Washington City Paper (June 17, 2016)

CITYPAPER Washington

politics: Bowser’s election upset 9 food: chicken ramen 23 arts: source fest 27

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2 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

14doc dynasty After 14 years, AFI DOCS is still D.C.’s best film festival.

4 Chatter DistriCt Line

7 Conspiracy Jones: Malfeasance around Stadium Club may be more pervasive than previously thought 9 Loose Lips: Election night’s biggest loser? The Green Team 10 Unobstructed View 11 Gear Prudence 12 Savage Love 13 Buy D.C.

D.C. FeeD

23 Young & Hungry: Daikaya’s team does chicken ramen 25 Grazer: RAMMY Awards, by the numbers 25 Underserved: Espita Mezcaleria’s Joya 25 Are You Gonna Eat That?

Kyirisan’s offal salad

arts

27 Tour de Source: Behind the scenes at the Source Festival 30 Arts Grazer: The story behind the new Addison Scurlock mural 30 One Track Mind: Hand Grenade Job’s “Threat Assessment” 32 Theater: Klimek on Folger Shakespeare Theatre’s District Merchants and GALA Hispanic Theatre’s El Paso Blue

34 Short Subjects: Gittell on De Palma and Olszewski on Gurukulam 36 Discography: Mathias on Wanted Man’s debut album

City List

39 City Lights: Local postpunks Gauche brings its angular melodies to the Mount Pleasant Library 39 Music 43 Galleries 44 Theater 46 Film

46 CLassiFieDs Diversions 47 Crossword

“D.C. is not happy with being for sale.”

—Page 9

A pp D Ju e lica ly ad ti 18 lin on ,2 e 01 6

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washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 3

CHATTER Election Plight

In which our readers get political

Darrow MontgoMery

Ah, politicAl seAson, the time when every comment seems to have just a little more edge attached to it. Take for instance Noodlez, a Chatter favorite, who didn’t seem to like our Will Sommer’s prediction that Brandon Todd would get re-elected (he did): “WILLY EARL’S INSATIABLE LUST FOR BRANDY TOAD IS AKIN TO 2 LOVERS TONGUING IT OUT ON METRO WHILE SITTING THEIR ANNOYING ASSES IN PRIORITY SEATING. WILL SOMEONE PLEASE GET THESE TWO A ROOM?” Try some decaf, buddy, or at least throw us a lowercase bone or two. Meanwhile, Rake lamented the state of Ward 7 choices: “To be fair, everything about this race is laughable. Laughable that Yvette has people who will publicly commit to supporting her. Laughable that Vince has nowhere else to go but back to the council. Laughable that Ward 7 can’t produce a competent candidate.” Cathryn added, “Or cryable...To be fair.” Hey, we only report on the candidates, we don’t make them run. As for David Garber’s effort as the only openly gay candidate in the races, the reaction was similar to the reaction in our story about D.C. no longer having an LGBTQ neighborhood: Yawn.

“Does anyone care? They only will when Garber is a low digit spoiler,” says DCMadison. Indifference truly is a sign of progress. Something readers weren’t ignoring, though, was our “Are You Gonna Eat That?” feature from the week before. Comments are still rolling in about the ethics of eating baby octopus, freshly killed and still squirming on the plate. “I find it despicable that it is considered the norm by anyone from anywhere to cut up a live animal and eat it. I find it despicable that a paper would write about it and promote it. Disgraceful and disgusting. Inhumane,” says JustMe. When you put it that way, it sounds horrible.

What about grilled?

—Steve Cavendish Want to see your name in bold on this page? Send letters, gripes, clarifications, or praise to editor@washingtoncitypaper.com.

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4 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

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6 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

Visit washingtoncitypaper.com/events for more information *Moviegoers are encouraged to bring a blanket Movies are subject to change.

Tomorrow’s History Today: This was the week that the National Zoo announced a new baby is on the way (and it’s not a panda): Batang, the 19-year-old Bornean orangutan, is pregnant.

DistrictLine Conspiracy Jones

In the process of sentencing Cornell Jones, a federal judge lays into prosecutors and reveals a much wider investigation into the now-infamous Stadium Club To Those who know him personally, Cornell Jones is a loyal friend and family member, a businessman, and a champion of ex-offenders who extends his generosity quietly and often privately.

To the government, Jones is a former drug kingpin who evaded $1.7 million in taxes by concealing income from real estate transactions and who misused government funds, dealing in cash to avoid detection.

Jones has pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion and admitted numerous additional counts. He awaits sentencing of up to 36 months in prison and five years supervised release. His plea also requires him to pay full restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

On its face, Jones’ is an open-and-shut case of hiding income and ripping off the IRS. But there are less obvious aspects related to an infamous strip club, where everything from cash handoffs between developers and politicians to shootings and stabbings have occurred over the last five years.

A federal judge has insinuated that the government afforded Jones a lenient plea offer. That judge has forced the government to disclose a grand jury investigation that originally did not even involve Jones. In the process, politically connected parties have remained unscathed, and the competence of the U.S. Attorney’s Office has come into question.

AfTer A decAde in prison for drug trafficking, Jones came home in 1995 without a high school diploma or any work experience. He worked as a janitor, founded a demolition company, and devoted himself to rehabilitating ex-offenders, particularly those with HIV/ AIDS. In 1998, he founded the nonprofit Miracle Hands to provide services to troubled youth and homeless people, and to teach programs

Darrow Montgomery

By Jeffrey Anderson

version to a nightclub. In 2010, W.F.J. sold the property to Stadium Group for $2.7 million and soon, the group launched the Stadium Club, featuring strippers, expensive steaks, and private entertainment rooms.

Jones treated W.F.J. as his personal piggy bank, meticulously depositing funds intended for him into its account, then withdrawing more than $1 million in cash from 2009 through 2013, prosecutors contend. He wrote himself checks and purchased cashier’s checks for an additional $390,000 during that time.

Letters to the court portray Jones as a humble man, always lending a helping hand, but he also is known to travel, gamble, and live well. People who know him say he often held court at the Stadium Club, buying drinks for associates and relishing the perception of a silent owner. Jones personally “stayed off paper,” relying on W.F.J. debit cards to pay for hotels, airline tickets, rental cars, gas, restaurants, and groceries. He made mortgage payments in the name of his wife on a residence in Chevy Chase and deposited funds into her bank account for “maintenance and support.” He kept bank accounts with nominal balances in his own name, drove cars leased by an associate whom he reimbursed, delivering her checks labeled “cleaning service.”

From 2008 to 2013, Jones received roughly $4.8 million in taxable income but did not file taxes. W.F.J. has never filed a tax return, prosecutors say, and in all, Jones owes the IRS $1,759,953.

Miracle Hands, which received tax-exempt status in 2002, did not file nonprofit tax returns for 2009 through 2011, either. Following articles by this author in the Washington Times in 2011, D.C. Attorney General Irvin B. Nathan sued Jones and Miracle Hands in Superior Court and alleged diversion of $330,000 in government funds intended for a job training center that instead became the Stadium Club.

Jones claimed he used the funds to provide services to returning citizens at another property, but in 2014, a jury held him liable nonetheless. The Attorney General’s office says it has not collected the funds.

to inmates at D.C. Jail.

Good deeds aside, real estate is Jones’ stock and trade. In 2002, he became managing member of W.F.J. LLC, a company that his father founded. That April, the company purchased distressed properties on Queens Chapel Road in an industrial sliver of Northeast for $1.4 million, and Jones renovated them with his own money. He operated the D.C. Tunnel and Club Envy nightclubs at one property for a time, then after leasing the space for several years, sold it for $2.9 million in 2010. He leased another property from 2009 through 2013.

Meanwhile, Miracle Hands paid rent to W.F.J. and a salary to Jones, as it began renovations for a job training center for returning citizens with HIV/AIDS. Jerry Brown, former deputy director of the Mayor’s Office on Returning Citizen Affairs, says that Jones’ efforts on behalf of released inmates “likely

saved many lives.”

It was during this time that Jones encountered a pair of businessmen who would alter his future.

Keith Forney is a developer who has contributed to District politicians including Adrian Fenty, Harry Thomas Jr., Marion Barry Jr., and Vincent Gray. James “Tru” Redding has owned construction companies in Maryland that specialize in painting, drywall, and interior finishing. In 2009, W.F.J. agreed to sell two Queens Chapel Road properties to a company Redding and Forney had formed called Stadium Group. At the same time, Jones entered into a consulting agreement with the group for “services previously rendered” that would pay him $24,000 a month for 120 months—a total of $2.8 million. Those services consisted of arranging for a liquor license transfer and preparing the property for con-

federAl invesTigATors informed Jones in November 2014 that he was under investigation for tax evasion, court papers washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 7

DistrictLine say. After a series of meetings with Jones and his lawyer, in which Jones admitted to multiple years of tax evasion, prosecutors tendered a plea offer on a single count with a prison sentence of no more than 36 months.

He would agree to pay full restitution to the IRS and the government would not pursue his father or wife.

From the beginning, U.S. District Judge Richard J. Leon was skeptical. He thought the government was going light on Jones, and that Jones was a piece in a bigger puzzle. The judge was wary of the source of funds behind Jones’ real estate holdings and questioned his ability to pay off the tax debt. When Jones made his first appearance in court on May 5, 2015, Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Saler disclosed that the monthly consulting payments from Stadium Group were “a pretext to provide additional money to the defendant for the sale of the property.”

Two weeks later, Leon said he was “befuddled,” according to a court transcript. “It appears to be a conspiracy that [he] was a part of? Multiple parties? Is there a pending grand jury investigation without targets? What’s going on here? Because this is much, much more fulsome than you’re asking [him] to plead to.

It’s not even close. What’s going on?”

“Well your honor,” Saler replied, “there is—I mean, there is an investigation beyond just the defendant.”

“Is there a tax investigation?” Leon demanded to know.

“Tax and other offenses,” said Saler. “[If] you think you’re going to just waltz in here, and you’re going to rush a plea under these circumstances, that’s not going to happen,” Leon said, wondering whether “there’s a problem with your case that you’re trying to masquerade. There are an extraordinary number of felony offenses but he’s charged with one count. Now, maybe you guys don’t want to try cases anymore, or, I don’t know.”

In September, Leon resumed his interrogation of Saler, who was fuzzy about the funds Jones used to purchase the Queens Chapel Road properties. “Was it because you didn’t care, you weren’t interested, it wasn’t relevant? What was your reasoning for why you didn’t inquire?” the judge asked. “He is leveraging this real estate holding to get a bogus [$24,000]-a-month consulting contract; is that right? It’s bogus. He wasn’t actually going to do any consulting.”

Saler confirmed. Leon pounced: “So the people who were engaged in this contract with him were engaged in a conspiracy?”

asked the judge, forcing Saler to disclose that the grand jury investigation, unrelated to tax evasion, had been open before the government even talked to Jones. “There’s an ongoing, I would refer to it as an umbrella grand jury,” Saler said.

Clues about that grand jury emerged in April. “Tru” Redding pleaded guilty to tax evasion, was sentenced to two years in federal prison, and was ordered to pay $1.4 million to the IRS. Gambling debts, defaulted bank loans, expensive cars, and jewelry were on display as Redding accepted his sentence. In phone conversations with City Paper, Redding described himself as the low man on the totem pole. He claimed that federal investigators were more interested in Forney and lucrative contracts to renovate city properties—contracts that involved Redding as a subcontractor.

“I didn’t know [Forney’s] being investigated because of all these politicians,” Redding said, identifying former City Administrator Neil O. Albert as a person the feds were interested in.

Redding claimed that, although he subcontracted with Forney, he had no knowledge of the origins of the contracts. “They thought there was money laundering involved,” he said of the investigators. “They thought it involved Jones. I don’t know anything about it. All I

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wanted to do was buy a strip club and develop the property. The prosecutor told my lawyer, ‘He’s not the man we thought he was.’”

Sources familiar with Forney, Albert, and Jones corroborate Redding’s story. They say that in 2009, Albert directed a prospectus for a strip club to Forney and Redding and put them in touch with Jones. In time, Stadium Club would become a magnet for sports stars, but would also attract violence and regulatory problems. The D.C. Council censured Marion Barry in 2013 for accepting cash from Forney at Stadium Club.

Forney and Albert did not return calls for comment. Jones declined to comment. Saler referred questions to a spokesman, who said his office does not comment on open cases.

If Redding is the low man on the totem pole, Jones has emerged as the second lowest, a man who, despite hauling in more than $4 million over six years, now has to scramble to cover his tax debt. Last week, Jones appeared before Leon and informed the judge of his plan to sign over the $24,000 monthly payments he negotiated with Forney and Redding for “services previously rendered.” He has yet to receive his final sentence. Whether the U.S. Attorney’s office plans to prosecute targets higher up the pole remains to be seen.

CP

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8 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

Andrene’s 10th Anniversary

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Tomorrow’s History Today: This was the week City Paper received a hot tip about a sasquatch sighting in Laurel, Md.

DistrictLine Green Around the Gills

By Will Sommer Tuesday’s democraTic primary had a lot of losers.

Ward 7 Councilmember Yvette Alexander lost her seat by double-digit margins to Vince Gray, the former mayor and her former mentor.

Ward 8 Councilmember LaRuby May, in Marion Barry’s old seat for just a year, was chucked out by rival Trayon White. In the surprise of the night, At-Large Councilmember Vincent Orange lost to challenger Robert White by two percent of the vote. Even Ward 4 Councilmember Brandon Todd, re-elected again in the mayor’s home ward with her endorsement, couldn’t clear 50 percent of the vote.

But the biggest loser of the night wasn’t on the ballot.

After three of her D.C. Council allies went down Tuesday night, Mayor Muriel Bowser now has to face new councilmembers who won by running against her, newly emboldened Council veterans who aren’t so afraid of her, and a chunk of voters that apparently doesn’t like her very much. Forget whether there are any members left on the Green Team—Bowser now has to consider emboldened challengers waiting to take her on in 2018.

As he watched Gray surge past Alexander by nearly 27 percentage points, Gray campaign treasurer Chuck Thies summed up the night’s results.

“The best person to speak to this is Kermit the Frog,” Thies said. “‘It ain’t easy being green.’”

It wasn’t supposed to be like this. A year ago, the mayor and her friends plotted to build a war chest for these elections in the form of FreshPAC, a fund of money from developers and allies to bolster her Green Team coalition.

But when word got out about the scheme, public perception demanded that it be dropped and the money returned.

Loose Lips

A lot of people who talked to LL last night had theories about why so many of Bowser’s candidates went down, despite most incumbents having more in their campaign treasuries. Perhaps it was the mayor’s homeless shelter deal, which got chopped up at the Council after it came in way over budget. Or it could be Metro woes, just a few years after Bowser served on the agency’s board.

Someone even floated the idea that it was because Bowser recently cursed out Council Chairman Phil Mendelson, bringing back voter memories of one-term Mayor Adrian Fenty, Bowser’s trash-talking mentor.

This week’s losses can’t be attributed completely to voters’ opinions on Bowser. Any mayoral machine would have trouble stopping Gray in Ward 7, which backed him in his failed re-election campaign two years ago even in the face of a federal investigation. White only lost Ward 8 to May last year by 78 votes, when Bowser’s mayoralty had just started.

Still, White cast his victory as a triumph over the Bowser machine as much as one over May. “David slayed Goliath,” White told LL. “D.C. is not happy with being for sale.”

Orange spent the years since his last election campaign defending a rat poop–sprinkled food store from health inspectors, then coming up with off-the-wall ideas like an RFK Stadium water park complex and government-funded tiny houses for millennials (who, the election apparently proves, want full-sized houses).

He managed to win over the Bowser-crazed Washington Post editorial board, but couldn’t sway enough of White’s voters, or the 15 percent of the electorate that went with challenger David Garber. Without Garber in the race, White likely would have coasted to a doubledigit margin over Orange.

Even if the voters who roundly rejected Bows-

Darrow Montgomery

The mayor’s bloc gets blocked as Vincent Gray eyes her job in 2018.

er’s allies don’t care about the mayor, though, it creates a problem for her on a Council that has become increasingly hostile to her plans.

Arriving at Gray’s victory party, Ward 3 Councilmember Mary Cheh looked thrilled at the results and gleefully spun the evening as evidence that Bowser’s network of developers and city contractors doesn’t equal victory.

“It does show that simply having the mayor’s support does not guarantee you’ll win,” Cheh says.

In Ward 8’s Congress Heights, At-Large Councilmember Elissa Silverman hugged Trayon White, then asked LL for more time to process the night’s surprising results before commenting on what they mean for Bowser at the Council. Silverman thinks the shake-up will create a more “dynamic” Council, where coalitions are built on issues rather than allegiance or opposition to Bowser.

“I think there’s been a dynamic of ‘Green

Team versus everyone else,’” Silverman says.

And then there are the 2018 rumblings. After Gray cast his ballot Tuesday, he declined LL’s request that he promise to serve a full fouryear term that would preclude him from running again for mayor.

Meanwhile, there’s no shortage of other mayoral hopefuls: Ward 5’s Kenyan McDuffie, District Attorney General Karl Racine (who now has two proteges on the Council in Robert White and Trayon White), and a few surprise candidates no one has thought of yet.

Tuesday’s Council results will make Bowser look much weaker in her own job.

After a rough night, Bowser might take some words of wisdom from one attendee at Trayon White’s party—popular ’80s rapper Kurtis Blow: “That’s the breaks.”

CP Got a tip for LL? Send suggestions to lips@washingtoncitypaper.com. Or call (202) 650-6925.

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 9

Take Metrobus and Metrorail to the...

