and current affairs, which includes forgoing who the owner of a painting is at a given point in time. As an enormously unfair (but bluntly effective) example, the Vermeer painting, “The Astronomer,” today under the stewardship of the Louvre, was once among the prized possessions of Adolf Hitler.

The point is that, by and large, art has the capacity to move through time, blissfully eluding social and political tangles. We can stand before an Aegean fresco from the 15th century B.C. and subject it to the same terms as Jeff Koons's flowery “Puppy” sculpture in Bilbao.

So let's talk about this exhi-bition, which is exceptional. “Conversations” offers virtu-ally endless connections and perspectives into the ways that artists have explored complex ideas about the social, political and aesthetic roles of art in African and African American contexts.

To this end, nearly every work in the exhibi-tion is shown alongside a related counter-work, offering a clear and real juxtaposition of similar or divergent ideas. “Benin Head,” a painting by

American artist David Driskell (b. 1931), hangs beside a commemorative Nigerian portrait-carving from the 18th century made in the court style of the Kingdom of Benin. Here, the con-tours and planes of the carved head illuminate the clear influence upon Driskell of the African

work of that period.A nearly identical – if less

direct – line can be traced in the thematic section titled The Human Presence between male and female figures carved in wood by a mid-20th-century Senufo artist from Côte d'Ivoire and a marble sculpture by African American artist Elizabeth Catlett (1915-2012), “The Family,” depicting

a man and a woman raveled in an embrace. Works like these are marked by their aesthetic relationships: bound by style, subject and a con-scious effort by contemporary artists to unite with the heritage of their forebears.

But there are less direct conversations

within the exhibition as well, in many cases pre-senting fascinating chal-lenges to oversimplified presumptions. Take, for instance, an untitled pastel drawing by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988), the prodigal New York graffiti artist. This is a quintes-sential Basquiat drawing, a gritty, visceral scribble. Its broken, aggressive lines and dented circles seem to come together through some act of cyclonic mag-netism, forming a proto-grunge voodoo doll of a human figure on the muti-lated surface of the paper.

Beside this drawing is a neat colonial por-trait of a white American woman and her daughter in white lace. The bira-cial artist, Joshua Johnson (1763-1824), a portraitist of prominent Marylanders, is often viewed as the first person of color to make a living as a painter in the United States.

The exhibition is too smart and too thoughtful for this pairing to be coin-cidental. Both Basquiat and Johnson were near-isolated minorities who single-handedly cracked the code of the white-controlled mainstream art culture, shifting the vantage point in both periods.

Masterworks abound in the exhibition, from “Nexus” by Martin

Puryear (b. 1941), a beau-tifully crafted, evocatively minimal ring-shaped sculp-ture made from bent saplings of laminated wood, to “The Thankful Poor” by Henry Ossawa Tanner (1859-1937), a delicately hazy, brilliantly atmospheric oil painting of a black boy and his grandfa-

ther praying at the breakfast table.There is also a myriad of unclaimed gems

that skate the border of art and historic trea-sure, such as an Orthodox-style Ethiopian icon – sharply juxtaposed beside Tanner's painting – and a collection of musical sculptures and carved drums from Ghana and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The latter forms the centerpiece of the unmissable “music” gallery.

This facilitation of contextual connections is something too often lacking (or otherwise poorly executed) in a museum experience. The National Museum of African Art has mounted a terrific exhibition, which fills the deep and seemingly unresolvable gaps between the dev-astating estrangement of African and African American heritage.

Clockwise from top left: Jacob Lawrence, "Blind Musician," c. 1942, gouache, Collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr.; Gerard Sekoto, "Boy and the Candle," c. 1943, oil on canvas, Na-tional Museum of African Art; Henry Ossawa Tanner "The Thankful Poor," c. 1894, oil on canvas, collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr.; Zwelethu Mthethwa, "Untitled," c. 2002, chromo-genic print mounted on plexiglass, National Museum of African Art; Varnette Honeywood, "Precious Memories," c. 1984, collage, collection of Camille O. and William H. Cosby Jr.


