To Do

Photo courtesy of EDENS

Two weeks of conventions are coming to an end and our wonkier neighbors will be back in town flush with that partisan-high. How best to distract them and ourselves from these swamp-like conditions?

Tonight head to The Argonaut for a fundraiser for the Maslin Family. The beloved local tavern is donating 20 percent of all proceeds between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. I’m pretty sure that Thursdays are pupusa and Fajita nights. You’ve got to eat, so why not help out our neighbors.

The Anacostia Watershed Society is planning a kayak tour of the river for next year.  Tonight at the Hill Center the Director of the Watershed Society’s Adult Education, Lee Cain, will share his observations from a recent  week-long scouting trip from Bladensburg down the Anacostia to the Potomac and on to Point Lookout at the Bay. The scenic 120-mile trip took him and several others six days to complete, averaging 20-miles per day.  The Anacostia Watershed Society is already making plans for a similar trip in 2013 and tonight is a great opportunity to learn more. The event is free and begins at 7 p.m.

This is also the final weekend for Rorschach Theatre’s fantastic production of A MAZE.  We are fortunate to have some fantastic, high-quality professional theatre in this neighborhood, so head-on-down to the Atlas and check it out.

Friday night the Hill Center begins a month-long series of Jazz Film Fridays.  Host Larry Appelbaum is the Library of Congress Music Specialist, jazz curator, and host of WPFW’s “Sound of Surprise. Every Friday night in September, Hill Center will show four, half-hour programs from the rarely seen music series “The !!!! Beat: Legendary R&B and Soul Shows From 1966.”  All screenings are free and start at 7 p.m. This music series was a pioneering blues, soul and R&B television show broadcast from WFAA in Dallas, Texas and hosted by radio DJ William “Hoss” Allen. Friday night’s episode includes performances by Little Milton, Frank Howard & the Commanders, Esther Phillips, Gatemouth Brown, Joe Tex, Etta James, Lattimore Brown, Roscoe Shelton, Lee “Shot” Williams & Gerri Taylor, Carla Thomas, Art Grayson, Cleo Randle, Mighty Joe Young and Jimmy Church.

At the Corner Store the guitar and cello fusion duo Montana Skies perform at 8 p.m. Their music reflects influences from Pink Floyd and Rush to Vivaldi and House of the Rising Sun, as well as some of their own originals. The band has been featured everywhere from NPR to the Travel Channel. Tickets are a $20 donation at the door or $15 in advance.

Saturday is the grand opening of Union Market, located in the Florida Avenue warehouse district between 5th and 6th Streets, NE. While the purists among you will laugh at my stretching the boundaries of Capitol Hill, on this one, I do not care. Check out this list of food artisans who will be offering their specialties, and I think you will join me in welcoming Union Market to ” Capitol Hill North.”

Since we are over on the northern fringes of the Hill, check out Industry Gallery. Saturday is the opening reception for Czech designer, artist and architect, Borek Sipek,  who is famous for his Postmodernist furniture designs and glass objects. This is the first U.S. showing of his work. The opening is from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. with opening remarks by Czech ambassador Petr Gandalovic at 7 p.m.

Sunday head back to Union Market for the second annual DC Scoop artisan ice cream competition. Our family went last year and had fun. Taste free samples of the areas locally produced ice creams and gelato and vote for your favorite. If there is anything better than free ice cream on a sticky summer Sunday, I don’t even want to know about it.

The fact that I have to be in rural Virginia for a travel baseball double-header that afternoon is HIGHLY disappointing. Please enjoy the ice cream and report back here.