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EVENTS DC Presents: DC JazzFest at the Yards 5:00 PM – 10:00 PM Grrls Rule! Cissa Paz, Introducing Sharel Cassity & Elektra, and Akua Allrich & The Tribe DC JazzFest at The Hamilton Live, 7:30 PM & 10:00 PM (Door 6:30 PM ) Maceo Parker CapitalBop DC Jazz Loft Series, Arris 1331 4th Street, SE 9:00 PM (Door 8:00 PM) Michele Rosewoman & New Yor-uba with Amadou Kouyate Twins Jazz (also 6/18) 9:00 PM & 11:00 PM Michael Thomas Quintet

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EVENTS DC Presents: DC JazzFest at the Yards 2:00 PM – 10:00 PM Cécile McLorin Salvant, The Chuck Brown Band, Eddie Palmieri Latin Jazz Septet, DCJazzPrix Finalists: New Century Jazz Quintet, Mark G. Meadows & The Movement, Cowboys and Frenchmen DC JazzFest at The Hamilton Live, 8:30 PM (Door 7:00 PM) Smoke Sessions Records Presents: Harold Mabern Quartet plus special guest Eric Alexander, Steve Turre Quartet CapitalBop DC Jazz Loft Series, Arris 1331 4th Street, SE 9:00 PM (Door 8:00 PM) Orrin Evans’ Captain Black Big Band with the Washington Renaissance Orchestra EVENTS DC Presents: DC JazzFest at the Yards 2:00 PM – 10:00 PM Kamasi Washington, Igmar Thomas & The Revive Big Band w/Bilal, Talib Kweli, and Ravi Coltrane, Fred Foss Tribute to NEA Jazz Master Jackie McLean, Introducing E.J. Strickland & Transient Beings DC JazzFest at The Hamilton Live, 7:30 PM (Door 6:30PM) Joey DeFrancesco Trio, Cory Henry and the Funk Apostles Twins Jazz, 8:00 PM & 10:00 PM Veronneau

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The DC Jazz Festival®, a 501(c)(3) non-profit service organization, is sponsored in part with major grants from the Government of the District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser, Mayor; and, in part, by major grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; and by the City Fund, administered by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. ©2016 DC Jazz Festival. All rights reserved.

10 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

UNOBSTRUCTED

VIEW Thoughts and Prayers

By Matt Terl Back when I started attending football games as an employee rather than as paying customer, one of the first things I noticed was how many damned people it takes to put on a football game: the stadium workers, from ticket takers to concessionaires to the people that vacuum out the seats once everyone’s gone; the team’s support staffs, from medical to equipment to PR; the media horde; the executives and sales flacks and marketing folks; security and physical plant; and on and on and on.

I remember standing in MetLife Stadium one night, back when it was just “the new Meadowlands” looking at all of these people buzzing around for a preseason game, and thinking, “Man, just imagine if we put all these personhours and all this well-meaning exertion toward something that actually mattered.”

Instead, it all went toward a preseason football game, which is to say an even more meaningless iteration of an already frivolous endeavor. Washington won the game on a fourth-quarter screen pass from Richard Bartel to Larry Johnson, an outcome that it’s possible that no one on earth, save the participants, actually remembers.

I thought about this again, unexpectedly, when I learned the sickening news out of Orlando.

One of the tropes of online reactions following a mass shooting is the ritual offering of thoughts and prayers. Anyone who feels an obligation to weigh in but who can’t really offer an opinion offers “thoughts and prayers” and gets to feel like they did something.

Pro-gun politicians are the most notable offenders, but sports personalities (and teams) join in as well. The Washington Post did a tweetaggregation post of sports world reactions to the shootings, and it was a litany of thoughts and prayers and deepest sympathies.

No local teams appeared in the article, but it’s worth mentioning that the Capitals tweeted and retweeted extensively about the tragedy, possibly as an extension of their existing support for D.C. Pride. The Wizards retweeted the Orlando Magic, who were encouraging blood donations. The Nationals used their annual “Nats Night Out” Pride celebration a few days later as an occasion to memorialize. On the football side, QB Kirk Cousins did tweet out that he was “praying for those affected”.

Thoughts and prayers are not an inherently bad thing—it’s good that some teams, players, and sports personalities are engaged with the

world around them, that they don’t shy away from the issue because of any perceived volatility. But I wonder whether it’s enough.

It’s unfair to compare any of these people— these aggregated tweets—to Muhammad Ali. But the comparison feels inevitable anyway.

When Ali died, one of the most common refrains about his life was that his principled stands would not have been well-received— or maybe even possible—in the modern world of corporate sponsorships and advertising.

I’m not sure that that’s true. I’m just young enough that I don’t really remember Ali as a boxer. I only know him as a legend, from the documentaries and articles and old footage. But what comes through in all of those retellings is that Ali was a man who understood his power, both in the ring and out of it. The ability to speak out as he did, to bypass so many elements of mainstream America and to openly point to commonplace injustices, was no more common in those days than it is now. But Ali realized that he could do it, and he realized what it would mean if he did it, and so he did.

Which is why I was thinking about that night in the Meadowlands again. Teams have power to sway public opinion, and even more power when you look at the huge human machine that turns simple games into epic spectacle.

When I originally thought about redirecting those energies, it was in a vague, nebulous way: “Hey, what if all these people were, like, researching a cure for cancer, mannnnnnn.” But watching the “thoughts and prayers” tweets get cranked out, it seemed much more concrete.

Politicians offer thoughts and prayers because politicians rarely say anything significant.

The average person offers thoughts and prayers because that, and maybe a pint of blood, is all they have to spare. But sports teams aren’t—or shouldn’t be—bound by those restrictions.

What the Capitals did was great, and Orlando’s local teams established themselves as a rallying point for the city. Both clubs made genuine calls to action. The Nationals’ tribute was moving.

Still, I found myself wishing that more teams (and their players) would do more— that this would be the rule and not the exception. That they would understand their potential power, and turn it toward something that actually mattered, maybe even without waiting for tragedies to happen.

CP Follow Matt Terl on Twitter @Matt_Terl.

Adopt a friend today!

Gear Prudence Gear Prudence: It was dark and late and I was in Adams Morgan. It all happened very quickly.

I was riding home and something—I’m not sure what—scurried across my bike’s path. It was too late to swerve. I felt a bump under my tire. I heard a noise. But I kept going. I think I ran over a rat.

I’m pretty sure I’m never going to bike again. This is so gross. I wasn’t supposed to stop, right?

—Riding Absolutely Terrified Dear RAT: At least it wasn’t a squirrel? Maybe you just dinged the rodent? It’s probably fine.

City animals are hearty and bikes aren’t that heavy. Frankly, GP thinks it’s better for everyone that there’s no definitive resolution here.

Unless you know rat CPR (the Red Cross does not give classes in this), what’s done is done and while it was intensely squirmtacular, there seems to be little sense in stopping and going back. Perhaps use this occasion to justify buying a better front light—one of those really bright ones that ensures that nothing can ever again cross your path unseen.

—GP Gear Prudence: I’ve noticed something lately and I wonder if it’s a new trend. Every day I see bike commuters using their rides home to make phone calls, using the microphones on their earbuds. It’s hands free, so their hands are on the handlebars and they’re just chatting away. I’m not sure I would ride my bike with headphones on, but I could also probably stand to call my mom more often. This seems like a good solution.

What do you think?

—Chatting Aloud, Liking Listening Dear CALL: More than once has GP been stopped at a red light when someone has pulled up behind him, babbling aloud. After thinking this was an attempt to strike up a conversation, GP espied the headphones and soon thereafter realized that this was yet another phoning bike commuter. It might not be a new trend, but it’s certainly a thing that happens.There are pros and cons.

It’s good that they’re not texting—hands and eyes must both be used in the operation of the bicycle. And it’s very D.C. to maximize productivity while commuting. Metro riders can read and/or clip their toenails (no) and car commuters can listen to podcasts, so why shouldn’t bike commuters get to pedal along slowly while talking with mom? It’s probably not too distracting (this probably varies by mother), but GP wonders if you should be so cavalier in giving up what is likely one of your only moments of quietude during the day. Let your bike commute be a time for contemplation. Don’t clutter it if you absolutely don’t have to.

—GP Gear Prudence is Brian McEntee, who tweets @sharrowsDC. Got a question about bicycling?

Email gearprudence@washcp.com.

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SAVAGELOVE I’ve been dating a nice guy for a month or so. Sex is good, and we’re faulty compatible in other ways, too. He told me he likes to wear diapers. He said he doesn’t want me to do it with him, but that every once in a while he likes to wear them because it makes him feel “safe.” He said that this odd behavior isn’t sexual for him, but I have trouble believing him. I’m not sure how I feel about this. He also said that it embarrasses him and he wishes it wasn’t something he needed. If you have any insight into what to ask him or how to make sure I can keep him satisfied sexually as we move forward (if we do), it would be appreciated.

—Do I Ask Pooper Everything Respectfully, Sir?

You shouldn’t assume (contra your sign-off ) that Potential New Boyfriend (PNB) is pooping his diapers. Most guys who are ABDL (adult baby/diaper lover) are interested only in wetting themselves, if that. (Some only wear, never fill.) It sounds like PNB is struggling with kink- and/or sex-shame, DIAPERS, and the assumption you’ve made about the extent of his diaper play might put him on the defensive.

Even if your assumption is accurate, it could still put him on the defensive.

Moving on…

You have a hard time believing PNB when he says there’s nothing sexual about his interest in diapers, and that makes two of us. Seeing as he’s already succumbed to shame where his kink is concerned—or it might be more accurate to say he hasn’t dug himself out from under the shame almost all kinksters struggle with initially—he is very likely weighed down by the sex-negativity that comes bundled with kink-shame. So he may have told you there’s nothing sexual about his thing for diapers because he thinks it makes his diapers seem less sordid.

That said, DIAPERS, “this makes me feel safe” and “this makes my dick hard” aren’t mutually exclusive phenomena. Both can be true. (And if diapers really do make adults feel safe—and I wanna see data on that—we could rebrand them as “portable individual safe spaces” and make them available at our better universities.)

Another clue there’s something sexual about this thing for diapers: not wanting you around while he wears them. Maybe diapers are something he enjoys wearing during alone time, or maybe the sight of him in diapers makes the sexual aspect hard to deny. (“Is that an enormous rattle in your diaper or are you just happy to see me?”)

I would advise you to say some vaguely affirming things (“Your diaper thing doesn’t bother me, and wouldn’t even if it were sexual”) without pressuring him to include you at diaper time. Don’t rush things—relationship-wise or diaper-wise—and focus on establishing a mutually satisfying sexual rapport/repertoire.

12 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

P.S. I think you meant “fairly compatible” not “faulty compatible.” Normally I would correct a mistake like this before printing a letter—but I rather liked your accidental phrase.

A loving and functional-but-imperfect relationship—really the best we can hope for— could be described as faulty compatible.

—Dan Savage

I’m an incredibly confused man in my early 20s.

I’m attracted to men and women. I could see spending my life with either. But I think sexual activity with either sex would be confusing and strange. In sex ed, I always thought the whole idea of sexual intercourse was strange. I don’t think I’m asexual, but I’m not sure if I am bisexual. I am more attracted to vibrant personalities.

I don’t think that I am just straight or just gay, because I have equal feelings for both sexes. Does this mean I could find equal companionship with both? Should I wait until I find the right person and decide from there?

—Confused About Sexuality, Help According to the Tumblr Blog Decoder Ring that came in my last box of Kellogg’s Feelios, CASH, you’re bi-classic (attracted to men and women), bi-romantic (could be with a man or a woman), a sort of demisexual/sapiosexual hybrid (demis are attracted to people they’ve bonded with emotionally, sapios are attracted to people who are intelligent, and vibrancy may fall at some point between the two), and maybe falling somewhere on the asexuality spectrum. The best way to discover who/what works for you is to get out there. If you find yourself feeling confused, just remind yourself that confusion—like so much else—is a spectrum. And wherever you fall on it, CASH, know you’ve got plenty of company.

—Dan A local park in Seattle often hosts gay men engaging in sexual activities. As a straight female, I love watching man-on-man sex and really wanted to check out this park. I stopped by at night and noticed “cruising” going on but no sexual activity.

I decided to try on a busy Saturday night, and sure enough, I saw a man giving a BJ to another man. I scared the men—they stopped their activities and left the park when they saw me watching—and I felt bad. I feel like I should have said something like “Don’t let me stop you!” and then perhaps been able to watch. What are my options here?

—Peculiar And Rare Kink Two options: Dress up like a dude and pass yourself off as one of the guys/park-pervs— guys into man-on-man public sex usually aren’t adverse to being observed by other male park-pervs—or stay home and watch gay porn on the internet until you’ve homicided love.

(Porn kills love—so says the Mormon Church,

so you know it’s true.)

As for the two guys who knocked it off when they spotted you: They either thought you were a cop (it’s illegal to be in Seattle parks after closing, and it’s extra illegal to have sex in a public park after hours) or thought you might be shocked or annoyed. Most park-pervs go out of their way to be discreet, for their own safety (avoiding gay bashers or arrest) and out of consideration for late-night dog walkers, restless insomniacs, stargazers, et al.

One last reason they may have pulled up their pants: They weren’t interested in performing for you. Gay and bi men who have sex in parks—many of them straight-identified men—aren’t there to perform for pervy straight ladies. But I’m not going to scold you (even at the risk of being scolded myself ), PARK, because park-pervs risk being observed by other members of the public—and women are members of the public, too, and just as entitled to get their perv on in a public park as they are.

But if you don’t want the guys to pull up their pants and flee at the sight of you, PARK, pull together an outfit that gives you a dude-ish silhouette.

—Dan SPEAKING OF ABDL: Residents of Mount Prospect, Illinois, are upset about a new shop that caters to diaper lovers in their community. Tykables sells grown-up-size diapers, rock-

You have a hard time believing PNB when he says there’s nothing sexual about his interest in diapers, and that makes two of us. ing chairs, and cribs. The Chicago Tribune reports that some residents are uncomfortable because the shop—which has no signage and soon-to-be-frosted windows—is near schools, parks, and other places where “children gather.” Mount Prospect is a suburb, so there are schools or parks near just about everything.

And there’s a gun shop a couple blocks away from a large public park and an elementary school—and no one ever walked into a school and started diapering students to death. Maybe worry about the real threat to your kids, Mount Prospect?

Send your Savage Love questions to mail@savagelove.net.

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OBIT

Directed by Vanessa Gould Obituary writers are reporters, too.

That’s one of the eye-opening takeaways from Obit, which gets inside the eponymous desk at The New York Times to reveal how these writers manage to produce career- and life-spanning announcements of the dead. Unlike with smaller papers, you gotta be somebody to get your passing into the Times. (And they will not say “passed.” It’s “died” or “dies,” period.)

If the writers are lucky, someone will kick it around 9 a.m., maximizing the amount of time writers have to research what exactly makes the deceseased newsworthy. One of the writers says that the pressure to achieve command of a stranger’s life makes her “fight down panic every day.” All find that the work is engrossing and, naturally, invites self-reflection. The nutsand-bolts of the process—How many words does this guy get? Where will it be placed in the paper?—is as fascinating as the obituaries highlighted or flashed here. (Including that of onetime City Paper Editor David Carr; he’s among the flashed.) The histories unearthed often bring smiles to the writers’ faces, true to the notion that obituaries celebrate lives. Thus Obit’s finale is apt: a rapid montage of faces and famous creations set to an accelerating score of keys, strings, and percussion. It’s an unexpected and brilliant sendoff, just like the ones crafted at the Times.

—Tricia Olszewski Thurs., June 23, 11:30 a.m., AFI Silver; Sat., June 25, 6 p.m., E Street Cinema

Fourteen years in, AFI DOCS remains D.C.’s best film festival.

Like gin rickeys, the Fort Reno concert series, and sweltering Metro cars

with broken air conditioning, AFI DOCS—now in its 14th year—has become a staple of summers in D.C. For one long weekend every June, a large sampling of some of the best new documentaries from around the world come to the D.C. area, with screenings split between venues in D.C. and Silver Spring’s famed AFI Silver Theatre. And each year, it feels like the festival gets better. For this year’s festival, which takes place June 22 to 26, Washington City Paper previewed more than half of the features playing. This year’s lineup is another winner.

Unlike in years past, it’s hard to nail down any specific trends in the films playing this year: There’s a fair share of sociopolitical films that will certainly play well for a policy-oriented Washington audience (Care, Abortion: Stories Women Tell, Patient, Farewell Ferris Wheel); maddening and sometimes gut-wrenching environmental examinations (When Two Worlds Collide, The Islands and the Whales, Command and Control); and of course, the left-ofcenter delights (Obit, The Man Who Saw Too Much, Haveababy, Cinema, Mon Amour).

One recurring trend: the growing number of films directed or co-directed by women. This year, about half the feature films are by women direc-

AFTER SPRING

Directed by Ellen Martinez Zaatari, a refugee camp in Jordan, was built in 2012, a year after war broke out in Syria. It now houses most of Syria’s refugees— about 80,000 residents, more than half of whom are children. Ellen Martinez and Steph Ching’s documentary After Spring, executive produced by Jon Stewart, offers a look at life inside the tent-filled refugee camp. After Spring, unlike some other documentaries about Zaatari, doesn’t romanticize the amenities of it (various shops, cell phones, and restaurants are a part of the camp). In fact, it underlines the bittersweet reality: For some refugees, Zaatari has existed for so long that life in the refugee camp has become life as usual, not some temporary limbo they must pass through and endure. Education and childcare are hard to come by, not because Zaatari is badly mismanaged, but because Zaatari relies on the largesse of the World Food Program and other donors for its services. After Spring offers a look at life of precarity, uncertainty, and struggle—sadly, the closest semblance to normalcy and home for millions of people.

—Toni Tileva Thurs., June 23, 1 p.m., E Street Cinema; Fri., June 24, 4:15 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre

tors, and often that perspective is reflected in their choice of topic (Abortion: Stories Women Tell, Hooligan Sparrow, Tempestad, Sonita, and All This Panic, just to name a few). In such a male-dominated industry, it’s a refreshing change of pace to see in a film festival. Let’s hope that trend keeps growing in AFI DOCS’ lineup for years to come.

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—Matt Cohen

UNDER THE SUN

Directed by Vitaly Mansky Vitaly Mansky thOught he had struck gold when North Korea’s government granted the Russian filmmaker unprecedented access to fol-

low a young girl as she prepares to celebrate the Day of the Shining Star—the birthday of former supreme leader Kim Jong-il—as a newly inducted member of the Korean Children’s Union. But when every scene is scripted and government agents review all the footage, access instead becomes approval. In response, Mansky’s manipulation of access produces something far more revealing. He left his camera rolling between takes, and it’s in these small moments that the film shines. As the young girl Zin-mi, her parents, and others are repeatedly coached to exude patriotic zeal, Under the Sun captures the machine that keeps this relentless propaganda churning.

The film’s slow boil can feel tedious at times, but the rare footage—both intended and unintended—is fascinating and offers understated glimpses into the regime’s psychological toll on its citizens.