Social Scene

N Street Village: the life You Save Might Be Your ownBy RoBeRt devaney The city’s largest women’s homeless shelter held its powerhouse annual gala, chaired by Jill and Nathan Daschle, March 24 at the Ritz-Carlton, raising more than $800,000 and bringing together Washington’s political women and neighborhood women. House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi presented the Founder’s Award to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Nicole Boxer, who directed “How I Got Over,” a documentary about 15 women at N Street Village. White House advisor Valerie Jarrett presented the Steinbruck Award to three women who turned their lives around: Rachel Panay, Pertrina Thomas and Dorothy Young.

Senator Barbara Boxer, N Street Village Executive Director Schroeder Stribling and Nicole Boxer.

James Staton, Dr. Johnnetta Cole, Jacqueline Hall and N Street Village board member Michael Nassy.

Gala co-sponsors, Jill and A.B. Cruz.

Pamela Raymont-Simpson, Christian Wistehuff, executive director of the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women, and Molly Kellogg, advisory board member of the Initiative.

Amanda Hoey, Cori Sue Morris and Annie Johnson. Artist Maggie O’Neil and Jill Pearlman of the Art Registry.

Nan Ellen Nelson and Lindsey Mask of the host committee.

For the Education of afghan WomenPhotos By neshan h. naltchayan On March 24, the City Club of Washington and Christine Warnke hosted the Initiative to Educate Afghan Women celebrating International Women’s Month and honoring people and organizations that empower women through education and leadership training. Since 2002, the Initiative has partnered with U.S. colleges to provide undergraduate degrees and leadership training to 67 Afghan women who now hold leadership roles in the economic and social development of their homeland.

celebrating art and Design in D.c.Tyler Jeffrey of Beasley Real Estate, the Art Registry, Bozzuto, Havenly and Bitches Who Brunch got together March 18 at the Penthouse at the District on S Street, along with art by Dominique Fierro and Maggie O’Neill, and celebrated art and design in D.C. and springtime.

Hugo and Rebecca Medrano of GALA Theatre flank Kay Kendall and former theatreWashington Board Chairman Victor Shargai

31st Helen Hayes awards: Happily SplitBy MaRy BiRdIt was an interesting first try as the Helen Hayes Awards divided honors depending on the ratio of actors in a production working under an Actors’ Equity contact and raced through the presentations at the Lincoln Theatre on Apr. 6. Awardees accommodated to the 30 second acceptance deadline with aplomb. The downside, saved by wonderful late arriving spring weather, was an endless wait for the Howard Theatre to open its doors for the after party. Troopers that the theatre goers are, there was nary a complaint before a stampede to the bars and dance floor.

leukemia Ball: Millions for ResearchPhotos By neshan h. naltchayan Held at the Washington Convention Center March 28, Leukemia Ball was set to raise at least $3.1 million for the fight against leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma. Along with emcees Lindsay Czarniak and her husband Craig Melvin, comedian Howie Mandel and musician Michael Cavanaugh entertained 2,000 attendees, who enjoyed dinner, a silent auction and the Mercedes-Benz raffle -- all to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, National Capital Area Chapter.

Co-emcees NBC’s Craig Melvin and wife Lindsay Czarniak of ESPN.

Comedian and television personality Howie Mandel performs.

Beth Gorman, executive director of LLS’s National Capital Area Chapter, and awardee Dan Waetjen of BB&T Bank.


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Social Scene

Gridiron Dinner With comic-in-chief photoS by jeff maletShowing up for the fourth time at the Gridiron Club dinner, President Barack Obama proved himself a more than able comic-in-chief, joking about Hillary Clinton’s email snafu and D.C.’s partial legalization of marijuana. Also at hand were Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe, doing stand-up for the Republicans and Democrats, respectively. Put on by the Gridiron Club and Foundation, formed by newspapers and news services in 1885, the evening of fellowship demands that journal-ists and politicians call a truce and mock themselves. There were also musical skits by press members. The U.S. Marine Band was there, and everyone sang “Auld Lang Syne” at the end. The 130th annual dinner was held March 14 at the Renaissance Hotel on 9th Street NW with photographers, reporters and onlookers waiting in the lobby.