—Shilpa Jindia

Obit

Thurs., June 23, 2 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre; Sun., June 26, 7:45 p.m., E Street Cinema

THE ROAD

Directed by Zhang Zanbo tO western audiences, Zhang Zanbo’s film The Road must seem remarkable. By focusing on a seemingly simple task—the construction of a highway in Hunan province— Zhang explores the trickle-down nature of some of modern China’s most pressing problems. The film looks at displaced locals, unfair labor practices, and the highway as a propaganda tool. There’s minimal commentary, allowing the viewer to make up his or her mind about who is sincere, and who is corrupt. The clash between citizens and institutions is nothing new, but the inevitable triumph of the state means that China diminishes individuality in ways that are cruel but at times even grimly funny. A televised highway trivia game is baffling, as are the ordinary folks who compete in a contest over who has the best song about China’s exceptionalism. The Road ends with shots of the completed highways, anonymous and impressive, and it’s to Zhang’s credit that he gets audiences thinking about the environmental and human costs below it.

—Alan Zilberman Thurs., June 23, 2:15 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre; Sat., June 25, 5 p.m., E Street Cinema

CARE

Directed by Deirdre Fishel aMOng the reasOns so few of us have servants: It’s an expensive practice. But old age and disease don’t spare the 99 percent, and those who end up needing round-the-clock care are often forced to find a way to hire a homecare worker. Some families go bankrupt paying for even the lowest-paid aides, while the deplorable wages mean that the workers face their own struggles to survive. Deirdre Fishel’s documentary Care shows both sides of the failing system. Comfortably middleclass families face financial ruin; one homecare worker resorts to living in a women’s shelter where her young son isn’t allowed because she can’t afford anything else. The situation is bleak, though it is uplifting to see the inti-

The Road mate bonds that form as caregivers do everything from bathing their clients to providing companionship in their final years. If the title is read as an instruction, the film makes sure the audience follows it. —Zach Rausnitz Thurs., June 23, 3:45 p.m., E Street Cinema; Sun., June 26, 10:30 a.m., E Street Cinema

ABORTION: STORIES WOMEN TELL

Directed by Tracy Droz Tragos hOpe clinic fOr Women, the Illinois abortion clinic at the center of Tracy Droz Tragos’ film Abortion: Stories Women Tell, looks like a feminist’s dream vision of a safe abortion care facility. Within its walls, female doctors, nurses, and security guards care for patients with compassion and create a safe place for women to terminate their pregnancies. The clinic is just a few miles from Missouri, where laws have limited women’s access to healthcare. The film’s subtitle is its mission statement. Hearing women explain why they visit the clinic or volunteer their time or decide to become single parents is incredibly powerful. Unlike many talk-heavy docs that push subjects to answer questions, the women in this film speak openly, ready to tell their stories despite the stigma they face. In an effort to appear balanced, Tragos also interviews pro-life activists of all ages, but their ref-

Almost Sunrise erences to murder seem at odds with the honest statements from the staff and patients of Hope Clinic.

—Caroline Jones Thurs., June 23, 4:15 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre; Fri., June 24, 1:30 p.m., E Street Cinema

ALMOST SUNRISE

Directed by Michael Collins in 2013, twO Wisconsin-based veterans of the Iraq War took off on foot to complete a journey from Milwaukee to Los Angeles. They recorded every step, meal, and blister for director Michael Collins’ documentary Almost Sunrise. But while the trek of Anthony Anderson and Tom Voss and all the sites they see make up the majority of the documentary, the film is predominantly about the psychological wounds of war and how veterans recover (or don’t). Post-traumatic stress disorder seems to be an obvious diagnosis, but Voss and Anderson regularly speak about moral injury, defined as “perpetrating,

failing to prevent, bearing witness to, or learning about acts that transgress deeply held moral beliefs and expectations.” Their walk is meant to help them heal, and over the course of 2,700 miles, the withdrawn men seem to reawaken, whether they’re talking to a Native American elder at Colorado Springs’ Garden of the Gods or attending a picnic with an Abraham Lincoln impersonator in Illinois. After the walk ends, their work to help their fellow veterans continues, making the film as inspirational as it is educational.

—Caroline Jones Thurs., June 23, 4 p.m., E Street Cinema; Fri., June 24, 6:45 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre

HOOLIGAN SPARROW

Directed by Nanfu Wang the disturbing 2013 sexual abuse case in China’s southern province of Hainan, in which a school principal sexually abused six elementary school girls in a hotel, is the focus of Hooligan

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Sparrow, director Nanfu Wang’s feature-length debut. The young Chinese-American filmmaker travels with controversial women’s rights activist, Ye Haiyan, known by many as Hooligan Sparrow, and her team of fellow activists (mostly women), as they travel to the Hainan province to protest the government’s handling of the case. Haiyan’s social-media-savvy form of activism sparks an international outcry about the case, and others like it, which of course makes her the target of appalling government-sanctioned harassment. Wang bravely chronicles it all, even as she becomes a target of harassment herself. Hooligan Sparrow artistically soars as a passionate piece of guerrilla filmmaking that’s unwavering in its insistence on being seen and heard.

—Jerome Langston

Tempestad

Thurs., June 23, 6:45 p.m., E Street Cinema; Sun., June 26, 8:30 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre

THE MAN WHO SAW TOO MUCH

Directed by Trisha Ziff the prOliferatiOn Of social media allows the public’s attention to become siloed, in turn making it easier to ignore (or become numb to) the most gruesome photos of human tragedy, even as they appear incessantly on newsfeeds and blogs. But for decades, a press photographer in Mexico City made tragic, everyday moments—of car crashes, fires, and freak accidents, for example—matter, shooting thousands of photos for local newspapers. The story of Enrique Metinides and the longstanding traditions of the Mexican press are documented in Trisha Ziff’s The Man Who Saw Too Much. The film traces Metinides’ career and idiosyncrasies as his work and legacy are placed firmly in the context of both tabloid journalism and art photography. The best scenes in the film are when Metinides revisits the locations of his most provocative photos and explains the context and difficulties of the situation that produced each shot.

One of many harrowing stories is told by a butcher, who can be seen in the back of one of Metinides’ pictures of a girl whose hand got caught in a meat grinder. The resulting documentary, while often difficult to stomach, is a stimulating look at an artist working to transmute public tragedy and spectacle into something logical and disturbingly beautiful.

—Quinn Myers Thurs., June 23, 9 p.m., E Street Cinema; Fri., June 24, 2 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre

WHEN TWO WORLDS COLLIDE

Directed by Heidi Brandenburg and Mathew Orzel When TWo Worlds Collide begins with gorgeous shots of Peru’s Amazon rainforest, resplendent in its exotic wildlife and greenery, but the film is ultimately a story about people. We soon see Alberto Pizango, president of AIDESEP, the premier indigenous rights organization in Peru, navigating the water and land, while jokingly describing himself as Tarzan.

The documentary chronicles Pizango’s mis-

sion to protect the rights of the country’s indigenous minority from the political ambition of Peru’s then-president, Alan García, during their 2009 violent conflict over mining rights.

The government of Peru wanted to extract potentially lucrative natural resources from lands that were constitutionally protected and occupied by native Peruvians. New laws were hastily enacted to facilitate extraction, which lead to protests and other controversial actions by both sides of the conflict. It makes for an engaging film, though its political earnestness sometimes lends it an unfortunate heavy-handedness.

—Jerome Langston

When Two Worlds Colide

Thurs., June 23, 9:45 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre; Sun., June 26, 12 p.m., E Street Cinema

TWO WORLDS

Directed by Maciej Adamek TWo Worlds’ laura is a teen going on 30.

The only child of deaf Polish parents, Laura is responsible for helping her mother and father interact with the world, whether they’re buying a cellphone, applying for a loan, or interviewing for a job. “I’m afraid of being an adult,” she says, because unlike most of her classmates, she knows exactly how difficult it can be. Maciej Adamek’s documentary is especically engrossing as we hear Laura’s confessions about how she would get angry as a toddler when her parents would respond to her verbal communication with their fingers and later felt ashamed of them. The film at times becomes extremely self-conscious, however, with conversations that are too obviously staged, such as when Lau-

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ra’s friend asks her rapid-fire questions about her parents, like a new acquaintance might. A normal teenager would probably tell the girl to STFU already. But Laura’s early-life anger about her ’rents has subsided, and she says she’s learned that “it’s important that I just have them.”

—Tricia Olszewski Fri., June 24, 12:30 p.m., E Street Cinema; Sun., June 26, 5:45 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre

TEMPESTAD

Directed by Tatiana Huezo “here we call you pagadores: people who pay for other people’s crimes.” This line provides the frame for Tempestad (storm), a gorgeous, haunting film that stuns with transformative documentary storytelling. Director

Tatiana Huezo uses two women’s experiences of violence, corruption, and impunity in Mexico to give voice to the thousands of faceless victims of the country’s organized criminal violence.

Huezo tracks Miriam’s long journey to return to her son after being held in a cartel-run prison on false charges of human trafficking, while exploring the effects of disappearance with Adela, a clown in a traveling circus whose daughter was kidnapped years earlier. While the story’s structure itself is compelling, it’s Huezo’s use of moody, saturated imagery that gives a meditative and almost otherworldly form to the emotion of their stories. It’s apropos of life lived at the whim of a lawless, rotted system—and the fear required to sustain it.

—Shilpa Jindia Fri., June 24, 4 p.m., E Street Cinema; Sat., June 25, 4:15 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre

ment from a director of the Innocence Project of Texas, and it has a couple of issues. One, you imagine that most people are aware of how much injustice takes place in this country every day. And two, considering he said this regarding the case featured in Southwest of Salem: The Story of the San Antonio Four—a case in which the prosecution was based on allegations of Satanic ritual and resembled a literal witch hunt—perhaps he should have left the “lighted torches” part out. In general, though, the documentary is another riveting and heartbreaking examination of four women—all friends, all Latina, all lesbians—effectively determined guilty until proven innocent.

Two toddler nieces of one of the women accused them of molestation, likely at the provocation of a man who was angry about their aunt’s romantic rejection. Despite glaringly obvious weaknesses in the case against them, racial and gay bias prevailed, and the women went to prison. The four delineate their experiences, which grow increasingly awful. And though there’s hope at the end, you’ll still be pissed even if the women are able to forgive.

—Tricia Olszewski

Cinema, Mon Amour

Fri., June 24, 8:45 p.m., E Street Cinema; Sat., June 25, 12:30 p.m., E Street Cinema

CINEMA, MON AMOUR Haveababy

HAVEABABY

Directed by Amanda Micheli haveababy fOllOws hOpeful patients as they spend large sums out of pocket on the chance to become pregnant at a fertility clinic in Las Vegas. If that gambling analogy weren’t enough, each year the clinic gives one lucky winner a free round of IVF. It’s like Wonka’s Golden Ticket, except thousands of women and couples clamor to put out their showstopping, heart-wrenching best pleas on YouTube, where a panel of judges will decide the winner. Amanda Micheli’s film works on two levels: It exposes the entrepreneurial model of American medicine at the root of our deeply flawed healthcare system, and ponders our reality TV–obsessed culture that debases our most private misfortunes to a contest. Be pre-

pared to have your sympathy evoked and your judgments realigned, as well as the myth of the American dream deflated just a little more.

—Erin Devine Fri., June 24, 6:30 p.m. E Street Cinema; Sat., June 25, 11:30 a.m., AFI Silver Theatre

SOUTHWEST OF SALEM: THE STORY OF THE SAN ANTONIO FOUR

Directed by Deborah S. Esquenazi “if peOple Only knew how little truth and justice have to do with the way the legal system works, they’d probably amass at the courthouse with lighted torches.” That’s a state-

Directed by Alexandru Belc there are few genuinely quixotic people around nowadays, but those few tend to see smartphones as their primary foe. Such is the case with Victor Purice, the subject of Cinema, Mon Amour. He owns a movie house in Romania, a country that’s reduced its number of theaters from 400 to around 30. The film documents his efforts—discount tickets, complimentary tea—to get asses in seats. lacking any funds for modern film prints, he burns DVDs from torrents online. The cinema is impressive despite its state of disrepair, and Director Alexandru Belc films Purice and his employees with evident affection, making the action primarily about Purice’s quirks and force of personality. Scenes start to get repetitive—there are only so many compelling shots of an empty movie house—and yet his cinephilia is ultimately infectious. You end up wanting to root for the guy.

—Alan Zilberman Fri., June 24, 9:15 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre; Sun., June 26, 5:45 p.m., E Street Cinema

ALL THIS PANIC

Directed by Jenny Gage filMed OVer the course of three years, All this Panic follows Brooklyn-based teen sisters Ginger and Dusty through the angst-ridden transition from high school to early adulthood. Their friends, however, take center stage as they grapple with their family’s mental health issues and discovery of their sexual identity. It’s certainly an intimate portrait, but the film suffers from a lack of diversity: its subjects are all conspicuously white with the exception of Sage, who’s presumed to be un-

known to the other girls. As one of a few black students in a Manhattan private school, and who recently lost her father and is trying to help her now-single mother, Sage’s storyline is woefully underdeveloped and a tad tokenizing. Filmed by husband-and-wife duo Jenny Gage and Tom Betterton, who are known for their moody fashion photography, the film is awash in bokeh, close focus, and minimalist piano music, which results in a distinctly forced sense of nostalgia.

—Margaret Carrigan Fri., June 24, 9:45 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre; Sat., June 25, 3:30 p.m., E Street Cinema

THE ISLANDS AND THE WHALES

Directed by Mike Day thirty Minutes intO the otherwise quiet and uneventful The Islands and the Whales, a literal massacre takes place. Faroese people slaughter a swarm of pilot whales, the animals’ spilled blood turning the Atlantic Ocean’s blue into a fiery red. Though this scene documents a routine hunt for the individuals of the Faroe Islands (located between Norway and Iceland), there’s an underlying sense of anger to it all. That’s because their foodways and hunting traditions are suddenly in jeopardy—a local toxicologist has found dangerous amounts of mercury in the pilot whales, and the seabird population is quickly declining. If this all sounds like a harrowing, Werner Herzog–like piece of filmmaking, it is. With The Islands and the Whales, director Mike Day has made a terrifying movie about the give-and-take relationship between people and the environment.

And from his perspective, the world’s outlook isn’t good.

—Dean Essner Sat., June 25, 11:30 a.m., AFI Silver Theatre; Sun., June 26, 8 p.m., E Street Cinema

SHALOM ITALIA

Directed by Tamar Tal Anati Many dOcuMentaries abOut the Holocaust relate its horrors by interviewing survivors and showing ghastly images of emaciated men, women, and children in concentration camps across Europe. Despite dealing directly with the Holocaust, director Tamar Tal Anati’s film Shalom Italia is the polar opposite of Shoah. It follows Bubi, Andrea, and Emmanuel, three Jewish-Italian brothers who, with their family, fled their home in Florence and hid in a cave in the hills of Tuscany to avoid persecution. Following the war, the family settled in Israel, but 70 years later, the brothers return to their ancestral home to search for the cave that sheltered them and to discuss their differing memories of the period. Anati carefully combines each brother’s recollections with candid moments of the aging trio squabbling over banalities like chores and directions. More than anything, the film is about the strength of families; the beautiful shots of the Italian countryside and food make it that much better.

—Caroline Jones

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ally helps Judkins and the carnival employers more than employees, with migrants subjected to low wages and poor working conditions.

With Sisley and Martinez’s sly cinéma vérité– like approach, the drama and emotion at the heart of Farewell Ferris Wheel unfolds quite like a rollercoaster.

—Matt Cohen

Sat., June 25, 12 p.m., E Street Cinema; Sun., June 26, 6:15 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre

RAISING BERTIE

Directed by Margaret Byrne raising berTie is the Boyhood of this year’s AFI DOCS, but with more of an urgent social subtext. The film, directed by Margaret Byrne, follows the lives of three African-American boys in rural North Carolina, chronicling their attempts to pass high school, stay away from crime, and overcome the poverty they’ve been born into. Similar to Richard Linklater’s groundbreaking 2014 movie, Raising Bertie dwells in the everyday minutiae of the boys’ lives. However, Byrne’s film stays away from being overly didactic. The movie may hint at bigger narratives regarding race and America’s wealth gap, but it also never stoops to suggesting that the documentary is anything more than a specific snapshot of three people’s lives.

Its smallness is its greatest virtue.

—Dean Essner

Sat., June 25, 5:30 p.m., E Street Cinema; Sun., June 26, 11 a.m., AFI Silver Theatre

CHICKEN PEOPLE

Directed by Nicole Lucas Haimes One iMagines that the director of Chicken People did not intend to mock the world of competitive chicken-breeding. Yet Nicole Lucas Haimes’ choice of opening scene makes you wonder: Brian C., a relatively young chicken enthusiast, confesses that he sings standards such as “The Way You Look Tonight” to his hen house. Then there’s middle-aged Brian K. saying, “I wouldn’t give up anything I’m doing to have a relationship.” But just when the doc starts feeling a little Toddlers & Tiaras, each of the featured competitors loosens up, and we see other sides of their personalities that prove they’re indeed more than mere poultry obsessives. There’s a lightheartedness to the competitions—no shade thrown here—and, dare I say, you begin to see the beauty in each breed.

And though a few do eat their chickens, most of them regard their flock with the affection everybody shows their pets. “Animals enrich people’s life,” Brian C. says. “Period.”

—Tricia Olszewski

Check It

Sat., June 25, 1:45 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre; Sun., June 26, 3 p.m., E Street Cinema

SONITA

Directed by Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami like Many teen girls, Sonita Alizadeh idolizes Rihanna and dreams of becoming a famous musician. But, as an Afghan living illegally in Iran, the path to stardom is littered with roadblocks. Director Rokhsareh Ghaem Maghami closely watches the spirited ingenue as she scrambles to help her sister make rent, sings her politically-minded rap songs to recording studios, and—in keeping with some Afghan traditions—gets put up for sale as a bride by her family. Interestingly, Maghami doesn’t remain an impartial viewer: she forms a relationship with her subject and frequently steps in front of the lens to interact with Sonita. In fact, the production team pays a portion of Sonita’s bride price in order to keep her from a forced marriage a bit longer, presumably for her own good but consequently for the good of the film. Financial ties and journalistic ethics are completely blurred by the end of the film as Maghami helps Sonita get a passport and scholarship to a school in the U.S., where hopefully, a better life awaits her.

—Margaret Carrigan Sat., June 25, 2:30 p.m., E Street Cinema; Sun., June 26, 8:15 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., June 25, 7 p.m., AFI Silver Theatre; Sun., June 26, 2:45 p.m., E Street Cinema

CHECK IT

Chicken People leading to an explosion. In Command and Control, director Robert Kenner masterfully recreates that heart-pounding event through commentary from the men who worked on the Titan II, mixing their stories with footage to yield something of a documentary thriller.

The missile, when viewed from its bottom upward, was admittedly a majestic thing. But this

COMMAND AND CONTROL

Directed by Robert Kenner it Might seeM like common sense that when it comes to working on a nuclear weapon, one does not improvise. Yet on Sept. 18, 1980, that’s what one man did while tending to an eight-story-high missile in Arkansas, using a ratchet instead of the torque wrench specified in protocol. When a socket fell as a result, it busted a hole in the missile’s fuel tank,

doc is meant to serve as a chilling cautionary tale about the 7,000 nuclear weapons still in the United States’ possession. Its point isn’t the danger of a wrong choice of tool, but that a falling piece of hardware shouldn’t be able to cause such damage to a WMD in the first place.

—Tricia Olszewski Sat., June 25, 3 p.m., E Street Cinema

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FAREWELL FERRIS WHEEL

Directed by Jamie Sisley and Miguel M.i.G. Martinez “the carniVal, literally, is an emotional rollercoaster,” an owner of a small traveling carnival in Maryland says toward the end of Farewell Ferris Wheel. And so is co-directors Jamie Sisley and Miguel M.i.G. Martinez’s thorough and even-handed documentary. It’s a portrait of migrant workers from Mexico who come to the U.S. to work at seasonal carnivals through the controversial H-2B visas, and all the hardships that come with it. At the center of the film is Jim Judkins, an employment recruiter who’s responsible for more than 80 percent of the H-2B visas for migrant carnival workers. At first, the film paints him as a hero of sorts—a cherished figure who helps Mexican workers come to the U.S. legally to make good money to send back home. But soon, the film reveals how the H-2B visa re-

Directed by Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer On weekends, the gay and trans members of D.C.’ Check It gang, based in Chinatown, pass their time promenading, shoplifting, and protecting each other from a hostile city. But when the curfew kicks in and the drama dissipates, many of them have to go home to drug-addled parents or K Street’s prostitution corridor. Check It starts after the gang has established themselves as the District’s premiere group of gay basher-bashers (there’s talk of forced bleach drinking for the gang’s foes). Now they want to move beyond that life, trading assault charges and prostitution raps for fashion or boxing. Along the way, Check It’s leaders—and the doc’s narrative—find themselves stuck in a frustrating cycle of big setbacks and too-small victories. One bittersweet scene finds a newly unemployed boxing coach singing to music in the car that has become his home, only to realize that he has run down the battery.

—Will Sommer Sat., June 25, 9 p.m., Newseum

THE LAND OF THE ENLIGHTENED

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tion, a fairly unusual film format. Shot over seven years on 16mm film, it’s stirringly beautiful and fairytale-like. A band of children (who jokingly call themselves “brass bandits”) live in an old abandoned Soviet base in Afghanistan and survive by trading in opium, discarded shells, lapis lazuli, and any other wares they might chance upon during their caravan-robbing escapades. Director PieterJan de Pue also offers footage from one of the last remaining U.S. military bases, while a narrator intersperses stories of a great king in Afghanistan’s history. One of the film’s most visceral scenes shows American soldiers shelling and shooting at a hill, where someone is hiding. The image of nature being blasted into smithereens by a relentless onslaught of firepower makes for unsurprisingly heavy emotional viewing and offers a unique take on what war actually looks like. The children are neither powerful nor powerless—they neither want your pity, nor can one forget that they never had a childhood. They drift through the wreckage of a war-ravaged reality, salvaging and scavenging.

—Toni Tileva Sat., June 25, 9:30, AFI Silver Theatre; Sun., June 26, E Street Cinema

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Directed by Bill Ross and Turner Ross ConCert doCumentaries aren’t usually known for their innovation, but the David Byrne-affiliated Contemporary Color is an engaging exception. The film follows performances by ten color guards (groups of students and volunteers who choreograph routines based on military gun and flag ceremonies) from across the country, as they perform simultaneously with musicians like St. Vincent, Nelly Furtado, tUnE-yArDs, and Byrne himself at the Barclays Center in 2015.

Though Byrne is the mastermind and curator of the performance, the film isn’t really about him. There are a few choice shots of him looking goofy and explaining his vision and discovery of color guard, but otherwise, directors Bill and Turner Ross focuses on the the color guards themselves. Similar to Stop Making Sense—the famous Talking Heads concert film—Contemporary Color acts as an extension of the live dance and flag- and gun twirling. Instead of lingering on a behind-thescenes look at the production, the film works constantly to amplify the striking artistry of the color guard members. The brilliant camerawork gives each routine a sweeping intimacy, slowing down the masterful jumps and spins, and proving to the audience what Byrne and the filmmakers already know: color guard is a vibrant, compelling form of art and performance.

—Quinn Myers Sat., June 25, 9:45 p.m., E Street Cinema

Adam Vitelli, DMD WashingtonsChoiceDentalCare.com

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Directed by Jorge Caballero doCumentarian Jorge Caballero’s even-handed examination of Colombia’s of-

20 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

Contemporary Color

Sonita ten inept medical system is, at times, heartbreaking. His camera closely follows the middle-aged Nubia Martinez throughout a Colombian hospital as she bravely navigates her country’s frustrating medical bureaucracy on behalf of her cancer-stricken young adult daughter, Leidy. Nubia walks with a pronounced limp, which makes her constant back-and-forth trips from various medical facilities and healthcare agencies painful to watch. At times, the mother is searching for a rather elusive pain medication for Leidy, whose small voice we hear at

times, but remains unseen throughout the film. It’s a peculiar narrative choice, but one that helps the film, allowing us to focus more on the ever-present Nubia, who emerges as a working class heroine fighting for the best possible care for her daughter. Patient remains gorgeously unsentimental, but it may provoke a couple of cleansing cries before its understated conclusion.

—Jerome Langston Sun., June 26, 1 p.m., E Street Cinema

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washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 21

CONGRATULATIONS RAMMY AWARD WINNERS!

NEW RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR

COCKTAIL PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

BEER PROGRAM OF THE YEAR

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UPSCALE CASUAL BRUNCH

EVERYDAY CASUAL BRUNCH

Jonah Kim RISING CULINARY STAR OF THE YEAR

Alex Levin PASTRY CHEF OF THE YEAR

Scott Drewno CHEF OF THE YEAR

Jorge Martinez Jennifer Lucy RESTAURANT EMPLOYEE RESTAURANT MANAGER OF THE YEAR OF THE YEAR

HONORARY MILESTONE AWARD

Chef Bob Kinkead DUKE ZEIBERT CAPITAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

22 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

The RAMMY Awards Gala honors the exceptional talent of those working in Metropolitan Washington’s vibrant restaurant and foodservice industry. View photos of the Gala on TheRAMMYS.org and on social media #RAMMYS16.

DCFEED

Fig & Olive has settled the majority of cases stemming from a salmonella outbreak last fall.

Read more at washingtoncitypaper.com/food.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

By Jessica Sidman It’s two hours before the opening of ramen shop Bantam King, and co-owner Daisuke Utagawa has only just arrived with the noodles. Due to some distribution issues, Utagawa had to drive himself to a warehouse in Baltimore to pick up the Japanese import.

“Anyone who wants to go and pick up our noodles on a regular basis, they get free ramen,” Utagawa says, half-jokingly.

If that seems like a lot of effort for thin strands of dough, it’s nothing in the grand scheme of preparation for this restaurant’s debut. The team tasted 34 types of noodles from Nishiyama Seimen Company in Japan with different stocks and sauces to find the perfect pairing. “I don’t know how many hundreds of ramen combinations we had to taste,” Utagawa says.

The noodles are custom produced for the specific soups that Bantam King is now serving out of a former Burger King at 501 G St. NW. The noodles are thinner, less wavy, and more delicate than the Sapporo-style variety used at sister restaurant Daikaya.

“There’s no one thing called ramen,” Utagawa says. Through their expanding businesses and ramen 101 classes, Utagawa and fellow owners Yama Jewayni and chef Katsuya Fukushima have tried to show Washingtonians the range and craft of ramen. “There are 32 different regional ramens in Japan,” Utagawa explains, and each has its own nuance and style—not so different from barbecue in America.

Even within specific regions, there isn’t necessarily one style. Later this summer, the owners will open a third ramen shop called Haikan in Shaw. It will offer Sapporo-style ramen—but a different type than what’s served at Daikaya. “There are one thousand ramen restaurants in Sapporo alone, and most of them serve what’s called Sapporo-style. So if they can make one thousand different ones, I think we can make two different Sapporo-style ramen,” says Utagawa.

Young & hungrY

But at Bantam King, the team is focusing on chicken ramen, which isn’t attached to a specific region.

In fact, Utagawa says it’s only just emerged in popularity over the last 15 years. The name Bantam refers to a type of chicken, but it’s also a weight class in boxing.

In Japan, chicken ramen might also have pork in the broth or shrimp as a topping, even if chicken is the dominant ingredient. But at Bantam King, no additional proteins are involved. The team decided to focus on chicken ramen after enjoying bowls of it during a research trip to Japan last year. Another reason to omit other traditional meat ingredients is that a lot of people don’t eat pork, whether for religious or other reasons.

There are two types of ramen broth in Japan: chintan, which is clear like a delicate consomme; and paitan, a creamier, richer option. It’s not easy to make proper chintan stock, which should be light—yet rich—and very complex.

Bantam King offers both varieties, but the chintan broth will be available in limited quantities.

There likely won’t be more than 100 servings a day.

The restaurant is also serving a vegetarian ramen, which is different—“more subtle but really rich,” Utagawa says—than the one at Daikaya. Also, Bantam King doesn’t have woks like its sister restaurant, so the ramen toppings are different.

Darrow Montgomery

The Daikaya team tackles chicken ramen at their new restaurant, Bantam King.

In many ways, the Daikaya team members are sticklers for tradition. “To call it ramen, you have to have four things. And the four things must come together only after the order is taken. You can’t pre-mix it,” Utagawa says. Those four things are: noodles, stock, tare (a concentrated sauce made of salt, soy, or miso), and flavored oil. Toppings are important, but they’re not “essential” for a bowl to qualify as ramen.

That’s why you’ll never see a bottle of, say, Sriracha. “That’s not ramen,” Utagawa says.

“Then it’s pho,” Fukushima says.

That’s also why you’ll never see Bantam King or Daikaya offer their ramen to go. The way Utagawa sees it, it’s no longer true ramen when you take it home. “There is absolutely no way to do ramen takeaway that still tastes good,” Utagawa says. “People say, ‘Well, I’m paying for it. It’s none of your business how I eat it.’ But it is our business because it is some-

thing that we make.”

While such rules are doctrine when it comes to ramen, Fukushima is much more liberal when comes to the other big component of the menu: fried chicken. It’s not something you’re likely to find on the menu if you go to a Japanese chicken ramen shop, especially prepared the way Fukushima does. The $24 halfbird platter is much more like the Southern comfort food than Japanese karaage.

But that’s not to say there aren’t Japanese touches. Fukushima brines the chicken in kombu and dashi, which give it a smoky quality. Japanese starches, including rice flour and potato starch, are used to batter the bird. It’s a far cry from the last time Fukushima served fried chicken professionally—in his second-ever restaurant job at Wendy’s. That said, “we actually used the same pressure fryer at Wendy’s,” he says.

Utagawa also finds the restaurant’s fried chicken very Japanese in its simplicity.

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 23

Darrow Montgomery

DCFEED

“Rather than focusing on what’s the spice or what’s in the batter, it tastes like just really good chicken,” he says. “One thing that’s particular about Japanese cuisine is we focus on what’s inherently beautiful about the ingredients. And by taking away what’s unnecessary, we show the beauty and complexity of what nature has to offer.”

The regularly rotating “fixings” that come with the fried chicken are a little more playful. The sides currently include biscuits with Szechuan strawberry jam, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes with gravy, cole slaw with yuzu and sansho pepper, and corn on the cob with furikake (a Japanese seasoning).

The fried chicken platter comes in a paper box... on a silver platter, which encapsulates the high-brow, low-brow mashup that is Bantam King. Fukushima, after all, has dabbled in both homey cooking and modernist cuisine.

He helped open the original Minibar as well as other José Andrés restaurants including Zaytina and Oyamel. If you look near the open kitchen at Bantam King, you’ll notice a framed photo of Fukushima next to Julia Child, Jacques Pepin, and Andrés.

The chef is still interested in eventually doing a Japanese tasting menu that would harken back to his days at the old Minibar. “It would be small, and it would be just like the Minibar used to be where we cooked right in front of you,” he says. But it’s not yet clear when or at which restaurant that will happen. “It’s on the 24 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

back burner,” he says.

Now, reconcile that with the fact that Bantam King uses plastic cutlery and still looks kind of like a Burger King, albeit a Japan-influenced one.

Rather than erase any trace of the fast food joint, the Bantam King team has embraced it. Designer Brian Miller of EditLab at Streetsense kept the original tiled floors and outfitted the place with plastic chairs, fluorescent ceiling lamps, multicolored Christmas lights, and chochin paper lanterns. The walls are covered in bright blue, yellow, and green cafeteria trays as well as wallpaper made of “ramen cat” cartoon strips.

Rather than Pepsi and Coke, a refrigerated case in the corner carries Japanese canned sake, shochu, and sodas like melon cream and milk tea. The building also still has a takeout window from its fast-food days. And while you definitely won’t see ramen coming out of it, Fukushima is playing with the idea of using the window to serve a twist on Mexican fried ice cream that’s dredged in the fried chicken mixture and deep fried. (But don’t hold him to it just yet.)

Ultimately, though, Fukushima admits he’s scared that people will come in only for fried chicken or other side treats. While there might be other things on the menu, he wants to be clear about one thing: “The ramen is the key,” Fukushima says.

CP Eatery tips? Food pursuits? Send suggestions to jsidman@washingtoncitypaper.com.

DCFEED Grazer

what we ate last week: eggplant parmesan, $15, All Purpose.

Satisfaction level: 4 out of 5 what we’ll eat next week: (Vegan) Philly steak, $10.65, HipCityVeg. Excitement level: 3 out of 5

Number CruNChiNg

The winners of the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington’s annual RAMMY Awards were announced at a gala on Sunday. Who won big? Did the suburbs get any love? Will women ever get greater representation?

Take a look at our breakdown of the nominees and winners by the numbers.

—Jessica Sidman

4

What: Joya with La Venenosa Raicilla Sierra de Jalisco, Green Chartreuse, and Dolin sweet vermouth

nominations for The Source—more than any other restaurant

11 1

women nominees

12 10

Darrow Montgomery

woman who won (Manager of the Year: Estadio’s Jennifer Lucy)

nominations for places on 14th Street NW in 2016 nominations for places on 14th Street NW in 2015

The Dish: Offal salad

12 2

2

Are You Gonna Eat That?

Where to Get It: Kyirisan, 1924 8th St. NW; (202) 525-2942; kyirisandc.com Price: $15

What It Is: A playful salad of beef tendon, tripe, and chicken hearts. The tendon is slow-cooked for about four hours with a mirepoix of carrots, onion, and fennel; the tripe is slow-cooked on the stove for around two hours; and the chicken hearts are quickly pan-fried with Asian spices, including lemongrass, ginger, and garlic. The cooked organ meats are then combined with fresh cucumber and tomatoes and tossed with a tamarind-based dressing.

What It Tastes Like: Chef Tim Ma describes the salad as eating a room-tem-

perature bowl of pho. Each organ meat has a different texture—from the gelatinous, fatty tendon to the chewy hearts.

The spices and tamarind dressing bring a brightness and zip to the dish, as do the fresh vegetables.

The Story: Kyirisan’s menu previously offered a plate of offal with noodles. As the weather turned warmer, Ma figured it

Price: $16 What You Should Be Drinking

winners from Virginia (Port City Brewing Company, Northside Social)

Nominees that were new to their categories this year

Where: Espita Mezcaleria, 1250 9th St. NW, (202) 621-9695, espitadc.com

awards won by The Source (Chef of the Year, Employee of the Year)

nominees from Virginia

66

UnderServed

2 0

nominees from Maryland (Sushiko and Republic) winners from Maryland

9

Number of years in D.C. it took Mike Isabella, named Restaurateur of the Year, to win his own award

No surprise here: the lead spirit in Espita Mezcaleria’s “Joya” cocktail is mezcal. But La Venenosa Raicilla is a little edgy and oft-ignored. “It’s kind of an illegal mezcal from Jalisco,” says owner Josh Phillips.

In that Mexican state, distillers call their mezcal “raicilla.” They cannot legally certify their product as “mezcal” because it’s produced outside the Denomination of Origin (a geographic area in which products must be made a certain way to earn the right to use a certain name). Without regulations, Phillips explains, “they can do it how they used to, whatever their family did.” The agave spirit forms the base of an otherwise gin-based New Orleans cocktail called the “Bijou” with a supporting cast of Green Chartreuse and Dolin sweet sermouth. The raicilla makes a keen gin substitute because it’s light and botanical with notes of raw lemon oil.

Why You Should be Drinking It

was time to switch to a lighter variation.

Ma says it’s been a fun dish for the kitchen, but it hasn’t caught on yet with customers. Even when encouraging servers to point it out, he estimates that out of 200 or 300 plates served during busy nights, the restaurant might only sell four or five bowls of offal salad. “Organs and noodles all make sense now and everybody’s used to it. But organs and salad, not yet,” he says. “I feel like that’s something you would eat off a street cart in Southeast Asia, not in a fancy restaurant in Shaw.” Despite the lack of popularity, it’s easily the most interesting dish on the menu at the moment, and Ma expects to keep it there for the foreseeable future.

—Travis Mitchell

Beverage Director Megan Barnes says the $16 sticker shock and unfamiliar ingredients deter guests from ordering the drink. But she claims it’s actually a deal.

The raicilla retails at $75 a bottle, which is pricey for mezcal. If you were to order a 1.5 oz. pour (the amount in the cocktail), it would be $17, and that doesn’t count the cost of Chartreuse. “It’s our way of discounting it to get people to try something that’s just stunning,” Phillips says.