Former Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in the Washington Renaissance Hotel lobby.

Abby Huntsman and her husband Jeffrey Livingston.

Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to the president.

MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell and her husband, former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.

latino Student Fund 15th annual Gala by mary bird | photoS by america Video productionSAmbassador Ramón Gil-Casares of Spain, who expressed his admiration for LSF’s “commitment to the Spanish community and to youth,” served as the honorary patron of the gala at the Organization of American States March 12. The organization is dedicated to making a positive impact on the lives and education of Latino youth through Saturday classes, merit-based tuition stipends and other programs. Leon Harris of WJLA-ABC 7 News emceed at the dinner, which was preceded by a recep-tion and silent auction.

Student Juma Muhtari, Francisco Porras of AeroMexico, LSF Executive Director Maria Fernanda Borja, Ana Gonzalez of BM – PNC Bank.

Samuel Lievano and Dr. Lisa Fuentes. LF board chair Lizette Corro, chef Andro Franetovic of Design Cuisine, LSF executive director Maria Fernanda Borja.

Jack and Jill of america inc.by charlene louiS | photoS by tony powellOn Saturday, March 14, the Washington, DC Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. celebrated 75 years of empowering children, families and the community at a fundraising black-tie gala at the Ritz-Carlton on 22nd Street. The event raised money for the Town Hall Education Arts Recreational Campus (THEARC) and the Jack and Jill of America Foundation. Established in 1938 in Philadelphia, Jack & Jill of America, Inc. provides social, cultural, and educational opportuni-ties for African-American youth between the ages of two and 19.

Gina Adams (Washington, DC Chapter of Jack and Jill of America, Inc. President), Edmund Fleet (THEARC) and Gloria Lawlah-Walker anchor.

Andrea Roane, WUSA-TV anchor.


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Heart’s desire Exquisite property with 4 BR including owner’s suite, 4.5 BA, 2 peaceful balconies and an abundance of glorious natural light. Just a short stroll to shops, restaurants and Metro. Two car garage. $1,550,000 Drew Gibbons 301-538-0477 eric murtagh 301-652-8971

Luxury edition Expansive, five year-old home w/ grand proportions & high-end, designer features on four finished levels includes top-of-the-line kitchen, owner’s suite & media room. Close to downtown Bethesda & Metro. $1,915,000eric murtagh 301-652-8971 Karen Kuchins 301-275-2255

imPressive statement Silver Spring, MD. Stately Colonial on 3.5 acres.4 BRs, 3 BAs, 2 HBAs. Updated throughout.Gourmet kit. Granite pool, hot tub, sauna.Carriage house w/apt. Delightful retreat! $795,000vera Fontana 301-767-7021

star QuaLityChevy Chase, MD. Gorgeous views from the long private balcony in this 1 BR, 1.5 BA unit at the Somerset. TS kit, custom blt-ins. 2 pkg spaces. Deluxe amenities. $725,000alex senehi 202-270-6134

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grandeur Personified Chevy Chase. Completely renovated 1912 home w/ 5+ BR, 4.5 BA, chef’s kitchen on 4 finished levels. Luxury & convenience of a new home. Craftsmanship of a bygone era. Exquisite period details. Rear garage. 3 blocks to Metro. $1,995,000 mary lynn white 202-309-1100

soPHisticated fLair Wesley Heights. Delightful expanded & renov. Col. Magnificent interior w/ 5 BRs, 4.5 BAs. Stunning black & white kit & brkfst rm. Elegant entertaining spaces, 4 frps, family rm, patio & garden. Pkg for 5 cars. $1,795,000susan Berger 202-255-5006ellen sandler 202-255-5007

Downtowner (April 2015)

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