Given that the drink plays a magic trick— it’s 100 percent booze, but goes down smooth—the price tag is worth it. Barnes adds that it’s the drink bartenders from other spots order on their days off. However, the pair cautions guests about the drink’s high alcohol content. “Yeah, I would get something in your stomach, maybe pound some salsa first,” Phillips says. “Two of these and you’re done for the night.”

—Laura Hayes

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 25

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JUNE

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with the Washington Renaissance Orchestra Octet

For artists and complete schedule, visit DCJAZZFEST.ORG PLATINUM SPONSORS

The DC Jazz Festival®, a 501(c)(3) non-profit service organization, is sponsored in part with major grants from the Government of the District of Columbia, Muriel Bowser, Mayor; and, in part, by major grants from the Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Foundation, The Mayo Charitable Foundation, CrossCurrents Foundation, and with a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; and by the City Fund, administered by The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region. ©2016 DC Jazz Festival. All rights reserved.

CPArts

Gallery Place loses its last gallery as CulturalDC sells Flashpoint headquarters. washingtoncitypaper.com/arts

Tour de Source

For nine years, D.C.’s Source Festival has given playwrights their chance at a big break.

A dress rehearsal for

Static, by Tom Horan Topher payne had been writing plays for more than 10 years, but hardly anyone outside of Atlanta was seeing them. That’s not a slight against Payne—his work has received many awards and accolades over the years—but when you’re embedded in a regional theater scene, it’s hard to break out to a national audience.

Born in Mississippi, Payne moved to Atlanta in 1999 and quickly built a following. “With a near-constant output of broadly appealing plays often written specifically for Atlanta audiences, the self-described ‘goofy ginger’ has built up a faithful core of local fans for his clever, zingy S outhern comedies,” Creative Loafing wrote of Payne last year, in a review of one of his recent plays, Angry Fags.

He’s something of a superstar in Georgia’s capital city, but for a while, he felt like his work would never reach a broader audience. “I carved out a nice little spot for myself in the Atlanta theater community,” Payne says, “but I was facing the same struggle a lot of regional playwrights experience, where you can launch a production in your home market, but that’s about it. If you’re a playwright who’s not basically working in NYC or L.A., you’re working without representation, and without representation, you can’t such an audience demand to see it.” get your script to anyone outside of Perfect Arrangement’s success didn’t stop with sold-out your own market.”

But in 2013, he got his big break. His script for Perfect Arrange- shows at that year’s Source Festival. In 2014, the American ment, a biting satire set in the 1950s about a pair of closeted Theatre Critics Association named it best new play by an State Department employees tasked with outing suspected emerging playwright. “That led me to a whole new theater homosexuals within the agency, was selected to be produced crowd, which led me to New York, which led me to an Offfor D.C.’s Source Festival, now in its Broadway production, which led to the script getting a publisher,” Payne says. ninth year.

It might sound like a too-perfect narrative for Payne’s caPerfect Arrangement was a smash hit, thanks in no small part to the reer—years spent cranking out plays that would never be seen timing of its debut: The Supreme Court struck down key outside of Atlanta, until the Source Festival gave him a shot— sections of the Defense of Marriage Act during its run. “We but that’s how he frames it. “That’s how I got my agent and went from being a topical play to a very topical play,” Payne everything started happening,” Payne says. “You want to besays. “It was the first time Source extended a play; there was lieve that everything doesn’t happen because of a lucky break,

THEATER

Darrow Montgomery

By Matt Cohen

and there are certainly arguments to say that it isn’t, but for me, it did.”

But Payne’s story isn’t unique. For the past nine years, the Source Festival has evolved from a homegrown local theater showcase to a nationally recognized festival. It’s become known for helping new and emerging playwrights—or veterans like Payne who’ve been sequestered in their regional markets—break through to the next level. And for more established playwrights, it’s an invaluable opportunity to try out their latest work in front of an audience. on a recenT muggy Friday afternoon, scores of sweaty people walk by Source on 14th Street NW. Inside, the air conditioning is blasting, but you wouldn’t know that by looking at washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 27

CPArts the Source Festival crew members, who are perspiring heavily as they set up this year’s iteration. It officially kicked off on June 8 and runs until July 3.

Jenny McConnell Frederick, the festival’s artistic director, leads me on a tour of the stage and backstage area, which will host three full-length plays, 18 10-minute plays culled from more than 500 submissions, and three “Artistic Blind Dates”—workshops in which artists from different disciplines are randomly paired with each other to collaborate on original work over a six-month period.

It’s a lot for a theater festival, especially one that takes place on a single stage (which means the festival’s producers need to create sets that can easily be broken down after each performance). But that’s how the Source Festival has always done it.

From 1977 until the early aughts, Source was home to the Source Theatre Company, one of the most prominent in the District. During that time, they hosted an annual summer event called the Washington Theatre Festival. “It was very guerilla theater,” Frederick recalls of the festival.

But in the late ’90s, the company ran into financial problems. They ceased productions in 2002 and legally disbanded in 2006, leaving their 14th Street home on the market. In October of that year, local arts nonprofit CulturalDC bought the building, renovated it, and made it a shared arts space. As part of their agreement with Source Theatre Company, CulturalDC had to keep the Washington Theatre Festival going, in one form or another.

“When we bought the building, we had a kind of hand-

FOLGER

THEATRE

shake agreement with the leadership of Source Theatre Company that we would continue some sort of summer festival,” Frederick says.

A year prior, another guerilla-style summer theater festival popped up in the District—Capital Fringe. That posed a different kind of challenge for CulturalDC: How do you start a summer theater festival that doesn’t compete with Fringe?

The big difference between the Source Festival and Fringe, Frederick says, “is that everything [Source] does is curated,” with about 100 readers helping to select plays, whereas with Fringe, almost anyone can submit a play and put on a production.

“With the Fringe Festival, you have to have a team of collaborators on a project and you come there and you get to put it on and there’s an amazing set of resources around that,” Frederick adds. “For us, if you’re new to town or new to school and you don’t really have your tribe yet, you can come to us and apply as an individual, and we’ll give you a tribe.”

Jennifer fawceTT is no stranger to the world of theater.

She’s a graduate of the University of Iowa’s MFA Playwrights Workshop, and her work has received awards over the years and has been commissioned and produced all over the country—from Iowa City and Nashville, to Chicago and New York.

The Source Festival may not help her career in the same way it did Payne’s, but it’s essential to her in other ways.

Each year, the Source Festival selects three new full-length plays—sometimes written by established playwrights like

“EXPERTLY EXECUTED.

You’d be hard pressed to find a more admirably intelligent reworking of The Merchant of Venice.”

—The Washington Post

2015/16 SEASON

Written by

AARON POSNER

Directed by

MICHAEL JOHN GARCÉS

ON STAGE THROUGH JULY 3 folger.edu/theatre | (202) 544-7077 28 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com 16-FT-0379_CPaper_quote.indd 1

Matthew Boston as Shylock and Craig Wallace as Antoine. Photo by Teresa Wood.

WORLD PREMIERE

6/10/16 11:14 AM

Fawcett—to anchor its lineup. For Fawcett, it’s a rare and valuable opportunity to bring a play that’s in an advanced stage of development—but not quite done—to a live audience to see what works and what doesn’t. This year, her latest work, Buried Cities, is one of the three full-length plays premiering at the festival.

Debuting a new show is a scary experience for playwrights, but it’s also a risky move for Source. However, that challenge has come to define the festival over the years.

“The reality is that new work is risky and it’s expensive, and it’s difficult to take those risks when most theaters are in a precarious place anyway,” Fawcett says. “Source is all about the risk.”

As good as the experience is for artists like Fawcett, it’s even more valuable for playwrights whose short scripts are selected as one of the 10-minute plays.

“One of the hardest things to do as a playwright is to get your work put up somewhere,” says Patrick Flynn, whose short play The Ferberizing of Coral is being produced in this year’s festival, “which is something I just didn’t understand for a while.”

Nathan Alan Davis, whose play Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea was produced at the Source Festival in 2014 and later at other theaters across the country, says that the opportunity is everything.

“I got to kind of see the play fully produced with an audience and have the time and space to work on it,” he says. “It became, in a way, like the on-ramp for the world premiere.”

CP

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Presenting Sponsor

June 22 Celebrating Joan: A Tribute to Joan Rivers

Photo by Bill Bernstein

June 22–25

SAT., JUNE 25, 2016 AT 8 P.M. | CONCERT HALL June 23

June 24

The District of Comedy Roast of James Carville

Jane Lynch in See Jane Sing

June 24

June 24

June 24

The Daily Show Writers Standup Tour

Jermaine Fowler & Friends

Jay Pharoah

June 24

June 25

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The Goddamn Comedy Jam

Robert Post Comedy Theatre for Kids

Dick Gregory: An Evening of Comedy & Jazz

June 25

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June 19–July 31

Reggie Watts

Judd Apatow & Friends with Michael Che & Pete Holmes

The Second City’s Almost Accurate Guide to America

ON NIGHE ONLYT !

Plus, live podcast recordings with Hard Nation; The Todd Glass Show; The Last Podcast on the Left; Redacted Tonight; and You, Me, Them, Everybody!

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! KENNEDY-CENTER.ORG (202) 467-4600

Most performances are recommended for mature audiences.

Tickets also available at the Box Office. Groups call (202) 416-8400.

For tickets and information, visit kennedy-center.org/comedy.

(202) 467-4600 | Tickets also available at the Box Office.

David and Alice Rubenstein are the Presenting Underwriters of the NSO.

Additional support for the District of Comedy Festival is provided by New Orleans Tourism.

Additional support for the 2015-2016 NSO Pops Season is provided by The Honorable Barbara H. Franklin and Mr. Wallace Barnes.

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 29

CPArts Arts Desk

Joe’s Record Paradise owner says he plans to open new store location in a few weeks. washingtoncitypaper.com/arts

ONe trACk MIND

Photo Synthesis

Photographer Addison Scurlock was the premier documentarian of D.C.’s African-American elite in the early- and mid-20th century. His iconic images of Marian Anderson singing on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial are among his best known, but visitors to Nellie’s Sports Bar, located in the same building where Scurlock worked for decades, can also see his work. A new mural at 1800½ 11th St. NW, created by Spanish artist Carla Fuentes in conjunction with SPAIN arts & culture and Art Bloc DC, commemorates Scurlock’s contributions.

—Caroline Jones Scurlock remains a relative unknown outside of D.C., but his subjects were anything but. Among those he photographed were Dr. Charles Drew, Duke Ellington, Booker T. Washington, and W.E.B. Du Bois.

Hand Grenade Job “Threat Assessment”

Although she wasn’t familiar with him before starting the project, Fuentes writes that “it’s been amazing to be able to get to know him through this experience, especially since he [was]... one of the most important and notable photographers when photography as a field was just starting.”

Standout Track: “Threat Assessment,” the new single by D.C. duo Hand Grenade Job, is an exercise in voice and minimalism. The hauntingly gorgeous track features nothing but Erin McCarley and Beck Levy’s breathless chanting harmonies and the occasional sparse striking of a xylophone. It’s eerie and melodic, and sounds like something suited for the soundtrack to The Witch.

The main figures in the mural are both Addison Scurlock; one is based on a formal portrait and the other captures him at work.

The other photos in the mural are based on portraits Scurlock took in his studio.

30 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

The mural is painted on the side of the former newspaper offices of The Washington Afro-American. Art Bloc DC’s goal is to create murals that celebrate D.C.’s culture in historically significant locations.

Darrow Montgomery

Musical Motivation: With the repetition of the line “I’m the walking exigent / Circumstance you created,” the song is inspired by the manifesto written by Christopher Dorner, a former LAPD officer, who went on a shooting spree against cops after he was allegedly fired for reporting excessive force. “We originally wrote it in February 2013,” Levy says. “I’m struck by how quickly he was forgotten.” The song, she adds, “incorporates some of the more lucid, cogent lines in Christopher Dorner’s manifesto.”

Cabin in the Woods: “Threat Assessment” was recorded in a cabin in Western Maryland this January, in between two blizzards. The song, along with a startling, minimalist cover of Hatebreed’s “Driven

By Suffering” and more tracks for an upcoming album, were recorded in the cabin’s largest room, which they transformed into a makeshift studio. “The beauty and stillness of the cabin absolutely contributed to our process and the sound,” McCarley says. “’Threat Assessment’ was recorded live in one take with Beck and I standing next to each other singing into the same microphone, with a view of the woods. Much of the reverb on these primarily vocal tracks is naturally occurring in the room.”

—Matt Cohen Listen to Hand Grenade Job’s “Threat Assessment” at washingtoncitypaper. com/arts.

Get your order right.

er m m Concert

Su

LEARN FRENCH

Series

Alliance Française de Washington

Through September 2!

TUESDAYS at the U.S. Capitol FRIDAYS at the Air Force Memorial SATURDAYS at National Harbor See website for complete concert info.

**Outdoor concerts subject to weather cancellation.

June 16-19, 2016

www.usafband.af.mil

BOISSO

N

francedc.org

N O S S POI

Your Father’s Day Plans This Weekend!

Eat, drink, and groove to the smooth sounds of Jazz in the ‘Hoods Presented by Events DC. Thursday through Sunday, catch a dozen live performances around DC and dine out at RAMW restaurants.

For Artists & Complete Schedule, Please Visit: www.DCJazzFest.org/Jazz-in-the-Hoods

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 31

TheaTer

Law & Border

Aaron Posner updates a Shakespearean problem play, while GALA goes all-in on farce and surrealism—in English!

District Merchants

By Aaron Posner Directed by Michael John Garcés At the Folger Shakespeare Library to July 3

El Paso Blue

By Octavio Solis Directed by José Carrasquillo At GALA Hispanic Theatre to June 26

By Chris Klimek These are noT the sins of the flesh that compose a modern-day Washington scandal.

As a playwright, Aaron Posner has adapted two Chaim Potok novels; his third Anton Chekhov rewrite, No Sisters, is set to debut at Studio Theatre next spring. He’s also directed more Shakespeare at the Folger Theatre than anyone else in the last 15 years.

District Merchants, which he wrote but did not direct, is his gloss on the famously antiSemitic-or-is-it comedy The Merchant of Venice, transplanted to Reconstruction-era D.C. Two-thirds of the future Chocolate City’s population of 130,000 is white; the rest, “Negro peoples,” as Shylock (Matthew Boston), the show’s traditionally merciless usurer, tells us. He and Antoine (Craig Wallace), a black merchant, differ on which half of that racial binary the city’s 1,500 Jews belong to. But these two prosperous men are united in sin: Both profited from the slave trade—no mere pound of flesh, but untold tons of it.

Posner has whittled the cast to eight and rejiggered some relationships to accommodate the reduction. Curiously, white (Christian) hegemony—privilege, we call it now— is embodied only in the form of a woman, the kind-but-clueless heiress Portia (Maren Bush). The show’s only non-Jewish white dude, Lorenzo, isn’t a man of influence, but a petty crook. (Interestingly, Lorenzo is the only character whose race is not specified in Posner’s script. William Vaughan plays him as a white southerner.)

Everyone gets a soliloquy. This Shylock was brought to the U.S. by his father, fleeing pogroms in the Ukraine. Antoine is the son of a slave who won his freedom through exemplary service in the United States Navy in the War of 1812. “You can think of me as an opportunistic philanthropist, or a philanthropic opportunist,” he reasons. He will help his people, but he’s going to take his cut.

His friend Bassanio (Seth Rue) marvels that “my father literally owned my mother and me” but freed them in his will. Bassanio is passing as white—a secret he fears will doom his courtship of Portia (Maren Bush). She in turn masquerades as a man to study law and complains to her servant Nessa (Celeste Jones) that one of her many suitors is “just so… black,” sounding like the girl speaking at the top of “Baby Got Back.” Jones has one of the piece’s most heartfelt monologues, all about her kind-but-condescending boss’s refusal to get woke.

Not all of the show’s trio of romances resolve as neatly as in Shakespeare’s version. But they’re all from the comic half of this comedy, the part no one remembers. We’re really here to see Shylock demand his bodily collateral from Antoine after he defaults on a loan, in this case due to the market crash of 1873. Tony Cisek’s set features a trio of Greek columns, including a toppled one that is pulled back upright just before Shylock hauls Antoine into court, as though Reconstruction itself hangs on the resolution of their gruesome contract.

It’s a tangy stew, all right. But the show’s mighty efforts to reckon with centuries of antisemitism and the fallout of slavery while persuading us to invest in its romantic couplings create a tonal variation that can be maddening. To compare District Merchants to Woolly Mammoth’s concurrent production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ An Octoroon—another self-referential update of an archaic interracial romance, dating from 1859—is instructive: An Octoroon has an energy and a focus that Posner’s thoughtful remix never approaches.

The company is marvelous, though, led by Boston’s haunted Shylock. Recalling the life of prejudice to which he’s been subjected, Boston fixes his stare on a member of the audience, asks the person’s name, then turns that name an epithet, spitting as speaks. (I was the target of this stunt on the night I attended.) On the sunnier end of the spectrum, Akeem Davis is a bolt of joy each time he bounds onto the stage as Lancelot, the servant who doesn’t know he’s as smart as anyone in the room. Posner sometimes gives his purely comic characters too much rope, but Davis leaves you wanting more of him. As Portia, Bush performs a wordless symphony of reaction, drawn out to what must be at least 60 seconds, when Bassanio reveals his mixed parentage. She’s equally strong in the climactic trial scene, in reverse-drag as Antoine’s counsel, arguing that Shylock’s contract with him is unenforceable. To say how Posner

32 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

District Merchants

has updated her defense of Antoine would be telling, but it’s one of the moments when the show transcends mere novelty.

There are many thrilling moments like this. But in total the effect stubbornly remains what Portia argued in the 425-year-old original version that Shylock’s extraction of his pound of flesh must be: Bloodless.

Verónica del cerro is one bad father-inlaw-fucker.

Like District Merchants, Octavio Solis’ wild 1994 farce El Paso Blue is mired in questions of identity and belonging, but it’s far stranger and less polite. Its main player, Al (Andrés Talero, seductive and energetic) is the son of Mexican immigrants who sees his third-runner-up beauty queen bride Sylvie (Verónica del Cerro in a hilarious blonde wig) as his passport to a better life. But while he’s serving a prison sentence, she takes up with his father, Jefe (the venerable but decidedly not-Mexican Lawrence Redmond, in his GALA debut).

With the help of a soothsayer, China—Alina Collins Maldonado, playing a Manic Pixie Dream Chica who carries a water pistol loaded with acid—Al and his buddy Duane (Bob Sheire) pursue his spouse and paterfamilias across the state. It’s Oedipus in reverse.

At least I think that’s what’s happening.

This prismatic tale unfolds out of sequence, and narrative clarity is less director José Carrasquillo’s objective than sustaining an atmosphere of frenzied surrealism. That he does.

Regina García’s stunning set features a oneroom house and a telephone pole canted toward the audience like a still from a German

expressionist film. Michael “Hawkeye” Herman’s roadhouse-blues score is a showcase for some good honky-tonk singing from del Cerro, who hitched her wagon to Al because, she says, “the pale boys next door” couldn’t start her motor. (There are also a couple of smartly choreographed line-dancing breaks.) That set, plus the bluish cast of Christopher Annas-Lee’s lighting design, creates an atmosphere so unsettling that it takes a few minutes to notice how funny the show is, packed with Vaudeville-style jokes.

“I got my wrath,” declares Al. “I got my fury. You got yours?”

“It’s parked right over there,” says Duane.

Poor Duane is even more luckless than Al, receiving radio signals in his brain ever since he took a shotgun blast from his old lady intended for his friend and had part of his skull replaced with a metal plate. “My kilohertz awful bad!” goes a typical complaint. Sheire brings a looselimbed physical comedy to the part that doesn’t undermine the sense that he and everyone is stumbling around in some desert purgatory.

He’s matched in this effort by del Cerro, stumbling around drunk in her Daisy Dukes and cowboy boots like she has no fear of breaking her ankles. But there’s a poetry in her self-pity, especially when she likens herself to the obscure flip side of a beloved song.

“Nobody plays the B-sides on the jukebox,” CP she laments. Speak for yourself, Lady.

201 East Capitol St. SE. $35–$75.

(202) 544-7077. folger.edu.

3333 14th St. NW. $20–$90. (202) 234-7174. galatheatre.org.

Festival

18 SATURDAY, JUNE 12 – 5PM • FREE Exhibits – Activities – Concerts Genealogical Workshops

Featuring:

Doo Wop Cops

Malcolm X Drummers

Brencore Allstars Band Tributes to Music of Motown and Prince

Elizabeth Stanley and Andrew Samonsky, photo by Matthew Murphy

Anthony “Swamp Dog” Clark

Walker Mill Regional Park 8840 Walker Mill Rd. District Heights, MD 20747

240-264-3415 • blackhistory@pgparks.com www.pgparks.com/juneteenth.htm

JUNE 28–JULY 17 EISENHOWER THEATER TICKETS ON SALE NOW! KENNEDY-CENTER.ORG (202) 467-4600 Tickets also available at the Box Office. Groups call (202) 416-8400.

Theater at the Kennedy Center is made possible by

Major support for Musical Theater at the Kennedy Center is provided by

Kennedy Center Theater Season Sponsor

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 33

FilmShort SubjectS De Palma

DresseD to spill De Palma

Directed by Noah Baumbach and Jake Paltrow Political junkies eagerly anticipate the book each president writes after his administration ends, hoping that the freedom of unemployment will allow them to finally reveal the truth. It is this same type of thinking that informs De Palma, a documentary in which the eponymous director spins tales from his career in Hollywood with the loose lips of a guy who has no intention of ever going back. He trashes his bosses, tells sizzling, behind-the-scenes stories about his star actors, and even throws his audience under the bus. Is he fun to listen to? Mostly, yes. Is it enough to hang a film on?

Not even close.

The documentary’s lackadaisical origin story reveals the problem: In 2010, directors Noah Baumbach (Mistress America, The Squid and the Whale) and Jake Paltrow (Young Ones, Gwyneth’s brother) sat down to interview their friend Brian De Palma in order to try out their new camera. The stories he told were so good that they added clips, did some editing, and decided to release it in theaters. To their credit, De Palma is a good talker. He’s candid, entertaining, and not always likeable, and his career, like his films, is full of dramatic reversals.

He has a habit of following up a mainstream success (The Untouchables, Scarface) with a labor of love (Casualties of War, Body Double), which has earned him critical accolades but

Gurukulam

also made it hard to sustain a career in the studio system.

He’s also a bit of a braggart. He’ll tell you why Mission Impossible is better than virtually any blockbuster being made today. He’ll also suggest Snake Eyes—that Nicolas Cage movie with the twenty-minute tracking shot in the opening—would have been much better if the studio hadn’t messed with his ending. He’ll even tell you that Bonfire of the Vanities is just fine, as long as you haven’t read the book.

Unfortunately, he spends equal time on films no one but the most committed film nerds have ever heard of. The director spent the 1970s—when contemporaries like Scorsese and Spielberg were becoming darlings of the studio system—making obscure, psycho-sexual dramas with names like Get to Know Your Rabbit and Phantom of the Paradise. These early films get far more weight than they should, particularly since De Palma and his chroniclers are so convinced of his greatness they never bother to explain why we should care. To them, each of his films— no matter how famous or forgotten—deserves the same amount of screentime.

There is something admirable in this refusal to be slaves to commercialism, but also something frustrating. There need to be more points of emphasis for a narrative to emerge. As the director simply sits in a chair and talking about each subsequent work, De Palma comes to resemble more of a visual IMDB page than a film.

Still, De Palma succeeds at least as a reclamation project. Baumbach and Paltrow believe their subject should be in the pantheon of New Hollywood and considered every bit as important as his old friends Marty and Steve. That point lands, even if it would be bet-

34 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

ter suited to an episode of PBS’ American Masters. Still, it’s hard to argue with their conclusion: This guy made some good films. I agree.

Instead of watching De Palma, go watch some De Palma.

—Noah Gittell De Palma opens Friday at E Street Cinema.

CirCular logiC Gurukulam

Directed by Neil Dalal and Jillian Elizabeth in Gurukulam, swami Dayananda Saraswati tells his students that he achieved enlightenment “Sunday, at 4:30 p.m. I was sitting under a tree and something fell on my head.” It’s clearly one of the amiable guru’s attempts at humor, a gentle mocking of students at his South Indian ashram who impatiently want to know when they will be bestowed with enlightenment.

Saraswati, who died last year, founded the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam to teach Advaita Vedanta, a Hindu discipline, as well as ancient texts such as the Bhagavad Gita. (Though codirectors Neil Dalal and Jillian Elizabeth take 13 minutes to reveal these details; until then, you’re not sure what to make of scenes of people cooking, praying, and chanting.) Programs officially run up to three years, though many seekers choose to spend their lives there. And some have lofty goals: “Personally, I wouldn’t settle for anything less than the universe,” an earnest young man says, adding that the “stakes” are either gaining or losing infinity.

And you thought Bible class was hard.

The highlights of Gurukulam are inarguably Saraswati’s lectures, which are exclusively blow-your-mind statements such as “Consciousness is” or instructions like “Work while you work. Play while you play.” If that sounds maddening, though, the rest of the documentary is truly not for you—or for most anybody, really, outside of those already on the path.

There’s little here but static cameras taking in people eating, animals roaming, devotees attending to Saraswati. And the aforementioned chanting. There’s quite a bit of chanting.

Besides the swami’s congeniality, however, moments of humor can be found. Most of them involve cell phones: In one shot, for example, a man has a hand in his food while his other is cradling a phone. Guess which one has his attention? Other apparent leaders in the ashram discreetly check their mobiles while in small prayer groups. They may claim they wish to be one with the universe, but at these moments they are still one with technology.

Then the doc starts to get redundant. Such redundancy is key to absorbing many Hindu teachings, mind you, but we don’t need to repeatedly watch people chow down or get dressed or avoid cows in the road. And you’ll feel sympathetic lower-back pain as everyone bends at the waist to accomplish tasks from sweeping to putting objects in baskets. Along with the obvious heat, it looks brutal. But not as brutal as the film’s nearly two-hour running time, which will leave you as questioning and impatient as a new ashram student.

—Tricia Olszewski Gurukulam opens Friday at the Angelika Pop-Up.

SUMMER 2016 TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

TONIGHT!

JUN 16

JUN 17

LAKE STREET DIVE THE LONE BELLOW

KENNY ROGERS

THE GAMBLER’S LAST DEAL FINAL WORLD TOUR WITH SPECIAL GUEST LINDA DAVIS

DREAMWORKS ANIMATION IN CONCERT

RAY LAMONTAGNE OUROBOROS TOUR 2016

WINNER!

JUN 19

LIMITED AVAILABILITY

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA

JUN 30

JUSTIN FREER, CONDUCTOR

AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL

RIVERDANCE THE 20 TH ANNIVERSARY WORLD TOUR

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA EMIL DE COU, CONDUCTOR

JUN 23–26

JUL 1

ASHA BHOSLE

NOW THRU JULY 10 | OPERA HOUSE TICKETS ON SALE NOW! KENNEDY-CENTER.ORG (202) 467-4600 Tickets also available at the Box Office. Groups call (202) 416-8400.

MARY CHAPIN CARPENTER

THE FAREWELL TOUR

WITH WOLF TRAP ORCHESTRA

THE MILK CARTON KIDS

FALU’S BOLLYWOOD ORCHESTRA

JUN 29

JUL 2

N AT I O N A L PA R K S E RV I C E

CELEBRATES 100 YEARS Theater at the Kennedy Center is made possible by Major support for Musical Theater at the Kennedy Center is provided by

Kennedy Center Theater Season Sponsor

Comedy at the Kennedy Center Presenting Sponsor

AND MANY MORE! PREMIER SPONSOR 2016 SUMMER SEASON

WOLFTRAP.ORG | 1.877.WOLFTRAP washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 35

A SPECIAL SERIES CURATED BY MANDOLINIST, COMPOSER, AND VOCALIST CHRIS THILE

Musicdiscography

CHRIS THILE & MICHAEL DAVES

June 22 at 7:30 p.m. | Terrace Theater The mandolin virtuoso and guitarist Michael Daves come together for a downtown Manhattan-style romp through the bluegrass music canon.

CHRIS THILE, GABRIEL KAHANE, JULIAN LAGE, & MERRILL GARBUS June 23 at 7:30 p.m. | Terrace Theater

An eclectic, diverse group of musicians collaborates in a program of musical surprises.

PUNCH BROTHERS, BÉLA FLECK, EDGAR MEYER, AND I'M WITH HER

June 24 at 8 p.m. | Concert Hall | LIMITED AVAILABILITY! This blockbuster show features an all-star lineup of some of Thile’s closest musical friends and frequent collaborators.

FAMILY SHOW WITH CHRIS THILE

June 25 at 12 p.m. | Family Theater In this show geared toward young people, the festival curator plays a solo set full of traditional and original music.

Visit tkc.co/thile for a list of FREE events, including an all-star evening jam session (6/23) and instrumental and vocal demonstrations (6/26)!

I’M WITH HER

JULIAN LAGE

PUNCH BROTHERS

BÉLA FLECK

MICHAEL DAVES

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! KENNEDY-CENTER.ORG (202) 467-4600 Tickets also available at the Box Office. Groups call (202) 416-8400.

American Acoustic with Chris Thile, a program of Arts Across America, is made possible through the extraordinary generosity of the Charles E. Smith Family Foundation.

36 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

Man Up and Up Wanted Man Wanted Man Self-released

The besT rock ’n’ roll has a certain swagger to it; a larger-than-life, cooler-than-you vibe, if you will. It has attitude. It has guts. It talks the talk and walks the walk, backing up all that attitude with fantastic musicianship.

D.C. trio Wanted Man epitomizes this archetype, and its self-titled first album is an electric, exciting, and damned entertaining rock ’n’ roll album.

On one hand, it seems like it would be easy to characterize Wanted Man as blues-tinged rock. But that would be an oversimplification—the band introduces elements of blues, punk, surf rock, and rockabilly across the album. It’s easy to write a handful of songs that touch on various rock genres, but another thing entirely to make that group work together as an album.

Album opener “Slow and Steady” showcases the superbly tight rhythm section of drummer Rick Irby and bassist John Scoops, whose synchronicity anchors each track. Irby attacks his snare, setting a frenetic pace, while Scoops’ understated presence lays the foundation for Kenny Pirog’s heavily distorted vocals and guitar to come tearing through. It’s a minute-long punk thrasher that sets up the album’s full-throttle second track “You’ve Got it All,” along with the rest of the album.

However, Wanted Man is hardly confined to a single pace, and the band slows things down here and there. The first time it happens, on the album’s third track “Desiree,” it feels a little out of place: Irby’s drums and Scoops’ bass become more subtle, while Pirog’s vocals sound like

they could feel at home alongside The Beach Boys. But the composition of the song does occasionally lend itself to rocking out, with a chorus that’ll have you singing along in a heartbeat.

And then there’s Pirog’s guitar work––especially the soulful solo halfway through the song–– reminding listeners that, while this might be a slower, sweeter song, it’s still rockin’.

These tempo shifts serve a dual purpose, creating a defined sense of movement across the album and allowing Wanted Man opportunities to highlight its various influences. The mid-paced “Pardon Me if I Stare” is perhaps the bluesiest song on the album, building its foundation on traditional blues riffs until it explodes with a wailing guitar solo. Two tracks later, when things pick back up with “Gun to my Head,” Pirog’s experiences with the D.C. punk scene come to the forefront.

Generic exploration, coupled with moderate tempo changes, do a lot to inject variety into an album that could otherwise be repetitive. That’s not to say all of the songs sound the same––they absolutely don’t––but the fact that many of them are so short makes it difficult for a track to take on its own life and stand on its own. Tracks like “It’s Alright to Cry,” “Pardon Me if I Stare,” and “Fake a Prayer” stand apart because they’re able to change over time, shifting dynamics and building on themselves.

And time is of the essence for Wanted Man: Part of the reason the album works so well is that only two of 11 tracks run longer than four minutes, with most clocking in between two and three minutes. These are hardly overwrought prog-inspired compositions––they present what they have to offer and then move on. Get in, get out, but always leave the listener begging for more.

—Keith Mathias Wanted Man plays a record release show Thursday at 7: 30 p.m. at Black Cat with Unconscious Disturbance and Baby Bry Bry. 1811 14th St. NW. $10.

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 37

38 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

CITYLIST

INER

60S-INSPIRED D

Music 39 Galleries 43 Theater 44

Serving

EVERYTHING from BURGERS to BOOZY SHAKES

HAPPY HOUR:

$2 TUESDAY $3 THURSDAY $4 FRIDAY (ALL DRAFTS AND RAIL)

BRING YOUR TICKET

AFTER ANY SHOW AT

Club

TO GET A

FREE SCHAEFERS

SABBATH SUNDAY NIGHTS Punk/Metal/Hardcore Classics

10:30 pm - Close $5 Drafts & Rail Specials

Music rock

Comet Ping Pong 5037 Connecticut Ave. NW. (202) 364-0404. Guerilla Toss, Sunwatchers, Crypto Jocks.

10 p.m. $12. cometpingpong.com.

Fillmore Silver SPring 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. (301) 960-9999. Michael Franti and Spearhead, Chali 2na. 8:30 p.m. $36. fillmoresilverspring. com. gyPSy Sally’S 3401 K St. NW. (202) 333-7700.

CBDB, The Broadcast. 9 p.m. $14. gypsysallys.com. iota Club & CaFé 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. (703) 522-8340. John Paul White, Secret Sisters. 8:30 p.m. $18. iotaclubandcafe.com.

State theatre 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church.

(703) 237-0300. The Legwarmers. 9:30 p.m. $18. thestatetheatre.com. u Street muSiC hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

White Ford Bronco. 7 p.m. $20. ustreetmusichall.com.

Funk & r&B

9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. AlunaGeorge, Cleopold. 8 p.m. $25. 930.com. betheSda blueS and Jazz 7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda. (240) 330-4500. Miki Howard. 8 p.m. $50. bethesdabluesjazz.com. birChmere 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. Maysa. 7:30 p.m. $65. birchmere.com. troPiCalia 2001 14th St. NW. (202) 629-4535. The Skints, The Scotch Bonnets, Ace Cosgrove. 8 p.m. $12–$15. tropicaliadc.com.

ElEctronic

FlaSh 645 Florida Ave. NW. (202) 827-8791. Zenker Brothers, Rush Plus. 8 p.m. $8. flashdc.com. u Street muSiC hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

Saeed Younan, Rez Ekbatan. 10:30 p.m. $10. ustreetmusichall.com.

Jazz

blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Kenny Garrett. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $30–$35. bluesalley.com. the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000.

Maceo Parker. 7:30 p.m. & 10 p.m. $19–$42. thehamiltondc.com.

Kennedy Center millennium Stage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Aaron Seeber Quintet featuring Davis Whitfield. 6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org. mr. henry’S 601 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. (202) 5468412. Herb Scott. 8 p.m. Free. mrhenrysdc.com. twinS Jazz 1344 U St. NW. (202) 234-0072. Michael Thomas Quintet. 9 p.m. & 11 p.m. $15. twinsjazz.com. wolF traP Filene Center 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. Kenny Rogers. 8 p.m. $30–$60. wolftrap.org.

Hip-Hop

located next door to 9:30 club

CITY LIGHTS: Friday

Friday

country

2047 9th Street NW

Film 45

roCK & roll hotel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-7625.

Cane, Awthentik, Brain Rapp, Nature Boi, Jon Doe. 9 p.m. $12. rockandrollhoteldc.com.

opEra

amP by Strathmore 11810 Grand Park Ave., North Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. Improper Opera. 8 p.m. $20–$30. ampbystrathmore.com.

alunagEorgE

The London electronic duo AlunaGeorge, comprising vocalist Aluna Francis and producer George Reid, emerged in 2012, at a time when every buzzy act seemed to follow a similar female singer/male producer set up. Armed with a transatlantic approach to alternative dance pop that drew from both U.K. dance traditions (the shuffle of U.K. garage) and American R&B ones (the bounce of Timbaland and Neptunes productions), the duo landed on the BBC’s tastemaking Sound of 2013 poll, but faltered with its debut album Body Music by being too slavishly devoted to its pristine formula. Enter “Turn Down for What” producer DJ Snake, whose remix of AlunaGeorge’s single “You Know You Like It” replaced nuance with trap-EDM and gave the duo a true pop breakthrough. With its second album due out this fall, it seems that AlunaGeorge has learned a lesson from DJ Snake: the pair has teamed with dancehall star Popcaan and EDM hitmaker Zhu for the in-your-face singles “I’m In Control” and “My Blood,” respectively, because what is pop music if not mutable? AlunaGeorge performs with Cleopold at 8 p.m. at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $25. (202) 265-0930. 930.com.

—Chris Kelly

classical

Kennedy Center ConCert hall 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. NSO Pops: Forever Gershwin with Norm Lewis, Alicia Hall Moran, Jason Moran, José James, conductor Steven Reineke, and Heritage Signature Chorale. 8 p.m. $20–$88. kennedy-center.org. muSiC Center at Strathmore 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. Baltimore Symphony Orchestra with conductor Marin Alsop performs Verdi’s “Requiem”. 8 p.m. $35–$99. strathmore.org.

dJ nigHts

dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Sara Curtin, Post Sixty-Five, Fellow Creatures. 6:30 p.m. $8. dcnine.com.

JiFFy lube live 7800 Cellar Door Drive, Bristow. (703) 754-6400. Dave Matthews Band. 8 p.m. $40.50–$85. livenation.com. linColn theatre 1215 U St. NW. (202) 888-0050.

The Jayhawks, Folk Uke. 6:30 p.m. $35. thelincolndc. com. roCK & roll hotel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-7625.

Dungen, Purling Hiss. 8 p.m. $16. rockandrollhoteldc. com.

dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Wig & Disco.

10:30 p.m. $5. dcnine.com. howard theatre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899.

Colors DC. 11 p.m. $20. thehowardtheatre.com.

State theatre 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church.

(703) 237-0300. The Legwarmers. 9:30 p.m. $18. thestatetheatre.com.

saturday rock

birChmere 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. Al Stewart, Cindy Lee Berryhill. 7:30 p.m. $29.50. birchmere.com.

Funk & r&B

9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Fitz and the Tantrums, Finish Ticket. 8 p.m. (Sold out) 930.com.

howard theatre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899.

The Delfonics featuring William Hart. 8 p.m. $27.50– $45. thehowardtheatre.com.

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 39

ElEctronic eChoStage 2135 Queens Chapel Road NE. (202) 503-2330. Diplo. 9 p.m. (Sold out) echostage.com.

FlaSh 645 Florida Ave. NW. (202) 827-8791. Francis Harris. 8 p.m. $8–$12. flashdc.com. third Floor 4200 9th St. NW. (202) 783-3933.

Anton Nikkilä, Chester Hawkins, J. Surak. 9 p.m. $10. dc-soniccircuits.org. u Street muSiC hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

Rezz, Basscamp. 10 p.m. $15. ustreetmusichall.com.

Jazz

2015

blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Kenny Garrett. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $30–$35. bluesalley.com.

Fresh Food Market Tuesdays -Sundays Arts & Crafts ~ Weekends easternmarket-dc.org Tu-Fr 7-7 | Sa 7-6 | Su 9-5

the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000.

Harold Mabern Quartet with special guest Eric Alexander, Steve Turre Quartet. 8:30 p.m. $26–$46. thehamiltondc.com.

Kennedy Center millennium Stage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Queen Esther and the Hot Five.

6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org. mr. henry’S 601 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. (202) 5468412. Renee Tannenbaum with Dial 251. 8 p.m. Free. mrhenrysdc.com. twinS Jazz 1344 U St. NW. (202) 234-0072. Michael Thomas Quintet. 9 p.m. & 11 p.m. $15. twinsjazz.com.

country merriweather PoSt Pavilion 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia. (410) 715-5550. Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls.

6 p.m. $45–$75. merriweathermusic.com.

Hip-Hop Fillmore Silver SPring 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. (301) 960-9999. Scarface, Devin the Dude.

9 p.m. $42–$72. fillmoresilverspring.com.

opEra

atlaS PerForming artS Center 1333 H St. NE. (202) 399-7993. The In Series: Beethoven’s Fidelio. 3 p.m. $23–$46. atlasarts.org.

classical

Kennedy Center ConCert hall 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. NSO Pops: Forever Gershwin with Norm Lewis, Alicia Hall Moran, Jason Moran, José James, conductor Steven Reineke, and Heritage Signature Chorale. 8 p.m. $20–$88. kennedy-center.org.

dJ nigHts

blaCK Cat 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 667-4490. Right Round Up! ‘80s Alt-Pop Dance Night with DJ Lil’e. 9:30 p.m. $10. blackcatdc.com. dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Peach Pit: A Gay Dance Party. 10:30 p.m. $5–$8. dcnine.com.

Vocal

wolF traP Filene Center 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. Harry Connick Jr. 8 p.m. $40–$75. wolftrap.org.

sunday rock

9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Lucius, Margaret Glaspy. 7 p.m. (Sold out) 930.com. blaCK Cat baCKStage 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 6674490. Sistr Mid9ight, Escape-ism, Time Is Fire, DJs Jerry Busher and Rich Morel. 7:30 p.m. $10. blackcatdc.com. wolF traP Filene Center 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. (703) 255-1900. Ray LaMontagne. 8 p.m. $39.50– $69.50. wolftrap.org.

Funk & r&B

betheSda blueS and Jazz 7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda. (240) 330-4500. Harold Melvin’s Blue Notes. 12:30 p.m. & 7:30 p.m. $35. bethesdabluesjazz.com.

CITY LIGHTS: saturday

gaucHE

Gauche, by definition, is an adjective that means “lacking ease or grace; unsophisticated and socially awkward.” That’s not a wholly suitable adjective for the D.C. post-punk band Gauche, whose taut, angular post-punk songs are anything but unsophisticated or graceless. A local supergroup of sorts (it features members of Priests, Downtown Boys, Neonates, Teen Liver, Coup Sauvage and the Snips, and Hothead), the sum of Gauche is nothing like its parts. On its debut EP, Get Away With Gauche!, each song operates more like a hypnotizing jam session, which in a weird way makes its sly and scathing lyrics—social commentary, more than anything—all the more introspective. “Income, always think about pay day / Always waiting on wages / Always thinking about systems” the band sings on “Pay Day,” an anxious, melodic rumination on wage disparities. For a song so catchy, it might not seem like the best vessel for delivering a stark message, but when you’re singing the song’s earworm of a refrain (“I know I can’t survive like this”) to yourself for days afterward, it makes perfect sense. Gauche performs at 2 p.m. at Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library, 3160 16th St. NW. Free. (202) 671-3121. dclibrary.org/mountpleasant.

—Matt Cohen 40 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

----------

Jazz blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Kenny Garrett. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $30–$35. bluesalley.com. the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000. Joey DeFrancesco Trio, Cory Henry and The Funk Apostles.

7:30 p.m. $25–$45. thehamiltondc.com.

Kennedy Center millennium Stage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Victor Provost Group. 6 p.m.

Free. kennedy-center.org.

country JiFFy lube live 7800 Cellar Door Drive, Bristow.

(703) 754-6400. Brantley Gilbert, Justin Moore, Colt Ford. 7 p.m. $30.25–$55. livenation.com.

World boSSa biStro 2463 18th St NW. (202) 667-0088.

Kamel Zennia and His Band. 9:30 p.m. $5. bossadc. com.

CITY LIGHTS: sunday

3701 Mount Vernon Ave. Alexandria, VA • 703-549-7500

For entire schedule go to Birchmere.com Find us on Facebook/Twitter!

Tix @ Ticketmaster.com 800-745-3000

LALAH HATHAWAY & MUSIQ SOULCHILD Fri. Oct. 21, 8 pm Warner Theatre, Wash DC

Tickets on sale Fri. 6/17 at 10am through Ticketmaster.com/800-745-3000

JOAN OSBORNE Mutlu Cindy Lee 18 AL STEWART Berryfield

1811 14TH ST NW

F

JUNE

www.blackcatdc.com

17 MIKI HOWARD

UPCOMING SHOWS

S 18 JOE CLAIR & FRIENDS: 2 SHOWS

10,000 MANIACS 26 THREE DOG NIGHT BlueNote 75 Presents

30

BLUE NOTES:

ROBERT GLASPER, LIONEL LOUEKE,

DERRICK HODGE, MARCUS STRICKLAND, AMBROSE AKINMUSIRE

VIVIAN GREEN 2 DONNELL RAWLINGS 3 BILL KIRCHEN & TOO MUCH FUN 7 The CrossRhodes

FABULOUS SUPERLATIVES

F

GRAMMY AWARD WINNER

W/SPECIAL GUEST

THE KENNEDY’S

ray laMontagnE

A perennial wanderer, Ray LaMontagne grew up travelling the country with his mother and five siblings, a journey that probably fostered the sense of adventure that weaves itself through his music. A combination of harmonica and banjo gives the music a nostalgic, folksy feel. When paired with LaMontagne’s poetic lyrics, listeners can imagine old hotels, antiquated cars, and drives down long, dusty highways. His songs are littered with references to fleeing, searching for a home, and a sense of belonging, but it’s the melancholic tales of love and loss that really pack an emotional wallop. Equal parts songwriter and storyteller, LaMontagne will arrive at Wolf Trap with his moody ambiance in tow.

Despite the fact that “You Are the Best Thing” has soundtracked nearly every millennial marriage ceremony held in the past three years, the man on stage is much more than a glorified wedding singer. Ray LaMontagne performs at 8 p.m. at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center, 1551 Trap Road, Vienna. $39.50–$69.50. (703) 255-1900. wolftrap.org.

—Raye Weigel

S 2

YAHZARAH Purple Reign A Tribute to the Music and Life of Prince

THE SPINNERS

S 9

12

LOS LONELY BOYS

14

The Bird Dogs present

THE EVERLY BROTHERS EXPERIENCE PHIL PERRY 15 17

The Real Deal starring Texas Legends

Reverend Horton Heat (solo) & Dale Watson (solo)

18 19&20 21

Matt BETH HART Anderson

An Evening with

GRAHAM NASH

THIS PATH TONIGHT, TOUR 2016 presents

mint condition “Until Next Time” www.mintconditionmusic.com Saturday July 16, 8pm Warner Theatre, Washington DC

Tickets On Sale Now through Ticketmaster.com/800-745-3000!

BURLESQUE TRIBUTE TO JOSS WHEDON

RIGHT ROUND

80S ALT POP DANCE PARTY

SISTR MID9IGHT

JUSTIN NOZUKA

BANDING TOGETHER 2016 GIFTS FOR THE HOMELESS BENEFIT

PRIDE BURLESQUE EXTRAVAGANZA

A SOUTHERN SOUL TRIBUTE!

F

OLD TIME BANJO FESTIVAL 10 LITTLE RIVER BAND

WED 22

NEWMYER FLYER PRESENTS

DONTAE WINSLOW

WHEDONISM

FRI 24 BURLESQUEER PRESENTS:

BE’LA DONA

W 6 8

SUN 19

THU 23

J U LY 1

CHURCH NIGHT

ANTI-GENTRIFICATION STORYTELLING NIGHT

SU 26 PETER ASHER & ALBERT LEE

F

WANTED MAN

(RECORD RELEASE)

SAT 18 HAUS OF SAUVAGE PRESENTS:

24 JUDITH HILL

(RAHEEM DeVAUGHN & WES FELTON) w/Muhsinah

9 10TH ANNUAL MIKE SEEGER COMMEMORATIVE

SAT 18

TH 23 MARTY STUART & HIS

July 1

8

FRI 17

FATHERS DAY BRUNCH & EVENING SHOW

OUR POINT OF VIEW

feat.

FRI 17

SU 19 HAROLD MELVIN’S

(Shawn Colvin & Steve Earle)

An Evening 24 with

THU 16

FATHERS DAY WEEKEND

June 16

21& 22

@blackcatdc

SAT 25

SUN 26 JUL 1

MELI’SA MORGAN

JUL 2

SU 10 THE YARDBIRDS +

JUL 8

JOHNNY BOMBAY & THE REACTIONS

BLACK MOUNTAIN MYSTERY LIGHTS

FLAG

MOUSETRAP SICK OF IT ALL

W 13 SUTTLE F

15 CHOPTEETH AFROFUNK

BIG BAND

S 19 THE CHUCK BROWN BAND

SAT JUN 25

BLACK MOUNTAIN

SU 30 THE FABULOUS

THUNDERBIRDS FEATURING KIM WILSON + THE BOBBY THOMPSON PROJECT

JUST ANNOUNCED TH 6/30 DAVE DAMIANI & NO

FRI JULY 1

VACANCY ORCHESTRA PRESENTS BOBBY RYDELL

7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD (240) 330-4500 www. BethesdaBluesJazz.com

TAKE METRO!

Two Blocks from Bethesda Metro/Red Line Free Parking on Weekends

WE ARE LOCATED 3 BLOCKS FROM THE U STREET/CARDOZO STATION

TO BUY TICKETS VISIT TICKETFLY.COM

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 41

opEra

atlaS PerForming artS Center 1333 H St. NE. (202) 399-7993. The In Series: Beethoven’s Fidelio. 5 p.m. $23–$46. atlasarts.org.

Monday rock

dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Mutual Benefit, Florist. 9 p.m. $12–$15. dcnine.com.

YARN / TONY FURTADO SUN JULY 10 - 8:30PM TIX $15

SAT JUNE 18TH

UNSEEN PRESENCE A FATHER’S DAY STAGE PLAY

SAT JUNE 18TH

THE DELFONICS FT. WILLIAM HART

SUN JUNE 19TH

H 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.21 6.22 6.23 6.24 6.25 6.28 6.30

H GREAT PEACOCK HUMAN COUNTRY JUKEBOX VIRGINIA BLUE DOTS JASON EADY SCOTT KURT DUO LIVE BAND KARAOKE MELODY ALLEGRA BAND DERIK HULTQUIST LONELY HEARTSTRING BAND JESS KLEIN / MIKE JUNE KITI GARTNER & THE DECEITS

H 7.10 7.15 7.17 8.5 8.14 8.18 8.25 8.27 9.11 9.16 9.22 9.24 10.4

H YARN / TONY FURTADO RAY WYLIE HUBBARD RAY WYLIE HUBBARD HENRY WAGONS HOT CLUB OF COWTOWN WHITNEY ROSE DRIVIN’ N’ CRYIN’ / DASH RIP ROCK PALEFACE DEX ROMWEBER / JD WILKES THE CURRYS PANSY DIVISION BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES SLAID CLEAVES

HILL COUNTRY BARBECUE MARKET

410 Seventh St, NW • 202.556.2050 Hillcountrylive.com • Twitter @hillcountrylive

Near Archives/Navy Memorial [G, Y] and Gallery PI/Chinatown [R] Metro 42 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

MISS DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PAGEANT 2016 WED JUNE 22ND

THE 7THKING TOUR

WITH FELLY THU JUNE 23RD

CUBANISMO FRI JUNE 24TH

DR. JOHN & THE NITE TRIPPERS

galaxy hut 2711 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. (703) 5258646. Black Rhinoceros, Run Come See. 9 p.m. $5. galaxyhut.com. roCK & roll hotel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-7625.

The Staves, Trevor Sensor. 8 p.m. (Sold out) rockandrollhoteldc.com.

Jazz

Fillmore Silver SPring 8656 Colesville Road, Silver Spring. (301) 960-9999. Ziggy Marley. 8 p.m. $34.50. fillmoresilverspring.com. u Street muSiC hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

DVSN. 7 p.m. (Sold out) ustreetmusichall.com.

Jazz

Kennedy Center terraCe theater 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Ambrose Akinmusire with Cécile McLorin Salvant. 7 p.m. $30. kennedy-center.org.

WEdnEsday rock

9:30 Club 815 V St. NW. (202) 265-0930. Grace Potter, Con Brio. 7 p.m. (Sold out) 930.com. birChmere 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. Colvin & Earle. 7:30 p.m. $79.50. birchmere.com.

blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 337-4141.

Merlon Devine. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $20. bluesalley.com.

blaCK Cat baCKStage 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 6674490. Justin Nozuka. 7:30 p.m. $20. blackcatdc.com.

World

dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Natural Child.

9 p.m. $12. dcnine.com.

Kennedy Center millennium Stage 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Gaby Moreno. 6 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org.

dJ nigHts

the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000.

Yael Naim, Kokayi. 7:30 p.m. $30–$45. thehamiltondc.com.

the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000.

Vinyl Night in The Loft with DJs Oso Fresh and Stray Solo. 9 p.m. Free. thehamiltondc.com.

roCK & roll hotel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-7625.

Wye Oak, Teen. 8 p.m. (Sold out) rockandrollhoteldc.com.

tuEsday

blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. CAS. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $20. bluesalley.com.

betheSda blueS and Jazz 7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda. (240) 330-4500. Lisa Loeb. 8 p.m. $35. bethesdabluesjazz.com. birChmere 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. Colvin & Earle. 7:30 p.m. $79.50. birchmere.com.

Funk & r&B

boSSa biStro 2463 18th St NW. (202) 667-0088.

IRITS. 9:30 p.m. Free. bossadc.com. IRITS. 9:30 p.m.

Free. bossadc.com. gyPSy Sally’S 3401 K St. NW. (202) 333-7700. Alex Guthrie, RJ Bracchitta. 7:30 p.m. Free. gypsysallys.com.

Jazz

gyPSy Sally’S 3401 K St. NW. (202) 333-7700. John Kadlecik and the DC Mystery Cats. 8 p.m. $15–$20. gypsysallys.com.

twinS Jazz 1344 U St. NW. (202) 234-0072. Annapolis Jazztet. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $10. twinsjazz.com.

the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000.

Haley Reinhart, Jacob Lutrell, Keelan Donovan. 7:30 p.m. $15–$60. thehamiltondc.com.

howard theatre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899.

Felly featuring Gyyps and special guest Peter $un, bumiCult, Juice Bruns. 8 p.m. $15–$25. thehowardtheatre.com.

roCK & roll hotel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-7625.

Mark Lanegan, Sean Wheeler. 8 p.m. $30. rockandrollhoteldc.com.

Funk & r&B

blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Frank McComb. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $25. bluesalley.com.

Hip-Hop

tHursday rock

blaCK Cat baCKStage 1811 14th St. NW. (202) 6674490. Banding Together 2016. 6:30 p.m. $10. blackcatdc.com.

FRI JUNE 24TH

REGGAEFEST VS. SOCA

SAT JUNE 25TH

RANDY BACHMAN “VINYL TAP TOUR”

SUN JUNE 26TH

BRUNCH WITH THE WORLD FAMOUS

HARLEM GOSPEL CHOIR TUE JUNE 28TH

CEU

WED JUNE 29TH + THU JUNE 30TH

ONE LOVE ONE LIFE WITH

BERES HAMMOND

BUY TICKETS AT THE BOX OFFICE OR ONLINE AT THEHOWARDTHEATRE.COM 202-803-2899

CITY LIGHTS: Monday

Mutual BEnEFit

Some musicians try too hard to reinvent their sound on a new record. And when the outcome is a step back, you wonder why they messed with a good thing. Mutual Benefit, Jordan Lee’s indiefolk project, had a very good thing in 2013 with the debut LP Love’s Crushing Diamond; fortunately, this year’s follow-up, Skip a Sinking Stone, doesn’t stray far from what the audience is used to. Complex layers of acoustic guitar, strings, and percussion suffuse the introspective lyrics, gently sung: “What does it take to be at peace / To accept the things that linger out of reach / I wish you’d say what’s on your mind / I feel a slow march towards a dark place all the time.” The serious mood gets some levity during live performances, thanks to Lee’s playful sense of humor. At a show this spring at Sixth & I, Lee wanted loosen up the staid atmosphere at the synagogue-turned-venue and led everyone in a group scream. Mutual Benefit performs with Florist at 9 p.m. at DC9, 1940 9th St. NW. $12–$15. (202) 483-5000. dcnine.com.

—Zach Rausnitz

$10 BURGER & BEER MON-FRI 4 P M -7 P M

CITY LIGHTS: tuEsday

TRIVIA EVERY M O N D AY & W E D N E S D AY

$3 PBR & NATTY BOH ALL DAY EVERY DAY

600 beers from around the world

Downstairs: good food, great beer: $3 PBR & Natty Boh’s all day every day *all shows 21+

JUNE 16TH

SPECIFIC IGNORANCE

DOORS AT 6PM SHOW AT 8PM UNDERGROUND COMEDY SHOW STARTS AT 8PM BOLD ROCK BEER NIGHT JUNE 17TH

lindy WEst

WEIRDO SHOW

Lindy West is a shockingly honest writer, so it’s no surprise that her first book, Shrill: Notes from a Loud Woman, feels like an intimate, frank girl-talk session with West herself. It’s a collection of essays about growing up and all the topics that resonate so loudly in her mind that they beg to be shared. While not quite a household name, you can’t have gone on social media without coming across something with West’s stamp on it. Whether it was one of her stories on This American Life, her reproductive-rights activism with the co-creation of #ShoutYourAbortion, her weekly column in The Guardian, or her fierce promotion of body acceptance, West isn’t shy about making herself and her opinions known. In fact, West is such a social media rockstar that her book tour feels more like a concert tour, with stops in most major American cities and throughout the U.K. and Ireland. Though they both share a love of platinum blonde hair and red lipstick, you can bet West’s Q&A will be even more candid than a Taylor Swift album. Lindy West reads at 6:30 p.m. at Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. (202) 387-3825. kramers.com.

—Diana Metzger the hamilton 600 14th St. NW. (202) 787-1000.

Robert Ellis, Tom Brosseau. 7:30 p.m. $12.25–$17.25. thehamiltondc.com.

JiFFy lube live 7800 Cellar Door Drive, Bristow. (703) 754-6400. Dead and Company. 7 p.m. $40–$149.50. livenation.com. roCK & roll hotel 1353 H St. NE. (202) 388-7625.

Kevin Morby, Jaye Bartell. 8 p.m. $14. rockandrollhoteldc.com.

Funk & r&B

Kennedy Center terraCe theater 2700 F St. NW. (202) 467-4600. Chris Thile, Gabriel Kahane, Julian Lage, and Merrill Garbus. 7:30 p.m. $39. kennedy-center.org. mr. henry’S 601 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. (202) 5468412. Stewart Lewis. 8 p.m. Free. mrhenrysdc.com.

Folk

amP by Strathmore 11810 Grand Park Ave., North Bethesda. (301) 581-5100. Dana Louise and the Glorious Birds. 8 p.m. $25–$35. ampbystrathmore.com.

birChmere 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria.

(703) 549-7500. Angie Stone. 7:30 p.m. $59.50. birchmere.com.

gyPSy Sally’S 3401 K St. NW. (202) 333-7700. Sam Lewis Band, Rosedale. 8 p.m. $10–$12. gypsysallys. com.

dC9 1940 9th St. NW. (202) 483-5000. Tone, Rlyr, Psychic Teens. 8 p.m. $10. dcnine.com.

World

ElEctronic

FlaSh 645 Florida Ave. NW. (202) 827-8791. Vices, Mista Selecta. 8 p.m. $10. flashdc.com. u Street muSiC hall 1115 U St. NW. (202) 588-1889.

Nosaj Thing, Sami. 10 p.m. $10. ustreetmusichall.com.

boSSa biStro 2463 18th St NW. (202) 667-0088.

Janka Nabay and the Bubu Gang, Kamyar & Kimia Arsani. 10 p.m. $5. bossadc.com. howard theatre 620 T St. NW. (202) 803-2899.

Cubanismo. 8 p.m. $29.50–$65. thehowardtheatre. com.

Jazz

blueS alley 1073 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 3374141. Nicholas Payton. 8 p.m. & 10 p.m. $25–$30. bluesalley.com.

country

betheSda blueS and Jazz 7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda. (240) 330-4500. Marty Stuart and his Fabulous Superlatives. 8 p.m. $50. bethesdabluesjazz. com. iota Club & CaFé 2832 Wilson Blvd., Arlington. (703) 522-8340. Two Ton Twig, The Dupont Brothers. 8:30 p.m. $12. iotaclubandcafe.com.

Kennedy Center atrium 2700 F St. NW. (202) 4674600. American Acoustic Evening Jam Session. 9:30 p.m. Free. kennedy-center.org.

DOORS AT 8PM SHOW AT 9PM JUNE 18TH

HOTT NIGHT PRODUCTIONS

DOORS AT 8PM SHOW AT 9PM JUNE 19TH

STARR STRUCK COMEDY

DOORS AT 7PM SHOW AT 8PM JUNE 20TH

DISTRICT TRIVIA STARTS AT 730PM JUNE 21ST

LAST RESORT COMEDY

DOORS AT 8PM SHOW AT 830PM JUNE 22ND

DISTRICT TRIVIA STARTS AT 730PM HARPOON SPONSORED INDEPENDENCE DAY 2 TICKET GIVEAWAY JUNE 23RD

UNDERGROUND COMEDY

DOORS AT 8PM SHOW AT 8:30PM JUNE 24TH

Galleries

STARR STRUCK COMEDY

DOORS AT 7PM SHOW AT 8PM

addiSon/riPley Fine art 1670 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 338-5180. addisonripleyfineart.com. Ongoing: “Unscripted, Naturally.” New works exploring language and patterning by artist Isabel Manalo. June 3–July 16.

BLACK MARKET BURLESQUE DOORS AT 8PM

CroSS maCKenzie gallery 1675 Wisconsin Ave. NW. (202) 337-7970. crossmackenzie.com. Ongoing: “Architects’ Drawings.” Architects and curators Mark McInturff and Dhiru Thadani highlight drawings from

1523 22nd St NW – Washington, DC 20037 (202) 293-1887 - www.bierbarondc.com @bierbarondc.com for news and events

JUNE 25TH

SHOW AT 9PM

washingtoncitypaper.com june 17, 2016 43

some of the world’s most interesting building planners in this exhibition presented in partnership with

LIVE

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

ERNEST RANGLIN

EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT OPEN MIC NIGHT 8:30PM TO MIDNIGHT

THURS JUNE 16TH

COPIOUS JONES ROCK N ROLL FRI JUNE 17TH NON-FICTION: A TRIBUTE TO THE BLACK CROWES BLACK CROWES

SAT JUNE 18TH

LIVYN’ LARGE BAND FUNK, PUNK AND POP COVERS

SUN JUNE 19TH

CARMEL HELENE

COUNTRY WITH ROCK EDGE. TOURED EXTENSIVELY WITH MILEY CYRUS AND BILLY RAY CYRUS

MON JUNE 20TH

AMBASSADORS OF MORNING & BLACK SHAG SHERPAS ROCK N ROLL TUES JUNE 21ST

3RD TUESDAYS LIVE JAM

HOSTED BY STEALING LIBERTY DEAD & JAM BAND OPEN JAM FOR MUSICIANS

THURS JUNE 23RD GOIN’ GOIN’ GONE WITH OPENER JUMPING JUPITER ROOTS ROCK COVERS AND ORIGINALS

FRI JUNE 24TH

TEN FEET TALL

FUNK - BLUES - SOUL - COVERS

SAT JUNE 25TH

ALAN SCOTT BAND ROCK - FUNK - SOUL

SUN JUNE 26TH

THE COMBS, THE NUCLEARS, THE STENTS, SPIRIT PILOTS

& AVILA and YOTAM SILBERSTEIN

THURSDAY JUNE DC JAZZFEST

16

2 SHOWS

MACEO

PARKER FRIDAY

hemPhill 1515 14th St. NW. (202) 234-5601. hemphillfinearts.com. Ongoing: “Language of the Birds.”

Artist Julie Wolfe presents a variety of new works, including examinations of human behavior patterns

DC JAZZFEST

EVERY WEDNESDAY NIGHT FROM 6:30PM TO 8:30PM COMEDY NIGHT

the National Building Museum. June 3–July 31.

JUNE 17

and how birds interact and communicate, at her third Hemphill exhibition. May 14–June 30. honFleur gallery 1241 Good Hope Road SE. (202) 365-8392. honfleurgallery.com. Ongoing: “Hear/Here.”

Four artists explore themes of displacement and gentrification in American metropolitan areas in this exhibition curated by Jarvis DuBois. June 3–July 16. tranSFormer gallery 1404 P St. NW. (202) 4831102. transformerdc.org. Closing: “Gift Shop.” D.C.based artist collaborative NoMüNoMü presents this large scale installation, meant to mimic a museum gift shop, that comments on the commercialization of art and object. May 14–June 18. vivid SolutionS gallery 1231 Good Hope Road SE. (202) 365-8392. vividsolutionsdc.com. Ongoing: “Uncovered.” The work of photographer Todd Franson and illustrator Scott G. Brooks, both of whom are

SAT, JUNE 18

longtime contributors to Metro Weekly, is celebrat-

HAROLD MABERN QUARTET PLUS SPECIAL GUEST ERIC ALEXANDER AND STEVE TURRE QUARTET

D.C.’s LGBT community. May 27–July 16.

DC JAZZFEST SMOKE SESSIONS RECORDS PRESENTS

SUN, JUNE 19

DC JAZZFEST

JOEY DeFRANCESCO TRIO AND CORY HENRY & THE FUNK APOSTLES

ed in this new exhibition that focuses on images from

Theater

an oCtoroon Woolly Mammoth presents their version of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ drama about a white slave owner’s relationship with a woman who is oneeighth black and the comedy that ensues from this case of mistaken identity. Woolly Mammoth Theatre.

641 D St. NW. To June 26. $20–$128. (202) 393-3939. woollymammoth.net.

CaSablanCa Picnic Theatre Company turns the classic film about war and lost love into a one-act play based on a radio adaptation originally directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Phillips Collection. 1600 21st St. NW. To June 23. $10–$12. (202) 387-2151. phillipscollection.org. diStriCt merChantS Aaron Posner turns Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice into a comedy about the perils of life in post-Civil War America in this world premiere production. Directed by Michael John Garcés, the production features music by Christylez Bacon. Folger Elizabethan Theatre. 201 E. Capitol St. SE. To July 3. $35–$75. (202) 544-7077. folger.edu. hedda gabler Mark O’Rowe presents a contemporary adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s classic play about a woman who returns from her honeymoon and is devastated by the banality of married life. Studio Theatre. 1501 14th St. NW. To June 19. $20–$86. (202) 3323300. studiotheatre.org. love’S labor’S loSt Students from Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy of Classical Acting per-

CITY LIGHTS: WEdnEsday

TUES, JUNE 21

HALEY REINHART

W/ JACOB LUTRELL AND KEELAN DONOVAN

ROCK N ROLL

CONCERTS@VILLAINANDSAINT.COM · TICKETFLY.COM

7141 WISCONSIN AVE, BETHESDA MD 20814 · 240-800-4700

W W W. V I L L A I N A N D S A I N T. C O M

THEHAMILTONDC.COM

kinky Boots

This is the meanest season for viral public-affairs content. Your friends are all extremely agitated about something or other, and they cannot control themselves. Dumb humans click the “Share” button too much! Not everything is dismal, though. “Just Pee (Where You Wanna Pee),” the peppy YouTube clip from the producers of the musical Kinky Boots, probably has not changed many hearts and minds in the bathroom-bill debate, but it’s at least a poignant reminder that most public lavatories are securely banal (unless you have the glittery characters from Kinky Boots bounding through them, of course). “Just Pee” is a parody of “Just Be,” one of the musical’s various loud-and-proud songs, which collectively tell the tale of a kid who inherits a shoe factory and saves the family biz with help from a drag queen. The 2013 Tony juggernaut didn’t quite accrue the cultural resonance of, say, The Book of Mormon or Hamilton—but that means, of course, it’s probably an easier ticket to procure. The musical runs June 14 to July 10 at the Kennedy Center Opera House, 2700 F St. NW. $25–$199. (202) 467-4600. kennedy-center.org.

—Joe Warminsky

44 june 17, 2016 washingtoncitypaper.com

form the Bard’s early comedy about a king and his pals who vow to keep far away from women, only to break that promise and interact with them anyway. Presented in repertory with A Maid’s Tragedy.

Shakespeare Theatre Company Studios. 507 8th St. SE. To July 2. $5–$10. (202) 547-1122. shakespearetheatre.org. the maid’S tragedy Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher’s 17th century drama about murder, mistaken identity, and the overwhelming power of love is performed by students from Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy of Classical Acting. Presented in repertory with Love’s Labor’s Lost. Shakespeare Theatre Company Studios. 507 8th St. SE. To July 2. $5–$10. (202) 547-1122. shakespearetheatre.org. the man in the iron maSK In this follow-up to The Three Musketeers, D’Artagnan continues to serve King Louis XIV, only to be interrupted by his former comrades who rescue his twin brother from the Bastille. Synetic’s production features more swashbuckling fun and pageantry. Synetic Theater at Crystal City. 1800 South Bell St., Arlington. To June 19. $15–$60. (866) 811-4111. synetictheater.org.

Shelter Marissa Chibas’ new movement-based drama about the horrors children face when crossing the border between Mexico and the United States is presented by the CalArts Center for New Performance and Duende CalArts. Kennedy Center Family Theater. 2700 F St. NW. To June 21. Free. (202) 4674600. kennedy-center.org. the taming oF the Shrew The complex relationship between Kate and Petruchio is explored in this new production of Shakespeare’s comedy, in which director Ed Sylvanus Iskandar blurs gender roles and examines identities. Sidney Harman Hall. 610 F St. NW. To June 26. $20–$108. (202) 547-1122. shakespearetheatre.org. the who and the what A young Muslim woman faces off against her conservative in Ayah Akhtar’s play about how our ideas about faith and family impact our lives. Round House Theatre Bethesda. 4545 East-West Highway, Bethesda. To June 19. $36–$61. (240) 644-1100. roundhousetheatre.org.

CITY LIGHTS: tHursday

cuBanisMo

Film

Central intelligenCe Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Kevin Hart star as former high school classmates who must work together to save a compromised spy satellite in this comedic action thriller from director Rawson Marshall Thurber. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information)

n

the ConJuring 2 Paranormal investigators try to figure out whether or not something evil has settled in the home of a single mother in the sequel to the 2013 film. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information) dory In this sequel set six months n Finding after the conclusion of Finding Nemo, Pacific regal blue tang fish Dory travels from Australia to California to reunite with her family along with her new friends Nemo and Marlin. Featuring the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, and Ty Burrell. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information)

GURUKULAM ONE WITHOUT A SECOND

“GRACEFUL AND RESPECTFUL, PEPPERED WITH MOMENTS THAT HIGHLIGHT THE HUMAN NATURE OF DIVINE CONTEMPLATION.” –THE VILLAGE VOICE

“SOMETHING THAT MUST BE WITNESSED TO FULLY COMPREHEND.” –RED CARPET CRASH

now you See me 2 Illusionists once again test the limits of their stage tricks in this magical caper in which the Four Horsemen aim to expose an unethical tech executive. Starring Woody Harrelson, Mark Ruffalo, and Sanaa Lathan. (See washingtoncitypaper. com for venue information) warCraFt Director Duncan Jones draws inspiration from the popular video game series for this fantasy film that sees humans facing off against orcs. Starring Paula Patton, Travis Fimmel, and Ben Foster. (See washingtoncitypaper.com for venue information)

Film clips by Caroline Jones.

www.gurukulamfilm.com

STARTS FRIDAY, JUNE 17

WASHINGTON, DC ANGELIKA POP-UP AT UNION MARKET 550 Penn St NE (571) 512-3313 angelikafilmcenter.com

4.666" X 5.1455" WASHINGTON CITY PAPER DUE MON 2PM ET

Buena Vista Social Club wasn’t the only band bringing old-school Cuban dance music to the rest of the world 20 years ago. Trumpet player Jesus Alemany, then in his early thirties, put together Cubanismo, which played the sleek yet powerful rhythms like cha-cha, rumba, and son, but unlike the elder statesmen, added some non-Cuban touches and got a little more frenetic and funky. Alemany has led Cubanismo on Bob Marley covers and Mardi Gras Mambo, an album of hybrid New Orleans and Havana grooves. Cubanismo’s other memArtist: (circle one:) bership has frequently changed over the years, although the musiEmmett Heather cians have nearly always been CuRonnie Steve bans, based on the island or elsewhere. Live, the band’s fourteen Confirmation #: members all keep busy: The vocalists adeptly mix call-and-response vocals while doing Latinized Motown choreography as the horn section blares and the percussionists feverishly tap away on timbales, cowbell, bongos, and congas. The flautists hit high notes and dance as well, while the pianist, guitarist, and acoustic bassist anchor each number. Cubanismo’s jazzy, hip-swaying tracks are rooted in music’s history books, but its energetic renditions are anything but dusty. Cubanismo performs at 8 p.m. at the Howard Theatre, 620 T St. NW. $29.50–$65. (202) 803-2899. thehowardtheatre.com.

—Steve Kiviat

AE: (circle one:) Carrie Jane Maria

FRI 6/17

ART APPROVED Josh AE APPROVED Tim CLIENT APPROVED

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